The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1111

A lot of time went by as Ves and Professor Ventag iterated on the Aurora Titan design. After the second prototype followed a third and a fourth prototype. Each subsequent tests revealed fewer flaws and inconsistencies. All the major flaws had been worked away, and most of the newer problems that popped up emerged in response to earlier solutions.

Along the way, Ves also adjusted the Aurora Titan’s aesthetics in order to make it look more appealing. The mech’s likeness began to look more like its namesake. It looked like a large and bulky titanic sculpture with a modest amount of muscle definition. The mech resembled an ancient marble statue, but Ves swapped the humanoid head with an exobeast head on a whim.

That last change perplexed Professor Ventag a bit.

"The Aurora Titan is very much a humanoid mech. Why would you change it to a dinosaur head, Ves?"

"Since every test pilot who interfaced with the prototypes describe that they feel like they are piloting an exobeast, why not play around with it?" Ves replied over the comm. "Both you and I know that appearances matter. A humanoid head is so ubiquitous that it doesn’t convey any particular meaning. The lizard head on the other hand will make the Aurora Titan a much more interesting visual spectacle. It stands out even more from the crowd of standard humanoid space knight designs."

The professor still looked like he disapproved. "The Aurora Titan’s intrusive aesthetic features are too bold and in your face. I know from your previous works that you have a flair for adding an artistic touch to your mech, but the muscle definition that you’ve added to the mech will increase the cost and demand more skill to make the armor plating. This complex-looking lizard head is much more troublesome to produce than a standard humanoid head."

"Only the gold label edition of the Aurora Titan will feature all of these frills." Ves retorted. "The extra care and attention put into the aesthetics of its top-shelf model will make buyers more happy with spending tens of millions more credits on what is essentially the same mech. I’ve also worked on simplifying the artistic elements on the bronze and silver label editions to make them more suitable for mass production. The crystal tech I incorporated in them is also weaker but simpler to reproduce."

The three-tiered mech model scheme of the LMC somewhat clashed with NORA Consolidated’s own approach. While Ves favored an artistic touch if he could get away with it, Professor Ventag generally valued form over function. The Senior preferred to design simple and clean-looking designs that were easy to fabricate and easy to repair.

The two argued over this issue for a while but Ves held his ground despite going against the will of a Senior. Since the Aurora Titan was pretty much his brainchild, Ves eventually got his way.

The professor dismissively waved his hand. "Fine. I’ll indulge you on this matter. I do have to admit that your art does look appealing in some sense. This will be a benefit to our marketing campaigns even if you don’t plan on selling a large number of gold label mechs."

The gold label mechs often times became the public face for the lesser editions even though there weren’t that many out there in the wild. This happened with the Blackbeaks and the Crystal Lords. Their rarity turned them into genuine collector’s items in some circles.

Ves did take the liberty of adding one particular aesthetic feature to every edition of the Aurora Titan.

He first scoured through NORA Consolidated’s expansive library of licenses but failed to find what he needed.

He then browsed the MTA’s library of endless component licenses and found the perfect component the job.

The Rescue Particle Generator was a small and energy-efficient component that emitted long-lasting glowing particles. As its name suggested, it was meant to be employed as a signal flare for stranded mechs and shuttles who were waylaid in deep space.

Unlike the Festive Cloud Generator, it did not require a source of fluid to function. It worked on both on land and in space and only increased the energy consumption of the Aurora Titan by a negligible amount. It was also small and flexible in its employment.

Ves added the emitters of the Rescue Particle Generator on the rear of the Aurora Titan design. The particles emitted from this addition not only blended in with the glow emanating from the flight system, but they also left behind a persistent trail in space that looked fantastic when the Aurora Titan was on the move.

Of course, Ves took into account that not every outfit or mech pilot wanted to paint a glowing golden stripe of its passage through space. There was no reason for the mech to puff itself up during routine patrols.

Aside from deactivating the Rescue Particle Generator, owners could also opt to remove them entirely without affecting the structural integrity of the mech.

"Hopefully, not a lot of people will choose this option."

The best part about the Rescue Particle Generator was that its function was so useless in raising the functional battle performance of a mech that its license was dirt cheap. It hardly impacted his bank account at all to license it for ten years, though he did contemplate on licensing it on a perpetual basis instead.

"With the knowledge I possess, it shouldn’t be impossible for me to design my own gadget one day." He judged.

A perpetual license was many times more expensive than a standard ten-year license. Ves figured that within this span of time, he would surely be able to come up with something that provided even more visual flair than a component meant simply to put up a colored light to attract rescue.

Perhaps distracting himself with these visual aspects may not be entirely to the benefit of the actual design. However, both his design philosophy and Qilanxo’s spiritual fragment approved of his attempts to beautify the mech. It turned the Aurora Titan into a much more interesting mech that distinguished itself further from the concept of mechs as disposable commodities.

"A mech that costs 100 million credits or more to buy ought to represent more than function."

While Ves admitted that form over function or simplicity to the point of minimalism each had their good points, that was simply not his design style.

"Functionalism and minimalism devolves the identity of a mech into its base role to its extreme. The company brand matters plays a greater role in how the mech is seen that its individual merits."