[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 124: Streamer

His mech broker's prediction came true, once again proving that she knew her business. At the end of the week, Ves sold more than twenty-thousand virtual mechs. Most of his customers came from the Republic, curious to see what a mech designed by a fancy apprentice to a mystical master looked like.

Overall, his customers appreciated the Young Blood. They called it a hidden gem and an underrated mech. His sales received a second boost when the variant's only gold label mech got resold someone else, who proceeded to donate the machine to a fairly popular streamer.

Emily Norford, known online as EmStar, made a living out of streaming her performance in games like Iron Spirit. Though she was a potentate, her aptitude scores placed her on the lower end of the scale.

No one except pirates wanted to sign her on as a mech pilot, so she turned to Iron Spirit to satisfy her mech cravings. Due to her inconsistent controls, her performance dilly-dallied between Gold and Silver League, which was rather low for a girl in her early twenties.

She nonetheless attracted a major following of viewers and fans. Each time she streamed from her personalised simulator pod from home, she earned thousands of credits in donations. This came on top of the generous subscription fee she charged for extra benefits such as exclusive interviews.

The reason why Emily attracted so many viewers was simple. She was hot. Her genetic aptitude for piloting mechs might come up short, but she certainly won the lottery when it came to looks. Even without any makeup she always attracted everyone's eyes. She ruthlessly took advantage of this and invested into gaming.

Nowadays, EmStar consistently ranked in the top 100 in the Bright Republic. She might be nothing special outside her state, but the locals all found her to be an adorable player. Her fellow citizens cheered when she won a match and booed when someone stomped her into the ground.

Watching her overcome try to overcome her genetic limits was like watching a kitten try to climb up a step just out of reach. Her audience pitied her and encouraged her while drooling at her skintight piloting suited form.

Everyone knew a possibility existed where a pilot could spontaneously break through their current genetic aptitude. Those who scored an E could reach the level of a D. Those who toiled for years as an average pilot with a score of C could break through the level of a B.

Even EmStar knew her odds of breaking through wasn't optimistic, but she tried her best each and every day.

She came across the Young Blood's gold label mech when a regular viewer abruptly gifted her account with this mech. The female streamer thought little of the gift since she received at least a couple of donated mechs a week on average. Still, she smiled to the camera and gave her thanks even as she read the details of her latest acquisition.

"Wow, this knight is apparently a limited edition mech designed by one of our Republic's own!" Emstar announced while she put up a projection of the model's appearance and specs. "The model is a variant of the Hoplite, one of my favorite mechs. The Hoplite is slow but easy to pilot."

She frowned a little when she read that the mech had been redesigned to increase its speed and flexibility. She preferred to pilot slow and heavy mechs which placed less importance on mechanical control and neural responsiveness.

After a few minutes of introducing the mech, Emily finally entered the cockpit. She looked around and seemed impressed by the comfortable chair. That certainly wasn't standard. Her virtual avatar pressed the activation button and sat back as the mech came to life.

An explosion occurred in her mind. For a moment, she thought her simulator pod had glitched. She quickly calmed down once she realized the pod's diagnostics showed green. No pain accompanied the hard-to-describe sensations happening in her mind.