The Mech Touch

When Ves shared his latest design concept to Ketis, the female swordmaster did not become as excited as he hoped.

Instead, her expression became more doubtful and dubious towards the ideas that he had just raised.

"You… don't think it's a good idea?"

"It's a stupid idea." Ketis ruthlessly replied. "No offense Ves, but Joshua absolutely doesn't need a mounted wargear loadout that turns his Everchanger into a super version of a swordsman mech."

"Why don't you think it's a good idea?"

"Because it goes against the essence of what swordsman mechs should be! You've designed numerous swordsman mechs before. You should know that chasing after raw power is hardly sufficient to design a good melee mech. What you have just proposed is a scaled up power mech. I have no doubt that it is able to strike with enough power to break through a lot of defenses, but its agility, range of motion and control will suffer so badly that it can no longer exert the full power of swordsmanship anymore. Everything will become far too clunky for Joshua to be able to display any significant skill or finesse."

Ves glanced up at the plasma sword. "With a weapon as powerful as this, I don't think it is essential for Joshua to control his mech with that much finesse. The active blade of an ace mech-grade weapon should already be strong enough to power through every obstacle. Besides, if you are so concerned about this issue, we can design a mounted wargear loadout that tries to preserve the agility of the base mech as much as possible."

The swordmaster still didn't look convinced. "Give it up, Ves. I am not going to allow my husband to entrust his life to a clunky mess and a weapon that uses the head of a hostile expert pilot to give it life. Both ideas are antithetical to the sort of swords and swordsman mechs that I want to create. They are as bad as Patriarch Reginald killing off his living mech."

Ves understood that there was no way for him to persuade Ketis to go along with his idea after she brought up this example.

Perhaps his suggestion went too far. Even if he did not cooperate with Ketis, it still wouldn't have been wise for him to go through with his idea.

He lowered his head in defeat. "Fine. I'll give up on it. What else can we do with the plasma sword, then? We haven't earned the right to turn it into a trophy and it would be too wasteful for us to leave it in storage or break it down so that we can recycle its materials. I still want to find a way to make use of its incredible power. I have a feeling that we might need it against the opponents we will be facing in the future."

Ketis did not rush to reply to Ves. She remained silent for half a minute before she settled on her proposal.

"I don't disagree with you, Ves. I am not entirely opposed to the idea of making use of it. My suggestion is to rehabilitate this weapon."

Ves raised his eyebrow after hearing this. "Rehabilitate the weapon?"

"That's correct." Ketis confirmed as she stared up at the weapon again. "This plasma sword used to be a proper weapon for swordsman mech before Master Huron came along and ruined it with his 'upgrade'. Since he can change the original design of this impressive sword, there is no reason why I can't change it back to its original form or close to it. I don't intend to do so, though. I think it is better if I alter it so that it is more practical. I can tune down the power of the weapon so that it doesn't burn through as much energy."

This was an intriguing idea, and one that Ketis could take care of by herself. It might be difficult for her to design a plasma sword of this standard from scratch, but it was a lot easier to modify an existing one. She didn't need to know how everything worked. She just needed to be aware of the repercussions of every change she introduced to the existing weapon.

"What are your intentions?" Ves asked. "Do you have a specific mech in mind for this plasma sword, and how will you change it to suit its new purpose?"

"That's a difficult question to answer." She replied. "A weapon as powerful as this should traditionally be paired with the strongest swordsman mech pilot in our clan. I know that Venerable Dise should be able to wield it and make good use of its high-tech properties. However… the weapon doesn't fit her at all. I know she will reject the option of using it even if the plasma sword is capable of inflicting more damage than her Decapitator."

This was rather understandable to Ves. He was not ignorant of how an expert pilot and Swordmaiden like Venerable Dise developed a relationship and a dependence on their own weapons.

The Decapitator was a masterwork mech sword that Ketis had lovingly developed for Venerable Dise. It was a weapon that was precisely designed and configured for the Swordmaiden expert pilot's fighting style and had already been used for quite a few years.

There was not that much value to adding the plasma sword in the mix. Dise not only had to start building up a relationship with the new weapon from scratch, but would also never be able to wield it to its fullest potential since it was originally developed for Saint Jeremiah Gauge.

"Okay, I can understand this sentiment, Ketis. Who do you want to give it to, then? We don't have a lot of sword-wielders among our expert pilots. The only other alternatives are Venerable Joshua and Venerable Imon."

"I know. Both of them are adequate choices since neither of them are true swordsmen according to my standards. Since they aren't that passionate about swordsmanship, it is okay to make use of this flawed weapon. They don't have that much swordsmanship to begin with that could get ruined by making use of the plasma sword."

That sounded rather harsh, but Ves could understand her logic. It was rather ironic that a weapon originally designed to be wielded by a powerful ace pilot would ultimately fall into the hands of a much weaker expert pilot who did not appreciate swords to the same extent.

"So who do you pick?" Ves asked.

"My husband." Ketis no longer withheld her answer. "I've tried to make Joshua more enthusiastic about taking swordsmanship more seriously, but… his progress is glacial. No matter how many times I instructed him and sparred against him, he just doesn't get it. I've realized that my attempts to turn him into a qualified swordsman is futile. Since that is the case, there is little to no harm in giving him custody of the plasma sword after I have reformed it. Besides, I think it would be good for this weapon to spend time with Joshua. His warm and gentle nature can heal the weapon's invisible scars."

Ves was impressed with her arguments. She did not pick Joshua just because she wanted to favor her husband or anything. He truly became convinced that the plasma sword would offer the greatest value if it became a part of the Everchanger's standard loadout.

"What about the Heartsword? You designed the weapon for Venerable Joshua and he has already utilized it for more than half a decade. Won't it get hurt if Venerable Joshua begins to spend time with the new plasma sword?"

"It will be fine, I think. My Heartsword shouldn't be that weak or brittle. Joshua can choose which sword he wants to equip his Everchanger with before he deploys into battle. The plasma sword is highly effective against specific enemies but consumes a lot of energy, so it is best in short-lasting engagements against strong opponents. The Heartsword is decent and reliable in most situations, and the Everchanger can remain in the field for a longer period of time."

In other words, Ketis wanted to expand the Everchanger's arsenal instead of replacing one weapon for another.

This was indeed a good approach for Joshua and the Everchanger. It was why the Neo Amadeus originally came equipped with three unique swords with different properties. Having the right tool for the job at hand could make it a lot easier to overcome a powerful enemy.

The two went into further detail as they discussed the specific changes that should be made.

"The secret chamber that is keeping the decapitated head of the Fridayman expert pilot alive must go." Ketis immediately determined. "It is a disgusting invention that continually stains this weapon the longer it exists."

A part of Ves found it to be a shame to rid the plasma sword of this unique feature. No matter what he thought about Master Huron's crazy attempt to imitate a living product, the existence of this unconventional feature presented Ves with the option to collect a lot of interesting data.

However, Ketis' feelings about this topic were so strong that Ves didn't think he could get away with trying to retain this feature.

"If you decide to pull out the head, try and preserve it as best as possible." He told her. "You should inform Director Ranya about your plans and ask for her help in keeping the head alive."

Ketis narrowed her eyes. "What do you intend to do with it once it is out of the plasma sword?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I'm not about to let a valuable ingredient go to waste."

"You do know that the expert pilot, who is presumably from the Gauge Dynasty, is still alive, right? Doesn't the MTA prohibit experimentation on demigods?"

Ves couldn't help but chuckle. He waved his arm towards the plasma sword.

"What do you call this, then? Besides, the Gaugers treated their expert pilot as experimental material first. I don't intend to do anything different. From the moment the head ceased to be treated as a person, it has become an object. The individual is already dead as far as I'm concerned. If the mechers somehow disagree with my stance, they are free to come and take it away."

In truth, he needed to determine how much of the expert pilot was left alive, but he seriously doubted that much was left. According to the inferences that he had made, the expert pilots who went on to donate their heads were already declining beforehand.

The two mech designers moved on from this topic and talked about the other changes that should be made. The power of this ace mech-level weapon was too much for an expert mech like the Everchanger. It was already certain that the power level had to be reduced in order to prevent it from burning too much energy at once.

"How much do you want to reduce its power?" Ves curiously asked. "If you take too much away, there is hardly any reason to make use of the weapon anymore. Its damage potential must be significantly higher than the Heartsword to justify its use, but then you will have to worry about too much energy consumption."

"I will have to determine this when I obtain a better understanding on how this weapon works." Ketis replied. "I am in favor of trying my best to preserve its power. I absolutely agree that it needs to retain its power to pose enough of a threat against powerful enemies. This is also closer to how it is meant to be used. According to my analysis of the Neo Amadeus, the plasma sword was originally meant to be used as the ultimate solution to a damaged opponent. Its purpose is to quickly melt through whatever armor that is left and kill an ace pilot or other key target before the opposition has any time to retreat."

"That makes sense."