The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2736

Chapter 2736 - Defective Design

At the end of their private discussion, Ves and Melkor came to a new understanding.

The opinions they shared and the decisions they made would profoundly change the Larkinson Clan’s first elite mech force.

Commander Melkor insisted on transforming the Avatars of Myth into the spear of the Larkinson Clan!

In order to facilitate this transformation, he intended to increase the intake of offensive melee mech pilots and reduce the emphasis on ranged specialists.

Even though Melkor was a rifleman mech specialist himself, he did not mind the change. There was still a place for ranged mechs in the Avatars. They just wouldn’t be the main focus anymore in order to make sure that his entire unit excelled in frontal assaults.

Melkor loosened up after Ves supported his plans and promised to facilitate the transition. He loosened his shoulders and relaxed his posture.

"Thank you, Ves." He said in a more personal tone. "My men and I truly need these changes."

"It’s been hard on you, Melkor. Responsibility is never an easy burden to bear. It gets even harder when something awful happened under your watch."

The various battles the Larkinsons had fought since the founding of the clan repeatedly traumatized the clansmen. While the harsh experiences hardened them into battle-worn soldiers, they also incurred other damage. _{frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓}

Commander Melkor was no different. His burden was greater, so he took a greater share of the mental damage than others. It was hard for people who cared about the wellbeing of their underlings to remain unmoved by the significant number of the deaths that had taken place.

Different people coped with the problem in different ways. Some just bore their pain silently. Others turned to alcohol or stimulants. Then there were people like Ves who simply shoved his guilt aside and tried his best to wipe it out from his mind.

It was too bad that not everyone was like Ves. Melkor looked like he could use a hug or a pat on the back.

"You don’t need to look so glum, Melkor. Are your Avatars complaining about your leadership?"

"No. I’ve been spared from suffering the same fate as Commander Magdalena, though sometimes I feel I should."

"She unjustly fell on her sword because that was what was necessary to drag the Living Sentinels out of their slump. She doesn’t deserve this fate and neither do you. External factors are the cause for all of the setbacks we’ve suffered. You did the best you can to respond to all of the developments that threatened our existence."

"Many people say that." Melkor grunted. "Major Verle often tells me that as well. I still feel that a more seasoned and experienced commander could have kept a few more Avatars alive. I often spend hours thinking that I should have pushed through certain decisions that would have lowered our casualties."

"You’re getting lost in what-ifs. That’s not a healthy habit to have. Introspection is only useful if it helps you become a better person. Since this is not the case right now, you should stop wallowing in the past and focus on the future instead. Your men still need your leadership. They need an authority figure, not a moper."

That spurred Melkor to straighten himself up. No good came from doubting himself to this degree.

After straightening Melkor out, Ves bid goodbye to him as he left.

"I hope you’ll succeed in rejuvenating the Avatars."

Once Ves was done with his meetings, he decided to put down his patriarch hat in order to don his mech designer hat. He exited his temporary office and navigated to the large and mostly-empty space that was supposed to be the design lab for the duration of the Larkinson Clan’s stay in this star system.

A lot of mech designers were absent at the moment. The missing design teams weren’t slacking off. Rather, they were probably preparing to fabricate and test the prototypes at a nearby testing facility.

Ves walked up to Gloriana, who was busy with examining the latest iteration of the Devious design.

"Anything to report?"

His wife shrugged. "Nothing that you don’t already know. Well, there is one issue I’d like for you to deal with. The Devious is long overdue a suitable proto-god. While its stealth systems are all functional, they aren’t too effective due to the limited design budget of our design. We need to match this capability with a suitable glow in order to make the mech more suitable for stealth operations."

Ves rubbed his palm against his face. He’d been postponing this problem for a while. "I’ve been trying to find a good solution, but I haven’t found any suitable ingredients. We either have two choices. We can either wait for me to scour through the Prosperous Hill System in the hopes of finding a good ingredient, or I can switch over to my backup plan and center the glow around the Superior Mother alone."

"You mean her dust phase aspect?"

"Yes. I think it will help with making the Devious more unnoticeable to mech pilots, but I can’t guarantee it will be as good as we hope. If I had the right design spirit, then I would feel much more assured that this model will be able to infiltrate Fridayman positions."

Gloriana looked troubled. This was a hard choice to make. Time was of the essence as the Hex Army urgently needed to obtain some new options to break the current trend of the Komodo War!

"What do you think we should do?" She asked.

She did not hesitate to shift responsibility back to him. If he was the one to make the harsh decisions, she wouldn’t be burdened by any guilt. She could sleep easy knowing that Ves was to blame for any mistakes!

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