The Mech Touch

While the Archangel Battle Group intruded into the heart of the sandman empire, Ves busied himself by supervising the optimization of the Adonis Colossus and making his Deliverer design more complete.

He missed Gloriana during these times. While he exhorted her to return to work, she refused to show up before she managed to readjust herself to her new state.

She did not allow herself to show any weakness in front of Ves and the design team!

Ves could only throw up his hands at this response. He didn't care if his girlfriend looked a little bit less impeccable than usual.

"Women." He muttered. "At least the sandmen are direct."

He coped with her absence as best as possible and devoted most of his time on working on the most tedious and time-consuming details. If Gloriana came back, she wouldn't need to make any drastic corrections.

While Ves completed his tweaks to the Executor rifle, Miles Tovar came up to him with a couple of things to say.

��Has Senator Tovar finally given me an answer?"

"The situation is rather complicated." Miles answered. "There are certain factions within the Republic that are paying a lot of attention to you. The Ramza Family, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ansel alumni network are just some of the influences that are staring at you in a less-than-generous light."

Ves did not look impressed. "Isn't this what Flashlight and you Tovars are supposed to keep in check?"

"You're not wrong if that is the extent of the influences paying attention to you. The problem is that the Mech Corps and many other influences have also started to take notice of your existence! Ever since you shook up the Sand War with your Soldier product line, you've become more than just a young Journeyman."

"What does that mean?"

"We aren't sure. There are a lot of maneuvers going on behind the scenes. The possibility that the government might compel you to move to Bentheim, Rittersberg or New Foundation for your own protection can't be ruled out at this point."

"What?!" Ves became indignant. "What about Gloriana? Aren't they afraid of messing with my girlfriend?!"

"While it's true that the government isn't willing to confront Miss Gloriana, they don't have to. As long as they can grab you and move you to a safer location, Gloriana can only make some feeble protests. She doesn't have any actual power in the Bright Republic, you know. She's only a guest."

It sounded as if his stubborn decision to remain in Cloudy Curtain was not as settled as he thought. At the very least, he couldn't rely on his existing connections to resist the opposition.

Perhaps in the eyes of Senator Tovar, it might be for the best if Ves moved to Bentheim.

Both Bentheim and Ves became indispensable in the Bright Republic's resistance against the sandmen.

If one of them fell, the other became inconsequential. The Bright Republic wouldn't be able to last if it lost its main economic and industrial center. It wouldn't be able to fare well either if the Desolate Soldiers and its variants lost their glows!

While Ves cared a lot about the Bright Republic, he cared more about his own life and freedom. He did not wish to go down with the ship in the event the sandmen managed to overrun the Bentheim System.

"What can be done to resolve this issue?"

Miles shrugged. "I'm just a mech designer. Don't think I'm as politically astute as Senator Tovar. I'm just conveying his messages to you on his behalf. For now, my family is still dealing with this situation. I'll inform you if there are any new developments."

Ves twitched when he heard that.

"Okay." He sighed and calmed himself. There was no use turning his ire on his subordinate. "Let's turn back to work. Tell me what you think of the Deliverer."

It was a lot better to talk about mechs with mech designers. Miles instantly became engrossed by the Deliverer's extreme mech concept.

"To be honest, I was initially skeptical about whether you can pull off such an unbalanced mech design. While it remains to be seen whether the main feature of this mech can even work, I'm already impressed at how well you've managed to make its strength more pronounced."

The technical mastery demonstrated by Ves and Gloriana was far beyond the capabilities of an Apprentice. Even if Miles was older, his lack of depth made it difficult for him to keep up with all of the ingenious solutions implemented into the design.

To be honest, exposing an Apprentice to so many advanced applications without allowing him time to understand the underlying theory was not a good thing.

Nonetheless, this was a test in itself. As long as the Tovar mech designers developed the mental fortitude to resist contamination, there might still be hope in the future.

"What about the shortcomings? Do you have anything to say about the lack of mobility and defense?��� Ves pressed.

"I.. am admittedly not a fan of these design choices. I fail to see how the Ylvainans will put their trust in a mech that excels in sniping distant targets but are very vulnerable to counter-sniping. At the very least, any decent laser rifleman mech will easily be able to take out the Deliverer by virtue of its weapon type!

Laser weapons always possessed a very substantial range advantage in vacuum environments. Without air and the curvature of a planet limiting the range of laser fire, it was not unrealistic to snipe something across an unimaginable distance!

If not for the imperfect targeting methods and the minute dispersion that exacerbated at longer ranges, laser weapons would have reigned supreme in spaceborn battles!

"It's fine." Ves replied. "I added an evasive precaution to my Deliverer design. The prediction ability that is supposed to guide the aim of my mech can also nudge the mech pilot into dodging a potentially fatal shot!"

"Uhh…"

"I know you're skeptical. I don't intend to convince you that this solution is viable. Let's just wait until we finish the first iteration and build our first prototype."

"Don't you need an Ylvainan marksman mech pilot to bring out the potential of the Deliverer?"

"I've already called ahead and requested a suitable pilot from the Kronons." Ves grinned.

With his current relations with the Ylvaine Protectorate, the Kronons were eager to accommodate his wishes.

They even promised to send more than one marksman mech pilot!

Though Miles still expressed some skepticism, he never dragged his feet when it came to assisting Ves in designing the mech.

He even offered Ves a useful suggestion.

"You should think about implementing a signature look to your mech designs."

"A signature look?" Ves fell in thought. "You're right. Maybe it's time for me to establish a permanent brand for my style of mechs."

A signature look was one of the ways for mech designers to differentiate their products from the competition.

It was a way of communicating to the public that this mech came with certain strengths or guaranteed a certain level of quality.

Sometimes, a signature look was paired with a distinctive name or label.

No matter if someone had no clue about the name of the mech designer or the name of the mech model, that person would instantly associate a mech to an entire range of mechs!

Signature looks did not have to be very elaborate. For example, one mech designer made a habit of affixing a distinctive white stripe along the exterior of the left side of the mech.

Everyone in the mech community immediately knew who designed the mech with the white stripe! No matter how much the mech models diverged, as long as they possessed this highly recognizable stripe, consumers would instantly associate the quality of the mech with the quality of the prior models bearing this stripe!

Another signature look was to shape the head of the mech in a distinct fashion. Because the heads of mechs were often of marginal utility, they mainly served to reinforce a common brand identity.

An example of this was adding a pair of white wings to the sides of the heads of every mech. No matter if the wings fit with the aesthetics of the mech, every mech insider instantly recognized the Senior who turned this quirk into a signature look!

"I've thought about it for some time." Ves spoke. "For a long time, I've considered the glows of my mechs to be a good stand-in for a signature look."

Miles shook his head. "While I admit that the glows are compelling, they don't really work through projections and other depictions. The function of a signature look is to connect your mechs together in a single basket in a way that is clear to bystanders. Right now, your mechs lack this common thread."

"I've implemented a particle generator in all of my mechs."

"They're applied in a different fashion for each mech design. Your Blackbeak radiates vapor from its shoulder pauldron, while your Crystal Lord releases vapor from its head. Your Soldier mechs on the other hand releases a straight vapor trail from their heart position. While your implementation is very artistic, they're not really connected. Besides, the particle generators won't be able to show their distinctiveness when your mechs are dormant."

Miles had a point. When a mech was inactive, the particle generators weren't enhancing their appearances. The mechs looked a lot duller when that was the case.

What Ves really needed was a distinctive visual trait that he could apply to all of his mechs and turn it into an iconic visual cue that people would always associate with him and the LMC.

This was especially useful when it came to adding mechs to various catalogs! Whenever someone wanted to shop for a mech in a store or a virtual portal, just a single glimpse of a signature look was enough to stir the customer!

Ves took some time to consider his signature look. He did not wish to sideline his glows and his particle generators.

He implemented both of them in his mechs from the start. To divest his signature look from both of these traits was unimaginable to him! He could never forget his roots!

As Ves turned to the Deliverer design projected from his terminal, he began to puzzle on what he could add that set this mech apart and increased its association to his brand.

Eventually, an idea came up in his mind.

He manipulated the interface and affixed a prominent gem-like orb in the center of the head of his Deliverer mech.

Due to the Deliverer's existing religious iconography, the addition of a shiny 'third eye' instantly made the mech appear more holy!

"This.. is very distinctive." Miles noted. "I don't think any mech designers in the Bright Republic or nearby states have adopted a third eye as their signature look. It's just..."

"This isn't the extent of my signature look." Ves interrupted him as he added something to the configuration of the addition.

Soon, the third eye began to pulse and glow with light. Because Ves largely intended to paint the mech with white coating, the gem he opted for was clear.

Now, a bright white light radiated from the crystal eye. Not only that, but a small amount of glowing vapor surrounded the eye, amplifying its mystical quality!

"This will be my signature look!" Ves decided without any further hesitation! "The glow of the crystal corresponds to the strength of the connection between my mech and its pilot. The stronger their bond, the brighter the glow! Of course, my customers can always deactivate this feature or shield the third eye from view at any time."

Miles didn't fully understand what Ves was talking about. "I don't know, Mr. Larkinson. I'm not sure you are sending the right message by adopting this as your signature look. It's not something a Brighter would choose."

The glowing third eye surrounded by creepy white mist looked anything but sober!

Just as Ves was about to argue about the distinctive look further, one of the other Tovars in the design lab yelped in alarm.

"Sir! You should see this! There's footage of the CFA's decisive strike on the home planet of the sandmen on the galactic net!"

Both Ves and Miles immediately dropped their current conversation and browsed the galactic net as fast as possible!