The Mech Touch

Ves did not even register her arrival. He had entered into such an intensive state of concentration that he only had one purpose in mind!

His children were already accustomed to this behavior from their father. They did not see it in a bad light. They differed from their mother in that sense.

"Papa always makes the best toys if he is really into it." Andraste said as she held a hammer toy sold by the gift shop of the Enlightened Church of Vulcan. "He's so strong when he is working so hard to make something."

Her older sister Aurelia nodded in agreement. "He is doing important work for the Creation Association. I know that whatever he is trying to do is for the good of all of us. He wouldn't be so engaged if he was working on a smaller job."

"Miaow." Clixie responded as she lay in Aurelia's arm.

Little Marvaine meanwhile had become distracted by all of the totems lying around in the workshop.

"Wow! This looks just like papa!"

The little boy stopped before the metal statue of Vulcan and touched it from different directions.

When he experimentally knocked against a leg, a soft but pleasant tone sounded from the totem!

"Wha?"

The boy began to pat and knock the statue at multiple different points. Each time he did so, the totem released a distinctive metallic tone that made it sound as if Marvaine was hitting random notes on an instrument!

"Hey, let me try!" Andraste insisted as she started to use her slightly larger and stronger arms to knock at the totem of Vulcan in his human guise!

The more rapid impacts caused the statue to generate a larger string of random sounds.

Though there should definitely be a way to skillfully play the totem like a musical instrument, neither Andraste nor Marvaine possessed any ability to play a song!

Still, just making a lot of random but tuned sounds was interesting enough for the kids!

"Hihihi!"

"I'm a musician!"

The children fooled around a bit more until they finally became too tired and pained to abuse the totem any further.

"Come, children." Gloriana called as she turned towards the exit. "Let us leave your absent father to his devices. We have a shopping spree to complete."

"Yay!"

"I want to eat chocolate!"

As the family left the workshop, Ves and Dunnerholm continued to finalize the design of the new set of tools.

After an hour of frantic exchanges and design work, they managed to finalize the design of over half a dozen different hammers and other instruments.

They managed to limit the amount of time they spent on this endeavor because Dunnerholm started out with the designs of his existing set of handmade tools.

There was no need to start from scratch as the master blacksmith's current set was already attuned to his hands and his personal style.

What they needed to do was to modify the tools so that they became more specialized towards the creation of totems and potentially other extraordinary products.

As they had figured out moments earlier, the main reason why Master Dunnerholm couldn't effectively make totems was because he did not possess any significant spirituality.

Although he was able to rely on his strong and unwavering faith in Vulcan as an alternative solution, his ability to channel Vulcan was too limited if the dwarf relied completely on his own inherent capabilities.

This was why there was a need to create a set of special tools that were especially attuned to Vulcan. They would be akin to the relic equipment that Ves had made in the past such as the Banner of Vulcan and the Imperial Crown currently held by the Iron Emperor.

His prior experiences with making those exceptional relics along with the expertise derived from Vulcan allowed Ves to implement a number of small but novel improvements that should strengthen the final results.

What he found interesting was working to see if he could empower or complement Rogha Dunnerholm's harmonic specialization.

The common ground that existed between acoustic resonance and more metaphysical forms of resonance gave Ves a few interesting ideas.

If he was able to combine or meld the two so that generating one form of resonance also produced another form of resonance, then he could make it a lot easier for the master blacksmith to imbue his products with extra qualities!

"This is it." Ves eventually said as he checked the completed designs for the last time. "If you are fine with this, we should proceed with fabricating the tools."

The dwarf hesitantly nodded. "I agree, but I still have my reservations about some of the material choices that you have made. I am not as familiar with working with first-class materials. They are not only harder, tougher and more difficult to process, their inherently stronger energetic properties can also produce adverse side effects when combined with other specific materials."

Ves did not look concerned. "I have already ordered my men to transfer a batch of high-end tools from the Cat Nest that will allow us to work on the toughest materials without taking a lot of time to process them. While we wait for the tools to be delivered, I can pass documentation to you that will quickly allow you to familiarize yourself with the properties of each first-class material."

The clan had already analyzed the properties of most of the materials salvaged by the Golden Skull Alliance in the previous battle. There should be no unexpected surprises as long as Ves and Dunnerholm got up to speed with the latest findings.

It did not take long for the shipment to arrive. Once a number of bots delivered the tools and crates of different high-end materials, Ves and Dunnerholm quickly set everything up and were on the cusp of starting their work.

"Wait a moment." Ves said as he raised his palm. "There are two possible actions that I can perform that can help us do a better job."

"What is it, sir?" Dunnerholm asked.

For a moment, Ves was considering whether he should take out his Hammer of Brilliance again so that he could give the dwarf a good whack on his head.

He quickly ruled out this option as he felt this wasn't the time. It may be better to wait Dunnerholm worked on a project that wasn't rushed and when the end product was much more significant to the Larkinson Clan.

Right now, they were only working on a set of tools.

Sure, they were vitally important to a master blacksmith, but did not directly radiate any further.

Ves would rather wait until Rogha Dunnerholm familiarized himself more with Vulcan's power and creating totems together with the design spirit before trying to make a truly powerful work!

Instead of using his special hammer, Ves would much rather resort to another enhancement.

"Blinky, it's time to shine."

Mrow.

A purple companion spirit emerged from Ves' head, eliciting a small grunt of surprise from the older dwarf.

Blinky possessed a special charm. The fluffy spiritual cat's fur streaked with the passing of points of lights that looked akin to shooting stars. The small diamond-like gem embedded on his forehead glowed with accumulated Worclaw energy.

"Is every mech designer capable of pulling a cat out of their nogging?"

"Only a couple. It's an invention of my own creation. I only bestowed this gift to a few trusted friends of mine."

"Can I ask how I can get a mind pet of my own?" Dunnerholm asked. "Preferably not in the form of a cat. I prefer to spend my time with dogs instead. They are much more loyal and obedient."

"I am sorry, but one of the requirements to obtain a companion spirit is to be gifted in a metaphysical sense. Only a small proportion of people satisfy this requirement."

What Ves didn't mention was that he was working on possible ways to bestow spiritual potential and boost the growth of spirituality through various means.

Fortunately, the dwarf didn't dwell over this issue. "Oh well. I have been doing well enough on my own. Please proceed, sir."

"Very well. You will probably encounter a few surprises, but try your best to refrain from resisting. The more you ease into this new experience, the more our work will benefit from our cooperation."

As soon as Blinky started to extend his spiritual connections and form a small design network, both Ves and Dunnerholm began to feel each other's emotions and gain more insights in each other's thoughts!

This was already a familiar experience to Ves, but Dunnerholm was absolutely floored!

At first, he showed a lot of guardedness and hesitation, but when the dwarf noticed that the patriarch maintained a friendly and inviting posture, Dunnerholm slowly started to embrace this incredibly useful state!

Neither of them spoke with each other as they already knew what their partners were thinking about.

Both of them started to share their thoughts on their collaboration work and their views on dwarves, Vulcan and other related subjects.

Ves would have never been willing to establish a design network if he didn't already prime Dunnerholm for its use.

When Ves deliberately leaked a few hints to Dunnerholm through the design network, the dwarf gradually widened his eyes.

There was a particular secret about Ves. His connection to Vulcan was a lot more special than most people thought!

Though Ves did not outright scream that he outright created Vulcan by combining a number of different ingredients, a part of which came from murdered dwarves, the two definitely shared a strong and permanent connection!

"Are you… a descendant of Vulcan?" Dunnerholm asked as he couldn't withhold his burning curiosity.

Ves honestly shook his head. "Nothing of the sort. I would rather not go into any further detail. Let us focus on our work instead of unrelated distractions."

There was no way that Ves would be able to explain the full story to a dwarf who lived in the Vulcan Empire for a long time.

From time travel shenanigans to vindictively creating Vulcan as a tool to engineer the downfall of the empire founded in his name, Dunnerholm would either snap and go crazy or become consumed by rage!

The lack of answers frustrated Dunnerholm, but he was enough of a professional to set aside his doubts and questions and focus on the task at hand.

It took a while for the dwarf to get accustomed with the new variables introduced by Blinky's design network, but soon he started to understand the benefits of forming a direct mental connection with another creator.

They not only synced up to a much better degree, but also understood each other's work and design philosophies from a first-hand perspective.

Producing the tools was much different from what Ves was accustomed to in his usual design projects.

Instead of making use of advanced tools and powerful superfabs, Dunnerholm wanted to go old school and resort to traditional forging.

Ves knew that Ketis loved to make her handmade swords in this way, and she possessed a lot more proficiency in this craft than himself.

Sure, he could borrow Vulcan's acquired expertise in order to get by, but this was ultimately borrowed knowledge. It did not truly belong to him and he would never be able to replicate the work of other smiths to the same degree.

Fortunately, Ves didn't have to perform any of the most demanding technical processes. A master blacksmith could do a much better job than any mech designer as far as forging was concerned!

That said, he could still assist with completing the less important steps such as preparation, inspection, finishing, polishing and other essential but fairly simple tasks.

He could also make full play of his artistic sense to decorate and embellish the tools so that their appearance matched their symbolic meaning.

The two cooperated as smoothly as if they had already worked alongside each other for several years!

Under the blessing of Vulcan's glow and possibly his chosen agent, Dunnerholm worked harder and more earnestly than he had done in many years!