After settling matters with Zanthar Larkinson, Ves t up with his wife later on to discuss how they should treat the new Journeyman.
"ow~" Lucky swished his tail in contentnt as Gloriana lovingly scratched him on the head.
His archetal exterior felt abnormally warm and soft to her touch.
Gloriana had taken a liking for Lucky. His naughty personality reminded her of Ves, and his archetal body frequently granted her inspiration on how to improve and develop her mastery of archetech.
As the mother continued to pamper the gem cat, she voiced her own opinion towards Zanthar.
"His design philosophy is too narrow. I an, he has the potential to beco as good as Lord Richard Brownstone, but his repertoire is too small for the ti being. I have studied his private ch designs and his work is far below the standard that I expect from a second-class Journeyman ch Designer. He needs to study a large amount of textbooks and design at least half-a-dozen chs all by himself before I can even consider the idea of putting him in charge of a serious design project!" Her verdict sounded harsh, but Ves knew it was fair. His own evaluation of Zanthar was not that different.
"Zanthar is not as talented as the Journeyman ch Designers that we have recruited over the past few years! Ves shared his own opinion. "I have given him a good amount of tutoring and granted him access to a lot of learning resources. His conditions are far better than many other second-class ch designers. While he has managed to co up with an invention that has the potential to revolutionize combat against shielded enemies, the practicality and effectiveness of his Fade Burst Rounds are too poor to be of use. He has nothing else aside from this. If he participates in a ch design contest, he would be the kind of person who will earn a below average score and be completely forgotten by the audience."
He had taught Zanthar for years. Even if he largely took a hands-off approach and gave Zanthar enough space to decide his own curriculum and specialization, Ves did not neglect his student. entirely.
As far as he was concerned, neither Maikel nor Zanthar could co close to Alexa Streon in terms of talent, potential, judgnt and competence.
Zanthar's unusual choice to form design philosophy around special munitions of all choices also made it difficult for him to make a lot of achievents in the future.
However, that did not an Ves was ready to write Zanthar off. Ketis was no genius or prodigy either, but she believed in her own conviction and vision of chs so much that she had found success by establishing her own niche as a Journeyman ch Designer.
Although Ketis was a lot more famous for being a swordmaster these days, her ch designs were truly useful and powerful enough to earn the adoration of the Swordmaidens.
Ves had a feeling that as long as Zanthar did not give up and continued to pursue his original vision, he may one day beco a Journeyman ch Designer like Ketis or maybe even Ves.
Their success did not rely on excellent skills or designing chs that were nearly devoid flaws.
Instead, their kind derived their success by opening up new markets for innovative chs that did not exist in the past.
Why bother competing against existing chs when they could just find an unoccupied corner and
sell their own unique chs?
Even if their products possessed obvious shortcomings, as long as their value proposition was strong enough, people would still buy them in droves!
"I think Zanthar has a bright future ahead of him, but it will take ti for him to reach that point! Ves judged. "I am proud of what he has accomplished so far. His proof of concept is already innovative enough to attract further investnt. It is a pity that the gap between an experintal prototype and a competitive product s too wide. I have no idea how much Zanthar will struggle to bridge this divide.""
Gloriana smiled as she caressed Lucky's back. "I do not think it will take as long as you think. You are still thinking about the outdated trics of the Age of chs. We are in the Age of Dawn. Zanthar not only enjoyed the benefits of auxiliary qi cultivation, but also had a weekly quota of 16 hours with the SF-02. You told earlier that the smart Als helped him achieve his breakthrough. I think that the assistance of Polly can continue to accelerate his research."
She was right. Ves felt grateful for this reminder. Red humans were destined to progress a lot faster than original humans. Exotic radiation made such a great difference that the two branches of humanity were bound to diverge further over ti.
Perhaps the differences would grow so great in the future that red humans could constitute its own separate species.
This was similar to how primordial humanity was so unfathomably more powerful than original humanity that it was hard to think they were related!
"Zanthar is far from the only ch designer that is taking advantage of E energy radiation!" Ves responded. "He may be able to progress faster in this environnt, but his rivals and competitors are not slowing down. I have been noticing that many of the other Journeyn are making a lot of progress their own ti:
His wife nodded even as she began to rock Lucky like he was her baby.
"The Journeyn that you have recruited over the years are truly superior stock. They are all ambitious and unwilling to get left in our dust. Beatrice Hendrix, Viktor MacMillan, Harry Kaikkonen and Adrien Marceau have particularly impressed with their work and rate of improvent. While I do not think that they will advance to the rank of Senior ch Designer anyti soon, I would not be surprised if they do in the next 5 to 10 years"
That sounded really good. Not everyone could be asured by the insane standards set by the Polymath. Becoming a Senior ch Designer at around 50 to 70 years old was comndable. "Alexa Streon and Kelsey Ampatoch are much better than them due to their Terran or Rubarthan backgrounds! Ves felt obliged to ntion. "They are already undertaking far greater responsibilities. We should focus on recruiting additional first-class ch designers, but not too many at once. I don't want to give the second-raters the impression that I am trying to replace them as if they are
obsolete chs.'
"ow ow"
Lucky stretched his body and limbs, granting Gloriana a chance to rub his belly.
The female ch designer frowned in thought.
"Now that you ntion it, I have already tasked our recruiters to take a close look at the applications we have received from first-class ch designers. If the need is great, I can accept the most promising applications right away. I have been holding off on this decision because the arrival of so many superior ch designers may cause unwanted division. Alexa and Kelsey are too oppressive towards second-raters, you know that? They naturally exude their superiority and their productivity is so much higher that they can drive a second-class ch designer to despair."
The arrival of the SF-02 significantly cased the pressure on the Design Departnt, but it did not solve every problem.
The Design Departnt still needed to increase its output of ch designs.
The demand for both original designs and variant designs was growing with every passing year.
The consequences for failing to address this problem were severe.
Expert pilots and ace pilots may be forced to wait for two years before they received stronger machines that matched their strength.
Norms that couldn't wait to beco Carmine ch pilots had to wait for multiple years until the LMC released a Carmine ch design that catered to their interests and budget.
The loyal custors who fell in love with old LMC chs from the previous generation may be forced to switch to third-party chs because the lack of modern updates increasingly put their lives at greater risk.
These reasons and more all demanded an expansion to the Design Departnt.
"I am looking into recruiting a batch of first-class ch designers from all three colonial alliances!" Gloriana said. "Right now, I am closely studying the applications from Terran ch designers who graduated from the Eden Institute of Business & Technology. The ones who attended your classes in the past few years should find it much easier to integrate into our clan and make aningful contributions to our ch design project. Who knows, they may even be able to design living chs like Ketis and I. That will allow us to work on more living ch designs at the sa ti" This was a good solution. Ves had not been as attentive when it ca to fulfilling his teaching duties, but there were certain Terran ch design students that had managed to catch his interest or impressed him during the previous sesters.
If they were open to joining the Larkinson Clan, then Ves would definitely welco these Terrans! "That is a good idea, Gloriana. It doesn't matter if you play favorites and make the Rubarthans upset. sohow. Competence is more important than hurting other people's feelings. Living chs has always been a signature of our clan and ch company. It doesn't make any sense to publish ch designs under our label that aren't alive. I can't work on so many projects at the sa ti, so the best way to increase our Design Departnt's 'bandwidth' without stretching myself thin is to make progress in this area.
"This would be so much easier if you are able to realize your design philosophy!" She said. "How much progress have you made?"
Ves thought on how he should answer this question, knowing that his wife was extrely sensitive to any perception that she was falling behind.
"Not that much, I think. I am not standing still. The Arboreal Project that is centered around Woodsap chs should be the first step towards becoming a Master ch Designer. The Hunting Association does not appear to be in a hurry to cooperate with on designing a rgewater ch. I still have no idea what I should design as my first Bloodfire ch. I am also too busy and short on ti to work on my Polytal ch. I have even less ideas about Elental Carmine chs based on the earth elent."
His wife stared at him with unreadable eyes. She even ceased to pet Lucky, which elicited a
complaint from Lucky.
"ow!"
"It sounds to that you urgently require more manpower to share your burden" She eventually
said. "You are only one Senior ch Designer, and you do not even have the benefit of a cranial augnt suite that is empowered by ntalist Crystal fragnts."
"That is why I need the help of more ch designers like Alexa Streon. Let's start with screening the Terran ch designers first. They are already so close that it shouldn't take more than a week to interview them and test whether they have what it takes to beco our next assistants and maybe
even peers!
Gloriana remained still for a few seconds before she slowly nodded. 'I shall take care of it. I am thinking about recruiting 3 Terran ch designers. It is not difficult to recruit more, but I am afraid that absorbing any more at the sa ti will result in too much tension among our current
workforce:
Recruiting 3 ch designers did not sound like much, but it was a different story if they were highly competent first-raters.
They could make a huge difference once they settled into the Larkinson Clan and began their work
in earnest!
Due to their excellent education, they required minimal study and training to beco useful to the Design Departnt!
"If you think that is a good number, then go for it, Gloriana. I trust your judgnt."
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