The Mech Touch - Chapter 6989
Chapter 6989: Within A Minute
Many people eagerly observed the first true debut performance of the First Sword Mark III.
As the first high-grade superdimensional ace mech, the First Sword Mark III would set everyone’s expectations of the power of armor-grade and weapon-grade superdimensional matter.
The previous performance of the Fist of Defiance opened people’s eyes to how superdimensional matter could make a difference at the top end of the power spectrum.
The superdimensional Invictus seemingly gained new wings with the help of its material upgrades.
Not only was it capable of resisting the attacks of several ancient phase whales at a time, its superdimensional fists enhanced the killing power of the god mech to a whole new level.
What about its effects on lower-end mechs?
Nobody aside from the crazy Larkinsons were crazy enough to waste this precious new material on expert mechs.
Everyone else already intended to use it to upgrade their most precious and promising peak ace mechs.
Famous champions who were just a single step away from ascending to godhood such as the Renewer of Terra, the Mace of Retaliation and the Gamer all held a lot of promise.
If they received a major upgrade to their hardware, they could not only kill enemy phase leaders more effectively, but also gain a considerable boost to their upgrade chances.
However, the latter still remained a low-probability event. Nobody was able to calculate the exact improvement bestowed by a full superdimensional upgrade.
There were mech designers and theorists who believed that it could multiply the success rate by 3000 percent.
There were also others who believed the improvement only amounted to an improvement of 50 percent.
All of these figures may sound impressive, but when the ‘normal’ success rate of embarking on the road to no return was definitely a figure that was way below 1 percent, the most optimistic scenario only yielded a success rate of maybe 10 to 20 percent!
These were still terrible odds!
While it was true that the individual circumstances of peak ace pilots varied so wildly that they could not easily be compared to each other, the estimated and calculated probabilities still provided sufficient reference value.
Loosely speaking, if 10 peak ace pilots broke through, only 1 of them would survive and become the latest god in human form.
As for the other 9?
Everything that was part of their bodies and mechs became erased from reality.
There was no way to preserve anything that belonged to them. This included many tons of precious armor-grade and weapon-grade superdimensional alloy!
Given that Swordmaster Ketis was only able to open up a portal to the Blue Dimension once every few months, the amount of high-grade superdimensional matter attained harvested by red humanity did not amount to much.
At most, the big powers were able to upgrade 2 to 4 peak ace mechs to the highest specification per harvest, assuming that they did not expend the precious high-grade superdimensional matter on other priorities, of which there were many.
Peak ace mechs were not the only machines that had a high demand for this wonder material.
Many powerful and highly influential figures lobbied for bits and pieces of high-grade superdimensional matter to upgrade their Starships, their personal protection and other assorted gadgets.
It was difficult to reject these requests entirely, especially when they gave abundant amounts of strategic goods such as starships in exchange, so the actual quantity of high-grade superdimensional matter being used to upgrade peak ace mechs was actually less than ideal.
This was why the performance of the First Sword Mark III received so much scrutiny that the warships of the Bluejay Fleet focused as much of their sensor systems on the ace swordsman mech as possible.
Since Saint Dise was pretty much a fresh ace pilot, the performance of her First Sword Mark III should be an adequate representation of the baseline of a superdimensional ace mech.
Three Master Mech Designers from the Mech Supremacist Faction had contributed to the design of this exquisite machine.
This meant that the Red Association almost completely comprehended the design of the loving machine that was demonstrating her power for the first time.
The mechers looked forward to conducting a statistical analysis that enabled them to normalize the data and make predictions on how superdimensional matter could enhance the performance of other, more powerful ace mechs.
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They only needed to measure the empirical data of the First Sword Mark III in action in order to fill up the missing data.
This would subsequently set everyone’s expectations of superdimensional ace mechs throughout the Red Ocean in many years to come!
Both Jovy Armalon and Vector Loban stood next to each other as they examined the live footage as well as the raw data readings from the control panel.
They became more and more encouraged whenever they witnessed the numbers grow bigger and the graph lines rise higher.
This alone did not necessarily tell them anything useful, so they also performed calculations in order to estimate the performance of a theoretical non-superdimensional First Sword Mark III.
Although the accuracy and reliability of these estimated figures remained questionable, it was better than nothing. The resulting analysis and conclusion played such an important role that it could seriously tilt the allocation of superdimensional resources in favor of peak ace mechs!
The Red Association naturally wished to see this happen. This was one of the strongest reasons why the Bluejay Fleet happily agreed to accompany the Premier Fleet in this campaign.
Even though the original contract with Ves Larkinson explicitly stated that the mechs and warships of the Red Association would not lend its aid in any offensive operations, that was just a pile of words.
The mechers made the rules, but they did not always abide by them. That was their privilege as rule makers.
Besides, now that the Red War had reached this stage, it was better to put the Bluejay Fleet at the disposal of one of the few rare ace commanders that could amplify their performance.
Already, the mechs and to a lesser extent the warships of the Bluejay Fleet already received the amplification of the Minerva Mark II’s Command Field.
By this time, the Premier Fleet and the Bluejay Fleet had already slowed down and allowed their mechs to lead the advance.
Their long-ranged armaments would soon be able to open fire on the alien forces, but it would still take a bit of time for the two fleets to be able to provide cover to the First Sword Mark III.
Despite the fact that the superdimensional ace mech was all alone for the time being, no one showed too much concern.
Superdimensional tech represented a technological paradigm shift to red humanity. Not only was it better than phasewater tech in many ways, it also happened to be a much more effective counter against phase leaders.
Right now, both Jovy and Vector harbored great expectations towards the ace swordsman mech.
“How long do you think it will take for Dise to eliminate the Fifth Lord of Bis’qet by herself?” Jovy asked with a smile on his face.
His Transhumanist friend raised an eyebrow. “You and your bets again? It depends. Are you talking about killing or forcing the greater phase lord into a retreat?”
“I think that the difference is irrelevant in this case.” Jovy boldly answered. “You should have read the personality profile of Saint Dise. She is not one to let her prey escape alive, especially now that she is looking to prove herself with such a powerful machine.”
Vector hesitated. Although he agreed with Jovy’s analysis, not every greater phase lord was as easy to kill as others.
The Fifth Lord of Bis’qet had previously unfolded his true body to a size that was practically impossible to kill through mundane means. Only a large number of warships firing their primary batteries in repeated salvos could make a serious dent in such a large phasewater-reinforced body.
Of course, greater phase lords had long learned the lesson that relying on a big body alone was not enough to defeat senior ace mechs.
This was why the Fifth Lord of Bisqet had folded his true body to the point he became as large as a juggernaut before wielding a Saint Piercer arm that complemented his current size.
That was a size that many greater phase lords had grown comfortable with. They no longer became giant, sluggish targets that could only get beat up by the small but incredibly powerful metal flies.
However, they still maintained enough of a scale advantage that they could leverage their superior strength and reach to suppress the mechs in a physical sense.
Superdimensional ace mech or not, there was no way the First Sword Mark III would be able to lock weapons with the Fifth Lord of Bis’qet!
The nunser race was famed for their superior physical strength, and the Fifth Lord of Bis’qet was a pure martial phase lord.
Many of his phasewater organs complemented his current development trajectory. Even the ones that manipulated the power of space were mainly used to trap and debilitate opponents at close range.
Vector had already read through the intelligence report of the Fifth Lord of Bis’qet. He also analyzed his current state with the help of the collected data.
He remained still as he utilized his cranial implant to perform a thorough analysis based on his own theoretical frameworks.
“I estimate that there is a 15 percent probability that the Fifth Lord of Bis’qet will die to Saint Dise within a minute of making contact. However, if the First Sword Mark III fails to achieve immediate dominance in spite of her superdimensional properties, then the odds of being able to secure a kill is much lower. The Protector of Karnak and the Endless Stomach will catch up and reinforce their fellow greater phase lord. They may be rivals to each other, but when they are directly being challenged by a full superdimensional ace mech, they are rational enough to completely unite against this common foe. Saint Dise still lacks the experience and specialized skills to leverage the full strength of her superdimensional ace mech and overcome the combined defenses of all three phase lords.”
Jovy looked impressed. “Good analysis. My own judgment shares much in common with yours. You have yet to answer my question, though. Stating a probability is not the same as making a bet. What do you think? Will she be able to complete a kill with the power of her ace mech and nothing else?”
“No.” Vector eventually said. “A 15 percent success rate in the first minute is too low. As much as I want the First Sword Mark III to succeed and baptize herself in the blood of a greater phase lord, Saint Dise is clearly harboring an overinflated sense of confidence. None of these native gods are simple. If she chose to challenge them a year or two later, then the outcome would not be in doubt.”
In the end, he thought that Saint Dise was being far too impatient this time. What was wrong with settling down and taking things step by step? Even senior ace pilots could not guarantee that they could kill a greater phase lord in a single confrontation!
As the First Sword Mark III rapidly closed the distance, she looked readily to pierce the Fifth Lord of Bis’qet in the most direct possible fashion.
Her Electro-Reactant Wings produced so much thrust that her momentum had soared despite the fact that she had to escape the gravity well of Screed Tanner VI-F!
As her 33 sword fey assumed a wedge formation directly in front of the path, it looked as if the ace mech had turned into a giant arrow head.
Even the ace mech’s Saint Kingdom had condensed into a triangular shape in order to complement the sword formation!
The vast majority of humans and aliens who faced such a charge head-on would probably panic and lose their courage.
Yet the Fifth Lord of Bis’qet maintained a stationary position and chose to meet this charge head-on. The nunser greater phase lord had no doubt that he would suffer a serious injury if the superdimensional mech struck his true body, but fleeing was no solution.
He knew that the First Sword Mark III was flexible and maneuverable enough to make course corrections.
There was no running away.
Since that is the case, then the Fifth Lord would try to impale the ace mech first!
He was still confident enough in his highly developed arms. Multiple phasewater organs reinforced his limbs in various ways, enabling him to perform well in duels against other martial phase lords.
So long as the First Sword Mark III failed to evade the tip of his Saint Piercer arm, the charge would definitely fail!
A cruel grin appeared underneath the armored faceplate of the nunser phase lord.
As the seconds ticked down, the Fifth Lord felt as if his body and soul were about to get impaled by a giant metal sword!
However, the greater phase lord relied on his supreme confidence in his physical strength to resist this illusion and make sure to track the ace mech’s passage.
“#$&@$#&!”
“ANOTHER FALSE GOD OF THE HUMANS SHALL DIE!”
An instant before the tip of his superdimensional weapon was about to impale the First Sword Mark III, the ace mech’s Electro-Reactant Flight System made an extreme course change!
The ace mech had made an abrupt turn!
Contrary to the greater phase lord’s expectations, the superdimensional machine did not juke in any of the four directions that would enable her to attack the Fifth Lord from the side.
Instead, the First Sword Mark III had chosen to turn back, putting her completely out of reach of the Fifth Lord!
“What?!”
Many people reacted with surprise! Had Saint Dise decided to chicken out of this collision!”
“No!”
The ace mech may have averted a collision, but the 33 sword fey continued to fly forward with indomitable momentum!
The sword formation actually dispersed from the middle. This enabled each and every blade to completely avoid contact with the Saint Piercer arm and continue forward until they struck the spatial barrier and almost immediately slip through!
Once the resonance-empowered sword fey reached the other side, they quickly reformed their original triangular formation before plunging straight against the nunser phase lord’s raiment!
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