The Mech Touch (Web Novel)-Chapter 6852 Third Test of the Minerva Mark II

After two days of testing, Casella gained a lot of familiarity in her new ace mech.

She did not obtain a good grasp on what the Minerva Mark II did best, which was commanding and empowering friendly troops.

The Larkinsons along with a few friends could only test this capability on the third day.

Many people looked forward to this test. After examining the basic capabilities of the Minerva, the ace command mech would finally be allowed to flex her power in the way she was designed to operate.

The tests had to take place in space in order to spare the planet of collateral damage.

The design team, Casella and the Minerva all teleported into the Tarrasque before the Bluejay Fleet moved to an asteroid belt that offered plenty of harmless practice targets.

The Devos Ancient Clan had already dispatched a small patrol force at the testing site.

The Devosans had volunteered several hundred of their fine first-class multipurpose mechs.

Compared to the Terran mechs assigned to the Bluejay Fleet, their Terran counterparts were slightly inferior in tech, but possessed a few other advantages.

One of the most notable traits of the Terran mechs was the fact that dozens of them wielded Destroyer weapons.

Ves initially grew quite impressed, but he soon realized that the standard mechs all wielded tier 7 Destroyer weapons.

These were still respectable weapons that could cut through armor more effectively than nearly all other weapons.

Even so, the concentration of Destroyer particles was too low to arouse much interest from Ves.

He had already read the textbooks on Destroyer technology that the Devosans had exchanged with him. He learned that there was very little challenge in producing low to mid-tier Destroyer weapons.

The real challenge started when attempting to create tier 3, tier 2 and especially tier 1 Destroyer weapons!

Their rarity rose dramatically with every jump, and so did their effective power.

As the Bluejay Fleet slowly met up with the Devosan force, a single Terran ace mech decided to make its presence known.

Many people held their breaths as they witnessed the emergence of one of the most powerful ace mechs in the New Constantinople System.

"The Wind of Destruction." A few people uttered.

Saint Alessandro Devos lived for over 2 centuries, and protected the Devos Ancient Clan for much of that time.

His Black Lord was a rather understated first-class ace multipurpose mech.

However, its rather plain black-coated appearance hid a lot of surprises.

Secrecy was one of the Black Lord's defining gimmicks.

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The ace mech contained a few known integrated weapon modules, but nobody knew what it was fully capable of. The Devosans liked to hype up its mystery and even swapped in exotic and alien weapon modules from time to time.

This made the Black Lord almost impossible to counter. Those who collected a lot of intelligence with regards to its weapon loadout would soon discover that it had been partially rendered obsolete due to configuration changes.

However, the exotic tech that the Devosans liked to put inside the Black Lord was not the reason why the ace pilot earned his moniker.

The real reason why Saint Alessandro Devos became known as the Wind of Destruction was due to wielding an iconic tier 2 Destroyer sword!

At this tier, the Destroyer weapon was not only fully customized for use by the senior ace pilot, but also earned its own name.

The Sirocco stood out from many other Destroyer swords for its wavy blade. This somehow caused the highly concentrated Destroyer particles to become more prone to releasing destructive energy emissions.

That happened to make the weapon even more dangerous to wield than other tier 2 Destroyer swords!

However, the Wind of Destruction had tempered his willpower by wielding Destroyer weapons of progressively higher tiers for much of his career.

He had honed his willpower to subdue and maintain control over Destroyer weapons so well that not even the Sirocco could escape his grasp!

This allowed the Devosan ace pilot to leverage the advantages of the Sirocco while minimizing its weaknesses.

The Wind of Destruction earned his name by releasing devastating waves of resonance-empowered destruction energy with every slash of his wavy sword!

The Sirocco was so good at enabling these kinds of attacks that it could be used to release huge waves that could destroy a lot of weaker targets at once, or highly concentrated energy razors that possessed amazing penetration power.

The Tier 2 Destroyer weapon made the Wind of Destruction almost invincible at close range while also retaining much of his lethality at mid range.

Its integrated armaments were decently capable of damaging enemies from afar, but they were much better suited to assist in taking down tough opponents between sword moves.

The Tarrasque received an incoming transmission.

"Greetings, Saint Commander. Let us test your new machine and learn precisely why you will be feared by our enemies."

Well, the Wind of Destruction certainly sounded eager.

"Deploy every mech." Ves instructed. "Keep the RA mechs and Terran mechs in separate formations. We will not conduct any mock battles right away. We first want to test the parameters of the Minerva Mark II's Command Field without the interference of combat. This may take a while."

Many mechs launched into space. Each of the first-class multipurpose mechs possessed enough damage potential to tear the Minerva Mark II apart through sheer numbers.

Yet if they tried to do the same to the Black Lord, they would all get wiped out within seconds of moving into range!

This was the difference between a junior ace command mech and a senior ace multipurpose mech!

As the Minerva Mark II finally launched into space, Ves gained a better sense of the gap in power between the two machines.

This was good news to Ves. So long as the Devos Ancient Clan did not turn hostile towards the Larkinson Clan, Ves had nothing to fear from the current disparity.

A powerful ace mech could also withstand a lot more attacks without ever coming under serious threat.

Ves needed that the most today.

Once all of the mechs from both forces entered into space and assumed their formations, they all waited for the first test of the day to begin.

Ves transmitted his commands.

"RA mech pilots, please consider yourself to be on the same side as our Saint Commander. Terran mech pilots, pretend you are hostile against the Minerva Mark II and the rest of her comrades. The Command Field will attempt to intrude on you in different ways."

The pilots had already been briefed, but it was still important to give them extra reminders.

The Saint Commander briefly paused before trying to engage a large number of mechs and mech pilots with her Command Field.

She first focused on Commandeering a large portion of the 'friendly' RA mechs. Their mech pilots easily acquiesced to her control.

"How is it, Casella?"

"It is considerably easier for me to Commandeer non-living mechs so long as their mech pilots are cooperating." The Saint Commander reported back. "The Terran mechs that are designated as hostiles are not that much affected by my Command Field. Their resistance stops me from exerting direct influence on their minds."

"Can you override their resistance at your current level?"

"No. Absolutely not. Eleiha may be able to do this on an individual basis, but do not expect me to subdue entire fleets with my Command Field alone." Casella responded.

"Can you still collect intelligence on their mechs and pilots?"

"Yes, but I cannot collect too many fine details of their interior." The ace commander responded. "I cannot even penetrate the Saint Kingdom of the Black Lord. His willpower… is far too strong."

Ves nodded in understanding. "That is to be expected. Let us proceed with basic offensive and defensive tests. Please proceed with launching attacks at the nearby asteroids."

The RA first-class multipurpose mechs began to open fire at the asteroids with their eclectic collection of ranged weapons.

Gloriana's eyes immediately lit up as she studied the sensor readings.

"The damage inflicted by Commandeered mechs is considerably greater than before! The degree of true resonance affecting the Knights is considerably stronger, which is a great improvement over what the Mark I was able to accomplish."

"Are the Knights able to inflict damage comparable to low-tier expert mechs?"

"Ah, no. They are away from reaching that threshold. For now, the Knights still remain weaker than proper expert mechs, but their massive numbers more than made up for it, I believe."

Casella had already proven her capability to empower over 10,000 mechs at a time!

Whether all of these empowered mechs could still pose a threat against greater phase lords remained to be seen.

In any case, the damage inflicted by the Knights was impressive, but this was the Saint Commander's bread and butter.

"Casella, please employ your Enfeoffment ability to as many RA mechs as you can." Ves requested.

The Minerva immediately made the switch.

Dozens of mech pilots gasped as they suddenly became subjected to a much greater external infusion of power!

"How many?!"

"57 mechs, which is an increase of almost 50 percent!"

"How strong?"

The newly Enfeoffed mechs wasted no time and began to open fire at the asteroids.

Their attacks hit much harder and blasted apart the asteroids with much greater ease!

The display of power was intoxicating. Compared to past results, Ves could already tell without performing any calculations that Casella's Enfeoffment ability had become fully unlocked with the help of the ace mech.

The resonance meters provided hard proof that all of those machines genuinely wielded greater power.

"These aren't Barons." Ves concluded. "Not at this level of power. There are enough data points to prove that these Enfeoffed mechs have reached the limitations of the previously theoretical standard of Viscounts."

These Viscounts might not amount to much, but they all happened to wield the power of mid-tier expert mechs!

This was a considerable step in the right direction. It opened up the future for the emergence of Counts and so on that wielded even more power.

"Viscounts, please switch your targets to the Black Lord."

The mech pilots did not question their instructions. The Saint Commander definitely planned this well.

57 Viscounts and hundreds more Knights opened fire without any hesitation.

The Black Lord's Saint Kingdom accepted every incoming attack, sapped much of their strength before allowing him to maintain the illusion of defying death.

It was impressive to see how the senior ace pilot was able to deal with massed attacks so easily.

Ves felt a little disappointed that the latest upgrades did not make the Viscounts powerful enough to pose a serious threat against senior ace mechs.

He was not sure whether the Viscounts could seriously threaten greater phase lords.

Perhaps it might still be possible with a little help.

"Casella, please try to Commandeer the starships of the Bluejay Fleet. Focus on the smaller hulls first."

Her Command Field fully encompassed all of the starships in the vicinity.

Now, Casella pressed her powerful will into the minds of the spacers of a destroyer.

The Saint Commander found to her delight that she was able to empower the warship, but only slightly!

"When the destroyer opened fire at a bunch of asteroids, our sensors recorded anomalies."

"How much stronger?"

"Roughly 10 percent. Do not fret, Ves. It will surely increase over time."

Ves grew disappointed. A 10 percent boost in power was nothing to scoff at, but it was not a dramatic increase.

The Larkinsons needed more power than that to confront its enemies in the short term.

Outside of ace mechs such as the Dark Zephyr Mark III or the Amaranto Mark III, warships should still remain the source of much of the firepower of the Premier Fleet and Bluejay Fleet.

"Can you improve upon your current application of your Command Field onto warships?" Ves asked.

"Possibly." Casella replied. "I need time to devise more specialized techniques. This will take time."

"That is good enough."