Chapter 3501: Good Student Ketis possessed a special affinity with swords. Or was it Sharpie? Ves wasn't quite sure. Whatever the case, the fact that she managed to fabricate a masterwork mech sword was already proof that she could make standalone swords beyond compare. No one else in the clan could come close to her when it came to designing and making swords. "I already implemented something special in the sword design." She told Ves. "Once Lyain Kepper finally gets to pilot this mech, he'll find completely new and better ways to fight as a swordsman." "Like what you did with the Everchanger?" Ketis nodded. "Yes, but to a lesser degree. I can't do as much for this design due to all of the constraints we are working under, but it should be enough to give Lyain another edge in battle." "Then what is the factor that you want to add to our mech design?" The swordmaster didn't speak for a time. Instead, she silently held his hand and conveyed a silent message through her companion spirit. Swish swish. Ves raised his eyebrow at her. "Are you sure? I mean, can you even do this? I thought only the Decapitator is capable of…" "Ordinarily, you're correct." She said. "I know you can do it as well, but I'm different from you. As long as a sword sings to me, I can reach out to the weapon. It doesn't have to be a masterwork." What?! Ves would have shown a greater reaction if he wasn't working in public at the moment! "Are you certain?" "I'm sure." She said. "It just requires a little sacrifice and a lot of energy. You'll see soon enough. I ordinarily wouldn't do something like this, but winning this tournament is really important for the both of us. I want to reach first place and obtain a fleet carrier as well. In addition, if I am able to show enough capabilities, I can help our clan impress potential business partners and make it easier for us to get the ships and supplies we need." Her main motivation for going all-out was to help the clan. Ves was gratified to hear that Ketis was looking out for her fellow Larkinsons. "Then let's go through with your plan. What exactly are you trying to do, anyway?" "Why don't you find out more directly? I don't dare to say it directly in the open." He understood what she was talking about. To be honest, Ves had not been going all-out for the past two days of constant mech design. He was saving the best for last because he could only employ his strongest methods for a short amount of time. He also thought that they were doing well enough to win the Wild Brawl Bowl by relying on their current strength. Still, the difference between winning first place and second place in this tournament was quite big. The former was able to win a whole fleet carrier. A small one, but still a capital ship! The latter could only go home with 5 combat carriers. That was an immense drop in value and mech capacity. Hundreds of mechs were at stake, so Ves shouldn't be sanctimonious and think that he could make do with a regular approach. The other design teams were certainly doing their best as well. Winning was everything to them. No one who signed up for the Wild Brawl Bowl wanted to end up second place or lower. He looked at the clock and understood that they were already close to moving on to the fabrication stage. "This is as good a time as any, then. Get ready, Ketis." Ves commanded Blinky to silently form a small design network between himself, Ketis and Lyain Kepper. Adding the latter person to the design network was a considerable risk, but the potential reward was more than worth it. Ves just had to make sure that Blinky properly filtered the connection to the mech pilot so that Lyain did not learn anything sensitive. Before Ves did so, he gave the mech pilot a brief warning. "We're about to do something special." He quietly said to the Wild Fighter. "Whatever you do, don't resist. Open yourself up to us. It will not only be beneficial to us, but for you as well. You'll understand." When Blinky's invisible spiritual bonds finally connected the three minds together, Lyain immediately became exposed to a completely new set of stimuli! Although the connection initially overwhelmed him, Ketis' powerful presence provided him with a lot of reassurance. His trust in her was near-absolute! "This…" "Ah!" Ves raised his palm. "Don't speak. Stay still. This is an honor that few mech pilots have enjoyed. Try your best to cooperate with us as much as possible now that you're in this state. You will understand the reasons why soon enough." Both sides already began to experience the benefits of bonding their minds together in a design network. Lyain Kepper gained a lot of direct understanding about his upcoming mech that he wouldn't have been able to understand under normal circumstances. It was only now that he was able to borrow a portion of Ves and Ketis' acumen to interpret the more complicated engineering nuances of the mech he was about to pilot. His eyes widened as he began to understand Team Larkinson's swordsman mech on a much deeper level than the older mechs that he had piloted for several years! At the same time, Ves and Ketis were not only able to cooperate and synergize with each other on a deeper level, they also picked up various useful details about Lyain Kepper that weren't obvious on the surface. Most of it had to do with his specific approach to piloting mechs. Though Lyain had already explained how he preferred to pilot his mechs, words couldn't never fully convey all of his points! Armed with the comprehension gained from peeking directly into Lyain's mind, Ves and Ketis immediately worked to tweak and alter the configuration of their mech design so that it aligned just a little bit better with its mech pilot. "The mech needs to fit like a glove." Ves said as he echoed his wife to an extent. As they continued to work, Ves finally felt the time was right to employ another solution. He didn't need to exchange any words with Ketis. They just looked at each other until the female half of their team nodded. Ves raised his fist and quickly tapped it against her temple. As soon as she got struck, a heap of inspiration began to well up from the depths of her mind. Even Lyain Kepper noticed that the swordmaster had become a lot more mentally active. "What is going on, Mr. Larkinson?" "It's nothing important." Ves tried to act as nonchalantly as possible. "Ketis is just getting started." The aura surrounding Ketis grew stronger as she became visibly more excited as she managed to come up with solutions to a couple of long-standing problems! She had always been able to figure out how to resolve them, but she hadn't been able to connect the dots until now. Ketis was quite ecstatic with the burst of progress she had made all of a sudden! When she directed her attention to their almost-complete mech design, she didn't actually see that many areas of improvement. However, she still spotted numerous subtle details that she previously thought were alright but were actually sub-optimal! She quickly corrected all of these subtle faults and quickly managed to make the mech run even smoother once it was made! "Let's fabricate our mech!" "Okay. The superfab is already warmed up and ready to start." Ves had already checked it over. All of the diagnostics showed that the machine was working in prime condition, not that he expected anything different. It would have been a huge scandal if the machine was faulty in any way. Both Ves and Ketis began to operate the superfab together. While that didn't make their work faster, they were able to divide their responsibilities and become a lot more thorough about their output. Ketis was eager to make the most out of the false inspired state that was already fading from her mind. Ves noticed to his surprise that the state decayed a bit faster than he expected. It was a lot harder for Vulcan to maintain his influence in her powerful and will-reinforced mind. "I see." It made sense. Expert pilots became more resistant to external influences as they became stronger. Once they became ace pilots, they were able to completely control and block any spiritual influence in an area around them as long as they weren't confronted with an equal or stronger adversary! Though Vulcan was already one of Ves' most powerful design spirits, his influence was less strong when working on other people's turf! "I don't regret my decision, though." Ketis was already familiar with the advantages of this special state and tried her best to make the most of this temporary advantage. She had worked on fabricating the mech sword first in order to ensure it was as excellent as possible. During the production process, Ketis made a completely unexpected move. She temporarily halted the process in order to feed another ingredient into the machine! [What is Swordmaster Ketis doing?] [I am uncertain. She has been doing well in fabricating her mech sword even though this is clearly her first time operating a superfab. Wait, why is she pulling out her sword? IS SHE CUTTING HERSELF?!] To the shock of everyone who had been paying attention to Team Larkinson, Ketis used the sharp edge of her Bloodsinger to slit her palm! A small stream of blood poured from her wound and dropped into a tray that was ordinarily used to insert small and delicate exotics into the superfab's material stockpile. Though human blood was anything but normal, the superfab was versatile enough to accept the input and properly store it in its reserves until Ketis wished to integrate it into the mech sword that she was making. "What are you doing, Ketis?" Ves couldn't help but ask. "Similar to what you have done to the Everchanger. I'm making my new sword sing." "With blood?!" Ketis responded with a grin. "What better way to make a sword alive than to put a piece of myself inside it? This is what you have taught me. Aren't I a good student?" "Uhh…" Though her idea sounded extremely dubious to Ves, she had already made her move. Even he grew curious whether she was able to pull off her new but potentially valuable idea. A medical bot arrived to quickly treat the cut that Ketis had made on her palm. After a rapid cell regeneration cycle, the wound was almost entirely gone, allowing her to go back to operating the superfab with no distractions. Hours went by as the mech chainsword as well as the other main components of their swordsman mech slowly came into existence. Compared to the time he made the Pontifical Lance, Ves was a lot more confident about the output of his work this time. Not only was he collaborating with another mech designer on a deep and intimate level, he also had a lot more time at his disposal this time. Since they were able to take their time on fabricating and assembling the mech with the superfab, it became increasingly clear that their swordsman mech would reach an impressive level of quality! Although the final outcome was still marred by haste, both Ves and Ketis were quite happy with what they had managed to put together! When the swordsman mech finally emerged out of the superfab, many people in the audience admired the brand-new machine. "It's not a masterwork, but it's still something." Ves stated with a satisfied expression. Its green-and-gray coating reflected the contributions that Ves and Ketis had made to the design. Its blood-bound mech sword was on the lighter side, but it was connected to its mech by a fairly long and sturdy chain. Yet what truly impressed much of the audience was its glow. Though the distance made it difficult for the spectators to fully appreciate this trait, the swordsman mech was still able to stir their hearts! "This mech… is the second-finest competition mech that I have ever developed." "The second-best? What's the first one, then?" "Oh, eh, nevermind."