The Mech Touch

Ves continued to chat with various other teams. He managed to get acquainted with many different mech designers in the short period of time before the start of the tournament.

Each of them were talented, capable, confident or well-prepared. They had to be in order to have the guts to compete in this kind of tournament.

The relatively low age restriction of the Wild Brawl Bowl did not attract as many weaklings as Ves initially thought. Even if the mech designers didn't have to compete against 99-year old Journeymen with many decades of experience under his belt, they still swore off in fear of ending at the bottom of the rankings.

None of the competitors could fall back on the excuse that they were only beaten because they had to confront mech designers who were three times older than themselves!

Although everyone who signed up for the Wild Brawl Bowl essentially belonged to the same generation, Ves still found it interesting to note the diversity of the teams.

Some of them consisted of family members. The Voikan Team was a good example. Ves expected them to display an impressive degree of cooperation in the tournament.

Others were apparently strangers who were forced to team up because they couldn't compete alone. Their coordination might not be up to standard but their skills were never in question.

Mech designers at this level didn't need to be familiar with each other to design a good mech. They just had to define each other's responsibilities beforehand so they could do their best without stepping on each other's toes.

As the main competition hall began to fill up, the Wild Brawl Bowl finally commenced!

[LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! GET READY TO WITNESS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FINEST AND MOST BRUTAL MECHS IN CHANCE BAY!]

The opening ceremony was more festive and elaborate this time. Several notable bands stepped onto the stage and began to pump up the crowd with their high tempo music.

Ves had the illusion that he had mistakenly entered a rock concert rather than a mech design tournament.

If that wasn't enough, the Wild Fighter Association held an impromptu cage match tournament where numerous fighters entered a cage and began to beat each other up with great violence!

Although the violence and brutality of these cage matches were over-the-top, the risks to the fighters weren't actually great. As professional athletes, they underwent heavy, targeted augmentation that massively reinforced their heads and vital organs.

Concussions, bone fractures and organ failure were not a particularly great concern to them. Even if they screwed up, the Wild Fighter Association employed the same kind of protection system that ensured that mech duels remained death-free.

As a result, the fighters freely spilled a lot of blood! They not only knew how to fight, but also excelled at making their fight as spectacular as possible!

Once the audience enjoyed a good show, the main event of the Wild Brawl Bowl was about to start.

[Now that we've shown what we hope the upcoming competition mechs will display, let us introduce the 32 teams that shall be fighting to win our much-coveted bowl! First up is Team Blackspot!]

The pairs of mech designers went up the stage one by one. The announcers spent a considerable amount of effort into hyping them up. It helped that many of the mech designers were all notable in their own ways.

Several teams stood out to Ves. They were serious contenders who could easily produce a formidable competition mech.

[Team Voiken consists of Sara and Dulo Voiken! Hailing from the renowned mech designer family of the same name, both of them have grown up alongside many other passionate mech designers for their entire lives. The sister specializes in defensive systems while the brother excels in designing spearman mechs. Whatever mech they are about to design will probably be difficult to take down!]

Ves already experienced how annoying it was to fight against mechs with superior defenses. The ability to resist fatal blows and tank a lot more damage than their opponents gave them additional chances to win their matches.

However, it remained to be seen whether the presumed defensive focus of Team Voiken's mech still performed well in other aspects. A spearman mech needed to be at least decently fast and maneuverable in order to make full play of their strength in a dueling setting.

[Team Destiny is made up of a pair of best friends forever who have decided to see if they have what it takes to beat all of their peers! Janassa Pellier and Tifi Coslone are not only close friends, but also the direct disciples of a prominent Master Mech Designer back in the galactic rim of the old galaxy. The two of them have made the bold decision to leave their familiar pastures in order to find their own opportunities in the Red Ocean. Miss Pellier and Miss Coslone both excel at designing mechanically strong mechs.]

The combination between Janassa Pellier and Tifi Coslone followed a different pattern from many of the other teams.

Instead of pairing two different mech designers together, both members of the team possessed near-identical specialties.

Although they probably weren't able to attain the same degree of synergy as Team Voiken, they were probably so similar and familiar with each other that they were effectively the same mech designer!

Ves could already imagine the dynamic within their team. As students from the same teacher, they weren't capable of producing greater variety, but they were able to concentrate much more on their shared specialty!

"Perhaps the combination of their teamwork will produce a result that is similar to a single mech designer with twice as much time to design a mech."

Besides, who said that their design philosophies were completely identical? Every Journeyman had to find their own way. They would never be able to achieve greater success if they continued to rely on another mech designer's accomplishments.

[Team Hammerfall features the only dwarven mech designers in our lovely competition! Rondal Crenstin and his wife Gisella Crenstin have left the galactic heartland and come to our tournament to prove that heavy gravity variant humans can design a mean mech as well! Mrs. Crenstin specialization is no surprise. She excels in designing the typically dwarven hammerman mechs. What is more interesting is that Mr. Rondal Crenstin specializes in mobility systems! I suspect they will become their specialty to produce remarkably faster hammer-wielding mechs than usual!]

Ves ordinarily had no reason to pay attention to this random team, but the short and stocky statures of this husband and wife duo were absolutely unusual.

He hadn't seen any dwarves in Chance Bay up until now. Dwarves were much rarer than normal humans, but that didn't explain why there were so few in a busy star system like the Vulit Central Star Node.

Where did all of the dwarves go once they entered the Red Ocean? Had they already fallen under the sway of the Iron Emperor?

He shook his head. That was way too fast. Rion Aaden could not possibly command every dwarf in the entirety of human space so soon!

Both Rondal and Gisella had already noticed Ves and Ketis. Their expressions grew grave and their eyes became filled with hatred as they stared daggers at the Larkinsons!

Ves ignored their challenging stares. If they were offended by him, then the only way they could retaliate was to design a better mech.

He was not afraid of competition.

The teams kept getting announced until only a single one was left. The fact that the announcer left Ves and Ketis for last said a lot about the Wild Fighter Association's evaluation of their design abilities!

[Now, to cap off this introduction, Team Larkinson has come to prove that they are the definite authority on swordsman mechs in this tournament! This team consists of a superstar duo with a whole list of accomplishments, some of which they have earned in battle! Both of them have fought and spilled more blood than the majority of our members. In fact, if you count the amount of deaths that the Larkinsons have indirectly caused because of their decisions, then the body count of their prominent patriarch and founder of the clan has reached the billions!]

Ves repeatedly twitched as the announcer highlighted his bloody track record!

What was strange was that instead of generating disgust, the audience all cheered as if causing the deaths of billions of people was something to be celebrated!

It helped that a bloody series of cage matches had just taken place. The target audience of the Wild Brawl Bowl were considerably more tolerant of indiscriminate bloodshed than other people!

[However, the highlight of this team is not its male half. Though Patriarch Ves Larkinson has become a legendary figure in his home star sector, the female half of the team is much closer to our hearts! Ketis Larkinson is the first swordmaster that has also become a Journeyman! She is the smartest fighter that we will ever meet. She can wield her enormous blade with unmatched fluency! She can handedly defeat nearly all of our renowned fighters who have gathered in this competition hall! She has even managed to fabricate a masterwork mech sword for one of the Larkinson Clan's expert mechs! If she is not regarded as the embodiment of talent, then no is! Please wish her good luck as she participates in her first design tournament!]

The crowd already stood up and roared before the announcer had finished his spiel.

It turned out that the Wild Fighter Association already promoted all of Ketis' many feats before this point!

Ves didn't even know how they managed to find out some of the more obscure details about Ketis. The Wild Fighter Association acted as if Ketis was already one of their figureheads!

Fortunately, this excessive introduction finally had to make way for the next phase of the tournament.

Once the audience were introduced to all 32 teams, the tournament moved on to one of the most important steps and one that could make or break the mech designers!

The lights darkened as hundreds of mech pilots descended from above like falling stars. Each of them were consummate Wild Fighters who had volunteered to pilot the mechs.

A random selection of 20 mech pilots lit up. The first team had the privilege of selecting the mech pilot who had the honor of representing the mech designers in battle.

In order to facilitate the decision, several information panels appeared in the air that provided crucial information about the mech pilots.

[Team Youngbuck! You have the honor of making the first selection. Choose well.]

Team Youngbuck consisted of a pair of 28-year old lovers. Despite their lack of experience, the principal reason why Gerxer Dardan and Olivander Peese had the guts to compete in the Wild Brawl Bowl was because they originated from the galactic center!

What Ves found troublesome was that Mr. Dardan specialized in swordsman mechs while Mr. Peese specialized in energy swords.

Though he wasn't afraid of comparing his work against theirs, the problem was that Team Youngbuck was able to claim the best swordsman mech pilot in the tournament!

The pilot selection process was set up in a way that presented the best mech pilots among the Wild Fighters first. The ones that stepped up afterwards were usually not as good as the ones that had already been picked.

Dardan and Peese shared a single glance before the former announced their choice.

"We have chosen Giles Harnacher!"

Giles Harnacher! Ves instantly became upset as Team Youngbuck successfully reeled in the swordsman mech pilot with the best accomplishments among his peers.

"It's okay, Ves." Ketis whispered to him as she continued to tickle Lucky's head. "Giles Harnacher is good, but he's not a pure swordsman. There are other swordsman mech pilots in the pool that are much more dedicated to the sword than Mr. Harnacher."

"Does that even matter?"

"It does. You'll see. Just allow me to select the right mech pilot."

"Okay. I trust you, but I hope you make a careful choice."

It didn't take long for Team Larkinson to come up. Both Ves and Ketis were on the younger side compared to most of the Journeymen in the tournament.

[Team Larkinson! Your time has come! Please step up and select your mech pilot from these twenty fine lads. Which swordsman mech pilot among them has earned your confidence?]

Though not all twenty eligible mech pilots specialized in swordsman mechs, at least five of them were proficient in controlling them. As far as everyone was concerned, the other fifteen mech pilots were irrelevant in this selection.

Only true swordsmen fell into Ketis' considerations!