The Mech Touch

The Larkinson Clan gained another expert pilot!

The news spread throughout the clan and beyond. The whole Golden Skull Alliance had begun to boil. Even the Glory Seekers and Crossers were happy to welcome a new expert pilot in their allied fleet!

Congratulatory messages poured in from every direction. It was as if a countless number of people and organizations had shown up at Casella's birthday party.

It was simple to explain where all of this attention came from. The breakthrough not only happened in public, but also during a highly popular arena match. The extremely advanced recording equipment faithfully captured the entire breakthrough moment and transmitted the footage to the homes of over a trillion viewers throughout two separate galaxies!

Commander Casella practically became famous overnight! Much more people recognized her name than the clan she was a part of! Much of it had to do with the inclusion of her breakthrough event in many general news reports.

Many citizens back in the old galaxy developed an interest in following everything related to the Red Ocean. They never had the chance to pass through a beyonder gate in their lives, but that was not a big problem. They could still live vicariously through following the news of their favorite pioneers and adventurers!

In addition, there were plenty of people in the Red Ocean who had an interest in tracking these developments as well. Whether it was trying to scope out their rivals or finding potential business partners, it was always useful to know more about the pioneering organizations in the new frontier.

However, most of the congratulatory messages came from the mech pilots that all felt as if they benefited from witnessing her breakthrough. Though only the live spectators who attended the arena matches in person had felt the force of Casella breakthrough, that still amounted to over a million people, many of whom had a professional interest in what had happened!

There were many hopeful mech pilots who were still trying to grope their way forward. None of them were resigned to live out an average life as a mortal.

Although witnessing the breakthroughs did not directly benefit mech pilots who watched from the side, it was still a profoundly special moment that could serve as a potential source of inspiration or encouragement to those who wished to do the same.

Of all of the mech pilots that felt that they had gained something from this remarkable arena match, no one had come closer to understanding what Casella had been going through than the Bright Warriors who had still been in the fight at that moment!

It was rare for other mech pilots to gain so much from the breakthrough of someone else, but Casella was different from many other expert pilots.

The manifestation of her power already revealed that her strength leaned towards empowering her subordinates rather than maximizing her own personal abilities.

If she was paired with the right expert mech that allowed her to make full play of her individual advantages, then it was conceivable that she could one day repeat the phenomenon where she was able to elevate the strength of all of her fellow mech pilots!

The value of such an expert pilot was great! The larkinson Clan was absolutely blessed to have gained the services of a transcendent mech pilot that could amplify a lot of other mech pilots.

Perhaps her rare ability wouldn't have much effect in a small-scale duel or skirmish, but it was a completely different story on a large-scale battlefield!

When hundreds or thousands of mechs began to collide against each other, the ability to boost the coordination and piloting skills of a proportion of them could absolutely shift the course of a mech battle!

The larger the battle and the greater the expert pilot's reach, the more influence she could exert!

If Commander Casella continued to develop her powers and became a much more formidable expert pilot, then perhaps she might be able to elevate every single Larkinson mech pilot on the battlefield at once!

Many Larkinson leaders such as General Verle practically drooled when they thought about what Casella could bring to the Larkinson Army. An expert pilot with a force multiplier capability was a dream for every mech force!

After the match had ended, the entire Larkinsons celebrated their good fortune. While there were plenty of clansmen who were happy with reaching the finals and guaranteeing a haul of 20 combat carriers, they were readily willing to sacrifice this prize if it ensured they gained another expert pilot!

A festive mood had broken backstage as the Larkinsons personally congratulated Commander Casella for her breakthrough.

"Make way, everyone! We need to bring her to the infirmary! She's just completed a breakthrough and needs to undergo examinations in order to make sure there is nothing wrong with her health. You can give her your appreciation later!"

A group of Larkinsons carefully brought Casella's body out of the Quint and quickly moved her to the state-of-the-art medical facilities of the Fortas Major Arena.

Many Larkinsons watched the new expert pilot leave while lying on a floating stretcher.

Though she did not look that strong at the moment, her willpower was still palpable. Reminiscent of the various spiritual networks utilized by the Larkinsons, Commander Casella seemed to have gained the ability to reach out and connect to her fellow Larkinsons. This was absolutely remarkable and caused many clansmen to have more hopes for the future.

A group of close friends and family looked happy and envious at her success.

"Did you expect your sister to break through in this tournament?" Vincent asked his buddy.

Imon Ingvar shrugged and shook his head. "Not really. The chance always exists, but I never thought she would get ahead of me so quickly."

"She's piloting the Quint, right?"

"Yeah, but from what I know of her, my sister is only slightly ahead of me. She shouldn't have been able to make so much progress."

"It's the Quint, then. The mech helped her become an expert pilot."

"I… don't know about that." Imon hesitated. "She told me multiple times that the Quint was working against her. They're too different from each other to get along, though I don't know if that is the case right now. Her breakthrough might have changed her mech's opinion."

"The Quint…" Director Raella trailed as she gazed at the living mech. It had become even more powerful to her senses, though it was hard to tell from this distance. "You know, now that Commander Casella has become the latest expert pilot of our clan, she's no longer eligible to fight in the G-Aena League. She can't compete in any tournament in Chance Bay for that matter."

The expressions of the two men dropped. Commander Casella served as a pillar for the Larkinson Battalion. She had proven her ability by winning four matches and propelling her comrades to the finals.

To fight the final match against the strongest opponent in the tournament without the main person responsible for getting them this far was a big regret!

"Can't we find a way to keep her in the tournament?" Imon asked. "Casella wasn't an expert pilot when the tournament started. She doesn't even have her own expert mech!"

"The rules don't take any of that into account. They only look at the current status of our mech pilots. According to the tournament's perspective, Casella is too strong now. It's not fair for her to bully lesser mech pilots with her new level of strength. Even if she is confined to piloting the Quint, she can probably defeat any expert candidate in a duel. There is hardly any meaning to the competition if she is allowed to fight in the next match."

There were other reasons why Casella shouldn't participate any further. She might not be able to control her new strength and inadvertently produce accidents. Her life was much more valuable now and should never be thrown in an arena where the safety systems might not be able to rescue her in time.

"So who will take her place?" Imon asked.

Both Raella and Vincent looked pointedly at him. Their expectation was obvious.

"Wait, me? I'm not ready to lead the Larkinson Battalion!"

Raella smirked and patted her hand against Imon's shoulder. "Don't worry about that. The other mech officers will take care of that. You should just focus on doing your best against the Zpoezers in the finals."

"Why me? Why not you, Vincent?"

The man hastily raised his palms. "Hey, I know my limits! I'm not going to do well if I'm forced to take part in the upcoming match. Besides, do you know how many people will be watching the finals? I don't want to embarrass myself and the rest of the clan by getting my butt kicked by the pussies."

"Then what makes you think I would fare any better?"

"Hey, you're a strong duelist, Imon. You'll probably lose against our final opponent in the tournament, but at least you'll go down fighting."

"I can't pilot the Quint." Imon brought up another argument. "I already tried. The mech moved on to my sister."

"Maybe the living mech changed its mind. Maybe it sees more promise in you Ingvars."

"I doubt it." Imon pressed his lips.

Raella stopped this discussion before it could go any further.

"I've just consulted with General Verle and we have made a decision. We won't be fielding the Quint in our next battle."

"What?! Then how are we supposed to win?"

"We'll try our best. We don't need to rely on any particular mech to win our battles. Even if the Quint can make a difference, we shouldn't risk it anymore. If the Zpoezers win the next match as we expect, then our priceless masterwork mech will come under great risk. We don't know if it will stay the same or if it will remain as strong as now if it is cut into half or blown into pieces. We were willing to throw it into battles against opponents that we are reasonably confident about beating, but risks are greater for our final match."

The clan had already made a decision. After several glorious deployments, the Quint would be sent back to the Larkinson fleet where it would be serviced and paired with another expert candidate.

There were still plenty of other expert candidates in the clan that might be able to break through with the living mech's help. The Quint had already set a precedent in this regard.

Right now, the most important priority concerning the Quint was to inspect it thoroughly and repair any faults.

Every breakthrough event was a violent process. The manifestation of forced resonance temporarily elevated a regular mech to the level of an expert mech. While this sounded great in battle, it nonetheless put a huge amount of strain on the affected machine.

It was not uncommon to see these mechs fall apart after an expert pilot pretended to pilot an expert mech!

Fortunately, the Quint was not an average mech. Its frame was reinforced and its entire structure also received numerous upgrades in order to make it sturdier for moments like these.

The mech still incurred a decent amount of cracks and other faults. The Larkinsons quickly needed to bring it to a workshop in order to bring it back to its peak condition.

As the Larkinsons all saw the Quint being hauled away, Raella suddenly chortled.

"What's so funny, babe?" Vincent asked.

"I just realized that Ves will probably be angry or annoyed at this development." Raella tried to stifle a laugh. "He's already swamped with work and now he has to design yet another expert mech!"

"That does sound difficult."

Most Larkinsons didn't care about that. They just wanted Venerable Casella to receive her expert mech quickly so that she could fully contribute to the defense of the Larkinson Clan!

The Larkinsons taking part in the tournament kept celebrating the joyous occasion until the arena staff forced them to take their party elsewhere.

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