The Mech Touch

The prototype of the Adonis Colossus stood silently in the workshop attached to the LMCʼs spaceborn testing grounds.

Due to the sandman fleet that continued to play hide and seek with the Light Hounds, it wasnʼt entirely safe to test mechs in space.

This was because the testing ground in space was situated right besides an asteroid belt!

With too many Living Sentinels diverted to the frontlines and the system defense force, there werenʼt enough mechs to protect this facility.

For this reason, the prototype testing had to take place on land and in closer orbit of the planet. While this was a little inconvenient, the Adonis Colossus was not a difficult mech to test.

Some of the most difficult and nuanced aspects of a mech was its mobility. It took a lot of complicated props to adequately test a mechʼs mobility, especially under fire.

Fortunately, the hybrid mech was basically a sledgehammer in mech design. It possessed a high degree of firepower and defense and sacrificed a considerable amount of mobility to gain these advantages.

The piloting requirements of such a mech was lower as well. The mech pilot wouldnʼt have to devote too much attention on controlling the movements of the mech.

The basic role of the mech was to withstand a lot of damage and dish it out in return.

It also had to look good while doing that. The ostentatiously masculine appearance of the mech all met the needs of the client.

Ves stepped forward while Lucky lazily hung on his shoulder.

”Meow.”

”I know. This is definitely one of the more tasteless mechs Iʼve designed.”

The belt-like codpiece that Gloriana designed may have saved some of their dignity, but it was still an attention-grabbing feature.

The muscle definition that defined the mechʼs front torso enhanced the mechʼs pronounced masculinity.

In fact, Ves had a sense that the masculinity of the mech was so exaggerated that it inspired ridicule instead of admiration.

Of course, Ves and Gloriana made sure not to make this aspect too obvious. The client had to be happy with the product, after all. He felt no guilt at all in deceiving a bastard like Vincent.

Gloriana walked up next to him while cradling Clixie. ”This mech will be much more impressive once we build the final version. I canʼt wait to see our clientʼs response!”

In order to make the first fabrication attempt as significant as possible, Gloriana insisted on letting others fabricate the prototype.

Even though Ves and Gloriana both identified a number of production flaws, they werenʼt significant enough to impact the test results.

It was still a bit uncomfortable to them. Gloriana especially had to rein in her compulsion to pick up some tools and fix the most obvious faults!

Ves reached out with his spiritual senses to explore its inherent spiritual foundation.

Without a design spirit, the System would probably grade the X-factor of the mech as C++ or something.

Due to his research direction, Ves came to rely on external spiritual entities to power up his mechs.

This made him neglect the spiritual foundation, which was an inherent quality of any of his products. It was part of their own strength, which meant that removing the design spirit from its position would not leave his mechs completely lifeless.

Of course, this was not the primary role of the spiritual foundation. Itʼs main purpose was to facilitate the connection between the design spirit and the mech designs. If the spiritual foundation was weak or incompatible, the design spirit wouldnʼt be able to maintain a strong connection.

While Ves hadnʼt substantiated some of these guesses yet, he was pretty sure about his judgement.

Up until today, Ves still didnʼt fully know the rules governing design spirits and spiritual foundation.

That didnʼt stop him from fumbling around and taking advantage of his new discoveries. If he wasnʼt daring enough to experiment with design spirits, how could he have made so many achievements?

Therefore, despite the fact that relying on external design spirits was rather troublesome, Ves did not give up on his current direction. The most he would do was to nudge it in different directions to increase his versatility.

After he finished his inspection, he retracted his spiritual senses and evaluated the prototype on its technical merits.

By now, the prototype had already accumulated some signs of wear and tear due to being subjected to some intensive tests.

”Itʼs a shame that this prototype is so expensive.” Ves winced a bit. ”Even if we can recycle most materials, some of the exotics will still lose their potency.”

The Adonis Colossus cost as much as twenty Desolate Soldiers! The quality and specs of the custom mech was incomparable to the budget mechs.

Of course, that didnʼt mean the Adonis Colossus possessed the power to crush twenty mechs. It could only defeat a couple of mechs at a time.

”Miaow!”

”Hm?” Gloriana looked down on her pet, who squirmed from her grasp and headed for the exit of the testing ground.

”Meow!”

Lucky followed suit and padded after the organic cat!

”Donʼt mind them, Gloriana. Clixie is disgusted at the mech.”

She frowned. ”How so?”

”She says it carries the scent of a deplorable person.”

”Oh. Well, itʼs true.”

Clixie was no ordinary pet. Ves did not underestimate the ability of the Rubarthans to develop an exotic breed. It was just that Clixie always acted like a proud and spoiled housecat in their presence.

Ves was very curious what a Rubarthan Sentinel Cat was capable of. For this breed of designer pet to become the favored companions of little girls in the New Rubarth Empire, it was probably capable of killing assassins!

He found it rather strange that Clixie stated that the prototype of the Adonis Colossus carried a foul scent. As far as he knew, Clixie did not possess the same type of nose as Nitaa.

Did she possess spiritual potential?

No. Ves played with Clixie often enough to detect that she lacked this quality. She was just a sentient cat.

The two spent some time on inspecting the integrity of the mech. They paid particular attention to the armor plating and the weapon systems. Vincent would have to rely on both of them to fight the sandmen.

Fortunately, their inspections matched the earlier scans. The mech did not show any signs of premature failure due to faults in the design.

Delivering a defective product was a big taboo in the mech community! This was especially so for custom mechs!

”Thereʼs something missing on this mech.” Gloriana frowned in thought. ”Ah! Itʼs missing our signature looks! Without them, this mech doesnʼt fully express our identity!”

”Uhh.. I donʼt think Vincent appreciates our signature looks.”

”Why not, Ves?”

”Vincent is a client who is very particular about the image his mech conveys. Adding a third eye to the Adonis Colossus has the potential to ruin its masculine appearance. It might instead make it look like a freak! As for the hexagon, I donʼt think Vincent will appreciate a brand that is highly associated with Hexers on his mech.”

Gloriana innocently blinked. ”I donʼt see the problem.”

”It directly clashes against his preferences! Do you know how he would feel if his proud, masculine mech carries the mark associated with female supremacists?”

Ves was sure that Vincent would blow up as soon as he saw the hexagon!

”I canʼt stand leaving out our symbols! I still want to add them to the Adonis Colossus! Our signature looks are meant to promote our product identities starting from the new generation! Making an exception right away is extremely grating!”

After a quick discussion, they decided to compromise.

”Letʼs add our signature looks to the mech in a way that isnʼt immediately obvious.” Ves eventually suggested. ”We can place it in the cockpit or place our marks on the back of the mech.”

Gloriana grinned. ”I have a better idea!”

She activated her comm and activated a design program before loading in a schematic of the design. She temporarily peeled off the broad V-shaped codpiece from the mech and began to add his third eye and her hexagon at a very sensitive spot!

”This..” Ves was speechless.

Once she tweaked the placement and size of the additions, she added back the codpiece which covered them from view!

”I call this the lower surprise!”

Ves scratched his smooth-shaven skin in shock. ”Gloriana… your humor is much more wicked than I thought!”

”Hihihi! I can have some fun too, you know!”

”Isnʼt this a violation of our responsibilities, though? If Vincent finds out that we added something extra to the lower portion of his mech, he will not be pleased.”

”Relax, Ves. Few people should inspect our mech design in detail. In the schematics, the codpiece will conveniently block the addition of our signature looks.”

”What if an enemy shoots the codpiece into pieces?”

Gloriana smirked. ”If there is one thing I can say about boys like Vincent, itʼs that they would rather die than get shot in their lower parts!”

Surprisingly, Ves agreed with her assertion! He could very well imagine that Vincent would do anything to avoid getting his manhood shot!

Though it wasnʼt entirely proper to prank Vincent with this peculiar design change, Ves and Gloriana already bent some rules. It was no big deal to bend the rules some more.

The fact that Gloriana took the initiative to act playful at work was a sign of progress in his eyes.

He did not think it was a good idea for her to remain stiff and exacting in her work. Making her more flexible and adaptable like him was much more preferable.

”This mech is missing something else I think.” Gloriana pressed her finger to her lips. ”I just canʼt quite figure out what. I still havenʼt recovered yet, or else I would have been able to come up with an answer by now.”

”This mech is still missing its most essential spiritual component.”

”I know that, Ves, but thereʼs something else about our work that doesnʼt seem right.”

Ves puzzlingly looked up at the tall and expensive machine. As far as he knew, it did what it was supposed to do, and pretty well at that. While the custom mech was not as capable as the Transcendent Messenger or the Loquacious Raphael, it possessed its own strengths.

”I know!” She gasped! ”A cape! A rich, red cape that conveys the full majesty of this mech! Isnʼt that what you added to Vincentʼs first custom mech?”

Ves grimaced. ”Yes. I hoped that all of you would have forgotten about it, though. Adding fabric to a mech isnʼt exactly the best idea. Itʼs especially foolish to do so when the mech is meant to withstand a lot of laser fire. The cape will surely end up in tatters by the time a battle is over!”

”I really think you should reconsider. Instead of adding a cape made out of fabric, why not make use of the Rescue Particle Generator that you like so much?”

That was actually a decent idea. Making a cape out of glowing red vapor particles would enhance the stature of the mech while preserving its dignity during battle. This was because as long as the additional module remained intact, the cape would not incur any damage!

Ves borrowed the active design suite projected by her comm and quickly added the particle generator. He tried to program the module to project various fluid red capes.

”The cape isnʼt big enough.” Gloriana shook her head. ”Donʼt forget that this mech is supposed to inspire the public. It wonʼt be able to do that if the mech and its cape isnʼt distinguishable enough in wide-angle battle footage where there is a lot of clutter in view.”

”How big do you want to make it, then?”

”Vincent is a very insecure boy, so he needs an extra-large cape. How about this!”

She manipulated the interface and stretched out the cape to an exaggerated degree! It was so long that it partially made the Adonis Colossus look like a snake!

”It looks as if Vincent is overcompensating for something if he pilots this mech!”

”Exactly! According to my understanding of his personality, he should definitely love this addition!”