When Ves entered the design lab, he immediately sensed the subdued mood among his mech designers.

After asking a few questions, he quickly found out why his Braves weren't so cheerful at the moment.

The design lab sat adjacent to the mech workshop. Normally, that wasn't much of a problem, but this time was different!

Ves recalled that he ordered the statue of the Unending One to be moved in the workshop. Even though the statue was completely inert, every assistant had taken a look at it and regretted their decision!

The frightfully life-like depiction of the tentacled whale caused everyone to recall the terror they felt at the appearance of the giant avatar of the dark god. Though the Black Cats made sure that none of the footage of the Battle of Ulimo Citadel at that stage survived, the memories still lived on. Glimpsing the unnerving black alloy statue was enough to trigger people's trauma!

As Ves stepped inside the mech workshop, he didn't really see what the fuss was all about. Certainly, the supposed dark god did look very intimidating, but to Ves it was merely a very powerful spirit that somehow managed to survive the death of its own species and the passage of time.

He walked up to its base and kicked the metal surface.

No divine punishment rained down on his head. He sneered.

"You're nothing but a broken statue. Whatever magic you possessed is gone. If my Braves are so afraid of you, then I'll just keep you here until my subordinates finally get over their fears."

If there was one benefit to the Battle of Ulimo Citadel, it was that Ves learned that more spiritual threats existed than he anticipated. The Five Scrolls Compact definitely loomed the largest, but the existence of these supposed dark gods opened his eyes from threats that originated outside humanity.

The galaxy was more complicated than he thought. In the distant past and long before humans evolved to create fire, many sentient alien races already roamed the stars.

The ubiquity of communication crystals among several alien races hinted that these aliens were all acquainted with each other. Perhaps the luminar race possessed the same tech base as whatever forsaken alien race the Unending One belonged to. They just used the same base technologies and designed them according to their individual needs.

For example, the Tzianti Crystals that Ves once used in the frontier should have been created by a normally-sized alien race. The new Xona Crystals that the Larkinson Clan looted from Ulimo Citadel ought to be the inventions of bigger alien races!

The luminar race definitely should have developed their own communication crystals as well. Theirs were probably small in order to accommodate the diminutive sizes of their users.

Since Ves lacked the equipment to process Unending alloy, he left the statue alone. There was no point in trying to melt it down or reshape the metal into something else such as a personal suit of armor.

While he deeply wanted to increase his personal protection, he really couldn't do anything if the only way to break the statue was by resorting to Lucky's special teeth!

A few days passed as Ves handled various design responsibilities at the time. Though he made sure to spend at least some hours on tinkering the Desolate Soldier mech that had been brought to the Scarlet Rose, He also had to work on his other design projects as well!

Ves grimaced a bit. The Battle of Ulimo Citadel and its aftermath distracted him for an entire week. During this time, he simply wasn't able to spend a sufficient amount of time on progressing his design projects, and it showed.

It didn't take much to see that Gloriana was quite annoyed with his absence. Without his help, their major design projects hadn't progressed as much as she wished. Both projects were running behind schedule!

During a joint design session, Ves sat together with Gloriana's physical projection as they observed the Valkyrie Redeemer design.

Though the mech still needed plenty of refinement, the overall direction of the mech had already been set. Ves was pleased with how the mech was geared towards channeling a suppressive glow to a target that was kilometers away. With his expanded spiritual understanding, he became even more confident that the Hexer mech would soon become known as a fearsome raider in the Komodo War!

While Ves wanted to implement the legacy mech concept to the Valkyrie Redeemer, this Hexer mech was arguably the one that least needed it out of all of his current projects.

In a high-intensity war where both sides sought immediate results, it didn't make that much sense to deliver mechs that still needed at least a year of regular use to come into power.

Additionally, the military reassigned its mech pilots to different machines fairly frequently, especially in wartime! Mechs fell all the time, and his Blessed Squires doubtlessly got destroyed by the thousands at this time.

In such a grueling conflict, the allure of legacy mechs paled in comparison to the strong and distinctive glows that imposed unmatched uniformity among many mech pilots.

Mechs used in wars also evolved frequently. The enemy constantly tried to counter successful mech models. In some cases, it made sense to drop ineffective mech models in favor of newer ones that weren't countered yet. Forcing soldiers to pilot outdated or easily-exploitable mechs was not a good way to win a massive war, especially when both sides were still flush with money and resources.

Ves knew that it wouldn't be good for his Hexer mech designs if the Komodo War dragged on for more than five years. This was a very long period of time that would doubtlessly evoke rapid evolution of all of the mechs used in the fighting.

Instead of spending time on designing new mechs, Ves and Gloriana would instead be compelled to spend at least some of their design time on updating the Blessed Squire, Valkyrie Redeemer and other existing mech models.

Even if he could pass at least some of this work to his assistants, it was still an unwanted burden.

The Komodo War had to end quickly! The best way for Ves to help the Hexers crush the Fridaymen was to make sure to supply mechs with strong glows to the Hex Army.

For this reason, Ves and Gloriana decided to allocate most of their available design time to completing the Valkyrie Redeemer.

Both decided to pause the Cat's Paw Project. While the heavy artillery mech was still important, its priority wasn't as high. Their factory ship wasn't ready to be delivered in around half a year. The clan's existing spaceborn mechs already offered sufficient protection.

"I'm so happy." Gloriana sighed contently as her physical projection leaned against his shoulder. "I missed this so much. Designing mechs isn't the same without you. When will you return?"

"Less than two months if there aren't any pirates in our task force's way. We're not looking for any confrontations anymore so we shouldn't be pulled in too many fights. We still have plenty of mechs to deter almost every pirate group in Maynard Fields and Wreckage Paradise."

Ves took a deep breath, smelling his fiancé flowery scent.

He had become used to the wonders of physical projection technology. The simulation of reality was so realistic that Ves was easily able to ignore the fact that Gloriana wasn't physically present at the moment.

"Ves?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Do you really intend to travel to Majestic Teal Star Sector once we are ready to leave the Komodo Star Sector?"

He nodded. "We need to make our way to the nearest beyonder gate. That will take a few years of travel. Along the way, we have to keep earning merits."

"There is plenty of work available in Vicious Mountain."

"That's true, but I have additional reasons to travel to Majestic Teal. Visiting the Life Research Association allows us to fulfill three objectives. First, many scientists in the LRA are obsessed with the study of life. Debating and exchanging knowledge with them will definitely allow me to progress my design philosophy. This is what I need, Gloriana."

"I understand." She replied. "I would pursue this opportunity as well if I were in your shoes."

"Aside from that, we need to hire a lot of excellent doctors, geneticists, implant surgeons, exobiologists and other biotech experts."

"We have already adopted plenty of talents in our clan. I haven't remained idle back on Cinach VI."

Ves shook his head. "That's different. All of them are third-class professionals. That won't cut it, especially since I've promised to provide every participant of this excursion a free set of implants and gene mod templates."

Delivering this promise was a huge burden. Third-class professionals weren't qualified to work with second-class augments. Aside from spending a lot of time and effort in raising their competences, it was much more convenient to hire professionals who were ready to work with advanced solutions right away.

In other words, he needed more people like Ranya Wodin.

"Okay, I'll give you that." She spoke. "It's not easy to acquire these skilled professionals. Now that the Komodo War has entered full swing, most of the people that I could have hired for you are preoccupied with assisting in the war effort."

That was a good thing in his eyes! The less Hexers in the clan, the better! As far as he was concerned, Gloriana had quietly given up her attempts to push her fellow Hexers into the clan. The culture and ideals of the Larkinsons explicitly emphasized equality, which was something that Hexer ideology fundamentally opposed!

"What's the third reason for traveling to the LRA?"

"I already told you that. The pirates that helped us conquer Ulimo Citadel want to be reunited with their families. I've graciously cleared their names, so they shouldn't be wanted by the authorities anymore."

"I don't think this reunion will go as smoothly as you think." She pressed her finger against his chest. "You only managed to convince the MTA to stop treating them as outlaws. That doesn't mean that they are welcome to return to the Life Research Association. What if their domestic enemies still remember them? What if certain high-ranked officials of the LRA begin to push our clan away due to this reason? Have you thought of these possibilities?"

Ves frowned. "I.. no. Goddammit, Gloriana, I'm not a politician!"

"That doesn't mean you should overlook these basic but very impactful consequences! Bringing the wrong people might be taken as a provocation to certain factions. While the LRA isn't as powerful as the Friday Coalition or the Hexadric Hegemony, it is still capable of crushing our entire fleet with its military!"

The need to hire a diplomat or someone adept at managing both politics and external relations became greater.

Though Calabast already somewhat fulfilled this role, she mainly engaged in intrigue. Though diplomacy and intrigue had much in common, they ultimately demanded different approaches and different competences.

Ves didn't have any immediate candidates, sadly. None of his Larkinsons were particularly adept at this job and hiring a third-rater was not the best idea. Only someone who grew up in a second-rate state possessed the innate bearing and ability to command respect from the powers that Ves would likely engage with in the future.

The two began to discuss other destinations that they wished to visit. Ves suggested they should visit the Heavensword Association as well.

"While I don't have an urgent need to visit this state, Ketis and the Swordmaidens would probably love it if we make a stop here. The people of the Heavensword Association are all obsessed with swords."

"I can see how that would benefit them, but we can't divert our entire schedule just to satisfy a small majority of our clansmen."

"We'll just find additional reasons to visit the Heavensword Association. There's bound to be opportunities to earn merits in this state as well."

Majestic Teal offered many more interesting destinations. Though neither Ves nor Gloriana were willing to stay too long, it shouldn't be a problem to see some of the local sights!