<h4>Chapter 3457: Submit to Mech</h4>
Now that he decided to design ancer mech that was oriented around Ylvaine, Ves made an earnest effort to trante this idea into a workablepetition mech.
Designing apetition mech was a lot different from designing a proper mass market mech. Ves had to change his approach in so many different ways in order to adapt his work to the tournament setting.
For example, hisncer mech did not have tost a long time in the field. Duels generally didn''tst a long time and the extreme fighting mode of his particr machine meant that Ves could forgo designing for longevity.
There was also another variable that caused him to deviate from his regr design approach. The fact that hisncer mech would be repaired after every match meant that it could be pushed beyond its limits.
As long as the mech didn''t go too overboard, it was fine if it overloaded its systems for a dozen seconds or so! It would all be fixed after the match anyway, so Ves did not have to worry about excessive stress creating umted cracks and other damage to the internal systems.
He could easily increase the effective performance of hisncer mech by 20 percent if he disregarded its longevity and pursued the greatest possible short-term gains!
"Even if the repair systems can''t fix every consequence of elerated wear and tear, it shouldn''t matter too much. Myncer mech only has to fight three short matches before it has served its purpose. There is absolutely no reason to ount for any further use after today."
Ves believed that every other mech designer in the tournament opted to design theirpetition mechs in the same way as well. It would be stupid of them to forgo all that potential power just so that they could design their mechs as normal.
A good mech designer always adapted his work to the situation. That was a lesson that he had learned in many different instances. Working alongside Gloriana who paid a lot of attention to this aspect allowed him to fully realize how much of a difference it made.
For this reason, Ves had to fight against his habits and drop his usual insistence on designing a durable, longsting mech.
Although he designed such mechs before in pastpetitions, it had been a long time since he truly let himself go like this. He had to put more effort into making design choices that deliberately shortened the lifespan of hisncer mech in order to obtain modest boosts in several different performance parameters.
After several hours of design work, the divergence between his normal products and thispetition mech became increasingly more clear.
A part of him felt pained for designing a living mech that was only meant tost a single day. This dayfly would barely have the opportunity to enjoy what it was like to exercise its prodigious power!
Ves wasn''t sure what would happen after thepetition mechs had served their use. He hadn''t heard any mention of it in the rules. In general, they were usually broken down again so that the materials they were made of could be recycled and put to use in anotherpetition.
However, there were also instances where the mechs would remain intact. Strictly speaking, the tournament organizers owned the mechs. It was up to them to decide whether they wanted to keep the machines for themselves or give them to the participants as extra gifts.
"There''s little point for me to keep this mech, though."
Space aboard his fleet was limited. Taking up one extra mech slot just to hold ancer mech that waspletely impractical in real battles sounded like a vain and stupid decision.
"Well, if no one else wants it, then so be it. You''ll just have to be content to shine brighter than any other mech in the short time that you''re alive."
Hisncer mech was like a supernova.
In cosmic terms, supernovae or exploding stars were incredibly powerful. They were not only capable of wiping outs, but could also affect other star systems in the vicinity!
The downside was that theysted only for an instant rtive to the history of a gxy. Still, their impact on the environment was huge despitesting such a short time.
With these thoughts in mind, Ves embraced this metaphor as one of the themes of his mech design.
Working with themes was a recent addition to his design approach. Starting from the Bulwark Project, Ves sought to imitate the higher-level design methods that he had derived from his observations of the Olympus Mons.
The Shield of Samar and the Everchanger were the first two beneficiaries of his deliberate incorporation of themes into their designs.
The results were quite good. Not only did working with themes cause the living mechs to focus their strength and power in the desired directions, they also helped the expert pilots channel the various resonance abilities of their powerful machines with greater effect.
This was the first time he applied a design method to a standard mech, though.
Themes became more relevant when the mechs and mech pilots became more powerful and remarkable. They deeply influenced the performance of an ace mech and also could also y a role in concentrating the strengths of expert mechs.
What about normal mechs? How would themes affect a mech that did not possess any prime or resonating materials and would only be piloted by an ordinary person? Was it even worthwhile to bother with themes if there was no basis in power for them to act upon?
"No." Ves shook his head. "It''s not useless. Myst two expert mechs have already shown me how themes can affect my own work."
Living mechs were inherentlyplicated and multi-dimensional. Any form of intelligent life wasplex to a degree. By designing them ording to certain themes, Ves was basically influencing the way theseplex lives expressed themselves.
It was not a particrly new technique, but working around the framework of themes helped turn it into a fixed method that could be a regr staple in his expanding toolbox.
As Ves worked the supernova concept into hisncer mech, he did not have the impression that his efforts were useless or counter-productive.
Instead, he could feel the life that he was shaping with his design efforts embrace and shape itself ording to this theme.
What interested Ves a lot was that the supernova theme was not well-defined. Compared to other concepts such as hammers, physical force and so on, a supernova could not be linked to any aspect of hisncer mech''s performance.
The connection would have been more obvious if he designed a mech armed with an energy weapon. However, the only obvious energy elements his mech contained was the power reactor and the flight system.
"I''m not sure if something as abstract as a theme can even affect the performance of these systems in any way."
Ves was basically flying blind in this regard.
What he did know was that his themes were definitely influencing the character of the living mech. Hisncer mech''s spiritual foundation became more extreme as it veered into a specific direction.
The supernova theme was only a part of the equation.
As a mech that was meant to rely on an external factor to guide its attacks, Ves also incorporated Ylvaine as a theme!
To be more precise, he split it into two different forms in order to fune the character of his living mech even further.
Divine Guidance was a rtively straightforward transntation of the Guided Aim ability of the Transcendent Punisher.
Unlike with his heavy artillery mech, Prophetic Guidance was more than just a triggered ability. Hisncer mech embodied this concept down to its very roots!
Even without actively channeling this ability, hisncer mech should still convey at least some hints from Ylvaine. This was mainly meant as a backup solution if the mech pilot resisted Ylvaine''s presence.
The rtionship between the mech pilot and hispetition mech was a persistent concern to Ves. How well would they be able to get along? How open-minded was the mech pilot towards religion and towards Ylvaine in particr?
If he had the bad luck of getting paired with a militant atheist, or worse, a strong believer in a different faith, then the two might object to each other to such a strong degree that they created anti-synergy!
"I have to mitigate this risk as much as possible!"
His solution? Design hispetition mech in a way that did its best to appeal to the mech pilot!
Perhaps in another context, what Ves was attempting to aplish might be construed as brainwashing, but he didn''t think he was doing anything of the sort. He merely sought to facilitate a friendly exchange between a strongly-opinionated mech and the mech pilot it was interfacing.
If the mech pilot wasn''t receptive towards the gospel conveyed by the mech, then he or she could block it whenever he wished.
Ves didn''t want that to happen, though.
"The more the mech and mech pilot diverge from each other, the harder it is for them to cooperate in battle."
In order to encourage a mech pilot who waspletely unfamiliar with the Great Prophet to embrace this holy figure, Ves adopted a third theme that waspletely geared towards addressing this priority.
He called it Submission to Ylvaine. It was a rather clunky and unpleasant-soundingbel for a theme, but Ves couldn''te up with anything better.
Submission to Ylvaine certainly described what a part of hisncer mech was all about.
It wasn''t only about exerting as much power in an instant as possible.
It wasn''t only about guiding itsnce to the right target either.
The third theme that affected the character of hispetition mech centered about converting strangers to the Ylvainan Faith!
By embracing it as a core theme, Ves not only made sure that it became a strong influence on the mech pilot of hispetition entry, but also tried to expand it so that it could affect others!
More specifically, he wanted to turn Submission to Ylvaine into a detrimental influence towards the opponent of his mech.
"It''s like a suppressive glow."
To be honest, Ves didn''t think it would work. It was impossible to convert a mech pilot to a faith that was wordlessly being espoused by an enemy mech!
What Ves was actually aiming for was disturbing the opposing mech pilot''s mental bnce.
Just like how constant nagging could disrupt someone''s concentration, Ves hoped that the proselytizing glow of hisncer mech would act as a negative influence on his opponents!
"It certainly works on me, so why can''t it work on other people?" Ves chuckled.
If the annoying Ylvainan glow caused an enemy mech pilot to perform just 1 percent worse than normal, then it was already worth the effort of incorporating this theme into hisncer mech design!
Slowly but surely, hisncer mech''s spiritual design gained definition. The intery between the three different themes produced a spiritual character that was a lot moreplex than any single theme.
Ves deliberately didn''t exert much control on how they blended together. He felt it was better to let them find a bnce on their own. He did this to retain the organic nature of his living mech.
Soon enough, his design nearedpletion. Ves nced at the clock and saw that he was still on schedule.
"I need to finalize this mech quickly."
He wanted to take one additional step before he moved on to the fabrication stage.
He looked down to his side, only to observe an empty tool belt.
"Of course."
Just like any other contestant, he wasn''t allowed to bring any weapons or gadgets onto thepetition stage.
There was no way he could pass his Hammer of Brilliance through the security checks, so he simply passed it and the rest of his gear to Nitaa for safekeeping.
Nheless, Ves still began to smirk.
"I don''t actually need a hammer."
He concentrated on his permanent spiritual connection to Vulcan and drew onto his power!
He slowly raised his fist, which faintly began to glow to bronze.
Without thinking about how silly he would look, Ves decisively punched his own head!