The Mech Touch

The battle turned lop-sided as soon as the two opponents fought at close range.

Though it didn't look obvious at the start, the duel between the full-sized C-Man and the pint-sized Mars Project was unfair from the beginning.

The handicap of piloting a much smaller machine did not diminish Patriarch Reginald's skill and experience in the slightest!

While Reginald had to spend enough time with the scale model in order to become accustomed to its quirks and properties, once he got the hang of piloting such a tiny machine from a distance, he turned it into a terror that could not be caught!

After fighting against the C-man for a time, Reginald discovered that Vincent's expert mech was not that agile and quick to turn around.

If this was the case, then it became a lot easier to torment the C-Man. The scale model just had to circle around the larger machine and attack at angles where the ungainly mech was unprepared to defend against!

"Stop attacking my back!"

Although Venerable Vincent tried to use the arms and then the other limbs of his C-Man to smack the buzzing miniature mech, his predictable and foreseeable attacks consistently failed to hit the mark.

Patriarch Reginald was simply too good at dodging the C-Man's attacks, especially now that he had grasped his opponent's rhythm!

The horrendous amount of skill, intuition and experience that Reginald displayed during this duel completely overwhelmed Venerable Vincent to the point where his willpower began to lose ground.

In the end, before the C-Man reached a threshold of damage that would signify a loss according to the rules, Vincent had already lost the fight on a mental level!

"Alright, that's the end of this duel! Please retreat from each other before you inflict serious damage that is costly to repair!"

The two expert pilots immediately commanded their mechs to separate from each other while ceasing any offensive acts.

In fact, it didn't matter what Vincent did as his actions were irrelevant at this point. Patriarch Reginald and his miniature mech had schooled the Larkinson expert pilot so much that it was impossible for the C-Man to have any hope of damaging its opponent at that stage!

A lot of people became happy with the results of this testing session.

"Hahaha! This is great! This is exactly what we needed to observe in order to finalize the design of the Mars Project!" Professor Benedict gleefully said.

As his passion project, he had invested so much of himself into this expert hybrid mech design. To see his work validated in this way was everything he could have hoped for during this phase of the design project.

Not only did he confirm that many of his design solutions were sound or even excellent, he also spotted many new details that he had overlooked when the Mars Project did not exist in such a real form.

The tests conducted on both the standalone components and the scale model uncovered many unknown interactions and variables that Professor Benedict and the other mech designers missed before.

As long as the Senior followed up on these details and made whatever changes he deemed necessary, then he would become a lot more assured in turning the Mars Project into a critical success!

"This scale model's performance exceeded my expectations." Gloriana murmured as she collected her own gains from this pivotal testing session. "I never imagined that something so small could be so powerful."

"That is because you never met anyone who would be willing to invest so much money and resources into building these scale models in the first place." Sara remarked as she stood behind a nearby workstation. "The Cross Clan did what was necessary in order to make sure its flagship project won't crash and burn."

"Hmmm. You have a point."

Although the scale model performed well by all accounts, the mech designers had all caught a few dubious areas that might still remain in the original design.

If this was the case, then Professor Benedict and the other participating mech designers needed to examine them further and decide whether to develop new solutions that addressed the matter in question.

Fortunately, the issues weren't that big, so it shouldn't take too much time to tweak the mech design and smooth it even further.

While Ves had spotted his own share of issues and questionable points about the scale model's performance, he was more interested in how the pilots of the two mechs were doing after this duel.

He bid farewell to the Crosser expert pilots and left the observation room to head over to the area where the C-Man and Vincent were both commiserating in their utter defeat.

As both Vincent and his battle partner derived their strength from their courage and bravery, the rather stagnant and depressing aura emanating from the expert mech frame was quite concerning.

Ves moved forward until he stood at a respectful distance in front of one of his latest works.

"Are you doing okay, Vincent?"

"Ugh.. I'll be fine." The expert pilot spoke through the speakers of his mech. "Just give me a few days. I really hoped that I would have been able to reduce the gap between myself and Patriarch Reginald."

"There is no problem with setting the Cross Patriarch as a goal, but don't get ahead of yourself, Vincent. Reginald is an expert pilot that is sitting right against the threshold of ace pilot. Did you truly think you could have beaten him in the earlier duel?"

"He wasn't piloting a real expert mech this time! He was merely piloting a toy of a mech!"

"A scale model is not a toy!" Ves firmly corrected Vincent. "The scale model that we adapted from the original design is a dangerous war machine that can partially allow Patriarch Reginald to unleash his destructive potential in a smaller package. While it is true that the scale model is not as powerful as the real deal, in my opinion the strength of the expert pilot is just as important as the mech. A strong pilot can partially compensate for the weakness of the mech by relying on pure skill. Besides, the scale model may be weak relative to the real version, but it is absolutely not inferior to other expert mechs like yours. It is just that good."

Ves actually saw a bit of promise in these remote-controlled miniature mechs. If not for the fact that it was possible to cut the connection between pilot and mech, they would have been a lot more ubiquitous.

Of course, the fact that a similar expert pilot with a full-sized mech could easily crush the miniature machine also played a major role in depressing the popularity of these smaller machines.

"Urgh. I am not going to let this beatdown pass." Vincent eventually said as he picked himself up from his cloud of defeat. "I will train harder and work together with my C-Man to come up with newer and better tactics. Patriarch Reginald won't be able to push me over so easily next time!"

"That sounds like a better goal. Keep improving. Keep growing. It is not impossible for you to catch up to Reginald." Ves told Vincent in an encouraging tone.

After he finished sounding out Vincent, Ves said goodbye and moved over to the chamber where the controller cockpit had been installed.

Even though the test had already ended for a time, Patriarch Reginald was still immersed in the magical experience of piloting a miniaturized version of his future expert mech.

The might and power of the scale model impressed him so much that he developed an even greater desire to pilot the finished product!

"Ves."

"Reginald."

"How soon…?"

"It's hard to say." Ves tersely replied. "We will need to squash a lot of bugs and perform a lot of tweaks to get the Mars Project just right. I would say that it is around 95 percent complete. If we fabricate it right away, you can immediately enjoy its power. It is just that we can still do better. Finishing that remaining 5 percent will make a substantial difference in the quality and battle performance of your expert mech. If I have to give an estimate, then I would say it will probably take another month to truly finalize your promised machine."

Patriarch Reginald relaxed. "That is good. I can wait for another month. If what I piloted just before is a preview of the 95 percent that you talked about, then the 100 percent will surely be greater. There is just one issue…"

"Yes?"

"Maybe it is the remote control interface that is creating interference, but I couldn't help but notice that the scale model… doesn't possess as much of the living traits that make your mechs so loved."

"That is true. That is a deliberate choice on my part."

"Why?"

"I have my reasons." Ves said without elaborating any further. "Let me just say that I have a special package planned for the living aspect of the Mars Project. It will go a step beyond the other implementations of living mechs that I have developed throughout the years. I am still working on it but it will absolutely surprise you once I unveil it with the completion of the design project."

Patriarch Reginald stared deeply at Ves. The former was familiar enough with the latter to know that the leader of the Larkinson Clan was definitely thinking about realizing another radical innovation!

Unlike other people, Reginald trusted Ves' work. The older man wouldn't have made so many concessions to get Ves and his crew of fellow Journeyman to work on the Mars Project if this wasn't true.

"I hope your work will not detract from the Mars Project."

"On the contrary, Reginald. My work will complement your new expert mech. I can promise you that. It will elevate it to a new height and might even redefine the meaning of living mechs. You will have a true battle partner who you can trust to support you on and off the battlefield."

That was all Ves was willing to say to the Cross Patriarch. He was afraid that Reginald would reject the idea once more became known.

Perhaps it might not be the most ethical choice to withhold critical information about a product from his client, but Ves didn't care. The Mars Project was the most powerful expert mech he had worked on up to this point and served as a unique platform where he could test and implement his most ambitious tech and design solutions.

Ves spoke a bit more with Reginald about the piloting experience of the scale model. The expert pilot had plenty of things to say, and some of his inferences were quite sharp and insightful.

"Will you be able to turn it into a masterwork when it comes time to fabricate my expert mech?" Patriarch Reginald asked as he paid close attention to Ves.

"I cannot say. You should approach Professor Benedict or my wife with this question. They are much more concerned about this matter. That is not to say that I am not thinking about this at all, but there is only so much I can do to help turn this expert mech into a special machine. You should talk to Gloriana. She has developed a potential new solution that might eventually provide you with what you need. The C-Man you have fought earlier already bears her crucial innovation. Did you notice anything special when you fought against it earlier?"

"Not particularly." Reginald shook his head. "The C-Man is rather decent, but the pilot is too weak. Vincent is a good kid, but he is at least half a century too young if he thinks he can outwit me and outfight me in a contest between mechs."

"That is what I told him as well, but whether it will sink into him is another matter."

"That is the problem with him. Vincent needs to believe he is strong in order to put out his best effort."

"Don't I know it…" Ves sighed. "Why else do you think I allowed him to keep the C-Man's idiotic codpiece?"