5531 First Time Trial

Though the Fey Fianna had yet to demonstrate its comprehensive performance in an exhibition match, a lot of people already became convinced that it was a remarkable machine.

How could they not? Many aspects had been carefully designed and improved by the Larkinsons. Its offensive, defensive, mobility and utility characteristics all scored high based on the configuration of the drone mech.

Not all of its specifications were good in an absolute sense, but considering what Ves and his fellow mech designers had to work with, they squeezed out a lot of value from the relatively affordable materials used to construct the machines.

That was what mattered the most!

The Fey Fianna as presented so far could already crush the likes of the Sparrow Storm Mark XII and other comparable drone mech models in terms of effective performance.

Few people were able to dispute this statement. The various functions and features revealed so far combined into a comprehensive package that was so innovative that it may be the most advanced second-class drone mech up for sale at this time.

That said, there were enough clever people among the viewers who understood that this was partially the case because the other mech companies had yet to publish a 'proper' hyper mech design.

Many people understood the product strategy chosen by companies such as SKL Mech Industries. The first hyper mechs they released at the start of the Hyper Generation did not represent their full design strength.

Once the scientific community of the Red Ocean studied hyper technology a lot more extensively, they would definitely be able to come up with much more powerful hyper mechs!

Yet... as Ves continued to present the various mech systems that he put great care and attention in the design phase, it became harder for the mech insiders to believe that follow-up hyper mechs such as the hypothetical Sparrow Storm Mark XIII could actually beat the Fey Fianna in a straight matchup.

Maybe it is because of the identity of the lead designer or how he made his work sound so attractive, but many mech buyers who possessed the slightest interest in drone mechs did not want to bother with old staples such as the Sparrow Storm line anymore.

All of this new technology sounded much more exciting!

The concept of living mechs, glows, design spirits, dominant spirits and superior spirits all sounded rather strange and confusing, but their benefits were concrete enough to make them worthwhile.

Even the mech buyers who ordinarily never bothered with drone mechs due to their well-established shortcomings reconsidered their decision.

These interested buyers were the exact sort of people that the LMC wanted to target with the Fey Fianna!

However, in order to rope in these tempted individuals, Ves needed to do more to reduce their reluctance in trying out a new mech model.

This was why Ves finally addressed the piloting experience of the Fey Fianna.

Lucky flew back to his shoulder and began to flop onto it as if he was a sausage.

"Meow."

Ves completely ignored his cat as he gestured towards the 9 Fey Fiannas standing on the floor of the enormous Phoca Arena.

"What I am about to tell you is not based on my own experiences. I am not a mech pilot, so I do not have the pleasure of being able to pilot my own work. However, I am well-versed in how my design choices impact the piloting experience of my mechs. I have also collected an extensive amount of feedback to guide my judgment and optimize my implementations. From the moment I designed my first drone mech, I set out to make use of the strengths of my living mechs to reduce the difficulty of piloting my work."

He smiled while sweeping his gaze across the expansive mech arena.

"Now, I know what you are thinking. Drone mechs cannot be piloted by the meek. It often requires higher genetic aptitudes and specialized training in order to manage so many moving parts in an effective manner. The truly dedicated drone mech pilots do not hesitate to install specialized implants in their heads that enable them to multitask to such an extent that they can control up to 64 spurs at a time. None of this makes drone mechs easy to get started with. Just the excessive mental load of manually controlling multiple spurs is enough to create headaches."

Not many mech pilots ever tried to find out what it was like to pilot a drone mech, even if it was just a virtual one in a simulation program.

It was worse when they did so when they were still studying in the mech academy. At that time, they still struggled to control ordinary mech types with enough proficiency and control to make them do exactly what they wanted.

How could they ever expect to achieve any combat effectiveness with a more demanding drone mech if that was the case?!

Once the mech cadets advanced their studies and decided on their specializations, they usually graduated with a firm selection of acceptable mech types in mind.

It was not common for graduated mech pilots to completely change the mech types they were willing to pilot.

This meant that few of them ever glanced in the direction of drone mechs. Perhaps they had already become good enough to be able to pilot these machines, but their infamous difficulty and long training programs intimidated a lot of pilots.

All of this scared away many mech pilots from trying out drone mechs.

Ves intended to change this dreary reality.

If there was no demand for drone mechs, then he would create it himself!

If many mech pilots became intimidated by the high requirements just to become qualified to pilot a drone mech, then Ves would do everything possible to lower them to reasonable levels!

"Compared to the demands imposed by other drone mechs, the difficulty of piloting my Fey Fiannas is much lower." Ves confidently claimed. "If you don't believe us, then let us show you. Do you recall Commander Ikeon Powell of the Skinny Rattlers? I have invited him back to the stage so that he can try out what it is like to pilot one of my machines."

A new light shone at one end of the oval-shaped arena. The mercenary commander floated in front of the open cockpit of a prepared Standard Fey Fianna.

Four different fey were mounted onto the harness that kept them attached to the back of the main body. That added to the difficulty of piloting the drone mech as each individual fey needed to be handled in a completely separate manner!

Ves flew over until he stopped a short distance away from the invited guest who had already changed into a piloting suit.

"Hello again, commander. I am sure that many people will doubt what you are about to say, but please answer this question. Have you ever piloted the Fey Fianna or any other drone mech for that matter before?"

"No. I can stake my honor on that." The man replied with such firmness that it did not seem he was lying. "I have never piloted any drone mechs in reality or in a simulator program in my life. I grew up in a state and attended a mech academy where such machines are completely absent. I doubt they get sold at all. After I entered the Red Ocean, I never saw any need to add any drone mechs to our mech rosters. Everyone in our community knows that you need to invest heavily to integrate mechs such as the Sparrow Storm in an existing outfit. The investment never made sense in my eyes."

"Understandable." Ves nodded. "What do you know of our Fey Fianna? How well do you expect to pilot it in the first few minutes after activation?"

"I have read the manual that you provided to me two days ago. There are many warnings and precautions, but it wasn't as demanding and convoluted as I feared. I have a basic theoretical understanding on how to use its functions and how to best pilot it on a fundamental level. I cannot say more about this as I have yet to pilot it in any way."

"Did you hear that, people? He is a true newcomer when it comes to piloting drone mechs. Let us see how he fares in the cockpit."

The mech commander entered the cockpit and soon turned the mech online.

The Fey Project did not flail or show any uncontrolled moves. As an experienced mech pilot, Ikeon Powell patiently explored the controls and slowly began to make basic movements with its limbs.

There was nothing remarkable about the Fey Fianna when it moved like any other ordinary humanoid mech. Powell mastered the basic controls quickly enough for that reason.

"Okay Commander Powell, are you ready to activate and deploy your 4 fey?"

"I am. Please be careful. I may not be able to control the fey."

Ves floated away but did not leave entirely. He proved with his actions that he had full confidence in his work's ease of use.

Additional noises emerged as the four fey detached themselves from the main body's rear.

Surprisingly enough, the fey moved so smoothly and in sync that it appeared that Commander Powell did not lose control over them, which was a common phenomenon when piloting drone mechs for the first time.

The problem was so bad that most drone mechs had to be configured so that their spurs entered into safe mode. That meant that they could not fire any weapons no matter what and automatically halted their movements if they were on a collision course with anything else.

None of that seemed necessary in this case. The four fey did not make any fast or dazzling movements, but as Commander Powell experimented with them more, he showed that he was able to make them move as he commanded!

There were only two possible explanations for this outcome.

The first one was that the mercenary commander lied and desecrated his honor by hiding the fact that he had practiced with drone mechs in the past.

The second one was that Commander Powell was truly new to the Fey Fianna, but that it was so easy to get started with that he already got the hang of coordinating the four fey at once!

How could a mercenary commander who became the retainer of a warlord and the newly appointed governor of a planet lack honor?

This was an impossible contradiction in many people's eyes!

This was why more and more of them genuinely believed that this was a truthful display of piloting control.

"You can do more than stand still while you focus on manipulating your fey. Come on, commander. Try and maneuver around as if you are on an actual battlefield. You can even try and activate the weapons and the other functions of the fey while you are at it. Go test your limits."

With the encouragement from Ves, the trial pilot gradually began to perform multiple functions at once.

Projections of enemy mechs flared to life. Each of them started to simulate attacks onto the Fey Fianna.

The mech commander focused first and foremost on evasion, as he had been trained to do whenever he was in control of a maneuverable machine.

The simulated hits automatically caused the adaptive modular armor system to replace the 'damaged' armor plating and fill up the gaps.

Yet that was not enough to keep it safe.

The energy shield fey flew in front and activated a water hyper energy shield that produced a strange vortex illusion. It effectively blocked the incoming attacks without any fuss or excessive burden to the mech pilot.

The real test came when the Fey Fianna had to fight back. It did not utilize its luminar crystal rifle, but instead pushed forth its two offensive fey and commanded them to fire at the same time!

The projected mechs were not easy to hit. Just like the Fey Fianna, the imaginary enemy units flew around in order to make themselves as difficult to target as possible.

Though the gauss cannon fey and the luminar crystal fey did not hit their targets, they continued to fire as fast as they could while constantly attempting to track the moving adversaries.

Though their accuracy and deviations were clearly poor at the start, Commander Powell managed to to deliver an increasingly better performance after a few minutes had passed.

Soon enough, the luminar crystal fey finally managed to strike one of the evading enemy mechs!

"Good job! Now that you have managed to succeed once, it shouldn't be too difficult to replicate this feat."