"So in the end, you and the others decided to split the MTA merits in a 4:2:4 division?" Gloriana asked in confirmation. Ves nodded as he leaned back on the couch while sitting next to a bloated and sleepy Lucky. He idly rubbed his hand on Lucky's back. "Meow..." "That's right. It's a different split than the one that the one we specified in our alliance treaty, but the Cross Clan has truly been essential to the success of both operations. Without Patriarch Reginald Cross and the Mars, nothing would have been possible. Besides, Reginald would definitely get offended if he and his contributions ever got discounted. It is actually quite impressive how we have been able to ensure that our Larkinson Clan at least obtains a reward that equals that of the Cross Clan." His wife did not look all that happy, though. She petulantly placed her hands on her hips. "Thereby leaving the Glory Seekers as the distant third as usual." Ves turned towards her with a serious expression. "Well I am sorry, honey, but if you want the mech force that was named after you to earn a greater share of the profits, then tell the Wodins to reinforce the Glory Seekers to the point where they can match the battle power of an ace mech." "You are asking for too much! Our dynasty doesn't have an ace pilot on retainer! My mother or grandmother cannot casually bring over one of the Hex Army's precious Saints either. Each and every Hexer ace mech is needed to deter the Friday Colonies from attacking the Hex Federation." "I am not telling you that the Glory Seekers have to obtain an ace mech, Gloriana. They can do just like our clan has done and compensate in other ways. Our clan has been doing more than fine without an ace mech by relying on a combination of numbers, innovative technology and intelligence support. Given the spoils that we have all obtained as of late, every alliance partner should have more than enough resources to boost their strength to another level. This is a great opportunity for all of us to plug our greatest shortcomings." Ves grinned at the thought of how much MTA merits that his clan would have at its disposal. Of the more than 1.3 billion MTA merits earned by the Golden Skull Alliance, the Larkinson Clan received 40 percent of the share. This amounted to an incredible sum of 537,360,124 MTA merits! Combined with the amount he already had in reserve, Ves would soon have over 660 million MTA merits at his disposal! This was enough for him to retire on and live on a safe and prosperous MTA-controlled planet for the rest of his life if he wished! Of course, there was no way he would take the easy way out. Even if he persisted in pursuing his mech design career, he was certain that he would stagnate once he got too comfortable in a pampered, high-tech environment. It was out here in the frontier where Ves truly felt free and unburdened. Surrounded by no one but his fellow clansmen and trusted allies, Ves could go on interesting expeditions and enjoy unique experiences that would never be replicated once humanity came in and settled the hell out of the place. As such, Ves did not intend to squander his MTA merits on meaningless luxuries. He could easily improve his quality of life by spending more easily obtainable MTA credits instead. What he needed to focus on was trying to come up with an optimal plan to spend his massive sum of MTA merits on strategic upgrades and additions that weren't easily available on the open market. The greatest value of the Mech Trade Association Merit Exchange was that it offered a gigantic repository of exclusive or near-exclusive goodies that could not openly be exchanged through other channels. Life-prolonging treatment was the centerpiece of this exchange, but it was hardly the only item that made cooperating with the MTA so attractive. As Ves contemplated whether he should splurge an additional 100 million MTA merits to upgrade the Hyber Chamber that he was planning to order, his wife had moved closer and sat down next to his side. She leaned her body against his own and rubbed Lucky's head, which he happened to enjoy. "Meow~" "I was thinking, Ves." She said as her peachy perfume started to waft into his nose and trigger pleasant associations. "Now that we've earned such an enormous windfall, we can consider new options that we haven't considered in the past. I mean, back when we were planning to have Aurelia, we never imagined that we would be fighting a first-class battleship in a serious battle. Our vision was much more limited at the time, so it was not appropriate for us to shop around for expensive items." Ves rolled his eyes. He had already seen this coming. "What is it now, honey?" His wife adopted a shy smile. "Well, now that we have hundreds of millions of MTA merits at our disposal, I have been exploring the catalog of the merit exchange. Did you know there is an option to buy an entire planet with the MTA's blessing? It is a promising arrangement, and it would do our clan a lot of good if we--" "Stop." Ves immediately raised his palm. "I already know what you are referring to. The MTA already brought up this suggestion." "So? Did you express any interest?" "No." "What? Why not?! It's the best way to found a colony!" Ves sighed and patted his wife's hand. "My strategic outlook hasn't changed, Gloriana. A colony can provide us with immense benefits, but the burdens and responsibilities that come with it are also problematic. Mech designers do not necessarily need to own any territories in order to do our jobs. I would rather maintain our current way of life and continue to drift from place to place. The more we stay on the move, the harder it is for any enemies to prepare an ambush for us. Don't forget that we have enemies. We can deter some of them, but those powerful enough to ignore our threat will definitely be able to bring enough forces to roll us over." His wife grew upset. She crossed her arms and turned up her chin. "You are being so paranoid again! What you are describing is nothing special! Other pioneers have enemies as well, but they don't respond to that by running away. They fortify. They forge military alliances with friendly neighbors or a powerful regional patron. Did you know that the founders of Davute are a lot closer to announcing the formation of a new colonial state?" He had not heard of that before. Ves had neglected to pay attention to the news related to Davute and its sphere of influence ever since he embarked on the Trailblazer Expedition. He looked intrigued. "I guess those guys at Davute are almost done with their negotiations with all of the colonies in the surrounding areas." One of the prerequisites to founding a colonial state was to gain the acceptance of as many star systems in the geographic neighborhood as possible. If even a single owner of a star system held out, then an awkward hole would exist in the newly-founded colonial state. It would be especially bad if the recalcitrant colonists sided with a rival such as Karlach instead! Of course, such situations would never happen in reality. One of the first actions the new state centered around Davute would take was to declare war on the puny colony and take it by force! Such events had already happened many times before in the Magair Middle Zone. In those instances, no one bothered to stand up and defend the property rights of the colonists who lost all of their investments. After all, who would want to support a loser who had lost all value and turned into a massive burden? Every pioneer who colonized a planet was most definitely aware of this possibility, so the hold-outs that lasted the longest had to be extremely careful not to push their demands too much. "Doesn't it sound interesting to build a greater foundation in Davute?" Gloriana persisted. "We already have ties to the regional community and we have a small but significant presence in the port system itself. We don't have to turn our holdings in the future colonial state into our main stronghold, but a moderate investment can go a long way into providing us with constant returns." Ves chuckled at her attempts of persuasion. "Nice try, honey, but I am not going to spend my MTA merits on real estate. That will only anchor me more to a fixed location, which is exactly what I don't want to happen." His wife attempted to convince him to consider the possibility of founding a colony for a few more minutes until she relented. Her mood had grown a lot worse due to her continual failures. "Fine!" She harrumphed. "If you don't want to build a future empire for Aurelia, then let us talk about more personal investments. I think it is time to have a discussion about updating our augmentations." "What about it, Gloriana?" His wife became a lot more animated. "It has been years since we have last done anything to improve our augmentations. We were much less wealthy at the time so our options were limited to genetic modification treatments and implants at the second-class level. Now that we have become wealthier than many first-raters, we can finally take a serious look at replacing our outdated augments with first-class equivalents!" The suggestion did not excite Ves as much as Gloriana hoped. Perhaps he might have become more animated in another circumstance, but not in this specific instance. "I don't need any further upgrades. I... went through an experimental procedure that has upgraded all of my mental, spiritual and physical capabilities. Every part about me has gone through an upgrade, from my cranial implant to my physical traits. I have become stronger and more capable of processing data than just a year ago. I have never measured my performance against a first-rater, but I have a strong suspicion that I can easily beat them in any test, particularly if I bring my incarnations to the picture." The strongest sign that he had gone through a comprehensive illusion was the cybernetic limb attached to his left leg. The second brain that he somehow managed to incorporate in it had substantially increased his cognitive capabilities and significantly boosted his productivity. And this was only one of the many profound changes after enduring an extraordinarily long lightning baptism! Though Gloriana did not have the full story about this mysterious and unexplainable event, she had worked alongside her husband enough times to know how much more productive he had become. Her jealousy broke through the roof! She bent her delicate fingers into claws and mock scratched at his chest. "Ves! You can't leave me behind!" Gloriana pleaded like a wounded kitten. "I need help in order to keep up with your level of improvement. The more I fall behind, the less useful I will be in our future collaboration projects. As impressive as you have become, you can't shoulder the burden of designing mechs for our clan by yourself." "What do you want?" His wife grinned at him. "I have been looking at replacing my old Erestal-015 cranial bioimplant with a genuine first-class implant that is also specifically tailored to mech designers. Normally, it is impossible for people to replace their existing implants, but that doesn't apply to the Association. I found out that as long as we are willing to pay additional MTA merits, the mechers will use their advanced tech and expertise to perform the replacement process with extreme precision." "How much?" "Well, I have found a nice implant that offers many of the features I want. Its processing power is thousands of times stronger than the processing power of my current implant. I will be able to use the first-class implant's monstrous data processing capabilities to develop solutions and complete mech designs with much greater refinement and optimization!" "How. Much." "120 million MTA merits." "What?!"