The Mech Touch



Tristan may have renounced his Fridayman citizenship and start over in Davute, but that did not mean his relationship with Master Meredith Katzenberg had frozen over.

The relationship between the two was not as estranged as the one between Ves and Master Olson.

As such, Tristan had no qualms about calling his former Master.

Since Master Katzenberg happened to be a good friend of Master Olson, it was best to use the former as a channel to contact the latter.

Master Katzenberg did not look pleased when she heard Ves' request through Tristan's explanation.

Her projection directed its gaze at the Larkinson Patriarch.

"You have recently advanced to Senior, so I do not doubt your intelligence. The Friday Coalition and the Larkinson Clan still maintain a state of hostility between each other. You may not care about what others may think if you try to make contact with a Fridayman and your former Master no less, but Carmin will not be able to shrug off criticism with the same amount of ease. If you have any gratitude or affection for her, I advise you to maintain your distance from her. She has already suffered greatly for accepting you as her apprentice in the first place."

He could indeed imagine that Master Olson went through a tough time due to raising a mech designer who eventually terrorized her own state, but he knew that the situation was a lot murkier than what was apparent on the surface.

The intensifying division within the Friday Coalition along with other factors made it so that Master Olson did not turn into a pariah outright.

In fact, as far as he knew, Master Olson benefited substantially from the Komodo War just like all of the other Fridayman Master Mech Designers.

"Please just contact her and relay my request." Ves politely said to Master Katzenberg. "Please allow Master Olson to make her own decision regarding this matter. The two of us aren't completely cut off from each other, you know. She still owns a 2 percent stake in my incredibly profitable mech company."

"Hm, I suppose that is true. I shall do as you say on account of this relationship."

The projection disappeared, leaving Ves to wait alongside Tristan.

The two mech designers who used to come from the same home state began to chat with each other again.

Lucky meanwhile occupied his time by sniffing around the lab. The cat avoided any gems like the plague. Since there were so many of them in the lab, he eventually decided to phase out of the chamber and explore the building's other rooms.

It took around fifteen minutes for a projection to reappear. The much more elegantly-dressed form of Master Olson had finally come!

The blond woman carried herself with an elegance that spoke of great confidence derived from her own ability and successes.

Her demeanor was much different from the likes of Gloriana or stuffy nobles. Unlike the people who were born to a life of wealth, privilege and power, Master Olson had worked hard to reach her current position!

She had advanced to the rank of Master Mech Designer when she was around 100 years old. Ves understood a lot more how significant this was. Perhaps she could have accumulated a bit more in order to get off to a better start, but her decision to realize her design philosophy earlier meant she must definitely have the confidence to make it further!

Master Olson echoed the Polymath to a small extent in his eyes. Whether her confidence was warranted, Ves could not tell. He could only judge that his former teacher and guide was still in a stage of rapid growth.

"Hello again, Master."

"Hello, Ves…"

An awkward silence ensued. Their identities were not simple, and it was already a controversial matter for the both of them to come into direct contact with each other!

An invisible aura spread between the two mech designers who were physically separated from each other by hundreds of thousands of light-years.

The air became more oppressive as it looked as if neither side would stop until one of them lost composure first!

Tristan felt distinctly unwelcome despite the fact that he was standing in his own laboratory. He smiled awkwardly and slowly backed away until he quietly slipped out of the entrance.

He did not want to get involved with whatever was going on between the two! A careless mistake could easily cause him to get dragged in the middle of the long-running conflict between a powerful state and a rapidly growing clan!

Shortly after Tristan made his getaway, Ves eventually loosened his posture and deliberately adopted a casual stance.

"It has been a long time."

"It has." Olson simply responded.

There was little point in starting up a casual chat with Master Olson. Doing so might cause her to lose patience and end this sensitive call before Ves managed to bring up his request!

"The reason why I wanted to contact you is because I recently broke through and assumed greater responsibilities. I am sure you know what it is like. My current issue is that I am trying to apply for a teaching position at an excellent school, but my qualifications are not quite sufficient."

Master Olson raised her eyebrow. "So you wish to obtain a letter of recommendation from my hand?"

Ves nodded. "I do. I have already collected a couple of them, but I think it is indispensable for me to obtain one that is written by my former Master."

"..."

The woman did not reply immediately, but let the silence stretch for almost a minute. She looked as if she was spending her time in thought, but it may be that she was trying to express her displeasure.

"Can you… write a letter for me, Master? It would be helpful if you do. I have greater confidence in my ability to get accepted by a mech design university if I can present your kind words about my competences. I have managed to accomplish a lot ever since I visited Leemar for the first time, you know."

Olson's lips curled into a sardonic smile. "By accomplishments, you mean arming the enemies of the Friday Coalition with mechs that are hard to handle, defeating the fleets and mech forces dispatched by my state and utterly contributing to the sacking of Pima Prime."

| "Uh… that's right."

"These are indeed accomplishments that you can be proud of, Ves, but they carry the opposite meaning when you present them to a member of the state that has suffered greatly from your work. What you are doing is the equivalent of a serial killer visiting the family of one of his victims in order to beg for a compliment. How dare you, Ves?"

Though Ves indeed felt rather guilty about making such a presumptuous request, his desire for a letter overpowered his shame and sense of propriety.

"Oh, come on, Master. We may stand on opposite ends of a conflict, but that has little to do with us in person. We are merely the victims of an uncontrollable circumstance. It may be in the best interest of the Friday Coalition for the two of us to remain separated from each other, but does the Vermeer Group think the same?"

Master Olson directed a pointed stare at Ves, but she withheld her reply for the time being.

Both of them knew quite well that Master Olson played a key role in enabling the attack on Pima Prime by offering much of her shares in the LMC as an incentive.

Since Ves and his Larkinsons upheld their end of the secret bargain brokered by Tristan Wesseling, Master Olson promptly transferred a nice chunk of shares back into his hands.

This made him feel a lot more comfortable as less of the profits generated from his work flowed into the hands of outsiders!

Thinking about those shares allowed Ves to present another argument.

"Besides that, you are still an important minority shareholder of the Living Mech Corporation. My Living Mech Corporation." He grinned at her projection. "If you truly wanted to cut off your relationship with me in total, then you shouldn't have kept those shares for so many years. If you truly consider me to be an enemy that you are obliged to obstruct or defeat, then prove that with your actions by divesting yourself of the shares in my mech company."

This was a fairly strong argument as it was based on an unquestionable fact!

Master Olson slowly narrowed her eyes for a bit before she finally opened her mouth again.

"Enough. You are not incorrect for stating that our relationship is multi-faceted. I have heard many words of persuasion from you, but you have yet to provide me with a compelling reason to write a referral letter. You will need to be more direct."

That was an encouraging sign. Master Olson's tone remained adversarial, but she still gave Ves a chance to make his case!

Ves grinned. "You want me to succeed, right? Leaving aside my hostile relationship with your state, the two of us are student and teacher. You have undeniably taught me and facilitated my growth as a mech designer. Even if you did not directly teach me all that much, you opened up a part of your network and allowed me to obtain greater knowledge through channels that have opened up due to my new status as your nominal disciple. I still hold a lot of gratitude for you because of that. Thank you for supporting me in my time of need."

Olson shook her head. "As you have stated yourself, I did not contribute too much to your rapid growth and success."

"You do not need to be modest. As the Master of a highly successful mech designer who advanced to Senior, you must have benefited a lot from my rise, though in ways that are not as obvious to the people who are not a part of our industry. I am trying my best to make further progress, but I need to enter a more powerful academic environment in order to obtain better support. I won't hide it from you. The reason why I urgently need your letter is because I want to apply to work at a first-class mech design university."

This finally provoked a substantial reaction from Master Olson. Both of her eyebrows rose at the same time!

"You… are not eligible to teach at such a high institution."

"Am I really?" Ves chuckled and smirked. "Come now, Master Olson. You know more than most people how impressive of a mech designer that I have become. Don't just take my word for it. I have already secured the endorsement of five Master Mech Designers, three of whom possess much higher identities and qualifications than yourself!"

He activated a projection that briefly showed off his current collection of referral letters. The ones that contained the markings of the Mech Trade Association looked especially dazzling!

Master Olson's eyes flashed. "Did Master Moira Willix agree to write a letter of recommendation for you already?"

"She did."

"Then… I shall do likewise."

"Eh, you agree?"

Master Olson nodded. "The five Masters that you have contacted before are not blind. If they have expressed great confidence in your competence, then I cannot be dishonest and reject an obvious truth. In addition, it is indeed unacceptable for your former Master to withhold support. It may give the impression that I believe that you have been poorly taught, which is not the case."

Though Ves hadn't managed to keep up with the rapid turnaround, he did not want to look a gift horse in the mouth!

"So you will write a letter for me?" He asked in the hopes of obtaining confirmation.

"I… shall. It may not provide you with as much assistance as you have hoped. My word will not mean as much as an MTA Master to a university-employed recruiter."

"It will definitely make a difference, Master. Thank you for setting aside our differences and base your decision on what we have in common."

Master Olson let out a small sigh of exasperation. "Let us conclude this matter quickly."

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