Several weeks went by as the design teams received their preliminary assignments.

The LMC was a very different company from just a year or even half a year ago. While Ves and Task Force Predator dove into the Nyxian Gap, Raymond Billingsley-Larkinson slowly beefed up the overhead of the company.

This not only resulted in the growth of the Marketing Department, but also led to the formation of the Product Research Department.

When Ves confronted the COO of the LMC about this surprising addition, Raymond supplied his reasoning.

"The Design Department is purely focused on designing mechs while the Marketing Department is mainly oriented towards marketing our existing products. " He explained while he stroked the back of Freddie, his grey Persian cat. "Certainly, the latter is also engaged in researching market trends and such, but the analysts who work there do not possess a good grasp on the technical side of mechs."

"Then why not add some low-ranking mech designers to the Marketing Department?" Ves asked in puzzlement.

"We've tried. It doesn't help. The mech designers assigned to the Marketing Department are too disconnected from the Design Department. There are physical, organizational and information barriers keeping the two departments apart."

"Then why not drill a hole through those barriers?"

"That is what the Product Research Department is for, Ves. It may be a bit more elaborate than a simple channel, but it is the best way to connect the Design and Marketing Departments without leaking too much sensitive data. It is becoming increasingly more vital to keep the core operations of the Design Department confidential. It is easier to do so if we keep it relatively small. For now, it only consists of mech designers. You haven't even hired any secretaries."

Raymond's explanation started to make more sense to Ves.

"I see. You want to keep the departments focused on their primary missions. If the Design Department has to split its focus between designing mechs and performing market and product research, then it may become too muddled."

"I know that time is precious to you and your fellow mech designers. While some aspects of technical market research can only be performed by a mech designer, there are many other forms of research that don't require such an individual. The Product Research Department is filled with analysts of various different backgrounds that select the most suitable mech component licences, discover the availability of specific exotics that play a key role in producing your mechs, identify specific cultural norms or local laws that allow or prohibit certain types of mechs and so on. These are tasks that used to be carried out by your assistants but can now be off-loaded by people who are dedicated to this research."

Ves recognized the greatest benefit of the Product Research Department. "One of the advantages of using this model is that we can easily hire hundreds of analysts without caring about their mech design qualifications. They can be basic Novices or not know anything about mech design at all, thereby sparing my assistants in the Design Department a lot of needless effort!"

He became sold on the idea. The time of mech designers was too precious. Each day, each hour and each second that went by should ideally be spent on work, studying, essential body maintenance and occasional leisure activities. Ves felt increasingly more pressured to to increase the proportion of the former and reduce the proportion of the latter.

Of course, humans weren't machines. It was inhumane to live a life that completely revolved around working as much as possible. Just like overstressed machines, humans tended to break when pushed to the brink so many times.

The Design Department did not go so far. Ves had implemented a fairly generous work schedule. As long as his assistants put in enough work hours, they were free to do what they wanted for the rest of the day.

Rather than forcing his assistants to work more hours, Ves instead implemented a lot of incentives. Those who worked harder, longer and achieved more results would always be rewarded with Larkinson merits, more attention and other benefits.

By driving the competitive spirit of his underlings, they voluntarily increased their output without feeling exploited.

It was rather tasteless to whip their backs. Not only would Ves tire out his arm, his assistants would all build a lot of resentment towards him. Subordinates who began to hate their own bosses might become prone to acting irrationally. Aside from that, they wouldn't put their all into their work.

As someone who believed in the power of mutual interests, Ves was much more inclined to appeal to someone's greed and desires. While it was rather expensive to satisfy the constant needs of so many people, the LMC was already doing well. There was no need to skimp on salaries and other benefits.

After Raymond fully explained the role of the LMC's latest department to him, Ves began to ask for a lot more data. He wanted to obtain broader and more detailed market research. He wanted to know the habits and preferences of the mech pilots of each of his mech forces.

He also wanted the Marketing and Product Research Departments to set up subgroups that were specifically geared towards the Red Ocean. Ves wanted to obtain some reports on how the mech and material markets of the new frontier were shaping up. As his future playground, he needed to master the rules in advance.

Once he entered, he needed to know straight away which kinds of mechs were in high demand and what materials he could build them with. Knowing this early would allow Ves to design Red Ocean mechs prior to passing through the beyonder gate!

As every mech designer and the related departments of the LMC paved the way for the next round of design projects, Ves tried his best to manage his two other Journeymen.

"Don't bother me." Gloriana warned the other Journeyman. "Ves may have let you in, but that doesn't mean we're friends."

Juliet grimaced. "I will stay in my own corner of the design lab. If you need anything from me, you can pass your request through Ves."

"As if that would ever happen!"

Neither women liked each other. Gloriana put herself above Juliet in very obvious ways. There were four reasons why she acted high and mighty towards Juliet.

First, Gloriana came onboard the LMC a lot earlier. She played a considerable role in the design of many of the company's bestsellers, such as the Desolate Soldier and the Doom Guard. The Ferocious Piranha and the Crystal Lord Mark II, which were only just catching on to the mech market, also brought a lot of credit to her name!

While Ves was the most central mech designer of the Design Department by virtue of his indispensable design philosophy, the quality of his products would have never been good enough to sell in so many foreign markets if Gloriana hadn't boosted this aspect.

Second, there was a difference in status between the two women.

In the Hegemony, Gloriana firmly belonged to the upper class. As the granddaughter of a matriarch and a member of a prominent dynasty, she was pretty much a noble in her former society.

Of course, her official status wasn't so noble in the Larkinson Clan. The hierarchy was a little flatter and more casual, and that was largely by design. Even so, Gloriana managed to build up a formidable reputation by virtue of being Ves' wife and lover.

In contrast, Juliet was a criminal and an exile. Worse, she was damned.

Not just Gloriana, but also Juliet herself recognized their difference in status.

"I still don't know why you accepted one of the damned in our ranks." Gloriana grumbled to Ves without bothering to lower her voice. Not just Juliet, but every other assistant in the lab heard her words! "In the past, the cult that Juliet belonged to performed deeds that were too awful to even the most conservative Hexers."

Ves sighed for the umpteenth time. "I know. I've heard that already. That is all in the past and peripheral members like Juliet were never materially involved in these sordid rituals. While I don't like the Hegemony, I see no fault in how it judged the guilty."

His wife only became more pissed when she heard this answer!

Third, the addition of a third Journeymen messed up the collaboration between Ves and Gloriana. What made this cooperation so great was that they both complemented each other without encroaching on each other's territories.

Ves was in charge of the spiritual design of the mech while Gloriana dictated its technical design. Simple.

Now that Juliet had joined the team, the situation for Ves didn't change. As someone who held a monopoly on spiritual components, he did not have to worry about anyone displacing his role.

It was different for Gloriana. Her broad Class I specialty covered entire mechs in a holistic fashion. Her influence ran through every physical part of a mech.

Did this prevent her from collaborating with mech designers who delved into the same parts? No. Gloriana was fully capable of ceding ground and letting someone more specialized take care of a specific aspect. Otherwise, no mech designer other than Ves or some other Class IX weirdos would be willing to work together with someone so demanding.

It was just that Gloriana loathed the prospect of ceding every ground related to flight systems and other mobility systems. It was as if she used to own an entire house, but suddenly had to give away the kitchen to a stranger.

Even if the newcomer was a much better cook than Gloriana, the latter found it very difficult to recognize this basic truth.

Ves let out an exasperated breath. "Just accept it, honey. You may be better in designing the other aspects of a mech, but Juliet remains the undisputed authority when it comes to flight systems, thrusters, boosters and other movement modules."

Fourth, Gloriana was afraid that Juliet would steal Ves from her. She exhibited much more paranoia than her husband when it came to this touchy subject!

"I already told you a thousand times, I'm not going anywhere! Why can't you just trust me when I say I would never cheat on you? I'm a man of my word!"

His wife looked contemptuously at him. "I failed to be on guard when that boy-stealing Fridayman snatched you from my grasp. After almost losing you to Aisling Curver, I promised to myself that I would never dismiss the threat of another woman!"

And she did. With each passing day, her vigilance towards Juliet remained intact.

Still, it was difficult for her to remain on high alert. Her work was a heavy burden and she couldn't spend all day on staring at Juliet in person.

Ves and Juliet always interacted professionally to each other. Even without his overprotective wife, he would have acted in the same decent fashion.

As for the third lead designer, her main motivation was to contribute to the Larkinson Clan in order to provide more benefits to the Penitent Sisters. Juliet did not do anything that could jeopardize this process.

Over time, Gloriana became less tense. Ves and Juliet both acted so carefully that she genuinely couldn't find fault in either of them. Since her fears didn't come true, she eventually dropped most of her guard and put most of her attention on her work.

The needs of the Hex Army were very important to her. She needed to flesh out the sixth design project all herself, and that was not very easy. She needed to come up with a good mech concept and vision that complemented the mech lineup of the Hex Army.

She couldn't do it alone. As a specialist in custom mechs, she needed to consult frequently with Ves. She even had to seek Juliet's input in order to set the requirements of the flight system of her design project.

If she wanted to design the best possible mech under the current circumstances, Gloriana had little choice but to accept the latest changes. She did so grudgingly and with gritted teeth.

That was good enough for Ves.