The ch industry may appear like a product of all of the latest advances in modern human science, but that was just what the ch Trade Association used to fool the public.
The hidden depth behind chs was far more mystical and unfathomable than most people thought!
Even when clear signs of abnormal manifestations of power erged such as the reality-defying abilities of high-ranking ch pilots, an average person on the street still thought it was just a really clever application of technology!
The cognitive dissonance among people beca especially absurd when literal god pilots began to erge. These gods of war exhibited abilities that not even the largest and most well-equipped CFA battleships could match, yet people were still willing to believe that it was scientific that a single human and a ch could destroy entire planets!
Ves still felt that there were a lot of missing pieces to the story. Why must humanity be so thoroughly protected from the truth? Why was it so important to hide the existence of the Kingdom of chs from the public at large? How much inheritance did the MTA manage to retain from the Five Scrolls Compact?
He wanted to ask so many questions, yet he was sure that he would only attract a lot of trouble as a result. His relationship with the MTA was too valuable for him to put at risk just because he wanted to satisfy his curiosity.
No matter what, Ves always had to keep in mind that the MTA ultimately had its own interests at heart. The chers only treated him nicely because he provided them with a lot of value.
As Ves rearranged his thoughts, he quickly ford a small list of questions that were particularly relevant to his work and his future.
"Can you tell how biochs relate to the Kingdom of chs?" Ves asked first. "I have recently begun to dabble in biotechnology and biochs. Due to the particular nature of my design philosophy, I have found that I can augnt the performance of my products by incorporating organic parts into them. Will I be able to gain as much benefits from the kingdom if I start to conduct research and design chs that start to look as if they belong to the biotechnology industry?"
Master Goldstein frowned as he heard this question.
"You have touched upon a controversial topic. Biochs still fall under the category of chs, and the kingdom does not make a distinction between the materials and the tech base used to make them. As long as a machine fits a loose definition of a ch, it will fall under the purview of the Kingdom of chs, especially when it is developed by a genuine ch designer such as yourself."
Ves looked reassured. It sounded like his Carmine System might have a place in the ch community after all. He just needed to make sure that it was undeniably linked to chs.
"Are there any technological limits to the Kingdom of chs? Is there anything I explicitly need to watch out for, such as weapons of mass destruction, biological viruses and other prohibited weapons?"
Goldstein shook his head. "Human technology and creativity is limitless. The kingdom must always be inclusive to new technological paradigms. It would be counterproductive to close itself off to specific branches of science and allow our enemies to outpace us in technological developnt. The Kingdom of chs is a tool that exists for the good of humanity. It is not an instrunt that is ant to enforce the laws of specific states and organizations. The prohibition against weapons of mass destruction is a taboo enforced by many human institutions. Do you understand the difference?"
"I do. I think I understand."
He was sure that Master Goldstein colored his answer from the perspective of the Survivalist Faction. This group of pragmatists who were deeply concerned with the survival of humanity were willing to compromise all sorts of rules as long as it served the greater good!
Master Goldstein's expression turned serious. "In practice, biotechnology is not particularly well-received among the ch pilots and ch designers of our society. Most people have inherited a strong bias against biochs and organic technology. This bias does not necessarily disappear when ch designers advance to the rank of Master ch Designer or Star Designer. The Kingdom of chs may be created to serve as a neutral and inclusive platform for everything related to chs, but what do you think might happen if most of the Star Designers who hold the highest administrative authority?"
Ves' face turned ugly. He understood the aning of Master Goldstein quite well. Just like how the Hexers used their belief in the superiority of won to warp their entire state, the Kingdom of chs definitely wouldn't treat biotechnology as favorably as more conventional forms of technology!
"How unfriendly is the Kingdom of chs towards biotechnology?"
"It depends." The bald MTA Master responded. "My specialization is centered around support chs. My work does not intersect with biotechnology. From what I have learned from other sources, the Kingdom of chs holds any biotechnological applications to much higher standards, especially in the aspect of safety and stability. If a bioch designer has been less than diligent in guaranteeing the safety of his own products, he will not be able to earn as many rewards from the kingdom as other ch designers. Over the long-term, this pattern will produce an environnt that reinforces the existing norms."
In other words, because the earlier generations of ch designers were all strong proponents of classical chs, the Kingdom of chs beca strongly geared to this broad product category.
Anything that fell outside of this category would have to fight an uphill battle! Bioch designers needed to put in twice or thrice as much work in order to earn a similar amount of recognition as ordinary ch designers.
This did not sound good at all. Ves had definite plans to turn his Carmine System into a core component of his best works, but if the entire Kingdom of chs repelled biotechnology to a significant extent, then he would have to overco a lot of inherent skepticism and unreasonable suspicions.
Ves accepted this challenge.
The more subversive the idea, the more effort it took to make it acceptable! This was a universal rule and applied to any form of new idea or invention. A design application as radical as the Carmine System would never be embraced by the public and the ch industry at the start. It was just too weird and did not fit in the existing paradigms that most people held dear.
Pioneers such as Ves had to accept the heavy burden of changing everyone's minds about useful but subversive applications of technology.
Besides, it was not as if Ves went all-in on biochs anyway. He much preferred to blend the unique advantages of biotechnology with the ease of classical technology.
Now that Ves gained a better understanding of how biotechnology was positioned in the Kingdom of chs, he asked another question.
"When I spoke to various Seniors and Masters about reaching my current rank, they all told to pay a lot of importance to the responsibility of teaching ch design-related subjects to a class of students. What is the big deal? Does the Kingdom of chs reward ch designers from passing on their skills to the next generations?"
Goldstein did not look surprised when Ves brought up this particular subject. "I intended to address this responsibility to you later. As you must already suspect, teaching is indeed related to the Kingdom of chs. In order to avoid the mistakes of the past and encourage the developnt of chs at a wider scale without hoarding an excessive amount of trade secrets, ch designers must be more proactive in passing on their teachings to future professionals. This is one of the strongest reasons why the ch industry has grown so fast and remained so productive since the Age of chs began. I will explain this heavy subject to you extensively after I have addressed your other questions."
It appeared that teaching was a much bigger deal than Ves realized.
"Alright." He responded and changed his tack. "Then how does the MTA and the Kingdom of chs relate to the CFA? It is clear to that the fleeters probably don't have anything to do with the kingdom."
"That is correct, Mr. Larkinson. I believe that you have gained a crucial piece of information that explains the ideological differences between the ch Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance. The forr works on the assumption that the Kingdom of chs is necessary to promote the developnt of humanity. The latter believes that humanity must not grow dependent on forces that it cannot fully control and that conventional technology is the only power that we can harness."
That was what Ves deduced as well, but this was not enough of an answer.
"Does the CFA oppose the Kingdom of chs, or does it want to destroy it as well?"
Master Goldstein gave Ves a rueful smile. "That depends on the individual. Just as with our Association, the Common Fleet Alliance is hardly united. It is split up in multiple fleet-based factions that each espouse different values and ideals. There are moderates among the CFA that are open-minded enough to recognize the value and the necessity of chs and everything they bring. There are also fleet admirals who believe that the Kingdom of chs is a construct similar to a rogue AI that has hijacked our civilization and distorted its developnt. These belligerent fleeters would not hesitate to destroy our precious kingdom if they think they can succeed."
This ant that Ves probably needed to remain careful about his interactions with the fleeters in the future.
He shouldn't have much intersection with them, but if that might change once he started to provoke more fights against alien forces. Fighting humanity's external enemies had always fallen under the jurisdiction of the CFA.
"Do ordinary people like myself have to be concerned about the CFA's stances towards the Kingdom of chs?"
"You are hardly an ordinary person, Mr. Larkinson, but no." Goldstein looked amused. "The primary responsibility of the ch Trade Association is to protect and ensure the continuation of the Kingdom of chs. You are not required to intervene in any fashion. We are not that incompetent."
Of course this was the case. The MTA was all-powerful. If a large number of Star Designers and god pilots could not fend off the CFA's threats towards the Kingdom of chs all this ti, then Ves might as well hang up his ch designer cape and look for a new job!
"Do you think that the CFA's strategy is viable?" Ves asked.
Perhaps other ch designers would strenuously insist that the fleeters were a bunch of fools who clung to outdated technological paradigms, but a Survivalist like Master Goldstein possessed a more tolerant mindset.
"That is not certain, but I believe that the CFA's approach has its rits." The MTA Master steadily replied. "The warships that the fleeters obsess over are blunt, powerful instrunts of war. They can be built en masse with greater convenience, but their excessive resource requirents ans that they impose a progressively heavier burden on our society."
"And that is bad?"
"One of the lesser-known disasters of the Age of Conquest is how the economy and the resource distribution of human civilizations were excessively skewed towards warships. Food, housing, dicine, civilian infrastructure and more all suffered due to leaders channeling too much funding and materials to the shipbuilding industry. Part of the reason why the Age of chs repulsed warships to such a strong degree was because people wanted to channel those resources back to their own lives. Our race also does not need to chase after the resources controlled by alien civilizations by starting so many aggressive wars."
Humanity enjoyed a long period of relative peace after the end of the Age of Conquest. Ves now understood that much of it was because people no longer needed to plunder so many bulk resources from neighboring alien empires!
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