Ves generally disliked repurposing his work.

The Giant Killer was originally designed to serve as the exclusive ranged mech of the Penitent Sisters.

When Ves poured months worth of work into the design, he never thought about sharing it to other Hexer groups. Neither the Hex Army nor the Glory Seekers were meant to harness this new model.

Did he think about it? Yes. Why shouldn't he? The Penitent Sisters may have joined the Larkinson Clan, but they still clung to enough Hexer traditions to remind everyone of their origins.

Theoretically, it was doable for Ves to develop a variant that possessed a character that was more compatible with normal Hexers.

Was Ves willing to do it? Not necessarily.

Aside from all of the other reasons he mentioned, he also had an additional objection.

"I think it is rather disrespectful to discuss such a profound change without listening to the input of Juliet Stameros."

Gloriana scowled. "We don't need to ask for her opinion. While I admit that she has worked hard on this mech design, it belongs to the Larkinson Clan, not the Penitent Sisters alone. We possess every right to decide whether to limit its use to our clansmen or any others we may wish to share our work with. In my eyes, the Giant Killer can serve as a fine Hexer mech with a couple of adjustments!"

Her disrespect towards Juliet caused Ves to feel a bit disappointed. He thought that months of quiet cooperation had increased her regard towards the third Journeyman working for the Design Department, but it appeared he was too optimistic.

"I'm not arguing with you any further." He spoke with a tone of finality. "Your arguments aren't enough to convince me that it is in our best interests to make the Giant Killer more widely available. We already have a bunch of other Hexer mechs to provide glows to the Hex Army. The Giant Killer doesn't bring anything else that is unique to the table. In fact, it probably performs worse in various aspects. Its weapon system is not a proprietary Hexer design. We licensed it! There are also a bunch of other compatibility issues that prevent the Giant Killer from fitting into the command and control systems of the Hex Army."

The Giant Killer did not follow the Hex Army's rules when it came to mech designs. It employed different standards, was not compatible with standard spare parts and employed a unique type of ammunition that had to be licensed separately and was not meant for military use.

In other words, the Giant Killer was comparable to a commercial mech design! While it was a very expensive and powerful design, it was nonetheless meant to function outside of the Larkinson Clan.

Gloriana still couldn't understand why Ves rejected her perfectly reasonable suggestion.

"Didn't you want to complete the quota of 8 mech designs as fast as possible?"

"I do, but I don't want to do a sloppy job. The Giant Killer won't work out as well as our other Hexer mechs, Gloriana. It will fall flat if it isn't paired with an accompanying battle network. I don't want our reputation to be besmirched because we delivered a product that doesn't fit the circumstances. It's also a matter of principle."

"Principle?" She looked confused. "That's not something I hear from you every day."

"Well I have them!" He insisted! "As a service provider, it is unethical to fulfill a job by hastily repurposing an existing work to fit the minimum requirements. We promised to design Hexer mechs that fully conform to the needs and circumstances of the Hexer state. I'm not going to break my professional rules over a mech design that won't be able to make a difference anyway!"

"You… I can't believe you, Ves.."

"You're overestimating the impact the Giant Killer will have on the Hex Army. Just forget about it. If you want to design a dedicated ranged mech for your former state, then we'll tackle this another time."

The two split up on bad terms. Gloriana couldn't handle his rejection. She didn't seem to listen to his arguments or did not take them seriously.

Ves wasn't too worried about her. They had arguments like this multiple times since they got together. Ves eventually learned that his logic would eventually drill through her thick skull. Without any valid counterarguments, she would definitely come around to his line of thinking.

He supervised the remaining tests of the Giant Killer prototypes alone. The Penitent Sisters all reacted with enthusiasm with their exclusive mechs.

"It's not a rifleman mech, but it can hit harder than any other mech in the fleet!"

"Our ranged mech specialists can finally stop feeling jealous of the sisters who get to pilot the Valkyrie Redeemer!"

"It is a pity that we cannot call on the Superior Mother's blessing."

Overall, the Giant Killer significantly boosted the appreciation the Penitent Sisters held towards Ves and the clan. Allowing them to 'own' the mech made them feel special and assured them that they would play a key role in the armed forces of the Larkinson Clan for the times to come.

The addition of the Giant Killer to their mech roster was a strong indicator that Ves did not harbor any thoughts of disbanding them and forcing their members to join the other mech forces!

After making sure that the Giant Killer design was working as intended, Ves attended a final testing session.

The light skirmishers zipping around in the air while using their glows to terrorize the poor targets made for an inspiring sight.

The Ferocious Piranha Mark I Version B model had already proven its chops during the Battle of Reckoning. While the early prototypes back then performed quite rough, continued refinement addressed much of the faults and inefficiencies that Gloriana previously noticed.

Now, the light mech model not only performed well in space, but also showed good maneuverability in a planetary environment. Ves liked that about second-class mechs. Their higher specs and capabilities allowed for a great deal more versatility than their third-class counterparts.

Different from the Giant Killer, the new Ferocious Piranha retained most of its combat effectiveness in the air. Its low mass and high thrust power allowed the light skirmisher to resist the pull of gravity with much less effort.

If the Giant Killer was a rock, then the Ferocious Piranha was the equivalent of a leaf. It was much easier for the latter to keep itself aloft!

"It's a bit bad on land, though."

This was to be expected. The Ferocious Piranha IB may be a second-class mech, but it still did not offer a lot of capacity to accommodate everything on his wishlist.

Early on in the design project, Ves and Juliet agreed to focus primarily on its flight capabilities. It simply wasn't worth it to invest too much in its locomotion on land.

The legs and mech engine of the Ferocious Piranha were comparatively weak. They were strong enough to allow the Ferocious Piranha to maintain a modest jog, but that was mostly to facilitate movement on starships and bases. It was too dangerous to allow mechs to fly in confined spaces.

This meant that while it was possible for the mech to fight on land, it was not recommended to do so. It ran slower than dedicated landbound light skirmishers and was comparatively weaker in other aspects as well since it wasted a lot of capacity on its flight system.

"If the mech can't fly, it's not in its element." Ves concluded.

If he wanted to field a better light skirmisher, then he should design a dedicated landbound mech like the Crystal Lord line. He could also invest some time in developing a variant of the Ferocious Piranha IB that removed its flight option.

For now, Ves saw little need to consider this option. Most planets he visited were terraformed globes that had been adjusted so that their gravitational pull closely matched that of Old Earth. Strange things happened to human bodies when they were subjected to a substantially different gravity on a long-term basis.

Under these circumstances, it was no problem for the Ferocious Piranha to keep itself aloft for a decent amount of time.

However, it would have a serious problem in trying to do the same on a heavy gravity planet. The Ferocious Piranha wouldn't even be able to lift off if the force pulling it downwards was well over 5 g!

Ves snorted. "The performance of my light skirmishers is the least of my problems if I'm on a heavy gravity planet."

Every other mech fielded by his clan would get into serious trouble as well!

As Ves had already observed most of what the Ferocious Piranha was capable of during the Battle of Reckoning, the test results held no suspense. The only new information he gained was specifically related to the light mech's performance in aerial situations.

He did not need to pay anymore visits to the testing facility. After personally witnessing the performance of all five nearly complete models, he did not spot anything egregious enough for him to go back to the drawing board.

"The only problems that remain is solving the problems related to the Blinding Mech and the Devious."

Both Hexer mech designs performed below expectations due to their inadequate spiritual configurations.

Ves couldn't solve their problems by utilizing his existing spiritual resources or techniques. He had to act more proactively and create new spiritual products that could meet a need that he hadn't addressed before.

Before Ves began to tackle those two problems in earnest, he briefly took some time out to bid the Swordmaidens goodbye.

After spending some time in the markets of Veoline, the Swordmaidens purchased all of the goods and supplies they thought they would need for their upcoming trip to the Heavensword Association.

"Meooow."

"Oh, Lucky. I'll miss you too, cutie!" Ketis giggled as she picked up the cat and snuggled against him for a moment.

Ves felt rather worried about letting her go off on her own, but he tried his best to suppress the urge to stop their departure.

There were too many reasons why they should attend the Greater Omanderie Festival. He did not want to deprive these tragic women of their opportunity to rise up after a long period of rapid decline.

Besides, the Swordmaidens used to be pirates. They could take care of themselves, mercenary escort or not. Majestic Teal was not comparable to the frontier or the Nyxian Gap either. As long as the Swordmaidens stuck to the main trading routes, they shouldn't encounter any trouble.

Once Ketis finished kissing Lucky's head, she tossed him over her head.

"Meow!"

Both Ves and Ketis ignored Lucky's complaint.

"I'll miss you." Ves said in a softer voice.

"Me too. I think it's for the best, though. I need to get out of your shadow in order to fully find my own way."

"I hope you'll be able to return as a Journeyman."

"You never know, Ves." She shrugged. "While I'm eager to catch up to you, I've learned that it doesn't help if I'm anxious. I'll just go forward and see where that takes me. If I am meant to break through while I am out, then I'll be happy for that. If I return while I am still an Apprentice, then I'll just continue to grind until I succeed."

"That's a good mindset to take, but don't forget about your ambitions. You need to have enough drive in order to push yourself past your limits. Becoming a Journeyman is the true start of any mech designer. You must completely dedicate yourself to this profession if you want to start designing real mechs."

Ketis took in his words for a moment and nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

Ves briefly talked to Commander Sendra and Venerable Dise before waving all of the Swordmaidens goodbye.

They all boarded their shuttles and flew back to orbit. There, they boarded another transit vessel that took them back to their combat carriers.

After settling into the vessels which had already been loaded with mechs and supplies, the Swordmaidens detached from the main fleet and began their first solo adventure.