Chapter 7110: The Western and Eastern Continents After Ves and Aurelia had met with dozens of VIP delegations, they finally called it quits and left the reception hall. They had already met the representatives of the most important groups. Those that arrived late for one reason or another had no one to blame but themselves if they missed out on greeting Ves and the birthday girl. The Microplanet was divided into 5 continents, each of which were placed in a simple grid. Everyone arrived on the northern continent. This was the place where guests arrived and went through mandatory security checks before they could proceed any further. It also hosted a large exhibition hall. It presented many different copies of LMC mechs, both older ones that harkened back to its beginning in the Komodo Star Sector to the most up to date commercial models published by Ves or Ketis. Although the Larkinsons did not show off their exclusive mech models, they still presented selective pieces of footage of famed machines like the Dark Zephyr Mark III and the Amaranto Mark III in action. The exhibition hall provided guests an excellent way to deepen their familiarity of the unique kind of mechs that the Larkinsons contributed to society. Those that wanted to do more than admire stationary mechs had to move elsewhere, though. The western continent was almost completely dominated by a simulated war zone. Here, the Larkinsons along with a number of cooperative partners prepared hundreds of LMC mechs as well as first-class mechs sold by other mech companies. Mech pilots could apply to book a time slot where they could take the mechs out for a spin and fight a variety of different second-class or first-class opponents. The most notable aspect of the war zone was that it was filled with simulated opponents. Phasefighters zipped through canyons while mutated voribugs crawled through a jungle. Mechs had to be careful and on their guard in order to fend off clever ambushes and repel attacks from numerically superior swarms. Of course, none of the fighting was real. The cost would be far too great, and the risk of suffering heavy injuries was also unacceptable. The war zone instead relied upon cutting-edge RA combat simulation technologies. The mechs had all been modified with advanced damage tracking. If they detected they incurred a hit that would cause them to get crippled, then the appropriate parts would shut down without incurring any permanent damage. The simulated alien opponents all looked and behaved realistically enough. Each of them were modeled after their counterparts in reality. Advancements in physical projection technology also enabled them to gain more substance and manipulate the environment as if they possessed real mass and strength. This extensive realspace field simulation system was not that revolutionary, actually. It instead provided mech pilots with a great experience by combining the strengths of many small and narrow technologies together. Since this occasion was supposed to be a birthday party, mech cadets received special priority. This was one of the few occasions where they could pilot real combat mechs that behaved and fought differently than the training mechs that they mostly used unless they were in their last years at the mech academy. Just as expected, the western continent proved to be a particularly popular destination. People grew fascinated at the sight of living mechs such as the Valkyrie Redeemer IV fighting against highly realistic simulated enemies. Many people had already seen phasefighters and mutated voribugs in combat by watching the live footage and archival combat footage posted on the galactic net, but this was a different experience. The phasefighters appeared much more powerful and difficult to handle in reality. Their azure energy shields kept absorbing hit after hit when most machines would have succumbed from the damage already. Veteran mech pilots led small teams of mech cadets in mock engagements. The guidance of the former helped the latter avoid a few mistakes that would have caused them to get knocked out sooner, but that did not always help them get defeated by their difficult opponents. Either they got abused by fast-moving phasefighters, or they got overwhelmed by swarms of voribugs who surrounded them from all sides! Not even a full squad of veteran mech pilots could guarantee success in every combat scenario. The simulated battles in the war zone therefore proved surprisingly educational to the audience that were able to observe the engagements from safe and elevated vantage points. "I never understood how challenging it was for our boys to defeat the native aliens, let alone the voribugs. Our enemies seem so weak and easy to defeat given how our mechs often gain the upper hand in battle, but I understand now that our mech pilots always have to work hard and brave great danger in order to succeed." "The gap in skill and experience between the veterans and ungraduated cadets may be large, but both groups are making use of the same mechs. This shows that training certainly matters, but what is also interesting is that good mechs alone are hardly enough to guarantee victory. It is the soldiers that can turn mechs into the guardians of humanity. Perhaps we should invest more into the training of our own troops." "Have you noticed how the mech cadets perform noticeably better when they are piloting those second-class LMC mechs? Their simplicity may be a contributing factor, but the fact that these mechs are ’alive’ by a given definition of the word should also be a factor. If this performance difference is truly persistent, then we may be able to rush the graduation of older mech cadets and have them pilot living mechs to compensate for their shortcomings." Many insightful discussions took place on the western continent. Meanwhile, a growing number of eager mech cadets lined up at the queue while the children below the age of 10 looked on with stars in their eyes. Just like Aurelia, these children had yet to undergo their genetic aptitude testing. None of them knew whether they had what it took to pilot a mech. Fortunately for them, there was still a way out for them if they lacked the genetic aptitude. The father of the birthday girl had single-handedly granted each of them the option to pilot a single Carmine mech from beginning to end. Even though it was not as convenient and conventional as standard mech piloting, the release of the Yellow Jacket and an increasing number of variants had opened up a new future for young norms who refused to give up on piloting mechs and received the support from their parents to fulfill their dreams. Up until now, not everyone could attend mech academies that especially catered to Carmine mech pilots. The parents of the aspiring cadets had to cover the cost of acquiring and maintaining the Carmine mechs on their own. The Yellow Jackets may be relatively cheap compared to other machines, but they were still unaffordable to the general public. The cost of using them during a mech cadet’s stay at the academy was also costly. The Carmine mech pilot could not make use of other machines, so the Carmine mech slowly had to transition from a full training mech configuration to a full combat mech configuration over time. The machine also needed regular repairs that it had gained from routine scuffles and accidents. The Yellow Jacket was actually not the most ideal to use as a training mech. It was too cheap, fragile and not optimized to undergo the rigors of clumsy training exercises that spanned over a decade. These complications and more explained why mech academies that catered to Carmine mech pilots had yet to take off on a large scale. In any case, many children had flocked to the war zone in order to gawk at seeing all of the cool mechs in action. They also got a much more realistic glimpse of the enemies that they may be tasked with fighting in the future. Such a place would have seemed like a great place for Andraste to hang around, but she had not stepped foot on the western continent. She instead chose to flock to the eastern continent. This landmass had been converted into a busy shopping district that hosted a variety of chain stores as well as quaint boutiques. Yet what attracted most people were the collection of mech arenas that had been built at the very center of the continent. The largest arenas were all dedicated towards mech battles. Some of them held matches between famous and established mech athletes. Their competition mechs were highly tuned to win tournaments and could always be trusted to produce a spectacle within the fighting zones. However, there were also plenty of other mech arenas that hosted tournaments between the guests who signed up to take part. Each of them took this opportunity to measure up against each other. Many of them had not seriously fought against enemy mechs for years as open conflicts between human groups had vastly diminished since the start of the Red War. "I missed this. Fighting against the native aliens is just not fun. They don’t have any melee combat capabilities. It is all about hit and runs for them. They always try to fly away if you try to get close." "We should be grateful that the native aliens haven’t been able to present their own substitute for melee mechs. Their overreliance on more traditional strike craft makes them consistently weak against our own melee mechs... if they are able to catch up to their enemies." The mech arenas attracted sizable audiences. This was largely due to the allure of seeing the new LMC mechs in action. Even if they were just second-class machines, they had a growing influence in the Middle Zones. They also gave observers a good portend of the performance of first-class living mechs. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞 Yet what also intrigued the guests a lot were the smaller arenas. Instead of hosting matches and tournaments around mechs, they instead enabled human infantry to showcase their personal combat skills. From reformed sword practitioners who were eager to showcase their extraordinary sword skills to qi cultivators that had mastered mysterious combat spells, they fought against each other or in certain cases alongside each other in one of many matches. Although their weapons and abilities were not constrained during the matches, their high-quality suits were made with modest amounts of low-grade superdimensional matter, which was more than enough to resist most forms of incoming damage! Any attacks that threatened to overcome this level of protection would always be met with powerful azure energy shields that were always poised to activate with as little delay as possible. It was here where Andraste eagerly signed up for one of the kids tournaments. Though the duels between children were figuratively child’s play in the eyes of adults, they still showcased the skills and abilities of the next generation heroes and leaders. Plenty of people held a good amount of interest in Andraste’s combat capabilities. What she displayed in the arena exceeded all of their expectations! "Hah! Stay down!" "That’s not fair! I didn’t lose! You cheated! You used a pistol in a sword duel!" Andraste arrogantly huffed. "Did you even read before filling in your submission form? The weapon restrictions of this tournament never mentioned anything about choosing one over the other. So long as their total mass does not pass a threshold, I can bring all of the weapons I want. There are kids who have swords that can be thrown and automatically return to their hands like boomerangs. There are also kids who brought bayoneted rifles. They were not disqualified, so there is no reason to eject me from this contest either. Enjoy your loss." Of the three children of Ves and Gloriana, it was not a secret that Andraste was supposed to be their martial heir. She truly embodied her role better than practically any other child her age. What impressed people the most was that she had not only acquired the essence of Ketis’ reformed swordsmanship, but did not reject the use of ranged weapons, as evidenced by her skilled and precise handling of her laser pistol.