The Mech Touch

After the MTA mech pilots had made their choices, Ves recorded their decisions and sent them off. General Verle had already made adequate preparations to receive the new guests and put them through some introductory training sessions and familiarization activities.

Ves planned to discuss with Verle on how to flesh out and organize the three training packages later. He knew that he only had to give them his general ideas and let the rest of the military wing of the Larkinson Clan take care of the implementation.

He was a mech designer, not a mech instructor. Turning mech pilots into expert pilots was not his main job. He only planned to spend enough time on them to further his studies on spiritual engineering and to prevent the mechers from feeling neglected.

In any case, he had five years to produce solid results. This was plenty of time for Ves to find ways to solve their spiritual potential inadequacies and help them stimulate their potential.

If Ves failed to produce any positive results after a year of laid-back instruction, then he would consider upping the intensity and encouraging more MTA mech pilots to choose the more intensive packages.

A number of clansmen soon arrived and took the MTA mech pilots away. Meanwhile, Ves and Gloriana guided Master Willix over to the design lab.

Every assistant mech designer was present in the main lab. They all stood at attention even before Master Willix entered the compartment!

Ketis and Juliet stood in front. Both of them maintained their cool and did not lose control just because they were in the presence of a great mech designer.

Master Willix briefly swept her gaze over the assistants. "Your manpower here is insufficient."

"We didn't have any good opportunities to expand our design teams lately, ma'am." Ves excused.

"You should address this shortcoming soon. The Crown Uprising has already uprooted a decent number of mech companies. There are more mech designers on the job market than before, so it should not be a challenge for you to recruit an extra hundred Apprentices. The mech designers from most second-rate states in the Winged Serenade Star Sector are quite decent."

"I will consider stopping by to pick up a batch of recruits."

"Don't delay too long. The higher you set your goals, the greater the need for rigor. You cannot handle every little task yourself no matter how many augmentations you have."

Both Ves and Gloriana nodded in acceptance.

"Well, let us discuss the projects in more detail. I have brought some interesting resonating exotics that can drastically change the fighting approach of the upcoming expert mechs."

The Journeymen as well as Master Willix entered a secure meeting room. Once they took their seats, Gloriana began to present a quick summary and status update on the five expert mech design projects.

Master Willix was already familiar with most of the contents, but the presentation still set the stage for their upcoming discussion.

"Thank you, Miss Wodin. I am pleased to hear that you are not satisfied with the current state of the draft designs and are still working hard to improve them. If the new luminar crystals live up to their promises, then I agree that they can add a substantial degree of power and versatility to the expert mechs armed with ranged weapons. I do caution you not to put all of your stock in unproven and experimental technology, though. You must at least perform rigorous tests on the performance of different improved luminar crystals in order to verify whether they can endure the stresses of high-level combat."

"I will task a design team to perform this study." Gloriana quickly promised.

This was one of the many instances where assistants could take off a burden off the shoulders of the lead designers. Any recent science or engineering graduate could perform these basic tests as long as Ves prepared the test crystals!

After Master Willix pointed out a few other details about the expert mech designs, the discussion soon turned to the most important item on the agenda.

"As promised, I have brought a number of key resonating materials that will complement all five expert mechs under development. Not all of them are equal, and not all of them are my first choice, but they will all define your expert mechs for years to come once they are completed."

Master Willix brought two resonating materials per expert mech. Gloriana had been looking forward to receiving them for a long while. She had already discussed extensively with the great Master on what kind of resonating abilities their expert mechs should acquire.

While Gloriana and the others had plenty of ideas, it was useless to develop them any further when they weren't sure they would be able to get their hands on the right materials.

Though Gloriana and the Larkinson Clan did their best to procure the resonating exotics they needed, they only managed to satisfy their low-end needs. They weren't powerful enough to gain access to the more expensive and exclusive exotics. The quality of the expert mechs they were designing would have ended up a lot lower if Master Willix didn't come to the rescue!

Ves sat up a bit straighter in his chair as the MTA Master started off with his favorite project.

"Let us begin with the Chimera Project. This is the most unfocused expert mech design of the five, so it is not clear which of its aspects should be strengthened. Whether it is defense, offense, mobility or utility, this hero mech will benefit regardless of how it is augmented with resonance abilities. An abundance of choice can often lead to no choices at all. This is why I am glad that you have still been able to choose your preferences for this project."

Both Ves and Gloriana held long discussions on what kind of resonance abilities they should aim to impart in the Chimera Project. They eventually managed to settle their differences, which gave Master Willix a solid direction on what to choose.

The MTA Mech Designer introduced the first key resonating exotic for the Chimera Project by projecting a mineral in front of the faces of the lead designers.

"Mr. Larkinson, you are familiar with Rorach's Bone, are you not?" She asked.

"Uhm, yes, ma'am. I have plenty of personal experiences with Rorach's Bone." He replied. "Is this resonating exotic related to it in any way?"

"It's not how you think. Rorach's Bone is called this way because there are signs that it is derived from organic matter. Fixer Iron is an old and well-known metallic exotic that has definite inorganic origins."

Ves frowned a bit when he heard this. He always liked Rorach's Bone for its seemingly-magical regeneration properties. The fact that it had organic origins only increased his opinion about this material.

If possible, he wanted Master Willix to provide him with a resonating version of Rorach's Bone. Whether it was actually related to Rorach's Bone or not didn't matter. What Ves prized was the regeneration property and the organic connection.

"Fixer Iron doesn't sound very sophisticated, ma'am." He commented.

Willix lightly shrugged. "Most old exotics that humanity has discovered in the early days of our ascension into the stars bear simple names. The material scientists back then did not put much thought behind the implications of their individual naming preferences. That is why a lot of metallic exotics bear the word 'iron' in their name. It didn't help that Fixer Iron's effects weren't entirely clear before the advent of expert mechs."

"Does that mean that Fixer Iron will not perform as well as the alternatives?"

She shook her head. "Far from it. Fixer Iron is a staple solution for second-class expert mechs that require battlefield regeneration capabilities. It may not be the most optimal or efficient resonating exotic for the purpose, but it is one of the more widely available resonating exotics. We have substantial stockpiles of this resonating exotic in almost every sector headquarters of our Association."

Master Willix subsequently elaborated by mentioning some key properties while projecting a table that listed all of the relevant data that Ves needed.

He had to admit that Fixer Iron was quite a practical choice. While it was definitely a strategic material that couldn't easily be found on the market, it was still widespread enough for the MTA to not care if Master Willix took out enough material to satisfy the needs of a single expert mech.

"So what can Fixer Iron bring to the Chimera Project?" Ves pressed. "Also, what makes it different from Rorach's Bone?"

"Rorach's Bone is not a resonating exotic. It works passively by absorbing any heat and ambient energy around it before converting it into matter that conforms to the structure of the objects and components around the exotic. Fixer Iron can achieve the same effect, but will only perform it when influenced by a compatible resonance source. Venerable Joshua Larkinson happens to react well to Fixer Iron and vice versa."

"I see."

Essentially, Fixer Iron was an active and more potent version of Rorach's Bone. Whereas the latter only worked at a slow pace, the resonating exotic that Master Willix had brought could restore heavy damage within a dozen seconds!

Of course, the downside of this was that the expert pilot had to actively cooperate and expend his strength in order to sustain the energy-intensive regeneration process.

It couldn't regenerate a damaged mech 'for free', as it were. This meant that each time Venerable Joshua wanted to repair any battle damage, he would have to pause all other combat actions in order to fix his expert mech. This did not sound ideal!

"How long can a typical expert pilot regenerate his mech using this resonating exotic?"

"That depends. There are too many variables at play here. I don't need to remind you of that. In my estimation, the current direction of the Chimera Project should allow it to regenerate enough battle damage to shatter it entirely twice over."

"What?! That much?!" Ves reacted with surprise!

"This is why Fixer Iron is popular among many expert mechs, Mr. Larkinson. While it is theoretically possible for this material to restore so much damage, the expert pilot will have to expend much if not all of his energy to do so. Don't put too much stock in this material until Venerable Joshua Larkinson has increased his resonance strength."

"We will pay attention to your advice, Master." Gloriana seriously said.

Willix briefly showed them a projection on where she could best integrate Fixer Iron in order to provide the most comprehensive active regeneration capabilities.

"Fixer Iron is an exotic that works best with components in close proximity." She explained. "Also it can only restore components that are within reach. If an enemy ever manages to sever a section which integrates a large amount of Fixer Iron, then the damaged mech in question will not be able to regenerate anything because the severed piece is no longer attached."

This was why it was best to integrate Fixer Iron within the torso of a mech. Nowhere was safer than there. By ensuring that the enemy wouldn't easily be able to pry away the Fixer Iron that kept the Chimera Project alive in battle, the latter would always be able to get back to optimal condition!

All in all, Ves was generally satisfied with the first resonating exotic that Willix introduced. Fixer Iron might not sound glamorous, but its effects were very solid!

Willix introduced the second exotic that she prepared.

"You have conceived the Chimera Project as a troubleshooter and a highly versatile combat problem. In this capacity, the expert mech has more than enough defenses to fulfill this role. You still need to increase its offensive power. Regular attacks will not allow it to defeat expert mechs fast enough."

This was true. Expert mechs were darn tough. It took powerful attacks to wear out their defenses over time.

Ves wondered what kind of solution that Willix was about to present. Would she whip up a resonating exotic that could augment the Chimera Project's melee or ranged capabilities?