Chapter 415. Public Persona (1/2)

Despite all of the work that Ves put into promotion his new design, the effect was hardly noticeable, but every little bit helped. He had no doubt that once they finished setting things up with the third-party manufacturers, people would have much more to talk about as more of them got exposed to his mechs.

Throughout the next week, Ves participated in several promotional events in a row. The reason why he filled up his schedule with these activities was because this might be his last opportunity to put in a good word on his newly released design.

After returning back to his hotel room, he felt tired to the bone. Even though his mind and body reached reached a transhuman state, the amount of activities he took part in almost crushed him into a worm. His spiritual exhaustion had reached a peak.

”I can't do this any longer. I'm not cut out for this line of work.”

As the lead designer of the LMC, it was extremely important for Ves to get his face out and shape his audience's impressions of his new mech. Still, the company relied too much on him to do everything. While he worked to shift some responsibility to others so that it wouldn't collapse in his absence, Ves realized he overlooked one key player.

The LMC needed a spokesperson.

”Gavin?”

”Yes, boss?”

”Who will take over as the face of the company when I'm gone?”

Unlike Ves who did all the work, Gavin only stayed on the sidelines and arranged his schedule. He still looked relatively fresh and look eager to freshen up his boss so that he could drag them to another promotional event.

The moment Ves asked the question, his assistant looked pained. ”Calsie isn't suitable for this role, and neither am I. We're too young and we don't understand mechs the way you do. The best we can put forth is Jake Altern.”

Jake was an old man and single-handedly expanded the LMC from a small-scale mech workshop into a proper medium mech manufacturer. The COO knew more about the business side of the company than anyone else, including Ves.

Still, did the LMC benefit from putting forth an old geezer who couldn't get into the nitty gritty details when it came to discussing the intricacies of mechs?

”Jake is too old and doesn't have the expertise to answer industry-specific questions.” Ves concluded.

”True. A young company such as ours needs to present a dynamic image. Most of our customers are mech pilots or mech commanders who looking for alternatives to the most conventional options on the market. Presenting a stiff and old-fashioned image goes against our positioning.”

”Well said, Gavin.”

The only problem was that this left no one qualified to represent the LMC in public.

”Boss. If we can't use an insider, why not adopt an outsider?”

”Hm. I was thinking about that as well.”

Not all mech designers wanted to show up in front of a recorder and have his face projected throughout the entire state. They put up different kinds of as their surrogates, and over time this experimentation have led to a number of best practices.

The most popular solution was to put forth a mech pilot as their public voice.

Though not too well-versed in the technical design and construction of a mech, they knew all about the stuff that customers really wanted to know. Mech pilots understood other mech pilots the most. This common level of understanding helped a lot in roping people into becoming their customers.

The only problem was picking the right person. Ves did not want to put up Melkor or anyone else from the Avatars of Myth. Being a spokesperson was a full-time job these days and mech pilots who chose to take on this role needed a lot of grooming to present a knowledgeable but authentic image in public.

”If you don't have any other suggestions, why not let the LMC sort this problem out on its own?”

Ves would have liked to select his own spokesperson, but he had a feeling he would be gone very soon. ”Very well. Put it on their agenda and make sure they select someone by the end of this month. Once the bronze label Crystal Lords are beginning to appear on the market, we need to be more active in our promotion.”

They didn't discuss anything else that evening. Ves was too tired and hit the sack soon after. The next day, a fateful message arrived at his comm.

It was the message that portended his next step in life, for good or ill.

”The Mech Corps is calling.”

Ves briefly checked the galactic net and saw that a lot of other mech designers received the same message as well. The Mech Corps formally called up the second wave of mech designers to fight for their state.

Despite knowing that this day was long in coming, Ves still felt uneasy about it. He heard so many second-hand stories about mech designers in the Mech Corps that he didn't know if he should believe them all. He also didn't know if the Mech Corps valued him enough to assign him to a meaningful role.

”There's no use dragging this moment out.”

Although the message granted its recipients a generous amount of time before they needed to report to the Mech Corps, Ves wanted to get in early. He learned that tip from a classmate in school.

”Arriving early demonstrates your dutifulness and shows you care.”

The Mech Corps constantly kept watch over its mech designers. Those who showed signs of disgruntlement and dragged their feet in their work tended to be transferred away from a research base and be sent straight to the frontlines.

However, before he submitted himself to the Mech Corps, Ves planned to make one final visit. He raised his comm and called up Melinda.