[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 414: Skepticism

After a successful day of presenting the Crystal Lord, Ves patiently slept and waited until the next day to find out the public's response.

As he ate breakfast in his hotel room, Gavin came up to him and provided him with a brief report.

"Almost every publication who attended the press conference wrote glowing praise about the Crystal Lord! We succeeded in wowing them and transfer their enthusiasm in their reporting!"

Ves accepted the data pad and skimmed through the articles they published in the morning. Some delivered unfiltered words of admiration, while others looked more restrained, as if the editors of the publications forcefully leashed their over-enthusiastic reporters.

Nonetheless, getting that much was more than sufficient for the LMC. Interest in the Crystal Lord obviously spiked upwards and millions of people started looking up the mech on the galactic net after just a few hours of exposure.

"What about the negative articles?"

"There are a lot of other publications who are trying to throw shade on the Crystal Lord. Some of them are excessively negative while others express some doubts at its value proposition. I don't believe that all of these news portals are following someone's orders. They just don't buy into the hype."

"Hm, that's to be expected." Ves nodded gravely as he sipped a cup of coffee. "Even though the Crystal Lord looks impressive when you see it in person, it's hard to convey its value onto a spec sheet. It's unusual for an Apprentice Mech Designer like me to publish such an expensive design."

"The main point the skeptics are raising is if it is a product looking for a market. Most rifleman mech models in this price range are designed by Journeyman, and all of their products are a notch above your own in terms of value for money. The only wildcard is the amount of value your gimmick can bring to the table."

Ves smirked. "That's exactly why I kept working on this feature that all of you thought was a big waste of time. I never intended it to be a game-changer in a battle. As long as people think it's useful enough to justify its price, it's accomplishing its mission."

The virtual models of the design appeared onto the different simulation games as well, allowing the public to explore their strengths at their own pace. The first reviews already reached glowing levels as many of them became affected the X-Factor of the virtual mechs they piloted.

As Ves read through the reports, he got a sense that this effect became a lot stronger than compared with the Blackbeak. Anyone who piloted the virtual version of the offensive knight design came away with much less enthusiasm.

Perhaps that was one of the main differences between B and C-grade X-Factors. The responses of the early adopters sounded no different than those who piloted any of his mechs in person.

This happened to have formed a powerful boost for the newly published Crystal Lord. The overwhelmingly positive feedback elevated the virtual models to a whole new level. As they gained in popularity, they also became more prominent in the virtual marketspace, leading to more curious players trying them out.

"It's too bad that it's a fairly demanding mech to pilot." Gavin noted sullenly. "It's classified as a 5-star virtual mech in Iron Spirit, so not a lot of people are qualified to purchase and pilot it in the first place."

Right now, the higher-leagued player base of online games like Iron Spirit had plummeted due to the war. These working men and women needed to focus their full attention on surviving the war. They had no time to waste on games in simulations that didn't cut it as a professional training tool.

Ves still smiled. "The more exposure, the better. Great things start from small steps. Building up some grassroots popularity for our new design is never a bad thing. The more the laymen talk about it, the more the professionals take note. Word will spread, and eventually interest will blow over to the people in charge of procuring mechs."