The Mech Touch

The Bright Warrior in its swordsman mech configuration projected a distinct impression to the audience.

Those who watched the broadcast only caught a hint of it, but the people sitting on one of the many elevated viewing platforms were able to sense its presence a bit better.

Even though the audience was too far away to truly experience its glow, if they were any closer, they would have felt its welcoming embrace.

This was a product of the Bright Warrior's heavily-altered spiritual design.

For one, he made an agreement with Goldie to play nice with whoever piloted the mech. He also dug deep into the dueling mech's spiritual DNA to widen its target audience.

The Bright Warrior product line was never supposed to be piloted by non-Larkinsons. This was baked into its very identity and served as the root of its existence.

Ves envisioned the second iteration of the Bright Warrior concept as the basic and most fundamental protector of the Larkinson Clan. While his other mechs may be stronger or flashier, the Bright Warrior could always be counted upon to deliver reliable performance in many different situations!

As a modular mech platform that was designed with maximum compatibility in mind, the Bright Warrior was not a suitable dueling mech at all. There were many junctions where Ves and the other lead designers prioritized adaptability and universality over pure performance.

A mech that was fine-tuned to accommodate a specific mech pilot would always perform better than one that attempted to be a good mech to many different mech pilots!

Still, it was not as if Ves could have taken the opposite approach. The design duel format prevented the participants from learning about the mech pilots beforehand. This meant that Ves and Dr. Navarro were both forced to keep their mechs open-ended enough to accommodate different personalities and fighting styles.

Therefore, what was supposed to be a traditional weakness of the Bright Warrior actually came somewhat handy at this time. Its balanced specs, wide range of motion and great attention to its piloting experience were all capable of making any newcomer to the Bright Warrior feel at ease!

"Captain Ipsich has adjusted well to the Bright Warrior." Gloriana remarked as she analyzed the fluent movements of the modified mech. "As an experienced mech pilot, he should already be fairly good at adapting to different mechs, but I don't see much signs of discomfort so far. Whatever you did has worked."

The side projection that displayed a view of the c.o.c.kpit showed that Captain Ipsich was sitting comfortably in his piloting chair. His body was only moderately tense, but that was normal whenever a mech pilot was about to do battle.

"The captain should still be getting used to piloting a living mech." Ves murmured as he observed the mech with his spiritual senses. "A familiarizing period ensues anytime a mech pilot interfaces with one of my products for the first time. Just like two different people meeting for the first time, the captain and his mech are just strangers. Since they're meant to fight with each other, they need to familiarize themselves with their new partner and establish a solid relationship as soon as possible."

This was one of the complications associated with piloting his mechs. Ordinary machines did not possess any personality or capacity for independent thought. They were just there. This meant that any mech pilot could hop into its c.o.c.kpit and pilot it straight away, only needing to worry about mastering its technical capabilities.

This was different. Captain Ipsich's slightly distracted expression signified that he was still exploring the surprising degree of responsiveness from his current machine.

What made the experience more wonderful than usual was that Ves had asked Goldie to enhance the modified Bright Warrior's spiritual foundation all the way to 75 Ves!

He hesitated a lot before Ves made this decision. 75 Ves was very close to the limit that ordinary mech pilots could bear. If Captain Ipsich's relationship with the Bright Warrior ever deteriorated, then his piloting experience would quickly worsen!

While that didn't necessarily mean that the mercenary officer would lose the ability to put up a fight, there was no way he'd be able to fight at his peak anymore.

"Hopefully, that doesn't happen." He muttered under his breath.

This was the double-sided nature of living mechs. Since they had gained the ability to love their mech pilots, they were also capable of doing the opposite. Ves really hoped that none of the selected mech pilots had a history of abusing their own machines.

"Good mech pilots don't mistreat their gear." Gloriana reassured him. "This is especially so for Lifer mech pilots I think. The biomechs they utilize are often treated as living partners. It is customary for the mech pilots of this state to treat their biomechs like pets or buddies."

"Miaow." Clixie senselessly agreed as she luxuriated on Gloriana's l.a.p.

"Meow."

Lucky hadn't been paying attention to the upcoming match at all. Instead, he kept sniffing his nose in different directions. His artificial green eyes gazed hungrily at the bodies of the various Masters and other dignitaries that were sitting together in small groups.

Each of them carried high-class gear that probably relied on high-quality exotics to deliver amazing performance!

Even Ves briefly imagined what it would be like to 'incapacitate' a Master and rifle through his or her belongings.

There was bound to be a lot of priceless gear on their bodies!

He quickly squashed this temptation. He even patted Lucky on his head.

"Meow!"

"Stop staring. Do you think you've been subtle? Each of these people can probably turn you into a rust bucket before you can blink your eyes!"

Biomech designers always augmented their bodies to some degree. Even if they didn't specialize in human augmentation, they surely knew someone who did. While the Masters of the LRA might not be as perverse as Dr. Jutland, their bodies should have definitely reached a superhuman level!

"Look, Ves!" Gloriana pointed at the other side of the arena. "Dr. Navarro's first mech is coming out!"

[Ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause to a biomech that is derived from one of Doctor Frederico Navarro's most successful works!]

The entire audience stood up from their seats and clapped even before the bipedal biomech had exited the tunnel!

Dr. Navarro's homeground advantage fully came into play at this time. Ves and his fellow Larkinsons all pressed their lips as the local spectators treated the opposing mech like a returning hero!

Ves had overlooked this aspect. In fact, the original design duel should have taken place in a smaller mech arena with only a handful invited guests bearing witness. He had never anticipated that a confrontation between two Journeymen would attract several hundred thousand spectators.

Even if there were a number of foreigners in the crowd, there were so many locals that the supporters of Ves had no chance of making their voices heard!

Realla shook her head. "This is bad. Home ground advantage is a real psychological factor that can swing the outcome of any match. Look at all of those distant people cheering and clapping. Their collective energy is quite massive. All of that support will feed into the mech pilot of the opposing mech."

Ves was able to sense this phenomenon on a faint level. While nothing much happened on a spiritual level, he still perceived a growing undercurrent. This was the power of a crowd!

The biomech that had entered the arena ground was an uncovered biomech that looked like it was made out of pure muscle.

Vincent immediately drooled! "Wow! Look at those abs! Look at the biceps! If not for the smooth lower side, I would have wanted to pilot this mech as well!"

"Looks are important, but they don't necessarily determine how well a mech performs." Ves hoped.

"That shouldn't be the case." Gloriana retorted. "Dr. Navarro hasn't made it this far by being vain. I can sense plenty of power in this biomech."

Once everyone formed an initial impression of the second mech, the announcer finally began to reveal its properties.

[The Epsilon Mosar this biomech is based upon is one of Dr. Navarro's proudest melee mech designs! Having sold over 20,000 units since its introduction to the market, the Epsilon Mosar has quickly won over its mech pilots for its offensive capabilities. The Epsilon Mosar trades protection for power and speed, allowing it to take the initiative and fight its opponents at its choosing. The base model is armed with a pair of biometal swords and a backup pistol, though it also contains a number of surprising options depending on the variant.]

Ves had to admit that the Epsilon Mosar made him worried. Its overall design truly possessed an aggressive air. No matter if the mech won or lost, its attacks were bound to pressure its opponents!

"Don't forget about Dr. Navarro's design philosophy." Gloriana quietly reminded him. "His products are famed for their morphing ability. While this usually takes hours which renders it impractical in combat, who knows whether he has added any short-term solutions to this modified dueling mech."

Ves added a lot of additional depth to his dueling mech, which meant that Dr. Navarro could easily do the same.

While the latter was more constrained by the rules, there were still plenty of changes he could make without straying too far from the original design!

The mech pilot of the modified Epsilon Mosar happened to be a woman.

[Sitting in the c.o.c.kpit of Dr. Navarro's dueling mech is Kelly Gidon. Her ill.u.s.trious decades-long career is split up into periods. She spent the first half of her piloting career as a mech athlete of the Triton Blasters, winning numerous trophies along the way. Once her competitive career ended, she shifted over to working for a troubleshooter division under Coslin Protection, a renowned security company based in this very city! As a troubleshooter, Pilot Gidon has been dispatched to many problem areas and fought many different opponents. Her combat experience is quite abundant!]

"Damn!" Vincent cursed. "This woman is much more familiar with the arena!"

Raella grimaced as well. "Kelly Gidon is clearly an old hand at this. Perhaps she never fought on a stage as big and popular as this, but she clearly looks as if she is taking in the moment. Together with the home ground advantage, I'm afraid her fighting spirit has already reached a peak!"

The projections showed that Kelly Gidon was grinning. She couldn't wait to bear the expectations of the crowd and beat down the opposing metal mech!

In this match, the Bright Warrior and its mech pilot had turned into the villains. There was no way the local audience wanted to root for them. Instead, they threw their entire weight behind the Epsilon Mosar and the Gidon, which caused this pairing to take on a heroic aura that appeared to be just as strong as one of Ves' glows!

This was all an illusion, of course, but psychology didn't care about that.

As the seconds went by, the noise from the crowd slowly faded.

Eventually, they fell silent.

The first duel of the first phase was about to start.

[Begin!]

The two mechs did not delay! The moment the announcer gave the signal, the opposing machines already moved!

"It's taking flight!"

The Bright Warrior instantly boosted into the air, causing it to ascend by at least a hundred meters in an instant!

The Epsilon Mosar moved in a different direction. It had unsheathed its biometal swords from its back while at the same time dashing forward!