[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 94: Score

Cadet Lovejoy's brilliant last moves were noted by few. Compared to the dazzling mechs destroying their rivals left and right, a worn-out mech like the Unicorn attracted little attention. It had quietly served its purpose for the few hours it remained in existence.

Ves almost dropped to his knees when he saw his pilot's ploy come into fruition.

"You're lucky that worked." Patricia noted calmly, as if the move was nothing more than child's play. "The quality of your pilot and your mech gave the plan a very low chance to succeed. It only worked due to the enemy pilots screwing up."

He knew she had a point. While his pilot clearly knew his business, he wasn't as exceptional as the ones from the top 10. The first-ranked Lovell still hopped around the battlefield with a half-wrecked rabbit mech, ambushing unsuspecting mechs right where it hurted. He managed to gather an incredible amount of eight coins through sheer skill.

"While I missed out on the best, I'm quite satisfied with my current pilot." Ves smiled. He already noted down the characteristics of Cadet Lovejoy and even had access to a brief profile. Next time he'd add a sword instead of a spear to his mech. "What about your own pilot? He's ranked somewhere in the mid-300's."

The difference between a pilot from the top 20 and the top 300 was a very large moat. A lower ranked pilot performed much worse in many different aspects. In the current round, what mattered most was judgement and battle intuition. Those who picked and choosed their battles wisely fared better than those who blindly blundered into unnecessary fights.

Surprisingly, Patricia stayed unconcerned. "Do you believe a mech's performance is determined by the skill of the pilot?"

"Of course it is. A pilot is the brain of a mech."

"If that is what you believe, then that is how your mech is built."

The sentence was short and simple, but contained profound implications. If a designer believed the skill of a pilot mattered the most, he'd consciously or unconsciously designed a mech that allowed a skillful pilot to play it to its full strengths. While this might work great if you expected your mech to be piloted by an excellent pilot, in the hands of a more average one the mech would never perform to its full potential.

"I see what you mean. You expected your mech to be piloted by an average pilot, so you designed your mech in a way that is simpler to operate and can be mastered easily."

No wonder Patricia dared to design a heavy artillery mech for the battlefield. Any dummy pilot with a brain could operate a slow, heavy mech with simple fire-and-forget missiles. It posed no requirements to finesse and reflexes.

A pilot only required decent judgement and a familiarity with missiles in order to operate the spider mech competently. As cadets from a renowned academy, all of the pilots mastered the basics, including those who ranked in the top 300.

However, there should be a limit to how far a dummy-proof mech could go. Ves asked a pertinent question. "Will you be able to reach the finals with such a philosophy?"

"Have the masters always apprenticed a designer who reached the finals?"

"Ah, not always."

In the history of the Leemar Open Competition, the masters usually picked up a couple of disciples from the finalists. Usually did not mean always. While the masters usually liked to pick winners, they placed more importance in compatibility. As long as a mech designer had a minimum amount of competencies, they could be picked by a master even if they did not make it through the first round.

This was also why plenty of designers valued the opportunity to make it past the qualifiers. Though extremely rare, a couple of masters had once selected apprentices from those who stalled at the start of the main event in the past. It gave everyone the tiniest bit of hope, which kept the competition vibrant.