The Mech Touch

After a long and highly informative tour across the Chasseur Continent, the day had finally come to an end.

The shuttle flew back to the Melrose Continent and landed right in the middle of Tixe City.

As the children stepped out of the shuttle and looked forward to eating dinner, their father continued to think about what he wanted and what would be nice for him to obtain.

"Are you impressed by our wide variety of mutated beasts?" President Tarich asked.

"I am." Ves honestly replied. "The combat power of the indigenous beasts of this planet has grown to a terrifying degree within the span of just a single year. We are all lucky that these powerful monsters are highly individualistic and unable to communicate with each other. They can probably conquer entire star systems if they put down their hostility towards each other and join forces."

President Tarich smiled in response. "Exobeasts lack the capacity to bridge across their differences with each other. They are all savage creatures who only identify with their own species, and even that has become diminished as they change in so many different ways. If this is not the case, then calamity beasts will probably rise to become the third dominant civilization group in the Red Ocean."

"It is good that this will never happen.

The line between savagery and civilization was clear-cut. Any organisms that were unable to create enough order to form a structured society could never pose a serious threat against more organized races.

The power of an individual was ultimately too limited to compete against the technological accumulations of an old civilization.

"Have you formed any thoughts about commissioning any hunts for the powerful beasts that you have witnessed during your tour?"

"I have formed a lot of thoughts, but I have not yet made up my mind." Ves replied. "I need more time to think over my plans. Your planet offers a lot of tantalizing possibilities, but they are not that easy to obtain. I do not want to send any of my subordinates to their deaths for a dispensable goal."

"You do not have to rely on your own people to complete the hunts, professor. You can hire other hunting teams to take action on your behalf. They will be glad to provide their services to you as long as you can satisfy their demands. Promising large sums of money can move the hearts of many hunters, though they will also insist that they be given a chance to eat a portion of the meat of their prey."

"I see. I understand. Thank you for your advice."

Ves was ambivalent about commissioning third-party hunting teams to complete hunts on his behalf.

Bypassing his own eager Swordmaidens could be construed as a lack of confidence in their fighting abilities.

Considering how prideful they could be, this could turn into a serious incident!

Ves continued to think about his options while he and his children ate dinner and continued to visit a few locales in the late evening.

Once he put his cute kids to bed, he knew that he had to make up his mind.

He could not pass off this decision to the morning because the hunters needed to reserve enough time to conduct preparations for their upcoming missions.

After a bit of thought, he decided to summon the most senior leader in Tixe City.

It took around fifteen minutes for Captain Gheri of the Swordmaidens to arrive at the hotel by shuttle.

She entered the luxurious hotel suite with an ordinary training suit, having left her customary greatsword outside.

Despite the late hour, the veteran mech officer looked ready to take action at any time. She gave Ves a salute.

"You called, sir?"

"I did. Sit down, please. I have a few ideas in mind. I would like you to give your input on them. Your understanding of Ocanon VI and its many dangers are better than mine."

He activated a projection and proceeded to show the powerful mutated beasts that had made an impression on him. Captain Gheri was already familiar with them. She always kept an eye on any news about powerful mutated beasts.

"Any questions, captain?"

"Our troops are always eager to go onto a hunt, but these beasts that you have singled out are difficult to beat even for us." Captain Gheri seriously spoke. "As a Swordmaiden, I would never chicken out of a fight, but as an officer and a leader, I need to be responsible for my women. What do you want us to fight for? What conditions will you set for our hunts? Do we need to keep the bodies as intact as possible, or are we allowed to chop them up however we like?"

Ves did not immediately respond. He instead stared back at the projections of the three beasts that he had set his eye upon.

Ocanon VI hosted a lot of interesting and exotic mutated beasts that he had never encountered anywhere else, but only these three spoke to him on a deeper level.

"These mutated beasts are useful to me." He told her. "It is a little too complicated to explain why. I do not care too much about the conditions of their bodies so long as they aren't pulverized or blown into unrecognizable pieces. What is important is that I need to be in fairly close proximity to them when they die. This is an essential demand."

That caused Captain Gheri to become alarmed. "The only ways to satisfy your condition are to make a deal with the Hunting Association or ride along in one of the cockpits of our mechs. However, if you cannot do the former, then I do not recommend you to participate in our hunts. There is no need for you to prove your courage. You have done that many times over the years. Our clan would not forgive us if we risk your life in a needless confrontation."

"It's okay. I am not as fragile as before, captain. I have already talked with the Hunting Association. Their people will not allow me to come close enough for me to do what I must. It appears that riding along with you is my only viable option."

The two argued about this topic for a few minutes, but Ves did not budge from his position.

Captain Gheri made an exasperated sound. "If you truly insist, then we will try our best to keep you safe while completing our mission, in that order. No matter what you say, we will never try to pursue victory at the cost of letting you come to harm. Hunting in the Chasseur Continent is an exceedingly dangerous activity. There have been times where even my own hunting team has been forced to abort our hunts due to accidents. Every good hunter on this planet has learned the value of beating an early retreat. It is better to run away and live to fight another day than to stubbornly chase after a win that is not as important as preserving our lives."

Ves looked surprised at her. Where was the fearless challenger that courageously ventured into the hunting grounds alone and challenged powerful beasts by herself?

Even if she had mostly completed these feats before the Age of Dawn, he expected her to be a lot more eager to challenge herself!

Then again, those were the times where Captain Gheri only risked her own life. It was an entirely different story for her to become responsible for the life of the patriarch of her entire clan!

Ves gestured at the projected monsters. "Let's get back on topic. Which of the three would you prefer to hunt given the conditions that I have set?"

"That one." The Swordmaiden veteran pointed at the Giant Stone Eater. "It will be difficult for our swords to cut through all of that rock armor, but at least we will be fighting on solid ground."

"The Giant Stone Eater is difficult to fight against up close. Have you not heard what happened when the Arrow Gods attempted to hunt it down? The stone spikes that shot out of the ground successfully tore through the leg armor of one of my Huntmasters. I am still familiar with the armor system of that mech design, and it should not have failed so easily under normal circumstances. What is worse is that those stone spikes persist, making it impossible to approach the mech from the ground."

Captain Gheri did not take these descriptions too seriously. "Our mechs are fast and nimble enough to evade the spikes when they show up, especially if the Giant Stone Eater telegraphs its move. Aside from that, we can also chop apart these spikes with our swords in order to make our way to the beast."

The Swordmaiden had set her sights on this monster. She treated it as a worthy prey for her to hunt.

Ves was not so sure about this as their Monster Slayers were not adequately equipped to fight against such a tough and troublesome earth element beast.

However, the other two mutated beasts were worse.

"What would you have us do instead?" Captain Gheri brought up this point. "This Evil Lake Tree doesn't look as strong as the other two beasts, but it is hiding inside its own lake! Is the Monster Slayer even capable of fighting underwater?"

Ves had already consulted Ketis' old design a few hours ago. He had asked the same question himself.

"Technically, the Monster Slayer is sealed so well that it is rated for both vacuum and underwater environments. That said, they are not designed to operate in those environments. The Monster Slayer will lose most of its advantages underwater. The water will inhibit all of its movements, turning a mech with good mobility into a sluggish machine that the tree will easily be able to catch with its flexible roots and branches. The only way to properly challenge the tree is to pilot amphibian mechs instead."

"The LMC doesn't have any amphibian mechs in its catalog." The store manager said. "We would have to entrust our lives to third-party mechs."

There was no way that Larkinson mech pilots ever wanted to go back to piloting lifeless mechs!

The quality of life and companionship of a real living mech had turned into an essential part of their piloting careers.

Even if their Monster Slayers had only reached the standard of a first order living mech, that was still better than nothing!

Ves had already managed to accrue a dedicated customer base early on when his living mechs were not much better in this regard.

"What of the Azure Tornado Dragon?"

"Are you kidding me, sir? I suppose we can stand a better chance if we are allowed to field proper flight-capable mechs such as the Bright Warrior or hopefully the Second Sword, but that will not help us much if this beast dives into the water. The main reason why so many hunting teams failed to kill this dragon after all of this time is because it is a scoundrel. If the hunters are weak in the air, this beast will fight them in the air. If the hunters are weak underwater, then this dragon will stay underneath the surface. The beast might not necessarily be able to defeat every hunting team, but it will always be able to get away alive."

That was quite impressive of the Azure Tornado Dragon. It sounded as if this savage winged beast possessed a higher degree of intelligence than usual.

"You don't particularly like to hunt down water-based beasts, do you, captain?"

"Water gets in the way of our mechs and swords. My advice is that you should leave this to the professionals in this area. I can name several reputable and well-established hunting teams on the top of my head that are more than willing to accept a commission on these two troublesome mutated beasts. I cannot guarantee that they will succeed, but they are your best shot at getting whatever you are trying to obtain from these creatures."

"Hmmm..."