The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1302

Ves quickly calmed down after he heard Tristan describe Patricia’s marriage.

Though he felt uncomfortable about her decisions, Patricia was her own woman. It was fully within her right to marry any man she wanted. For her to marry some random Apprentice Mech Designer who graduated from Leemar was her prerogative.

Why should he care so much about the man she chose to spend the rest of her life with? It was none of his business. Ves had his own relationships to deal with. He could hardly spare any attention to Patricia’s circumstances, especially since it became even unlikelier they would ever cross paths in the future.

Both sides got something out of each other so Ves could hardly fault the practicality of the pairing.

Still, Ves expected that Patricia would marry someone better.

"I’ve heard rumors that Master Null favors Patricia a lot." Tristan continued. "If he isn’t so insistent on hiding his identity in order to avoid his old enemies, he might have even taken Patricia in as his direct disciple. Hearing from you that she’s your former classmate, that doesn’t surprise me anymore. Where the hell did the two of you even study to become this good?"

"Just an average institution in the Bright Republic. The two of us are just abnormal." Ves shrugged. "It’s not important. I’m just happy to hear that Patricia is finding success in her own way. I hope she doesn’t take too long to advance to Journeyman."

Ves noticed that ever since he became a Journeyman himself, his perspective on Apprentices and lower had shifted. He hung out more with other Journeyman who all regarded Apprentices as kids with relatively little importance and took over their attitude.

As someone who only recently crawled out of the ranks of Apprentices, a part of him felt offended by this treatment. Yet as a Journeyman himself, unrealized potential was still unrealized.

They still had to pass the extraordinary threshold in order to gain notice. This was quite hard for most Apprentices. Compounding the situation was that mech designers did not have an equivalent rank to expert candidates in the mech piloting profession.

Expert candidates only possessed a fraction of the potential of expert pilots. However, their emergence proved that a particular mech pilot possessed a definite potential to become someone greater, and thus could always count on enjoying better treatment and much more investment in their training.

Not so for Apprentices. Most only had a vague clue of how far they progressed, and no one took their judgement seriously.

After a bit of chatting, Tristan passed on one more remark before he ended the call.

"Don’t neglect the Rim Guardians. Even if they’re often bullied by the other Mechers, they are still one of the most well-equipped organizations in the galactic rim. They have access to tech, exotics, treatments and other goodies far beyond any local power. Best of all, they’re quite willing to share in their bounty to their allies as long as they’re helpful in some way."

Ves sighed. "I know. Thanks for the reminder. The problem is that it’s not so easy to earn their favor."

"The best things are always the hardest to get. You should be grateful that you even have a chance at all due to passing the trials set by the Rim Guardians."

The call quickly ended after that. As Tristan’s projection winked out, Ves digested what he learned.

He scratched his chin. "Tristan’s conduct is already that of a mech designer ready to strike it out on his own. Even if he’s a direct disciple, he is one of the youngest and is unlikely to inherit Master Katzenberg’s mantle. It’s no wonder he’s eager to forge a lot of ties."

Ves did not understand much about the situation facing direct disciples. They acquired their design philosophies from their Masters. Did that mean they were stuck with it forever or could they pursue a side path in order to differentiate themselves from the main branch of their inherited design philosophy?

Something like that would be useful to know, but Ves forgot to ask for clarification from Tristan.

"Well, I’ll probably have more opportunities to talk to him later."

The Barracuda transitioned into FTL and went underway. It would take some time for Ves to reach the territories of the Kinner Tribe.

He particularly looked forward to reaching the Bloodstone System. Everything he heard about Bloodstone stood in sharp contrast to the peaceful and indolent Zin Alpha he just exited.

Bloodstone II became known as the Planet of Red Rocks or more dramatically the Planet Stained in Blood. Such descriptors referenced the frequent amount of conflict that took place on the central planet of the Kinner Tribe.

Though the small third-rate state managed to achieve more stability, that did not mean that Bloodstone II lacked any blood to dye its rocks even redder.

The planet and the rest of the star system acted as a center of business for many mercenary outfits. All of the relevant Kinner institutions related to their famed mercenary practices operated out of Bloodstone II. The Mercenary Association also set up a regional headquarters there, adding more support to the lively mercenary trade.

Naturally, with so many mech pilots gathered in one place, a portion of which consisted of foreigners, the mech arenas soon followed. Not only did the Kinner Tribe host some of the most exciting mech games in the star sector, they also offered many venues for mech duels. _{ƒreewebηoveℓ.com}

Mech pilots dueled each other to earn more fame, to resolve vendettas, to improve their evaluation and most importantly to raise their value in event a wealthy client bought their service for life!

"If I didn’t know any better, Bloodstone can aptly be described as a slave market for mech pilots. The only difference is that the slaves are willing to indenture themselves." Ves muttered.

The mech pilots who willingly pledged their loyalty to their buyers did so for the future of their children. A small number of citizens of the poor state managed to become wealthy, powerful and influential due to the continuous sacrifices of their parents and grandparents.

Every Kinner dreamed of giving their offspring a better life. They had to make a lot of sacrifices, but it was intimately fair as those who worked hard managed to pass on their gains to the next generation.

In this way, the poor and beleaguered Kinner Tribe managed to carve out a niche that no other state was willing to fulfill and stay upright even when surrounded by different threats.

This kind of hard-working attitude against adversity reminded him a bit of the Bright Republic, except the Kinners were subject to much more pressure.

His perspective had become colored by the Societal Revival Theory. Ever since Lord Javier brutally laid out how the upper echelons regarded human society and their beliefs on how they ought to strengthen it, Ves could no longer go back.

The higher he climbed and the more he saw of the universe, the more he began to agree with the assumptions of the theory. It was as if he was slowly turning into a stuck-up member of the upper class he had always despised.