The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7278

After the party came to an end, Aurelia departed from the Bluejay Fleet the next day.

She departed with hugs and tearful farewells from the rest of her immediate families. Even the cats would miss her presence!

"Meow!"

"Miaow..."

“I would bring one of you with me if I could, but the naval academies maintain a strict no-pet policy." Aurelia said as she scratched both cats behind the ears.

She would not be departing alone.

Standing by her side was Marigold Larkinson, who looked like a pale, dark-haired girl who could convincingly play the role of Aurelia's sister.

She still wore a silky black robe and garment that exuded both elegance and playfulness. The minimal golden accents and the colorful pattern of cats marked her connection to the Larkinsons without being too blatant and direct.

The naval academies employed a strict policy of not letting in any extraneous personnel. No matter how pampered their pupils may be, they were not allowed to bring along any maids, butlers, manservants or even bodyguards.

The point of an educational institution was to prepare its student body for the greater challenges ahead in life. The presence of servants could significantly hinder their adaptation process.

However, Marigold Larkinson was an exception as she was not a servant or a human for that matter.

She was a high-level artifact, one that had evolved to the point of being able to switch between two forms!

Though she appeared as a lovely young lady at the moment, she could instantly switch back to the original form of the Flower Parasol Mark I.

Ves and Gloriana did not need to remind Marigold of her duties and responsibilities.

The flower-themed artifact had committed herself to protecting and accompanying Aureliat

Though Ves was a little concerned about how Aurelia would develop with Marigold by her side, he was not particularly scared that anything would go wrong.

He specifically designed the Flower Parasol Mark Il to protect Aurelia. There was little chance that the artifact would become hostile towards its current holder.

Besides, getting contaminated by an artifact associated with flowers and protection was not necessarily a bad outcome.

At most, Aurelia would develop an obsession for flowers and equip herself with redundant protective measures.

This was also why Ves did not even think about converting Marigold into a D-arm. He had no intention of subjecting Aurelia to the trials and struggles that could even tire out high-ranking mech pilots.

Once Aurelia boarded a shuttle that would bring her to a fast destroyer vessel, her absence already started to make a mark on the lives of the family she left behind.

“I miss her..." Andraste said as she held Lucky in her arms. "When will she be back?" "Next year maybe." Ves absently replied. "The cadets aren't obligated to stay at the naval academies year-round. They can choose to go back during their big break, or attend various summer courses and programs if they want to continue their development. As long as Aurelia is doing well in her normal studies, she should have enough room to come back to the clan and keep us company.”

Ves and Gloriana would not easily agree to send Aurelia off to Erwin Kiobucar if she was committed to staying for years on end.

The fleeters still possessed a bit of humanity.

Once the excitement about Aurelia's departure died down, another event took place.

The supply fleet dispatched by the Red Association finally arrived in the Philaster Crestia System.

Though the star system still remained under siege, the Goliath Hive had yet to amp up their aggression.

Just like the local defenders, the Bluejay Fleet had become accustomed to the half- hearted attack waves sent by the mutated voribugs.

All of the Ascended Giants had expressed eagerness to duel against the most powerful Level 7 Goliaths dispatched by the enemy.

Fortunately, each of them had learned from the Divine Arsonist's negative example. They respected the big alien bugs a lot more and tried their best not to get bogged down by all of the enemy cannon fodder.

The support personnel over at the Armitage took advantage of the industrial facilities on the surface of Philaster Crestia ll to apply urgent modifications and upgrades to the raiments of the two squads of the Ascended Giants.

They focused on quick fixes such as reinforcing weak points and bolting anti-swarm weapons onto the exterior.

Additional missiles, surprise modules and other armaments ensured that the Ascended Giants had an easier time clearing any bugs that clung to their bodies, but only so long as their supplies lasted.

While Ves had tasked the Phase Lord Department with developing more sustainable solutions to clear the voribug swarms, it would probably take a lot of time for the engineers to complete their assignments.

For now, the Ascended Giants had to fight more cautiously and make sure to retreat as soon as the enemy bugs threatened to overwhelm their defenses as soon as their spatial barriers were on the verge of breaking.

What helped a lot was that the Rubarthans had worked overtime and shipped over the first batch of giant-scaled plasma weapons as soon as possible.

This significantly increased their combat effectiveness against most of the higher-level Goliaths.

The big bugs were no longer able to regenerate their wounds as quickly as before. The only problem was that the 1.5x and 2.5x weapons consumed so much power that the Ascended Giants had to carry larger power reactors to meet the increased demand for energy.

When Ves examined the new giant-scaled plasma sword and plasma axe in person, he grew a little dissatisfied with their performance and specifications.

The polemarchos of the Ascended Giants clearly deserved better.

The Dark Apostle might not know how to effectively utilize the knowledge learned by Ves to make his own weapons, but he understood enough to distinguish between good and bad.

That had caused him to become extraordinarily picky. He would rather wait for Ves to finish his own creations than to borrow the ordinary products made by others.

The other Ascended Giants didn't know anything better. They were more than satisfied with the new weapons. While they yearned for superdimensional weapons even more, it was not bad for them to wield plasma weapons against the mutated voribugs.

While Ves continued to examine the plasma weapons supplied by the Rubarthans, Gloriana surprisingly showed a greater interest in the new arms.

"Why are you here?" He asked. "These weapons aren't very great. I thought that you would be more sensitive towards that. I am sure you have better things to do with your time."

“You are right, Ves, but I am here because I am thinking about broadening my horizons. Now that my learning conditions have improved, I think I can afford to add another minor specialization to my knowledge base."

"Oh? What are you thinking about?"

"My work on archetech allows me to make a mech more durable, but it does not directly strengthen their offensive power. I am thinking about developing a minor specialization in plasma weapon technology in order to compensate for this shortcoming. I want to be able to design both melee and ranged weapons so that I can ensure that my works will not be lacking in attack power."

That was an interesting decision.

Ves immediately figured out that she did not intend to rely entirely on self-study in order to increase her competence in plasma weapon technology.

She most certainly had her eye on an enlightenment fruit centered around plasma weapon technology that fell within her budget!

Ves thought about the merits of this decision.

“Well, the Larkinson Clan does not have a specialist in plasma weapon technology, so I suppose it is a good choice to expand our capabilities." He said. "However, we are not lacking in offensive options. Both Harry Kaikkonen and I are proficient in developing luminar crystal weapons. Zanthar Larkinson is still young, but he is gradually becoming more competent in developing special hyper kinetic weapons. Ketis is undisputed in terms of designing physical swords while Dulo is good at designing polearms. Then there are lots of Apprentices who all possess shallow foundations in other weapon systems."

“What are you trying to say, Ves?"

“We are not too short on weapon specialists at the moment. Mastering plasma technology may be inevitable now that we are beginning to work on first-class mechs, but it is not necessary for either of us to specialize in this field. If necessary, we can simply publish a recruitment order and a first-class mech designer who specializes in plasma weapons will turn up the next day. The Rubarthan Pact is not short on them due to the presence of the Plasma Shaper."

Gloriana paused for a moment but eventually shook her head. "Your arguments make sense, but I need to broaden my skillset. Do not get me wrong. I am not scattering my focus as you. I am primarily interested in rounding out my design applications. The absence of a strong offensive option is grating on me. Plasma weapons may not be the most exciting or exotic choice, but it is a stable solution that will continue to remain relevant in the present and the future."

She was right. Plasma weapons weren't flashy, but they were quite powerful and easy to scale up. Learning this specialization would ensure she would never make her first-class mechs under-armed.

The only downside was that the use of plasma weapons was prohibitively expensive or outright impossible for second-class and third-class mechs, but that was not really a downside for a female mech designer who had set her sights on high-grade mechs. “Fine. If you think you can handle the extra studies on top of your workload, then I have no complaints.” (More chapters in Buyers club for TMT)