After going around for a while, Ves eventually returned to his clan in order to solicit the opinions of his own clansn.
Many of them did not have many insightful words to say to him, though that might be because of the vague way he introduced his topic.
"Hah!" Venerable Vincent Ricklin patted his hand on Ves' shoulder. "Leave the fighting to us, buddy! I don't know where you get these weird ideas, but you don't need to worry about yourself or us. I can do anything as long as you make the best possible chs! My C-Man has worked out really well for , but if I want to keep improving in the future, I know that I will have to depend on you. Making better chs is all we ask from you, Ves."
None of the Larkinson ch pilots were weak. The current roster of expert pilots were especially promising. None of them were too old and many of them experienced rapid growth due to being paired with masterwork expert chs.
Though Ves did not take Vincent seriously most of the ti, the man's response was quite good this ti.
If Ves was confident in his troops and his ability to supply them with powerful chs, then why should he resort to anything else?
Whether it was ch Pilot Cultivation or Personal Piloting Cultivation, both choices implied that Ves did not have any confidence in the soldiers that he had gathered around him and his clan.
Rather than getting sidetracked, it might be better for him to stick to his current strategy and seek to empower his ch army with better and more fantastic creations.
Expanding his ability to design and build better chs and other pieces of tech could strengthen his troops and his defenses a lot more than relying on other ans.
He just had to possess enough confidence in himself and his army.
When Ves approached Commander Casella, she voiced a similar opinion.
"Our clan is made up of many different people. Compared to other organizations, the proportion of mbers who are combat personnel is on the higher end." She explained. "We have many ch pilots and support personnel who are capable professionals. I have little doubt that even the humblest ch pilot among us is willing and able to fight to the utmost if the need arises."
"So you're saying that I should count on all of you guys to do your jobs?"
"That is part of what I want to convey. Please do not doubt the army that you have created. We have grown quickly since you created us and we are continuing to grow stronger with each passing year. Even I cannot imagine the opponents we will be able to fight against in a century. I think you will never have to worry about us falling short. We don't even need your chs if it cos down to it. We have reached a point in our growth where we can defeat plenty of enemies even if we rely entirely on comrcial ch models and chs developed by external ch designers on commission."
She was right. In the past, Ves and his growing organization frequently encountered enemies that brought a superior force into the field.
The troops under his command had to rely on nurous unconventional solutions that their enemies couldn't foresee such as battle formations and design spirits in order to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Though the battles that the Larkinson Clan fought in the past were certainly thrilling as a result, this was no way to survive in the long term!
This was why Ves and his clan invested a huge amount of funding and resources into strengthening the fundantals of the Larkinson Army.
Powerful chs with impressive specs paired with well-trained battle-hardened ch pilots ought to be enough to defeat or deter most enemies!
As Ves quizzed a few more expert pilots, they all supplied him with similar answers. They believed in their strength and the strength of their fellow pilots. They did not ask for Ves to help them in any other fashion other than supplying them with stronger chs. They could take care of the rest by relying on their own power.
Ves began to receive different answers when he turned to the ch designers of his clan. They were much more interested in his struggle to decide what area to focus on improving the most.
"We are all humans, sir." rrill O'Brian told him. "We are a classical tool-using race that relies foremost on our understanding and mastery of technology to gain strength and defeat our opponents. While there are alternate ans of obtaining power, none of them are as suitable or as reliable as technology. As long as our technological superiority is vastly greater than that of our foes, we will always be able to win our battles."
Sara Voiken also voiced her support of focusing on technology.
"Phasewater technology is the future of ch design. Humanity is constantly coming out with new and better ways to build chs. If we want to beco the strongest clan in human space, then it is essential for us to master the best technology. I'm not just talking about the innovations that we create in-house, but also the tech that other people have developed. There are many brilliant people alive today, and the amount of new and amazing tech they co up with is unimaginable. The biggest groups such as the Big Two and the first-rate superstates are primarily strong because of how extensively they are able to access and make use of so much tech."
"I agree with rrill and Sara." Juliet Staros said. "We are all ch designers who hope to make ch better through our own research. However, no matter how much effort we put into developing new solutions, we can only do so much. A collective is always more powerful than any state or organization. One of the biggest reasons why the human race originally got ahead was because we shared all of our technological gains with each other. Inventions such as FTL drives and energy shields did not remain exclusive to a single faction of humanity, but beca available to everyone. This process is continuing to take place, so if we do not want to fall behind, we need to maximize our ability to process the latest developnts in the tech industry."
Several of the Journeyman that Ves had gathered adopted ugly looks.
"I have already spent years on trying to master the fundantals of phasewater technology, but I think it will take longer than 10 years before I can develop my first decent transphasic armor system." Sara wearily sighed.
"Phasewater technology is a relatively new field. Rapid change and progress is taking place every day." Juliet ntioned. "The original package of textbooks and articles that we have obtained from the MTA is already outdated. By the ti we have mastered the basics, I expect we will have to devour another pile of difficult textbooks in order to catch up with the progress that phasewater researchers have attained so far, but once we have devoured those books, we will probably have to devour another batch of study material in order to close the gap again…"
In short, this was a never-ending cycle. While it sounded incredibly tiring to keep devoting lots of ti to try and fail to catch up with all of the exciting developnts in this exotic new field, they had no choice in the matter.
As Sara Voiken had just said, phasewater technology was the future of ch design as well as many other sectors. Those that did not master its fundantals at all were destined to beco marginalized in the future.
However, the sheer difficulty of phasewater technology ant that there were large gaps in understanding and capabilities between different ch designers.
Those that excelled at book learning would undoubtedly be able to get a headstart in designing powerful transphasic chs. Ves predicted that ch designers who were much better at absorbing new and difficult scientific theories would co to dominate the ch market within the next generation!
This was bad news to Ves and the Larkinson Clan! Every ch designer worth ntioning was still young and only absorbed so much knowledge up to this point in their lives.
Seniors and Masters were much stronger in this aspect due to their higher ages and their more formidable intellectual capabilities.
If the Larkinson Clan was led by a Master, then Ves wouldn't be worried.
Unfortunately, the Design Departnt only had Journeyn!
While this had not been a major problem up until now, once transphasic chs beca more ubiquitous, the LMC would definitely fall behind.
If Ves wanted to ensure that his chs would never drop in popularity because he and his fellow Larkinson ch designers failed to harness the latest and most cutting-edge technologies, then choosing the Technological Supremacy upgrade track would be a great choice!
As long as he set aside his concerns about attracting too much attention from the Polymath, Ves admitted that this was indeed a fantastic choice for a ch designer.
Ves had always been proud of his ability to empower chs beyond their technical specs and design. However, that did not an that it was the right choice to depend entirely on his specialty to make his chs strong.
If he was able to excel in both spiritual and technical design, then his chs would definitely beco a lot more impressive and rounded than before!
In a more ideal situation, Ves would be able to rely on his wife and his fellow ch designers to compensate for this weakness.
However, with so much new and complicated tech coming out every day, there was simply no way for any of them to fully catch up with all of the crazy and powerful new technologies that pushed chs even further.
If Ves was able to leverage the System to catch up faster than anyone else, he would be able to make certain that the performance of his chs would always remain ahead of chs designed by other capable people!
He finally received a different opinion when he approached Ketis for advice.
"Technology is great, but technology isn't everything, Ves." She told him as she paused her work on one of her powerful swordsman ch designs. "It's the user that is important as well. There are lots of great tech out there, but the people who must harness it need to be strong as well in order to make proper use of what they have available. When we put our focus on assisting people, I believe that they can beco unimaginably strong!"
"So tech is not as important in your opinion?" Ves curiously asked.
Ketis firmly nodded. "Expert pilots such as Venerable Dise or swordmasters such as myself are proof of that! Both of us are able to take on far stronger opponents despite the fact that we are humans who are wielding sharp tal objects. Any normal ch pilot or soldier would never be able to co close to matching our battle prowess. This is despite the fact that all of the equipnt stays the sa!"
She made for a powerful argunt, but there was one big flaw to her premise.
"Not everyone is capable of becoming as strong as you and Venerable Dise." He said. "Even if it becos a lot easier for soldiers to break through in the future, there will still be a division between weak and strong."
"Limits don't exist, Ves. The act of breaking through from one rank to the next is proof that every barrier can be overco no matter how strong they are. If a soldier isn't strong enough, then we need to put more effort into training! Have you seen how good the new generation of Swordmaiden ch pilots have beco? They can beat their peers from every other ch legion in a lee battle! While the ch models they use are all over the place, their specs are not that different. It is the pilots that make up the difference."
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