Ves frankly felt annoyed at how the Cybers politely but firmly pushed him into collaborating with them on Bloodfire chs.
Their logic was impeccable, but did they have to be so aggressive about their supposed claim to fire-aspected Carmine chs?
This was the frustrating thing about the Polymath. She made deductions and acted upon them without sparing much thought on whether the other side agreed to cooperate.
Wait.
Star Designers shouldn’t be that stupid.
The more likely explanation was that she modeled his reaction towards her star empire’s proposal and thought its logic was too strong for him to ever refuse.
After all, Ves had much to gain and little to lose from cooperating with the Cybers on the developnt of Bloodfire chs.
He tried his best to find a flaw in Hugo’s argunts, but he failed to find one.
Perhaps he could invent a la excuse or two, but it would be intellectually dishonest for Ves to engage in such behavior. It also went against his principles as a ch designer, which was even more egregious.
As a ch designer herself, the Polymath knew exactly how to corner Ves into cooperating with her Living Machine Tower.
Ves felt as if he was playing chess against an opponent who was intelligent and ticulous enough to rank in the top 3 of the Red Ocean.
If that was not enough, the Polymath had 53 whole years to move her chess pieces while Ves was only able to make a couple of moves at most!
By the ti he finished moving a handful of pawns, the Cybernetic Empress already put him into checkmate!
It was infuriating, but what could he do? He definitely needed to rely on external research support in order to successfully develop his Bloodfire chs. This was practically mandatory if he wanted his Bloodfire chs to reach the sa standards as his future Woodsap and Polytal chs.
When Ves tried to think of alternatives to cooperate with, he could not think of any group that could compete against the accumulated advantages of the Cybernetic Empire.
The Red Association? It might be possible for him to be able to cook up a powerful Bloodfire ch design if he obtained minor technical support from the Lord of Thermodynamics or the Limitless Provider, but the advantages weren’t as great. An even greater issue was that Ves felt very reluctant about letting the chers gain control over another elental Carmine ch type.
The Red Fleet? Their understanding of energy was quite profound, but Hugo was correct in saying that it was ridiculous to turn to the fleeters for help with matters relating to chs. There were bound to be angry fleeters out there who would do anything to sabotage this collaboration effort!
The Rubarthan Pact? Perhaps the Plasma Shaper and her network may be able to develop a plasma weapon-focused Bloodfire ch that may prove powerful in its own way. However, Ves had very little experience with designing chs based on plasma weapon technology.
The Red Collective? Their knowledge and mastery over the fire elent may be more varied due to their much more comprehensive understanding of qi cultivation, but their grasp on high technology was much weaker. Any Bloodfire ch he designed with the help of the collies would probably rank at the top of the weirdness scale.
Ves briefly considered a few other groups, but had to disqualify them for one reason or another.
If he set aside his biases and made a completely objective evaluation based on fair criteria, then the Cybernetic Empire ranked so high that it was aningless to take a look at the alternatives.
Ves needed the Cybers as much as they needed him. That did not an he wanted to surrender so easily.
"I need to think about it." He told Hugo. "This is a big decision. I need to talk to my advisors and hear how this cooperation will affect my clan. The Cybernetic Empire does not exactly have a good reputation at the mont. I do not want to offend my existing allies or cause them to lower their trust in because of my decision to cooperate with you on an important ch design project."
Hugo did not accept these argunts. "Ves, you are exaggerating. Everyone seeks to cooperate with us. Anyone in your position would have accepted our offer without hesitation. Your other allies will understand your situation. Besides, they have no right to dictate your actions. Do not let their selfishness prevent you from doing what is best for you, your clan and your custors. Agree and you will receive greater access to our exclusive technologies related to our deep studies of fire energy. Your works will beco all the more stronger for it, enabling them to fight against the native aliens as well as the mutated voribugs with greater effectiveness."
"And I suppose that all of those Bloodfire chs will exclusively be piloted by the citizens of the Cybernetic Empire, right?" Ves sardonically asked.
Hugo nodded and smiled. "That is only fair since the Terrans and the chers are unwilling to release their exclusive Woodsap chs and Polytal chs to us. We are aware that your clan is exempted from this exclusivity rule, and we have no issue with adopting this condition as well. If your clan cannot benefit from your own work, then it would be hard to guarantee that you will be doing your best."
"I am not sure whether you are aware of this, but the exclusivity conditions on those other two ch design projects only apply to a single elental Carmine line each." Ves calmly stated. "For example, no one aside from the Terrans and the Larkinsons has authorization to produce, sell or pilot the Arboreal Project chs, but that does not stop either party from designing and making use of their own Woodsap chs. There will co a ti where I will design other Woodsap chs in order to et the demand of the rest of red humanity. Others may follow suit once they have mastered the right thods. I do not think it is right to withhold the benefits of my elental Carmine chs from large parts of the human population."
Ves hoped that the Cybers might object to this demand, but Hugo made an accommodating gesture.
"We agree with your sentint. Bloodfire chs should be accessible to every human. Our star empire rely desires to make the first move and establish a strong foundation in this elental Carmine ch type. The added competition will give our ch designers plenty of stimulation to maintain their lead. We are absolutely confident that no one will be able to design superior Bloodfire chs than us. Even you may not be able to match our results if you choose to design one without our involvent. We are the Children of Fire. We harness the flas like no one else in the Red Ocean."
Hugo expressed a lot of confidence, but he was right to sound this way. The artificial fire heart that he gifted to Ves was unmistakable proof that they knew their business when it ca to understanding and manipulating the fire elent.
"Fine." Ves said. "If you are willing to put so much on the table in order to collaborate with on designing a Bloodfire ch, then I may be agreeable to do so, but only if I gain access to the advanced techs you intend to put into our collaboration project. I want licenses for all of the advanced components and give the right to produce and make use of them as I see fit. I still need to talk to Matriarch Casella Ingvar in order to hear what she has to say, but so long as you are sincere enough, you have a good chance of earning her approval."
Given how eager the Cybers wanted to cooperate with him, Ves wanted to make sure he earned a aningful profit from this venture!
Hugo began to frown. "You have made a heavy demand. Do you realize what you are asking for? Our tech is two ch generations ahead of the Red Ocean in most cases. Our advantages in the understanding and manipulation of fire energy is also exceptional. We have invested decades worth of labor and stretched our limited resources to the extre to develop our high technologies. We intend for our Bloodfire ch design project to benefit from all of our advances, but if you insist on this demand, then we may no longer be willing to freely share all of our technologies."
"That is your problem, not mine." Ves crossed his arms. "You guys need to stop being so stingy about sharing all of your technologies. I know what it is like for outsiders to take advantage of the fruits of your hard earned labor. However, the ch industry thrives on open sharing of knowledge and technologies. For a long ti, the MTA and subsequently the RA have maintained a policy where they have propagated many technologies, and that has benefited many ch designers including myself. You can at least trust the chers to be noble and promote the ch industry whenever possible. Since your Cybernetic Empire has taken over a central star node that was partially under their administration, you guys have done very little of the sort."
Hugo grimaced. A person as young as him had no bearing on the policies of the Cybernetic Empire. Even if he agreed with Ves, he could do nothing to change its course.
"I shall speak to my superiors on this subject, but there is only one individual who possesses the final word on this matter. She is not so easily swayed by your words than others. I can provisionally tell you that we will do our best to et you halfway on this issue. We will not keep all of our advanced technologies to ourselves."
"I am not asking you to share absolutely everything." Ves said in a softer tone. "Not even the chers are crazy enough to do so. I am just asking you to take on greater responsibility over the ch community and introduce strategic innovations that can accelerate the pace of ch developnt. Everyone benefits when chs beco more powerful than before."
"I will need ti to let my superiors consider your requests and formulate an answer."
Ves nodded. "I will send a ssage to our Saint Commander so that she can be brought up to speed on our talks."
A comfortable silence had fallen into the white chamber.
As both of them waited for their higher ups to issue their verdicts, Ves thought about taking further advantage of this situation.
Since their negotiations had already co to this point, he might as well take it a step further.
He began to think whether he should invite the Cybers to participate in the Prothea Mark II Project.
He owed it to Saint Isobel Kotin to design the best possible iteration of her ace ch.
Even though she managed to gain a new and powerful body out of her ordeal, Ves noticed that her ntal state was not all that strong compared to other saints.
Getting paired with an inferior and more flawed ace ch may cause her confidence and ntal health to take a further hit, thereby leading to severe consequences with regards to her progression as a ch designer.
Ves eyed an expectant looking Hugo with greater scrutiny.
It would be helpful if he could gain the support of the Cybers when designing the Prothea Mark II Project.
It should serve as a nice practice run for designing a Bloodfire ch that was suitable to be used by the masses.
The biggest downside was that it would be difficult to maintain confidentiality in relation to one of the Larkinson Clan’s most powerful products.
This was a very serious risk and was extra relevant for ace chs.
If an enemy studied the Prothea Mark II’s design and managed to defeat the ace ch on the battlefield by taking advantage of leaked information, then that would heavily damage the Larkinson Clan’s future!
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