The Mech Touch

Nobody who had the guts to issue a challenge to Ves was stupid.

Except for that Journeyman Mech Designer who either tried to become famous overnight or thought that his disgrace of a mech design actually stood a chance against the Fey Fianna, the other challengers all exerted a lot of pressure.

This was because their qualifications were all good. Their mechs were all well-designed and possessed numerous different advantages that gave them an edge over the competition.

Ves did not dare to underestimate them. Just the fact that they were designed by Master Mech Designers who realized their design philosophies a long time ago and made further advancements in the years ahead meant that their specializations were bound to make a massive impact in battle.

That did not mean that Ves was afraid of them. Ever since he developed the ambition to turn the Fey Fianna into the market leader for second-class drone mechs, he needed to show that it had the strength to resolve numerous challenges.

The Storm Sparrow line had earned its dominance for many generations due to its strength as well as its ability to cope with a diverse set of enemies!

The demonstration match that took place before already showcased the superior performance of the Fey Fianna, but despite the lopsided numbers, not everyone was willing to take this outcome seriously.

The opposing rifleman mechs simply hadn't been good enough.

The challenges issued by other mech designers were different because the quality and strength of their works definitely ranked a lot closer to the top of the mech market!

All of this presented a lot of interesting questions for Ves. He knew that so long as the Fey Fianna either won or produced a good showing during tomorrow's matches, its ascension to a market leader would turn into a guaranteed outcome!

However, if the challenger mechs all outshone the Fey Fianna, then that would cause many people to doubt whether the hype was real.

Ves did not dare to accept too many challenges for that reason. Numerous victories in succession might cause the Fey Fianna to build up a little more momentum, but the initial public reaction was already high enough.

In contrast, just a single ugly defeat where the Fey Fianna got utterly crushed by a challenger mech would have significant negative repercussions!

It was a lot easier to remember such a glaring defeat. Even if the Fey Fianna went on to win the remaining challenges, the stain could not be removed so easily.

In the end, Ves rejected a lot of challenges because they contained traps or because they stacked the deck a little too much in the favor of the other party.

No challenger wanted to lose, so they tried to get away with as many favorable terms as they could.

This turned into a game of sorts. The challengers engineered their proposals that granted them serious advantages without making it obvious on the surface.

Ves managed to catch most of these pitfalls anyway.

This was because every mech designer had to present the mech models meant to challenge the Fey Fianna. There was no way that Ves would accept any challenges when he did not even know what to expect!

In any case, when Ves did not hesitate to reject over a dozen different challenges, he made it clear that he did not care about his current image.

He also conveyed the clear ability to discern the strong points of different mech designs upon sight and figure out how the rules benefited them in an unreasonable manner.

This was a subtle way of proving his competence as a mech designer. At the very least, it was impossible for other mech designers to take advantage of his ignorance in their shared profession.

In the end, Ves chose to accept two more challenges.

One of them would put his Fey Fianna in a match against a striker mech.

Under normal circumstances, a striker mech was one of the natural counters against a drone mech.

The flamethrowers or other area denial weapons of a striker mech was one of the most suitable ways to wipe out a lot of spurs at once!

The Sparrows of the Sparrow Storm were especially vulnerable to this as they were both thin and numerous.

The Fey Fianna deviated so much from this pattern that it had become a different mech type entirely!

The question now was how well the Fey Fianna could cope against a 'former' counter like a striker mech.

The results had significant implications to Ves and his latest commercial work.

If the fey proved to be strong and resilient enough to cope with area attacks such as those launched by flamethrowers and explosive missiles, then that would undoubtedly make the Fey Fianna much safer to pilot!

After all, the real enemies of red humanity were the native alien races of the Red Ocean. Numerous races invested heavily in arming their warships with all kinds of missiles and more exotic forms of weapons that could easily wipe out a lot of spurs at once.

The fourth and last challenge that Ves accepted surprisingly involved the Elite Edition of the Fey Fianna.

The challenger was willing to put forth a top-notch quasi-first-class transphasic hyper hero mech!

Just like the Elite Fey Fianna, the hero mechs were designed for an elite mech unit and not really meant for widespread adoption. They looked like they could be fairly threatening at range, but become even more dangerous up close.

It was almost certain that these hero mechs would choose to close in, as they were at a clear disadvantage at range.

Accepting this challenge was essentially putting the Elite Fey Fianna up against melee mechs, which was anything but ideal.

The biggest mitigating factor was that hero mechs were not completely optimized for melee combat.

Having designed numerous hero mechs in the past, Ves possessed a particular love and understanding for this interesting mech type.

Though the opposing hero mech model clearly looked like it possessed a couple of nasty surprises, that was to be expected for a mech of this caliber.

Quasi-first-class mechs straddled the line between second-class mechs and first-class mechs.

They already possessed a part of the characteristics of first-class multipurpose mechs, which meant that their ability to cope with different situations was much better.

It was pretty clear that the Elite Fey Fianna would be facing an uphill battle when fighting against a hero mech that boasted even better versatility in combat, but Ves could not resist this interesting scenario.

Ves needed to know.

He needed to know whether his Fey Fianna could defeat his favorite mech type.

Even if his Elite Fey Fianna ended up losing this high-level matchup, Ves did not think he would have any regrets!

Once he dealt with all of the challenges, Ves resumed the Q&A session, though not everyone was able to maintain their interest by this time.

Instead of sitting around and asking stupid questions, a number of people would rather wait for tomorrow and view the confrontations between the Fey Fianna and the challenger mechs!

Of course, this only applied to the minority of the crowd. Most were serious journalists who were earnest about doing their jobs.

"Eric McMaster of the Human Interest." A bookish-looking first-rater introduced himself as he spoke in one of the most sophisticated accents that Ves had ever heard. "I would dearly like to invite you to an interview where we can explore your thoughts on subjects such as the role of the Red Association in the current age or the future of red humanity in the context of widespread availability of E energy radiation. Alas, since you have set a clear rule that every question must be relevant to your latest product reveal, we will have to postpone this interview."

"Do you have a question, Mr. McMaster?"

"You have revealed powerful technologies with the release of the Fey Fianna. According to expert analysis, the principal reason it is able to punch above its weight is because you have especially developed new E-technologies for your work. Given the abstruse, confusing and thought-provoking nature of E energy and the technologies derived from this phenomenon, is there any justification to the argument that we are working with a force of magic as opposed to a force of science?"

What a deep and difficult question.

Though Ves was not familiar with the publication that Eric McMaster worked for, Alexa already sent a quick summary to his cranial implant.

The Human Interest was apparently a monthly publication that primarily published philosophical and political articles.

It had a reputation for being erudite, and many of its writers were known to be idealistic.

In other words, they were dreamers.

Yet it was because of this exact characteristic that the Human Interest had become a widely read publication among the upper echelon of human civilization!

No matter whether they were leaders, statesmen or politicians among the mechers, fleeters, Terrans or Rubarthans, they all shared a common interest in this elitist publication!

The Human Interest occasionally invited guests to write opinion articles on a relevant subject matter. The writers had the option to publish the articles with their names or remain anonymous to shield themselves against any possible backlash.

Ves actually grew intrigued about this publication. The Human Interest must be able to influence a lot of human policy makers, which meant that its influence was great!

How come he never heard of it before? This was one of the many secrets that separated the upper echelon from the masses.

"I think it is wrong to turn this into a false dichotomy." Ves answered. "Science and 'magic', however you choose to define it, are both artificial constructs. We construct certain models and theories of how stuff works, but that does not mean we make the rules of how our reality operates. That would make us gods. That said, I prefer to retain the conventions of science in my work. The word 'magic' has negative connotations and can produce many misunderstandings. It also imposes expectations that we can magically wave our problems away as long as we manipulate E energy well enough. I do not want my mechs associated with such an impression. My mechs are powered by E-technology, not magic. It would be a mistake to think otherwise."

To be honest, Ves was not as confident in this answer as he sounded, but he kept his doubts hidden.

"Thank you for your insightful answer. Allow me to ask a different question. Your Fey Fiannas appear to be able to affect human society to a greater degree than many other mechs for sale. How do you think that your Fey Fianna can strengthen our society if it continues to sell? Will these changes be for good or for ill?"

It could be argued that those were two questions, but oh well.

"My main ambition has always been to persuade the mech community to treat their mechs as if they are living beings who are eager to partner with mech pilots. The popularity and the prospected sales of the Fey Fianna gives me hope that I can introduce more people to the wonders and benefits of living mechs. More specifically, the Fey Fianna is also a new and more advanced form of living mech. I want to make it clear that I am the foremost authority in this specific field. Everyone else who has dabbled in living mechs cannot possibly design a mech like the Fey Fianna. They simply do not know the right methods or design philosophy to replicate all of the work that I have put into mech models such as the Fey Fianna."

The journalist looked mildly impressed. "You sound confident on this matter. It is clear that you care greatly for your living mechs. Your previous works have already shown a measure of autonomy and conscious thinking in past instances. However, the fey that accompany your Fey Fianna seem so intelligent and responsive that it is difficult to believe that it is controlled by a single mech pilot. How much do the pilots control their own fey, and how much are the spurs governed by their own living mechs? Thirty years from now, it is conceivable that you will develop this specific application further. Is there any place for a human mech pilot in the cockpit of a mech in this potential future?"