The Mech Touch

Ves and Gloriana stood side by side as they gazed up at a giant projection of a refined mech design.

After several months of intensive design work that involved a lot of number crunching, a lot of experimentation and a lot of adjustments, the mech designers finally completed their second expert mech design!

"What a powerful ranged mech." Gloriana sighed as she hugged Clixie against her chest. "Compared to ordinary expert rifleman mechs that militaries routinely issue to expert pilots, this one is definitely a cut above the rest!"

"Miaow."

"It's not a high-tier expert mech, but it comes close."

The greatest determinants of the tier of an expert mech was the material composition and design quality of the machine. Looking at the budget was another good way of determining the overall placement of the expert mech.

The Larkinson Clan did not skimp too much in designing the Sentry Project. The only reasons why the clan couldn't incorporate any better materials was because they were too prohibitive in cost or very difficult to obtain in the open market.

Regardless, the armor system, the structural parts and other physical aspects were actually quite decent by expert mech standards.

Against a horde of ordinary mechs, the Sentry Project should be able to withstand a barrage.

It was not a rugged expert mech by any means, though. Compared to melee mechs which didn't have to allocate as much capacity towards ammunition and energy cells, the Sentry Project's structure resembled an egg. As long as an attack punched through its relatively thin surface, it could inflict serious internal damage, especially when it was empowered by resonance.

The parts density of the Sentry Project was nearly just as high as the Dark Zephyr. Both mechs contained a lot of powerful miniaturized components that were nearly pressed against each other like passengers riding a low-budget transit shuttle.

There was barely any space to incorporate any redundancy and compartmentalization in the interior!

As a result, the Sentry Project was quite vulnerable against penetrating attacks, which most offensive expert mechs could easily launch.

This was the great compromise of the sniper-oriented expert rifleman mech. In ideal situations, the Sentry Project should never be deployed too far forward. It's fantastic firepower along with its high precision allowed it to deal effective damage at ranges where most opponents simply couldn't retaliate!

"I'm quite proud of how my luminar crystal rifle turned out." Ves grinned. "It offers substantially greater firepower and efficiency compared to normal rifles. It's too bad that it's one of a kind in a sense."

The best luminar crystal rifles could only be made by him. His affinity for luminar crystal technology, his ability to merge with the Illustrious One and his possession of the crystal cube all combined into a unique capability that was probably unique!

"It's the prime materials and resonating exotics that truly makes this rifle stand out from the pack." He whispered.

Though the Dark Zephyr hadn't fully showcased the power of combining both prime resonance and true resonance in a single expert mech, Ves expected to witness a different result with the Sentry Project.

The Opticonium incorporated in the weapon was one of the more remarkable resonating alloys developed by a specialized material development company. When Ves studied the materials himself one day, he found out that it was neither a metal nor a crystal.

Instead, it combined the properties of both, no doubt due to the exceptional materials in its formula.

Though Ves had no idea how it worked, he admired the way that Master Willix seamlessly integrated this key material through the structure of the crystal luminar rifle.  The transparent and reflective aesthetic of the mech-sized gun gained additional dimension and complexity with slightly darker and more opaque elements in its interior.

He couldn't wait to make this rifle for real and see how it looked when Venerable Stark finally piloted the Sentry Project for the first time. With all of the energies running through the crystal body, he predicted that the weapon would turn into quite an interesting light show.

Ves even bet that many energy weapon specialists throughout the mech industry would grow green with envy if they heard what the luminar crystal rifle was capable of. Despite his dependence on alien technology, the results were undeniably superior to the prevailing competition. Only other mech designers or weapon developers with access to exclusive technology could match the advantages of luminar crystal technology!

Gloriana admired the gun as well. "This weapon is the key piece to the ensemble. It's a dream for me to be able to work on an expert mech design that is paired with such a powerful rifle. The simulations don't do it justice at all. I'm so eager to see how much damage this expert mech can unleash with its perfectly-matched armament!"

The entire expert mech design revolved around the expert pilot and the luminar crystal rifle. The flight system, the targeting system, the sensors, the armor layout, the energy transmission system and so on were completely shaped in a way to support the expert pilot and her weapon.

All of this effort was worth it! Combined with the first true luminar crystal rifle of its kind, the Sentry Project was a truly unique work of art, craftsmanship and design. The expert mech's extreme parameters did not prevent it from looking sleek, refined and utterly deadly.

The only hidden flaw that Ves was truly worried about was whether Venerable Stark would be able to embrace the highly-unusual main weapon. Though she responded well enough when Ves explained the weapon system and allowed her to wield one of his infantry-grade luminar crystal rifles, there was an undeniable alien element to the mech.

Given Venerable Stark's awful history with the sandmen, he was afraid that she might develop a strong aversion to the luminar race and its signature technology. Would she reject the Sentry Project? Nobody knew.

The power and efficiency that luminar crystal weapons offered was too good to resist, but if Venerable Stark became so bone-headed to the point where she couldn't bring herself to make use of alien technology that belonged to an ancient extinct race, then Ves and the other mech designers would have to waste a lot of time to modify the expert mech!

Both Ves and Gloriana had done their best to increase the compatibility and comfort of the Sentry Project to its intended user. As long as Venerable Stark felt at home inside its cockpit, then the chances were high that this potential issue would never even come up in her mind!

Gloriana checked the schedule. "We've just entered FTL travel a day ago, so we have a couple of days to prepare for the fabrication attempt. I've already made the necessary preparations, but I think it is best to inspect the state of our machines and calibrate anything that has become misaligned."

"Don't be so quick to leave the design lab." He spoke. "Our design might be finished, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be the version that we will turn into a reality.  I think we have room to give our design an extra touch."

"What do you mean by that, Ves?" She furrowed her brows.

Even Clixie tilted her furry head. "Miaow?"

"I haven't considered this option for a while as I never thought it was necessary to consider it. However, I think this is a great opportunity for us to gain a lot of insights in how to design a high-spec mech. Do you remember what we did when we finished the original Bright Warrior design?"

Though it happened a long time ago, Gloriana could never forget what Ves had brought.

"Are you talking about.. Letting Mr. S. perform a pass on our design?" She whispered as she widened her eyes.

"Yes." Ves smiled and nodded. "We shouldn't disturb 'him' too often, but there are three strong reasons why I think it is worthwhile to ask for his help this time. First, this is still one of our earlier expert mech designs. We still have several more to go, which means that we can incorporate many of the lessons and insights that we can learn from an improved Sentry Project to our other projects!"

Gloriana already looked eager when she heard this prospect. "That.. that is a great idea! It's a pity that we completed the Dark Zephyr too soon, but we can always revisit it later on when it is time to update its design with everything we have gained since its initial completion."

This was a benefit that Ves but especially Gloriana had gained a lot from! Since the System's Superpublish function always employed the most direct way to upgrade a design implementation while staying true to the original design intent, the solutions it came up with often came into a form that an older and more experienced version of themselves might have developed!

Being able to study their future direction in advance was an incredibly powerful learning experience that would allow them to skip years of trial and error and immediately design mechs that were literally ahead of their time!

"The second reason why I think this is the right choice is because the Sentry Project is one of our most critical expert mechs in our lineup." Ves continued. "While I admit that I am partial towards the Chimera Project, I won't deny how critical it is for us to field a strong expert mech that can form a powerful deterrent at range. In space battles, ranged combat is too predominant. If we don't score well in this area, then we'll definitely suffer disproportionate losses if the enemies we face bring their own ranged expert mechs along."

Gloriana cared less about this reason, but it was an important consideration for Ves. While he didn't think the melee expert mechs were useless, they usually came into play in the later stages of a space battle. At the start, the ranged duel that ensued between two distant forces could inflict quite a lot of damage. The outcome of this critical duel would have a heavy influence on how the remaining battle unfolded.

The Battle of Reckoning had taught Ves that it was extremely critical to maintain an advantage in this aspect. If the addition of a powerful expert rifleman mech could ensure that all of the Transcendent Punishers, Eternal Redemptions and Bright Warriors could suppress the enemy without too many concerns, then half the battle was already won!

"What's the third reason?" His wife asked.

Ves grinned and pointed his thumb at the rifle wielded by the projected expert mech design. "I'm curious to see how luminar crystal technology can be pushed further. I have already reached the limits of my knowledge when it comes to improving and optimizing the design of the luminar crystal rifle, but I feel there is a lot of depth that I haven't been able to explore as of yet. If I can gain a couple of insights on how this new weapon system can be elevated to the next level, then all of our subsequent mech designs armed with ranged weapons will benefit hugely from this gain!"

This was actually his primary motivation for choosing to make use of the Superpublish function! Working on the Sentry Project for such a long time had caused him to become more fascinated with this essential cornerstone technology. Since he didn't want to spend anymore DP on upgrading his Skills, this was the next-best way to gain an instant boost in how to apply the tech in a practical manner!

This was slightly different from dumping more theories in his mind. His recent improvement in this area already filled his head with a lot of knowledge, but he was sure that his utilization rate had dropped.

Luminar technology was spiritually reactive, which meant that Ves needed to manipulate it in a spiritual manner in order to bring out the best of its capabilities. Perhaps by Superpublishing the expert mech, Ves would be able to glimpse the System's own understanding of spirituality when it improved the expert mech design!

This kind of knowledge was probably something that wasn't contained in any of the Skills and Sub-Skills offered by the System! After all, it stole all of this knowledge from existing human works.