The Mech Touch novel Chapter 591

A lot could change in three days. Transforming a collection of low-grade parts into a single mech required both effort and thought. Ves supplied the latter while the mech technicians supplied the former. Neither of them held back in their attempts to transform the limited Pointed Sentinel into a strong and valiant New Sentinel.

Working day and night, the sleep-deprived mech technicians sacrificed much to maximize their productivity. Under the constant babysitting of Chief Haine, the techs found the will to keep pushing onwards and complete a week’s worth of work in less than half the time.

At the latter half of the three-day period, the mech technicians started to slip up. Even if they could push themselves to stay awake with the help of stimulants, their concentration inevitably suffered. Plenty of work had to be redone due to small mistakes. This was also why the tech crew hadn’t managed to finalize the assembly of the New Sentinel up to now. They still needed to catch up to the last tasks that needed to be done.

Everyone was dead-tired right now except for Ves, whose physique easily sustained a few extra sleepless nights. All of them yearned to drop into comfortable beds. Hell, they didn’t even need a bed.

"Seeing is believing." Chief Haine said as she admired the frame of the New Sentinel that she had practically shaped by proxy. "I didn’t think your frankenstein mech would work, to be honest. There’s so much complexity involved in mating those different parts together that I didn’t believe a few hour’s worth of design planning can solve all of the compatibility issues."

Ves looked at his New Sentinel with pride. To outside eyes, the contours of the mech did not differ too much from the Pointed Sentinel. Though the arms and legs appeared to be different, Ves had deliberately selected stronger limbs that nonetheless match the proportions of the original ones. This prevented a lot of troublesome compatibility issues such as disrupting the balance due to grafting a muscled arm onto a thin female’s frame.

Outwardly, the New Sentinel hadn’t changed too much. Inwardly, the mech had practically gone through a rebirth. Ves replaced virtually every core component with stronger ones salvaged from various mechs. Besides the cockpit and the internal support structure, hardly anything was left from the Pointed Sentinel.

"With a new engine, power reactor, sensors, a set of energy cells and more, the upper ceiling on the New Sentinel’s performance is roughly twice as high as its predecessor." Ves predicted. "That should be more than enough to cope with Captain Orfan’s demands."

"I’m still a bit iffy about the transplanted artificial musculature. That’s an enormously risky operation, you know. It’s not every day we do something like that."

"Even if there are minor errors in the implementation, the New Sentinel can cope with it. The raw power that the mech will gain from this transplant is more than worth the risk."

Ves highly prioritized the act of unifying the artificial musculature. All of those limbs came from different mechs. The biggest compatibility issue that arose from merging them with the torso of the Pointed Sentinel was that the muscles simply wouldn’t match. Trying to fudge them around until they mated with each other took too much time.

So Ves decided to do something drastic. He ripped out all of the old muscles and transplanted a set of new one. This set came intact from a single complete mech wreck. Ves would have no worries about incompatibilities as a consequence, but trying to make them compatible with the New Sentinel was an extremely difficult challenge.

This momentous task consumed an enormous amount of time and effort from the mech technicians.

"I hope the mech won’t lock up its muscles when we first boot it up." Chief Haine prayed. "We’ll suffer a fatal blow if it turns out that all of our work is in vain."

"Your work won’t be in vain. I can promise you that." Ves replied confidently.

He had a good feeling about the New Sentinel. Despite its unfinished state, the mech radiated a subtle aura of spirituality. The X-Factor had taken root in its frame. It not only infused a copy of the heavenly horse, but also carried the earnest aspirations of the mech technicians that worked on the frame.

The latter influence was miniscule, so they didn’t pollute the spiritual quality of the mech. Ves even figured that it added some complexity to the X-Factor. The untamed ferocity of the heavenly horse was the dominant component of the X-Factor and should help unify the different parts into a single whole.

"All that is left is to load in the software." Ves spoke.

He stepped on a lifter platform that brought him over to the opened cockpit. After slipping inside, he loaded in the software and started making some final tweaks that he had been saving for last. This was necessary because the physical state of the New Sentinel didn’t completely match the theoretical design schematics.

"A few screw ups and misinterpretations can pile up and lead to significant change."

Therefore, Ves had to spend a precious hour configuring the software to match the actual condition of the mech.

"Finished!"

It took a little longer than he thought, everyone tentatively finished up their work on the mech. Every part was in place and the whole frame was put together nicely.

The entire crew looked at their mech with emotion. All of their sweat, blood and tears had been poured into this frame. Its complexity went far beyond a civilian mech.

Now was the time to put the mech to the test. Captain Orfan walked over in full piloting gear. During the last three days, she hadn’t been idling. Ves had loaded in the virtual design of the New Sentinel to the simulator pod so she could become accustomed to its properties.

"Are you ready to mount your steed?" Ves asked the captain.

"I’m ready to roll!"

Boundless confidence radiated from the mech captain. She had never flinched away from the upcoming duel to the death. To a mech pilot like her, representing the honor of the Flagrant Vandals was a pivotal achievement in her career. The possibility of death had never swayed her courage!

"Be careful, captain. The physical copy won’t move as smoothly as the virtual version. When you test it out, don’t go full throttle just yet. Start off with the basic movements and slowly work your way up there. I might need to make more adjustments along the way."

"Got it. I’m not stupid, you know."

After the captain boarded the mech, everyone stepped far away as the mech finally booted up. Its humanoid eyes lit up as its power reactor started supplying power to the entire mech.

The performance of the New Sentinel couldn’t match her service mech, but it came close enough to accommodate her fighting style. This was a mech with very good bones and muscles. Even if it was clumsy in some areas, it did not lack in reaction speed and agility! _{fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com}