The Mech Touch

The Wild Brawl Bowl was more than just a mech design competition. The Wild Fighter Association that had recently expanded into the Red Ocean wanted to make its mark in a big way, and it did so by organizing a range of activities.

Many of the guests had come for one of these many spectacles. The Wild Fighter Association expected that millions more visitors would come to view the brutal bloodsport tournament that was scheduled to start a few days later.

Antarix Mech Armaments, the main sponsor of the Wild Brawl Bowl, also attracted a lot of interest by unveiling the latest series of weapon models that the weapon manufacturer had developed in cooperation with the Wild Fighter Association.

The people here were much different than the ones that attended the High Tide Tournament. There were more men than women and there weren't as many mech designers among the crowd.

The main halls were filled with loud talking, spilled drinks that bots were straining to clean up and wild music blasting from every corner!

All of this activity led to a boisterous atmosphere that made Ves feel as if he had entered a folk celebration rather than a mech design tournament.

Fortunately for Ves, he and his entourage didn't need to press through the drunk and loud crowd of visitors in order to reach his destination.

A bot quickly arrived in front of him and led his group to a special elevator that brought them all underground.

After navigating through a maze of underground corridors, they eventually reached a checkpoint. Though the guards weren't allowed to proceed, Ves and his cat made it through without much issue after he confirmed his identity.

"We're almost there. I can already sense her." He said.

"Meow."

After taking another elevator and passing through a few more corridors, he entered a private reception hall that was filled with over a hundred distinguished guests and members of the Wild Fighter Association.

Despite the wide open windows that gave them all an excellent view of the activities taking place at ground level, the noise from the venue hardly penetrated into the reception hall.

Ves did not have to gaze around in order to find the person he wanted to meet up first. Her presence was so sharp and powerful that he could seek her out with his eyes closed!

What surprised him quite a bit was that a second strong presence had come as well. As he neared the center of the hall, it became increasingly clear that the two Larkinsons had arrived earlier were at the center of attention!

"Hey, Ketis."

"Ves! You're here now!"

"Meow."

"Oh, I missed you too, Lucky." Ketis grinned as Lucky jumped into her arms.

"I didn't expect you to come as well, Venerable Dise."

The older woman smiled. "I want to support Ketis and I'm quite interested in this festival. A lot of Swordmaidens and Heavensworders have already come to cheer Ketis on and enjoy what else the Wild Fighter Association is offering."

Expert pilots were prohibited from participating in any tournaments in the Vulit Central Star Node, so Venerable Dise was quite free during this time. Her presence in a place like this already attracted a lot of attention from the surrounding mech designers and Wild Fighter officials!

In fact, Ketis attracted just as much attention. Her palpable strength and her sheathed greatsword made it hard for people believe that she was a mech designer!

A group of important-looking Wild Fighters had actually been engaging the two Swordmaidens in conversation before Ves appeared.

Now, their leader greeted Ves with an enthusiastic expression. The man immediately walked up and took Ves' hand.

"Patriarch Larkinson! What a pleasure to meet you! I am Thaprim Kadar, the Regional Director of the Wild Fighter Association at this branch. Welcome to our party! We are so glad that you and your remarkable partner have chosen to participate in our tournament."

Director Kadar was a tall and burly man who kept up his strength even as age took a toll on his body. He held himself like a quintessential fighter who could still throw a mean punch if he wished.

When Ves quietly used his implant to look up the director, he found out that Thaprim Kadar was a retired axeman mech pilot.

His mech piloting days were long over, but he was still fit enough to rank high in various different tournaments. He even managed to become the runner-up of an axe-throwing competition!

Why was a high-ranking official directing so much attention to him? He never received this treatment back when he participated in the previous tournament. He only met with attendants and other lower-level officials at the time.

Ves raised his eyebrows. "We're happy to be here. Why are you so pleased to meet me, if I might ask?"

"We've managed to increase our ticket sales by 30 percent in the last few days after hyping up your team! Who could ever imagine that a swordmaster could also be a Journeyman? Miss Ketis is an immense inspiration to many people! Who says that fighters like us are all stupid? Her existence proves all of the naysayers wrong!"

Ves wasn't so sure about that, but he refrained from voicing his doubts.

"Ketis is definitely an interesting mech designer. This is her first design tournament, so I hope you can accommodate her. I want her first time to be pleasant and memorable."

"We cannot bend the rules for any single person. We are still obliged to hold a fair tournament. However, I think that you and Miss Ketis will find yourself at a considerable advantage once the Wild Brawl Bowl finally starts. With the understanding of a swordmaster and the design prowess of the third-place winner of the High Tide Tournament, I believe in your team's prospects. It's becoming increasingly more clear that your team is the one to beat."

Huh?

"We're… the favorites?"

The director of the local branch of the Wild Fighter Association grinned and clapped his meaty hand against his shoulder. "Don't act so modest! I've studied the mechs you've designed. I have a feeling that a lot of my members will want to get their hands on your work. There's just something deep and primal about them that makes me want to come out of retirement. Has your clan already begun to sell its products in this market?"

"Not yet. We've just arrived and we're still in the process of setting up the logistics and sales channels of our mech company."

"I wish you good luck in that. If you and your fellow colleague are able to meet everyone's expectations in the Wild Brawl Bowl, then I might be able to connect you with two or three of our business partners."

"You would do that for us?" Ves asked with a touch of surprise in his tone.

"A talent like Miss Ketis shouldn't be buried. As long as she is able to prove to all of us that she has what it takes to be a great swordsman mech designer, our association is more than happy to facilitate her work. Yours as well, of course. A few of our board members even wish to arrange a trading contract with you on the spot, but let's not be too hasty. It's better for us all to see in person whether your team deserves to be the favorites to win the Wild Brawl Bowl."

The two chatted a bit further but Ves still remained bewildered. He expected to be treated as a marginal figure from the galactic rim again, but Ketis completely changed the equation!

Perhaps she might not have attracted so much attention if she took part in a more 'normal' event such as the High Tide Tournament.

However, the competition organized by the Wild Fighter Association was all about designing and building melee mechs!

Although a sufficient number of talented Journeymen who were less than fifty years old had signed up, they could only be so good due to their limited age.

Any extra advantage could make a huge difference in this competition, and a mech designer who possessed much better swordsmanship than practically any fighter in the venue was an absolute treasure!

Though the jubilant director wanted to spend more time with Ves and Ketis, he had other duties to attend to. He soon left the reception hall in order to prepare for the start of the Wild Brawl Bowl.

Ves was left wondering whether Director Kadar was sincere about facilitating valuable new connections with crucial business.

No one was willing to work for free.

In addition, there was always a greater game at play when people offered to put their network at someone else's disposal.

Perhaps the man wanted to steer the Larkinson Clan into the sphere of influence of the Wild Fighter Association. By binding the Larkinsons to its fixed business partners, they became inextricably tied to the Wild Fighters?

Still, Ves was not in a position to refuse this potential help. The Larkinson Clan truly needed to gain the favor of crucial business partners in order to obtain raw materials and commission additional starships.

The stakes of the tournament just went higher. Ves had to make sure he and Ketis entered into the top ranks!

He directed his attention towards his competitors. Due to the entry requirements, none of them were old, so their spiritual strengths all fell within a certain range.

The mech designers came from all across the old galaxy, so their bearing and clothes differed considerably.

There was one team that looked to be a pair of siblings. It was rare for a single family to produce two Journeymen.

The brother and sister happened to notice Ves glancing at them and smiled back as they approached.

"Good morning, Mr. Larkinson."

Since Ves and Ketis were apparently the favorites in this tournament, their names were already known by others.

"Good morning. Who might you be?" Ves asked politely.

"Sara Voiken." The slightly younger woman introduced.

"Dulo Voiken. We're brothers and sisters, if you haven't already guessed. We come from a lineage of mech designers from the galactic heartland. We grew up learning the same lessons and attended the same mech university as we took our family's profession."

Ves looked quite impressed. "How many mech designers are there in your family?"

"Hundreds." Sara shrugged.

"How many of them are Journeymen or higher?"

Dula smirked. "All of them. We don't take Novices and Apprentices into considering. They can't inherit and continue our true traditions."

Hearing that the Voikens possessed over a hundreds high-ranking mech designers caused Ves to take them a lot more seriously!

He already had an inkling that Sara and Dulo Voiken might become one of his most challenging opponents in the Wild Brawl Bowl.

"Who is your…"

"Our ancestor is a Master Mech Designer." Sara answered Ves' question before he could finish voicing it. "He's over 300 years old and managed to rise up while mechs became increasingly more mature. We've learned quite a few lessons from him. He takes care of all of us so that we can make the Voiken Family stronger and potentially take over from him one day."

The Voiken Family sounded like something Ves wanted to establish in the future. How nice would it be to tutor so many talented descendants who had all followed in his footsteps as a mech designer?

"I imagine the two of you have quite the surprise in store for this tournament." Ves remarked.

Dulo Voiken smirked. "We do have to rely on a couple of tricks in order to beat your team. There is much at stake and I do not intend to give up on the fleet carrier."

"Well, good luck then. I look forward to comparing our works in this tournament."

The two of them were competitors, but they also maintained respect for each other… Each of them wanted to beat the others by relying on superior design ability. Only a fair competition would allow them to compare each other's strength in a fair manner!