Ves rubbed his hands in clear anticipation of what was about to proceed. He had already spent a lot of time on hyping up the value and utility of companion spirits. Through the use of words, archival footage and a bit of promotional artwork, many of the mechers and associates who had attended this closed session developed a strong appreciation of his work! It was a rather odd sight. It was usually the mechers that looked down on second-raters. Now the situation had reversed because Ves introduced a product and a service that they could not provide themselves. He had become one of the many associates that the Survivalists found worthwhile enough to befriend. Now, their efforts literally bore fruit as Ves answered their call in a time of need and offered a solution that could potentially strengthen all of red humanity in a way that no one could imagine! This was all a part of a grand plan. The conference organized by the Survivalist Faction served as a quick introduction to the possibilities of cultivation and E energy radiation. Ves was not the only person who attempted to do business by selling one of his staple inventions within the halls of the Khamatar Reign. As soon as the conference had come to an end, tens of thousands of talents and high-ranking leaders would return to their respective places in red humanity's space and begin to proliferate much of the powerful new boons introduced in the conference! The auction was about to commence. Ves did not feel the need to make it too formal or adopt a more formal process. Everyone here already received enough information on companion spirits to understand the value of customized products. Ves had also been honest enough to state that a blank companion spirit from a fruit had the potential to surpass a customized companion spirit based on growth, experiences and other factors. That depressed the value of a custom product, but not too much. There ought to be enough wealthy and resourceful guests among the 700 who attended this closed session who did not mind paying a small fortune in order to gain a head-start for themselves or their hand-picked dependents. Ves had to strike a balancing act. He wanted his service to have value, but not so much that the mechers forced him to slave away all of the time. By hinting that his capacity to operate on people's spirits was limited, he should hopefully be left alone after he had completed his orders. Ves stood on a slightly elevated step and gazed at the people seated in front of him. Jovy meanwhile stood at the side as he got ready to track and value the upcoming bids. A new projection came to life that displayed five empty slots. "We do not have much time left, so let us do it like this. Each of you can voice your bids. As long as my friend and I place a high enough valuation on your offer, it will show up in the top 5. Each of you will be able to place a bid if you have not done so yet or revise your existing one if you are willing to make a greater concession. This bidding process will end when no more offers arrive that affect the top ranking bids." It might be better for Ves to string out the five possible opportunities one after another, but that would turn this session into an unseemly mercantile occasion. This would not leave the best impression behind. He had to remind himself that the central theme of the conference centered around contributing to the survival of red humanity. It was not supposed to be a celebration where people selfishly tried to profiteer from this extinction-level threat! That said, no one worked for free. Many of the mechers and all of the associates wanted to make sure their own interests were being met. They would never endeavor to work so hard to save red humanity if their remuneration was insufficient. "Before we begin, I think I should clarify my demands." Ves spoke in a more personal tone. "I am not in an acute need of MTA credits. It is all numbers to me. I am more interested in benefits that can help me transition my clan from a second-class pioneering organization to a first-class one. Starships, advanced technologies, exclusive knowledge, long-term business contracts and anything else that can speed up the uplift process is helpful. I am particularly interested in any solutions that can speed up the learning process so that second-raters are able to learn all of the skills needed to qualify as first-raters." That last demand was a particularly important demand for Ves. As he worked to enable his clan to play in the big leagues, he already knew that the majority of his clansmen would ultimately have to be left behind at the second-class stage. The gap was just too great. Only the smartest, most talented and most-hardworking of second-raters would be able to follow Ves to this greater stage. The others would probably have little choice but to join one of the current or future branches of the Larkinson Clan that continued to operate in the middle zones. Ves still wanted to give the slowpokes a chance to gradually move their way up. As long as they performed well enough and made enough contributions, the clan should be able to provide them with high-quality augmentations and other forms of assistance that would hopefully speed up their own efforts. Who knew if a new invention might emerge that would magically insert a lot of knowledge and proficiency in people's heads. If the System was able to create enlightenment fruits, then others might be able to create similar products. It was not necessary for the substitutes to be as good. Ves only cared about whether it was safe and whether it was available in larger quantities. The expressions of certain mechers frowned when they heard his last demand. The truth was that the Mech Trade Association and by extension the Red Association did have methods to quickly accelerate the learning process. It was one of the ways in which the mechers were able to get a lot of its recruited members up to speed. It was actually the same kind of tech that the Polymath proposed to transform huge batches of hastily grown batch humans into ready-made soldiers and other service personnel! No matter what flaws or sequela was associated with this high-tech solution, Ves wanted to try and see if he could secure access for his clansmen! Ves spent another minute on explaining his expectations for this auction before he opened the bidding process. "You may begin to place your bid. You can do so by voicing it in the open. If you wish to be more discreet for whatever reason, you can transmit an encrypted message to Jovy Armalon, who will place it on the list but keep the details hidden to the public if necessary." A lot of people voiced or transmitted their bids right away. Both Ves and Jovy had to maximize their mental capacity in order to quickly value and rank the opening bids. Of course, more than a few of the attendees just threw out low bids for fun or in the hopes that no one was willing to offer more. Ves and Jovy outright ignored them and focused on the more lucrative ones. It was hard to quantify the exact value of non-monetary offers. Ves did not even try to do so. He settled for deciding upon their ranking instead, which was much less demanding. "7 million MTA credits." "15 million MTA credits." "130 million MTA credits!" "One first-class superdrives fitted for sub-capital ships." "Just one? That is too modest. I will offer two first-class superdrives!" "150 kilograms of phasewater." "I will agree to collaborate with you on designing a commercial first-class multipurpose mech." "I will introduce you to the Harma Vess Family that has settled in the Zelmar Upper Zone. The family can help you source materials and open up new business channels when you are ready to market your products to first-raters." Ves tried to suppress his grin as more and more attractive bids continued to arrive. The projected list constantly changed as people tried to upstage the current top 5 offers. He found it challenging to determine whether a certain good or service deserved to be ranked on top of another attractive bid. There were many times where he and Jovy had to make quick and sloppy judgment calls because it would take too much time and effort to evaluate them properly. In any case, Ves went by his gut and relied on his feelings and intuition to navigate this exciting process. "I am the majority shareholder of a top implant development company." One of the Master Mech Designers spoke up. "Most of the company remains stuck in the old galaxy, but our local subsidiary in the Red Ocean has enough researchers and data to continue their development in this new age. I can offer you or your chosen candidate a chance to replace an outdated cranial implant with a customized premium first-class model that is adapted to the new variables." Ves' eyes lit up. While he did not feel the need to replace his transformed and mutated bioimplant, his wife urgently needed this improvement. He could save a lot of MTA merits and give Gloriana a fantastic anniversary gift if he could secure this valuable boon! "My spouse and my children could make use of high-performing first-class cranial implants." Ves spoke as he set the Master Mech Designer's attractive offer at the top of the current ranking. "If any of you are able to equip them with high-quality implants, that would be great." High-performing cranial implants were expensive and difficult to procure. They not only demanded the best first-class exotics in order to produce the high-quality miniaturized components that made them work so well, but they also had to be designed, configured and installed by the top implant experts in their respective fields. Only the most renowned and established implant development companies could service this exclusive market. While it was not that difficult for RA Masters to purchase this product for themselves, they were not able to buy it for others at an affordable price. These people had to come up with other ways to win an opportunity to obtain a custom companion spirit. "We have constructed a small but fully-equipped first-class outpost on a planet in the Caesarion Upper Zone." An associate spoke. "We initially planned to use it as the base of our operations to support our expansion into the interior of the Red Ocean, but recent events have caused us to shift our strategy. We originally intended to disassemble the outpost and ship back the modules to the Agamemnon Upper Zone, but I will transfer ownership to you as long as you agree to exchange two companion spirit quotas." Ves shook his head. "Two is too much. The Caesarion Upper Zone will soon be engulfed in the flames of war as it is too close to the current frontlines. By the way, please take into account that 1 will only provide one quota per individual or group." This was still an incredibly attractive offer despite all of the pitfalls. Ves was not sure whether he would want to keep the outpost in its current location. If not, he could always arrange for it to be moved to the rear, though the location probably wouldn't be as desirable due to excessive crowding. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶 At this point, the bids started to slow down as the top ones were already pretty expensive. "Is there anyone among you who is willing to offer a first-class starship?" Nobody obliged, much to Ves' disappointment. The value of starships had skyrocketed even further after the greater beyonder gate got cut off. Even first-raters struggled to accumulate them given that they demanded a lot of expensive resources to build. No one was crazy enough to trade a starship for a custom companion spirit!