While Gloriana had taken a day off to go on an excursion to Cinach XII, Ves expected to enjoy a day without his girlfriend breathing down his neck.

Metaphorically, of course.

He spent some time seeing Maisie and Rennie off. They cried when they said goodbye to their parents before boarding a shuttle that would take them into orbit.

Ves had already reserved passage on a series of passenger liners that would slowly take them to Hippolyta War College where they would arrive in time to start the next semester.

When Maikel and Zanthar saw their female cousins depart, their expressions grew mixed.

None of the four knew who would become the best after they reunited again.

In a way, the girls exerted a considerable amount of pressure to the boys, ahem, adolescent men that remained.

Even though there were more reputable schools in the Hegemony, the graduates of Hippolyta were never weak! As the mainstays of the Hex Army, its alumni had earned a reputation for competence under pressure!

"I think the Hippolyta War College is a much better choice for them than the so-called better schools." Ves deliberately said to the conflicted two young men. "Kelma University is considered to be one of the premier universities and the Artemis Institute isn't that far off. However, they mainly produce mech designers like Gloriana. They're excellent when they are able to exercise their craft in the comfort of their well-guarded labs and workshops, but they're a lot more frail once they get caught up in the middle of a battlefield."

Zanthar frowned. "We're mech designers, patriarch. Aren't we supposed to be as far away from the fighting as possible."

"Technically you're right, but don't forget who we are. We are Larkinsons. We never take the easiest option. While it doesn't seem apparent to you now, a mech designer can gain much when they are closer to the action than many of our colleagues are comfortable with! My experiences during the latest Bright-Vesia War has defined me as a mech designer, and I hope you'll be able to grow through various crises as well! Since you accepted my tutelage, you should be prepared to learn how to work with mechs in a much more hands-on fashion than normal!"

The two young men paled. They had an inkling that Ves had a lot of challenges in store for them! Just studying his public record was enough to know that Ves survived all manner of dangers through his career!

"Can't we.. learn how to design mechs the normal way?" Maikel squeaked.

Ves gently shook his head. "The normal way is too boring. I don't want to turn you into a pair of boring and uninspiring mech designers. I want my students to excel! As your teacher, it is my responsibility to unearth all of the potential that you contain in your bodies! The candies I fed you should have already laid the right foundation. Don't think that your expanded learning capacities is enough to breeze past my training. I know exactly what you are capable of, and I won't hesitate to push you to the utmost!"

The two Larkinsons looked at Ves with despair! They already had a taste of his exacting demands and didn't relish more!

"We can't keep up!" One of them whined.

Ves straightforwardly bonked both of the Larkinsons in the head.

"No more of that! Don't complain. Do you think the girls who have just left will have it any easier? Hippolyta will push them to the extreme! As long as they can keep up, they'll return half a decade later as completely different Larkinsons! Now tell yourself. Will you let Maise and Rennie trample all over you with their Hexer-acquired heels, or will you act like a man and stand up to their oppression?"

"Do you mean the same way you 'stand up' to Miss Gloriana?"

Slap!

"Ouch!"

"No more talk like that from the two of you! While you are slated to receive additional augmentations, that doesn't mean you are on vacation. As far as I'm concerned, your study program has already started!"

Ves grinned and pointed his thumb at a Bright Warrior that stood dormant in the corner of the rented base.

"See that mech there? I want you to go take it to a workshop and disassemble it down to its individual nuts and bolts. Then I want you to put it all together in exactly the same condition!"

"What does that have to do with mech design, patriarch?!"

"Call me teacher." Ves crossed his arms. "And it has everything to do with mech design. How can you possibly visualize your own mech designs to a high degree of accuracy if you have rarely if ever touched the components of a mech with your own hands? My assistant mech designers have already done the same and their work has become considerably more grounded to reality as a result!"

The two students still looked daunted at this request!

"We can't! We don't know how to work all of the tools!"

"You should put your new smarts to good use. Read the manuals. Ask the mech technicians to guide you. Figure it out through trial and error. However you do it, I expect you to flawlessly disassemble and reassemble the Bright Warrior by the end of the week!"

"That's too short! We'll never be able to restore the mech to mint condition!"

Ves glowered at them. "All I hear are excuses. Do you think reality will take it easy on you? One day, you'll probably be asked to perform something similar in only a single day! If you take any longer, some of the lives of your comrades might be forfeit!"

It took a while to get his point across. While he had handed over a daunting task to the prospective mech designers, Ves didn't expect them to succeed in the first place. Without even completing their first year of mech design studies, there was no way they could pick up a wrench and dissect a mech without damaging something! It was even less likelier for them to put it back together without causing a major mishap!

In order to make sure his two students didn't trigger an accident that got themselves killed, he called for a chief technician to supervise their efforts.

"Don't tell them anything except how to use the tools and machines at their disposal." He told the grizzled chief. "Just let them monkey around and realize slowly how out of depth they are and how much effort is required to service a mech, let alone design them from scratch."

The chief technician wearing the yellow-and-white uniform of the Avatars looked concerned. "I'm not so sure I can keep them safe, sir. These kids look like they never held a multitool in their life."

"I don't think it's that bad, but you're mostly right. Just pull them away if they look like they are about to screw up pretty big."

"What about the mech? It's a shame to ruin a good Bright Warrior."

"It's a tough mech. It can take some dents. I should know, since I designed it in the first place. At most, the more fragile internal components need to be repaired, but that is just a few days of work for your crew."

After passing on this instruction, he turned around and left the grounds.

There was a very good reason why he started Maikel and Zanthar's study program by getting their hands dirty on an advanced mech.

With their upgraded Intelligence and Concentration scores, there shouldn't be any problem with their theoretical studies. Any decent mech designer could pour a lot of knowledge down the throats of students who were this smart!

The true challenge laid in shaping their principles, their work ethic, their mentality and their perspective towards mech design.

These were his true concerns as his teacher! Normally, a proper university utilized excellent teachers and various institutional tools to shape these intangible properties.

Those means weren't available right now, so Ves had to make up for their absence with his own methods.

His intent in throwing challenges to Maikel and Zanthar was to find out if they were suited to follow in his direction. His ultimate goal in teaching them was to see if they were capable of designing mechs with spiritual properties!

He didn't expect them to perform spiritual engineering. They lacked the spiritual perception that was central to his own design philosophy.

What Ves wanted to find out was if it was possible that they could still excel in some sort of specialty that applied spirituality in a more deliberate and conscious manner!

To do so, Ves needed them to appreciate mechs in a different manner from the industry standard. Hopefully, they would come to see mechs as living entities or at least machines with greater potential!

Speaking about guiding the next generation, his only student so far had also decided to return.

Ketis looked changed. She looked uncomfortable in her blue-and-white LMC uniform that every mech designer wore. Her familiar CFA-grade sword hovered quietly behind her back in its floating scabbard.

"Meow!"

Lucky seemed ecstatic to meet her again! He jumped from Ves' shoulders and landed in her warm grasp!

"I missed you too, Lucky! Oh, you look better than ever! Did Ves feed you well?"

"Meow!"

"Did you have a good time with Raella?" Ves gently asked.

"I did." Ketis smiled without any inkling of discomfort. "I really enjoyed my time with her. She's very fun to be with and she has helped me sort out my life. I know what I want to do, now. I want to design mechs! The Swordmaidens need mechs designed by someone who understands them, and I'm the only one who can do that!"

Ves was very glad to hear her conviction. He knew that her feelings had turned into a mess when she decided to go to Bentheim, but it seemed that her experiences during the Sand War and the flight from persecution did much to temper her conviction!

Since the Swordmaidens were now part of the Black Cats, there was no reason for Ketis to stay away from the LMC and Ves anymore.

"While I appreciate your enthusiasm, you should still contribute to our current projects. No one in the LMC works for free. Are you prepared to join a design team?"

She nodded. "I can do that. I work best with melee mechs, though."

"It's fine. You're not the only mech designer with an unusual restriction. You'll just be working on the parts that every mech have in common if you have to work on a ranged mech."

While Ketis played with Lucky, Ves began to quiz her in order to understand her current progress.

As one of his unfortunate test subjects who received enough candies to elevate her Intelligence and Concentration to 2.0, she had turned into a frighteningly voracious devourer of knowledge!

Ves looked surprised when he realized that Ketis had already reached and even surpassed the standard of an Apprentice! In certain fields such as metallurgy and mechanics, she had already reached the level of a Journeyman!

The only issue was that she didn't really have a single completed mech design to her name.

"I do have a lot of projects in an advanced stage, but…"

"Your study progress has already surpassed the level of your work, right?" Ves guessed.

She nodded. "I feel ashamed whenever I look at one of my old works. Every day, I learn something new that could have been applied to one of my works."

"You know that isn't good, right? Mech designers progress by practicing their craft. I always impressed upon you that accumulating book knowledge without ever putting it to use is no good!"

"I know, but.. I was never this smart before." She explained herself. "What took years for me to learn only takes a few weeks now! It's addicting!"

Ves groaned and palmed his face. That sounded just like him a few years ago!

His eyes sharpened as he gazed towards his first student. It looked like he needed to give her some extra guidance!

Her eyes suddenly brightened as she gently threw Lucky into the air. "Oh, there's also something else! While I haven't made much progress on my designs, I think I fleshed my design philosophy a bit! I even learned a cool trick! Watch this!"

She put her hand into her uniform pocket and retrieved a standard butter knife. Its edge was sharp enough to cut through meat, but not much more.

While Ves tried to figure out if there was something special about the knife, she retrieved a small bar of steel from her other pocket and threw it into the air.

Swish!

With a masterful one-handed sword stroke, Ketis chopped the butter knife through the metal bar!

Instead of colliding against the bar, the knife instead cut through it was if it was a cake!

The two separated pieces clattered to the ground while Ketis grinned at her mentor.

"Did you see! I finally developed my own superpower!"

Ves looked slack jawed!

"..What?"