The Mech Touch - Chapter 4

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The Mech Touch - Chapter 4

The Mech Touch

Engulfed by the satisfaction of a new purchase, Shifter66 hopped into
the 2R-E's cockpit. Without even spending time to grow familiar with
the modified mech, he entered the arena and initiated a search for an
opponent. Shifter66 wanted to dive right into a battle with his new
baby.
As a fairly new and unskilled pilot, Shifter66 naturally got matched
against a pool of similarly low-skilled players. Iron Spirit featured a
sophisticated matchmaking system, and the lowest segment was the
Bronze League.
Every potentate who played Iron Spirit started from the Bronze
League. Only by winning a sufficient amount of times would one gain
the opportunity to promote to the Silver League, which most mech
enthusiasts consider it to be the real beginning of the game.
That was because the developers enacted a lot of restrictions to the
matches taking place in Bronze. Players could only earn a little
amount of gold, though they also had few opportunities to lose it due
to simplifying repair costs. Matchmaking in the lowest league also
didn't cross star systems, which meant that most low-tier players
fought against opponents from the same planet.
Bronze leaguers were also limited from purchasing any mechs rated
higher than 1 stars, which really frustrated a lot of kids who wanted to
dive right into big and modern mechs.
As for Shifter66, he hadn't been exposed to the world of mechs for
long. The mechs he already had access to already occupied his full
attention.

His view changed into a preparatory screen. The game found an
opponent for him. After confirming his mech, weapon and map
preferences, he waited for his opponent to do the same.
After a short wait, the boy's mech landed upon a grassy hill. The first
thing he did was to engage his sensors to see if his opponent was in
range. One of the few good things about the Fantasia 2R was its
fantastic scanning power, courtesy of its hair-like sensor bundle
attached to its head.
The mech found an energy signature fairly quickly, which meant his
opponent wasn't hiding. The boyeagerly commanded his mech to
move forward, only to trip and almost fall backwards his mech's
balance fell apart.
"Ah what the?!"
Only until now did it sink in to him that having a gigantic rear wasn't
all that good. He wrestled with his neural interface for several
minutes, trying to find a running posture that wouldn't tip him
backwards. He finally managed to accomplish a crude stance by
bending his mech's torso forwards, which had the unintentional effect
of making his rear more pronounced.
"Who cares, as long as it works. Let's try the booster."
Upon activating the Gemini's powerful thrusters, the Fantasia
practically rocketed forwards. Only through some haphazard steps did
Shifter66 manage to keep his mech on his feet and vaguely control his
direction forward.
"WOOHOOO!"

As the boyfurther adapted to the mech's forward momentum, he found
himself wild with joy. He could practically feel the wind whipping his
mech as he casually broke through his personal speed record.
Unfortunately he neglected one thing. His opponent hadn't been
twiddling his thumbs.
"Shifter66 eh, too bad you're piloting a light mech. My Groenig-
Halman eat light mechs for breakfast." The player known as
Triceratopssss boasted.
He had the wins to back it up. KRH Heavy Industries' Groenig-
Halman models offered a good balance between weight, energy and
armor. They generally suffered against heavier mechs, but anything
lighter couldn't go through its armor before the G-H pulverized them.
The G-H's design mimicked a gorilla, so it could bend down on all
fours and sprint surprisingly fast in a short duration. Triceratopssss
had already seen the blazing energy signature approaching him on his
scanners, so he readied his posture to dodge and chase after the lighter
mech. He already licked his lips as he imagined his G-H's powered
arms tearing the soft Fantasia's frame apart.
"Will you walk into my parlor, said the spider to the fly."
However, the Fantasia 2R-E ran forward so uncontrollably that
Shifter66 doubted he could even regain control without crashing into
the ground. Only until his forward view revealed his opponent's G-H
model did he realize he couldn't do anything but crash head-on.
Unable to even fire his mech's pistol with all the jostling, the boy
plainly threw it to the side, instead choosing to draw the Fantasia's
default sword from the embedded scabbard in the back.

"I don't believe my baby will lose to you!"
The G-H appeared to be frozen in shock, but as the distance dwindled,
it regained its composure and crossed its meaty arms forward. The
sword glanced off one of the arms, failing to penetrate its thick armor.
The forward momentum nonetheless allowed it to travel forwards and
pierce the G-H's chest. The armor yielded helplessly, letting the sword
cut deep into the mech and slice through important systems and
cabling. The G-H lost 35% of its energy and all of its weapons on its
left side.
An even larger collision followed. The rest of the Fantasia's frame
slammed forward, dealing more damage to the lighter mech than the
G-H due to the differences in mass. The Fantasia's upper torso
disintegrated from the impact, shards and other debris flying in every
direction. Its head crushed into a pancake against the G-H's torso,
somehow barreling past the heavier mech's armor and penetrating
through the cockpit embedded deep within.
Triceratopssss practically had a fright when his viewscreen burst
apart. He hastily commanded his remaining functioning arm to toss
the immobilized Fantasia from his partially crippled mech.
"Get off me!"
The feminine mech crashed against the ground face down with its rear
pointing upwards.
Triceratopssss had no time to do a detailed damage assessment.
Instead he lumbered his mech over to the fallen frame of his
opponent's mech and aimed his arm cannon. While the pilot didn't
recognize the Gemini module attached to the Fantasia's rear, he
nonetheless recognized it was an essential component.

[Unable to fire. Ammunition feed disrupted.]
The G-H's pilot cursed and abandoned his ranged options. He readied
his fist for a punch.
Shifter66 frantically tried to command his wrecked mech to move.
"Damnit, why isn't she moving!?"
"This is the end of the road for you, punk!"
Just as the G-H landed the punch, a hatch on the Gemini blew apart. It
revealed a hard shelled cockpit, which ejected instantly from the
Fantasia with substantial thrust. While it didn't travel with the force of
an armor piercing shell, it nevertheless possessed enough force to
smash apart the G-H's ramshackle torso armor and pound its pilot
into meat sauce.
Exhaust smoke spurted out of the Gemini's gaping cavity. Burn marks
littered the immobilized Fantasia and the surrounding foliage as the
decapitated Groenig-Halman mech collapse like a puppet with its
strings cut.
[Winner: Shifter66.]
"Huh?" The boy groggily wondered as the rewards from the win
poured in. "It worked? I won!"
It had been a complete fluke to eject the redundant extra cockpit. In
the final moments, the boy pretty much pressed every neural button
he could find, trying to get his mech to do something other than being
a sitting duck. Ejecting the cockpit was one of the last options left.

"Hahahaha! I knew my wouldn't disappoint!"
Shifter66 spent a significant fraction of his newly earned gold to
instantly repair his mech. More expensive mechs required manual
repairs or payment of real credits to get it done instantly. Fortunately,
Iron Spirit didn't bother to milk excessive fees from its beginners, so
the boy had nothing to worry about. He threw himself back into the
arena.
Triceratopssss, who turned out to be a boy just a year older than
Shifter66, simply sat stunned in the simulator. He couldn't believe he
got done in by an ejected cockpit. He loaded the replay of the last
match, fast-forwarding to the final moment before slowing down the
playback to leave him with plenty of time to watch.
The same incomprehensible action happened again, just in a different
perspective. Triceratopssss chose to watch the event from the side. He
could see the immobilized Fantasia billowing out ejection fire and
smoke from its battered rear module. Its left hatch blew apart, making
room for the abruptly accelerating metal shell that protected the
empty cockpit.
Normally, any ejecting cockpit followed an upwards trajectory as soon
as it left the chassis of the mech that held it. If Triceratopssss had just
been a little more patient, he could have let the cockpit fly harmlessly
in sky. Instead he could only watch as his past self moved the G-H into
punching range of the Fantasia, thereby exposing its damaged torso to
his opponent's crazy strike. He pretty much impaled himself onto the
enemy's lance.
"This isn't real. This stupid mech looks so dumb and ugly. Who the
hell made this mech? This Shifter66 must be trolling if he's bored
enough to bring such a mech into the arena."

Triceratopssss opened a window showing the statistics of the Fantasia
2R-E. The numbers made little sense to him, as he hadn't been
studying mechs very long. Following the link to the seller called
Chasing Clouds, he found out next to nothing as the account had been
created very recently, with no other mechs for sale. The seller's privacy
settings caused Triceratopssss' impromptu investigation a dead end.
"Well, if I can't find anything out about the seller, then let's check Mr.
Shifter66. I want to see whether you're a pro playing on an alt
account."
Though Triceratopssss spent his time in the Bronze League, he
occasionally fought against opponents with a much higher apparent
skill level on occasion. These monsters mostly consisted of expert
mech pilots with a successful career in the upper leagues of the game.
Sometimes expert pilots with real-life mech combat experience also
took the game for a spin, causing many helpless Bronze Leaguers to
cry helplessly as they got beat up in turns.
When Triceratopssss loaded into Shifter66's next match, he already
saw that the battle had reached the peak. The Fantasia 2R-E had
difficulty catching his much lighter opponent, who happened to be
piloting a Fantasia 1R.
As the predecessor model, the 1R lagged in several areas compared to
the 2R. Nonetheless, the 1R the opponent piloted was the stock model,
granted him a decisive advantage in agility and short-ranged mobility.
The forest environment also bogged Shifter66 down. His 2R-E
couldn't find a clearing to put his substantial boosters to good use.
Without the extra speed afforded by the boosters, his 2R-E had been
rendered into an overweight mech, clumsily trying to turn its sluggish
frame in the direction of his flitting opponent.

The 1R's pilot played it smart, Triceratopssss noted. The 1R seemed to
be wary of Shifter66's mech boosters. It neither faced the 2R-E directly
in the front and behind, using its superiority in lateral movement to
keep the mech to the sides.
The boy could only grit his teeth as he endured the light laser blasts
digging into his Fantasia's rear armor. He only managed to endure
until now because the enemy's Fantasia lacked the capacity to field
heavier firepower. However, just its basic pistol possessed enough
punch to eventually slag the 2R-E's armor into a puddle. Shifter66's
own pistol had already been shot to pieces and he could only try to
make potshots with his heavier but unwieldy marksman rifle.
"You asshole! Are you a monkey or a man? Stand still for a moment!"
The 1R ignored the complaint, and resolutely kept up its dodging. The
boy knew he couldn't let this merry-go-round continue, so he activated
his boosters and just rocketed into the trees. His mech crashed
through the trees with minor difficulty, though he accumulated
internal structure damage with each tree felled. He couldn't keep this
up for long.
Nonetheless, Shifter66 managed to retake the initiative. The 1R's pilot
panicked. Allowing the 2R-E to build up distance meant exposing him
to powerful laser fire. He hastily followed after the rocketing mech,
inadvertently lining up right behind the 2R-E's Gemini system.
"Behold my ultimate move!" Shifter66 yelled as he slammed his fist on
the secondary ejection button. The Fantasia's twin cockpit whooshed
forward from the Gemini model in another fiery blast. This time the
cockpit kept up a straight forward trajectory. Changing that setting
was the only thing the boy prepared in advance before he dove into his
next match.

The cockpit rocketed backwards with a speedy but avoidable
trajectory. The 1R could easily step sideways if it kept its chassis in the
correct stance. Unfortunately the stock model chased after the 2R-E
with full speed, allowing for very little leeway to dodge immediately.
By the time the 1R managed to shift its torso, the blazing cockpit
slammed its right shoulder to pieces.
The Fantasia 1R massed much less than the G-H, so the impact this
time resulted in much heavier damage even though it occurred off-
center. Practically half its shoulder and the entire arm blew apart. The
battered cockpit flew off in a random direction with the Fantasia's gun
stuck in its shell.
"Haha, you're mine now!"
The boy was ecstatic to see his gamble succeed. He stopped the
boosters, causing his mech to abruptly slow down and trip. It took an
embarrassingly long time to get his mech up its feet, but the kid felt
too flushed with success to feel any bother about it. The 2R-E
lumbered back to the crashed 1R model.
The loss of a shoulder and an arm shouldn't have crippled a Fantasia
1R. most of its essential systems rested in its waist, so as long as it
possessed two functional legs, it could still outplay the 2R-E. The pilot
eventually lacked the skill to compensate for its damage, as all he
could accomplish so far was to run around in circles.
The boy stopped his approach and raised his mech's rifle. The beams
had a little difficulty keeping up a consistent aim, but the sheer
number of shots succeeded in punching through the 1R's poor chassis.
[Winner: Shifter66.]

"Hahaha!" The boy laughed as he raised his fist. He had won again,
proving him that his gold was well-spent. Though clumsy, his mech
held a few surprises, and anyone who thought he was an easy target
would get a nasty present.
Triceratopssss on the other hand cursed Shifter66's luck. He felt a
little glad that he wasn't the only pilot who fell for the 2R-E's trick. He
kept spectating Shifter66 as he mindlessly doved into the arena.
Subsequent matches proved that the boy had celebrated too early.
Matchmaking had adjusted Shifter66's opponents after he kept relying
on cheap tricks. These slightly more seasoned pilots recognized the
Gemini add-on and knew what it could do. Though they laughed at the
2R-E's rear-heavy appearance, they still treated their enemy seriously.
The lighter mechs generally ran rings around Shifter66, taking small
bites at a time and leaving him with little opportunity to strike back.
The heavier mechs proved to be easier opponents for him, as they were
less capable of dodging his newly invented ultimate move. Only the
heaviest 1-star mechs could shrug off the damage caused by the
sudden collision.
Remembering that he had to go home for dinner, the boy eventually
called it a day. Win a couple more wins than losses in his record, the
potentate felt that buying the Fantasia 2R-E was one of the best
decisions in his life. Before he logged off, he added the designer in his
address book.
Oblivious to the potentate, Ves looked at his System's notification with
a puzzled expression.
"The mission finished that quickly? I can't believe there's someone
stupid enough to buy the mech I put on sale."

Lucky concurred with a meow while shaking its mechanical behind in
Ves' direction. The young man playfully picked up the pet and cuddled
him against his chest.
"At least the stuff you crap out can be sold."
Now that he finally received some Design Points, Ves switched back to
the shop and browsed its catalog with greater attention. The previous
time he just took a casual look, choosing to ignore the more unrealistic
entries as pure nonsense. Now that he swept his eyes past them again,
Ves widened his eyes.
"If the System is really capable of doing this with Design Points, then
meeting the next interest payment is in my grasp!"
Ves reached an unconscious threshold in his mentality. He had always
been a little bit skeptical of the System which suddenly intruded in his
life. Now though, he felt ready to embrace it with all its oddities.
While some designers counted on their fancy degrees to start their
careers, others threw money and connections at the problem. Ves only
needed the System to pave his way to the top.
[You have received a new mission.]
[Mission]
Mission: Tutorial Part 3 - Mass Production
Difficulty: F-Rank
Prerequisites: Completed Tutorial Part 2

Description
A Mech Designer should not be content at selling a model once. Real
designers must have flocks of people begging to purchase their
products. Please sell a hundred virtual mechs of your own creation
within a month.
Reward: 1 random 10-year combat mech production licence
The System screwed him for real this time. "How am I suppose to sell
a HUNDRED of them in a month?!"
Chapter end