Chapter 7136: Fighting Qualifications Ves remained in a foul mood as he sat in the armored shuttle that brought him back to the Tarrasque. The first meeting with the leaders of the Phase Lord Department unfolded completely outside anyone’s expectation. In hindsight, he realized that he may not have pushed hard enough. He let the human phase lords take the initiative, from agreeing to use their new monikers as opposed to their original human names to letting himself get completely stumped by the demand to duel their leaders. Ves became overtaken by their verbal offensive that he could scarcely catch his breath and figure out a coherent response that did not amount to a complete capitulation. The only positive outcome from his first meeting with the compromised human phase lords was that he did not set any of them off. He did not look forward to fighting his way out of that mess. As Ves boarded the Tarrasque yet again, he first tried to find out whether Lucky had already completed his infiltration mission. "Meow." Ves let out a huge breath after seeing the dark metallic archemetal cat enjoying a rich treat. Lucky leisurely dipped his head into a bowl. It was filled with a mixed collection of high-grade exotics and hypers courtesy of the Red Collective. "Did my cat retrieve the data that you wanted?" "We are still parsing through it." Secret Keeper Zariel-775 placidly said. "Much of the sensitive data is locked behind encryption. The staff of the Phase Lord Department have not lost any of their competence despite following their masters into madness. It takes a considerable amount of processing power and decryption ingenuity in order to quickly crack the contents. That said, we should be able to unlock the first truly valuable data dump before the end of the day." Ves looked forward to what they might find from the data. He did not have too many expectations, though. These human phase lords should be well aware that Yernstall was home to some of the best hackers of red humanity. Perhaps only the Cybers were better at it due to their greater technological advancement, but the mechers and the fleeters were quite good in their own right. Seeing that it would take a bit more time to learn about the gains of Lucky’s successful infiltration mission, Ves turned his attention back to the main issue at hand. He looked carefully at the secret keeper. Even now, the man still refused to remove his hood from his head. The way it cast a shadow over his face was so unnaturally effective that not even a direct light could illuminate it. The entire robe was probably an artifact of sorts that was so good at obscuring that it didn’t even register as special from Blinky’s senses! It didn’t matter. Though the secret keeper was so well-trained that he did not betray any clues, Ves had a sense that the absence of any reaction already constituted an answer in itself. "You predicted this outcome, didn’t you?" He made a guess. "You sought me out specifically because I am the only human phase lord that is not a part of their club. You sent me over to that transport vessel on short notice and inadequate preparation because you guys already foresaw that further coaching was redundant. From the start, you already deduced that the only way to truly get those human phase lords to back down was for me to present myself and provoke them into a series of duels, am I correct?" He had developed this suspicion during the shuttle ride back to the flagship of the Bluejay Fleet. Ves did not believe that the Secret Department of the Red Collective could miss this possibility. The spies of the RC had monitored the human phase lords for a long time. They should have compiled entire libraries worth of behavioral models that could roughly tell them how they would respond to different stimuli. An outcome like the one that just unfolded earlier should have fallen within the calculations of those behavioral models! Even if the RC was not as obsessively data-driven as the Polymath, the collies were still modern humans who possessed good familiarity with advanced technology. Processing data was an essential part of any serious organization. The secret keeper at least had the decency to be honest. "We did anticipate this particular outcome." The collie admitted. "We did not believe the probability that this scenario would unfold was as high as 100 percent, however. We believed that there was only a 46 percent chance that the human phase lords would challenge you to a duel. This result should only happen if they genuinely respect you as their progenitor and if they judge that you are a worthy challenger." Ves blinked. "Huh? Did I hear that right?" "Do not think that the human phase lords are simple-minded brutes." Zariel-775 warned. "They may appear that way due to their proclivities, but they are still members of the RC. None of our hires are simple, particularly those who have been appointed as department heads or military unit commanders. They have their own ways of judging your strength and combat readiness. In their eyes, they believe that you can test them. Perhaps winning is a distant prospect, but so long as the probability exists, it is still a worthwhile endeavor to invite you to duel with them. Just the bragging rights of having dueled against the very first human phase lord is enough to make them proud." Was that what Ves had been reduced to? Did those ’Ascended Giants’ see him as nothing more than a trophy to be won in the dueling arena? "Why the hell do those phase lords think I can even last more than a couple of seconds against them?" Ves frowned. "Is it because they believe my phasewater concentration is higher than theirs? That should not be the case. My phasewater organ collection is not that impressive either. I have not done much to progress my phase lord cultivation, deliberately so I might add. Besides, even if my mass is twice as much as that of the Oscillating Fist, I bet you the ’polemarchos’ will easily beat me black and blue in a matter of minutes. He was the 19th best boxer in the Milky Way once upon a time! Even if he fell off hard after all of those years, he is still ten times a better fighter than myself." The collie spy did not let Ves get away with such a lopsided comparison. "The gulf in fighting skills is indeed large, but not as excessive as you describe. From our studies of the few pieces of combat footage that we have of you, we believe that you are a natural fighter. Your Larkinson bloodline is strong. You are a highly competitive individual and you are accustomed to performing under pressure. Aside from that, your fighting techniques with a polearm are surprisingly decent. It is nothing to write home about, but if you combine your serviceable foundation with other advantages such as technology, systematic cultivation and intelligence gathering, we may be able to shape you up into a winner." "...Are you serious?" Ves may have swallowed an enlightenment fruit that had instilled him with skills on how to fight with a staff, but he mainly redeemed it because it taught him how to manipulate darkness energy! From what he could gather from the skills he acquired from the enlightenment fruit, their origin came from a disciple who had spent all of his time performing the same drills in a dojo. Perhaps he occasionally sparred against others, but these were highly restrictive sparring sessions where both sides had to abide by a lot of rules. Therefore, despite knowing how to fight with a staff, Ves did not actually gain a lot of actual combat experience out of the fruit! "Come now, Professor Larkinson. You are a mech designer. You should know combat well enough that winning is a process of utilizing your advantages better than your opponent. It is undeniable that you will lose in terms of pure fighting skills, but what if your equipment is more superior than theirs? What if your companion spirit is much more powerful than their own? What if we provide expert coaching to you so that you have a better idea of what to expect when confronting known quantities?" Ves pressed his lips. "What you are saying is logical on the surface, but combat is way more than a game of sums. There are a lot of unquantifiable factors that can determine the outcome of a battle. Stuff like discipline, martial spirit, experience and many more are stuff that those professional soldiers have in abundance. As for me? I am a mech designer! The time I spent in actual combat is just a fraction of the time I spent on designing mechs!" The secret keeper stared pointedly at him. The spy did not back off on his argument. "Ves the mech designer is indeed not a good fighter. He has talent in abundance, but he has never developed it in any acceptable measure. Sev the first human phase lord on the other hand appears to be much more proficient at employing those fighting skills correctly. He is the version of yourself that has spent serious time in learning how to employ your skills and how to better fight against competent opponents. There are still many shortcomings to his combat approach, but he at least possesses a foundation that can give us a serious chance of winning a handful of duels." "..." Ves grew angry. Did these collies seriously think it was a good idea to rely on his evil alter ego? Summoning Sev for anything sounded like pure madness! His other personality was liable to defect to the ’Ascended Giants’! "I... refuse." Ves squeezed between his gritted teeth. "Sev is a liability to myself and to others. He is a slave to the Red Ocean." Zariel-775 slowly leaned forward. "Did you not visit the Astral Octagon in the hopes of finding a resolution to your problem? We can help you, Professor Larkinson. We have developed certain theories and derived potential solutions to your condition, though none of them are as absolute as you would like. Each of them demands that you face your other self and form a compromise that both of you can live with. It is not much, but even a partial answer is better than no answer. I strongly advise you to consider. If you can convert Sev from an adversary into an uneasy ally, then you can rely on him to fight your battles." "..." This was unacceptable. Ves could not bring himself to take this crazy proposal seriously. The collies hoodwinked him. They sought this outcome from the start, so they manipulated him behind his back. It was only now that they came clean, but they had already pushed him into a corner by this time. He scowled. He felt disgusted by all of the manipulation. The RC did not respect its founder and chief counselor as much as it should. Perhaps it was his fault for neglecting his duties and letting Eliza Mo Ragadan perform the bulk of his obligations on his behalf. His lack of commitment had left him bereft of allies within the organization. Regardless, that did not mean that Ves was about to accept this arrangement. It sounded stupid on the surface. The subsequent explanation did not make it any better. Seeing as he was getting nowhere, Ves let out a discontented huff and turned around. He wanted to go back to his design lab and spend his time on more worthwhile pursuits such as helping his wife finalize the design of the Riot Mark III. Just thinking about tinkering with mechs lifted up his mood. He was a mech designer. He was not a fighter. Sev did not represent his true self. The mere idea of compromising with an uninvited intruder to his own body should never take root!