[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 98: Fourth Duel

Ves imagined that others had it worse. He certainly didn't envy the designer of the knight his mech faced in the previous duel. Repairing a submerged mech took a lot of time, perhaps days to get it right.

"Well, at least my mech has more working parts than broken ones. A busted head and an amputated arm is nothing to speak of after the third duel."

The competitions in the past had shown that results diverged wildly in the second round. The consecutive duels tested the skill of both the designer and the pilot. If either of them were not up to standard, the damage accumulated pretty fast, to the point of making the mech a derelict.

Only a gifted designer like Carter Gauge or a talented pilot like Richard Lovell could turn around this convention.

The duel above the frozen lake lasted a long time. The extreme thermal conditions that simulated a frozen planet environment played havoc with the internals, especially since the armor lost its weather-sealing capabilities in the previous duels. The rapid transition from hot to cold strained the more sensitive components.

"I don't have time to fix up the internals. My mech is has enough redundancies so that a couple of faulty components won't break the mech."

Ves only had a limited time to fix up the arm and head. In his view, both of them had the same priority, but he decided to start with the arm.

"Fortunately, it's a clean cut. I don't have to sort out the damage components."

Forging a replacement arm did not take a lot of time. As all of the internals had to be made from scratch, Ves did not have to resort to stuffing new parts in an existing space. It only took about thirty minutes to create a new arm, and an additional ten minutes to add the accompanying compressed armor.

That left him with just enough time to sort out the head. The deformed head posed some difficulties to Ves. He did not have enough time to fabricate an entirely new head. Instead, he put his jury-rigging skill to good use. He cut off the deformed section and cleaned up as much damage as he could. After fabricating a replacement sensor module, he carefully put it inside.

He flash-forged a hastily designed mask and put it over the hollow front of the head. The Sword Dancer appeared creepy now, but what mattered the most to Ves was that the sensors were operational now. The mask might not provide a lot of protection, but it was better than keeping the entire head exposed.

"It'll do."

Time ran out before Ves could do much more. He really did not feel comfortable releasing a substandard mech from his embrace. Having gotten used to the MTA's strict standards, it was against his conscience to deliver a piece of junk to a pilot.

When Lovejoy connected to the mech for the final time, he also felt let down by its damaged state. "The arm is alright, but the rest of the frame is still degraded."

He sighed a little as he got used to his mech's deteriorated performance. "I know it's been hard on you, pal, but you've got one fight left to go. Don't disappoint the crowd."

Through luck and skill, he already eked out three marvellous victories. According to past trends, he should have reached the top 25 so far, but only at the bottom of the list. One loss might knock him down enough to miss to incredible opportunity to participate in the final round.

"There's no way I'm going to miss this chance. Fame, riches and more awaits me." Lovejoy grinned as he daydreamed about all the amazing luxuries he could finally enjoy. "Hopefully my final opponent is a mech in a worse shape than mine."

The match started when the environment finished materializing. It turned out to be a hilly prairie. Vast green fields only interrupted by vision-obstructing hills encompassed Lovejoy's view. The beauty of the environment masked a deadly undercurrent.