The Mech Touch

er two and absorb their essense in order to evolve its own.

Life threw a wrench in that plan.

”It ’s best not to force the situation further. ” He concluded.
”It ’s my own fault for making the Immortal Sage so enlightened. ”

Ves went to work on a template of the Caesar Augustus with his tentative images.
He couldn ’t help but overhaul large portions of its crowded interior.
The solutions he developed for the Marc Antony Mark II could also be applied to the base model.

He made sure not to go too far, both because the frames ultimately differed in many aspects.
Different armor systems led to different weight distribution and support.
Ves had to figure out plenty of new solutions to simplify the internals.

Just like with the other two designs, this time Ves aimed to enhance the mech ’s longevity.
He borrowed some of the solutions he applied on the original Caesar Augustus, saving him a lot of time.

In total, Ves spent just over a week to refine his third design.
As it came into its own identity, the design already started to evoke a strong sense of life, wisdom and immortality.

As a final touch, Ves added in the Festive Cloud Generator in the form of a rolling purple cape instead of a head crest.
It added to his variant ’s role as a ruler instead of a warrior.

”Let ’s call this one the Marcus Aurelius. ”

The Ancient Roman emperor in Old Earth ’s history had been regarded as something of a sage.
As Ves was no expert of this time period, he merely picked the first suitable name the galactic net spat out.
It sounded stately enough to convey the right emotions.

The Marcus Aurelius functioned more as a symbol rather than a war machine.
While Ves maintained its capability to do battle, he much rather preferred to see it prosper in times of peace.

Ves passed over the design to the System for evaluation.
He already knew how well his latest design performed, so he skimmed over most of the report.
The only thing that mattered to Ves was its X-Factor.

In this regard, the System granted the design a score of C+, well below his expected target.

”Oh come on, System! Just because the images didn ’t cannibalize each other doesn ’t mean my design is any worse than the DarkSpear! ”

The System stayed silent of course, but even if it knew the answer, Ves had to figure things out on his own.

Obviously, a higher quality X-Factor required some kind of interaction with his images.
Allowing them to fight to the death should only be one way to spur an evolution.
Ves wondered if he could get his images to evolve through voluntary synthesis.

”It ’s something to consider for the next time. ”

Right now, Ves finished his design work.
All he had to do was fabricate the show models of all three designs in order to meet the requirements to participate in the Vintage Festival.

The raw materials for the Eternal Editions of the Mark II and the Caesar Augustus had already arrived.
By the time he finished fabricating the show models of both designs, the resources to fabricate the Marcus Aurelius should also be shipped to his workshop.

”Carlos! ” Ves called when he entered the workshop floor.

”Yes, boss? ”

”Set aside your current project and help me fabricate my three show models.
I ’ve just finished their design and I ’m itching to see if they measure up in reality. ”

”That ’s great! ”

The two went about their work with infectious enthusiasm.
Ves took the lead this time because he wanted to ensure the X-Factor for each of the models remained pure.
He merely let Carlos fetch some materials or arrange some minor details to speed up the work.
His employee lacked the mental strength to compete against his boss in this aspect.

The Eternal Edition of the Mark II only took a day to complete.
With their extreme familiarity of the LMC ’s only production model, they hardly needed to pause as they used the Dortmund printer and the new assembly system to put a mech together.

Ves left the mech aside after inspecting its X-Factor.
It had indeed gained a smidgen of eternity compared to his other gold label mechs, but the difference was rather small.
Its design still retained something of a workhorse quality Ves had conveyed in his original vision for the Mark II.

”I should get a better result with the other two models. ”

This would be the first time his workshop fabricated a mech clad with compressed armor.
While Ves had fabricated the fabrication of the Caesar Augustus in a virtual environment, that gave little comfort to him.
Virtual fabrication only provided him with a simplified experience in an excessively ideal environment.

Only a little more than a week remained until the deadline for entry passed.
Ves had to work briskly in order to make it in time.

”Let ’s begin. ”

Over a week-long period, Ves fabricated both the Caesar Augustus Eternal Edition and the Marcus Aurelius in back-to-back sessions that stretched on for many hours.

Ves faced very few difficulties with fabricating their internals, which shared many commonalities with the internals of the Mark II.
He only encountered difficulties when he started fabricating compressed armor plating.

The formula used in the formation of the extremely resilient armor demanded an extreme amount of precision.
Ves constantly had to watch the chemical treatment machine and the alloy compressor to make sure they applied their processes evenly.

Flat plates required relatively little effort to ensure their quality, but the process became more complicated once he started with the curved ones.
Their uneven shapes added a lot of extra work for Ves as he had to find the right settings to allow the processes to seep into the plating without major deviations.

Ves barely completed the fabrication of the two expensive models within the deadline.
As a final touch, Ves added in a couple of random gems with minor effects.
With his growing sum of DP, he could easily afford the 100 DP it took to add an anonymous stamp to Lucky ’s gems.

When Ves stored the models side-by-side in an expanded store room, he became bewitched by their mutually reinforcing auras.

Any single model represented a treasure by itself, but when they were put together, they achieved a qualitative transformation that even Carlos couldn ’t ignore.

”Why do I get the feeling that your show models are hiding something big? ” Carlos asked with puzzlement.

Ves smiled at his employee ’s remark.
”You have no idea how special these models are.
They ’re eternal. ”