'Wow. Is this a first-class laser gun?" Little Andraste asked as she held a sleek and light energy weapon in her small but growing hands. The advanced white-coated armament had just shrunk in size as internal mechanisms had folded it into a more compact form to fit the grip of its current wielder. "It is a training pistol designed for children. The name is not important. It comes with many different features that assist in training, but in my opinion they are entirely dispensable." Saintess Ulrika Vraken spoke as she held her own adult-sized version of the same product line. "Huh?" The red-headed girl looked up at the Hexer ace pilot. "Isn't gear important? Having a good weapon is just as crucial as a good mech!" The powerful member of the Vraken Matriarchal Dynasty smirked. "Is that what your mech designer parents told you? They are not wrong. Gear can make an enormous difference. Your practice weapon for example has enough power to punch through the defenses of any second-class infantry soldier with a single pull of the trigger as long as you have disabled all of its safely sellings. However, if a real fight occurs, I can bet 100 percent that the soldier in question will gain the upper hand against you despite the fact that his loadout only cost a fraction as much as that first-class pistol of yours." "What? That's impossible!" Andraste sputtered. "That is like claiming that a second-class mech can defeat a first-class multipurpose mech in a mech duel, it's impossible! The difference in lech, materials is too big!" Her current instructor looked anything but impressed at the moment. "Tech and materials are indeed important, but you are forgetting about one crucial factor. Any fight between two intelligent living beings is also decided by other factors. Skill. Tactics. Confidence. Motivation. Willpower. Differences in each of these areas can mean the difference between victory and defeat. If you want to achieve superiority, it is not enough to rely on your parents to gain the latest toys. You need to maximize your advantages and excel in as many of the aforementioned variables as possible. Only then can you proclaim your superiority over opponents." Andraste already started to soak up Ulrika Vraken's insightful words like a sponge. "I understand. Gaining access to better weapons is straightforward. Increasing your skill and such is not as easy. You need to put in a lot of effort into training and maintaining discipline. My swordsmanship tutor taught me that as well. What if I am in a position where I am forced to fight against someone stronger? Not everyone is able to fight the opponent of their choosing. My papa suffered a lot from this problem in the past. He still managed to win, though!" Sainless Ulrika crossed her arms. "Do not think that you can replicate what your father has done. He is blessed, and he is craftier than he looks. Unlike in those unrealistic action dramas, it is not customary for the weak to defeat rhe strong. Your father has invented many powerful weapons and other means that have enabled him to crush his enemies. From my perspective, he is not weak at all. He is a wolf disguised as a sheep. Any other predator who thought they could devour a sheep always ended up turning into your father's prey instead. The Fridaymen have made this mistake too many times." "Ooohh..." Andraste looked impressed. "We have gone off-topic. Let us get back to your instruction, if you have decided to embrace the career of a soldier, you will come across a variety of weapons. This can include pistols, submachine guns, shotguns, rifles, cannons and more exotic weapon types that haven't even been invented yet. Each of them have their own set of properties, skills and tactics. A third-rater or a second-rater is expected to familiarize herself with the basics of each weapon type before choosing to specialize in one or two of them. This is usually their limit." This was clearly not an approach that was suitable tor a young girl who possessed the opportunity to receive first-class schooling. "How many weapons do I need to master?" Andraste hesitantly asked. "All of them." Ulrika mercilessly answered. "A first-rater is expected to accomplish more than any other mortal soldier. Since this is the standard that you are expected to meet, you will not be able to escape this requirement no matter if you become a mech pilot, an infantry soldier or even a military officer. Standards are high because a first-class professional is expected to be superior to a second-class professional on every conceivable front, if a person cannot satisfy this condition, then Terran and Rubarthan employers would rather dismiss her entirely because they do not wish to embarrass themselves." In a society where advanced augmentations and stellar education could turn every ordinary person into a decent supersoldier, many organizations simply raised their recruitment standards to an Insane height In order to prevent useless bums from taking up important jobs. First-raters already took this for granted, but it was extremely difficult for second-raters to adapt to this extreme mentality. In fact, part of the reason why the first-raters demanded so much excellence from their employees was to prevent too many second-raters from entering into their society! Otherwise, a lot of jobs for relatively normal first-raters would get snapped up by second-raters who just happened to possess good talent and spent their entire lives on polishing a few skills to the limit. Though Andraste did not think she would fail to moot the inflated standards sot by the first-raters, that didn't mean she looked forward to all of this repetitive training. "Ketis never (old me about this. When she taught me, she always insisted that I should choose a single sword to master after I have tried all of lhe other ones out. She (old me that a single sword is all that is needed to break all barriers!" Saintess Ulrika nodded in respect. "With an attitude like that, it is no surprise that she has become a swordmaster worthy of note. I will nor say that she is wrong, nor claim that the more comprehensive approach of the first-raters is correct. They are only two different outlooks towards what it means to become the ideal soldier. The reason why their strategies diverge so greatly in the first place is due to their diverging circumstances. Ketis was originally a third-rater, so she lacks the augmentations and opportunities to invest in too many skills, she and her fellow Swordmaidens are already burdened with the need to master the greatsword. The Terrans and the Ruharthans are different. Their mech pilots are expected to gain a high amount of proficiency in swords, spears, hammers and many other weapon types. Now let me ask you a question. Are you closer to a Swordmaiden or are you closer to a first-rater?" "...The latter." "Good. I do not like it when people lie to me. Before you are ready to defeat your opponent, you need to know yourself. This means that you need to be frank about your current capabilities and what you can accomplish in the future through training. The fact of the matter is that you will be wasting far too much of your talent and training time if you only invest in a single swordsmanship style." "Won't my chances of breaking through be higher if I only focus on a single weapon and fighting style?" Andraste asked. Saintess Ulrika smiled in response. "That is a common theory. You may be right, but is this enough to satisfy you? This is equivalent to thinking that you are a champion when you have barely earned a passing grade on an exam. You can master many more skills in the same amount of time. Once you have begun to master the art of wielding dozens of different weapon types, you will be able to combine what you have learned from each individual skill and develop an overall fighting proficiency that allows you to make effective use of any possible weapon no matter whether it is conventional or unconventional. That is the goal that you must strive for in order to become a powerful first-class soldier." Though Andraste did not entirely think that Ulrika's argument was correct, it was hard for her to argue back against a powerful ace pilot! "Think back on the scenario that I have described to you." The Hexer champion spoke. "Ordinarily, a second-class mech stands no chance against a first-class multipurpose mech, but if the difference in skill and other pilot qualities are great enough, this may no longer be the case. If I am piloting my Macharia Excelsia, I am absolutely confident I can defeat any single first-class multipurpose mech that is stationed on this ship." "Really?! Papa told me that the mechs of the Red Association are too advanced!" "He is partially correct." Ulrika admitted. "I am confident I can defeat an isolated first-class multipurpose mech in a mech duel, but It is a different story If there are multiple of them working together. My chances of winning will drop even further if any of these first-class multipurpose mechs enjoy the support of a ship. The reason why that is the case is because the mechers will be able to take advantage of shield link technology to pool their defenses together." "So tech does matter." "I can assure you that I can vanquish a squad of first-class multipurpose mechs with ease so long as I have access to a first-class ace mech." Andraste and Saintess Ulrika became increasingly more engaged in their discussion. Meanwhile, another pair of guests were making use of the gun range. The two women weren't the only guests who decided to exercise their skills at this time. Ves had actually brought along both of his daughters, though only Andraste was in need of a serious tutoring session from an ace pilot. He and Aurelia did not possess much talent or enthusiasm for marksmanship, so they only made do with a quick refresher lesson from Nitaa before they started to plink their practice weapons at distant targets. Of course, even if they never intended to excel in personal combat, their results were still considerably above average compared to their peers! Ves just figured that this was a decent way to pass the time while the Bluejay Fleet remained in transit. The trip from the Torald Middle Zone to the Agammemnon Upper Zone was projected to take a couple of weeks. This was a remarkably fast travel time given that the Bluejay Fleet had to make their way out of the territory that was administratively included under the umbrella of the Red Ocean Union and venture deeper into the Terran Alliance. The rules, customs and power distribution was substantially different in the territories claimed by the Terran Alliance. Although the Red Two nominally had rhe greatest say in all of red humanity's space, in practice the Terrans called the shots! So long as the people within Terran space did not engage in egregious taboos such as playing around with weapons of mass destruction or engaging in indiscriminate slaughter, the mechers and the fleeters would remain in the background. The first-rate colonial superstates always tried to do everything possible to minimize the presence of their current overlords! Given that the Terrans and the Rubarthans both had the allegiance of several Star Designers and god pilots, they possessed enough bargaining power to gain a bit more autonomy than usual. Ves was sure that the relationships between the two major power blocs had become even more complicated now that the Red Ocean was functionally cut off from the Milky Way, bur he hadn't entered the scene long enough to figure out any further nuances. In any case, all of that could wait. He first wanted to make up for his previous absence by spending quality time with his children. "Aurelia, do you want to learn a trick?'1 "What is it, papa?" "Let me show you, dear." Blinky emerged from Ves' head and flew towards the projected target in the distance. Ves lifted up his practice weapon and fired a considerably more accurate burst of laser beams! Aurelia looked impressed. "You are so much better than before. Andraste is still better, though." Ves coughed at that. "Well, Andraste's genes arc optimized for combat. Mine... are not. This is why it is handy for me to use my permanent bond with my companion spirit as a targeting guide' of sorts to improve my aim. Your sister has no need to roly on this trick, but you don't have the time or talent to become as precise as her. Try it out yourself. Once you have mastered this trick on a stationary target, you can practice it on moving ones. This is considerably harder as you will have to rely on real skills for this, but you can improve that over time." "Okay, papa..."