The Mech Touch

The War Squire model was substantially different from every other training mech on the market.

There was no lastgen or currentgen model that could come close to the piloting experience of a living training mech.

The only machine that came close was the Larkinson Clan's exclusive Chiron model, but it had never been available on the market.

All of this meant that the War Squire was truly the first living training mech available to the public!

All of the mech cadets that had received the opportunity to pilot their assigned War Squires for the first time instantly became engrossed in the experience.

One of the strong points of the LMC's products was that they always made the mech pilots feel special.

It was impossible to describe it with words. All of the previous and existing customers of the LMC had used all kinds of words to convey their own experiences, but in the end none of them were able to translate the full gamut of their personal journeys with their living mechs.

Mickey Lankos truly felt more closely connected to Rabarber than any of the previous training mechs he piloted.

Whether they were real or virtual, the mechs he had interfaced with in the past did not welcome him and accommodate him as well as the War Squire.

"No wonder those other mech cadets got too excited!"

He felt so tempted to ignore his instructions and exercise the full responsiveness and range of motion of his new mech!

He wanted to command his War Squire to sprint around the training field and jump like an acrobat!

If not for the fact that the War Squires weren't equipped with any weapons at the moment, he would have swung his weapons and even sought out another training mech to feel what it was like to fight with this fantastic new mech!

However, the head instructor's warnings still rang heavily in his mind. Every mech cadet had been taught to unquestionably obey the instructions of their teachers, so Mickey and the rest still managed to hold back their enthusiasm.

All of the mech instructors had access to large and elaborate control panels that allowed them to monitor the states of the training mechs and their current pilots.

After they verified that nothing went wrong, they passed on another instruction.

"Hold still. Your mech will automatically change shape to adapt to your individual physiques."

Before the mech cadets knew it, they temporarily lost control over the War Squires as they initiated their transformations!

Mickey could see and feel his mech morphing around him. The mech buzzed as advanced mechanisms dynamically adjusted the length of the training mech's limbs.

Even the torso changed shape to a degree. Not only did it become a bit lankier, the center of gravity also shifted to a point that closely matched the center of gravity of Mickey's own body!

If the young mech cadet felt as if he was able to embody the War Squire beforehand, now he truly had the illusion that he was inhabiting a larger version of his own body!

Once the mech instructors finally commanded the mech cadets to perform basic movements and routines with their new War Squires, every single mech cadet moved a lot smoother and more controlled than with any of the training mechs in the past!

"Is this what premium training mechs are really like?"

"This is unreal!"

"If I could train with this training mech from the beginning of my studies, I would have easily been able to beat those smug mech cadets from the other academies!"

The excitement never died down as the mech cadets continued to acclimate themselves with their new War Squires.

Every movement became a joy to them. The more they used the War Squires, the more they fell in love with them. This was a feeling that came from the depths of their hearts.

What was even better was that the mechs actually reciprocated the love and appreciation of their mech pilots!

Although the positive feedback from these emotions were subtle and not entirely obvious, the constant exchange of feelings nonetheless made the mech cadets more enthused about piloting their War Squires.

Time passed by so quickly to the mech cadets in paradise that they did not notice that they reached the next phase of their training session.

"Halt! Return to your designated spots and lock your machines in place."

The War Squires all returned to the middle of the training field and formed a large and dispersed square formation.

Once the training mechs were all locked and unable to make any accidental movements, the mech cadets all received the command to engage the MSTS.

"Each of you will be pulled into your own separate introductory training instances." The head instructor's voice broadcasted in the cockpits of all of the active War Squires. "Although you will be on your own for this ride, we can monitor your state inside and outside of your simulation at all times."

With that, every mech cadet's mind got sucked into the Mental Simulation Training System for the first time in their lives.

Entering the MSTS was unlike entering any other virtual simulation.

Whenever Mickey entered one of Hopecrest's old simulator pods, he felt as if someone plugged a rusty cable to his head and struggled to form a connection with an aging processor.

This was entirely different. Mickey did not feel as if the War Squire was forcing any connections on him. Instead, it was as if a soft blanket surrounded his mind and gently lifted it out of his head and brought it all the way to heaven!

A few seconds passed in reality, but subjectively Mickey felt as if he had soared across an unimaginable distance to arrive in a completely different realm.

When Mickey next opened his 'eyes', he noticed that his body, which had been accurately modeled down to his piloting suit, was floating in deep space.

Distant stars speckled the darkness and the ubiquitous red nebulas that tinged the space around him showed that he was somewhere in the Red Ocean.

Mickey wondered whether he was stuck halfway or entered into a waiting queue.

Fortunately, the MSTS did not keep him waiting for long. A golden shape materialized before his eyes.

It turned out to be a cute, miniaturized version of a golden combat mech that was the size of Mickey's hand!

The model of this mini mech looked familiar to the mech cadet. It resembled one of the Larkinson Clan's exclusive mech models that showed up pretty often in their images and battle footage.

"Hiya, Cadet Mickey!" A distorted electronic male voice sounded from the tiny mech. "Welcome to the Living Mech Corporation's Mental Simulation Training System! This is a simulation system like none other, and it is solely developed to help you and many other mech cadets become the strongest mech pilots that you can become."

"Who are you?" Mickey curiously asked the little AI mech.

"Ah, that is a good question."

The tiny mech made a theatrical bow!

"I am Little Five, one of the many Little Spirits that you will be seeing over the course of your simulation sessions. I will be your guide whenever you engage with our training system. I will also be providing help or advice relating to mech piloting and other matters."

Mickey nodded. Little Five was basically an AI helper.

"What are the other Little Spirits?"

"The MSTS currently hosts several more Little Spirits, with more to come in the future. Let me introduce them to you. First up, here is Little Vee!"

A flame burned next to Little Five. It turned into the shape of a tiny squat shape that resembled a stereotypical fantasy blacksmith dwarf, only with exaggeratingly cute proportions.

Little Vee waved his proportionately tiny hammer at Mickey.

"I'm in charge of running the nuts and bolts of the MSTS." A gruff voice squeezed from the mouth that was hidden behind a bushy and messy long beard. "If you encounter any bugs or get stuck in a glitch, call me and I'll knock some sense into the system!"

"Okay…" Mickey dubiously said. "Shouldn't your dwarf accent be thicker and more… dwarfy?"

"I am not a dwarf!" The tiny dwarf absurdly claimed! "I am a human!"

Mickey couldn't help but chuckle at this funny routine.

Little Five awkwardly coughed and punted Little Vee out of sight. "Don't mind him. You won't be seeing Little Vee often if everything goes right. Anyway, let me introduce you to my next friend, Little Helly!"

A black lotus flower emerged next to the tiny golden mech. The flower bloomed and unfolded until it turned into an adorable child!

The little girl's skin was gray and wore a pitch-black sundress. If not for her brilliant smile, her cute face and the delicate lotus flower attached to her head, Mickey might have mistaken her as a zombie!

Right now, the gray kid directed an impish smile at Mickey. Her bright and sparkling yellow eyes slightly caused the mech cadet to feel nervous for a reason.

"Hello, Mickey." The tiny girl greeted. "My job is a little bit too technical to describe to you in detail, but all you really need to know is that I'm good at psychology and that I always love a good scare."

"So you're the AI counselor around here?" The cadet asked.

Little Helly nodded. "Yup! Don't underestimate my importance. The MSTS is more realistic than any other simulation that you have tried, and that also extends to the fatal scenarios that it can produce. Let me give you an example."

In one moment, Little Helly looked like a cute personification of an AI system.

In the next, Little Helly suddenly turned into a scary abyss that caused Mickey to feel as if his soul was on the verge of getting snuffed by an incredibly deep and unfathomable abyss!

"Just kidding!" The gray girl turned cute and innocent again. "Every mech pilot experiences fear on the battlefield. Don't feel ashamed about it. You're only human. What truly distinguishes the good ones from the bad ones is how they can acknowledge their fears but overcome their instincts and fight despite your entire body and subconscious telling you to cower and shirk. Helping you overcome your fears is one of the strong points of the MSTS."

Once Little Helly finished her introduction, her girly form warped into a lotus flower before it eventually drifted away.

"Let me introduce you to the final Little Spirit that you might see every once in a while." Little Five said.

A tiny star appeared into view that quickly morphed into a little kitten that shone with gold and warmth.

As soon as the kitten appeared, Mickey could not resist the urge to reach out and hold the cute animal in his arms.

Surprisingly, the tactile feedback from the new simulation system was so realistic that Mickey truly felt as if he was holding a real kitten. The adorable feline snuggled in his grasp and responded well when he scratched her chin.

"Nyaaa~"

"What does she do?" Mickey asked as he already felt smitten by this adorable pet.

"Little Gold is here to act cute and cheer you on." Little Five stated. "She doesn't really have any fixed responsibilities. You can think of her as a mascot. If she enjoys your company, she will appear more often in your vicinity. Well, she can cheer you up and help you recover from your frights and failures if you need any care."

"Nyaaa!"

The golden kitten eventually squeezed out of his embrace and waved her paw at Mickey before turning into a star and melting into the background.

While all of these Little Spirits were fun and interesting to a young mech cadet like Mickey, he did not connect to the MSTS in order to play with artificial intelligences.

"When will I get to pilot a virtual mech in this simulation system?" Mickey impatiently asked.

"Now." Little Five's anthropomorphized face grinned.

"What?"

The entire simulated surroundings changed in an instant.

The space around Mickey turned from red to blue and black in an instant, reminding him of the dark and vast space of the old galaxy.

However, the mech cadet was hardly able to appreciate this fact because he had ended up in the middle of a grand battlefield!

"What?!"

Tens of thousands of mechs were fighting and destroying each other from all directions!

Hundreds of sub-capital ships and dozens of capital ships were deploying mechs from their hangar bays or using their bunker mechs to pound each other to pieces!

Laser beams and gauss projectiles whizzed from every direction, making it extremely dangerous to end up in the middle of this battlefield!

When Mickey took a closer look at the mechs that were fighting against each other, he noticed that they were divided into two distinct groups.

The first group all consisted of living mechs that all matched the ones that Mickey had seen when he researched the group that was behind the development of the War Squire.

"Those… those are the mechs of the Larkinson Clan!"

The opposition looked completely different. Divided into three separate mech divisions that all followed their own distinct mech doctrines, many of their humanoid machines had one trait in common.

"These are dwarf mechs!"

It turned out that the MSTS had pulled Mickey and all of his fellow mech cadets into a simulated reproduction of the Battle of Fordilla Zentra!

This was the battle where the Golden Skull Alliance fought against the forces of the former Vulcan Empire!