All 32 ch designer pairs worked intensely to design and fabricate a ch in 3 days.
To Ves, the Wild Brawl Bowl's design phase was almost like a vacation. Though he still experienced considerable pressure, it was practically a massage compared to the pressure he endured when he competed in the High Tide Tournant.
The biggest complication was that he needed to work together with another ch designer.
Though Ketis was a highly-regarded swordmaster in the personal combat community, she was not a stellar ch designer.
If anyone only looked at her ager design accomplishnts, she was by far the worst Journeyman in the competition!
Every other ch designer published a lot more ch designs and participated in many more design duels or design tournants. Their knowledge bases were often broader and more comprehensive.
To be fair, Ketis was also a lot younger than the majority of the competitors. This was one of the reasons why she was able to gain the services of a ch pilot as good as Lyain Kepper.
When Team Larkinson began to design their ch in earnest, they chose to focus on realizing a fairly restrained machine.
It was quite difficult to design a more adventurous ch this ti. Despite the longer ti limit, the availability of materials and component designs were not as good as those in the High Tide Tournant.
Ves understood that the Wild Fighter Association wanted the ch designers to win by relying on their ability to design a solid fighter ch.
The restrictive conditions left less room for gimmicks and solutions derived from high technology. Hardly any ch designer would be able to develop a ch that was absolutely superior to any other machine in the tournant.
In theory, every competition ch should be able to defeat any other machine in the tournant. The materials and component designs were simpler and easier to work with, but that also ant that it was hard to leverage too much power from them. Even the most ingenious ch designer could only accomplish so much when he could only make use of low-grade exotics at most.
Ves could already imagine the kind of chs that would result from everyone's efforts. The relatively low-budget competition chs they would produce at the end would probably resemble third-class chs in many ways.
As soone who used to be a third-class ch designer himself, he only needed a short mont of adjustnt to get back in the mindset of soone who had to design a ch under so many constraints.
Third-class ch designers were a lot more basic and less varied because there simply wasn't enough room for advanced solutions.
While the circumstances for the Wild Brawl Bowl diverged in nurous ways, the similarities were still great. This was why Ves favored a more conservative approach that focused on designing a ch with good basic paraters and enough reliability to remain in peak condition for half-a-dozen ch duels.
Of course, that wasn't enough to win the tournant. Many other design teams were probably designing their chs along the sa lines.
What would truly distinguish the competition chs from each other were the specialties that the ch designers incorporated in their design.
Ves and Ketis both emphasized their respective specialties from the beginning of the design phase.
Their swordsman ch was not only going to be alive, but also put together in a way that also amplified Lyain Kepper's swordsmanship!
Ves didn't think his contributions would be able to exceed that of Ketis this ti. Though he could still add a couple of useful functions related to living chs to his work, his design partner was the definite authority when it ca to swordsman chs in the clan!
That didn't an he was content to play second fiddle, though.
Based on his performance in the High Tide Tournant, Ves was still able to affect the success of his competition ch by emphasizing the short-term advantages of his design philosophy.
He had two ways to do that. The first one was to focus on improving the man-machine relationship. This was fairly standard for Ves, but what was different from last ti was that he knew the ch pilot in advance.
This made his job a lot easier this ti. Together with adopting so of Gloriana's design thods, he was able to align the technical and spiritual design of his competition much more closely to its user this ti!
"The ch you'll be piloting in the next phase of this tournant will be a lot more different from what you are accustod to." Ves already began to explain his distinctive work to Lyain. "It will be hard for to explain all of the nuances about my living chs without letting you have a chance to pilot them first, but you'll just have to take my word for it. So of what I'll say will be hard for you to believe, but know that millions of ch pilots have already sworn by my products."
Ketis added her support for her ntor. "Ves doesn't lie when it cos to his work. I know he'll say stuff that will make you think he's gone mad, but living chs are truly special."
It was quite helpful for Ves to explain the essence of his work and how it affected the interfacing experience to the ch pilot in advance.
Previously, Ves only t up with his ch pilot after he designed his ch. The highly compressed titable hardly left any ti for him to explain the qualities of a living ch to Gregory Haloscar before the pilot had to fight his first match.
Although Gregory eventually managed to get into tune with the Pontifical Lance and its design spirit, that was only after he lost one match and barely managed to overco the last and most difficult opponent in the High Tide Tournant.
With all of that hardship in mind, Ves was determined to lower the learning curve and prep Lyain Kepper as much as possible!
It was extrely helpful for Lyain to witness the process of designing his swordsman ch from the ground up. Already he had built up a good idea of what he was about to pilot in a couple of days.
Hopefully, all of this exposure would make Lyain so prepared that he would imdiately be able to leverage most of the qualities of his swordsman ch at the start of his first match!
Ves cared a lot about his ch pilot starting off on a stronger footing this ti because there was no safety cushion in the fighting phase.
If Lyain Kepper failed to win his first match due to lack of adaptation, then Team Larkinson would imdiately have to say goodbye to their tournant run!
"We can't lose the first match like I did in the last tournant." Ves insisted. "This ti, we can do better!"
He was already confident that the other ch designer teams were trying to accommodate their chosen ch pilots in their own ways. It would be stupid for him to ignore this factor.
At the sa ti he was trying to deepen the man-machine relationship between Lyain and his swordsman ch, Ves also worked towards leveraging a design spirit in his work.
He didn't intend to rely on Ylvaine this ti. Prediction and forewarning were less useful in intensive lee matches. Even if the ch pilot received a hint, the pace of a fight was so fast that a ch was too slow to make the right response!
When Ves considered the other design spirits at his disposal, he lanted once again that his collection was not diverse enough. He lacked a strong offensive choice that was fit to be paired with his upcoming swordsman ch.
Zeigra would have been a great choice if Ketis did not insist in designing a ch that also emphasized control. She wanted Mr. Kepper to be in full control over the ch at all tis. This was the key to performing deliberate sword moves and techniques.
It was a lot harder for a ch pilot to channel powerful sword moves when he was impaired!
If Mr. Kepper was a more emotional and enthusiastic ch pilot, then it might be more viable for Ves to employ Zeigra.
The ch pilot's rookie days were long past, though. He had already reached an age where he had to think more about having kids and accepting an easier assignnt.
While Ves was able to sense that Lyain Kepper still managed to maintain his fire, the ch pilot probably relied more on brain rather than brawn in order to defeat his opponents.
This considerably limited the design spirits that Ves could call upon. There were too many viable choices even after Ves ruled out the usual suspects such as the Superior Mother.
"Damn, I really need to expand my collection when I get back to my ship." He muttered under his breath.
He already collected three impressive spiritual fragnts from a number of masterwork chs. He had refrained from creating any new design spirits because he didn't want to work on sothing so sensitive in one of the strongholds of the Big Two.
Ketis already had an opinion about this matter.
"Go for Bravo."
"What?"
"You heard ." She said. "I know you don't like Bravo very much, but he is truly what Lyain needs."
"But…"
"It doesn't matter if Bravo isn't as strong. In fact, I prefer it that way. A swordsman ch pilot like Mr. Kepper shouldn't rely too much on external assistance. He must achieve victory in the arena by relying on his ch and his skills. Everything else shouldn't get in the way of that. Bravo is just right in that aspect."
Ves still found it difficult to accept her proposal. "Bravo doesn't have a lot of extra qualities compared to so of the alternatives. The glow of the ch won't do much aside from giving Lyain a shot of manly courage."
"That's already sufficient. Don't forget that I am contributing to the ch as well. I'll give Lyain plenty to think about when my work takes effect.
In the end, he followed her lead. Bravo might not be a powerful or versatile design spirit, but he was good morale and confidence booster to certain ch pilots.
Lyain Kepper was a lot different from Vincent Ricklin, though. Ves was afraid that Bravo's exaggerated persona might rub the ch pilot the wrong way.
He had a potential solution for that, though. He quickly stopped by the superfab in order to fabricate a rudintary statuette based on Bravo.
"What's this, sir?"
"This is a representation of what you might encounter in your ch. I suggest you familiarize yourself and find a way to get along with it. The more comfortable you are in its presence, the more you'll be able to sync with your upcoming ch."
The ch pilot didn't fully understand what Ves was talking about, but he did what he was told.
Lyain slowly attempted to build up a rapport with Bravo through the little totem. Even if his progress was slow and halting, he still had several days to develop a more intimate relationship with the design spirit.
The more Lyain beca comfortable with the statuette, the more Ves began to accept Ketis' judgnt.
While the ch pilot did not need any help when it ca to enhancing his masculinity, Bravo was able to stimulate his competitive drive!
Not only did Lyain beco more eager than ever to win the upcoming matches, he also rekindled his love for swordsmanship. He spontaneously pulled out his chainsword and began to practice his moves again.
Ves found out that he was wrong about Bravo. There was more to the masculine design spirit than he thought. Just because Vincent was its greatest influence didn't an that the entity was just as useless!
He even beca more eager to align his ch design with Bravo! Perhaps he might be able to deliver a surprising result!
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