[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 422: Stories

Ves shared some of history to the two designers. What they found most impressive with Ves was his willingness to partake in dangerous expeditions.

"I don't have the guts to do the same." Pierce admitted with a rueful expression. "Mech designers aren't meant to be out in the field."

Ves understood the sentiment. "That's true in the strictest sense, but sometimes you won't be able to achieve your dreams without putting in some extra effort. With so many mech designers out there doing the same things over and over, it takes a lot of inspiration and a unique perspective to stand out from the crowd. The rewards are also good as well."

"It's too dangerous. Sorry, but I don't agree with you. Better designs come from hard work. As long as you study hard and apply your knowledge well, you should be able to achieve more solid results."

That only worked up to a point, Ves thought, but he didn't argue the point. Instead, he asked the other man a question. "You're an Apprentice as well, right? What kind of work did you do since you graduated?"

"I worked at at a major mech manufacturer and joined their design teams. It wasn't as large as the ones where we are heading into. The lead designer did most of the work and assistants like me only played a role in the debugging process."

"How good is the lead designer?"

"Oh he's really good. He's old but he's a very seasoned Journeyman Mech Designer. He often stopped by to teach some points to us. I really benefited from his tutelage."

Unmentioned by Pierce was that the Journeyman Mech Designer likely held an ulterior motive for doing so. The way Pierce spoke about the leader designer didn't carry a lot of endearment.

Likely, the Journeyman wanted to catch the attention of Pierce's father.

There was nothing wrong with that in his eyes. Both Pierce and the lead designer benefited from such an arrangement. The only problem was that it didn't look as if the lead designer succeeded in his goal.

"What kind of mechs have you worked with?"

"I have an extensive amount of experience in working with several different types of landbound mechs. I've taken part in the design process of at least eight different types of mechs."

That sounded very impressive, though it was easier to do when you spread the workload over multiple designers.

"Sounds like you have a lot of experience working in a team." Ves nodded. "I only worked on my designs on my own. I've never really collaborated with others when it came to developing an original design."

While Ves admired Pierce's experience in working on many collaborative projects, the other two mech designers expressed their own admiration to him for relying on himself to develop a functional design.

Pierce let out a weary sigh."Even with my experiences, I only ever attempted to publish a single original mech. I couldn't get the lead designer to release the funds for me to fabricate a prototype. It wasn't a commercially attract product, he said."

It wasn't easy to make the jump from taking part in a collaborate project to designing mechs on your own. Ves only managed to do so by acquiring years worth of knowledge with the help of the System.

"If you want to design your original mech, there's no substitute for learning the theories on your own. Teaching can only go so far."

"I know. I have access to plenty of reading materials, but the things I need to learn are too much or too hard."

"Even so, at least you have access to them. THat's a lot better than what most mech designers enjoy."

After learning just enough about Pierce, Ves turned to Laida, who had been listening quietly all this while.