The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1577

Chapter 1577 Silent William

Ves and Gloriana paid a visit to the LMC's spaceborn testing ground. Set in an asteroid belt to guarantee some privacy, they witnessed the performance of the Resentful Soldier piloted by William Urbesh in person.

In response to a request, the testers pitted the Resentful Soldier against a Desolate Soldier in a practice duel. Both of the mechs had been issued with purpose-built practice rifles instead of their normal armament.

Right now, both mechs fought furiously against each other. The mechs trailed in space in dazzling circles and corkscrews as they maneuvered wildly in an attempt to spoil the aim of their opponents.

The range between the two mechs was rather close due to the limitations of their weapon type.

Right now, William was making a very good account for himself. His Resentful Soldier only sustained seven hits while his opponents suffered twice as much!

"Wow!" Gloriana watched the projection tracking the practice duel with admiration. "William is finally showcasing his real skill!"

"He's no longer a coward." Ves smiled in satisfaction.

This was exactly what he set out to achieve! Even if William never emerged out of his treatment quite the same, at the very least the mech pilot no longer jumped at shadows whenever he faced an actual opponent.

Even if William only engaged in a practice duel, he clearly demonstrated his ability to fight!

He was cured!

As Ves studied some of the telemetry, he noted that William's life signs did not fluctuate too much. This meant that William wasn't forcing himself.

Instead, he embraced the fight!

"William is quite a good mech pilot now that he isn't gripped by fear." Gloriana commented.

"That's a given considering his background."

William wasn't quite as good as a typical second-class mech pilot due to his lack of combat experience. However, his time with the Rim Guardians had given him a very solid foundation.

It was just that William's combat effectiveness always sunk to the bottom whenever he was actually put inside a mech.

Now that Ves washed away the dirt and polished William to a shine, he was finally able to unleash his formerly-hidden strength!

"He's actually better than most Larkinsons at his age!" Ves judged.

As a Larkinson, Ves knew exactly how skilled his family was in piloting mechs. While there was a huge variance in skill level, on average a Larkinson mech pilot easily outperformed an average mech pilot.

For William to display a level of skill that was significantly beyond the level of a typical Larkinson mech pilot showed that he had a bright future ahead of him. The only caveat was that he needed to show off the same level of performance against real opponents.

A simple practice duel still fell short of actual battle. It remained to be seen if William kept his nerves during his first sortie against the sandmen.

Once the Resentful Soldier finished its tests, it flew back to the small space station that served as the testing ground's main facility.

Ves and Gloriana headed down to the mech bay to greet William in person. The mech pilot calmly exited the Resentful Soldier and faced the two Journeymen with a stoic expression.

"William. Good job today. You performed well with the Resentful Soldier."

The mech pilot stared back at Ves without saying anything.

Ves began to get somewhat unnerved. Even if Ves had mentally and spiritually tortured the poor fellow with an ill-conceived experiment, couldn't William show some appreciation to his benefactor?

A mech technician awkwardly walked up to them. "Sorry, sir. Mr. Urbesh here hasn't spoken any word since we first received him. As far as we know, he's a mute."

"Mute?" Ves grumbled.

Was this one of the side effects of his treatment? That was pretty bad. If Ves managed to cure one affliction only to cause William to suffer another, then that meant his treatment method still needed a lot more refinement.

Oh well. Ves still achieved his primary goal. Test subjects like William existed to tease out unanticipated consequences such as turning mute.

"Can he still communicate?" Gloriana curiously asked.

"Sure, ma'am. Mr. Urbesh, please lift your left arm."

William lifted his left arm without any hesitation. His face remained impassive while he moved his limb.

"Please lower your left arm and raise your right foot."

William did as the mech technician instruction.

"Okay, that's enough." The mech technician said to William before turning to Ves. "As you see, sir, there is nothing wrong with William's hearing or judgement. If he wants to communicate, he mostly gestures with his arms. If he wants to say something more complex, he'll take the time to write his words."

"Oh. That's okay then."

If William was capable enough to write, then that meant that Ves hadn't completely scrambled the mech pilot's mind.

However, no matter how many questions he asked, William refused to communicate to Ves. Considering what he'd been through, Ves did not blame him too much.

It was enough that William could still be brought to fight.

"Good luck on the remaining tests." Ves awkwardly said and patted William on the shoulder. "You'll be deploying to the front very soon as part of the next rotation. The Avatars of Myth will make sure your Resentful Soldier will be able to showcase its strength."