The Mech Touch novel Chapter 715

"I’m not ready yet!" Ketis strenuously objected.

"I don’t think that’s true." He firmly pushed back. "You reflexibly shy away from such a momentous decision, but you can’t keep putting it off forever. At some point, that will turn into an ingrained instinct that will permanently stall your ambitions in your career. If you have any desire to achieve something greater, then you have to keep moving forward. You’re not getting any nearer to your destination if you don’t start working your metaphorical feet!"

He concluded this after a lot of thought about the circumstances of other mech designers. The flood of so many mech designers in the industry forced a lot of them out of the market, but the defining factor whether someone bowed out early or survived at the end depended on willpower!

Without the mental fortitude to work towards a goal, how would mech designers get anywhere? Ves figured out that if he hadn’t obtained the System, he would still be able to make his career lift off as long as he worked hard enough. _{freewёbnoνel.com}

Even if he went bankrupt after his first business venture failed, he could always study hard and try again with better designs and an improved business plan in mind. The main challenge in such a situation was trying to raise capital, but even that could be surmounted as long as he attracted someone stupid enough to invest in his business.

Even if a mech designer’s situation seemed hopeless, there was always a way out!

Unfortunately, Ketis hadn’t learned this lesson yet, so Ves had to guide her on the right track.

"I feel like you’re asking the impossible out of me." She pouted at him. "I thought I knew everything about mech design, but then I met you. Your standards are so ridiculously high that I bet that even Master Mech Designers aren’t so tough!"

"That’s impossible." He laughed. "A genuine Master will drive me up the wall just like how I’m supposedly driving you crazy. You haven’t seen anything of how a true talent is brought up!"

She turned to another question that had been weighing on her mind for a while. "Why are you working so hard to reach such an impossible goal?"

That was an important question, and one that made him pause. He understood that she didn’t wish to hear an answer related to his aspirations about mechs. Instead, the question was more about his personal motivations. What drove him to pursue an impossible dream?"

"I think.. it’s largely for myself. I want to make my life better. I want my life to have meaning. Leaving behind a legacy that will transform the entire fabric of the mech industry is one of the greatest accomplishments I can ever achieve. If I can’t achieve immortality, then I want the next-best thing and be mentioned in every history book."

"That sounds really selfish, you know." She frowned. "What about your family?"

The Larkinsons? "I do care about them, but my extended family can take care of themselves. If there is anyone in my family that I want to help, it’s my parents. Both of them.. they’re not in a good spot, especially my father. As for my mother.. I don’t know. In any case, I’m so weak and small right now that I can’t even save my own father."

This issue continued to weigh on him in the back of his mind because it took far too long to become strong enough to gain enough power to help his father. Even though he had become an Apprentice Mech Designer who was at the cusp of advancing into Journeyman, he was still being jerked around like a pawn by hidden players in a sprawling game that already killed millions of people.

Taking stock at his progress so far, Ves became despondent at the thought that he’d still be a powerless nobody in the eyes of the true movers and shakers of the Komodo Star Sector. Even Masters dreaded at the thought of fighting back against a behemoth like the Five Scrolls Compact!

"It’s that bad, huh?" Ketis asked, though she already knew the answer. "Hey, at least you still have decent parents to look forward to seeing again. Mine are total scumbags. Growing up in the settlements is not a good life for anyone. It’s so backwards and dirty at the place where I grew up that I won’t shed a tear if someone chucked a meteorite at it. The frontier is better off without that cesspool. As far as I’m concerned, the Swordmaidens are my family now."

The two commisserated a bit about family. They both felt strongly about their missing or adopted relatives.

Suddenly, Ketis adopted a mischievous grin and bumped him with her elbow. "Say, what about the missus? Do you have a girlfriend waiting back at home?"

His cheeks would have flushed if she asked that question a couple of years ago, but his rough experiences in the last couple of years had matured him a bit. He knew just how to answer that question.

"I don’t have a girlfriend. I haven’t met the right woman yet."

"Not even me?"

He laughed. "Don’t think too highly of yourself. If nothing else, I respect the boundaries between a teacher and their students. I don’t want to take advantage of my authority."

"Pfff! Since when do pirates care about the rules! Live a little! Have some fun!"

"This is exactly why I forced you to familiarize yourself with the MTA’s rules and principles. You can’t just say no to every rule just because. Some of them are genuinely good ideas that you should think about adopting for yourself. Establishing a proper teacher-student relationship is one of them. Besides, I don’t think we’re compatible people."

"Oh? I think we’re getting along just fine." She said in a tone that Ves couldn’t place. She sidled a little closer against his body. "You know what they say in the dramas? Opposites attract. Who’s to say that you need to be ’compatible’ to make a good couple? Look at us. We’re made for each other! You’re the brains while I can act as the muscle! That’s a classic combination"

His brows began to furrow. Ketis took this joke a bit too far, and began to enter uncertain territory. He turned towards the clingy Swordmaiden and placed his hands around her, only to gently push her away.

"I’m flattered you say that about me, but you’re still a bit young and you probably haven’t hung around a lot of boys your age."