The transformation eventually ended, but the day wasn’t over to Ves and Gloriana.
Both of them were immensely pleased at the first production model’s successful elevation to masterwork standard. Even though they hadn’t been able to reach this standard through their personal design ability, the gains they made were huge and manifold, especially for Gloriana!
All of her earlier resentment and contempt had disappeared. She was so ecstatic that it was as if she had died and gone to heaven!
Her earlier scowls and frowns were nowhere to be seen now. She was all smiles as she continuously basked in the insights she made from observing the physical transformation.
She also became more radiant due to her increased affinity for mechs. This was a very vague property that raised her intuition towards mech design, increased her instinctive understanding of mechs and boosted her chances of making another masterwork mech!
If Ves was in her place, he would celebrate as much as her as well!
As it was, Ves was the one who paid the bill for all of these benefits. Though he gained a lot as well, he still felt that Gloriana took advantage of him somehow.
He shrugged. It was not as if he took advantage of his girlfriend plenty of times.
“Ves!” She finally deigned to direct her attention to him again. “This mech is so wonderful! It changed so much that I can study it for months! It’s all thanks to you that I’ve made a huge harvest today! Thank you!”
She glomped him and showed her appreciation towards him in an intimate fashion!
Their snogging only lasted for a short time before Gloriana pulled back. “Come on! We still have much to observe and learn!”
Though both of them were tired, they didn’t want to go to sleep. Gloriana especially insisted on studying the newly-elevated masterwork mech while her mind was still fresh and inspired from the remarkable transformation she witnessed!
Ves played along as he was curious to see how the gems exactly worked now that the Accumulation of Spirit seemingly bonded them together.
They scanned the mech and fiddled around a bit by mounting a couple of configurations to the mech.
After turning the mech online, Ves discovered that only one gem was in effect at a time.
This meant that the Illuminating Warrior wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the Nova Warrior’s improved power reactor enhancement.
If all or at least some of the gems were in effect at the same time, then Ves would have no more complaints about expending five greater gems on a single mech.
As it was, the Bright Warrior mech hadn’t actually grown more powerful than an equivalent masterwork mech boosted by just a single gem!
“Well, I can’t have everything, I guess.” He shook his head.
He still remained somewhat suspicious of the Accumulation of Spirit mounted in the cockpit of the base platform. He was absolutely certain that its effect was a lot more than being able to store a little bit of spirituality!
Sadly, Ves didn’t think he could decipher their secrets anytime soon. They were simply too inscrutable for him. Neither Gloriana’s scanners nor his own spiritual senses could decipher anything unusual behind their shiny facades.
“Don’t ask me how they work. I have no idea how they enhance an attribute of a mech or how they elevate its overall quality.” He told her. “Just consider them as consumable add-ons. I can integrate them onto any single mech to improve their performance or push them over the edge of masterwork.”
That wasn’t an acceptable answer to Gloriana! As she slowly came off the high of becoming a masterwork mech designer, she rushed up to him like a demon and grasped his arms!
“TELL ME WHERE YOU GOT YOUR GEMS! I NEED THEM! I NEED THEM! I NEED THEM!”
Ves gently but firmly shook her off and pushed her away. “Calm down! I can’t answer this question, and I prefer to keep hold of what gems I have left. They’re very rare and difficult to obtain. Don’t worry though, I can obtain them periodically, so the gems I have left in my pouch aren’t the only ones we can use to our advantage.”
“Come on, Ves! Don’t you love me? Aren’t we together in this? Why can’t you tell me anything more?” She pleaded to him while showing off her puppy eyes.
Though Gloriana appeared exceptionally adorable right now, Ves had enough of her for one day. With his thoughts lingering on the price he paid for this accomplishment, he wasn’t in the mood to indulge her anymore!
“Just drop it. I love you, Gloriana, but just like you I’ve withhold some information from you. It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that what I know is far too dangerous to be spread around.”
“—But—”
“—I’M BEING SERIOUS HERE!” He shouted back, his temper flaring due to her persistence! “If you know me as well as I suspect you do, then you must have figured out that my life is a bit unusual. This is partially because I’m caught up in events that are incredibly dangerous and involve parties that are inconceivably powerful! If I draw the attention of one of them, my life will definitely be over!”
She looked shocked at him. “I.. I didn’t know it was that bad..”
“Please respect my privacy, at least for this.” He sighed and calmed down. “Those gems are related to matters that are so significant that even the Big Two will pay attention to me once I become exposed!”
Though she looked unwilling, his girlfriend understood that Ves really didn’t want to share the secret behind his reality-warping gems.
It was difficult for her to resist her urges. The shiny gems that Ves whipped out attracted her beyond all reason! Their incredible uses and immense potential aligned so much with her design philosophy that she thought it was unfair that Ves managed to obtain them. Where did he even get these sparkling treasures?!
Now that Ves and Lucky was done with their work, their cats approached their owners and begged for their affection.
“Miaow.”
While Ves bent down to ruffle Clixie’s silky soft fur, Lucky brushed his side against Gloriana’s legs while curling his tail in a playful manner.
“Meow!”
“Hm? Do you want a hug or something, Lucky!”
“Meow meow meow!”
Lucky wiggled his rear end while calling out to Gloriana.
When Ves heard his cat, he froze while widening his eyes! What was Lucky doing!? He quickly moved away from Clixie and grabbed his cat!
“Lucky!” He hissed. “Remember who’s your boss!”
“Meow! Meow!”
Lucky reached out to Gloriana with his paws!
“What’s going on, Ves? What’s wrong with Lucky?”
“Ah, he’s just a bit too pampered these days. He needs some more exercise.”
“Meow!”
“Shut up, Lucky!”
Even though Lucky kept meowing at Gloriana, she didn’t understand what he was trying to say! Unlike Ves, she didn’t have the ability to communicate with creatures!
“Lucky looks like he wants something from me. Why are you keeping him away?”
“Hehe, Lucky is a little naughty these days. Don’t mind him. I’ll be teaching him a lesson soon.”
Though Lucky’s distress increased, Ves kept a vice grip on his pet. He did not want Lucky to reveal that he was the source of the gems that became Gloriana’s latest fascination!
Lucky was his cat, damnit! Gloriana would definitely try to convert him if she discovered Lucky’s actual nature!
This brief incident signified the end of their preoccupation with their new masterwork mech. Before the pair left the underground workshop, they made sure to secure their new creation and arrange the base platform and its configurations to be sent to the current base occupied by the Avatars of Myth.
They also wrapped up the logs and files related to the creation of the masterwork mech.
Obviously, they left out the explosive footage where the gems took effect and transformed the mech.
They transferred only existing copy of the footage to a single secure data chip, to be put in Gloriana’s care so she could study the all of the changes at her leisure.
“Make sure to view the contents of this data pad in a shielded room with a device that isn’t connected to the galactic net.” Ves told her. “I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you how much trouble we’ll attract if people know they can make masterworks with this method.”
She nodded attentively. “I understand. I’m not taking this lightly at all. I really do need this footage to gain more insights. I haven’t observed nearly enough to make me satisfied!”
“I understand. I trust you to keep the contents of this data chip secure.”
Once they wound down the mech workshop and thoroughly cleared every single memory of what transpired, they boarded a shuttle and returned to the Austen Estate.
During the trip, both of them began to prepare for their applications to receive a masterwork certificate.
Due to the unusual nature of how they managed to create the masterwork, they weren’t able to prepare all of the information the MTA usually needed.
“It’s not that big of a deal.” Gloriana reassured her. “The MTA will recognize that our masterwork mech is genuine. Attributing its creation to us is a little difficult, but I’m told that they have ways of verifying that as well.”
“Do we have to send our mech to the MTA?”
“Not unless we want to certify it, which isn’t necessary. Plenty of mech designers want to keep their masterwork mechs for themselves. The MTA will send an envoy to us to verify our claims. It’s just that we’ll attract a huge amount of attention.”
“We’re too young.” He stated as he looked up from his projected interface. “We are one of the few mech designers in our early thirties who managed to accomplish this feat.”
“Exactly. While this will do wonders for our fame, we’ll also attract a huge amount of attention from nearly everyone. The Protectorate branch of the MTA will likely dispatch someone very high up the ladder to lead the delegation to inspect our masterwork mech.”
That didn’t sit too well with Ves. The less direct contact he had with the MTA, the better. If not for the fact he needed to earn a lot of MTA merits, he would have also tried to avoid the Rim Guardians as well.
“Well, we’ll deal with whoever the Association sends. Hopefully, the envoy won’t get too snoopy or demand custody of our mech.”
Gloriana smiled and shook her head. “That won’t happen. The MTA wants masterwork mechs very badly, but it can’t be heavy-handed in their persuasion attempts. A fair number of masterwork mech designers submit their creations to the MTA to earn merits, but there are also those who keep them to themselves or negotiate a deal with a client or customer.”
“How many merits do you think we can earn if we give up our masterwork to the MTA?”
While Ves would never actually make this decision, he still wanted to see what he was missing out on. He wasn’t quite sure how many merits the MTA was willing to pay.
To answer his question, Gloriana had to browse the galactic net and pull up one of the countless voluminous rulebooks of the MTA.
After studying the terms related to submitting masterwork mechs, she look up to Ves with a shrug.
“I don’t know. The MTA hadn’t outlined any rules concerning bridge mechs. The MTA can either view our Bright Warrior design as a crippled second-class mech or a heavily enhanced third-class mech. Depending on the definition they adopt, we can either gain a million merits or just a hundredth of that sum!”
The disparity between the classes was huge. It showed that the MTA frankly didn’t care about third-class masterwork mechs. Only the ones who could at least compete against other second-class mechs caught their attention!
Even with all of its gem-provided upgrades, the mech they made still fell short to the likes of the Paravin or Selzer in every aspect except defense!
