The Mech Touch novel Chapter 208

Even Ves hadn’t understood why Horatio favored him over Oleg. His design looked decent, but paled in comparison to Oleg’s hasty creation. The younger mech designer managed to create a miracle in only half the time.

"I know you’re confused. You shouldn’t be." Horatio said and swept his arm towards the mech cadets who stood silently at attention all this time. "First, let’s hear our test pilots out. What are your thoughts on the mech designed by Oleg?"

The pilots gave out a smattering of opinions.

"It’s powerful. I can feel the difference in performance. Most of the training mechs don’t feel as powerful as this frame."

"Slow but protective. I feel I can take on the entire galaxy with the amount of armor it carries."

"It corresponds to what a knight should be. I don’t mind the lack of speed since it’s supposed to be a defensive mech anyway."

"I can do anything with this machine! In the right hands, I can overpower anyone who dares to get close."

"I can’t get used to its sluggishness. It’s as if my body is moving under water. It’s too slow."

When Horatio asked them what they thought of the design made by Ves, they gave out a distinctly different opinion.

"It feels like home. The mech just clicked for me."

"It’s one of the few mechs I’ve piloted that actually worked together with me."

"The performance is a little lackluster compared to the other one, but when I’m in the cockpit I don’t feel that way."

"It’s very responsive. I don’t have to fight against the controls to make it do what I want. There’s hardly any learning curve with this mech."

After the pilots gave out their opinions, Horatio clapped and attracted everyone’s attention. "You can see that the first thing that pops in the minds of the pilots differs drastically between the two mechs. Oleg, considering the terms of your mech design duel, do you truly believe you’ve overcome Ves in this regard?"

"I still have five votes." Oleg stubbornly replied. "Even if I hadn’t focused much on comfort, does it even matter?"

"You’ve chosen a crooked path to compete on comfort. Whether it’s important or not, the fact of the matter is that you’ve agreed to compete against Ves on the matter of designing the most comfortable mech. Ves is the only participant who worked earnestly on this area and the comments made by the test pilots makes this clear."

"The mech pilots haven’t received a lot of clarity when they were asked to evaluate our mechs." Ves spoke up. "If they had a clearer idea on what they should be judging, then I might have received more votes."

"Maybe, maybe not." Horatio said. "Oleg’s viewpoint can’t be discounted. A superior mech will always be valued more than a lesser mech. However, the rules for this design duel explicitly leaves out any comparison on performance. In this regard, none of the mech cadets have praised Oleg’s mech for its level of accomodation."

Oleg wowed half of the mech cadets through delivering a better mech despite performing worse in the aspect of comfort. He might have missed the point on the duel, but he still succeeded in forcing a tie. That couldn’t easily be changed.

"Don’t set your eyes on the present. Think of the future. After a couple of years, the both of you will be developing in different directions. If you hold the same duel at that time, who will prove to be more superior in the aspect of comfort?"

By that time, Ves would have probably accomplished a breakthrough in the X-Factor. In addition, he’d also advance much further than anyone here expected. After all, they couldn’t have known about the heaven-defying nature of the System.

Still, if he hadn’t advanced his other skills through the System, then Ves would still win on the matter of comfort. Only he possessed the requirements to work with the X-Factor.

"If you put it that way, you have a point." Oleg reluctantly admitted. "But that’s in the future. We’re still in the present."

"Yes, we’re still in the present. Therefore, I believe that you should demonstrate your magnanimity and offer a concession to Ves. Don’t forget that you are one of Carmin’s direct disciple. With regards to age, you’re junior to Ves, but with regards to seniority you enjoy a vastly higher position than him. To employ all your gifts to bully a junior who only received a few pointers from Carmin is not good form."

Even Ves forgot about this point. Oleg behaved like a teenager but as a mech designer he enjoyed a very privileged status. Many older mech designers had to make way for the direct disciple if they met him on the street.

"Besides, look at the stakes for this duel. If Ves loses the bet, he’ll have to give up a precious companion of his. Don’t think that Ves won’t start to resent you. They are lifelike creatures meant to bond with their owners."

"On the other hand, if I lose the bet, I won’t lose anything substantial. A license is very valuable to Ves, but it’s nothing special to me."

Licenses only held value to those who lacked the capability that it offered. It cost Oleg nothing but a potential loss in earnings if he gave one away without demanding anything in return. That was because licenses only granted the mech designer who received it the right to use a design.

This was the nature of intellectual property. If someone wrote a virtual book, he could easily give it away to his friends for free. A couple of handouts didn’t really impact his sales in any meaningful way. However, if he became a bit too liberal with his generosity, then he’d be shooting himself in the foot by missing out on a lot of sales.

Did Oleg look like someone who cared about giving away a free design? As a direct disciple, he enjoyed almost unlimited resources! A single engine license worth billions of bright credits was actually worth only a couple tens of millions of cols in Coalition space. For such a small amount of cols, Oleg would be too embarrassed to quibble about this sum of money.

In the end, Oleg conceded the match to Ves. Though he still felt unresigned, he felt that as a senior he had to show off his good side to Master Olson’s latest apprentice. They both signed a couple of contracts on the spot that officially granted Ves the right to incorporate the Trailblazer engine model in any of his designs for a period of ten years.

"It’s a really good engine." Oleg boasted as he swiftly recovered from his loss. "The Trailblazer is ideal for mechs focused on endurance and efficiency. Just take care not to push it too hard. It doesn’t handle peak loads very well."

As Horatio left for another appointment, Ves had a suspicion he’d been used. Horatio obviously didn’t need to mediate the design duel in person. He must have used the opportunity as a teaching moment for Oleg. He not only learned to be generous, he also opened his eyes to another perspective on mech design.

Ves shrugged. As the ’winner’ of this duel, he benefited from this moment as well. Besides his material rewards, this event also taught him about a hidden danger inherent in his design method.