Sales of the Desolate Soldiers shot higher and higher. As did the sales for the Holy Soldier.
The introduction of the Prideful Soldier opened up a third meteoric sales run. Many outfits and organizations who found the Desolate Soldiers to be uncomfortable finally received a viable alternative.
The lower price point along with the aggressive, prideful aura became an instant hit among gangs and underground organizations!
The Soldier product line was on track to become the defining mechs of the Sand War. Due to the product line's cost efficiency, auras, proliferation in the media and the Stripes of Humanity, the LMC heavily overperformed to the point that the industry started to compare them to companies run by Seniors!
The LMC contracted an unprecedented number of third-party manufacturers to meet the astronomic demand of the local mech markets. Pretty much every state under threat and even the states not under threat began to harken for the Desolate Soldier model or its variants.
With the Militant Soldier and the Peaceful Soldier halfway to completion, Ves anticipated an even greater boost of sales!
In the second month of the Desolate Soldier's release, the LMC and its partners already shipped almost 200,000 mechs!
200,000 mechs! That was an immense figure that completely blew the sales figures of the LMC's older mech models out of the water!
Though there were already signs that the sales for the Desolate Soldier had reached a high point, it stood to reason that the LMC earned an immense amount of money!
"Sadly, inflation keeps getting worse." He muttered.
In the first month since the Desolate Soldier's release, inflation averaged at around 10 percent.
In the second month, inflation had already approached 20 percent, which meant that everyone's savings and cash accumulations were worth that much less!
The consequences of inflation reached far and wide, disrupting nearly every aspect of the regional economy. Both mech manufacturers such as the LMC and average people felt the pain of rising prices and decreasing discretionary incomes.
When the Desolate Soldier model first went on sale, a bronze label edition could be bought for 20 million bright credits.
Now, the same mech sold for 26.4 million credits. Inflation grew so significantly each day that the LMC was forced to correct its list prices every day!
Even though the LMC's monthly earnings surpassed 100 billion credits due to high sales volumes and rich license fees, the actual value of these piles as cash was not as immense as everyone hoped!
"The rate of inflation tracks the growth of prices from a huge and diverse basket of goods and services." Ves reminded himself. "Some products have outpaced the rate of inflation, and they just happen to be the ones that we need the most!"
He could outright forget about buying a starship unless he promised to fork over ten times the price. Even a second-hand rust bucket built in the time when his grandfather was born suddenly became as expensive as a light carrier!
If not for the immense scale of the mech industry, the prices of mechs would have outpaced the rate of inflation as well!
While inflation brought plenty of bad news, Ves recognized an unanticipated benefit from this recent development.
Didn't the rise in prices mean that the System awarded him with even more DP than before?
His eyes widened! He shot out from his bed in his mansion, grabbed Lucky who was staring at him creepily and raced towards his bathroom!
Once he sat down at his toilet and activated the necessary security precautions, he activated the System.
"Come on, come on, gimme more DP!" He hollered excitingly.
The System took an unusually long time to boot up. It was as if it was prolonging its user's anticipation!
After a minute, the System finally booted up. A notification instantly popped up but Ves swiped it aside.
"Status!"
All he cared about right now was ascertaining how much DP he earned in the last few months!
[Status]
Name: Ves Larkinson
Profession: Journeyman Mech Designer
Specializations: Spiritual Man-Machine Symbiosis
Design Points: 1,183,622
Attributes
Strength: 1.6
Dexterity: 1.6
Endurance: 2.0
Intelligence: 2.2
Creativity: 2.1
Concentration: 2.1
Spirituality: 1.8
Neural Aptitude: F
Skills
[Assembly]: Journeyman - [3D Printer Proficiency IV] - [Assembler Proficiency IV] - [Masterwork Mech Assembly I]
[Battle Mechatronics]: Apprentice - [Knight Mech Mastery I] - [Rifleman Mech Mastery I] - [Space Knight Mastery I] - [Hero Mech Mastery I] - [Custom Mech Design II]
[Business]: Apprentice
[Computer Science]: Journeyman - [Mech Hacking II]
[Electrical Engineering]: Journeyman - [Structural Pathway Configuration IV] - [Energy Storage IV] - [Conductors III] - [Ultracompact Energy Storage I]
[Materials Science]: Journeyman - [Crystallography III] - [Crystal Laser Propagation II] - [Lithic Materials I]
[Mathematics]: Journeyman - [Simulations IV]
[Mechanics]: Senior - [Jury Rigging IV] - [Speed Tuning IV] - [Mechanical Fault Detection I] - [Fine Motion Control I]
[Metallurgy]: Senior - [Alloy Compression III] - [Fixed Armor Specialization III] - [Flexible Armor Specialization I] - [Smart Metal IV] - [ASMAS III] - [Internal Structure Specialization I]
[Metaphysics]: Apprentice - [X-Factor IV] - [Spiritual Senses II] - [Spiritual Exploration I] - [Spiritual Manipulation II] - [Spiritual Engineering II]
[Interfacing]: Novice
[Physics]: Senior - [Directed Energy Weapon Optimization III] - [Gamma Laser Weapons I] [Lightweight Armor Optimization II] - [Mediumweight Armor Optimization IV] - [Melee Weapon Optimization IV] - [Polarizing Shielding II] - [Rapid-Fire Laser Weapon Operation II] - [Optics III] - [Ballistic Weapon Optimization IV]
[Propulsion]: Journeyman - [Flight Systems IV]
[Salvaging]: Apprentice - [Field Repairs III]
[Signals and Communications]: Journeyman - [Anti-Stealth Detection II]
[Stealth and Cloaking]: Novice
Abilities
[Superpublish]: Available. Can be activated once a year.
[Inventorize]: Unavailable.
Evaluation: A qualified Journeyman Mech Designer with developing spiritual abilities.
"Over 1 million DP! Hahahaha! I'm rich!"
Ves practically went into an ecstasy when he saw how much his DP he earned since he lasted activated the System!
"Meow!"
Lucky was so alarmed as Ves' insane behavior that he floated all the way up to the ceiling of the bathroom!
After some time, Ves finally grew tired of tantrums. He wearily inspected the System's interface in order to see what kind of benefits he received as an approved user.
[Mech Designer System Menu]
Status
Designer
Missions
Skill Tree
Shop
Lottery
Inventory
Access Management
He ran down the menus one by one and tried to see what changed.
The Designer suite had expanded. The System offered him a lot more tools while empowering the existing ones to offer him more assistance.
Ves hardly cared about this benefit because it wasn't wise to use the Designer in the company of others.
Missions remained unchanged, and so did Inventory.
Shop and Skill Tree experienced major changes. Ves could only obtain some of the items and goods on offer if he met certain prerequisites.
The amount of DP he needed to exchange for a Skill had also been increased! In fact, the prices would increase even further as Ves accumulated more and more Skills and Sub-Skills, as if the System discouraged him from overloading his mind with too much irrelevant knowledge!
What alarmed Ves quite a bit was that while he could continue to upgrade his existing Skills and Sub-Skills, he already reached the limit of what he could learn!
In fact, according to the System, he overdrafted his current limitations, which meant that at this moment, he couldn't buy anything else!
His nagging suspicion from before that he couldn't accumulate an endless amount of knowledge had been proven right!
"How can I expand the amount of Skills I can learn?!"
[Please complete your Supply Missions or increase your Intelligence to raise this limit.]
"Is this your revenge on me for neglecting your Supply Missions?!" Ves shouted. "How am I supposed to learn anything new?! Is my mind full?!"
[This limit does not apply to self-learned knowledge.]
Ves relaxed a bit. He was not without options. The limit on accumulating Skills only applied to knowledge exchanged from the System, so he could still expand his knowledge base if he hit the books.
He continued to inspect the System by checking out Lottery. He noticed that all the lower-tier lottery tickets had been removed. The only offering available to him at the moment was a golden lottery ticket, and the System charged him a whopping 500,000 DP to exchange a single ticket!
"What a ripoff! How am I supposed to earn so much DP now that you are no longer awarding me any points for selling my mechs?!"
[An approved user and mech designer must rely on their own achievements to achieve success. The Mech Designer System has generously eased your growth by lowering many requirements and offering various subsidies. As a result, a substantial deficit in energy has arisen which must be addressed to ensure the continued functioning of the Mech Designer System.]
"Does that mean this whole 'approved user' nonsense is nothing more than an excuse meant to cut back on what I can exchange from you, System!?"
[Please contact customer support if you require any assistance.]
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
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