The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3080

Chapter 3080: Training Challenges

"Do you remember the MTA mech pilots that we've been assigned to train?" General Verle asked during a rare personal visit to the Spirit of Bentheim.

Even though Verle spent most of his days aboard the Graveyard as of late, he still visited other ships whenever the fleet transitioned back in realspace from time to time.

This was the mark of a good and caring leader. Verle didn't let his huge promotion get to his head. With the increasing number of senior officers joining the clan, he felt more pressure than ever to work hard and supplement his learning. If he just sat back and enjoyed the comforts of his rank, then it would only be a matter of time before Ves put a more competent general officer above his head!

Though General Verle did not actually mind if a better general was able to do a better job at strengthening the Larkinsons, he did not intend to admit defeat so easily.

Just like Ves, the general tasted the benefits of being the top dog. With him in power, he was not only able to ensure that his Flagrant Vandals were treated fairly, he was also able to push his own fighting doctrines onto the Larkinson Clan.

It was fortunate that his views on how soldiers should achieve victory happened to match the circumstances of the Larkinson Clan. Boosting friendly morale and attacking enemy morale was his bread and butter… The glows of certain Larkinson mech provided him with incredibly effective and reliable tools to accomplish his desired results.

However, he didn't come here today to talk about strategy.

"There are two items on the agenda which I wish to talk to you about, sir." General Verle spoke. "One of them is relatively minor and one of them will substantially affect the future of our military force makeup."

Ves grew curious enough to stop petting Lucky's back. "Start with the small one first."

"Meow."

Lucky looked annoyed that Ves stopped giving him his daily pampering. When Ves resumed caressing his back, the gem cat relaxed and squinted in pleasure.

"First, I'd like to report on the progress of the MTA mech pilots. More than a month has passed since we started to put them through their paces."

Ves groaned. "Let me guess. They're sulking like children because their parents dropped them off at the wrong house, am I close?"

"How did you know?" Verle looked amused.

"It's not hard to put myself in their place. I once went through a similar experience when I took part in the Glowing Planet Campaign."

That happened a long time ago. The Glowing Planet was where Ves became exposed to massive mech battles for the first time in his life. Dietrich, Walter's Whalers and Rorach's Bone used to be important in his life.

Now, Ves hardly even remembered that Dietrich was a member of the Battle Criers. Last he checked, the former Cloudy Curtainer had matured into a trusted officer and cadre among the Kinners.

General Verle patiently waited for Ves to finish reminiscing about the past. Memories of past experiences were precious. Neither of the two were young anymore and their increased status made it very difficult for them to repeat their earlier exploits.

If either of them were forced to enter the field, then something had badly gone wrong.

Ves eventually snapped out of his memories. "Anyway, the patience of the mechers must be wearing thin, right?"

"They're not even hiding their opinions from us, sir. They have voiced a lot of criticism of our methods. To be honest, our instructors are at wits end. Most of their lessons don't stick or are completely redundant. Their willpower is not weak, but we don't have any leverage to exercise it any further."

Ves frowned. That sounded worse than he thought. "What about pitting them against our expert candidates and expert pilots?"

"Sparring against our expert candidates is one of the few activities they enjoy. While they respect our expert pilots, that is all. The gulf between them is too vast to give the expert pilots any meaningful improvement opportunities. Part of the reason why expert pilots are so effective even when they are piloting ordinary mechs is because their intuition and battle instincts are transformatively better. Other mech pilots simply can't approach this level through regular training."

Though it was true that Ves didn't expect the mechers to make much progress, he was still displeased when his prediction came true.

A part of him hoped that these extremely skilled and privileged mech pilots were able to show their superiority in this aspect. Their failure to do so indicated that the Association was truly far behind in certain aspects.

Of course, this was not entirely bad news to Ves. Now that he confirmed that regular training was unlikely to change the situation for the better, only his more extraordinary methods could make the difference.

"The MTA mech pilots have actually issued a request to us. They want to see if you can make a difference by designing custom mechs for them. Whether they are right or wrong, they are convinced that your design philosophy can play a decisive role in changing their fate."

Ves frowned deeper. "I don't think they're wrong, but their demand is too extravagant. Do you know how valuable my time has become? I haven't even finished any of the expert mech designs as of yet and I already have a lot of pending ideas for the next round of design projects.

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