[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 52: Test Pilot II

Then he noted the designer incorporated his practically trademark Cloud Festive Generator right next to the ejector. "Ah, so that's why."

Joshua had a lot of fun playing around with the Cloud Generator. It made him the envy of his friends whenever they teamed up. Though it served no practical purpose and often attracted the enemy to him, he liked to arrive on the battlefield in a bombastic fashion. He loved using it to play games with his opponent's minds.

The mech was different from anything he played before, so he considered whether it was useful to purchase this mech. As his first 2-star mech, he wanted to pilot something familiar so he could leverage his best skills immediately. If he picked the wrong mech to start his career in the Silver League, he might lose too many matches, causing his hard-earned rank to demote. That would be a disaster.

"It's from Chasing Clouds. I don't think he'd release something crappy."

He trusted the designer. He sometimes felt there was a connection between them, an intimacy many pilots had for their favorite designers. Sometimes they became so enthusiastic they resembled fanboys and fangirls. Joshua liked to think he wasn't so blind, so he took the time to scour over the specs and look over the simulations of the variant before making his purchase.

"Ah what the heck, who am I kidding. I'm totally going to buy this mech anyway."

Though the hefty credit price was a step up from the dirt-cheap 1-star mechs, Joshua never paid attention to even eye-popping prices. With a quick credit transfer, Joshua now owned the first handmade Mist Prowler.

As Joshua returned to his private area and entered the mech stables, he could feel the presence of the Mist Prowler. It demanded attention even as it wanted to stay unnoticed. The dichotomy easily caused confusion, but Joshua only felt more intimate towards his new mech. He understood the designer's philosophy, having mastered the Seraphim. No matter how much the designer tried to make a subtle mech, he just couldn't resist showing off. Why else did he include cloud generators and bright colors?

After a brief time of familiarizing himself with the new mech's controls, he threw himself into matchmaking. As he wanted to put his mech to its paces, he chose to enter the gigantic Wartorn Instances mode. Even the smallest 50v50 map possessed plenty of space for him to work his magic without bumping into too many people.

The game finished matching enough players together, causing them all to enter their team's lobby. Joshua took a look around. This was his first match in Silver and he knew that he wasn't playing with people from Cloudy Curtain anymore. Once a player graduated from Bronze, the entire galaxy opened up to them allowing them to play with people tens of thousands of light-years away.

A big and bulky spider mech stood in the center of the room. The small crown hovering over its head demanded everyone's attention.

"Alright guys, I'm NotchedHalberd, and I'll be your captain for this match." A young man's voice spoke out from the team channel. "As we're all playing in the Silver League, I won't bore you with complicated plans. I know only 10% of you will even listen to me. Instead, I just want you to keep one thing in mind: don't all rush forward when the hatch opens up. We artillery mechs need some help fending off the enemy scouts."

Whether much of their team followed this advice, Joshua wasn't hopeful. In fact, he planned to ditch his teammates and find an empty zone to hunt for prey. He could only really stretch his new mech's capabilities by fighting without distractions.

The map eventually loaded and caused the bay doors to open. The map revealed itself to be a hot desert canyon like map. Groans issued out from most of the mech pilots, especially those that relied heavily on energy weapons.