The Mech Touch novel Chapter 250

His consciousness descended back to his body with jarring force. Ves felt as if he rode a shuttle that made a forceful landing on the ground. His head spun like wheels and the entire world felt alien to his own senses.

Ves took a few minutes to recover from his ordeal. His breath shuddered with the aftershock of having his consciousness being pulled back and forth. The human mind wasn’t supposed to endure such rigors, and if he hadn’t upgraded his mental Attributes, he might have turned into an idiot.

"Heavens, System! Warn me before you pull another stunt like that!"

[The Mech Designer System is not meant to warn the user of any negligience on his part.]

In other words, Ves had only himself to blame.

"Fair enough, but I thought you’d do your usual schtick and dump a library of knowledge in my head."

[Mastery extends beyond pure theory. A mech designer cannot ever claim a Mastery without delving into the perspective of a mech pilot.]

Ves had to admit he benefited hugely from the experience. Even though Barley was nothing special in comparison to other knight pilots, his experience and earnestness in piloting his Jimenez taught Ves a lot.

He underestimated the value of a defensive knight. Lacking in mobility it might be, the Jimenez excelled in its narrow role.

"It almost makes up for the fact that I’m designing an offensive knight rather than a defensive one."

He understood the System’s motive in selecting a defensive knight pilot to bond. The name of the Sub-Skill was called Knight Mastery I, and as an introduction to the archetype, Ves first had to master the basic model.

After he checkex the logs, he found out he passed out for over half a day. That matched the amount of time he hitch-hiked Barley’s head.

Thinking about him compelled Ves to look him up. He went to the galactic net and searched for the Chittering Cicada Star Sector.

"It actually exists!"

A further searched turned up the existence of the Exilis Domain, which eked out a diminished existence after it lost the war against the Alliance over forty-five years ago.

His hands started to shake as he tried to search up the existence of a Domain pilot called Ivan Barley.

LORD IVAN BARLEY - ACE MECH PILOT - "THE DISCERNING EYE"

MISSING IN ACTION - EIGHT YEARS AGO

A mix of shock, excitement and dissappointment ran through his mind. A couple of searches confirmed the battle that Ves experienced alongside Barley happened exactly as he remembered.

The implications were frightening. The seemingly omnipotent System proved its might once again by accomplishing actual time travel!

"It’s too bad he’s gone missing. It’s also incredible he advanced to ace pilot!"

Nothing in his personality or talent suggested he could reach this exalted rank. Ves dug into his history and found out that his momentary presence had been a turning point in Barley’s life.

Just as Ves gained a lot of insight into the mind of a mech pilot, so did Barley gain a lot from the perspective of a mech designer. He leveraged his gains by cross-training as a mech technician and then as a mech designer, all for the purpose of improving his ability to discover weak points in the mechs of his opponents!

Barley’s skills and kill record rose up like a rocket at the latter stages of the war. By the time he advanced to expert pilot, the Domain finally threw in the towel and signed a humiliating peace treaty.

The heroic feats of a few exceptional pilots like Barley hardly affected the Domain’s dire resource shortages. The downside of being surrounded by enemy states was that they could easily intercept their foreign shipments.

After being discharged from the Domain’s armed forces, Barley started making his mark in the mercenary circles. That he managed to rise to the point of becoming a certified ace pilot while he worked in the private sector showcased his determination to exceed his failings.

"Barley must have felt guilty for the way the last battle ended up."

The Alliance reached the battle site first. Predictably, they rescues all their friendlies while executing their opponents.

Ves understood how Barley took his knight oath seriously. Not everyone who specialized in piloting knight mechs bought into this culture, but those that did often made for excellent partners.

His lessons from his first experience with Mastery led him to reconsider his phoenix knight’s overall premise. Did its draft possess the right concepts to serve its duty as a knight?

"I still believe in an offensive knight." He reaffirmed to himself. "I just need to make some practical adjustments."

With his newly mastered ability to adopt the perpective of a knight pilot, Ves smoothed out many potential wrinkles in his design. Even though they seemed innocuous, a real knight pilot would feel a little bit hobbled by these bumps.

"It’s the equivalent of wearing a pair of mismatched shoes. It won’t affect your ability to walk, but it constantly nags at you."

He also adjusted his images, particularly the base role of a knight. The infusion of a genuine knight’s conviction breathed new life in the stale image’s existence. The noble vibes it gave off caused the phoenix and Jackknife Jake’s images to raise their guards.

The modified draft of his original design hardly looked any different, but it gave off a completely different vibe.

"Those people raving about Masteries are right. Mech designers think they know more than the pilots they served. What they learn from books and hearsay won’t ever match a single first-hand experience."

Ves already enjoyed a lead over many of his competitors due to his Mastery. While it mainly applied to knight mechs, his ability to design the other archetypes improved as well.