[201-400] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 232: Fulfillmen

Ves considered designing mechs his life's calling. Since his birth into the Larkinson family, his upbringing constantly centered around mechs. Even after finding out that he'd never be able to interface with a mech, he switched his goals to designing them after a low spell.

Strangely enough, Ves never questioned his singular obsession with mechs. In the Age of Mechs, that shouldn't be a problem for most people, but mech designers had it different.

A mech designer designed mechs. While that sounded like a pleonasm, it actually hid a fundamental truth: a mech designer combined his knowledge and life experiences to shape a unique mechanical war machine into being.

What was a mech designer without much life experience? A bot. A run-of-the-mill cookie-cutter designer who studied from the same mainstream textbooks referenced by countless other designers.

"Is this why apprenticing to a Master and seeking fortune in danger is so important?" Ves hummed to himself. He felt as if he parted the veil behind a essential truth in the field of mech design. "Mech designers that lead monotonous lives will inevitably gravitate towards designing monotonous mechs."

He thought back on all the innovative designs he came across. From the glorious, larger-than-life Caesar Augustus to the gimmicky spear-dashing Hoplite, all of these unique creations possessed a spark of personality that no sane designer could have ever come up with if they holed up in a design studio all day.

Despite their various flaws, the personal touch imbued in their designs turned them into unforgettable classics that lived on in the annals of mech history.

What about the Star Designers, the very best designers in the galaxy? Legends like Apollo, The Polymath and The Armorer all possessed colorful biographies filled with excitement, struggle and tragedy. They persevered throw their lows and rode their highs towards the very top of the tallest mountain in the galaxy.

Even then, they still sought even greater heights, always grasping towards the unattainable heavens above.

"That's still too far away from me." Ves shook his head. Who was he kidding? Forget about reaching the heavens, he still hadn't finished his first climb. "Let's find a hobby first."

What did other people do for fun? Ves decided to ask his employees.

He already knew what Carlos did sometimes in his free time. Even back at Rittersberg, he occasionally sneaked to a game center and immersed himself in one of those casual mech simulation games.

Different from Iron Spirit, these games allowed neural peasants like Carlos and Ves to get a taste of actual piloting with minimal demands on their aptitude. They worked by pre-programming all kinds of moves into the virtual mechs. Players could activate them by issuing only a single mental command.

Rather than call it piloting a virtual mech, Ves considered it more like commanding a robot. He always felt very detached when he played such casual games. Even though the games evolved throughout the years to the point where even beginner pilots could pull off moves mastered by aces, it never felt real enough.

"So that's out."

Ves approached Chief Cyril next. He had a very peculiar hobby.

"I make my own clockwork from scratch. I started with the classics using alloys and woods, and after several years of mastery I moved on to incorporating exotics in my works. It's a great hobby for technicians like me because the skills and patience you learn from assembling clocks will greatly help your ability to put a mech together."

Clocks didn't call out to Ves. As far as he was concerned, if he needed to know the time, he could look up the current time from his comm.

With some reluctance, he started asking his technicians on what they did in their free time.