A critical mont had co. Ves and Ketis had to work together to design a competition ch, but they couldn't win the Wild Brawl Bowl without a ch pilot.
Twenty ch pilots ca forth at this ti to make themselves available for selection. According to their profiles, five of them specialized in piloting swordsman chs.
The other fifteen pilots probably trained in the basics of swordsmanship but were actually excellent in piloting other lee chs.
There were those who mastered the use of axes, spears, hamrs, warpicks, shields and other equipnt.
These pilots only beca relevant if Team Larkinson wanted to compete with an unexpected ch. For now, Ketis did not take a serious look at them. She knew what she was good at and had no intention of straying from her specialty.
That ant picking one of the five swordsman ch pilots.
Team Youngbuck already picked out the most obvious choice. Giles Harnacher possessed the more comprehensively strong record out of all of the ch pilots among the Wild Fighters. His ranking, his experience and his skills were just a notch above the others.
Ves found that the differences in strength between the ch pilots available in the Wild Brawl Bowl diverged significantly more than those available in the High Tide Tournant.
This was a clear way to provide a handicap to those who had less ti to progress their design philosophies.
Though the best had already been taken, the other five swordsman ch specialists were still quite good in their own ways. Each of them were sufficiently different from each other in order to provide Team Larkinson with a lot of choice…
The swordmaster first gazed at the won.
Celaine Traxer was the most standard and balanced option. She was a disciplined, controlled fighter who could wield different types of swords, but excelled the most in one-handed swordsmanship.
She paired best with a ch equipped with a sword as well as a light shield. Such a swordsman ch could partially function like a knight ch and were very suitable in duels against other lee chs.
Ketis shook her head. "Traxer is a good pilot, but she's not committed to a style. She has skill but she still needs to explore her own heart."
This was sothing that the records didn't explain. They only contained objective, verifiable facts. Only a proficient swordswoman like Ketis was able to peer deeper.
She moved on to the next ch pilot.
Maida Siferan specialized in wielding dual swords. This was an unusual specialty not only because it was difficult to beco proficient in wielding two swords at once, but also because it was challenging to design a ch that could fully express this fighting approach.
A swordsman ch wielding two blades at once was another classic ch duel staple. It was always tricky to defeat one if it was piloted by a skilled individual.
Still, it wasn't as popular in actual battlefields as the cost and effort to train the ch pilots and field the right chs was too burdenso.
Ketis liked this ch pilot a lot more. "Maida Siferan is a lot more dedicated to her swordsmanship. She has to be in order to beco a dual sword wielder. It's just that designing the right ch for her is difficult. I don't think I should make everything harder for myself."
"Wise choice." Ves said.
The Wild Brawl Bowl allotted just three days for every team to produce a competition ch. That was a lot more ti in his previous tournant, but there was no need to make their lives more difficult for themselves.
In events like these, it was crucial to simplify a ch design as much as possible. Each and every added complication not only introduced more points of failure, but also consud a significant amount of ti that could have been spent on more essential aspects of a design.
Though Ketis the swordmaster valued Maida Siferan a lot, Ketis the ch designer was aware that she should not be too adventurous in her first design tournant.
She sighed and quickly moved on to the other three ch pilots, who all happened to be male.
Dzinke Vosfer preferred to pilot heavier chs with plenty of heft and strength at their disposal. He was proficient in wielding all manner of large swords and he excelled at maximizing the damage of his own attacks while making his ch last as long as possible. This was another fighting approach that was tailored to the arena.
"He's not it." Ketis shook her head.
This was a sha, because Mr. Vosfer was the only one of the five who was skillfully able to wield a greatsword. The problem was that his fighting style was too different from that of the Swordmaidens.
Such a destructive and wasteful combat approach would have long bankrupted or annihilated the Swordmaidens!
Ernest Artoc was a more refined ch pilot. He was a speed-oriented ch pilot who preferred to pilot light chs ard with thin swords. He was a consummate ch duelist who seriously loved to challenge other swordsman ch pilots in a contest of blades.
Ketis looked intrigued when she considered Dzinke Vosfer. She could sense a competitive spirit in him. Vosfer reminded him a lot of the passionate citizens of the Heavensword Association.
She was not quite ready to design a light swordsman ch, though. Though light ch designs were easier and faster to complete, the lack of space seriously challenged a ch designer's ability to work under serious space constraints. She already had a sense of how difficult it was to design a good light ch when she took part in the design of the Dark Zephyr.
That left the remaining ch pilot. Lyain Kepper was known as a steady practitioner who already built up his own style. The odd part about his swordsmanship was that he preferred to wield a sword that was attached to a chain.
This allowed him to throw or swing his sword across a larger distance, which was very helpful in fighting against other lee chs.
Ves had seen another ch employ a chained sword before. Venerable Linda Cross of the Cross Clan was fad for piloting a space knight ard with this weapon system.
However, the difference between Lyain Kepper and Linda Cross was that the latter was able to leverage resonating materials to add a lot more force behind her extended sword attacks.
Each ti the Amphis struck out with its sword, the weapon collided against its target as if the blow was at least five tis stronger!
This solution solved a significant weakness of this weapon system and made wielding chainswords viable in duels against other expert chs.
What worked for expert chs didn't necessarily work for normal chs. A chainsword was much less threatening when it wasn't enhanced with additional power.
Still, Ketis saw sothing in Mr. Kepper. Perhaps his swordsmanship might not actually be the best, but he was earnest about turning it into an advantage. He sacrificed a lot of progress in other areas in order to beco proficient in all kinds of moves with the chainsword.
"Team Larkinson chooses Mr. Lyain Kepper as its ch pilot." Ketis announced as soon as she had made her decision.
[Swordmaster Ketis has spoken! Of the five available swordsman ch pilots, she has settled on Lyian Kepper as the Wild Fighter of her choice! Whether he is up to the task of eting this prodigal daughter's high standards remains to be seen, but he will undoubtedly enjoy the honor of piloting one of her personal works!]
The pilot selection process moved on as there were at least two-dozen other teams waiting to make their choices out of the increasingly worsening pool of candidates.
In the anti, Lyain Kepper slowly floated over to Team Larkinson. The man looked to be around his forties and already conveyed a mature and experienced air. While he clearly looked pleased to be working with soone who knew much more about swordsmanship than himself, he possessed enough self-control to maintain his decorum.
"Lyain Kepper, at your disposal." He bowed in front of Ketis and belatedly to Ves. "I am honored to act as your champion in this tournant. I will do my best to live up to your expectations."
He mostly spoke those words to Ketis. Though she never displayed her martial skill and transcendent swordsmanship directly in front of the current crowd, no one doubted her superiority over nearly every other swordsman. Just her restrained aura was enough to convince warriors that she was the real deal!
Ketis was already accustod to others showing deference to her. She was much more interested in moving onto business.
"You specialize in piloting chs ard with chained swords, correct?"
"Yes, ma'am." The older man replied as if he was a lowly grunt reporting to a superior officer. "My record should have filled you in on much of what you need to know about my combat effectiveness. I am accustod to piloting dium swordsman chs that aren't too light or heavy. I like to move quickly but I also need enough heft and power to penetrate through armor."
"I'll test your swordsmanship in person once we begin the design phase, Mr. Kepper. I already have an idea of how you fight, but I can only truly determine your skills and your other traits when I am able to test your moves up close. The more I understand your fighting style, the more I can embody its essence in your swordsman ch."
She had already displayed nurous different thods to facilitate different sword styles in her previous work. The First Sword, the Shield of Samar and the Everchanger both benefited from different innovations based around her design philosophy.
"What do you think, Ves?" She asked.
"A swordsman ch with a slight variation such as a chainsword adds a bit of complexity, but it is still within an acceptable range." Ves judged. "Of course, that depends on what kind of features you want to include in your design. On one hand, it's best to focus on making the basics as solid as possible. On the other hand, our chances of winning the tournant won't be as high if we keep avoiding risks."
She understood his point. "In your last tournant, you took a large risk by basing your competition entry around a lancer ch."
"It worked out that ti, but I could have easily ended up a lot lower in the rankings, Ketis. I took a calculated gamble with the thought that even if I made the wrong mistake, all I would lose was a bit of reputation and a single day of my ti. Our circumstances are different this ti. The downside of being recognized as the favorites to win the Wild Brawl Bowl is that everyone's expectations of us are insanely high."
"You're afraid of disappointing everyone?"
Ves nodded. "I am. The fighting phase of this tournant is based around a single elimination bracket. We cannot afford to suffer a single loss until we reach the semifinals. If we lose in the earlier rounds, the audience will imdiately turn on us and negate much of the reputation that we have gained. That will ultimately cause us to beco a lot less attractive to potential business partners. Our clan has a real stake in our tournant performance this ti."
This was the cost of becoming such a high-profile tournant participant. Ves had no illusion that Ketis would get a pass because she was a swordmaster.
She had not yet built up a strong relationship with all of her new 'fans'. Rather than support her in a ti of difficulty, they would beco inclined to turn on her and conclude that she was overhyped!
Despite all of these dangers, Ves was not undeterred. He ca into this tournant with a lot of confidence… The competition was more manageable this ti as there weren't any older Journeyn taking part this ti. There was no excuse for Team Larkinson to perform badly considering the caliber of its two ch designers!
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