LOGINShare
Chapter 16: Pieces of the Puzzle
Last Updated:
2023-01-06 18:15:40Related chapters
The Mech Chapter 17: Capture the Flag
Joshua drained the energy drink down his throat and tossed the can to the ground. A cleaning bot appeared out of nowhere to take the garbage away.An elegant woman entered the foyer whilst carrying a babbling toddler. She approached the teenager and gave him a kiss on his forehead. "Joshie baby! How was school.""I'm not a kid anymore, mom!" Joshua whined as he avoided his mother's embrace. He ran up the stairs to his room. "And I did fine in school. My mech trainer complimented me again today.""That's good news. The higher your performance, the higher your rank when you become a reservist. Just don't join the Mech Corps.""I'm not going to mom." Joshua said as he threw his bag on his bed. "I'm going to play with the simulator again, okay?""Don't forget about dinner again."After fending off his nagging mother, Joshua left his room and went downstairs. He took two flights down and entered the basement. Situated in a cooled and isolated room was his personal mech simulator pod for Ir
Last Updated : 2023-01-06The Mech Chapter 18: Life
Watching TheSeventhSnake's replays impressed Ves. The mech pilot's flamboyant piloting of his Seraphim showed a remarkable mastery of its capabilities. The Seraphim domineeringly claimed the skies, fighting particularly well against other fliers, and launched aggressive attacks against opponents on the ground.Though Ves knew little of mech piloting, he still recognized TheSeventhSnake's remarkable skill. His aggressive play style and continuous risk taking hid a keen sense of timing. If this Snake wasn't at the threshold of promoting to Silver, he was absolutely in the upper tier of Bronze League.When Ves noted that TheSeventhSnake had come online and entered matchmaking, he chose to spectate his match. What he saw of the young pilot's performance reaffirmed his judgement. Snake piloted the Seraphim in ways even Ves hadn't imagined."But does he have the X-Factor?"Good piloting didn't necessarily mean one has the X-Factor. Disregarding the phenomenon's vague definition, the X-Facto
Last Updated : 2023-01-06The Mech Chapter 19: Reborn
Ves revisited the CA-1A Nero. He was never proud of the mech, even if he learned a lot about the Caesar Augustus when working on it. The small solutions he implemented in the Nero only helped him fabricate a less horrible Caesar Augustus. In that regard, he succeeded modestly. When Ves checked his sales again, he saw that the Nero had already been sold once for a whole 60,000 credits."At least I don't have to worry about paying for the raw materials of my next model."The Nero always felt like a half-finished job to Ves. Now that he came back with a lot of new ideas, he wanted to revisit its design and see whether he could transform it into a mech that enables pilots to reach the X-Factor.Ves opened up the Mech Designer System and switched to the Designer page. The Designer stored all of his old designs, so he pulled up the Nero effortlessly.When he modified the CA-1's design, he made changes based on reducing its cost and increasing its efficiency. He treated the Caesar Augustus a
Last Updated : 2023-01-06The Mech Chapter 20: Armor
Ves waited for a long time to receive an armor production license. The good ones cost at least as much as an advanced mech license, but even bargain bin armor cost a pretty penny. Demanding a 100 million bright credits to license a decent armor system was considered reasonable.Of course, if Ves was really desperate, he could license outdated armor or even stuff that was so old, its owners didn't even bother charging a license for its use.The latter was useful if Ves made a civilian mech, such as a machine designed to lift containers in warehouses or sow crops in a farm. There was no way he'd ever implement such rotten armor in a combat mech. Any pilot that chose to bring such a poorly armored mech to the battlefield was asking to be sniped in a single shot.Over the 400-year development cycle of mechs, the components that accompanied their designs also evolved over time. Lasers got more efficient, enabling them to deal more damage with less heat. Ballistic weaponry featured new iter
Last Updated : 2023-01-06The Mech Chapter 21: Cladding
Designing an armor scheme for a mech took a lot of skills and knowledge. Ves was frankly impressed by the young Jason Kozlowski's work in making the armor of Caesar Augustus look majestic while still doing its job. Of course, he also enjoyed limitless resources and help. With an abundance of processing power, Jason could easily layer the armor plates in a way that minimized the gaps.Ves lacked a room full of processors ready to solve any problems by brute force, but the Mech Designer System came with its own perks. The Designer offered a number of simulations that showed how certain sections responded to laser fire or other types of damage. It simulated a mech's maximum capacity for damage. It also had a tool that showed how to disable the mech with the least amount of effort.Using these aids saved Ves a lot of effort. Together with his newly gained Mediumweight Armor Optimization I sub-skill, he felt competent enough to start his job as an armorer. Rather than copying Jason's armor
Last Updated : 2023-01-06The Mech Chapter 22: Craftsman's Pride
A mech's armor defined the machine's appearance. The changes made to the internals might not be visible to outsiders, but it affected the heart and soul of the mech. His experiences in muddling around with the Nero and making more focused modifications with the Nero Redividus taught him a lot about the design philosophy behind the Caesar Augustus.Ves already knew that Jason wanted to cram as much goodies in his frame as possible. This adversely affected the mech's internal integrity as any damage that passed by its armor could spark a cascade of faults.While Jason relied on National Aeromotives' excellent armor to mitigate this issue, Ves had to make do with Marlin Solution's budget-focused 1004-HRF 5th Generation. Despite his best efforts, the Marc Antony's armor only withstood about a third as much as the original armor in the worst locations. The best places only matched the original armor by 80%, which was already extremely generous.With an armor scheme that only protected the
Last Updated : 2023-01-06The Mech Chapter 23: Sell
When Ves logged into Iron Spirit, he visited the support section in order to register a free virtual license. The game charged a lot of credits for the virtual license of the The Marlin Solutions 1004-HRF 5th Generation armor plating. Considering that anyone could make a living if they designed and sold even a halfway decent mech, the prices weren't unreasonable. The support staff processed his request promptly. Ves had made this request before so they still possessed all of his information. After confirming that he possessed an authentic production license for the armor, he received his approval half an hour later. With all the paperwork done, he loaded the Marc Antony's design file into the virtual workshop. Still motivated from his previous evaluation, Ves had no trouble getting into the right mood. The Marc Antony embodied aggressive passion, so in order to keep its X-Factor intact, Ves entered a state of mild frenzy. With the help of his much more comprehensive Assembly skills
Last Updated : 2023-01-06The Mech Chapter 24: Melinda
Melinda Larkinson had a busy life. As a junior member of the Bentheim Planetary Guard, she spent most of the time on patrols or back at base learning the ropes. As she was determined to reach the pinnacle of mech piloting, she continually sharpened her skills by sorting out troublemakers and sparring against her fellow guardsmen. A huge amount of business flowed through Bentheim, the economic 'port' of the Bright Republic. Due to a complex system of spatial distortions, spaceships had an easier time navigating towards Bentheim. This especially facilitated ultra-long-ranged FTL or faster-than-light travel. Put simply, a ship could travel directly towards Bentheim without making any stops in between in order to reorient themselves and cycle the FTL drive. Humanity actually stole the FTL technology they used today from a long-exterminated alien race. Through hundreds of years of study and refinement, they had already pushed their knowledge base on the tech to its limits. Nowadays, to g
Last Updated : 2023-01-06
Latest chapter
The Mech Chapter 65: Vincent
How integral were chips in the daily life of a modern day human? Even as they slept, these silent workers played their role. They observed the time, measured the surrounding temperature and were on the lookout for any toxicants in the air.When a person woke up, he interacted with dozens of different processors in a short succession. His power shower automatically cleaned him with the most optimal settings before drying him off without any excess heat and air.If he was fairly well off, then his household bot would have already prepared a sumptuous breakfast for him. Though the act of automated cooking was long perfected, bots still needed a tiny bit of processing power to adapt to different ingredients.When it was time for him to go to work, he entered his aircar if he owned one or hailed one from the streets. These basic vehicles were packed with processors of different kinds. The most high-end one was in charge of the main functions, but plenty of auxiliary modules required less c
The Mech Chapter 64: Second Mech
By the time Ves exited the transit shuttle, he breathed in the fresh and moist air of his home planet. Bentheim might have been a melting pot of trade and business, but it did not fare well hosting so many people in such a small planet. He led Lucky and his floating luggage carrier onto a nearby aircar and headed back to his home.His workshop already received its first deliveries of materials by the time he returned. The rest of the raw materials he needed to build a modified Marc Antony trickled in throughout the day. The new security system installed by SASS did their work and performed thorough scans of the arriving delivery shuttles and the containers they carried.Ves already summoned up the design in his System's Designer program and optimized his first commercial design. He had advanced his skills a little bit since he first completed this design, so Ves took advantage of it to marginally increase his mech's speed and armor specifications."It's only been a few weeks but I've
The Mech Chapter 63: Nether Regions
"My man Ves, I received your files. I can't say I'm entirely satisfied with your work. The cape doesn't have any frills and the surface lighting schemes don't seem impressive at all. The only thing I found cool is the red lights installed underneath the armor."Ves was afraid of that. Not satisfying his client meant his rewards for the mission could be reduced. "I have made my design choices with resilience in mind. Excessive frills will be the first thing that gets lost when your mech receives damage. It's better to keep a clean appearance that looks great both when it's pristine and when it has survived a battle."The excuse was enough to cause Vincent to pause in his tirade. He frowned and thought over his words. "Alright, but I'm consulting a pro shuttle customizer artist for the lighting scheme. I still feel your designs are too basic. Heh, why didn't I do that in the first place. Your not an artist.""If you are unsatisfied with my designs, feel free to turn to someone else." Th
The Mech Chapter 62: Leviticus
"So anyway, I didn't only invite you here to talk about old times. To be honest, I wanted to ask you something.""Oh?" Ves raised his eyebrow. "What's that?"Carlos stopped paying attention to the match entirely and turned to face Ves with the most serious face he had ever seen on his friend."You know what kind of job I have now. Even if you say I'm likely to move out of my current position, it will take many years, perhaps even decades before I go anywhere near the development process of a new design And that's only if I resign and switch companies, as the current one I work for is just a wholesaler which buys completed mechs from other manufacturers.""You can't rush a career, Carlos. I've seen you studying for nights on end back in college. You've got a good head on your shoulder. Any employer will be bound to appreciate your talents.""But I can't wait that long." Carlos shook his head. "A successful mech designer always starts his career when he's young, we both know that. So wh
The Mech Chapter 61: Design Studio
Ves was not immersed in the whole shuttle racing scene. As someone focused on mechs his entire life, the sleek personal transport shuttles that were capable of both atmospheric and space flight held little appeal to him. That did not mean others found them unworthy of their time.In fact, lots of norms worshipped shuttles. They paid fanatical attention to each newly released shuttles and liked to customize and tinker their own vehicles in their free time. Adding some decorative lighting was just one of the ways a fanatic distinguished himself among his peers.He looked over some footage on the galactic net and found it to be a basic concept. It could be as simple as adding a few colored stripes to adding in an elaborate artistic pattern. It impressed Ves that these hobbyists cobbled up evocative looks for their shuttles."I won't be able to get Vincent's approval if I half-ass this job."The best-looking vehicles didn't necessarily have the most lights. Instead, the artists who custom
The Mech Chapter 60: Capricious
Vincent Ricklin unbelievably went on for about ten minutes on the importance of manhood in mechs. He really believed almost all mechs were gender neutral. As a bona fide man, Vincent hated the thought of mentally castrating himself whenever he piloted a mech.Naturally, someone immersed in mechs such as Ves had no problem with the lack of gender indications. Mechs were only designed to emulate the human form in order to perform better as a war machine. Adding unnecessary extensions such as hair, skin or gender expressions did not add anything to a mech's battle performance.Frankly, only an extremely vain pilot who cared more for his looks than his battle record could demand something like this. Ves had the misfortune of making a mech for this kind of person."This is an extremely complicated addition. Let me think about it for a day or two. It's not easy to add mass in the front part of the waist."Actually, Ves wanted to ditch Vincent and go back to Marcella and demand they drop him
The Mech Chapter 59: Package
As Ves debarked from his shuttle with a curious Lucky in tow, his heart weighed down his mood. The articles he read about Vincent Ricklin all painted an ugly image of an irresponsible wastrel.As a serious mech designer, Ves preferred his mechs be used in the purpose they had been built. He was okay with them collecting dust in a warehouse or put on display in some kind of private garage, but to play around with them and take them too lightly was pushing it. No mech designer liked to earn a reputation for making flashy mechs that lacked substance."Though it's not as if I have a choice."That someone like Vincent considered buying a mech from a newbie was miraculous. Ves should thank the heavens for giving him another opportunity to fabricate and sell his variant.Ves took a smaller shuttle to Marcella's brokerage. She owned a nice office in downtown Dorum amid many other offices of major mech manufacturers and salesmen.The giant name plastered on the small five-story office made it
The Mech Chapter 58: Profligate
Lucky finally woke up the day after Ves visited the MTA. The cat appeared to slink in a satisfying manner, as if he ate the biggest fish in the universe. Ves gave his pet the stink eye."So… you got anything to say?"The cat acted cute and brushed its smooth body against his legs. Ves let go of his irritation and just picked up the cat and hugged him in his arms. It was easy to forgive the loss as he never really owned the strange material in the box to start with. He suspected the advanced alloy may have been meant for Lucky in the first place."Do you feel the need to go to the litter box?"Strangely enough, even after a couple of hours the cat never visited the toilet or his backyard. Ves picked up his cat again and inspected his body closely. Lucky still looked and weighed the same. He started to doubt whether anything really changed. Did the cat just ate a bunch of priceless alloys because it tasted good?He fed Lucky his usual meal of minerals and let it go out and play. Ves sti
The Mech Chapter 57: Ominous Warnings
As Miss Robyn from the SASS supervised the work, she also approached Ves for a talk."As a mech designer, when do you think we will switch to the next generation?"Taken aback by the question, Ves needed a moment to think through his answer. "It won't happen too soon. We can milk our current generation for at least 10 years. We mech designers don't like to see the value of our work plummet before we extracted as much value out of it as possible. I'm sure the big manufacturers are colluding to keep this generation alive as long as possible."The security consultant nodded. "That fits with our internal assessment. However, the new technologies employed by the advanced states have already leaked out a little bit. We do not believe the mech industry can stand in the way to progress very long.""Why are you asking about this? Are you planning to upgrade your security hardware?""For sure, and more besides that. You may not have heard about this seeing as you're young, but the mech and secu
