The Mech Touch

Ves still remembered his encounters with Lanie Larkinson. Back when he was still a proud citizen of the Bright Republic, Lanie was one of the many growing kids that aspired to follow in the footsteps of the Larkinsons that did their duty and fought on behalf of the Mech Corps.

Lanie was a lot smaller and cuter back then. She knew so little about real society that she was still a child in every sense of the word.

It was a pity that a considerable amount of years had passed since then. Ves grew from a naive Brighter into a vigilant leader of his independent clan over the course of many different crises and challenges.

While Lanie did not personally fight and struggle through all of these events, she had become a part of a clan that was changing and growing stronger with each passing year.

She transitioned from training to become a third-class mech pilot to becoming one of the top mech cadets in the elite track!

Before the mech instructors called Lanie over, Ves stayed with them and observed her performance with her special Chiron mech.

Ves still remembered that she was piloting the first production copy of the Chiron model. He named it the Sagittarius and it went on to become her first exclusive training machine.

Cadet Lanie did not disappoint everyone's expectations. The Sagittarius supercharged her training and allowed her to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of living mechs in advance.

However, what truly supercharged her progress was the special experiment that Ves had once conducted upon her. He didn't know what he was thinking at the time, but by using the Golden Cat as a channel to expose Lanie to the skills, insights and instincts of an expert candidate, her performance in her classes had shot up like a meteorite!

The mech instructors did not shy away from lauding Lanie with praises. Even though her genetic aptitude had only reached B-, her actual performance and pace of improvement could rival the heaven-blessed talents with A-grade genetic aptitudes!

"It is truly unreal how fast she has improved." The female instructor said in an admiring tone. "In certain areas such as battle instincts and reaction speed, her performance far exceeds the level of a graduated mech pilot. As long as she remains diligent enough to keep grinding her fundamentals, she is on track to become the strongest graduate of our clan in this decade!"

Another instructor showed concern. "We're actually afraid that she is progressing too fast for her own good. Don't get us wrong, patriarch. We are happy to produce fantastic talent for our clan, but there are lessons that mech cadets cannot learn quickly no matter how talented they are. Becoming a good mech pilot is not only about the skills, but it is also about the mentality. If we want to make Cadet Lanie's future as bright as possible, then we must make sure that she grows step by step as a person as well as a soldier."

Ves fully understood what they were talking about. Just because a mech pilot was overflowing with talent and spiritual potential did not mean that they were guaranteed to break through the extraordinary threshold.

Only those with great will and conviction were able to surpass their previous limits. While Ves and the T Institute were working on solutions that could lower the difficulty of breaking through the extraordinary threshold, he still preferred it if mech pilots could step onto the path of godhood by relying on their own remarkable efforts.

"What type of mechs does Lanie excel at? Is she better at ranged combat or melee combat?" Ves asked.

"That… is rather complicated to explain." The female instructor said with a mixed expression. "She initially chose to train and specialize in ranged combat. After her… outburst of improvement, she has shown a remarkable talent in swordsmanship. She has taken to duel wielding swords like fish to water and has rapidly exceeded all of our expectations. However, that does not mean that she has put her ranged combat skills aside. Currently, she is splitting time in training both her marksmanship and her swordsmanship. She has a great future as a hybrid mech pilot, a hero mech pilot or a multipurpose mech pilot."

Lanie could have opted to devote herself to a single specialty. Whether she stuck to her original passion or fully explored the new swordsmanship talent, Lanie could have been on track to become the next Venerable Stark or Venerable Imon!

However, from what it sounded like, Lanie might be preparing to become a pilot similar to Venerable Joshua instead.

There was nothing wrong with that. Training in multiple combat approaches enabled Lanie to employ the right weapon in every situation, allowing her to fight effectively no matter her opponent.

After Ves heard enough about how the mech instructors thought about Lanie, he was eager to meet with the young lady himself.

The instructors soon suspended the training session, allowing every mech cadet to bring back their Chiron mechs and prepare for the next classes in their schedule.

When a brown-haired woman in a piloting suit hopped out of the cockpit of the Sagittarius and floated down to the ground, she had already schooled her expression and straightened her posture.

It was impossible for the cadets to miss the presence of the clan patriarch and his honor guards!

Of course, as Larkinsons, they didn't act too stiff and formal around him. The culture of the Larkinson Clan was a lot more casual about stuff like this, and that was exactly how Ves liked it. The clan was supposed to be one big family.

"Good afternoon, sir." Lanie simply greeted.

"Good afternoon. I'd like to have a talk with you. Let's head somewhere comfortable so that I can ask a few questions."

They moved over to a nearby park bench where they began to ask how they were doing.

"I am almost ready to graduate, sir." Lanie revealed to Ves. "I can choose to stay in the academy and follow additional courses to expand my competences. For example, the instructors think it is useful if I acquire a few command skills. It's just…"

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"You're impatient, aren't you?" Ves knowingly asked. "I can feel the eagerness radiating from your body. You have trained diligently for all of these years, but now that your piloting skills have far exceeded the level of an ordinary graduate, you think you are ready to face real opponents, is that right?"

Lanie eagerly nodded.

Ves not only drew this conclusion based on the opinions of the mech instructors, but also used his own observation abilities on the mech cadet in question.

Compared to many other mech cadets and mech pilots, Lanie Larkinson had grown into a promising and blooming talent. Her spiritual potential had grown and developed closer to that of Imon Ingvar.

She was like a star that was radiating with heat and aggression. She wanted to hop into a mech, get close to an enemy and whack them apart with whatever weapon she had on hand!

Ves inwardly sighed. Though he was glad to see her develop her strength so quickly, the experiment had overridden her original inclinations. Imon had contaminated Lanie's spirituality, causing her to develop spiritual attributes that did not match her original development.

It was not that serious, though. Power was power. Ves was glad for any opportunity to add a strong mech pilot to his clan.

Right now, his insights on how spiritual attributes affected the personality of the individual and vice versa gave him a good understanding on how to further Lanie's progression.

"I think you are ready as well." Ves judged. "While I do not intend to take our fleet on any major expeditions in the next few years, I have granted permission to our mech legions to allow its mech pilots to fulfill mercenary contracts. I believe that will be the best stage for you to build up your actual combat experience and truly evolve as a mech pilot."

Lanie grinned. "I can't wait, sir! If there is one regret, it is that I can't bring my Sagittarius to battle with me. It has been my teacher and battle partner for such a long time that I don't feel as good when I pilot the more advanced training mechs and combat mechs that I am training with these days."

"Mhmm. The Chiron is indeed a bit too basic for a mech cadet of your level. I intend to develop a training mech that addresses this shortcoming and can remain relevant to older cadets. Can you tell me more about your experiences with your Sagittarius?"

"Sure!"

The young lady eagerly answered his questions and shared her thoughts on the Chiron model. Ves had already heard or figured out much of what she said, but he still appreciated the opportunity to confirm and corroborate his own ideas.

One of the most remarkable advantages of the Chiron model was how Goldie added value to it by granting mech cadets a small glimpse of what was possible.

The Chiron also developed substantially different personalities based on their interactions with their first mech pilots.

Just like any other living mechs, their characters were incredibly malleable at the beginning. As they grew older and matured over time, their personalities would become fixed and it was difficult for subsequent mech pilots to influence the living mechs any further.

Ves was already familiar with this dynamic after getting exasperated by the Quint distorted personality.

That reminded him that he should look into providing additional welfare and distractions for his living mechs.

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"Right now, we do not have the possibility of allowing a mech cadet like yourself to take your training mech to the battlefield." Ves explained. "Even if we have the technical ability to transform your Sagittarius into a full-blown combat mech, it would not be the best allocation of resources. Our clan has a lot of excellent combat mech models that are much more suited to support their pilots on the battlefield. Your Sagittarius on the other hand can continue to make great contributions to our clan by raising other mech cadets."

"I get that, sir. I don't like it, but I know it is for the best. I will miss the Sagittarius, though. I have been piloting it more than I have to because this will likely be the last year that I can pilot my first true mech partner."

"I am sure your Sagittarius will be happy with helping another promising mech cadet." Ves reassured her. "What about you? Have you chosen your mech legion already?"

"Not yet, but I have already formed my short list. Right now, the Avatars of Myth sounds like the best match for me, but I have also been looking into the Swordmaidens and the Penitent Sisters. Both of them have their strengths."

Ves shook his head. "You may be right, but they have strict demands for their mech pilots. You are not wrong in stating that the Avatars of Myth is the best match for you. It is open to all sorts of ideologies and piloting approaches and it is the only mech legion where you can fully exercise your broad skillset without bumping into any restrictive rules."

"Mmmhmm."

Though Ves wished to place Lanie in the Avatars, it was ultimately up to her to decide her future.

"Do you have a specific mech in mind that you wish to pilot at first?"

"I don't know yet. I hear that you are about to develop a lot of new mechs in the coming years. For now, I think I will stick to medium mechs. I will probably start off with piloting the Bright Warrior but I will probably move on to the more advanced mech models in time. There just isn't one that is completely suitable for me yet. When will you design a hero mech for the Larkinson Army?"

"Not soon." Ves answered. "It is not in my plans at the moment, but I will make sure to consider this matter further. If there are enough mech pilots who have trained in both marksmanship and swordsmanship, then I will design a powerful hero mech for elites, is that what you wanted to hear?"

"A hero mech like that sounds great!"