Ves tried to follow his own advice and did his best not to look down on the Vanguard Project.
The expert spearman mech was completely fine from an objective standpoint. There weren’t any signs of defects or manufacturing flaws. Even though the expert mech still had to be tested to make sure everything worked properly, Ves didn’t think it would produce any surprises.
“It’s just a good expert mech.”
Gloriana had a different outlook. She looked a bit pained. Even though she should know quite well that the odds of success were small, she had become too confident in her abilities. Her expectations were completely unrealistic that she set herself up for a painful correction.
Ves reached her side and held her by the shoulder before pulling her into a hug. “It’s okay, honey. The Vanguard Project might not have turned out to be as good as you wish, but it is still a mech that meets the demands of the clan. We have not failed in that regard.”
His wife let out an exhausted breath and leaned against his body. Her perfume had almost entirely faded away at this time.
“I’m not disappointed. I just think we missed an opportunity to do better.” She said. “Maybe we were too distracted by the Decapitator Project. Maybe we should have conducted a ritual for this expert mech as well.”
“Let’s not think this way. These what-ifs are pointless. We chose to fabricate this expert mech with a normal approach. We got a decent expert mech out of it, but it could have been worse. Let us not forget that expert mechs are still relatively new to us. From that standpoint, what we have managed to create is still great.”
It took some time for Ves to convince Gloriana not to let the result weigh down on her that much. She needed to return to her optimal state in time for them to fabricate the Decapitator Project.
Since the next expert mech was one of great significance to Ketis, he did not want her to get handicapped by his moping wife.
When Gloriana finally looked better, Ves moved to Ketis and saw how the youngest Journeyman was faring.
Unlike Gloriana who always set unreasonable expectations on herself, Ketis was much more realistic.
“What do you think about the third expert mech that you have made with your own hands?” Ves asked.
“It’s interesting.” She said as her smile denoted how much satisfaction she derived from completing this expert mech design project. “Last time didn’t really count for me because I only contributed a little bit to a ranged mech. This is much more to my liking. I learned so much and managed to get a lot of practice from this fabrication run.”
“What impressed you the most?”
“I definitely enjoyed creating the speartip. It’s not quite a sword but it still has an edge of some sorts. It’s kind of weird working with Pierrotis though. It’s not something that I would pick for a sword but it is an appropriate resonating material for a spearman expert mech. If the Vanguard Project’s mobility was a little stronger, then it could have functioned as a much better lancer mech.”
“Lancer mechs have extreme requirements. They can easily shatter themselves apart if they aren’t loaded with features that mitigate the counterforce or employ disposable lances that break upon impact.”
The latter was a much more convenient solution but not one that was often used. Mech weapons were expensive and the good ones were even more expensive. Breakable lances were usually made out of lower-quality materials in order to avoid running up costs, but that also made them less effective as mech armor was very tough in comparison.
Still, this limitation didn’t apply to the Vanguard Project. It was supposed to fight while primarily relying on a single spear. Made out of Unending alloy, its structural strength was indisputable and its unique qualities would likely turn it into an even more remarkable object over time.
The length of the spear was medium. It was short enough to prevent it from becoming too unwieldy at close range but it had enough reach to keep a typical swordsman mech at bay.
The spear tip was triangular and arrow-shaped. It was optimized for piercing rather than cutting and this was standard for many spears equipped to mechs. The opponents they faced in battle were typically other melee mechs that always possessed relatively thick shells.
For a spearman mech like the Vanguard Project, it was worth it to sacrifice cutting power in favor of amplifying its puncturing capabilities. The expert mech’s entire mechanical design was geared towards strengthening its ability to stab its spear forward with as much force as possible.
This made it a good answer against very heavily armored machines such as expert knight mechs and so on. While the Decapitator Project armed with its really sharp greatsword should be able to overcome similarly tough opponents, that was only the case when it relied on several additional advantages.
The expert mech designed for Venerable Orfan should be able to pierce through the armor of any other expert mech without relying on any fancy elements such as resonance abilities or prime abilities.
“Have you gained more confidence in your ability to fabricate the Decapitator Project?”
Ketis nodded. “I need to recharge myself and spend a lot of time on digesting my gains, but once I’m done, I think I will be in a better place than before. I already have numerous special ideas in store that won’t show up in any other expert mech.”
“Not even the Chimera Project?”
“Just because a mech is armed with a sword doesn’t make it a swordsman mech.” She admonished him. “It’s the same distinction between an infantry soldier and a traditional swordsman. The latter can wield any sword or knife he likes, but he will never be able to harness such a weapon like a true swordsman.”
Ves scratched his head. “Is it because of the mech type or does the expert pilot play a role as well?”
“It’s both.” She said. “Well, if either one of them has any relations to traditional swordsmanship, then I can still work with that, but neither the Chimera Project nor Joshua are good enough. Swordsman mechs are special because they are designed to fight like real swordsmen from the start. When paired with a mech pilot that is also trained in a real sword style, then the results will definitely blow your mind. The Heavensword Association gained a notable reputation for fielding much more powerful swordsman mechs than any other state.”
Ves looked a bit skeptical. “If this combination is so strong, why don’t we see it anywhere else? No one will say no to extra power.”
Ketis dropped her smile. “It takes too much time and effort to train the right swordsman mech pilots. The only reason the Heavensword Association succeeded was because the state was fully invested in raising as many swordsmen and swordmasters as possible. If this wasn’t its main priority, there wouldn’t have been enough mech pilots to fill up all of those cockpits.”
Mechs were not standalone systems. They were always tied to human mech pilots. Anyone could potentially design the most fantastic mech of its type, but if there weren’t any suitable mech pilots to make use of the powerful capabilities, then it wasn’t a good product.
This was why the Decapitator Project stood out from the rest. It was an expert swordsman mech piloted by an expert pilot that had fully embraced traditional swordsmanship. Ves couldn’t even imagine the synergy that might result from such a combination.
When combined with possibly the most promising swordsman mech designer of the entire mech industry, Ves had multiple reasons to expect much from the Decapitator Project!
Ves and Ketis continued to discuss what they learned from fabricating the Vanguard Project and how they should adjust their plans for making the Decapitator Project.
Once they were ready to wrap everything up, Ves approached Venerable Orfan with a modest smile.
“Congratulations, Venerable Orfan. You have an expert mech now.”
She nodded and smiled back. “I can see that. It’s a beauty alright. I have waited so many months to obtain my own machine. I can finally spar against Tusa for real.”
“You’ll have to be patient for a couple more weeks.” Ves cautioned. “We are currently parked in a busy port system. If we deploy the Vanguard Project right now, we would be giving away most of its secrets for free. No matter how many countermeasures we employ, the local military probably have access to humongously powerful scanners that can break through most forms of interference.”
They either came in the form of massive orbital satellites or even larger land-based emplacements. Since they were essentially fixed and static, there were no limits to their size and power. The only limitation to their efficacy was how much money their owners were willing to spend to acquire high-powered scanning capabilities.
These powerful scanning arrays tended to be very fragile on top of being expensive, so they were generally deployed in rich or strategically important star systems. This was why Ves vastly preferred to test out his new mechs in empty or rural star systems.
“Can’t we test my new expert mech in an enclosed environment? There ought to be plenty of space over at the Discentibus or the Vivacious Wal.”
“It’s not that simple, Venerable Orfan.” Ves shook his head. “While the chance of catastrophic malfunctions is minimal, it is still present. Even a 0.05 percent chance is too much. If something goes explosively wrong, then we can still control the damage if your expert mech blows up in empty space. If the same thing happens inside the hull of a large capital ship which hosts tens of thousands of Larkinsons…”
Venerable Orfan’s face turned serious. “I get it. You don’t need to persuade me any further.”
He fully understood her frustration. He also wanted to behold the power of the Vanguard Project. It was much different from the Dark Zephyr which mostly focused on mobility and the Amaranto that sacrificed almost every parameter in favor of maximizing its firepower.
The Vanguard Project was his first true proper expert mech that excelled at frontal melee combat. It possessed a good balance between offense, defense and mobility, though the latter was a bit less impressive than he wished.
Regardless, this configuration turned the Vanguard Project into a powerful and necessary addition to the Larkinson Clan’s expert mech lineup.
Ves no longer feared enemy expert mechs as much with the successful creation of an expert spearman mech.
The Dark Zephyr might be adequate in a duel, but its relative fragility put it at a heavy disadvantage against opponents that were able to cope with its speed.
The Amaranto was an amazingly deadly killer at range, but what if an enemy expert mech got close?
The Vanguard Project neatly plugged those holes. It was able to accompany the Dark Zephyr and occupy an enemy expert mech by itself. It was also able to shadow the Amaranto and act as its protector if a strong hostile opponent came close.
Of course, the Vanguard Project was not supposed to do the latter. Once the Shield of Samar received its expert mech upgrade, Venerable Orfan would be free to take the fight to the enemy.
“You know, this expert mech came at an opportune time.” Venerable Orfan’s grin turned wicked. “Those dwarf mechs are infamous for being tough to crack. If we encounter any expert dwarf mech, you can rely on me to poke holes in their armor!”
Ves coughed. “Don’t be so eager to fight the dwarves. I don’t want to pick a fight with them and they’re not our enemies. Let’s try and get along with each other. We just need to play nice until I get what I want and manage to get out. You can go back to imagining yourself impaling dwarves after that.”
“Heh, a part of me misses the time we spent on Aeon Corona VII. Those were the good old days. I wonder how the Vulcanites differ from the wildlings. From what I heard about the former, they’re nearly just as savage from the feral dwarves we encountered back on that crazy planet.”
Ves looked shocked. “Don’t say that, Venerable! You’re discriminating against heavy gravity variant humans. Just because they are both short-statured doesn’t mean they are equally as dumb. The dwarves from Smiling Samuel are proper, civilized people who are all capable of higher thought. I hope you’ll keep that in mind once we begin to liaise with the friendly and hospitable folk of the Vulcan Empire.”
“Pfff. A dwarf is a dwarf. They’re all jealous of people who are at least a head taller than them. You can’t change that, Ves. It’s human nature.”
