The Mech Touch

The design phase finally came to an end.

For three straight days, Ves and Jovy both stayed awake and spent all of their time on designing their mechs. Even when they ate or visited the bathroom, their minds were still preoccupied with designing their respective competition mechs.

There simply wasn't enough time to fit in everything they sought in a proper mech!

Despite their formidable design ability that allowed both of them to stand on top of other Journeymen in their generation, the quality of their mechs did not even come close to their proper mech designs.

They didn't need to be. A design duel was a contest of judgement, skill and speed. All of these aspects were critical to the success of a mech designer, whether they founded a business, worked for another company or served at a government institution.

If a mech designer couldn't design anything decent in three days, then how would their products amount to anything in three months? The competition would always be able to offer something better in the same amount of time!

Only a couple of exceptions deviated from this pattern. Gloriana for example physically abhorred rushed mech designs. She only participated in design duels and competitions if she had to, and most of the time her performance wasn't very stellar.

Ves took a very brief nap before he spent two days on fabricating his striker mech at a very rapid pace.

In contrast, Jovy simply uploaded his design schematics to the materializer aboard the Ubiquitous Force before pressing a single button.

Though the frigate's materializer couldn't compare to industrial fabricator, a third-class mech made predominantly with simple materials only took less than half an hour to finish!

Even Ves felt envious when he heard how quickly Jovy created his mech! Of course, to him, nothing beat the act of building up a mech step by step.

When Ves met with his girlfriend at a closed arena set aside for the duel, she offered him a strained smile.

"Your design choices are very… interesting." She began. "You sure like to play with fire, do you?"

He shrugged. "Striker mechs don't offer much room for versatility, and with such a low budget I had to make some very hard choices. Piling up on armor is prohibitively expensive, so I focused on offense and a little mobility instead."

As a result, he came up with a fairly mobile striker mech, though calling it mobile was stretching it. While it was capable of outmaneuvering other defensive mechs, his machine could forget about outracing a light mech!

The two chit chatted a bit before Jovy arrived at the balcony overlooking the dueling arena. The MTA mech designer seemed no worse for wear, as his many augmentations allowed him to forgo sleep for several days with ease as well.

Ves nodded towards Jovy in respect. "How was your experience designing a third-class mech?"

"It has been very… illuminating." The young man grimaced. "Third-class mechs are so limiting, and the mech type and budget that you have set doesn't help matters either. I enjoyed the novelty, though. At the start, I thought the design process would be child's play, but pretty soon I discovered there is a surprising amount of depth despite the lack of options at my disposal."

"When it comes to lesser mechs, you don't have as much choice, but each of them becomes a lot more meaningful."

"Well said, Mr. Larkinson! You can't imagine the sheer variety of weapon systems, defense systems, mobility systems and utility systems that mech designers can fit in first-class multipurpose mech designs. We approach limitations in an entirely different way because there is always a solution to a problem. The central question we have to grapple with is choosing which solutions to include in our mech frame. For example, the lack of capacity in third-class mechs can easily be solved by adding dimensional storage modules."

Something like dimensional storage modules that effectively added pocket spaces to mechs were completely unthinkable to third-class mech designers!

Such an expensive piece of high technology not only required a lot of expensive exotics, but also a very extensive understanding of multiple physics-related fields.

"The strengths and weaknesses of third-class mechs are almost always set in stone." Gloriana commented. "Shoring up their weaknesses isn't as worthwhile as enhancing their strengths. The customers in third-rate states already take these weaknesses into account by adjusting their tactics and mech rosters accordingly."

"It's certainly different from what I am used to back at the MTA. There, every mech can fulfill several roles at a time. They're not called multipurpose for nothing."

The transition from narrow roles to omniversal configurations still proceeded to this day. The Big Two and the first-rate superstates pioneered this development, and over the next couple of centuries, the second-rate states would slowly follow suit.

As for the third-rate states, Ves wasn't sure if he could even witness their transition to multipurpose mechs in his lifetime. The impoverished states simply had too little access to the fancy tech and materials required to fit so many features in a single mech frame.

Soon enough, Master Willix and a few members of her entourage arrived from behind.

"Master Willix." Everyone greeted and bowed.

She smiled. "Gentlemen. I hope you have put your full effort into designing your respective dueling mechs. Mr. Larkinson, I see you have enjoyed yourself during the process. Will we be witness to something remarkable in the upcoming match?"

"I hope so. I came up with some new tricks and decided to try them out on the spot."

"There is not much assurance in that answer."

"Even I don't know how my latest tricks will perform." He shrugged.

The Master turned to Jovy. "As for you, Mr. Armalon, it is clear that your familiarity with third-class mechs is quite shallow. Do you have any intentions of designing more third-class after this experience?"

This was a difficult question to answer for Jovy. He didn't dare to lie to an eminent Master.

"While I wish to broaden my horizons, I can't lose sight of who I am and what I would like to pursue. Just like third-class mechs, it is better to deepen my strengths than to compensate for my weaknesses. Perhaps later when I have made more accomplishments in my primary fields will I have the time to address the limitations I've experienced in the last few days."

"Your development is completely in your hands. We at the MTA do not force Journeymen like you down a proscribed path. We merely point out the different ways you can arrive at your destination and let you decide from there. Let me just tell you that being in a hurry is not always beneficial to your chances of advancing to Master."

"I understand what you are conveying, but I respectfully disagree, Master."

It took a lot of courage to stand up to a Master, but when it came to their own progression, mech designers such as Jovy had already made up their minds!

Master Willix merely nodded in acknowledgement before turning to one of her subordinates. "Please inform the champions to enter the arena."

Everyone at the balcony watched as the striker mechs designed by Ves and Jovy finally entered the arena grounds.

Both mechs gleamed in the light as their bare metal surfaces lacked any adornments. Even coating the mech was a waste of time, especially when the enemy mech would certainly be able to ruin it all within minutes with their wide area weapons.

Due to its advantage in mobility, the mech designed by Ves reached its assigned spot first.

The mech had become a bit leaner than Ves initially sketched. While it still looked fat and heavy compared to an average mech, it was clear to everyone that his striker mech unavoidably sacrificed protection.

"What's its name?"

"The Purgatory Envoy." Ves answered.

Master Willix raised an eyebrow at that. "In some legacy religions, purgatory is a state of afterlife that sits between heaven and hell."

"Isn't that where people go who aren't evil enough to go to hell, but don't quite qualify to go to heaven?"

"Correct, Miss Wodin. It is in perjury where this group of deceased are gradually purged of their sins. Once their souls are purified, they are ready to pass through the gates of heaven."

On the surface, the mech appeared as if it was the one doing the purging rather than being subjected by it. With its thick arms that was largely made up of embedded flamethrowers, the Purgatory Envoy looked more than ready to purify anything in its way with cleansing flames!

Jovy's mech took its place as well. When Ves studied what his opponent had designed, he reacted with surprise.

Of all of the possible configurations he could have chosen, Jovy opted for a mech that was similar to the Purgatory Envoy!

The large, flamethrower-wielding mech was capable of dishing out plenty of heat while resisting it in turn.

Different from the Purgatory Envoy, Jovy's mech obviously sacrificed firepower and mobility for defense.

The mech itself was substantially more massive. Due to budget constraints, Jovy opted to clad his mech with very thick armor plating. All of this mass not only granted his machine a high heat capacity, but also offered decent protection against physical damage.

The mech's mobility did not appear to be very great, but Ves noticed that Jovy had implemented a very unusual-looking pair of legs. Alongside this change, the mech's lower torso was almost completely circular, and Ves noticed something peculiar about the skirt of armor placed around the lower belly.

Underneath this loose skirt was a partition that allowed the mech to rotate its upper body!

"The torso can spin 360 degrees!" Ves gasped.

This meant that even if the mech wasn't able to traverse distance quickly, it could nonetheless keep rotating its upper body so that its front always faced a mech that tried to circle around its flanks!

This change partially countered the increased mobility that Ves imparted to the Purgatory Envoy.

He had actually hoped that Jovy would design a relatively immobile mech. If that was the case, then Joshua could circle his Purgatory Envoy around the enemy mech and savage the more vulnerable rear with flames!

Now, it became clear that this wasn't possible when both mechs were in peak condition.

Jovy looked proud at what he managed to accomplish. "I had a hunch you would come up with a mech like the Purgatory Envoy. While I could have designed a mech that expressly countered yours, I wanted a challenge, not a beatdown. I designed the Fortunate Devil in order to beat you fair and square!"

What Jovy claimed was that he did not wish to exploit the advantage of natural counters. If he truly knew that Ves would design a flamethrower-wielding heat-resistant mech, then the MTA mech designer could have paired his mech with a shotgun instead!

"Are your hunches that strong?" Ves narrowed his eyes at Jovy.

"If my hunch is wrong, then so be it. I can't be right all the time."

After a final check, both mechs were cleared for battle. Everyone fell silent as the Purgatory Envoy and the Fortunate Devil faced each other.

Within the cockpit, Joshua Larkinson had initially been a little nervous, but became increasingly more excited.

"What an amazing glow!" He gasped. "So this is what the patriarch has achieved with his ritual!"

The Superior Mother's glow immediately meshed with the young mech pilot. Though it took some time for Joshua to tune his mindset, his research on Hexers along with the advice provided by Ves allowed him to find the best way to immerse himself in his mech.

"I am the son, and the mech is my mother! Together, we will cleanse this devil of its sins!"

To Ves, the glow of the Purgatory Envoy had gradually grown stronger. Though Ves did not add a third eye to the mech, he would have imagined it glowing like a beacon as Joshua became increasingly more intertwined with the Superior Mother!

"Commence the duel!" Master Willix finally announced!

The fighting phase began explosively! Both mechs approached each other while already firing their flames at full blast!

The Purgatory Envoy's flamethrower spewed torrents of blue, while the Fortunate Devil responded with flames of red!