It did not take much ti for Ves to understand the gist of Viktor MacMillan's strengths as a ch designer.
The man studied at an elite ch design university and managed to demonstrate enough talent and other qualities to beco apprenticed to a Master ch Designer.
Once he started to receive special tutelage, his progress took off. He rapidly increased his understanding of all of the necessary fields related to energy shield systems.
More than that, Viktor MacMillan also learned many of the well-established design solutions of his Master, thereby enabling him to imdiately design chs with a mature set of defenses!
However, just because he inherited the design philosophy of his Master did not an he was resting on the laurels of his elders. Years after he set out on his own and emigrated to the Red Ocean, he had been working to increase the efficiency of his master's signature invention even further.
MacMillan did not have the scientific and technological accumulation to substantially improve the core chanisms of close-surface energy shield systems.
This was why he diverted to improving the control systems instead.
Most chs with energy shield generators tended to activate them whenever they were about to enter into a dangerous situation where attacks could co at any ti.
While energy shields tended to expend energy a lot more rapidly when resisting incoming attacks, they also strained the power reactor even when they were running idle.
That was a considerable waste, especially if a battle dragged out over ti.
Keeping an energy shield generator running even when they weren't necessary at the ti also wore out a lot of components and increased the heat buildup of a machine.
All in all, if there was a way to keep them inactive during all of the tis when the ch did not actively face any dangerous pressure, then that would do much to extend their presence in the field!
"Let get this straight." Ves said as he analyzed what he heard. "The close-surface energy shield system is your Master's work, while the dynamic energy shield activation system is your own solution. Is this correct?"
Viktor curtly nodded. "That is so, but I have not dedicated all of my later years to developing the latter. I am still dedicated to improving my Master's work in my own way. I have mainly been doing this by adapting phasewater technology and more recently hyper technology to close-surface energy shield systems. Once I have grasped both new fields to a strong degree, I hope to develop a new category of energy defense that can offer comparable protection to azure energy shields but at a much greater efficiency."
Ves asked a few more questions related to Viktor's most recent ch designs and design solutions. It quickly beca clear that the candidate was primarily focused on increasing efficiency and reducing waste.
These were good goals to strive for, because energy shield systems generally imposed a heavy burden on a ch, particularly second-class and third class ones.
The value of his design philosophy was a bit lower when applied to first-class chs because they no longer struggled to sustain the operation of a hungry energy shield generator.
Even so, efficiency never lost its usefulness.
"How is the performance of the dynamic energy shield activation system that you have developed in extre situations and edge cases? Can it maintain the sa 95 percent block rate when the ch is targeted by energy weapons?"
"My proprietary software cannot achieve this success rate when it is being attacked by energy weapons." Viktor MacMillan plainly admitted. "My activation system is most effective at efficiently blocking physical projectiles. Their velocities are much slower than the speed of light, so there is always enough lead ti for my energy shield to rise to full power from a special standby state. Laser beams travel at the speed of light, so it is impossible to react after the energy weapons have opened fire. My system heavily depends on sensor input or external data feeds to carefully monitor the actions of opposing chs and warships. There are usually indications when they are about to open fire. Even exotic alien weapons with strange operation rules can be deciphered by the adaptive learning component of my software after gathering enough observation data."
That sounded fairly useful, but Ves still felt this was a gimmick that any decent high-ranking ch designer could co up with. They just didn't bother to do so because they had better things to do with their ti.
So far, Ves' impression of Viktor MacMillan was not entirely good. The man had yet to develop any truly strong or original design solutions by himself.
However, his foundation was strong and he still had plenty of ti to refine his specialization in the future.
"How large are your energy shield generators?" Ves questioned. "Can they be small enough to fit inside a light ch?"
"The efficiency of my energy shield systems has made them much more suitable to be mounted into smaller and lighter chs. Their energy shields can last up to three tis longer due to all of the energy saving asures that I have implented." Viktor proudly answered.
That ant that Viktor MacMillan was an efficiency-oriented ch designer. He mainly sought to improve his chs by making his systems cheaper, less demanding and more long-lasting.
This did not an he ignored the need to improve the hard defensive paraters of his energy shield systems, but he did not obsess over it like other specialists.
This made Viktor a lot more suited to work on lighter and more limited ch designs. Larger and heavier chs possessed a lot of capacity for everything. Efficiency was not that big of a deal. Instead, they pursued greater power even if they generated more waste!
All in all, Viktor was a good addition to the Design Departnt. His work was already relevant to the LMC's many second-class ch models, which ant he could be put to work almost right away.
"Before we proceed, do you have any questions about the job that you are applying for? I am sure that Miss Streon here has already given you plenty of answers, but she is a fairly recent hire so she doesn't know everything."
Viktor MacMillan was not shy about asking questions.
"I have heard from your disciple that each lead designer has the opportunity to obtain an EdNet quota and undergo an accelerated deep learning training program that entirely takes place in virtual reality. How can I earn this benefit?"
Well, the man certainly had a definite goal in mind. Ves was not surprised that a Journeyman like him developed a strong desire for this rare reward. There were few second-class employers who would ever think about allocating their rare and precious quotas to unrelated ch designers.
"Our clan has accrued over a dozen permanent EdNet quotas, and we will earn more in ti." Ves calmly answered. "Currently, anyone can redeem this quota after earning enough Larkinson rits, which you can earn by making any sort of contribution to our clan. It is not difficult to earn Larkinson rits by performing your normal duties, but if you want to get a head-start and outpace your peers, you will need to work harder and be more inventive in your solutions."
"How many rits must I earn in order to secure a quota?"
"The redemption price of an EdNet quota is affected by supply and demand. There are many Larkinsons who are yearning to undergo up to 20 years of focused learning in order to be promoted to first-raters. However, ch designers play an especially important role in our clan. They have priority on any quota. As long as you are decent enough, you should be able to redeem this reward within 10 or so years provided that you have not spent your Larkinson rits on other attractive rewards."
This was reasonable. Ves wanted to hire a lot of Journeyn in order to expand the Design Departnt's pipeline for second-class ch designs.
If he made it too easy for these ch designers to earn an EdNet quota, he wouldn't be able to get any use out of them in the short term!
While it was possible for first-class ch designers to go back to designing second-class ch designs, the Journeyn still needed to put in the hard work and prove their dedication to the Larkinson Clan before he was willing to lend them a hand.
"I have heard that the lead designers of the Design Departnt are able to receive one of your impressive companion spirits for free. Is that true, professor?"
Ves nodded. "That is true. This benefit should ordinarily be redeed for Larkinson rits, but our manpower shortage in the Design Departnt is so great that I am willing to suspend the requirents and grant people companion spirits upfront. You can consider it as prepaynt for all of the services that you will render in the future."
"It is an investnt and not so much a welco gift." Viktor said.
"That's pretty much correct. Companion spirits can open up a lot of possibilities for ch designers. They can also help you speed up your understanding of hyper technology and work around our proprietary design solutions a lot better. I can guarantee you that you will beco a much better ch designer once you acquire a helpful and supportive companion spirit."
This was everything that Viktor MacMillan needed to hear. He was completely sold. No other second-class or first-class ch company was willing to provide comparable benefits to their Journeyn!
Seeing that both sides were happy with each other, Ves held up the Larkinson Mandate and gestured Viktor to co close and place his palm on the purple and golden book cover.
"I hope that you have prepared yourself for this, because you will only receive one chance. Please make your oath and pledge your loyalty to the Larkinson Clan."
Viktor did not appear to have any strong attachnts to other organizations, because Goldie approved of his joining without issue.
A spiritual connection seamlessly ford between the two. From today onwards, Viktor MacMillan had beco the latest mber of the Larkinson Clan!
"That... proceeded faster than I expected." Viktor said with evident relief as he started to get acclimated to all of the additional sensory information fed by the Larkinson Network. "Thank you for taking in, professor. I am grateful that you have accepted into your fold. I am eager to start my work on your ch design projects."
"There is no hurry for the ti being. You are not yet familiar with the Larkinson Clan. You will need to spend at least a couple of weeks to understand how we operate before we are ready to assign you to a ch design project. In the anti, you should already gain access to our extensive internal library. If you do not have any ongoing assignnts, I highly recomnd you take advantage of our learning resources. I have written a few guides on hyper technology that should be of considerable interest."
"I shall read them right away."
Ves soon dismissed the eager new Larkinson ch designer.
"Good find, Alexa. I hope that the rest are at least comparable in quality." He comnted after Viktor left. "1 down, 24 more to go. This is going to be a long day."
Ves continued to bring in the candidates one by one. Each of them possessed different backgrounds and origins. Their specializations also differed a lot from each other.
However, they also possessed a few common traits that made them highly desirable to Ves.
None of them were older than 40.
None of them developed any low-value design philosophies.
None of them possessed any obvious personality disorders.
What Ves cared about the most was that almost all of them were young Journeyn who used to be direct disciples of various Master ch Designers.
The key was that their Masters had all been left behind in the Milky Way Galaxy!
This ant that all of this high-quality stock was much less dependent on any other existing forces.
It shouldn't take much effort for the Larkinsons to instill a strong sense of loyalty and attachnt to the clan!
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