The video continued. Ominous music play in the background as two machine-gun turrets were shown shooting at the Raging Steam. The battlesuit began taking damage and it leaped into the air. The battlesuit landed between the two turrets before a burst of white energy erupted from it. The burst of energy short-circuited both turrets and the battlesuit. For a moment, everything was silent. Then the battlesuit started back up. Heroic music began playing as the operator proceed to destroy both the turrets. There were even repeats of the moment the turrets were destroyed! I quietly laughed. The video was a little over the top, but it got the message across.
The video end and the spotlight turned to Haraldsson once more. He smiled and opened the Q&A session. The first question came from a reporter. He asked Haraldsson on the uses of Mana Energy and what plans he had for it.
Much like the case with Professor Wang, I strongly suspect that the first question was a set up. Haraldsson was too prepared. He immediately began explaining the fact that Mana Energy wasn’t a theoretical tool that could only be used in a laboratory setting, but an energy that has real-life uses. Haraldsson used the Raging Steam as proof of that. Haraldsoon went into a prepared speech on how the battlesuit was just a prototype but it did show how effective Mana Energy could be on the battlefield. Haraldsson also emphasized the fact that Mana Energy had other uses outside the military sphere like in the entertainment and medical field.
Murmurs could be heard from the audience as they took this in. They were discussing the uses of this great ‘discovery’ and I couldn’t help but be delighted at how things were going. Haraldsson took a few more questions from the audience and knocked most of them out of the park. Just like he promised, he was well-prepared. Then came a problem. A person from the audience was picked, and he asked a question neither me nor Haraldsson had expected.
“Mr. Haraldsson, my name is Kim Shu Kuang. I am an executive from Legend Mechanics. I couldn’t help but notice that the prototype battlesuit in the video was a variant of the Steambot. Considering that the Fat Tinkerer is one of companies that hired you to research Mana Energy, I believe that Tobias Wong is the designer of this prototype. I believe he is in the audience today. Could we have a few words from him on the design process of the prototype?”
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“Shit!”
I mentally cursed as Haraldsson glanced at me. His eyes were telling me to take the question and I knew that he was right. Originally, I did not want to be front and center, but I had no choice. I couldn’t just sit in the audience and see how things would progress. I had been recognized and not taking the question could give the impression that I had no confidence in the prototype. I could not allow that. Not when we were almost there.
With my heart filled with apprehension, I stood up. I turned to the audience and gave them my best smile as the drone flew towards me. I only had a second to gather my thoughts. I could only hope my Quick-Thinking Promotion would save my ass.
“Thank you. My name is Tobias Wong, founder and lead designer of The Fat Tinkerer. Mr. Kim is correct. I am the designer of the prototype you saw in the video, but I would like to correct Mr. Kim on one point. The prototype was not a variant of the Steambot. To be more accurate, I modified one of my previous design; the Jumpbot-S.
The idea of the design was based around the interference of Mana Energy. Much like other energies, Mana Energy could interfere and disrupt other energies. This is nothing new. Every time a new form of energy is discovered, we would need years of research before we could use it alongside another form of energy. Mana Energy was only recently re-discovered.
In the short time I ‘tinkered’ with the energy however, I discovered a strange thing. For some unknown reason, Clockwork Technology is more resistant to the interference of Mana Energy. Machines using Clockwork energy would still shut down, but it came back up faster than modern technologies like Power Core and Solar. I am still unsure on the reason, but I decided to run with it.
My idea is to use a short burst of Mana Energy to interfere with other energies much like an EMP burst. From the hard work of Mr. Liam Haraldsson and my partners, Waterfall Technology, we discover that Mana Energy could be ‘condensed’ onto certain materials. You could see an example of that in the cards that was shown earlier. I placed one of the cards on the prototype, and the result is as you saw in the video. A short burst of Mana Energy, and a quick restart of my battlesuit. Of course, my battlesuit is just a prototype and more research into Mana Energy need to be done, but I believe this is a good proof of concept for the energy. Thank you.”
I sat back down and gave a silent sigh of relief as Haraldsson drew the audience back to him. It wasn’t one of my strongest promotion, but I had survived!