The Mech Touch (Web Novel)
chapter-6168

Before Saint Tusa wanted to take a look at the list of resonating materials, he first needed to decide what he wanted out of this selection.

Should he stick with what he was already familiar with and find superior substitutes for Perfidious Steel and Bissonat?

He decided to solicit Master Benedict's opinion.

When the Master Mech Designer of the Cross Clan heard Tusa's request, the older man immediately voiced his own opinion.

"The effects of both Perfidious Steel and Bissonat are dispensable at your current rank." Master Benedict said. "I was not involved in the development of the original Dark Zephyr, but I can infer that the original motivation of choosing these two resonating exotics was to compensate for the weaknesses of your first expert mech. One is meant to increase your ability to cope with attacks. The other is meant to compensate for the weak offensive capabilities of your mech. They are chosen because the designers of the Dark Zephyr are afraid that you would falter at a critical moment. Ves and Gloriana did not want you to lose your mech as well as your life because of any shortcomings in their work."

Tusa's eyes flashed as he took in this explanation. He knew the two mech designers quite well and could clearly agree that they had this intention in mind.

A part of him felt warm. He appreciated the care and attention from the Larkinson Clan. He knew he was lucky for joining a prosperous clan that was able to provide better and better mechs over time.

Another part of him felt insulted. Even if he was a lot weaker back then, he was still an expert pilot at the time! There was no need to coddle him when he faced much greater risks before he ever managed to trigger his apotheosis.

Tusa crossed his arms. "I understand. I admit that my ability to defend myself was a lot worse in the past. That is over now. I think I have outgrown the need for these functions. My Saint Kingdom is able to compensate for all of my greatest vulnerabilities. It can reduce the lethality of incoming attacks, thereby making Perfidious Steel redundant. It can also help me strengthen and sharpen the blades of my knives, which means that Bissonat is only icing on the cake. I am more interested in exploring new options. Now that my responsibilities have grown, I need to expand my range of options so that I can solve more crises."

"That is a good mindset to take, but are you certain you want to replace the old resonance abilities entirely? I have found a pair of substitutes in the War Exchange that can make you change your mind."

"Oh? Do tell."

Master Benedict activated a projection that displayed a strange purple faceted crystal. It looked incredibly weird. It was not only highly reflective, but also seemed to change its shape depending on the angle of view.

It was a highly disturbing effect that could make anyone doubt whether their eyes still worked correctly!

"This is a rare naturally occurring resonating exotic from the old galaxy that the Red Association has in stock. It is called Turbulenta, and it has gained its name because it can disturb the observation of an ace mech under the influence of true resonance. What makes Turbulenta especially useful is that its effects can differ depending on how you apply your true resonance. If not for the fact that very few ace pilots are compatible with it, the mechers would have long exhausted their limited supply."

The projection changed to show a first-class ace mech that happened to incorporate Turbulenta.

The ace pilot cleverly combined his Saint Kingdom with Turbulenta to produce a range of optical illusions, ranging from creating a dozen visual clones to completely hiding the actual coordinates of the ace mech inside the large domain field!

The ace mech that utilized Turbulenta was even able to turn its entire exterior into a fractured mirror, making it impossible to track its weapons!

These were familiar tricks to Tusa, but when they were applied at the level of an ace mech, the results were drastically better.

For example, the ace mech was able to employ effective misdirection to outmaneuver and eventually defeat another ace mech!

Saint Tusa developed a much greater appreciation of Turbulenta due to this example. The powerful ace mech-grade resonating exotic could truly turn him into a trickster that could torment and confound all kinds of powerful opponents!

However, the ace pilot did not really like the fact that it did nothing to increase the direct combat power of his machine. It only gave him more coping mechanisms in case he was met with much greater resistance than he could ordinarily handle.

This was what the other resonating material was for. Master Benedict soon introduced his hand-picked replacement for Bissonat.

"There are many resonating materials that can increase the damage inflicted by a bladed weapon. Instead of searching for a more powerful material with an identical effect, I have sought out a modern resonating alloy called B-30 Shattersteel. It is designed to give ace mechs a means to overcome strong defenses by repeatedly striking them in the same areas."

The projection changed to display another ace mech, this one belonging to the Terrans.

The Terran first-class ace mech confronted a very powerful orven battleship that was considerably larger and more powerful than the Tortured Scream!

Due to her superior size and tech, the giant orven battleship was protected by powerful segmented multi-layered transphasic energy shields.

Even the more powerful ace mechs would have a headache in trying to breach those defensive layers!

However, the Terran ace mech approached boldly and without any fear. It did not even employ its suite of ranged weapons in order to soften up the energy shields.

Instead, as soon as it came close, it began to unfold eight pairs of arms, each of which held eight different long but slender knives.

The ace mech began to attack.

Tusa straightened his back as he witnessed the Terran mech's arms repeatedly strike at the segmented energy shield in front at an absurdly high rate!

The arms did not strike with a lot of power, but their swinging speeds were so fast that the ace mech was able to attack dozens of times in just a handful of seconds!

It soon became clear why the ace mech emphasized attack speed over strike power.

Each contact with a knife caused the transphasic energy shield to show minor cracks. This phenomenon was almost unnoticeable at the start, but as the rapid knife attacks continued to hit the energy shield, the 'cracks' became more and more noticeable!

Due to the ridiculous fact that the ace mech possessed eight arms, it only took a couple of seconds to breach the segmented transphasic energy shield!

The ace mech did not stop here. It immediately advanced and breached the second layer, before moving to the third!

The crew of the orven battleship clearly panicked. They tried to repel or slow down the progress of the human ace mech by resorting to a lot of means, but their countermeasures took so much time to deploy that their enemy already managed to make it through!

Surprisingly enough, the hull plating of the orven battleship was quite thick and resilient. The vessel had been built recently after the native aliens mastered a lot of stolen human technologies.

Despite facing stiffer resistance than usual, the Terran ace mech was able to drill through all of the thick metals by continuously creating more and more extraordinary cracks with every rapid knife strike!

"Interesting." Saint Tusa commented. "So this is the effect of weapons made with B-30 Shattersteel?"

"Yes. It is an artificial resonating alloy that is designed to break the unbreakable and undermine any form of hard defense by overwriting reality. B-30 Shatterpoint is not meant to breach defenses with single overwhelming attacks. It is meant to give ace mechs the ability to steadily weaken the integrity of anything it strikes. If ten attacks cannot break a barrier, then a hundred attacks should do it. If a hundred attacks is not sufficient, then maybe a thousand attacks will do the job. As long as your willpower is abundant enough to support the consumption of this resonating alloy, you can theoretically break through any barrier."

That was a bold claim! As Tusa studied the Terran ace mech that had been expressly designed to take advantage of this interesting new material, he soon began to frown.

"B-30 Shatterpoint is clearly a resonating alloy that is meant to be used in rapid attacks. As far as I know, the Dark Zephyr only possesses a single pair of arms. My battle partner will never be able to breach defenses as quickly as this Terran ace mech."

"It doesn't have to stay that way." Master Benedict said. "We can install additional limbs to your ace mech. They do not even need to be that big and cumbersome. You can fold them into the back of the Dark Zephyr when they are not needed, and unveil them when you are about to attack powerful enemies."

The Master Mech Designer activated another projection and quickly used his cranial implant to produce a visual mockup of such an alteration.

The Dark Zephyr with additional arms did not look as monstrous as Tusa feared. The additional limbs were very thin and slender. That caused them to become a lot more fragile and less capable of exerting power, but that was not important.

Tusa couldn't help but develop greater interest in B-30 Shattersteel. He liked the fact that this resonating alloy did not force the Dark Zephyr to rely on hard power in order to break enemy defenses.

The current pair of knives wielded by the Dark Zephyr may be able to become a lot sharper and tougher under the effect of true resonance, but the light skirmisher still had to exert a lot of power in order to breach anything that was annoyingly tough.

In other words, Bissonat still demanded the Dark Zephyr rely on one of his weaknesses, while B-30 Shattersteel was a lot more dependent on one of the living mech's strengths.

Master Benedict truly managed to find an excellent choice for Tusa. It fit the Dark Zephyr's inclinations very well.

"I am not impressed by Turbulenta, but I am impressed with B-30 Shattersteel. I will keep the latter into consideration." The ace pilot said.

"Good choice. Do keep in mind that ace mech-grade resonating materials have a tendency to produce greater conflicts with each other. Their effects are too strong, so any form of incompatibility will become magnified at higher energy levels."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that for many cases, you may only have the luxury of integrating a single key resonating material into your Dark Zephyr. This may force you to choose between B-30 Shattersteel and another material that has earn your appreciation." The Master Mech Designer answered.

Tusa managed to pick up a hidden clue. "Is the compatibility issue the reason why you presented Turbulenta despite the fact that its benefits are rather underwhelming?"

Benedict smirked. "That is a clever deduction. That is indeed a part of my considerations. Turbulenta is not as overwhelming as many other resonating materials, but it is because of this reason that it produces fewer conflicts. You can rest assured that we can safely implement both Turbulenta and B-30 Shattersteel in the same ace mech. Doing so will leave no room for other powerful resonating exotics."

"If that is the case, then I would like to study my other options. I do not want to make a premature decision without knowing what I may be missing out on. I doubt that the rest of your selection is weak."

"You are correct. There are truly amazing resonating materials available in the more expensive section of the War Exchange. For example, have you ever heard of an ace mech that can banish an an enemy into another dimension?"