The Mech Touch

The field test thoroughly allowed the Larkinsons as well as other parties such as the Red Association to gain a relatively extensive understanding of the Amaranto Mark III Rev 2’s combat power.

It was extremely good, just as expected.

"The lethality of this ace mech surpasses that of other typical junior ace mechs." Vector Loban judged. "It is not just that the damage output per shot and per minute is considerably higher than other ranged mechs of the same level. It is this novel combination between an ace mech and a companion spirit who has recently been promoted to the second major cultivation rank that results in observably better performance. It is as if an ace pilot is perpetually teamed up with a qi cultivating domain shaper!"

This was the benefit of mech pilots that acquired their own companion spirits.

Mundane mech pilots with companion spirits already enjoyed numerous benefits that allowed them to become more sensitive to E energy and gain a second mind that improved their multitasking capabilities.

However, companion spirits at this level were not really capable of directly affecting the combat performance of mech. The best they could do was to possess a specific weapon or component to give the mech pilot better control.

Companion spirits of the first major cultivation rank started to acquire slightly stronger and more useful capabilities. This was where their affinity with certain E energy attributes allowed them to augment the power of a weapon or make the mech a little more resistant towards damage.

While all of that sounded nice, it was only when companion spirits reached the same level as that of an ace pilot where they truly came online!

A companion spirit as powerful as Vail could already fight by herself and amplify the performance of an ace mech by at least 10 percent or more without doing anything too special!

This was because they acquired their own domains that allowed them to harmonize with E energy radiation and use that to produce profound and powerful effects.

In short, ace pilots with companion spirits possessed a lot of advantages! They were effectively two cultivators rolled up in a single body, thereby allowing them to expand their capabilities that normally would have been difficult to attain.

Ves knew that it was no longer possible for ace pilots without companion spirits to acquire one.

Their willpower had become too strong for Ves or a companion fruit to separate a part of their spirit and breathe life into it. Saint Stark therefore lucked out big time that she already had a companion spirit before she broke through.

Vail had the potential to become as strong and useful as Emma one day. The former already possessed a shadow of the power of a True God-level companion spirit.

After the test came to a conclusion, Saint Stark did not wait for the Tarrasque to return to New Constantinople VIII to depart to the battlefield.

The native aliens had begun to consolidate their most recent gains and were already in the process of amassing their forces to assault the fifth defensive line.

The Amaranto had to be where she was needed the most. The powerful ace mech was of little use in the hinterland of human-occupied space.

Ves met with Saint Stark one last time before she transferred to a fast courier vessel that would bring her to the frontlines.

"Have you already decided whether you want to fight alongside Tusa?"

"I have decided not to follow him at first." The female ace pilot responded. "I would like to receive mentorship from an older and more experienced ace pilot. There are many that have shown interest in mentoring me. Executing a lesser phase lord during my second breakthrough event has made me considerably popular among those who are having difficulties with these powerful enemies."

"I bet that they want to try and see if they can poach you from my clan as well while they are at it." Ves said. "You are the only ace pilot in our retainer that has not formally joined my clan."

"There is no need for concern. I will continue to serve you for the remaining duration of our 100 year agreement. You have yet to show any dishonor that would compel me to prematurely break our relationship. The love and effort that you and your wife have put into the Amaranto over the years has thoroughly convinced me that I will only be able to enjoy the best mechs and gear for my rank as long as I remain in your service. Others can only produce mechs that are at best comparable to the Amaranto in strength, but lack the living quality that makes your products so loved among mech pilots such as myself."

A living mech had long exceeded the definition of a simple tool or product. It had become a living entity that possessed its own personality and emotions. Many people couldn’t help but treat them as pets or even siblings.

Once their relationships with living mechs had reached this level, it became a lot more difficult for mech pilots to switch to piloting other machines, as they weren’t swayed by objective measures of performance anymore!

This was the reason why Ves did not worry too much that others would succeed in poaching Saint Stark.

None of them could design living mechs comparable to his own works. Even if they were able to design mechs that could strike harder and more effectively, that was not enough to overcome Stark’s strong emotional attachment towards her battle partner!

The two continued to chat. Ves eventually brought up another important subject.

"As you know, the Amaranto Mark III Rev 2 is considered finished by us for the time being. My wife and I have our hands full with many other projects, so we cannot provide your ace mech with regular iterative updates. I think it is best to just let you master the current iteration of your machine. If your machine is still intact after several years of fighting, we can examine the data of its performance and see what kind of modifications and upgrades we should apply to your mech. Until then, please try to respect its strengths and limitations. Gloriana has invested more effort and resources into training highly intelligent and skilled engineers into mech technicians that are qualified to repair the most common applications of archetech. If your mech has sustained damage, it should be easy enough for them to follow Gloriana’s instruction and guidance and perform simple repairs by themselves."

"What if my mech has sustained heavy damage?" She asked.

"Then you have no choice but to bring the damaged Amaranto back to us, or more precisely my wife. She is the only one in our clan who can fully repair or reconstruct the more complex and powerful pieces of archemetal. Right now, archetech is too new and exotic. Not enough people have studied it yet, and those that attempted to do so are unlikely to persist due to struggling with making sense of all of the alien interpretations of science."

This was the price that the Larkinsons needed to pay for using alien and obscure technology.

It was still worth it as far as Ves was concerned. The Dark Zephyr Mark III had repeatedly taken advantage of the strengths of architects to take more risks and achieve more results on the battlefield.

"I shall endeavor not to sustain damage, then." Saint Stark said. "It will be easier for me than a pilot that dances with danger as much as Tusa."

"That is good to hear. Please remember that while I have no objections with you going on tour, there will come a time where I will transmit a request for you to return. I will need your firepower and the power of all of our other ace pilots in order to fight on behalf of our whole clan. Only by concentrating our best assets and utilizing them exactly the way they are supposed to be employed in battle will we be able to attain the best results."

Saint Stark mildly frowned. "I have few objections to returning to fight under your direction, but only if we actually get to fight just as many aliens. I will not agree to stay around if all you want is bodyguards to cover your escape."

"Don’t worry. I do not have any intentions of running away." At least for now. "If enough time has passed, having you return will make it easier for my wife and I to apply upgrades to your ace mech. By the way, do you have any requests that you would like to add to your Amaranto next time? We can’t fulfill every request, but we can at least look into whether it is feasible."

"I do have a request." She said. "The initial version of the Amaranto made use of Opticonium as a resonating exotic. It granted me the very useful ability to bend my energy beams, allowing me to strike targets that were otherwise behind cover. The Mark III doesn’t have that anymore, and I always find myself missing this useful capability. Is there any way you can return this capability to me in one form or another? It is very useful for my mech to be able to threaten enemies that are not in a straight line of sight from my position."

"I am sorry, Stark, but what you are asking for is… difficult to fulfill. Opticonium is indeed a very useful resonating exotic for expert pilots, but there is no ace mech-grade equivalent. There are material scientists that specialize in developing new resonating alloys that can attempt to develop such a material, but that will take years and hundreds of millions of MTA credits of funding. It is not really worth investing in. You don’t need it, though."

"I do not?" Saint Stark looked surprised.

"Resonating exotics are a crutch. It’s a shortcut." Ves stated to the guest pilot. "The most popular theory and the theory that I ascribe by is that exotics are the fossilized remains of powerful entities. That, or they are simple rocks and minerals that have been affected by the radiation of strong beings in the distant past. Resonating exotics are the same, but may have absorbed the essence of the domain of those beings. The implication of this theory is that you don’t need to stick with using the powers of others as a crutch. Now that you have become an ace pilot, you should be able to develop many wonderful applications of your Saint Kingdom. My advice to you is that if you want to bend your energy beams, you can try to experiment with your domain field in order to figure out a solution yourself. Maybe you can enlist the aid of your companion spirit for additional help."

That was a good suggestion. Saint Stark hadn’t been an ace pilot long enough for her to make much progress on this front.

"Do you think this will grant me the ability to bend my energy beams like before?"

"Yes, but you should plan out your training and development strategy before you try to improve. How you choose to develop your power will largely affect what kind of powerhouse you will be as you approach the threshold to god pilot. If you spend a disproportionate amount of time on bending your energy beams, then that will become your defining characteristic. Your frontal damage output won’t be as strong as a similar ace pilot who has focused on increasing the upper limit of his attacks."

"Hmm. You have given me much to think about. Thank you for your advice. A part of me thinks that I already possess enough firepower. Regaining the capacity to attack enemies that are being protected behind obstacles is useful, but increasing my absolute damage output is also important as far too many enemies rely on energy defenses to keep themselves safe."

Saint Stark couldn’t make up her mind at the moment. She needed to consider her possibilities further if she wanted to make a choice that she wouldn’t regret.

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