Chapter 7093: Multi-Timeline Chess Ves frankly felt annoyed at how the Cybers politely but firmly pushed him into collaborating with them on Bloodfire mechs. Their logic was impeccable, but did they have to be so aggressive about their supposed claim to fire-aspected Carmine mechs? This was the frustrating thing about the Polymath. She made deductions and acted upon them without sparing much thought on whether the other side agreed to cooperate. Wait. Star Designers shouldn’t be that stupid. The more likely explanation was that she modeled his reaction towards her star empire’s proposal and thought its logic was too strong for him to ever refuse. After all, Ves had much to gain and little to lose from cooperating with the Cybers on the development of Bloodfire mechs. He tried his best to find a flaw in Hugo’s arguments, but he failed to find one. Perhaps he could invent a lame excuse or two, but it would be intellectually dishonest for Ves to engage in such behavior. It also went against his principles as a mech designer, which was even more egregious. As a mech designer herself, the Polymath knew exactly how to corner Ves into cooperating with her Living Machine Tower. Ves felt as if he was playing chess against an opponent who was intelligent and meticulous enough to rank in the top 3 of the Red Ocean. If that was not enough, the Polymath had 53 whole years to move her chess pieces while Ves was only able to make a couple of moves at most! By the time he finished moving a handful of pawns, the Cybernetic Empress already put him into checkmate! It was infuriating, but what could he do? He definitely needed to rely on external research support in order to successfully develop his Bloodfire mechs. This was practically mandatory if he wanted his Bloodfire mechs to reach the same standards as his future Woodsap and Polymetal mechs. When Ves tried to think of alternatives to cooperate with, he could not think of any group that could compete against the accumulated advantages of the Cybernetic Empire. The Red Association? It might be possible for him to be able to cook up a powerful Bloodfire mech design if he obtained minor technical support from the Lord of Thermodynamics or the Limitless Provider, but the advantages weren’t as great. An even greater issue was that Ves felt very reluctant about letting the mechers gain control over another elemental Carmine mech type. The Red Fleet? Their understanding of energy was quite profound, but Hugo was correct in saying that it was ridiculous to turn to the fleeters for help with matters relating to mechs. There were bound to be angry fleeters out there who would do anything to sabotage this collaboration effort! The Rubarthan Pact? Perhaps the Plasma Shaper and her network may be able to develop a plasma weapon-focused Bloodfire mech that may prove powerful in its own way. However, Ves had very little experience with designing mechs based on plasma weapon technology. The Red Collective? Their knowledge and mastery over the fire element may be more varied due to their much more comprehensive understanding of qi cultivation, but their grasp on high technology was much weaker. Any Bloodfire mech he designed with the help of the collies would probably rank at the top of the weirdness scale. Ves briefly considered a few other groups, but had to disqualify them for one reason or another. If he set aside his biases and made a completely objective evaluation based on fair criteria, then the Cybernetic Empire ranked so high that it was meaningless to take a look at the alternatives. Ves needed the Cybers as much as they needed him. That did not mean he wanted to surrender so easily. "I need to think about it." He told Hugo. "This is a big decision. I need to talk to my advisors and hear how this cooperation will affect my clan. The Cybernetic Empire does not exactly have a good reputation at the moment. I do not want to offend my existing allies or cause them to lower their trust in me because of my decision to cooperate with you on an important mech design project." Hugo did not accept these arguments. "Ves, you are exaggerating. Everyone seeks to cooperate with us. Anyone in your position would have accepted our offer without hesitation. Your other allies will understand your situation. Besides, they have no right to dictate your actions. Do not let their selfishness prevent you from doing what is best for you, your clan and your customers. Agree and you will receive greater access to our exclusive technologies related to our deep studies of fire energy. Your works will become all the more stronger for it, enabling them to fight against the native aliens as well as the mutated voribugs with greater effectiveness." "And I suppose that all of those Bloodfire mechs will exclusively be piloted by the citizens of the Cybernetic Empire, right?" Ves sardonically asked. Hugo nodded and smiled. "That is only fair since the Terrans and the mechers are unwilling to release their exclusive Woodsap mechs and Polymetal mechs to us. We are aware that your clan is exempted from this exclusivity rule, and we have no issue with adopting this condition as well. If your clan cannot benefit from your own work, then it would be hard to guarantee that you will be doing your best." "I am not sure whether you are aware of this, but the exclusivity conditions on those other two mech design projects only apply to a single elemental Carmine line each." Ves calmly stated. "For example, no one aside from the Terrans and the Larkinsons has authorization to produce, sell or pilot the Arboreal Project mechs, but that does not stop either party from designing and making use of their own Woodsap mechs. There will come a time where I will design other Woodsap mechs in order to meet the demand of the rest of red humanity. Others may follow suit once they have mastered the right methods. I do not think it is right to withhold the benefits of my elemental Carmine mechs from large parts of the human population." Ves hoped that the Cybers might object to this demand, but Hugo made an accommodating gesture. "We agree with your sentiment. Bloodfire mechs should be accessible to every human. Our star empire merely desires to make the first move and establish a strong foundation in this elemental Carmine mech type. The added competition will give our mech designers plenty of stimulation to maintain their lead. We are absolutely confident that no one will be able to design superior Bloodfire mechs than us. Even you may not be able to match our results if you choose to design one without our involvement. We are the Children of Fire. We harness the flames like no one else in the Red Ocean." Hugo expressed a lot of confidence, but he was right to sound this way. The artificial fire heart that he gifted to Ves was unmistakable proof that they knew their business when it came to understanding and manipulating the fire element. "Fine." Ves said. "If you are willing to put so much on the table in order to collaborate with me on designing a Bloodfire mech, then I may be agreeable to do so, but only if I gain access to the advanced techs you intend to put into our collaboration project. I want licenses for all of the advanced components and give me the right to produce and make use of them as I see fit. I still need to talk to Matriarch Casella Ingvar in order to hear what she has to say, but so long as you are sincere enough, you have a good chance of earning her approval." Given how eager the Cybers wanted to cooperate with him, Ves wanted to make sure he earned a meaningful profit from this venture! Hugo began to frown. "You have made a heavy demand. Do you realize what you are asking for? Our tech is two mech generations ahead of the Red Ocean in most cases. Our advantages in the understanding and manipulation of fire energy is also exceptional. We have invested decades worth of labor and stretched our limited resources to the extreme to develop our high technologies. We intend for our Bloodfire mech design project to benefit from all of our advances, but if you insist on this demand, then we may no longer be willing to freely share all of our technologies." "That is your problem, not mine." Ves crossed his arms. "You guys need to stop being so stingy about sharing all of your technologies. I know what it is like for outsiders to take advantage of the fruits of your hard earned labor. However, the mech industry thrives on open sharing of knowledge and technologies. For a long time, the MTA and subsequently the RA have maintained a policy where they have propagated many technologies, and that has benefited many mech designers including myself. You can at least trust the mechers to be noble and promote the mech industry whenever possible. Since your Cybernetic Empire has taken over a central star node that was partially under their administration, you guys have done very little of the sort." Hugo grimaced. A person as young as him had no bearing on the policies of the Cybernetic Empire. Even if he agreed with Ves, he could do nothing to change its course. "I shall speak to my superiors on this subject, but there is only one individual who possesses the final word on this matter. She is not so easily swayed by your words than others. I can provisionally tell you that we will do our best to meet you halfway on this issue. We will not keep all of our advanced technologies to ourselves." "I am not asking you to share absolutely everything." Ves said in a softer tone. "Not even the mechers are crazy enough to do so. I am just asking you to take on greater responsibility over the mech community and introduce strategic innovations that can accelerate the pace of mech development. Everyone benefits when mechs become more powerful than before." "I will need time to let my superiors consider your requests and formulate an answer." Ves nodded. "I will send a message to our Saint Commander so that she can be brought up to speed on our talks." A comfortable silence had fallen into the white chamber. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶 As both of them waited for their higher ups to issue their verdicts, Ves thought about taking further advantage of this situation. Since their negotiations had already come to this point, he might as well take it a step further. He began to think whether he should invite the Cybers to participate in the Promethea Mark II Project. He owed it to Saint Isobel Kotin to design the best possible iteration of her ace mech. Even though she managed to gain a new and powerful body out of her ordeal, Ves noticed that her mental state was not all that strong compared to other saints. Getting paired with an inferior and more flawed ace mech may cause her confidence and mental health to take a further hit, thereby leading to severe consequences with regards to her progression as a mech designer. Ves eyed an expectant looking Hugo with greater scrutiny. It would be helpful if he could gain the support of the Cybers when designing the Promethea Mark II Project. It should serve as a nice practice run for designing a Bloodfire mech that was suitable to be used by the masses. The biggest downside was that it would be difficult to maintain confidentiality in relation to one of the Larkinson Clan’s most powerful products. This was a very serious risk and was extra relevant for ace mechs. If an enemy studied the Promethea Mark II’s design and managed to defeat the ace mech on the battlefield by taking advantage of leaked information, then that would heavily damage the Larkinson Clan’s future!