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Chapter 16: Pieces of the Puzzle
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The Mech Chapter 17: Capture the Flag
Joshua drained the energy drink down his throat and tossed the can to the ground. A cleaning bot appeared out of nowhere to take the garbage away.An elegant woman entered the foyer whilst carrying a babbling toddler. She approached the teenager and gave him a kiss on his forehead. "Joshie baby! How was school.""I'm not a kid anymore, mom!" Joshua whined as he avoided his mother's embrace. He ran up the stairs to his room. "And I did fine in school. My mech trainer complimented me again today.""That's good news. The higher your performance, the higher your rank when you become a reservist. Just don't join the Mech Corps.""I'm not going to mom." Joshua said as he threw his bag on his bed. "I'm going to play with the simulator again, okay?""Don't forget about dinner again."After fending off his nagging mother, Joshua left his room and went downstairs. He took two flights down and entered the basement. Situated in a cooled and isolated room was his personal mech simulator pod for Ir
The Mech Chapter 18: Life
Watching TheSeventhSnake's replays impressed Ves. The mech pilot's flamboyant piloting of his Seraphim showed a remarkable mastery of its capabilities. The Seraphim domineeringly claimed the skies, fighting particularly well against other fliers, and launched aggressive attacks against opponents on the ground.Though Ves knew little of mech piloting, he still recognized TheSeventhSnake's remarkable skill. His aggressive play style and continuous risk taking hid a keen sense of timing. If this Snake wasn't at the threshold of promoting to Silver, he was absolutely in the upper tier of Bronze League.When Ves noted that TheSeventhSnake had come online and entered matchmaking, he chose to spectate his match. What he saw of the young pilot's performance reaffirmed his judgement. Snake piloted the Seraphim in ways even Ves hadn't imagined."But does he have the X-Factor?"Good piloting didn't necessarily mean one has the X-Factor. Disregarding the phenomenon's vague definition, the X-Facto
The Mech Chapter 19: Reborn
Ves revisited the CA-1A 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 CA-1's design, he made changes based on reducing its cost and increasing its efficiency. He treated the Caesar Augustus a
The Mech Chapter 20: Armor
Ves waited for a long time to receive an armor production license. The good ones cost at least as much as an advanced mech license, but even bargain bin armor cost a pretty penny. Demanding a 100 million bright credits to license a decent armor system was considered reasonable.Of course, if Ves was really desperate, he could license outdated armor or even stuff that was so old, its owners didn't even bother charging a license for its use.The latter was useful if Ves made a civilian mech, such as a machine designed to lift containers in warehouses or sow crops in a farm. There was no way he'd ever implement such rotten armor in a combat mech. Any pilot that chose to bring such a poorly armored mech to the battlefield was asking to be sniped in a single shot.Over the 400-year development cycle of mechs, the components that accompanied their designs also evolved over time. Lasers got more efficient, enabling them to deal more damage with less heat. Ballistic weaponry featured new iter
The Mech Chapter 21: Cladding
Designing an armor scheme for a mech took a lot of skills and knowledge. Ves was frankly impressed by the young Jason Kozlowski's work in making the armor of Caesar Augustus look majestic while still doing its job. Of course, he also enjoyed limitless resources and help. With an abundance of processing power, Jason could easily layer the armor plates in a way that minimized the gaps.Ves lacked a room full of processors ready to solve any problems by brute force, but the Mech Designer System came with its own perks. The Designer offered a number of simulations that showed how certain sections responded to laser fire or other types of damage. It simulated a mech's maximum capacity for damage. It also had a tool that showed how to disable the mech with the least amount of effort.Using these aids saved Ves a lot of effort. Together with his newly gained Mediumweight Armor Optimization I sub-skill, he felt competent enough to start his job as an armorer. Rather than copying Jason's armor
The Mech Chapter 22: Craftsman's Pride
A mech's armor defined the machine's appearance. The changes made to the internals might not be visible to outsiders, but it affected the heart and soul of the mech. His experiences in muddling around with the Nero and making more focused modifications with the Nero Redividus taught him a lot about the design philosophy behind the Caesar Augustus.Ves already knew that Jason wanted to cram as much goodies in his frame as possible. This adversely affected the mech's internal integrity as any damage that passed by its armor could spark a cascade of faults.While Jason relied on National Aeromotives' excellent armor to mitigate this issue, Ves had to make do with Marlin Solution's budget-focused 1004-HRF 5th Generation. Despite his best efforts, the Marc Antony's armor only withstood about a third as much as the original armor in the worst locations. The best places only matched the original armor by 80%, which was already extremely generous.With an armor scheme that only protected the
The Mech Chapter 23: Sell
When Ves logged into Iron Spirit, he visited the support section in order to register a free virtual license. The game charged a lot of credits for the virtual license of the The Marlin Solutions 1004-HRF 5th Generation armor plating. Considering that anyone could make a living if they designed and sold even a halfway decent mech, the prices weren't unreasonable. The support staff processed his request promptly. Ves had made this request before so they still possessed all of his information. After confirming that he possessed an authentic production license for the armor, he received his approval half an hour later. With all the paperwork done, he loaded the Marc Antony's design file into the virtual workshop. Still motivated from his previous evaluation, Ves had no trouble getting into the right mood. The Marc Antony embodied aggressive passion, so in order to keep its X-Factor intact, Ves entered a state of mild frenzy. With the help of his much more comprehensive Assembly skills
The Mech Chapter 24: Melinda
Melinda Larkinson had a busy life. As a junior member of the Bentheim Planetary Guard, she spent most of the time on patrols or back at base learning the ropes. As she was determined to reach the pinnacle of mech piloting, she continually sharpened her skills by sorting out troublemakers and sparring against her fellow guardsmen. A huge amount of business flowed through Bentheim, the economic 'port' of the Bright Republic. Due to a complex system of spatial distortions, spaceships had an easier time navigating towards Bentheim. This especially facilitated ultra-long-ranged FTL or faster-than-light travel. Put simply, a ship could travel directly towards Bentheim without making any stops in between in order to reorient themselves and cycle the FTL drive. Humanity actually stole the FTL technology they used today from a long-exterminated alien race. Through hundreds of years of study and refinement, they had already pushed their knowledge base on the tech to its limits. Nowadays, to g
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