Chapter 646
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Ves awkwardly laughed . "That will never happen to me . "
Those who stepped on the road to lunacy often denied that they were doing something wrong . As long as Ves remained self-conscious of himself, he would always be able to halt before he went off into the deep end .
Insanity and irrationality among mech designers occasionally popped up . Some say only a thin line stood between genius and madness . Those who advanced into Senior and higher often exhibited signs along that nature .
A couple of theories Ves had heard back in school state that mech designers attempted to perform the impossible . They wanted to break past the laws of physics and reality and pioneer new paths where none existed before .
If a Journeyman could be said to have finished his orientation and make his first steps on a chosen path, a Senior attempted to tread outside the boundaries of an existing path . Each mech designer started off by studying existing knowledge . However, to continue their studies at this height only locked them into a well-trodden path .
There was no novelty in imitation . One would only remain an inferior copy of a predecessor .
Senior Mech Designers mostly preoccupied themselves with stepping out of the familiar and exploring the vast unknown that was shrouded in fog . Almost every direction led to peril or a dead end . Some Seniors labored for four-hundred years and never managed to find their path to salvation .
The fog buried their bones and half-completed goals .
Only a small handful managed to explore the fog and successfully found a way out . They carved a brand new path for themselves that never existed before and lit a beacon so that others could follow .
There was something metaphysical about this whole description that mystified almost every mech designer who stumbled upon it . Many of his peers regarded it as gobbledygook, but as Ves became more exposed to the higher applications of mech design, he couldn't help but think back on this story .
"It is said that each mech designer that has forged a new path is capable of doing more than any others that follow in their footsteps . What they can design is sometimes described as magic . "
Naturally, magic was simply a shorthand for scientific phenomena that humanity hadn't figured out yet . Over the years, researchers figured out the rules behind such feats and disseminated the newly discovered technology in the form of standardized theories .
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Nonetheless, a Master gained a head-start over everybody, and always continued to be the leading expert in their specialty . With all the myths and psuedo-science being bandied about by younger mech designers, it was hard for Ves to discern the facts from hyperbole .
"According to this metaphor, the conflict hidden within the Leiner Grey design goes to the heart of the Skull Architect's struggle to find a way out of the fog . "
Just as the Skull Architect sought to take a measure of Ves by observing his test results, so was Ves able to interpret the dreaded Senior's design philosophy . Best of all, the man did not obscure his research direction . In fact, he cut off the more abstruse and metaphysical parts of his design philosophy to make it easier to understand .
This told him another facet about the Skull Architect . "Awful reputation aside, he still possesses the heart of a scientist . "
Each Senior was a scientist in a way . A scientist explored reality and advanced a scientific field . They created hypotheses, crafted a theoretical model and tested them through research . Fail or succeed, their results added to the collective body of knowledge of the human race .
Of course, scientists were only human . The tendency to hoard their knowledge and keep their advantages to themselves was very strong . Ves was a typical example of this case . Even as he already trod new ground in a way by dipping his toes into the X-Factor and spirituality, he never thought about disseminating his discoveries to the wider universe, even if it would have earned him eternal recognition .
"For one thing, it'll paint a huge target on my back . For another, there's no reason why someone can't steal my work and take all the credit for themselves . "
Too many things could go wrong, and Ves hid too many secrets . In some way, he was the polar opposite to the Skull Architect on this matter .
It relieved him a bit to recognize this difference .
In any case, finding out that the Skull Architect hadn't lost his roots as a scientist informed him of another way of catching his attention .
"A scientist is impartial . He is highly interested in his own areas of interest, not the least because results from another source can help him beat back the fog that obscures the possible exits . "
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Why did the Skull Architect become a criminal and a fugitive? It was because his inquisitive nature overruled his sense of propriety and his common sense .
He formulated a hypothesis, one which stated that incorporating human remains into the frame of a mech would improve its performance, and acted upon this inquiry by performing experiments . The Skull Architect completely disregarded the gruesome nature of the experiment in pursuit of the ultimate goal, which was to find a way to thread an impossible needle and create another miracle .
As for the human cost? That was the cost of progress!
"It's kind of scary to see how far one can go . I haven't even spoken to this infamous mech designer, and already I'm starting to have second thoughts about this venture . "
Still, as long as Ves paid attention to his work, he shouldn't run afoul of anything nasty .
"A mech designer knows his own designs the best . Any anomaly, however minute, will instantly be picked up by him . I have to be really subtle about the secrets at my disposal . "
His main concern on this matter was the X-Factor . Knowing that the Skull Architect willfully killed an expert pilot in order to test out an outlandish hypothesis related to this phenomenon, Ves shouldn't reveal too much .
"It's one thing if I enhance this quality in my own designs . It's unobservable to most people, so outsiders probably can't make out anything substantial . However, the moment I touch the Skull Architect's own design, not a single change will escape his notice . "
Ves concluded that he needed to weaken his natural tendency to imbue his imprint onto the designs he worked with . Ordinarily, he did anything to strengthen it, coming up with the convoluted Triple Division Technique to focus his Spirituality to create a multifaceted spiritual entity .
Even if he didn't utilize this advanced technique, his singular concentration was sufficient to impart a simpler imprint upon his designs .
"Both methods are too strong . The complexity won't matter to the Skull Architect . It's the strength of the X-Factor that is the key . As long as it's strong enough for him to pick up its existence, it will instantly attract his full attention on me, which isn't good . "
He needed to shape a certain magnitude of X-Factor just below the point where it would be noticed by his target audience . As long as the truth remained in the shadows, Ves would succeed in rousing the Skull Architect's unconscious desires just enough to elicit a follow up reaction .
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To put it simply, Ves needed to hit the Skull Architect's face with a gust of wind instead of a sledgehammer .
Finding the right strength was a judgement call . Ves mentally went over to the spiritual strengths of his past designs .
He recalled that the System registered both of his Marc Antony variants with at least C+ grade X-Factor strength . That was too much in his eyes . Even the first Caesar Augustus variant he developed after the System introduced this secret carried a C- grade .
That had already been sufficient to kick virtual mech pilots in the butt .
"It has to be weaker . "
Eventually, he decided to err on the side of caution and aim for a D or D- grade . Anything lower transformed the X-Factor into a ghost . At that point, Ves might as well give up entirely .
"Now that I've decided upon that, let's get my hands dirty . "
He focused his attention on the incomplete Leiner Grey and tried to keep his mind at a state of levity . He needed to avoid narrowing down his focus to prevent a spike in spirituality, but he also couldn't be too disordered either, or the X-Factor would turn into a muddy soup .
The main defining features of the Leiner Grey was that it attempted to be fast, strong and well-armored for a light skirmisher . Even a beginner mech designer knew how impossible it was to achieve such a result . At best, most light skirmishers tend to prioritize speed above the other two major attributes . They could afford to sacrifice mechanical strength and armor in favor of being as fleet as wind .
"Light skirmishers are fast by necessity and because speed is all they need . Moving fast increases their evasion, allows them to outrun melee mechs and reduces the probability of getting hit by ranged mechs . As for strength, a skirmisher usually takes advantage of their superior mobility to hit mechs from their rear where the armor is weakest . If that doesn't work, they can always build up a lot of momentum and empower their charge with the weight of their entire mech behind their attack . "
The logic behind light skirmishers basically stated that an absolute superiority in speed allowed the mechs to leverage this advantage in overcoming its traditional weaknesses .
"When you come down to it, this sounds like a moderately acceptable excuse to cover up the fact that light skirmishers have big holes in their designs . "
A mech that was fast but was clad with paperthin armor only needed to suffer one critical hit to take it out of the fight . And having to go through all of that trouble to gain the opportunity to land a telling blow onto an opposing mech took too much time and effort .
"In comparison, a straightforward medium melee mech is better in any way except for mobility . Yet it is this deficiency that is the defining difference between the two mech types . They fulfill different roles and perform completely different on the battlefield . "
The original vision behind the Leiner Grey unveiled in front of Ves . To put it simply, Reno Jimenez attempted to create a light version of a medium melee mech . The Leiner Grey was supposed to acquire all of the advantages of a medium mech while somehow retaining its overarching superiority in mobility .
Ves had one response to that . "Arrogant!"
He read the Leiner Grey's development path . The Skull Architect started off with a basic light skirmisher frame, and started adding in some extra bulk . The added mass slowed the mech down, so the designer compensated by increasing its energy consumption and magnifying the amount of power it could exert .
This couldn't go on endlessly . Soon enough, the Skull Architect hit a wall where climbing over it cost a lot more than he gained . To gain one percent in power, he needed to bulk up his mech by at least ten percent or more . That tradeoff simply sucked .
"If Mr . Jimenez can make it so that a single percent boost in power will only weigh down his mech by one percent, then he has definitely advanced to Master . "
Such an amazing light skirmisher design was an impossibility . It's existence was as absurd as stating that 1 + 1 = 2 . 01 or something like that .
Yet Ves couldn't help but be impressed by the man's audacity . Almost everyone ruled out that a mech designer could reach this result, but the ambitious Skull Architect boldly forged ahead where none dared to tread .
"Seniors constantly attempt to turn lies into truth, fantasy into reality, the impossible into the possible . To many, it is a road that leads to madness, death or a dead end . "
The danger stood in stark contrast with the prestige and renown these Senior Mech Designers usually enjoyed . Any of them held high positions, and even the least of them could easily find teaching jobs at a prestigious university . Society valued them for their esteemed abilities, but they could never fathom the risks they took to make further progress .
"What a scary mech design . " He uttered as he mentally took a step back . "Just a single design is already able to tell me so much . This isn't such a simple test after all . "