The Mech Touch novel Chapter 761

Did the act of teaching redeem his crimes?

When Ves asked himself that question, he suspected that this may be one of the reasons why certain mech designers pursued the teaching profession. Teaching was a way of giving back to the profession. Since he taught Ketis so earnestly without turning her into his puppet, his own conscience must have decided that it was a valid way of absolving himself of his misdeeds!

What a stroke of luck!

After handling the inquiries of his student before he handed over another virtual textbook for her to flip through in her spare time, Ves leaned back in his chair and smiled.

If teaching turned out to be a good way to undo the damage of my misdeeds, then he could effectively break the rules more often without having to pay a painful price!

"It’s like wiping away my debts by performing a couple of good deeds."

Ves developed a small theory about this phenomenon. It resembled the concept of karma. As long as he did more good than bad, then his net balance of karma remained positive.

In his perspective, karma went from a concept of morality to an immeasurable but very real commodity. If Ves wanted to keep his design philosophy in a healthy state while occasionally play fast and loose with his principles, then he needed to make sure he treated karma like he treated his budgets and bank accounts.

The basics of maintaining a good budget was to ensure his income surpassed his expenses.

For example, if his tampering with Venerable Xie’s neural interfaces put him 1,000 karma under debt, then he needed to compensate that with at least 1,000 karma worth of good deeds.

Ves sensed that the little lesson just then probably had a value of 0.01 karma at most. That was hardly impactful, but the lesson didn’t last very long. If Ves continued to guide Ketis, he could probably ramp up his income and pay off his karma debt a month earlier and restore his design philosophy to normal!

Whatever the case, this was just the start! If Ves ever took in more students, he could easily earn bucketloads of karma, thereby expanding his allowance of misdeeds!

Of course, that was easier said than done, and he hadn’t figured out the mechanics behind this phenomenon yet. He idly called it karma, but it probably behaved in a different manner than money.

For example, he wouldn’t be able to borrow karma from others, or invest it in some stocks and profit off his dividends and capital gains.

He doubted that he could lend his karma to others, who subsequently used it to perform more good deeds in their own stead, and thereby pay them back after they have succeeded in their ventures.

His design philosophy was something deeply personal to Ves. It encapsulated his hopes and aspirations as well as his core values related to mech design. He formulated his design philosophy long before he joined the Vandals and adopted some of the crooked ways he learned from the pirates and them. In that aspect, his design philosophy reflected the product of a pure, naive mech designer who never once stepped foot out of civilized space.

It was uncomfortably bright and innocent to someone as jaded as Ves, yet he couldn’t help but cling to it regardless.

"My design philosophy is my salvation."

All of this bore further investigation, but first the Flagrant Swordmaidens needed to get the hell out of this star system!

When Ves called up a status update on the condition of the fleet, he found out that the engineers aboard the Finmoth Regal finished restoring her FTL drive. Her sublight propulsion took more time to repair, but they could easily perform that work after they transitioned into FTL.

Right now, the chief engineers that had been freed up after finishing their job transferred over to the Linever Swan and accelerated the installation of her own FTL drive. As a large logistics ship, her FTL drive was significantly larger and more complex, and thus took more time to install.

"Just two more hours until we jump." _{freёwebnoѵel.com}

It actually took a bit longer than that. The two hours the chief engineers provided had just been an estimate, and several snags during the repairs delayed the installation of the new FTL drive long enough to surpass their initial estimates by an hour.

Still, at least they managed to finish their work. After performing a range of brief tests, the chief engineers tentatively declared the Finmoth Regal and the Linever Swan to be shipworthy enough to engage their FTL drives!

With the help of the mysterious key in the possession of the Flagrant Swordmaidens, the engineers programmed both drives with the exact settings that would theoretically allow them to circumvent the raging spacetime storms surrounding the Aeon Corona System.

With not a single mech or spaceship belonging to another force in the vicinity of the Flagrant Swordmaiden fleet, they were all prepared to jump into the unknown. Patrol mechs already started following their recall orders and slowly tightened their guard perimeter as they returned to their carriers.

Just before the fleet made the fateful transition, Major Verle solemnly stood from his chair and issued the order they had all been waiting for. Months of bleeding through Vesian space and even more months of traversing the frontier finally culminated in this moment where they needed to take only a single step to reach their destination.

"It’s been hard on you all." He spoke as he held a small speech. "We have fought many battles, several of them against the best the Vesian Mech Legion has to offer, and we survived. We have traversed more light-years this past half-year than any mech regiment traverses in a decade! We have despoiled a Vesian star system, humiliated an entire duchy by kidnapping one of their hopes, kicked a lot of pirate butts along the way and impressed the ladies over at the Swordmaidens of our battle prowess! Do you feel proud!?"

A loose rumble escaped from everyone’s throats. In the command center, everyone responded with a yes of some sort. Elsewhere, the Vandals uttered their enthusiastic affirmations to the projection of their commanding officer.

Considering all the battles they went through, not a single Vandal felt unworthy of their name!

"Then what are we afraid of? The Aeon Corona System may be uncharted territory for us, but what does that matter when we have reached far beyond civilized space and penetrated the deep frontier without a single moment of hesitation? What lies before us is not a hazard, but an opportunity. It represents a chance to earn riches, fame and glory! Come now! Accept my hand and let me take you into Valhalla itself! Initiate FTL transition sequence!"

The Shield of Hispania hummed and rumbled as the ethereal FTL drive came to life. The huge, complex ship component responsible for propelling every vessel into a range of alternate dimensions that effectively allowed for travel at superluminal speeds took a few moments to spool up.

It actually took a little longer for the entire fleet to spool up. The replacement FTL drives of the Finmoth Regal and Linever Swan needed some time to get going because the chief engineers wanted to make sure they didn’t spin out of control.

Three minutes later, the fleet finally winked out. They successfully transitioned into FTL and were on their way to the Aeon Corona System!

Everyone stood down from yellow alert. Neither the Vesians nor the worshippers of Haatumak could extend their reaches into FTL space.