The Mech Touch

Several major developments took place that affected the Larkinson Clan!

For one, the colonial government had finally released a detailed agenda of the founding ceremony!

The information released by the authorities not only exposed how the historical occasion would proceed, but also contained plenty of additional details about all of the celebratory events that would ensue.

The Davute Alliance that would soon become the rulers of the new state spent lavishly in order to foster an optimistic mood and generate an increased sense of belonging to all of the upcoming citizens of the colonial state.

As such, Davute VII was about to host a large number of parties, performances, exhibitions and tournaments in the 7 days following the crucial day of founding!

Naturally, every Larkinson wanted to take part in the celebrations. The clan leaders hastily adjusted everyone's schedules so that most of them would be able to enjoy at least three days of shore leave.

Due to the sensitive nature of founding a new state, Ves and many other leaders of the clan did not want to hollow out the expeditionary fleet too much at this time. The Larkinsons needed to have enough forces on standby in order to respond to any possible terrorist attacks or other crises.

Of course, the highest-ranking personnel such as Ves and his fellow mech designers had nothing to worry about. They had all of the time in the Red Ocean to attend as many events as they wanted over this time period.

Ves decided to summon all of the lead designers of the Design Department to a meeting at the Genesis Lab in the Cat Nest.

With the temporary absence of the Spirit of Bentheim, the entire Design Department had temporarily moved its operations back to the design lab and workshop facility on Davute VII where they previously worked for 5 straight years.

To some of the mech designers who had joined the Larkinson Clan after its arrival in the Red Ocean, the Genesis Lab felt much more like home to them than the Spirit of Bentheim.

Once Ketis arrived from the training ground where she had just ended her swordsmanship practice, Ves nodded towards the people seated around the conference table.

"Alright, everyone is here. You all know what this is about, but just to make it clear, this is the schedule of events that Davute is planning to organize in the days following the founding ceremony."

The conference table projected a large and elaborate timetable. As Davute had grown into a large and bustling colony that also happened to host many additional guests, the colonial government had to organize thousands of large-scale events to give everyone a chance to bond with each other.

Many events happened in the same time slot but at different locations. It was impossible for any single person to attend all of them, so it was vitally important to make a careful selection.

The eyes of many mech designers lit up. Even if they did not possess much of an attachment to Davute, nobody disliked a fun and joyous festival. The parties alone were to die for, and an unprecedented amount of excellent people came within reach!

"Now, I am sure that you have already formed your own plans for the upcoming festival." Ves continued. "What I want to do today is to coordinate our registration for the upcoming mech design tournaments. There are not that many contests that can be held over the span of 7 days. Any of us can only participate in two at the most. My requirement for you is simple. As long as you are strong and flexible enough to compete, I want you to compete in at least one tournament. My goal is to show the strength of our Design Department and prove that while we may be young, we are more than capable of taking on a challenge."

Silence spread after his announcement. Although a few mech designers already made plans to sign up for a few of the contests, it was still a bit annoying to be given an order to compete.

However, Ves was in charge, so he had the final say.

"Gloriana, Miles, Merrill and Cormaunt. The four of you can sit this one out. I won't object if you decide to register for a contest anyway, but I would prefer it if you wait until you have reached a state where you can at least attain a decent ranking. I don't want you to embarrass our clan."

Each of the mech designers mentioned by Ves had no objections to that. They understood their circumstances well enough that they would only perform shamefully in front of the public.

"What are your own plans, Ves?" Gloriana asked.

"I am planning to apply to two different mech design tournaments. The first is the Strange Lands Tournament that is held in the first 3 days of the festival. It's a solo contest that is centered around fighting in exotic and eventful terrain environments."

Not every mech design tournament followed the standard formula. That would get boring really fast and lose the interest of paying viewers and sponsors. This was why a lot of tournaments tried to play around with the variables in order to provide more entertainment and variety.

Ves was interested in this challenge because he felt that the weird conditions might stimulate him into designing an unusual competition mech.

"Once I am done with this solo game, I will proceed straight to the Twin Weapons Tournament that will take place in the following 4 days. For those of you who don't already know, it is a duo mech design tournament where pairs of Journeymen must design two mechs in unison, a melee mech and a ranged mech. Both will be deployed together in 2-on-2 matches. I will need a teammate in order to participate."

That was one of the goals of calling everyone together today. Ves needed to make a strategic choice in order to maximize his chances of earning a higher ranking.

The better he performed, the more renown and reputation he gained!

All of this would make it a lot easier for him to cooperate with different parties and convince more shipyards to produce scout ships and combat carriers for his clan.

He immediately set his sights on his first candidate.

Naturally, the person he had in mind was not Gloriana. Despite the fact that he collaborated extremely well with his wife on many projects, her vehement disgust at the thought of participating in any mech design tournament already ruled out any chance of participation.

"Ketis. We have always been able to work well together in our past collaborations." Ves told the swordsmaster. "The rules of the Twin Weapons Tournament also favor our combination. I am pretty good at designing ranged mechs armed with luminar crystal weapons, while your prowess in designing swordsman mechs is not in doubt. Even if there is no age limit to the Journeyman that are able to apply, I am confident that our combined strength can smash the efforts of every grandpas and grandmas that aim to win the top prizes."

Unlike many of the tournaments held in the Vulit Central Star Node, Davute did not set any age limits to its own contests. This was a deliberate choice on its part as the new colonial state wanted to show off its comprehensive strength and showcase the abilities of its best professionals!

As such, it was highly realistic for Ves and the other Larkinson mech designers to be facing off against seasoned mech designers who were three times older!

The Swordmaiden mech designer frowned. "I don't think that will work out this time, Ves. I need to take part in the Ultimate Warrior Tournament, which is held in the last three days of the event week. The finals of this personal combat competition is scheduled to be held on the final day in order to serve as an excellent climax to the festival. I need to prove my strength in the arena, Ves. It isn't often that I get to lock my blades against the best warriors and soldiers in Davute."

The strong desire to fight and win radiated so much from her Bloodsinger that it seemed as if her floating greatsword had turned into an avatar of bloodlust!

Ves quickly gave in. "Okay, okay! You can do what you want. It's unfortunate that the schedule doesn't work out better for us. We would have made for a great team in the Twin Weapons Tournament."

"Oh, don't worry about not meeting me or my work in the mech arena." Ketis deviously grinned. "I intend to register in the Strange Lands Tournament myself. Don't get knocked out too soon. My swordsman mech will be waiting to beat whatever oddball mech you have designed for this contest."

"I will look forward to testing how far your design skills have come." Ves replied as he looked forward to this possible confrontation as well.

Instead of moving on to his second choice and possibly offending some of his colleagues in the process, he decided to take a more open approach.

"Since Ketis won't be available to team up with me for the Twin Weapons Tournament, who among you wants to work together with me to beat the competition mechs of other interesting mech designers?"

A short silence ensued.

"I have already agreed to work together with my brother." Sara Voiken stated. "A good match in ranged and melee mech design is important, but good teamwork is even more important. There is so little time available that getting in sync with a fellow mech designer can allow us to design much better mechs regardless of our specializations."

Janassa Pellier also settled her teammate in advance. "Tifi and I have made the same conclusion. We might not offer the best combination of specialties for this tournament, but we cooperate much better with each other than with anyone else. We have already come up with a viable strategy to make up for our shortcomings in ranged mech design."

Ves grew a little disappointed. "I see. Is anyone else willing to work by my side? Juliet, how about you? Your specialty should come useful as I have heard that the mech arenas used for the contests will offer plenty of space to maneuver."

The Penitent Sister mech designer already expected to be called out from the moment the other four Journeymen declined the invitation.

Although she did not particularly look enthusiastic at the thought of performing in front of the crowd, the needs of the clan had to be met. Besides, the opportunity to work alongside the clan patriarch was also a great way to get closer to him and pose a few requests.

The woman slowly nodded. "Very well. I will team up with you if that is what you require."

"Good. I have just come up with a few possible mech concepts that we can use to design a pair of synergistic competition mechs. We can discuss this afterwards."

Ves not only satisfied his own tournament applications, but also confirmed that many of the Journeymen under his command would not remain idle.

None of the mech designers who registered to participate were weak, and Ves could count on them to perform decently enough to avoid early elimination.

In truth, it didn't matter if Ketis and the others did not manage to stand out from the crowd.

The only mech designer that had to do well was Ves himself. As the head of the clan, everyone held much higher expectations towards him. It would be devastating if he performed way below the standard that a prominent figure such as himself was supposed to reach.

That said, the rewards for meeting or exceeding those overblown expectations would definitely be stellar!

As Ves felt that he had come closer to advancing to Senior than ever, he became convinced that none of the other Journeymen in Davute could beat him at his own game.

His pride as a mech designer compelled him to win first place! He would settle for nothing less this time!