The Mech Touch

Ves sensed an odd vibe from Master Xieliq Quan.

From his odd choice of clothing to name dropping the Polymath, it became clear that this old and respected Master Mech Designer came with a different purpose in mind.

Master Quan did not share his goal right away. He seemed content to take his time and keep Ves guessing.

Suffice to say, Ves found this game to be tiresome. He had many thoughts and ideas in his mind. He did not look forward to adding another complication to his life.

It did not look like he could avoid another messy entanglement, though. Master Quan was not the sort of person that Ves could dismiss so easily.

Even though the man was 'only' a tier 5 galactic citizen, the man had many many contributions over the centuries. The research he completed might not be instant game changers, but he was part of the backbone that allowed mechs to prosper at a steady and persistent rate since the start of the Age of Mechs.

There were times where Ves felt as if he was a fraud who did not deserve all of the praise and recognition bestowed by others. He knew quite well that he did not entirely develop his design solutions by relying on his own efforts. The Mech Designer System played an indispensable role in helping him complete feats that were unattainable through other means.

The mechers didn't seem to care about all that. The Polymath had been able to climb her way to the top of the Association in record time by making use of her own fragment of the Metal Scroll.

This reflected the focus on results among the people of the Mech Trade Association and later the Red Association.

No matter what sort of means had been used to produce a research result, it held value so long as it was useful!

While that made Ves feel less guilty about himself, he always held the thought that he was inherently inferior to mech designers who earned their status through more honest means.

Master Quan's research contributions along with his more advanced age made Ves adopt a humble and respectful attitude in front of the man.

The old man in question clearly sensed this shift in attitude.

Xieliq Quan did not come here to speak with a meek and subservient mech designer. He raised his hand in a casual gesture.

"Come now, Professor Larkinson. There is no need for you to show so much deference to me. Let me give you a lesson. I may be a Master, but society divides people by strength and contributions. You have managed to work your way to a much higher position by relying on both. There is more to human civilization than mechs. Once you become accustomed to your new station in life, you will find that simple Master Mech Designers such as myself are not always deserving of greater respect."

Though Ves found it hard to treat Master Quan as an ordinary individual, he relaxed a bit after receiving this well-meaning advice.

"I guess you are right. It is just that it is still customary for a more junior mech designer to show deference to a more senior one. You have contributed to the mech community for many years. You paved the way for younger generations such as myself to enter a prosperous sector. I am also impressed by your design philosophy. I do not have the pleasure to study or make use of your design applications myself, but I have heard good stories about your work."

When Ves looked up Master Quan on the galactic net the day before, he found out that the older man specialized in an unusual and highly exotic weapon system.

According to his record, he possessed a Class II design philosophy that was simply labeled as Molecular Disintegration.

This was a scary word.

It evoked images of people and objects disintegrating into dust or elemental particles.

This was because any device that could induce molecular disintegration had the power to break even the hardest and toughest armor system!

What surprised Ves the most was that a design philosophy like Molecular Disintegration should have been so high-end that it should only be present in first-class mechs.

However, the reality was that Master Xieliq Quan remained a second-class mech designer who never sought to implement his work in more sophisticated products.

There was one strong reason why the first-raters weren't so eager to adopt his work.

Molecular disintegration was derived from alien technology.

Though Master Quan had managed to reverse engineer many weird alien principles, only 80 percent of molecular disintegration technology could be reproduced through conventional human means.

The remaining 20 percent was still reliant on alien scientific principles and production methods, which not only made it harder to construct and repair this kind of tech, but also prevented too many people from trusting the strange devices.

It did not help that molecular disintegration weapons had a reputation for being just as dangerous to their wielders as their targets!

Though most accidents happened during the first century of Master Quan's career, the stigma surrounding his exceedingly dangerous tech never faded.

The most common molecular disintegration weapons equipped by his mechs were short-range burst weapons that could instantly disintegrate a large chunk of solid matter in a small cone in front.

It was perfect for breaching fortifications and drilling through exceedingly hard ground!

Any mech that happened to be in range of a molecular disintegrator could collapse in an instant if the exotic weapon was activated at full power!

Unfortunately, the cumbersome weapon system came with plenty of downsides. It was relatively large, heavy and inefficient. A molecular disintegrator also happened to be completely ineffective against energy shields.

All of these demerits were not enough to hold this tech back. There were always ways to mitigate or circumvent these issues.

The real reason why molecular disintegrators never caught on was because the more powerful they became, the greater the chance of a backlash!

If a molecular disintegrator was equipped by a first-class mech, then the weapon had a significant chance of exploding or malfunctioning to the point where it disintegrated everything in the vicinity without any distinction!

It was only when these weapon systems were being used at lower power settings that the chance of accidents could be minimized.

All of this had long put Master Quan into a quandary. The man had remained stuck as a second-class mech designer, unable to solve the fundamental technical problems that caused his signature tech to remain so unreliable.

If Master Quan was able to solve this major shortcoming, then he would not only be able to unleash the true power of molecular disintegration technology, but also make a much greater contribution to the mech community!

Perhaps this breakthrough might be substantial enough to make him eligible to advance to Star Designer!

However, the greater the dream, the more illusionary it became.

Master Quan had struggled to find a breakthrough for many decades, yet he never managed to crack the final secrets to the alien tech that he had dedicated his life to perfecting.

The most he was able to do was to derive adjacent research applications that enabled him to make minor contributions at a consistent rate.

He was a typical example of how perilous it was for a mech designer to indulge too much in alien technology.

A small commotion spread from the millions of people who had been looking forward to witnessing the final and arguably most exciting match.

This was because they had a good opportunity to admire the two powerful mechs that were about to duel against each other!

The Elite Edition of the Fey Fianna needed no introduction. The transphasic hyper drone mech had already made an appearance yesterday. Even though it had only demonstrated a part of its amazing defensive capabilities, its other functions most certainly should not be weak!

What most people did not realize was that the Elite Fey Fianna that had entered the main arena happened to be piloted by the best drone mech specialist that the Larkinson Clan could muster on short notice.

The Larkinson mech pilot controlled the individual fey with much more control and direction than the other mech pilots!

Not only that, but the pilot also happened to develop a great affinity with the Fey Fianna. He was able to cooperate with the living spirits and even learn a few useful tricks from them that allowed him to get one step ahead of his peers when it came to utilizing the potential of his powerful mech.

However, all of these advantages might not be enough to defeat a quasi-first-class transphasic hyper mech that was loaded with exotic and advanced technologies!

"So that is the Dustweaver."

The hero mech did not look as gleaming or heroic as most machines of this archetype.

It instead conveyed the image of a desert ranger that had spent so much time in harsh and hot terrain that its exterior had faded to a rusty mixture of green and brown.

The Dustweaver was packed with sophisticated equipment and modules. Its most ostentatious weapon was its medium-range molecular disintegrator. It was a rather heavy and cumbersome weapon, but nobody who knew about it could deny its lethality, especially when Master Quan had worked hard to improve the effective range of his signature weapon system for a long time.

This did not come without a cost. According to the galactic net, a molecular disintegrator of this type could only be fired a dozen or so times in succession before all of the excessive strain caused it to break down.

However, the effect of each activation was sufficiently devastating enough that it was often worth the price!

Aside from that, the Dustweaver also wielded a strange warhammer that contained a lot of obvious technological components.

This was Master Xieliq Quan's recently developed transphasic oscillator hammer.

It was basically a hammer that could shake itself and the fabric of space at a high frequency upon impact. This effect induced a huge amount of strain on transphasic energy shields, causing them to deplete much faster after getting hit by this advanced weapon.

The combination of a molecular disintegrator and a transphasic oscillator hammer turned the Dustweaver into a deadly machine at close range!

Ves did not think that the Elite Fey Fianna had much of a chance of winning the final challenge match if the Dustweaver could catch up to the drone mech.

Aside from these external armaments, the Dustweaver also possessed the ability to attack at range with the help of a pair of shoulder-mounted transphasic hyper positron beam guns.

They looked fairly small, compact and easy to detach when necessary. Their damage output probably wasn't high, but they should serve adequately as a means to apply ranged pressure.

Without these positron beam weapons, the Dustweaver had no chance of wearing down its adversary at longer ranges!

This was not the extent of the Dustweaver's loadout. Ves was sure that it contained numerous advanced modules that possessed a multitude of useful functions.

He was also sure that its power reactor must be particularly powerful in order to support so many energy-draining functions.

Even so, Ves did not think that the Dustweaver could fight at a high intensity for long. Its frame was too thin to fit too many energy cells.

The upcoming match was bound to be short but explosive. Victory or defeat could be decided within the first few minutes.

"Are you confident in your work?"

"I am." Master Quan replied with clear confidence in his tone. "Do not judge the Dustweaver based on my past works. The Hyper Generation has given me a range of new options that addresses many of the flaws that used to hinder my mech designs. This is the first public showing of the tech that I have adapted to my mech designs."

Ves did not think the older man was boasting because he sensed another unusual factor about the Dustweaver.