"Fencer chs are capable of outdueling any lee chs by themselves." She said. "As you can imagine, my Heavensword Association is incredibly obsessed with swordsmanship. We have developed millions of styles, and many of them revolve around defeating a superior ch with an inferior ch. True glory isn't earned by bullying weaker opponents. It is only attainable to duelists if they can vanquish against a ch that is twice as expensive as theirs!"
Angelique Harcourt conveyed her true feelings on the matter. Her design philosophy centered entirely on fencer chs, with a particular focus on empowering finesse-based fighting styles.
Ves heard this kind of argunt many tis. In particular, swordsman ch specialists and ch designers who specialized in designing offensive lee chs always liked to harp on the rits of centering ch designs around facilitating the skill expression of the ch pilot.
Personally, he possessed a more neutral stance on the matter. While he agreed that it was often best if the ch did not constrain the skill expression of the ch pilot, there were many instances where individual skill just didn't matter.
The hierarchy of ch pilots was shaped like a very broad pyramid. Only a handful of truly skilled ch pilots sat at the top. The majority consisted of a very fat portion of diocre ch pilots and an even greater number comprised an extrely broad base!
What this effectively ant was that designing chs around enabling skilled ch pilots to perform their fancy tracks was all well and good, but this market only consisted of 1 percent or less of the entire ch market!
Most general-purpose chs focused much more on winning the battle through their base performance paraters and individual strengths imparted by their designs.
This was the orthodox approach to ch design. Even in a second-rate state like the Friday Coalition or the Hexadric Hegemony, plenty of diocre ch pilots existed who despite all of their advanced education and augntations were still barely good enough to pilot a basic ch!
Therefore, to most people in the ch community, they had to base their decisions around 'average' ch pilots who always needed help from their chs in order to increase their effectiveness in battle!
As Ves faced the passionate ch designer from the Heavensword Association, he refrained from voicing his true opinion. From what she said so far, he would only get sucked in a pointless argunt against soone who would never change her mind on a matter he held close to her heart!
He returned a strained smile at Harcourt. "I understand. Fencer chs are completely designed to outduel any enemy swordsman ch, spearman ch or other lee ch up front. Different from light skirmishers, they possess enough strength to deflect and redirect incoming blows. Considering how much less strength fencer chs possess compared to dium chs, that must be pretty difficult to pull off. One misstep is enough to result in defeat!"
"That's why my custors are all swordmasters." Miss Harcourt grinned in satisfaction. "It's not easy to satisfy the needs of these exalted ch pilots. Admittedly, I have no chance of offering my products to the established swordmasters of my Association, but the younger ones are hungry to prove their skill!"
"Forgive my ignorance, miss. From the inflection of your words, I take it that swordmasters are special in your Association. Am I correct?"
The female ch designer bead with pride. "Our Heavensword Association produces the best swordsman ch pilots of our star sector! In fact, so of our swordmasters aren't inferior to the best swordsman ch specialists of the Winged Serenade Star Sector! It takes lifelong learning and dedication to beco a recognized swordmaster. Even before they start learning how to pilot any swordsman ch, they begin swinging their swords and practicing the fundantals of their sword styles when they are old enough to hold a stick!"
The woman blabbered on about the constant and extre training that swordmasters had to endure in order to beco a master of the sword!
Whether in person or in the cockpit of a ch, swordmasters were expected to deliver a brilliant display of swordsmanship!
"The strongest and most skilled swordmaster of our ti is always crowned as the Heavensword Saint. As the ch pilot who is the closest to wielding the legendary Heavensword, we believe he is worthy enough to lead our Association!"
The more Ves heard about the Heavensword Association, the less he wanted to hear. The citizens of the Heavensword Association even called themselves sword servants, implying that everyone who wasn't a swordmaster solely existed to serve this warrior class!
Ves pretended to notice the ti. "Ah, I'd love to exchange my views on swordsman chs and fencer chs with you, but I have just begun to embark on a new design project. The deadline for it is rather tight, and the rest of my design team is awaiting the results of my selection."
"Oh? May I ask what ch you are planning to design?"
"A spaceborn striker ch."
"I see. That's a sha." Angelique's face fell. "If you were designing a swordsman ch, I would have been able to offer so advice to you. Striker chs are.. rather detestable chs in my opinion. They require no skill at all to pilot! It is a travesty every ti a no-skill ch is capable of defeating a proper swordsman ch!"
That was the entire point. Striker chs were explicitly designed to counter tricky and maneuverable lee chs!
They offered a solution to ch forces that didn't possess too many high-skilled ch pilots. Without striker chs, any formidable opponent would be able to wreak havoc in their midst!
While it sounded dishonorable to rely on technology to neutralize the advantages of skill, the history of war throughout human civilization always revolved around this dynamic.
In ancient human civilization, armies started slinging stones or shooting arrows at their opponents. Regardless of how a king or noble spent a significant amount of money and effort to train a skilled knight or man-at-arms who were deadly at close combat, a single arrow penetrating a weak point in their armor was enough to make all of that investnt go to waste!
As millenia passed and humanity ascended to the stars, humanity still leaned heavily on technology to vanquish its opponents!
Relying on skill was important, but.. aside from prodigies, many ch pilots focused on deepening their skill because they didn't have enough faith in the battle prowess of their chs.
If their machines weren't good enough because their employers were too cheap or refused to assign them sothing better, than honing their skills was the only way for these ch pilots to increase their chances of success in battle!
"Maybe I'll design a swordsman ch in the future. It's on my to-do list." Ves casually remarked.
"Please consider getting in touch with if you do. Whether you just want so advice from soone who has designed chs that excel in bringing out the strengths of different sword styles, or are in need of a very knowledgeable collaborator, I'm open to any offer!"
Ves smiled. "I appreciate your generous offer. For the ti being, I have other matters to attend to. Goodbye."
"Goodbye, Mr. Larkinson!"
He pulled his digitized mind out of the MTA's virtual portal shortly afterwards.
Returning his perspective to his real body montarily disoriented him. The transition happened suddenly without any adjustnt ti. However, he soon familiarized himself with his own eyes and ears again.
Gloriana was watching him carefully from his side. "How was your first virtual imrsion??"
"It's disturbing how closely it mimics reality yet exhibits subtle signs of imperfection that constantly reminds that it's just a false reality."
"The MTA probably has technology that can present an even more realistic experience." She claid. "Back when I was residing at Centerpoint, I heard rumors that the MTA has long mastered how to make virtual imrsion so realistic that no one is able to distinguish between true and false reality! They mostly keep it to themselves in order to give their own personnel an edge in training and prevent trillions of average people from losing touch with reality!"
That sounded like sothing the MTA would do. Human civilization may be ascendant in the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond, but their race could easily lose its dominant position if its people grew complacent!
Getting lost in entertainnt and ignoring actual concerns in life for the endless pleasures of virtual reality was a common fear to many leaders.
Humans needed to maintain their edge. Growing soft led to weakness. Weakness led to disaster! No matter what, humans needed to rember that life was hard, but necessary!
"This reminds that I still need to visit the Rim Exchange." Ves suddenly said. "I refrained from visiting its virtual portal because I still had to complete the Bright Warrior design and didn't want to beco distracted, but now that I'm not as busy, perhaps I can see what this exclusive club is all about."
"Go ahead, Ves. I'm curious to see what the Rim Exchange has to offer as well. It's a sha I didn't receive an invitation."
She didn't show much remorse, though. Hexers generally preferred to keep a distance from the MTA and its organizations because they had too many males in power.
"I'll be on the lookout for any easy opportunities to earn a lot of rits, though I don't expect to find anything promising. MTA rits shouldn't be so easy to co by, considering they are the primary necessities to extend our lives."
"Before you dive in again, please tell which flathrower model you've selected."
He briefly did so, and she accepted his choice, though with obvious reluctance.
"Our budget will strain even further with this choice, Ves. We can invest as much in the armor system of our striker ch design."
"Offense is more important than defense when it cos to striker chs. If I want a defensive ch, I would have designed a ch that is specialized in taking a beating!"
She couldn't argue with that simple logic, though she didn't feel so good. Second-class striker chs were much better protected in proportion to all of its other features, but that was an entirely different ga.
Once Ves finished his discussion with his girlfriend, he settled on his seat and prepared to enter another virtual imrsion. He browsed the interface of his comm until he ca across the exclusive virtual entrance of the marketplace of the Rim Guardian Fraternity!
ch designers and other ch insiders all across the entire galactic rim dreamt of becoming an associate of the Rim Guardians!
Chief among their reasons was obtaining access to their exclusive Rim Exchange. Though it offered many of the sa goods and services of the MTA, associates received varying levels of preferential treatnt that allowed them to get more out of their precious rits!
Now, Ves would be entering it for the very first ti. Though he wasn't sure what to expect, he hoped to find sothing that would make it easier to fulfill his ambition to beco a galactic pioneer!
As his partially-digitized mind entered the Rim Exchange's virtual portal, his senses blanked out once again before depositing him at a brilliant star escape!
Stars surrounded him from every direction as his disembodied eyes floated in the middle of interstellar space!
A symbol of the Rim Guardians slowly lit up in front of his view. A starry chakram with the silhouette of a man at the side looking upwards with hope conveyed a lot of symbolism.
Once it disappeared, an android similar to Delta-Gina appeared into view.
[Welco to the Rim Exchange, Mr. Larkinson.] The butler-like android with a tallic moustache greeted. [I am Gamma-Gamma-Hogan, your virtual concierge at our illustrious Exchange. Whether you visit our virtual portal or one of our physical branches, I shall always be present to accompany you through our Exchange and assist you in your tasks. You may dismiss whenever you wish if you do not desire my company.]
If Ves still possessed a body, he would have twitched his mouth. It figured that the Rim Guardians wouldn't do things the normal way.
"Your na is kind of a mouthful. Can I call you Hogan?"
[You have full prerogative to call anything you wish.]
A thought ca to mind. "I'm curious. What are the most common nas that virtual concierges like you are called?"
[The top nas are 'Bot', 'Stupid Bot', 'Dummy', '#$\u0026##', '@#\u0026$\u0026', 'Servant', 'AI' and '#$*@#$'. Would you like to refer to in one of these popular nas instead?]
"No thanks. Hogan will do."
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