Master Bouderon finally awarded the Larkinson Journeyn 2 million MTA rits, split among themselves.
That amounted to just 1 million MTA rits per masterwork expert ch.
Was that a lot? Certainly! Ves had tried to complete the kind of missions that awarded him with that many rits. It was always a difficult endeavor and most ordinary Journeyn wouldn't even dream of taking them on! Only higher-ranking ch designers had confidence in performing these tasks.
Yet compared to the rits he obtained from completing the Amaranto, the awards his clan received from elevating the Shield of Samar and the Everchanger into masterworks was not that impressive.
Everyone invested a lot of effort into making them exceptional. Not only did they delay the design projects, but they also applied a lot of innovations into the expert chs that their predecessors lacked. Ves took a lot of risks to retain or enhance the lives of the machines while Gloriana had been ticulous about maximizing the fit and soundness of the physical designs.
The Larkinsons also pioneered brand-new production thods that could lift the quality and fit of any living ch to a brand new level!
Connecting the ch designers and ch pilots together with Alexandria's design network yielded an effect that was similar to a Mastery experience.
Combining both Ves and Joshua's domains in a mysterious fashion resulted in the birth of a rare and extrely promising third order living ch!
Yet for all of these new accomplishnts, the MTA only saw fit to give out 2 million MTA rits in total. Even when Ves took into account the deduction for introducing Gloriana and Ketis to different MTA factions, the cost shouldn't be too big.
He suspected that Master Bouderon and his extensive entourage simply couldn't see through the full depth of his living chs.
Well, Ves partially carried the bla here as he had never been forthcoming about the principles and chanics behind living chs. He only revealed more details to Master Willix, but she shouldn't have spread his trade secrets any further.
Still, even if Master Bouderon knew more, the two masterwork expert chs might genuinely not yield as much interesting data to the MTA anymore.
Perhaps his fourth, fifth and sixth masterwork expert chs of this nature would earn him even less MTA rits next ti.
Ves did not forget that the chers liked to collect masterwork chs and potentially use them for their own purposes. This could easily be done with standard machines but expert chs were always tied to single expert pilots, which made it useless for the MTA to claim these powerful machines.
This was yet another reason for Ves to hurry up and return to designing standard chs. Though he would probably opt to keep any new masterwork chs like the Quint in his clan anyway, it was always nice to have the option of passing them on to the MTA.
The Little Angel should have fallen into the hands of the chers a long ti ago. Ves wondered how it was doing these days.
"Well, whatever the MTA is doing with masterwork chs, I should be glad that their creators can earn a hefty amount of MTA rits each ti."
The key was that this was a repeatable mission, and one that Ves and his team beca increasingly better at completing.
The more masterwork chs they created, the higher the success rate of their next attempts.
Even if the chers beca increasingly more stingy about rewarding the Larkinsons with MTA rits, there should still be a floor where it could drop no lower! Otherwise, they would devalue masterwork chs too much, thereby removing the incentives to make more of them. This went against the MTA's apparent goal of collecting as many masterwork chs as possible.
Whether 2 million MTA rits was too high or low, Ves eventually concluded it was not a small sum. Too many Journeyn would kill to earn this much in a single year. He would be acting spoiled if he still expressed dissatisfaction!
Once Master Bouderon handled the rit issue, he addressed a couple of perfunctory and administrative topics before making his departure.
While Gloriana, Ketis and Juliet left the workshop, Ves and Jovy stuck around a while longer.
Now that Ves had beco an associate of the Survivalist Faction, it beca a lot more probable for them to get into contact more often.
Both of them had reasons to establish closer ties to each other.
Ves was always keen to improve his relations with trustworthy chers and Jovy was not as stuck up as the others. Despite their vastly different backgrounds and upbringing, they were both passionate ch designers who belonged to the sa generation. It was foreseeable that they would keep up with each other in the future.
As for Jovy, Ves was one of the few indigeneous Journeyman ch Designers that he respected a lot. The Larkinson Clan's living chs had proven their chops in battle. If second-class chs could already beco more effective with the help of Ves' design philosophy, what about first-class chs?
Both of them easily picked up that their counterparts wanted to deepen their friendship, so they dropped every pretense and treated each other as equals.
"Congratulations on becoming a father, by the way. You have a lovely little girl."
"Thanks. Starting a new family really changes people. Will you…?"
The MTA Journeyman shook his head. "I'm still at a stage where I'm traveling around and focusing on my own career. My design philosophy is difficult and unorthodox so it is a much more extensive effort to progress it further. You should know what it is like to pioneer a new field. I'm nowhere ready to settle down at the mont."
Ves smiled and shrugged. "People like you whose lifespans are guaranteed to be in the centuries can afford to take it easy. Maybe you'll be in your seventies before you finally beco a father yourself."
"I've seen instances where 130 or 150-year old Masters finally slowed down long enough to start their families. In fact, there are many ch designers who don't even bother with this chore at all. To them, their disciples and inheritors of their design philosophies are their real offspring. They don't want to go through the effort of raising sons and daughters only for them to lack the talent to beco great at designing chs."
This was the tragedy of humanity's spiritual deficiency. Too many individuals lacked the potential to beco an extraordinary, and even the great and wise MTA Masters didn't possess any advantages in this aspect!
Ves personally thought that the joy and fulfillnt of raising children should already be enough to satisfy people. Whether his own kids could beco ch designers or not was not that critical.
Sure, he wanted to nurture heirs or helpers to pass on his responsibilities and lighten his workload, but this was not a life-and-death situation.
"Could you tell more about what it ans to get involved in the Association's factions?" Ves eventually changed the topic. "I'm not sure what I'm getting into. I'm aware that I can't do much as a Journeyman, but what do I need to pay attention to with regards to these factions when I arrive in the Red Ocean?"
Jovy did not mind giving Ves advice.
"I haven't entered the Red Ocean myself, so I can't speak from personal experience. I still need to complete a few assignnts before I'm allowed to pass through the beyonder gate. I can only pass on what I've learned from secondary and tertiary sources."
"Anything is fine as long as it's relevant. Information is power and I'm terribly short of both." Ves said in an embarrassed tone.
As a core mber of the ch Trade Association, Jovy Armalon never had to think about what people like Ves had to go through. He had to pause for a mont in order to compile his thoughts.
"You're only a prospect to the Survivalist Faction at the mont, so don't overestimate your status." Jovy began. "What I an by that is that you shouldn't assu that other Survivalists will go out of their way to help you out. The only ones who can help you are those you are already familiar with. For now, that is Master Willix and myself. You'll need to grow up more if you want to expand your network."
"What about Master Bouderon? Is he worth befriending?"
"He'll remain in Tarnished Crown, so it's unlikely you'll be able to get close to him again. Human space is big, Ves. There are Survivalists everywhere, but you can't possibly befriend them all. The best way you can deepen your ties to our faction is to stick to a fixed region and slowly build up your relations with the local Survivalists. So tend to move around every once in a while but there are others who settle in a location for centuries. Once you beco a Senior, I suggest you should do your research and approach those who are interested in cooperation."
"People such as you?" Ves smiled.
"Hehe, I can't deny that I'm interested in combining our design philosophies." Jovy said without saying when they would be able to do that. "What you should also be paying attention to is managing your relations with the other factions. While it isn't always obvious which one you're dealing with, their shadows are everywhere. For example, there are a lot of Expansionists in the Red Ocean for obvious reasons. Their influence in the dwarf galaxy is enormous, so you should never get on their bad side."
"Understood. What about other factions?"
"Don't get close to the Terran and Rubarthan Factions. You'll inherit their stigma if everyone assus you've joined one of their camps."
Ves imdiately saw the opportunity to learn about one of the deeper undercurrents of the Red Ocean!
"Do these state-bound factions have anything to do with the Terran Alliance and the Rubarthan Pact?"
"A lot." Jovy imdiately answered. "That's why you shouldn't join one of these dominant alliances. You'll be giving up the chance to earn favors from the MTA just so you can obtain scraps from the first-rate superstates. The latter may be strong, but neither of them can match up against our Association! I think soone as clever as you should know which is the better choice."
"I see. I don't have any ties to the Terrans and Rubarthans anyway. It's not worth it for to associate with them if I'll always be treated as an outsider."
To be honest, the situation wasn't that much different with the MTA, but Ves wanted to maintain so distance to powerful organizations anyway. The Larkinson Clan's sovereignty must never co into question!
Jovy placed his hand on Ves' shoulder. "The MTA always gives a chance to outsiders as long as they beco good enough. Once you beco a Star Designer, our Association will always welco you with open arms. No cher will close their doors to you just because of your indigenous background."
"I'm not in a hurry. Anyway, I never intended to hook up with the Terrans or Rubarthans anyway. I've already set my sights on the Red Ocean Union. What can you tell about this alliance that isn't obvious?"
"Hmm, the Red Ocean Union is a huge mixed bag. There are so many different pioneers in this alliance that it will be hard for you to find any common ground with any of them. If I were you, I would seek out other Survivalist associates. You'll have a greater basis of cooperation with them and they will be much more reluctant to betray you since you are all supposed to be on the sa side, more or less."
"That is a good piece of advice." Ves genuinely praised. "I'll focus on doing that."
Jovy gave Ves a friendly smile. "I'm aware that you have trust issues, but we Survivalists value credibility more than most people. It's part of our ideology since we can never tolerate betrayal in matters concerning the survival of the human race."
"That's good to hear."
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