The Mech Touch

As the testing session progressed, the prototype Lucid Rage became increasingly more proficient at blocking, trapping and redirecting the weapon of the opposing Second Sword.

Lanie even made the tonfas spin and utilized different grips to control the enemy mech's greatsword to such a degree that it turned into a burden to the Swordmaiden mech pilot!

As long as the Lucid Rage managed to neutralize the threat posed by the enemy weapon, it ruthlessly pressed the tip of a tonfa against the exterior of the Second Sword, causing the armor layers to melt from the heat and energy released by the integrated plasma torch!

Commander Melkor certainly looked impressed, but that didn't mean he was blind. "The combat potential of your Lucid Rage is pretty impressive, but… I'm afraid that most mech pilots won't be able to utilize it nearly as well as Lanie. The skill ceiling of this new design is ridiculously high, but its skill floor should also be rather high. Outside of prodigies like our impressive cousin, it will take years of training to reach this degree of proficiency. I can't imagine many Avatars looking forward to investing that much in learning how to master a brand-new weapon."

"We don't need to go big on it right away." Ves replied. "Start out with a batch of 40 or 80 Lucid Rage mechs and let's see how your Avatars fare with them. I believe there will still be plenty of mech pilots who are interested in taking advantage of its unusual weapons and glow."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Commander Melkor nodded. "If your Lucid Rage can truly elevate the combat skills and fighting consciousness of our melee mech pilots to another level, then I won't be opposed to adopting your new mech on a wider scale. However, I'm primarily interested in adding another offensive mech to my mech roster. I'm not asking for a training mech."

Clang!

It was at this time that the duel had finally come to an end.

After Lanie Larkinson had thoroughly studied the fighting style of her opponent and integrated her use of the tonfas, her Lucid Rage burst out with great concentration and ferocity!

In a rapid series of precise but daring moves, the tonfa-wielding mech not only captured the weapon of the Second Sword mech, but also wrenched it out of the grip of the swordsman mech by leveraging its momentum.

Commander Melkor's eyes grew wide. As a mech pilot, he understood better than Ves how difficult it was to disarm a Second Sword piloted by a Swordmaiden!

"I think this display abundantly proves how useful it can be in a serious duel or battle." Ves smirked. "You can rest assured that all of the performance parameters of the Lucid Rage meet the standard of a fully-fledged combat mech. It is strong enough to wield its tonfas with great force, it is tough enough to endure a few heavy blows, it is mobile enough to outmaneuver other medium mechs and it has enough endurance to last a typical battle provided it doesn't abuse its plasma torch function too much."

Throughout this duel, the Second Sword hardly managed to land a single blow on the Lucid Rage.

The more than satisfactory specs of the Lucid Rage played an important role in this, but without Lanie's indispensable skills and combat acumen, the new design wouldn't have been able to showcase its potential so beautifully!

After the live session came to an end, Ves finished wrapping up the data and went down to the hangar bay to inspect the mechs and their pilots.

"I'll beat you next time, Avatar." The defeated Swordmaiden pilot growled.

"You're welcome to try anytime, Swordmaiden." Lanie confidently smirked.

The young brown-haired kid from many years ago had bloomed into a strong and athletic mech pilot.

Years of learning and training at the Discentibus Mech Academy had forged her into a mech champion who possessed the highest talent among all of the recruits that had joined the Larkinson Army in recent years!

The conditions of the mechs piloted by the two women matched the conditions of their egos.

The Second Sword looked a bit beaten and seared. The tonfas wielded by the Lucid Rage could deal considerable blunt damage and had been responsible for adding a lot of dents and cracks on the surface of the swordsman mech.

Ves felt that if Lanie hadn't been so focused on winning the duel by robbing the Second Sword of its weapon, she could have defeated her opponent faster by targeting its weak points.

The more serious damage on the Second Sword all came from the circular, melted patterns on the armor.

The plasma torch technology that Ves had integrated in the weapons was quite costly to build and directly increased the design budget of the Lucid Rage by a considerable degree.

However, when Ves saw how quickly and effectively the tonfas were able to overcome the armor of the Second Sword, he felt that the expense was worth it as long as the mech pilot was good enough to avoid defeat.

Compared to the Second Sword, the Lucid Rage hardly exhibited any damage, though it was unavoidable for it to show signs of stress due to exerting a lot of physical forces. This was one of the more difficult design problems of this brawling-oriented machine, but the mech was unlikely to break as long as the mech pilot exercised enough control.

The only serious damage it incurred was the sword marks on the surface of the tonfas.

Though Ves had made sure to make them as tough and dense as possible, it was still a bit too difficult for them to remain pristine after getting hacked by some of the sharpest swords that Ketis had designed.

He made another note in his implant to reinforce the outer layer of the tonfas even further.

Ves first turned to the Swordmaiden mech pilot.

"What is your opinion about my new Lucid Rage mech? You can speak freely, so don't be afraid to share your feelings."

"It's damn annoying to fight against this Lucid Rage." The Swordmaiden responded in a frustrated tone. "It is strange that I don't feel its glow, but I could see how it has taken effect on my sparring partner. The way she fought and the way she planned out her moves is not normal. I felt as if I was constantly being singled out by her and her mech. I accepted her challenge, though in hindsight I shouldn't have fought so carelessly. I felt as if all of my plans were being dissected before I could get anywhere. Whether it is the mech or the mech pilot that is responsible, I don't know, but I'm not eager to fight against this Lucid Rage a second time."

The Swordmaiden might be angry at her loss, but she also developed a lot of respect for Lanie and the prototype mech.

"What is it about the mech in specific that you think is good or bad?" Ves curiously asked.

As one of the first actual mech pilots to fight against the Lucid Rage in reality, the Swordmaiden's feedback was important for Ves to develop the final version of his new melee mech.

"Hmmm… a tonfa is a weapon type that I don't see every day. I didn't know how to handle them the first time, but it will definitely be different the next time. I think it works best against mechs that wield longer and heavier weapons. It is easier to take advantage of their unusual shapes to hook and pull away the opponent's weapons when there is more length to work with. A few times, the Lucid Rage even managed to push aside my greatsword and get past my reach."

Lanie smiled. "The Lucid Rage is like an upgraded brawler mech to me. Depending on how I grip the tonfas, I can control the range and set of moves I want to utilize. If I want to, I can use them as substitutes of my palms that will allow me to deal effective damage at point-blank range. I can also hold them like maces and use them to attack my opponents from a safer distance. I have really fallen in love with the versatility and possibilities of this weapon type. I would have never been able to experience their charm if you hadn't come up with this new mech, sir."

Though she trained with all kinds of melee weapons in the mech academy, they mostly consisted of swords, spears, lances, axes and hammers. This selection already comprised all of the possible weapons wielded by the mech models adopted by the Larkinson Army.

Though each of them were strong and versatile in their own way, switching to an exotic weapon reinvigorated her love for mechs and combat and gave her a wonderful challenge that could occupy her for years.

The only pity was that the Lucid Rage did not come equipped with a ranged weapon, but this was not a major issue.

Ves gathered more feedback from both mech pilots. Both of them might be young, but they had fought thousands of simulated battles in the MSTS. Their vision was much higher than other rookies for this reason.

Eventually, Ves took Lanie to a private office where he could talk to her in confidence.

"Have you experienced any feelings of discomfort over the years?" Ves asked with a touch of concern.

"Like what, sir?"

"Like… as if you don't feel comfortable in your own skin. Ever since I conducted an experimental procedure involving you and Imon Ingvar back when he was an expert candidate, I had concerns that it might have affected you to a negative degree. You should know quite well that the reason why you have become so good today is not entirely due to your own inherent talents."

Lanie grew serious when she heard that. She enjoyed being treated like a genius everywhere she went, but deep down she was well aware that she had gained an enormous head-start by inheriting a portion of Venerable Imon's skills and instincts through a process that Ves called Ancestral Possession.

Even so, that did not stop her from accepting the benefits of this successful procedure. She exposed herself to the risks of this experimental process, so it was only right for her to turn all of her new gifts into her own strength.

"I haven't suffered from any problems worth noting to you as far as I know." Lanie eventually answered. "You don't have to be afraid that I will forget who I am or anything like that. I am certain that I am still myself. Most of what I had gained back then was combat and piloting-related skills and so on. I admit that much of it was foreign to me at the start, but after so many years of training and internalizing what I have gained, I have completely mastered every combat and piloting skill that Venerable Imon passed on that day."

Though Ves did not entirely trust her judgment, he could clearly observe her state through his spiritual senses.

Compared to many mech pilots, her spirituality was much more vigorous, healthy and developed than many other Larkinson soldiers!

Perhaps her youth was one of the key factors that allowed her to adapt and integrate all of the changes so easily. Ves had performed his experiment on making Ancestral Possession work at the right time of her life.

"That's good to hear, Lanie. I don't want to see you suffer from any accidents due to my experiment. I will keep monitoring your state as you put your skills to good use as a member of the Avatars. I hope that you can set a good example to those that might follow in your footsteps in the future."

"Are you going to perform the same procedure on other mech pilots?"

"I'm not sure. There is no urgent need at the moment since our regular training methods are already working well enough, but as long as the need arises, I might decide to revive this research project."

Ves possessed a much greater understanding of spirituality and spiritual engineering these days.

He was fully confident that he could not only turn Ancestral Possession into a practical way to quickly raise the strength of younger mech pilots, but also create a possible mechanism that allowed expert pilots to literally pass on a portion of their strength to their apprentices!

Of course, all of that was a bit too radical for Ves to explore at the moment. The risks were still great and he couldn't afford to harm any of his clansmen due to his carelessness.