The Mech Touch

After he browsed the extensive parts catalog of the auto designer, he settled for something the Terrans considered to be standard. In fact, Axelar already made use of them in his previous auto-designed mech, so the selection did not arouse too much suspicion from Benny.

For the melee option, Ves chose the Destroyer Sword. Through the use of extremely advanced tech and materials, the Terran Destroyer Weapons led to an instant shift where mechs needed to be plated with Destroyer-resistant armor plating in order to stand a chance against these powered weapons!

Ves always carried a very strong impression of Destroyer Weapons. Back when he foolishly participated in the Groening Mission to earn some merits from the Clifford Society, he witnessed Captain Felicia Kaine's Cathrec penetrating formidable defenses with ease with her Destroyer Spear!

Ever since the Terrans surprised the mech industry by unveiling the Destroyer Weapons, their rivals struggled to mitigate their destructive capabilities. The Big Two and the New Rubarth Empire all shifted from normal armor formulas to more expensive ones that resisted the unnatural penetration power of a Destroyer Weapon.

Lesser states did not have the money to fund such an expensive shift. Second and third-rate states could forget about fielding mechs that could resist a Destroyer Weapon upfront! The exotics and materials that made up the armor system were simply too unaffordable!

Therefore, even if Ves knew of their existence, he never maintained any hope he would be able to incorporate them into his mech designs anytime soon.

"I guess I'm wrong in that prediction."

Working with a Destroyer Weapon was very novel to Ves. He understood practically nothing about the underlying principles that made them work, but he didn't need to know all of that to incorporate them into his hero mech design.

"They're not so different from a conventional melee weapon. The only major difference is that they have to be supplied with power in order to achieve the most effect."

The power source of a Destroyer Weapon was usually integrated in their hilts. Some mech designers opted to add some redundancy by incorporating a power receiver or something similar that drew out energy from the mech that wielded the weapon.

For the ranged option, Ves opted for the positron rifle. A positron beam was a hybrid damage type that possessed both energy and physical properties.

A positron rifle was fairly trouble to use in atmospheric conditions. They operated most ideally in vacuum because the positrons accelerated out of the muzzle of the rifle annihilated the very air in their path out of existence!

"Still, it shouldn't be a major problem in the Cube Arena. Even if air is pumped into the arena space, the range is far too short to impact the performance of the positron rifle."

Positron beams may not travel at the speed of light like a conventional laser beam, but the rifles accelerated the particles so fast that mech pilots didn't notice the difference in actual use!

The only downside to using positron rifles that they were fairly vulnerable to damage. They were also voraciously hungry for energy and generated heat like a star!

Fortunately, the Terrans developed solutions that mitigated those problems. The power source and heat management systems offered by the auto designer were almost as amazing as the tech employed in the copy of the Amastendira!

"I might not have access to something as ridiculous as a dimensional heatsink, but the high-capacity heatsinks the auto designer already offers are more than sufficient for my purpose!"

Since his hero mech wouldn't be filled with bloat, Ves had plenty of space to stuff an abundant amount of high-tech heatsinks into the design. It should be more than sufficient for Axelar to fire his positron rifle nonstop for the entire match!

Once he decided on the weapon loadout of his hero mech, Ves had a solid idea of the mech he intended to design.

"It's time to take the next step."

How could he not make use of his specialty? Even though the auto designer and materialization systems were very detrimental to the X-Factor, Ves still wanted to see whether he possessed the strength to overcome these barriers.

He still had to deal with the short time limit and the other restrictions in play. Ves did not intend to invest too much into forming the images that underpinned his vision for his hero mech design.

"I can't afford to weaken my Spirituality, or else I'll lose control over Axelar's body! The System might pull me out of this Mastery experience prematurely if I exhaust myself!"

Ves therefore decided that he wouldn't make his hero mech too fancy, at least when it came to its X-Factor.

However, that did not mean he would let any opportunity to empower the images that made up the Triple Division technique.

"I'll leave the totem animal aside. It takes too much effort and time to find a suitable exobeast that can empower the totem animal. In any case, for a hero mech that revolves around the concept of two, it doesn't really seem fitting to make use of three images."

Two images would be enough.

For the base model of his hero mech, Ves intended to enrich it with a small amount of his own spiritual energy. Although he hated to spend his own energy, it ensured that the hero mech he intended to design would firmly embody his own understanding of hero mechs!

"Even if my perspective on hero mechs is flawed and incomplete, it nonetheless belongs to me! Making use of another mech designer's understanding of of this mech type doesn't fit in this instance."

Aside from the action dramas he watched in his youth, his personal experiences with hero mechs also played a major role in shaping his ideas on hero mechs.

The first real instance where Ves witnessed a hero mech in action was during the Detemen Operation. The Flagrant Vandals invaded Detemen IV in order to capture Lord Javier of House Eneqqin!

"Lord Javier didn't make it easy for us to capture him. His hero mech gave us a lot of trouble!"

The noble was one of the few talented mech pilots in the Vesia Kingdom who was skilled enough to make full use of a hero mech! His custom Loquacious Raphael defeated numerous Vandal mechs in battle in the same ease that an action drama got rid of cannon fodder!

The memory of that battle still drew a lot of admiration from Ves. While Lord Javier was still very much a bastard, Ves had to admit that he was probably one of the best non-expert mech pilots in his state!

As for the second hero mech Ves had witnessed, it was very far beyond the norm.

"The Belisarius piloted by Venerable Foster practically won the Vesians the battle on Aeon Corona VII."

How could he not forget about the ridiculously expensive expert mech that the Hafner Duchy provided to one of the most promising young expert pilots to emerge from their ranks? All the Rorach's Bone put into the mech made it into an unstoppable, self-repairing engine of destruction! Not even the pervasive breakdown effect was enough to hinder this wildly expensive mech!

"I'm glad Venerable Foster no longer has access to such a deadly machine."

As far as he was aware of, the sudden flight from Aeon Corona VII caused by Sigrund's awakening forced the Vesians to leave the mech behind. Whether this piece of intel was accurate or not was still in question, though.

In any case, the Loquacious Raphael and the Belisarius both affected his view on hero mechs. Their exceptional performance reinforced the notion that they could play an exceptional role in battle if paired with excellent mech pilots!

"The essence of a hero mech is that they reach their full potential when piloted by heroes!"

While Axelar did not fit the standard of a protagonist as well as Lord Javier or Venerable Foster, he was nonetheless a talented and well-trained mech pilot. The elite Terran mech academies he attended in the past practically forced him to become extremely good in piloting complex multipurpose mechs.

When Ves began to form the image of the base model of a hero mech from his own understanding, he found the process to be easier than before. The design seed he formed empowered his mental abilities in many different ways.

Even so, the image was still mostly pretty on the outside but empty on the inside. Ves merely drew a sketch of the image. In order to make it come to life, he needed to fill it with color.

Right now, Ves tentatively donated the color from his own reserves. He partitioned a modest amount of spiritual energy and injected it into the image.

The base model came to life. While it wasn't a very detailed image, Ves didn't quibble too much over the technical details.

Due to how little spiritual energy he donated, the empowered image of the base model only mildly impressed him. Aside from representing an aspirational view on hero mechs, the empowered image also carried his own imprint!

This was important, because a strong connection formed between him and his image!

"I've never directly employed by Spirituality in this fashion before!"

Ves was fascinated by the implications of this action. He felt as if he possessed a stronger connection to the image than before. Subsequently, any mech design that incorporated the image in its X-Factor extended his connection to them as well!

He could hardly fathom the consequences of this action.

"I don't know what will result from this, but I'm kind of excited to see what happens!"

After forming the image of his base model, he moved on to form the image of the human myth.

Rather than exercising his imagination to form a mythical figure from nothing, Ves decided to borrow from the closest source material at hand.

"Why invent a fictional hero when I'm already in the mind of a real one?"

Although Axelar was anything but a traditional hero, he at least possessed all the right ingredients to be one. It was not impossible for him to step up in his life and life up to his potential!

"You should rejoice, Axelar!" Ves mentally grinned. "I'm going to make a real man out of you, starting with pairing you with the perfect mech for the job!"

The System already inserted Ves' consciousness in the sanctum of Axelar's mind. This meant that Ves didn't have to go through the trouble of penetrating Axelar's spiritual defenses because he was already inside!

Perhaps due to his high genetic aptitude and all the biological enhancements, a small amount of faint spiritual energy floated in Axelar's mental space.

This meant that Axelar possessed the most essential requirement of becoming an expert pilot!

"Now that I recall, most of the mech pilots from my Mastery experiences are exceptional in this regard!"

The first mech pilot that Ves came in touch with in this manner even advanced to ace pilot!

Still, just having the right ingredients on hand didn't mean that Axelar would be able to cook a delicious meal. The wastrel possessed so much potential, but never came close to forming a coherent force of will due to all the recreational stimulants that clouded his mind!

For his purposes, Ves did not need something so extravagant as the force of will of an expert candidate or an expert pilot. As long as the weak spiritual energy carried Axelar's attribute and imprint, it served as sufficient fuel to empower the human myth.

Ves took some time to form the image of the human myth. He used his access to Axelar's mind to draw upon his memories. While it was quite hard for Ves to draw the memories he wanted, he still formed a good impression of Axelar's life.

He even learned a couple of secrets known only to Terrans and to the members of the Streon Clan!

Still, they weren't anything to be excited about. Axelar Streon may hold a high position among average Terran citizens, but he was still a nobody in his ancient clan! No one would ever entrust him with galaxy-shaking secrets!

Ves set aside everything irrelevant and formulated a human myth of Axelar.

Of course, forming the image of an addict was not his intention.

"A human myth is supposed to be larger than life. How can a drug addict be worthy of myth?"

In order to spice up the image of the human myth, Ves decided to embellish it by extending it to the future. He formed a grand, heroic image of an older Axelar!