It only took half a year for rrill O'Brian, the latest Journeyman to have erged from the growing ranks of assistant ch designers, to shock all of the lead designers!
No one was more surprised about her unexpected accomplishnt than Ves!
Though rrill had quickly distinguished herself from the other Journeyn due to her highly logical thinking process and approach towards ch design, she was still relatively new to her position.
Everyone expected her to prioritize her own specialty and passion at first in order to give her a solid foundation in being able to contribute to other ch designs.
Her specialty, which she referred to as Imbalance Exploitation, was a rather subtle and convoluted ans to generate additional power and raise the efficiency of chs by developing interesting synergies within their internal architecture.
Her specialization resembled that of Professor Benedict, though where the latter mainly focused on optimizing and improving the electrical energy transmission systems of a ch, rrill preferred to focus on the chanical and physical aspects of a ch.
To be honest, Ves found rrill's specialty to be underwhelming. He couldn't imagine what kind of solid benefits she could provide that could make him choose her over another useful ch designer such as Juliet Staros and Sara Voiken.
After all, a lot of chs could use a solid bump in the performance of their flight systems and armor systems. The increase in strength and value was always obvious whenever the two won contributed to any given ch design!
Though rrill did not yet manage to impress her peers by developing a brilliant new design solution that was related to her core specialty, what she did manage to do was show off the value of having a rational ch designer in the Design Departnt.
This was why Ves and Gloriana both looked gobsmacked as they studied the first ch that rrill developed in her free ti.
The ch she worked on was a typical landbound knight ch, which was the simplest and easiest ch type that any designer could develop.
It was a good choice for a ch designer that wanted to embark on a new concept or approach, and it also happened to synergize well with rrill's inherent strengths in chanical design.
While her knight ch design did indeed incorporate aspects of her core specialty, the main surprise was that it did not look as if she had designed it by herself.
As the two leaders of the Design Departnt looked up at the knight ch that rrill had fabricated with the AP-VEX superfab after she had gotten her turn, it beca clear that rrill O'Brian had been working on more specialties than just her own design philosophy!
"It's… alive." Ves spoke with great admiration. "While it is only a first order living ch, it is a proper living ch that is close to my works in the past. The reproduction rate is remarkably close!"
Ves was already accustod to the fact that he was no longer the only ch designer who could make living chs. He had interacted with other ch designers such as Gloriana and Ketis so much that they inevitably built up a good understanding of his specialty.
By adopting similar solutions and putting their own spin on them, both Gloriana and Ketis succeeded in designing ch models that were alive, if in a different way than the classical works designed by Ves.
If Gloriana and Ketis chose to focus on their unique takes of living chs further, then they could do a lot to catch up to Ves when it ca to adding less visible properties to their products.
However, no matter how much they tried to imitate Ves, there was no way that they could surpass him when he was in his elent!
Both Gloriana and Ketis had already locked themselves into their own specialties, and their spiritual attributes and domains reflected their choices.
rrill O'Brian should be no different, but the power of rationality was entirely different from anything else that Ves had encountered in the ch industry.
The result of her unflinching efforts to leverage her distinctive strength was the knight ch before their eyes!
"It's an experint." rrill admitted. "This is my first formal attempt to imitate your design philosophy, patriarch, so I tried to simplify every possible variable in order to maximize my chances of success. After making many attempts to simulate your design philosophy in my mind, I eventually found a way to do so in a manner that worked."
Ves scratched his head. Her explanation was too simple and missed a lot of essential details. He hardly gained anything useful from her words!
"Do you know that several rational Master ch Designers of the MTA have attempted to accomplish the sa feat as you? None of them succeeded. Despite their formidable expertise and their high proficiency in simulating other people's design philosophies, they never managed to create a true living ch in this style. You are the first rational ch designer to have succeeded in imitating my work! How did you do it, rrill?! I thought a design philosophy as unconventional as mine simply couldn't be expressed through mathematical formulas and calculations!"
"You are still correct as far as I know, sir." rrill told him. "However, I think the reason why those Masters failed was because they did not make the necessary adjustnts to their approach."
"Explain further, please. What makes your approach different that allowed you to succeed?"
This was an important question. Ves had long thought that rational ch designers were unable to co to terms to his own design philosophy because it was just too weird and relied on rare spiritual attributes that were highly uncommon.
As far as Ves was able to observe, rrill did not possess any unique advantages that clearly put her ahead of the competition. She was a young and inexperienced Journeyman who was just starting to leverage her rational approach to a greater degree.
Her spiritual attributes, though not as relevant to her specific work approach as with other ch designers, were also fairly ordinary. She did not develop any special affinity towards life.
rrill took her ti to formulate her words. "I may not be as good at designing chs as those MTA Masters you have spoken about, but I possess at least one advantage over them. I worked in the Design Departnt for years. I joined the clan when it was still transitioning to a second-class organization and I have worked on over a dozen living ch designs throughout this period. I led nurous design teams that were charged with optimizing and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of different Larkinson ch designs."
That was true. Though the qualifications of the assistant ch designers of the Design Departnt were fairly low, they accumulated a lot of practical experience with working with living chs.
Combined with the knowledge that got shared in the Larkinson Clan, rrill must have learned quite a lot of details and nuances of living chs that were difficult to express in any manual or docunt!
"That is only part of the reason why I was able to imitate your design philosophy, sir. Do you rember the past few design sessions where we all beca connected to each other with the help of a design network?"
Ves and Gloriana both nodded. Their companion spirits were both capable of forming design networks. Though the pair did not use this powerful capability too often for fear of developing an overdependence on this solution, it still ca in handy at tis!
Not only did design networks make it much easier to coordinate and collaborate on a complicated design project, they were also highly effective teaching tools.
Both Ves and Gloriana had made it a habit to employ design networks to quickly transfer a basic understanding and perspective of their unique design visions to their fellow collaborators and assistants.
The goal they had in mind was not to teach others how to design chs like themselves, but to give them a prir on what was important and what they needed to be careful about.
It was much easier to work with ch designers who already understood your pet peeves and the elents that could trigger their sensibilities!
Ves recalled the projects he worked on in the past few months and rembered that he exposed a bit more of his design approach to rrill.
Now that she advanced to Journeyman, she beca much more capable of holding her own ground. Ves did not have to be afraid of contaminating her and drawing her away from her original path.
Also, her cognitive abilities had improved by a lot so she was much more capable of understanding more complex theories and fraworks.
"So… you took advantage of those design network sessions to understand the essence of my design philosophy through direct exposure?" Ves asked.
"Yes, and apparently I succeeded." rrill replied in a calm tone that nonetheless conveyed a lot of confidence.
For a mont, Ves felt a chill running through his spine. He had long believed that he possessed a monopoly on living chs. He vividly recalled all of the attempts that Master Willix had made to copy his design philosophy, to no avail.
To see that a much younger rational ch designer succeed caused him to feel a lot more insecure about himself!
Fortunately, rrill O'Brian was on his side. She was a Larkinson through and through and could be counted upon to maintain the confidentiality of his trade secrets.
As rrill continued to explain what she had done in order to gain a basic mastery of Ves' living chs, it quickly beca clear why she succeeded where others had failed.
"I know how you think. I have seen glimpses of what goes on in your mind. I know what you feel when you beco engrossed in designing different aspects of a ch. I know what you care about the most and what you do not find as important."
If Ves didn't know any better, then he would have mistaken rrill as a stalker! The words she just spoke out were quite frightening if the context was different!
"So you took all of that knowledge and understanding you obtained from and… simulated a ntal model of myself in your mind?" Ves dubiously asked.
rrill finally revealed a small smile. "It is a lot more complicated than that, but your simplified description roughly characterizes my operation. You are right. I create a personality model based on you and essentially channel it when I want to emulate your design philosophy. Since it is based on limited data that may or may not be reliable, the accuracy of this model of you cannot be guaranteed. However, as long as it is sowhat reasonable, the results that I can produce with it are enough to make a difference."
Both Ves and Gloriana already possessed a basic understanding of what rational ch designers were capable of, but they never expected to be confronted with one that could actually design authentic living chs!
Sure, the living knight ch that rrill had designed looked like the work of Ves back when he was still an Apprentice, but the properties of the machine showed that the most junior Journeyman of the Larkinson Clan already grasped the essence of living chs!
The hardest part about getting into a vault was finding the key. rrill had obtained this crucial object, which ant that all she had to do from now was to use it to unlock the vault and digest the wealth hidden within at her own pace!
"This… changes things." Ves concluded. "Maybe not much at first, but in the future…"
Gloriana glanced at her husband in concern. She knew how much he cared about maintaining his precious 'monopoly'. Seeing another ch designer faithfully imitate his design philosophy must have dealt a substantial psychological blow to her childish and selfish spouse.
The living knight ch that rrill had designed essentially kicked off a new era in Ves' career!
An era where rational ch designers from other parts of human space might conceivably design living chs of their own!
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