Ves had made his conditions clear.
He did not outright reject the possibility of turning the Otalon Sprius into a giant version of the Greenaxe, but multiple conditions had to be satisfied before he invested a vast amount of resources into turning an ace juggernaut into reality.
Alexa appeared satisfied enough. She knew as well as Ves that he would not acquiesce to her proposal without imposing heavy demands.
This was the best she could obtain.
"Please promise that if we embark on this project, I will be included among its contributors. I am not asking to beco the lead designer. Gloriana can claim that honor. I rely want to ensure that I am permitted to apply my design philosophy to the juggernaut design."
That caused Ves to look intrigued. "If you want to beco a aningful contributor to the ace juggernaut design project, then my intervention isn't really needed. We both specialize in designing living chs, after all. Considering my workload, I do not mind passing up this responsibility to you. It will not be easy for you to participate in such a huge and high-end project. Not only will you be swamped with work, but you will also have to reinvent a lot of new stuff on account of working on a juggernaut rather than a more normal-sized ch. The old rules do not necessarily apply anymore."
Alexa responded with a confident smile. "I am not afraid of hard work. You don't have to involve yourself in this project. I am looking forward to helping our clan realize such a miraculous machine. Can you imagine it, Ves? A living machine that is the size of a small but still respectable warship. Such a machine has never been made before. I have many ideas I want to implent in this unique design, but I can only work out a handful. I will do my best to develop new design solutions to ensure that it will be just as powerful if you had taken my place instead."
While Ves doubted whether Alexa could make up for his absence, he appreciated her courage. A good ch designer needed to have dreams and the guts to pursue them. There could never be improvent without ambition.
"Is that all you want to talk about?"
"I have nothing else to say, sir. Let us return to the workshop before your wife begins to make demands."
The pair of ch designers returned to the main workshop.
At this ti, the amount of visitors had dropped. Many of the ch designers who had grown curious about this undertaking had to leave in order to prevent them from spotting any sensitive trade secrets.
The workshop acquired a much more solemn atmosphere now that the noise level had died down.
Gloriana had already sent the children away after giving each of them a kiss on the head.
Lucky and Clixie accompanied the kids and made sure they remained in good company.
Master Laila Rebecca Devos chose to remain behind long enough to bid Ves good luck.
"Given your past performance and the impressive nature of your latest design, the Minerva Mark II will undoubtedly set a new standard of excellence within your clan. The probability that you and your wife will fail to et expectations is low. Only external interference can disturb you to the point of producing a disappointing outco, but we will endeavor to prevent that from happening. By the ti your team is done, I hope to witness the rise of an era-defining first-class ace command ch."
"If that is all you wanted to say, you could have transmitted a ssage to , Master."
"I did not choose to remain here because of this reason alone." Master Laila looked amused. "I wanted to offer guidance to you as a mber of the older generation. The Minerva Mark II design is so good that it can have a brighter future than you envisioned. If you agree to conduct one additional step in your work process, you may be able to yield greater rewards than normal, but only if your work passes muster."
Ves looked suspicious. "What do you an by that, exactly?"
Master Laila moved Ves to the side and activated a privacy screen around the two. "There are many variations of chs in use. There are first-class multipurpose chs. There are aquatic chs. There are heavy artillery chs. There are tiger chs. Many of them may be called chs, but they actually diverge wildly in shape and performance. There are so many different designs and variations that it is easy to get lost in them all. The vast majority of them are quite average and highly derivative of each other, but there is a small proportion that are so good that they approximate the ideal chs that our industry is striving for. These chs possess value that is greater than their apparent value in the hands of their users. They are good enough to beco symbols of our proud industry."
As she spoke, Ves did not really appear all that interested.
"I am not in the mood to listen to a mushy high-minded philosophical lecture. Gloriana is about to start soon, and she can get quite pissed if I am late."
Just as he turned around to walk away, Master Laila Devos placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"As your elder, you should at least respect my wisdom. I can promise you that what I am about to pass on to you is more than worth the small amount of ti I am holding you back. Since you disdain listening to a comprehensive story, let be more concise. If you think your ch is good enough to rank among the best in our galaxy, then you can make the risky decision to call upon a higher authority to evaluate it. If your confidence is not misplaced, your work will be designated as an anchor ch. This has many implications, all of which are good, hence why anchor chs are so respected."
"What are anchor chs?" Ves frowned in puzzlent. "Why haven't I heard of this before?"
"It is not a surprise that not a single Master or Star Designer has shared this secret to you. Only ch designers of the aforentioned ranks are capable of producing works that can eventually beco anchor chs. They likely assud that you are not ready to present any chs that et the necessary standard. I have a different opinion about it given the excellence of your past works. The Red Association normally forbids us from sharing this information to Seniors such as you, but I have little respect for the chers, and even less reason to follow all of its rules. Our civilization is under heavy strain. We cannot let bureaucracy and caution override good sense."
Ves grew even more confused. This anchor ch business sounded more important than he expected.
"What's the big deal about anchor chs?"
"It is difficult to summarize the importance of anchor chs in so little ti." Master Laila Devos looked frustrated. "Introducing this subject to you at such a late ti is an impulsive decision on my part. Normally, I would have restrained myself, but the threat to the Terran Alliance and the rest of human civilization has grown too great. By informing you about the existence of anchor chs, I hope that you will think about applying your Minerva Mark II to beco one of them. This will have many consequences. In exchange for sharing aspects of your ace ch to a higher authority, your Minerva Mark II will beco showered with grace. Your work will beco stronger and the ch pilot can produce a higher level of true resonance in advance."
These benefits sounded a bit vague, but also real enough for Ves to develop an interest in this business!
His brain was already working hard since the start of this eting. Ves had already begun to connect a few dots.
"This higher authority you are referring too… happens to be A certain 'kingdom', right? Not a Saint Kingdom, but sothing different and far greater."
Master Laila wordlessly nodded with a serious expression.
Now this was beginning to make sense.
If anchor chs originated from the Kingdom of chs and retained their significance with the Red Kingdom, then both of them had the power to elevate the performance of the Minerva Mark II!
Though Ves did not receive a lot of information, he could guess that so long as the Minerva Mark II passed a highly rigorous examination, the Red Kingdom may decide to designate it as an anchor ch.
That would supposedly turn the ace command ch into another representation of the best ch designs of red humanity, whatever that ant.
What was important was that the Red Kingdom should not be stingy in issuing rewards. So long as the Minerva Mark II t all of the criteria, it should definitely receive a boost as a reward for contributing to the developnt of chs.
"Is there any price to send an application to designate my Minerva Mark II as an anchor ch?"
"The kingdom is programd to 'punish' you if you fail." Master Laila Devos said. "This punishnt can range from damaging your work to earning yourself a black mark. It is your responsibility as a ch designer to be able to objectively evaluate your work. If you are not self-aware enough to understand how good or bad your ch may be, then that is your fault. However, since I am encouraging you to take this step, you can trust my judgnt that your upcoming work has a higher chance to succeed."
The price of failure did not sound pleasant. It certainly worked to deter ch designers who casually wanted to try their luck. Their applications would only waste the ti of the Red Kingdom!
"What are the downsides if my Minerva Mark II passes the test?" Ves asked.
"The kingdom will know more about you and your design solutions than before." Master Laila Devos said. "This has multiple consequences, of which many you do not need to know at the mont. The most important consequence is that the Minerva Mark II will set a standard for all other chs that are similar to it. The kingdom will begin to compare your work to other ace command chs, expert command chs and even standard command chs. It will intelligently make comparisons between your Minerva Mark II and other machines that are designed to function similarly. This is a great honor and responsibility for your work."
Ves began to understand what was going on now.
"Anchor chs are used to calibrate the kingdom. Is this correct?"
"That is an oversimplified answer, but you are largely correct." Master Laila Devos responded. "The two kingdoms are intelligent and powerful enough to decide which chs can represent the best of their classifications. However, it is dangerous for humans to entrust this important function to a piece of transcendent programming. This is why the human factor remains essential. The Star Designers set or adjust the criteria that chs must satisfy in order to earn the designation of anchor chs. ch designers who are confident in their works must manually apply for evaluation with the help of a small ritual in order to call down the kingdom. Even if they produce better works, as long as they refuse to submit their applications, their works will not beco the latest representations of the ch industry."
"Why are anchor chs so important?" Ves asked as he still looked a bit lost. "For the kingdom to issue rewards to a passing work, it has to be damn important for stuff like this to exist. What is the purpose of calibrating it with these anchor chs?"
"The shortest answer that I can give you is that it will make it easier for other ch designers to design similar chs." Master Laila Devos answered. "It will employ a variety of subtle asures to assist your colleagues and peers into designing similar machines as yours. The invisible influence of the Red Kingdom will subtly help them design an ace ch that may be alive or may consist of archetal. In short, every ch designer who attempts to design an archech or a living ch will have a slightly higher chance to succeed than before."
"Doesn't this produce the sa result as realizing my design philosophy?" Ves asked.
"No. This is not a shortcut to becoming a Master ch Designer, as people originally assud that only Masters and Star Designers are qualified to produce anchor chs. It is exceedingly rare for Senior ch Designers to make an anchor ch, but the benefits are also greater for you. Think about it, Ves. If more ch designers are able to design living chs, their unique research and applications may inspire you and help you perfect your own design philosophy. It is another form of teaching your craft to the entire ch industry. The thod of assistance is indirect, and so is the remuneration that you can obtain in return. That does not change the fact that this is helpful to you. As long as you succeed, you can already earn a fraction of the privileges of a Master ch Designer in advance."
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