The Mech Touch

Ketis was no longer the inexperienced Journeyman Mech Designer who barely had any completed mech designs under her belt.

She had designed dozens of different swordsman mechs in the last five years or so. Some of them are more significant than others, but each of them provided her with a lot of experience.

What impressed Ves about Ketis was that she never ran out of ways to come up with new swordsman mech concepts that were distinctly different from her prior work.

Perhaps other mech designers might run out of ideas on how to design a swordsman mech that wasn't derivative of a previous work, but Ketis could come up with endless variations that all possessed different combinations of traits.

The Stormblade Samurai was an even bigger departure from her previous body of work than normal.

The stormblade technology that she had licenced from a specialized development company that Ves had never heard of introduced a lot of new possibilities to a swordsman mech.

The katanas that integrated this new tech were still physical, but could be energized to cut through targets with greater ease through the additional application of energy and heat.

Stormblade weapons were more sophisticated than the heated blades that Ves was familiar with. The latter simply amounted to channeling a lot of thermal energy through a heat-resistant blade in the hopes that it could deal a lot more damage upon contact.

Of course, Ves wasn't too knowledgeable about the specific differences. He needed to wait until Ketis completed this project before he could see a finished mech with this tech in action.

"Okay, what are the remaining characters of your Samurai Project?" Ves asked.

"Well, my Samurai Project is not that impressive in other matters." His former student replied. "

"The main reason for me to design it is to add a powerful new offensive option to our Larkinson Army. To that end, I will be collaborating with Tifi Coslone on this project to ensure it can deliver the strongest possible strikes."

"What are your thoughts about this project, Tifi?" Ves asked as he turned to the other woman.

"The Samurai Project relies on both energy and physical power to maximize the damage of its strikes." She said. "I don't specialize in solutions such as stormblade technology, but what I do excel at is making the frame of this mech as strong as possible. I will do my best to ensure that this mech is able to hit hard enough even if it doesn't activate its stormblade function."

It went without saying that the Samurai Project would be able to hit even harder if it did energize its weapons!

Ketis quickly explained the remaining traits of the Samurai Project. "We have to invest a lot of capacity to enhance the offensive power of our swordsman mech, so we don't have that much room left to improve its other aspects. Sara Voiken has agreed to design a serviceable armor system for an offensive melee mech, so I expect that our upcoming mech will be able to withstand enough damage to last on a typical battlefield."

"What about its mobility?"

"Let me say that speed and acceleration will not be its strong suits. Just like its codename, the Samurai Project is meant to fight and duel against opponents in head-on clashes. Speed is nice, but we already have lighter and more maneuverable alternatives in our clan. The Second Sword is a notable example of this. One of its more serious shortcomings is that it doesn't have enough armor to fight hard battles. The Samurai Project is different."

"I see. That makes sense." Ves replied.

In general, the Samurai Project lived and died by its offensive capabilities. This project presented Ketis with plenty of new challenges and learning opportunities.

Ves was curious whether Ketis could combine this special stormblade technology with her design philosophy and other special abilities. It would be great if she was able to elevate the Samurai Project where the whole was far greater than the sum of its parts.

As Ketis wrapped up her presentation, Ves quickly looked around the conference room before deciding to make a request.

"Who do you plan to collaborate with on the Samurai Project?"

"For now, I have made an agreement with Tifi Coslone and Sara Voiken." Ketis answered.

"No one else?"

Ketis shook her head.

"Then can you do me a favor and include Merril O'Brain to the design team of this project?" Ves requested.

His former student looked surprised, though Merrill only displayed a mild reaction.

"I… can, I suppose." Ketis slowly replied as she thought about how she should change her plan with the inclusion of a fourth Journeyman. "Merrill, your design philosophy is related to mechanics, right?"

"That is correct, Ketis."

"Will your specialty conflict with that of Tifi? Both of your design philosophies look as if they overlap."

"I think we can try to work that out. Just because both of us deal with mechanics doesn't mean that we will conflict with each other." Tifi said.

Ves looked hopeful. "I think that there will be plenty of situations where you will all work alongside mech designers who may intrude upon your territories. It is best to find out early whether you can work together with those who possess overlapping specialties. If it turns out that a combination doesn't work, we can always reevaluate the situation and change the assignments."

He just wanted to ease one of the newbies into the existing design projects. Merril O'Brian had only advanced fairly recently and she was probably not capable enough to design a new Larkinson mech that was good enough to meet the standards of the Design Department. This was why it was essential to have her work alongside others at the beginning of her career as a Journeyman.

Now that they handled the Samurai Project, it was time to introduce the next major design project.

Ves decided to speak up at this time.

"Just like many of you, I have gained a lot of inspiration from the Sundered Phalanx from the previous battle. Some of my new ideas are rather complicated and will take more time to prepare, but I have come up with a fairly simple but ingenious mech concept that I can easily realize with my current capabilities. I have decided to design this mech so that we can add another useful and popular commercial product to the LMC's product catalog."

He uploaded his own draft design to the central projector, causing it to depict a fairly simple looking rifleman mech.

At first glance, the mech did not look that differently from other ranged mechs. Those with discerning eyes could tell that the mech was designed for sniping at longer ranges rather than strafing at medium range.

What was rather typical of Ves was that he chose to pursue an extreme configuration for this draft design.

Ves placed a heavy emphasis on the luminar crystal rifle as well as all of the supporting systems that existed to maximize its performance.

This left him with little room to improve its defenses or mobility. The mech didn't possess any further physical features that could amplify its technical performance. It was even more extreme in this regard than Ketis' Samurai Project!

"This new mech of yours resembles a mass production version of the Amaranto." Gloriana spoke up. "There are a lot of familiar design elements in this new commercial project."

Ves nodded in admission. "That's correct. I have always wanted to design a more standardized and affordable interpretation of the Amaranto, but I never came up with any ideas on how to make stand out until recently. I have the Gaugers to thank for that. The greatest source of inspiration of my Eye Project is the Blackened Reapers Mech Division of the Sundered Phalanx."

His wife looked thoughtful. "The Blackened Reapers? You mean the elite mech division that is centered around fielding ranged mechs that excel at long-ranged precision fire?"

"Yup. While they have failed to stave off a loss, the Blackened Reapers actually performed quite well. They provided a lot of help for their soldiers by using their accurate shots to strike the weak points of their targets or take out specific modules that have a lot of strategic value."

Several mech designers in the conference room looked thoughtful. Some were able to see the value of these kinds of ranged mechs while others were a bit more skeptical.

"Isn't it better to rely on heavy artillery mechs for ranged suppression and fire support?" Dulo Voiken asked. "I mean, the firepower disparity between the two is huge. A mech company of heavy artillery mechs can destroy mechs as well as starships a lot easier and faster than a mech company of marksman mechs."

"That may be true, but this analysis of yours is too shallow." Ves replied. "First, don't forget that this is a commercial model. While most of our customers are generally wealthier and more capable than the ones in the old galaxy, it is still rather difficult for them to remain profitable while investing in heavy artillery mechs. Mechs such as our Transcendent Punishers are much more expensive to build and buy and their maintenance and repair costs are vastly higher. Not only that, but they impose additional requirements such as requiring bunkers in order to participate in space battles."

"Ah. I understand." Dulo looked enlightened. "Medium rifleman mechs are much cheaper and more cost-effective in comparison. They can fit in any slot in any carrier vessel and they can also deploy in space if they are design for spaceborn combat."

"Heavy mechs have their place, but they are too cumbersome and restrictive to employ in every combat situation. The ease in which you can employ rifleman mechs such as my new Eye Project provides enough of a reason to choose it over the most obvious long-ranged combat solutions."

That answer provided an economic rationale for this new mech design, but that was hardly enough to generate market demand.

Gloriana grew impatient. "So what is the gimmick of your new mech, Ves?"

"Well, I can talk a bit about its powerful rifle that I intend to configure and optimize for power and long-ranged precision, but that is rather boring." Ves replied. "You can just take me at my word that it will be armed with a heavy sniper rifle that works extremely well when it is outputting laser beams. The real gimmick does not come from any visible parts. Instead, it comes from its design spirit."

His wife still looked skeptical. "You mean the Illustrious One? His involvement in this design will hardly increase its value proposition. It will just make the pilot feel more in tune with the luminar crystal rifle. That is not enough to convince buyers to purchase this product in large numbers."

Ves answered her doubts by removing his Hammer of Brilliance from his belt and placing it on the surface of the conference table.

Thud.

"...What do you mean by that, Ves?"

Ves gestured towards the hammer. "This is the primary design spirit of the Eye Project."

"...Okay? Why didn't you go for Ylvaine instead? Isn't he your go-to solution for long-ranged precision."

"You don't get it." Ves disappointingly said. "Ylvaine is an excellent option for this kind of mech, but not if I want to make it commercially viable. I need to employ a more universal design spirit that can work well with people of different backgrounds and beliefs. Vulcan is the alternative that I have chosen."

"Explain."

"It's simple. While Vulcan can't correct the aim of mech pilots like Ylvaine, the former has an excellent understanding of mechs and technology in general. Since I initially brought Vulcan to life, he has been taking advantage of my work as well as the work of every craftsman and creator who has used the services of the Creation Association to learn how mechs, starships and other machinery can be made or broken. Now imagine a situation where Vulcan analyzes all of the weak points of an enemy mech and passes that information on to the mech pilot. How well do you think my Eye Project will perform?"

"That… is actually a clever idea! The cost is probably minimal but the results can be drastic. Now I understand why you want to pair a marksman mech with Vulcan. Only someone who understands machines as well as a mech designer can point out all of the flaws of an opposing mech!"

The working principle behind the Eye Project was actually similar to an event that Ves had experienced in the past.

Ves had once played a role similar to Vulcan to a mech pilot known as Ivan Barley during one of his early Mastery experiences.

His eyes clouded over as he recalled that past event.

Perhaps he could reproduce a portion of that glory by designing the Eye Project.

By designing a rifleman mech that was watched over by Vulcan, his incarnation would not only be able to experience many realistic battle situations in a front-row seat, but also gain an even more important resource.

Spiritual feedback!

Now that the Mech Designer System had recently evolved towards Spiritual Ascension, it became more important than ever for Ves to pay more attention to developing his Spirituality.

Helping Vulcan grow faster by tying him to a commercial mech design was an excellent way to boost his incarnation's growth!

Ves actually should have done this sooner, but he had previously been reluctant to do so because he was afraid of the repercussions.