The Mech Touch

It made no sense.

That was what Ketis thought after reading and skimming through Venerable Trey Walinski's scriptures.

Obviously, the deceased Heavensworder expert pilot was not a scientist. Yet every decent mech pilot had to study at least some level of physics in order to gain an essential understanding on how mechs actually worked and how to fight in various environments.

Mech pilots who understood not just how, but why mechs that moved faster always consumed more energy faster would always be able to manage their energy reserves better.

Mech pilots who understood the basics of orbital mechanics and knew the difference between acceleration and velocity would be able to maneuver much more skillfully in space.

Mech pilots who understood the concept of heat capacity and knew how rapidly a mech dispersed its heat in vacuum, air and water environments would be able to keep their mechs cooler.

In short, learning just a little bit of scientific knowledge could comprehensively improve the judgement and subsequently the performance of any mech pilot!

Therefore, Ketis expected that a prosperous and well-run second-rate rate like the Heavensword Association would surely emphasize the basic sciences.

While it was too much to ask for mech pilots to learn as much as mech designers, they should at least be able to master high school-level physics!

Yet when Ketis read through Venerable Trey's chaotic and unedited ramblings, she sensed the man had probably forgotten at least 80 percent of what he learned.

Sure, the late expert pilot and swordmaster showed some indication of understanding. Venerable Trey readily referred to the concept of potential energy and kinetic energy.

However, that was where the science part ended.

Just as Ketis thought that Venerable Trey's writing would make actual sense, the scriptures went into a completely different direction!

For example, the books constantly emphasized the accumulation of energy, only to unleash it in a manner that completely defied conventional science.

According to the expert pilot's own words, the essence of the Annihilator Sword Style laid in destroying every obstacle in the path of the sword.

At its peak, the scriptures claimed that the sword style should even be able to cut through neutron stars, one of the densest and hardest objects in the galaxy!

Ketis almost fainted when she read this claim. What a shameless boast! Any mech that came close to such a dense and heavy star would probably fall apart due to the enormous gravitational stresses affecting its frame.

"It's like I have to turn my brain off in order to appreciate these scriptures."

The problem was that she couldn't. She was a mech designer. She learned enough science and engineering to know how reality was put together by a myriad of physical laws and phenomena. Even though humanity still possessed a shallow and incomplete understanding of reality worked, she was quite sure that a layman like Venerable Trey was absolutely wrong on many matters!

She listed a couple of glaring impossibilities.

First, where did all of the potential energy come from? Merely holding the sword did not magically charge it up with enough energy to generate antiparticles in an environment that was filled with conventional matter.

Second, how could a swordsman possibly generate antiparticles without any advanced technology? By wishing it into existence?

Third, how come those antiparticles didn't annihilate with the material of the blade or the molecules in the air and release a massive amount of energy, thereby causing an explosion that was violent enough to destroy an entire city?

Fourth, how could a swordsman ensure those antiparticles only annihilated the matter immediately in front of the blade and prevent the release of so much energy?

These were just a fraction of the many inconsistencies and impossibilities that Ketis stumbled upon. She grew increasingly more convinced that Venerable Trey didn't even know what he was talking about!

"It can't be antiparticles! It's impossible! His sword style must be doing something else!"

Yet try as she might, she couldn't even begin to guess at the truth of the Annihilator Sword Style. The best guess she could come up with was that Venerable Trey was able to form some kind of mystical force field that had the effect of erasing matter from existence.

This also matched with what she observed from Fred Walinski's impressive demonstration. It made no sense for him to create antimatter out of thin air. Generating an energy field was much easier, though still questionable considering the lack of advanced equipment.

However, the reason why she preferred this alternate theory was because she had already managed to accomplish this herself!

Only superpowers were able to defy physics, and Ketis had successfully demonstrated this ability many times!

Even though the effects were different, the process was roughly the same. Ketis obsessed over sharpness while Venerable Trey focused on a more direct form of destruction.

There were differences, though.

As a mech designer, her thorough understanding of the sciences granted her a very realistic outlook on what sharpness meant and how it could be achieved. At most, she chose to invest herself in a couple of unproven assumptions that could be made real as long as she furthered her research over the course of her mech design career.

"Mech designers wish to prove their assumptions real."

In contrast, expert pilots like Venerable Trey Walinski didn't see reality this way. They instead made bold claims that had no basis in reality and essentially utilized their transcendental strength to make it happen anyway!

This basically sounded like expert pilots possessed superpowers, but this sounded weird, because mech designers also possessed superpowers.

"Are we.. more similar to each other than we thought?" She wondered.

Ves had never taught her much about his own secrets, so Ketis lacked the knowledge to rationalize this question. She vaguely felt that mech pilots and mech designers might actually be two sides of a coin rather than two completely separate entities.

"If this is so… can I drill a hole in the coin and connect the two sides?"

She shook her head. This was a stupid metaphor. High-ranking mech pilots and mech designers were much more complicated than she could possibly figure out at the moment.

After turning her attention back to the Annihilator Sword Style, she eventually concluded that she lacked the mindset to accept it. So many assumptions were so objectively untrue that she couldn't put it in herself to believe them at face value.

"I'm a mech designer, not an idiot!"

Mech pilots didn't necessarily know any better. Their shallow education in the sciences caused them to lack the background and critical thinking that was necessary to know what was plausible.

However, it was exactly because mech pilots didn't know the limitations that they were able to surpass the limitations of the laws of physics and develop superpowers for some reason!

Ketis grew increasingly more doubtful and confused. She knew that Ves had a hobby in figuring out the nature of expert pilots and how to facilitate their breakthroughs, but she had never touched upon this subject until recently.

It helped that she already knew a thing or two about expert pilots. Her regular interaction with Venerable Joshua allowed her to learn how he regarded his own abilities.

"Joshua told me that he simply saw reality in a different way than others."

He constantly viewed everything in the perspective of life. He also believed that everything had the potential to become alive, and that he could resonate with them if that was the case.

To be honest, Ketis thought that Joshua was kind of silly a lot of times, but somehow he made all of it work. His absolute confidence and conviction in his own views grew stronger when his superpower affirmed his flawed theories.

"Do I have to do the same?"

She had a feeling that this was how every expert pilot and swordmaster worked. They all developed silly notions that somehow came true because they turned into superpowers.

The problem she had was that this was a completely opposite approach from that of a mech designer. One based their superpowers on science while the other based their superpowers on fantasy!

If Ketis was just an ignorant Swordmaiden, then she would have been able to accept the scriptures. Yet because of her abundant knowledge and sound logic, she struggled to accept even the most basic assumption.

"Everything that's written in these books breaks the law of conservation of energy! This is impossible! Not even my sharpness superpower can do that!"

She looked around. After Fred Walinski challenged her to learn the Annihilator Sword Style, she chose to study the books in private. The office used to be filled with dust, but opening the window and sweeping the barren floor quickly took care of that. It did not do much to spruce up the faded and decaying wall decorations.

Right now, she had already spent two hours on this endeavor. Due to her augmented cognitive functions, it didn't actually take long to read through all of the books. She instead spent the majority of the time trying to reconcile all of the inconsistencies she noticed.

She failed.

She knew that she was at an impasse. Unlike her lovable boyfriend, Ketis felt it was impossible for her to deliberate make herself stupid enough to believe in the fantasies espoused by Venerable Trey. Reality simply didn't work this way!

After feeling that there was no use in going over the books, she closed them all and set them aside. There was no point in rereading them. She already knew the theories they espoused by heart. The problem was accepting them. Her mind simply could not do that.

"Should I take a mind-altering drug or something?"

She seriously considered this option because she saw no other way to dumb herself down and alter her judgement. Yet she was afraid she might have to inject herself with the strong stuff in order to sufficiently suppress her intelligence!

This was not a viable solution!

Her eyes shifted over to Shiva, the Destroyer. The relic of the Annihilator Sword School strangely felt like it belonged to her after Sharpie paid a visit to it. Now that she had studied the Annihilator Sword Style, she understood why the saber was forged this way.

"It's a good blade to channel the power of destruction."

While Ketis completely failed to comprehend the mechanics behind the Annihilator Sword Style, she had no problem figuring out its other aspects. Its sword techniques, its overall approach and the recommended tactics that Venerable Trey had formulated all made sense.

The sword style demanded an explosive and intensive approach. Anyone who adopted this style had to finish their opponents as quickly and decisively as possible, because each attempt at performing annihilation imposed a huge burden on the wielder!

Though the costs were great, the results were even greater. At its best, a sword empowered by the Annihilator Sword Style had the potential to cut through any physical barrier!

No matter if it was a protective suit, mech armor plating or even ship hulls, anything composed of matter could not pose any hindrance because the materials in front of the blade simply disappeared from existence!

Of course, the Annihilator Sword Style was not omnipotent in its ability to cut everything. It fared less well against non-physical barriers such as energy shields. 

Dodging or preventing the attack from landing were also effective ways to counter this sword style. If the sword never reached its target, then its power became invalid.

That did not take too much away from the potential of the Annihilator Sword Style. Ketis grew somewhat attracted to it despite the fact she already possessed a sword style and focus of her own.

"I don't want to give up like this."

Perhaps all of this thinking and theorizing was pointless.

"Maybe I should just try it out."

Shiva called to her.

Ketis could not resist the temptation and picked the weapon up. She did not feel that much different from the first time she held the saber.

She adopted a serious expression and tried to go through the tenets of the Annihilator Sword Style.

"Swords exist to kill. We exist to destroy."

She swung the saber, but nothing happened. The slash was utterly normal and devoid of any extraordinary characteristics.

Her cheeks reddened a bit. She felt like a fool at the moment!

"How the hell can I fix this?"

She suddenly recalled what happened before. An interesting idea came to mind.

"Sharpie, can you help me out? I just want to channel the new sword style I learned."

Swish swish swish!

Ketis didn't expect much at first, but her living sword intent became quite enthusiastic all of a sudden.

A moment later, she felt as if some kind of switch had flipped. Sharpie no longer felt as sharp as before.

Instead… it exuded a different vibe!

Her mentality changed in a subtle and unknown way that crept her out. Extra thoughts entered her mind that were never there before.

Even though she felt incredibly disturbed at the uncontrolled changes in her mind, her intuition signalled that nothing was wrong.

She spontaneously followed an impulse and approached a wall. She lifted Shiva over her head and began to concentrate a bit. After several seconds of accumulation, she swung it down in a strong and unwavering chop!

Shiva cut completely through the wall as if it wasn't there. When the blade passed through the solid stone material off the wall, not a single sound reached her ears. Instead, the strange black glow that surrounded the blade had silently annihilated any material in its path!

It took a moment for Ketis to snap out of her concentrated mood.

Her eyes widened as she beheld Shiva and the impossible cut she left behind.

"Sharpie… what did you do?"

Swish swish!