The Mech Touch

Ketis initially had other plans in mind.

"What did you plan to do instead?" Ves asked over the comm.

"Well, other than going on romantic dates with Joshua, I wanted to enter a couple of personal combat tournaments." She answered. "Mech pilots and mech designers aren't the only people in the Red Ocean who want to compare themselves against each other. There are warriors who have mastered powerful combat arts back in the old galaxy. I don't know if you are aware about it, but bloodsports are really popular in Chance Bay. The prize pools aren't any less compared to the other kinds of competitions."

She was right. Tournaments involving mech design or mech combat were both fantastic in their own ways, but their content could be a little too technical or far removed from the daily lives of ordinary people.

Compared to the intricacies of designing a mech, it was a lot easier for a normal person to appreciate a punch!

It was also a lot easier for humans to aspire to become their heroes when they didn't need to possess genetic aptitude or a degree in mech design. Anyone with a sound body could perform a kick or swing a sword!

While it was a lot more difficult to get good at doing so, at the very least the barrier to entry was a lot lower!

As a result, these biggest bloodsport tournaments tended to draw some of the biggest crowds of laymen. The volume of ticket sales were absolutely massive, especially when famous fighters signed up for them. The legends among them were even household names across hundreds of star sectors!

A genuine swordmaster would definitely perform marvelously in these tournaments, though he didn't understand the other contestants. Perhaps they didn't inherit a fantastic swordsmanship tradition like Ketis, but humanity definitely developed other supreme fighting methods!

"Well, no matter how well you think you can perform in these personal combat tournaments, don't forget your other profession. You should at least test your mettle against other mech designers while we are still in the Vulit Central Star Node. This is a valuable experience that you can't easily find anywhere else. In my early days, I learned a lot from what I've done and what I've witnessed during these kinds of events. You're a bit further ahead than me back then, but that doesn't mean it's too late."

"I don't know, Ves." She furrowed her brows. "I'm confident in my ability to win in a sword fighting tournament, but I'm not so sure about design tournaments. I can't compare myself to you on most fronts. If I can't even beat you, how will I be able to beat others?"

This was why she hadn't signed up to any design tournaments. She had taken a good look at them, but even if she only considered those that set the lowest age limits for Journeymen, she still didn't rate her chances highly.

"Hey, perhaps you have a point, but this is a team competition, not a solo one. You will have me by your side at all times. I can cover all of the areas that you are worried about. All you need to do is focus on the few areas you do excel at. If it makes you more comfortable, then just treat this as a design project where I'll be the lead designer and you will be the contributing designer."

"I…"

"Besides, the Wild Brawl Bowl is a good opportunity for you to preview and experiment with some of the ideas that you intend to apply to your upcoming Monster Slayer design. Whatever theories and assumptions that you have built up in your mind might not work out in practice. This melee mech tournament will allow you to test them against other comparatively powerful mechs!"

That finally won her over.

"Okay, Ves. If you truly think that I can be of use to you in this tournament, I'll work with you. We will design the best damn swordsman mech in this Wild Brawl Bowl, mark my words!"

"That's the spirit!" He grinned.

The two quickly registered to participate in this interesting team tournament. They agreed to meet up at a later date in order to discuss and plan their approach for their upcoming collaboration.

Almost every tournament tended to randomize specific conditions such as material availability, component design availability and other random requirements such as height limits in order to keep them fresh and prevent pre-designing.

It would be no fun if many contestants immediately whipped out a complete and functional mech design right at the start! It was even worse if those prior designs were prepared by other, better mech designers!

While that meant that he and Ketis couldn't prepare anything too specific, they could settle a couple of overall design choices. This would save them valuable time on discussions and allow them to settle on a given direction right away.

Now that Ves signed up for two different tournaments, he did not continue to look at any subsequent ones. He could sign up for the later ones after he had a better idea of what it was like and what he needed to pay attention to in order to maximize his chances of winning.

"The design tournaments that take place here are a lot different from the ones back in my home region."

Better tech, more wealth, greater ticket sales, much more formidable competition and the implicit support from the MTA all elevated these design tournaments to a much higher level.

Ves needed to work hard and make use of all of his advantages in order to at least achieve a decent result. He also needed an element of luck as the different tournament formats could give some contestants greater advantages than others.

For example, Ves might have poor luck in the drawing of opponents in the fighting stages and get matched up against a tournament favorite.

The allocation of mech pilots was also unequal most of the time.

It was impossible for the tournament organizers to gather mech pilots that all performed exactly the same. Some were better and some were worse. A few might specialize in ranged combat while others had a preference for defensive combat.

"A good mech pilot can propel a contestant to first place while a poorer one can sink a chance to win a combat carrier!"

Ves quickly read up on the rules concerning this matter.

The allocation of mech pilots for the Wild Brawl Bowl was quite fair.

The Wild Fighting Association was an organization that principally represented the rights and interests of melee mech pilots. As a result, it had a lot of rambunctious warriors at its disposal!

At the start of the competition, each pair of mech designers would be allowed to select their chosen mech pilot from a varied selection of 20 candidates.

The youngest team of Journeymen were allowed to pick first while the oldest team had to wait until last.

Each of them would have different strengths and weaknesses, but by allowing the mech designers to select the mech pilot in advance, they could tailor their design to the individual over the course of three whole days.

"It would have been great if Gloriana agreed to team up with me for this, but Ketis is also a great choice."

Ves recognized that the Wild Brawl Bowl was a way for the Wild Fighting Association to hit multiple birds with one stone. It aimed to increase the popularity of melee mechs. It also aimed to showcase the combat prowess of its members through this single elimination bracket.

"On the surface, it's a design tournament. In truth, it's probably more about giving these members a chance to excel, both by getting selected and by performing well with the mechs they eventually obtain!"

The Wild Fighting Association would have been a lot more reluctant to organize and fund this expensive tournament if these added considerations didn't exist.

The High Tide Tournament did things differently. The reason why it lasted so short was to put greater emphasis on the performance of the superfabs. It was basically an indirect advertising campaign of Hysphalin Industries, who not only sold superfabs, but all kinds of other high-quality industrial machines as well.

The allocation of mech pilots was also a bit more challenging to work with. Apparently, they were all supposed to observe the mech designers at work and eventually make their own selections after the competition mechs had been designed and built.

The best mech pilot was able to choose first. The weaker ones had to wait their turn.

This was an interesting dynamic that forced mech designers to make sure their works were as attractive and compelling as possible.

If mech pilots didn't like a competition mech, then it would eventually be chosen as last by the mech pilot with the worst performance in the group!

Ves frowned as he thought of the implications. "If the mech pilots base their decision on not just the competition mechs but also their makers, then the better soldiers will likely flock to the machines that are developed by older and more experienced mech designers!"

Though Ves was not actually that young anymore, he was still under forty years old. It was hard to imagine that he could beat a Journeyman that was close to 100 years old.

"I'll have to try, though. I'm not afraid of the competition and I'm confident in my craftsmanship!"

There were other details that he needed to pay attention to. There were lots of guides on the galactic net that provided people like Ves basic guidelines on how to approach different design tournaments. From preparing a set of different options to how to choose a mech type in a less restricted competition, Ves read up on a lot of common sense matters that made him a little better aware of what he should do in the following days.

"In the day after tomorrow, I will only have 12 hours to design and make a complete competition mech." He said. "That is an extremely short amount of time. The conditions for designing the mech are also a lot harsher than the ones that I work with before."

In previous tournaments, he worked with pre-prepared components. His job actually amounted to picking the right configuration of existing parts before merging them all together into a working machine.

Such a mode was suitable for Novices and Apprentices who couldn't design a complete mech within a day, but Journeymen like Ves were better than that. The competitions took off the training wheels by providing a limited range of component designs. The mech designers had to fabricate them all on their own before assembling them together to form complete mechs.

"This can only be done in a reasonable amount of time by relying on the capabilities of the superfab."

Ves immediately understood the importance of familiarizing with this powerful production machine. A superfab partially worked like a powerful 3D printer, but also combined many other functions in a cohesive and efficient manner to massively speed up every production task.

Despite the fast pace of production, the output was also a lot more regular and less prone to production-related faults.

It would be great if the Larkinson Clan could get its hands on at least one superfab, but this was unrealistic in the short term. The price was too high!

"They're all first-class machines, so it's not unreasonable for them to be worth more than a second-class fleet carrier!"

Superfabs were truly good, though. Ves was a bit more confident in his ability to produce a masterwork mech if he was able to install one in his personal workshop! It made his life so much easier in many ways. This allowed him to pay less attention to tedious matters and focus more on the more critical matters that had a greater impact on the quality and performance of the end product!

"Damn, my strongest competition might already be familiar with working with these superfabs. I better catch up quickly or else I'll fall behind!"

Ves quickly browsed the galactic net and activated a simulation of the same model of superfabs that would be used in the upcoming High Tide Tournament.

"Hysphalin Industries… let's see whether your product is good."