The Mech Touch

esn ’t help much against spies and informers within our own ranks. ”

”We have tightened recruitment in order to make sure that we are not inviting any trouble. ”

”It sounds to me like we have the problem handled. ” Ves stated.

”We must look beyond the immediate.
Someone is expending a lot of men in the hopes of infiltrating our premises.
We don ’t know their goals or who they work for.
Despite the many failures and deaths, people are still trying to trespass onto your property. ”

Though all of this admittedly sounded concerning, Ves had faith in his security arrangements.
With hundreds of mechs and a lot of guards patrolling the premises, someone would have to be crazy to think they could get in undetected.

Not only were the Avatars and Sentinels on-guard, Ves could also rely on some other helpers such as Nitaa and Lucky for protection.

Of course, he wasn ’t easy to take down himself.
Even if he was garbage in combat, his excellent gear forcibly elevated his personal strength.

Yet even as he wanted to dismiss Nitaa ’s concerns, his inner paranoia made him pause.

While he had ample grounds to feel confident in himself, it was not within his nature to dismiss a credible threat.

”If you believe that something must be done, then go ahead and coordinate with Crindon and the Living Sentinels. ” He instructed.
”I ’m too busy with other priorities to attend to this matter in person. ”

”I will take care of this issue on your behalf, sir. ” Nitaa bowed.

”Good.
Don ’t hesitate to speak up if you have any other concerns.
I trust your judgement. ”

After his brief talk with Nitaa, he left his office and descended all the way down to the lab and workshop floor.

There, he met with Gloriana and the Tovar mech designers as they stood in front of a finished mech.

”So this is our prototype. ” Ves uttered.
”It feels Ylvainan, alright.
Good job. ”

”We..
didn ’t expect to fabricate a mech like this. ” Miles Tovar admitted.
He appeared conflicted.
”The closer we got to finishing it, the more we started to feel as if ignorance was gnawing at our minds.
This mech is too insidious! ”

It didn ’t surprise Ves to hear this.
The Deliverer prototype standing dormant before him exuded a weak but undeniable glow from its core.

A sense of sacredness emanated from the mech.
Any Ylvainan within the range of his glow would inevitably rouse their faiths.

The strength of the prototype ’s glow was just as strong as the auras of the Transcendent Messengers!

The two were different from the Holy Soldier.
Whereas the latter only possessed a mote of Ylvaine ’s spirituality, the Transcendent Messenger and Deliverer both contained the complete fragment!

Ves had already managed to induce Ylvaine ’s spiritual fragment to occupy the Deliverer design.

How it could do that while simultaneously occupying the Transcendent Messenger design wasn ’t clear.
Ves had long figured out that some of the rules of reality didn ’t apply to spirituality.

Whatever the case, the Deliverer managed to embody Prophet Ylvaine in a way that would surely send the Protectorate in a frenzy!

While the Transcendent Messenger possessed an identical glow, there were only six of them in existence.

Well, technically there were seven copies in existence, but Ves already discounted the stolen prototype.

The point was that unlike the Holy Soldiers, the Deliverers conveyed the full might of Ylvaine ’s fragment.

In a standard mech, this was extremely scary.
The Ylvaine Protectorate could purchase as many Deliverers as the LMC produced and spread them all over in order to meet the spiritual needs of its citizens.

Even if the LMC stopped selling them, the government would just purchase the license and continue their production.

So Ves was very sure that the Deliverer would cause a lot of waves in the religious state.

”I can ’t care about that now.
Not when we need its strength. ”

The design was too important for him to suppress.
He truly had faith in its ability to snipe the sandman admirals.

”What do you think about your first time fabricating an Ylvainan mech? ”

Miles Tovar grimaced.
”As I ’ve said, it ’s unsettling.
This is not a mech that should be built by Brighter hands. ”

The bias against religion was too strong within Miles and the other Tovar mech designers.
They were highly-educated Brighters born in one of the most powerful families of the Bright Republic.
There was no way that any of them would ever look at religion in a good light.

Though Ves was disappointed, he did not bother himself too much on this issue.
He made an attempt to widen the minds of his students and failed.
It was no big deal.
He had plenty of other lessons in store.

”You won ’t look down on this mech once it saves the Bright Republic. ”

None of the Tovars took this boast seriously.
Even if they respected Ves, they still didn ’t buy into the Deliverer ’s special features.
It sounded too strange.
Having built the prototype from the ground up, they detected no materials or components which could accomplish anything notable.

In their eyes, the Deliverer was just a spaceborn marksman mech with an Ylvainan coat.

”You don ’t need to believe. ” Ves told them.
”You just have to cooperate.
We can ’t test the prototype like we test our other mechs. ”

”What must we do, sir? ”

”For one, we need to test our mech with a variety of mech pilots.
I ’ve already invited some Ylvainan marksman mech pilots to act as our primary test pilots.
In order to find out if the Deliverer works for non-believers as well, I ’ll be assigning some Brighter mech pilots to act as a control group. ”

He began to lay out a modified testing plan.
He wasn ’t really interested in the Deliverer ’s ordinary performance parameters.
He wanted his subordinates to rush through the ordinary tests.
Only the Deliverer ’s extraordinary aspects deserved his attention!

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