The Mech Touch



Through the passionate and concerted efforts of Ves and his partner, the designs of the light skirmisher and the hybrid mech started to approach their final forms.

Despite the many odd and unconventional design choices that Ves indulged in, he did not continue to go crazy with regards to the more basic and fundamental properties of his mech designs.

He did not do anything too special or out of the ordinary with regards to the armor system, the energy management, the heat management, the control systems and many other aspects of the mech designs.

Juliet naturally improved and optimized anything related to the mobility of the mech designs, but otherwise did the same with regards to everything else.

Neither Ves nor Juliet had any special expertise when it came to tweaking the armor systems and so on. Rather than waste their time on improving anything critical and risk getting it all wrong, they would rather stick to the blueprints provided by the database.

Two days was not much time and the pair of Larkinson mech designers had already invested a lot of time and effort on more critical parts and systems.

"We did work on the stuff that actually matters." Ves reiterated a few hours after Blinky's retracted his design network after getting exhausted. "Our mechs are solely geared towards speed and offense. Everything will be fine as long as they remain on the attack."

"And what if they fail to maintain their offensive rhythm?"

Ves shrugged. "...They will just need to fight harder. There is only one maximum speed setting for our mechs, and that is maximum throttle. The moment they slow down is the moment they get torn apart. I really hope that doesn't happen."

This was the high risk high reward strategy they adopted by settling for this combination of mechs.

Ves was confident that it would play out in his favor because he knew that he was better than any other Journeyman in the competition.

That was not to say that he could get away with underestimating the works of his rivals and peers.

Their mech designs might not be as elaborate, detailed and packed with tech as his hybrid mech, but the right combination of competition mechs could easily pose a serious threat to his own works!

"What sort of mechs do you think our mechs will struggle against the most?" Juliet quizzed.

Ves furrowed his brows for a moment. "Hm, that is a difficult question. A striker mech directly counters our light skirmisher, while a solid melee mech should be able to power through the attacks of my hybrid mech. The actual situation is a lot more complicated in practice. Since the matches are two-on-two, factors such as teamwork and synergy play a major role in swinging the outcome."

This was what he was banking on to make the difference, actually.

"I think that a defensive knight mech may be difficult for our mechs to handle as well." Juliet explained her own views. "Neither of our two mechs possess the raw firepower or penetration force to punch through the defenses of a defensive mech that easily."

"A slow and unwieldy knight mech might be able to defend a small stretch of space, but that most certainly means that its companion is a light mech. Our machines should easily be able to gang up on or outmaneuver the latter despite the help of the former."

It was a positioning game. The light skirmisher could circle around and threaten to attack from the rear while the hybrid mech could use its overwhelming firepower to occupy the enemy at the front.

Unless the knight mech possessed a weird defensive system that could defend itself as well as its companion from attacks in a 360 degree circle, it was impossible to cope with a classic pincer movement!

The reduced effectiveness of a defensive approach due to the special rules was the entire reason why Ves rejected it to begin with. He did not think highly of any mech designer teams that wanted to rely on defense to outlast the opposition during the combat phase!

Still, Ves shouldn't underestimate the creativity and competence of his rivals. Perhaps certain mech designers who excel in defense such as Sara Voiken managed to find a decent workaround to the additional challenges.

He actually looked forward to testing his mettle against his fellow Larkinson mech designers.

The odds that his team would get matched up against the Voiken siblings or the Power Pair was low, but he could still dream. He pitied them if they actually had to compare their works in the mech arena. His works had a high chance of ending their tournament run.

"You are being overconfident again, Ves. Please focus on the present. We still have to finalize our designs and fabricate our twin mechs."

"Oh. Sorry. I tend to get a little off-track."

The remaining design work did not pose a challenge to the pair of Larkinson mech designers. They already settled all of the major design choices and did all of the hard work in the previous hours.

What work they had left did not require the assistance of a design network.

In fact, even if Blinky had already retracted this handy function, the lingering understanding and harmony between the two mech designers continued to propel them forward.

Ves even had time to chat with Juliet about personal matters.

"So how is your life going these days?" He idly asked as he optimized the energy feeds to the integrated luminar crystal guns of his hybrid mech.

The female mech designer directed a suspicious look in his direction. "My personal life is not relevant to our projects."

"Oh, come on, it's fine. I haven't really talked to you on a personal basis for a long time. Our only interactions with each other entirely consist of work-related discussions. It is always this mech design project or that mech design project. Don't get me wrong, Juliet. I don't want to intrude in your personal life and poke around your private business, but I find it odd that I do not really know you that well outside of your professional persona. We have been working alongside each other for years, so it is high time I get to know the woman underneath your mech designer shell."

Juliet pressed her lips. "Your design network should have given you a decent impression of myself. I do not lead an active personal life outside of my work. I do keep in touch with the Penitent Sisters, but that is because they are my sisters."

"Have you made friends outside of that circle?" Ves asked. "What about dating? Have you ever looked into forming a deeper relationship with anybody?"

"I am not looking for that kind of love, Ves. I am perfectly content with my current life. My work is my sustenance."

"What? You're missing out on a lot, Juliet! You are already at an age where many other women either have kids or are thinking about getting them. While you can rely on genetic treatments and other stuff to remain young and beautiful for a long time, I think it is better to get this stuff out of the way first. It will interfere with your design activities a lot more if you get married and have kids a lot later in your life."

Juliet actually grew a little annoyed at his pushing. "Drop it, sir. I have made my decisions in life. Please respect them. My work already occupies all of my time. Unlike you and your wife, my talent in mech design is not as good. I have to spend much more time on my studies in order to progress my design philosophy and find new methods to express my specialty. I do not begrudge the opportunity to work with and learn from excellent mech designers such as you, but please do not assume that my life is as carefree as yours."

Her tone betrayed the struggles of her life. She was not a normal person to begin with. Not only did she start out life as a Hexer, she also became involved in a cult that was too extreme for her former state.

"I never actually noticed it before, but you don't seem to be into the Superior Mother all that much." Ves cautiously spoke. "The rest of your fellow Penitent Sisters still remain radically devoted to her, but you… I never saw you pray as much in front of her altar as my wife."

The female mech designer's expression turned stony. This was clearly another touchy subject.

"It is hard to believe in a god when I am working alongside her son on a frequent basis." She quietly said. "I used to be a strong believer in a strong interpretation of hexism, but after I joined your clan and came into touch with other viewpoints, it has become increasingly clearer that… I have been lied to. Now that I have stepped away enough so that I can look into my past self without the bias I had before, I realize that the life of a Penitent Sister is… rather sad, really."

This topic started to become a little dangerous as it pertained to the cherished beliefs of many members of the Penitent Sister Mech Legion.

Still, Ves had started this. He could not suppress his curiosity.

"I am not displeased that you have broadened and altered your mindset towards your life. Hexism is a poisonous and illogical ideology and does not deserve anyone's worship. That said, the other Penitent Sisters that I have spoken to in the past still sound as if they cling strongly to the principles of hexism and the Superior Mother who personifies them. Does that not make you feel awkward among your fellow sisters?"

"No." Juliet strongly replied. "We are friends regardless of how much we diverge from each other. I respect the beliefs of my sisters even if I disagree with them. This difference hardly stands in the way of all of the years I have been part of their group."

"That sounds… great. I see you have this situation handled."

"If I didn't, I would have brought my problem to your attention. I did not inform you about this because I have no need for your intervention."

"That is fair enough. I apologize for asking a bit too many questions. I feel like I am compensating for years of focusing my attention on other matters."

"You do not need to say sorry. It is enough to rein in your curiosity when I am not in the mood to share anything further."

Ves made the smart decision and pivoted to another topic. "So what are you working on that is relevant to your design philosophy?"

"Shouldn't it be obvious, sir? I have been pouring a lot of effort into learning and understanding phasewater theory. I think my design philosophy can make a substantial leap if I am able to design transphasic flight systems for our future expert mechs and other high-end mechs. My products may not be as good as the products released by the likes of Morton Tech, but it will be completely in-house. This means that I can make far-reaching customizations that fit much closer to the needs of individual high-ranking mechs."

That sounded fairly simple, but it was actually a lot more profound.

Mastering phasewater technologies was clearly the future of the mech industry in the new frontier. If Juliet was able to become proficient in this broad and difficult field, she could apply what she learned in her work and gain massive rewards in the process!

Those rewards would subsequently fuel the progression of her design philosophy and bring her closer to advancing to Senior.

Now that he thought about it, it became a lot more reasonable for Juliet to put so much time in her work. She needed to do all of this extra work to keep up and never become a burden that could easily be cast aside.

Ves quietly sighed. Juliet's challenges were much greater due to her lack of major recent progress.