The Mech Touch

er ’s shortcomings.

”Still, will I be able to impress the masters if I recycle an existing design? ”

The System gave him a mission.
His ultimate objective was to become an apprentice to a Master Mech Designer.
He had already shown off the Sword Dancer.
In order to provide the masters with a better idea of his work, he should create something more unique.

”The masters don ’t want to take on a lazy apprentice.
I have to show some effort on my end if I wish to make myself attractive. ” Ves considered after a moment of thought.

A mech designer who always cut corners had limited potential compared to one that always worked hard to improve himself.
Though he could not read the minds of the five masters watching from afar, he believed they wanted to pick someone with promise.

”Alright, then let ’s make a new mech. ”

First, Ves considered the performance of the Sword Dancer in the previous round.
It turned out that Cadet Lovejoy could not show off its strengths due to the nature of its opponents.
The last duel against the Pterodactyl showed that Ves had to come up with a means to diminish the advantage of range.

”Should I design an aerial mech or give my mech a better ranged weapon? ”

He did not specialize in flight systems.
Though he knew enough to implement the standard flight systems provided by the QuickForge ’s catalog, he could not make any meaningful improvements to them.
Gauge ’s Pterodactyl already showed how extreme a proficient designer could push a flight system.

On the other hand, adding a ranged weapon did not conform to the requirements of a swordsman mech.
Some people expressed very extreme opinions about how swordsmen mechs should never carry a firearm, not even a dinky backup pistol.
In addition, it wasn ’t like he specialized in weapons tech either.

Ves was torn between the two.
He considered what his pilot preferred.

”Adding a flight system will add to the bulk of the mech, but it will also give it more options.
Cadet Lovejoy only needs a tool to close the gap.
The flight system is not the most important part of the mech. ”

He decided to add a slim flight system to a medium mech frame.
It would not increase the top speed of the mech nor turn it into an aerial acrobat.
It should give his mech enough tools to respond to aerial threats even without a pistol.

Now that he determined the basic features of his mech, Ves filled in the gaps by letting his imagination free reign.
He sunk into his mind and sought to match a fitting purpose to his mech in order to unleash its X-Factor.

Again, while his rivals already started to work on their designs, Ves still worked on generating a mental picture.
The strange disparity caught the attention of the crowd.
What in the galaxy was he doing?

Ves ignored such considerations and started to think back on the Sword Dancer ’s final moments.
Rage, humiliation and helplessness.
Cadet Lovejoy lacked a means to fight back against his opponent ’s scorn.
His mind also flickered to the final fate of the pilot who ruined Gauge ’s mech.

”My next mech will be an Executioner.
It is not a demon or an angel.
It cuts anything in its way no matter how unreachable the target.
Its sword is both its tool and its badge of office.
It executes only mechs, not people.
Its sword shall never cut what is not meant to be cut. ”

With a strong intent in mind, Ves opened his eyes and engaged the QuickForge system.
He opened the extensive catalog and picked a slew of parts without caring too much about the details.
He let his intent and intuition decide which parts to choose.

He started with a heavy, two-handed sword ideal for chopping off heads as well as other limbs.
To accommodate the sword, he selected a firmer torso, strengthened arms and somewhat solid legs to provide a powerful platform.

To power his Executioner, he picked a high-performance power reactor and a medium-intensity engine model.
A more powerful engine added a little bit too much weight, so Ves skipped the most robust models.

His choices so far meant that his mech enjoyed sufficient mobility despite having heavier limbs.
While it lost much of the agility that defined the Sword Dancer, it made up for it in raw power.

As for the flight system, it should first and foremost avoid hindering Lovejoy ’s swordplay as best as possible.
Due to his lack of proficiency in flight systems, Ves could only pick a default compact model from the catalog.

It consisted of two thick tubes with an unfolding wingspan on each.
While it like a pair of deformed trees, it nonetheless provided a decent amount of thrust for the amount of space it took.
The only major downside to this system was that it wasted a lot of energy.

”Since my mech isn ’t using any energy weapons, I can spare the energy expenditure. ” Ves considered and went ahead with his choice.

After confirming his selection of components, he started putting it all together.
He started with integrating the flight system to the back of the torso.
Fortunately, the torso model he chose possessed a standardized attachment system that allowed for easier attachment of flight systems.

While he could complete the merging of the two components fairly quickly, Ves was not content with the basic layout.
He modified the attachment point by strengthening the connection and adding a couple more redundant power lines to the flight system.
He did not wish to encounter the same situation the Pterodactyl suffered when it failed to find any means to transfer power to its flight systems.

After spending two hours on integrating the flight systems properly, Ves turned to the rest.
Installing the power reactor and engines provided no problems.
He took a little more care with the limbs due to his mech ’s reliance on momentum and mechanical power to deliver damage.
He specifically selected thicker limbs in order to accomodate a more powerful artificial muscle layout.

Ves spent an extravagant amount of time on making sure the internals were sound.
That left him with three more hours.
He painstakingly spent an entire hour on optimizing his Executioner ’s armor scheme.
He made it more robust and added in a lot of harder edges.
It made his mech look more menacing.

He filled the rest of his time with producing compressed armor.
While he wished he had access to better methods and more sophisticated formulas, beggars couldn ’t be choosers.