"Hehehe… and into this design, he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life."

Ves bonked Gloriana's head with his fist.

"Ouch! What was that for, Ves?!"

"Stop muttering vague literary nonsense and help me solve this slotting mechanism. You're much more suited to solve this problem than me, you know."

Gloriana slapped Ves' arm. "Why do you keep coming back to me with these kinds of issues? Can't you solve these problems yourself? You've grown lazy!"

"I'm not lazy. I'm efficient." He retorted. "Both of us specialize in different aspects of mech design. It makes sense to offload all of the complicated technical puzzles to you. On average, you are four times faster in solving these problems than me! Since we're so strapped for time, we'll have to distribute our workload as optimally as possible!"

"And that just happens to leave you with all of the easy work." She sneered at him. "Don't mistake me. I agree with your arrangement. It's just that you could do some heavy lifting as well, you know? The more you engage in these kinds of problems, the more you develop a structural sense for mechs. It's not good for your development if you continue to skip all of the challenges."

"I already have plenty on my plate, Gloriana. Not only am I supervising and integrating the efforts of our design teams, I'm also constantly working on the spiritual foundation of our mech design!"

The Larkinson mech was an extremely pivotal design that truly determined the future of the Larkinson Clan! With so much at stake, Ves wanted to invest as much strength into its design as possible!

He was not content with treating the design as another commission or business project. This was a passion project to him! Investing a disproportionate amount of effort and resources into the project was a given!

As soon as he stopped arguing with Gloriana and entered into a groove, his passion for this project heated up. He became more and more eager to flesh out their drafts and turn their vision into a reality!

Gloriana soon got caught up in his enthusiasm as well! As the days passed by, her prior mental exhaustion no longer made any impact at all, causing her to bring her full passion and emotions to bear!

Seeing her work so passionately and high spirited made him happy. She was just as invested in the design as him. Their shared passion also eased their cooperation and allowed them to accomplish some synergies.

That said, designing the mech was anything but easy. Not only did they have to design four unique configurations, they also had to design a base platform that had to be able to keep up with vastly different demands!

The rifleman mech configuration needed to be agile and precise while offering plenty of capacity for either energy cells and heatsinks or lots of ammunition.

The swordsman mech configuration needed to possess an adequate amount of defense and mobility. At the same time, they also had to improve its strength and make sure it could perform most of the possible moves that were common in mech swordsmanship.

The lancer mech configuration possessed some of the same demands of the swordsman mech, but had to excel in the charge. This meant that the mech ideally possessed more mass and frontal armor while at the same being able to pump a lot more power into its flight system in order to ensure the mech wouldn't take forever to deliver an overpowering blow. In addition, this configuration also had to be able to absorb an immense amount of shock!

Finally, the space knight configuration had to excel in defense. While this configuration did not need to be as mobile as the other configurations, it had to be able to withstand blows that could have felled five of the other configurations! This meant Ves and Gloriana not only had to find a good way to apply extra armor plating onto the space knight configuration, but also pair it up with a very hefty shield!

If Ves designed four self-contained mechs, then Ves could easily meet these requirements.

Yet because all of these requirements had to be applied to the same mech platform, everything became more complicated!

The interconnectedness of the four configurations with each other and the mech platform was very difficult to deal with. Ves had been forced to create an elaborate database with flow charts, objective trackers and timetables in order to keep organized.

Though involving the two design teams in the project increased his organizational burden, their assistance was essential in keeping the project on schedule. All of the smaller tasks and less important problems could be handed off to the Novices and Apprentices.

As long as someone senior to them checked over their work, the project progressed substantially faster than if Ves and Gloriana had to do everything themselves!

Though Ves thought about adding another design team more than once, he refrained from doing so. There were only Ylvainans available to him right now, and he did not wish to increase their representation within the LMC any further!

During the days when he designed his mech, he shoved as many distractions aside as possible. The LMC calmly chugged along under the lead of Raymond Billingsley-Larkinson while the Larkinson Clan leaned heavily on the Executive Council to manage its affairs.

Only the most urgent or important matters merited his personal attention.

One day, a message arrived that caused him to pause and leave the design lab right away!

Though the Larkinson mech was important, the message sent to his comm was even more crucial to his future!

The Rim Guardians finally called back!

"Please hold the fort for me. I need to answer this call as fast as possible."

Gloriana gave him a reassuring pat on his arm. "Your project is in good hands. I'll make sure that everything proceeds according to schedule."

"Thank you. I'll be back as soon as possible."

He picked up Lucky and the Larkinson Mandate and entered a small, enclosed office. He made sure to erect some privacy measures while leaving his communication line intact.

Only then did he answer the call.

A familiar uniformed female officer appeared into view. Lieutenant Rezzie Perct's projection studied Ves with a very curious expression.

"Congratulations, Mr. Larkinson. On behalf of the Rim Guardian Fraternity, we acknowledge that you have completed your mission. We have examined William Urbesh in great detail and have definitely confirmed that he has broken through to become an expert candidate. This.. is quite a surprise to us. Would you mind accounting for the methods you've employed?"

"I admit that we treated Mr. Urbesh a little rougher than was strictly safe." Ves carefully stated. "You know how he was before. He would have never been able to step foot on the battlefield if we didn't smack some sense in him! Well, after smacking him enough times until we completely scrambled his mentality, we finally succeeded. Pushing mech pilots and throwing them straight into battle is a tried-and-true Larkinson method that has always succeeded in producing expert pilots for our family! While it was a gamble, I'm very glad it worked out this time. William can be proud of himself now that he has transcended his mortal limits!"

And mortal coil, for that matter. The 'William' that inhabited his body was very different from the William that originally cowered before his feet!

Lieutenant Ferct looked as if she could smell all of the nonsense he spewed! "Though the signs of long-term physical stress and heavy mental trauma are concerning, the Urbesh Clan's response to William's unexpected advancement was very jubilant. Their fall has finally been arrested with the hopes of a potential expert pilot taking the helm. This is extremely crucial for any group looking to prosper in Vicious Mountain's Garlen Empire. In this regard, we have no reason to quibble over the roughness of your treatment."

Ves relaxed. He knew it would be hard for him to explain what he had done should the Rim Guardians press further. Luckily, they didn't appear to be too interested in William's well-being. They didn't help William and the Urbesh Clan out of friendship. Instead, they were repaying a favor or advancing some kind of other scheme related to the Garlen Empire.

"Does this mean I'm an associate now?"

"You are." She smiled. "As I've said, welcome to the Rim Guardians. You not only have the right to join the ranks of our external associates, but we have also rewarded you with 50,000 MTA merits."

Fifty-thousand!

While that was a tiny figure compared to the 100 million MTA merits needed to redeem a second-class beyonder ticket, it was still a generous reward!

"Thank you, lieutenant. Those merits will come in very handy."

"Are you aiming for the Red Ocean?"

"I am."

"A lot of mech designers have made the same choice. Whether you can pass through the beyonder gate depends on your efforts. All I can say is good luck. You will need to work harder than any other mech designer and exceed our expectations over and over again if you want to earn merits required to become a galactic pioneer. A new future awaits at the Red Ocean. Grasp it before it is too late."

Ves had the sense that Lieutenant Ferct had memorized those last words because her superiors told her to. The MTA certainly wanted to take advantage of as many mech designers as possible! As the only supplier of MTA merits, they were definitely making a killing right now with all of the mech designers eager to earn more points!

Since Calabast warned him about the motives of the Rim Guardians, he remained wary of any traps.

At the very least, he wasn't as eager to meet the needs of this powerful organization as before. Everything had a price. Even the discount to the beyonder tickets likely involved all kinds of commitments that Ves wasn't sure he wanted to accept!

"So what do I have access to as an external associate?"

"Becoming one of our associates is a great privilege." The lieutenant emphasized. "However, do not think that makes you better than your peers in your star sector. An associate is nothing without the merits to exchange for goods and services. The more merits you possess, the more we can offer you. If we aren't able to provide you with what you need, then our many partners certainly will!"

That.. sounded a bit less than he expected. Even if he was an associate, without any merits, he wouldn't be able to take advantage of his access to the Rim Guardians!

In order to make this relationship pay off, Ves essentially had to keep earning more merits. This was probably exactly what the Rim Guardians wanted! Only through continuous milkings would they be able to extract the maximum amount of value from their serfs—, ahem, 'associates'."

The officer continued her spiel.

"This is an exciting time, Mr. Larkinson. With the opening of the Red Ocean, countless influences are vying to reach its vast, unclaimed riches. With an entire dwarf galaxy ripe for taking, we are also taking a heavy interest in how its bounty can enrich the galactic rim!"

Yeah right. The Rim Guardians would probably spend all of their gains on themselves, leaving the vast but sparse galactic rim to its own devices!

Of course, he didn't tell her that. "I am very eager to do my best to prove myself worthy to travel to the Red Ocean."

"Your chances are small, but not nonexistent. While the road is long, the Rim Guardians offer several means to make the journey easier. You'll be able to find out how soon enough. Even if you decide you wish to take root closer to home, we are still able to provide you with an abundant amount of help. I always enjoy it when enterprising young mech designers such as you get to become an associate."

"It is my pleasure to serve as the backbone of the Rim Guardians!" Ves slavishly lied.

"If you keep this mindset, it will be a breeze for you to earn our merits. We can be quite generous to those who are eager and capable enough to complete our challenges!"