Chapter 1125. Unwelcome Attention (1/2)
After the dramatic events at the main hall, Ves retreated to his backstage room to have some time to himself. Getting caught up in the fever of the moment, no doubt aided by the emulated force of will that he imposed on himself, drained a lot of energy and spirit!
In fact, summoning up the courage to confront and berate a Senior directly was probably responsible for at least half of drained state!
”The event is not over.”
Ves still needed to put up a good front when the show models exhibited some of their capabilities. He also needed to be present as the first wave of customers approached the sales representatives to register their first orders of the new mech model!
As for Professor Pendleton? With all the bashing he received from Ves, why would the heckler ever subject himself to more abuse?
According to security, the Senior from Ansel quietly scurried to the exit the instant the curtains closed!
”At least that problem is dealt with.” Ves momentarily smirked. ”Still, if Ansel is only mildly irritated with me before, they'll definitely be out on the warpath after today!”
Attacking one Ansel mech designer was the same as attacking all of them! The school's considerably powerful alumni network would definitely close ranks around their wounded comrade and hit back at Ves and the Aurora Titan in other ways!
The only way to blunt the inevitable counterattack from Ansel was to ensure the show models delivered their best performance in the following hours!
”Only if my mechs perform impressively enough will they be able to endure the storm of criticism!”
Any mech model that sold more than a negligible amount of copies per year would inevitably be faced with criticism. Customers either judged the mech by themselves or listened to experts who earned their living from reviewing mechs.
A whole cottage industry of mech reviewers existed that provided mech publications with countless evaluations!
Both mech fanatics, mech pilots and professionals in the mech industry eagerly read these reviews as a favored past time. The influence of these reviews on the sales of the mech models in question was quite considerable!
The Blackbeak and the Crystal Lord may not have been covered by many mech publications, but they generally received somewhat positive reviews.
Back when Ves released his first two mech designs, he hardly stood out from the crowd of other Apprentice Mech Designers. He was a nobody, frankly.
This time would be different. Not only had his public profile risen in multiple occasions, but the news about his fiery confrontation was already spreading over the galactic net like wildfire!
While this would definitely do a lot of favors to the Aurora Titan's exposure to the mech market, it also cemented Ves as a firespitter who wasn't afraid to savage Seniors!
Ves switched on his comm and skimmed through a couple of news portals. He quickly groaned once he read the headlines and quickly shut his device off.
”The good news is I'm famous again. The bad news is I'm famous again for the wrong reasons!”
Even the non-mech publications started to report on the developing controversy!
”Meow.”
Only Lucky was by his side for the moment. The cat attempted to offer Ves some support by brushing his head against his body.
”Haha, it's not so bad, Lucky. Professor Ventag is right that my mechs ought to speak for themselves. I'm very certain that they'll be able to impress the public today. In fact, my mechs will definitely exceed their expectations as long as I employ my backup plan!”
Ves already developed a plan to be used in emergencies like this. The current situation definitely called for something extra to spice up the performance of the Aurora Titan!
Just as he contemplated whether he should commit to his backup plan, Lucky suddenly yowled and hissed from his lap.
”What's wrong, Lucky?”
”Meow meow meow!”
”There's someone here?”
”Your cat is right.” A familiar-sounding voice emerged from the corner of the room as someone in an infiltrator suit revealed his presence. ”We meet again, Ves.”
Ves recognized the unassuming young man and his deceptively mild voice! ”Leland Toll! What are you doing here?!”
”Why can't I be here? Flashlight has a stake in your company as well, or have you already forgotten who is standing behind Sibilant Asset Management? Since we own twenty-one percent of your company, we want to make sure our investment is paying dividends.”
The sudden appearance of Leland should not be a coincidence! Flashlight never did anything without a good reason!
”Somehow, I don't believe the dividends you're talking about is in the form of money.”
”Correct.” Leland grinned. ”I'm sure you can guess that I'm here for a different reason than that. We have been observing you and the LMC for a time now. To your credit, this is harder than it sounds like. That blasted security company from the Konsu Clan is very good at spotting any irregularities. In any case, the glimpses we've received and the trials of the prototypes that we've managed to observe have impressed us very much.”
”I'm glad to hear you are supportive of the Aurora Titan. Now why are you really here, Leland?”
”I'm getting to that. After analyzing the metrics, our evaluation of you and your company has grown by another notch. Despite the events of today, we believe that you will definitely be able to reach greater heights. Flashlight wants to take advantage of that. As long as you are in a position to advance our objectives, we don't mind lending you a hand every now and then.”