Dr. Paul Reemar made a short speech after his tetralaser fey became the 9th place winner.
Since the 6th to 10th place winners only earned a cash prize of 100 MTA credits each, he was actually not that better off than Esbeth Sandhurst. He only earned a little more bragging rights at most.
That was not to say that 100 MTA credits was a trivial sum. It was already enough for a mech designer who started out from nothing to acquire a fairly complete design lab and workshop.
Those who already had access to those facilities could purchase better equipment or acquire more powerful component licenses.
All-in-all, a weapon developer such as Dr. Reemar should be quite content with receiving this prize.
It was the fifth place winner and up that truly stood to gain a lot more wealth. Aside from earning greater prestige for ranking higher, he or she also stood to obtain 500 MTA credits.
