The Mech Touch

As much as Ves did not think highly of the Monster Slayer's potential to become a living mech, he did not rule out the possibility entirely.

There were always exceptions. Humanity's mech industry was incredibly vast and diverse.

When Ves visited the Masterwork Gallery in Chance Bay, he personally confirmed that every exhibit possessed varying degrees of X-Factor.

This was something inherent to them due to how much emotion and effort their makers had put into their design and fabrication. The mech designers literally imbued their work with a portion of themselves. This was probably the basis for making their machines alive, if only faintly.

The mechs probably wouldn't experience any further growth unless they became affected by exceptional circumstances.

The most obvious way for mechs to become more alive was to be used by a mech pilot that was breaking through!

This was why the mechs that continually accompanied a legendary mech pilot throughout their careers were so much more impressive than an ordinary machine. They had always retained and accumulated a portion of the excess energies released by their pilots.

Suffice to say, this process was so rare and difficult to accomplish that it was no surprise that the mech industry barely possessed a clue about this process.

Even if a mech designer was aware of what was happening, the money, resources and effort required to upgrade a mech to better standards was too great.

It was much more convenient to assign newer and more powerful mechs to the pilots that had just broken through!

This was especially the case when an expert candidate advanced to expert pilot. No one wanted to go through all of the trouble of upgrading a standard mech to an expert mech.

The evolution of the Shield of Samar was the exception rather than the rule!

The treatment that Venerable Jannzi received was too extravagant. An ordinary organization would never think about transforming a third-class standard mech into a second-class expert mech!

The rewards of going through all of this trouble also weren't as obvious for mechs designed by people other than himself. The only reason to go through with an upgrade was if the mech pilot strongly insisted on sticking with the same battle partner.

"Other mech designers have to go through so much effort while I don't need to do anything special." Ves smirked.

What Ves was trying to do with his mech designs was nothing more than make this rare and mystical process more accessible to the mech market.

His work enabled someone without the potential to become extraordinary to pilot a living mech right out of the gate.

Even someone devoid of greater talent such as Melkor would be able to pilot an impressive third-order living mech as long as he continued to partner with his new Gold Beacon!

Ves was thankful to Ketis for giving him a greater understanding of where he stood in the mech industry. It was difficult for him to recognize his own advantages when he was the only one to design proper living mechs.

While Gloriana was able to make her mechs a little more alive, she didn't count because she had access to a minute portion of his domain.

Someone like Ketis who learned his basic methods and theories but did not have the foundation to match his efforts was a true representation of what others could accomplish.

In other words, people like Juliet, Jovy, Professor Benedict and Master Willix all had the ability to design first-order living mechs.

Still, Ves did not think about teaching them because it did not make a difference most of the time. His peers and betters all possessed their own specialties.

In addition, it took a lot of changes to make it viable to produce living mechs. The production process needed to be adjusted as well and it was much harder to make mechs produced through materialization alive.

Ves faintly shook his head. "There is little point to teaching others if their work doesn't synergize with living mechs."

Ketis was one of the rare mech designers who took advantage of this phenomenon to enhance her own design applications. She wouldn't have been able to turn the Monster Slayer into a Chiron-like training mech without giving her work the necessary foundation!

This wasn't a one-sided relationship. Just as Ketis took inspiration from living mechs, Ves was able to derive lessons from her own work!

The way she imprinted her Monster Slayer with a sword style that was meant to be passed on to its pilots was different from his usual methods.

Although he wasn't able to replicate this process immediately, he was confident that he could slowly develop a similar application as long as he invested time in this research project.

"It's not much use, though." Ves frowned.

The reason why this method worked for Ketis was because she could utilize her impressive swordsmanship as her database.

As for Ves, how the hell was he supposed to know how to fight with a sword? He was a mech designer, not a swordmaster! Whatever skills he could pass on to his mechs would probably distract his customers more than anything!

Anyway, Ketis just concluded her presentation on her first commercial mech design. She was currently in the process of answering questions.

"I am curious to see how quickly the Monster Slayer will catch on in the mech market." Gloriana said. "Many of the benefits of your work are immediately accessible, but this swordsmanship training capability sounds vague. Will it work for any mech pilot?"

Ketis sighed and shook her head. "No. Not exactly. According to my assumptions, the mech pilots need to be receptive towards my mech. If the pilot doesn't take my Monster Slayer seriously, then I doubt anything will happen. We will need to make sure that my customers know what they must do in order to make the most out of my new work."

Once she answered a few more questions, she finally moved on to presenting the last completed mech design project of the current design round.

The second swordsman mech in the workshop possessed many similarities to the Monster Slayer that she had just showcased.

However, her second model was designed with a different target audience and usage in mind.

"This is my Second Sword." Ketis announced. "As you can see, it is coated in the green-and-blue colors of the mech legion that I am closest to. I have spent a lot of effort designing this mech to match the training and mech doctrines of the Swordmaidens. As their sister, I have deeply invested into this design, and what I managed to accomplish will serve as the standard of Swordmaidens to come."

She briefly summarized the overall configuration of the Second Sword. Unlike her previous work, the Swordmaiden-exclusive mech model was a spaceborn mech that conformed to military standards.

"The design budget of my Second Sword design is around 3 MTA credits. This is almost twice as much as my Monster Slayer and reflects the elite status of my mech and its intended pilots."

The Second Sword was indeed one of the more expensive models of the Larkinson Clan once it entered service. Ves had been generous in allocating this much room to her because the Swordmaidens were worth the investment.

The Swordmaidens weren't as resilient as the Living Sentinels. They also weren't as rounded and versatile as the Avatars of Myth.

What they did excel at was applying their superior swordsmanship skills to achieve superiority in battle!

Due to their harsh training and hyperspecialization in piloting swordsman mechs, the Swordmaidens could outfight many superior melee mechs.

The Bright Warriors in their swordsman mech configurations turned into entirely different beasts in their hands!

This was why the Second Sword design was so important. Ever since they became a part of the clan, the Swordmaidens piloted mechs that weren't specifically designed for their fighting style.

The Second Sword represented a radical departure from this reality. No mech designer could accommodate their needs better than Ketis!

With her deep background in the Swordmaidens and her profound understanding of swordsmanship, she designed her first Swordmaiden-exclusive mech model with elements that complimented their target users as much as possible!

"Aside from the differences in cost and flight capability, my Second Sword is also a more advanced mech in terms of difficulty. It is harder for mech pilots to get started with it because I exclusively designed it with the assumption that it will solely be piloted by well-trained Swordmaidens. It possesses a high skill floor because I included advanced design elements that can provide greater advantages to elite mech pilots who know what they are doing."

A mech like that probably wouldn't sell well on the mech market, but Ketis didn't have to worry about that. By limiting her target audience to a highly specific group of mech pilots, she was able to adopt an approach similar to how Gloriana designed her custom mechs!

It helped that the Swordmaidens were highly homogenous as a group. Their mech pilots all mastered the same swordsmanship style and adopted the exact same mindset and approach towards combat.

To Ketis, the Second Sword was the missing link that the Swordmaidens needed to complete their combat system!

"You don't need to be concerned about whether the Swordmaidens will be able to utilize my Second Sword model properly." She confidently said. "I know exactly what the Swordmaidens are capable of just by observing their training sessions. Just to be sure, I also studied their performance when they volunteered to pilot the prototypes and the virtual versions of the earlier iterations of my work. I have fine-tuned my design so that it is able to accommodate the vast majority of Swordmaiden mech pilots, at least the ones that are in service today. In the future, I might add further complexity to an updated version of my work."

This was a viable choice. The Swordmaiden mech pilots that were currently serving in the mech legion all possessed different backgrounds.

The true core originally consisted of the survivors of a third-class pirate gang.

Numerous other mech pilots originally came from different second-rate states.

Many of the female mech pilots serving in the Swordmaidens today were originally citizens of the Heavensword Association.

The latter's skill, foundation and enthusiasm in swordsmanship was vastly superior. They frequently schooled the others whenever they demonstrated their strength.

One of the goals of the Swordmaidens was to lift every active mech pilot to this elevated standard. That would take time and Ketis might need to wait until most of the first-generation Swordmaiden mech pilots retired from active service.

Even so, the Second Sword still wasn't an easy mech to pilot!

"What happens if an Avatar or another Larkinson mech pilot attempts to pilot a Second Sword?" Ves asked.

His former student frowned. "The mech won't damage itself as long as the mech pilot doesn't try anything fancy. However, without the right training and without the correct swordsmanship, I don't think the Second Sword mech will be able to display over 50 percent of its combat potential. A large part of what makes it strong is that it is maneuverable and can maximize the effect of momentum-based swordsmanship. I truly doubt an Avatar mech pilot can replicate all of the necessary moves."

"I see."

"The Second Sword is similar to the Monster Slayer in that it fights like a dancer instead of a boar. My second solo mech design possesses high agility and benefits from having a high reaction speed, but its physical strength and defenses are not as exaggerated. High control is needed to prevent the mech from exposing any openings to its opponent. The fact that it is wielding a fairly large and heavy greatsword makes this even more important as the margin of error isn't as great."

A single major error wouldn't doom the Second Sword, but it could heavily inconvenience it. The mech pilot had to make as little mistakes as possible in order to keep defeat at bay!