The Mech Touch

Young Anton Mendoza's life and professional career truly took off when he was accepted into the Marten Hildebrand College of Mech Design.

Joined by tens of thousands of other fortunate enrollees, he began to take to his new studies with gusto and enthusiasm.

Since Marten Hildebrand was affiliated with the Blue Cavalry, Anton's courses were geared towards the needs of the military.

This meant that the school culture and the classes emphasized the virtues of obedience, following orders, completing the mission and doing what you were told without any fuss.

Even among the fellow students whose backgrounds were similar to his own, Anton already stood out by how effortlessly he adapted to the regimented life of a student at Marten Hildebrand.

No matter how much his study load increased and no matter how he found himself with too little time to keep up with all of his classes, he tried his best to perform up to expectations.

"I can't let my grades fall before the threshold." He vowed to himself.

The threshold he referred to was the point where he proved himself to be a good enough student to receive one of the most coveted rewards from his school, namely a free chance to obtain a cranial implant or gene mod template!

He didn't know how he managed to do it, but Anton barely managed to score high enough to fall within this category.

"I did it! I can finally upgrade my baseline human cognition!"

The first surgery succeeded and he recovered quickly enough to tackle his studies at a considerably faster rate than before.

Even as his subjects rapidly grew more complex, Anton was able to work hard enough and make use of his constant improvements to score one reward after another.

From additional augmentations to entering into a more elite track, he slowly proved his worth by continuing to stick to his original study direction and trying to embody the concept of efficiency in everything.

In the meantime, many other students either stalled or dropped out. Marten Hildebrand was not soft in this regard as it no longer welcomed those that could not keep up with its demanding study program.

If the students weren't even capable of living up to expectations in the campus, then the chances were high that they would just drag down their colleagues and the soldiers who depended on their work once they worked for the Blue Cavalry!

Anton understood this truth early on and had never stopped shaping himself into the perfect military mech designer, even opting to forgo relationships entirely.

"I'm sorry, Marissa." Anton politely said in front of a fellow classmate who had sent subtle signals for him during the last three months. "I do not have the time to attend the latest theater show that is taking place downtown."

"That's fine, Anton. We can—"

The man immediately raised his palm. "Let me make this clear right away. I am not interested in dating you. A woman will only detract from the time it takes to complete my homework assignments and read the supplemental textbooks and articles that enrich my understanding of my current courses."

Marissa looked wide-eyed at Anton. "You…"

"If dating you would allow me to earn higher grades and achieve a better understanding of mechs, then I would go out with you within a heartbeat." Anton factually replied. "Unfortunately, you are in a lower track than me and possess no special understanding of mechs that I might appreciate. As such, spending anymore time with you than necessary is out of the question."

It was with great pride and satisfaction as he stood in the midst of a large crowd of blue-robed graduates and accepted the diploma that he had worked so hard for in the past few years.

"I did it." He whispered to himself. "I did it by being as efficient with my time as possible."

His accomplishment only committed him even further on this philosophy towards life.

There was no place for relationships and fun in his life. If he wanted to become a Master Mech Designer and reach the apex of what he could achieve in the Vermeer Group, then he had to be more single-minded and dedicated to his purpose than anyone else!

He continued to do well after graduation. By then, he had already set himself far apart from the poor high schooler and possessed so many career prospects that poverty was long a relic from his past!

Though opportunities to design mechs by himself were few, Anton Mendoza enjoyed the projects and work assignments that he was able to sink his teeth into. He especially valued the moments where he was able to receive feedback and lessons from older and more experienced mech designers.

His superiors in the design institution that he worked for had followed the same trajectory as Anton. A few even shared the same alma mater. This allowed him to feel more at home and gain more favor from his predecessors.

Years went by as Anton steadily managed to make a name for himself within his group. Though he did not shoot up like a rocket, his diligent attitude, his consistent results and his continuous improvement became recognized by the same circle.

He developed his own mech designs in his free time and while the opportunities to turn them into a reality were few, he still managed to make enough progress in his design philosophy to break through to Journeyman when he reached 48 years old.

While that was anything but a record, his fellow mech designers valued his steadiness and his thorough foundation.

Many things changed after he became a high-ranking mech designer. He received more tutoring and was able to express his design abilities in much more significant ways.

Of course, he always reminded himself that he was just a single cog in a very large machine. He did not grow arrogant for being one of the few mech designers who were able to make this critical leap and continued to work diligently to deepen his efficiency specialization.

Decades went by like this. As his competences steadily grew, so did his responsibilities. His age advanced to the point where he was able to earn a lot of respect due to that. Even though he saw many of his fellow colleagues breaking through to Senior while they were younger, Anton never showed any impatience, certain that his time would come eventually.

He broke through to Senior when he was 86 years old.

"Finally."

It was then that he truly started to approach the big leagues of the Vermeer Group's mech design community. His identity changed substantially and he was entrusted with a lot more serious design projects and work assignments.

Although Master Mech Designers always took charge of the most important projects, each military mech design spawned at least a dozen and sometimes over a hundred different variants.

It would be a waste of time for those Masters to devote so much time on designing so many marginally different variants.

This was where design teams led by Seniors came in. People like Professor Anton Mendoza possessed enough experience and expertise to develop adequate variants based on existing solutions. Their rank meant that they were just good enough to solve any of the new problems that might emerge as a result of changing numerous variables.

For a long time, Professor Anton developed one variant after another, using each and every project as an opportunity to explore and improve his efficiency-oriented solutions.

The energy transmission systems and the overall efficiency of the variants that he developed increasingly stood out over time.

It did not take long for his superiors to recognize his value and allow him to lead the design of a select few original mechs!

That was probably the most enjoyable period of his life. Though Professor Anton never made any radical accomplishments in his projects, he believed that it was only a matter of time before he achieved greater success.

That outlook towards life gradually changed after he came into contact with a young but budding Journeyman Mech Designer that joined his design team for a number of interconnected projects.

Different from the other Journeymen that looked up to Anton due to his age and merit, the woman was not afraid to criticize and question his words and decisions.

"I am sorry, Professor Mendoza, but your design solution is not the right way to go. I can easily spot two flaws that can be addressed in order to make the mech be able to move a few percentage points faster."

Anton gazed at the woman that was exercising her right to provide feedback. Though the culture in the design institution was not that strict towards asking questions and providing criticism, the bold tone the woman adopted somehow grated on him for some reason.

"Miss Olson, I am aware that you are new here, but I would like to remind you not to speak if you are not completely certain about your suggestions."

"I am not doubting myself. I am completely sure your design is not as optimal as it could be." Carmin Olson claimed.

"If you believe you can do better, then please step forward and show me how you would optimize this solution."

She schooled him that day. Anton and the rest of the design team he was in charge of looked with increasingly more astonishment as Carmin Olson presented her brilliant solution.

By wiping away his rather conservative and boring design implementation and replacing it with a more radical but ingenious solution, she presented her vision on how they should actually design this mech!

Professor Anton could not have conceived of such a way to improve the performance of the mech. The fact that he was unfamiliar with these methods and that he never imagined that a problem could be solved in this fashion was a substantial shock to his system.

"Where did you learn this method?" He tentatively asked.

"I did not learn it from anyone." Carmin Olson said with bright eyes. "I came up with it on my own a few years ago when I was working on a similar energy transmission problem."

"I thought your specialty lay in mechanics and mech engine design."

"That is true, but that doesn't stop me from applying the same creativity to other fields of mech design."

"I must caution you that your solution hasn't been tested yet. Your method is much more extreme than what I am accustomed to seeing. It may very well lead to a fatal error in the mech design."

"It won't fail." Carmin confidently stated. "Even if it does, that does not mean we should give up on my suggestion. Instead of settling for a decent solution like yours, we should continue to explore mine until we can make it work. That is the only way to deliver a stronger mech design to our soldiers."

When they tested Carmin's solution, it turned out that she was right to be confident. Her implementation was not only stable and beneficial, but they managed to squeeze even more performance out of it after subsequent rounds of optimization!

The rest of the time when Carmin worked under Anton proceeded like this. Whenever the confident Journeyman saw something wrong, she did not let anyone stop her from doing better!

The way she continued to pull out one innovative and self-invented solution after another increasingly made Anton question his own approach towards his career.

One day, he took her aside and asked a question that was gnawing at his mind for many weeks.

"How can you keep coming up with these fantastic if unusual design solutions?" He asked.

"It is not that complicated, professor." Carmin responded. "I can say a lot to you about this, but I think it comes down to one key factor. You have always abided by existing structures and never sought to break out of them. That may be fine when you are a low-ranking mech designer, but I don't think that is enough to make any further progress. My goal has been to advance to Master from the start. If I want to make that happen, then I can never be satisfied with my current pace."

"Have you not considered the possibility that you will end up making mistakes that can lead to serious setbacks?"

The female Journeyman crossed her arms. "I have, professor, but I have accepted that as part of what a mech designer must endure. Frankly speaking, your approach towards mech design is so dull and lacking in initiative that I can never imagine that you will be able to realize your design philosophy. From what I know about this subject, conformity is one of the last traits that you should possess if you want to break the rules and accomplish the impossible."

Her remarks went too far! She was not only being way too personal, she also sought to lecture a mech designer who was older and far more experienced than her! How could she possibly know what was better when she hadn't worked on as many design projects?

"Mark my words, professor. I will advance to Senior at a younger age than you and I will exceed all of your work and accomplishments within a decade. I have long grown frustrated at your plodding pace and your conservative attitude towards mech designs. I have decided to make it my mission to prove you wrong!"

As time went by and Carmin Olson moved on to other workplaces, she did exactly what she said.

Professor Anton watched on from a distance as the Journeyman not only bloomed into a Senior, but started to earn much more recognition and accolades from the mech industry due to her consistent innovations, some of which earned the appreciation of Masters!

In contrast, Professor Anton's standing within the Vermeer Group had remained the same as ever. Though he was also making progress, none of these methods and design solutions seemed to earn as much recognition as that of his former subordinate.

It was at this point that Anton started to question his whole life and career.

"Am I truly being too careful for my own good?"

He never paid much attention to the career progressions of his colleagues before, but that had changed now that he was doubting his own path.

He began to read the biographies of various Masters and Star Designers, and soon learned that Professor Carmin Olson may have been right.

No mech designer advanced to Master by taking it slow and steady.

It turned out that each of them were rule breakers in one way or another. It was the only possibility for them to break the laws of physics and introduce a brand new possibility in the field of mech design!