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 Tournant!
The latter was a small-scale affair that was mainly organized by a single company and lasted only a single day. ch design tournants centered around Journeyn also weren't as significant as those where Seniors and Masters displayed their formidable prowess.
In the sa way, most single ch tournants generally didn't attract too much attention either. While they were cheaper and easier to organize, the entertainnt market was flooded with countless different tournants that simply pitted a single ch against another ch.
What truly got people's blood pumping was seeing armies of chs colliding against each other!
Humans generally feared war, but loved to witness the action at a safe distance. Large group ch battles might not be as real as actual warfare, but they were still thrilling enough to satisfy the sa urges!
On the opening day of the G-Aena League, the huge Fortas Major Arena had been transford 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 ch 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 an these clansn could keep their cool.
Just a single mistake during the parade could cause the Larkinson Clan to beco a laughingstock in two different galaxies!
"We can do it, n." Commander Casella Ingvar addressed the ch 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 ch. How can these threats possibly compare to a distant crowd? Rember your training and focus on your ch. We're only walking around in a circle. Nothing more."
Certain ch pilots needed more encouragent 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 ch legions. ntal 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 tournant was over, she intended to go back to her ch legion and find ways to address this shortcoming.
As the loud and dramatic dia personalities continued to hype up the audience of the G-Aena League, the ti had finally co for the ch 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 chs bearing different colors, markings, ch types and symbols moved forward in neat, perfect columns.
Each of them were dispatched by pioneers that ca from different parts of the old galaxy. Two ca from the galactic center, 5 ca from the galactic heartland and 9 ca 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 ch combat tournants so special was that the emphasis laid on the collective rather than the individual.
In solo tournants, a floundering ch pilot who got knocked out in the first round mostly bore the bla for his bad showing.
In group tournants, more emphasis was placed on the organization the ch pilots hailed from. In a huge tournant like the G-Aena League, the hundreds of ch 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 fa-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 chs. 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 kiloters offered plenty of space for a thousand chs 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 Redeers and other machines entered everyone's vision, the Larkinsons attracted a lot more attention than the other tournant participants!
[What are those chs and why are they so special?!] A layman comntator asked.
[The sixth battalion of the G-Aena League consists of chs and ch pilots dispatched by the Larkinson Clan. Though the clan is new, it is led by a unique Journeyman ch Designer with several accomplishnts to his na. The chs you see before you are the household machines of the clan. Each of them are so-called living chs, which have beco popular in the Larkinson Clan's ho market.]
[Living chs are noted for their excellent responsiveness and piloting comfort. They are also distinguished by their ability to influence the minds of ch pilots via their 'glows', which can best be described as auras that project in fields around the individual chs. 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 chs.]
[How mysterious! There are truly an endless variety of chs 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 comntators working for the G-Aena League had clearly done their due diligence. They perford 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 tournant this ti. 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 arrangent 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 ti 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 fa!
"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 advancent into the next round."
WE SHALL PREVAIL.
The Quint conveyed absolute confidence borne out of the nurous battles by the Larkinson Clan. The battalions taking part in the G-Aena League were all supposed to be roughly equal when it ca to the strength of their chs.
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 ti!
"Don't be so happy yet, Quint. We can't employ many of the trump cards we've relied upon to win against the Fridayn 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 chs and expert pilots.
Second, it didn't contain any pri chs 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 ch 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 ch only grew more eager to fight.
WE CAN VANQUISH OUR ENEMIES BY RELYING ON SKILL OF OUR N 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 ch to be so talkative. This occasion probably ant more to it than she realized.
Since she didn't want to disappoint her own ch, the expert candidate quickly adjusted her ntality.
"We will reach the finals." She vowed. "With all of our living chs, 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 tournant participants had introduced themselves to the viewers!
[Now, the mont that you have all been waiting for has arrived. Our lovely assistant shall now draw out the nas that will determine their placent in the four groups!]
A gorgeous woman pulled her hand in a projected bowl and pulled out a colorful ribbon that displayed the nas 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 bombardnt. Their ch roster practically contains no lee chs. Instead, the Ginetzy mbers deploy a large amount of shield generating chs 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 chs bombard their opponents into pieces!]
[What a destructive combat doctrine!]
The draw continued. More nas erged 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 chs into scrap before the Larkinson chs 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 chs. 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 comntator was right. The Ginetzy Battalion and the Quizlam Battalion would definitely tornt the Larkinson Battalion!
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