Each ti Ves fabricated a ch, he imagined bringing a new life into existence. At his best, he even had the illusion that he beca a god.
His Unicorn ch paled in comparison to his older designs. Made in haste, the ch only possessed the bare essentials. As a scout skirmisher, it was very light on firepower. Besides a piddling laser pistol, it mainly had to rely on a spear to threaten other chs. Its armor was paperthin and it possessed rely adequate speed among light chs.
Its faults were also nurous.
As a rushed product, not all of the parts aligned perfectly with each other. Though Ves managed to avoid major faults, the ch still possessed nurous inconsistencies that might prove vulnerable later on. At least all of its limbs worked as designed, more or less.
The endurance of the ch also fell short. The Unicorn could reluctantly support fifteen minutes of peak combat before it entered power saving mode. If the ch failed to recharge its energy cells, it only grew more sluggish and feeble.
All-in-all, the Unicorn was one of the worst chs he ever designed. Yet it was also his best work to date. Ves incorporated many nuances in its design, so of which he spontaneously generated on the spot. In just two-and-a-half hours, Ves was confident that few could match his efforts.
What Ves particularly cared about was the X-Factor. In the scoring system used by the System, he only achieved a score of C- for his inspired Marc Antony design. He rembered the drive and passion he experienced when he completed his first real ch design. The feeling he had when he completed the Unicorn faintly surmounted his previous experience by a small but noticeable margin.
"It’s unlikely I pushed my score up to a B. The best I can hope for is a C or C ."
That still represented a long-awaited breakthrough. Ves harvested many clues about how to progress his implentation of the X-Factor. If he firmly grasped this step, he could surmount his current limits and be one step closer in achieving his dream of designing a completely original ch.
"Now, it’s all up to the pilot."
When Ves handed over the Unicorn, he exited the stage and entered a waiting room for designers. He quickly counted the number of people present.
"Fifteen designers. That ans I’ve snatched the sixteenth ranked pilot. I’m still a bit too slow!" Ves shook his head. He missed an opportunity to snatch soone better. There was a big difference between the top 10 and the top 20. "At least my ch is decently built. It shouldn’t fall apart like the other rushed machines."
The comntators also noted his submission and pulled up the specs of his design.
"That’s interesting! Mr Larkinson’s design is the first one so far that’s holding up rather decently. Its limbs aren’t locked out and its internals are working sowhat according to their factory specs. What fearful speed!"
"What fearful precision! Larkinson managed to complete his ch successfully even when he was playing with fire. The amount of control that’s required to keep this ch together is quite fearso!"
"I think whoever is assigned to pilot this machine will cry tears of joy. He surely lucked out by piloting sothing other than a walking scrapheap."
"Cadet Reddy Lovejoy here sure has a colorful history. Besides his obsessive love for pickles, he’s also a trained swordsman!"
"Oh, that’s a bumr for him. His ch is equipped with a spear!"
"Well it’s not like swords are rare. If he can scavenge a sword from another ch, he’ll be good to go!"
"Good luck out there Lovejoy!"
A few hundred ters below ground, another simulation pod turned active. The pilot inside woke up from his lethargy. The ti had co for him to go into action. He patiently waited for his simulation pod to go through its checks. Once it finished testing the connection, the pilot opened his mind and let his psyche expand in the cavernous emptiness that represented his new ch’s mindspace.
As the fifteenth ranked pilot from the Abelard Academy, Cadet Lovejoy had piloted nurous training chs. Many of them were used to being piloted by many people, so they all gave him a worn and familiar feeling.
This ti was different.
He encountered sothing different this ti during his subrsion into the Unicorn. A faint radiant energy brushed his ntal thoughts. Lovejoy instantly raised his vigilance. During his training, he learned to recognize the nurous anomalies pilots might encounter if the neural interface had any issues.
Fortunately, aside from that initial brush, he sensed no further strangeness. His mind successfully made a connection with the Unicorn, causing the ch to blaze to life. Its systems ca online and aside from a few bumps, his ch was ready to go.
"Let’s hunt." Lovejoy smirked as he guided his ch forward. He tested each of the Unicorn’s limbs and made a few contortions. "Haha! This ch is good enough for to display eighty percent of my strength! It was worth lowering my rank!"
ch designers weren’t the only group of people who benefited from the Open Competition. The cadets from the Abelard Academy all sought to win a chance to demonstrate their skills and build a na for themselves. Plenty of pilots who perford magnificently in the past received life-changing offers from major powers. Lovejoy was no exception.
Still, he wasn’t the only one who intentionally depressed his ranking. Though the benefits of holding the top position was great, no one wanted to end up in a rickety bucket of a ch that collapsed at the first blow. The shrewder and more strategic pilots held back so of their strength in order to maintain a decent but not too exceptional rank.
"This ti I won the grand prize. There’s nothing I can’t do with this ch!"
As Lovejoy acclimated to his ch, he engaged his sensors and searched the forest with confidence. Even if he encountered a rival ch, he bet his ch outmatched the majority submitted during this ti. For so reason, he felt as if his ch echoed his confidence. The subtle loop that ford between the two caused him to feel as if he could take on the entire galaxy. He held his spear with pride.
"A coin!"
With sparkling eyes, Lovejoy enthusiastically dove forward. Just as his ch neared the coin, a ballistic shell shot him from the flank.
"Hah! As if I’d fall for an ambush! Your marks are all over the place! " Lovejoy taunted over the speakers as he used his ch’s superior agility to dance around the projectile. "Now that you’ve exposed your position, get ready to pay!"
The opposite ch turned out to be a dium cannoneer. As it was piloted by soone with a higher rank than Lovejoy, the ch did not panic or retreat. Instead, it committed to battle and fired off a volley of shells from his ballistic cannon. Each ti it fired off a heavy shell, its entire fra rattled loudly.
"With the kind of racket your armor is making, I’m surprised it’s still on its feet!"
Lovejoy made a judgent call after he saw the state of his opponent. Instead of trying to rush into his opponent’s face, he stopped going forward once he got close and started strafing sideways. Though the cannoneer was still able to keep up, its accuracy was horrible due to the faults integrated in its arms.
"You bastard! I know it’s you, Lovejoy! Face like a man!"
"Gladly!"
The cannoneer already missed its best shot when it failed to take out the Unicorn during its initial ambush. Its designer had panicked and rushed the ch to the battlefield under the pressure of hearing others getting a step ahead.
There was no suspense once the Unicorn got close. Lovejoy easily utilized his ch’s agility to jump to the side and cut the cannoneer from the flank. Though the initial thrust dealt only glancing damage, the opening it afforded allowed the Unicorn take the initiative and relentlessly push the dium ch into a dead end.
After a final spark, the dium ch dropped onto its back.
"Too bad there’s no rewards for a kill."
The objective of the match remained gathering coins. As there were too many chs and too little coins, conflict was inevitable, though not always desirable. The more fragile chs had to choose their battles carefully, lest they incur crippling damage that took them out of contention.
After grabbing the shiny cartoonish coin, Lovejoy quickly departed from the site. The noise might have attracted scoundrels, and he didn’t want to be the mantis who stalked the cicada, only to be preyed by the oriole behind.
He quickly relaxed once he sensed no other chs nearby. "It’s still rather early. The battlefield should be sparse. It’s pri ti for to hunt for coins."
Once he reached the random delivery point, he let loose the coin and allowed it to float to the skies. His systems beeped, acknowledging the completion of the delivery. He gained a score.
"This is far from enough. If I want to reach the top hundred, I have to gather at least half-a-dozen more coins."
The average cut-off varied over the years. In so past contests, the pilots frenziedly sought to destroy each other. In such fraught circumstances, a team could easily qualify by successfully delivering about four or five coins.
Normally pilots behaved tar. They had to rationally choose their battles. Unless provoked by the possession of coins, they’d normally choose to brush aside when eting a match. Naturally, there were always a couple of people who proactively sought to destroy the opposition in order to show off their skills and lower the average cut-off margin. As long as these battle maniacs survived long enough, they’d easily swagger past this round.
After fifteen minutes of fruitless searching, Lovejoy stumbled upon a flier racing to deliver his coin. "A chance!"
The Unicorn set aside its spear and retrieved its laser pistol. It fired a barrage of shots in the direction of the flying ch. As an elite pilot, his marksmanship was decent though he didn’t specialize in ranged weapons.
With the aerial machine’s speed, Lovejoy had little chance to hit the target with a couple of aid shots. He might as well substitute accuracy for volu as he crazily overheated his pistol. With the sheer amount of lasers beams in the sky, a couple of them succeeding in hitting the flying ch.
"Go away! This coin is mine!"
"Fat chance! Your wings are already smoking! I’m eating chicken tonight!"
The Unicorn pressed through the trees and reached the flying ch’s crash site. The ch only suffered a malfunction in its power supply so it hadn’t straight up turned into a pancake. Its pilot ruthlessly cut off its malfunctioning wings with a sword.
"Whoever designed this piece of dung should stay away from flight systems." The pilot muttered before turning his burning gaze at the Unicorn.
"Hand over your sword and coin, and you can keep your miserable life."
"You can pry them from my dead hands!"
Without another word, the two chs closed the distance. Lovejoy fended off the initial thrust with decent spearwork. As a pilot who specialized in swordsmanship, he hadn’t neglected his training in other weapons in case he encountered situations like this. Sadly for him, the opposite pilot was a competent swordsman himself, and despite his ch’s many handicaps, he still managed to press Lovejoy back.
As the pressure increased, Lovejoy crazily split his focus. One portion analyzed his opponent’s moves while the other kept an eye on the environnt. He slowly guided his opponent forward.
After making a few more steps backward, the Unicorn hastily jumped aside as a volley of high-powered laser beams strafed his forr position. Even as they failed to hit their primary target, they still extended forward and glanced the forr flight ch.
The ch stuttered in its movents as several critical systems malfunctioned. Lovejoy took advantage of the gigantic opening and thrust his spear straight through the ch’s cockpit area. Though the chs on the battlefield were remotely controlled, any damage to the cockpit that normally killed the pilot inside still counted as a weak point.
The flight ch lost control and fell into a heap. Lovejoy threw away his spear and quickly picked up his opponent’s sword. He turned around vigilantly, expecting another volley of lasers. When nothing happened, he carefully inched closer to the flying ch’s coin and picked it up.
"Too bad that laser gunner didn’t co forward. His ch must be a shambling wreck."
Those who piloted substandard chs often chose to stay in the shadows. They loved to be the bystanders in a duel between two chs. They lost their opening when one side vanquished the other in a dominant fashion.
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