[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 121: Vibrant

He also installed a pair of cloud generators in the legs. Just like the shield, the generators only activated when the mech was about to perform a burst dash. He dyed the smoke in red this time in order to give his mech an impressive streak from behind.

After finishing the aesthetics of his design, Ves finally put down all of his work. "It's time to face the piper. Go ahead, System. Hit me with your report."

[Design Evaluation: Young Blood.]

Variant name: HPL-100S Young Blood

Base model: Hoplite HPL-100P

Original Manufacturer: Lindholm Armament Company

Weight Classification: Medium-Heavy

Recommended Role: Knight

Armor: A

Carrying Capacity: C-

Aesthetics: B

Endurance: A-

Energy Efficiency: B-

Flexibility: C+

Firepower: D

Integrity: B

Mobility: D-

Spotting: E

X-Factor: C

Deviance: 70%

Performance improvement: 23%

Cost efficiency: +7%

Overall evaluation: The Young Blood is an affordable variant that retains much of its durability while benefiting from increased flexibility. A comprehensive rework of all of its systems has raised many of its parameters. A largely coherent thread of X-Factor suffuses the entire design. This is all the more impressive when the inspiration to the X-Factor consists of a single mech designer's idle fantasy.

[You have received 100 Design Points for completing an original design with a performance improvement of over 10%.]

[You have received 500 Design Points for designing a mech with a moderate presence of X-Factor.]

"Yes!" Ves rose from his chair. "I succeeded! My X-Factor has reached a score of C!"

Though it fell short of the C+ that Ves had reached with the Marc Antony and the Unicorn, those mechs came about in very special circumstances. It wasn't easy for Ves to feel all fired up. He was content with finding the way to reach the range of Cs when working on routine designs.

The relatively high score also validated his assumption that the X-Factor was not limited to physical constraints. At least, up to this point. Ves still consciously limited his imagination to myths that were larger than men, but less than gods.

"I don't want to find out what will happen if I take the old Christian God as my inspiration. I really don't want to open that particular can of worms."

Ves also achieved a twenty percent performance improvement without making use of expensive gadgets. He only brought in a ready-made sword to replace the spear. This was an incredible milestone, and one that Ves expected to surpass in the future.

The 600 DP reward came at a very nice time. The three weeks of slogging and maintaining his focus handsomely paid off. Ves only lamented that he was only a couple of DP short of reaching 2000 DP.

"Come on System, don't be such a tease. I deserve a treat!"

[Two-thirds of your design's improvements is attributed to updating an outdated mech with modern techniques. The performance increase that can be traced to your own original solutions is significantly smaller. Remember, you must study hard, but the only way to reach the pinnacle is to walk your own road.]