The Mech Touch - Chapter 19

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The Mech Touch - Chapter 19

The Mech Touch

Ves revisited the C1A Nero. He was never proud of the mech, even if he
learned a lot about the Caesar Augustus when working on it. The small
solutions he implemented in the Nero only helped him fabricate a less
horrible Caesar Augustus. In that regard, he succeeded modestly.
When Ves checked his sales again, he saw that the Nero had already
been sold once for a whole 60,000 credits.
"At least I don't have to worry about paying for the raw materials of
my next model."
The Nero always felt like a half-finished job to Ves. Now that he came
back with a lot of new ideas, he wanted to revisit its design and see
whether he could transform it into a mech that enables pilots to reach
the X-Factor.
Ves opened up the Mech Designer System and switched to the
Designer page. The Designer stored all of his old designs, so he pulled
up the Nero effortlessly.
When he modified the C1's design, he made changes based revolving
around reducing its cost and increasing its efficiency. He treated the
Caesar Augustus as a robot and rearranged its internals without any
regards to its presumably non-existent feelings.
Ves wasn't sure working like that was the right approach. In his beliefs
about the X-Factor, emotions played an important role. While he still
wasn't certain how to engender these emotions in a giant machine, he
had some guesses he could try.
First, he theorized a mech designer's emotions and intentions played
an enabling role. In other words, his own feelings bled over into the
design and fabrication of a new mech. The clues to this idea came from
remembering the circumstances of designing the Seraphim.

Ice-cold designers who barely put any passion in their designs could
never spark a semblance of life in these mechs. When Ves worked on
the Phantasm, Nomad and Nero, he constantly tried to maximize his
gains while minimizing his losses. Though he was upbeat, he didn't
put in an excessive amount of passion in his work.
Despite being overburdened with toys, the Seraphim had been
designed in a fit of passion. Ves vaguely remembered the emotions he
experienced back then. He became elated at his first sale, and the
completion of his second ever tutorial missions. He received a windfall
of resources and also got drunk on purchasing a lot of virtual
component licenses. With such an affected mind, he got straight to
work at designing a colorful mech that embodied extreme joy and
passion.
"These all happened to be the same emotions TheSeventhSnake felt
when he performed at his best."
Ves formed a bold idea. The alignment of the emotions expressed by
the designer, mech and pilot determined whether they could produce
the X-Factor. Almost every speculation about the X-Factor Ves had
read on the galactic net only focused on the mech and its pilot. It
almost never included the designer. Even if they did, they focused on
the designer's physical objectives, not his emotional demands.
How can a sword in the hands of a warrior shine bright when the
blacksmith forged it casually?
There was no proof for Ves' assertion that the craftsman mattered. As
far as humanity knew, emotions weren't bundles of energy that had a
definable existence in he material universe. It certainly sounded highly
unlikely that when Ves designed and fabricated the Seraphim, he
somehow embedded it with some sort of voodoo mental energy.

No. Perhaps the mystery lay in purpose and intent. The strong
emotions of the mech designer sharpened his intent. A mech designed
to break through fortifications would not only possess the physical
qualities that enabled it to perform such a task, it would also be built
carrying the designer's intent to succeed. Paired with a pilot who
carries the same wish, such a mech crystallized the intent of all three
entities in a single machine.
In order to gift the new Nero with a purpose, Ves first had to look back
on the intent of its base model.
"The Caesar Augustus is a product of a young, spoiled mech designer's
desire to show off." Ves concluded as he recalled the debut of Jason
Kozlowski. "At the time, it was built to be the best all-rounder
currentgen mech."
Jason obviously hadn't been modest in his demands. However, he
possessed one thing many other mech designers lacked. "He was
incredibly passionate when he designed the Caesar Augustus."
The heir to National Aeromotives made a bet that he'd produce the
design in a month. If Jason spent only one month to come up with a
completely original design with so much pressure hanging over him,
the emotions that he carried over in his creations would be immense.
"I've done a disservice to the Caesar Augustus." Ves realized as he
recalled the times when he fabricated the virtual versions of the stock
model and the Nero. Even though he crafted them in a simulation, the
life-like circumstances meant that the frustrations and difficulties he
felt must have bled over to his end products.
"I need to adjust my mood. Redesigning the new Nero without
emulating Jason's passion will just deliver another half-assed result."

Ves felt as if he was forced to go up to a stage and begin acting while he
had zero experience. The only thing he could do is recall the times
when he was still young and bright, before his moody teenage years set
in. He used to dream of following in his father's footsteps and become
a mech pilot.
"I was naive back then. Naive but happy." Much like how Jason felt
thirty years ago when he just graduated from Estelon.
While he didn't succeed in summoning up a youthful and arrogant
mood, Ves somewhat managed to instill confidence in himself. "I don't
have anything great to draw upon in my past, but with the help of the
System I can still dream of the wonders I'll experience in the future."
The Caesar Augustus' main attribute was exuding absolute confidence.
Jason believed the mech he designed was the best of the current
generation. It surpassed any frontline or elite mech within the same
technological boundary.
Only the most advanced nextgen models carefully developed and kept
hidden by the first-tier states could beat it in a fair fight, and those
mechs were usually kept hidden from the public, employed only in the
most frigid battles by the geniuses of the largest empires.
In other words, the Caesar Augustus had reason to be arrogant.
After matching his confident mood with the arrogant and narcissistic
mindset behind the Caesar Augustus, Ves went to work making
adjustments to the Nero. Naturally, in the perspective of improving
the Nero's physical capabilities, he only had limited options. He hadn't
learn any new sub-skills since the time he designed the Nero, after all.
He also couldn't undo all of his work in the misguided intention to
emulate Jason.

Instead, he sought to bring back the charm of the base model. Ves had
originally smoothed out the minute incongruities Jason incorporated
in C1's armor. He used to regard them as sloppy flourishes that added
nothing of value. Now he noted the seemingly useless contours
enhanced its domineering image.
Next, he payed attention to its internals. The changes he made to
produce the original Nero were minor optimizations. They reduced the
risk of catastrophic faults and made the mech easier to maintain, but
the underlying idea behind the changes was that he made the mech
more timid.
Jason designed the C1 to be a showstopping elite, focusing purely on
its martial prowess and not nearly enough attention to its practicality.
Ves somehow had to reconcile two opposite intents. One was the need
to make the Nero more practical to maintain and repair. The other was
to retain the Caesar Augustus' aggressive edge.
The way Ves decided to go about it was to revert a couple of changes
and implement a couple of new ones. The Caesar Augustus
emphasized confidence to the point of recklessness. The Nero
emphasized self-preservation to the point of timidity. Therefore, the
Nero Redividus should be focused on competence that its systems
could take a better beating. Essentially, Ves left out much of the
arrogance embedded in the base model.
Since he hadn't made any major changes, Ves finished updating his
Nero after only half a day. After Ves added in the finishing touches, he
let the System evaluate his redesigned variant. He aptly named it the
Nero Redivivus, after a somewhat dubious legends that the Ancient
Roman emperor rose from the dead. Ves imagined he succeeded in
bringing his older work back to life.
[Design Evaluation: C1B Nero Redivivus.]

Variant name: C1B Nero Redivivus
Base model: Caesar Augustus C1
Original Manufacturer: National Aeromotives
Weight Classification: Medium-Heavy
Recommended Role: Elite Vanguard
Armor: A
Carrying Capacity: C-
Aesthetics: B
Endurance: D
Energy Efficiency: D+
Flexibility: E
Firepower: B+
Integrity: E
Mobility: D+
Spotting: C-

X-Factor: E-
Deviance: 4%
Performance improvement: 3%
Overall evaluation: A customized design that barely improves on the
original. While it is slightly easier to fabricate and repair, this variant
offers barely any benefits. Rare among other variants, this design has
not butchered the base model's X-Factor. Instead, it has retained a
shadow of its presence.
[You have received 50 Design Points completing an original design of
a last generation mech.]
[You have received 100 Design Points for designing a mech with a
trace of X-Factor.]
"Yes! I did just enough to get it to work." Ves rejoiced, happy for
reaching the finish line just as he put in so much work. The windfall of
DP he received also helped. At least Ves received some indication from
the System that his attempts to recreate the vaunted X-Factor
succeeded. "I haven't wasted all of my time."
Ves waited for a moment, but nothing else had happened. "Uh,
System. I've completed the mission. Won't you give me the rewards?"
[Please continue fabricating your design in order to complete the
mission.]
Regardless of the Nero Redivivus' inadequacies, it offered the
possibility to unleash the X-Factor, but evidently the possibility wasn't

enough. He had to prove its existence by making the design come to
life.
"I'm pretty sure the mission stated that designing a mech should be
enough. Do you just want me to finish what I started?"
It didn't hurt to practice. "I might as well do it. But first, let's spend my
DP."
Enough time had passed for his Fantasia variants to sell several
hundred times, though their sales trend started to decline. And while
Ves only managed to sell the Caesar Augustus and the Nero once, their
higher tiers resulted in more DP when they were sold. Together with
the DP he received as a reward for designing the Nero Redividus, Ves
saved enough points to purchase the Mediumweight Armor
Optimization I sub-skill in the Skill Tree.
"I'd rather purchase the 3D Printer Proficiency II upgrade since I still
have trouble reproducing the Caesar Augustus' parts, but I really need
to learn how to work with armor once I receive the new licence."
It was a matter of priorities. Without becoming more proficient in
modifying armor, he might fail in adapting the new armor to the
Caesar Augustus. He'd be wasting the valuable license if he botched
the design.
He checked his Status again to see if anything else had changed.
[Status]
Name: Ves Larkinson

Profession: Novice Mech Designer
Specializations: None
Design Points: 74
Attributes
Strength: 0.7
Dexterity: 0.7
Endurance: 0.6
Intelligence: 1.2
Creativity: 1
Concentration: 1.1
Neural Aptitude: F
Skills
[Assembly]: Novice - [3D Printer Proficiency I] [Assembler Proficiency
I]
[Business]: Apprentice

[Computer Science]: Incompetent
[Electrical Engineering]: Novice
[Mathematics]: Incompetent
[Mechanics]: Apprentice - [Jury Rigging I] [Speed Tuning I]
[Metallurgy]: Apprentice
[Metaphysics]: Incompetent
[Physics]: Novice - [Lightweight Armor Optimization I]
[Mediumweight Armor Optimization I]
Evaluation: Achieved a step into novice territory.
Surprisingly, he gained some benefits from his focused research. The
long hours he spent reading and watching interviews rose his
Concentration by 0.1 points. The scattered but varied theories he
learned and formulated by himself also gained acknowledgement by
the System, resulting in a new sub-skill called Metaphysics.
"Seems like you acknowledge that metaphysics has merit." Ves
remarked coyly at the System. It didn't deign to reply.
Shrugging, Ves switched back to his Skill Tree and saw that the
Metaphysics sub-trees were under a special condition. He spotted
plenty of icons, but fog shrouded their names and descriptions. He
also couldn't spend his DP to unlock them. He wasn't allowed to cheat
his way into mastering the X-Factor.

This only underscored its value.
Well, he could figure it out later. First he had to fabricate the Nero
Redividus in order to prove his assumptions and complete the
mission.
"First, I need to get in the right mindset again. I can't treat the
fabrication process as a chore."
He began work on fabricating the new Nero whilst keeping a
confident, trusting attitude. This wasn't always easy to keep up for
hours. Ves frequently took breaks in order to keep his mood fresh.
This caused him to take twice as long to finish the Nero Redividus, but
when he finally read through the testing and diagnostics of the
completed model, he gained a pleasant surprise.
Despite his fumbling, the Nero Redividus had actually improved. Its
construction went a little smoother, causing less sub-standard parts to
pop up. This improvement helped along the assembly process, where
Ves spent much less time wrangling ill-fitting parts into a whole.
"I'm finally done with this." Ves sighed. He visited his store page,
removed the first Nero from his catalog, and added in the Nero
Redividus to take its place.
The System finally gave Ves what he deserved.
[Congratulations for completing the mission. The road to
understanding the X-Factor is long and bumpy. There are many
destinations at the end of the road. Believe in yourself and advance
towards the end point unique to you.]

[You have received a 10-year random medium armor production
license lottery ticket. Please visit the Lottery page to redeem your
ticket.]
[You have received a 200 ton medium armor raw materials package.
Please visit your Inventory to open the package.]
Ves was already filled with glee. "My luck's been bad lately. The
heavens must surely compensate me this time. Hopefully I won't
encounter another pagoda."
Chapter end