The Mech Touch



Master Benedict Cortez clearly noticed the difference.

Ves entered the room with confusion and uncertainty on his face. His demeanor was subdued and his mood was struggling under the burden of his own choices.

Now, he looked as if he had discovered the light at the end of the tunnel. His passion had lifted his indecision. His resolution helped him regain his confidence and he looked as if he had settled on a solid plan for his future development.

"If I may ask, what have you decided upon, Ves?" Benedict curiously asked. "Which of your two expert mech designs have you chosen to submit to your 'friend', and which research direction have you chosen as your major?"

Ves briefly contemplated whether it was wise for him to share this information to Benedict, but he eventually figured that Benedict had earned his trust.

It was not good to withhold so much about himself all of the time. Without taking the initiative to obtain a second opinion from the likes of Master Benedict, who knew how long it would take for Ves to end his procrastination!

"My design philosophy is Mutual Growth." Ves declared. "Out of the two expert mechs that I have brought up, it is undeniable that the Dullahan Project embodies this concept much more closely than the Ghost Project. The latter is not completely unrelated, but its focus on external sources of power means that the relationship between the mech pilot and his mech becomes more complex. I consider the Geist System as an expansion of the unique power system that I am working on. It is nice if I can develop it further, but it doesn't seem appropriate for me to use it as the centerpiece of my future research initiatives."

"Hm, that concurs with my opinion. Can you think of reasons why you would want to choose this as your major instead? Don't get me wrong, Ves. I am not suggesting that you have made the wrong choice, but I want you to be certain that you have properly considered all of the alternatives."

Ves frowned and fell in thought. "Hmmm. Good question. If I want to use the Ghost Project as a representation of my future research direction, then I would only want to do so if I want to radically redefine what it means to pilot a mech. No longer will mech pilots interface with their lifeless machines in order to leverage the power of material technology alone. Each mech will not only turn into a potent life form, but will also serve as the hub or channel that can allow other powerful and useful life forms to play different roles."

"That sounds as if you want to turn your mechs into existences akin to insect hives." Benedict observed.

"Good analogy. I guess the Ghost Project already falls within this category. That is exactly right. The power of a single mech cannot match that of a living mech that is augmented by a design spirit as well as numerous subordinate spirits. While my expert stealth mech is only able to make the Geist System work by exploiting the power of true resonance, I believe that I can successfully invent a solution that can substitute true resonance with a more accessible power source such as plain electrical energy. Every mech, no matter how humble, can enter into battle with a hive of ghosts under its command."

As he explained this vision, his imagination already went wild. He conjured up grand battles where mechs from both sides not only clashed together, but also brought forth swarms of intangible ghosts or fiends that tore into each other!

The benefits of being able to throw an army of ghosts at an enemy were much greater if human forces fought against aliens.

There was no way the indigenous alien races could withstand the tide of ghosts with their insufficient tech base!

Master Benedict did not entirely approve of this unusual idea, however. "What you have proposed is radical, that is for certain. I do not believe that many of our colleagues in the industry are willing to welcome your ideas. There is a limit to how much change mech pilots and mech designers are able to accept."

"It doesn't matter." Ves sneered. "Competition always prevails. As long as my design solutions result in mechs that become a lot stronger without raising the costs too much, then my work will sweep the market. Consumers aren't stupid. If one of my products can outfight two mechs designed by my competitors, they will choose the more cost-effective solution all of the time."

Benedict shook his head. "Let's leave this hypothetical aside. You have already indicated a preference for a different major, so let us talk about that instead. What does the Dullahan Project represent?"

"The Dullahan Project is an evolution of my efforts to enable mutual growth." Ves straightforwardly replied. "At this point, I have invested a lot of effort into leveraging the man-machine connection produced by neural interfaces to increase the relationship between mech and mech pilot. While I have also worked on making mechs alive and more powerful in a metaphysical manner, the goal of doing this has always been to further the growth of the mech pilot. A stronger mech can do a better job at facilitating the growth of a mech pilot. I think the relationship between Venerable Jannzi and her Shield of Samar is an excellent example of the mutual growth that I have been trying to realize with my efforts."

Ves had managed to make a lot of mech pilots stronger through his work. Even without the benefits brought by design spirits, his living mechs already provided a huge amount of benefits to their pilots.

"You have already done a good job at utilizing the man-machine connection, Ves. I do not think that you have reached the limit of what you can do with the existing means at your disposal. What I find strange is that instead of sticking to what has already worked to an extent, you spontaneously took a detour and developed a strange new obsession for blood and biomech systems. Only a mech designer as 'creative' as you can devise a design solution where you forcibly turn a classical mech into a cyborg mech for the sole purpose of introducing a seemingly redundant blood circulation system inside the frame. You have yet to test whether this Blood Pact of yours even exists. Are you certain you want to use it as the basis of your major when you have never tested it once in reality?"

Master Benedict Cortez was not wrong for expressing his doubts and skepticism.

Ves hadn't strictly followed the scientific method when he devised the Empowered Blood Sharing System. He combined the theories of several different disciplines in order to come up with a radical new design application that rested on a lot of untested assumptions.

Was it safe?

Was it viable?

Was it cost-effective?

Was it acceptable to his customers?

Was it acceptable to the MTA?

He was plagued by all of these questions and more. If there was anything wrong, then his ability to base his future success on the EBSS or a derivative of this idea came under doubt.

Still, Ves was not the sort of mech designer who let common science and conventional wisdom stop him from pursuing his dreams!

Ves smirked at the older mech designer. "I appreciate your well-meaning advice, but I am certain about my choices. My current implementation of living mechs is already sufficient for the masses. As you said, there is still room for improvement in this area. I can treat this as one of my minors, but I don't intend to treat it as my primary focus anymore."

"Can you elaborate, Ves? I think you are making a dangerous decision here. You are still fairly young, so there is plenty of time for you to reevaluate your choices. Once you advance to Senior and invest several previous decades of your lifespan into a research subject that is much less viable, practical and cost-effective than you assumed, you might come to regret your impulsive choice."

Master Benedict conveyed well-meaning advice. He truly did not want Ves to ruin his future by betting on a design application that was much more restrictive and less applicable than his other innovations.

Ves stuck to his decision, though. He did not have any intention of backing out at this point.

"I don't care what other people think about the viability and desirability of the Blood Pact concept I came up with." He said. "I just know it will work. I also know that its potential is much greater than what I have been doing before. It doesn't really matter if the vast majority of mech pilots doesn't want to bind their life to a single mech for the rest of their lives. I believe I can provide massive benefits to the few extreme mech pilots that truly treat their chosen mechs as their lifelong battle partners. I think I have a good chance of helping mech pilots and their living mechs attain unsurpassed might."

Everything had a price.

It became more difficult for Ves to engender any further mutual growth. The power of blood held much promise, so much so that he was willing to use it as a powerful new medium to stimulate additional growth in both the mech pilot and mech!

All of the baggage that came with this such as binding a mech pilot to a single mech and forcing them to merge their blood circulation were acceptable trade offs in his opinion.

In any case, as long as he continued to develop the Empowered Blood Sharing System, he might be able to mitigate its downsides.

His initial iterations of this radical new biotechnological system would definitely be rough and marked by glitches, but that would not be the case for his subsequent works.

Besides, this was where the Superpublish could play a massive role at this point. By leaping ahead of the development cycle, Ves could get off on a much better start than normal. This would not only prevent a lot of accidents, but also help with persuading other mech pilots to try out this powerful new growth system!

Ves and Master Benedict continued to discuss the merits and difficulties of this profound choice.

Though the Master Mech Designer strongly disagreed with choosing the EBSS as the basis of a major, he did not seek to stop Ves from pursuing his dreams.

"Whether you succeed or fail, I hope you won't regret this decision, Ves. You have made a huge bet today. I do not know whether your work can live up to the promises that you have made, but I will be rooting for you. You have already made a lot of contributions in fostering the mutual growth between mechs and mech pilots. I hope you will not falter before you are able to realize your design philosophy. The mech industry needs your contributions."

"Thank you for your kind words. I do not intend to fail either." Ves smiled at the older man.

"When will your 'friend' make a pass at the Dullahan Project?"

"It shouldn't take much longer. We still need a week or two to complete our current rounds of optimizations. After that, it will take a few days for my 'friend' to improve it with the help of his own expertise."

"That is fast." Benedict commented.

"Don't worry. You will not be disappointed by the results. Just wait."

Ves ultimately left the Cross Production Complex with renewed purpose. He had already considered a lot of different arguments, but he believed that the Dullahan Project was a much better representation of what he set out to do as a mech designer.

"Blood is my future…"

If anyone just heard what he said, they might have mistaken him as a vampire or a mass-murdering lunatic!

Though Ves believed in his heart that his intentions were pure, others might not hold the same opinion. It remained to be seen whether he could ever popularize his radical new design application.