The Mech Touch

"C'mon Wishing Fountain, please give me something good. I haven't been able to use any of my radiant lottery tickets for years. You've got to compensate me for all of the time that I have lost!"

Since the facility was called the Wishing Fountain, Ves suspected that need and desire might be vital components to tilting the odds in his favor.

Still, he did not have much hope of being able to alter the scales. Luck was ultimately an elusive quality to Ves. Only a freak like Jovy Armalon was able to manipulate this mysterious concept.

"Still, my luck shouldn't be too bad this time!"

As soon as the Wishing Fountain produced a glowing enlightenment fruit, Ves developed a strong guess that he had obtained a truly powerful prize this time!

The only variable that he was concerned about was whether it was useful to him. If the enlightenment fruit provided benefits that weren't useful to him and his closest confidantes, then that would seriously devalue his current gain.

Therefore, he desperately hoped that the System did not mess around with him by giving him a golden lemon.

As the glittering rainbow water spout finally lowered to a more reasonable height, Ves was able to grab the glowing fruit and study it for himself.

"Strange."

The fruit did not look that appetizing to be honest. It resembled a cerulean pear that looked like it had become radioactive. Ves would have never thought about putting it into his mouth if he didn't already know that it was an enlightenment fruit!

"Let's see if its properties are any good."

​ [Alfari Corps Detonation Code Manual Fruit]

Grants a complete understanding of the Detonation Code. Developed by the Alfari Corps, the Detonation Code is a deep method that allows its practitioners to understand how to convert different energies into explosive potential. The Detonation Code can only be practiced by talented individuals who are fit, possess excellent control, possess an affinity for energy or explosions and possess specific augmentations that have been exclusively developed by the Alfari Corps. This enlightenment fruit allows an individual to ignore these conditions.

Requirements: Strength must be 1.2 or higher. Endurance must be 1.5 or higher. Intelligence must be 1.2 or higher. Concentration must be 2.0 or higher.

"Powerful!"

That was his first conclusion. The Detonation Code Manual sounded like a powerful combat method!

As a mech designer, Ves understood the boundless power and versatility of the concept of energy extremely well. His in-depth study of luminar crystal technology had given him an even greater appreciation of how he could transform ordinary electrical energy into all kinds of exotic and dangerous damage types.

Although converting energy into explosions sounded like a rather ordinary process, Ves had a feeling that the Detonation Code went much further than that! If this method was as extraordinary as it sounded, then all kinds of powerful warriors could utilize it as a way to defeat stronger opponents because of better utilization of energy!

"What is the Alfari Corps, though?"

Just like before, Ves had never heard of the mysterious organization that had made the Detonation Code, but from the way the System mentioned it, this Alfari Corps was probably a frighteningly powerful elite combat force!

Since the Detonation Code was included in the pool of prizes that could be drawn by a radiant lottery ticket, then that was probably a faint indication that the Alfari Corps belonged to a class above the ones mentioned by the lesser enlightenment fruits.

Ves held the cerulean enlightenment fruit with a tender grasp. Even though its appearance did not seem to match the Detonation Code, he became a lot more affectionate towards this precious prize.

Now that he determined the power and usefulness of the Detonation Code Manual Fruit, the question now was who he should feed it to. There was only one of these fruits, and due to the high requirements of getting started with the powerful method, it was unlikely that the recipient could pass it on to others.

"Damn. This is a hard choice."

Given the priority to enhance the strength of the expeditionary fleet in the short term, Ves first thought of handing it over to an expert pilot.

"It has to be a ranged specialist, and one that preferably works with energy or explosive ordnance."

The Larkinson Clan possessed a bias for energy weapons so it did not have any expert pilots that majored in missile weapons or explosive cannons.

His choice therefore came down to enhancing the offensive combat power of Venerable Davia Stark, Venerable Joshua Larkinson, Venerable Casella Ingvar or Venerable Isobel Kotin.

Ves immediately struck out Joshua and Casella from his list.

"While they both wield energy weapons, they are more focused on other stuff."

That left the two expert pilots who piloted two powerful expert rifleman mechs.

The Amaranto was an old classic that had recently received a major upgrade. Its lethality had always been fairly high before, but now it had turned into an even more potent threat against opposing expert mechs and alien starships!

"Does it need to hit even harder?" Ves wondered.

There was no such thing as too much overkill. Ves would rather bring too much firepower to a fight than too little.

The problem was that Venerable Davia Stark was not actually a member of the Larkinson Clan.

While he did not mind giving her numerous powerful benefits in order to gain more protection during the time she fought for the Larkinsons, he was not as willing to waste a valuable glowing fruit that he had obtained from a precious enlightenment fruit!

This was also why Ves did not take Venerable Brutus Wodin or Patriant Reginald Cross into consideration.

Venerable Brutus was actually a great candidate for this fruit. He was family, sort of, and he was highly committed to protecting Gloriana and by extension Ves. The man could always be counted upon to do his duty in battle.

The Detonation Code was also incredibly useful to Brutus. The man focused more on evasion and maneuvering than pure firepower, which meant that his offensive power fell a bit behind.

If his Star Dancer Mark II was suddenly able to unleash explosive energy blasts, then that would make the Glory Seeker champion a lot deadlier in battle!

"The same goes for Reginald, but with much greater results!"

If Ves wanted to turn Saint Reginald and the Mars into the ultimate ship breaking combo, then feeding them this fruit was the way to go. His Trailblazer Expedition would definitely gain a more explosive edge in a short amount of time!

He did not give in to this temptation, though. As much as Ves considered Reginald a friend, the powerful ace pilot ultimately placed the interests of the Cross Clan over the Larkinson Clan.

"What about Venerable Isobel Kotin, then?"

If there was any expert pilot that played with fire, then it was definitely Venerable Isobel!

Her expert mech functioned as both a rifleman mech and a striker mech. Each attack launched by her Promethea, the completed version of the Firestarter Project, was able to leave a burning purple fire behind that hungrily devoured any flammable mass within its reach!

As such, Venerable Isobel had turned into an excellent sieging element that possessed a knack for burning down large starships and astral beasts.

"Her ability to deal direct damage is a lot more limited, though." Ves briefly frowned.

She needed time in order to spread more fires and allow her empowered flames to do their work.

This meant that the Promethea was not as good in duels against opposing expert mechs. The enemy expert pilots were often able to negate Venerable Kotin's force of will and snuff out her empowered flames before they could do much damage.

"Giving her this Detonation Code should definitely plug this shortcoming!"

Venerable Kotin would be able to gain another attack method that neatly complimented her existing one. Rather than allowing her energy attacks to spread and burn everything in the way, she could convert her output so that they dealt all of the damage upfront.

This made it much harder for opposing expert pilots to mitigate the incoming damage!

"If there aren't any better candidates, then this fruit should go to Venerable Isobel." Ves decided.

It did not really make any sense to give the Detonation Code to other expert pilots. While he was pretty certain that melee expert pilots such as Venerable Rosa Orfan and Venerable Vincent Ricklin could use this enlightenment fruit to add an explosive impact to all of their blows, it was more difficult for them to apply as much damage as a ranged specialist throughout an entire engagement.

"Who else should fall within my consideration?"

He couldn't think of anyone that could make good use of it outside of maybe Legion Commander Taon Melin.

Disappointment appeared on Ves' face as he thought about the former soldier of the Ylvaine Protectorate.

Though the man had come far, Commander Taon Melin had yet to advance to expert pilot throughout all of these years.

Not even the transcendence glow of Lufa or the realistic training challenges provided by the increasingly more sophisticated MSTS was able to stimulate him into breaking through.

"Some things simply can't be forced."

Ves figured that Taon Melin was not mentally up to standard as of yet. He still looked up to Ylvaine a bit too much to be able to stand up for himself.

It also didn't help that Taon was in charge of the Eye of Ylvaine Mech Legion. That added a lot of administrative burdens on his shoulders.

Unlike Commander Casella Ingvar, Taon was not a natural leader and he did not study for it before he assumed his current rank.

"It will probably take a while before he is ready." Ves estimated.

This was not necessarily a mark against him. It was fairly normal for expert candidates to take five years or ten years to advance to the next rank.

However, Ves would have liked it if Commander Taon broke through because that would mean that the Larkinson Clan would gain its first expert pilot that specialized in heavy artillery mechs!

"If Taon is able to pilot an expert heavy artillery mech right now, then this Detonation Code would have been an excellent match!"

Perhaps the Detonation Code might only be icing on the cake at first, but Ves already started to think ahead.

As long as Taon grew stronger and piloted more powerful mechs, the amplification brought by the Detonation Code would also become far greater, thereby turning him and his expert mech into an ultra-lethal sieging combination!

Ves briefly thought about keeping this enlightenment fruit in reserve before he shook his head. "I need to make use of it immediately instead of letting it grow stale in my vault."

Just as he was about to put the fruit away, he suddenly came up with an unusual suggestion. He took another look at the description and focused on the 'energy' keyword.

Blinky excelled at manipulating energy. It was the primary reason for his existence.

What if Ves bestowed the Detonation Code to his own companion spirit?

"He'll become a lot more dangerous in fights!"

This would be the ultimate selfish decision as empowering Blinky would not be able to meaningfully affect the course of major battles.

There wasn't much of a point in boosting Blinky's lethality unless Ves wanted to enhance his self-defense capabilities.

Though Ves felt enormously tempted by the notion of adding another personal trump card to his personal arsenal, he did not think it was the best way to profit from this precious fruit.

When he thought about all of the future enemies the Golden Skull Alliance might encounter during the upcoming Trailblazer Expedition, he eventually settled for giving it to one of his expert pilots.

"I'm sorry, Blinky, but you'll have to miss out this time."

Mrow mrow mrow!