The Mech Touch



"Hihihi! Papa is finally going to compete in person!"

"He's so awesome! He will blast all of the competition!"

"First place is ours!"

"Now now, don't count your chickens before they hatch. Anything can happen in the next few days. Don't assume that I will win. There are plenty of other strong mech designers that have decided to take part."

Though Ves possessed a lot of confidence in his design abilities, he was not so arrogant to assume that he could win the championship without doubt.

Aside from the normal variables concerning mech design tournaments, the Twin Weapons Tournament also made the contest more complex by compelling two mech designers to work on two mech designs at the same time.

It was these additional variables and all of the chaotic possibilities they opened up that attracted Ves to sign up for this event. He had more than enough of competing in standard tournaments that did not really add much variety.

That did not deter Ves at all. He wanted to put his full effort into winning this contest, if only to validate his own strength and capabilities as a mech designer.

He really did not have the confidence of beating any Senior or Master in a mech design contest, but it was not acceptable for him to lose against fellow Journeymen!

Whether his confidence had become inflated or whether he accurately measured his design strength would become clear at the end of the three-day tournament!

Ves and his immediate family hopped inside an armored shuttle and flew towards the Academic District under heavy escort.

Mech design tournaments were different from mech combat tournaments.

The former was more niche and mostly entailed long hours of watching mech designers fiddle with projected design interfaces.

The latter catered to the masses and featured plenty of mech-on-mech action, sometimes non-stop!

Naturally, mech combat tournaments attracted much greater audiences and usually had to be held in the biggest arenas or special combat venues in town.

Mech design tournaments on the other hand did not have to be held in any arenas for at least the design phase portion.

If physical mech combat became a part of the competition rules, then it was possible to hold the matches in a different venue that was rented out for a smaller amount of days.

This cost-saving measure was not necessary in the case of the Twin Weapons Tournament.

This was because the tournament was organized by the Davute University of Technology, the top tech institution of Davute!

The huge university possessed a lavish campus that offered enough room to hold multiple concurrent contests.

The Twin Weapons Tournament may not be the largest one, but it was allocated to the Spencer Hall, which served as an all-purpose exhibition hall, convention center and mech arena.

Its interior was highly modular and adaptable, allowing it to take on any shape to accommodate any event. It could easily house hundreds of thousands of spectators at the greatest, but the attendance rate of mech design tournaments usually wasn't high enough to justify these adaptations.

Surprisingly enough, this time was different.

As the armored shuttle along with the extensive escort of Larkinson mechs touched down a separate landing zone, Ves looked up to observe the arrival of other shuttles and vehicles.

Students as well as many guests arrived well before the event was scheduled to kick off. Ves could even spot the arrival of other shuttles escorted by mechs, which signified that a lot of people of status had chosen to attend as well!

Ves could even spot vehicles and mechs branded by the insignia of the Federal Military of Davute!

"That is way more than I expected."

"Aren't you surprised?" Gloriana said as she ushered their children forward. "A contest such as this normally does not merit too much attention. What makes this different from the other Journeyman-level tournaments is the participation of one special mech designer. They have all come for you. People want to know what the patriarch of one of the most famous and rising clans in Davute is capable of. The price of tickets has multiplied by five times and many people are willing to stay day and night in order to observe everything you are doing."

Ves should have expected this. One of the Larkinson Clan's greatest strengths was its mech business, and no one affected it more than the clan patriarch.

His performance directly affected other people's opinions and behavior towards the Larkinsons. He could not afford to disappoint everyone's expectations.

"The Strange Lands Tournament must be pissed that I decided to withdraw from it." Ves idly remarked.

"That is an understatement, Ves."

Before Ves and children proceeded onwards, they first said goodbye to Gloriana.

"Why won't you come, mama?" Aurelia asked while holding Clixie in her arms.

"Your mother dislikes observing mech design tournaments. My design philosophy centers around perfection, and it is well-known that mechs designed on short notice are anything but exquisite. You can think of it as an allergy, sweetie. As much as I want to support your father and keep you all company, I truly cannot be with you. It is your choice to stay and cheer your father on. I have made sure to assign enough company while you choose to remain."

"Awwww…" Marvaine looked sad.

"Miaow~"

Clixie brushed her body against the young boy. The cats would keep him company!

It was hard for their children to understand why Gloriana couldn't be here, but they loved and admired their father too much to stay away.

Every single child of the Larkinson Clan had grown up listening to the many deeds of its patriarch.

Ves wasn't even 40 years old but already experienced a legendary life!

Much of the tales surrounding his illustrious record was related to his mech design work. He either solved a lot of difficult problems with his unique and innovative works, or provided other talented heroes with the mechs they needed to make a crucial difference.

Many foes had come up and challenged Ves and the growing forces under his command, only to fall beneath his feet!

The public did not have a complete list of all of the enemies that Ves had defeated over his relatively short career. However, the records showed that he had definitely managed to fell pirates, Fridaymen, astral beasts, alien battleships and even phase whales!

These were incredible victories! They were also highly unusual as it was not customary to attribute these glorious accomplishments to mech designers of all people!

In a society where mech designers usually had a reputation for being stereotypical scientists who locked themselves inside their design labs for months on end, the notion of a mech designer proactively taking part in dangerous expeditions sounded highly unusual!

It was completely unnecessary for mech designers to witness the performance of their completed products in the front row of a life-threatening battle, but Ves did it again and again!

His odd atypical behavior and his unusually successful rise had even spurred the emergence of copycats!

Ves applauded their bravery but not their wisdom. He had the sneaking suspicion that all of those overeager mech designers had not correctly weighed the risks of entering the more dangerous regions of the new frontier.

It was none of his business how they chose to spend their time. Perhaps more heroes among mech designers might rise up in the following years.

"I will miss you so much, my son." Gloriana said as she kissed Marvaine on his forehead. "Be a good boy and make sure to listen to Shannon and the others, alright?"

Marvaine cutely nodded his head.

Once Gloriana became reassured that the kids would remain well-behaved, she returned to her shuttle and subsequently left the campus of the Davute University of Technology.

Ves clapped his hands. "Alright! Let's proceed!"

The rest of the group moved towards Spencer Hall. They immediately attracted notice on account of their identity as well as the large and oversized bodyguard detail.

Naturally, Ves did not solely rely on his infantry troopers to safeguard his life. Numerous mechs had taken up positions within the university campus.

This was normally not allowed, but the Larkinson Clan's status was not as trivial as before.

"Wow. What a pretty campus." Aurelia remarked. "Everything is so big and beautiful."

The Davute University of Technology possessed a strong academic atmosphere. The artwork and architecture were refined and spoke of exceedingly thoughtful design.

Although the founding festival caused the university to suspend its classes, Ves could easily imagine many students moving about in order to attend their classes or take part in another activity.

"We are here." Ves announced.

Spencer Hall looked like any other convention center, except bigger. There was plenty of space to accommodate a large crowd and that came in quite handy today.

Ves even spurred on a reaction from the crowd waiting in line to pass through the main entrance.

"Look over there! It is the Larkinson Clan!"

"The patriarch is here! He's shorter than I thought in reality."

"Thank you for saving my brother during the attack!"

Ves smiled and waved at the crowd in a typical PR-friendly fashion. He kept up his polite act until the group passed through the much smaller VIP entrance.

He registered his identity, confirmed his participation in the tournament and handled the rest of the paperwork.

Once everything was in order, Ves briefly accompanied his children to a larger VIP booth that he had reserved for his entire clan.

Numerous clansmen had already arrived beforehand and stood up from their comfortable seats.

"Sir!"

"We're all rooting for you and Juliet!"

Ves smiled. Of all of the Larkinsons that wanted to see him in action, the mech designers of the Design Department expressed the greatest enthusiasm!

He didn't fully understand their compulsion. Ves designed his mechs plenty of times in their presence.

While Shannon Maris performed her nanny duties and settled the children in their seats, Ves approached his colleagues and subordinates and chatted with them for a while.

Miles Tovar, Merrill O'Brian and Cormaunt Hempkamp were Journeymen, just like Ves. The biggest difference was that they were much further behind, so much so that there was little point for them to sign up for the tournaments. They would just humiliate themselves while allowing their confidence to get crushed.

"Don't pay too much attention to the specifics in an attempt to copy the best practices of other mech designers." Ves advised them. "Try and look for sources of inspiration. If there is anything going on that catches your interest, try to analyze and deconstruct the source of your distraction. Then try to figure out whether you can develop an application based on what you have learned."

The three Journeymen all nodded seriously no matter whether they already learned this lesson.

Ves then turned towards the younger generation of Larkinson mech designers.

"Hey, kiddos." He grinned as he stretched out his hand to pat Maikel and Zanthar's heads. "I'm glad to see you here as well. What I said earlier applies even more to the two of you. As Apprentices, you need to work towards developing your own ideas. This is the only way you can formulate a legitimate design philosophy that you can carry to the end. I am still waiting for you to become Journeymen and lighten our workload."

"Will you design a luminar crystal rifleman mech for this tournament?" Zanthar eagerly asked.

"Hmmm… maybe. I hope so, but you never know. These tournaments impose a lot of restrictions on what we can stuff in our mech design to minimize the usefulness of existing mech designs. I am sure the tournament organizers will throw in a few more curveballs in order to keep people like me on our toes."

The Davute University of Technology was the premier mech designer school of the new colonial state. It expected the best of its students and Ves did not believe its attitude would be any different towards the people who applied to compete in its tournament.