Chapter 7439  Woodsap Mech Piloting Eligibility

The Woodsap mechs flew into empty space and stationed themselves a fair distance beyond the transparent viewscreens.

Of course, the Terrans had implemented many redundant security measures, from multiple layers of azure energy shields to a set of giant emergency low-grade superdimensional shutters.

In order to gain a better view of the upcoming demonstration, many attendees rose from their seats and departed from their banquet tables. They all moved closer to the reinforced windows or approached one of the terminals that displayed a large amount of relevant technical data.

Though Ves led the development of the Arboreal Project, the collaboration model proposed by the Terrans meant that he did not have as much control over the actual expression of his products.

The Terrans very much demanded control over the final configuration and details of the various variants and editions of the base model.

This meant that Ves did not fully know in advance how well the Woodsap mechs would perform. This was especially the case for the so-called Elven Editions of the Arboreal Project, which the Terrans had scrupulously hidden from his sight until this point.

Ves could vaguely predict how much better the Elven Edition performed relative to the most recent prototypes of the Basic Edition that had provided him with empirical test data.

However, the uncertainty factor remained high. There was no way to make precise calculations based on vague and undefinable hunches, feelings and subjective observations.

"What do you think, Ves?" His wife softly asked as she stood next to him while holding Marvaine in her arms.

"I have a pretty good idea of the overall performance of the Basic Editions of the Arboreal Project." He responded. "Leaving aside the remaining teething issues, I already think their performance and featuresets hold up to the high expectations of my clients. Although they are not the most hard-hitting or tough machines relative to their price, their unparalleled accessibility and endurance are hard to match, even by other biomechs. Yet a clique of Terran leaders aren't satisfied with that. They had to take it a step further by dumping all of this elven stuff on our laps. Given how much they have raised everyone's expectations with their surprise announcement, I think we are about to witness a revolution that will reverberate throughout the entire mech industry of the Red Ocean."

He did not speak thoughtlessly on this matter.

He fulfilled several goals at once.

First, he affirmed with his own words that his involvement in the Arboreal Project was not as extensive as most people thought.

Second, he firmly put a barrier between himself and the elven initiative. Even though he had already stated his lack of involvement or awareness of the creation of the elven race, it did not hurt to reiterate his denials once again.

Third, he hyped up the preliminary results of his Arboreal Project even further. He was rightfully proud of his work on this game-changing Carmine mech design project. He did not want anyone to get any misunderstandings and call it a failure or anything. Even the Basic Editions fully met his initial requirements when he conceived this ambitious collaborative project.

As a tier 2 galactic citizen, every utterance he made in a public setting could literally affect policy. He needed to be deliberate with the information or misinformation he chose to share. The wrong words could easily cause the Larkinson Clan to lose a lot of support and hinder his own interests.

After a short delay, the Terrans finally commenced their demonstration.

At this point, it was not suitable for Yenya Aduc and Caracalla Shuku to lead this part of the presentation.

The First and Second Elves clearly positioned themselves as the spiritual and administrative leaders of the nascent elven collective. Neither of the two possessed any mech designer qualifications, so how could they possibly boast about the features of the Woodsap mechs?

In fact, Ves should be the one to explain the performance of his own works, but in the interest of separating himself as much from the elven initiative as possible, the Terrans put forth their own to take over this duty.

Master Laila Rebecca Devos confidently stood before the central window and began to speak.

"The mechs of the Arboreal Project are defined by their numerous special systems. Each of them are praiseworthy by themselves, but when they are combined in a single biomech, their synergies can turn the impossible into reality. Let us begin not with the famous Carmine System, but the newer and less tested Hibiscus System."

Projections appeared over her head that shared a few key information points about the proprietary Terran control system.

"As you are all aware, one of the disadvantages of Professor Larkinson's Carmine mechs is that they do not instantly grant their bonded humans the necessary skills to pilot them effectively. Skills must be earned the traditional way. This is normally not an issue during the Age of Mechs, but in the tumultuous years of the Age of Dawn, this is not acceptable for our purposes. We cannot delay the deployment of valuable Carmine mechs by 5 to 10 years just to wait until their designated pilots have completed their formal training programs. No, in order to convert freshly-produced Woodsap mechs into combat-effective units as quickly as possible, we have chosen to incorporate a parallel control system to their designs that elegantly solves this problem."

The dozen Woodsap mechs began to showcase their excellent precision and control.

They flew around in rigid formations. Their trajectory incorporated loops as well as sharp turns. Yet no matter how fast or complicated their maneuvers, they never looked out of place!

The machines did not more than fly around. They began to demonstrate their agility and responsiveness by throwing a mech-sized ball between each other.

Their movements became remarkably more human-like in process. The way they contorted their individual limbs and torso sections made it seem as if they turned into genuine human athletes!

This was a level of mechanical control that could never be accomplished by untrained or poorly trained mech pilots!

It was too easy for those with insufficient skills or genetic aptitude to overshoot their movements or fail to maintain the precision necessary to catch and throw a simple ball.

"Before you ask, many of the candidates selected to pilot our new Woodsap mechs are indeed potentates, many of whom have graduated from more mundane mech academies." The Terran Master said. "Yet none of the elves piloting the biomechs before you are part of these batches. They are instead selected from the batches of elite infantry soldiers that are currently undergoing similar preparation to pilot our future hopes. I can personally verify that none of the twelve elven pilots possess compatible genetic aptitudes, and that they have never undergone any systematic piloting training beforehand. All they have received after entering their new training program are essential theory lessons needed to safely handle their new biomechs."

The implications were very clear. None of the recently-converted elven Woodsap mech pilots had undergone any qualified mech piloting training.

Let alone attending an academy, they did not enjoy more than a couple of months of intensive theoretical cramming sessions!

Master Devos shared an even more astonishing fact.

"I can also assure you that this is their first time that they have actually piloted a real mech of any kind. This is literally their first practical mech piloting session."

That truly came as a shock to most people!

Though the more clever guests had already deduced this logic in their heads, the actual performance of the Woodsap mechs still contradicted everything they previously thought about mechs.

Ordinary groundpounders turned into Carmine mech pilots could never make such sharp and precise movements with their Yellow Jackets!

Especially in so little time!

The new control system developed by the Terrans truly reached a level of effectiveness that not only made it useful, but also provided a huge amount of value to their military sector!

After all, compared to Yellow Jackets that could not get rid of their status as liabilities unless their Carmine mech pilots finally brought their piloting skills up to standard, the new Woodsap mechs could immediately make a difference on the warfronts so long as their new pilots completed a few theoretical classes!

Of course, just because these former infantry soldiers stuffed the equivalent of several dense textbooks in their heads did not mean they could completely match the combat effectiveness of genuine first-class multipurpose mech pilots.

There were still many standards that they had yet to meet. Closing the gap to the true mech elites of the Terran Alliance demanded much more thorough training that could not be completed in a short amount of time.

However, few people cared about these shortcomings. It was already more than enough if the rookie Woodsap mech pilots could match 50 percent or even 30 percent of the combat effectiveness of first-class multipurpose mech pilots.

The latter represented the true backbone of a modern first-rate state!

The number of pilots capable of piloting the strongest and most expensive standard mechs of a state often served as a convenient measuring standard of national strength.

If the Hibiscus System could transform millions or even billions of ordinary infantry soldiers into somewhat effective 'mech pilots' in a matter of months, then that effectively meant that the Terran Alliance could easily multiply its foundational military strength by a factor of 2, 3 or even 10!

That was not an exaggeration!

As long as the bioindustrial sector of the Terran Alliance could sustain the huge resource and biomanufacturing requirements of growing so many Woodsap mechs, the ambitious colonial star empire could easily double the size of its overall military within a single standard year!

Many Terrans and foreigners who had been invited to witness this historic presentation quickly understood the frightening implications.

"Manpower is not a limiting factor anymore." One of the representatives of a subordinate second-rate state uttered in realization. "This Hibiscus System not only solves the most severe flaw of Carmine mechs, but also further expands the manpower pool for Woodsap mechs beyond the first-class citizens of the Terran Alliance. If the most important prerequisite for a human to quickly reach a sufficient degree of combat effectiveness with a Woodsap mech is being a qualified soldier, then there is no reason to limit eligibility to first-raters. Second-raters and even third-raters can just as easily pilot these Woodsap mechs in a matter of months so long as they are not too stupid!"

Many people with strong interests in second-rate or third-rate states perked up after making this realization.

If the Hibiscus System was truly so effective, then the distinction between first-class, second-class and third-class Woodsap mech pilots became irrelevant!

This was because as long as a soldier possessed enough discipline and could shoot a gun accurately enough, then he or she would definitely be able to become an effective Woodsap mech pilot!

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