After sending off his children and cats to play by themselves, Ves and his wife moved to the side in order to discuss an overdue work task.
"I haven’t forgotten, honey." He softly said as he held his wife’s palms. "I know that you feel neglected and all, but it was all worth it. Two squads of 15 Ascended Giants will be accompanying us from now on. That is not the only direct benefit I obtained. My galactic citizenship will finally be raised to tier 2. The Evolution Witch’s veto can no longer be sustained now that I am the equivalent of an RF admiral."
While Gloriana already expected for her husband to be able to mobilize a bunch of human phase lords as escorts, the quantity caught her off-guard.
30 lesser phase lords was a huge deal!
It was almost impossible for the aliens to gather so many lesser phase lords. They all possessed their own god complexes and rarely behaved well in each other’s presence.
The only way for so many alien lesser phase lords to coexist with each other in the sa fleet was for greater phase lords to keep them in line!
Even then, it beca a nightmare to manage so many individualistic lesser phase lords, especially if they ca from multiple different species. Their rivalries existed for a long ti. If not for the existence of the human threat, then they would have eagerly co to blows with each other!
If there was one advantage that the Ascended Giants had over their alien competition, it was that they were able to get along with each other without issue.
Outside of leadership challenges and so on, the Ascended Giants of the sa phalanx trusted each other’s backs. They were trained to fight together just like human soldiers. In no way were they supposed to carry all of the burdens themselves. That sort of stupid showboating should be reserved for the enemy.
Yet Gloriana did not linger too long on the aning of having 30 Ascended Giants at their disposal.
What demanded her attention a lot more was the rise in galactic citizenship tier.
This revelation was already enough to shift her attention away from the stalled Riot Mark III Project!
She almost held her breath. "Tier... 2...?"
Ves nodded and smiled. "Yup. I have it on good authority that this is currently in the works. Galactic citizenship is based on recognizing the power that you already have as opposed to bestowing you with new authority. You can definitely bet that soone who has extensive control over the Ascended Giants has the power to save or condemn a zone that is in contention."
Aside from agreeing to station 15 Ascended Giants at Yernstall and bringing 30 Ascended Giants into the Moloch Squadron, Ves had declined to issue any direct transfer orders to all of his powerful new subordinates.
That did not an he lacked the power to do so. He could override the orders or missions of the giants at any ti and command them to transfer to the Rubarthan Pact en masse in order to do their best to stall the mutated voribug advance.
The power to enact such a major action was more than enough to elevate Ves to a status that surpassed most power players and only made him answerable to a dwindling number of people!
If a tier 3 galactic citizen had barely crossed the threshold of entering the true leadership class of red humanity, then a tier 2 galactic citizen could be regarded as one of the leading marshals of red humanity!
In other words, Ves had beco just as important and influential as the big nas that had long dominated their respective groups such as General Axelar Streon and the Mace of Retaliation.
The latter were big nas who fought and worked hard for at least a century to get where they were. Ves had spent much less ti racing to their level of power!
This was why he could not resist the invitation issued by the Patient Builder.
Ves had been at the right ti and the right place. He happened to possess the unique qualities that allowed him to serve as a bridge between the obtuse Ascended Giants and the rest of the Red Collective.
Though the risks had been great, the payoff was more than worth it. He just did not look like a tier 2 galactic citizen yet because he declined to spend his ti at the headquarters of the Phase Lord Departnt, which had beco his latest seat of power.
As the wife of a tier 2 galactic citizen, Gloriana already reveled in her new status.
While it was not as good as attaining this tier of galactic citizenship herself, she was confident she could catch up to her husband and maybe even surpass her one day!
Gloriana rely considered herself to be a late bloor. It was natural for a ch designer like her to fall behind a ch designer who everyone considered a prodigy, but had mostly relied on the benefits of the Systems to skip years worth of knowledge accumulation.
Now that she also gained access to those sa benefits, there was no reason for her to fall further behind!
For the ti being, she was more than content to let Ves blaze a trail and raise the status of their family.
"Since you will soon beco a tier 2 galactic citizen, we can take advantage of nurous powerful perks." She eagerly said.
"Such as...?"
"For example, schooling for our children. If we want to, we do not have to place them in regular schools or academies anymore. We can attract the best tutors and instructors and have them offer personalized teaching programs to our son and daughters. In fact, we can set up a new teaching institute within the Bluejay Fleet and enroll hundreds of other teenage scions."
Ves frowned in thought. That sounded different from their previous plans.
"I can understand the appeal. We get to keep our kids close to us. However, I think it is better for their developnt to spend their ti at proper schools on different planets."
"We can talk about this later, Ves. Only Aurelia has grown old enough for us to choose which school she should attend. What is even more relevant to us is expanded access to exclusive tech and materials."
It did not surprise Ves that she fixated on this subject next. He had been looking forward to it as well to be honest. It was in his nature as a ch designer to always desire more access to superior stuff.
"I am just as eager as you to explore what will beco available to , but there is no hurry." He said as he made a calming gesture. "First, it is way too late for us to incorporate any of the new stuff into the Riot Mark III Project. We should be able to squeeze so of it into the Prothea Mark II Project and the Lionheart Mark II Project. Second, I can bet you that redeeming those exclusive goodies will co at a hefty cost. Access does not translate into free gifts. I will probably have to exchange favors, rits or barter for other stuff in order to obtain the good stuff. We do not have a lot of bargaining chips at the mont."
His wife’s excitent faded as reality sunk in. "You are probably correct. No one will want to part easily with their exclusive tech and their super-class materials."
This was the kind of stuff used to develop the best chs of the human race!
These were the building blocks of the best senior ace chs as well as vaunted god chs!
To be honest, Ves knew it was kind of a waste to make exceedingly high concessions just to upgrade high-tier expert chs and junior ace chs with top-tier endownts.
His wife should be aware of this as well, but she had the least objections to this exchange.
Perfection was so important to her that any advancent that brought her works closer to this impossible ideal should always be pursued no matter the cost!
She was already starting to reevaluate the high-ranking ch design projects that were currently in the works or were scheduled to start in the near future.
"What are the greatest shortcomings of our living expert chs and ace chs?" She wondered.
That was an interesting question. Ves did not answer straight away but put serious thought into the matter.
A number of possible answers stood out when he reflected on the performance of the Dark Zephyr Mark III, the Amaranto Mark III, the First Sword Mark III and the Minerva Mark II.
"I think our work lacks options." He provided a possible answer. "This is deliberate as the expert pilots and ace pilots are accustod to specialized chs. However, aside from experintal treatnts such as adding sword fey to the First Sword Mark III, we have been reluctant to add additional weapon systems to our machines despite the fact that there is room for such expansions."
Gloriana nodded in agreent. "You are correct. Those weapon systems add more burdens to the ch fra. In almost every case in the past, we deed the gains from specializing the ch to be greater than the gains from granting the ch an extra weapon system. Part of it is due to pilot preferences, but another part is due to the unacceptable tradeoffs. However, if we gain access to the best tech and resources, the equation will change. We can attain a degree of miniaturization that is so impressive that we can minimize the burden on the ch fra. If we are willing to make a more substantial investnt, we can convert the Prothea Mark II into a proper multipurpose ch, able to fight well at any range. We can also expand the options of the Lionheart Mark II even further so that it can surpass the Mars."
"We will have to convince the pilots to deviate from their comfort zone. Not all of them will agree. It is rather impressive that Saint Dise was willing to branch out after hyperspecializing in swordsmanship for so many years. I think she only really agreed because the spurs assigned to her ace ch are exclusively sword fey."
His wife confidently grinned. "This example shows that it is still possible for a pilot who has already settled into his or her comfort zone to explore new options. A major breakthrough is an excellent opportunity to embrace new solutions. Pilots are usually more open-minded towards newer options after they have reached a new level of strength. We should tackle each case creatively and think about how our additions can reduce their frustrations and solve their long-standing problems."
There were plenty of future projects that could benefit greatly from improved miniaturization.
Ves especially kept the Everchanger in mind. He already had multiple ambitious ideas on how to reinvent this old classic. He could do an even better job if he was able to convert it into a full superdinsional ch while also adding in other top-end features such as much more potent power reactors or sensor systems that could penetrate through nearly every form of stealth and interference.
He did not just keep his sights onto chs. He was also thinking about his own personal wargear.
One of his ambitious goals was to outfit himself with a custom Polytal ch that he could turn into an oversized raint for the Dark Apostle.
He did not intend to be stingy when it ca to designing his own equipnt. He had already made a start on exchanging powerful nanotech from the Cybernetic Empire, but that was just the beginning.
If he truly wanted to develop a top-tier Polytal ch for himself, then he needed to upgrade so much more, from its armants to its flight system.
A tier 2 galactic citizen should have access to almost all of the high-end goods that were too amazing to be put on a grand auction.
Ves would be very disappointed if he found out that this was not the case!
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