The Mech Touch

The Mars Project represented a turning point for the Cross Clan. It was not the most powerful mech the Crossers had ever possessed. That honor went to the powerhouse of a mech that Saint Hemmington Cross once piloted when he was alive.

Still, the Mars Project significantly exceeded the power level of the Bolvos Rage. Just the fact that it might come with a combat drive that provided it with unparalleled battlefield mobility would completely change the way it could apply its prodigious power on the battlefield!

These elements and more propelled the successor mech of the Bolvos Rage past the threshold of every other expert mech in the expeditionary fleet, the masterwork expert mechs of the Larkinson Clan included!

"This... this is no longer a second-class expert mech. This... is a semi-first-class expert mech." Ves uttered with increasing admiration.

The lead designer of this project responded with a proud smile. "Strictly speaking, it is not a first-class mech. Its tech and power level are too low for that, and it still relies too much on second-class components and materials. Besides, if we truly completed a machine that conforms to the standards of a first-class expert mech, our Cross Clan would no longer be welcome in the Krakatoa Middle Zone."

"Ah. I forgot about that. There are rules."

The rules weren't that strict. They only provided additional pressure to discourage first-class pioneers from throwing their weight around in zones where second-class pioneers made their homes.

The upper zones were a lot more profitable anyway. As the former stomping grounds of the major alien races, the key star systems concentrated a lot more wealth.

In comparison, the middle zones were the equivalent to rural provinces while the lower zones were akin to wastelands.

The Golden Skull Alliance was not ready to promote to the upper zones. There was no reason to head down to the lower zones either.

The latter would only become necessary if the alliance suffered a horrible defeat. Plenty of remnant forces had already trickled down to the most resource-poor areas of the Red Ocean that no one important cared about.

"The Mars Project is meant to impose absolute superiority in second-class combat." Professor Benedict stated as he exhibited greater anticipation towards this expert mech design project. "In terms of combat effectiveness, it should reach the top of what is possible for second-class expert mechs. If Patriarch Reginald Cross ever manages to succeed in breaking through, then the Mars Project will still be strong enough to accompany him in his initial years as an ace pilot. Though I do not expect him to be able to defeat an enemy ace mech with our work, there should be no doubts about his ability to crush other expert mechs!"

This was the Mars Project! This was the expert mech that would rule over other expert mechs in the expeditionary fleet! 1 Ves could clearly see from the draft designs that martial dominance was one of its defining themes. The mech more than any other he had seen before centered around maintaining and reinforcing Patriarch Reginald's already domineering spirit.

The Cross Clan was an organization that lived and breathed war since its inception. Having risen from the Garlen Empire, the Crossers inherited its martial culture and perpetuated it to this day.

In a society where the strongest fists earned the most respect, Patriarch Reginald had long led the Cross Clan with his unrivaled strength and his father's legacy.

This was also why Ves partially felt intimidated by the Mars Project. This extremely powerful mech not only threatened to rearrange the power balance within the Golden Skull Alliance, but might also trigger a repeat of the past!

"Professor... are you sure about providing such a domineering mech to your patriarch?" Ves carefully asked. "This mech has a lot of sharp edges. I can imagine that once it is finished, it will inflate every aggressive and foolhardy trait that he possesses. What if he goes down the same road that Saint second leader who is all brawn and no brain can easily make that happen again."

Though Ves voiced his concerns, Professor Benedict did not look concerned in the slightest.

From the beginning, the silver-haired Senior Mech Designer that looked deceptively mild never exhibited any sign that anything was beyond his control. He already accounted for many variables related to the Mars Project that it was difficult for him to get caught off-guard.

The older man currently shook his head. "Your understanding of our clan and our patriarch is outdated. While I cannot deny that Reginald is not a suitable administrator, he is committed to learning from the mistakes of the past. He is well aware that even if he advances to ace pilot, he will not be able to act unscrupulously. Besides, there is an additional factor that has slowly encouraged Reginald to show more consideration to his fellow Crossers."

"And what is that?"

The professor made the sign of a cross with his fingers. "The kinship network you have given us. Through his connection with this fantastic existence, he has developed a greater heart towards his fellow people. I cannot say for certain how much this influence has changed him, but over the months I have noticed that he has exhibited more patience than before."

Ves looked pleasantly surprised. "That is good news. If he can become a more responsible leader, then we can actually rely on him on and off the battlefield."

"External pressures are also helping with dampening his aggressive tendencies. Different from the Vicious Mountain Star Sector, the Red Ocean is a large pond where many powerful sharks are roaming around. The threat of the major alien races along with the relatively close proximity to the Terrans and Rubarthans will keep his worst excesses in check."

Patriarch Reginald recognized that he wouldn't be able to become the biggest bully in town if he broke through. The only way to change this was to advance to god pilot, but that was such a mythical endeavor that he could only work quietly in order to progress faster.

Now that Ves dropped his concerns, they turned their attention back to the

draft designs.

He could see a lot of hints of what Professor Benedict had in store for this powerful mech, but he did not observe as much details as he wished. The more he studied it, the more he felt that there were gaps.

"Wait a minute. Your specialty is energy transmission systems, right? Why don't I see much of that in your draft designs? They are considerably vague on the internals." @

This was unusual to say the least. Mech designers mostly started off their design projects by beginning with their specialty. Their design philosophies literally colored their views on mech designs and always dominated the first design choices they made.

For a draft design to lack the strongest aspects that a mech designer was known for was definitely deliberate.

Professor Benedict did not keep Ves in suspense and summoned additional projections. Each of them showed diagrams that depicted the outlines of the internal architecture of the Mars Project. Each of them were rudimentary and subject to a lot of changes, but they already provided Ves with a much better idea of what the Senior Mech Designer wanted to accomplish with this expert mech design project.

"Earlier, I spoke about upgrading the power reactor of the Mars Project. This provides a massive boost to the mech, but as you know it is far from easy to leverage the abundance of energy it can output. The rest of the mech frame must be robust and powerful enough to cope with the powerful currents, but that is difficult to accomplish even with decent materials. What I have done is create a new concept of internal architecture that blends both my established strengths as well as the inspiration that I have successfully converted in my own gains."

The Senior had already mentioned numerous times of how he admired and took inspiration from Ves' work. By showing the older mech designer that mechs could be designed on another level aside from the physical was quite an eye-opening experience to him! This was especially important because he had once butchered an expert pilot in order to achieve a similar result! 1

To be able to gain the potential key to his advancement of Master without provoking the MTA was a fantastic turn of events for him! It took him quite a lot of time to reform his design philosophy, but he had finally reached a state where he could unveil his first fruits.

The professor proudly tapped at one of his diagrams. "What I have learned from your work does not enable me to supplant your specialty, but that is not my intention. The qualities of your design philosophy suit your inclinations the best, so even if I am greedy for them, I know quite well that there is little point in imitating a pioneer in his own field. The key lesson that I have learned from you is the power of adaptation."

When the man tapped the diagram yet again, an astounding change took place.

The power lines and structural elements... changed. 1

In their initial state, the internal architecture looked as if it was designed to generate as much peak performance out of the mech's weapons systems.

This was a configuration that was highly suitable for duels and hit-and-run attacks. The downside to it was that it overheated so quickly that the Mars Project's dimensional heat sinks would have to work overtime to cool this moving volcano down!

The change that Professor Benedict had introduced practically inverted the power profile of the Mars Project.

A mech with this kind of setup would no longer be able to use up as much energy in the same period of time. Its weapon systems, active defensive modules and flight system therefore became a lot weaker as the machine simply wasn't able to feed them as much.

In exchange, the Mars Project became a lot more efficient with how it utilized the lower energy output. It not only gained an immense amount of staying power, but it also cooled down a lot faster.

"Are you... trying to make the internal architecture adaptable?" Ves asked with wide eyes.

"Correct. Why settle for one solution when it is possible to incorporate two of them? If I can realize this new idea, the Mars Project will be able to pick and choose its own power profile on the spot. Against large hordes of weaker opponents, it is enough for it to adopt a power-saving configuration. If it has to duel against another high-tier expert mech, it should switch over to a peak performance configuration right away. As long as this transition is fast enough, Patriarch Reginald will be able to display the greatest possible effectiveness and efficiency at all times!"

This was an impressive idea! Ves was astounded by how far Professor Benedict was willing to go in pursuit of energy efficiency!

The brilliance of designing an adaptable internal architecture was that most

While there were certainly mechs that possessed an emphasis on either peak performance or maximum endurance, these biases went only half-way most of the time.

To be able to switch to the extremes whenever the Mars Project fought against different opponents would rid itself of the compromises that weakened its battle power. It could more closely perform at 100 percent efficiency at all times!

Achieving 100 percent was practically impossible, at least with the tech, materials and methods utilized by second-class mech designers.

Perhaps first-class mech designers had access to better options that could get a mech to perform at 100 percent efficiency, but it was already good that the Mars Project had the potential to waste much less energy in multiple different situations.

A higher efficiency directly translated to stronger and more long-lasting performance!