The Mech Touch

Melinda couldn't stand it any longer. She quickly left the back garden so that she could go back and inform the rest of the Larkinson Family on this explosive turn of events.

Before she left, she tried to persuade Venerable Ark to see reason and pledge to support the original Larkinson Family once again.

Unfortunately, her uncle refused to change his mind due to one simple reason.

"Human space is becoming more dangerous." He told her as they stood at the entrance of the back garden. "We've only traveled through a fraction of the vast territories occupied by humanity, but we have witnessed more fights, wars and suffering than ever before. I do not have any confidence in my ability to safeguard our family as a high-tier expert pilot and former mech colonel. During many instances in the past, the only reason why our family remained untouched was because our potential adversaries were deterred by the Larkinson Clan. As much as I appreciate this, we cannot keep living under its shadow forever. Not if we want to live more meaningful lives and build towards a better future for ourselves."

"We still have time, Ark. Let us go back to the elders and discuss a proper plan for our family."

"It's unnecessary." Ark shook his head. "As I have already said, our family won't get anywhere as long as I don't break through. I have wants and desires as well, Melinda. I do not want to fade into irrelevance as my strength stagnates and eventually wastes away as I grow older. I want to protect the Larkinsons in a much greater capacity than now, and the only way to do so is to break through. I can't do it by myself or while I am with the family. Only Ves and his amazing mechs give me hope of overcoming my bottleneck. He already has a history of doing so before and I have great confidence that he will be able to do so for me as well."

"You don't know whether that is the case! There are no hard rules when it comes to ace pilot breakthroughs. What worked for a couple of other expert pilots might not apply to your case."

The older Larkinson expert pilot sighed. "I am willing to give it a try. I don't particularly mind if I fail. I know the Larkinson Clan will be a good destination for me regardless of what will happen. I can still fight to protect my fellow Larkinsons, no matter what sort of blood flows through their veins. My wife and children will also become a part of a much stronger community that can help them live better lives and gain much better opportunities."

"You'll be thrown into battles that don't really matter to you or many Larkinsons."

"To me, that is little different from serving in the Mech Corps." Venerable Ark shrugged. "I fought during two different Bright-Vesia Wars in my lifetime. I value my time in service and I have always maintained the belief that I fought to protect my fellow Brighters, but that does not mean I was blind to the true motives that kept forcing our state to fight against the Vesia Kingdom so many times. Everyone wants to make use of mech pilots. It is a luxury for me to pick someone to serve who I trust. Ves may not be who you want to be, but he cares about the Larkinsons in his own way, and that is more than I can ask from other potential employers."

Now that she heard that Ark had not made a whimsical decision and truly weighed the merits before deciding to defect to the Larkinson Clan, Melinda knew she had no chance of persuading him at this juncture.

Maybe she might have another chance later on when her uncle was in a different mood, but this was a bad time.

Once she left the garden, Venerable Ark returned to the garden table and sat on the other side of Ves.

The idyllic environment calmed the spirit in a way that was nearly impossible to replicate in an artificial ship environment. Only the Aduc Family had managed to do so as far as Ves was aware of. Everyone else could never come close enough.

As such, both Ves and Ark were content to remain silent for a time and enjoy the break from their heavy responsibilities.

Eventually, Ark couldn't hold it any longer. He cared too much about his own future to let this moment drag out any further.

"I need a new expert mech."

"I heard." Ves simply said. "Don't you have a perfectly adequate second-class expert mech, though? The Masters from the Garlen Empire should have a lot of experience with designing effective high-end machines. You know what? Why don't you show me the machine. Can you project detailed images and transfer any design files you may have received along with your machine?"

"Sure. Give me a moment."

Ark fiddled with his comm and did as instructed.

Normally, it was extremely unwise for an expert pilot to expose the secrets of his sacred machine, but Ark unconditionally trusted Ves to handle the information in a responsible manner.

They were family, after all. The Larkinsons always covered each other's backs. That fundamental rule hadn't changed at all in the clan that had split off from the original family.

As Ves utilized his extensive knowledge in mech design and experience in working with expert mechs to analyze Ark's current machine, the expert pilot in question shared his thoughts in his own words.

"The team of mech designers who designed the Travon Exine for me made an earnest effort as far as I could tell. I could tell that it was a joy for the Masters to design a brand new high-tier expert mech for a different expert pilot than the usual ones they serve. Since I have adopted a different fighting style than was common in the Garlen Empire, my demands for my expert mech were different as well. That made the design project more interesting but also harder to get it right."

"Are you happy with how the Travon Exine turned out for you, Ark?" Ves asked as he carefully studied the specifications of the integrated weapons of the expert mech.

The demigod looked reluctant. "Yes and no. It's complicated. On one hand, the Travon Exine is my first true second-class expert mech that helped me fight against other second-class opponents on a level playing field. The designers did not cut any corners. My expert mech ran smoothly and fought at roughly the same level as any other high-tier machine in the Garlen Empire. It's just…"

It was not difficult for Ves to guess why Ark held mixed feelings about the expert mech he had come to pilot after leaving the Bright Republic.

"Your Travon Exine failed to help you break through to ace pilot, is that it? You feel let down by your machine."

"...Yes." Ark said, sounding much weaker and more defeated than before. "In my mind, I am aware that it is unfair for me to blame my expert mech for my failure. It is me who should be doing the work, not my mech. I know I need to work harder and push myself to my limits, but… a part of me hopes that a good mech can make it easier for me to break through. I have heard plenty of stories of how good mechs can make the impossible into a reality. The fact that you managed to make it happen with your powerful ally gives me a lot of hope that you will be able to do the same for me. This possibility has been hanging in my mind for such a long time that my confidence in my own ability has waned with each passing year."

This was a rather sad outcome. If Ves hadn't contributed to the design of Mars and turned it into a masterwork that was powerful enough to trigger Patriarch Reginald's breakthrough, then Ark Larkinson might not have been able to make such a poisonous comparison.

In Ark's mentality, the only difference between himself and Reginald was that the latter got to pilot a powerful living masterwork expert mech at the start.

Therefore, in the overly simplistic logic that far too many straightforward expert pilot employed, Ark concluded that it would be impossible for him to achieve his own breakthrough if he lacked the same kind of mech!

A truly powerful and confident high-tier expert pilot would not let this shortcoming get in the way of his own advancement. He would have adopted a tough attitude and continued to work towards his own breakthrough by relying on nothing else but his sheer willpower.

A good example of this was Saint Rebecca Andus.

During the Battle of Fordilla Zentra, the Hex Army and the Golden Skull Alliance launched an attack on a key colony of the Gauge Dynasty.

The Sundered Phalanx set up a defensive line and fought with many Fridayman civilians behind their backs.

When the Riot and the First Sword ganged up on her Shockshell, the then-high tier expert pilot did not complain about the unfairness of fighting against multiple opponents.

Instead, she did her duty, held the line and fought without any hint of cowardice!

Venerable Orfan and Venerable Dise may have certainly erred when they fought against the powerful Shockshell, but Rebecca Andus fully earned her breakthrough by relying on her own strength!

This example showed how high-tier expert pilots did not necessarily have to rely on any crutches such as a masterwork expert mech to lower the difficulty of advancement.

Personally, Ves hoped that his Uncle Ark succeeded in breaking through while piloting a fairly normal high-tier expert mech like the Travon Exine, but that ship had soared away.

Ark failed one test too many.

For better or worse, Ark had become a pilot who acquired the same fault as Patriarch Reginald Cross.

He had become too fixated on the quality and features of his mech as an enabler for his growth.

It was not all bad, though. The upside to working with pilots such as Ark or Reginald was that it was actually rather easy to facilitate their breakthroughs.

Whether a good mech actually made a difference or not, the placebo effect of believing that a superior mech would trigger a breakthrough might actually make it happen!

In other words, there was a good chance that the only way that people like Reginald as well as Ark could break through was by turning their assumptions into a reality in the form of a self-fulfilling prophecy!

Ves grinned. He waved his hand and got rid of the projections. He had already gained a decent impression of the Travon Exine. While it was truly a fitting mech for an expert pilot like his Uncle Ark, it was not the machine that he was truly pining for, and that meant it was destined to get replaced in the future.

Even so, they couldn't get rid of it right away.

"I understand your circumstances now." Ves told his blood relative. "You are welcome to join my clan and fight with the Travon Exine for the time being. Although it is a pity that it hasn't been equipped with any luminar crystal weapons or transphasic mech systems, my fellow Journeymen and I can upgrade it in the short term so that it will be able to keep up with the standard of mechs in this dwarf galaxy."

"What about my next expert mech?" Ark asked as if it was a given that his nephew would already make sure to provide him with a better machine.

"We can't rush this project. I want to take my time on it to make sure we will do it right. I am currently working on a couple of projects that will have great implications for my future work. I need to finish them first and verify whether my new design solutions are as powerful as I think they are. Once I am done with them, I can properly design your future expert mech and make sure it is equipped with all of the features that can make it stand out against the crowd."

In truth, the real reason why Ves wanted to take a longer time was because he wanted to wait and see if completing his current design projects would finally enable him to advance to the rank of Senior Mech Designer!

Once he became a Senior, he would definitely become a much more competent and capable mech designer. That way, he would definitely be able to turn Ark's future expert mech into a work that surpassed all of his previous high-end mechs!

"How long will that take, Ves?"

"I can't say, but you will probably have to keep using the Travon Exine for one-and-a-half years to two years. The wait is worth it, though. I can promise you that your future expert mech will be several times stronger and more impressive than the initial version of the Mars."

The implication here was that Ark would have a greater chance of advancing to ace pilot with the help of a stronger machine!

"...Alright, Ves. I will trust you on this matter. Just know that I don't have an endless amount of time."