The Mech Touch

The day before the product reveal was scheduled to begin, the Bortele System became busier than ever.

Traffic in the strategic port system had always been high, but it received a small but noticeably uptick of inbound visits.

This was not remarkable in itself. Large coalition fleets occasionally returned from the hunt with a lot of valuable plunder in their cargo holds.

Occasionally, the fleets that originally set off from Bortele returned with less than a quarter of their warships and mechs intact. This did not happen as frequently because the forces who lost their battles often failed to escape the pursuit of enemy warships that were universally equipped with warp drives!

In any case, Bortele served as an excellent pitstop to many kinds of forces. It was a place to efficiently dump a lot of scrap, hire new personnel and repair a lot of damaged assets.

Many people who yearned to become New Elites could often find a way to mix into larger fleets by accepting the right opportunities in Bortele!

The humans in the Red Ocean generally weren't stupid. Those who transferred to the new frontier at an early stage of colonization tended to be more qualified, more ambitious and more desperate than the general population in the old galaxy.

At the very least, there was no shortage of pioneers with guts among red humanity!

While the dangers of fielding mechs against dangerous alien warships were considerable, everyone gradually realized that the New Elites Program would gradually reshape the hierarchy of red humanity.

The aristocrats and the magnates who currently held the reins of power might not be in charge anymore.

Anyone could overtake these old powers so long as they fought hard enough in the Red War!

Even though it was incredibly difficult to earn enough victories and preserve the fighting condition of a fighting force in the long run, that did not stop pioneers and other ambitious fortune seekers from betting everything in the fight!

In any case, once they encountered a catastrophe that wiped out all of their forces, these losers likely wouldn't live long enough to suffer from their mistakes!

What was different in Bortele was that it received a lot of inbound traffic that did not hang out in the Torald Middle Zone in the past.

They came from other regions such as the Magair and Krakatoa Middle Zone. An oddly high proportion of Hexer and Davutan groups had flocked to Bortele all of a sudden.

Not only that, but there was also a noticeable uptick in visitors that came from more distant zones!

It became clear pretty soon that these groups traveled to Bortele for a single common purpose.

They wanted to see Professor Ves Larkinson.

His name became incredibly famous over the last year. He was one of the models of a pioneer in the new frontier. Yet it was only after the start of the Age of Dawn that he had become one of the most famous second-raters in the Red Ocean!

Though much of the general public did not have clear knowledge of what took place during the infamous Survivalist conference, they all learned that Ves had played an outsized role during this political crisis.

The rumors that circulated among many communities even claimed that his influence exceeded the sway of a Star Designer!

The fact that those in the know never refuted these wild claims lent a lot of credence to this belief!

Regardless of the truth, the fact that a young and talented second-class Senior Mech Designer suddenly became a third-class galactic citizen in a single leap could not be denied!

Not only that, but this famous rising star also happened to possess mysterious connections with the first-rate colonial superstates.

There were strong claims that Ves had managed to gain the backing of the Destroyer of Worlds for whatever reason. Perhaps it was their shared love of cats or the commonality of their 'companion spirits' that brought them together.

The Rubarthans certainly did not know how to respond to these rumors, which implicitly served as an admission that the two seemingly unrelated individuals definitely managed to hook up with each other!

The new star's connection with the Terrans was much less ambiguous. Not only did he openly relocate to one of the strongholds of the Devos Ancient Clan, he also took on the granddaughter of General Axelar Streon as his personal disciple!

This was practically unheard of! How could a highborn first-class mech designer ever deign to accept a second-class mech designer as her teacher?

Though a lot of clever people determined that there was a connection between the legendary Ouroboros and living mechs, the fundamental reason had to be that Ves was way more valuable than a typical first-class Master Mech Designer!

In fact, his galactic citizenship already served as concrete proof of this assertion. Ves' sudden promotion caused him to overtake almost every other Master Mech Designer of red humanity.

This also included all of the centuries-old stalwarts who worked for the behemoths such as SKL Mech Industries!

Due to all of these clues, the people of the middle zones came to a consensus on this subject.

Ves was the hero of all second-raters!

In fact, even third-raters held him up as a hero who shared the same roots as them, but no one important enough really cared for their opinions.

A lot of people outright denied that Ves had originally started out as a poor citizen from the Bright Republic!

What mattered in public perception was that Ves entered the Red Ocean as a forgettable and indistinguishable second-class pioneer, but had now shot himself into the leadership class of red humanity as a whole!

Many second-raters dreamed of promoting to first-raters and rising up in their ranks to become a new generation leader, but the difficulty of accomplishing all of this was so high that hardly anyone had managed to succeed over the centuries.

Ves had managed to do it. Not only that, he did it in the fastest and most dramatic fashion possible!

Even if he enjoyed a lot of advantages and circumstances that ordinary second-raters could never dream of, at least he showed with his deeds that rising to the top from a second-class background could still be done!

In truth, one of the reasons why the Bortele System had become so busy over the last year was because Ves single-handedly inspired many second-raters to follow his example!

If he did not rise to power in such an impressive fashion, a lot of second-class humans would never have embraced the New Elites Program to this extent.

This was because second-raters inherently suffered from an inferiority complex. Their lack of belief in their ability to cross the gap between classes meant that they often lost before they even thought about making the attempt.

Yet now that Ves had already set an extremely successful example for every second-rater, he had become the idol among the people of the middle zones!

Perhaps only one among thousands of opportunists would succeed in becoming first-class humans, but that was already a good result compared to the old status quo!

In any case, as the most valiant and successful envoy of second-class society, Ves held such a special position among the people that they placed a lot of importance on his product reveal.

The fact that he intended to introduce a new second-class mech line showed that his recent rise to power did not cause him to forget about his old people!

More and more ships had poured into Bortele in the last weeks.

In fact, the amount of visitors could have doubled if the Larkinsons announced the product reveal more than a month in advance!

"So this is Bortele, huh? I can smell the scent of war in the air." A mercenary commander spoke as he exited his shuttle.

Many more shuttles descended from the air and landed on the designated pads.

The spaceports of Bortele had become busier than ever. Many queues had formed in order to inspect and process all of the new arrivals.

The security protocols became a lot stricter all of sudden. Everyone going in and out of the main city of Bortele III had to register their itinerary and go through multiple security checks.

A lot of forces that were previously allowed to field mechs in the city temporarily had to surrender that right.

The large venue where the product reveal was scheduled to be held gained a lot of fortifications as well.

So much had been done to prepare for one of the most prominent public events in Bortele since the start of the Age of Dawn!

The local economy was doing better than ever. Hotels became filled. Mech stores accepted more orders than ever. Fleets that were lacking in specialized personnel easily managed to make up for their shortfall.

Bortele earned so much profit from the upcoming product reveal that it didn't matter anymore if Ves made a complete fool out of himself!

Though Ves occupied his time with other matters, he did not miss the changes taking place outside the branch headquarters of the Larkinson Clan.

He looked out of a shielded window that granted him a view of a busy metropolis. All of the shuttles and the humans moving around made the entire urban landscape come to life.

"You are responsible for much of it." Gavin noted as he stood at the side. "This is a visual indicator of how powerful and influential that you have become. It wasn't as obvious in the past, but now that you are making your first public debut since your most recent ascension, this is the influence that you wield. As long as you continue to maintain your relationship with second-raters, you can continue to reap the benefits of their adoration."

Ves grimaced as he folded his hands behind his back. "You make it sound as if I am an idol."

"That is because you are. You are more than a mech designer or an innovator. You have become a symbol of the people. The public will ascribe values to you that will make you larger than life. This is an advantage to you as it will let you get away with a lot of stuff that ordinary people cannot do. However, it is also a danger, because as soon as you do anything that breaks the illusion, these fans may turn against you for letting them down."

That was a huge burden that only grew heavier over time. Part of the reason why Ves always felt reluctant to follow a high-profile development strategy was because he did not want to deal with these complications.

Alas, it was too late now. There was no use crying over spilt milk. Ves had little choice but to accept his current reality.

"Does my celebrity afford me a greater advantage in selling my mechs?"

"Yes, but it is not as big as you want, boss. The LMC's brand recognition has become higher than ever. There are few second-raters that do not know of your products. What fame cannot do is to persuade rational and cautious buyers from replacing their old machines with LMC mechs. There are way too many factors that customers have to take into account. People's lives and finances are at stake. The wrong decision can easily kill a lot of people and bring entire organizations to ruin. Ultimately, the best way to increase the market share of our products is to make them stronger than the competition."

Ves smirked at that. "I don't have any cause for concern if that is the case. Even if I can only release one Hyper Generation product for the time being, it should definitely be strong enough to overshadow many other second-class mechs! I dare say that it may spark a turning point in the second-class mech market."

Gavin did not want to celebrate too early.

"I hope your optimism is not misplaced. Anything can happen tomorrow. There is a chance that other competitors intend to exploit your fame by presenting challengers to the Fey Fianna. It is a cheap way for them to promote their latest products."

"Hahaha! Good! I hope they will come, but I do not think that is too likely. Once I introduce my new mech, I am afraid that most of these would-be challengers will lose their courage."