2 Local days later, Jay exited the gaming shop with a big smile, he didn’t get any more quests to do but he got some practice building more mech. He builds a light variant of the [weird arm] with the comment of Snaky who became his fan. He plays every mech that Jay releases and streams it online. Jay has to admit that the guy often comes up with fun ideas to keep his viewers entertained. Maybe at the cost of his rank but, that’s just his audience. If they want a high-octane mech fight they would watch someone from a higher rank.
Ding
It’s a call from Josh. After that incident, the guy seems to be very quiet. This time, however, it called directly from the Farland company.
“Ready to send another assassin after me?”
“What are you talking about?” Josh said with a neutral tone “I’m just here to inform you that I got a pilot partner that’s willing to take you.”
“!?”
The period to apply for the competition is almost over and Jay didn’t expect Josh to give him a partner. Keeping him from the competition would have been a better move if Jay were in Josh's position. So this took him by surprise.
“Who’s it?”
“I’ve sent the details, don’t bother me anymore.”
Josh ended the calls before Jay could ask anything more. He felt a bit annoyed but there was nothing he could do other than open his mail to see who he had partnered with.
[Sally kert]
[C-class]
[Age 18]
[20th-floor private school]
An image of a blond girl on the left and her info on the right. Her appearance is that of a typical girl in Continus II. Blonde hair, and green eyes, the only thing that would set her apart is her hairstyle that shows much of her forehead. Usually, girls here like to have bangs cover it.
Have I seen her before?
Jay has a feeling that he has seen this girl before but he can’t remember where. All that aside her qualifications are as low as his. Jay didn’t want much but could they at least get someone that could pilot a mech? He could see this end in disaster. A Mech pilot license is usually granted in a university where they train to be a mech pilot. Some rich kid could pay for an early one but Jay doubts this C-class girl could be wealthy. That means she’s a new student or an illegal license holder.
Let talk be before I decide
“Hello, Sally right?” Jay said
“Um.. yeah I’m Sally Kert. Who’s talking” The voice seems a bit meek.
“I’m Jay Rolona, a mech designer that you would be partnering with for Scrapping Forge.”
“Are you sure? I don’t have much experience in mech…”
“Don’t worry I didn’t plan on winning either, We’ll just get the experience and have fun, How’s that?” Jay truly veiled that he couldn’t win. The competition is between Mech apprentices or lower and from what he read online mech apprentices could have up to 3 Specializations. Jay is nowhere near that, and he didn’t even know how to rank up to mech apprentice.
“N..No!” The girl quickly said “I think we could win”
“Sure” Jay's voice filled with sarcasm, “said the girl with not much experience in a mech”
“Hey! If you don’t believe we could win then we already lost!” Jay hadn’t seen her but he could feel her chest puff up. “And you aren’t the best either, dropout senior!”
“Shut up, high school junior, at least I could sell my design on the iron body”
“Really?” She highly doubts his claim “Show me your ID, I’ll go to a game center. Might as well meet in-game right? I doubt you have something planned when you’re unemployed”
“You’re unemployed too”
“I’m employed by my school” She retorts
“Then I'm Employed by Farland Museum” The conversation quickly turned into a direction he did not expect. Sure’ he started the firey remarks but he didn’t expect her to bite back this hard. For some reason, the atmosphere felt lighter with this.
They chat a bit then Jay turns back to the game center and pays for another 11 hours. After getting that 100k his sense of money has been somewhat relaxed. When he only got 10k he had to plan a bit if he wanted to stay C-rank. Zaud was worth the trouble.
Not like I had much choice
Jay loads into his warehouse and waits around for Sally to show up. Not long after her Avatar materialized and it shocked him quite a bit. From her profile, she should be around 167 cm but her avatar is about 180+
“Didn’t like your real height, shorty?”
“It’s just easier to fit in mech with this body type.” Sally curtly said while she looked around to find an empty warehouse “Where’s your mech?”
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Jay put his hand out and summoned a control panel. He taps on a few things and his first version of [weird arm] emerges from below the warehouse. He already fixed the back camera the last time he came here.
“A short-range mech with a gimmick?” She didn’t hide her disappointment after checking its stats, she walked over and touched the mech leg. Its green metal shins against the warehouse's white light. “I didn’t think it would be this bad”
“Contrary to what it looks it sold 37 times and it has a win rate of 51% below silver,” Jay said being up the stats “But I have to admit that it’s not the best”
“Wow” She clearly didn’t expect that “They have low standards these days”
“Then yours must be low as well,” Jay said “Wait.. Do you have a license?”
She has a big broad smile on her face and puffs up her chest.
“You’re lucky that this junior of yours is a genius!” She said pointing at herself “I just got my license from an elite program that is only available for the best in my school!”
Jay has heard about this before, A program that tests a young pilot for their aptitude and gives them an advanced license. It didn't have much privilege but he couldn’t deny that it was special. They also have a program from mech designer which Jay failed to qualify for.
“That's impressive” Jay blurt out his thought
“W..What..” Sally almost has a stroke after hearing Jay“I mean, of course! I’m a genius after all!”
“Sure, now, get in the mech, Sally. We don’t have all day”
The competition is running near so he has to get familiar with Sally and her preference. They also have to figure out a mech with a high synchronization rate for her.
“um… you might be wondering why I’m not chosen if I’m such a genius… There’s a little problem with my specialization…”
“You got one?”
From what he read, a specialization exists for both mech pilot and mech designer. That’s why synchronization is a must, to build a good mech. It connects the person to the mech and the mech could make use of the pilot specialization. However, having one before becoming an apprentice pilot or mech designer is pretty rare.
“Yeah, I got one called Singer specialization… the expert said that it lets me sing well…”
“....” Jay felt like he got stopped by a piece of branch when running. Pilot specialization often goes along the line of mech empowerment, or boosting mech performance by 2% rarely does someone get a specialization that affects their everyday life. In some rare cases, one could even generate fire from their hands. Those often come with a downside but it is very cool.
Sally has lucked out to get a specialization that could be carried to her everyday life but what could he do with that?
“Could you make it so that your sound vibrates and breaks your opponent's mech?”
“I wish it was that cool, I’m just good at singing.” She hums a song after she talks and it seems pretty good but still useless in a fight. Jay places his hand on his head to contemplate.
“Maybe you should change your career…”
“No!” She yelled “I don’t want to be a living doll for people to admire”
“I don’t think…”
“No” She is concrete in her statement, Jay didn’t feel like pursuing this further so he dropped the topic.
“There’s no problem with piloting a mech normally right?”
“Yeah.. but we would be at a disadvantage when fighting other people with empowering Specialization. Also, I like a medium-range mech, getting close isn't my forte”
“Noted… I’ll make something for you to try. In the meantime, you could take the [weird arm] for a ride to see my mech.”
“Sure”
Sally hopped into the pilot seat and left the warehouse. Jay signs and turns his attention back to himself. He never built a medium mech before and he hasn't seen much. A medium mech is as the name suggests effective at medium range. Their main weapons consist of all kinds of guns, assault rifles, laser guns, Bazooka, and much more. He wasn't familiar with it.
Most of the time he spends watching mech boxing. He has his past self to beat for this blunder. No worries, he just needs to learn how to build it. He open the system hoping to get something new
“System”
Shop
[ mech recycler I] [100P] [22 Brain capacity]
[ Mech UI designer II] [120P] [30 Brain capacity]
[ Trash King specialization F] [80P] [12 Brain capacity]
[Mech Artist specialization F][120P][24 Brain capacity]
[Sword master specialization F][120P][22 Brain capacity]
[Laser sword I][55P][12 Brain capacity]
Two new things got added.
[Sword master specialization F]
-The Swordmaster specialization is the epitome of mastery in melee combat, transforming the mech into a lethal duelist on the battlefield. This skill revolves around the finesse and precision of swordplay, allowing the mech designer to design a mech that could unleash a symphony of strikes with unparalleled grace and deadly intent.
[Laser sword I]
Basic understanding of Laser word, how it works, and how to utilize it.
Jay was interested in [Sword Master specialization] but with no slot left for specialization, he has no choice but to look elsewhere. [Laser sword I] is a simple knowledge skill like the other one. It could be useful however it’s not what Jay wants right now.
He also checked the upgrade shop but nothing changed there. So he closes the system down and pulls his attention to this medium-range mech. He decides to follow the steps of the Iron body mech.
The light long range mech [Iron body wasp MK3]. A quick mech with a long-range laser sniper, designed to annoy opponents. A true wasp build. Its design is as angular as the other iron body series but this mech has considerably lighter armor and a reverse joint. Pair together with a Laser sniper that is almost as big as the whole mech.
He studied the craft and decided to start with this premise and go from there. Like when he built the [Weird arm] but with more purpose this time. He would like to find a way to incorporate her specialization somehow…. Which is pretty hard.
Off his head, he can’t think of a useful way to make singing better in a mech. However, the Galaxy is vast, he is sure that he could find that information somewhere. A quick search reveals something useful. A singing voice could be used to mimic an attack.
The power of singing could be utilized if the attack is in the form of a song. A rhythmic missile launch or a symphony of a machine gun. Then the singer mimics the sound over the speaker to fool the opponent's senses. Some operating systems include sound senor when predicting an incoming attack and the singer could use that to their advantage.
This is pretty solid
However, the singer has to learn the rhythmic sound of their attack, and not every mech is built the same. Moreover, the musician pilot is quite rare and most of them don’t share anything useful.
Jay still has to build the thing himself
It couldn’t be that hard right?