The Mech Touch

The Doom Guard's product reveal came at an end. As soon as Ves and Gloriana finished the introduction of the striker mech they spent months on fleshing out, the LMC officially opened up the model for sale.

The demand for the Doom Guard spiked! Orders from all over the star sector poured in from almost every corner of the Komodo Star Sector!

Not only that, orders from other star clusters started arriving as well! An uncountable amount of interested people wanted to see what the fuss was about. They had become charmed by the previous presentation and felt the huge urge to purchase their own 'monsters'!

It was too bad that the LMC didn't possess an effective reach beyond the Komodo Star Sector right now. The LMC could only reluctantly reject these orders, forcing most customers away. The handful of disappointed mech buyers could only import the mech across star sectors at a considerable expense.

Even so, the explosive demand from the Hegemony-aligned side of the star sector had spiked beyond the LMC's most optimistic projection!

The fantastic presentation along with Master Willix's implicit endorsement caused many mech buyers who didn't necessarily need a striker mech to purchase a Doom Guard anyway!

The incredible demonstration of hundreds of people drawing back from the Doom Guard's fearsome glow was already striking enough.

To witness ten Doom Guards repelling more than a thousand mechs through intimidation alone was practically unheard of! Normally, only expert mechs achieved such lopsided results!

Of course, plenty of skeptics cast doubt on the authenticity of these exaggerated demonstrations.

Could a single mech really repel hundreds of people?

Could a single mech truly scare away a hundred mechs?

Those from other star sectors voiced far more doubts due to their unfamiliarity with LMC products. They never experienced a glow in person and weren't well-versed in the achievements of older LMC mech models.

To many of them, glows sounded like outright magic!

Perhaps the only reason why these skeptics restrained themselves a bit was due to one, important reason.

The presence of an MTA Master Mech Designer.

Master Moira Willix may not be a household name in the Yeina Star Cluster, but her status alone was inviolable in human space! For her to go out of her way to attend a product reveal held by a pair of Journeymen was very unusual and very meaningful.

She personally participated in one of the demonstrations and won a free copy of the Doom Guard. Though she didn't exhibit the same reactions as the other challengers, the fact that she didn't expose any falsehoods meant that the challenge was probably authentic!

A Master would never stoop to scamming people! The mere idea of it was an affront to the profession of mech designers! This was even more so if the Master was part of the MTA's hierarchy!

In effect, by her mere presence, Master Willix generously lent her considerable credibility to the Doom Guard! This was an incredibly important boost for Ves, Gloriana, the LMC and their newly-released mech design!

With her help, the doubts and questions that the LMC expected to face did not materialize. The market largely accepted the claims made by the LMC!

Once these doubts went away, only value remained.

The mech design was already a pretty fine premium striker mech. It only got better when its glow was put into consideration!

The public not only recognized the Doom Guard's deterrence factor, but also its utility in training the resolve of friendly mech pilots!

Though no one was sure what to make of this claim, the sight of just a few dozen true warriors remaining side-by-side with an eminent Master Mech Designer was too astounding for people to ignore!

A vast amount of challengers attempted to brave the glow, but only a minute portion remained!

Every mech pilot and soldier wanted to pass this seemingly-challenging test!

Ves suggested that people could train their courage and steadfastness in the face of difficulties with the help of his new mech. As long as they frequently exposed themselves to the pressure of a Doom Guard, they would eventually be able to whet their courage and harden their resolve!

Though not everybody bought into this fantastic claim, enough far-sighted leaders and mech commanders realized the great value of this training method.

Many forces expended a huge amount of money and effort to improve their mech pilots. These methods were very demanding and led to very high attrition if pushed to their limits.

This was the only way to train elite mech pilots!

The best mech pilots not only needed to possess excellent mech piloting skills. They also had to develop a heart that knew no fear and a mind that was as strong as steel!

There were even people who were more knowledgeable than others that saw an even greater potential in the dreadful glow of the Doom Guard.

What if.. exposure to its glow could polish the willpower of a mech pilot?

This was an incredible possibility! Though high willpower did not guarantee a mech pilot's promotion to expert candidate, it was one of the most essential requirements!

No expert candidate or expert pilot possessed a brittle will! They were some of the most fearless and determined warriors of humanity!

Such exceptional individuals should never exhibit any weakness in the presence of a Doom Guard!

Once this idea passed around in certain circles, the demand for the Doom Guard exploded yet again!

A single day later, Ves and Gloriana had just finished their breakfast and entered a private lounge at the Larkinson Clan's base.

Both of them had done their best to convey the great potential of the Doom Guard. After they finished their presentation, they lingered for many hours to talk to various potential customers and dignitaries.

Though Ves hated every second of it, he recognized that it was necessary for him to talk to the various high-ranked Vesian nobles and other major customers.

Almost everyone he chatted with expressed a high amount of interest in the Doom Guard! Some customers were so convinced by the incredible value proposition of his new mech model that they ordered hundreds of copies at once!

For a mech that was priced at 2 million hex credits, this was a very significant accomplishment

The Doom Guard was 15 percent more expensive than a generic mech of the same type and performance level, which meant that the LMC successfully convinced a lot of people that it was still a good deal!

As Ves and Gloriana played and cuddled with their cats, Gavin soon arrived to present his initial report.

"How hot is our product selling?"

The brilliant smile on Gavin's face spoke it all. "It's a smashing success! Our initial orders have flooded our sales channels! In fact, we've received so many orders that it's impossible to fulfill them all in a timely fashion! Our Sales Department had to implement some limits to restrict the initial sales. We have instituted a waiting list that will stretch on for a couple of months by our estimates. We have even decided to accept no further orders until this backlog is dealt with. Even so, interest in our new product is still growing!"

"That.. is fantastic news, Benny."

"It's all thanks to you!" The assistant unabashedly praised his boss! "Describing the Doom Guard as the 'monster at your side' is a brilliant marketing tool! It succinctly described the potential danger of the Doom Guard but frames it in a more positive light!"

Ves felt an incredible amount of relief.

One of the biggest worries he had for his new product was whether he overdid its fearsome glow. He had set its strength level at a point where scarcely any person wanted to be near the machine! Even if he added an off switch to the Doom Guard, it would still be incredibly difficult to find a mech pilot who was resilient enough to pilot it in battle!

Yet despite this huge downside, he succeeded in portraying this liability as an asset!

While the downsides still remained, his customers could derive a lot of value out of them if they made creative use of them! This was one of the most important messages he tried to convey to his audience, and it seemed that the market bought it hook, line and sinker!

"How many units do you expect us to ship in the first month?"

Gavin frowned a bit. "It's difficult to form an accurate assessment, boss. We are outsourcing most of our production to a large number of third-party manufacturers spread across the star sector. We have chosen to work with most of our existing partners who are already accustomed to producing our Desolate Soldier mechs, so their reliability isn't in question."

"What's the problem, Benny?"

"According to the Production Department, there are two complications. First, it's quite challenging for the workers of the manufacturing complexes to build a mech that slowly turns an entire production hall into a no-go zone as the mech is being assembled."

This was a problem that Ves had already foreseen. The only suggestion he could offer was to establish a new and isolated production site where the Doom Guards would be assembled largely with bots and machines.

"Are the partnering mech companies willing to invest in altered production facilities?" Ves asked.

"There was a bit of doubt and foot-dragging at first, but all of that changed once you held your product reveal." Gavin grinned. "It seems you even managed to persuade all of those industrialists to commit to our new product! The mech companies all smell profit, and they are climbing over themselves to fabricate the Doom Guards on our behalf!"

"That sounds good. What is the second problem?"

"It's a bit more mundane. The manufacturers who are used to producing the cheap and simple Desolate Soldier all have to step up their game in order to fabricate the Doom Guard. Combined with the earlier issue I've mentioned, the initial yield won't look good. There will be a lot of screwups, delays and inconsistencies. Our Production Department is doing its best to guarantee the quality of the first batches of Doom Guards, but it will take months for the mech companies to sort out their issues. The Doom Guard is also a rather massive mech that demands a lot of exotics, so the supply of resources will also constrain the output to an extent."

"That's fine." Ves nodded in acknowledgement. "The Doom Guard may have become hot, but I don't expect it to sell as easily as the Desolate Soldier. You can buy three-and-a-half Desolate Soldiers for the price of a single Doom Guard. This price disparity isn't something that can be made up very easily."

"That's what we think as well. We expect our initial sales to amount to just 10,000 to 20,000 units in the first month. We project that it will ramp up considerably in the following months as the first reviews and actual battle reports pour in and some of the production kinks are worked out at the production sites."

"What about the profit?"

"Our financial outlook has finally turned around. As long as sales remain as good as they are, our clan and mech company will finally be bringing in more money than we are losing. The product margins of our premium mechs have always been rather compared to the industry standard, and the Doom Guard is no different. The cost to produce a copy is around 1.5 million hex credits, though the actual figure differs from state to state due to the differences in tax rates and the regional price variations of raw materials and so on. Since our new product is priced at 2 million hex credits, that means that we are earning a generous amount of profit!"

Even with all of the overhead and other miscellaneous expenses deducted from this profit, the LMC still stood to amass a huge fortune!

The profits of the Desolate Soldier paled in comparison! Even though its sales was still projected to be larger than the sales of the Doom Guard, its cheap price and inferior performance meant that the LMC didn't actually earn that much hex credits at the end of the day.

This was different! As long as the LMC was able to sustain the popularity of the Doom Guard, it wasn't impossible for Ves and the Larkinson Clan to earn enough money to acquire a second-class ship!

And this was just the start! Ves had a lot more commercial mech designs in store!