The Mech Touch

Captain Alazar Ipsich's verdict was very clear! He spoke with such certainty and conviction that no one doubted that he was telling any falsehoods.

The entire audience remained silent as they processed the mercenary captain's words.

Many already speculated that Captain Ipsich would favor the sword-wielding Bright Warrior over the Epsilon Mosar. After all, he won a glorious victory with the former but lost handedly when he was forced to pilot the latter.

It didn't help that he piloted the Bright Warrior when the Larkinson mech was fresh and in its best condition.

By the time he piloted the Epsilon Mosar three days later, Dr. Navarro was only able to remedy a limited amount of issues. Aside from its odd tentacle legs, Epsilon Mosar didn't have any property that conveyed an advantage to the half-fixed biomech!

All of these factors meant that Captain Ipsich experienced a biased perspective on both mechs. If he was assigned to pilot the Epsilon Mosar first, his opinion might have differed, although it may very well not if the Bright Warrior lost in the initial bout.

While these circumstances did not sound fair to Dr. Navarro, there were other mech pilots who possessed the opposite perspective, so it all balanced out in the end, at least in theory.

Of course, no one expected them to issue a completely impartial judgement. Aside from their nationality and their personal biases, their wins and losses most certainly colored their opinions.

This was what the Lifers were truly worried about. If the matches ended at a score of 5-5, then there were as many mech pilots who gained a positive experience with a given mech as those who gained a negative experience.

Neither mech designer enjoyed an inherent advantage in this case!

Yet because the final score was 7-3, the citizens of the LRA were deeply fearful of what the mech pilots might say. What if their positive experiences with Ves' mechs clouded their judgement? What if the rush of victory was so overpowering that the mech pilots forgot about the charm of biomechs?

Recency bias also played a factor. If a mech pilot won both matches with different mechs, the individual might favor the latter because the memories of piloting it were more fresh.

What was important to note in this context was that the first phase ended with a score of 3-2 in favor of Ves, while the second phase produced a score of 4-1 in favor of the same mech designer!

This effectively meant that eight mech pilots experienced Ves' mechs in a good light while only two mech pilots went through the opposite.

All of this happened within an hour from this moment!

The audience's worst fears seemed to be turning into a reality from the moment they heard Captain Ipsich's judgement. The Lifer who possessed a wealth of experience in piloting biomechs did not just lean towards the living mechs designed by Ves, but he practically threw himself into this direction!

The man looked so enthused about LMC mechs that he came across as a religious convert! Perhaps he might be one step away from kneeling in front of Ves. Such a sight would have dealt a heavy blow to the reputation of the LRA's biomech industry!

Fortunately, Captain Ipsich was professional enough to restrain his conduct. After speaking his heart, he quickly fell silent. He had already voiced the crux of his feelings. There was no need for him to elaborate any further.

Master Cline maintained a stoic face. It was clear that he already expected this response. Not only was he aware of all of the factors that Ves just considered, but he was also familiar with what LMC mechs did to mech pilots.

Out of every other kind of classical mech, the mechs designed by Ves were some of the best when it came to providing a fantastic user experience!

While this did not directly make the mechs stronger, they were certainly more well-received by their users!

Captain Ipsich's case happened to be one of the most extreme cases where everything fell into place for Ves. It would have surprised many critics if the mercenary captain voiced his support for a mech he defeated during the first phase and lost with it in the second phase!

"Madame Kelly Gidon, you are next. Please voice your opinions without any reservations. Each of us deserves to know the truth."

What Master Cline did not mention was what would happen if anyone was caught lying. In fact, there was no way for anyone to speak any falsehoods under these circumstances because second-class lie detectors were scarily effective.

The LRA excelled in many aspects of biotechnology, and one of those areas happened to be human augmentation. Their understanding of human physiology and so on was so high that they probably developed the best lie detectors in the entire star cluster!

Even if Master Cline and the conservative faction wanted to pervert the results, the five Masters belonging to the other factions wouldn't let that happen!

Ves briefly turned his head. He noted that Master Brixton of the combinants was paying very careful attention to the proceedings. The glowing pupils signified that the old but ambitious cybermech designer wasn't even hiding the fact that he was employing his most advanced methods to check whether the mech pilots were being influenced in any way!

Kelly Gidon took a deep breath before issuing her verdict.

"I struggled to make a choice. As you know, I piloted the Epsilon Mosar first. Even though I lost with the mech, I don't believe it is the fault of the biomech at all. It's not the easiest mech to get into considering that it is optimized for dual-wielding, which I do not excel at. Other than that, it is a fine biomech. As for the Bright Warrior, all I can say is that piloting it is a new adventure. While I did enjoy piloting it and winning with it, I think the novelty of piloting something different has caused me to think more positively about it than I should. If I try to detach myself from that glowing halo, I think I'm more inclined to go with what I am familiar with. To me, biomechs are my bread and butter and they continue to be dear to my heart."

The audience all seemed to sigh in relief at the same time.

Dr. Navarro wasn't getting steamrolled!

Even though Kelly Gidon's experiences with Dr. Navarro's biomechs weren't positive, the Bright Warrior failed to overcome her inherent love of biomechs!

The Lifers all saw hope. If Gidon was able to remember her love for biomechs, then so could the other mech pilots!

Perhaps the win-loss record was not as pivotal as everyone thought.

Ves grimaced a bit. He took this outcome as a personal failure. He was so convinced by the attraction of his mechs that he was certain that he could have won over someone like Gidon!

Besides that, Gidon's reasoning made it clear that she didn't strictly answer the central question. She adopted a different interpretation of the issue and merely told the audience which mech she liked more without any deep consideration of whether biomechs felt more alive.

If Ves directly challenged her on this point, she might have issued a different answer.

He refrained from doing so. He was confident he had won over a lot more mech pilots. He just hoped the rest wouldn't misinterpret the question as well!

"Mr. Trip Oxxon. Please step forward and issue your verdict."

The youngest mech pilot of the bunch responded. He looked stiffer and more formal than the others. His relative inexperience in these settings caused him to grow very nervous all of a sudden.

It was one thing to pilot a mech in front of the entire star sector. As a mech pilot, he was trained to excel at it. Yet addressing trillions of people in a public broadcast was another matter!

"Uhm, In my first match, I rode the knight mech version of the Bright Warrior to defeat." Oxxon slowly began. "In my second match, I achieved the only victory of this phase with the help of the Dragonscale Warrior. While I did not get to pilot the former at its best, I've witnessed enough to form an opinion about it. I can't say which one is better because both mechs have their merits. However, if I had to choose which one is more alive, I think that the Bright Warrior is really something special. It supported me from behind throughout the first match, and I never really felt as if the fight was doomed until my mech could no longer keep up. I never experienced that from any biomech and I think this quality alone is remarkable enough for me to vote for Mr. Larkinson!"

Ves received his second endorsement! Even though Oxxon's arguments sounded a bit weird, it was undeniable that he had become another fan of LMC mechs!

The crowd grew a little rowdy. Dr. Navarro failed to sustain his momentum from earlier. With Ves ahead by one vote, it became harder for the biomech designer to overtake his opponent!

Zenon Dia Bavros spoke up next. As Oxxon's opponent, his experiences were opposite.

"The Dragonscale Warrior is a great mech. I love its scale-regenerating ability. I lost when I piloted the Bright Warrior. While the mech makes me feel great, it's an illusion. What does it matter if I feel good if my mech is still behind in performance? I would rather pilot a mech that brings solid benefits to the table! To me, the mechs that are more alive are biomechs because my chances of surviving are greater if I pilot something more powerful!"

What kind of crappy argument was that?! Ves couldn't believe that Bavros would utilize such twisted logic in order to hand over a victory to Dr. Navarro. The worst part about all of this was that it appeared that Bavros genuinely believed in what he said!

While Ves had his misgivings, the rest of the audience didn't see any problems with Bavros' answers. The score evened up again!

Rez Killigan stepped up next. He looked much more presentable than the prior two mech pilots due to his military bearing.

"Just as Mr. Bavros has said, results matter. Performance matters. I had a great time with the Ferocious Piranha. This mech is so strong and special that it's a game changer for light mechs. Piloting it made me feel as if I was cheating while fighting against it caused me to feel as if I was going through a nightmare. I don't have anything good to say about the Faerie Stinger. The Ferocious Piranha is the best out of the two mechs. No question."

The military scout didn't even mention which one was more alive to him, but if he was forced to give an answer, he would probably favor the Ferocious Piranha.

It couldn't be helped!

The Ferocious Piranha fared so well that the Faerie Stinger didn't have a chance to show what it could do at its best!

Katarina Volsemar quickly followed suit. "I agree with Mr. Killigan. The Ferocious Piranha is something else. I don't think the Faerie Stinger is bad. I piloted it first, so I know that its performance is quite good. It's just that the Ferocious Piranha causes me to disregard everything I favor about the biomech because they can't do anything against 'glows'. I feel as if if the Faerie Stinger was more alive, it would have been able to protect me against the Ferocious Piranha's distracting effect. Since it didn't, I'll just vote for Mr. Larkinson."

Ves gained two votes at once! This was a serious turn of events that prompted a shocked reaction from the crowd.

Even though it was true that the Ferocious Piranha performed well, the two mech pilots who experienced it showed no hesitation in favoring it! The light mech was truly something special if it could win over two military specialists at once!