The Mech Touch

Ves Larkinson and Ketis Larkinson won first place in a mech design tournament!

This news not only shocked the entire Golden Skull Alliance, but also made other people in the Red Ocean take note!

The extraordinary performance of the Heart of Victor in its final match had already turned into a legendary moment.

This mech duel turned into one of the rare instances where a regular mech pilot managed to wield the power of an expert pilot!

Even though it only lasted for an instant, this was an opportunity that countless mech pilots dreamed of experiencing!

Everyone thought that getting exposed to the power of an expert pilot in advance would help put them on the right path of becoming one themselves!

Though this theory had never been proven right, just the inkling that it could increase the chance of a breakthrough generated a lot more interest in Ketis Larkinson and the Larkinson Clan!

The sheer amount of interest attracted by this instance threatened to overshadow the Wild Brawl Bowl!

Not that the Wild Fighter Association minded it. The organization was making a killing since the news had spread!

Hardly anyone paid attention to the award ceremony and instead paid money to watch or rewatch the high-quality footage of the entire duel.

When Director Thaprim Kadar personally handed over the so-called Wild Bowl to Team Larkinson, Ves was already thinking about how he could convince the organization to give him a bigger cut of the profits of the tournament.

After all, it was only due to Team Larkinson's efforts that the Wild Brawl Bowl's viewership numbers had exploded!

Before Ves could even bring up the topic, the director threw him a grin and patted him on the shoulder.

"I've taken the liberty of replacing the fleet carrier in the prize pool with a larger and more powerful one. The original fleet carrier we intended to award you has a mech capacity of 400 mechs. The new one has a mech capacity of 650 mechs. Not only that, she also possesses other advantages. Consider this a 'thank you' for all of the publicity that you have generated for the Wild Fighter Association."

Ves became pleasantly surprised. It appeared that Director Kadar was quite clever and good at interpersonal relationships. A man in his position certainly had to know how to maintain relationships in order to do well in a central location like Vulit.

"Your gesture is much appreciated. I look forward to receiving this larger fleet carrier." He responded.

"There's just one complication, patriarch. The fleet carrier that I intend to award to you is a pre-owned vessel. To be more exact, she is a ship that is currently in service on behalf of the Wild Fighter Association. I am still in the process of convincing headquarters to bequeath her to your clan. This cannot be done in a couple of hours. Even if we rush the administration as much as possible, it will still take at least a week to round out the paperwork. It will take even longer to clear out the entire vessel of crew, mechs and cargo. I believe we should be able to hand her over to you before your fleet departs the Vulit Central Star Node."

Fleet carriers were strategic assets that organizations rarely wished to part with. The ship that Director Kadar was talking about must definitely have been brought over to the Red Ocean from the Milky Way. Such vessels were precious even for large entities like the Wild Fighter Organization because there was a huge bottleneck in local production of capital ships.

Large and well-built fleet carriers were even more crucial in the early stages of the colonization of the Red Ocean! Each of them was a powerful means for pioneers to project their power while on the move.

Though Ves suspected that this fleet carrier was not the best that the Wild Fighter Association could part with, it was already a pretty nice upgrade. Expanding the mech capacity of the Larkinson fleet by 250 mechs was an extremely precious gift!

"We do not mind waiting a couple of weeks to obtain a larger fleet carrier. My clan will assist however it can to assist with the handover process." Ves told the regional director.

"That will certainly be helpful. Do you need help with staffing your capital ship?"

"No need. We have a surplus of spacers in our clan after we offloaded all of our old sub-capital ships."

The two chatted for a short while afterwards. Through these talks, Director Kadar clearly conveyed the desire to pursue greater cooperation with the Larkinson Clan.

Ves was quite happy to conduct business with the Wild Fighter Association, but he was not eager to get into bed with strangers.

He knew little about this organization. What was its size? Who was its leader? What were its policies? How much influence did it wield? What was its military strength? What were its objectives in the Red Ocean? Who were its enemies?

There were so many unknowns surrounding this large association that Ves did not dare to make any solid promises on the spot.

This was a job best suited for professionals. Someone as experienced and wily as Minister Shederin Purnesse would definitely be able to avoid all of the traps and pitfalls that were inherent with these kinds of talks.

"Please have your representatives contact the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Larkinson Clan." He spoke with an easy smile. "We are open to many forms of cooperation, though we are primarily interested in forging business-related ties at the moment."

"Understood. I hope our Wild Fighter Association will be able to receive your mechs one day."

The director soon moved on to chatting with Ketis. The older man became a lot more enthused with talking to the star of the show.

Fortunately, Ketis was smart enough to know what she was allowed to say and what she should withhold. Ves had no worries that his fellow mech designer would spill anything inconvenient or make promises that she wasn't allowed to make.

He looked down at the large 'bowl' in his hands. This was the symbolic reward for his first-place finish in the tournament.

The bowl looked as if a random mech technician took a piece of scrap from a mech wreck and crudely bashed it into the shape of a bowl. The object was made out of worn, uncoated metal alloy that only received a shallow cleaning cycle that failed to wipe away all of the oil stains and scorch marks.

"Typical."

Ves didn't mind the crudeness of this trophy. Though it looked sloppy at first glance, his craftsmanship perspective recognized that it was actually quite harmonious.

Every chaotic element and every rough mark seemed to come into a whole. While the bowl was not elegant, there was a savage beauty in this artwork that resonated with Ves' sense of craftsmanship.

"Whoever made this bowl is a true artisan, that's for sure." Ves muttered.

The quality and artistic value of this trophy far exceeded that of the cheap bronze cup that he received in his previous mech design tournament.

Although it was only a small gesture, Ves truly became impressed by the thoughtfulness of the Wild Fighter Association.

Despite their crude image and behavior, the Wild Fighters were relatively honest, sincere and straightforward. Ves became more open to entering into a business relationship with them as long as they negotiated in good faith.

A lot happened after the conclusion of the Wild Brawl Bowl.

First, the MTA issued a rare directive that prompted every tournament held after the Wild Brawl Bowl to amend their standard rules.

The key sentence of this directive directly popped Ketis' bubble.

[A mech designer is not allowed to provide active assistance to the mech or mech pilot that is performing in a competitive event. Barring any exemptions, a mech or mech pilot must solely rely on the elements within the boundaries of the staging area.]

A small bomb exploded in Chance Bay after the MTA made this announcement.

It became pretty clear that the directive was a direct response to Ketis Larkinson's actions in the final match of the Wild Brawl Bowl!

Apparently, she utilized her formidable swordmaster powers to amplify the performance of her competition mech!

Though a lot of people already figured this out, they never obtained confirmation from a reputable source until now. This was absolutely astounding and would have created a greater ripple effect if the MTA hadn't put its foot down.

If the mechers didn't restrict Ketis from using this power, she would have been able to sweep every mech design tournament she signed up for! Not only that, her competition mechs would have become a lot more life-threatening once they began to wield the power of an expert mech.

For better or worse, she had to be stopped.

"Aw…" Ketis looked despondent after she received the news. "How am I supposed to compete in the next tournaments I signed up for? I was looking forward to winning more ships!"

"Don't be surprised. You basically cheated, you know." Ves pointed out. "It's just that the mech community never anticipated that something like this was possible, so they never wrote anything in the rules that prohibited your behavior. You should be lucky that the MTA and the Wild Brawl Bowl did not retroactively apply the new rules and invalidate our final win. This means we get to keep our new fleet carrier."

Ketis looked a bit happier after that. To be honest, she found her previous conduct to be a bit dishonorable. She did not become the champion of the Wild Brawl Bowl by virtue of her design capabilities. She won because she leveraged her non-mech designer powers.

Team Hammerfall was truly the better design team in that tournament. The dwarves should have won first place if she fully abided by the spirit of the rules.

The fleet carrier was too important, though. Though Ketis cared about her honor, she cared about her fellow sisters and Larkinsons even more. If she had to play dirty in order to strengthen the Larkinson Clan's ability to defend itself, then she was more willing to roll in the mud!

"I see you understand." Ves smiled. "You did good back then. Don't let anyone take that away from you. As for your subsequent tournaments, just do your best and challenge yourself. Even if you don't manage to win any prizes, you will still be able to accrue a lot of experience. That is invaluable for you since you lack so much of it at the moment."

Ves, Ketis and many other Larkinsons did not rest and continued to participate in other tournaments.

Though Ves attracted a lot more attention whenever he signed up for a mech design tournament, his results were relatively mixed.

He failed to win the subsequent tournaments he took part in with the time he had left.

He admittedly overestimated his capabilities and tried to compete in larger tournaments where the competition was substantially stiffer.

Ves did not regret his choices. Even if he did not succeed in beating all of his opponents, he still managed to pass on a few extra combat carriers to his clan.

What was also important was that Ves and his fellow Larkinsons fully introduced themselves to the Red Ocean community.

He fully realized that one of the reasons why so many tournaments took place in Vulit was because they were great opportunities for pioneers and organizations to familiarize themselves with each other.

The better performers often proved themselves worthy for greater cooperation. It became easier and easier for the Larkinsons to get their foot in the door when it came to accessing new markets, forging new trade agreements and getting in touch with potential strategic partners.

As the weeks went by, the time of the Golden Skull Alliance's stay in the Vulit Central Star Node was soon coming to a close.

The fees the Larkinsons and its allies had to pay in order to stay in this haven of civilization had become increasingly more unbearable. It was not worth it for them to stay in this star system any longer.

As the Larkinson Clan was about to prepare for the start of its true expedition, the clansmen became busier than ever!