Ves was fair to Zanthar.
If the young Apprentice ch Designer squandered his resources or failed to make use of his opportunities, then Ves would have dressed him down.
Yet now that Zanthar had proven through his own actions over the years that he had thodically worked to attain a result that was impressive enough to earn everyone's appreciation, he deserved an applause for making this much progress in a difficult research direction.
Sure, his current results did not seem impressive at all. There was still a long way to go from producing a proof of concept to developing a mature design application.
This was why Zanthar had yet to beco a Journeyman.
A Journeyman ch Designer was a professional that had already managed to develop a working ch design that was reflective of his design philosophy.
It did not have to be too practical or economical, but it definitely had to possess at least a bit of real substance in order to serve as the permanent source of strength of a Journeyman!
Now that Ves managed to gauge Zanthar's progress, he understood that his forr student should not take too long to finally surpass the extraordinary threshold for real and beco a high-ranking ch designer.
"What sort of EEE munitions are you aspiring to make?" Ves asked with clear interest in his voice.
"I have devised multiple concrete applications that should be useful to many custors, teacher. The first form of EEE munitions that I am trying to develop is close to what you have already seen. I want to devise a ans to mass produce explosive rounds that are all implanted with E-energy explosives. The point is that when the physical shell explodes, it will simultaneously trigger the detonation of the E energy warhead, causing an eruption of power that not only amplifies the original explosion, but also damaged anything related to E energy such as hyper energy shields."
"What else?"
"Well, a more advanced form of weapon system that I have been dreaming to develop are EEE munitions that are entirely made out of E energy." Zanthar grew more passionate as he unveiled his next idea. "This is admittedly similar to the strange hyper energy beams that can be fired from a weapon like your Gray Lotus. I want to develop a cannon that is similar to gun, but instead of firing energy beams, it can launch E energy projectiles that should theoretically be able to bypass many forms of obstacles and directly detonate inside a ch fra or the interior of an enemy warship!
Ves could definitely see a lot of uses for such a weapon!
Even without significantly strengthening the physical attack power of the conventional warhead, including a ans of damaging any form of E energy manifestations made it a lot easier to destroy azure energy shields, disrupt the true resonance of high-ranking ch pilots and maybe even inflict real harm on the comparatively weak and vulnerable spiritualities of gigantic phase lords!
"I think that hyper energy shields and hyper alloy plating should be able to resist such attacks." Ves explained. "The resonance shields and Saint Kingdoms of expert chs and ace chs should be even more effective at blocking these spiritual attacks. However, as long as you can launch enough of them at the enemy, they should definitely be able to exhaust the intangible defenses of the targets, so they should at least be useful in one capacity or another. You will need to conduct a lot of research in order to fully understand how your E energy explosive warheads can undermine different enemy types."
"I shall do so as soon as I can develop a weapon that can launch pure E energy warheads." Zanthar promised.
The eager Apprentice ch designer shared a few other ideas.
From EEE torpedoes that were designed to annihilate the spiritualities of every crew mber of a heavily shielded enemy warship to shield breaker shells aligned towards the space attribute that could quickly destabilize transphasic energy shields and azure energy shields, the possibilities were endless!
The depth and breadth of ideas clearly indicated that Zanthar had a solid idea on how to derive practical applications from his initial theoretical frawork.
As long as he was able to advance to the rank of Journeyman ch Designer, he should quickly be able to realize the low-hanging fruit that did not take much effort to realize and establish a foothold in the ch market!
Ves did not fear that Zanthar would fail to attract a willing audience for his products. Their usefulness was as high as living chs.
If the younger Apprentice did not lie by stating that most of the effects of his EEE munitions was largely based on E-technology and could easily be attained with the use of inexpensive hyper materials, then he should be able to design products that offered imnsely compelling value propositions!
This was the key to attaining critical success at the Journeyman stage!
Whether Zanthar Larkinson was able to realize all of this amazing potential remained to be seen, but Ves no longer had any reason to dissuade him from pursuing his chosen ambition.
"You have big dreams." Ves stated at the end. "What separates idle drears from
innovative ch designers such as myself is the ability to realize your ideas. In order to bring your fantasies to life, you must work hard and boldly tread new ground that others have not traversed. This is not always a rewarding or easy direction for ch designers to follow, but it is one that has the potential to yield the greatest reward. I can foresee that if your EEE munitions live up to their promise, your work shall beco as famous and desired as my living chs."
The smile that blood on Zanthar's face was the happiest and more fulfilled one that Ves had seen from a ch designer!
"Thank you for your encouragent, teacher! I have repeatedly tested my patience and persistence these past few years. I have seen other ch designers such as you, your wife and Ketis progress by leaps and bounds while I have still remained stuck at the initial research phase. However, now that I have gotten far enough to produce a small but positive research result, I hope that my days of working without producing any worthwhile ch designs will soon be over."
It did not matter too much if Zanthar suffered a few more setbacks during his research and remained stuck as an Apprentice for 5 or 10 years.
As long as he kept studying, experinting and trying out all kinds of strange ideas, he would continue to accumulate more data and knowledge. His theoretical frawork would grow more expansive and enable him to explain a lot more
phenona than before.
Ves did not really care what Zanthar planned to do next because he was already set on
the path of success.
The remaining twists and turns might cause Zanthar to go off-track or gain the precursor to another useful design application, but he should eventually be able to beco a Journeyman sooner or later.
As Zanthar bead due to receiving the personal recognition of a legendary ch designer, Maikel on the other hand looked a lot more nervous.
Ves hoped that Maikel did not appear apprehensive because his work for the past few years was much more disappointing compared to his fellow forr student. "Maikel." Ves addressed the other young ch designer. "It is your turn now. Last. I checked, you were working on developing highly autonomous living chs. To be honest, I do not think this is an idea worth dedicating your life for, because living chs already have the potential to control their own ch fras by themselves. If you insist on pursuing this line of research, you will only end up acquiring almost the sa design philosophy as myself, but with a few differences that may or may not lead
you astray."
Maikel maintained a serious expression as he nodded. "I agree with your assessnt, sir, which is why I have sought to... find a better argunt to justify the existence of such chs. I won't explain the journey that I have taken and the explorations that I
have made. After an extensive period of theorizing and observation, I have found one potential demand that my work may be able to satisfy"
"And that is...?" "Immortality. Life after death. To continue to fight an unfinished war."
???
Ves looked flabbergasted. What did all of this have to do with his autonomous chs?
"Those are high-minded words, Maikel. How do they tie into your design philosophy?"
The young Apprentice clearly looked hesitant to share his idea. It was only until Zanthar jabbed his elbow into Maikel's side that the discussion resud.
"It is like this, patriarch. I... eh... want to design a living ch that... fuses with its
ch pilot. Well, a better way to put it is letting the living ch absorb the ch pilot. This way, the human will be gone, but his mind and personality will still live on inside the living ch. With the release of your new Carmine chs, this service is no longer
exclusive to potentates anymore."
"...Really?"
"I know it sounds crazy, but I think that there is a large market for this kind of living
ch! There are many reasons why people would want to obtain the capacity to rge a human with a ch. For example, you can save the life of a dying human by letting a living ch proactively absorb his mind and spirit. This will enable the converted human to still live on after his first death and contribute to the survival and prosperity of his race when he would have ordinarily disappeared from life. The converted human would also be able to accompany his descendants in the years to co, maybe even letting his children or grandchildren pilot his new 'body"!" That sounded incredibly repulsive to Ves for a mont!
However, once he got over his instinctual disgust, he could actually find reasons why
this might be a good idea!
Ves even saw how Maikel's potential design application could attain excellent synergy with Alexa Streon's living legacy chs!
The two of them could work together to develop an entire dynasty of living chs whose spiritual foundations were originally comprised of mbers of the sa family! Of course, the consequences of turning this into reality was bound to evoke a lot of
controversies!
The very notion of converting a human into a non-human entity for the purposes of survival and exploitation was a definite taboo in human society!
If the red humanity was not already locked in a war that it was on the verge of losing, then Maikel's insane idea would never have any chance of getting accepted!
As it was, the air of desperation that had spread throughout the new frontier had made many people a lot less resistant towards more extre solutions.
If Maikel dared to pursue this idea in the Milky Way, then the MTA would have cracked
down on him a long ti ago!
It was still questionable whether the more tolerant RA would allow Maikel to persist in his current aspiration.
Perhaps he may only be permitted to design chs with this special capacity under
constant supervision!
"Wait" Ves suddenly froze as an extrely daring idea ca to mind. "Have you ever
thought about what would happen if one of your living chs is able to absorb the spirit, mind and willpower of an expert pilot or ace pilot?"
Maikel's lips twitched. "I did, but... I lack the knowledge to predict what would happen
or if it can even happen. My assumption is that if the willpower of the ch pilot is too strong in proportion to the spiritual foundation of the living ch, then the latter will never be able to absorb the forr. However, if the process is able to go through, then
the high-ranking ch pilot should absolutely be able to establish himself in his new giant chanical form."
Nobody knew whether any of this was true!
Such a taboo ch sounded incredibly dangerous, but also held a lot of promise!
Ves was not quite sure yet whether he was willing to support. Maikel's ambitions, but he had certainly found a bold research direction for himself!
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