The Mech Touch

Chapter 5995  The Power of Incremental Improvement

By the time Tusa neared graduation, he had become a much different Larkinson than before.

He grew taller and more athletic.

His endurance had improved remarkably as he had taken on long-distance running as a sport.

Light skirmishers often traversed the longest distances in a typical engagement. They were expected to circle around the battlefield and perform exhaustive scouting duties.

It made sense for Tusa to exercise his body by running a lot. Not only did the act of jogging clear his mind and allow him to review his prior lessons, but he also felt that he was becoming more in tune with how light skirmishers were supposed to operate in the field.

The more he began to become proficient in them, the more he learned how he needed to be patient.

Tusa learned that many of the simulated combat scenarios contributed to a distortion impression on what light skirmisher pilots were supposed to do when deployed in the field.

The simulated battles between virtual mechs often skipped out on a lot of boring sequences where light mechs tended to be most active.

Before Tusa learned to be courageous, he first needed to learn how to maintain restraint.

Light skirmishers were not that powerful when confronting other mech types on equal ground.

Sure, Tusa frequently became impressed when a light skirmisher outfight a swordsman mech or a knight mech in the mech arenas, but competitive fighting was not representative of real combat.

The Bright-Vesia Wars taught the Brighters how light skirmishers should actually fight.

Every lesson and every combat tactic had been tested millions of times over dozens of wars.

The mech academies of the Bright Republic had long phased out any lessons that proved to be useless or counterproductive.

Combined with the private tutoring from the veteran soldiers of the Larkinson Family, Tusa made steady gains with each passing year.

He did not improve as quickly as the most talented mech cadets, but Tusa made sure to always attend his practice sessions and grind away at his own pace.

Whereas the grades of many of his fellow cadets bounced up and down due to family drama, motivation problems, relationship issues, injuries and so on, Tusa steadily stood out due to his consistency.

He learned from Ryncol's example and did not allow others to affect the training and studying plan he set in advance.

Tusa was ambitious. He did not let go of his goal of becoming a mech pilot. Yet he could not possibly rise above the crowd from the beginning like Uncle Ark.

This was why he decided to become the tortoise instead of the hare. He constantly reminded himself that as long as he kept improving, it shouldn't matter too much that he was taking his time.

His steady pace of improvement also allowed him to work on building his courage.

Tusa did not attempt to pursue quick gains. He just set small challenges for himself and tried his best to fulfill them over the course of a day or a week. The important part was that the challenges had to be beyond his current means. There was no gain in courage if he tried to pull off a move he already mastered.

Doing it once or twice was not impressive at all. Any of his fellow cadets could do the same.

Yet as long as he continued to expand his skillset, he eventually managed to make the jump from piloting landbound light skirmishers to aerial light skirmishers.

This was a massive improvement in his development. Aerial light skirmishers tended to be a lot more mobile, but also became a lot more exposed to the enemy.

It took a lot of guts for Tusa to specialize in aerial mechs and light ones at that. However, he mustered up the courage to commit to it anyway because he gained much more agency and room for development.

Not only would he be playing a more important role on the battlefield, he could also branch out to spaceborn light skirmishers with much greater ease.

It was a lot more frightening for Tusa to pilot aerial light mechs knowing that there were many more ways for him to die.

The lack of cover and the absence of solid ground made Tusa extremely conscious about how easily enemies could snipe his light skirmisher from the skies.

He became forced to strengthen his ability to leverage the strongest advantage of any light mech.

He learned how to become good at evasion.

Fortunately, the mech academy dedicated entire classes towards evasion, anticipating enemies and reading the battlefield for the purpose of avoiding strong anti-air defenses.

There was so much depth and nuance about how to survive and thrive as a successful light skirmisher pilot that Tusa constantly found new challenges for himself.

He successfully managed to create the positive feedback loop described by Uncle Ryncol. It sounded so simple, but it gave Tusa so much satisfaction and fulfillment. Both his skills and his courage grew with each passing year.

By the time he graduated from the mech academy, he not only earned grades that he could be proud of, but also gained an easy entry into the Mech Corps!

That was where his true life as a mech pilot began.

Everything he learned in the mech academy was child's play compared to the training he received in a military environment.

The abundance of real war veterans and the use of actual military mechs as training devices gave Tusa a real taste of mech warfare!

It just so happened that the last Bright-Vesia War to ever erupt in the Komodo Star Sector kicked off just as Tusa gained enough proficiency in piloting the predominant aerial light skirmisher models of the Mech Corps!

Tusa still remembered his experiences during the brief but intense war.

The Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom had clashed against each other so many times that they understood each other well.

On the one hand, this was good as the Brighters had learned how to excel in fighting defensive battles.

On the other hand, this was bad because the Vesians had become masters on how to breach strong defenses!

The Vesian Mech Legion crossed the border between the two third-rate states and assailed many different planets at once.

Lesser star systems fell quickly, but the more strategic nodes became host to a lot of bloody actions.

It was during the start of this war where Tusa started his third struggle of his life.

"I don't want to survive the war." He told himself as he remained on standby in the cockpit of his dormant mech. "My life should have greater meaning than becoming another retired veteran who passes on his wisdom to the next generation. If I want to be remembered, then I need to fight like a god, not as a man!"

He decided to use the same approach as before. He fought cautiously at first, knowing that rookies without any real combat experience like himself shouldn't be roaming around the battlefield like he owned the place.

Tusa could never fight like a god. He would die in the first few minutes after deploying on the battlefield.

He decided to use the same approach as before. He fought cautiously at first, knowing that rookies without any real combat experience like himself shouldn't be roaming around the battlefield like he owned the place.

He followed orders, he listened to the advice of the veterans in his units and tried his best to build up a reputation for being a reliable soldier.

Tusa learned from the other Larkinsons that he needed to learn how to walk before he could run.

So that was what he did. He tempered his excitement and abided by his fears. He avoided action whenever he perceived a substantial amount of risk and did not try to earn commendations.

This turned out to be a prudent course of action. Many light skirmisher pilots either lost their mechs or died within the first months of the war.

Meanwhile, Tusa not only managed to keep his mech in one piece, but also improved rapidly just by doing his best to stay alive whenever he deployed on a contested planet!

It turned out that the Mech Corps used the first half year of every Bright-Vesia War to separate the chaff from the wheat.

Tusa only learned later on that the military only truly began to develop the potential of its younger mech pilots after they had proved themselves in the field.

As a Larkinson, Tusa already received recognition in advance, but his diligent performance earned him a promotion to more elite mech units.

Tusa began to pilot more powerful and capable aerial light skirmishers. His responsibilities also increased. He received more dangerous missions and found himself mustering up the courage to take riskier actions than normal.

All of this would have overwhelmed him if he started to fight like this right after graduation, but because Tusa took the time to grind his way to elite status, the adaptation process was not as abrupt as he feared.

When the Vesians steadily pushed the battle lines closer and closer to the Bentheim System, Tusa eventually had his dream come true.

He broke through.

He exceeded his limitations and pierced the veil that prevented him from exceeding his own mortality.

He became an expert candidate!

From the moment he returned from battle with a half-broken aerial light skirmisher and much stronger willpower than before, Tusa knew back then that he had finally lived up to the expectations of the Larkinson Family.

"I'm an expert candidate…"

Even though expert candidates only possessed a minute fraction of the power of an expert pilot, it was the starting point for every mech pilot who yearned for greatness!

A huge number of Larkinsons and other soldiers grew envious at Tusa for being one of the few mech pilots who managed to cross this critical threshold.

While there were no guarantees that expert candidates could advance to expert pilots, the success rate was a lot higher!

No expert candidate lacked confidence in himself. From the moment he gained a taste of what it was like to wield the power of a demigod, Tusa's courage swelled as he became confident that he could break through so long as he threw himself into enough pitched battles.

Then, the Bright-Vesia War came to an end.

Tusa became perplexed. So did many other soldiers of the Mech Corps.

"How could the war end so early? Shouldn't it drag on for a couple more years?"

All kinds of rumors circulated. Tusa even heard that his cousin Ves actually played an integral role in facilitating the peace talks!

Whatever the case, Tusa became crushed.

Although he knew that it was of great benefit to the Bright Republic that the Vesian troops withdrew from its space, Tusa felt incredibly regretful that he no longer possessed a stage where he could become the star of his own show.

He felt guilty for harboring these selfish thoughts. Shouldn't he prioritize the protection of his state and its citizens over his own desire to become an expert pilot and a hero of the Larkinson Family.

Tusa became lost as the Mech Corps steadily winded down its troop deployments.

Once the Bright Republic retreated from its war footing and entered into a recovery period, Tusa no longer had any chance to prove himself in the cauldron of war.

He needed to find combat elsewhere. If that meant leaving the Mech Corps, then so be it. He could always rejoin the military once he managed to become an expert pilot elsewhere.

It just so happened that the Larkinson Family wanted to allocate more family members to Ves' growing organization.

Tusa had no idea at the time what he was in store for. How could he have known that serving under the craziest and most audacious mech designer of his generation could lead Tusa from a quiet corner of the Milky Way to the frontlines of a displaced Red Ocean?!

One thing was for sure, though.

Tusa received plenty of opportunities to prove himself.

Ves possessed such a strong ability to attract trouble that Tusa unwillingly found himself fighting against enemies he couldn't even imagine in his wildest dreams!

Suffice to say, Tusa felt very ambivalent about fighting under Ves.