The Mech Touch novel Chapter 401

They entered the end sprint.

Ves personally accompanied the modified prototype to the newly erected testing grounds a fair distance away from the Mech Nursery. He witnessed each test in person and made his own observations about the prototype’s performance.

From what he saw so far, his rifleman mech design performed up to expectations. It weaved nimbly around the obstacle, showing hardly any signs of slowing down. As a fast and nimble medium mech, the prototype demonstrated both speed and resilience.

Even the people who supervised the tests couldn’t help but let out admiring gasps when the prototype finally revealed the power of the chest crystal.

After being hit by a number of laser beams, the crystal started twinkling in white. After the test pilot sent out a command, the chest crystal unleashed a powerful but controlled beam of light with almost the same properties of a conventional crystal, but with a lot more oomph behind its power.

"The beam is at least twice as powerful as a standard laser cannon!"

That wouldn’t change any paradigms anytime soon, but it sounded impressive nonetheless. The capability to unleash a laser beam twice as powerful as a cannon should come as a nasty surprise to the rifleman mech’s opponents.

It was too bad that the crystal couldn’t be charged in any other way than firing lasers at it, not if you wanted to be safe. The crystal also didn’t hold its charge for very long and fizzled out rather quickly, throwing up a lot of excess heat into the vicinity as a result.

"It’s still a gimmick." Carlos noted at the side while Ves engrossed himself in studying the data readouts. "I really don’t see this feature being very useful. Sure, it’s impressive for a mech of that size to be able to unleash a powerful beam, but it won’t have many opportunities to show off that feature. It can only be charged if it’s shot at. Even if it carries a decent amount of armor, I don’t see any mech pilot volunteering to go out in a laser storm."

Ves grunted. "You’re right, but the crystal can be charged in other ways as well. It doesn’t discriminate between sides, so there’s no problem with asking other mechs to shoot at its chest crystal."

"As if anything like that will happen. It’s more efficient if those laser rifleman mechs don’t waste their battery packs on tricks like that."

Ves did not believe it was as straightforward as Carlos made it out to be. He could figure out several potential advantages to pre-charging the central crystal. He did not worry about the center crystal lacking any applications.

Although the crystal technology still hid a lot of secrets, Ves was pleased by the value it added to his design. Perhaps in the future he’d be able to bring out its full strength.

The testing grounds continued to grind away at the prototype. Ves gathered a lot of data on the soundness of its construction and the performance of each of its components. He paid a lot of attention to the targeting system, which turned out to be snappy and responsive, though it wasn’t very accurate at longer ranges.

The further away his mech was from its target, the more effort it had to expend to break past the enemy mech’s ECM. Against skirmishers which specialized in taking out ranged mechs, this effect could become very pronounced.

A skilled enough pilot stopped relying on external aids anyway. AIs and processors always glitched out and failed at the worst possible moments. Mech pilots had been taught to rely on their own skills instead of the comforts provided their mechs.

A mech pilot was there to pilot his mech, not the other way around.

From the fifth day onwards, the testing grounds started to subject the prototype to more demanding tests. This mostly involved subjecting it to extreme conditions. They had to find out if the design delivered all of its promises in terms of survivability.

It was at this time when a very important piece of news spread throughout the Republic. The Mech Corps sent out a formal message to millions of mech designers.

Within the LMC, only Carlos received a notification from the Mech Corps. It arrived in his comm with a special sound that his comm normally never released.

Both Ves and Carlos looked at each other with dismay.

"I knew this would happen." Carlos sighed and raised his comm to read the message. "I’ve been drafted."

Both of them saw it coming, though Ves always hoped that the Mech Corps would somehow overlook his friend. After all, despite graduating as a mech designer, he never did anything of the sort. He had no designs to his name. He didn’t even publish a single virtual mech.

"When do you have to leave?"

"They already booked passage for me. I’m to board the next convoy from Cloudy Curtain to Bentheim. That’s in two days."

"That’s not a lot of time."

"The Mech Corps doesn’t wait for anyone."

Now that the first wave of mech designers got called up, the war would probably enter a heated state very soon. The cautious probes and occasional raids that characterized the majority of the battles between the two sides would make way for harrowing battles in space and on the ground.

Ves accompanied Carlos they went through the paperwork. This ensured that Carlos would seamlessly be able to return to the LMC after his service ended.

"How long do you think the war will drag on?" Carlos asked as they ate a meal in one of the Mech Nursery’s restaurants.

"If it’s the same as the last ones, then it’s going to last for four to six years."

That meant that Carlos might end up a very different man after the Mech Corps released him. The thought of what low-ranking mech designers had to go through during the war freaked him out.

"Hey!" Ves reached out and grasped his friend’s shaking hand. "Working near or at the frontlines can be bad, but it’s also a fantastic learning opportunity! As long as you listen to the chief technicians in charge, you won’t get lost, I promise you."

"You can say that." _{freeweɓnovēl.coɱ}