The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1520

Their first collaborative feedback and design session lasted for the rest of the day. Ves and Gloriana became so immersed in their discussions that they opted to eat lunch and dinner in the workshop compartment!

The collision of ideas, the sharing of insights and the need to explain one’s own thoughts provided plenty of intellectual stimulation.

Even if the actual changes Ves planned to make in his design did not amount to much at the end, he still felt he gained a greater awareness over his own design.

Having to explain and justify many of his design choices was much like teaching in a way. Even if he rehashed his existing theories, being forced to explain them and package them in a way that allowed him to communicate his points succinctly increased his familiarity with them, thereby directly increasing his utilization in the process.

In addition to sharing their objective theories, they also started to exchange their subjective principles and viewpoints.

Both of them began to unveil aspects of their design philosophies to each other.

For example, Gloriana applied her expertise in designing perfect vessels into feedback aimed at increasing the compatibility of his Desolate Soldier to a wider range of mech pilots.

Ves became astounded by how some of her advice hit home.

"For someone who insists on designing the perfect vessel for a single, specific mech pilot, you’re quite good at finding ways on making mechs more adaptable to many customers."

Gloriana continued to lean against him with her soft body. In fact, other than a brief bathroom break, she never left his side!

"It’s not as contradictory as you think, Ves. If you think about it, I specialize in adapting mechs to mech pilots. While I mainly focus on complete and total adaptation to a single subject, I meet all kinds of customers. Of course, I haven’t dealt with mech pilots as bad as the ones in your states, but I’ve already dealt with a wide range of personalities, inclinations and skill sets. This means that I can rapidly estimate how well a given mech design can accommodate a whole gamut of people."

"That’s quite impressive."

She grinned happily at him. "So are you. The ideas you’ve introduced to me today are so radical that I don’t even know where to begin!"

Neither of them went too deep into revealing their design philosophies to each other. Ves knew that she still withheld most of her specialty because it simply didn’t apply to this case.

As for Ves, while he pretty much accepted her as his girlfriend, he still wanted to take his time. He stuck to a shallow introduction of his specialty. He first wanted her to accept some of his guiding principles and concepts before he revealed more.

"Mechs are alive." He repeated. "There is a living, beating heart inside them, and we have a responsibility to make their bodies as coherent as possible. Some of the design choices I’ve made don’t make that much sense when you regard a mech as a mechanical machine. Yet when you understand that my Design Soldier has to conform to the concept of duty, my choices aren’t baffling anymore."

"The gods you create must be carried by worthy vessels." Gloriana nodded seriously. "

His smile twitched a bit when he heard her repeat her nonsense about ’creating gods’. To be frank, Ves felt increasingly more guilty about deceiving her. That nonsense story about divinity he told the MTA should have been buried in the MTA"s massive archives!

At this point, he decided to come clean. "Gloriana. I.. I think you are misunderstanding something. The recording you’ve obtained from the MTA.. it’s not entirely accurate. I didn’t really believe that I was creating gods. Back then, I deliberately exaggerated my design philosophy to the point of absurdity because I don’t want the MTA to learn what I really do. The truth is much less.. radical."

His serious tone caused Gloriana to stop hugging him for a moment. She took one of her hands in her own and turned towards him with a grave expression.

"You don’t have to be so afraid." She squeezed his hand. "I support you no matter how far you go in your design philosophy. The proto-gods I’ve sensed in your mechs aren’t lies. How can you deny the extraordinary miracles you are capable of performing? You can be honest with me! I will be at your side every step of the way. Just don’t leave me out when you create your gods!"

"Gloriana! Didn’t you listen to me?! My design philosophy doesn’t revolve around divinity at all!"

Her smile never subsided. She continued to gaze at him with a loving gaze. "I can scarcely imagine the gods we can create together. Just like with your Transcendent Messengers, I want to be a part of the creation of gods that can act as guardians of their states. What you did for the Ylvaine Protectorate is a model of the future of our collaborative efforts!"

Times like these reminded Ves that Gloriana hadn’t changed that much at all. She just made an effort into hiding some of her Hexer-ness when she was in his presence.

Only when certain topics rose up did she reveal her conviction in her kooky beliefs. She was so fanatical about them that she outright rejected any answers that clashed with her own fervently-held beliefs!

No matter what kind of logic or facts he brought up, anything that matched her hexism beliefs was inviolable!

He sighed. "I told you over and over again that I’m not a follower of hexism. I don’t ascribe to any of its tenets."

"As I said, that’s okay. Hexism isn’t as strict as you think. It’s a philosophy and an acknowledgement of the truth more than a cult. Life, death, gods, man and so on are all intertwined. What is dead can come to life. What is human can ascend to god. Your design philosophy already encapsulates these concepts. You create new life from something that is not supposed to be alive!"

Ves began to grow more and more uncomfortable. The most vexing aspect about Gloriana’s misunderstandings was that some of her beliefs actually held some kernels of truth! This made it much more difficult for him to refute her assumptions!

"What does hexism’s obsession with the number six have to do with all of this?" He waved his hand.

He already became exposed to the blatant influence of hexism aboard the Stellar Chaser.

They always ate six-course meals.

Gloriana always wore clothes with six buttons or something.

Their data pads came with six sides.

His guest room featured six potted plants.

There was no rhyme or reason why certain stuff had to come in six! It was driving him nuts!

She giggled at him. "Oh Ves, you’re so adorable when you look so lost. Hexism isn’t easy to get into, but I’ll explain this the best I can. We don’t worship the number six because it’s some magical number. We pay tribute to the six phases of existence: life, death, godhood, damnation, dust, woman."

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