The Mech Touch

"A way to banish my enemies by sending them into a different dimension? Isn't that what FTL drives are supposed to do? How can you weaponize something like that?" Saint Tusa skeptically asked.

"With strong enough willpower and a resonating alloy that possesses strong spatial characteristics." Master Benedict grinned. "Let me introduce you to one of the Resonance Smith's more recent products. Erlemin is one of the few known ace mech-grade resonating alloys that has integrated phasewater. This enables the alloy to effectively displace any material object to another dimension upon physical contact."

The projection in front of the Master Mech Designer changed to play a few pieces of footage of Erlemin in action.

In one instance, a first-class ace mech holding a hammer struck a thick and extremely solid block of metal. The mech-sized object disappeared in an instant, making it seem as if it was literally erased from reality!

Saint Tusa never imagined that an ace mech was capable of producing such a feat.

"Is this banishment permanent?"

"No." Master Benedict said. "Objects that belong in the material dimension will try their best to get back. This happens to starships as well when their FTL drives suddenly malfunction. There are many reasons why this happens, but the explanation is too technical for you to understand. Just know that the more massive the object, the shorter their stay in another dimension. The ace mech responsible for banishing the object can extend the period by investing much more true resonance when executing this resonating ability, but it can become extremely draining. If the target actively resists the banishment, then the duration will shorten even further."

The footage showed examples where this occurred.

When the hammer-wielding ace mech banished an opposing ace mech, the latter only stayed absent for a few seconds.

The reason why it lasted so short was because the powerful enemy ace pilot leveraged his Saint Kingdom to forcibly drag his machine back to the material realm!

Tusa grew a little disappointed when he saw this. A trick like this was unlikely to work too well against other high-ranking mech pilots.

"How well does Erlemin perform against larger targets such as alien warships? Is it powerful enough to banish capital ships… and phase lords?"

Much of the opposition that red humanity fought these days reached stupendous sizes. The native aliens had a huge amount of warships in reserve. Plenty of them boasted a length that was longer than a kilometer. This was the arbitrary standard that humans used to categorize capital ships.

Then there were the phase whales and phase lords. These powerful beings with phasewater running through their veins could reach ridiculous proportions. The most powerful among them had grown so big that they surpassed the size of many moons!

When Tusa thought about whether his Dark Zephyr would be capable of banishing these biological titans in another dimension, he did not harbor much confidence!

While an ace pilot was expected to break through all obstacles and turn the impossible into a reality, the cold hard truth was that there were still limits!

The projection played a few other clips.

In one instance, the ace mech fought its way through the transphasic energy shields of an enemy warship and managed to strike the hull with a weapon integrated with Erlemin.

What surprised Tusa was that the ship indeed managed to get banished to another dimension!

The next clip showed the same mech confronting a battleship that was over 4 kilometers long. This was a true beast that was both modern and equipped with lots of powerful systems.

"This is only a sub-capital ship." The ace pilot said. "My Dark Zephyr can easily destroy a smaller alien warship like this without resorting to any fancy measures. Erlemin is only truly useful if it can help me banish larger targets. Is it possible to do the same to a real battleship?"

"The mechers have tried. You can see the results yourself."

The next clip showed the same mech confronting a battleship that was over 4 kilometers long. This was a true beast that was both modern and equipped with lots of powerful systems.

Such a vessel posed a true challenge to humans.

One of the details that cause Saint Tusa to frown was the fact that Erlmenin did nothing special against transphasic energy shields.

The ace mech was unable to banish the large alien battleship as quickly as it wished because it had to break past the segmented multi-layered transphasic energy shields first!

Fortunately, the ace mech received support from over a hundred first-class multipurpose mechs.

Their combined firepower allowed the ace mech get past the annoying defensive layers and strike the side of the battleship's hull with an Erlemin hammer that was glowing with true resonance!

This time, it was as if a miniature black hole appeared for a brief instant of time.

The entire side of the battleship went missing!

It was as if an invisible predator chomped a perfect sphere of ship matter from the massive hull!

"The efficacy of every resonating material scales with true resonance, domain expression and other factors." Master Benedict reminded Tusa. "The same resonating material can produce a weak effect when used by a weaker pilot, but can also produce a much more exaggerated effect if the pilot is stronger. The pilot of the ace mech in the projection does not possess the resonance strength to banish the entire ship, so he can only make due with partial banishment."

Half a minute later, the missing chunk of battleship hull returned to the material realm, but by then it was already too late for the vessel!

The constant motion of objects in space meant that the missing hull section appeared much further behind on the battlefield from the rest of the alien ship. There was no possible way to merge them back together in the middle of an ongoing battle!

Tusa's eyes lit up. "Wait. I do not need to use Erlemin to banish an entire warship. It is much more useful if I use it as a weapon and bite off large chunks from the hull!"

"That was the intention of the ace pilot in the projection." Benedict said with a smile. "However, Erlemin will not let you employ this tactic too easily. It takes a large amount of energy to separate so much matter from a larger object. The denser and tougher the material, the harder it is for Erlemin to cut through. The larger the volume, the more energy is needed to fuel this operation."

"Hmm, that can be costly."

"This is why Erlemin is better reserved for senior ace pilots. Their resonance strengths have grown extensively enough to employ this tactic on large targets several times during a battle without falling into exhaustion."

"I see. If I get this straight, Erlemin has three clear downsides. First, it doesn't do anything to energy defenses, which makes overcoming them a huge chore. Second, trying to banish anything that is too strong or too big can quickly drain the energy of an ace pilot. Third, trying to use it as a cutting weapon is also costly. I will not be able to maintain my fighting condition for long if the Dark Zephyr is built around the use of Erlemin."

Tusa became impressed by the effect of Erlemin, but he would have to be careful about using its associated resonating ability in combat.

He did not like it when he had to restrict his actions due to fears about exhausting himself too quickly!

However, Master Benedict did not highlight Erlemin without thought. He had good reasons to present this option to the ace pilot.

"Erlemin is a demanding resonating alloy to use. That is not in doubt. However, every ace pilot is unique. You possess several advantages that allow you to utilize this material much more effectively than other ace pilots. For example, your domain allows you to bypass energy defenses entirely. Your signature Leap of True Freedom ability enables you to circumvent segmented multi-layered transphasic energy shields instantly and with much greater ease. Your ace mech can banish a target without too much hindrance in those cases."

Tusa nodded. He already recognized this synergy between himself and this material.

However, that did not mean that he was convinced it was the best choice.

"The Leap of True Freedom is my most useful ability so far, but it takes a lot of effort to pull it off. If I have to resonate with Erlemin to either banish or cripple an enemy starship, that will force me to expend a lot of energy a second time. I do not think I can keep up with activating these demanding abilities multiple times. Besides, the Dark Zephyr also possesses an Ultimate Module that can help me cope with larger enemies. I have already tried out the Dark Wind Passage Ultimate Ability during the Battle of Torment and it worked great."

Master Benedict nodded in concession. "It is true that the effect of Erlemin partially overlaps with the outcome of using the Dark Wind Module. I do not agree that the former is redundant. Resonating alloys work on different principles than Ultimate Modules. The Dark Wind Module is purely offensive in nature. Erlemin is more versatile as it allows you to displace extremely powerful enemies that you cannot defeat."

"Why would I do that?"

"As long as you are willing to pay the price, you can temporarily displace any enemy champion that is powerful enough to demolish our entire expeditionary fleet. The temporary absence of such a strong opponent can buy us enough time to eliminate the rabble before concentrating our firepower on the sole enemy that is left. You can also banish a terrible opponent to buy enough time for our entire expeditionary fleet to turn around and flee the battlefield. It is unlikely the rest of us can be saved if you are only able to rely on your Dark Wind Passage to inflict penetrating but ultimately non-fatal wounds on powerful enemies."

Tusa understood now that Erlemin allowed the Dark Zephyr to contain enemies that were too powerful to defeat, but too dangerous to remain present on the battlefield.

He and his battle partner could play the role of saboteur. By specifically targeting these alien powerhouses or other major threats, he could contain them long enough until the other alien warships crumbled with greater use due to losing the support of their champion!

While Tusa started to develop a greater appreciation for this resonating alloy, he still hesitated on whether he should pick this material over other viable choices.

"If… if I choose to integrate Erlemin into the Dark Zephyr, is it still possible to make use of Turbulenta or B-30 Shattersteel?"

"I am afraid not, Saint. The inclusion of phasewater has caused Erlemin to become especially energetic and volatile. It does not go along well with Turbulenta. In addition, since Erlemin has to be integrated into a weapon or a limb, it cannot be used at the same time as a weapon integrated with B-30 Shattersteel."

"Wait." Tusa managed to catch an important detail. "Weapons such as knives and hammers aren't built into mechs. They are handheld pieces of equipment that can be picked up or put down. Doesn't that mean you can build a weapon based on both Erlemin and B-30 Shattersteel? As long as I have access to both weapons, I can simply pick the most suitable one to use in a deployment based on the enemy that I am facing. This means that I won't have to choose!"

Master Benedict chuckled. "That is an excellent deduction, Tusa. However, have you considered the issue of cost? Erlemin is among the most expensive resonating alloys on the War Exchange because it is new and laced with phasewater. At your current budget, you cannot acquire useful quantities of both Erlemin and B-30 Shattersteel."

"Oh. I should be able to earn more war merits during the upcoming offensive. Shouldn't it be possible for me to wait until I have enough to exchange for the other resonating material?"

"That is a common strategy among ace pilots, but… is this how you wish to shape your post-expert pilot combat system, Tusa? The decisions you make this time can literally define your role, your image and your value to your clan. It is not necessarily the best decision to branch out and acquire too many weapons. If your training and your combat style do not match your ace mech configuration, then you will experience problems in your subsequent growth."

Tusa looked troubled when he heard that. "You will have to clarify that, Master."

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