The Mech Touch

While Ves toured the latest starship to join his fleet, another group of Larkinsons were readying themselves for their first big public display of might in the Red Ocean.

The G-Aena League was a much more massive affair than the High Tide Tournament!

The latter was a small-scale affair that was mainly organized by a single company and lasted only a single day. Mech design tournaments centered around Journeymen also weren't as significant as those where Seniors and Masters displayed their formidable prowess.

In the same way, most single mech tournaments generally didn't attract too much attention either. While they were cheaper and easier to organize, the entertainment market was flooded with countless different tournaments that simply pitted a single mech against another mech.

What truly got people's blood pumping was seeing armies of mechs colliding against each other!

Humans generally feared war, but loved to witness the action at a safe distance. Large group mech battles might not be as real as actual warfare, but they were still thrilling enough to satisfy the same urges!

On the opening day of the G-Aena League, the huge Fortas Major Arena had been transformed into a massive parade ground.

Sixteen different battalions dispatched by various pioneering organizations introduced themselves in front of a crowd of tens of millions of fans and hundreds of millions of remote spectators from both the Red Ocean and the Milky Way!

The sheer amount of people viewing this massive competition was completely unlike anything the Larkinsons had experienced!

If not for the fact that they trained and rehearsed their public performances, the Larkinson mech pilots taking part in the parade would have collapsed from stage fright by now! Just because their clan patriarch was good at playing to the crowd didn't mean these clansmen could keep their cool.

Just a single mistake during the parade could cause the Larkinson Clan to become a laughingstock in two different galaxies!

"We can do it, men." Commander Casella Ingvar addressed the mech pilots that were about to show up in front of the enormous audience. "We have fought against pirates and military forces. We fought and survived an encounter with a powerful ace mech. How can these threats possibly compare to a distant crowd? Remember your training and focus on your mech. We're only walking around in a circle. Nothing more."

Certain mech pilots needed more encouragement than others. While the Avatars and Vandals still tried to repress their nervousness, the Swordmaidens, Penitent Sisters and Ylvainans displayed no doubts.

Casella quietly shook her head. There were still too many differences between the mech legions. Mental fortitude was an important quality and it appears that the latter three groups were significantly ahead in this aspect.

Though the Avatars and Vandals obviously needed to work on this area, she knew that her Sentinels fared even worse. Once this tournament was over, she intended to go back to her mech legion and find ways to address this shortcoming.

As the loud and dramatic media personalities continued to hype up the audience of the G-Aena League, the time had finally come for the mech battalions to hold their short but important parades!

Five different battalions went ahead and moved onto the massive open field of Fortas Major Arena. A diverse array of mechs bearing different colors, markings, mech types and symbols moved forward in neat, perfect columns.

Each of them were dispatched by pioneers that came from different parts of the old galaxy. Two came from the galactic center, 5 came from the galactic heartland and 9 came from the galactic rim.

Clearly, pioneers who originated from the more prosperous parts of the old galaxy possessed less of a desire to take part in this spectacle.

Although the publicity was nice and the prize pool looked juicy, anything could happen in these chaotic battles. There were plenty of incidents where ugly defeats or embarrassing displays dealt considerable reputational damage.

What made large-scale group mech combat tournaments so special was that the emphasis laid on the collective rather than the individual.

In solo tournaments, a floundering mech pilot who got knocked out in the first round mostly bore the blame for his bad showing.

In group tournaments, more emphasis was placed on the organization the mech pilots hailed from. In a huge tournament like the G-Aena League, the hundreds of mech pilots were largely anonymous faces to the audience.

It was a lot easier for people to regard them as extensions of a larger group!

This was why only 16 battalions ultimately applied to take part in the G-Aena League. A lot more pioneers could have submitted their own forces to the roster but balked at the risks.

The richer and more well-connected pioneers had better channels to complete their objectives. Only the more desperate and fame-hungry pioneers accepted the opportunity to perform in events like these.

"You're up, Larkinsons!"

Commander Casella Ingvar transmitted a simultaneous command to all of the mechs. Each of them began to step out of the large waiting hall and entered the main field of the arena that they would soon fight their first arena battle.

The scale of the arena was enormous and unlike anything the Larkinsons had seen before. A hundred cubic kilometers offered plenty of space for a thousand mechs to maneuver against each other. Combined with the advanced terrain transformation features, the arena could prepare any possible battlefield for the combatants!

As the column of Bright Warriors, Ferocious Piranhas, Valkyrie Redeemers and other machines entered everyone's vision, the Larkinsons attracted a lot more attention than the other tournament participants!

[What are those mechs and why are they so special?!] A layman commentator asked.

[The sixth battalion of the G-Aena League consists of mechs and mech pilots dispatched by the Larkinson Clan. Though the clan is new, it is led by a unique Journeyman Mech Designer with several accomplishments to his name. The mechs you see before you are the household machines of the clan. Each of them are so-called living mechs, which have become popular in the Larkinson Clan's home market.]

[Living mechs are noted for their excellent responsiveness and piloting comfort. They are also distinguished by their ability to influence the minds of mech pilots via their 'glows', which can best be described as auras that project in fields around the individual mechs. The reason why the Larkinson Battalion is attracting your attention so much is due to the concentration and overlapping effects of all of the glows projected by the Larkinson mechs.]

[How mysterious! There are truly an endless variety of mechs in human space. Does this have any effect in battle?]

[Why yes. There are several notable wars and conflicts in the galactic rim where glows have played a pivotal role…]

The expert commentators working for the G-Aena League had clearly done their due diligence. They performed a proper investigation on the Larkinson Clan and succinctly conveyed their findings.

It helped a lot that there were only 16 battalions taking part in this large scale tournament this time. Each of them would fight at least 3 battles in the G-Aena League at minimum, so it was not a waste to highlight each of their stories.

In the 1st round of the competition, every battalion would be randomly split into 4 different groups.

Each group of 4 battalions would fight each other in a round robin arrangement in order to advance a single one of them to the semifinals.

Once the G-Aena League was left with the 4 best battalions of their respective groups, they would fight a single time to determine the 2 battalions that earned the right to enter the finals.

Every participant wanted to reach the finals. No matter whether they won or lost, the huge amount of people watching this epic clash was a great opportunity to build up a lot of fame!

"Three battles." Commander Casella murmured under her breath even as she led her battalion with the Quint. "We must win them all in order to guarantee advancement into the next round."

WE SHALL PREVAIL.

The Quint conveyed absolute confidence borne out of the numerous battles by the Larkinson Clan. The battalions taking part in the G-Aena League were all supposed to be roughly equal when it came to the strength of their mechs.

This was good news to the Larkinsons because they had often fought battles while outnumbered or outmatched by their opponents. It was quite a breath of fresh air to fight 'even' battles this time!

"Don't be so happy yet, Quint. We can't employ many of the trump cards we've relied upon to win against the Fridaymen or the Vulcanites."

The Larkinson Battalion that had been especially prepared for this competition was lacking in several areas.

First, it didn't contain any expert mechs and expert pilots.

Second, it didn't contain any prime mechs either.

Third, the Larkinson Clan was highly reluctant to show off its battle formations in such a highly-publicized occasion.

Even if the Larkinsons did want to employ it, their numbers were too small to achieve an enormous effect. While it was still possible to activate a battle formation with 40 mech pilots, they could not single-handedly wipe out their opposition.

In fact, the Larkinsons had to be careful about not employing the Penitent Sister's death formation, which could bypass nearly every form of barrier or protection!

While Casella wondered whether the Larkinson Battalion could still compete given all of these limitations, her living mech only grew more eager to fight.

WE CAN VANQUISH OUR ENEMIES BY RELYING ON SKILL OF OUR MEN AND THE STRENGTH OF OUR MACHINES. NOTHING MORE.

That was the most the Quint had ever conveyed in words to Casella. The Sentinel Commander didn't expect her mech to be so talkative. This occasion probably meant more to it than she realized.

Since she didn't want to disappoint her own mech, the expert candidate quickly adjusted her mentality.

"We will reach the finals." She vowed. "With all of our living mechs, there is no excuse if we fail to advance into the third round."

They would have to struggle for two weeks in order to get to that point.

As the Larkinson Battalion successfully paraded throughout the massive arena, they waited in place alongside the other battalions.

They waited and waited until all sixteen tournament participants had introduced themselves to the viewers!

[Now, the moment that you have all been waiting for has arrived. Our lovely assistant shall now draw out the names that will determine their placement in the four groups!]

A gorgeous woman pulled her hand in a projected bowl and pulled out a colorful ribbon that displayed the names of one of the participants.

[The Ginetzy Battalion has landed in Group A!]

[The 15th Battalion is a tricky opponent to fight against. The Ginetzy Family's combat doctrine is all about defense and bombardment. Their mech roster practically contains no melee mechs. Instead, the Ginetzy members deploy a large amount of shield generating mechs to erect multiple layers of strong energy shields over their entire formation. Once their defenses are set up, a large number of misseleer and cannoneer mechs bombard their opponents into pieces!]

[What a destructive combat doctrine!]

The draw continued. More names emerged from the projected bowl.

Soon enough, the Larkinsons received their turn as well!

[The Larkinson Battalion is allocated to Group A! It must fight against the Ginetzy Battalion, the Quizlam Battalion and another yet-to-be announced opponent.]

[I cannot say anything yet about the Larkinson Clan's third opponent, but the Ginetzys and the Quizlams are both tricky and frustrating to fight against. The Ginetzy Battalion will bomb mechs into scrap before the Larkinson mechs can approach. The Quizlams on the other hand will employ their advantages in electronic warfare to the utmost in order to blind, sabotage and confound the Larkinson mechs. I would rather enter the group of death than to fight against these two specialized battalions!]

The faces of many Larkinsons grew ugly when they heard who they had to fight against in the first round… The previous expert commentator was right. The Ginetzy Battalion and the Quizlam Battalion would definitely torment the Larkinson Battalion!