The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

"I know what you all are thinking!" Ves addressed the stunned crowd. "We third-raters will never be able to reach Master. It's pointless to set unattainable goals for ourselves. Fridayman and Hexer mech designers enjoy too much of an advantage on this front. All. Of. This. Is. Correct. Yet even if that is true, so what?!"

His amplified words echoed across the entire auditorium. Whatever the attending students expected to hear, this was nothing like they had ever heard before! Not a single guest lecturer ever approached their presentation from this direction!

"Mech designers are capable of achieving the impossible." Ves spoke. "It is the reason for our existence. When have we ever given up and surrendered to the prevailing odds?!"

A sense of rebellion grew in the hearts of the Rawlings students.

"Those of you who were brave enough to raise your hands, I salute you! Your courage and conviction is admirable! As for those who didn't raise your hands, do you think my disappointment in you is justified?"

Although the pressure that Ves emanated made it difficult for the audience to speak out against him, the Seniors among the professors were made of sterner stuff.

One of the older figures stood up, drawing some of the crowd's attention away from Ves.

"Mr. Larkinson, though we respect your opinion, the mech industry is inherently shaped like a pyramid. For every Master in the star sector, there are countless lesser mech designers who have been left in the dust! It is not responsible for you to paint an overly-rosy picture of how likely our students are able to advance to Master!"

Ves held back the snarky retort that bubbled within his mind. He was not facing a heckler who wanted to spoil his moment. The professor merely expressed genuine concern that Ves was distorting the perspectives of his students.

It would do no good to convince the Rawlings students that they were all destined to reach Master!

A noticeable pause ensued as Ves formed a more respectful response. This was not the time to wag his inner Devil Tongue!

"Professor, I understand your sentiment. However, please consider the other side of the coin. Is it really so bad to aim for the top? When you set an impossible goal but fail to meet it, will you truly be considered a failure? You were one of those who didn't raise your hand, right?"

"Correct. I know my limitations. At my advanced age, the gap to Master is still too vast. Senior is the extent of what I can achieve in my lifetime."

Ves nodded. "You are old. You don't have much time left to overcome the challenges standing in the way for you to reach the next rank. But what about when you were young? Did you imagine yourself that you'd become a Senior when you just finished your graduation?"

"I… back then I was a lot more hopeful." The professor admitted. "I have to admit that I'd probably be among the students who raised their hands if I was a century younger."

"Good! That's good! You had ambition back then! Think about what you thought back then and what you managed to achieve up to today. Are you disappointed at the progress you've made over your career?"

The professor instantly answered with conviction. "No. I'm proud of what I've accomplished. I may not have what it takes to become a Master, but I am more than satisfied with reaching the height of Senior. It is more than what many of my former classmates achieved."

"This is my point!" Ves grinned at the audience. "Setting an impossibly high goal for yourselves is not always a bad thing, especially for mech designers like us! Normally, people are advised to set achievable goals. That doesn't work for us! We are mech designers! The best of us have never abided by existing limitations! Even if each and everyone of you who raised your hands have been unable to reach your lofty goals like the professor here, is it really so bad if the journey you've gone through has already brought you further than you ever imagined?"

More and more of the crowd began to become illuminated to the point that Ves tried to make.

"Ambition! Ambition is the key driver of every profession! It is even more important to mech designers because only driven mech designers are worthy mech designers! The market does not accommodate average mech designers who are too timid to publish a mech that deviates from the existing products in the markets!"

Though Ves had not cleared the topic of ambition with Professor Nxi for his guest lecture, he really wanted to address it first.

This was because ambition formed the foundation of his principles!

Ves raised his arms and snapped his fingers. The main projection that depicted moody scenes of war instantly shifted to depict inspirational scenes of Masters presenting their greatest works!

Achieving the impossible!

Breaking the rules!

Conjuring miracles!

Masters were some of the most amazing mech designers in the galaxy! Only Star Designers had the right to stand above them, but even Ves did not dare to dangle the dream of reaching the very top of the mech community to the Rawlings students!

Nonetheless, to everyone living in the Komodo Star Sector, to become a Master was to fulfill the ultimate dream that every mech designer harbored in their hearts. Some just entertained it a bit more openly than others.

"Although it's a cheesy saying, I will say it nonetheless. The journey is more important than the destination. It's fine if a hundred years later your career ends at Senior, Journeyman or even Apprentice! This is because if you have earnestly tried to follow your ambitions, you have squeezed out every bit of potential that is present in your bodies and minds!"

Ves stoked every student's aspirations with his inspiring words. Though his starting direction confused them a bit, now his words truly made sense!

This was what he believed! As long as mech designers pursued their ambitions, they would be able to reach the utmost of what they were capable of! Perhaps one of two of the students here might be able to break the seemingly-impassable ceiling and become the first mech designer of the Sentinel Kingdom to advance to Master!

Once Ves provided enough time for every student to process the implications of his words, he chopped his arm, causing the main projection behind him to disappear.

"Ambition is important, but realizing all of your potential is harder than it sounds."

The guest lecture took a sober turn now that Ves no longer attempted to steer the moods of his audience with any footage.

It was just him and his words right now.

"Some of you want to become an independent mech designer. How great is it to set your own agenda, decide the direction of your own design projects and earn most of the proceeds of the sales of your own mechs?"

Every mech designer aspired to start their own mech companies due to these exact same reasons. It also helped that independent mech designers also enjoyed the most regard in the mech community!

"It's a big step to take. Despite my earlier words, don't be too reckless and pile yourself up with debt in an attempt to found a successful mech company. There are multiple ways to realize your potential. I've met many mech designers who worked for the military or other organizations who have achieved just as much as those who struck out on their own."

If Ves didn't mention these words, Professor Nxi would probably be pissed at him for encouraging a lot of overeager students into starting their own businesses. No matter their ambitions, most simply didn't have the capability to succeed in their ventures!

However, right now, Ves focused on those who both aspired to become an entrepreneur and had the means to go through with their plans.

"As for those who want to become the founder of a thriving mech company, your path is the hardest but arguably also the most rewarding one to follow. Whether it is the correct decision for you to invest so much time, effort and money into founding a new mech company, that is up to you. I would merely like to elaborate a bit on the many challenges you'll face when you start off on your own."

He began to explain the common problems facing every mech designer who wanted to compete in the market.

He explained the difficulty of competing in an oversaturated mech market where the products designed by Journeymen and Seniors outright crushed their pathetic first mech designs in both performance and value.

"...With so many superior mech models for sale, why do you think you deserve a place in the market? You're in your twenties. Perhaps younger if you're some kind of genius. Even then, no matter how brilliant you are in your studies, what gives you the right to convince some of the buyers in the market to opt for your early, poorly-designed mechs?"

The question echoed across the entire auditorium.

A professor couldn't take it any longer and stood up. "Our younger generation of mech designers represents the future of our mech industry. They deserve an opportunity to spread their wings."

"That is a societal benefit, but is it in the interest of the people who make use of mechs to opt for primitive products over more refined and better-designed alternatives?"

The professor wasn't stupid. He responded with the right answer.

"If mech designers aren't able to match the quality outputted by the market leaders, then they are still able to find a place in the market by pricing their products lower."

"I agree." Ves nodded with a smile. "This is what I did when I started out as well. Just like any other new entrant in the market, I started off with selling variants of existing mech designs. While the quality of my products is far from impressive, I nonetheless managed to keep my head above the water by pricing them low enough that at least a small portion of customers think they are getting a good deal."

The audience did not appear very impressed with such a humble start. Trying to compete by price did not sound as exciting as trying to compete over the features of their mechs!

Ves deliberately lifted his gaze towards the audience and scoffed.

"Do you think that the independents among you won't start out like this? I'll be honest. The earliest mechs I've sold are ripoffs of dubious value to the mech market. However, I'm not ashamed. This is what I had to do to survive the early days."

As he silently tried to gauge the mood of the audience, he still detected too much complacency among the students.

No wonder Professor Nxi mentioned that too many Rawlings graduates failed when they attempted to start their own businesses!

"I'm sure that some of you think you have your future all lined up for you." He spoke. "How many of you are nobles?"

A considerable amount of hands rose up. While they only represented a small fraction of the total amount of students attending his guest lecture, they also had the highest proportion of mech designers aspiring to start their own business!

In truth, the mech company they planned to found in the future would be mostly owned by their noble houses instead of themselves. To the established aristocratic order, adding a successful mech company to their portfolio was a great way to expand their earnings, influence and internal production capabilities!

"I don't have the statistics on hand, but in the Sentinel Kingdom, how many of you noblemen mech designers actually succeed in founding a successful and profitable mech enterprise?"

The answer was not much. Despite the considerable amount of investment poured into the startups of these noble scions, in the majority of the cases, they still failed!

This was a huge problem that not only plagued the noble students at Rawlings, but all the other mech design universities in the Sentinel Kingdom and in other states!

Just because someone was born with a silver spoon in their mouth, didn't mean they were better than someone who was born with a regular spoon in their mouth!

The more fortunate mech designers just enjoyed more allowances for failure!