The Mech Touch

Back at the High Tide Tournament, Ves let out a deep breath as he neared the end of his productive fabrication session.

None of his fears came true in the last three hours. Despite operating a powerful superfab in reality for the first time, the preparations he made and the strategy he adopted ultimately minimized the risk of failure.

The assistance he obtained from Vulcan was greater than he expected. He did not expect his incarnation to help him gain a more intuitive understanding of the high-tech production machine he was using to fabricate his lancer mech.

With this unexpected boost, Ves did not grow arrogant and tried to push against the limits of the Korok Alpha. He stuck to his current strategy and made sure to keep his output stable and free from any undesirable variance.

As a result, the lancer mech that was being finalized inside the Korok Alpha was quite respectable in terms of quality. Despite the rushed and imperfect design, Ves could have hardly delivered a better result under the circumstances.

Overall, Ves was happy with the realization of this copy. Though it hadn't become anything as outrageous as a masterwork mech, he bet that the craftsmanship that he displayed probably ranked at the top among his competitors. If nothing else, that should be enough for him to stand out from the crowd.

A few more minutes passed before his work finally emerged from the superfab.

The people in the audience who had been paying attention to his work all gasped as they admired the surprisingly pretty lancer mech that Ves had managed to develop in 12 hours.

There was hardly anything unrefined about its aesthetics. Ves had deliberately invested a bit of time to decorate its exterior.

With its gleaming white exterior, the mech already sported a holy and pristine look. Instead of using gold, Ves opted to apply a subtle green shade to the decorative flourishes on the exterior.

Since it was technically an Ylvainan mech, Ves added abstract iconography that resembled Ylvainan symbolism to strengthen its identity. Those familiar with his other Ylvainan mechs such as the Holy Soldier and the Transcendent Punisher should instantly be able to recognize the connection.

The difference between his previous Ylvainan mechs and his current competition entry was that the latter was not as exclusionary.

With the cooperation of a design spirit that had already acquiesced to his demands before he even uttered them, the lancer mech turned into a rare religious-themed mech that was not exclusive towards worshippers.

The lancer mech was essentially the missionary version of an Ylvainan mech. It put on a friendly coat towards non-believers and welcomed any mech pilot in its cockpit.

The hope was that the mech pilot's direct exposure to Ylvaine's blessings might cause this person to grow closer to the Ylvainan Faith.

The lancer mech was not obligated to convert the beliefs of its mech pilot, but the two should at least develop a mutual understanding with each other.

The greater they aligned with each other, the more Ylvaine was able to provide guidance to the mech pilot!

This was key to achieving success in the mech arena. In the short period of time when the lancer mech charged towards its opponent, the decisions made by the pilot could make or break a victory!

As Ves inspected the mech with his own eyes, he became happier and happier with how it turned out. Sure, the design still had many imperfections and suboptimal design elements, but that was already a given considering how little time he spent on designing it. The rougher elements didn't matter. As long as the mech's physical construction was sound, it would hold its own in battle!

"I'm not sure whether it will last after a dozen bouts, but that's irrelevant. It only needs to show up three times in total before it has served its purpose."

Three opportunities to win. Three opportunities to bond with its mech pilots. Three opportunities to spread the Ylvainan gospel.

As the time limit of the design and build phase of the tournament came to an end, a loud buzzer rang throughout the entire competition stage.

[Time is up! All of your equipment is locked down at the moment. Please follow the projected guide to the side where we will proceed to match up your newly-produced mechs with our candidate mech pilots.]

Every participants moved away from the center while a large amount of heavy equipment was being moved.

All of the desk terminals along with the Korok Alpha superfabs simultaneously sunk underneath the floor.

Bots emerged from above in order to clean up any miscellaneous materials and other junk that some of the mech designers produced for whatever reason.

Meanwhile, all of the competition mechs began to hover in the air. They slowly gathered together until they were all placed in several rows before the main presentation stage.

At this time, numerous mech pilots stepped forward. One of the most important moments of the High Tide Tournament had come.

A mech was nothing without a mech pilot. It was essential to pair the newly-made competition mechs with the appropriate people.

Hysphalin Industries supplied all of the mech pilots for its own tournament. It employed a lot of mech pilots, so it was not that difficult to bring a couple of hundred of them to this event.

There were more mech pilots than mechs. This was because not every mech pilot was suitable for every machine. The tournament organizer had to bring in plenty of spares in order to prevent an unfortunate mismatch between piloting specializations and mech types.

Even then, not every mech pilot was the same. Even if Hysphalin Industries tried its best to select those of equal strength, their skills, their combat experience, their habits, their faults and other variables differed remarkably from person to person.

For this reason, the tournament adopted a matching process that accounted for this inherent inequality.

Every mech pilot was ranked by comprehensive strength. Those who ranked higher could make their selection first. Of course, if they didn't like any of the competition mechs, they were allowed to step back and let others pick a mech.

Fairness could not be guaranteed, so this step was meant to reward the contestants who worked harder and put more effort into their work.

After a short delay where the announcers and commentators hyped up this momentous occasion, the first mech pilot finally stepped up in order to announce his choice!

[Hestinia Claes is the top-ranked mech pilot among this gathering. With twenty years of experience, she has fought numerous skirmishes and is a veteran in both the arena and the competition stage. She is a rare all-rounder who is highly proficient in piloting most mech types, though she possesses a general preference for well-armored machines. Now, let us hear which of the 94 competition mechs that our contestants have produced today has earned her favor.]

Just like the hundreds of other mech pilots, the uniformed woman had observed the design and build phase from beginning to end. Though she did not possess a technical background, she could still figure out which competition mech was stronger and what kind of properties they possessed.

"I choose the Dominant, the mech designed by Ereben Seinlin." She announced.

The crowd did not react with too much surprise at her choice.

[As expected! The work of Ereben Seinlin is one of the best mechs produced in this tournament. The Dominant possesses numerous appealing properties. Its theoretical performance is excellent. It is an offensive knight mech that possesses both superb defense and surprisingly strong mobility for its mech type. Its design is elaborate and incorporates many additional features that are lacking in other competition mechs such as secondary ranged weapon systems. The other knight mechs developed by Mr. Seinlin's rivals may be strong in their own ways, but they aren't as multi-dimensional as the Dominant!]

Ves and many of his other competitors regarded Ereben Seinlin with a great amount of dread. It would be supremely unlucky for them if their own works got matched against the Dominant!

"What a strong mech."

Even though Ves had been absorbed in his own work for a long time, it did not take an extended inspection to recognize that the Dominant was truly deserving of its name!

Its design was highly advanced and looked as if a Journeyman had spent twenty or thirty hours on it! It was not only more refined, but also incorporated powerful systems that were difficult to integrate in a mech design in a short amount of time.

Ves directed his glance towards Ereben Seinlin. The man was clearly a centrist, someone who grew up in the most prosperous region of human space.

Although people were regularly befuddled why second-rate states even existed in such a hotspot, there were slums and run-down areas in every part of space. If mansions could exist alongside slums, relatively downtrodden states could also exist next to the borders of the Greater United Terran Confederation or the New Rubarth Empire!

Sometimes, these states were based in relatively resource-poor regions that did not have the potential to support a first-class population.

Other times, these weaker states served as buffer territories that put a healthy amount of separation between multiple first-rate states.

However, just because people like Ereben Seinlin didn't grow up in a first-rate state didn't mean he was as poor as a second-rater in the galactic rim!

"This guy's augmentations is probably at least three times more capable than mine!" Ves muttered.

He was envious towards these mech designers who possessed a better starting point. Ereben Seinlin was much more productive than others due to his powerful augmentations.

Once Hestinia Claes confirmed her choice and moved to a preparation area in order to familiarize herself with her selection, the second-ranked mech pilot announced his choice.

Ves and many other contestants grew uncomfortable as the best mech pilots all chose mechs designed by their most formidable rivals.

The competition mechs made by centrists such as Ereben Seinlin and Katien Tievos were selected nearly right away. The next batch of mech pilots mostly opted for the strongest-looking mechs designed by the Journeymen with the brightest prospects.

For example, the 9th ranked mech pilot settled for the Hell Raider designed by Michael Arven Emistes.

[The Hell Raider is a fine mech that exemplifies the experience of its maker. Though it is not the most brilliant mech, its design is highly refined and incorporates numerous elegant design solutions. This hybrid mech will do no wrong regardless of the opponent it matches up against!]

If any of the contestants had reached 99 years old like Mr. Emistes, they could have easily designed a similar machine!

As Ves feared that all of the better mech pilots would settle for the works of heartlanders, the 16th ranked mech pilot finally stepped forward.

"I choose the Pontifical Lance, the mech designed Ves Larkinson."

What?!

[What a surprising choice.] A commentator remarked. [There are four lancer mechs in this tournament, and the Pontifical Lance is not an obvious first choice. It is the only lancer mech designed by a mech designer from the galactic rim, but it appears that Gregory Haloscar sees more in this fine-looking machine.]

Gregory Haloscar was indeed a lancer mech specialist, so he surely knew what to do with the Pontifical Lance. It was just that he could have easily selected three other lancer mechs, none of whom looked weak.

Ves was happy that he managed to hook a fairly strong mech pilot. The guy might not have reached the top 10 among the gathered mech pilots, but he was definitely the strongest lancer mech pilot!

"It looks like I did a good job at making my mech more attractive." He grinned.

One of the openings of this selection process was that the mech designers didn't necessarily have to choose the strongest mechs.

They might have preferences for specific configurations that did not show up in the mechs designed by the favorites of the tournament.

They may be more attracted to better-looking mechs as opposed to the machines that looked like semi-finished lumps of metals.

The glow of the Pontifical Lance may have already played a role in winning over a stronger lancer mech pilot.

Whatever the case, Ves was a lot more optimistic about his chances. The Pontifical Lance was in the right hands as far as he was concerned!