The Mech Touch

The Larkinsons succeeded in bringing a warship online. They chose to spend their efforts on the Ailing Frey, as that happened to be the latest and most modern warship of the Allidus Alliance.

While it was too much to ask the incoming personnel to control the ship as well as the original crew, the Ailing Frey was not that difficult to bring online.

As long as the Black Cats hacked the ship systems and made sure to sweep them for traps and safeguards, the engineers and officers came face-to-face with friendly, user-friendly control systems.

This did not surprise Ves. A good maker always took his target audience into account. While the Allidus Alliance was certainly well-run, it couldn't ask too much of its own personnel! Most were pirates with mixed backgrounds. Expecting them to run a ship as complex as a CFA warship was way too unrealistic.

Therefore, the pirate shipwrights who designed and built the Ailing Frey not only made sure to keep the interfaces and control systems as self-explanatory as possible, they also made sure include dummy modes!

Though relying on simplified controls did not allow the Larkinson prize crew to make full use of the Ailing Frey's capabilities, it took a record couple of hours to get the powerful destroyer to move.

It only took a half hour after that for the temporary crew to figure out how to operate the main gun battery.

When her forward turret started swiveling, many of the Larkinsons in the vicinity grew nervous. Nearby Larkinson mechs on patrol went on high alert. As soon as the massive gun turret directed its aim at an existing Larkinson asset, they would definitely do everything possible to shut it down by force!

Fortunately, no weird programming took over the turret's systems. No traps triggered. The Black Cats already surmised that the Allidus pirates were too confident in their own strength to believe that their enemies would capture their own ships.

Ves was in the design lab of the Scarlet Rose when the captured Ailing Frey fired her main armament once again.

The turret slowly swiveled until its triple barrels were able to point their muzzles towards a certain direction in the distance.

A moment later, the three laser cannons simultaneously fired! Three bright red beams instantly soared across space, threading numerous nearby asteroids and striking a distant pirate carrier at once!

Ves clapped with glee. "Great accuracy!"

The ship hit by the lasers was just a small converted carrier. Her thin hull barely offered any resistance against the powerful lasers. The beams managed to transfer an enormous amount of heat inside, thereby causing untold internal damage.

Just a minute after getting hit, the pirate vessel was already flying out of control. A small number of escape pods and mechs desperately launched from the doomed ship as she finally crashed into an asteroid!

Many nearby pirates managed to observe the disastrous sight. Their ships and mechs quickly raced away from the battlefield. If the Larkinsons managed to get the Ailing Frey to hit one of their own at this distance, then remaining here was suicide!

"Hahaha! Look at them run! Serves those pirates right!" Rina Orion gloated.

The others in the design lab became impressed as well.

"So this is the power of a warship in our hands." Zanthar sighed with admiration.

Dukan French crossed his arms. "The Ailing Frey is pretty nice, but the real prize is the Gravada Knarlax."

"Can we step aboard those ships to study their systems, sir?" Estelle Lynwood asked. "I'm especially interested in taking a look at how they engineered their massive primary armament!"

"All in due time." Ves replied. "We haven't completely swept it clean of threats as of yet. Give our crews some time to gain more control over the systems."

The battle that the Larkinsons had just won had impacted the Braves remarkably. Though Ves hadn't spared any attention for his assistants, they acquitted themselves decently this time.

The Battle of Ulimo Citadel had caused them to enter into full-blown panic. This time, they made sure to control themselves and each other. Though they did not play any role during the fight, Ves was already proud of the progress they achieved. They were truly beginning to live up to their moniker as Braves.

"Teacher, we've gained a lot of new expert pilots, right?" Maikel asked.

"All of the candidates we used to have broke through." Ves confirmed. There was no reason for hism to keep this secret. "In addition, we have also welcomed a batch of new expert candidates to the fold."

Maikel looked incredibly impressed. "Wow. I never heard of so many experts breaking through! This is a miracle! Did they all break through with the help of the work you have performed on your mechs?"

"There are many factors that affect a mech pilot's chances of advancing." Ves awkwardly coughed. "Certainly, although I would like to believe that piloting our living mechs has helped, there are too many variables in play to know for certain. I think the single most significant contributing factor is the fact we clashed against an overwhelmingly powerful opponent. Situations like these always squeeze out the potential in those who have the courage to face the enemy despite the odds."

Many mech designers in the design lab nodded in agreement. This was not an exotic theory in the mech community. The Larkinson Clan highly advocated for its truth as well.

It was just that not everyone had the stomach to develop themselves when they were weak and vulnerable. Too many mech pilots preferred to take it slow and steady and only begin to fight in glorious battles when they advanced to expert candidate.

This mentality was entirely wrong as far as Ves was concerned! True courage came from facing adversity rather than bullying the weak. Strong pilots such as Joshua and Tusa both polished their wills long before they became exceptional. It was the progress they made during this early period that largely formed the foundation of their future success.

However, Maikel, who was very interested in living mechs, was not entirely satisfied with this answer.

"Could our new expert pilots have reached this level if they were piloting something other than your mechs?"

"I don't know." Ves truthfully answered, though he interpreted his student's question very loosely. "We would have to perform a large-scale systematic investigation to make any solid conclusions. A small sample size of four mech pilots, five if you count Venerable Jannzi, is wholly insufficient to make any definite statements. We would need to perform a massive quantitative experiment involving at least several thousand mech pilots split into at least two different groups. One group would be piloting our best LMC mechs while the control group would be stuck with piloting the closest non-LMC equivalents."

"Aren't we doing that now? Our clan's mech troops are already split up like this. Maybe we can announce to the galaxy that our mechs are truly capable of helping mech pilots advance. We'll become famous!"

Bonk!

"Ouch! That hurts, teacher!"

Ves did not regret knocking Maikel on the head. "Don't be crazy! Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. What if you're wrong? What if some other factor such as the unique environment is the main cause? We'd be ruining our reputations if we're proven wrong!"

"We would also be painting a target on our backs if your guess happens to be true." Catherine Evenson-Larkinson added. As a former scion of a noble house, she was much more astute in these matters. "While it shouldn't be unusual if one or two expert pilots or expert candidates emerge from the Battle against the Abyss, gaining four of the former and nine of the latter is a bit too exaggerated, especially when you consider that we fielded less than a thousand mechs."

"We're Larkinsons." Maikel retorted. "Our mech pilots are way better than others. Combined with the fact that many of them have been piloting our teacher's mechs, it shouldn't be a surprise we gained so many powerful additions."

"You fool! Just think about it. We have witnessed thirteen breakthroughs when we fielded less than half of a mech regiment's worth of mechs. That's a ratio of roughly 1 percent. While a single percent doesn't sound that much, the ratio is at least an order of magnitude smaller in any other outfit or military unit, and that is usually expressed across years, not the span of a single battle!"

Catherina had a good point. Ves worried a lot about the concerns she raised. If she could make this basic observation, so could others. He was already dreading his next conversation with Master Willix. Other authorities might also wish to investigate the circumstances of the so-called Battle against the Abyss.

Ves didn't know where that name came from. It certainly sounded dramatic enough to reflect the astonishing events, and it sounded a lot better than something generic such as 'Battle of Some Random Asteroids' or 'Subjugation of the Gravada Knarlax', among other suggestions.

He was already thinking about how to address these issues. The last thing he wanted was the MTA forcing him to take up residency at Halcyon Citadel. There was no way that he was willing to give up his freedom and autonomy!

"Ugh. This isn't going to be easy."

At least it was better than suffering a defeat. This was one of the better outcomes that he and his clan achieved.

Ves continued to check up on his Braves on an individual basis. He approached and talked to each of them in person for several reasons.

First, he wanted to verify how much they remembered from the previous battle. Those with stronger spiritual potential managed to remain conscious longer than the others.

Second, he wanted to check whether the Battle against the Abyss had left any serious scars in their psyche.

His quick inspection did indeed allow him to observe some worrying signs. Ves mentally noted down the names of those who showed signs of trauma and made sure to assign some counselors to them as soon as possible.

After witnessing how much battlefield trauma could warp someone like Carlos into a different person, Ves did not want his Braves to break before he could even earn a return on his investment in their development!

During these quick checkups, Ves encountered a very unexpected surprise.

As Catherine Evenson confidently sat down, Ves noted a change in her demeanor.

That wasn't strange in itself. Harrowing battles usually had that effect.

What was different about Catherine was that she appeared to be more confident and brave! This was the opposite of what he saw in others.

When Ves observed the former Sentinel noble with his spiritual vision, it took all he got not to jump in surprise.

To his utter amazement, Catherine had abruptly gained spiritual potential!

While it didn't look exceptional to him, the fact that she had become spiritually active at all was a very positive development.

If Catherine could do it, so could others!

Still, Ves grew confused. How did she manage to develop spiritual potential? Was it the same as mech pilots, where overwhelming pressure caused them to bring out their latent strength?

That didn't sound quite right.

"Catherine. What do you think of the previous battle?"

It is an amazing fight, and one that we will never forget." She said with a smile. "Aside from the trouble that I have mentioned, our clan will definitely gain a lot of prestige for this. If we can haul the Gravada Knarlax and the other pirate warships to civilized space intact, then I suggest we hold a triumphant celebration. With props like these, our reputation will definitely rise to meteoric heights! This will grant us numerous advantages in the coming years."

"You're right, Catherine. I'll take your words into account. You don't need to worry too much about these issues. You're a mech designer. You have been making some good progress already. Keep it up and there might be a promotion in store."

"Truly?"

"I am a man of my word."

Pushing her into working harder would enable her to tap into her new potential more quickly.