Hey Host...

Suddenly everyone became tense. Eden also was no different. If they were to produce the mech with the same parts as everyone else, the only thing that they could do to make a difference would be some tweaks here and there.

However, he still sat down and turned on the terminal.

Some were already questioning, whether participating in the competition was actually a mistake.

However, it seems like the people who made this year's competition methods were not done adding complications because all of a sudden the host added another topic.

"And, the presented model market value, should not cross twenty million credits."

Suddenly every competitor gasped. Eden too was no different. He was right in the middle of building a basic frame.

"D*mn. Do you want me to present a skimmed-down version of a light mech?" Eden mumbled in his breath.

Shaking his head, he looked ahead, only to find the person in front of him, had already turned ghost-white.

"Bullying." Suddenly his opponent cried out, startling Eden.

"This is bullying." Following that, another person, closer to their terminal cried out.

Some contestants apparently couldn't stand the new method and spoke back.

They had never heard of such competition before. Not in the past fifty years.

Why would any sane person use a mech at this period? A solder in normal combat suits was able to deal quite a lot of damage and also could react faster than a normal mech. Even the mechanic association had spoken about focusing maximum manpower on the development of combat suits technology.

So, why would the mechanics even focus on mech technology?

Now the people who planned the event even went ahead and added price marks on it. And it was only twenty million.

"Just what kind of mech did they wanted to be presented with?"

The mechanics were pissed.

They were so pissed in fact, that they started rioting right there. With one person talking back, others too started to follow along.

"What are we ever supposed to make with twenty million?" one mechanic questioned.

"Yes. Yes. What are we even supposed to make?" Another repeated.

"Even a normal light class mech cost more than fifty million at the very least."

"Who even uses a mech?"

However, it seems like the one who came up with this topic had already expected such retaliation, and came up beforehand with an answer.

A floating screen suddenly appeared on the empty space between the competitors and the audiences

The screen was playing footage, where a mech was fighting against five soldiers who were wearing combat suits.

Unlike what the mechanics claimed just now, the soldiers were having a very hard time making much impact in the giant mech.

The competitors below felt a bit strange looking at the war footage. The mechanics were also unsure about the reason for failing to produce much destruction on the mech.

Probably knowing the unspoken questions that happen to arose in the mind of the mechanics, suddenly a war general who happened to stay on the side of the hall, came forward and spoke to them all calmly.

"Why are we having a hard time to cause much impact?" The general stood above them closer to the host while looking below all competitors, "Right?"

"It's because the enemies have still not given up on the mech technology." He spoke with a bit of anger. "Even though the number of pilots is very low compared to the soldiers, it's not completely nil. Also, our enemies, have never stopped upgrading the mech technology. While the mechanic association is too focused on studying the mechanical suits and upgrading technology time and again; our enemies, pirates, rebels are also studying the technology they happen to have at hand. Even the association themselves haven't totally given up on the mech technology."

"It's already been confirmed that those who have the potential to be a pilot, can perform better when they are on the cockpit of mechs rather than wearing a combat suit. Meaning the mechs aren't going to disappear." He continued while looking at both contestants and the audience, "No, we military and the government believe, it's probably even going to see a new upgrade alongside the mechanic suits."

"It's true, the combat suits are very flexible and technologically advance, it's mostly those technologies which could only be afforded by the second-rate star systems or first-rate star systems. We, who belong to the third-rate or fourth-rate star systems, can't even afford the license of those technologies." The general was now speaking ferociously, "The tech, our government bought a few years back, has already become old and obsolete. At the same time, we still have to wait for probably five or six years for next-generation technology."

The general went on and on, speaking about errors regarding the thinking process of current mechanics. Most of the competitors who were here, they were basically mostly copy cats or produced products without even tweaking the parts that they had previously licensed. The more the general spoke, the more they were losing their confidence.

Even among those who had previously been on the competition and were trying to change their ranking, were losing hope.

"So, if you can't even produce a mech, below an average price range, doesn't that mean you are worse than those pirates scums, who were actually able to produce a mech in much, much lower value."

"And we military are supposed to protect an entire star cluster with technology produced by such useless mechanics." The general grunted, "Don't make me laugh. If you can't even produce a mech with such a few limitations, don't show us your useless face. Get out of here."

The audiences were already quiet the moment the general had started talking, but now even the competitors that were trying to cause trouble couldn't retort back.

Those who didn't have much courage, left the hall to not make fools out of themselves. They were probably thinking of trying their luck next year. If they could get in once, they could also get in the second time.

Most of the competitors who had some courage had already started to make their mech design.

Of course, some of them were still hesitating to even sit down at the terminal.

Eden was already done with the mech basic frame. Unlike others, he knew, that his competitors were the weakest of the bunch. Hence wasn't hesitating at all.

"Forced to make a mech?" Eden mumbled smirking.

So what? He had luck. If one hundred didn't work, he would toggle it to five hundred.

Still not enough? No problem, toggle it to thousand. Still not enough?

"Heh! This guy has recently gotten a bit rich. I would just go ahead and buy another thousand attributes."

"Still not enough? Then what about another ten thousand."

However, it seems like he was getting ready for nothing. Because, when he rose his head to look at the person he was supposed to compete against, there was... No-one.

"Huh!" Eden exclaimed looking around the terminal, "Where'd he go?"

Eden stood from his terminal and looked around, but couldn't see his opponent anywhere.

He also opened his comm and looked at the instructions sheet to check if he happened to be on the wrong terminal. But found nothing.

"Umm... Hey host!" Looking towards the host, who was floating right above him, Eden pointed towards the opposite terminal and questioned, "Where is my opponent?"

"..."