The biochs owned by the Roving Hunters all possessed flight capabilities.
This was good. Flight translated to mobility, and mobility was essential to flee the most dangerous areas of Veoline quickly.
Each bioch stood silently while locked within braces extending from the walls. The braces supported the biochs while at the sa ti keeping them in place so that they wouldn’t be able to go out without authorization.
It turned out that one of the reasons why the Roving Hunters failed to get their biochs out of the braces was because they didn’t have the right codes to unlock them! Competitive teams were only allowed to bring their chs out if they received permission from the arena.
"As you can see, our biochs are stuck." Captain Cecil Rivington stated the obvious. "Usually, an arena official will co and unlock the braces for the chs that are scheduled to make an appearance. The rules are so strict because an incident occurred in the past."
Ves raised his eyebrow. "What happened?"
"There used to be a team that went on a 12-match losing streak. It got so bad that the team risked getting relegated to a lower league. When that happens, you lose your sponsors, ch pilots, fans and a lot of potential inco. Suffice to say, the team will pretty much be ruined, and the owner and team leader will lose the most."
"I guess that team leader didn’t take his impending relegation too well."
"Correct, sir. The short story is that the team leader went bonkers and started to hop into his bioch. Back then, the braces were still there, but they were under the control of the team, so he easily managed to free his machine. I won’t detail all the damage that ensued, but he was able to inflict a lot of damage before internal security intervened."
All of this ant that Ruuzon Arena had beco a lot more strict towards rogue biochs since then! Not only were teams compelled to store their chs in strong and secure braces, but they also had to implent other locking asures that prevented the machines from being used on an impulse.
Removing all of these locking asures took ti, and so of them couldn’t be removed without the cooperation of an arena inspector!
Ves’ suited form looked up at the mass of bone-like cages that kept the Roving Hunter machines in captivity.
"If this is the case, what was your plan to free your biochs from these contraptions?"
"We figured we could cut through enough braces to free an arm or sothing. Once one of our biochs is able to move a limb, it could use its own strength to break the other braces. It will still take ti to unlock the other locking chanisms, but our ch technicians can handle those aspects."
Ves glanced at the crew responsible for maintaining the biochs of the Roving Hunters. They consisted of a mix of young interns to seasoned specialists.
While biochs were fad for their low maintenance requirents, that didn’t an that every problem could be redied by dumping them into a feeder pool.
Regardless of whether they were made of tal or flesh, competitive chs frequently incurred damage. Their battle frequency was so high that their wear and tear reached an insane level. And this did not even take into account the battle damage they suffered!
Due to the peculiarities of biochs, fixing major issues such as missing limbs required a lot of manual intervention. For example, reattaching a new limb and trying to integrate it with the older body not only demanded specialized knowledge, but also lots of practical experience.
Every bioch was unique. Their growth always diverged from the template and as they aged, they beca more distinct. Every injury healed in different ways and every replacent part caused the bioch to diverge even further from their starting point.
In most cases, these changes might have detrintal effects on the performance of a bioch, but as long as the problems weren’t too exaggerated, the impact was negligible enough.
A competitive team that did not do their best to keep their chs in peak condition risked suffering many preventable losses!
A team of the caliber of the Roving Hunters actually employed over a hundred specialists to care for their biochs. Due to the complexity of organic machines, each bioch technician specialized in a narrow field.
For example, there were bioch technicians who only trained in servicing and repairing joints. Others specialized in healing and servicing the biceps of bioch limbs.
It couldn’t be helped. The knowledge that soone needed to learn to master every essential aspect about servicing biochs was too imnse! The use of a decent-quality cranial implant was essentially mandatory to be able to beco the highest grade of bioch technicians in the LRA! They had essentially beco biotechs experts themselves after they mastered all of this knowledge!
This was one of the many reasons why most people outside of the LRA didn’t bother with biochs. While an ordinary ch was also a complicated product of engineering, ch technicians didn’t need to know how all of it worked in order to straighten a piece of armor plating or replace a damaged component.
Therefore, even though the crew answering to Captain Rivington were rely bioch technicians, Ves did not look down on them. As proud as he was in his ability to work with chs, his expertise in machines made out of flesh and bones was vastly inferior to that of these ’humble’ techs!
That said, Ves was not completely useless in this instance.
He might know little about organic machines, but electronic machines were much more familiar to him. The arena systems mainly operated on conventional systems, which ant they were difficult for the biochs to deal with but familiar enough for Ves to manipulate.
With Lucky’s hacking capabilities, the security suite posed little hindrance to Ves. He tore past the blockade and accessed the controls to the ch hall.
"Make way! The braces are coming off!"
The bioch technicians near the machines quickly flew back to a healthy distance. The entire hall rumbled for a tiny mont before the bone-like braces gradually retracted from the organic machines they clutched. The braces smoothly retracted into the wall.
Ves only freed five out of the twelve biochs. While it would have been nice if he was able to take away the rest, they simply didn’t have the ans to transport them at a ti!
Rather than leave them open for other parties to subvert, it was best to leave them locked so that delinquents wouldn’t be able to use them for destructive ends.
Three of the biochs were reserved for the ch athletes. Captain Cecil Rivington was a swordsman ch specialist. As the team leader, he not only possessed the highest skill, but also knew how to take charge.
His swordsman bioch was the most impressive unit of the twelve. The Taragon’s sculpted uncovered muscle drew admiration from Vincent, though he was quite distressed to see that there was nothing between the legs.
A woman called Carlie Jinton was his second. She was a ranged ch specialist but knew her way around if an enemy ever got close.
Since pure ranged chs were a bit impractical in competitive matches, she usually piloted marauder chs. The Bluestar was typical of this ch type. The speed-oriented bioch was capable of wielding both a mace and a carbine, though not at once.
The third ch pilot was a younger man called Oliver Vlambeer. He was the rookie of the Roving Hunters and did not possess any exceptional fighting capabilities. His talent might be good, but at this point the 28-year old could not compare to the likes of Venerable Jannzi.
He piloted a fairly sturdy spearman ch called the Optimon. It was a slower, more defensive-oriented ch that carried both a spear and a dium shield.
Ves couldn’t do much about it, though. After discussing with Jannzi and Vincent, he set his sights on two spare biochs.
The first one was a knight ch, of course. Different from the Shield of Samar, the primary defensive ch of the Roving Hunters was a rather speedy and agile bioch.
"Most of the ti, ranged chs are of limited use in group matches." Captain Rivington explained as he gestured towards the knight ch. "The Perringer isn’t designed to stay put and absorb damage. In the arena, every ch must constantly stay on the move. It’s impractical for a slow and heavy knight ch to be of use in these conditions. Our knight ch therefore serves a peeling function. They have to charge forward, get in the face of another ch and keep it occupied as long as possible, thereby peeling away an opponent that could threaten our more vulnerable units such as the Bluestar."
"I see." Ves murmured. "It’s ant to be annoying, then. I’m a bit disappointed by its defensive capabilities, though. I can see why it’s classified as a knight ch but to it’s a bit too skinny for my tastes."
Captain Rivington shrugged. "As I said, the current competitive ta favors mobility above all else. The Perringer is damn good at charging, and its slightly-conal shield is great at ramming into other chs."
"What do you think, Jannzi?"
"I would rather have the Shield of Samar." She grumbled. "I don’t like to pilot other chs, you know that. In fact, if it wasn’t an ergency, I wouldn’t be willing to pilot another ch at all. I’m sure the Perringer is a decent ch, but I have no bond with it, and it’s not even living."
"Just do the best you can. You can get back to the Shield of Samar soon enough once we solve our imdiate problems."
Ves turned to Vincent. "Are you ready to pilot your first bioch?"
The crippled expert candidate was hastily browsing through a beginner’s guide on piloting biochs. The more technical explanations all went right over his head!
"I don’t know! These biochs are so different from the chs I know that I’m not sure whether I can fight with any of them! Isn’t there a normal ch around here sowhere?"
"Don’t complain. I want to get my hands on a classical ch as well, but there aren’t any within range. We have no choice but to make do with what we have, and right now that ans you should get ready to pilot the Rotenring."
"That’s a stupid na, by the way."
The oddly-nad Rotenring was a bit of an oddball among the competitive chs of the Roving Hunters. It was a striker ch ard with a shotgun that also incorporated a chainsaw.
The Rotenring possessed good protection but lower-than-average mobility. This was fine though as the ch was ant to act as a finisher. Its arsenal allowed it to deal disproportionate damage against damaged opponents. The shotgun was able to inflict considerable damage to open wounds while its wicked-looking chainsaw could grind through entire limbs!
However, its lack of maneuverability ant that it had fallen out of favor as of late.
"The Rotenring might be rusty since it has been months since we last deployed it." Captain Rivington cautioned.
"What does that an?"
"The bioch should be fine, but the Rotenring might co across as stiff to its ch pilots. Just give it so exercise to loosen it up. Once a bioch gets moving again, it will gradually beco more responsive."
As the bioch technicians prepared all five biochs for deploynt, Ves began to study them as well. He referenced the manuals and technical schematics and tried to see whether he could add to their strength.
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