The Mech Touch

The final winner of the tournament turned out to be another familiar name to Ves.

[And the first place winner is… Mr. Ereben Seinlin! Despite a reluctant first win against the Pontifical Lance, the Dominant has ultimately proven its name right by utterly crushing its next two opponents!]

The entire audience cheered the loudest after they pretty much already knew who would win after revealing the second place winner.

There was only one missing name left, after all. Despite this little detail, the crowd still conveyed their great appreciation towards the mech designer that justifiably took first place!

Ves already had a feeling that Seinlin would take the top spot. Even if the Pontifical Lance had made the Dominant's life difficult during the first round of the fighting phase, this slightly embarrassing win ultimately didn't matter to the other Journeyman.

The Dominant achieved excelled scores by leveraging its defenses and mobility to such a degree that the subsequent two opponents simply stood no chance of winning. The ease in which the offensive knight mech demolished its opposition did wonders in maximizing its scores.

In comparison, the Pontifical Lance was a bit worse off in scoring terms.

The lancer mech achieved its most one-sided victory against the Lighthouse Keeper, which was a middling performer in the tournament.

Though the quick and easy victory undoubtedly showcased the Pontifical Lance's strength, the mediocre strength of its opponent did not provide a significant score bonus.

The Pontifical Lance's match against the Phazeon was a different matter. The Phazeon was a much more powerful opponent, and winning against it awarded a much greater score bonus.

The fact that a lancer mech managed to vanquish a light mech also played in the former's favor. Everyone expected the Pontifical Lance was expected to lose against its natural counter, but the mech somehow pulled through and defied everyone's expectations.

This was probably the single biggest contributor to propelling Ves all the way to third place.

The main reason why he hadn't climbed higher was because the Pontifical Lance clearly struggled to win its third bout. It had to perform extremely well to the point of relying on several 'miracles' in order to defeat its opponent!

While the scoring system did take into account that the Pontifical Lance was at a disadvantage, ultimately this point was also a significant part of the scoring formula.

In the end, Ereben Seinlin received the ultimate honor of winning the High Tide Tournament. His Dominant showed a great amount of excellence in its two best matches and no one disputed that he deserved to stand on top of the others.

Though Ves felt as if he missed an opportunity, he should be glad he managed to climb over 90 different Journeymen including several impressive figures from the galactic center to claim third place!

He did not waste his time here. Even though a part of him found it pathetic that all of the efforts only yielded a single second-class combat carrier, the worth of this ship was much greater in the Red Ocean than back at home.

"The combat carriers built in this region are also considerably better than the ones I'm used to back home." Ves reminded himself.

This was not a cheap vessel produced by a dinky private shipyard in a backwater state. It was an ultramodern starship that was produced in one of the early but hypermodern shipyards that had already set up shop in the Red Ocean!

Since everyone in the venue already stayed up for almost an entire day, no one was in the mood for drawn-out award ceremonies.

Nothing much happened after unveiling the ultimate winner. Ereben Seinlin briefly addressed the crowd before he accepted his impressive trophy.

As for Ves, he had to make due with receiving a small bronze cup that commemorated his third-place finish in the High Tide Tournament.

"What a crappy product."

Hysphalin Industries didn't even bother to put any effort into fabricating this trophy. Ves knew enough about craftsmanship to know that this was just a cheap, 3D-printed product that incorporated a number of randomized and completely uncoordinated design elements in order to avoid making it identical to other trophies.

Still, Ves didn't set out to sacrifice an entire day and display his design abilities to the public just to win a generic cup.

Winning third place provided him with two important gains.

Ves already experienced a substantial increase in reputation. Though few knew about his status as a clan patriarch, he had already made a name for himself as a Journeyman.

Sure, not a lot of people in the Red Ocean paid attention to short, generic competitions like the High Tide Tournament, but introducing himself properly to the audience was a good start.

All of the people in the stands would come away with an excellent impression of Ves and his work. They might talk about what they witnessed to others, which would further spread his name to Red Ocean mech community.

The explosive and dramatic performance of the Pontifical Lance might have already created Ves his first customers in the dwarf galaxy!

"It's too bad I didn't get first place." Ves sighed again as his mood temporarily dropped.

Winning the bronze cup was good, but his reputation didn't even come close to that of Ereben Seinlin!

Out of every participant, only one person managed to beat them all, and it was a given that Mr. Seinlin gained a massive reputation boost! He was the champion of a legitimate tournament and that counted for something in the new frontier.

With this title alone, Mr. Seinlin could easily gain the attention of powerful people and organizations and convert his status into actual benefits.

"He also won 5 combat carriers!"

The prize pool of the one-day tournament was quite top-heavy compared to other competitions. Fourth place and lower basically received trinkets compared to what the top 3 obtained.

Even then, the first-place winner received five times as much as the third-place winner!

It frustrated Ves a lot that such a tiny difference resulted in a massive gap in rewards.

One combat carrier wasn't enough to solve the critical shortage of sub-capital starships in the Larkinson Clan!

"These goddamn rules are so convoluted." Ves muttered.

He decided not to enter any more tournaments that determined the winners and losers through a complex mathematical formula. It was almost completely opaque and not intuitive in the slightest.

"Well, it's a good thing the next tournament I signed up for has a simple single elimination bracket."

The margin for error in that duo design tournament was much smaller, though. If any team of mech designers wanted to reach the top, their mechs could not afford to lose even once!

If the High Tide Tournament followed a similar format, then Ves could have likely been eliminated from the beginning after losing against Seinlin and his Dominant.

"Well, that doesn't sound so good either."

Ves broke out of his musings after the main show had finally ended. Gregory Haloscar approached him one last time.

Surprisingly, the older man and mech pilot leaned in to embrace Ves into a bearhug!

"Thank you, Mr. Larkinson. I never imagined that I would be able to get all the way up to third place this time." Gregory happily said. "With how well I fought against the three mechs, I'm bound to climb higher this time. Of course, most of the credit of my success belongs to you. Your mech did a lot more work than anyone realizes."

"I know. You don't have to feel guilty about it." Ves said as he patted the man's back before the two separated again. "The goal of the mech is to be of service to mech pilots such as yourself. Seeing you succeed is its greatest pleasure. Trust me on that, Mr. Haloscar."

The mech pilot turned around and stared at the dormant mech in front of them. It still managed to stand out amidst the rows of other competition mechs.

"I really want to pilot this mech more often, but…"

"It's a competition mech, not a proper combat machine. It's been designed to fulfill a specific purpose and has done so. It should not be piloted a fourth time or a fifth time. I can't guarantee your safety or the safety of any other mech pilot if you go against my recommendations."

"Ah, I have no chance to do that, sir. It is company policy to leave these mechs alone. We are no strangers to mechs that are designed to fight only a couple of matches before they have already degraded to the point where they become deattraps. I just…"

"You want to keep piloting living mechs, is that right?" Ves grinned.

"It seems I cannot hide that from you, Mr. Larkinson."

"My products have this effect on people like you. Piloting a living mech is truly a step up from piloting the cold and lifeless machines designed by my competitors. I have managed to win over millions of customers back in the old galaxy and I intend to exceed those numbers in this new frontier."

"I will put in a good word for you in the company, though don't expect much from me. I'm just a security employee."

"I know. I think many of the people in the audience will be able to do that, so don't worry about it. I hope that Hysphalin Industries will one day see the advantages of my products and replace its current lineup with living mechs."

"I hope that will happen one day." Gregory sighed. "To be honest, I… want to become a part of your clan. I've already looked it up on the galactic net and everything I've read so far makes me envious of all of those pilots who are able to make use of your work on a daily basis."

"Our clan is always open to new recruits."

"If I can apply to join your clan right now, I would have done so already. As it is…" The mech pilot's expression drooped.

"You're stuck with your current employer, correct?"

"Yes. I'm grateful that Hysphalin Industries brought me to the Red Ocean. It has allowed me to pilot entirely different mechs such as yours, but it has also locked me to the company for the rest of my life barring exceptional circumstances."

This was a standard arrangement for many employees that had been brought into the Red Ocean. Though it stank of slavery, it was actually okay as long as the employers took good care of their workers.

Still, if the Big Two bothered to properly enforce all of its rules, all of those dwarves in human space wouldn't have built up so many grievances about their ill treatment!

Ves chatted with Gregory Haloscar a few more minutes before they both had to go. Ves had to leave the venue so that it could be readied for another tournament. Gregory and the other mech pilots had to go back to their regular postings.

After bidding farewell to the mech pilot who had helped him win third place, Ves happily reunited with his honor guard and the Larkinson seeds before heading out. Different from many other contestants, an attendant from Hysphalin Industries invited him to move to a different part of Chance Bay where his biggest prize awaited.

"Wow. So this is the ship you managed to win." Maikel said as he and the rest of the group floated above a field of parked starships.

One of them was an uncoated combat carrier that was large enough to host 60 mechs.

Ves had learned that while combat carriers with a capacity of 40 mechs were standard in the galactic rim, it was a lot more common to see larger vessels in the more prosperous parts of the Milky Way.

Since the Red Ocean attracted a lot of money and also suffered from a shortage of carrier vessels, combat carriers that were capable of holding 60 combat-ready mechs were regarded as the minimum standard!

As a result, the prize that Ves had managed to win was actually a low-tier combat carrier as far as the people in the Red Ocean were concerned.

Ves didn't feel too bothered by that. A combat carrier was a combat carrier. Obtaining just one of them was a good start to his stay in the new frontier.

"The Solstice Runner shall be the first of many Red Ocean starships in my fleet!"