The Mech Touch

Living mechs had become increasingly more prevalent in the middle zones where the Living Mech Corporation actively marketed its products.

The mech models that the general public happened to come into contact the most were not the popular Ferocious Piranha or the all-time classic Desolate Soldier.

It was the products that were most removed from the battlefield that tended to enter into the lives of ordinary citizens most frequently!

The humble Hymenoptera industrial mech and the incredibly useful Pacifier law enforcement mech sold the most and showed up in increasingly more colonies with every passing day.

Naturally, the Terrans had yet to make use of these bestsellers because they belonged to a completely different market.

While the students did not show any obvious signs of contempt or dismissal due to the fact that they had already studied their professor and his works in advance, Ves was still able to detect their inherent underestimation of second-class mechs.

It was hard for the superior Terrans who had lived among first-class multipurpose mechs for all of their years to take lesser mechs seriously!

While it was true that a single first-class mech could probably wipe out dozens if not hundreds of second-class mechs with relative ease, the Pacifier mech that entered the classroom was a bit different from normal machines.

As soon as the mech stopped a small distance away from the circle of 14 students, the entire crowd had grown silent for a time.

The Pacifier mech was nothing special on the surface. It was a recent copy that had only rolled off the production lines a few months ago. The unit had never been seriously used for its intended purpose so it hardly experienced any meaningful growth.

Nonetheless, the living mech exuded a faint aura that suggested that it possessed indescribable qualities that made it a little more special.

Those with spiritual potential were able to pick this considerably easier than those who were spiritually dull.

Unfortunately for Ves, the majority of his students had yet to activate their spiritual potential at this time, so a lot of the charm of the living mech flew past their immediate senses.

"Professor?" Polina Devonshire raised her voice first. "I have read many descriptions about the glows of your living mechs. Can this mech of yours demonstrate its glow to us? Its glow is its strongest selling point."

Ves smiled. "Glows are not a central component in this introductory course. It is a highly advanced application of living mechs that involves other disciplines that I am not authorized to teach or divulge. I will allow this living mech to briefly demonstrate its glow as it would hardly do to let you all remain ignorant of this prominent feature. You are not expected to understand it or try to replicate it for your own work in any way. Miss Striker, please do the honors."

His research assistant was in charge of all of the living mechs imported by the Eden Institute. Alexa silently transmitted a command to the mech pilot who interfaced with the Pacifier mech.

Soon enough, the Pacifier slowly dialed up its glow from almost nothing to a progressively stronger effect!

Since the students were all sitting just a stone's throw away from the machine, they became exposed to Lufa's tranquility glow at a strong intensity!

The consequences immediately became noticeable. A lot of students became a lot less animated and their emotional fluctuations became a lot more dampened.

Nonetheless, compared to ordinary second-class citizens, the elite Terrans and foreign exchange students showed considerably greater resistance to the glow effects!

Their stronger mentalities and their cognitive augmentations all helped these students maintain their wits in a situation where the presence of Lufa demanded them to drain their emotions!

Though Ves still found it a bit difficult to examine the mental and spiritual conditions of his students by remote, the Hyper Chamber's realistic technology was so good that it helped a lot with improving his observations.

Compared to an ordinary Terran civilian like Klaus Robar-Fulton, the descendants of long-established clans like Ryan Shuku and Gabriel Sekkar were able to resist the Pacifier's glow a lot better!

Their mentalities were so strong and augmented that they were able to maintain their full awareness without looking as if they were struggling!

This contrasted a lot with the less well-prepared students who showed visible strain as they tried to resist the urge to lose their thoughts and emotions.

However, it did not look as if any of them completely allowed themselves to be pacified!

This suggested that a first-class adaptation of the Pacifier model might not sell as well in the upper zones. The people who lived in those regions were just superior in many ways that suppressive glows simply had much less of an effect on their minds.

The differences would become especially pronounced towards first-class mech pilots. These elite soldiers had all attended some of the best mech academies of human civilization. Their genetic aptitudes were also a lot higher on average, which enabled them to mentally anchor themselves to their mechs a lot better.

In short, Ves would probably have to lean a lot more on supportive glows if he wanted his products to get taken seriously in the upper zones.

"The glow of the Pacifier is categorized as suppressive, which means that their active effects are mainly meant to be used on hostiles in order to rob them of their violent impulses." He explained. "That does not mean it is a weapon. It can also be used on yourself and other friendlies. Let me give you a brief demonstration."

One of the fun parts about living mechs was that he was still able to exert a certain degree of control over them no matter the distance.

Right now, Ves contacted Lufa and requested the design spirit to tweak the expression of his glow for this specific machine.

The Pacifier mech began to exude a different vibe, much to the surprise of many of his students.

This was not a documented feature of this product!

The Angel of Tranquility gradually demonstrated his Aspect of Healing!

The Terrans looked a lot less resistant towards the glow. While it tried to suppress their negative mental activity, it purposefully left a lot of room for their positive thoughts and emotions.

Experiencing the Aspect of Healing was like taking a gentle stimulant that had no discernable side effects! Anyone who accepted this effect would immediately feel more optimistic and invigorated!

Ves smirked even more as he silently commanded Lufa to switch to the Aspect of Rationality.

The Pacifier's glow made a more radical transition. The latest variation of the glow exerted the strongest possible suppression towards all emotions, but left all rational thinking activity untouched.

This effect provoked more extreme responses from the students!

Different from the Aspect of Healing, the Aspect of Rationality was especially compelling to intellectuals.

Over half of the students showed a visible reaction at this time!

They became incredibly engrossed in their newfound ability to rationally go over their recent lessons without their emotions getting in the way. It was a much more refreshing way to internalize all of the recent knowledge that they had learned!

Ves gave his students a full minute to enjoy this particular glow before he motioned Alexa to end this demonstration.

The pilot of the Pacifier gradually dialed down the glow until it no longer leaked outside of the machine.

The only noticeable aura after this adjustment was the inherent liveliness of a young second order living mech.

While it was not as obvious as a glow, Ves hoped that it would still provide his small class with a useful reference.

"Those last two glows are impressive, professor. Can we purchase this mech with those additional glows from your mech company?"

"I'm afraid not." Ves shook his head. "1 think my company still sells an older second-class mech model that features the second glow, but we do not currently sell any mechs with the third glow."

"You should be able to sell a large amount of mechs with the third glow that is able to clear our thinking." Ryan Shuku spoke out. "The effect may be able to complement the special state of mind that rational mech designers must hold in order to do their work. Your glow can facilitate the training of mech designers that have chosen to master this approach. It should also be able to help existing rational mech designers move much closer to the ideal state of absolute rationality."

The scion of the Shuku Ancient Clan raised a good business opportunity. Ves could definitely see how such a mech might be interesting to a lot of rational mech designers.

"I agree with your assessment, Mr. Shuku, but my mech company is not yet ready to enter the first-class mech market. It may take years or decades before we are ready to sell such a product. Any other questions?"

Gabriel Sekkar decided to ask a question this time.

"Many of your works are characterized by their ability to grow more powerful over time. Does the same apply to glows?"

"That is an astute observation, Mr. Sekkar. You are correct. Glows or rather the source of glows are by definition alive, so they can grow stronger and more effective. You might not know this, but the tranquility glow that the Pacifier is so famed for was not as strong and effective when it first appeared. Years have gone by since then, so many factors have contributed to its strengthening."

"If glows can become more powerful, is it also possible for the reverse to happen?" Gabriel asked another question.

"Yes. Just as people like you and I can become weaker in a couple of decades, the source of glows can also suffer setbacks that make them less effective. I suppose that this is one of the shortcomings of living mechs. Most of them will be able to grow stronger without any complications, but there are always possibilities that they can be led astray or lose much of their accumulated strengthening. I will touch upon this subject in greater detail in a future lesson."

The youngest student looked satisfied with the information that Ves provided.

Ves found Gabriel Sekkar to be rather interesting. He had a strong hunch that it was not a coincidence that this extremely intelligent double degree student happened to enroll for Introduction to Living Mech Design.

When Ves casually swept his gaze across the faces of all 14 students, he was able to confirm his initial observations.

Of the 14 students who attended this class, 2 of them already possess strong spiritual potential.

That did not mean that the other 12 were useless. They were still young and not even formal Novice Mech Designers as of yet. They still had plenty of time to develop spiritual potential after they truly started to work with mechs in a professional capacity.

In addition to that, constantly getting exposed to E energy radiation over a longer period of time should also promote their spiritual potential!

Nonetheless, compared to all of those late bloomers, Ves had much greater reasons to pay additional attention to the 2 exceptions!

Klaus Robar-Fulton was the least augmented among them, yet his spiritual potential was strong if not yet activated. He was like a dormant monster who had yet to show off his ferocity.

That made this ordinary Terran citizen a lot more interesting. Compared to the wealthier and more elite Terran scions, Ves felt it was a lot easier to hoodwink Klaus and bring him over to his side!

Still, as powerful as Klaus felt across the Hyper Chamber's connection, Gabriel Sekkar's spirituality was even stronger!

The heir to the Sekkar Clan was an anomaly!

Not only was his spirituality so noticeably strong, it was also activated!

This meant that Gabriel Sekkar was already able to actively make use of his strong spirituality to produce specific outcomes, whether consciously or unconsciously.

If that was not suspicious enough, his spirituality already started to take on a defined flavor. It hinted that Gabriel was in the process of developing a domain, though Ves was unable to identify it due to lack of proximity.

All of these clues caused Ves to make a remarkable conclusion about this young business and mech design student.

Gabriel Sekkar had already begun to practice a cultivation method.