The Mech Touch

6015 The Plight of First-Class Mech Pilots

When Ves exited the System Space, he did not immediately make the arrangements to complete his new Missions.

Most of them had generous tlimits, so Ves was not in a hurry to get to work right away.

His more immediate priority was to record his observations from his latest Mastery experience and form his conclusions about the challenges of piloting first-class multipurpose mechs.

"It is really hard to pilot those immensely complicated machines. The amount of variables that a pilot needs to take into account is so much that it requires a very special mind state in order to keep up with everything."

Baseline human mech pilots could never adequately track so many moving parts at once!

It took a lot of augmentation as well as harsh training in order to prepare a mech pilot for a proper first-class multipurpose mech.

Even then, the throughput of data was so enormous that mech pilots with inferior genetic aptitude had no chance of keeping up with all of the demands!

Perhaps high-ranking mech pilots might be able to pilot first-

class multipurpose mechs without relying on augments, but they could already move on to piloting customized high-

ranking mechs at that point.

Ordinary mech pilots could never control first-class multipurpose mechs by relying on ordinary training and education.

They needed to go above and beyond in order to properly control these potent mechanical war machines.

Heavy augmentation was therefore mandatory. Entire industries emerged that solely focused on developing the most effective implants and gene mod templates geared towards enhancing the capabilities of mech pilots.

A true first-class multipurpose mech pilot could easily master the controls and operation of a second-class mech with ease!

Their raw capabilities often surpassed third-class and second-

class expert candidates, indicating that technology already had the power to exceed self-evolution to an extent!

There were even situations where first-class mech pilots could outperform expert pilots in a few specific areas!

However, for all of their impressive genetic aptitudes, their powerful artificial boosts and their intensive training, first-

class mech pilots were actually quite pitiful in a way.

"They have becso much more capable than other mech pilots, but they never have enough tto master everything about their first-class multipurpose mechs."

First-class mech pilots were always raised to becall-

rounders. This meant that they were actively discouraged from investing a disproportionate amount of ton mastering swordsmanship or whatever.

Of course, their minimum skill levels was set at a remarkably high threshold, or else they wouldn't have been able to graduate from a mech academy, but they had to train with so many different weapon systems that they could never find too much enjoyment in their practice.

The reason why first-class multipurpose mechs dominated the battlefields so often was due to the high dedication of their pilots.

Every first-class mech pilot essentially becmarried to their jobs. Training, fighting and studying occupied so much of their tthat they hardly had any hours left to do anything else.

It was not impossible for first-class mech pilots to take a break, retire from frontline service or switch to a less demanding employer.

However, doing so would deny them a chance of piloting the most powerful first-class multipurpose mechs and participating in the most meaningful battles.

The competition was too great!

There were always more first-class mech pilots than first-

class multipurpose mechs!

The latter were expensive even to the Terrans and the Rubarthans, so there was always a limited number of them in use at any time.

Any first-class mech pilot that failed to keep up or slipped up permanently lost their chance to pilot these premier war machines.

At best, the disqualified soldiers could only pilot inferior first-

class mechs that were much weaker and less versatile.

When they fought against real first-class multipurpose mechs, the latter often used their versatility to exploit the weaknesses of the former!

This was why first-class space knights and rifleman mechs were usually relegated to menial jobs like base defense and traffic control.

Any first-class mech pilot that got 'demoted' to such duties usually never managed to break through for the remainder of their careers.

"This hierarchy is too perverse!"

The first-class mech community valued first-class multipurpose mechs to such an insane extrthat every other mech archetype practically becworthless in comparison!

This produced a distorted culture where even people as smart as Alexa found it difficult to show respect towards specialized mech.

This was despite the fact that her grandfather piloted a very famous ace hero mech!

Another point that stood out from Ves was how all of the stress and demands of first-class mech pilots made it a lot more difficult for them to break through.

First, they were augmented to such an extent that they deviated a lot further from their own humanity.

In fact, they were all born as designer babies from the beginning, so they were already inhuman from the moment they were conceived.

That was not necessarily detrimental to their breakthrough chances, but further modifications designed to increase their ability to control first-class multipurpose mechs often produced a lot of side effects.

Their thinking speeds, perception of reality and cognitive patterns changed so much as they grew up that they practically becalien when compared to baseline humans!

Compared to second-class and especially third-class mech pilots, first-class mech pilots truly existed in a category of their own! They had becso good at piloting the most complex standard mechs to exist, yet sacrificed so much of themselves in the process!

"Is it worth it?" Ves questioned with a frown.

He personally did not think so, but the first-class mech community thought differently. First-class multipurpose mechs were generally worth all of the hype. Their overall combat performance was so high under most circumstances that their poor showing against the Dark Zephyr Mark III was the exception rather than the rule.

Yet the demands of the job wore down first-class mech pilots remarkably quickly, especially when their genetic aptitudes were in the B-range.

Piloting first-class multipurpose mechs produced so much strain onto B-grade mech pilots that their brains actually deteriorated at an accelerated rate!

Under the best of circumstances, the peak performance period of B-grade mech pilots was only 60 percent as long as that of A-grade mech pilots!

"If mech pilots with A-grade genetic aptitudes weren't so damn rare, those with B-grade genetic aptitudes wouldn't even get a chance of piloting these crazy machines!"

This was considered as one of the shameful secrets of first-

class mech pilots. The demand for 'talent' was so high that many B-grade mech pilots willingly self-destructed themselves in order to fulfill their dream of piloting the most advanced and powerful standard mechs that humanity could produce.

Although the vast majority of these poor pilots only lasted for a decade or two before they were forced to give up first-class multipurpose mechs and switch to weaker but less damaging first-class machines, there was still a way for them to beat this game.

"Breaking through will solve their problems."

As long as B-grade mech pilots break through to expert candidate, then they had a high chance of advancing to expert pilot after receiving support from above.

Becoming an expert pilot resulted in a profound metamorphosis where the willpower but also the body of the individual in question surpassed mortal limitations.

The brain of an expert pilot was no longer as fragile and limited compared to before. It had surpassed the limitations of genetic aptitude for the most part. Even a mech pilot whose genetic aptitude was originally D could pilot a first-class multipurpose mech!

This meant that many first-class mech pilots with B-grade genetic aptitude trained and fought hard in order to race against tand break through.

Yet the harder they sought a breakthrough, the more excessive strain they placed on their brains.

In addition to this, the more tthey spent on their jobs, the less tthey had to live a more fulfilling life. Their personalities and their mentalities remained underdeveloped as they simply did not have enough tto be human.

This was one of the reasons why their breakthrough rates were so low.

Was the Red Association aware of this? Most definitely.

Yet knowing about a problem did not automatically mean they could solve it. The mechers and the other first-class powers definitely understood that they were placing an excessive amount of expectations onto first-class mech pilots, yet the fact that this extrperformance culture persisted meant that all of the other alternatives were worse.

Ves could already figure out a few reasons why the first-class mech community becso distorted.

There was a definite focus on quality over quantity. The first-

raters valued champions and heroes very much. Any first-

class mech pilot that managed to break through while being subjected to years worth of excessive strains was a powerful champion without a doubt!

The futures of the few first-raters that manage to bechigh-ranking mech pilots were usually bright. All of the pain and sacrifice becworth it as these lucky bastards turned into the new idols and standard bearers of their states or organizations.

"Another reason is loyalty."

First-raters depended heavily on the protection of expert pilots, ace pilots and god pilots.

It would be absolutely devastating for a first-class power if their prized champions abandoned or outright betrayed their employers!

By making first-class mech pilots work harder than anyone else and limiting the amount of tthey spent on other activities, it beca lot easier to control how they thought and how they felt.

Indoctrination becmore effective as these first-class mech pilots knew little else outside of their immediate circle of friends and fellow soldiers.

Despite being a part of a greater human galactic community, most people never really took full advantage of the fact that they could easily connect to people located light-years away by making use of the galactic net.

At most, first-class mech pilots fought a lot of virtual battles against other people in various mech simulation virtual reality games.

"It is really easy to raise a lot of expert pilots who have nothing else but loyalty to their state or organization in their heads." Ves muttered.

As a clan leader himself, he fully understood this desire for control. He may have circumvented the problem to an extent by creating the Larkinson Network, but its restraint on high-

ranking mech pilots was not effective anymore.

In fact, ever since Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson becan ace pilot, the Larkinson Clan had no effective way to force him to stay! It was only due to his own honor and affection towards the Larkinsons that he continued to fight for the clan!

If Ves or the clan ever pissed him off too much, there was nothing stopping Saint Tusa from defecting to the Red Association, which always opened their door to 'orphaned' high-ranking mech pilots.

Even if the original employer tried to lock their expert pilots or ace pilots into place with the help of strong contracts, the problem with this approach was that the mechers were the ones who were responsible for enforcing these kinds of agreements.

The MTA and RA's response to these situations was to always decide in favor of the disaffected pilot!

The rights of a high-ranking mech pilot superseded the rights of ordinary states and organizations!

Naturally, the fact that the mechers often welcomed powerful new champions in their midst was also a very nice outcome.

With the MTA and RA actively trying to poach expert pilots, ace pilots and even god pilots, first-rate states were definitely justified in their efforts to foster greater loyalty in their own champions!

"The mechers are just too shameless!"

At least they sincerely respected the opinions of high-ranking mech pilots. Since a former second-rater such as the Destroyer of Worlds eventually decided to serve and protect the Rubarthan people, the mechers evidently failed to sway her to their side.

"Maybe I should pay more attention to this as well." Ves thought with a front. "The last thing I want to see is Saint Tusa drifting off the RA because I failed to address his desires."

Gaining an ace pilot was not all good news. Now that Tusa had beca powerful and respected ace pilot, the Larkinson Clan had the obligation to please him whenever possible!