The Mech Touch

When Ketis left the Hemmington Cross and returned to the Spirit of Bentheim, her mind remained filled with thoughts.

The decision to accept the offer to take charge of the Cross Mech Corporation's Design Department was not an easy one to make.

She was bound to make a lot of enemies by coming over as an outsider and booting a Master Mech Designer out of his leadership position.

Yet... Ketis felt incredibly tempted to do it anyway.

She felt that she could gain a lot if she accepted this challenge. She needed more practical leadership experience, the kind that she could not gain in the Larkinson Clan. The problem with leading Swordmaidens and Heavensworders was that they already revered him from the onset. There was no challenge in winning over their loyalties, and there was no need for Ketis to go out of her way to prove her qualifications.

It was too easy.

While that made it easy for Ketis to run her own departments, it also meant that she never really learned how to manage people properly.

Once she expanded her organizations in the future, not everyone would be blindly devoted to her as her fans and followers.

She knew that she could only regard herself as a true leader if she was able to ensure the compliance of those who did not have any prior reasons to follow her commands.

Trying to lead a foreign and maybe hostile group of underlings was the best way to polish her ability to command people!

As long as she was able to learn from this rare opportunity, she would become qualified to occupy even greater leadership positions, just like her former mentor.

As a Journeyman and a swordmaster, Ketis felt inadequate.

She knew that she could attain greatness as long as she became a Star Designer and a sword god, but the time and effort it took to reach those exalted ranks was far too exaggerated.

There was little point in dreaming how easy it would be to cut down her enemies, design bestselling mechs and gain the allegiance of billions of people with only a modest amount of effort if she reached the ultimate ranks of those professions.

She still had a long way to go before she became a god in human form!

Ketis had to form her plans based on her present capabilities. That caused her to grow a little glum as there was not that much she could do under the present circumstances. With massive alien warships and gigantic phase lords bearing down on red humanity, a single swordmaster could never make a meaningful difference on a conflict of this scale. The only way for Ketis to make herself useful was to contribute to society in different. ways.

One way to do so was to work as a mech designer and publish lots of strong and useful swordsman mech designs. She had already taken steps to do so, but there was always room for improvement.

Another way was to take advantage of the rising trend of systematic cultivation and give the masses an affordable way to become a lot stronger by spreading the virtues of traditional swordsmanship.

She wouldn't be able to accomplish these goals by herself.

If she wanted to become a great figure on par with the likes of Ves or the existing legends of red humanity, then she needed to be more proactive and do more than her basic routine.

She needed to obtain better materials to design better mechs and strengthen her personal combat gear. She also needed to have a good talk with Ves to explore whether the Carmine System could allow her to express her swordsmanship on a scale that enabled her to put up a worthy fight against a phase lord.

She needed to expand the institutions and build the infrastructure that enabled lots of would-be warriors to learn different variations of extraordinary swordsmanship in order to establish a thriving sword cultivator community.

Ketis also needed to take advantage of the special opportunities that were rarely afforded to others. She already formulated different plans on how she could utilize the Mech Designer System, the Heavensword, the CMC's Design Department and possibly other assets to accelerate and expand her growth.

She had learned from the best. Seeing how well Ves was able to leverage his own network and organizations to expand his power and gain access to better tech and materials had lit a fire in her heart.

She was no longer content with remaining as his subordinate.

Ketis would have never dared to dream about this a decade ago, but now she believed that she had the makings to become a great woman who would not be inferior to Ves in any way!

She especially gained a lot of confidence after Ves had been gracious enough to give her access to his exclusive Mech Designer System.

At that point, there was no excuse for her anymore. She would never be able to forgive herself if she failed to make good use of her opportunities to attain greatness. ŘÁꞐO͍𝐁ƐṦ

While her objective was to catch up and possibly surpass Ves, she held no animosity towards him. It was not necessary to betray his trust and beat him down in order to achieve her goals.

She instead considered herself locked in a friendly rivalry against Ves. Her patriarch and

Friend may enjoy a considerable head start at the moment, but Ketis still had a chance of catching up if she made clever use of her own unique opportunities!

"I wonder how he will react once I finally manage to catch up with him. I would love to see his face at that time." Ketis briefly grinned.

There was still a long journey ahead of her. While Ketis awaited the arrival of the Heavensword, she first dealt with other matters.

She originally wanted to speak with Ves over the galactic net about the Cross Clan's offer of employment, but it turned out that he was not in a condition to speak with Ketis at the moment.

"I can patch you in with Ves, but he will not listen to you in his current hyper-fixated state." The virtual projection of the well-dressed figure of Gloriana responded. "He discovered a hidden phase lord ability that allows him to put himself into a 'Deep Research Mode' where he essentially becomes immune to distractions. He currently has nothing else but completing the Amaranto Mark III Project on his mind."

Ketis' expression dropped. "That is... inconvenient. I need to hear his opinion on whether it is a good idea for me to temporarily take charge of the Cross Clan's Design Department. I think it would be an interesting challenge to me and a good way to push a handful of living mechs to the Crossers. I am afraid that Master Benedict will not react calmly to my intrusion. Since this is a decision that can change our relations with the Cross Clan, only Ves can make a decision on this matter."

"Well, he is not in the right state of mind to do so." Gloriana responded while letting out an exasperated breath. "Tell you what. I will make a decision on his behalf. As his wife and the director of the Design Department, I think it is fair to say that I have the authority to speak for him when he is out of commission for whatever reason. I absolutely support your initiative. You have my blessing to accept the Cross Clan's offer. Show the Crossers how much better the Larkinsons are at managing mech designers. Teach them how to respond to the actual needs of the mech pilots that depend on them rather than impose your work on them in a top-down fashion. Above all else, show them that man such as Master Benedict is ultimately inferior to women such as you and I." Ketis had the feeling that Gloriana only really cared about that last part. The main reason why Gloriana approved of Ketis' intentions to work at the Cross Clan was to have a female mech designer upstage Master Benedict!

Though the former Hexer clearly harbored impure motives, her decision fell exactly in line with Ketis' demand. There was no reason for the swordmaster to voice any

Objections.

"Thank you, Gloriana. Please tell the lawyers and negotiators of our clan to make contact with their counterparts in the Cross Clan to negotiate and sign a contract. I would like to have everything in order before I take over my new responsibilities."

"I shall see to it." Gloriana promised. "The Cross Clan is quite powerful and filled with fighters who have stood by us in the past and present. I always found it perplexing that we did not work harder to assimilate the Crossers into our clan. We would greatly benefit if we can subdue the Crossers and turn them into our vassals. Patriarch Reginald Cross is a remarkably strong combat asset, and Saint Linda Cross appears to be an excellent woman who possesses the right combination of strength and intelligence." Gloriana was delusional if she thought that the Larkinson Clan could actually convince the Crossers to surrender their allegiance to the Larkinsons! "Patriarch Reginald and Saint Linda have far too much pride in their clan and heritage." Ketis coughed. "The only feasible way for them to do so is if the Cross Clan has perished or suffered too many losses to sustain itself. Other than that, the two powerful Crosser ace pilots will never pledge their loyalty to others."

The female Senior Mech Designer looked a little disappointed, but not too much. Ace pilots had their own pride and were often bound by existing commitments. "Reginald and Linda may remain unyielding in the present, but anything can happen in the future." Gloriana said in a hopeful tone. "If the Crossers are met with disaster, then I

Hope the goodwill that you have built within the Cross Clan is enough to convince its survivors to take refuge in the Larkinson Clan. That way, we will stand to gain a large batch of thugs and raise our combat power even further."

Anything could happen in the future. Patriarch Reginald Cross and Saint Linda Cross all appeared to be strong enough to hold their own on the battlefield, but the native aliens were not completely helpless in combat.

With more and more experimental 'Saint Piercer' weapons appearing in the hands of

Phase lords, ace mechs had to endure greater risks whenever they confronted the native gods on the battlefield.

Even the Larkinsons had to endure the same risks. It was fortunate that the Dark Zephyr Mark III was so fast that it was almost impossible for enemy phase lords to land a solid

Hit on the highly elusive machine.

The Dark Zephyr Mark III may be deficient in attack power, but his ability to survive on the battlefield likely ranked at the top among all other junior ace mechs! Besides, the Dark Zephyr actually gained a lot of teeth now that it had borrowed the tier

3 Destroyer spear.

This should make it much easier for Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson to earn more merits

Than Patriarch Reginald Cross!

Just as Gloriana wanted to bring up another topic, a preprogrammed alarm suddenly

Sounded from Ketis' comm.

The swordmaster briefly froze.

"What is the matter?" "The Heavensword... has been detected on approach to the Viola Magnifica System." Ketis explained as she quickly brought up her comm to verify the notification.

Gloriana vaguely understood the significance of this event. "I will leave you to handle the arrival of this powerful relic. It would be great if you can subdue it and bring it under your control. If our clan can control the power of an ancient but functional grand work, then we will instantly be able to bring ourselves on par with the likes of Terran ancient clans and Rubarthan principalities!"

It was way too premature for Gloriana to think about how controlling the Heavensword would elevate the rank of their clan!

Ketis first needed to ensure that the Heavensword would not run roughshod over

Herself!

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