The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7547

Chapter 7547: Old Approach

Alexa’s feedback might not provide any direct assistance, but it nonetheless served as a breaking point in their development.

Ves took inspiration from her tale and latched on to the metaphor of a farmer participating in the cycle of creation and destruction.

"I think... your grandfather made effective use of symbolism to enable new applications of power." He analyzed. "Whether he knew about it or not, his actions align with the Myth Reproduction Theory."

Alexa looked thoughtful after he mentioned this theory. "Are you thinking of adopting a similar approach to our problem in order to overcome the difficulties in realizing my proposal?"

Ves nodded. "While I am not a full-time ritualist, I have exchanged enough ideas with them to understand the gist of their approach. I have also dabbled with rituals in the past, so I am not totally inexperienced in this kind of stuff. While my methods were crude and inefficient, they occasionally worked. In fact, I used to rely a lot more on rituals and symbolism in the earlier years of my career. In hindsight, these methods allowed me to paper over the worst shortcomings of my immature works. The fact that I do not rely as much on these fanciful techniques anymore is a sign that I have become skilled enough to do without them for the most part. It is only now that we are faced with near-insurmountable problems that I may have to go back to digging out my old toolbox."

This realization prompted Ves to do a lot of reflecting on his evolving approach towards mech design.

Back in the early days, he had been filled with dreams and imagination. His foundation as a mech designer was a lot shallower back then. His experience also was not as rich at the time.

While most people would treat these circumstances as limiting factors, Ves interpreted it differently.

He did not possess clear boundaries at the time. He did not know what was possible and what was impossible. If he had a crazy idea, he felt a bit more inclined to experiment with it because he truly did not know what to expect.

As he grew older, his mech catalog grew in leaps and bounds. He had tried out many ideas and developed a more distinct and thorough work style. He still possessed a lot of imagination, but it became increasingly more constrained by solid theories and empirical findings.

This was the natural evolution of a mech designer. He knew that as people of this profession grew older, they gradually lost the ignorance and spontaneity that defined the early stages of their career.

Mech designers grew more rigorous, professional and formulaic. Known solutions began to crowd out whimsical experimentation.

While their works became increasingly stronger and more defined, they also started to incorporate less whimsical or risky features.

Ves always considered himself to be a remarkably inventive and creative mech designer.

Yet now he realized that he had progressed further up this evolutionary trajectory than he initially thought.

He felt... disappointed in himself.

Although many mech designers possessed a lot of different perspectives on this subject, the general consensus was that they should try their best to slow down as much as possible.

If they evolved too quickly and became too rigid in their actions and thinking, they no longer possessed the spark of brilliance that could enable them to break past their barriers and develop truly transcendent works!

Was Ves afraid that he would crash against this wall too soon?

Not necessarily.

Yet he still felt that the passage of time had begun to exert an increasing amount of pressure on his shoulders.

They spent a bit of time brainstorming. They began to swap numerous ideas at a fast pace in order to find the best theme for the issue at hand.

Ves started with the most obvious suggestion. "The classical image of a farmer won’t work. If I redesign my Woodsap mechs so that it wears a straw-like hat and a bag of seeds, its exterior manifestation will clash too much with its original nature as a soldier. We need to find an image that ties the process of farming to combat a lot better."

"Hmmm..." Alexa remained silent for a few seconds before she gained an idea. "Agriculture is not confined to farming crops. There is also animal husbandry. What if we reshape the Woodsap mechs into herders or shepherds? We can design them with the intention of ’herding’ the deathborn for the purpose of extracting nutrients from them. Unlike farming crops, pastoralism better aligns with what we are trying to accomplish. The cycle of life and death still applies. I would even argue that it is a better fit."

Though her suggestion sounded a lot better than the previous suggestions, Ves still shook his head. "Not combative enough. A herder is associated with managing relatively docile animals such as sheep and cows. There is no real combat edge to this association. I am not saying your idea is bad, but it won’t do enough to remove the compatibility issue. We need an image that preserves this aspect a little better."

They swapped a few more suggestions before one of them came up with another inspired idea.

"A reaper of souls? Adding a scythe would not only look cool, but also fit the classical idea of a grim reaper."

"That is the problem, sir. It is too skewed towards the concept of death. This image is far too removed from both farming and the cycle of life."

"I guess you’re right." Ves shrugged.

Alexa proposed an idea of her own. "Woodsap mechs are based on the Emperor Tree. What if we reinterpret them as evil trees that seek to lure the unwitting deathborn into fertilizer? After all, the concept of farming does not necessarily have to be expressed in an explicitly human form. I think that this image sufficiently blends the role of farming and combat into one. From the perspective of the evil tree, the act of poisoning its victims for the purposes of devouring their energies can be regarded as a form of combat as well as a form of farming."

"It sounds more like a slightly convoluted form of predation to me, but other than that I kind of see where you are coming from." Ves said as he thought about it further. "This may be the best idea yet. Let’s put it in reserve and go back to it if we haven’t figured out anything better."