On the surface, the condition of a ch pilot’s body was unrelated to the individual’s ability to pilot a ch.
In theory, as long as a ch pilot’s head got cut off from his body, he would still be able to interface with a ch!
In the early days of the Age of chs, so pioneering ch designers wanted to test if this was actually the case!
The problem was that these research-obsessed scientists and engineers didn’t want to wait for a ch pilot to suffer an injury that was so heavy that his or her entire body below the neck would have to be scrapped.
The early-generation ch designers captured ch pilots belonging to an enemy state and cruelly separated their heads and stuck them into containers to keep them alive!
When these body-less heads were mounted into chs in a twisted attempt to create ’semi-permanently active chs’, the results failed to et the expectations of the ch designers.
Leaving aside whether the test subjects were even willing to fight on behalf of their torntors, their ability to control the chs encountered significant issues!
Deeper studies revealed nurous issues that contributed to the drop in performance.
The simple answer was that the ch pilots simply weren’t comfortable enough. Piloting a ch was like replacing a human body with a ch fra, but not quite. For reasons that only the most knowledgeable neural interface specialists were able to understand, a ch pilot ideally had to possess a complete and healthy body.
This was mainly based on the ch pilot’s perception. It didn’t matter if the ch pilot had heavily augnted his body. Regardless of whether he was carrying cranial implants, cybernetic organs or regrown limbs, as long as the ch pilot was comfortable in his own skin, then he wouldn’t experience too many hindrances in piloting chs.
Those who suffered physical debilitations all encountered problems when piloting their chs. The technical reasoning behind this was complicated and too profound for Ves to understand, but the bottom line was that people who thought that sothing was wrong with their bodies always perford less than optimally!
Considering Vincent’s personality and frequent complaints about his inform state, it shouldn’t have been a surprise to see the Rotenring trip on its feet as if it was a baby that was just learning how to walk!
The consequences of a ch tipping over was quite severe. Their weight was so great that Ves would have lost balance if he wasn’t wearing an armored suit!
Plenty of tools and objects shook from their positions and the sudden displacent of air even pushed them away!
The bioch technicians had fortunately retreated far enough to remain unaffected, but they all looked incredulous at what had happened.
Maintaining the balance of a ch was one of the first lessons that every ch pilot learned! Even if Vincent was infirm, he should have been able to maintain at least that much control over a new ch!
"I hate this bioch!" Vincent transmitted to Ves over a comm channel. "I can’t stand this ch. It’s so different from the Adonis Colossus that I can talk all day over what is wrong this stupid lump of flesh."
Ves grew annoyed. "I don’t care. Get your ch back on its feet and go out! The enemy chs are already closing in and they’ll soon bump into our own chs! If you aren’t out there by the ti the fighting starts, Jannzi and our new allies will have a very hard ti holding back more than twice their number of opponents!"
"I know, I know! It’s just.. I can’t figure out this damn bioch! Do you know how disgusting it is to pilot a ch that is like a giant version of a neutered man? It doesn’t help that this ch is balanced differently than my precious Adonis Colossus!"
Despite his complaints, Vincent was already trying to recover. He knew the stakes as well as Ves so he tried his best to get the ch back up its feet.
He succeeded, but not as gracefully as Ves had hoped. The Rotenring moved as if it was drunk and under the influence of other substances. Its shaky arms hesitantly pressed the ch to a sitting position. After a bit of scrambling, its legs finally managed to bend and balance in a way that allowed the striker ch to get back up its feet.
It had to pick up the shotgun that it had dropped to the ground, and that was another difficult test of Vincent’s control.
Fortunately, the bioch ca with plenty of auto-balancing systems that assisted Vincent in keeping the Rotenring on its feet. Once the ch grabbed the heavy shotgun, it began to move out just as sounds of fighting echoed from beyond!
"Our side has just made contact with the enemy! Hurry and repel the enemy!"
"I’m trying, I’m trying!" Vincent complained. "I can’t risk moving too fast!"
The Rotingring waddled forward at a manner that ensured greater stability but cut its speed by at least 30 percent. Though Ves was frustrated at the sight, there wasn’t much he could do at the sidelines.
If Vincent was piloting an LMC ch like the Bright Warrior, then there were many ways for Ves to manipulate the ch.
The Rotenring wasn’t his work, though. The biochs utilized by the Roving Hunters were all designed by several Seniors who partnered up with the competitive team.
Several hundred ters away, the two sides had already started to co to blows.
The enemy not only brought more biochs, but also a greater quantity of ranged firepower!
Two rifleman chs fired a steady frequency of positron beams. Venerable Jannzi had arrived just in ti for her to utilize the Perringer’s dium shield as a barrier against the attacks that were aid towards Bluestar.
The slimr marauder ch excelled in mobility, but right now the large loading hall was not conducive to its operation!
A random distribution of crates, vehicles and other objects were loosely spread across the entire hall. They were large and solid enough to hurt any ch of it attempted to walk through, but they were also too low and fragile to serve as functional cover!
All of this ant that the invading biochs imdiately assud superiority!
The enemy ch squad happened to consist of a balanced mix of biochs.
Two knight chs with thick tower shields steadily advanced from the front.
Two spearman chs were huddling right behind the knight chs, ready to poke their spears past the shields or turn around to respond to any threats from the rear.
Two swordsman chs circled around the flanks. They weren’t in a hurry to engage just yet. They were capable of inflicting the most damage when their opponents beca locked in battle against the frontal components of the ch squad.
Two rifleman chs positions at the rear were already inducing a steady degree of pressure towards the four, now five opposing chs.
One auxiliary ch remained close to the ranged chs. Its role wasn’t entirely clear, but its slim size suggested that it wasn’t too powerful.
All in all, the numbers and tactics utilized by the ultralifer chs showed that they definitely knew their business!
When Ves patched into the feed of the Perringer, he tried to gauge the strength of the enemy biochs.
"Ugh. What makes a good bioch?"
He didn’t understand biochs nearly as well as classical chs. They were like alien parodies of tallic chs to Ves. He could only form his judgent on other details such as mass, density and other properties.
Soon enough, he ford so reasonable estimates.
The good news was that the quality and cost of an individual enemy bioch was lower than that of any of the five competitive chs.
The bad news was that their quality was still serviceable enough to make them stronger when factoring their superiority in numbers!
Of course, he also witnessed situations where the opposite happened.
Right now, his judgent and intuition told him that his side was heavily disadvantaged!
"Lucky! I need you to go into action again! Can you phase into the c.o.c.kpits of those chs and assassinate the enemy ch pilots?"
"eeeooow!" The tired gem cat yowled.
"Oh co on, you have succeeded in phasing through plenty of solid material. What makes chs different?"
"ow ow ow!"
"Are you kidding?!"
"ow!"
Ves frowned. What Lucky told him was deeply disappointing. While his cat was capable of phasing through chs, there was sothing about them that made it very tireso.
For example, the strong resonance and force of will of an expert ch plainly made it impossible for Lucky phase through its fra!
In the past, this problem didn’t bother him too much. The recent battles he and his clan fought these days encompassed hundreds of if not thousands of chs. With so many machines on the battlefield, it was extrely dangerous for Lucky to wander around! Besides, the influence he would be able to exert was extrely marginal.
"Can’t you do sothing? I just need you to kill one enemy ch pilot. As long as you can do that, our odds of achieving victory will be much greater!"
"ow... ow...."
The cat eventually acquiesced. When Lucky moved to the loading hall, he didn’t imdiately phase or turn invisible. He had to ration his remaining strength as much as possible in order to achieve a good effect!
As Lucky moved out yet again, Ves observed the progress of the battle.
Not much had happened since the two sides confronted each other. The ultralifers were content with adopting a slow and steady approach. Their ranged capabilities were much better. With two rifleman chs at their disposal, they had the luxury to adopt a defensive posture. The enemy chs essentially taunted their opponents into attacking their prepared formation!
Captain Rivington had encountered similar situations in the arena and knew that it was a trap. As soon as his five chs moved forward, they would probably get locked by the ’anvil’ in front while their sides and rear got assaulted by the flanking swordsman chs!
If his side had a couple more chs, then he would have been able to counter this approach. As it was, going forward spelled certain doom!
"Are we just going to stand here and let them shoot at us?!" Vincent complained as a positron beam seared across the surface of his ch. "I’m getting cooked over here!"
"Be patient, pilot."
When Ves studied the situation, he knew he had to pitch in as well. He increased the power of his Odineye and began to perform active scans on the enemy biochs.
At this point, it didn’t matter if the enemy was able to detect what was going on. It was more important for Ves to gain a detailed understanding of their inner structure and expose their weak points.
"I knew it! Biochs have flaws as well!"
Ves worked alongside Gloriana so many tis that he had picked up plenty of tricks and insights about identifying flaws. The deep scan readings he received helped imnsely as nothing on the surface of the biochs could be hidden from the power of his Odineye!
He focused his attention on the enemy knight chs first as they happened to be the most difficult enemy machines to handle. Even if their offensive threat wasn’t as high, their ability to lock up their opponents was one of the biggest reasons why Captain Rivington didn’t dare to go into action!
"Captain, please take a look at the data I’ve transferred. I’ve just scanned the enemy knight chs and discovered a major weakness..."
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