There it was. The Cybers would not go out of their way to et with Ves and gift him a precious artificial fire heart if they did not seek to exploit their relationship with him. They wanted him and sought to secure his services.
Ves was not principally opposed to that. Collaborating with the Cybers on a ch design project, even an important one, was not a big deal if it was just a singular instance.
The question was whether they were willing to leave it at that. Ves had a feeling that the Cybers wanted a lot more out of him than this single request.
Ves briefly glanced at his cat. Lucky remained intrigued by the artificial fire heart. It looked as if he was resisting the temptation to take a bite out of the construct.
"ow."
After confirming that Lucky did not detect anything amiss, Ves turned back to Hugo and thought on how he should respond to the current inquiry.
"Bloodfire chs." He finally said as he broke the silence in the chamber. "I am not too surprised that you know about them, especially given that you guys owned the Dominion of Man for half a century. I have a question. Did you guys not attempt to create your own Bloodfire chs? I an, your Living Machine Tower has raised plenty of Journeyman ch Designers who specialize in living chs. Their fundantal capabilities should not be that much worse than mine. The Dominion of Man serves as a working example of a Carmine System based on the fire elent. It may be difficult to do this, but it is not impossible to derive a working Bloodfire System from what you already have. You just need to possess a bit of ingenuity and a decent grasp on cultivation science."
His words caused the Cyber ch designer to look sheepish for a mont.
"We tried. We failed. What you have done to the Dominion of Man is exceptional and completely unreplicable considering the variables involved. We tried to take inspiration from your work and develop simplified versions of what are called Carmine chs, but we have mostly disappointed Her Imperial Majesty. This tech remains exclusive to you for the ti being, and that is why we desire to seek your cooperation."
Ves felt surprised that the Cybers were being frank and honest about their difficulties in attempting to reproduce Carmine chs and Bloodfire chs. It would have been better for the CE’s negotiating position if they tried to make it sound as if they had other options aside from collaborating with the Father of Carmine chs.
Then again, showing weakness in one area might enable them to gain advantages in another area. Ves just couldn’t figure out their ga at the mont.
"I am a busy ch designer." He said. "Our Design Departnt is also fairly limited in capacity, especially for high-end projects like the one that you are talking about. Besides, if I want to collaborate with another party on developing the first Bloodfire ch, I do not necessarily have to turn to your Living Machine Tower for cooperation. I am sure that there are plenty of other parties that have a strong interest in Carmine chs that can wield the power of fire deeper than other machines. I bet that I can even convince the Red Fleet of the necessity of helping develop Bloodfire chs, as their Bloodfire System serve as the foundation of converting their warships into living monunts of human supremacy."
As Ves issued his counterargunt, Hugo rely smirked in response.
"Co now, Ves. Would a ch designer truly share responsibility of one of his most powerful works with the fleeters of all people? No. Forget about the RF and every other group that you can think of. We are the only suitable partners for this project. Let explain the reasons to you one by one. First, we have spent 50 years studying and mastering the power of the fire elent. Furia is more than a source of fire energy in Bridgehead One. She is a ntor and a benefactor. She did not only bestow us with her fire seeds. She granted us a more precious gift: knowledge."
It sounded as if Furia did not remain completely dormant during the Ti of Isolation.
Given that she was constantly being brainwashed by the prayers of millions if not billions of citizens of the Cybernetic Empire, it did not seem outlandish that she would try to act on their beliefs and serve as the benevolent guardian of her worshipers. Teaching them how to harness her favored elent fit right into her portfolio.
"Okay, so you guys know how to play with fire. You are not the only ones." Ves said while doing his best to look unimpressed. The Red Collective understands fire as well as many other elents. Hell, even I know a thing or two about it. Even if my understanding has yet to reach an acceptable standard, I just have to allocate more ti on it until I am capable of solving all of the problems myself."
Hugo still continued to smile. "A ch designer such as yourself is certainly capable of solving nearly every design problem, but is it a good use of your valuable ti? That is much less certain. Even Her Imperial Majesty cannot design, produce, sell and repair every single machine in her dominion by herself. She needs our labor just as we need her intelligence. We are already accustod to helping clever and innovative ch designers realize their ideas. We can provide you with all of the support you need?"
"Support like what?" Ves asked.
"We offer multiple distinct benefits. First, we can contribute theoretical and practical knowledge on how to wield the power of the fire elent in your Bloodfire ch designs. We have developed many specialized applications that make use of fire energy to produce results that you cannot imagine. We already have a good selection of ch designers from our Living Machine Tower and outside of it that possess helpful specializations that can upgrade your works to the next level."
"Hm. I believe you, but as I have ntioned before, there are others that can provide other insights in the sa field. What else can you offer that others cannot easily replicate?"
"A reserve of ch pilots for our new collaborative works." Hugo ntioned next. "The Cybernetic Empress has anticipated the release of your Bloodfire ch early on. Developing and releasing these fine Carmine chs is not enough. You need to pair them up with Carmine ch pilots that can safely channel the power of fire energy through their bodies. Our candidate Bloodfire ch pilots have already integrated the necessary cybernetic implants and body components that are highly resistant against heat and fire. They have also studied the theory and practice of piloting chs in advance. With the help of their brain augntations, it will take as little as half a year for them to reach the standard of a professional ch pilot, if only barely."
Those were hefty claims!
Ves raised his eyebrow. "Are you saying that your empire has started to train specialized Bloodfire ch pilots far in advance of the release of this possible Carmine ch?"
"When Her Imperial Majesty makes a prediction based on extensive data, she is always correct. You are on the path of designing a Bloodfire ch. In fact, you already intend to design one for your reconstructed ace pilot, correct? Saint Isobel Kotin is one of the most perfect choices to bring out the full potential of such an unprecedented machine. As long as you are able to deliver a powerful ace Bloodfire ch, you can use the data and experience from this project to design Bloodfire chs for the wider audience, in a manner of speaking. We can be that audience."
Hugo Fournier sounded earnest in his appeal.
When he spoke, he was not just representing the will of his star empire.
He spoke on behalf of the many preparatory candidates for a Carmine ch variation that did not yet exist and may never exist if Ves acted contrary to the Polymath’s prediction.
That took guts. Ves could not imagine how many of these candidates the Cybernetic Empire had accumulated.
Was there an entire ch regint in waiting?
What about a ch division or an entire ch corps?
Perhaps the numbers were even greater!
Ves felt both flattered and pressured by how much the Cybers had banked on one of his future works. It made him feel guilty. He did not want to disappoint all of the hopeful candidates who may have waited multiple decades to get their chance.
"How many?"
"At least tens of thousands can be mobilized right away when you are able to deliver a finished Bloodfire ch design." Hugo replied. "Tens of thousands more can rapidly be trained or retrained into piloting a Bloodfire ch. The greatest hurdle is the conversion to a complete cybernetic body that can fully withstand continuous exposure to dangerous fire energy."
Though Ves did not want to admit it, hearing that the Cybers placed so much faith in his Bloodfire chs to the point of training tens of thousands of their own people into making good use of them as soon as possible sounded incredibly encouraging.
If Hugo’s opinion represented the majority opinion, then Ves could look forward to satisfying the wishes of Carmine ch pilots who put so much faith in his works that their lives would be ruined if he failed to fulfill their dreams.
"Okay." Ves said. "Having a good number of candidates waiting to pilot A Bloodfire ch as soon as the design is ready is... convenient. It is not entirely necessary, though. You can transfer low-aptitude ch pilots or even third-class ch pilots and prep them to pilot my Bloodfire chs. Since they already have a foundation in general ch piloting, they only need to learn a fraction of the theory and skills to pilot a Bloodfire ch."
"They lack the implants and body that can withstand the potentially lethal pressure of an active Bloodfire Pact." The Cyber ch designer reminded Ves.
"Yes. That is indeed the case."
Ves felt annoyed at this demand. Was it truly necessary to go through such extres just to satisfy a condition of piloting Bloodfire chs?
What if he found a way to reduce the load on the physique of the ch pilot? What if he found a substitute for raw fire energy that was much less onerous to the human body?
He grimaced. He could not think of a way to lessen this demand. Fire energy was too essential to the functioning of the Bloodfire System. The whole point of its existence was to take advantage of a dium that was more powerful than simple human blood.
Ves could not think of many particle or energy types that could satisfy all of the necessary conditions to design a Carmine System around.
He also did not want to complicate the progression of his design philosophy by deviating from his relatively straightforward plan.
Five elents. Five elental Carmine chs. Simple.
"There is another argunt why it is best if you choose to cooperate with us, Ves." Hugo said while leaning forward. The pitch of his voice began to lower. "You are a ch designer. A true ch designer. Your life’s mission is to serve humans. All humans. As many of them as possible. We are already aware that you are actively working to design a Woodsap ch with the cooperation of the Terrans."
Ves nodded. This was not a big secret, though the Terrans did not actively advertise it either.
"We are making good progress on that. The first results of the Arboreal Project should be out within a quarter year if everything goes right. It may take a bit longer if we have encountered a few unexpected problems. The results of this project will go on to help design the other elental Carmine ch design projects."
Hugo nodded and continued. "We are also aware that you have reached an accord with the chers on co-developing a Polytal ch that is partially based on our tech no less. Although we do not like it, we can understand why you prefer to cooperate with the chers on this particular project. Of the three available choices that are left, there is only 1 that truly fits our Cybernetic Empire. No one else is more suited to collaborate with you on realizing the concept of a Bloodfire ch. Make the logical decision."
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