Chapter 7353: The Meaning of Senior Mech Designer The Larkinson Clan’s attempt to create an artificial copy of the Ixith Goliath hit a wall. It was not for lack of trying. Ves did good work when it came to developing his sentient inorganic components. Although there was a lot of depth in the original SOCs that Ves may have overlooked, he believed that his SICs satisfied all of the basic requirements to fulfill their intended roles. Gloriana also made decent progress. Her work was a lot more multi-disciplinary and complicated, but she was not a timid researcher by any means. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺 She was accustomed to working on projects that bridged the intangible with the tangible. Her experiences with working on strange and exotic technologies also helped her accelerate her comprehension of Mentalist Crystals and its potential substitutes. Though she could only conceive of a construct that was many times larger than an authentic Mentalist Crystal, it didn’t matter so long as it could do the job. What Ves and Gloriana had trouble with was how to fill certain gaps in their theoretical frameworks, how to bridge the enormous divide between the central willpower chamber and the SICs and how to program these devices. The Miracle Couple enlisted the aid of numerous relevant experts in the Design Department. Alexa Streon proved to be of considerable assistance. She possessed both depth and breath due to her impeccable education and cleverness. She possessed a solid foundation in many relevant fields such as biotechnology and software engineering. It was not without reason that Gloriana at one point promoted her as the vice-director of the Design Department of the LMC. This was a major responsibility and one that invested her with a considerable amount of power. The fact that Alexa managed to earn Gloriana’s approval said a lot about her competence and ability to overcome certain difficulties. In any case, Alexa quickly proved herself to be an excellent assistance. She was able to provide valuable help to both Ves and Gloriana whenever they needed a second opinion or an extra hand to complete a difficult assignment. Ariana Roux and Kelsey Ampatoch provided valuable help on the software front. Their expertise in computer systems allowed them to contribute specialized help when it came to developing brand-new software packages to fulfill functions that had no historical equivalent. However, all of their collaborative efforts may not be enough to complete a viable proof of concept in time. "We are mech designers." Gloriana complained during a team meeting. "Our main responsibility is to design mechs, and we have been neglecting that in favor of an experimental project with a very strict deadline. It is not even centered around developing a legitimate mech. Instead, we are attempting to bring a very poor inorganic imitation of the Ixith Goliath to life. This is an abomination that has no practical use in the short term. It involves so many new technologies and methods that we are doing the scientific version of groping in the dark. Our current work is based on so many assumptions that it can easily collapse like a house of cards." The other Larkinson mech designers frowned, but they did not voice their disagreement with their director. Their current project was highly ambitious, but not every promising idea was worth pursuing. They all agreed that they were trying to reach far beyond their own competences. It was not comfortable for them to leave their comfort zones and spend their time on completely different research. Ves may be more accustomed to it than most due to his habit of pursuing weird side projects, but the others were much more serious mech designers than himself. They could not acclimate as well. He knew that one of the reasons why his fellow Larkinson mech designers did not feel satisfied was because they were groping in the dark without a strong expectation of success. They lacked optimism and did not possess enough courage to stride forward despite all of the uncertainties. These happened to be among the handful of qualities that a mech designer needed to progress beyond the rank of Journeyman Mech Designer. A truly qualified mech designer did not stick to following the footsteps of his predecessor, but deviated from the norm and pursued true innovation. They already had a taste of this when they advanced to Journeyman, but that was child’s play compared to what they had to achieve going forward. Becoming a Senior Mech Designer might be regarded as an easy challenge to most people, but it was still a hurdle that kept many Journeymen back for several decades if not a century! This was because not every mech designer adapted to the changing needs of their profession as their seniority grew. The reason why a Senior Mech Designer earned this name was because he truly proved his ability to be a leader and mentor among lesser mech designers. A Senior could already be entrusted to lead independent mech design projects and supervise the work of others. That did not mean that Apprentices and Journeymen lacked competence in these areas. Ves had done plenty of both since the early years of his career. It was just that earning the rank and title of a Senior Mech Designer provided a minimum guarantee that was verified by the Kingdom of Mechs or the Red Kingdom themselves! There was no stronger guarantee in the mech industry as far as everyone was concerned. A Senior Mech Designer could be generous, mean, petty or soft-spoken. Regardless of his personality, the fact that he managed to get this far in his profession meant that he possessed at least a minimum degree of knowledge, vision, teaching ability, altruism and more. Even Gloriana who still possessed a lot of traits that Ves considered less than desirable had come into her own as the director of the Design Department. She did not let her strong personal feelings and Hexer upbringing get in the way of treating her subordinates fairly, or at least as much as she could manage. It was times like these when Ves most noticed the difference between himself and the Journeymen of the Larkinson Clan. He had already begun to immerse himself in higher affairs while the rest could not extricate themselves from their lower and baser preoccupations. While Ves felt tempted to stand up and lecture all of these Journeymen, he did not act on this impulse. Certain lessons had to be learned by the individuals themselves. Simple lecturing did not hit as hard. It was not the job of a higher-ranking mech designer to hold the hands of their lessors and pull them up without any reserve. Mech designers constantly needed to prove themselves and overcome their own challenges in order to truly earn the recognition and appreciation of their respective Kingdom. The fact that none of them had yet to be promoted indicated that they still needed to cover a significant amount of ground before they entered the next stage of their careers. Ves crossed his arms. This was quite disappointing. He had high expectations of a number of mech designers, but so far the only ones who truly showed signs of transcending beyond their immediate circumstances were Ketis and Alexa. His former student had matured exceptionally well in his opinion. Despite choosing to go her own way to an extent, she was thriving as a more independent mech designer and leader figure. Her dual professions and responsibilities slowed her progress to an extent, but her access to the Mech Designer System largely made up for this disadvantage. So long as she could quickly close her knowledge gap, Ves saw no reason why she would be able to become a Senior Mech Designer in the near future! As Ves mused about when he would welcome the third homegrown Senior Mech Designer of the Larkinson Clan, his wife posed a very important question. "Ves, since all of us are beginning to encounter an increasing amount of blocks that we cannot overcome with our current capabilities, I have been thinking about engaging in more extensive collaboration with third parties. What do you think?" So far, the Larkinsons did a good job of keeping their research in-house. They still participated in the knowledge sharing sessions that every participating researcher organized every day, but they only shared results that were not essential to their respective research projects. Every scientist and engineer possessed the ability to discern between private and public information. If they wanted to gain more specific solutions from outsiders, then they needed to share a lot more details about their own private research and solutions. This was quite a sensitive matter to say the least. Ves rubbed his hairless chin in thought. "I have been thinking about it myself to be honest. I am sure that we can solve many problems related to programming and coordination if we join hands with Commodore Zonrad Reze of the Red Fleet. He is the best authority on AI systems and software engineering within our reach. I am fairly good friends with him. He can be trusted to an extent. He will not shortchange us if that is what you are afraid of. It is just that choosing to cooperate with him will inevitably expose our entire work on this experiment project to the fleeters." This would bring their parity closer and make it more difficult for the Larkinson Clan to maintain an uncontested advantage in the new markets. "If we have to choose a party to cooperate with, then the Red Fleet is not a bad choice." Gloriana reasoned. "The fleeters are much more desperate for progress than others. The fleeters also have a strong base of researchers who are highly competent in any field that is not directly related to mechs. They have no choice but to be sincere with us as long as we bring them the expertise that they happened to lack. Furthermore, I am sure that strengthening our relations with the RF will be of great assistance to our firstborn daughter. Aurelia should have just begun her studies at this time." Both Ves and Gloriana developed a stronger affection for the fleeters for this reason. It was not an easy decision to entrust the education of their precious girl to a very different organization. Still, as much as Ves wanted to give her daughter another boost, he knew that he also needed to protect the interests of the Larkinson Clan. Even if he had already resigned from the position of patriarch, he could not forget his roots. "Let’s not be too hasty to resort to outside help." He said as he leaned forward. "I have an alternative suggestion. We are not without solutions to the problems that you have mentioned earlier. In my earlier works, I managed to get away with inventing a lot of crazy and groundbreaking stuff by cheating." "Cheating?" Ves smirked. "In a manner of speaking. I am pretty sure that if we reformulate our design from a generic experimental device into a totem of Titania, we may be able to use the power of life to spontaneously bridge over many gaps. If a totem is not enough, then we can attempt to design an unprecedented living mech to achieve an even stronger effect!" Multiple mech designers widened their eyes! This sounded crazy, but Ves had relied on the same approach to succeed time and time again! Gloriana immediately looked thoughtful. "Titania... a design spirit derived from an astral beast that has once demonstrated many traits that possess obvious similarities to the Ixith Goliath. The mutated voribugs may have even used this particular astral beast species as one of the templates to develop this high-level Goliath strain. The fit between Titania and our potential end product is indeed high. This is a good suggestion, but only as long as you are right in your assertion." "So do you approve?" "It is worth the attempt." She responded in a neutral tone. "I hold no judgment. Let the results show whether this is a viable shortcut or whether it is a waste of time."