The Mech Touch

Ever since the Red Tide Offensive erupted more than half a year ago, ace mechs became a much more common sight to the public.

Unlike the more restrained wars and conflicts between states, the aggression of the native alien invaders was relentless and unending.

The age where ace mechs were treated as trump cards only to be used in the most critical of circumstances was over. Their strategic deterrence no longer had an effect on the native alien forces that had all of the cannon fodder in the dwarf galaxy to spare.

In a war as bloody and brutal as the current one, only actual killing could make the other siide relent!

It was for this reason that all sorts of ace mechs showed off their combat prowess without any intention of hiding their true strength anymore.

This gave the masses a much better understanding of the power and the capabilities of these incredible machines.

Combined with the fact that all of them had been updated with modern advancements from the Phasewater and Hyper Generations, high-end mechs had never become as prominent as today!

As far as second-class ace mechs were concerned, the design of the Amphis Extremis exhibited a lot of restraint, which did not appear to match its name.

However, a mech designer such as Ketis was able to comprehend why Master Benedict called it the Amphis Extremis.

Unlike multipurpose mechs that tried to solve every problem by carrying a solution for every occasion, the design of the Amphis Extremis tried to solve every alien opponent by relying on the minimum number of features.

Every design choice had a meaning. Every component had a purpose. Nothing was being wasted. With just a flail, a tower shield and a pair of shoulder-mounted machine guns, the Amphis Extremis should theoretically be able to defeat all native alien enemy types with the help of its Saint Kingdom!

Of course, the Amphis Extremis could not match the performance of other ace mechs in their areas of specializations. There were still differences in effectiveness.

For example, the Amphis Extremis lacked long-range striking capabilities. Its machine guns were devastating at short ranges, but their hit rates dropped rapidly at mid range. As for trying to hit anything smaller than a starship at long range? Forget about it. The

Muzzle velocities and accuracy of the multi-barreled machine guns were downright awful compared to other ranged weapon types.

Gauss rifles that were able to accelerate kinetic projectiles to a small fraction of the speed of light were much more effective at longer ranges. On top of that, light-speed energy weapons were even better at this job!

Ketis found it curious that Master Benedict rejected the temptation of mounting laser weapons onto the Amphis Extremis. It showed that he remained confident that the Amphis Extremis would be able to deal with the opposition without long-ranged precision armaments.

This was the right choice as far as the swordmaster was concerned. The Amphis Extremis was primarily a melee mech, and excelled at inflicting damage up close. Instead of blindly trying to make up for its shortcomings, it was much more sensible to amplify its strengths.

Unlike bulkier and heavier space knights such as Venerable Jannzi's Bastion, the Amphis Extremis was actually fast and mobile enough to be utilized in assault roles.

It might not be able to catch up with the likes of the Dark Zephyr Mark III or the Jedda Sandivar, but no one expected for a medium mech to be able to win a race against those blazingly fast machines. ȑΑɴÒΒЕ𝐬

As a product of Master Benedict, the Amphis Extremis was not only extremely efficient when it came to the use and transmission of energy, but also possessed

Higher-than-usual power generation capacities.

Its power reactor was close to the limit of what a quasi-first-class ace mech could bear, and the latest version of the Endex System significantly boosted its power generation through alternative means!

"I have heard that Master Benedict has made significant breakthroughs in advancing his main design applications. Ketis said.

Saint Linda nodded. "That is correct. The Magma Vein System Version 2.0 is improved in every way. I don't understand the technical details myself, so you can read the documentation if you are able to access it. What interests me the most is that it comes with the Volcanic Outburst Mode. I haven't used it yet, but it is supposedly a way to overload every part and system that consumes energy so that they temporarily become a lot more powerful than before. Activating this mode causes my mech to overheat and damage its internals at a fast rate, so I have been told to never activate it unless the circumstances are dire. If I keep it active for too long, my mech will melt or explode." Ketis raised her eyebrows in surprise. Overload modes had existed for a long time, but she never expected for Master Benedict to make use of this solution.

"Is there anything special about the Volcanic Outburst Mode that makes it different from other overload modes?"

"There is." Saint Linda nodded. "Master Benedict has carefully configured its settings as

Well as the parts of my ace mech so that the breakdowns and other malfunctions will happen all at once instead of one at a time. What I mean by that is that my Amphis Extremis will remain fully functional before reaching the critical threshold. If I don't resolve a crisis by that time, my ace mech will be dead anyway."

Her description did not sound like much, but Ketis knew that I was much more difficult to attain this result in practice!

It demanded a deep understanding of all of the utilized technologies as well as how they materially deteriorated after being subjected to excessive abuse!

A Journeyman Mech Designer like Ketis could never develop an overload mode in her own mech designs that could work so well!

Her own solution would likely cause her swordsman mechs to blow up their flight systems or mech engines first, thereby causing them to become combat ineffective despite the fact that all of their other parts and systems were still in working condition! After Ketis was done with admiring the latest implementation of the Magma Vein System, she soon turned her attention to Master Benedict's other technological triumph. "What about the Endex System? I have heard that Master Benedict managed to make a large breakthrough in its operation."

Ketis recalled that Master Benedict also contributed to the Amaranto Mark II Project. The version of the Endex System utilized in the Amphis Extremis would probably be applied to the upcoming ace command mech as well!

"He did." Saint Linda responded. "I have been told that the Endex System Version 3.0 makes much more effective use of phasewater technology and hyper technology. I don't know how he came up with the idea, but he actually came up with the idea of using flesh taken from phase lords or phase whales to increase the amount of energy harvested from other dimensions. He instructed me to exchange a large chunk of my war merits for brain tissue harvested from a greater phase whale. With the help of this material, the Endex System installed inside my Amphis Extremis can practically power my Amphis Extremis by itself."

That was a remarkable result! Unlike conventional power reactors that relied on high-density fuel or other energy sources to supply a lot of energy to different parts, the Endex System perpetually absorbed it from other dimensions, making it practically free

And inexhaustible to operate!

As long as it became powerful enough and as long as Saint Linda controlled the energy consumption of her ace mech, the Amphis Extremis could theoretically keep fighting on the battlefield for an entire day without exhausting her energy reserves!

This was also why the Amphis Extremis did not contain too many energy-hungry

Components.

The only real energy hog of the ace space knight was the SA-DIX Shield Generator.

How could a space knight fail to resist a lot of damage?

Even if the design of the Amphis Extremis placed more emphasis on offense rather than defense, the inclusion of a custom azure energy shield generator that was largely dependent on energy supply neatly made up for its defensive shortcomings! "Most knight mechs designed in the past rely more on armor than energy shields to withstand enemy attacks." Ketis said. "Alien transphasic energy shield technology is so highly developed that it has changed our paradigms. Now, more and more defensive mechs have begun to rely more on their energy shields than armor plating for protection. As a space knight pilot, how do you feel about this shift?"

The ace pilot remained silent for a moment.

"To be honest, I am having difficulty adapting to this transition. A good mech pilot must

Always be able to adapt to new technologies, but old habits die hard. I know many colleagues who insist on sticking to space knights that put more emphasis on armor than energy shields because that is what they have based their success on for so many years. I like to think that I am better than those inflexible pilots, but I still feel awfully exposed whenever I make use of the SA-DIX Shield Generator in the field. It is not as physical and solid as a good slab of metal. The protection is entirely based on fancy tech that I can never hope to understand how it works. It makes me feel as if my life and death is decided by technology rather than my own piloting"

"I see. I can sort of understand how that is distressing to a mech pilot that likes to feel in

Control."

This was probably another reason why the Amphis Extremis did not contain too many weapon systems and other gizmos.

Saint Linda Cross clearly preferred to rely on solutions that were simple, tangible and easily understandable.

In that sense, the loadout of the Amphis Extremis made complete sense. The flail was a simple enough weapon to understand. The tower shield even more so. The machine guns were low-tech weapon systems that lacked the abstractness and complexity of more advanced ranged solutions such as energy weapons and plasma weapons.

Ketis suddenly gained a crucial insight!

Simple and lower-tech solutions were not always inferior. It was not necessarily the wrong choice to resort to tech and design applications that were not very popular so long as they perfectly fit the mech pilot's preferences and inclinations!

The Amphis Extremis was designed from the ground up with the Saint Kingdom and the

Personal preferences of Saint Linda Cross in mind.

The design was as minimal as possible while still possessing enough features to elevate

The performance of the ace mech to the next level!

The results were clearly gratifying.

While Ketis had yet to see the Amphis Extremis perform at its best, she already gathered

Enough information to guess that it should be able to resist far more attacks and inflict much greater damage than the Dark Zephyr Mark III!

Sure, the Dark Zephyr Mark III was a completely different kind of mech that was never meant to perform assault missions.

That did not take away from the fact that the Amphis Extremis was far better designed

To fight against the native aliens today despite the fact that was not a living mech!

Perhaps the Dark Zephyr Mark III might be able to overtake the Amphis Extremis over

Time by relying on the growth of the ace pilot as well as the ace mech, but how long would that take?

If it took 20 years for the Dark Zephyr Mark III to grow into his power and truly unlock his greater potential, then that had no bearing at all in the current crisis!

Ketis knew that living mechs could continually grow in E-technology terms until they

Evolved into monsters.

It would be nice to have them at the Larkinson Clan's disposal right away, but that was clearly an impossible dream!

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