The Mech Touch

"It works! It works!" Gloriana happily clapped her hands before smooching Ves on the cheek. "You did it, Ves! We finally created a mech that can give expert pilots a hard time! Our work will definitely revitalize the Hex Army and give the Fridaymen and their foreign helpers a lot of grief!"

"Whoa there, don't celebrate just yet." Ves grabbed her waist and gently pushed her back. "The only reason why those Blinding Mechs were able to unleash a pulse that was strong enough to affect Venerable Joshua was because they had been acc.u.mulating energy for at least a quarter of an hour. That's nothing in a controlled test like this, but the battlefield is an entirely different place."

Her smile dropped. Gloriana finally looked past the initial success and began to consider all of the other factors that played a role in achieving this particular outcome.

"If I am guessing correctly, our Blinding Mechs are siphoning energy from the environment, am I right?"

Ves nodded. "Correct. They are absorbing the spillover and waste energy released by Venerable Joshua and the Valkyrie Prime over the course of their activities. You can say that the Blinding Mechs have basically borrowed the strength of their own targets."

This was not as impressive as it sounded. The amount of energy gathered through this method was low. This was because expert pilots and expert mechs converted most of their energy into something useful such as generating a resonance field or activating their distinctive resonance abilities.

Only a small proportion of energy spilled over, and that was what the Blinding Mechs s.u.c.k.e.d up. Their energy converters passively attracted any available spiritual energy and converted it into a form that was usable by the mechs themselves.

Naturally, this step reduced the amount of energy even further. Ves keenly observed the energy converters of the mechs at work and noticed that their efficiency left much to be d.e.s.i.r.ed.

All of this explained why Joshua only became incapacitated for 2 seconds in total.

Was this significant? Yes? Was this enough to turn the tide of the Komodo War? Probably not.

As Ves and Gloriana analyzed the data and formed their own thoughts, they both calmed down.

While the results were undeniably a step forward, they were still too far away from their destination!

"Let's see what happens if the Blinding Mechs trigger their ability another time." Ves suggested.

Only a few minutes had passed since the previous activation. The Valkyrie Prime remained on standby as Venerable Joshua hadn't received any orders to do anything.

He had already recovered from the earlier flash he experienced. As an expert pilot, his mental fortitude was as hard as a rock, so he did not suffer any permanent damage from the strike.

Ves wasn't certain whether normal mech pilots would be able to shrug off the flash as well. Theoretically, they were much harder to affect since most of their tiny spirits were hidden away. Yet if they got struck with just a tiny portion of the Blinding Pulse ability, they might not be able to take it! The possibility that a target might incur permanent harm made Ves very reluctant to apply a powered Blinding Pulse to any normal mech pilot.

As far as he was concerned, the Hexers could test that out themselves. There were plenty of unwitting Fridayman test subjects the Hex Army could try to flash.

Once the mech pilots of the Blinding Mechs all signaled that they were ready, Ves issued another command.

"Activate Blinding Pulse!"

The large and hefty mechs pointed their glittering tower shields straight at the Valkyrie Prime. The fragile luminar crystals all flashed the prime a second time!

Even though the light show was just as bright as before, Ves immediately perceived that the spiritual pulses released by the mechs were much weaker.

Venerable Joshua only experienced a mild sensation. "Was that supposed to do anything?"

This time, the Blinding Mechs failed to achieve any substantial results. Almost every variable was the same. The only change was that the Blinding Mechs barely converted a negligible amount of loose spiritual spiritual energy to power the second wave of pulses.

Gloriana began to comprehend the fundamental limitation of the Blinding Mechs as well. They were like leeches. If the enemy expert pilot did not perform any strenuous activities, then how were the Blinding Mechs supposed to do their jobs?!

"I was wrong. This isn't what we wanted to make, Ves. The Fridaymen will definitely try to take out the Blinding Mechs before they have time to charge up their special ability. Protecting them will take far too much effort considering they need to be deployed in larger numbers to be effective."

"It's not as bad as you think." Ves retorted and raised a finger. "First, the Blinding Mech doesn't discriminate where it gets its energy from. Any extraordinary source can charge it up. This means that not only hostile, but also friendly expert pilots can also power up our new model!"

"Second, a Blinding Mech should be able to charge up its energy reserves at any time. It doesn't have to be deployed on the battlefield to pre-charge its Blinding Pulse ability. A Hexer expert pilot could perform the same actions as Venerable Joshua just did to make the Blinding Mechs effective."

Gloriana frowned and crossed her arms. "The Hex Army is already running their expert pilots ragged. I doubt they have the time to spare on such activities."

"Ah, but even if the Blinding Mechs are forced to charge their ability on the battlefield, they might not have to wait 15 long minutes to accomplish a desirable result. The more chaos and fighting that goes on, the more energy is being released. If multiple friendly and enemy expert pilots are clashing against each other, then the Blinding Mechs only have to wait a minute or two before they can unleash pulses at the same magnitude as before!"

There were factors that could diminish the effectiveness of the Blinding Pulse ability as well, though. While Venerable Joshua possessed a lot of promise, at the moment he was still a low-tier expert pilot. He underwent apotheosis not too long ago and still had a long way to go before he was able to match the more m.a.t.u.r.e and developed expert pilots that most military organizations had on retainer.

Even so, this was already a good enough result. The foreigners that the Friday Coalition had 'borrowed' from the third-rate states largely consisted of low to mid-tier expert pilots to begin with. None of them stood out as exceptionally as Ves was aware of. Even if they existed, their quantity should be exceptionally low.

Not even the Friday Coalition and Hexadric Hegemony themselves retained a lot of high-tier expert pilots!

As for ace pilots…

"In my estimation of their power level, not even a thousand Blinding Mechs can affect an ace pilot." Ves spoke with certainty.

Gloriana did not hold any unrealistic expectations over this. "The Hex Army has a greater problem on its hands if the Fridaymen deployed an ace mech on the battlefield. Only another ace mech can block such a powerful foe!"

Every ace pilot was a living legend and an important stabilizing factor of a state. Their symbolic value was just as great if not greater than their inhuman battle prowess. Unless the situation became truly desperate, Ves didn't expect either side to pull the trigger.

He turned his attention back to the testing session. What the Blinding Mech just did was not the extent of its power. Ves only aimed to prove that his new work was capable of charging its Blinding Pulse ability without relying on any freebies.

What would happen if Ves allowed the mech to receive handouts from other sources?

Ves decided to modify the Blinding Mech design on the spot. He already planned it out in advance so it didn't take much effort to add some extra motes sourced from two of his most energy-abundant design spirits.

The Superior Mother and the Solemn Guardian were both tied to the Blinding Mechs. Ves looked carefully at the c.o.c.kpit feeds of the test pilots. He could tell that they must have felt a change, but the influence of the motes was too small to make a substantial difference.

He didn't pull in the Superior Mother and the Solemn Guardian to add their glows to the mech.

"You two know what to do." He whispered in the air. "I don't expect you to bleed yourselves dry, but I hope you will pitch in and help the Hexers out when my Blinding Mechs need the power."

This was another new development. The Blinding Mech's dependence on energy granted more influence to his design spirits. Ves did not dare to implement any mechanism where the Blinding Mech could forcefully drain energy from the two entities.

It wouldn't work anyway. The Blinding Mech was nowhere near as strong to these two powerful spirits.

Ves felt this was a good solution because it ensured that the Superior Mother and the Solemn Guardian did not drain themselves to death. They had to be picky because the expenditure would be far too great if they had to support the functioning of millions of Blinding Mechs at the same time!

This was why the first test was so important. Ves had to make sure the Blinding Mechs could fend for themselves if no design spirit was willing to lend them a hand.

As Ves explained all of this to Gloriana, she finally understood the overall scheme he had in mind.

"It's not ideal." She frowned and placed her hands on her h.i.p.s. "The Blinding Mechs need to be ready to activate their ability at any time if we truly want to push back all of the enemy mech pilots. Right now, there are too many conditions before the mechs are ready to perform their function."

She could complain all she wanted, but nothing was going to change. The only decision that Ves could still make was whether he should connect the Blinding Mech to other design spirits.

Due to the explosive popularity of the Ferocious Piranha, its three design spirits all earned a lot more spiritual feedback from before.

Qilanxo would probably be okay with this arrangement, but Lufa was too young and Zeigra was too hostile. If Ves only tapped Qilanxo, then she would weaken her position relative to the other two design spirits. This might cause the Ferocious Piranha's glow to become more harmful towards friendlies. Ves did not wish to realize this potential outcome.

He figured that two design spirits should be enough to make the Blinding Mech practical enough. Perhaps in the future he might revisit the design in order to upgrade its energy converter or apply some other upgrades.

"I think it's time to complete this project." Ves announced.

"Really?"

Ves nodded. "I also have a good name in mind for this design. Its codename isn't adequate enough to fit in with other Hexer mechs."

"What name did you come up with, then?" Gloriana asked.

She grew curious. The naming sense of her husband was rather inconsistent, but he did exhibit moments of brilliance sometimes.

"Our Blinding Mech is an auxiliary mech that is meant to be piloted by boys. Conscripted boys to be more precise. Considering the mech's main feature and its projected users, I decided to combine these two traits into a name that encapsulates them both. From now on, this mech design shall be known as the Bright Boy!"

Bright Boy!