The Mech Touch novel Chapter 44

Remembering that Marcella hadn’t gotten back to him about a customer, he called up her number.

"Heya Ves. I know what you’re calling for. The deal has just been completed." Marcella smirked as she said her next words. "Guess how much credits he threw at me to order your mech?"

"Did you manage to sell it at twenty-four million?"

"Hah! That’s chump change. It’s much higher!"

"Twenty-five? Twenty-six?"

"Nope." Marcella gestured with her hands to bring up an invoice in the projector. "Look for yourself what magic I achieved."

His eyes practically bulged out as he saw that Marcella’s customer ordered his mech for a whopping twenty-eight million credits. The huge price figure amounted to a gross profit of eleven million credits if he delivered his mech in time and in good condition. It certainly raised his faith of Marcella’s ability. Perhaps partnering with her was the best decision Ves ever made.

Marcella tapped her fingers onto her desk, snapping him out of his dreams. "Don’t get too excited buddy. Running a mech business isn’t a casual undertaking. You have to properly plan for your expenses. If you factor in your interest payments, your tax burden, your capital assets depreciation, then you’ll find that your net profits is a lot smaller than you thought."

The excitement in his eyes died down. She was right, of course. "Well, my taxes will at least be lightened. The planetary government is already processing my preferable treatment status. I should be able to get my tax rate reduced to fifteen percent."

Such a low tax rate was very favorable to Ves already. If he setup his business in Bentheim, then he’d have to fork out thirty-five percent even with preferable treatment.

"Your expenses and other burdens are lower than most other mech designers, but don’t forget your business is a one-man show. Your scale can’t compared to most small-to-medium enterprises that have based themselves in Bentheim for years. The industry revolves around a minimum amount of scale production. If you want to improve your mechs, you need better machines, and that means you have to start saving money now."

Ves nodded, understanding the importance of what she said. His 3D printer and assembler were good for a decade, maybe two if he stretched it and installed some upgrades, but eventually he wanted to move up to using more capable machines worth billions of credits.

"I’ve got so many things to spend my money on." Ves lamented to himself. Earning a couple of billion credits was a pipedream for most people. Even seasoned mech designers often despaired at the costs their businesses demanded.

"In any case, just do your work. I’ll be expecting a satisfactory result within ten days if you want to ship your mech to the client in time. Will you be able to make it in that time?"

He nodded with confidence. His planning stretched out the fabrication process to nine days already, which was a lengthy time for an average mech. Considering it was his first time doing it for real, he wanted to slow down and produce each part with meticulous care.

"I’ll have the mech delivered to the local branch of the MTA within nine days for inspection if there’s no problems. I don’t expect any delays, but I doubt I’ll get slowed down more than a day at most."

"Good, because a lot is riding on this deal. This is your chance to break into the market, Ves, so nothing can go wrong."

After a bit of lecturing by Marcella, she finally hung up, leaving Ves free to begin his work. He pulled up his sleeves and checked his plans for the last time. Nothing appeared out of place. He had the materials, the equipment and the time he needed to fashion his first mech into existence.

Before he started, he took a deep breath and adjusted his mental state. He didn’t want to deliver an average product and call it a day. He wanted to wow the client. And the way to do that is by incorporating something unique only to him into the mech. Even if most of the pilots of his mechs couldn’t articulate the X-Factor, it would still help improve their impressions on his work.

He approached the 3D printer with reverence. He loaded up the files of the valiant-looking Marc Antony. From its vapor-generated crest to its adorned and sturdy tower shield, the mech already radiated a sense of valor in its appearance. Its entire purpose of existence was to act as a vanguard, a breaker of blockades and a workhorse that could take a beating for the team. Ves took inspiration of the mockup and immersed himself into bringing this design to life.

"I am not building a mech. I am birthing it to life."

Saying it mattered to Ves. It sounded nonsensical or meaningless, but to someone who took a peek through the door that hid the incredible might of the X-Factor, it was an important distinction that made all the difference in the end product. He was an artisan of mechs, not an industrialist who desired to pump out as many mechs as he wanted. To treat the mech as a living thing instead of a lifeless machine was the first step to realizing the X-Factor.

"Alright, I’ve got you fixed on my mind."

He tapped the projection to separate the hologram into thousands of individual components. He started with the easiest, but also the most important part: the internal frame.

The internal frame was mechanically simple to produce, but required high consistency in order to make it last for many years. Any hidden faults buried deep within its solid surface could lead to devastating consequences in the battlefield. The MTA posed strict requirements to the integrity of the internal frame, so Ves could absolutely not afford to slack off when fabricating these seemingly simple piece of alloys.

The 3D printer performed up to standard. Ves had already checked and calibrated all of the important machines in his workshop long ago, but it was pleasant to see the machine slowly churn out frame after frame. Ves took particular care when producing the sockets and joints that allowed the frame to move its limbs as natural as a human being. Only a couple of minor deviances emerged in their production, which was a sign the printer’s precision was off, a particularly fatal flaw when producing tiny components like processors.

It was a good thing Ves left the entire day for further calibrations. With his enhanced knowledge of the 3D printer’s workings, he dug into the advanced programming of the machine and ran a lot of tests and simulations. He narrowed down the source of the problem to a worn-down injector. Ves solved the problem by fabricating a replacement before opening up the machine to replace the component in question.

"There. Now it should work as advertised."

The rest of the internal frame components got produced without a hitch. Since night had already fallen, Ves took a break and took care of his personal needs.

The next day, he devoted his attention to crafting the HRF armor plating. It took three days to process the raw materials into a suitable form if Ves aimed for consistency and precision. While most of the work was tedious and repetitive, he was constantly on guard for any deviations from the norm. A percentage less of a certain metal added to a process might ruin the entire batch.

He refined tons of materials together into different materials, which got processed even further for up to five times. Each step transformed the main alloys from a worthless piece of junk to a less worthless piece of junk. By the time several days had gone past, the mixed materials had already transformed into smooth pieces of shaped plating.

Ves knocked his knuckles against the surface of a thick chest plate. It rang with the delightful tone of a uniform piece of metal. He spent a lot of time fashioning these plates, each into the appropriate form to clad the Marc Antony’s outer layer. They still looked greyish brown, the native color of HRF plating. He’d add some color later.

The next two days he produced the other parts of the mech. The most important of which were the power reactor and the engines. His 3D printer had some trouble producing the most unique sections of those components, but Ves was able to stave off any disasters due to his improved skills and his abundant experience in producing them already inside Iron Spirit. He only really paid attention to the challenging components, and produced the easier ones with a little bit more leisure, though he always made sure to double-check their integrity.