"I suggest you start with putting together a knight ch." Ves said. "It's a tradition to begin with one as this ch type is the simplest, sturdiest and most fault-tolerant of them all. Even if you make a mistake, your toy ch won't fall apart."
He suddenly felt nails poking in his tough skin. It turned out that his wife took offense at this remark!
"Don't listen to your father, Marvaine. Try to take this as seriously as possible. If you want to beco the best ch designer in the future, then you cannot settle for substandard results. If your kano looks wrong, then keep working at it until you stop feeling bothered. Do not complete any kano that you are too ashad to show off to us. The more you get used to working this way, the better of a ch designer you will beco once you beco a real ch designer like your mother and father."
It didn't matter too much at the beginning. When Marvaine finally plucked the parts that were attached to the unfolded cabinet, he easily pieced together his first kano!
It was as simple as putting together a doll. Marvaine just had to start with plucking out a thick and heavily armored torso before fitting in arms and legs that were robust enough to fit with the fra.
Marvaine easily finished the kano by picking out a thick and armored head before placing a tiny sword and shield in its hands.
"That's not so hard, isn't?" Ves smiled as he held the finished kano. "Do you want to make more kanos like this or are you ready to move on to Level 2?"
His son eagerly nodded.
"Alright, go ahead and disassemble this kano back into its individual parts before putting them where they belong. Cleaning up your sses and recycling your unwanted work are also important habits."
It took much faster for Marvaine to unplug the limbs and place them back to their original spots.
Ves proceeded to send a transmission that caused the parts of the kano Set to light up and release a sound.
The cabinet soon expanded a bit more in order to create more space. Many parts began to split into multiple pieces as they beca a lot less convenient than before.
When Marvaine decided to design a toy rifleman ch, he barely had to struggle to find the right parts. They were all easily recognizable even though it took a bit of ti to find the parts with the right sizes and properties.
He soon managed to complete his second kano. It was supposed to depict a fairly generic and boring rifleman ch, and didn't have any design traits that interested his parents.
That did not stop Ves and Gloriana from feeling happy. There were many kids at his age who already struggled to make sense of Level 2 kano parts!
Gloriana held the finished miniature rifleman ch in her hands and turned it around a few tis.
"Marvaine?"
"Yes, mama?"
"Real ch design is not just about finding the first parts that match your requirents and putting them all together without much thought. While a ch like this can definitely work in reality, any decent ch designer can do the sa. If you want to beco as good as us, then you need to start adopting one of our approaches to ch design."
The little boy looked confused.
"What your mother is trying to tell you is that you should make your chs a little more special." Ves spoke up. "If we tell you to design a knight ch, don't just make one that looks normal. Normal is boring. Before you pick your parts, you should spend a few minutes visualizing what you want to make in your mind. Try and co up with an image of a ch that looks a little more fun and unique than ordinary machines. Only then should you begin with selecting the parts that correspond the closest to the design in your head."
That was a lot more understandable to Marvaine.
When Ves requested him to make a miniature swordsman ch, his son finally began to show greater initiative.
Ves and Gloriana happily observed as Marvaine did not impulsively reach out to grab new parts, but actually sat still to visualize his next design.
It was a bit difficult, but eventually Marvaine seed to have settled on a specific look.
When he began to reach out to pull off different parts from the cabinet, he no longer browsed the available selection at random.
Instead, he moved with actual purpose. He specifically chose parts that fit the dinsions that he had in mind for them. His slightly more serious performance already reminded Ves and Gloriana of their younger years!
"I'm finished!"
Both parents stared at the completed kano with odd expressions.
It turned out that while Marvaine had diverged from making a generic toy swordsman ch, he had instead opted to make a straightforward imitation of Ketis' Monster Slayer model!
The greatsword that looked slightly oversized to the rather slender and agile ch fra was so incongruous that it would probably perform badly if it entered into a duel against another kano.
There was an important reason why Marvaine's greatsword-wielding kano was awful compared to Ketis' Monster Slayer.
The forr was made out of 'standardized' parts while the latter were mainly custom-designed and fine-tuned to fit the design concept!
Arms and legs that looked nearly the sa on the outside were actually radically different on the inside.
The only way for Marvaine to make his poor miniature imitation of the Monster Slayer viable was to tinker with the smaller components. He could only do that at the higher levels.
"Okay, please disassemble this swordsman ch. I think you are ready for the next level."
Once Ves unlocked Level 3, the cabinet changed even further. The existing parts broke up even further. So of them were so small that they could not be attached onto a kano with hands or fingers.
This was why the cabinet slid out a drawer containing a set of basic, childproof tools.
"Ohhh." Marvaine beca fascinated by the appearance of the tools. So of them looked similar to the ones his parents used when they were building together their own products!
"Alright, you can choose what ch you want to make next. Don't worry too much about getting it wrong. Just make sothing that looks fun and nice."
Gloriana angrily elbowed her husband, only to yelp in pain as she only ended up hurting herself!
Marvaine didn't care. He already began the rudintary visualization process that his parents had just taught him. He frowned several tis as he easily beca distracted by fanciful thoughts, but soon managed to form a coherent vision.
He moved his limbs, snatching up various parts, only a few of which were large.
There was no need for children to tinker and modify with key parts such as the power reactor or other internals at Level 3. The main customization options were related to external parts as they were easy to understand with the naked eye.
He had to pick up the right tool in order to snatch up the smallest external modules such as individual fingers and the sensor modules that were supposed to slot into the eye sockets of a ch.
After that, it took a lot more ti for Marvaine to assemble his third kano. It couldn't be helped as the number of parts a kano was made up had increased by several tis.
The young boy also had to learn how to use different precision tools to put the smaller parts in the right places.
He managed to complete his work in the end. Once he set down his tools, he presented a miniature... sothing ch.
"I suppose we can classify this as a hybrid ch." Gloriana generously said as she picked up her son's latest work.
Marvaine had made a bold choice by building an asymtrical kano. It featured a flathrower arm and held an axe in the other arm.
He placed tiny missile launchers onto the shoulders of the kano and also opted to attach small laser weapons onto the ankles of the ch for whatever reason.
If that wasn't enough, it also carried a tower shield on its back. While that massively weighed the ch down, it provided excellent protection against attacks from the rear. The ssy hybrid ch could also choose to hold it with its only arm at the cost of dropping its axe.
Though Gloriana had a lot to say about the countless flaws of this design, she did her best to avoid going on a tirade.
Mistakes like these were inexcusable if Marvaine could already do better, but right now he still had a lot more to learn.
"Do you think you are ready for a greater challenge, Marvaine?"
"Can I go to Level 4?!"
Gloriana couldn't withhold her objections this ti.
"Ves! Don't go too far! Our son isn't ready yet. If this kano represents the standard of his work at Level 3, then he needs to spend more ti on polishing his designs. Let us wait until he has learned how to make proper kanos at this level first before we unlock the next one. We absolutely cannot afford to ruin his foundation!"
That did not sit well with him. "I know that, but the reason why I decided to give Marvaine his early birthday present was to test his competences. He can go further, Gloriana. Level 3 isn't his limit. Sure, he might not be able to develop any good kanos at Level 4, but it is already fine if he can finish one that is at least barely functional."
This was quite important to him, so he proceeded to unlock Level 4 without bothering to listen to his wife's complaints.
"VES!"
Both father and son ignored Gloriana's sounds of frustration and stared at the cabinet as it beca even more elaborate and rich with selections.
Not only did all of the parts beco smaller and more nurous, the cabinet also presented brand new categories in the form of many different internal components.
A kano player could no longer depend on intuition and common sense to put together a functioning toy ch. A rudintary understanding of science or at least electronics was needed to make the internal components work.
Normally, only children who were older than 12 tended to be ready to make kanos at Level 4, and they had to be pretty talented and well-off. Marvaine was way too young to properly handle this degree of complexity, but it was fine if he rely tried it out a single ti.
"Don't make anything too fancy this ti." Ves suggested. "Just stick to a knight ch. You can try and make it more fun by changing a few details, but don't go overboard."
"Okay, papa."
It took a lot more ti for Marvaine to complete his fourth kano. It took a lot more ti for him to figure out the components and the rudintary design solutions needed to assemble his machine.
The quantity of parts had also grown so much that Marvaine had to do a lot of manual precision work to fit them in the right places.
While Machine Emporium sold all kinds of advanced miniature production machines that could speed up or automate the assembly process entirely, that took all of the fun out of the ga as far as Ves was concerned.
Even Gloriana disapproved of them because it would make her son grow lazy and build up a dependency on automation.
This was why both parents started a new design session so that they could get actual work done during this ti.
A strange harmony descended onto the design lab as father, mother and son all directed their concentration on their own ch design projects!
It eventually took five hours for Marvaine to put together a simple knight ch.
"I'm done! What do you think?"
Ves paused his work and picked up the knight ch that his son had painstakingly assembled by hand.
"This... is quite decent."
It was a rather boring and generic knight ch for the most part. The only elents that stood out was Marvaine had equipped the kano with a half-moon shield and also attached a ch rifle onto the back.
The premise of the ch was a little more interesting than normal, and it could still work in reality!
"Let take a closer look." Gloriana demanded.
She snatched the toy from Ves' hands and scrutinized it in great detail.
"This... is a functional kano. It is sloppy, but it can actually fight against other kanos if put into action."
"You sound surprised."
Gloriana turned to her husband. "This is a Level 4 kano! Do you know what it ans for a boy this young to build a working toy ch of this complexity?!"
"I guess that test from Witshaw & Yeneca is accurate. Soone who ca in second in a whole group of designer babies that were literally engineered to excel in ch design should most definitely be able to handle Level 4."
"OUR SON IS A GENIUS!" Gloriana exclaid! "Forget about teaching him how to design second-class chs in our own schools. He has to attend first-class school at all costs!"
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