The Mech Touch

The fourth and final challenge match impressed everyone!

Their attention rested entirely on the two quasi-first-class mechs that struggled for dominance in the mech arena.

Neither machine wanted to give ground in this fight. Their pride, their reputation and the very reason of their existence was on the line at the moment!

The Elite Edition of the Fey Fianna and the Dustweaver both exhibited very different signature technologies as the match progressed.

The Elite Fey Fianna showcased many familiar qualities, but amped up the power level to the point where it could easily crush multiple copies of its lesser cousins with ease!

The huge disparity in performance amazed many people and caused more and more of them to yearn for this amazing machine.

Sure, the Elite Fey Fianna was not comparable to an expert mech or a first-class mech, but its greatest advantage was that it was much more attainable than either of those machines!

An expert mech could only be paired with an expert pilot. So long as anyone had reached this level of strength, there was no reason at all to worry about obtaining a suitable machine. Their employers would be glad to invest in a customized machine so that the demigod in question could properly channel his power.

A first-class mech cost way more money than the mechs in the arena. They could easily cost millions of MTA credits and imposed high requirements on the skills and knowledge of the mech pilot.

The support crew also needed to be insanely qualified in order to maintain and repair these high-tech machines, and the cost of spare parts and materials was already enough to bankrupt many second-class outfits!

The biggest issue to many mech forces was that fielding just a single first-class mech would automatically classify them as first-class organizations!

This was not good development for organizations that lacked the strength and foundation to support their new status.

The greater the power, the greater the obligations. First-class organizations needed to abide by an entirely different set of rules. They also lost the protection afforded to second-raters and third-raters.

In short, it was impossible or impractical for second-class mech pilots to gain control over machines that were way beyond their reach.

Their only realistic chance to take charge of mechs that could overpower other standard mechs was to advance to the rank of expert pilot.

An innumerable number of pilots chased after apotheosis, but only a small minority of them managed to succeed.

Even if the frequency of breakthroughs mysteriously rose over time, it was impossible for everyone to advance to expert pilot.

Many mech pilots despaired and gave up on their pursuit of godhood as they grew older.

Anyone who reached the age of 50 and higher usually developed their piloting skills to such an extent that they were more than qualified to pilot better mechs.

However, the bitter irony was that older mech pilots usually lost the fire and vigor that made it easier for them to break through to the rank of expert candidate.

If these pilots failed to exceed their mortal limits by the time they were 50, the statistical probability that they could become expert candidates and expert pilots dwindled to almost zero!

Researchers came up with many theories in order to explain why this was the case. Willpower was a key variable. It was simply easier for younger and less jaded mech pilots to exhibit the extreme emotions needed to produce miracles during stressful situations.

As such, aside from a handful of outliers, all of these aging pilots had no future in this desirable progression trajectory. There was virtually no chance that any of them could pilot an expert mech for the remainder of their careers.

That did not snuff out their desire to pilot stronger mechs, though.

As the Elite Fey Fianna and the Dustweaver both displayed distinctly different styles of mechs that pressed against the limit of second-class mech combat, many veteran mech pilots began to feel a calling for one of the two machines on display.

WOOOOM!

The Dustweaver was a marvel of powerful and exotic offensive technologies.

Though nobody knew how all of the advanced alien-derived tech worked, that did not stop them from dreaming about what they could do if they piloted such a cool and thematic quasi-first-class mech.

WOOOM!

WOOOM!

WOOOM!

From the transphasic hyper oscillator hammer to the medium-range hyper molecular disintegrator, the Dustweaver adopted the form of a hero mech that had turned into a rugged but determined champion.

It didn't look as gleaming and heroic as the other models of its archetype, but that was precisely why so many veteran pilots felt drawn to the Dustweaver.

Most hero mechs tended to be inspired by the brightly colored machines piloted by the youthful protagonists of popular action dramas. These machines matched the tastes of younger prodigies and descendants of powerful groups that had the luxury to pilot such difficult but dashing machines.

The Dustweaver did not align with this trend. Its faded, rusted color scheme along with its strong alignment with the power of decay was like a nightmare to younger mech pilots. Few of them possessed the desire to pilot a machine that already made them feel older just by staring at this hero mech!

This was clearly a mech designed for the older pilot demographic. Master Xieliq Quan was a centuries-old veteran of his craft, and he knew his customers far too well.

"I feel sad for the Dustweaver. It probably would have been able to show off its strength much better if it was fighting against another mech. The decay attribute doesn't seem so effective when used to attack mechs that are filled with life."

"I wonder whether I can buy the Oscillator Hammer as a standalone weapon. It is absurdly effective at breaking through transphasic energy shields. The Molecular Disintegrator is also powerful, but it has too many limitations."

"Where can I order copies of the Dustweaver? I have been searching up and down the galactic net, but there is no sales page for this model. Is the hero mech still in development, or is it only available to restricted clientele?"

While a small group of older mech pilots started to ask about obtaining the Dustweaver for themselves, a much greater collection of people had set their eyes on the Elite Fey Fianna.

The quasi-first-class drone mech clearly managed to gain the upper hand in this fight!

Its brighter color scheme, the power and versatility of its fey along with the absurd ability to derive power from the image of Poseidon turned the Elite Fey Fianna into a product that looked incomparably strong!

Numerous individuals even felt as if the Elite Fey Fianna possessed the potential to match the grandeur of an expert mech!

The potent luminar crystal cannon fey had consistently drained the powerful azure energy shield of the Dustweaver from the beginning of the match.

The plasma bayonet was a pleasantly powerful weapon at close range, giving the Elite Fey Fianna a much better chance to overpower melee mechs than its standard counterparts.

The additional azure energy shield fey provided an invaluable defensive buffer that practically gave the mech a second life.

Meanwhile, the highly effective space suppressor fey turned out to be a nemesis against any adversary that relied on phasewater technology for protection.

All of these combinations and more firmly cemented the Elite Edition of the Fey Fianna as one of the most innovative and powerful mechs attainable to second-raters!

Many people who previously decided to order a batch of Standard Fey Fiannas changed their mind or updated their orders.

Although it was a bit more troublesome to purchase the Elite Fey Fiannas, this was not a hindrance to anyone with enough power, wealth and status!

"The Elite Fey Fiannas can be used to form a guardian unit for mech regiment. They are powerful enough to blunt enemy advances and versatile enough to troubleshoot tricky problems. They are expensive, but the thousands of MTA credits that we spend on them will save us tens of thousands of MTA credits in future losses. I can think of no stronger or better mech for our specific purposes that we can buy at this time. This is a truly cutting-edge mech model."

Orders started to pour in at an increasing rate. The price of quasi-first-class mechs made these people feel pained, but none of them wanted to suffer any accidents while they participated in the Red War.

The power of the Elite Fey Fianna not only set a new standard of hyper mechs in the second-class market, but also served as a harbinger of the future!

More and more mech models that would get released in the coming months and years were bound to match or exceed the performance of the Elite Fey Fianna.

The lastgen mechs that so many mech forces still made use of to this day became increasingly less viable on the battlefields of tomorrow.

The Fey Fiannas might not maintain their ranking at the top for long, but it was unlikely that they would tumble all the way to the bottom in the next 10 years!

Investing in them was never a truly bad idea. The Fey Fiannas were so advanced and performed so well in difficult circumstances that they were much more future proofed than other hyper mechs.

"Buy buy buy!"

"I would love to purchase more Elite Fey Fiannas, but I don't have the drone mech specialists that can properly make use of these powerful machines."

"Damn, how long is this waiting list?! It will take over a year before I can receive my mechs. This is outrageous! A lot of other new hyper mech models will become available at that time. Why should I pay an enormous premium for mechs that are a year too late?"

The difference in popularity roughly reflected the disparity in results between the two quasi-first-class mechs.

The Dustweaver tried to block and resist the incoming attacks as much as possible. It even had to give up opportunities to slam its oscillator hammer against the enemy's azure energy shield in order to deflect the Elite Fey Fianna's plasma bayonet strikes!

This was incredibly difficult as the plasma bayonet burned so hot that it could damage the solid structure as well as the vital electronic components of the oscillator hammer!

Even if the Dustweaver managed to redirect or evade the plasma bayonet attacks, the machine could do nothing to stop the luminar crystal fey from pummeling its faltering azure energy shield!

The Dustweaver jerked backwards as its heavily strained and suppressed energy barrier finally collapsed from all of the pressure!

Its transphasic armor plating immediately began to take hits, which they managed to endure for the time being.

The exposed Dustweaver did not dare to let the plasma bayonet strike its relatively thin armor plating, so it started to look a lot more desperate as it was put on the defensive!

The hero mech's flaws became more evident. Not only was its armor system not as good as its weapon systems, but its power reactor clearly did not have the capacity to supply enough energy to all of its demanding functions.

Even so, its skilled mech pilot managed to do a remarkable job in maneuvering the mech in the air.

The Dustweaver did not show much grace, but it demonstrated enough thrust power to evade the most damaging strikes from the Fey Fianna while making it a lot more difficult for the offensive fey to land their shots on any of its weak points!

Unfortunately, there was no way this could last. The Dustweaver failed to breach the opposing mech's azure energy shields, and so long as this was the case, it was unlikely for the mech to gain the upper hand in this intensive duel!

The only question now was whether this was the extent of what the Dustweaver could do. Was the mech hiding a trump card?

The observers would soon have their answer.