Ves did not exhibit any surprise when he found out the dark mercenaries sent a mech designer to evaluate his work. Of course, the mech designer in the employ of the Night Zephyrs was only an Apprentice Mech Designer, and probably not a good one at that. Most mech designers who worked for shady outfits tended to be the losers of their profession. The difference in status was so evident that the representative showed a lot of deference to Ves. There was no way the man dared to act presumptuous against a bonafide Journeyman! Ves smiled under the helmet of his shadow attire. Showing respect for higher-ranking mech designers was one of the many norms that the MTA hammered into their heads. It was so pervasive that even pirate designers respected the same norms without asking any questions! In order to ensure that there wouldn’t be any problems, Ves adopted another form of pressure as well. He switched up his spiritual mask and adopted a more confident and assertive posture than his normal self. His cues, his aura and his demeanor all made him appear imposing. Despite his shadow attire, his superiority towards an Apprentice could not be denied! "What do you think of my design, Santo?" He asked as he stood behind the Apprentice. Santo nervously studied the design schematics projected from the terminal. For some reason, he didn’t don any disguises, which made his lack of confidence all the more apparent. If Santo was the best mech expert in the employ of the Night Zephyrs, then they should have sent a seasoned mech officer along. Ves figured that the dark mercenary corps hadn’t fully thought it through how badly the rank disparity among mech designers mattered within their profession! Even if Journeymen didn’t enjoy the same amount of renown as expert pilots, high-ranking mech designers still commanded a lot of respect from the lower ranks! Still, even if Santo unconsciously deferred to Ves, he still had a job to do. He did not let his admiration and apprehension towards Ves halt his obligation to determine whether the modification plans for the Spyre Helix made the right improvements. "These changes are ingenious!" Santo said in an astonishing fashion! "There is much to go through! Would you be willing to guide me through the design choices you’ve made? It would help me evaluate your Spyre Helix Annihilator design faster." "It would be my pleasure." Ves replied. Though he kept his words brief and his tone fairly restrained, he walked up to the projection and briefly explained the alterations he made to the design from top to bottom. Ves adopted a teacher’s stance as he pointed out his decisions, highlighting some of his more brilliant innovations without giving too much away. He refrained from explaining his solutions completely, wanting to leave Santo with plenty of mysteries as the Night Zephyr’s resident mech designer attempted to puzzle out the Annihilator design with his own comprehension. Teaching was akin to indoctrination. By letting Ves take the lead in guiding Santo’s perspective towards the Annihilator design, he was essentially able to warp the Apprentice Mech Designer’s opinion into a more favorable direction! By overemphasizing the best aspects about his work, Ves managed to distract Santo’s attention away from the less attractive portions of his Annihilator design. It was actually a very simple approach, but it worked like a charm due to all of the pressure he exerted! It seemed as if he couldn’t help bring out his Devil Tongue in situations where it offered him an advantage. Ves even got the sense that he was shifting closer and closer to the likes of Calabast, Leland and other manipulative spies! He quickly shook his head underneath the helmet and got back to narrating his design choices. Half an hour was enough to complete his guided tour to Santo. The Apprentice had become further and further enthralled with the Annihilator design. "Wow." He breathed while he studied the comparisons between the base model and the variant. "While it’s a shame that your modified version is somewhat less resilient against damage, the increase in firepower and mobility is substantial. Considering our upcoming deployment, the low-gravity environment will amplify the gains in speed, allowing us to get in and get out as fast as possible!" This was very relevant for the Night Zephyrs. The use of taboo weapons would doubtlessly attract attention. The longer the Night Zephyrs lingered, the larger the chance that they might get caught! In order to minimize the risk of unwelcome surprises, the doom crawlers had to land on the planet and sneak up into attack range as fast as possible. Trading away a bit of mass and armor in favor of speeding them up was a welcome adaptation. Of course, the loss of armor and structural integrity was quite serious. However, Santo paid less mind to it at the moment. Perhaps he might get his wits together later, but as Ves continued to engage the Apprentice in conversation, the man had no opportunity to think for himself! "Does the Annihilator design meet the needs of the Night Zephyrs?" Ves asked, pressuring Santo to come to a quick conclusion. "I have a good feeling about it, but..." "But?" Ves subtly loomed closer to Santo. "Nothing! Your Annihilator design is a great adaptation! I would have never been able to fit all of those big weapon systems into the doom crawler without incurring severe performance hits!" What Ves found peculiar about Santo was that while he showed a lot of deference to a high-ranking mech designer, he barely showed any notice towards the taboo weapons on the Annihilator design. Along with the Apprentice’s relative youth, Ves figured that Santo must have originated from the Nyxian Gap but had learned his craft from a respectable, orthodox mech designer. This gave Ves an idea. "Say, you are quite talented for your age. Who is your teacher?" "Ah, I’ve been mentored by the Light’s End! Have you heard of her? She’s a renowned Journeyman of the Nyxian Gap!" "Interesting moniker. What’s her specialty?" "As her name suggests, she’s really good with laser weapon systems. Pirates love her work because her laser rifles are reliable, easy to maintain and not that costly to make or buy." Santo babbled a bit about the Light’s End. Though she didn’t match the renown of someone like the Skull Architect, she still managed to find her footing in the Nyxian Gap! A small chime from his comm suddenly interrupted his spiel. "Ah, my apologies, Rho-Sigma, but I’m on a tight schedule as well. Since your Annihilator design is in order, we can move ahead with taking away the doom crawlers and transform them along the lines of your modification plan." "Sounds like you are in a big hurry to overhaul the doom crawlers." "We have a limited window of opportunity to perform our mission. Sneaking eighty active doom crawlers onto a pirate planet is harder than it sounds." Santo did not say anything further. Obviously, his respect for Ves did not reach the point where he was willing to spill his outfit’s core secrets. That was fine. Ves gained a better glimpse of what Finlay’s faction and the Night Zephyrs planned to do with the modified doom crawlers. At the very least, someone other than Finlay corroborated the claim that they intended to employ the weapons of mass destruction against pirates. At least that seemed to be true. Due to his tight schedule, Santo left quickly afterwards, but not before loading up all of the relevant design files and modification plans onto a secure data chip. The commission called for drawing up a modification for existing Spyre Helixes. That meant that Ves didn’t just have to design a variant, but also provide a step-by-step instruction manual to change the base model into the updated variant. Otherwise, Santo or the mech technicians had to puzzle out the steps themselves, which they were liable to screw up! Finlay and his bodyguards arrived an hour later. It seemed the mysterious young nobleman had been preoccupied with other matters before he was able to visit the rented mech workshop. "The man sent by the dark mercenaries agreed to my modification plan." Ves stated simply. He had the sense that Finlay regarded the unknown mech designer he knew as Rho-Sigma in a different light. "You are surprisingly.. efficient. I thought it would take a week or two weeks for you to come up with a way to integrate the new weapon systems onto the Spyre Helixes." "A slight effort." Ves replied mildly. "I merely drew up a plan. It is up to your men to do the heavy lifting." "Dumb labor is one of the most abundant resources in the galaxy. We have more than enough mech technicians to get the job done." Ves understood Finlay’s point. It wasn’t hard for an organization with lots of money and influence to hire a bunch of mech technicians willing to do anything for a fat paycheck. Unlike mech designers, the MTA imposed much less demands on mech technicians to adhere to its values and principles. It didn’t matter too much anyway. "Am I eligible to receive my reward now?" Ves slightly pressed. Ever since he packed off Santo, he became impatient to receive what Finlay had promised to him. The sample of Synthra Umbra along with Item #1255 plagued his thoughts numerous times throughout the last few days! "Since you have abided by your end of the agreement, I will naturally release your rewards under your care." Finlay responded with an easy tone. "Let us head to the warehouse right now." They exited the workshop and moved over to a nearby warehouse. They entered an apportioned lot where two different containers rested on the floor. "Here they are. You can inspect them if you wish." "Don’t mind if I do." Ves approached the smaller container and opened it up. He scanned its contents with a spare multiscanner he filched from the workshop and confirmed the sample of Synthra Umbra was authentic. Not a single milligram of Syntha Umbra was missing! As for the larger container, Ves only briefly opened its container and subjected its contents to a cursory scan. It wasn’t even needed as the indescribable presence along with the active spirituality hidden within already confirmed the huge object’s authenticity! There was no way anyone would be able to fool Ves with an imitation of the Ancient Sarcophagus! "Both items are sound and match the description set in the contract." "You can take them away at your leiure. Are we good now?" "We’re good." That was it. The deal they struck a couple of days ago ended on a quick and sudden note. In exchange for just four days of his time, Ves effortlessly obtained two expensive objects valued at around 30 billion bright credits! If Ves ignored the disturbing implications of running roughshod over the Big Two’s prohibitions against taboo weaponry, then this was one of the most lucrative deals he had ever engaged in! It still surprised him that Finlay would even abide by the terms of such a costly agreement! "Before you celebrate, don’t forget you still owe us 215 millian firthals." Finlay mentioned. "Ah, I remember. I’ve already exchanged the necessary currency." Surprisingly, Finlay waved his hand to Ves. "Forget it. 215 million firthals is chump change for us. I’ve already brought up your earlier proposal to my superiors. Depending on your performance, I can exercise my discretion, which I have just done. You can keep the remainder of the money you owe us. Consider it a favor." That was even more welcome news. "Oh. Thank you." "In exchange, let’s keep in touch. I’m sure you’re busy with your own business right now. Every Journeyman is busy all the time. However, if you ever require anything from the Sentinel Kingdom or the Nyxian Gap, we’d appreciate it if you approached us first." Evidently, Finlay rated ’Rho-Sigma’ very highly. This was exactly what Ves had aimed for in these last few days!