[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 419: Different

The next days, the Mech Corps began to perform a lot of tests. They wanted to know everything about the capabilities of their mech designers.

Physical tests only formed the start of it. Due to his endowments, Ves breezed through examinations that sought to test his strength or endurance. However, once he moved on to examinations that tested his coordination and how well he played certain sports, he fell flat on his face due to a lack of practice.

His strange performance instantly distinguished him among the crowd of hundreds of mech designers in training unit. Even his bunkmates had to reassess his existence.

"Why are you such a freak, Ves?" Bart asked with goggling eyes.

"Bad luck from a mission gone wrong at the frontier."

"Wow, if you can call that back luck, then you are more than welcome to pass it over to us!"

"Haha! I wish. It's mostly my own fault for accepting the mission in the first place."

Besides finding out their physical limits, the processing center also stressed out their cognitive limits. The entire training unit went from examination to examination where they needed to perform specific actions such as memorizing as much pages of a random book in a short amount of time.

While performing a single test wasn't that big of a deal, the Mech Corps seemed keen on carting them off from test to test without any time to rest. This quickly led to a lot of protests from many mech designers.

"Our treatment here is outright disrespectful!"

"Are we training to become commandos or something?! I'm almost falling apart at the seams!"

They mostly complained at empty air, as the Mech Corps never sent out any human face to conduct the tests. Instead, they relied on bots and projections to corral the mech designers as if they were guinea pigs.

The strange methods all added to the illusion that they somehow ended up in a prison instead of a training center.

A lot of mech designers carelessly uttered their frustration at the inane treatment they received. Many of the Apprentice Mech Designers who got called up in the second wave all enjoyed a certain amount of success in their careers.

They expected to be treated with a measure of respect. Instead, the processing center went out of its way to make their lives more difficult.

A lot of mech designers attributed this behavior to the mech pilot-centric focus of the Mech Corps and the wider society.

Only a handful of people such as Ves knew the truth. As a Larkinson, Ves already possessed a lot of awareness on how the Mech Corps worked.

The grumbling of the mech designers couldn't compare to the harsh training every mech pilot endured before they were allowed to enter the cockpit. To Ves, they acted like a bunch of babies.

Out of his bunkmates, only Morgan appeared to be aware as well. "They want to break us down and shave off some of our egos. Who among us doesn't possess a net worth of at least a couple of hundred million credits? It would be hell if they put us all in a base without attempting to adjust our attitude."

Ves nodded. "It's more than that. It's pretty clear that Journeymen are receiving different treatment from us. They're probably being groomed in a different way, possibly to lead over juniors like us."

Even if they knew what went on, it wasn't as if they could become immune to the constant manipulation. Humans didn't work that way. Attitude and behavior came from the mind and body. Both could be manipulated in a million different ways.