The Mech Touch

Vincent Ricklin threw himself into the fight for the same reason as many of his other comrades.

He was looking for his chance today.

The opportunity to fight in a real battle wasn't exactly common. Outside of wars, only incidental encounters with hostile forces could give the mech pilots of the expeditionary fleet the opportunity to fight while putting their lives on the line!

Numerous people had already heard that the Golden Skull Alliance would be taking it easy after the conclusion of this campaign.

Though there were many mech pilots who felt relieved at the opportunity to spend a few years away from any battlefields and danger zones, they were also cognizant that long-term idling was not conducive to developing their strengths.

There was a limit to how much they could improve through training!

Even if Vincent had heard that the Larkinson Clan would make different arrangements concerning this issue, he felt a lot more pressured than ever to step up and prove himself worthy to his fellow Larkinsons!

The B-Man's glow pumped him up even further. Vincent had always felt more confident ever since Gloriana delivered his new custom mech to him. As an expert candidate and a mech pilot in the prime of his life, his opportunities were much greater than other people!

"If Imon was able to become an expert pilot, then so can I! There is no reason for me to fail!"

The chances that an expert candidate was able to advance to expert pilot was fairly high, but the amount of time it took to complete this transition was a crucial detail that many people overlooked!

Some only took a couple of years to reach apotheosis. Other expert candidates took as long as two to three decades, which meant they wasted their prime years in which they could have made a lot of progress in furthering their strength as expert pilots!

The saddest expert candidates of all were those that remained stuck in their halfway status for the rest of their careers!

When Vincent thought about the possibility of his body growing older and less muscular while continuing to disappoint Raella and his buddies, he felt increasingly more urgent to make the most out of this major battle!

"These fish-whales better give me the challenge I crave!"

As his B-Men approached the front of the battlefield, his mech was already contributing to the battle by firing its gauss weapons at numerous targets.

The rounds fired by his custom mech inflicted considerably more damage to the fish-whales than the energy weapons wielded by other mechs.

At first, the B-man's integrated gauss weapons kept colliding against spatial barriers. This was anything but ideal as Vincent gained no satisfaction from damaging these invisible obstacles.

The expert candidate adjusted his approach and waited until the first line of mechs and Evolvers collided against the Phasers.

"Damn, those big Evolvers are really good at breaking those spatial barriers."

With the help of all of those friendly fish-whales, the elite Phaser fish-whales became a lot more vulnerable than before!

At the very least, once they became entangled by melee attackers, the Phasers had no opportunity to focus on erecting overlapping spatial barriers anymore. The Evolvers and the human mechs didn't allow the Phasers to activate their greatest phasewater abilities!

Vincent's B-Man began to strike these targets with carefully-timed shots.

In the past, he would have picked random opponents and let loose with all of the guns at his disposal. It was only after he received Patriarch Reginald's guidance that he paid a lot more attention to his timing and target selection.

Each time a salvo struck a Phaser fish-whale, the beast inevitably jerked. If Vincent was lucky, one of his attacks managed to penetrate deep enough to damage an important organ.

However, the Phasers were so big and massive that they had too much buffer in the way. It was as if they had evolved to specifically deal with massed ranged attacks!

It took dozens of rounds just for his expert mech to fell a single elite Phaser fish-whale!

As the battle continued to heat up, Vincent barely felt any satisfaction from the results he accomplished so far. He felt too detached from the action as his B-Man stayed behind and provided moderate fire support.

Sure, his efforts were not in vain. He managed to save numerous mechs from getting bitten or thrashed by the giant Phaser fish-whales. He was making a real difference in the battle, yet in his heart, he felt as if he was having it far too easy.

He glanced towards the Swordmaiden mechs that cleverly pounced on vulnerable and distracted Phaser fish-whales.

He took a deep look towards the center of the battlefield. His mentor and role model was the only mech pilot who had the guts to intervene in the titanic clash between two powerful king fishes!

Vincent looked on admiringly as the Bolvos Rage boldly hacked its heavy saber against the Phase King!

Patriarch Reginald could have adopted the same approach as Vincent and kept his expert hybrid mech at a distance, but the powerful expert pilot chose a different path, one that emphasized maximum aggression!

Not every hybrid mech pilot preferred to fight up close, but those who did so often turned into fearsome combatants!

Though the B-Man never stopped firing at targets of opportunity, Vincent's attention was no longer directed towards the battlefield.

He started to think about his approach towards fighting.

This was hardly the place and time for a mech pilot to become absentminded, but the Phaser fish-whales were far too busy to care about a single hybrid mech firing at them from a distance.

While it was difficult for human opponents to ignore the B-Man's muscular appearance and dazzling white-and-gold coating, the fish-whale race possessed completely different aesthetic tastes!

This granted Vincent enough room for him to do something extremely rare for someone with his air of confidence.

He began to reflect on himself.

"Is this how I should fight?"

His journey as a mech pilot was much more irregular than the majority of the clansmen serving in the mech legions.

The Larkinson Clan generally preferred to recruit younger talents or those with existing military backgrounds. Vincent managed to squeeze in with the help of Raella, but he knew in his heart that he would have never been able pass the requirements if he tried to follow the normal procedures.

Over time, the Larkinson Army constantly revised its recruiting standards upwards, causing the quality of mech pilots to constantly improve.

Vincent felt out of place with these soldiers. It was one of the many reasons why he did not join one of the mech legions and preferred to work in the clan's competitive scene.

In fact, once Vincent left his past life behind, he never wanted to step onto the battlefield again.

It was strange that the Larkinson Clan had a way of drawing him back to the battles which he grew tired of. He developed a strong sense of belonging and felt compelled to do his duty.

This was especially the case when he advanced to expert candidate!

Becoming an expert candidate completely changed his role in the Larkinson Clan. The old Vincent would have been able to get away with sitting on the sides. The new Vincent was expected to lend his strength for the good of the Larkinson Clan.

It was inexcusable for a powerful pilot and a potential expert pilot to continue fooling around in mech arenas!

"I miss those days." Vincent sighed.

He had lost his passion for the Larkinson Championship Series as soon as he reached a new level of strength. There was no way for him to fight a fair duel against any of the mech pilots that took part in this engaging hobby.

"Was that the point where I have fallen astray?"

When Vincent recalled what he had done since he became an expert candidate, he did not feel satisfied with how he spent his time.

"Old habits die hard."

He continued to fool around and never put in as many hours in training as the other expert candidates of his clan.

While notable pilots such as Isobel Kotin trained with the Quint to the point where she slept in its cockpit during marathon sessions, Vincent spent just as much time in the simulators as playing games or going out in Twilight City!

Thinking back on how he squandered his time, Vincent grew slightly remorseful.

"Spending more time on training doesn't necessarily make a huge difference, but it is better than wasting my time on distractions."

Expert candidates were still humans that had slightly exceeded human limitations. Vincent's ability to learn new piloting skills and improve his existing ones had skyrocketed, so he was not a bad mech pilot by any means!

"I still feel as if I'm missing something, though." Vincent frowned.

What was he fighting for? Why should he invest more time in training? Was it truly worthwhile for him to struggle so much in the hopes of reaching apotheosis?

His heart and mind fell in doubt.

An ordinary mech pilot or expert candidate would never question his motivations. Becoming an expert pilot was a dream to them. Whether they were third-raters or first-raters, every human that had taken up the piloting profession yearned to become one of the heroes and protagonists of this age!

Becoming an expert pilot wasn't even the ultimate endpoint for these ambitious mech pilots. They considered this stage to be their first step to attaining the rank of god pilot!

Vincent rarely if ever set his sights so far. How could a simple kid from a remote third-rate state possibly match the legendary feats of the few humans who had managed to make it to the top?

He would already be satisfied for life if he was able to become an expert pilot!

That had been his mindset for years. It wasn't until recently that he began to develop a hunger for more.

The first turning point was when he received the B-Man.

The B-Man was a much more impressive mech than the Adonis Colossus, but also preserved much of what he liked from his previous custom mech.

Even now, the mech had a way of pushing him to go further. If he piloted a more ordinary mech, he wouldn't have felt so uncomfortable for adopting his current approach to this battle.

The second turning point was getting in touch with Patriarch Reginald.

Previously, Vincent admired the older but much more powerful leader from afar.

As the patriarch of the Cross Clan and the son of an ace pilot, Reginald lived a much more impressive life!

Although his journey was filled with ups and downs, Vincent had watched enough action dramas to know that the main characters often succeeded in powering up after overcoming all of these challenges!

While Vincent liked to boast about himself, he never really thought of himself as a main character of a long-running story. There were much more qualified people in the Larkinson Clan that fit this role.

Ves, Ketis and Joshua were the most obvious choices. No one would ever think about putting Vincent's name on this list!

Normally, Vincent didn't have a problem with this. Standing out also meant taking responsibility, which he didn't like. He was quite comfortable with his current status in the Larkinson Clan. He was strong enough to receive preferential treatment but not exceptional enough to carry the hopes and dreams of his fellow clansmen.

"I am truly satisfied with continuing to live like this?"

Vincent seriously questioned whether he was making the best of his life and career.

When the expert candidate threw another glance towards the Bolvos Rage struggling to injure the formidable Phase King, he became inspired by his mentor's bravery and ambition.

Compared to a muddle-headed expert candidate like Vincent, Patriarch Reginald knew exactly what he wanted and what he needed to do to attain greater strength!

"How can I possibly compare to Patriarch Reginald?"

Vincent felt more inadequate than ever!