The time to develop the Aurora Titan surpassed the time limit initially set by Professor Ventag. With all the sessive iterations being developed and sent to the Green Neb region to undergo testing, they wasted a lot of time on improving and optimizing the design.


    However, Ves considered the effort to be fairly worth it. By the time they developed a fifth prototype and got it tested, Ves and the professor decided that this would be the final iteration of the design.


    Aside from implementing some very minorst-minute tweaks, the lengthy design process eventually came to an end!


    "It’s done!" Ves celebrated.


    "The design is functionallyplete." The professor nodded over them. "As long as you are sure that this is the product that you wish to publish in our names, I will fabricate a copy myself and send it to the MTA for validation."


    "That sounds good. I trust in your capabilities."


    Ves still held the same concerns as before. Unless it was absolutely necessary, Ves did not n on visiting Bentheim at all!


    Unfortunately, he might not have his wish.


    "While ourpanies have prepared borate marketing campaigns for our new product, it is nheless vital for us to announce it in person. Mypany has already booked arge exhibition venue in Bentheim. As the lead designer of the Aurora Titan, it mainly falls on you to introduce the public to this mech design. Are you up to the task?"


    This was a difficult question to Ves. If he declined, then the professor would take up the stage. That might be good in attracting more attention to the Aurora Titan design because any mech designed by a Senior was notable.


    However, letting Professor Ventag be the public face of the joint design project did not help Ves out in any way.


    The audience might think that the Senior was the real lead designer and that Ves was only a junior hanger-on who coasted on Ventag’s reputation!


    If Ves wanted to put some truth into the fact that he was responsible for setting the concept, vision and around seventy-five of the Aurora Titan design, then he needed to step onto the stage in person!


    Therefore, despite his great reluctance to return to Bentheim, Ves eventually nodded. "Please let me do the product reveal. In fact, could you let me be in charge of fabricating the show models as well? It will help if I can present the works I made with my own hands."


    "Are you certain? NORA Consolidated’s production equipment is a lot better than our ownpany’s production equipment. You’ve entrusted the fabrication of the prototype to mypany and I don’t see the need to change that. At least one of my crews have be quite adept at fabricating copies of the Aurora Titan."


    "Your mech technicians are very capable." Ves praised. "Yet a mech designed by myself will carry my personal touch. I think that is what the show models need the most at its uing product reveal. I’m very good at this. Otherwise, my goldbel mechs wouldn’t be so valuedpared to their bronze and silverbel counterparts."


    "What about yourpany’s fabrication limits? Is it capable of fabricating an Aurora Titan?"


    "The situation is different now." Ves stated. "I’ve tasked mypany to order some extra equipment and rework some of my production lines. My manufacturingplex is now fully capable of producing the Aurora Titan without anyplications."


    The professor eventually agreed, dismissing it as one of Ves’ many entricities.


    These upgrades may have cost some money, but Ves considered the investment to be well worth it. It helped that he only upgraded a couple of production lines, thereby minimizing his expenditures.


    If everything went ording to n, then NORA Consolidated became responsible for the bulk of fulfilling the orders for the Aurora Titan model. The biggerpany was much more equipped to output a lot of Aurora Titans at a consistently high quality.


    NORA Consolidated therefore became responsible for the production of both the bronzebel and silverbel editions of the Aurora Titan model.


    While it was weird to entrust thepany with the production of both the bronze and silverbel editions of the new mech model, neither mech designers thought it was a good idea to involve a third-party.


    The Aurora Titan design was very much a niche product that fulfilled a very narrow role. It would never sell as much as standard medium space knights. With its low sales projection, there really wasn’t any point in outsourcing production of the most affordable edition to a differentpany.


    That didn’t prevent otherpanies from licensing the design from the MTA, but even so they would likely be wasting their money.


    While the professor’s mechpany became responsible for mass production, the LMC would fulfill more special orders. Ves nned to fabricate the goldbel edition of the Aurora Titan in limited amounts in order to impress the public, meet the needs of the Avatars of Mech and propagate mechs with the strongest X-Factor he had ever produced up to this point.


    He would also fulfill any custom orders he found worthwhile to fulfill. Ves considered his time to be very valuable, so he wouldn’t easily spend his time on customizing an Aurora Titan to a specific client without getting a lot of rewards in return.


    All in all, both of theirpanies had already made full preparations for the uing introduction of the Aurora Titan design. From both a production and a marketing standpoint, theirpanies were as ready as ever to work with the new design!


    After agreeing on several other matters, Ves eventually ended the call with the professor.


    "Heh." Ves chuckled. "This will likely be the end of my easy ess to a Senior Mech Designer."


    The joint design project gave Ves a lot of opportunities to interact with a Senior in an intimate manner. For all intents and purposes, the professor had taken on an unofficial role as a mentor to the younger mech designer.


    This was something that Ves reallycked. While he showered Ketis with a lot of attention before during his time with the Vandals, this time he had be the beneficiary of someone who was better and more experienced.


    Naturally, Ves did not think that Ventag spent so much time on mentoring him because the professor appreciated his talents. Perhaps that might have yed a role, but ultimately Professor Ventag was trying to pull Ves deeper into his orbit.


    As long as Ves continued to be more prominent, the professor’s investment would pay off big time!


    Ves recognized the influence game that the professor was ying and implicitly epted it as he benefited from the tutge of a Senior. He gained a lot of small but important insights such as the importance of marketing to a mechpany.


    However, both of them were busy mech designers with many priorities on their minds.


    Professor Ventag not only had to design a lot of mechs to keep NORA Consolidated at the forefront of the mech market, he also fought to keep the DCTI relevant in the face of AUMD’s dominance in Bentheim’s academic mechmunity.


    Meanwhile, Ves had to prepare hispany for the impending transition to the next mech generation. In order for thepany to maintain its market presence, Ves also had toe up with a number of stopgap designs in the next couple of years.


    Just like the Aurora Titan design, these stopgap designs would straddle between two different mech generations and be able to provide value in both instances. Ves aimed to work with more versatile mech concepts for his stopgap design with greater sales potential than his Aurora Titan design.


    "It’s all well and good to innovate on a mech design, but I shouldn’t lose sight on the importance of making money."


    The LMC needed to offer appealing mech designs in the next couple of years. These products would fill the void that emerged when thepany retired the ckbeak and Crystal Lord models from its mech catalog.


    "If mypany stops receiving orders, my production lines will all fall dormant. Most of mypany’s employees won’t have anything to do and mypany will continue to bleed an enormous amount of money while remaining idle."


    Apany that spent most of its time by sitting on its hands all day was not a productivepany! Even if Ves could use extraordinary one-off means to generate huge amounts of money, this was not a sustainable way to run apany.


    If Ves needed to bail out hispany out of its dire financial straits all the time, what would that do to the confidence of his employees? They would think that the LMC wasn’t strong enough to stand on its own! If such a sentiment ever took root in the minds of his workers, then their morale and shared identity would all plummet into nothing!


    Therefore, in order to sustain the long-term health of thepany, Ves needed to pump out several mech designs with interesting forms. As long as these designs achieved enough sales as the ckbeak and the Crystal Lord, then that was enough of a sess in his book.


    "I also can’t forget about my other obligations." Ves grimaced.


    In other words, Ves would likely be so preupied with his own matters that he wouldn’t be able to remain in regr contact with Professor Ventag.


    "Perhaps it’s for the best. If I continue to learn from him, eventually I will lose my own way."


    As a mech designer, Ves had a very clear idea on what kind of mechs he wanted to design. While there wasn’t anything wrong with learning from another mech designer, he should always be wary of supnting his own design philosophy with someone else’s!


    "Well, enough musing about. Let’s finalize the design."


    Ves upheld a very different definition of finalizing a mech design than others. Most mech designers would simply file some paperwork to convey the message that thetest version of the design was the official one.


    Not him. While Ves would still have to follow the same steps in order to satisfy thews and regtions set by the MTA and the local jurisdictions, he needed to take one additional step to truly finalize a design.


    "It’s time to add the final touch."


    Ves called up the design schematics of the Aurora Titan from his desk projector and centered himself for a moment. He concentrated his mind and connected himself to the dormant spiritual fragment in his mind.


    He conveyed a simple message to the fragment.


    The fragment pulsed in response.


    Ves could sense the excitement emanating from Qnxo’s augmented spiritual fragment. After months of riding inside his mind and taking an active part in designing the Aurora Titan, it could finally end its months-long wait!


    With the spiritual fragment’s assent, Ves opened up his mind while staring intensely at the projected design of the Aurora Titan.


    It was time for the spiritual fragment to breathe life into the design!


    "Go! Take up your new home!"


    With a mental breeze, the spiritual fragment phased right through his mental space and flitted over to the spiritual domain of the Aurora Titan.


    The design seemed to glow in his mental vision. Some very inexplicable reactions ured as the design truly seemed toe to life in his eyes! Its X-Factor be more and more enlivened, and in some sense Ves even received the illusion that the design even managed to surpass a limit that he never knew before!


    As the design stopped glowing in his spiritual vision, Ves felt a huge void in his mind. The immensely powerful presence of Qnxo’s spiritual fragment no longer inhabited his mind!


    Even though he missed its presence, he nheless felt an unprecedented amount of satisfaction. The spiritual fragment not only seeded in integrating itself into the design, but also pushed its X-Factor to unseen heights!


    Ves cherished the memory of this moment. "It will be a long time before I can replicate this amazing moment."