The Mech Touch novel Chapter 28

"What happened after that?" Ves asked over the comm as he rested on the couch. Lucky curiously tried to paw Melinda’s head projected by the comm. _{freёwebnovel.com}

"The juggernaut blasted half the walls of the military base apart. It set up a panic in our team. Frankly, the only reason why we lasted so long after the juggernaut entered the field was because its pilot went drunk with power. He destroyed half his team with all the collateral damage he caused."

The two spoke about the performance of the Marc Antony, and how Melinda found it to be a good mech despite its many faults. "It doesn’t have a good place on the front lines due to its scattered strengths. It’s not quite a knight, not quite a striker and its pitiful launchers don’t give the mech a lot of long-ranged firepower."

"Well, I’m only working with the tools I have. Frankly, if I could replace the mace and shield with something sturdier, I’m sure the mech would perform just as well as the Caesar Augustus."

"Sadly, that’s not an option if I want to keep costs and complexity under control." Ves shook his head. "I’ve anticipated most of the issues you’ve mentioned, but they’re kind of built into the fundamental design of the mech. I’m not aiming to replace the Caesar Augustus. I just want to deliver an affordable variant that can perform well in smaller engagements."

Melinda nodded. "I’m certainly impressed with the mech. I kind of want to replace my patrol mech with it, but I know the pencil pushers in the Guard won’t allow such a thing. It doesn’t have the endurance."

After the conversation ended, Ves put the finishing touches on his second handmade mech and sent it off to be sold in the market.

"Let’s see my progress so far."

[Status]

Name: Ves Larkinson

Profession: Novice Mech Designer

Specializations: None

Design Points: 235

Attributes

Strength: 0.7

Dexterity: 0.7

Endurance: 0.6

Intelligence: 1.2

Creativity: 1

Concentration: 1.2

Neural Aptitude: F

Skills

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

[Business]: Apprentice

[Computer Science]: Incompetent

[Electrical Engineering]: Novice

[Mathematics]: Incompetent

[Mechanics]: Apprentice - [Jury Rigging I] [Speed Tuning I]

[Metallurgy]: Apprentice

[Metaphysics]: Incompetent

[Physics]: Novice - [Lightweight Armor Optimization I] [Mediumweight Armor Optimization I]

Evaluation: Almost reached the standards of an apprentice mech designer.

His stats hadn’t changed much since the last time he viewed it. His concentration had gained 0.1 points again due to his single-minded focus in mastering the Marc Antony. Besides sleeping, eating, bathroom rituals and taking short breaks to reset his mood, he spent all his time fabricating the Marc Antony.

His DP counter remained stubbornly stagnant, further indicating that the sales potential for his Fantasia variants had reached the bottom of the well. Much of his DP came from the two Marc Antony’s sold so far. They offered much more for a single sale due to their higher value.

"It doesn’t look like my Marc Antony model will catch fire." Ves noted disappointingly. "With only a little more than a week left until the YTE, I won’t be able to increase my sub-skills or attributes in any meaningful way."

While he spent a lot of work designing the Marc Antony then mastering its fabrication process, the things he learned provided marginal help at best when joining the contest.

The contest only lasted one day, just long enough for mech designers to showcase their skills without boring the audience to a multi-day engineering fest. The day before the main event, the organizers hosted a qualifying round in order to filter out the eight best contestants.

Both events revolved around designing and putting together a functioning mech out of a bunch of parts and a random stripped-down model. It showcased the mech designer’s skill in creating new mechs while skipping out the boring part of fabricating the parts from scratch.

The old Ves without the System probably wouldn’t get past the qualifiers. Even with all the additional benefits the System gave him, he might not even be certain he can reach the top 3.

"I shouldn’t be obsessed with trying to reach first place. I have to keep my priorities clear. As long as I can find a single customer for my Marc Antony design, I’ve already won."

The impending interest payment term loomed within a month, which caused Ves to bear immense pressure.