Ves enjoyed a brief tour through the broken chunk of the Palace of Shame. A lot of corridors and chambers had collapsed during the time when all of the mechs opened fire on the unclean whale. Since the creature was imprisoned in the center of the asteroid base, there was no way to preserve the Palace of Shame. This was regretful as the original structure used to be filled with a lot of charm and history. Ves moved through collapsed corridors that had to be cleared and propped up by human visitors. He also passed through numerous messy halls where lots of aliens had died when their surroundings collapsed onto their bodies. He could still spot plenty of personal touches despite the heavy damage to the environment. An alien had painted a crude symbol against a wall that his implant automatically translated into a typical alien slur. There were reasonably intact shops that still displayed the goods that they sold when they were open. Many of the products were surprisingly mundane. There were packaged nutrient blocks that were clearly categorized per alien species. There were also old-fashioned brooms and cleaning devices that were effective at their jobs but not valuable enough to get stolen. Ves couldn't help but pause when he stopped at an actual alien nursery. The architecture and interior design definitely suggested that it was a structure orientated towards children. Though the human troops who occupied this asteroid base fragment had already cleaned up all of the bodies as well as any biological remains, Ves could still sense the deaths of over a hundred alien juveniles. Sometimes, Ves disliked his improved spiritual senses. His recent evolution improved a lot of different aspects. His sensitivity towards life had made it incredibly obvious that a lot of young and hopeful lives had met their premature end in this structure. A part of Ves found it rather perplexing that the alien pirates hadn't done a better job at bringing their children to a safer location. "Even pirates have children." Calabast said as she observed the interior of the nursery from her own perspective. "Everyone we kill has a family. Don't think too much about it. These aliens don't deserve any sympathy. We humans are irrevocably opposed to other sentient alien life. Our race will conquer the Red Ocean sooner or later, and that means that every alien child will be hunted down and killed in order to prevent our former enemies from making a comeback." "I know. You don't have to lecture me, Calabast. I am just more perceptive towards life, that's all. The loss of life here is especially grievous compared to other places." Ves tried his best to set aside any complicated thoughts in his mind. He could not afford to lose his mental composure during the upcoming meeting. He cut his tour short and headed over to the meeting area without any pauses. The Gemini Family had opted to organize the gathering in a rather upscale looking mansion that was built for the proportions of an alien race that was twice as large as humans. This made for large corridors, enormous rooms and comically oversized furniture. He was only allowed to bring one guard inside, so Nitaa followed with him while the rest of his honor guard waited outside. "At least these aliens have taste." Ves commented as the place was covered with geometric artwork that someone versed in math could appreciate. Minister Shederin already approached his counterparts who had gathered in a corner of the large room. Calabast had already slinked off to chat with a boring-looking executive from the Santana Group. Ves looked around and spotted plenty of familiar faces, all wearing protective suits and armor in case anything dangerous took place in this alien setting. Marshal Ariadne Wodin was holding a friendly exchange with a few female Gemini dignitaries while Master Benedict Cortez talked with a bunch of other mech designers. A part of Ves felt tempted to join the circle of mech designers so they could discuss their views on the effectiveness of mechs against alien warships, but he knew he had more important duties to attend to at the moment. "It is good to see you in person again, Patriarch Larkinson." General Herman Foraine of the Adelaide Mercenary Company cheerfully said as he approached from the side. "I have been waiting for your arrival, as have many others." Ves raised a curious eyebrow towards the older man. "Really? I thought my clan and I aren't so popular with you guys these days." "Ah, pay no mind to that. You know how it goes. Even siblings will go to war against each other in order to grab the best toys. The competition for spoils can bring out the worst of us, but we have left much of that behind now. Many leaders will come and try to befriend you. I am sure you know why they may be eager to gain your favor." "Because of my work… right?" "Right." General Foraine adopted a knowing expression. "I am no exception to that rule. The capabilities that you have shown during the earlier battle is… astounding. What you have done to the Thunderer Mark II and the Infinite Gear is nothing less than groundbreaking. Our mech designers have come up with all sorts of theories to explain how you have massively increased their phasewater utilization, but they have come no closer to replicating what you have done." That meant that blessed weapons remained exclusive to Ves. There was no other mech designer that could possibly copy every condition that made blessed weapons possible. Just the fact that they needed to acquire their own design spirits was enough to stump most people! Ves smirked. "They are welcome to keep trying. I would celebrate any mech designer who successfully managed to imitate my work." The mech general took a second look at Ves. "You've changed." "How so?" Ves asked as he grew a little nervous. He had become a lot better at suppressing his more remarkable traits over the week. His glow was no longer as obvious as before, but he still didn't manage to dampen it entirely. "You look… stronger. More confident. More mature. Given what you and your clan have done in the last battle, you have plenty of reasons to feel this way. You're the bigshot in this gathering. Not even the Geminis can steal your thunder anymore." That was not entirely good. Ves only had to turn his head around to see numerous members of the Gemini Family glaring at him. They still resented him for encouraging everyone else to kill the unclean whale. Ves needed to temper everyone's expectations. "I can't offer as much as you wish. The 'upgrades' that you are looking for have a lot of restrictions and cannot be applied to a large amount of mechs. It also takes time and effort for me to thoroughly implement my tech in any given machine. I suggest that you only limit your requests to your high-ranking mechs, and even then it is a question whether their mech pilots are willing to surrender a bit of control in exchange for power." The Adelaide general slowly nodded. "We have heard as much from our previous exchanges. Despite these many limitations, the Adelaide Mercenary Company is still interested in procuring your… experimental tech for Jedda Sandivar as well as three of our expert mechs. Can you explain our options to us? How much time will it take for you to upgrade our machines and what do you require in order to complete our order?" Ves began to give the man a pre-prepared spiel. He already thought about this matter beforehand and succinctly revealed he was willing to offer two different upgrade packages. The first upgrade package centered around applying the upgrades as quickly as possible. Just like what he had done to the Thunderer Mark II, Ves would touch the mech in question and quickly turn it into a living machine while making as minimal changes as possible. Once he had done that, he would 'bless' any weapon system with the power of the Phase King. "The advantage of taking this option is that it is quick and easy. I can have it done within a day." Ves explained. "If your ace pilot and mech designers are particularly possessive and touchy about your mechs, then they have little reason to worry. Very little has changed and they can easily undo most of my work if they wish." "That is an appealing choice, but I would be remiss in choosing the expeditious option when there is clearly a more superior one available." General Foraine said. "It depends on what you define as superior. Still, I get what you mean. My second upgrade package is a lot more thorough because I will be working on them for at least several days so that I can apply a stronger version of my new tech. The boost in combat power will be much more dramatic if you trust me enough to tinker with the mechs or at least a portion of their weapon systems." "Such as your Instrument of Doom?" "Exactly, general. That is an excellent example of upgrading the combat capabilities of your mech without compromising their designs. If you give me a copy of the Jedda Sandivar's daggers, I can work on them on a physical and non-physical level so that the Phase King is able to exert his influence over them to a much greater degree than if I did a rush job." "You have mentioned this 'Phase King' multiple times. Who is he, exactly? Is he an alien phase whale? If so, is it legal for us to consort with one of humanity's enemy?" General Foraine suspiciously asked. "Relax." Ves answered in a reassuring tone. "I have made use of the Phase King for several years and never received a warning from the MTA. I'm on good terms with the mechers, so they will tell me if I am doing something wrong." "You haven't explained who or what the Phase King actually is. Can I trust him to empower our mechs without any reliability problems?" "To be honest, I cannot promise you that. I don't want to say too much, but one of the prerequisites of making blessed weapons of this particular style work is to develop a working relationship with the Phase King. If your mech pilots cannot befriend him, then they will not receive his help when they need it the most." "We understand. We will do our best to keep this Phase King happy if we have developed a dependence on his power." Ves smiled. "It's a give and take. Treat the Phase King as a friend and he will have your back during a fight. I am sure your Jedda Sandivar will be able to carve through hostile ace mechs when I have completed a pair of upgraded daggers for this powerful machine." "I wanted to talk to you about that as well, Patriarch Larkinson. Since our fleets will soon split up, how will you be able to deliver our promised weapons to us in time?" He shrugged. "I am sure we can come to an arrangement. We have courier ships and other vessels that can transport the weapons to the location of your fleet. I will try and hurry up with my work so that our fleets won't move too far apart. Are you happy with that, general?" "That sounds reasonable as long as the upgraded daggers have truly become more powerful. How much deadlier will they become?" "I can't say. This tech is new even for me. Conservatively, I estimate that it should be possible to amplify their penetration power by at least 4 times." "That is impressive!" "It will cost you, though." There was no way that Ves wanted to botch this job and disappoint the Adelaide Mercenary Company. As long as he could apply his distinctive touch to not just one, but several powerful ace mechs, the Phase King stood to receive an incredible amount of high-quality spiritual feedback! Ace pilots are so much more powerful than expert pilots that it wasn't even funny. The thought of being able to establish a connection between many of the powerful ace pilots in this star system and one of his most important design spirits already made him salivate! He suddenly froze as he came up with another interesting idea. What if… Ves didn't turn the Phase King into the only design spirit of those daggers. What if… he attached a second design spirit in the form of himself? Was it possible for him to siphon away some of that juicy ace pilot-grade spiritual feedback for himself? Ves suddenly discovered what it was like to be his mother.