The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3457

Chapter 3457: Submit to Mech

Now that he decided to design a lancer mech that was oriented around Ylvaine, Ves made an earnest effort to translate this idea into a workable competition mech.

Designing a competition mech was a lot different from designing a proper mass market mech. Ves had to change his approach in so many different ways in order to adapt his work to the tournament setting.

For example, his lancer mech did not have to last a long time in the field. Duels generally didn't last a long time and the extreme fighting mode of his particular machine meant that Ves could forgo designing for longevity.

There was also another variable that caused him to deviate from his regular design approach. The fact that his lancer mech would be repaired after every match meant that it could be pushed beyond its limits.

As long as the mech didn't go too overboard, it was fine if it overloaded its systems for a dozen seconds or so! It would all be fixed after the match anyway, so Ves did not have to worry about excessive stress creating accumulated cracks and other damage to the internal systems.

He could easily increase the effective performance of his lancer mech by 20 percent if he disregarded its longevity and pursued the greatest possible short-term gains!

"Even if the repair systems can't fix every consequence of accelerated wear and tear, it shouldn't matter too much. My lancer mech only has to fight three short matches before it has served its purpose. There is absolutely no reason to account for any further use after today."

Ves believed that every other mech designer in the tournament opted to design their competition mechs in the same way as well. It would be stupid of them to forgo all that potential power just so that they could design their mechs as normal.

A good mech designer always adapted his work to the situation. That was a lesson that he had learned in many different instances. Working alongside Gloriana who paid a lot of attention to this aspect allowed him to fully realize how much of a difference it made.

For this reason, Ves had to fight against his habits and drop his usual insistence on designing a durable, long-lasting mech.

Although he designed such mechs before in past competitions, it had been a long time since he truly let himself go like this. He had to put more effort into making design choices that deliberately shortened the lifespan of his lancer mech in order to obtain modest boosts in several different performance parameters.

After several hours of design work, the divergence between his normal products and this competition mech became increasingly more clear.

A part of him felt pained for designing a living mech that was only meant to last a single day. This dayfly would barely have the opportunity to enjoy what it was like to exercise its prodigious power!

Ves wasn't sure what would happen after the competition mechs had served their use. He hadn't heard any mention of it in the rules. In general, they were usually broken down again so that the materials they were made of could be recycled and put to use in another competition.

However, there were also instances where the mechs would remain intact. Strictly speaking, the tournament organizers owned the mechs. It was up to them to decide whether they wanted to keep the machines for themselves or give them to the participants as extra gifts.

"There's little point for me to keep this mech, though."

Space aboard his fleet was limited. Taking up one extra mech slot just to hold a lancer mech that was completely impractical in real battles sounded like a vain and stupid decision.

"Well, if no one else wants it, then so be it. You'll just have to be content to shine brighter than any other mech in the short time that you're alive."

His lancer mech was like a supernova.

In cosmic terms, supernovae or exploding stars were incredibly powerful. They were not only capable of wiping out planets, but could also affect other star systems in the vicinity!

The downside was that they lasted only for an instant relative to the history of a galaxy. Still, their impact on the environment was huge despite lasting such a short time.

With these thoughts in mind, Ves embraced this metaphor as one of the themes of his mech design.

Working with themes was a recent addition to his design approach. Starting from the Bulwark Project, Ves sought to imitate the higher-level design methods that he had derived from his observations of the Olympus Mons.

The Shield of Samar and the Everchanger were the first two beneficiaries of his deliberate incorporation of themes into their designs.

The results were quite good. Not only did working with themes cause the living mechs to focus their strength and power in the desired directions, they also helped the expert pilots channel the various resonance abilities of their powerful machines with greater effect.

This was the first time he applied a design method to a standard mech, though.

Themes became more relevant when the mechs and mech pilots became more powerful and remarkable. They deeply influenced the performance of an ace mech and also could also play a role in concentrating the strengths of expert mechs.

What about normal mechs? How would themes affect a mech that did not possess any prime or resonating materials and would only be piloted by an ordinary person? Was it even worthwhile to bother with themes if there was no basis in power for them to act upon?

"No." Ves shook his head. "It's not useless. My last two expert mechs have already shown me how themes can affect my own work."

Living mechs were inherently complicated and multi-dimensional. Any form of intelligent life was complex to a degree. By designing them according to certain themes, Ves was basically influencing the way these complex lives expressed themselves.

It was not a particularly new technique, but working around the framework of themes helped turn it into a fixed method that could become a regular staple in his expanding toolbox.

As Ves worked the supernova concept into his lancer mech, he did not have the impression that his efforts were useless or counter-productive.

Instead, he could feel the life that he was shaping with his design efforts embrace and shape itself according to this theme.

What interested Ves a lot was that the supernova theme was not well-defined. Compared to other concepts such as hammers, physical force and so on, a supernova could not be linked to any aspect of his lancer mech's performance.

The connection would have been more obvious if he designed a mech armed with an energy weapon. However, the only obvious energy elements his mech contained was the power reactor and the flight system.

"I'm not sure if something as abstract as a theme can even affect the performance of these systems in any way."

Ves was basically flying blind in this regard.

What he did know was that his themes were definitely influencing the character of the living mech. His lancer mech's spiritual foundation became more extreme as it veered into a specific direction.

The supernova theme was only a part of the equation.

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