At 11:30, Cael was already at the site and ready to perform. Once he arrived at the area, registering as a participant in the event, he was taken to a large interior hall of thousands of other people taking part in this event.
This wasn’t even all of them from what he assumed, as the hall had the title ‘Basement Hall D’.
Just standing here, he could feel the nerves in the tense air. Many of those standing here talked to each other, with some very enthusiastic and excited to participate.
As for others, they seemed overwhelmed by the pressure and didn’t even move in their positions. Cael felt like an alien amongst these people, where more than 90% of them likely had no mana to begin with.
His physique gained a few eyes, and stood out like a sore thumb.
Just like with the Fighter-Mechanic Event, these mechanics were directed to the main fields, that were now electric with hundreds of thousands of people looking down on them.
The lights were almost blinding, even if it was still the early afternoon. They seemed even brighter than the radiating sunlight illuminating them.
There were several flashing lights as pictures were excessively and incessantly taken.
Hearing the uproar around him, Cael couldn't help but feel the weight of the pressure. Looking around to the nervous faces that surrounded him, he knew he wasn't alone.
As they arrived, there was a row of officials, stood tall and with their arms behind their backs. They didn't even move their heads upon the participants' advances, their bodies remained totally still.
The mechanics arrived on a gridded canvas, that was so vast that around 10,000 of these mechanics fitted on it with no issue.
“Welcome everybody to the start of the show. Welcome to the ULTIMATE AUTOBOT SHOWDOWN!!” The announcer called out, standing forward from the row of individuals staring down the mechanics.
They were tall, with large and muscular frames. For many of them, they looked like giants but it wasn’t anything Cael wasn’t used to.
“Here are the contestants that will be entertaining the million of you in the crowd and the billions watching online. Before we get into the show, we’ll give you all a briefing to show you spectators what you’re here to watch, and the participants what you’re here to do.”
As he said this, a large billboard appeared behind him, with copies of the displayed image being projected in four corners of the highest area of the stadium.
“The first event will be the first of a series that we refer to as the preliminaries. As long as these amazing mechanics here make a complete design, their design will compete in every section of this preliminary round. The first part will consist of the infamous Gauntlet!”
During his introduction, holograms were displayed in these four windows of autonomous bots, being slowly spun around.
“In this gauntlet, each of the participants’ bots will be pit against increasingly difficult foes in the form of animal-like bots designed by the greatest designers in Tecros!”
“The next part of this series will be an obstacle course. The bot will have to cover harsh terrain and run into several obstacles and challenges along the way!”
“Now, to begin with these preliminaries, these mechanics have to actually make their bots. With their designs hopefully done already, we will give each of them a working area in some of our several hangar factories to get their bot up and running!” The announcer stated.
“What will then follow -after only the most talented mechanics get selected- will be a bracketed tournament in the form of 1v1s between these various bots to see which one is truly the best geared for combat!!” The announcer finalised.
With that, the announcer started to get into the less interesting rules and regulations of the event. The crowd didn't seem as electric during this portion - the information was tailored more toward the mechanics than the spectators.
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After the thorough rundown, the mechanics were escorted off the large, circular ring and were taken to a secluded area of the enormous complex.
Here, there were several massive hangars, with robotic arms slowly moving apart heavy metals and other materials.
At the base of the hangar were rows and rows of squared pods with glowing holograms, providing a platform for them to produce their designs with.
“Each individual should have everything that they need. There are masks and several gloves for handling alloys and metals, and robotic arms to help with the heavy lifting.” The man at the front announced, with a strong Tecrosian accent.
“You will be allocated 10 hours 15 minutes from now. You can take breaks as you please but as you take a break, the 10-hour time limit will be running down. For you to request resources, use the pods assigned to you. Request a certain amount of material and the conveyor belt ahead of each student should deposit what you asked for in neat packages.” He explained, directing them to the sight of where they soon to work.
“Use the arms to hold the heavy materials that you require, and to stabilise your design when you want to work on them.”
“Good luck, mechanics. I hope you complete your designs to their very fullest.” The man announced, as the massive door opening to this hangar was slowly lifted.
Cael’s breath was almost taken by the density and vastness of this hangar. It looked big enough to have its own clouds!
It stretched up more than 50 metres, and was around 80 metres by 40 metres in terms of ground area.
Each mechanic was given a platform to work with, and the several mechanics strapped up themselves with masks and gloves.
What Cael initially realised was that everybody’s work was open for anyone to peek at. He felt like there was supposed to be some form of punishment for doing this and noticed tens of suited officials stood around the area, keenly keeping their eyes on each student.
It seemed like nobody was daring enough to place their eyes on others’ work. As for the first few minutes, there wouldn’t even be much to look at anyway.
The pod ahead of Cael lit up soon after his arrival at his designated spot. Just ahead of him was the number 046, which was likely the ID for his pod.
The first panel detailed several items that were available for request, stating that their arrivals would be in as little as 2 minutes. Along with that, there were several other materials that he needed to get his hands on as soon as possible.
Another main panel showed him that he could log in to his TechForge simulation account to download the required design files for his creation process.
Apparently, the system had some decent security measures if he was given the luxury of that much control.
When he began the downloading process, which lasted less than a second, he could see that the options available for him were extremely limited.
As soon as he downloaded the items, his already narrow access to the marketplace was severed.
In these few minutes, Cael started to receive his requested items. They came in large, metal boxes that clicked open to reveal his materials.
Across the white-walled factory, illuminated by beaming white lighting, a floating counter appeared across the furthest wall from Cael.
It showcased a 60-second timer, that steadily reached zero and the several mechanics rushed into action.
Cael felt calmer than he expected, being slightly affected by nerves but he relaxed as time passed. His mind was initially affected by the high-stakes tournament but creating designs was just far too natural for him.
It didn’t take long for him to enter his element during the assembly process.
Spending a few minutes with beginning his alloy-forming, he scanned his surroundings to see that there was easy access to other’s designs.
Each pod did have several metal arms and systems that obscured his view partially. Although, with keen and smart enough glances, he could magpie stuff around him.
For now, he didn’t know if he was following the rules, or just being covert. Therefore, he didn’t want to just lose this opportunity he was given. Additionally, he was confident in himself. He was sure that he didn’t need to rely on others’ designs.
A young mechanic to his left gave suspicious, prolonged gazes at the surrounding designs, almost trembling in place. Upon looking at him, he soon noticed that almost everybody around him seemed nervous and unstable.
Tap! Tap!
To his right, two suited officials advanced in confusingly robotic marches. The two men were in complete unison, grabbing the student by his arms.
“What did I do?! WHAT DID I DO WRONG?!” He roared, trying to free himself from his grasp.
Almost every surrounding mechanic stopped in place, totally bemused by the incident.
“You have been disqualified from the Ultimate Autobot Showdown due to excessive misconduct.” One of the men declared, tugging him away from his pod.
As this happened, the glowing, active parts of his workstation dimmed, with the pod number also vanishing.
This situation was almost enlightening to Cael. He was taking this tournament very seriously of course, it would do a lot for him if he performed well. However, for others, this wasn’t just a good way to get eyes on them.
It was a way out.
A way to not just success but an actual, stable, successful lifestyle to begin with. Just doing well in the preliminary event would at least land somebody a decent job for an interplanetary mechanical firm.
Doing better than that would secure even more boons.
