As Ves continued to study and go over the data on the latest fabrication run in his office, he began to develop the urge to give all of his other mechs access to his latest innovation as well!
"These Ascension Paths should be useful to every living mech!"
While he already decided to apply them to all of the mech design projects that he had yet to complete, he was a lot more interested in applying them to his existing living mechs for the time being!
He was deeply curious to know whether granting them access to Ascension Paths would only affect their future growth or whether it would unleash the hidden potential that they accumulated over their lifetimes!
Ves did not have enough theory or data to make accurate predictions. The only way to learn the truth was to conduct an actual experiment on an older expert mech.
He already had one powerful candidate in mind. Aside from the Shield of Samar which existed no more, there was no better machine to test out the applicability of his Ascension Paths!
The implications of this latest innovation were enormous to his design philosophy as well as the lives of every living mech.
No longer would they have to grope in the dark and figure out how to evolve on their own!
While Ves was incapable of creating a 'Kingdom of Living Mechs', his design spirits could serve as adequate substitutes!
Not only were his design spirits more alive and responsive, but they could all come up with their own ideas, ensuring that the Ascension Paths would have plenty of variety!
Besides, Ves liked it a lot better when he did not put all of his eggs in a single basket.
The Kingdom of Mechs may serve as an incredibly powerful tool for humanity, but it was also an obvious target to any serious enemy!
Ves preferred it a lot more if the keepers of his Ascension Paths were spread out across several dozen different design spirits.
Just as he was about to rise to his feet so that he could pay a visit to one of his third order living mechs, the door suddenly opened.
His wife marched inside as if she owned the place. The dismay she showed a day earlier had already disappeared.
"Ves! We need to talk!"
"Uh, what is it, dear?"
Gloriana placed her hands on her hips. "Do you remember that I told you that the Vraken Matriarchal Dynasty decided to send one of its ace pilots to the Glory Seekers? She is almost here. You should get ready to meet her and take a look at her ace mech. The finest Hexer engineering went into its design. Prepare to be amazed."
"Uh, okay… I look forward to the ace pilot's arrival, I guess."
"I also wanted to discuss our latest theories on masterwork mechs." Gloriana briskly continued. "I have examined a large amount of data and conducted a thorough analysis. I admit that my theory was not as close to the truth as yours. That is not to say that it is completely correct. I am merely acknowledging that it has made a small amount of progress. I still have a chance to make subsequent discoveries that can supplement our theories further. There has to be more criteria that determines whether a mech deserves to become a masterwork. Matter and spirit are only two of the broad categories that we have identified. There should be other variables that can help us create masterwork mechs with greater ease."
Although Ves vaguely sensed something wrong in his wife's arguments, he agreed with her overall idea.
He too felt that there was way more to masterworks than just perfecting their physical and spiritual forms.
Perhaps it was fame.
Perhaps it was technological advancement.
Perhaps it was the power of love.
Whatever the case, Ves and Gloriana had to fabricate a lot more masterwork mechs if they wanted to have any chance of identifying additional key variables!
"We still have a heap of ongoing mech design projects that are close to completion, right?" Ves asked. "Those are good opportunities for us to put our latest theories and ideas to the test. Now that I have figured out how to make third order living mechs on demand, our chances of turning those future works into masterwork mechs should be a lot higher!"
Gloriana smirked. "That is exactly what I had in mind. Please prepare as best you can. The Bloodripper Project and the Greenaxe Project may not be as innovative as the Phobos, but they are still Larkinson expert mechs in their own right. They deserve a chance to excel in the upcoming war between Davute and Karlach."
Ves dropped his smile. The reminder of the fact that neither of those two expert mechs would become a part of his expeditionary fleet soured his mood.