The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1593

Chapter 1593 Glow

The brief 'service interruption' that happened on Bentheim confounded many people.

It couldn't be helped. The auras that seemed to be perpetually active had gone dark all of a sudden.

The consequences were drastic. Mech pilots who became used to the reassuring duty-focused auras of the Desolate Soldiers suddenly felt as if they were missing something essential.

Bystanders who felt reassured in the comfort of the emotions evoked by the mechs all experienced a gaping void in their hearts.

The repercussions of this two-minute interruption was incredibly shocking!

Even though the mechs quickly came back to normal, panic continued to run rife for a few days.

The LMC received lots of calls despite publishing a notification that purportedly explained the phenomenon.

Though many people bought the excuse, many more had begun to spread conspiracy theories.

What if the LMC implemented a backdoor in their mechs?

Such a question frightened many owners of the Soldier mechs. How could they rest easy fighting the sandmen when their mental support suddenly disappeared?

Sales stagnated for a time. Existing owners of the Desolate Soldiers and Prideful Soldiers paused the deployment of their mechs in order to form a thorough inspection of the machines.

Not a single investigation revealed anything amiss. The designs of the Soldier product line were so simple that hardly anything could be hidden.

Perhaps the ones who came closest to the truth were fellow mech designers. Several of them had already guessed that Ves possessed some means of controlling his products because of some unique property of his design philosophy.

Although such a thing wasn't unheard of, it was exceedingly rare.

Fortunately, the storm quickly passed after a few days. Hardly anyone remembered the incident after a week. The passage of time and the constant influx of news about the Sand War quickly dominated the headlines.

The LMC soon returned to its previous trajectory. Sales had recovered and the complaints and questions about the incident died down.

The interruption only happened once, after all.

In fact, some people even started to become more appreciative of the auras. A Bentheim without auras was a Bentheim that had lost its soul!

"It's very strange, boss." Gavin described with an odd expression. "I initially thought that the mech buyers on Bentheim would have held some lingering doubts about our mechs. Yet once people got a taste of what it was like to lose the glows, they became a lot more insistent on buying additional mechs, as if they wanted to have some spares around if one of their machines became defective for whatever reason."

Ves could hardly explain this irrational behavior either. "Well, I won't turn down any opportunity to sell more mechs."

Ever since Ves fired a bunch of spies, Gavin acted a bit more restrained than before. While the assistant did his best to seem normal, he inevitably betrayed some nervous tics.

Everytime he did that, Ves inwardly smirked.

Though Gavin should have been swept up by the purge, Ves decided to spare his assistant.

He didn't really have a good reason to do so. He just felt like keeping Gavin around despite his ties to Flashlight.

After all, a proper Benny never answered to a single master!

Fortunately, Gavin still remained as helpful as ever.

"By the way, I think we should address how we should name the effects. No one has come up with a standardized term, and everyone is calling it by a different name. Most Brighters have taken to calling it a glow, while others refer to it as the soul of a mech."

The assistant listed out a bunch of words used to describe the auras.

Glow, soul, heart, feeling, domain and even the word aura itself began to be associated with the influencing effects of his mechs.

Of course, those who disliked the LMC mechs used more disparaging terms. Calling the effect a brainwashing field was a good way to arouse vigilance in many people.

It was for this reason that Gavin brought the topic up today.

"I admit I neglected this aspect." Ves rubbed his smooth-shaven chin as he sat behind his desk. "Personally, I prefer to think of it as an aura, but in the context of my company's mission perhaps it's best to call it a soul."

"A soul implies that something is living in our mechs." Gavin warily pointed out. "Are you sure you want to push this belief? Calling it a glow is a much safer term. Not only does it come with warm and positive connotations, it also reflects our Brighter heritage."

"I considered that, but that's not what the LMC is about. What do the letters stand for?"

"Living Mech Corporation."

"What is our motto?"

"Living Mechs. Partners for Life."

Ves nodded. "What do you think I've been working towards all this time? When I told you that I'm out to design mechs that live, I wasn't kidding. What you are feeling from my mechs is a form of life! Though I'm not entirely satisfied with calling it a soul, it's the best way to make the public understand that the reason why our mechs are different is because they each have a soul!"

"This..." Gavin was taken aback by his description.

Even if he accompanied Ves for several years, he had never come in contact with the truth. As a normal citizen from the Bright Republic, it was very difficult for him to accept such an absurd statement.