The Mech Touch

The third challenge match was certainly a close shave.

If not for the fact that the Eclis Zemo was an atypical striker mech that turned out to be really bad at fending off threats at close range, the Fey Fianna might not have been able to secure its second victory of the day.

"Good match." Ves smiled as he exuded evident relief from the favorable outcome of this match. "If the rotary cannons of your mech did not jam so quickly, perhaps my Fey Fianna might not have succeeded in securing this victory."

"There is no need to belittle your work, Professor Larkinson. Your Fey Fianna model deserves all of the praise that it has received over the last two days. It is an honor for you to grant my Eclis Zemo a chance to test its fighting ability against your work."

Master Acze Redmond did not sound upset about the loss of his work at all. Though he did not manage to burnish his new mech model with a win against a powerful mech, its performance during most of the fight was good enough to impress many people.

No one thought that the Eclis Zemo was weak for using 'primitive' and 'outdated' ballistic weapon systems anymore.

Though the rotary cannons exhibited numerous obvious shortcomings, they were exceptionally powerful at intercepting lots of ordnance and small craft at a certain range!

There were numerous cases where such a striker mech could play a useful role.

The mech also had another advantage. Despite being armed with two large firearms, the Eclis Zemo was relatively easy to pilot. Mech pilots with lower aptitudes should easily be able to make themselves useful after they had gotten used to the striker mech.

One Eclis Zemo might not present a significant threat, but what about a dozen of them? What about a hundred of them? The suppression they could exert was not small!

Ves had certainly learned a few more lessons from this match. He became awfully disappointed at the Fey Fianna's poor showing against the Eclis Zemo. His work was unable to last long against the firepower of a pair of low-tech hyper weapons.

If this was the case, then enemies who wanted to make targeted measures against the Fey Fianna would just have to bring a lot more rapid-fire weapons in order to torment his mechs!

Ves already started to think about how he could plug the weaknesses revealed in this challenge match. He was rather grateful for Master Redmond's challenge.

If the man had not taken the initiative to send out his Eclis Zemo, then Ves wouldn't have learned about this major shortcoming so soon.

The most expedient way to solve this problem was to design a new defensive fey. It had to be made out of thicker and more durable armor plating in order to efficiently block and deflect all of the incoming small caliber projectiles.

The armor system didn't even have to be modular. So long as the defensive fey was able to block rapid-fire attacks effectively enough, Ves did not have any other demands.

If the Fey Fianna that fought this challenge match had access to this specialized defensive fey, then it would have never reached such a distressing state!

Ves chatted a bit more with Master Redmond.

Unlike his previous contact with Master Ginevra Hubert-Colmain, Ves had no interest in seeking greater collaboration with Master Redmond.

The man's design philosophy was too mediocre and his works did not really match Ves' tastes.

Though Ves did not look down on physical projectile weapons at all, he would much rather equip his mechs with energy weapons and more specifically luminar crystal weapons.

The Eclis Zemo did not hold any attraction to him either. There were bunker mechs that could do the same job and more. The striker mech did not actually reveal any groundbreaking tech that attracted his notice like the TEMP mechanism of the Montebra model.

Fortunately, Master Redmond did not really have any deeper intentions towards Ves either. The man simply wanted to earn a wave of publicity for his latest commercial product. He had definitely achieved his goal given how many people were watching the challenge matches.

The older man soon bid farewell to Ves.

"It is an honor to meet with you and challenge one of your works." Master Redmond spoke. "The fact that a Senior Mech Designer can already defeat Masters such as myself is a testament to your remarkable design ability. I will not insult your competence by giving you well-meaning advice. You are capable enough to find your own way around mech design. I look forward to seeing how you will transform the mech industry once you realize your design philosophy. It is bound to be special considering how many amazing traits are associated with your living mechs."

With that, the third challenger of the day departed from the arena.

The fourth and last challenger arrived ten minutes later.

This was the final and possibly the most anticipated match of the day.

Unlike the previous matches, this time another variant of the Fey Fianna was scheduled to make an appearance!

The Elite Edition of the Fey Fianna looked as if it existed on another level compared to all of the mechs that came before.

The quasi-first-class transphasic hyper mech contained so much advanced tech and valuable materials that it could probably crush ten Standard Fey Fiannas without any significant damage!

So long as it was piloted by a professional drone mech pilot that could keep up with the Elite Edition's strong parameters, the powerful transphasic mech might even be able to win a match against a proper first-class mech!

Of course, the Fey Fianna barely had the qualifications to win against a bottom-tier first-class mech, but that was already amazing enough!

The crowd all exhibited a lot more anticipation and excitement than before.

They all wanted to see the stronger version of the Fey Fianna demonstrate its comprehensive combat power.

The Elite Edition barely showed off its capabilities during the presentation yesterday. People simply did not have a clear idea of how strong it may be. A single fight would definitely give all of these folk a more intuitive and visceral understanding of its combat power!

"This mech costs at least too MTA credits to buy."

"100 MTA credits?! I can buy an entire mech company with that much cash."

"The Elite Edition isn't designed for mech pilots like us. It is meant for groups that can easily spend these kinds of sums without pausing to consider their budgets."

"So expensive..."

"At least it is much cheaper than a genuine first-class mech."

The Elite Fey Fianna was like a defective toy from the perspective of the Terrans and the other first-raters.

However, it held a completely different meaning to second-raters!

Its offensive and defensive properties had received an insane boost. Even its mobility experienced notable improvements that enabled it to reposition itself considerably faster than before.

It had become well-known that the Elite Edition of the Fey Fianna was almost as good as the Larkinson Edition, though whether this was actually true remained to be seen.

Not everyone placed their bets on the Elite Fey Fianna.

There were also people who believed that the opponent for this final match had a better chance of winning!

This was because the quasi-first-class hero mech was designed by a renowned and well-known mech designer in the mech community!

Master Xieliq Quan was a 300-year old second-class Master Mech Designer that had already built up a strong presence in the Krakatoa Middle Zone.

As the founder and chief designer of OCT Mechs & Heavy Industry, the man sat at the top of a large industrial empire that not only developed a strong foundation in the Red Ocean, but used to be even bigger back in the Milky Way!

Even if the Great Severing had caused serious losses to Master Quan, his foundation in the new frontier remained strong enough for him to maintain most of his existing product lines in the transition to the current age!

When Ves received a challenge from a representative of this highly reputable figure yesterday, he almost couldn't believe that a mech designer of this stature would condescend to playing this game.

Xieliq Quan may be a Master Mech Designer like the ones that came before, but he was considerably older and more accomplished than his lesser peers!

Such a figure could easily attract all of the publicity he wanted to draw attention to his latest product releases. There was no reason for him to take advantage of the Fey Fianna's product reveal in order to publicize his latest product.

There had to be a deeper motive behind this intriguing challenge.

This was why Ves decided to accept it despite the lack of clarification. A respected mech designer and researcher such as Master Quan was worth meeting in person.

Soon enough, the old man made an appearance.

Different from the previous challengers, the 300-year old Master Mech Designer adorned himself in a bizarre outfit made out of fluid metallic components. They resembled archemetal, but did not look as refined.

It definitely conveyed an exotic vibe that could only be described as alien.

"It is an honor to meet with you, Master Quan. You are carrying interesting tech."

"Meow."

Even Lucky woke up from his nap in order to take a few sniffs of the exotic tech that the latest challenger was carrying.

Master Quan smelled funny to the gem cat.

The elderly mech designer took no notice of Lucky. He approached and shook hands with Ves. "Thank you. It is a recent gift from afar. I have yet to fully decipher its exotic tech."

"Please forgive me for asking this, but... why did you take the initiative to issue a challenge to my work?"

"I needed to take a look at the mech designer who had 'dealings' with the Polymath." Master Quan straightforwardly answered. "I have met Her Excellency numerous times before. She is a frightening Star Designer for her age. I imagine that you are the only person of your generation that has managed to earn her 'respect'."

There was no way to hide these words from the RA and many other people who possessed the tech to eavesdrop on this conversation.

What Master Quan was alluding to was far too sensitive to be disseminated to the public!

While most high-level insiders already learned that the Polymath had made massive missteps during the Survivalist conference, most people still had no clue about these dirty affairs. They still looked up to her as one of the greatest heroes of their race!

Ves awkwardly coughed. "I barely know her at all. I only met her a few times, and I don't imagine that I will meet with her again anytime soon. This day should be about my latest product line. I am sure you have witnessed the previous challenge matches. Do you have any feedback on the Fey Fianna that you would like to share?"

The old Master was not in a hurry to respond. The man calmly thought while their mechs had begun to enter the arena grounds.

"Your drone mechs are technologically superior compared to most of the products on the market for the time being. Whether they can maintain their superiority over the next four years is questionable. Do not underestimate the mech industry. There are many research institutions that are in the process of developing much more revolutionary hyper tech. You have yet to come in touch with any of them because the powerful tech is almost exclusively reserved for high-level private forces and elite military units. All of these innovations will only enter the market once the secrecy of the new hyper tech can no longer be maintained."

Ves nodded in understanding. "I am not conceited enough to think I can out-innovate the entire mech industry. I have always guessed that a lot of amazing stuff is in development behind closed doors, but it is nice to receive confirmation. Does the work that you have brought today happen to contain any of this super-secret tech?"

"As a matter of fact, it does. I believe you will be quite surprised by my work."