The Greatest Mecha

All of the participants stood by their worktables waiting for the statistics to be announced. During the tests there were tantrums thrown by many participants who went into full panic mode, others had an incompetent partner, it was a world of chaos as many of them were instantly cast out. One would think this would cause all the ruckus to end but it only worsened with time as some participants visible ran mad as they noticed they were not going to pass in time.

The examiner in charge of the test Justin McClaire had simply said a few words to silence them. "Despair, wail, you only have your own incompetence to blame. If you thought that getting the chance to perform in front of the silver seats with such mediocre abilities was a given, dream on you Average Joes. You might have been praised as talents in whatever shit hole you crawled out from but in the eyes of the world you are dust."

His words stunned some, his words angered others but the more he spoke the more it gave everyone things to ponder about.

"Those of you who have something to say against me have no place here. It is true that a mech designer must have pride in his work but when it gets in the way of your growth you can go fuck off." Justin McClaire continued. "Would you actthat way to your customer when faced with such levels of criticism, you should be glad that you came to realise that your much cherished talents are worth shit here. Despair and return back to you useless world with your egos crushed, bury your dreams and quit being a scum to the name of mech designers."

Alto had banged his fist on the table at this time surprising his partner, he spoke loudly. "It’s okay, we get it alright!"

This caused a few gasps and mumures within the room, it was not that no one had spoken out of turn against the examiner, only that no one had ever challenged him so openly. Those that tried had gotten sent out of the room.

Priscilla mouthed to Alto. "What the fuck did you just do?" She knew how important this was to her family name and she was not so keen on going home as a failure. In her head she was thinking up lies to say in her defense against this maniac that was going to cost her her career before it even kicked off.

Alto noticed all eyes on him and it made him uncomfortable, he stared directly at Justin McClaire and said. "You’re making it hard to focus on our work. We should be able to work with our full concentration if this is an official test, if we fail because of your ramblings what will the higher up say? Or is this how your tests are always conducted?"

Alto’s words hit hard causing Justin’s eyes to widen, Alto had not meant to say a lot but the words happened to come out of him when he least expected it. Deep down he did not regret his actions only that he did not want to lose because of it. Alto was not used to working in a noisy environment which made it hard for him to concentrate.

"Ramblings?" Justin scoffed and looked at the young man who had just made fun of him, he looked at the work they had on their table and back at him. He smiled and said, "Oh my bad, I got carried away by the convolution of idiocy in the room that I crossed the guidelines, thank you for bringing that to my attention mister--?"

Priscilla bumped her shoulder into him. "I think he wants to know your name?"

"Well I’m not giving any." Alto addressed her in a low tone before speaking out to Justin. "I don’t think you’ll need the name of a nobody sir, if that’s all I’ll get back to work." There was no way he was going to give away his name, especially not in a room filled with randoms he knew nothing about.

While he had bought the room a moment of silence allowing many to finally calm down and focus on their work, he had managed to anger some.

"Carry on then, don’t let me hold you." Justing said between gritted teeth, a vein bulging at the side of his head.

Calvin Lunarian, the top candidate to win first place looked at Alto where he worked. His eyes showing great disinterest at the person but just as he was taking his eyes away they widened catching sight of something else. The young woman next to Alto. "So you came... Princess. When you have the leading star of the Vernir star sector on your team, it give you average joes the confidence to act confident in front of a god like me." ƒгeewebnovёl.com

The test had rounded up and those who failed to finish within the time frame were disqualified on the spot, shortly after Justin made an announcement that shook the whole room.

"So out of over two thousand of you that started this test we have about five hundred and sixty three of you, but we all know that we can’t have that for the next test." Justin McClaire said with a dark smile. "The first test was a written test made to take away the chaff from the wheat, the second test is a more practical test to see if you could work in pairs, the third test was to see how you reacted to under pressure. For reaching this far don’t get excited because we have a problem."

Alto sighed and muttered out to himself. "Why do I feel that he’s about to pull some insane shit again?" Priscilla overhead this and giggled to herself.

Justin McClaire clapped his hands together, the sound echoing around the room. The silence that followed was broken by his voice, everyone listened to it as it carried their fates in it. "Unfortunately for some of you we only need two hundred of you to advance to the next round so all of you average joes will have to fuck the hell off."

A huge murmur threatened to erupt but a wave of his finger in the air was enough to silence them. "Oh come on really, as a mech designer to grow it’s not just by skill. There is really much more at play here, in a way the ego of mech designers is more toxic than that of mech pilots. We grow and acquire recognition by devouring on the egos of others, how can I put this so you fools can understand?" Justin McClaire paced around and pressed his fingers against each other as he spoke. "War against the kaiju and aliens is how mech pilots gain recognition but have you ever wondered how a mech designer gainst their recognition?

"To grow you have to supersede the positions held by other mech designs, in essence what I am trying to say is that we grow by destroying the hopes and dreams of others mech designs. Just passing is not enough, you gave to dominated your peers in every aspect. You all seemed proud to make it this far, but have you ever stopped to think about those others you trampled upon in the first test or from your home planet. Their loss at your hands caused you to reach this far so even if you don’t make it to the top ten, your sacrifice has helped create the top ten."

He was beginning to sound and look like a mad man to almost everyone in the room, some people were unmoved by his words. Alto was not surprised since the professor had told him something similar back when he was still learning under her, he was afraid that her words were true but he had enough time to dwell on it and accept it. After all the reason why he could attend was by destroying Charles Vans dream to attend the competition and win. Priscilla trembled slightly as he spoke, it was clear from her body language that she did not like the way he spoke or how he spoke them but what had her more spooked was how true they actually were.

Justin McClaire continued without wasting a word more. "The systems are already running numbers on your works, how well they were constructed, how fast they were made, every possible digits to give us our top two hundred. So you see for just two hundred of you to be given recognition as mech designers so much of you had to die from the tens of thousands. But do not despair job offers will be waiting for you all who have made it this far, notable organisations and the like. But who cares about that when you can be the top ten, to sieze the glory that comes with the final ten are you prepared to devour the egos of your competition?"

His words left the hall divided, Alto thought to himself. "Is this the burden of a mech designer the professor spoke about?"