Now that the auction had reached this stage, few people continued to make their bids. They carefully weighed their options and tried to tailor a bid that would successfully allow them to squeeze into fifth place. While many of these people possessed a lot more assets than that, they needed to be careful about giving away their core assets for a rather abstract return. No one was able to quantify the value of a companion spirit. While it promised to grant immediate short-term benefits, it took years of continuous growth in order for them to truly come into power. This waiting period was a bit too long for many people. The coming difficulties meant that they needed to ensure they possessed sufficient capital to tide over the next few years. This was why nobody gave up their own starships even if they had plenty in their possession. "I wish to bid with five copies of my Kemon Divar C-Variant mech model." Another Master Mech Designer spoke. "My Kemon Divar is a line of first-class multipurpose mechs targeted towards security companies and other mid-range consumers. The C-Variant is adapted for spaceborn use and can help with defending fleets against threats at multiple ranges. If you agree to provide the phasewater, I can change the model to the more powerful and luxurious F-Variant, which is several times more effective in combat." Ves looked tempted. Five serious commercial first-class multipurpose mechs could massively increase the combat power of his fleet. He quickly shook his head. First-class multipurpose mechs sounded nice, but his clan lacked the pilots who could make full use of their advanced capabilities. It took a lot more training and learning to be able to operate these machines in a way that justified their inclusion. Besides, the moment his clan started fielding first-class mechs was the moment where he and his clan would have to abide by an entirely different set of rules and obligations. It was not wise to trigger this transition too early. Nobody in his clan was ready as of yet. Not even Ves thought he was qualified to design first-class multipurpose mechs that were up to the standard of a first-class Senior Mech Designer. As long as these conditions weren't met, Ves was not inclined to accept this bid. Besides, he wanted to design first-class mechs himself when the time was right. His clan depended on mechs designed in-house for over a decade and for good reasons. Every machine was alive, and many of them had grown considerably stronger after years of active service. The ideal way to handle this situation was to gradually upgrade his existing stock of mechs to quasi-first-class versions. Once his mech pilots all got used to fighting at a higher intensity, Ves wanted to upgrade those machines to proper first-class mechs. The 'multipurpose' part was not entirely necessary as far as Ves was concerned. The Ouroboros already proved in part that simpler mechs that fit more restricted archetypes still had value at the first-class level. So long as Ves kept his first-class mech designs as simple and familiar as possible, he hoped that all of his existing veteran mech pilots would be able to accompany him in his journey. In any case, Ves automatically assigned a low value to any offer that included first-class mechs. The attendees soon got the message and stopped offering their own work. Jovy suddenly received a transmission that contained a discreet offer. He frowned as he struggled to judge how much value he should ascribe to this vague description. He silently passed it over to Ves. "Look at this. It is related to cultivation." When Ves inwardly read through the bid, he immediately became excited! He tried his best to suppress any outward reactions, but it was hard to contain his glee. The reason why he became so enthused about this offer was because it not only had to do with cultivation science, but also happened to be highly relevant to his professional interests! He read the message once again in order to make sure he did not misjudge the value of the bid. (I am the patriarch of the Becker-Anson Family. My relatives and I are descendants from an ancient lineage that is purported to be led by a legendary figure that claims to be a Divine Blacksmith. Our records of these ancient times are spotty and incomplete, so I cannot verify whether they are accurate. The reason why we are confident that we are indeed related to this ancient figure is because we are in possession of remnant notes and scriptures that the blacksmith has left behind. We have brought them here in order to enlist the Red Association's aid in translating and interpreting the ancient letters. 1 am offering to give you access to the translated texts once they are available. If you prefer to study the ancient scriptures directly in their original form, I am open to granting you the right to peruse them in person for the duration of this conference.] Ves was not surprised that Jovy punted this ball to him. It sounded a bit sketchy. Few people alive today knew what a Divine Blacksmith was supposed to be. It could just be a particularly talented but relatively mundane craftsman who just happened to have an overinflated reputation during his lifetime. The truth was much different, however. Ves couldn't help but recall the description of the Divine Blacksmith Records enlightenment fruit that he caught sight of not too long ago. The high price tag deterred him from purchasing it, but it also highlighted the value of this ancient heritage! There was a chance that the two might be related. The probability was low, but not zero. It could also be that whatever tattered records the Becker-Anson Family managed to preserve over the course of hundreds of thousands of years might not be complete enough anymore to provide much value. Ves did not want to miss this opportunity, though. He speculated that a Divine Blacksmith might be one of the most representative types of creation cultivator during ancient times. The much more modern tradition of mech design might have been based on some of the working principles of this older profession. If this was the case, then Ves would be able to learn secrets that allowed him to understand the foundation of mech design. Aside from that, the scriptures might also provide more guidance to Vulcan, allowing him to advance his understanding of traditional craftsmanship by leaps and bounds! The list of top 5 offers changed. The anonymized bid took fourth place for the time being. Ves would have valued it higher if not for the vagueness and uncertainty surrounding these ancient scriptures. "Anyone further bids?" A few more trickled in, but none of them were valuable enough to shake the top 5. These people were just giving it a try to see if they could get a deal out of this auction. It was at this point that one of the three bigshots made a bid for the first time. Both Ves and Jovy had been monitoring the actions of the representatives of the three dominant cliques of the Survivalist Faction. Compared to individual mechers and associates, the three envoys had access to a much greater quantity and variety of bargaining chips. Master Xena Wintress of the Xenotechnician sub-faction instantly silenced the hall when she spoke. "lam willing to bid 10 permanent quotas to our Association's EdNet. Professor Armalon may have already informed you what that means. If he hasn't, then you only need to understand that the EdNet is a deep virtual reality training and education solution that immerses a human into a long-duration interfacing pod. The reason for doing so is that the pod can accelerate the neural transmissions and thinking speeds of the trainees so that they can effectively perceive time at a faster rate. Time inside the EdNet's enclosed virtual environment can pass up to five times greater than normal." This was an incredibly valuable offer and exactly what Ves wanted to obtain during this auction! The EdNet was the Mech Trade Association's traditional method of quickly bringing people up to standard. What Master Wintress said was correct. Through a mixture of different treatments, it was possible to accelerate the subjective experience of time of an individual by 5 times. This meant that people could spend 5 times learning essential skills inside the EdNet while only a single year passed in the material realm! Not even the MSTS could replicate this amazing benefit! As Ves grew more and more excited about this amazing bid, Jovy transmitted a few caveats over their private communication channel. "The EdNet is generally good, but it is not perfect. The infrastructure required to operate it is... immense. The only way for people to connect to it is to send them to the Vulit Central Star Node or another core star system under the control of the Red Association. Anyone you send cannot be pulled out in advance as this will inflict great damage to their health. They will have to remain connected for a full term, which is 2 years at minimum and 4 years at maximum. Once completed, it is not possible for the same individual to enter the EdNet within 20 standard years." Ves did not hear about this before. The EdNet was not harmless. It induced great stress onto the central nervous systems of its users, so much so that their brains incurred actual damage! This was why a recovery period of 2 decades was mandatory. The mechers did not recommend that anyone connect to the EdNet after this time had passed because it was just too damaging. Nonetheless, Ves strongly believed that many of his clansmen needed this powerful learning tool! Ves was not sure how much a single quota was worth. 10 quotas was not enough to uplift the entire clan into a first-class organization, but it at least allowed him to uplift a small group of hand-picked confidantes ahead of time! "Is the EdNet accessible to both potentates and non-potentates?" "Both mech pilots and non-mech pilots can make use of it. It works better for potentates. The higher their genetic aptitude, the lighter the strain. Potentates with A or B-grade genetic aptitudes can comfortably make use of the EdNet while suffering minimal damage to their brains, especially when they have the appropriate augmentations. Pilots with lower genetic aptitudes can still make use of the EdNet, but their effective combat performance will degrade at a faster rate. The problem is compounded when piloting highly complex first-class multipurpose mechs. If these mech pilots cannot make enough progress, they will be forced to retire a few decades earlier than normal." All of this information was new to Ves. He never knew that genetic aptitude made such an enormous difference to the EdNet. "Does that mean that non-potentates effectively incur the most brain damage from using the EdNet?" Ves asked. "That is correct. The danger sounds serious, but the actual neurological damage is not noticeable for most professionals. The human brain can tolerate a surprising amount of defects. The right gene treatments and cranial implants can protect the nerves from degrading too quickly, and extensive medical treatments during and after the lengthy session can lower the damage even more. This is the reason why many mechers have not devolved into drooling idiots after they emerged from the EdNet." It was much better to learn stuff the old-fashioned way rather than rely on the EdNet. However, if there were no alternatives, then the EdNet was an effective way to quickly overcome the skill and knowledge gap! Ves no longer held any doubts towards this bid and put on second place, elevating it above the first-class outpost bid. The main reason why he did not ranked it at the top was because Master Wintress only included 10 quotas in her bid. At least the quotas were permanent. Ves could continue to rotate his men for as long as the Red Association maintained the EdNet.