The Mech Touch

When the Larkinson mech designers returned to the Spirit of Bentheim, they quickly returned to their grand staterooms and enjoyed a well-deserved rest.

The mood among the clansmen was high. The appearance of another masterwork expert mech and one that was capable of enhancing other friendly mechs was like music to their ears.

The regular mech units were the backbone of the Larkinson Army!

Although the six impressive expert mechs in the service of the Larkinson Clan had attracted much of the attention as of late, they could not shoulder the burden of defending the Larkinson fleet alone.

There were just too few of them. Their individual combat power needed to be directed wisely in order to achieve the best possible impact. They could also be blocked by enemy forces that fielded their own expert mechs.

The most reliable way to win a battle was by achieving superiority on a fundamental level. The expert mechs wouldn't even be needed to bail out the regular troops if that was the case!

The mood among the Living Sentinels was especially high at the moment! Though Commander Casella was unable to return to the Gorgoneion at the moment, the Sentinels stationed on the well-armored fleet carrier practically held a party when they learned that their legion commander would be able to enhance their battle strength in future conflicts!

"Ready our mechs and make sure our mech pilots go on a refresher course." Captain Sorral Larkinson instructed. "We're about to show our strength when the new Minerva gets tested soon. Let us make sure that we are not found wanting!"

Among the Living Sentinels, a pair of expert candidates grew envious towards Commander Casella. Each of them were far away from wielding so much strength and influence on the battlefield.

"How long will it take for us to receive our own expert mechs from our patriarch?" Trinity Larkinson asked.

Percival Larkinson looked troubled. "We need to work harder if we want to catch up to the likes of our legion commander. It would have been nice if we are able to pilot the Quint, but there is only one of it. Isobel is lucky she possesses the right specialization."

The latest two battles reinforced the importance of strengthening the Larkinson Army's ranged combat capabilities. It made complete sense to put their only expert candidate who excelled at piloting rifleman mechs in a masterwork mech that had a reputation for producing breakthroughs!

"I heard that our clan has made a bunch of new mechs called the Enlightened Warriors, which apparently work like a lesser and more universal version of the Quint. Our guest pilots have already begun to pilot them on a daily basis."

Percival Larkinson shook his head. "Those are commercial mech models, Trinity. If the patriarch intends to issue mechs to expert candidates such as ourselves, then he will probably wait until he has designed a more powerful version that is exclusive to our clan."

"That will take at least a year. What will we do until then?"

"We do what we always do. We follow our legion commander's orders and find our breakthrough opportunity the old-fashioned way. I think the Minerva can help us. The mech pilots who participated in the G-Aena League back then told me that Casella was able to give them the battle strength of an expert candidate. I wonder how this boost will apply to us. I don't expect us to turn into expert pilots, but I think the Minerva might be able to give us a surprise."

Neither Percival nor Trinity knew what to expect from the Minerva. They had high hopes for the mech though. As a machine that was dedicated to empowering other mechs and mech pilots, perhaps it might be able to make their dreams come true!

Half a day passed as the Larkinsons excitedly prepared for the upcoming field test. They decided to go big and deploy a lot mechs for the occasion.

Over a thousand mechs hailing from the Living Sentinels as well as numerous other mech legions deployed into space.

The expert mechs of the Larkinson Clan launched into space as well. Aside from the Amaranto, every other powerful Larkinson mech was scheduled to take active part in a couple of specific tests!

Even a few custom mechs showed up. The Quint piloted by Expert Candidate Isobel Larkinson, the B-Man piloted by Expert Candidate Vincent Ricklin, the Gold Beacon piloted by Avatar Commander Melkor Larkinson and the Blade Chaser piloted by Expert Candidate Imon Ingvar had all been chosen to play a special role in the Minerva's debut performance.

Of all of the mech pilots taking part in this greater-than-usual testing session, Imon Ingvar felt the most mixed about it. His sister who he considered to be an equal for many years had completely bloomed once she settled in the Larkinson Clan.

Imon struggled for months to make peace with the fact that Casella became a demigod while he remained a mortal.

Now, he needed to press down his envy of his sister now that she had received an expert mech that was also a masterwork mech.

Piloting such an exceptional machine was the dream of many mech pilots!

Not even first-class mech pilots could obtain them on demand. The supply of mechs of this caliber was far too limited to meet everyone's demands.

This made the continuous successes of the Larkinson mech designers so remarkable. Even though much of the rank-and-file would never have a chance to pilot a masterwork mech themselves in their lives, just the hope of obtaining one if they advanced to expert pilot did wonders for their morale!

Imon Ingvar didn't know what he would experience in the coming testing session. As someone who aspired to become an expert pilot himself, he knew he mainly needed to rely on himself to find his chance.

However, if his sister could help him out by giving him a preview of what he could become in the future, he might have a clearer idea on what he needed to do to reach that level of strength!

"Relax, Imon." Vincent said over their private communication channel. "This is going to be fun. I always thought that expert candidates like ourselves can't play a big role in a battle, but if we get amped up by your sister, that might change! As long as we can borrow just 1 percent of the power of an expert candidate, I bet that we can beat up an enemy expert mech!"

That was a daring guess! Custom mechs or not, not even Imon could bring himself to believe that they could gain the power to challenge an expert mech.

However… a part of him wanted this to become true. How great would it be to relieve the burden of the Larkinson Clan and fight against powerful opponents on a more level playing field?

The Minerva could potentially make it all possible!

Imon frowned and quickly tempered his expectations. "I don't know, Vincent. Casella is still a new expert pilot and she doesn't have the strength to do much I think. Even if what you say is possible, we probably need to wait many years before Casella grows strong enough to make that happen."

"Oh, come on! Give your sis some credit. She is way more amazing than you think!"

While the custom mechs of the Larkinson Clan approached the testing site, Commander Casella was still hovering inside the hangar bay of the Spirit of Bentheim.

Ves and Gloriana were performing their last-minute checks on the Minerva. They had studied the mech carefully and made sure to scan the masterwork mech from top to bottom.

"Alright, the Minerva is ready, commander. You can hop inside the cockpit and wait for further orders."

Before Casella entered her expert mech, she briefly turned towards Ves.

"Did you add a killswitch in my machine?"

"That is standard for all of the mechs I make." Ves plainly admitted it. "I am sure you understand that mechs can be dangerous when we try them out for the first time. This is even more important for expert mechs like yours. The power of your machine is so great that subduing it will take a lot more effort. It is much easier if I can just press a single button to forcibly pull the plug of your Minerva in case you ever lose control."

"That will not happen. The Minerva and I will never give you cause to use your killswitch." Commander Casella confidently stated. "You will remove it once you deem my mech safe, correct?"

"Yes. As long as your new mech proves it is worthy of trust, I have no reason to leave the killswitch intact. It's a security risk and any hacker can potentially take advantage of it to disable one of our crucial expert mechs during a battle."

In truth, it was not that easy to accomplish that, but Ves didn't need to explain that to a mech pilot.

Commander Casella soon flew inside the cockpit and seated herself on the padded chair that accommodated her suited body to an excellent degree.

Once she secured herself, she silently waited as Ves and his fellow Journeymen all entered an observation room.

A pair of large bots arrived in the hangar bay. They grabbed a hold of the Minerva and moved the inactive expert mech into space and off to a more distant testing site.

The journey was long and tedious. Due to the scale and intensity of some of the upcoming tests, the Larkinsons extended the normal distance and wanted to make sure that all of the mock battles took place a lot further away!

When everything was set up, Ves finally issued a command.

"Go ahead, Casella. Start up your mech!"

Casella pressed the activation button and sat back as an entirely new presence unfolded in her mind.

As the man-machine connection took hold, the Minerva truly came alive in a way that she had yet to experience before.

Although the third-order living mech had already made contact with her beforehand, that was when the expert mech was in its dormant state.

Now that the Minerva was not only booting up but also interfacing with its destined expert pilot, Commander Casella slowly came in direct contact with a new but already formidable artificial life!

CASELLA.

"Minerva."

The two of them were separate beings, but came closer to becoming one. As Casella continued to interface with her expert mech, she quickly felt at home in a way she never did with the Quint.

Although the Quint was a powerful living mech in its own right, its snarky personality along with its imperfect compatibility towards herself made it feel as if she was renting someone else's apartment.

Not so for the Minerva. The expert mech designed specifically for herself truly felt like home to her senses! As she closed her eyes and explored what the man-machine connection exposed her to, she felt safe, comfortable and much less restrained.

She already began to resonate with the Minerva to a degree!

A dark gold corona surrounded her silver expert mech, causing it to exude an aura that made the Larkinson mech pilots in the vicinity feel as if Casella was staring directly at their souls!

Just as Casella continued to familiarize herself with her new living mech, a third presence made contact with her mind!

"Titania…?"

The supposed ‘design spirit' was a core part of the Minerva. Casella did not know what to expect from something that Ves had apparently made out of the remains of the giant astral beast the expeditionary fleet had fought.

It did not help that the Titania did not know what to expect either. This was the first time she played her role as a design spirit!

Though Casella initially sensed a lot of wariness from the Titania, that slowly changed when the design spirit learned that she was receiving spiritual sustenance from the expert pilot.

This was the first time that the Titania tasted such delicious ‘food'!

The two got along better after that.