The Mech Touch

After applying Ketis' new model to Venerable Joshua, Ves and its creator soon began to use it to evaluate the strengths and shortcomings of other famed Larkinsons. "Venerable Stark is a driven woman. Her willpower is most certainly not weak. Her Man score should definitely be high." Ketis analyzed. "She has just received the Amaranto Mark III, which means her Earth score has also shot up. Given that she has yet to break through, she either needs a breakthrough opportunity in combat where her Man score temporarily peaks above her normal level, or she needs to work on her Heaven score."

Ves was less familiar with Venerable Stark than Ketis due to his departure from the expeditionary fleet, but he still possessed a decent understanding of her progress over the past few years.

"Stark comes across as a materialistic individual to me." He said. "She doesn't invest much attention into the more magical and metaphysical stuff around her. She is totally focused on her mission to kill powerful aliens and her drive to improve her marksmanship skills. While that has caused her to temper her willpower a lot better than others, her self-centered attitude has left her blind to the wonders of the cosmos. I think we need to nudge her to view E energy radiation as more than an extra power source. It is a vital pillar that can support her attempt to break past her limitations as an expert pilot and form the building blocks of her Saint Kingdom."

When Ves compared Joshua Larkinson with Davia Stark, the latter clearly possessed better breakthrough prospects.

This was because it was generally a lot harder for mech pilots to raise their performance in the Man category on a systematic basis. They needed to change their behavior, push themselves out of their comfort zone and take risks that others deemed insanely dangerous.

In contrast, raising one's Heaven score could easily be done by borrowing the resources and learning material of the Red Collective.

The superorganization had a lot of old records related to qi cultivation in its possession, and it had developed a lot of modern cultivation methods that could strengthen one's affinity and comprehension towards all of the common E energy attributes.

Any expert pilot should be able to reference a suitable cultivation method and use it as a manual to increase their ability to wield their chosen element in a reliable and systematic fashion.

Of course, the more advanced qi cultivation methods were not that easy to get into. Their requirements were higher and most certainly demanded permanent transformations that could only be performed by uncommitted practitioners.

"Venerable Jannzi's willpower is quite strong, and her Bastion is more powerful and modern than the Shield of Samar. I think she can also accomplish a breakthrough fairly quickly once she works on improving her Heaven score."

"General Ark's situation is a little trickier. He is older and has tempered his willpower more extensively, but recent setbacks have damaged his confidence. His Lionheart is a modern and powerful masterwork expert mech without any doubt, but I don't think he leverages the power of Heaven all that much. I believe the best course of action is for him to focus on raising his Heaven score. Once he is able to harness greater power than before, his confidence will automatically be restored. That should put him in the best position to trigger a breakthrough opportunity."

While the pair of mech designers did not understand the full details of every expert pilot, they soon realized that the common shortcoming of most of them was their underutilization of E energy radiation.

This was still a fairly new phenomenon to red humanity, so it was not a surprise that expert pilots had yet to realize its value and potential.

Therefore, Ves became increasingly more determined to summon the champions of the Larkinson Clan to a mandatory meeting and give them a crash course on the importance of developing their affinities towards an element or concept.

"The RA and RC may know a thing or two about this as well." Ketis guessed. "Perhaps it will not be long before they publish similar instructions."

"They're too slow." Ves shook his head in disappointment. "That's the trouble with big bureaucracies. I bet that their science departments demand every researcher to conduct extensive experiments and observations before they can definitively prove that they are 95 percent correct. The Red Three cannot afford to tarnish their reputation by publishing flawed research. We are not subject to these restrictions, though we will definitely damage our credibility if we end up being horribly wrong. Are you confident enough in your theory that you are confident enough to provide guidance to the entire mech community?"

Ketis did not hesitate. "I wouldn't have shared my manual with you if I thought its core theories were wrong. There are many speculative portions in the text, but I have clearly marked them as such. I am confident that the Heaven Earth Man Trifecta is a sound theory. I am more than willing to put my credibility on the line if that is what it takes." Ves directed a deep stare at Ketis. If she actually persisted in this effort, then she would either earn great fame and renown, or become known as a disgraced Journeyman. "For what it is worth, I believe in your theory"

After talking a bit more about how her Manual of Reformed Swordsmanship could make a much more profound impact on the mech community than the swordsmanship community, the two mech designers quickly moved on to how they could apply the new theories to mech designs.

"Since the start of the Hyper Generation, mech designers have increasingly begun to

Design mechs centered around harnessing the power of specific E energy attributes." Ves explained. "Your Stormblade Samurai mech line is a good example of that, as it uses electrical-based hyper materials to augment their shocking attacks."

Ketis nodded. "Hyper mechs do encourage the use of elements since they are so convenient to acquire and implement in the design."

"That is true, but you have to admit that the application of hyper technology is very shallow and rudimentary for the most part. Sure, only a few years have passed since the start of the Hyper Generation, but I think it is necessary for the mech industry to think more profoundly on the relationship between hyper technology and mech pilots. The former can substantially influence the development of the latter."

"You will have to explain that further, Ves."

"What are the most common E energy attributes used in hyper mechs?"

"Metal is the most common element used in hyper mechs." Ketis easily answered. "Anyone who pays a bit of attention to the emerging trends in the mech industry can tell you that. Metal hypers are the most straightforward way to strengthen mechs because they are overwhelmingly built with metal alloys. There is no way you can go wrong with this solution, but the effects are mostly basic for the time being. They are especially

Popular with cheaper mechs."

"What is next?"

"Water. They are much more heavily used in high-end mechs because they can directly amplify the performance of phasewater technology. They are one of the key materials used to build azure energy shields, which is the strongest technological energy shield tech in the Red Ocean at the moment. The water attribute can also strengthen a transphasic weapon's ability to overpower transphasic defenses. This is vital to defeating the well-shielded warships of the native aliens."

Ves began to smirk. "Have you noticed a common flaw in both of your descriptions? What you have said is all true. Your descriptions accurately capture the common viewpoints of almost every mech designer in the Red Ocean. That means that they all happen to make the same mistake. Even I failed to recognize this glaring shortcoming until you have shared your new theories."

It took half a minute for Ketis to figure out what Ves was getting at. She had spent much more time thinking about improving the state of swordsmanship to spare much time on thinking how her theories could improve the state of mechs.

"Are you thinking about how hyper technology can be used to make mech pilots

Stronger?"

Ves grinned and nodded. "To be more precise, I am thinking about how your theories can be used to improve the growth of any mech pilot, not just expert pilots. Anyone can acquire or develop an affinity towards an E energy attribute. Sure, talent exists, but as long as a mech pilot seriously works to increase his comprehension towards an element, he or she should usually be able to master it to an extent. The biggest challenge is

Getting started. Those with companion spirits can satisfy this condition much easier, but most soldiers don't have one. The job of the mech industry is therefore clear. We need to adopt a new approach towards hyper mech design that explicitly seeks to increase a mech pilot's mastery over specific E energy attributes."

Ketis thought about it and frowned. In the main universe, she had just released the Stormblade Samurai Mark II. She could have used this latest insight to tweak the design of her work and help her future customers learn how to harness the power of electricity

Over time.

"I agree with you, Ves. I feel tempted to go back to my Stormblade Samurai Mark II design and revise it according to your recommendation. I cannot stand the thought of selling it far and wide when it doesn't serve its mech pilots as well as it should. Do you think is a good idea to go through with this plan?"

"I do." Ves decisively replied. "You should invest the time inside the System Space to design a minor upgrade to the Stormblade Samurai Mark II that incorporates this new function. As soon as you exit the System Space, you should publish your new work and announce a recall of all of the existing copies of the original Mark II that have already been sold and put to use. As compensation, the LMC should replace them with copies of your improved version free of charge. This will cause a lot of logistical problems and impose a lot of additional costs on the LMC, but our mech company can afford it. It is better to do it as soon as possible as sales of the original Mark II are still relatively limited."'

Issuing a recall was an inherently damaging action. The monetary cost of doing so was fairly manageable, but the greater cost was reputational damage. Both Ketis and the LMC were bound to tarnish themselves by implying that the Stormblade Samurai Mark II model was unfit for public consumption.

This was not actually true, but it didn't matter if the public had already cast its

Judgment.

The only way for Ketis to restore her reputation was to ensure that her improved version of the Mark II received much greater appreciation from her customers. The good vibes

Would easily make people forget about the recall.

"This is going to be a challenge. Ketis frowned.

While she felt confident enough to improve the design of the Stormblade Samurai Mark

II by incorporating her latest insights, she was not certain whether the differences would be great enough to justify her new plan!

Ves reached out and patted her shoulder. "If it was easy, you would have done it already. This is a worthwhile endeavor. Mech designers must always put their customers first. If your Stormblade Samurai Mark II has been out for a year or so, then I would have advised you to work on the Mark III. That is not the case, though. It would be rather incongruent for the recently released Mark II to cling to an old paradigm while you are trying to convince everyone to adopt a new paradigm right afterward. You need to put your money where your mouth is and adapt your mech designs accordingly."

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