The Mech Touch

The Epsilon Mosar's tentacle trap failed!

After the biomech suffered a defeat during the first phase, it was in bad condition. Even accounting for the automatic healing process by dumping it into a feeder pool, major restorations still required a lot of attention and effort.

It was too impractical to restore a biomech to full strength in so little time!

Even badly-injured human bodies required meticulous care to get back to health. While biomechs were much simpler in some aspects, their huge size along with numerous complicated systems meant that even an extremely skilled biomech designer had to invest a lot of work to fix everything!

This was why the second bout between the swordsman mech configuration of the Bright Warrior and the Epsilon Mosar was so unequal from the beginning. The latter had to overcome much more hurdles in order to climb back to strength!

In addition, just like Ves, Dr. Navarro had to ration his time carefully. Perhaps he already judged that his Epsilon Mosar was already a lost cause and only performed a single major modification by turning its legs into tentacles.

If the attempt to entangle the Bright Warrior with its tentacle legs succeeded, then the Epsilon Mosar might be able to achieve an upset despite the long odds!

It was a pity that this didn't happen.

Instead, the Bright Warrior succeeded freeing itself from this surprising trap! Now that Kelly Gidon had become aware of the threat, she never allowed her mech to be caught in such a compromising position again!

The rest of the match actually took several minutes longer to finish due to the caution she exhibited.

As someone who piloted the Epsilon Mosar before, she was quite familiar with its strengths and weaknesses. With a good mech like the Bright Warrior at her disposal, she expertly dismantled the damaged and bleeding biomech without giving her opponent any chance to make a comeback!

"This mech is quite good!" She exulted.

The Bright Warrior did not exhibit the aggressive glow it showed before, but it didn't need to. Kelly Gidon was already doing fine by herself.

The Golden Cat's welcoming influence was warm and gentle without being too overbearing. It was the perfect glow for both strangers and Larkinsons alike since it helped with acclimatizing them to both their mechs and the Larkinson Clan.

Even a Lifer like Gidon felt a yearning to become a Larkinson!

"If I get to pilot mechs like these all day, then sign me up!"

She quickly shoved aside this impulse, though. Although a part of her truly wanted to join the Larkinson and pilot a completely different style of mechs, she was too rooted in her current state. She would have to abandon her family, her friends, her familiar environment and everything she valued.

It wasn't worth it to leave everything behind.

That did not mean she resented the Larkinson Clan, though.

"This mech is definitely better than any biomech I've piloted so far." She whispered to herself.

She piloted numerous biomechs as both a mech athlete and a member of a security company, but none of them possessed the fantastic experience that she was experiencing at the moment.

She even wanted to prolong the fight in order to bask in her mech a little longer!

Still, she had a duty to uphold. Any form of sandbagging would reflect poorly on her. With so many eyes upon her, Gidon could not afford to ruin her reputation!

The moment when the Bright Warrior thrust its sword into the beaten and bloodied chest of the leg-less Epsilon Mosar, the entire arena fell silent.

This was not an unexpected result. The battle had constantly been going downhill for the biomech.

Yet his constantly unfolding disaster pressed a heavy weight on the hearts of the Lifer.

"The Epsilon Mosar had no chance…"

"How come so little of it has been healed?"

"Dr. Navarro is incompetent! Instead of wasting time on turning its legs into a gimmick, he should have reinforced its flight system instead!"

Discontent quickly rose up as the Lifers processed the ugly defeat! Even though the deck was stacked against the Epsilon Mosar from the beginning, the overly optimistic spectators still hoped for a miracle!

Even Dr. Navarro himself shook his head. This was one of the negative consequences for holding a design duel in public, especially one that adopted unusual rules.

"Sometimes, the public isn't your friend. Remember that, Yelkin."

The teenage student nodded. "Got it. Is this what you had to deal with all your life?"

"It's more nuanced than that." Frederico Navarro said. "Public opinion can be both a boon and a weapon. It all depends on the circumstances. Mr. Larkinson has much more experience with generating publicity, so we should be asking him for tips."

The six Masters who attended the second phase of the design duel in person did not say anything as usual. If they communicated at all, then they wouldn't let anyone else eavesdrop on their conversation. The concepts and theories they exchanged with each other were probably so profound that any lesser mech designer would probably be led astray!

As the second match was being prepared, Ves took the time to check the local security condition.

The spectators may look rowdy, but the armed and armored guards in their midst ensured their behavior remained firmly within the limits!

The aerial biomechs of the Planetary Guards continued to sweep the surroundings for any heavy threats. Their presence continued to act as a powerful deterrence. Nothing less than a full-blown invasion would be able to shake so many mechs on guard!

So far, the situation looked fine, but Ves did not dare to base his conclusions on mere observations.

He turned to Venerable Jannzi, who had kept quiet throughout this period.

"Do you feel safe here?"

"Not really." She gruffly answered as she crossed her arms. "I feel antsy. While I haven't spotted anything fishy, there are too many unknowns around us. Those Masters over there are all strong in their own way. I wouldn't provoke them if I were you. We're also surrounded by lots of biotechnology. Who knows what they can do. My judgement is considerably more limited in this kind of place."

That was a bummer. Ves originally brought Venerable Jannzi along because he wanted to use her as an early warning system.

Yet because of all of the unfamiliarity around her, she was just as blind as him! At most, she was only able to rely on her intuition.

"What do your instincts tell you?" Ves carefully asked.

She steadily looked into his eyes. "I don't feel safe in your company. Does that answer your question?"

"..."

"You have to admit that you're kind of a trouble magnet." Vincent said as he stuffed his face with a snack that a flying beetle had delivered to him. "All of this stuff wouldn't have happened if you didn't visit this star system."

Ves snorted. "I didn't ask for this."

"A real man doesn't complain!"

What did that have to do with the situation?

Fortunately, the next match was already about to start.

[Please welcome back Trip Oxxon and Zenon Dia Bavros for their second duel! The two elite graduates will be piloting substantially-altered knight mechs that they faced off against before.]

The Bright Warrior in its knight mech configuration looked a shadow of its former self. Having suffered a defeat, its condition was awful when it rolled into the workshop. Ves was only able to make it less awful in the little time he spent on the beaten mech.

The Dragonscale Warrior was in a much better shape. Strangely enough, its thinner flesh and skinnier frame caused it to look as if it was on a diet. The drain the biomech experienced in the previous match wasn't so easy to restore, apparently.

Yet despite its diminished appearance, the partially-restored biomech still boasted a complete cover of reptilian scales!

"It doesn't look as if the Dragonscale Warrior can regenerate its spent scales anymore." Ves quietly guessed. "Even so, its protection is still good enough to resist most blows!"

His Bright Warrior looked much worse off in comparison. Ves affixed many ugly and uneven plates in the areas where its armor was breached. This led to a patchwork appearance that made many people regard it as a junkyard mech!

"So ugly! I bet it smells!"

"Beat this trash can mech up!"

"Wash away the shame of the first defeat!"

Both mech pilots could hear the words of the audience clearly through their mechs. Zenon Dia Bavros knew he had a hard time ahead of him. He should know, since he defeated the Bright Warrior just three days ago!

"I don't have a lot of tricks at my disposal, but the strength of my mech should still be intact. The Dragonscale Warrior looks depleted, though. I can use this. My enemy probably has the edge in speed, but knight mechs never rely on it in the first place!"

One of the reassurances he possessed was that the Bright Warrior gained another tower shield. This was an essential defense tool that would definitely be able to blunt a lot of attacks!

As Bavros tried to formulate a strategy, the match finally began in earnest

[Begin the fight!]

Just like before, the two mechs quickly closed in on each other! Though both mechs flew slower than before due to the damage they sustained in the previous match, they still possessed enough mobility to collide against each other with their shields!

BANG!

The reactions of the two mechs illustrated their conditions!

The Bright Warrior bounced back roughly as if it was a billiard ball. Bavros had to expend a bit more effort into stabilizing its flight.

The Dragonscale Warrior fared a lot better. Its flight characteristics were still working fine. Even though it bounced back further due to its decreased mass, its flight system was much more assertive!

"That's not good." Ves frowned. "The Dragonscale Warrior's components are all working fine while the Bright Warrior is still dealing with damaged and incomplete internals."

Now that Trip Oxxon knew how strong his biomech was relative to the Bright Warrior, he knew what to do! As much as he felt sorry about the Bright Warrior he previously piloted, he had to take it down!

"Let's make this quick!"

The Dragonscale Warrior burst forward and utilized its advantage of speed and acceleration to good effect!

The biomech constantly circled around the Bright Warrior and struck its sword at the weaker sections that hadn't adequately been fixed.

Many times, Bavros utilized the tower shield of the Bright Warrior to block the Dragonscale Warrior's attacks, but this obstacle steadily fell apart from all of the blows it endured.

Bavros knew he had to go on the attack!

"I can't let Oxxon beat up my mech without retaliating. I'll just lose if this continues!"

Yet every time the Bright Warrior attempted to make a move, the Dragonscale Warrior either dashed backwards or easily blocked the incoming attack.

In desperation, the Bright Warrior threw out its battered shield, causing it to collide against the Dragonscale Warrior and unbalancing the biomech for a moment.

"Take this!"

Freed from carrying a hefty shield, the Bright Warrior quickly burst forth and utilized its much lighter burden to slash at the Dragonscale Warrior's side!

More than a dozen biomechs scales tore or cut apart as the Dragonscale Warrior suffered a wound!

Oxxon grew annoyed. "Do you think you're fast? I'm faster!"

The Dragonscale Warrior decided to abandon its shield as well. Once it began to wield its sword with two hands, its mobility rose by an even greater proportion!

Both knight mechs seemed to have turned into swordsman mechs as both of them engaged in a rough and violent sword duel!

Wounds started to appear on their frames as their swords frequently managed to land good hits.

While the Dragonscale Armor was losing a steady amount of scales, the other mech fared substantially worse!

The gaps in the armor weren't adequately protected and it took less effort to pry away the hastily-affixed armor plating. In fact, the Dragonscale Armor even managed to pierce right through them as their defensive capabilities weren't good enough!