The Mech Touch

"Please try your best to set up the next battle scenario to stimulate the current test subject as best as possible. Your goal is to induce her into breaking through to expert candidate."

"Pardon? Are you seriously asking me to produce an expert candidate on demand? Are you serious?!"

Ves was shocked by the MTA research team's request!

The Association already struggled to accomplish this feat even with all of their advanced knowledge and technologies.

How could the mechers issue this request as if Ves was easily able to produce breakthroughs with the snap of his fingers? Under ordinary circumstances, no one would take this request seriously!

This was not an ordinary circumstance, though. Ves not only had a history of developing innovations that could increase a mech pilot's chances of breaking through, but the test subject that the MTA brought forth this time was not an average grunt either!

"According to our analysis of the data we have gathered and the observations we have made up to this point, it is not an unrealistic possibility for your MSTS to induce a breakthrough." Yarach Stimmons spoke in a factual tone. "Ordinarily, simulation programs are unable to produce this result except under extremely rare conditions, but the realism as well as the higher-than-average baseline feedback levels of your simulation program are unusually high. We have often theorized that a hyper-realistic simulation can become an effective substitute to exposing mech pilots to life-threatening battles, and this is one of the possibilities that I have been tasked with exploring."

Ves figured as much. "I see. The test subject…?"

"Ah, yes. She is special. You do not need to know her full backstory, but she used to be an elite second-class mech pilot who took part in advanced training programs. According to our indications, she should be much closer to breaking through than usual, though we cannot quantify by how much. In short, with her, we should be able to see whether your MSTS can truly yield the result that we aim to see. Even if the neural interface is still in a dangerous and unbound state, a single successful instance is enough for us to ascertain that your MSTS is worthy of greater consideration."

Since the MTA wanted to see this happen, Ves was willing to play along. In truth, he wanted to see whether his Tutor Project and MSTS was capable of inducing breakthroughs without ever exposing the mech pilot to actual battle!

"I will try my best." He promised. "Can you tell me if there have been instances in the past where mech pilots inexplicably broke through during simulation training?"

Stimmons nodded. "Such instances have indeed happened in the past, but they are exceedingly rare. The overwhelming majority of cases happened to highly talented mech pilots with A-grade genetic aptitudes. They are special existences among potentates that are able to break through under considerably less serious circumstances. Outside of that, it is practically impossible for mech pilots with B-grade and lower genetic aptitudes to get lucky while piloting the most advanced and realistic simulators that modern technology can deliver."

The mech pilots simply didn't perceive the simulated battle as real. As long as they were aware that it was fake and that dying in a virtual training scenario did not result in the end of their lives, it was hard for them to truly care about victory and defeat.

This was why the MTA research team already regarded the MSTS as a different simulation program. The data as well as other clues all indicated that the aforementioned limitations did not necessarily apply anymore, especially with unsafe neural interfaces!

"It is also important to note that those exceptions only took place when talented mech pilots broke through to the rank of expert candidate." Stimmons added. "After that, it is impossible for them to rely on simulators to advance any further because simulations cannot fully express and reproduce the capabilities of expert candidates and high-ranking expert pilots. This is the great flaw and constraint of human simulation technology."

This was also one of the biggest reasons why expert pilots and higher struggled to improve so much. No amount of simulation training could foster their growth any further because even the most sophisticated simulation programs broke down whenever they attempted to reproduce the performance of expert mechs and true resonance.

True resonance and whatever else an expert pilot was capable of bent and broke the rules of reality!

Illogical outcomes such as 1 + 1 = 15 happened all the time as soon as expert pilots resonated with their expert mechs!

It was already hard enough for simulation programs that relied on solid and correct math to mirror reality as best possible.

It was even harder for anyone to program a simulation that could properly calculate all of the crooked math and produce results that were at least somewhat reflective of what might happen in reality!

Therefore, Ves was not surprised to hear that expert candidates did not gain much if anything out of simulation training. As weak as they appeared to be, they still mastered a small amount of extraordinary power, and this was already more than ordinary simulations could handle!

"Let's see whether the MSTS is bound by the same rules."

Since both Ves and the MTA researchers wanted to see a positive result as soon as possible, the experiment quickly commenced after a few minutes of preparation.

This time, the simulated Tutor Project mech piloted by the female test subject did not end up in a boring arena as usual.

Instead, Ves had thrown the simulation mech into a more realistic battlefield!

Shells exploded in every direction as the ground of a crumbling city environment continuously rumbled.

Hundreds of mechs of varying designs collided against each other or exchanged fire from a distance.

Chaos happened in every direction as war completely engulfed the urban battlefield!

As an elite mech pilot, the test subject immediately knew that it was a bad idea for her mech to be standing around in the open, so she immediately commanded her simulation mech to head to the nearest form of cover.

"It's too late!"

Ves did not have the patience to witness the test subject scurrying around the battlefield like a cowardly cat, so he had already commanded a squad of hostile mechs to attack the simulation mech!

"Fight!"

Fortunately for the test subject, there was a squad of friendly mechs nearby that could block the attackers, but only for a time.

The problem was that the friendly mechs had already gone through a previous skirmish and were no longer in their prime!

Their battle damage along with the depletion of ammunition and energy meant that they were at an immediate disadvantage that soon grew serious when the weakest among them already collapsed.

The simulation mech piloted by the test subject soon became a target when a Bright Warrior that only suffered moderate damage flew straight towards the training mech and swung its sword with abandon!

Ves winced in pain. Although the Tutor Project was a heartland-level mech while the Bright Warrior was only a rim-level mech, their purposes were completely different.

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No matter how much the aged Bright Warrior design performance had fallen behind over the years, it was still a versatile combat machine that was designed for battle from beginning to end!

In contrast, the more modern and advanced Tutor Project was mostly designed to be a mech with training wheels. It contained an excessive degree of safety features that made it a lot safer for mech cadets to handle the mech but also reduced its effective performance by a large margin.

All of this meant that the female test subject immediately struggled to cope with the Bright Warrior's aggressive sword attack.

Though her proficiency with the Tutor Project mech rapidly increased under the pressure, the Bright Warrior succeeded in striking the training mech's armor numerous times.

If not for the superior alloys that were meant to provide the training mech with a greater damage buffer in case of accidents, those attacks would have inflicted serious damage at this time!

"Not enough." Ves shook his head. "It's not enough. She needs to face more pressure."

Another friendly mech broke apart when a hostile Stingripper shot it to pieces.

Although the Stingripper was just a light harasser mech, it was impossible for a medium mech such as the Tutor Project to catch up to it. Since the current simulation mech only entered battle with a knight mech loadout, there was no way for the test subject to retaliate against her second opponent!

The Bright Warrior and the Stingripper behaved as if they were controlled by trained military mech pilots. They cooperated wonderfully with each other.

While the melee mech continued to occupy all of the Tutor Project's attention at the front, the ranged mech circled around and fired its luminar crystal submachine gun at the exposed rear of the training mech!

Of course, the rear armor of the Tutor Project was quite thick and robust, so a light weapon was not capable of ripping it apart in an instant.

The test subject also tried to turn her machine around as much as possible to spread the damage and allow the Tutor Project's physical shield to withstand as much fire as possible.

Nonetheless, the Stingripper was still able to keep up and poke increasingly more holes in the Tutor Project's frame.

Already, the training mech suffered internal damage that slowly caused its performance to worsen.

This subsequently caused it to expose more openings to its more immediate opponent, allowing the aggressive Bright Warrior to land more hits on its scarred chest plate!

Ves glanced at the sensor readings and noticed that the test subject was under a high degree of stress.

"Is it enough?"

He had a feeling that the test subject needed another push. While Ves contemplated adding a third opponent, the Tutor Project would probably collapse too soon as a consequence.

"Hmmm, maybe I don't need to give that big of a push. Maybe there is a more gentle way for me to nudge her in the right direction."

He concentrated his mind and communicated with a design spirit.

Soon enough, the test subject that was already under considerable pressure due to the fact that her simulation mech was falling apart suddenly experienced a moment of great crisis!

For an instant, it was as if a Sword of Damocles had appeared above her body and descended in order to chop her head off her neck!

While there were many people that would break and cower in this situation, the test subject was different!

"NO! I WILL NOT DIE IN THIS UNWORTHY FIELD!"

Her most primal desire to survive burst out with the greatest intensity than she had ever experienced!

She completely forgot that she was piloting a training mech in a simulated battlefield.

She completely forgot that her opponents were fake mechs that weren't even piloted by real humans.

She completely forgot that she had no stake in the war between the two sides!

All she knew was that if she did not fight at a level that was more than she had ever attained, she would lose this battle and her life without any doubt!

As soon as her latent potential exploded forth with great power, the circumstances in reality underwent a drastic change!

The prototype Tutor Project suddenly burst forth with forced resonance! The cargo hold of the MTA frigate sounded an alarm as the unmoving training mech radiated so much power that the deck started to deform for reasons that no one could explain!

Stimmons quickly activated a few safety settings that caused a powerful energy shield to contain much of the forced resonance fluctuations produced by the training mech and its incredible mech pilot.

Despite aiming to achieve this result from the beginning, Ves, Stimmons and everyone else still looked shocked when it actually happened.

A few of them doubted whether the MSTS could produce such a result in the first place. Others couldn't believe that it could happen so soon.

Regardless, the test subject successfully defied convention and became the latest person to join the list of exceptions that broke through while fighting on a simulated battlefield!

"Stimmons…" Ves trailed off. "What is the genetic aptitude of the lady in the cockpit of my prototype mech?"

"B minus." The MTA Journeyman stiffly answered. "She is a relatively talented mech pilot by all indications, but she is incomparable to those with superior genetic aptitudes. This is what makes this breakthrough so remarkable."

Even if the MSTS could not help those with inferior genetic aptitudes break through in simulation battles, the current results were already enough to change the landscape of the mech community!