The Mech Touch

Ves dreamt of this moment for months. Ever since he conceived of the Devil Tiger, he imagined many ways he could complete his mech.

Witnessing the ASMAS crawl from one section of the workshop to another section of the workshop under his instructions seemed surreal to him. The strange and unconventional way the Devil Tiger came together emphasized how different it was from his prior works.

A sense of anticipation welled up in his mind. He would finally be able to see the results of the ludicrous amount of resources and effort he put into the Devil Tiger.

After several days of working on the mech, he already believed the sole copy of his Devil Tiger design surpassed all of his fabrication attempts! The focus, care and attention he put into its creation exceeded the investment he put in his other great works such as the Transcendent Messengers or the Shield of Samar!

Perhaps a part of Ves found it to be an enormous waste of energy and potential to invest so much in a non-commercial, experimental mech. Yet now that the Devil Tiger finally came into being, he held no regrets!

As the ASMAS slowly arrived at the skeletal mech frame, it began to take its place.

The pure ASMAS moved first. It climbed up to the center of the mech and rested in the belly and lower chest of the tiger mech. This was the deepest and most well-protected section of the mech.

The Devil Tiger couldn't afford to lose its pure ASMAS! It had to be preserved at all costs!

Considering its extreme importance to the mech, the pure ASMAS settled into its place without consuming too much time.

Next, Ves transmitted another command that caused the substitute ASMAS to crawl over the outer portions of the mech frame. Like adding meat to bones, the much larger quantity of substitute ASMAS began to shift into support structures, conduits, artificial musculature bundles and most significantly armor plating.

This did not take much time either. Once the Devil Tiger looked complete, the grey exterior shifted in color until it took on a dark reddish coating with a black tiger stripe pattern emphasizing its feline nature.

This momentous visual change finally turned the Devil Tiger into the astonishing and exceptional mech that Ves envisioned!

The Devil Tiger emanated an extraordinary powerful splendor that momentarily washed over Ves like a tide!

The mere appearance of the mech already suggested that it was a menace to be taken seriously! Even if the machine lacked the distinctive aura that resulted from its exceptional X-Factor, the mech looked notable in ways that made a mech designer like Ves ecstatic!

Still… as he saw the words DEVIL TIGER forming on the flank of his creation, he started feeling a bit uncomfortable at the sight.

As much as the Devil Tiger already inspired admiration in him, Ves felt it had fallen just short of reaching its height.

His design seed churned and seethed with excitement again, hinting at him that the Devil Tiger was on the cusp of greatness!

\"What is it missing? Why do I feel as if it is close to reaching a certain threshold?\"

Instead of thinking too much over it, he let his instincts as a mech designer lead the way. An impulse prompted him to retrieve a very special pouch in the inside pocket of his disguised outfit.

As he opened the pouch, he observed the small collection of exceptional gems.

They were some of Lucky's best gems to date.

Produced after consuming an entire CFA shuttle among other valuable equipment, the gems possessed remarkable names and even more remarkable effects.

Each of them bore marks from his Anonymizing Stamp to eliminate their presence from sensors and scanners.

Even so, Ves still perceived their inner qualities.

He already used one of the gems in this collection on the Shield of Samar. The Ardent Wish empowered the mech gifted to Jannzi by increasing its spiritual feedback by a whopping 40 percent.

He wasn't quite sure what that meant, but Ves suspected that the Ardent Wish heavily assisted Jannzi in breaking through to expert candidate!

\"Should I embed one of these precious gems to the Devil Tiger?\"

He should have taken the question seriously. He already invested so much in the Devil Tiger that adding anything more to it was extremely unwise. How much more did he have to sacrifice in order to satisfy his artisanal urges?

It made no logical sense to impart the Devil Tiger with a rare gem!

Yet… Ves didn't listen to the rational part of his mind. In truth, he already sidelined it ever since he embarked on the project.

The artist and craftsman within him took primacy this time. His design seed fully resonated with him as he approached the Devil Tiger with a gem in hand.

Ves briefly studied the gem he had chosen to impart to his latest creation.

[Sin of Altruism]

The valor of a great sacrifice by an alien warrior is housed within this gem. Increases the damage resistance of external armor plating by 20 percent.

Ves still questioned its description. He inspected the Sin of Altruism with his spiritual senses over and over again and detected no trace of this so-called 'valor'!

Despite his brief doubts about the gem, he considered its properties to be especially suitable to the Devil Tiger.

In fact, Ves also considered using the Furnace of Regret instead. The gem boosted the output of the power reactor by 30 percent.

The Devil Tiger consumed a constant amount of energy during its operation. The ASMAS constantly required at least some power in order to hold itself together.

When the mech sustained heavy damage and lost a huge chunk of substitute ASMAS, then the pure ASMAS required both energy and materials to replenish the losses.

If the mech possessed a greater energy output, then it was much more capable regenerating itself on the field!

Though the choice tempted him for a moment, he eventually affirmed his choice to use the Sin of Altruism.

Part of the reason was because it addressed the most acute weakness of his mech. The Devil Tiger's heavy dependence on smart metal meant that it was much less durable than comparable mechs of the same cost. This was the number one reason why his Devil Tiger failed to meet the standard of a second-class mech.

Boosting the durability of its admittedly sub-standard armor meant that its most acute discrepancy received a very welcome reinforcement. The distance between the Devil Tiger and a second-class mech narrowed by a considerable margin with this addition.

Ves did not hesitate any further. Despite the extremely questionable wisdom of empowering a mech meant to be piloted by pirates or other scum, his pride of a mech designer demanded he do his utmost to transform the Devil Tiger into his best work to date!

\"This is what must be done! No matter what practical value my Devil Tiger brings, its creative value must be unsurpassed!\"

The state of absolute focus returned to him as he stepped all the way to one of the hind limbs of the dormant Devil Tiger. He craned his head upwards and faintly read the words DEVIL TIGER on its flank once again.

He could scarcely believe he made it this far. He overcame numerous challenges as he recklessly indulged in feature creep.

Though he demanded increasingly more out of his design project, all of his efforts were about to come into fruition at this pivotal moment!

\"This is.. the final touch.\"

A solemn moment descended as Ves stretched out his arm. He brushed his fingers against the solid surface of the Devil Tiger's hind limb. A small scratching sound echoed as the gem he held within his fingers dragged over the surface of the armor.

Though from outward appearances the surface looked like a solid mass of armor, in truth it consisted of an innumerable amount of nanomachines too small to be observed by the naked eye.

The armor revealed its true nature by morphing like a liquid surface. It began to catch hold of the gem while ignoring his fingers. Following its programming, the substitute ASMAS absorbed the gem and tried to figure out how it could best put it to use.

\"Ah. I almost forgot. It needs a little help. I doubt it knows what to do with the Sin of Altruism.\"

Ves raised his comm and withdrew a small wire from it before slotting it through the semi-fluid armor plating of his mech. He activated an interface and quickly began to program some additional instructions to the ASMAS.

A few minutes later, he completed the update and closed his comm. As Ves looked upwards again, the mech already started to take on a distinctly different quality.

It felt as if Ves had given the mech a pivotal push that raised it to a height it yearned to reach!

As Ves stepped back in order to behold the mech in its entirety, he attempted to determine his increasingly stronger affection for his Devil Tiger.

Suddenly, two things happened.

First, realization swept through his mind!

Second, his design seed metaphorically exploded in euphoria!

\"The Devil Tiger.. has become a masterwork!\"

Masterwork!

Ves could scarcely believe this claim. Yet as he observed the Devil Tiger more closely, his certainty only grew stronger.

He never expected to fabricate his first masterwork mech at this instance!

The definition of a masterwork was rather subjective and imprecise. However, Ves learned in his classes that competent mech designers possessed an innate sense to determine whether a mech had reached this fabled height!

A masterwork mech was not the most perfect specimen of a design. If that was the case, then the innumerable amounts of mechs produced through atomic materialization processes should have been declared masterworks!

A general description of a masterwork varied a lot. To Ves, a mech that was so coherently put together that its quality in every possible aspect surpassed the theoretical limits of its design!

Not only that, but its strengthened aspects melded and reinforced each other so well that the whole exceeded the sum of its parts!

When judging his newly-completed Devil Tiger, Ves became increasingly convinced that it fully embodied this definition!

Ves abruptly erupted in jubilation, startling both Nitaa and Lucky! \"A masterwork! I created a masterwork! My first one! Hahahaha!\"

He had reason to celebrate! The formation of a masterwork mech was a product of both skill and serendipity! It was highly sought after by every serious mech designer, but few ever got to experience the glory of producing one!

It was impossible to fabricate a masterwork mech on demand!

Only Seniors or higher were good enough to create a Masterwork, but even then a large proportion of them lived through their entire careers without making this accomplishment!

While exceptions existed where Journeymen managed to create a Masterwork, they were extremely rare!

A masterwork mech only came into being if the mech designer personally fabricated the mech! While others could assist them in their work, they still needed to exert their personal direction and control over the fabrication process!

Mech designers who thought that fabricating a mech in person was beneath them never got to enjoy the unsurpassed glory of creating a masterwork!

This was the reason why even Seniors or Masters achieved amazing feats but never produced a single masterwork mech in their lives!

\"I'm different from them! I'm not just an architect, but also a craftsman!\"

Every artisanal crafting profession opened a door for masterworks. Even the original Amastendira was a masterwork laser pistol!

On average, a Senior fabricated just five masterwork mechs over the course of their entire careers! This figure was higher for Masters, but even then the count varied wildly between different individuals.

Still, one general guideline was that if a mech designer created a masterwork once, then they were surely able to create one again!

It might take decades or even a century depending on chance and circumstances, but someone like Ves would surely be able to achieve this height again in the future!