Letting Ketis take part in the exploration mission filled Ves with a lot of misgivings. Yet he also felt proud of her. Out of all of the mech designers in the Larkinson Clan, he felt she matched his inclinations the most.

Of course, they were two very different people. Ves was raised in the Bright Republic and enjoyed a relatively normal, civilized upbringing.

Ketis had to fight to survive from the moment she was born. If Lydia's Swordmaidens hadn't recruited her, she would have likely suffered a much worse fate!

From the start, the two led completely different life trajectories. The fact that they encountered each other and developed a close friendship was remarkable.

This was because no matter their differences, it was their similarities that bonded them together.

Both of them liked to get up close and personal.

Both of them were passionate about designing mechs.

Both of them adopted similar approaches when it came to their respective passions.

Ves saw a younger and female of himself in Ketis, and she likely looked up to him as a guide and role model.

Though they pursued very different design philosophies, Ves highly respected her pursuit towards sharpness. Her unusual upbringing along with her swordsmanship practice provided her with a much more intimate relationship with swords. Almost no other mech designer had seriously trained in swords and used these weapons to kill people and exobeasts.

Ketis was a true Swordmaiden!

While Ves could not match her in terms of pure combat prowess, his pursuit of his own design philosophy was just as intense. They were very similar as mech designers, and some of his ideals even rubbed off on her. He looked forward to how far she would be able to go once she made some more accomplishments.

They eventually entered the Scarlet Rose's mech workshop. The pair brought out all of the gear that Ketis planned to bring on the mission.

Ves only performed a cursory inspection on the smaller gadgets and knives. What truly caught his attention was her combat gear.

He first inspected the Udor. He remembered buying this large laser hand cannon for Ketis when they visited Renny's Outfitters on Bentheim.

The shop was probably gone, drowned in sand like the rest of the once-industrious planet.

The most remarkable aspect about the laser pistol was that it was a masterwork. A gunsmith invested a lot to create this exquisite weapon. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been priced at a whopping 39 million bright credits!

"Did you ever fire this weapon at someone?"

Ketis shook his head. "I never ended up in a situation where I needed to make use of it. Even when I fled the Bentheim System alongside Raella and Vincent, there was no need to shoot at the agents of Spotlight."

"Mmmhmm." Ves hummed for a moment. "While the Udor is an excellent third-class masterwork pistol, it's not powerful enough. Any casual laser pistol of the Penitent Sisters can easily overwhelm this gun in terms of firepower."

"I know. It's the only ranged weapon I have, though. I'm not upset, though. As a Swordmaiden, my greatsword is everything. As long as I have a good sword in my hands, I can take on any enemy!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Ketis. Even if you don't particularly care for pistols, it's better to have something more effective by your side."

After a moment's thought, Ves decided to give her another weapon. He withdrew a surprisingly small and unassuming weapon from his holster.

"What is this?" Ketis frowned.

"It's a very powerful laser pistol. I stole it from a female Benny when I took over the Scarlet Rose. Don't think it's weak because it's small. The power of this weapon is enough to pierce through dozens of armed guards under the right circ.u.mstances!"

They did not dare to test fire the weapon in the workshop. Ves merely transferred a doc.u.ment that detailed all of the specs and features of the pistol.

As a mech designer, Ketis could easily read and interpret the numbers. She raised her eyebrow. "This is indeed a powerful pistol! It's better than any rifle. Don't you need this gun for yourself?"

Ves smirked. "Don't worry about that. I already have something better."

After a bit of discussion, Ketis decided to keep both pistols. The Udor may be weak but it largely looked the part of a ferocious pirate weapon.

In general, pirates disliked conveying weakness. The small and compact Fridayman pistol wouldn't intimidate any pirate. Ketis intended to store it in a hidden pocket and only bring it out when it was absolutely necessary.

Ves picked up the Udor and studied it from various angles. "While this weapon is fairly weak, we can still upgrade it. I have a very great understanding of laser weapons and I'm sure I can enhance its firepower by at least fifty percent."

At the time he purchased this masterwork, the new generation laser technology hadn't become public yet. The Udor actually worked on outdated technology, so it was trivially easy to integrate some replacement parts.

In addition, his extensive knowledge on laser weapons did not only apply to mechs. He could also apply much of the principles he learned on smaller-scale weapons. In particular, with his knowledge on crystal laser technology, he believed he could synthesize some custom crystals that substantially increased the weapons firepower and energy efficiency.

The question was whether it was worth it to do so. Ketis looked reluctant.

"I know we can improve this gun. It's just.. if you make too many changes, it won't be a masterwork anymore, right?"

Ves frowned. "You're right. Small, gradual changes are okay, but if you change too much, the original character of the Udor is lost."

While Ves was sure there were methods for masterworks to retain their original character even if they underwent huge overhauls, he was not familiar with any of them. Masterworks possessed a very mysterious trace of spirituality and potentially other energies that elevated them above products. His understanding of the workings of all of these phenomena was too shallow for him to mess around.

"Since you gave me this second-class pistol, there is no need for me to rely on the Udor. We can just make it look fiercer in order to impress the pirates. I can bet you that a lot of pirates will envy me for parading this weapon around!"

Ves suddenly chuckled. "I see what you are trying to get at. If the pirates are aware that you own a masterwork gun, they will all think that it's your main weapon. They won't spare a look at your sword!"

Speaking of swords, both Ves and Ketis directed their attention to the ostentatious greatsword. As a first-class CFA-built weapon, its sharpness and resilience was practically off the charts! If Ketis possessed enough strength, she was even able to cut through the hull of the Scarlet Rose with this incredibly deadly weapon!

However, neither of them were optimistic about this weapon. It was too big and iconic!

"There are plenty of public recordings of you in the company of this weapon." Ves stated. "If the Dry Snakes has performed any studies on the Larkinson Clan, then they will have certainly uploaded all of that footage into the data banks of their monitoring system. Once Ulimo takes a good look at the profile of this weapon, the Dry Snakes will certainly discover your true identity!"

The answer was obvious. Ketis frowned and stroked her finger against the blade of her favored weapon.

"I hate to leave it behind, but it's for the best."

"It's okay, Ketis. We can build another sword for you, one that is not obviously tied to the Swordmaidens."

They began to swap some ideas and sketch out some swords. Ketis eventually settled on a broad, saber-like cutlass.

Compared to her greatsword, its blade and heft was still considerable, which suited the swordsmanship style of the Swordmaidens.

It was lighter and shorter than her greatsword though, which meant that Ketis could easily wield it with a single hand. This allowed her to hold her cutlass in one hand and a laser pistol in the other hand like a glamorous space pirate!

The primary material for the sword was Breyer alloy, which allowed the cutlass to resist strong impacts without deforming or breaking.

In order to enhance the sharpness and various other properties of the weapon, Ves decided to throw in some low and medium-grade exotics. This not only increased the lethality of the cutlass, but also made it difficult for scanners to recognize the traces of Breyer alloy.

This was a very important detail! Breyer alloy was not common in the Komodo Star Sector and the Nyxian Gap at all. Of all the entities who made extensive use of this material, the Larkinson Clan was pretty much the only one in this corner of space!

Ketis lovingly made the weapon by hand. As a quick learner, she had vastly increased her fabrication ability. She had even made some other swords in her spare time!

It didn't take too long for her to craft her new pirate cutlass. The only reason it took so long was that many of the materials were difficult to work with and because she wanted to add some pirate-like flourishes to the hilt and pommel.

In the end, the cutlass looked like a weapon that came straight out of an action drama. The skulls, flowery gilded patterns and other little touches turned it into quite an impressive cutting implement!

Ketis grasped the cutlass and instantly entered into a focused state. Ves clearly felt the differences. It was as if her entire spirit became concentrated at once!

Her ability to focus was so frightening that the edge of her cutlass even shimmered for a bit! This was her so-called superpower!

Unfortunately, a cutlass was not as easy to empower as a butter knife. Due to her lack of spiritual strength and development, her attempt of sharpening her cutlass quickly failed.

"Damn. I thought I made more progress."

Ves gently patted her back. "You're still an Apprentice. Wait until you become a Journeyman. I bet that you will quickly be able to add more sharpness to this weapon."

Now that they settled the weapons that Ketis would bring on the mission, the two moved on to her combat armor.

The Rising Red Dragon was a suit of combat armor that served Ketis well during their first visit to the Ylvaine Protectorate. Together with his Sparous Vize, they managed to survive a church collapsing on their bodies and fend off numerous false flag fanatics.

Though the feminine, mobility-oriented combat armor had served Ketis while a few years ago, Ves believed she deserved better this time.

He thoughtfully knocked his knuckles against the surface of this impressive piece of protective equipment.

"We don't have the time to design and fabricate an entirely new suit of combat armor. What we can do is to replace the armor plating and much of the internal structure with stronger alloys. We can use a mix of Breyer alloy and other tough materials."

Ketis didn't care so much about her armor. "That's fine. We can also make use of this opportunity to change its look and add some extra decorations. Right now, it's too obvious that this is a product that is sold to the upper class of civilized space."

This was not a big problem. When they began to scan the Rising Red Dragon and studied its design, they began to plan out some quick and easy overhauls.

They couldn't change too much because much of the integrated electronic systems couldn't adapt to radical changes. It took too much time to reprogram them in case they made any drastic changes.

One question that came up to Ves was whether he was willing to integrate a layer of B-stone to the armor.

He only possessed a couple of rocks, and each one was extremely precious.

"Maybe the helmet is enough." He muttered.