After a long day, only three teams of mech designers had made it to the ''final'' round.


    Team Larkinson needed no introduction anymore. The Twin Weapons Tournament had almost been hijacked by Ves alone, and though other talented and highly capable mech designers managed to shine brightly on this stage, there was no doubt that the Larkinson Patriarch shone like the brightest star in the sky!


    Team Clive was much more interesting. As its name suggested, the team consisted of a pair of Journeymen from the Clive Consortium, one of the founding organizations of Davute.


    Given that the current president of the newly founded colonial federation came from the same group, the name ''Clive'' was basically equivalent to royalty within its borders!


    Nobody knew how many members of the Clive lineage jumped gxies and decided to take part in the construction of a state that was partially created ording to their ideas. There were Clives in practically every industry and sector of Davute, ensuring that the mother organization always kept tabs on all of the developments that took ce within its borders.


    The Clive Consortium was naturallyrge, old and powerful enough to have its own high-ranking mech designers. The pair of Journeymen that decided topete in this particr tournament did not appear to possess any special identities within their family group. They were typical lower to middle-ranked members among the Clives who had made a few aplishments but had yet to merit greater attention.


    Ves knew that the woman known as Jocasta Clive is the one to watch. The woman possessed a vibe that partially reminded him of Gloriana. This was a woman who thought highly of herself and had great confidence in her design philosophy and ideals.


    The performance of the mechs she designed together with her partner Romulus Clive backed up her beliefs.


    Team Clive designed a highly unusual but powerful pair of mechs.


    The Daugen was their killer machine. While it was just a light marksman mech, its design was highly unusual for two reasons.


    First, the Daugen pursued a concept of extreme firepower. It sacrificed almost everything in order to maximize its firepower. The entire mech had essentially turned into a sniping tform as it was armed with aically powerful and oversized gauss rifle.


    In order to maximize its firepower and minimize any mechanicalplications, it did not carry the gauss rifle in its arms.


    Instead, Jocasta and Romulus Clive had integrated it into its shoulder like a mounted weapon!


    Rather than call it a marksman mech, it was more appropriate tobel it as a frontline mech!


    Unlike traditional frontline mechs, the Daugen did not possess much fault tolerance. The only strengthening its frame had received was solely for the purpose of being able to carry and fire the formidable weapon without getting crushed in return. Its mobility was also rather poor as it was nowhere near as fast as actual light mechs.


    The Daugen also possessed one more quirk. Its huge integrated gauss rifle could fire both forwards and backwards!


    It could easily switch its weapon orientation as it was mounted on a turret that could vertically rotate its muzzle by over 180 degrees.


    All of this sounded weird in istion, and plenty of people in the audience had expressed their skepticism and ridicule when they initially saw it appear in the arena during the first round.


    That was until the other mech came into the picture.


    The Reedan initially looked like a hefty knight mech, though one with an unusual design. It was shaped rather weird. It featured a strange depression on its back and its sides unfolded in an unusual manner.


    It wasn''t until the Daugen pressed its back onto the Reedan that people realized the role that thetter served!


    The Reedan actually possessed the capability to integrate the Daugen onto its back!


    "It''s abination mech!"


    Ves was no stranger to this concept as he had witnessed it in the past. Janassa Pellier and Tifi Coslone had also introduced a pair of beast mechs in the past that could do the same, although they never caught on in the Larkinson Army as there were other mechs that could fulfill their roles just as well.


    Nheless,bination mechs were not weak. They could produce a lot of synergy under the right circumstances, and that was exactly what happened whenever the mechs of Team Clive showcased their power!


    The Reedan took care of movement and defense. It was a knight mech thatpletely focused on resisting ranged attacks and protecting its partner from any serious damage. It was also rather capable at fighting melee mechs at close range, though only in the right facing.


    The Daugen took care of the damage. Its powerful gauss rifle was not only precise, but also extremely powerful rtive to the size and mass of its frame.


    Each time it fired, it propelled a piercing projectile that was formted out of special alloys that almost never failed to punch through armor ting!


    So long as the Daugen was able tond a hit on an opposing mech, thetter usually received crippling damage.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was not unusual for the Daugen to be able to take down mechs afternding its shots just once or twice!


    This was a scarybination of lethality and precision. No mech would be able to survive in the field with such a formidable sniping mech in action!


    This was why all of the opposing teams prioritized the takedown of the Daugen, but how could that be aplished so easily when it had partially merged with the frame of the Reedan?


    Any mech that did not possess a sufficient amount of mobility usually got struck down in a couple of shots regardless of the range!


    The only ones that stood a greater chance at surviving the deadly output of the Daugen were fast and agile light mechs.


    Even then, plenty of light mechs had fallen because they only had to fail a single time in order for the Daugen''s gauss rifle to amputate their limbs or destroy a quarter of their torsos!


    Ves and Juliet exchanged deep and troubling nces when they thought about how their Twin Souls might fare against the mechs of Team Clive.


    While Ves could already judge from the designs of the Daugen and the Reedan that neither of their two designers were as good as him, they were still extremely solid mech designers!


    Jocasta Clive was 51 years old while Romulus Clive was 43 years old. Both of them received solid educations, guidance from Seniors and Masters and designed mechs for various subsidiaries and divisions of the Clive Consortium. Their work experience surpassed that of the mech designers of Team Larkinson while their talents weren''t bad.


    Even if theycked an independent streak that could stimte them into designing more radical and creative mechs, they could gain ess to plenty of high tech as well as alien tech due to their family names alone.


    "You know, I think Jocasta Clive should be an attractive recruitment candidate for you." Juliet quietly said as the panel ofmentators rehashed all of the highlights that took ce during the previous rounds. "She is a Journeyman Mech Designer with high potential and a useful specialty. Haven''t you alwaysined aboutcking a dedicated ranged weapon expert that could help our n enhance its ranged firepower?"


    "That is true, Juliet, but we''re not that desperate…"


    "Jocasta Clive canplement our weapons loadout and reduce our dependence on luminar crystal weapons. She has developed her own set of proprietary ballistic and gauss tech that give her own kic firearms the ability to prate through armor. I can bet you that she also has a headstart on working with transphasic kic weapon systems due to her family background."


    He threw a deep nce in the direction of the two Clive mech designers. He did not have a good feeling about attempting to bring them into his n.


    "No. The Clive Consortium probably wants them to stay and integrate into the local mech industry. The group has invested massively in Jocasta and Romulus. The Clives don''t want to let them go so easily. Besides, if we recruit one or two of them into our n, I will have to worry about their loyalties. They''re not like the other Journeymen we have recruited in the past. Their mentors have remained in the old gxy and cannot exert that much influence. It will be different for Jocasta Clive as the presence of her original family organization is strong in the new frontier."


    Juliet did not ept this argument. "You agreed to hire Miles Tovar along with a handful of his cousins. You even elevated him to a lead designer and allowed him to take charge of his own mech design projects."


    Ves dismissively waved his hand. "That is a different case and you know it. The Tovar Family of the Bright Family used to be a big deal for me, but nowadays my n easily crush them if we wish. The power rtionship between the Tovars and the Larkinsons has changed drastically over the years. I am certain I don''t have to be afraid that Miles Tovar will ever turn his back on us and favor his old family."


    "What about Sara and Dulo Voiken?"


    "Both of them have an ideological conflict with Master Barnard Ss Voiken. This is not a trivial issue for them. Sara and Dulo don''t want to remain stuck in an overly rigid and conservative family structure. My n has offered them much greater freedom, autonomy and responsibility than the Voiken Family, so it would be foolish for them to risk all of that by viting their oaths."


    "I see…"


    "It''s all about interests, Juliet." Ves rified to her. "As long as Jocasta Clive is out of step with the Clive Consortium, I would be d to give her an alternative. If the Larkinsons are a bigger deal than the Clives in the Red Ocean, then we can also trust Jocasta Clive to remain honest while she has joined our n. Since Jocasta has met neither of these conditions, I do not think it is wise to invite her to work in our Design Department."


    "What if she takes the initiative to join our n, Ves? Have you ever thought about that? The Clive Consortium has a vested interest in our cooperation. It shouldn''t be unusual if they attempt to send their own people to us, whether openly or overtly."


    It was not simply to reject such a ''gift'' from the Clive Consortium, but Ves did not care.


    "I will turn her and any other member of the Clive Consortium away." Ves said as he crossed his arms. "I have already exined to everyone that I don''t intend to increase our entanglement with the Colonial Federation of Davute any further. If any group of Larkinsons want to y nice with Clives, then we can let our Davute Branch manage this issue. It will be up to Ark and Raymond to decide whether they want to induct Jocasta Clive as a branch member of our n."


    "You would allow that to happen?"


    Ves shrugged. "I can''t really be bothered to control the recruitment practices of our side branches. So long as the applicant is able to meet the requirements and pass the loyalty test, then there shouldn''t be much harm. However, don''t forget that the requirements to be a member of the main branch of our n are much stricter. Someone like Jocasta Clive won''t be able to get onboard our fleet and work in our Design Department. She would have to sincerely distance herself from the Clive Consortium, and I guess that is impossible for a mech designer with her life trajectory."


    He knew her type. Jocasta Clive did not look like a mech designer who was content to y second fiddle and subordinate herself to others.


    Oh well. There were plenty of other Journeymen for him to recruit in Davute. He much preferred to work with travelers and tourists who did not possess any existing attachments.