not quite, but it is very inconsistent: Chapter 5: Claire Gramza Chapter 47: Claire Hamza Chapter 84: Clair Gramza Chapter 4556: Clair Hamzo there are also probably other chapters, considering that she is more releveant since the red ocean entry Maybe Exlor could unify them someday

Honestly, such a headstrong pilot would have a good chance to become an ace🤣. Having the mech community figure out how to utilize such a pilot and if building non-combat expert (candidate) mechs is worth it could be a fun side story. Collectors would probably love it and finance it just because. But a non-combat pilot could also develop a will useful for combat, such as strength or endurance. Or maybe a bit of creativity is needed and mining includes "ripping it out of enemy mechs" with a drill or something😄.

I think you mean the non-humanoid amphibian mech he has to design, produce and sell to 1 customer, who then has to use it in an amphibian battle environment(so not necessarily a battle?). But yeah I think that mission is still left open since chapter 2092. In the chapter 3117 Ves' status already included the senior battle mechatronics, but Exlor corrected it to Journeyman. Maybe Ves/Exlor finally starts this commercial mech project so he can get this skill.

Additionally, non-combat Mechs have a longer life span, so they could show off the pilot&mech growth better. But society doesn't seem to respect them or their pilots too much. At least if some breakthrough of a low skilled worker or miner occurs then that would be some great advertising for Ves.

So far they have only considered normal industry enemies, but such a public and successful spiritual engineering work is also practically guranteed to catch some of the compact's attention.

I do hope Ves gets to visit the Ouroboros at some time. With his focus on growth seeing a grown product after 100 years and multiple breakthroughs is an experience he can get nowhere else at the moment. And then there is also the Chiron and Lanie.

They love to make and break their own rules, but it is probably their own pride and love for mechs that makes them create different solutions than warship tech. If they are at the peak of mech design and the best solution they can come up with is to copy warships then that would discredit their entire profession and association. So there are probably some, but the MTA wouldn't allow it to be more than a niche. Even if it makes their average mech weaker, they likely argue it as a research investment into miniaturization, which experts+ benefit from as their resonance is limited in size.

The same method might also be applicable to the mech (mass) fabrication to slightly increase the x-factor of the clans assembly line mechs.

2 snippets from old chapters that could point towards some trauma and maybe a xenophobic obsession afterwards: What about the Star Designers, the very best designers in the galaxy? Legends like Apollo, The Polymath and The Armorer all possessed colorful biographies filled with excitement, struggle and tragedy. They persevered throw their lows and rode their highs towards the very top of the tallest mountain in the galaxy. Even then, they still sought even greater heights, always grasping towards the unattainable heavens above. (232) Obsession and faith had propelled these extreme mech designers into reaching a height few humans had ever reached! (666)

If she met Ves it was likely during a mastery experience, which should usually be actual combat and not a duel or some training, because otherwise the pilots are unlikely to advance, except for mostly Ves shenanigans. But with the golden tickets (or other powers) who really knows, the system could go with "you receive the opportunity to meet a potential highly qualified pupil as a reward(&Task), enjoy time travelling"

Jovy is going to be jealous about what he missed out on, but maybe he quickly decides to teleport over to get a feel for himself MTA must absolutely love the glow, even if it is somewhat scary and alien&compact-like

Breaking through is likely also one of the possible conditions to renegotiate or exit his contract.

It did seem very system like in the past in how it does the evaluations. So maybe it is the MTA&CFA's scroll or a copycat inspired by it, but with a lot more resources funneled to it than Ves' system. Probably a copycat and not the actual scroll, considering that it can still be gamed.

Being able to see the future could also possibly have some slight benefits.

If everyone gets companions based on Ves, then he will probably receive a lot of spiritual feedback similar to the expert pilots, thereby helping him with his own progression.

She would also be mad that seemingly everyone close the Ves except her is getting one.

Having a physical place dedicated for the companion, the spiritual heart or brain or so, might also be beneficial with exotics that might boost spiritual capabilities. In the same way that exotics for the armour wouldn't be placed in the power reactor. We can guess that B-Stone might be better for the armour, P-Stone for the totem/"heart"/ignition key/whatever, and something similar to F-stone for the weapons. Essentially, spiritual exotics could potentially be considered as gateways to help the spirits exhibit their abilities in those places. By concentrating them in the relevant areas, the effect might be improved and thereby would encourage Ves to develop sort of spiritual interfaces or dedicated components.

There is probably an MTA operative tasked with spying on Ves to identify Mr S,. that is now reviewing all kinds of data in search of where he missed this very important information being exchanged. But of course, it is difficult to find proof for something that never happened.

In chapter 3008 Ves mentioned the chance of expert pilots being one in several thousand. We can assume that the MTA has better chances, but likely still not exceeding 1 in a thousand or 0.1%. If Ves can convert a single pilot, that could be him just being lucky, but 2 is already severely unlikely and probably all Ves needs. 2/20 pilots are already 10% or 100 times more than the MTA can probably accomplish currently. Of course, they might have some super expensive technique to significantly raise the chances, similar to the use of the life-extending serum, but this also means that supply would be limited. If Ves can offer a 10% chance low-cost training, then just the possibility of applying that at scale should get significant attention. Every pilot more will just blow their mind even more. Especially, because Ves is still just a young journeyman with a lot of time to further refine his techniques. So I'm sure the MTA would protect such a scaleable investment. But I think we are all well aware that Ves wouldn't be satisfied with just 2/20 pilots and will very likely convert many more of them.

Chapter 2149 were actually the Ouroboros discussions with Willix I wanted to reference.