Mark, Alex, and Melly logged into the white room. With a few hand gestures, Mark purchased the A.M.S. application for Melly and helped her register her new pilot career. After that, Mark and Alex assisted Melly in her Tutorials.
This tutorial introduced most players to the basics of mech operations. From how to form connections all the way to starting to move the machines. To complete this tutorial, Melly had to achieve certain goals, like moving from point A to point B. Or use a rifle to shoot down a target.
The tutorial also explained the different mech roles and the part they played in battle. The creators of this tutorial took the time to make an immersive tool that made it easy for prepubescent teens to enter the world of mechs. It was a comprehensive teaching tool that would turn any kid into an apprentice pilot.
Melly breezed through the tasks with ease. She had barely any trouble connecting to the machines or performing complex motions. While on the mechs, Melly's movements were fluid, even graceful. In almost no time at all, the girl swept through the lessons. After only two hours, she finished something that takes most people the entire first day to accomplish. She then moved to complete the second tutorial.
To congratulate Melly on her achievement, Mark decided to buy her a mech. The young man started to browse while the girl completed her tasks. Since Melly only had access to the first pilot-level, the mech selection was not great. Still, the young man put up an effort. After browsing for half an hour, he finally found something.
It was a variant mech design called the Star Dancer. The base design was a popular first-level mech called the Beam Star. The subtle feminine form of the machine attracted a lot of attention, especially from teenage girls. However, male teens also liked the design because of its ease of movement. This mech design had a D-grade rating for the first pilot level. It was an assault oriented mech with high mobility but paper-thin armor plates.
The Star Dancer variant had thicker plates but a bit less mobility. Also, the machine had been tuned for more maneuverability, sacrificing the top speed generated by the mech. This tweeks created a balance, giving the variant design more depth. Because of this, the variant design had a B-grade rating. Moreover, a basic sensor suite was added, increasing the neuronal load a bit. But it was a trivial amount.
To entice Melly to pilot this machine, Mark ordered a custom paint job with the same colors as the Mech piloted by Ruri. Melly's favorite character from the comm-grid show Star Blazers. He also bought a better Rifle and a secondary weapon. Since the mech lacks grip strength, it could not use the Warren rifle or the laser sting. But Mark chose decent options to take their place.
After giving the finishing touches to Melly's new mech, Mark was tempted to make a variant of the Beam Star. He did not have to do much; the mech was very similar to the McCain. He only had to change the size of certain parts. But in the end, he decided not to. After all, it was another rifleman mech. He wanted to try another mech role. To Mark, specializing will only serve to limit his creativity.
Having finished the basic tutorials, Melly was granted access to her new hangar. As she loaded the virtual space, the girl was greeted by gun-gray metal walls and polished concrete floors. She pouted when she saw the mech that came included with the pilot account. In her eyes, the Runner was an eyesore.
Melly turns to Mark. "They could have given me a prettier mech."
Mark looks at the girl with a smile on his face. "That Mech is called The Runner. Everybody starts with one of those. I had to use it for months before I had the vouchers to buy another mech."
The young man remembered his struggles with a hint of nostalgia. He shakes his head and makes a few hand gestures. "Anyway, I have a gift for you." With a final tap, Mark sends Melly her new mech.
As Melly accepts her gift, the machine flashed into the second mech dock. Her eyes light up seeing the Mech. The feminine form of the Star Dancer gave the mech a subtle elegance. The paint job caught Melly's attention. "This mech is Beautiful!
Alex, who was watching from the sidelines, came forward with another gift. A text bubble popped from her head. "This is a gift for you."
Melly grabbed the black box and opened it. A light covered the walls and floor. Once the light faded, the polished concrete floors and gun-metal gray walls were replaced by metallic surfaces that were familiar to the girl.
The golden-eyed girl exclaimed in surprise, "This is the mech deck of The Argo!" Seeing the virtual space changed to a space from her favorite show, Melly's eyes sparkled.
Alex was glad that Melly liked the gift. Another text bubble popped from Alex's head. "I hope you enjoy it."
At the Grease Monkey workshop, Steve had taken a break from repairing mechs and decided to see if the McCain Reaper version 2 could be used as a Hero Mech. To do this, he decided to use the testing facility. This was a map everyone in A.M.S. had access to.
The loudmouth teen used hand gestures to change the equipment of his McCain Reaper version 2. In the right hand, it had a sword; in the left hand, it had the laser sting. Steve started practicing the moves he was used to in his regular mech.
While the mech had no problems wielding both weapons, Steve felt unbalanced. This feeling caused him to lose the rhythm of movements he was used to. Thinking about the cause, Steve determined that the problem was not mechanical. It had to be the software. He decided to consult Mark about it.
Steve got a hunch about this and decided to browse the forums of the Grease Monkey Workshop. To his surprise, he found thousands of requests to add more weapon options to the mech. The loudmouth teen decided to take this issue to Mark the next time they meet. This was a way to reach more people.
Inside Melly's hangar, Mark was explaining to the girl the way pilot levels worked. She looked at him as the young man spoke. "To gain experience as a pilot, you must complete different game modes. Once you have accumulated enough, you can then increase your pilot level. At the moment, I'm on the third pilot level."
Melly was a bit bummed that she could not play with her big brother. But the girl was not deterred. If she works hard, she will eventually catch up to him. The girl had set a goal for herself. "I want to catch up. What is the best way, big brother?"
Mark already had a suggestion. "The best way right now is to go to the operations game mode. That is the best option for the rookie players. The other game modes allow friendly fire. This causes the frustrated pilots to abuse the newbie players."
Melly listened to her big brother's words. She decided to follow his advice and select this game mode. Once she got used to operating her machine, the girl would try other game modes. She had a new flame in her golden eyes. For better or worse, a fascination for mechs had been born in Melinda's heart.
Mark smiled at the determined girl. "If your mech gets wrecked, come to the workshop. Either Steve or I can fix it."
The idea of her beautiful mech getting damaged gave the girl pause. But she quickly got over it. After all, these were machines meant for war; they were made to destroy or be destroyed.
Alex also added a comment in the form of a text bubble. "You can also visit The Waiting Room. We have a lot of sweets there."
The mention of sweets enticed the girl more than using her new mech. With an eager look, she decided to postpone her first operation. Evidently, her sweet tooth was stronger than her newfound passion for Mechs. "Can we go now?"
Mark laughed. Melly's antics brought joy to the young man. "Yes, but remember, eating in the virtual world is not the same as eating in real life. Your body still needs real food." With a flash, the three of them left for the Grease Monkey Workshop.
As they flashed in, Mark and Alex found the hangar in a more relaxed mood. Repairs were moving along, and the place was almost empty. Apparently, The Waiting room had become more enticing. Without delay, Mark and Melly moved to the second floor. Alex went to the Repairs Control Room.
Entering The Waiting room, Mark understood why the repair shop was so empty. At the karaoke stage were four female players performing a song. The patrons of the place were bewitched by the performance. Using neon glowsticks, they managed to coordinate a light show that changed with the tones of the song.
At first, Melly was a little intimidated by the large crowd. With a Shy expression, she hid behind Mark. But as soon as the girl saw the place where you ordered the sweets, she was over her shyness. Melly made a beeline for the food station. The pom-poms of her headband moved from side to side with enthusiasm.
Once she reached the food station, Melly lost no time in selecting a variety of sweets. Looking at Mark's puzzled face behind her, she spoke between bites. "I have to find my favorite.
Mark could only smile at the girl. "Remember not to eat too many sweets in real life. That can get you fat and damage your teeth."
Scarlet met with Mark and the sweet tooth girl. Finding Melly's attire adorable, Scarlet tried to hug the girl. With her fairy princess dress and wings, she looked like a character of a fantasy comm-grid movie. The pom-pom antennas completed the look. "Little sister Cosmos, you are so cute, I want to hug you!"
Melly ran away from Scarlet. In her mind, she feared suffocating between scarlets bouncing ...personality. The girl found refuge behind her big brother. She poked her head with the pom-pom headband by Mark's side.
The young man had a feeling of dèjá vu. He had gone through a similar event when Scarlet met Alex. In his mind, he wondered if Scarlet suffered from cute aggression. "Hello, Scarlet, how is the search for more personnel?"
Scarlet, seeing Melly's Reaction, decided to stop chasing her. A pouting expression was shown on her face. Getting over her rejection, the hostess answers Mark's question. "I have found a few girls, but so far, only one of them has answered. A player with the game ID Bunny girl Fran confirmed."
Mark remembered this Player. It was the cute bunny girl with the lovely voice. "Well Keep up the good work." He then turns to face Melly. "You ate some sweets, now it's time for your first operation. Remember to check your equipment before starting."
Melly nodded, remembering Bart's lessons; she used hand gestures to return to her hangar. The girl was finally ready to start her pilot career. Expectation filled her mind. With a flash of light, she left the crowded space of The Waiting Room.
After sending Melly on her way, Mark was ready to select a new mech and start his second design. A message from Steve made him deviate from his plans.
Steve's message read as follows. "When you have time, come to the repair control room. I have an idea to run by you."
Since the young man wanted to concentrate, he decided to deal with Steve's Idea first. That way, he would have no distractions. Climbing down the stairs, he moved to the Repairs control room. Having enlarged his hangar, the walk was turning out to be quite lengthy.
After arriving at the Repairs control room, the cat butler greeted Steve. "Hey Steve whats up?"
The loudmouth teen set the repair systems in the automated mode. "Marksman, I tried using the mech as you suggested, but there seemed to be a problem with the software of the machine." The teen organized his thoughts for a second. " I have also checked the forums, people who came up with the same Idea are finding the same problems. So I was thinking, why not make software packages for different weapon configurations?"
Mark saw the value on this suggestions. With this soft ware packages, more people would be attracted to the McCain Reaper version 2. The young man decided to do this right now, but before anything, he decided to upgrade the Basic Design Space. "I will take a look at this right now, Steve. I will let you know when I have a solution."
While Mark walked to the design lab on the second floor, he accessed the system ability page. With a tap, he purchased the second level of the Design space. The description of the ability changed from basic to intermediate. Apparently, the equipment was now more advanced. This granted Mark the ability to work faster.
Also, as an added feature, the intermediate design space had a function that mitigated mental fatigue by 25%. With this feature alone, Mark justified the cost of the upgrade. Adding twelve more hours of work, plus the new equipment, greatly increased his efficiency. Still, he felt something was missing.
The system notification displayed the changed balance. "Your purchase has been registered. 40,000 TP have been deducted from your account. Your new balance is 180,443 TP. Your bank balance is 0 TP."
Mark had a moment of enlightenment. He decided to upgrade his programming skills. He started by increasing Computer Science, adding one more level, which had a cost of 8,000 TP. Then he upgraded the Programming field skill to an additional level with 4,000 Tp. Finally, Mark upgraded the Logical Code Optimization skill with an additional 2,000 TP. For good measure, the young man resolved to upgrade his cybersecurity field skill as well. An additional 4,000 TP went down the drain.
The system message wasted no time. 18,000 TP have been deducted from your account. Your new Balance is 162,443 TP. Your bank balance is 0 TP.
Mark entered the design space. In his mind, the young man took measure of the McCain Reaper version 2's parameters. He came up with an additional five possible combat roles that will fit the mech very well. The most obvious choice was Steve's Hero mech. Searching for a refrence the young man found a software template in no time.
Inspired by that template, Mar created a software patch for hero configuration. He took into account the parameters of his mech design. Since there was not much diference the young man finished this patch rather quickly.
The second template that came to mind was the dual wielder harraser. These mechs used two ranged weapons of the same kind. The armaments were often pistols, heavy pistols, or submachine guns. It was rare for harasser mechs to use longer weapons. After all, they weaponized their mobility. Slow harrasers were dead harrasers.
Thinking of dual-wielding mechs, he decided to add an unconventional role template. The duelist, this combat role was mostly used for one-on-one duels. Rarely did it step onto the battlefield. Yet it was a popular mech. Wielding two swords, these mechs tend to be the kings of the gladiatorial games.
With the images of swords, another uncommon template came to mind. While guardian mechs rarely attack and mostly defend, there was an offshoot role created for offensive guardians. It was known as The Edelfrei. These mechs tend to be lighter than their defensive counterparts. They used a melee weapon and a shield. Mark decided to add a note suggesting the purchase of the armor extension to increase defense.
The fifth template was a sentinel configuration. The suggestion for the armor extension also accompanied this template. However, sentinels used area denial weapons. Since the Reaper was not able to carry back packs, flame throwers, and Gatling guns were out of the question. Shotguns and laser repeating rifles were the best options. Mark added these details in the form of footnotes that would be included in the instructions provided with the software patches.
Including the original combat role, the McCain Reaper now had a total of six possible combat roles. While there were many more roles, they were not suited for the Reaper's specs. But these six templetes, efectively turned the mech into a Jack-of-many-trades. Mark cracked a smile when he thought about this moniker for the mech.
In the end, Mark invested the equivalent of 14 hours in the design space. He then decided to lose no more time and start his new design project right there. If he went outside, the young man runs the risk of being interrupted again.
After watching Melly get her own mech, an idea came to him. One of his beloved mechs would be his next project. It was the Gunslinger Delta. He even had a name picked out for a variant, The Gunslinger Owtlaw. With his choice, Mark would tackle both light mechs and harasser mechs.