The Mech Touch

Reinventing the concept of a brawler mech and turning the C-Man Project into a new standard of Larkinson expert mechs was not an easy task.

It was so easy for Gloriana to get comfortable with the existing pattern of Larkinson expert mechs and borrow from the existing templates.

However, this was not a good way for her to improve and progress her design philosophy.

Seeing how Ves came up with many innovative solutions and constantly expanded the strength and versatility of his unique design methods, Gloriana felt more desperate than ever to make meaningful progress.

"I can't allow Ves to advance to Senior first!"

The two both took part in the race to be the first Larkinson to advance to the rank of Senior Mech Designer.

Although it actually did not matter too much to the clan whether Ves or Gloriana promoted first, to get ahead of their spouse was still an important point of pride to them both!

Neither of them believed that they were inferior to the other. The best way to prove their high self-esteem was justified was to achieve new breakthroughs through their works!

While it was rather childish of the two of them to work so hard to exceed each other, everyone ultimately benefited from this race.

Both Ves and Gloriana gained additional motivation to work harder and achieve more results than if they worked without taking other people into consideration.

The Larkinson Clan also obtained considerably more goodies due to the competitive drive that the Miracle Couple regularly introduced.

In her attempt to make sure that she did not fall behind her husband, Gloriana put serious effort into turning the upcoming expert brawler mech into a new reference model for her work.

"The C-Man must be qualitatively better than the Minerva and our other expert mechs!"

This was an ambitious goal! Disregarding the fact that roughly half of the Larkinson expert mechs were masterworks, each of them utilized a combination of living traits, powerful resonating exotics and innovative design to stand out among their own kind.

Since Venerable Vincent wanted to upgrade his heavily-damaged B-Man custom into an expert brawler mech, Gloriana first began to examine how the new expert pilot wanted to fight.

To that end, she paid a visit to the newly-built training facilities underneath the surface of the Cat Nest.

The Larkinsons had taken to calling the extensive tunnel complex and underground facilities the Cat Burrow. This was where a lot of patrol mechs and surplus mechs of the Larkinson Clan were being stored.

The Cat Burrow also stored a lot of other supplies and could be turned into a solid underground fortress when needed.

As Gloriana and her guards entered one of the exercise halls, her expression furrowed as she caught sight of a martial spectacle.

"C'mon, Dise! Beat that pretty boy into submission!"

"You can do it, Vincent! Show these stuck-up women what a real man can do in a fight!"

Several hundred sweaty men and women gathered around a sparring ring and cheered the fighter that they favored.

If not for the excellent ventilation and scent neutralization systems in the exercise hall, Gloriana would have been flooded by a mixture of unpleasantly masculine smells!

She quickly schooled her expression as she recognized that it was not the best idea for her to show any disgust towards the Larkinson soldiers.

As she approached the right, she raised herself above the floor in order to obtain a better view of the ongoing sparring session.

Both Vincent and Dise had chosen to confront each other with their own bodies. Aside from wearing thin protective suits that were designed for occasions like these, they carried nothing else that could help them exert more power.

Both athletic expert pilots were so confident in their physical might and skills that they did not think they needed to resort to anything else to win this friendly spar!

"Vincent isn't doing so well." Gloriana quickly figured out as the man in question winced in pain as he fended off a high kick.

The two were fundamentally different warriors.

Venerable Dise possessed too many advantages over her current opponent.

She was older and vastly more experienced in battle.

She followed the brutal Swordmaiden training regime for many years in order to allow her to decapitate fearsome exobeasts in fearsome hunts!

She received genetic treatments that made her body more powerful at the cost of distancing herself from humanity.

She also advanced to expert pilot much earlier than her opponent. This meant that she had exceeded her mortal limits for quite some time, allowing her mind and physique to evolve even further.

All of these factors allowed her to gain the upper hand in the sparring session right from the beginning!

Even so, the dark-skinned Swordmaiden found it quite tricky to end the match in her favor.

The so-called pretty boy was playing hard to get as he danced and moved across the wide sparring ring!

Although it did not actually matter that much when piloting a mech, Vincent was tall and muscular. He also enjoyed some of the other advantages of a male physique.

While the disparity in mass was not that great due to Venerable Dise's unnaturally denser body, she still had to pay attention whenever her opponent made use of his physical advantages!

"Ha! Is that all, Dise? I'm barely aching!" Vincent boasted as Dise kept launching kicks.

Dise had overexerted herself without achieving too many results. Though Vincents suffered plenty of hits, he endured the pain without any complaint and finally went on the offensive when he spotted an opportunity!

This time, Dise was the one to block and evade attacks as Vincent launched a flurry of punches in her direction!

At one point, Vincent feinted another punch. Though Dise was sharp and attentive enough to notice the ploy, she failed to move her body out the way fast enough.

"Got you!"

What happened next turned into a confusing mess to Gloriana. She knew little about wrestling so she couldn't figure out whether Dise and Vincent utilized any conventional wrestling techniques.

All she witnessed was a crowd of Larkinsons shouting louder than ever as both expert pilots turned into a confusing tangle of limbs and bodies.

Eventually, the superior warrior came out ahead when she managed to lock her limbs around Vincent's body that rendered him helpless somehow!

"Argh! You're going to break my arms if you keep going like that!"

"Do you submit, Vincent?!"

"I give up! I give up! You win this time, Dise!"

Most of the men groaned in disappointment while many of the women cheered as one of their own added another victory to her belt!

Gloriana silently shook her head at the outcome. Why did someone like Vincent ever thought he could stand a chance of beating Dise in the sparring ring?

Even if he caught up to Dise in terms of technique and experience, he still would have lost the fight.

That was because he was a boy!

Well, she already knew that bravado was one of Vincent's signature traits. It made him more endearing in a way.

Once the crowd dispersed and resumed their normal training routines, Gloriana waited until Vincent hopped out of the sparring ring before approaching one of her current clients.

Vincent had already noticed the neatly-dressed mech designer and her small guard contingent. He was in no hurry to greet her, though.

He instead opted to reach out and grab a bottle of nutrient fluid. Once he sated his thirst, the expert pilot finally raised his hand in greeting.

"Yo."

Gloriana pressed her lips. Sometimes she detested the overly informal culture of the Larkinson Clan.

"Good afternoon to you too, Venerable Vincent. I have come to discuss the configuration of your upcoming expert mech with you. In order for us to design the strongest and most suitable expert brawler mech, I need your cooperation in various matters."

Vincent grinned and made a quick bow. "Ah, I heard about that from the other expert pilots. I am at your disposal, madame. What do I have to do first?"

"You can start with describing the fighting style you desire to incorporate in your expert mech. Can I assume that you desire your expert mech to adopt a similar fighting style to the one you displayed in the sparring ring?"

"Sort of." The expert pilot answered. "I should be able to do more due to the advantages of a strong mech frame. What I want is a brawler mech that is strong enough to punch really hard but also flexible enough to wrestle an opposing mech into submission."

"Just as how Venerable Dise managed to lock your body and limbs to the point where you ran out of options?"

Vincent awkwardly smiled. "Yeah. The only reason why she got the better of me this time is because she's years ahead of me. Just wait until I get up to speed with my new strength and develop my own techniques. I will definitely win the rematch!"

"Yes, yes, yes, whatever you say, Vincent. Can you demonstrate your current movements and techniques to me? I need to observe and record your physical parameters and movements once again now that you have advanced to expert pilot. The existing set of data that I have collected from you when I designed your B-Man custom mech is outdated."

The current exercise hall was a bit too busy and noisy, so Gloriana and Vincent entered an empty and available practice room where they could perform the necessary procedures.

Vincent already went through this song and dance once before so he performed efficiently.

He even called a sparring bot in order to slowly demonstrate his wrestling moves. Gloriana recognized that he actually put quite a bit of thought into them as none of his techniques were too difficult for humanoid mechs to perform on other humanoid mechs.

"You are truly committed to the idea of using your C-Man to wrestle other expert mechs into submission." Gloriana remarked.

"That's right. Don't you think it's a good idea, madame? A lot of expert mechs are so powerful that we can't beat them in a straight fight. The high-tier expert mechs we fought against in the past comes to mind. If Patriarch Reginald Cross and the Bolvos Rage aren't available to stop powerful mechs such as Venerable Orthox's Gatecrasher or Venerable Damira's Erin Tear, how are we supposed to stop these threats?"

"If sending one expert mech is not enough, then we can dispatch two expert mechs."

"I have fought in battles where the enemy's expert mechs outnumbered ours. I don't want to repeat this experience." Vincent said in a subdued tone. "What I want is the power to neutralize a high-tier expert mech. It shouldn't matter whether the enemy machine has stronger weapons or thicker armor. I'm not afraid of an expert pilot that possesses a lot more resonance strength than me. As long as my C-Man is able to get past the enemy's guard and lock it up, it won't be able to fire its guns or bring any of its other handheld weapons to bear against my machine!"

The approach sounded good, but humanoid mechs were not completely equivalent to human bodies.

It was a lot more complicated to design a viable mech that was good at wrestling!

If Gloriana did not get all of the technical details right, then the C-Man would likely suffer considerable damage each time it approached and exerted its force against another machine!

Aside from that, no expert mech was truly harmless or helpless. Every expert mech possessed true resonance which comprehensively amplified its performance while also granting it with new abilities!

In order to make the C-Man work, it had to be strong enough to resist and overcome an enemy expert mech's resonance shield and other potent resonance abilities.

Should she ask Ves to include an element of Lufa in the C-Man?

She shook her head. Lufa's personality deviated far too much from Vincent's personality. The expert pilot would become an empty husk if he was robbed of his bravado!