The Mech Touch

"Wow. So cool!" Marvaine said as he stared admiringly at the projection showing the Everchanger swinging its powerful new plasma sword at the Mars.

The other kids gathered around to observe the ongoing testing session as well. They were too young to understand the destructive potential of the two amazing mechs and their weapons, but the incredible lightshow and release of energies intuitively allowed them to understand that ordinary mechs could not possibly handle all of this power!

"My mech will definitely be more powerful one day!" Andraste boasted.

"Nuh, uh. My mech will be stronger than yours!" Kirian insisted.

Their parents also became impressed at the results so far. The evaluations given by Patriarch Reginald were encouraging. As a former expert pilot, he deeply understood how much damage a typical expert mech could endure.

Ordinarily, the resonance shields of expert mechs could withstand a lot more blows. This always made it tedious to overcome the initial defensive layer of a powerful machine.

The Scarlet Ember was not a typical weapon for an expert mech, so it did not follow the rules of one. This was exactly why the Larkinsons were so willing to convert this foreign weapon into their own asset!

"This is just the start." Ves reminded everyone. "Once Venerable Joshua is able to turn the Scarlet Ember into a friend, he should be able to resonate with it with much greater ease, which means its damage amplification will become a lot higher!"

This would probably take years. For now, the Larkinsons were more interested in the new weapon's inherent power.

Not only was its power level still high despite the latest adjustments, the plasma sword also possessed transphasic properties, though not as much as the Neo Amadeus' destroyed transphasic sword.

The Scarlet Ember still had enough transphasic qualities to mitigate the effects of transphasic armor systems, and that was what mattered the most.

The Everchanger managed to give the Mars a powerful massage due to all of these factors, but the expert mech soon stopped.

Joshua gave a warning. "My expert mech has already run through half of its energy reserves."

Ves frowned. "That was quick. Shall we proceed with the final test, Ketis?"

The woman nodded. "Joshua, let's skip the following tests and go right to the end. Activate the Amadeus Mode of your new weapon and strike the Mars a final time."

"Alright."

From the moment Joshua activated this new mode, the Scarlet Ember's red plasma edge began to grow hotter and brighter! Its glow even turned from red to white!

Many sensors detected a substantial surge in power as the plasma sword quickly reached its original level of power!

The Everchanger couldn't sustain this extreme state for long, so it quickly lunged forward and slashed towards the Mars as if it was flinging a miniature sun!

A larger and more dramatic eruption of light and heat took place as the Mars finally had to put a bit more effort into resisting the attack!

As the sensors managed to obtain clearer readings again, the Mars looked as unruffled as ever.

The Everchanger on the other hand had already switched off the Scarlet Ember in order to avoid dwindling its remaining energy reserves entirely.

The expert mech could still fight for a minute or two if necessary, but Joshua did not want to burden his living mech any further.

Though Patriarch Reginald's Saint Kingdom was still as strong as ever, those with more discerning eyes could see that it had actually destabilized to a tiny extent.

Of course, Reginald quickly remedied this imperfection, but it was already notable that the Everchanger was able to put the Mars under slight pressure given the amazing power disparity between the two masterwork mechs.

"Interesting." Ves murmured as he continued to focus on the Mars as opposed to the Everchanger and its new weapon. "The power of the Scarlet Ember increased by three to four times. However, the energy it consumed was at least an order of magnitude greater. The Amadeus Mode is an extremely inefficient option."

Ketis nodded. "The Amadeus Mode is nothing more than restoring the power setting of the Scarlet Ember to its original parameters. This is how powerful the plasma sword used to be when it was wielded by the Neo Amadeus. It's not a surprise that the late Saint Jeremiah Gauge wielded this sword after he expended his first two ones. The plasma weapon is just too hungry for energy. It was definitely designed to function as a finisher, and that is also why I made sure to program this extra feature."

The amazing damage potential of that final attack had not reached the standard of an ace mech, but definitely surpassed a serious blow from a high-tier expert mech!

The price to launch the attack was incredibly high, but the results reluctantly made it worth it as long as it was used in the right conditions.

"It will be better in the future." Ves predicted. "Joshua will experience a lot of growth in the coming decades. Our clan will also be able to gain access to better and more expensive energy cells that can vastly improve the Everchanger's energy reserves. By then, the Everchanger can fully showcase the value of the Scarlet Ember. I bet the power of its most serious attack will finally be able to reach the standard of an ace mech!"

Before, Ves' only hope of being able to launch an attack of this magnitude was to wait for Venerable Davia Stark and the Amaranto to grow up further.

Now, the Larkinsons had another option, which significantly relieved a lot of pressure.

"The Mars handled itself quite well through this session. It's as if it is still in a pristine state."

Ves actually paid attention to more than just the Scarlet Ember and the Everchanger today.

His second goal for this testing session was to observe and assess the current state of the Mars.

That was why he became so pleased when Patriarch Reginald agreed to help the Larkinsons test the performance of the reformed plasma sword.

Not only would Ves be able to figure out the capabilities of the sword, but he would also be able to see how the Mars fared after a few weeks of servicing and after it had settled down as a post-living mech.

Post-living mech. That was how he decided to call the current state of the Mars. The ace mech no longer possessed its own independent personality and consciousness after Reginald murdered the life and turned the powerful machine into his own incarnation through sheer willpower.

The fact that the Mars retained possession of nearly all of the qualities of a living mech aside from the aspect that Ves cared about the most made it both alive and dead.

He had struggled to figure out whether the Mars leaned more towards alive and dead, but never managed to make up his mind. He eventually settled for the term 'post-living mech' because it signified that the Mars was still a living mech in a sense, but had also moved beyond its traditional definition.

Regardless, becoming a post-living mech did not make the Mars any weaker. In fact, it was the opposite. The complete harmony and lack of resistance from the damaged but powerful ace mech meant that Reginald felt a lot more comfortable in his current vessel.

Ves wasn't the only person who noticed how easily the Mars resisted a power attack that could have dealt much more devastating damage against another target.

"The Mars is still as unbeatable to us as ever." Ketis sighed. "If not even the Scarlet Ember in its Amadeus Mode can change that, then it will take a long time before our expert mechs can pose a serious threat against any ace mech."

Ves sighed but nodded in agreement. "The pilot is just as important as the mech and equipment. The expert mechs of our clan are already substantially more powerful than the pilots they are partnered with. The gap between the power of the expert pilot and the expert mech has only grown even wider in this case. Joshua and the Everchanger are like kids trying their best to swing around a massive greatsword like your Bloodsinger. Even if they can barely lift up the weapon, that is different from being able to wield it proficiently."

The Mars was powerful not just because of its amazing tech and materials, but also because it was paired with an extremely powerful mech pilot. Reginald was able to match its strength a lot better.

As long as Master Benedict continued to upgrade the Mars with newer tech and better parts in the future, he could ensure that the disparity between pilot and mech would never grow too wide.

"It's not cost-effective to upgrade the Everchanger any further at this stage." Ves concluded. "It costs a disproportionate amount of money to give our expert mechs a boost comparable to this. It's fine if we can plunder powerful weapons from our enemies without paying any money, but if we want to improve our mechs any further, we will have to spend hundreds of thousands of MTA credits at the very least, and likely more if we want to obtain more serious improvements."

Ketis agreed with his sentiment. "Let's wait for Joshua and the rest to grow stronger. In any case, my husband is lucky enough to be paired with a masterwork expert mech, so his growth rate is considerably higher than average."

This was the easiest way to resolve the problem facing him and his expert mech. Once his resonance strength reached the standard of a mid-tier expert mech, it might be viable to upgrade the Everchanger into a high-tier expert mech.

"Let's wrap this up, Ketis."

In the end, both Ves and Ketis got what they wanted out of this testing session.

Ketis confirmed that her husband and his expert mech gained the power to fight against a high-tier expert mech.

To be honest, the young wife and mother harbored a lot of concerns about Joshua's performance and ability to survive on the battlefield.

His marksmanship was quite good but his swordsmanship was too basic in her professional eyes.

If his Everchanger ever fought against a threat comparable to that of the Shockshell, the Skorpion Kommando or the Star of Liberation, she did not want Joshua to suffer a worse fate than that of Jannzi!

The addition of a single powerful weapon did not entirely relieve her concerns, but she at least gained a lot more peace of mind.

Ves was happy for the same reasons, but he also became slightly more worried about the excellent performance of the Mars.

Turning it into a post-living mech did not hinder its growth and evolution at all. Ves could already foresee that the Mars in its current makeup would continue to grow at a brisk pace under the influence of its powerful pilot.

In fact, Ves expected Reginald and the Mars to grow even faster than before because the fit between the two had increased by a considerable margin!

The more Reginald succeeded, the more his actions repudiated Ves' design philosophy, if at least partially.

If Ves wanted to defend his ideology and prove that his design philosophy still held value as mech pilots ascended up the ranks, then he needed to produce a game-changing result with the Dullahan Project!

He could never allow post-living mechs to gain superiority over more classical living mechs!

"Maybe… the answer lies in creating a fourth order living mech." Ves speculated.

Third order living mechs were unprecedentedly aware, intelligent and alive, but they didn't actually grant that much of a performance boost to their frames.

Mechs such as the Quint were still standard mechs if Ves overlooked all of its special effects. The only reason why it was stronger than a typical Bright Warrior was because he and his clan had upgraded its physical parts several times over the years.

The fact that it was a third order living mech of considerable strength hardly played a role in elevating its specs beyond their technical baselines.

Ves saw hope in producing a qualitative difference when he saw that weapons such as the Scarlet Ember and mechs such as the Neo Amadeus and the Mars became stronger through the process known as willpower baptism.

If the spiritual strengths of fourth order living mechs became strong enough, would they be able to baptize their physical frames with their power as well?