The Mech Touch novel Chapter 110

Lucky playfully twisted his tail as he followed Ves into the lab. The Barracuda’s lab bot finished analyzing Master Olson’s present. Depending on the results, he’d either feed it to his cat or reserve it for another purpose.

When the lab bot presented the data, Ves looked intrigued for a moment. Disappointment set in right after. The miniaturized equipment of the lab ultimately lacked the power to break the veil surrounding the ore. The lab bot ineptness also couldn’t be helped.

"I know its size, mass, hardness, and other basic attributes. As for its composition, I still have no clue."

Unless Ves entrusted the ore to a materials science institute, he could get nothing else out of this piece of rock. It wasn’t worth the hassle.

He turned his attention to Lucky, who sat next to Ves looking pleadingly at him. The cat even stretched his paws in a grabbing manner, as if it was a starving kitten.

"Are you sure this thing won’t poison you or something?"

"Meow!"

"Then have at it!"

He nonchalantly threw the ore onto the floor. The chunk rolled a short distance before stopping. The gem cat pounced on the rock without mercy. Lucky gnawed at its surface with his alloy teeth, which surprisingly bounced off. The cat appeared indignant and employed his energy claws to break up the rock.

The claws only managed to scratch tiny chunks out of the rock. The resilience of Master Olson’s ore was something else. Lucky’s most powerful weapon easily sliced through exoskeleton armor had to admit defeat.

Lucky eagerly gobbled up the tiny chunks before beginning to slice again. Ves could tell his cat could take a while to digest the entire rock, so he left his cat to enjoy his buffet in peace and went back to work.

During the Barracuda’s uneventful journey across the border of the Friday Coalition, the ship encountered nothing unusual. Perhaps no one had pursued them, or perhaps their strategy of travelling through uninhabited systems worked. The Barracuda successfully evaded pursuit, if there was any in the first place.

Everyone relaxed after a few days. Dietrich finally had his fill of the bar and slowly explored the rest of the ship. Lucky kept slicing his new toy, swallowing piece after piece.

As for Ves, he started to work on improving his mathematics. He recognized that his poor math dragged his designs down. It might not have manifested during the competition due to its incredibly short time limits. When it came to regular designs, a good foundation in math could absolutely increase its optimization.

The key use of math was to create and adjust complicated models that could test out different design choices. For example, if he wanted to make a mech run faster, he could shave off armor from different spots. If he wanted to minimize the impact on the mech, he should lighten the area which would be least affected by the change.

How could he determine such a thing on his own? Up until now, he always used his judgement and intuition. For example, the chest was usually the most heavily protected portion of a mech. If he shaved off half a layer, it might not impact the mech a lot. In truth, he was merely guessing. He might think he only diminished the armor’s effectiveness by five percent, when in reality it was ten percent.

Ves risked introducing a fatal flaw in his design if he was not aware of this discrepancy. The only way to make sure was to construct a mathematical model simulating the armor’s performance. While the Mech Designer System came with a large amount of ready-made models, Ves ultimately didn’t understand the essence of most of the math behind their complicated programming.

Using a model was like using a firearm. He only had to pull the trigger if he was content to shoot at someone. If he wanted to modify the firearm and achieve more penetration or a higher firing rate, then he had to thoroughly know the ins and outs.

Instead of using the System to forcefully upgrade his Mathematics skill, Ves tried to do the hard work himself. His mathematics remained at an incompetent level which was quite disgraceful. While it only took 500 DP to upgrade it to novice, Ves did not wish to waste the valuable points.

As his intelligence received a minor boost, Ves did not encounter too many roadblocks during his cramming sessions. He borrowed quite a few low-level textbooks from the Clifford Society’s Star Library.

These bottom-level books were so worthless that the Society didn’t bother with any elaborate security restrictions. As a Knight, Ves could directly study the content of the books inside the premises of the virtual library.

Ves made for a remarkable sight. A Knight not only stayed at the Star Library, but he was solving problems that others have mastered in their sleep. The Squires and Knights who visited the library couldn’t help but pause at the sight of a solemn Knight cracking his head over basic college-level math.

"Haven’t these people seen enough?" He complained inwardly as his cheeks grew hot.

He wanted to find a hole to burrow into. While the library offered to rent private rooms, Ves had to pay a merit in order to reserve one for a month. Considering his stingy nature, he refused to waste his valuable merits again. He already regretted tossing a merit into the virtual fountain.

Despite the embarrassment, Ves quickly learned to tune out the distractions and focus on his studies. His progress picked up and he quickly devoured every book he borrowed. In truth, Ves was capable of advancing his math long ago as he utilized a lot of elements already in his other skills.

His increased intelligence helped him in grasping new concepts. The content wasn’t especially challenging, but there were hardly any shortcuts in improving his math. He had to study and master different kinds of math. His laser-focused concentration allowed him to persevere far longer than all but the most dedicated math fanatics.

All of that hard work eventually paid off. It took merely five days to raise his Mathematics skill from Incompetent to Novice, and another two weeks to raise it from Novice to Apprentice. Ves saved 1500 DP which he could use to buy something shiny. He studied his Status and confirmed that the System acknowledged his efforts.

[Status]

Name: Ves Larkinson

Profession: Apprentice Mech Designer

Specializations: None

Design Points: 1223

Attributes

Strength: 0.8

Dexterity: 0.7

Endurance: 0.8

Intelligence: 1.3

Creativity: 1

Concentration: 1.7

Neural Aptitude: F

Skills

[Assembly]: Apprentice - [3D Printer Proficiency II] [Assembler Proficiency II]

[Business]: Apprentice