[Ves Larkinson has won the first match of the design duel!]

The first match ended in a clear victory for Ves. Captain Alazar Ipsich rode the emotions induced by his Bright Warrior and thrashed the Epsilon Mosar piloted by Kelly Gidon.

Even though the two mech pilots came from different backgrounds and pursued different careers, their skill in battle was roughly even.

The variables that decided the match came down to the qualities of the mechs and how well they cooperated with their pilots.

The strength of the mechs were roughly even. They had to be in order to make the match fair. What differed was where they focused their strengths, which in turn provided different possibilities to their mech pilots.

It was still a bit of a gamble to determine whether the mech pilots were able to utilize the strengths of their mechs to their best effect.

This was an area that Ves focused on a lot in his work. His ongoing partnership with Gloriana had steered him into becoming even more sensitive towards increasing the fit between mech and mech pilot.

Yet the problem of doing so in this design duel was that both participants went in blind during the first phase of the design duel!

Neither of them knew exactly who would enter the cockpit, so they had to keep their dueling mechs open to many different personalities and fighting styles. This entailed making lots of unpalatable compromises.

Yet Ves had an advantage in this aspect. The malleability of a mech's spiritual foundation granted him a unique advantage.

It was a realization that he had always been aware of before but never utilized to the greatest degree.

He was able to alter a mech while it was in the middle of a fight!

It sounded so obvious to him, but that was exactly why he overlooked its value!

Any other mech designer would have become green with envy if they learned what Ves was capable of doing. Other mech designers such as Dr. Navarro, Gloriana and Ketis had no choice but to sit around and do nothing while their products were put into action, whether on the battlefield or in the mech arena.

In fact, Ves didn't have to intervene in person just then. He could have programmed an automatic routine that would have released the right design spirit in the right situation. It was just that he lacked the time to set it up and wanted to exert more control of the process.

What many people didn't realize was that the Bright Warrior responsible for delivering Ves his first win had a lot more under the hood than everyone thought!

The Bright Warrior didn't just have two design spirits. It actually held five in total!

This was one of the new concepts that he had come up with. While it was not to allow multiple design spirits to inhabit a single mech design all the time, what if Ves set up a rotation?

What if he created a carousel of design spirits that allowed the most appropriate one to come forward at the right time?

This could be a game changer!

Of course, this did not work for every mech. The Valkyrie Redeemer for example was so female-centric that it would definitely reject a macho design spirit like Bravo. It might tolerate a female design spirit like Qilanxo, but only reluctantly.

This was where a relatively open mech design like the Bright Warrior came in. Due to its overall design direction, the mech was inclusive. This turned it into a universal platform that could play host to many different design spirits as long as they weren't too extreme.

This enabled him to implement his newly-invented carousel and spin it around whenever he judged the mech was better served with a different design spirit in a given situation!

Although the alternate design spirits weren't able to exert that much influence through a mech that was not designed to take advantage of their unique traits, the base effect of their glows was already enough to change the situation!

This was why Gloriana began to look at the Bright Warrior design in a new light. "This has a lot of potential. If we came up with a mech that is specifically designed to take advantage of this possibility, then…"

Her body shook with excitement. She ravenously turned to Ves and grabbed him by the arms!

"THIS IS PERFECT FOR VENERABLE JOSHUA! HE'S SUCH A VERSATILE MECH PILOT THAT HIS EXPERT MECH HAS TO BE VERSATILE IN ALL ASPECTS AS WELL! YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE CARE OF THIS, WON'T YOU?!"

"Yes, yes, yes, whatever you say, honey!"

That was exactly what she wanted to hear! After pecking him on the cheek, she sat back in her chair and began to let her eyes wander, which was a typical sign that she was fully immersed in her implant.

She was probably revising the outline and mech concept for Joshua's expert mech design!

Ves could only shake his head at her single-minded behavior.

Meanwhile, the public could barely process how the first match had ended.

The Bright Warrior that was slowly flying off the stage under its own power had already switched back to the Golden Cat. However, the memory of the mech displaying unrelenting aggression just a moment ago was still seared in everyone's mind!

"How can this be? The Epsilon Mosar model is way stronger than this! Its regeneration ability barely had time to show its value!"

"That's what made this loss so bad for us. Captain Ipsich is one of us, remember? He knows what biomechs are good at, especially uncovered ones like the Epsilon Mosar. Since he is piloting a metal mech, he can't adopt the same approach anymore. He needs to finish the match quickly before the match goes on for too long."

The first match illustrated the classic considerations of battles between classical mechs and biomechs.

The latter generally fared better in attrition battles. Depending on their properties and how they were used, biomechs could last for quite a long time. Their physical restoration capabilities were much more practical than the self-repair mechanisms of classical mechs.

Unfortunately, the first match proceeded way too intensely for Kelly Gidon to cope. Even though it was not a big deal when she held the initiative, the moment she lost it, her mech failed to stall out the assault or escape from it. If it was able to buy some time, the Epsilon Mosar could have gained a small reset which allowed it to resume the fight with renewed power!

As the Lifers rationalized the loss, their astonishment and disappointment eventually subsided.

Avid and experienced fans of competitive matches knew that the initial result was rarely indicative of the final outcome. The design duel had only progressed by 10 percent! Anything could happen in the remaining 90 percent!

"Just wait. We know what the foreigner's mechs are capable of now. If this is all his mechs can do, then we can definitely beat the next ones!"

The amateurs came up with all kinds of explanations, some of which were quite reasonable.

Yet Ves wasn't interested in their random opinions. Even though he was looking elsewhere, his ears were closely tuned to whatever sounds the six Masters of the LRA were saying.

Sadly, they just sat there sipping their tea or other favorite drinks. None of them spoke up. Either they were communicating through their implants, or they were simply being pretentious.

Ves currently favored the latter theory. Their expressions were all tranquil and calm as if they were sages who disdained to intervene in a trivial Journeyman-level design duel.

He felt someone's gaze on him. Ves turned his head to see Dr. Navarro nodding at him. The biomech designer acknowledged his loss.

"Good show." The challenger spoke. "Even though I do not agree with the premise of your design philosophy, its value is not in doubt. However, it takes a lot more than a single match win to prove that your mechs are truly alive."

Ves merely smiled back. "We shall see. I'm quite interested in what kind of mech pilots will show up next. The ones we have seen so far are certainly colorful, though I find it odd that only one of them has arena experience."

He implicitly suggested that there was something fishy about the selection of mech pilots.

Dr. Navarro did not agree with him. "Miss Gidon's experience as a mech athlete did not avail her in the end. Besides, it doesn't matter too much if there are differences in strength. She will pilot your mech during the second phase."

That wasn't entirely fair, still. If Dr. Navarro always received the stronger mech pilot during the matches in the first phase, then his biomechs would incur less damage due to better performance! This in turn meant that it was a lot less cumbersome to repair the organic machines after the end of the first phase!

Ves didn't bother to quibble over this matter, though. If the bias was too obvious, then Ves wouldn't be the only person who understood the implications. The LRA would lose a lot of credibility if such a plot existed and became exposed!

Once the downed Epsilon Mosar was carted out of the arena, the second pair of mechs and mech pilots entered the stage.

[Our second match is a clash of warriors, literally this time! Two defensive mechs will be attempting to wear each other down. Which armored colossus will fall first?]

The two knight mechs that appeared in view might possess the same role, but functioned very differently!

[On the left, we have yet another Bright Warrior mech, but this time outfitted in its knight mech configuration. On the right, we have Dr. Navarro's impressive-looking Dragonscale Warrior. Both mechs are made to withstand immense punishment. This will be a real slugfest!]

"Ugh, I hate this boring matchup." Vincent complained. "Whose idea was it to pit one defensive mech against another defensive mech? These clashes last forever!"

However, the match quickly revealed something that introduced some much-needed excitement.

The projectors showcased the mech pilots sitting in their cockpits. They also displayed a brief profile of their track records.

It turned out that both of them were young!

[Now this match is a breath of fresh air! The next match will be fought between two rising stars. The mech pilot of the second Bright Warrior is Trip Oxxon. He is the 17th ranked elite graduate of Greenstar Academy. The mech pilot of the Dragonscale Warrior is Zenon Dia Bavros, who is also an elite graduate, this time from the Dorman Piloting Institute. He is the 14th ranked mech cadet of his class!]

Ves frowned a bit when he heard that. He only relaxed when someone mentioned that Greenstar Academy was slightly better regarded than the Dorman Piloting Institute. Of course, the differences were minor and subjective. The two were pretty much even in many aspects, and so were the mech pilots.

"Why choose younger mech pilots this time?" He questioned.

"It could be to test whether your mechs are easy to pick up or not." Raella guessed. "It could also be a way for the LRA to showcase their comprehensive strength to the public. The Lifers must be quite confident in the performance of these rookies if they chose this pair to fight the second match."

Vincent did not think much of these so-called elite graduates. "These fellows have to work for it if they want to screw up in front of a crowd. Anyone can pilot a knight mech. They're easy to learn and easy to master. Even someone who has lost half a brain can still be useful with a knight mech!"

"Don't let Jannzi hear you saying that!"

While Vincent had a point, knight mechs were capable of performing in many different ways. Their mission might be simple, but a creative mech pilot could always find new ways to leverage a knight mech's capabilities!