The Mech Touch

The fact that Abasis Armor was actually an armor system developed with ace mechs in mind explained so much.

It explained why it took more than 10 kilograms of phasewater to equip a single high-ranking mech with this transphasic armor system.

It explained why its various properties were so strong and useful.

It also explained why it came paired with a so-called Transphasic Attack System that allowed ace pilots to generate strange attacks and effects that were usually associated with the phase whale race!

The incredible cost and even more incredible capabilities of Abasis Armor were already out of the scope of ordinary expert mechs.

In fact, even high-tier expert mechs weren't supposed to have anything to do Abasis Armor either!

The foremost reason why the Mars Project came into contact with it anyway was because the Cross Clan was willing to squander an excessive amount of resources to develop the strongest possible expert mech!

Professor Benedict could talk about Abasis Armor for days. Although he was not specialized in transphasic products, he had already started to study them. It also wasn't necessary for him to understand the ins and outs of Abasis Armor in order to comprehend its uses and its estimated performance parameters.

However, he knew that Patriarch Reginald would quickly grow bored if his lecture became too technical, so the Senior Mech Designer finally moved on from talking about Abasis Armor.

"While Abasis Armor plays a large role in your future expert mech, it is not the only part that is new. Let me tell you about the changes to the internals."

Professor Benedict quickly skimmed over the new choices he had made for the power reactor, the mech engine and numerous other internal systems.

Each of them were considerably more powerful than his previous selection. They weren't necessarily more exciting, though. Aside from producing higher outputs, they did not come with too many extra bells and whistles.

"It may not seem much different from before, but the changes are all substantial and necessary." Benedict explained. "All of these essential systems are considerably more powerful in order to support the operation of many other upgraded systems. The latter is where you will truly feel the differences."

"So there is nothing special about the power reactor and the mech engine other than producing more power?"

"Not exactly. They are also much more robust and stable than normal. You can fully be assured of throwing your Mars Project into the thick of battle and not worry about your internals malfunctioning just because your expert mech suffered a heavy blow."

"I see. That is good."

"The flight system is a little more special, though." Reginald spoke as he manipulated the projection to show a more detailed view of the rear of the Mars Project. "This is because the Pulsvar V-1 is a transphasic flight system. In its base state, the Pulsvar V-1 already performs better than the previous flight system intended for your Mars Project. The product excels at producing a high amount of forward acceleration, but its ability to produce lateral acceleration is also good, allowing your expert mech to dodge and weave considerably more effectively than other expert medium mechs."

"What is the benefit of making it transphasic?" Patriarch Reginald curiously asked.

"Ah, that is what makes this product more special. You see, the Godwin Institution actually developed the Pulsvar V-1 by reverse engineering a relatively high-end alien flight system developed by the puelmer race. By copying the materials and the mechanisms of the captured alien device, the researchers and developers of the Godwin Institution have succeeded in developing a smaller flight system that is specifically adapted for expert mechs."

"I… see."

"Of course, the developers also added plenty of human ingenuity to the flight system in order to make it competitive. All of these efforts have resulted in a flight system that possesses a few more powerful features. Two of them are particularly relevant to you. First, the Pulsvar V-1 comes equipped with a small but powerful spatial shield."

Patriarch Reginald looked confused. "What does that mean?"

"That means that the flight system is covered by an energy shield that behaves like an invisible wall in space. Any attacks aimed at the flight system will be blocked just before they strike this weak point. While I cannot estimate how much damage this localized spatial shield can resist, you shouldn't have to worry about a powerful enemy crippling the mobility of your Mars Project if you ever expose its back."

That could be extremely helpful in many different situations. The localized spatial shield could play an especially crucial role in a duel against an expert mech that was comparable in strength!

Reginald looked a little more satisfied. "What else can it do? Can it make my mech move faster?"

"That is to be expected. As long as you direct additional energy to the flight system, it will directly amplify its acceleration, allowing you to move up to 200 percent faster in every direction."

"Just 200 percent?"

"Why do you sound so disappointed? Your expert mech will effectively be able to accelerate three times faster than normal. In fact, you should actually be able to move even faster if you resonate with it. Since the Pulsvar V-1 is developed for expert mechs, it incorporates generic resonating materials that can allow you to add your own strength to its performance."

That was fairly normal for flight systems developed for expert mechs.

"Why is there such a big difference in amplification between the Pulsvar V-1 and the Abasis Armor?" The expert pilot asked.

"Just because they are both transphasic doesn't mean they are on the same level. The Pulsvar V-1 is not as extravagant as the armor system that I have detailed earlier, and that is mostly because it takes considerably less phasewater to build it. I believe it will only take around 400 grams of phasewater to construct this flight system."

"400 grams? We have much more than that in our storage. Why did you not opt for a higher-end flight system?"

The Senior Mech Designer let out an exasperated breath.

"Designing a powerful expert mech is not about stuffing it with the most expensive and powerful resonating materials that you can find. There are hard limits. Adding more will either produce more interference or destabilize the entire machine to the point where it may fall apart. The same applies to phasewater. The more phasewater you concentrate in a single location, the harder it becomes to keep it under control. While it is much easier to handle phasewater when blended into different materials and components, the danger of gathering so much of it in a single mech is still high. In the worst case scenario, your mech might become engulfed in a spontaneous spatial storm that will literally shred everything within the vicinity."

"Oh. I did not know that."

"It is not a problem that most people concern about simply because it is rare for people to stack entire kilograms of phasewater in a single mech." Professor Reginald said. "In any case, since we are working on a limited budget of phasewater, I opted to prioritize defense over mobility."

"Hmmm. That is fine as long as the offensive power of my Mars Project does not fall behind."

"Oh, you do not have to be concerned about that. I was just about to bring that up. Your Mars Project is equipped with many weapons, each of which will satisfy you in one way or another. Let me begin with the basic set of integrated weapon systems."

Professor Reginald changed the projection so that it highlighted numerous different energy weapons embedded into different parts of the Mars Project.

"As a hybrid mech, the Mars Project is always armed even if it deploys while carrying nothing. Instead of choosing different individual integrated weapon systems that do not necessarily have to do anything with each other, I have chosen to adopt a transphasic weapon suite called the ARCEUS System that provides a truly integrated and interconnected offensive package."

The expert pilot keenly studied the outlined integrated weapons. "Two medium weapons on the wrists. Two medium weapons on the lower legs. Three on the chest, of which one of them is large and the other two are small-sized. There are also two more tiny weapons on the sides of the head. That is quite a large collection."

"We can afford to include them into the mech because they are substantially miniaturized." The professor clarified. "They do not take up as much space or capacity as you think. Their firepower might not be the strongest, but they should be more than sufficient for you to defeat the majority of the enemies that you may come across."

What Patriarch Reginald liked about the ARCEUS System was how many weapons they added to the mech frame. There was a lot of redundancy with 10 different integrated weapon mounts. It didn't matter if a few of them got smashed over the course of a battle because he still had more at his disposal!

"This is also a transphasic system, right? What else can it do that makes it more powerful than regular systems?"

"It takes around 650 grams of phasewater to make it transphasic. This will empower any laser or positron beams that the integrated weapons can output with special properties that make them more effective, but only when you feed additional energy to them. While the use of phasewater cannot straightforwardly affect the ARCEUS System's damage output, the transphasic attacks deal increased damage against transphasic defense systems."

"So it is only useful against other transphasic mechs?"

"I did not say that, Reginald. The second major benefit of transphasic attacks is that any strike will partially phase through one or more layers of protection."

"You mean my shots can literally bypass armor?!"

"Partially. A lot of energy will still be lost when phasing through any barrier, but it will allow you to use your ARCEUS System to quickly take out a large amount of relatively tough targets. I should also add that it takes more than that to effectively damage resonance shields."

Professor Benedict provided more details on the ARCEUS System. While it was not as powerful as Reginald hoped, it was still an effective tool in wiping out hordes of weaker opponents while also capable of applying a lot of pressure onto stronger enemies.

"What about physical damage options?" The Cross Patriarch eventually asked. "The ARCEUS System sounds good and all, but there were times in the past where I fought against opponents that can absorb a lot of energy damage."

"Your Mars Project still has two weapon systems that can deal physical damage. You can employ a newer and more advanced shotgun that is different from a normal one due to the fact it is equipped with a dimensional magazine drum."

"How many shots can I fire with this new gun?!"

"65 times." The mech designer replied. "Perhaps that does not sound as impressive as you thought, but keep in mind that this dimensional magazine drum as well as the transphasic systems that I have mentioned before are all first-generation products. They are crude, less efficient and not as optimized as more mature products. As long as the companies responsible for developing them continue to iterate on the designs, they will eventually release updated versions that require less phasewater to accomplish more. Perhaps a decade from now we can replace the initial magazine drum with an updated version that can store 130 shotgun rounds."

That made sense. Patriarch Reginald felt a bit better about his Mars Project after he realized how easy it was to upgrade its various components. If he ever succeeded in breaking through to ace pilot, then Professor Benedict only needed to upgrade parts of the expert mech instead of developing an entirely new ace mech from scratch!

It was obvious that Professor Benedict had made sure to future proof the Mars Project. No matter what the future held, Reginald's expert mech would always be able to keep up with the changes!