The Mech Touch novel Chapter 5442

Chapter 5442 Which One

"The last holiday destination is also located in Krakatoa." Gavin explained to Ves. "Port Salience was originally colonized to take advantage of its proximity to the Torald Middle Zone to attract customers from there as well. It is set up as a cheaper and more remote version of Chance Bay. That means that it hosts a lot of gambling establishments as well as mech arenas, though there are also many other activities that you can enjoy if you are looking for more variety."

Port Salience was a lot more barren than the previous planet. It definitely looked like a place that attracted all kinds of profiteers and luck seekers.

"This does not really look like a kid-friendly destination, Gavin." Ves said.

"That is true, but I have added this option in case you want to pass on a bit more frontier wisdom to your children." His assistant replied. "You do not have to go for this option if you do not think it is a good idea. That said, the competitive scene over there is something else. It is not only highly active, but has developed its own set of rules and traditions in the few years the planet opened up for business. The colonizers have done so well that Port Salience has actually attracted a large crowd of people who were originally staying in the Bortele System. That should tell you enough how exciting its mech games and tournaments have become."

Ves took a closer look at the barren rocky planet that only hosted a few colonial settlements.

He could actually spot large craters on its surface. It looked as if Port Salience had turned much of the lifeless and rocky landscape of the planet into open competition fields!

"If I want to watch a mech duel, I can take a trip to the local arenas in the city of Sandan." Ves said. "I trust you well enough that there are other reasons that make it worthwhile to visit this planet."

Gavin smiled. "There are other planets throughout the zones that try to undertake similar business, but there are two reasons that make Port Salience more interesting. The first is that it is owned and operated by the Wild Fighter Association."

"Oh? You mean the same organization that is filled with melee combat enthusiasts?"

Though it had been a long time since he thought about the Wild Fighters, his clan had a fruitful business relationship with them. The Larkinsons had managed to win Wild Torch, a powerful fleet carrier, after winning a large mech tournament.

No average organization was willing to award a precious second-class fleet carrier so easily!

Ves suddenly frowned. The Wild Fighter Association was unusually large, wealthy and widespread. It was way more successful than it should if it was an independent group.

The Wild Fighter Association was almost certainly backed by a first-class power!

Was it the mechers? Was it the Rubarthans? Either of these possibilities sounded likely, but Ves did not know the correct answer.

He activated his desk terminal and conducted a few searches on the galactic net.

Nothing.

The Wild Fighter Association did not mention its backing, though there were plenty of rumors that it definitely enjoyed a bit of care from above.

This was concerning to Ves because his clan still had an ongoing business relationship with the Wild Fighters.

"By the way, the other reason why I encourage you to visit Port Salience is because many of the mechs that are used in the competitions are actually sold by the LMC." _{freewebnσvel.cøm}

"Huh?"

Gavin smiled at Ves. "This shouldn't come as a surprise. The LMC has a strong market position in the Krakatoa Middle Zone. Port Salience is one of the more notable markets for the mech company. Living mechs possess certain advantages that make them very interesting to discerning mech athletes. Sales of our staple products have been on an upward trend for years until recently."

"Let me guess. The start of the Hyper Generation has broken that trend."

"Sadly, yes. Our mech company isn't moving as quickly to refresh its product catalog with hyper mechs as other competitors. The market has been reset, which means that a lot of customers are looking forward to buying the early models of hyper mechs that have been coming out as of late. You have to be aware that hyper technology adds a notable amount of combat power to a mech without excessively raising its production cost depending on the hyper material composition."

Ves knew this a lot better than Gavin. It was always the case that currentgen mechs were stronger than lastgen mechs on average.

The Hyper Generation exacerbated the problem by introducing a brand new technological field that was just as powerful if not greater than phasewater technology.

This was of great importance to mech athletes who relied heavily on winning in order to earn a living.

So long as they had the money to spare, they would definitely be willing to pay hefty premiums to acquire early generation hyper mechs!

Even though the supply of high-grade hyper materials was still exceedingly constrained, the same was not the case for low-grade hyper materials.

"What is the opinion among our existing customers?" Ves inquired.

"A lot of mech pilots have developed an attachment to their living mechs. It is not so easy to persuade them to switch over to a newer hyper mech as the piloting experience is too different. Besides, not every competition format allows for the use of hyper mechs quite yet. A lot of old and experienced competition operators have instituted rules that allow for a few years of buffer time before mechs of the newer generation can be put into play. This also grants a buffer time for competitive teams to replace or upgrade their old machines. That said, there is definitely growing pressure to switch over to hyper mechs. They are strong crowd pleasers and always attract the largest audiences."

All of that was bad news to Ves. His previous stance on upgrading his product catalog was that he was willing to take his time.

The longer he waited before he updated one of his old mech designs to the new generation, the more time he had to develop his hyper technology applications.

While that undoubtedly remained true, the LMC may actually lose a lot of loyal customers if it didn't hurry up and refresh its entire mech catalog!

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