The Mech Touch novel Chapter 665

"What kind of mechs does the Skull Architect have in his lineup?"

"Well, nothing like this, obviously." Ketis answered. "He’s always known for his radically high-performing mechs, though a lot of mech pilots love to complain about them. You can buy five decent mechs for the price of one of his mechs, so he doesn’t sell that many mechs. According to Mayra, he still makes a decent killing, and a lot of pirate mech officers favor his mechs. The real reason why he’s such a big deal in the Faris Star Region is because he designs some of the best custom mechs that pirates can get."

"For expert pilots? Do the pirates even have those?"

"It’s rumored that the big pirate alliances all retain their own experts, but no. At least we don’t have any." Ketis shook her head. "Mayra’s mentor is merely the best place to go if you just scored big and want to waste it on the best mech you will ever be able to pilot. Each of the Skull Architect’s custom mechs have shown off strong fake resonances."

This explained the Senior Mech Designer’s success formula in the frontier. With a severe deficiency in higher-ranking mech designers in the frontier, anyone with the ability to design a custom mech was a valued asset to pirates. Excelling in this aspect meant that some of the best neutral pirates in the Faris Star Region wanted to maintain friendly relations with the man.

This desirability gave the Skull Architect the grounds to remain independent. If Ves had learned one big rule about surviving in the frontier, it was that friendships and relationships worked better than any laws or agreements.

Backstabbing someone was hard if that person could call up a dozen outfits to retaliate!

"How far up does he rank among the top-level mech designers in the Faris Star Region?"

"He’s among the biggest hitters, if that’s what you’re asking for, but he’s on his own. Both the Dragon Alliance and the Ravienne Alliance each have three or four Senior Mech Designers on retainer, though that’s what they say in public. Every pirate is guessing they are holding a couple more Seniors back."

The two pirate blocs of the Faris Star Region sounded really domineering, but there were actually way more independent pirates lurking in both the Faris Star Region and the Komodo Star Sector. Pirates were notoriously independent and unruly, so utilizing too much force against these fierce and headstrong bunch of people would only provoke a backlash.

Ves counted the Skull Architect among their ranks. If he wanted to, the Senior could have easily taken a highly desirable position at the design teams of either alliance. That he stuck it out alone and tried to stand on his own two feet spoke of his resolve to be unaffected by factional strife.

A pure researcher wouldn’t be interested in the pursuit of luxury or wealth!

As the Swordmaiden and Vandals slowly browsed past the mech stores, Ves became increasingly depressed at the mechs on sale. Most of them seem to have been designed by listless, robotic mech designers who designed the simplest and cheapest mechs possible.

And that only applied to the brand-new mechs! Much of the stores devoted more of their space to used mechs and salvaged mechs!

"Is this the kind of mechs that are popular among the pirates and the treasure hunters? No wonder pirates always fold so easily. Some of these mechs are literally walking junk piles!"

"Don’t look down on these mechs, big boy. There are three advantages to these mechs that make them worth it. First, they’re really cheap, and I mean super cheap. The second advantage to them is that their designs all come with high tolerances. It’s extremely easy to modify them, and nothing will break down even if you don’t have a mech designer to design proper modifications. The third advantage to them is that they’re extremely easy to service and maintain in the frontier. This is the most important point as the frontier is seriously a desert when it comes to places where you can service your mechs."

His low opinion towards the mechs on display reverted a little once Ketis enumerated her points. As much as Ves wanted to close his ears, she mentioned valid arguments in favor of these low-quality mechs.

It was hard. Their designs grated against his design sensibilities. The demands Ketis mentioned imposed a particular way of designing mechs that treated them even more like commodities than they ought to be. Their drab appearances, blocky mech parts and lackluster performance fostered no affection from their new owners.

They were merely mechs, built solely for the purpose to be abused as much as possible before being thrown away or recycled down to their base materials like pieces of trash.

"No wonder the Skull Architect focuses on premium mechs. It’s probably unbearable for him to design mechs that go beyond his lowest standards." He muttered.

It also illuminated him more of the Senior’s intentions for suggesting collaborative projects as a way to repay his debts. While the Skull Architect was certainly out for the variants due to their research and comparison values, the pirate designer could also earn a tidy sum of K-coins by entering the middle segment of the pirate mech market.

He doubted that any of his variants could be dumbed down to the point of competing with these trash models. However, selling them in the price segments above the budget tier should be doable if he was allowed to replace the more expensive components with cheaper ones.

It was a step in the right direction, but it didn’t fully solve the Skull Architect’s giant void in his mech catalog.

Since he originated from the Friday Coalition, a prosperous second-rate state in the Komodo Star Sector, Reno Jimenez never felt the pressure to design low-tier mechs. There were plenty of buyers for his high-quality mechs!

The mech market of the frontier was the exact opposite of the mech market of a second-rate state. Thrown from paradise to hell, though the Senior did his best to carve out his own niche in the untamed stars, it remained a fact that his design philosophy inherently clashed with what the vast majority of the pirate mech market demanded.

"Let’s go." Ves sighed. "I’ve seen enough."

The press of people on the streets grew increasingly more crowded as Ves neared the bank office. Something up ahead formed a powerful attraction that drew the visitors of Mancroft like a moth to the flame.

Even his bulky security guards experienced some trouble in keeping the riff raff from coming too close.

"What’s going on?!"