The Mech Touch

　　"Designing mechs is so fun!"

　　The Monster Slayer project was proceeding well. Despite her ambitious aim of sneakily turning it into a training mech for greatsword wielding, the technical complexity of the landbound swordsman mech design was not that complicated.

　　Only knight mechs were significantly simpler than a swordsman mech. She just needed to pay extra attention to the mechanical details that determined the flexibility, reach, reaction speed, strength exertion and other fundamental properties.

　　At this level, Ketis was highly particular about getting everything exactly right. Since the Monster Slayer's overall layout and fighting characteristics were based on her own physique, the job wasn't as hard as it sounded.

　　She even began to apply the new theme methodology that Ves had taught to her. A big part about the project centered around slaying 'monsters'.

　　Though she clearly imagined her mech being put to use in slaying exobeasts and other biological opponents, she understood that most of her customers intended to fight against other mechs instead.

　　In order to adapt to this demand, she reinterpreted the meaning of monsters to signify any formidable opponent. Whether they are mechs or monsters, as long as the enemy was strong and difficult to defeat, her Monster Slayer should rise up to the occasion and put up a mean fight even if its overall performance was not that great!

　　"Just like my fight against that priest guy back then!" Ketis grinned.

　　To give her mech the capital to challenge and defeat mechs or monsters that were stronger and much more resilient to damage than normal, she had already spent a lot of effort into making the greatsword of her mech as sharp and sturdy as possible.

　　Though she was limited by what she could do due to the rather middling design budget of the Monster Slayer, she did not think that many other mech designers could implement a sharper sword!

　　Of course, a sharp weapon wouldn't be of much use if the wielder didn't know what to do with it. This was especially the case for greatswords which deviated significantly from the weapons that melee mech pilots generally utilized.

　　This was why the second theme of the Monster Slayer was all about greatsword training. This mech design was her first proper attempt to pass on her swordsmanship through this method.

　　Though she had already made it work for the Heart of Victor back during the Wild Brawl Bowl, it was a lot harder to achieve the same effectiveness for a mass-production model that couldn't be customized for any single mech pilot.

　　Trying to make this all work was the biggest challenge she faced in this project. She could not rely on book learning and technical accumulation to turn her design into a self-containing training mech, but had to work together with Sharpie to develop the metaphysical properties of the Monster Slayer.

　　Though the process of experimentation and discovery was difficult and filled with setbacks, Ketis rarely felt more alive than when she achieved a small breakthrough.

　　So far, her progress on this mech design was on schedule. As long as she continued to solve problems at her current rate, it shouldn't be a problem for her to finish her first commercial project in a couple of months and deliver the design to the Wild Fighter Association.

　　Her second project was different. The swordsman mech that she specifically designed for the Swordmaidens had to be stronger and more specialized than the relatively 'simple' Monster Slayer.

　　Though both of them shared numerous similarities, the focus on the first proper mech model she intended to provide to her dearest sisters and comrades purely lay in maximizing combat power.

　　She partially based the design of this Swordmaiden-exclusive mech to the First Sword, the expert mech that she played a large part in developing.

　　Though the First Sword was far too powerful and exclusive to be equated to standard mechs, its overall performance characteristics still served as a useful example to many Swordmaidens.

　　Venerable Dise was the quintessential Swordmaiden. She fought like one and largely employed the same techniques and fighting approach from the original Swordmaiden greatsword-wielding style.

　　Though the expert pilot had branched out in order to develop a sword style that fit her even better, the way she fought with the First Sword still gave Ketis a lot of inspiration for her second mech design project.

　　"It's not a bad idea to design a mech that is based on the First Sword." She determined.

　　This was why she decided to call it the Second Sword.

　　Though her fellow Journeymen looked oddly at her when she decided to settle upon this name, Ketis didn't care. The name did a good job at reflecting the identity of this Swordmaiden mech design project.

　　While the First Sword was meant to lead the charge and fight the strongest enemy champions, the Second Swords would follow right behind and fight the hordes of weaker opponents with nearly the same degree of ferocity.

　　"The two models belong together!"

　　Since the Second Sword design was aimed at highly trained Swordmaiden mech pilots, Ketis did not bother to implement as many training elements into its design.

　　Though she had the option to be more heavy-handed about offering guidance to the mech pilots, that would be an insult to them. Swordsman mech specialists of their caliber should be more than capable enough of developing their own styles, especially after they underwent training in the Heavensworder swordsmanship tradition!

　　This was why Ketis decided to offer a modest amount of training support in the more finer applications of the Swordmaiden Style. As a Swordmaster, she had already perfected and improved upon the original style.

　　The only problem was that the advanced moves were far too complicated to teach through standard training. Some of them even had the potential to achieve extraordinary effects, but it took dedicated training and dedication for the Swordmaidens to pull them off. Piloting the Second Sword should make it easier for them to understand the gist of the new killer moves.

　　What allowed the Second Sword to truly stand out from other swordsman mech designs was the unparalleled sharpness of its blade.

　　This was her original passion. Her design philosophy compelled her to keep developing ways to make the swords of her mechs sharper, and the Second Sword was her most serious attempt to date!

　　Unlike the Monster Slayer, the Second Sword's blades were supposed to be sharp enough to cut through the armor of a Bright Warrior with a single heavy attack. This was mainly because of the quality materials that Ketis put into the sword design.

　　This not only made the greatsword sharper without doing anything else, but also turned it into a better vessel for her own design philosophy. It was a lot easier for her to make a sharp blade sharper than to turn a dull edge into a finer cutting element!

　　"This weapon will be so sharp that it can actually do a lot of harm on friendlies."

　　The Second Swords needed to be handled carefully. Whether they were piloted or not, their greatswords were so insanely sharp that they could easily cut through starship armor or friendly mechs.

　　If not for the fact that the Second Swords were designed exclusively for the Swordmaidens, Ketis wouldn't be so generous in making the weapon so sharp!

　　As for how to best allow the Second Sword to take advantage of its extremely sharp greatswords, Ketis took inspiration from the past battles fought by the Swordmaidens.

　　General Verle normally employed the Swordmaiden mechs as flankers and sweepers. They were not supposed to start a fight or collide against a powerful enemy formation head-on. The Avatars performed this role a lot better than other mech legions.

　　Instead, the Swordmaidens usually arrived after that. By maneuvering around the front and attacking a locked enemy formation from the sides or rear, the swordsman mechs never failed to chop the opposition into pieces through this method!

　　Knowing that the Swordmaidens would continue to be employed in this capacity, Ketis had to make two changes.

　　She could figure out a way to turn the Second Sword into even more effective flankers. The best way to accomplish this was to increase the mech design's speed and short-term burst power.

　　The faster it was able to slice through tough opponents, the faster the Swordmaidens were able to free up several friendly units, allowing them to reinforce other Larkinson mech formations!

　　The second approach that she could choose from was to maintain the Second Sword's current combat power but to extend its defense and endurance. By making the mech tougher and allowing it to keep up during battles of attrition, the Second Sword could become a lot more flexible and could even be used to launch frontal assaults.

　　"This isn't the best way to make use of the Swordmaidens." Ketis frowned.

　　There were some situations where the Swordmaidens couldn't do anything better. If there were way too many enemy units, the Second Swords had to be able to confront enemy mech units head-on and not fall apart because they were too fragile to fight against enemies that could fully concentrate on eliminating the Swordmaiden mechs.

　　In order to make up her mind, she consulted with Janassa Pellier, who acted as a contributor to the Second Sword Project.

　　"I think you should double down." Janassa said. "And I'm not saying that because doing so will allow me to impart even greater physical strength to the Second Sword design. The Larkinson Army already possesses plenty of flexibility in the form of the Bright Warrior. The mech has decent staying power and can serve as the stable rock of our clan. What the Larkinson Army is currently lacking is a sharp sword that can quickly and efficiently cut through enemy units. Though the Second Sword may be lacking in terms of defense, it's not supposed to be a defensive mech in the first place. Our clan is much better off if we can turn the Second Sword design into the best slaughtering machines of our lineup!"

　　Ketis didn't need much more convincing than that. She reaffirmed her determination to turn the Second Sword into the best offensive melee mech of the Larkinson Clan!

　　"You're right. The Second Sword's greatswords are already sharp enough to cut through many pieces of armor, but it won't hurt to increase its mechanical strength by a large margin. Even tougher mechs that can easily resist bombardment from our Transcendent Punishers must fear the power of our Swordmaiden mechs!"

　　"Sharper blades and greater physical might will also help with cutting through supermassive enemies." Janassa added. "There is always a chance of meeting a giant astral beast or alien warship in space. We can't scale up our ranged weapons to compete fairly against these powerful opponents, so we need a mech like the Second Sword to make up for the lack of firepower."

　　The swordmaster grew grave as she realized this point. "You're right. My Second Sword might turn into one of our effective solutions against these giant enemies. My work should be effective enough to carve through the biomass of the Titania. That won't be easy, Janassa."

　　"We can do it." The newer Journeyman replied with confidence. "Alone, we won't be able to design a mech that can cut so deep. Together, the story is different. With your sharpness and my strength, we can turn this dream into a reality!"

　　After the pair of Journeymen settled on this goal, they collaborated on their mech design project with renewed gusto!