The Mech Touch

Had humanity successfully come up with attack methods that specifically harmed expert mechs?

The answer to this question was likely yes. These special weapons were not unheard of, but they were actually very rare because they were too high-end. Their cost was so prohibitive and their material requirements were so absurd that only special mech units of the Big Two and several first-rate states ever employed them in battle.

There was just something about expert mechs and expert pilots that produced results that couldn't be fully replicated through standard methods. True resonance, while difficult to accomplish, possessed potent extraordinary properties that served as a powerful amplifier.

Countering it was very difficult. In general, employing overwhelming firepower was the easiest but also the stupidest method. Resonance shields were specifically geared to resist a lot of ordinary attacks.

It was a lot better to deploy an expert mech against another expert mech. This was because resonance-empowered attacks dealt much greater damage to resonance shields. Since they shared a common root, it was logical for them to have this interaction.

Yet was it easy to acquire an additional expert mech? No! The Hexadric Hegemony wouldn't be in such a sorry position if it could pull out expert mechs and expert pilots out of its hat.

If the Hex Army was able to equip its ranged mechs with rifles that fired light beams like the one that Gloriana witnessed earlier, then this solution could effectively solve the biggest fundamental shortcoming of the Hegemony in the Komodo War!

Unfortunately, before her optimism soared any further, Ves rudely reminded her of the shortcoming of this tech.

"I know what you're thinking about. I entertained those thoughts as well." Ves softly spoke to her. "There is no way to mass produce these crystals, though. Perhaps the ancient luminars managed to develop a viable mass production method, but I don't have the know-how. I can only make these crystals one-by-one on an individual basis. It will take centuries for me to equip every ranged Hexer mech with the right luminar crystals!"

This was a huge letdown to Gloriana. Though she didn't know why it was so troublesome to produce this special crystal, she didn't think her husband was lying.

"How difficult is it for you to develop a viable mass production method?"

"I wouldn't know where to begin. I'm still scratching the surface when it comes to grasping and utilizing luminar technology. If I perform this research by myself, I will probably have to squander my entire life to achieve a result. The Komodo War will be long over by that time."

"Then why hand over the results you've gained so that others can set up a research group around this topic?"

"Didn't I tell you already? Other people won't be able to replicate my results. One of the critical discoveries I made about luminar technology is that it is dependent on a different power. A normal approach won't work."

In truth, the real reasons why Ves didn't want to share his results or propagate his new discovery were much simpler.

The first reason was because he didn't want to lose the crystal cube. It was an extremely crucial piece of alien tech that was essentially irreplaceable. Until he was able to decipher most of its functions and replicate them on his own, the crystal cube absolutely had to remain in his possession!

It would be a huge waste to hand it over to someone else. Ves was pretty certain that there was no other human in the galaxy who was adept at spiritual engineering while at the same time possessing an insider's look on luminar technology through the Illustrious One!

The second reason was because Ves was very mindful of the general policies of the MTA. The Association always worked hard to increase the emergence of more expert pilots and higher-ranking pilots.

Whether it was because they wanted humanity to gain more god pilots or because they wanted to harvest more ingredients, the fact of the matter was that the MTA took a very dim view on weapons that threatened or diminished the role of these transcendent pilots!

Even if Ves was able to solve the mass production problem, he wasn't stupid enough to violate the MTA's bottom line and promote a new weapon that could easily strip the defenses of expert mechs!

It should be fine if he kept it to himself. Every organization developed some trump cards and special solutions that served as the foundation of their strength. The overall impact of revolutionary technology was much less if it remained contained.

While Ves didn't say all of that to Gloriana, he already told her enough to set aside her unrealistic hopes.

"Let's move on with the demonstration." He said. "I've discovered several more weapon effects that I think are useful enough to be applied to our ranged expert mechs."

The fourth attack launched by the test rifle came in the form of a so-called physical beam.

The sheer oddity of an energy attack that didn't heat up the target that much but instead hit like a physical projectile instantly distracted Gloriana from her earlier musings.

She couldn't help it! The effect of the physical beam was too inexplicable!

"How does this work?! How can the rifle let out a beam that is pure energy when it shoots out of the muzzle but somehow transforms into a kinetic attack when it reaches the target? IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!"

Gloriana obsessively poured over the charts and other data in order to figure out the working principles behind the physical beam. Yet try as she might, she found nothing that could give her a satisfying answer.

Ves just shook his head at the sight. He tried to figure out the theory as well, but from the vague impressions of the Illustrious One, the actual mechanisms behind this attack method were far from simple.

The only reason why it worked at all was because the crystal cube had already been programmed to form such an odd crystal. Without it, Ves wouldn't know what to do. This was a reminder that the tech he was able to employ right now was not actually reliable until he mastered it to the same degree as the ancient luminar race.

Eventually, Gloriana made the same conclusions as Ves and reluctantly suspended her study. "I don't have the time to delve into this topic. It's incredibly fascinating, though. I agree with you. This crystal has massive implications to the expert mechs that we intend to arm with energy rifles."

She was already revising her own ideas about the Chimera Project and Sentry Project. She even thought about arming the other expert mechs with backup pistols that incorporated this tech on a smaller scale.

Before the honor guard fired a fifth shot, Ves cautioned her to temper her expectations.

"I managed to stumble upon the fifth and sixth crystal by chance. Their effects are very remarkable but their refinement is very rudimentary."

The only reason Ves was able to make them in the first place was because he managed to decipher some hints from the crystal cube and gleaned some vague insights from the Illustrious One.

When the honor guard pulled the trigger for the fifth time, a very narrow knife-like beam pierced right through the dummy bot and even punctured the metal wall set up to block any attacks from spreading out to the rest of the workshop!

"This penetration power is remarkable!" Gloriana instantly recognized the key property of this attack.

"It is." Ves nodded. "The efficiency of this attack is rather low though. Evidently, it takes a lot of effort to narrow a beam so that it becomes flat but also constant."

It was therefore a specialty tool against solid armor that was very hard to damage under normal circumstances. Against large, soft targets such as giant exobeasts or energy-based protection, the lower than average power of this flat cutting beam was really lackluster.

Though Ves was confident he would be able to improve its efficiency and overall performance if he spent more time on refining the relevant crystals, it would take a lot of trial and error to yield superior results.

There wasn't anything more exciting about the slicer beam, so they soon moved on to the last test.

A very odd and iridescent energy beam impacted a small energy shield that Ves had deliberately projected in front of the target dummy.

The strange energy beam easily managed to scramble the energy shield before inflicting light damage to the target dummy.

Gloriana looked slightly fascinated. "Is this an EMP attack?"

"I'm not sure yet. I haven't had the time to study all of the data and guess the working principles behind this attack method. For now, I just call it a disruptor beam attack, because it can disrupt both energy barriers and delicate electronic systems. It hardly does anything against normal components and armor plating can withstand the beam with ease."

In other words, it was a specialized attack mode that could not be relied upon to carry the entire battle.

That didn't make it useless. There were many instances where energy shields could extensively increase the longevity of both high-end mechs and powerful ships.

In fact, a weapon that was capable of firing disruptor beams could do a lot of damage against the Larkinsonn Clan!

This was because the Spirit of Bentheim relied heavily on her heavy-duty ship-grade shield generators to withstand enemy attacks. The ship possessed both an abundant number of these shield generators and could also supply a lot of power to them in order to sustain this method of protection for a long time.

If these shields could be popped with ease, it was a lot easier to penetrate her hull armor!

All in all, Gloriana completely forgot about her original intention to admonish her husband after witnessing all of the novel crystals and attack methods they enabled.

Just one of these crystal types already conveyed a lot of benefits to their expert mech design projects, but now that Ves came up with six in one go, Gloriana wanted to make use of all of them in her projects!

In fact, Ves created a lot more crystals that were able to channel even stranger effects, but their power and utility left a lot to be desired. He thought it was best to settle on a limited selection of crystals, at least at first.

"If we can design a refined, mech grade version of this test rifle, we can equip the Sentry Project with a formidable laser weapon that can switch between six attack modes. Just think about it. Venerable Davia's expert mech can employ the best and most optimal attack methods against every specific opponent!"

If they were truly able to implement this idea on an expert mech, then the versatility and effective firepower of the Sentry Project would go through the roof!

This was an amazing contribution to the design projects! Even with all of the faults that Ves had mentioned, as long as it was possible to make these crystals on an individual basis, then it was more than enough to service a handful of expert mechs!

Gloriana's eyes turned into stars as she gazed towards the man who gave her a pleasant surprise. She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his smooth-shaven cheek.

"You did a good job." She admitted. "You came very close to ruining it all, though."

"Hehe, you underestimate my power."

"Whatever you say, Ves. Let's figure out how we can leverage these new applications into our expert mechs."

The two activated a design interface and began to tweak the designs of both the Chimera Project and the Sentry Project.

While it sounded nice to be able to slot a dozen different crystals in a single weapon, it risked becoming too large and cumbersome if they truly designed such an extravagant rifle.

This was why they settled on preparing a larger and heavier precision rifle for the Sentry Project. It would be able to accommodate six different crystals at best, thereby providing it with six different solutions on the battlefield.

The Chimera Project didn't require that much choice. Since the mech had to be able to wield its weapon with a single hand, the carbine it was armed with had to be small and light enough to be employed in dynamic, mid-ranged duels.

Therefore, it would only have room for three to four different luminar crystals, but that was more than enough.