Ves lamented that he wasn't back in the Bright Republic to promote his newly-released Desolate Soldier.

Yet the gift given to him by the Ylvainans was so much better. The publicity of a carefully-planned product reveal event was so much more modest than the organic buzz generated by the successful Ylvainan raids!

Mech companies could hardly ever ask for a better publicity boost, especially since the difference made by the mechs designed by Ves was so incredibly obvious!

Even expert pilots on the same side became affected!

Ves ruefully chuckled to himself. "If my mechs are able to damage the confidence of hostile expert pilots, then the galaxy would have truly gone mad!"

He understood that expert pilots possessed a force of will that was just as strong if not stronger than the auras of his mechs.

If both of them complemented each other, then the expert pilot wouldn't reject the influence.

"That's the best I can hope for the moment."

It was too soon for him to think about affecting expert pilots. He was still too far away from designing expert mechs, though Gloriana's tutoring sessions already started to cover some of this ground.

Due to her specialty, she had already been preparing to design expert mechs ahead of time.

In addition, third-class expert mechs shared a lot of similarities with second-class standard mechs. The quality of their materials and their price ranges heavily overlapped.

In many cases, a third-class expert mech was equivalent to a second-class mech customized for expert pilots.

When a mech pilot from a third-rate state like the Bright Republic reached the expert level, second-class mechs no longer confounded them. Their broadly-improved piloting skills easily enabled them to master the added complexities of piloting complex, higher-performing mechs!

"If any of my subordinates advances to expert pilot, then I can already save a lot of effort to retrain them. They're already good enough to master them by themselves." He scoffed.

Of course, how easy was it for him to get his hands on an expert pilot?

For many people, it was impossible. For Ves, it depended on if he could apply his theories about Spirituality in a special way.

After arranging his business affairs, Ves no longer felt the need to meddle. The LMC was more than capable enough to market his Desolate Soldier and Holy Soldier models on its own.

While he supposed he could help market his product by conducting remote interviews of press events, his personal involvement would hardly make a difference.

He decided to spend his time on the return trip to the Bright Republic on something better.

When Ves next met with Gloriana at the lounge compartment of the Stellar Chaser, he made his proposal.

"You want us to collaborate on designing a customized version of the Desolate Soldier?" She puzzlingly frowned. "Why would you ever want to do such a thing, Ves!? Even in your third-class mech market standards, your Desolate Soldier is hardly worth the effort to customize!"

"While I admit that my other mech models are better candidates, they are not immediately relevant under the current circumstances. For the coming year or so, my Desolate Soldiers will be the only LMC mech that people will witness in battle!"

"Even so, it's better to collaborate on a much higher quality custom mech that is worth our attention!"

Gloriana showed intense dislike towards any idea of using a mech model with a market price of 20 million bright credits as the base of a custom mech. It sounded just as absurd as employing a top-class chef to prepare a dish made out of reconstituted nutrient packs!

Nonetheless, Ves did not set out to torture his girlfriend or push her design philosophy to the brink. He had a very good reason to suggest this unusual project.

"Remember when we first met on Centerpoint?"

"Of course I remember! I recall it every day. It was love at first sight. I already knew back then that you were the perfect boy for me. No other boy in the Hegemony has ever made me feel that way. If only you didn't run so soon!" She sighed in a wistful manner.

"Well, before I met you, I inadvertently fell into a hole and entered some kind of trial conducted by the Rim Guardians."

"Oh! So that's why I couldn't investigate all of your movements on Centerpoint! The Rim Guardians are very influential throughout the galactic rim. For you to come under their attention is a great thing! How did it go?"

"The short version is that I've managed to pass the trials and earned their initial recognition."

"I knew it! You're such a good mech designer to stay unnoticed!"

"It's not as impressive as it sounds, Gloriana. I only managed to get my foot in the door. If I want to enter into their circle, I need to prove myself in a much more difficult way. They issued me an assignment."

"What does your assignment entail?"

"Turn a coward into an expert pilot." Ves responded morosely.

He briefly introduced William Urbesh to his girlfriend and explained the progress they made so far. Ves had put him under the care of Melkor and the Larkinsons to see if they could apply their famed training to transform Urbesh into a capable mech pilot.

So far, the exile from the Slicer Tribe hadn't changed at all. Though all of the intensive training succeeded in increasing his proficiency in piloting mechs, the moment William Urbesh faced an opponent, he instantly buckled!

Without addressing his crippling psychological fear of battle, there was no way Ves could make any progress in fulfilling the request of the Rim Guardians!

Gloriana frowned. "So let me get this straight. The Rim Guardians expect you to turn one of the most unsuitable mech pilots that I've ever heard of into an expert candidate? Are they setting you up or something?"

"To be fair, if not for this psychological affliction, Urbesh's chances of becoming an expert candidate is as good as any other. I think the Rim Guardians really wants me to solve this problem. As for turning him into an expert candidate, they've expressed so little confidence that it's fine if I fail. I'll just have to complete another assignment to prove my commitment and earn their approval."

"So why don't you do that instead?" She asked.

"I don't want to wait. Who can guarantee that the next assignment will be any easier? The reason why I want to take a serious shot at reforming Urbesh is because I think I can succeed where others failed!"

"How?!"

"I'm not sure." He shrugged. He was partially honest this time. "I have some ideas, and I'm not sure how they will work out. I think it would definitely help if I can get Urbesh to pilot a custom mech."

"Are you plotting some kind of plan to throw Urbesh into the crucible by forcing him to fight against the sandmen?"

"Yup. What better way to stimulate his potential than to put him in a life-or-death struggle? Expert candidates always emerge during these instances."

"From the information you've given me, Urbesh doesn't specialize in piloting ranged mechs."

"That's no problem. The Larkinsons have attempted to train him into piloting ranged mechs on account of his reluctance to face enemies in battle. While they've failed, Urbesh has at least become competent enough to wield ranged weapons. Besides, the Desolate Soldier model is not a very demanding mech in the first place."

"It's very fragile though. Aren't you afraid that the sandmen will kill him with one of their pinpoint laser strikes?"

Ves shrugged. "That's the risk that we have to take. I know that I'm playing with fire here, but in the worst case someone else's hands will get burned. Mine will stay untouched."

"Yeah, but the Rim Guardians won't be pleased at all for failing this assignment in such a fashion."

"If they truly cared, they would have directed more effort into reforming him. Instead, the Rim Guardians dumped him into the care of a stranger. I don't think the Rim Guardians will take much issue with Urbesh's death. I don't have anything to fear from the Urbesh Clan from the Vicious Mountain Star Sector either because they're already in decline. William's untimely death would be the nail in the coffin for them, so in a way this outcome isn't so bad at all."

He felt much more free in taking risks if he could get others to pay the bulk of the cost!

Though Gloriana kept expressing her reluctance, she quickly swallowed her objections.

"I'll do anything for you." She whispered softly to him. "If you really want me to become involved in this project, then I'll do so. Just make sure it's worth it, Ves."

"We'll both gain from this project. It will be the first time we pooled our design philosophies together in a project where you'll take the lead. Unlike before, you will call the shots."

Ves already fixed most of the parameters of the original Desolate Soldier design before Gloriana came along. Though he officially credited her as a contributing designer to the Desolate Soldier project, her involvement at the later phases did not allow her to make any drastic changes.

It was different now that they no longer worked on the assumption of adapting their mech design to as many mech pilots as possible.

Now that they played by Gloriana's rules, Ves expected their collaboration to yield much more substantive results. The outcome of this project would reveal how effectively their design philosophies really amplified each other's strengths.

"It's better to see if we can work together on a smaller and simple project like adapting our existing Desolate Soldier to a single mech pilot." He reasoned to her. "There is still more than a month to go before we reach the Bright Republic. This should be more than enough time to complete our project. Aside from that, working on this project will also help you adjust to working with third-class mechs."

After contemplating Gloriana's situation for a long time, Ves believed it was better for her if she became more open-minded towards mechs. As her boyfriend, he wanted her to succeed, and he suspected that she would stand a better chance of realizing her design philosophy if it wasn't so overly narrow.

Perhaps it was presumptuous of him to steer Gloriana's development. However, Gloriana was just as smart as him. As long as he gave her some hints, she could form the same conclusion.

She frowned at him. "Don't think I don't know what you are trying to do. You want me to become more flexible, is that it? You want me to be able to work with even the worst third-class mechs. That's something that I've never contemplated in my life!"

"I think the distinction between third-class, second-class and first-class mechs is artificial." He stated. "As mech designers, shouldn't we tailor our products to the demands of the market? It just so happens that every customer has adopted this paradigm, but that doesn't mean that we should stick to it so closely. In the end, regardless of the differences in tech and materials, a mech is a mech. While it is all well and good to design the perfect vessel out of the best possible tech and materials, it takes true skill to do the same when your starting point is the Desolate Soldier."

This was a lesson he learned during the time he occupied Axelar Streon's mind and body during a past Mastery experience. Having worked first-hand with fantastic first-class tech and materials, he long lost his fascination towards this height.

Ves believed he was doing Gloriana a huge favor by imparting a similar lesson towards her. If she stopped turning up her nose at cheaply-constructed mechs, then her design philosophy no longer became so reliant on the materials and tech at her disposal.

This ought to be a good development because that meant she wouldn't need to depend on designing astronomically expensive first-class mechs to progress!

His continued persuasion started to take effect in his girlfriend's minds. Another mental storm surged in her mind.

A small part of him felt a little guilty. It would have been best if she made this decision on her own. Ves had deliberately altered her path forward. Even if he had the best of intentions, it still didn't change the fact that he influenced her away from her original principles.

"It's for the best." He whispered to her as she became lost in her own thoughts.

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