The Mech Touch

The Minerva amply proved its worthiness in the expert mech lineup of the Larkinson Clan!

After performing many exhaustive tests, the Larkinsons gained a good idea on what it was capable of. Though its individual battle prowess was relatively average, its ability to channel and amplify Commander Casella's natural talent after her breakthrough was stellar!

This was the ultimate dream of every mech designer. Those who chose this vocation usually did so because they wanted to serve mech pilots to the best of their abilities.

One of the greatest ideals in mech design was to design a machine that could draw out all of the untapped potential of a mech pilot.

The Minerva was far from the strongest expert mech that could be designed and built. There were stories about first-class monstrosities within the MTA that could easily tear apart the Shield of Samar as if it was made out of a leaf!

However, that was no reason to disparage the Minerva. It was an excellent machine for a beginner expert pilot and it was powerful enough to give Commander Casella Ingvar the capital to survive most battles against equal opponents.

The Larkinson Clan finally obtained a powerful machine that provided a monstrous degree of utility. The Command Field was more than a simple offensive boost. It was a way for a powerful command-oriented expert pilot to take control of hundreds of mechs and turn them into Casella's personal instruments!

The Larkinson Clan's strength had risen by a huge margin because of the birth of the Minerva. Masterwork expert mechs were always powerful beyond doubt but much of its strength was derived from its design. Even if it wasn't a masterwork, it still would have been able to Commandeer friendly mechs, just not to such a drastic extent.

Imon Ingvar was happy for his sister. He knew her the best. From growing up in House Ingvar to attending the same mech academies, he became intimately familiar with her ambitions. Becoming a mech commander was her dream and now she had fulfilled it in a way that she could never imagine!

Not only had she become the leader of an entire mech legion before she had reached her forties, she also managed to do so while shedding a portion of her mortality!

It was already difficult for a mech pilot to achieve success in any of these two pursuits. Though many people thought that leading mech pilots into battle was only a matter of learning, it had been difficult for Casella Ingvar to keep up with her leadership studies on top of polishing her piloting skills.

Even after they graduated into full mech pilots, Casella learned the hard way that leading a mech unit required more than book learning and school-level exercises.

"You must be happy to have come so far after suffering so much failure when our house was falling apart."

The topic of House Ingvar still produced mixed feelings within him. He used to pledge his loyalty to it before he forcibly had to shift his allegiance in order to join the Larkinson Clan.

For a long time, he harbored a lot of thoughts about reviving House Ingvar, either by returning to the treacherous Kingdom of the Three Flowers in person or transferring funds to the distant cousins that survived the purge.

Over time, the need to take revenge for the conspiracy that killed so many of his relatives had faded. The Larkinson Clan had become his new home and it was so much better than anything he experienced before.

Power and wealth continued to flow into the clan. As prominent mech pilots and leaders, the Ingvar siblings earned a generous salary.

Both of them had transferred the hex credits they earned into a bank account they set up to fund the expenditures of the remnants of House Ingvar. All of the distant blood relatives that had remained behind in the Komodo Star Sector had managed to escape the reach of the Kingdom of the Three Flowers and build up an increasingly prosperous business empire.

To the Larkinson Clan, a third-class corporation was a weak and forgettable existence. To the Ingvars who had to flee while leaving behind much of the riches of House Ingvar, it was a new foundation!

With the money that Imon and Casella had funneled to the remnants, they could have moved to a second-class state, but they wisely chose to settle down in the Sentinel Kingdom.

Second-class states were much more treacherous than the Kingdom of the Three Flowers. It was incredibly ill-advised for third-raters to drop into a second-class state and expect that every person and organization would let the hillbillies take advantage of their institutions.

Without a foundation of strength and local support, it was impossible for the Ingvars to do well!

After several years of transferring millions of hex credits to the coffers of the Ingvar remnants, the survivors eventually decided to integrate into the power structure of the Sentinel Kingdom.

By offering plenty of tribute and taking advantage of their tentative connection to the Larkinson Clan, the Ingvars successfully persuaded the Sentinel King to become his vassal.

The House of Ingvar had risen again!

With the ample funds they possessed, the members of the reconstituted house bought the rights to own and manage a rural star system.

At a certain point in time, Casella came up to him and persuaded him that the time had come to end their support.

"Why?" He asked.

"House Ingvar needs to stand on its own. We have already repaid the grace of raising us and educating us. As much as the blood of the Ingvars still flows through our veins, we are Larkinsons now. We cannot serve two masters. While I have tolerated the act of supporting our old House with money, we cannot allow these ties to weigh us down."

"They're our relatives!" Imon retorted. "I can accept that we are Larkinsons now, but much of our blood family died back then. Don't you want the conspirators to pay?!"

Casella sighed and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Let it go, Imon. What happened to our House was a tragedy, and many of our fellow Ingvars didn't deserve to get killed. However, now that we have reached this height, we can see more now. House Ingvar did not fall without a reason and what has happened is a consequence of participating in games of power. Taking revenge… is pointless. It won't bring back the dead and it will only serve to vent the unhealthy emotions of survivors. Does this sound like a worthy cause?" ᴘᴀɴᴅᴀ-ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ

Her brother only grew more conflicted. Though his affection for House Ingvar faded with each passing day, his honor demanded that he should not leave it in the dirt.

"We can still do more, Casella. House Ingvar are still newcomers to the Sentinel Kingdom and the Komodo Star Sector is anything but calm at the moment."

Casella casually waved her hand. "House Ingvar isn't the most powerful in the neighborhood, but it has already grown strong enough to protect its own interests. As long as our surviving relatives don't bite off more they can chew, it can survive the test of time. Continuing to support will not do our House any good. While we are lucky that the elders are far-sighted enough to create new revenue sources, throwing more money at them will just make them dependent on us. They need to stand on their own, Imon."

Though she managed to persuade him to cut off the remittances, he still felt uncomfortable with the move. It was as if he was leaving a job unfinished. This notion weighed down on him so much that he never felt comfortable with his identity as a former noble who took refuge in the Larkinson Clan.

He didn't know why, but Imon Ingvar no longer felt that sense of failure anymore. Only pride and happiness filled his being.

Seeing his sister rise from the ashes of their original house and gain power with the help of the Minerva completely caused his residual bonds of belonging to snap.

He recalled everything his sister had said at the time.

"There is no point in taking revenge on the Royal House of Black Poppy."

"We were only ordinary members who weren't shouldered with any great responsibilities at the time."

"The surviving Ingvars have already chosen to leave the past behind and rebuild their lives in peace."

"House Ingvar of today owns enough territory and industry to stand on its own."

"The Larkinson Clan is our only home."

For a long time, Imon could never bring himself to embrace the last statement.

His sister was not as entangled. She had always been the smarter of the two and seeing her bloom so much in the Larkinson Clan had loosened the final shackles that bound him to the cause of his former house.

Patriarch Ves and his clan had given them so much more than it owed to the Invars. Imon and Casella not only received an opportunity to serve as mech pilots, they also received powerful new mechs that were designed with great love and care!

How could Imon still cling to ties to a house that had not only grown more distant to him, but also didn't need him anymore?

"It turns out that everyone has moved on except for me." He said in a depreciating tone.

He felt like a clown for making this belated realization so late. What happened in the past should already be behind him. Even if he wanted to meddle with the affairs that brought down his former house, he was hundreds of thousands of light-years away from the Komodo Star Sector!

Rather than clinging on to useless and redundant notions of taking revenge and restoring the honor of the Ingvars, it might be better to let it all go and accept the current circumstances.

A sense of liberation overflowed his mind and body as he felt more at peace with himself. As he used his Blade Chaser's sensors to watch his sister's impressive performance, he began to develop another purpose in his life.

"I'll accompany you and fight by your side, sister."

She was his only blood relative left as far as he was concerned. Although the Larkinson Clan was his new family in a sense, his sister had been his pillar of support.

Now, a sense of hunger rose up in him. As the Minerva began to test its ability to empower single mechs, Imon felt jealous at his friend Vincent.

"Why should he be the one to receive her power? It should be me that fights on her behalf!"

Of course, he wasn't stupid. He understood the logic of empowering the B-Man. The mech was equipped with lots of powerful ranged weapons and they could become even more damaging if they received a huge boost in power.

Out of all of the mechs piloted by expert candidates, only two of them stood out as suitable targets if Casella ever wanted to employ this resonance ability.

Both the Quint and the B-Man were powerful mechs that could output a lot of damage at range. If Casella grew stronger and became more proficient in using this resonance ability, then the empowered mechs might be able to output enough damage to threaten expert mechs by themselves!

Together with the Minerva's ranged capabilities, this was in effect a way to output the damage of two expert mechs instead of one!

Such a force would definitely have a massive influence on many battlefields, especially long-ranged firefights which seemed to be more common as of late!

As for Imon, his Blade Chaser was just a custom swordsman mech. He might be able to gain the power to protect the Minerva if his sister channeled her strength in his direction, but there was no point in doing so unless a powerful enemy came close!

Imon's expression grew grave.

"With a high-profile expert command mech like the Minerva, this will happen sooner or later. I need to get enough practice with this ability in order to defeat the mechs that are attempting to assassinate my sister!"