The Mech Touch novel Chapter 519

Chapter 519: Teaching

Ves lacked many advantages that could shore up his position .

First, he wasn't a genuine Journeyman, so he wouldn't be able to command respect by virtue of his status . Even if he had the biggest fist at the moment, many mech designers subconsciously believed that this would be a temporary state .

It was much like how older advanced mech pilots all considered themselves as equals in skill . They all ran into the bottleneck that barred their way towards metamorphosing into an expert pilot . Even if they excelled in different skills, all of them were the same in the eyes of an expert pilot .

Second, Ves was an outsider . He didn't know anyone from before the Mech Corps drafted him and even his fellow alumni from the Rittersberg University of Technology didn't know him . To be honest, back then he was so mediocre that no one bothered to pay attention to him . He wasn't like Patricia Schneider, who stood out as a genius out of place from the start .

Bandying out his connection to Master Olson didn't help much either . It explained his superiority to them, but rather acknowledging his accomplishment of gaining a Master's attention, they envied him instead . Jealousy was a powerful human emotion that motivated countless people to irrational decisions .

Third, their current conditions made it hard to form any bond . With the fleet moving through FTL for most of its two-month journey, every mech designer needed to interact with each other through comms and projections . Though virtual technology made it easy to connect to each other, it was no substitute to being physically present in the same room .

Besides, with the work schedules that Ves planned to hand out week by week, everyone would be too busy to socialize . Those who reached their work targets faster than scheduled might squeeze some moments together, but those would be few and far in between . _{freēwēbηovel.c૦m}

He thought back on his resolve to leverage what he possessed in order to get what he wanted . If he could leverage his unique talents in mech design to trade for the assistance of a biomedical institution to figure out his body, then why not use those same talents to achieve other goals?

Mech design was the only thing he was good at, and for a long time Ves thought himself as an ant among giants . With the existence of higher-ranked mech designers such as Journeymen, Seniors, Masters and Star Designers, Ves truly felt as if he had been playing with the sand .

Even if he had the fortuitous assistance of the Mech Designer System, the device only let him catch up a little faster .

It was only recently that his opinion of himself had undergone a shift . Interacting with so many different mech designers during his tour with the Flagrant Vandals allowed him to understand his place .

"I am more than an Apprentice but less than a Journeyman . "

He wasn't close to advancing . He could feel that deep within his bones . Yet he happened to be closer to the threshold than anyone else in the Verle Task Force, so Ves happened to possess the most qualifications to be a teacher .

What did other mech designers desire the most? They shared the same dream as Ves . They wanted to reach past their limitations and progress their ability to design mechs until they reached the pinnacle in their profession .

To do that, they needed to learn and improve . Studying textbooks was one way they would be able to absorb new knowledge, but having someone more knowledgeable teaching them the essence of what they missed was of incredible value .

Ves liked to think he would make for a great teacher . After all, his unorthodox learning process through the System crammed him with an extensive understanding of several fields . It lacked the holes, biases, misunderstandings and outdated theories that everyone else had to struggle with as they read their way through stuffy textbooks .

As Ves announced the option to choose for an hour's worth of tutoring from him, most of the higher-ranked mech designers adopted a disdainful look . What he achieved, they could achieve as well . That was what they believed in their hearts .

Only a couple of people that knew him better possessed an inkling of its value . If they could let go of their pride, they definitely stood to benefit a lot .

As for the lower-ranked mech designers, they didn't have much pride to begin with . In front of their colleagues who achieved substantial success, their self-worth had long been ground to dust . As far as the Vandals were concerned, these bunch of failures never got off the starting line .

They weren't 'real' mech designers, not like Ves or Pierce or even the likes of Mercator .

Yet because they never got a proper start, they desired what their more successful peers achieved more than anything else . Ves could see the hunger in the expressions of their projections . Some hid it better than others, but almost every mech designer sitting in the back seats felt their long-dormant hope beginning to ignite .

Ves smirked inwardly at that . He successfully planted the seeds within their minds . Time would tell whether they germinated .

The rest of the meeting didn't contain any more bombshells . He handed out schedules of the work that needed to be done in the next few days . He tasked Mercator and Trozin to keep track of every mech designer's progress on top of their current duties . Ves didn't care if it ate away at their time .

He threw out one more warning before he ended the meeting .

"Be careful when the task force arrives at our next destination . It's our last stop before we leave the Imodris Duchy, so it is the only star system where our pursuers have a hope of stopping us . Everyone will be called to battle stations anyway, but I hope you realize there is a chance we'll be plunged into combat as soon as our ships emerge from FTL . "