Ves held a fruitful talk with Professor Benedict Cortez about the Cross Clan's participation in the Trailblazer Expedition. Just as expected, Patriarch Reginald Cross was so eager to test his massively improved combat against real opponents that he would jump at any opportunity for a fight! To be fair, his eagerness to prove himself and enjoy a good fight was not only about satisfying his urges. Ace pilots could not stand still. The journey from junior ace pilot to senior ace pilot was long. The journey from senior ace pilot to god pilot was even more arduous and torturous. Halfgods that took it easy and only spent their time on training and preparation would never be able to make significant progress! One way or another, ace pilots needed to fight in a battle with real stakes in order to progress their willpower and mentality. This was a known concern to many states that were qualified to retain ace pilots and they found various ways to resolve this issue. In fact, Ves had learned only recently that one of the favorite methods that states employed to keep their ace pilots in shape was to conduct secret duels. A state with at least two ace pilots who could both compete against each other without provoking any incidents against foreign neighbors. These were intensive sparring sessions that were much more destructive than usual! In order to generate as much stimulation as possible, the two combatants received allowances to fight harder and more extensively than regular sparring sessions. Inflicting serious damage to the ace mechs was not an uncommon occurrence! Though the practice was expensive, the growth of the ace pilots made it all worth it. States that weren't short of money were naturally more interested in accelerating the growth of their top combat assets. More contentious and controversial spars occurred between states. Ideally, the states that agreed to pit their ace pilots against each other had nothing to do with each other. States that did not neighbor each other generally had no competing interests, so their ace pilots could fight to their heart's content without giving their enemies detailed information about their fighting prowess. These spars usually yielded more growth because the ace pilots wouldn't be fighting against colleagues from their own side. They also became more exposed to different mech design styles and unique piloting specialties. Still, the chance of details leaking out was still a persistent concern. This was a devastating disadvantage that could give an enemy a powerful head-start in countering an essential military asset. What surprised Ves was that Patriarch Reginald Cross was not afraid of exposing his full combat prowess. "There is no way to hide this information forever, Ves." He spoke during a follow-up meeting on the planning of the Trailblazer Expedition. "I will fight in a battle sooner or later, and the more I show up on the battlefield, the harder it becomes to keep the footage and details confidential. Rather than cowering back because we are so paranoid about giving away an information advantage, I would rather fight in front of an audience and gain the combat experience I need to further my rise. As long as I become a senior ace pilot or more, what is the harm of letting our enemies know how strong I am? The Mars and I will just smash through the opposition by relying on our superior strength!" The new Saint did not just convey his confidence in words. He radiated it with his powerful Saint Kingdom! Even if Patriarch Reginald wasn't interfacing with the Mars right now, his force of will was still qualitatively more powerful than ever before, allowing him to distort reality in a short range around his body! Ves winced as he found it harder to maintain his composure. The strong mental and spiritual pressure that Reginald exerted when he became passionate was enough to influence ordinary people into submission! "Can you be more considerate and temper your emotions?! It's difficult to conduct a proper conversation with you when you are expressing yourself so exuberantly!" "Oh. My apologies, Ves. I am not accustomed to holding myself back." "That is quite obvious." Patriarch Reginald was not only an aggressive person by nature, but grew up in a substantially different culture and environment where open expression of strength was much more common. This was why Ves knew that Reginald didn't necessarily mean to browbeat anyone. It was just part of who he was, as evidenced by how the ace pilot's domain had developed. Ves and the Larkinsons had already learned that they needed to change the way they communicated and cooperated with the Cross Clan. Anything that Reginald had a vested interest in always had to meet his approval. This was quite annoying at times because the strong-willed ace pilot almost never changed his mind! He was so resistant to persuasion that it was just easier to work around him entirely if possible! Fortunately, Patriarch Reginald was still a bit more grounded than his infamous father. Compared to the son who had undergone a huge amount of hardships and suffered lots of tragedies, Saint Hemmington Cross had enjoyed a relatively smooth ride to his peak. The more Ves understood the emboldened Cross Patriarch, the less concerned he was about their continued cooperation. Patriarch Reginald might be wilder and less restrained, but he at least paid more attention to the safety of his fellow Crossers. "I will tell my men to step up their recruitment." Reginald promised to Ves. "With my presence, my clan's ability to recruit strong mech pilots has become a lot easier. We can produce as many strong mechs as we want, so that is not a problem either. The only real bottleneck that we are facing is getting our hands on more hulls, but I am already working on that problem. Shipyards tend to be a lot more accommodating towards our orders once I pay a personal visit to their offices." "I can imagine how easily the executives of those companies are willing to bow to your persuasion." Ves twitched his mouth. Compared to his reputation as the so-called Devil Tongue, the Cross Patriarch was the true demon in this room! Whereas Ves had to rely on trickery, lies, half-truths and misdirection, Reginald merely had to leverage his naturally intimidating presence in order to gain other people's agreement! The new ace pilot's domain actually lent itself well to this purpose. Reginald's instinct to dominate had become the defining trait of his domain field, which meant that both enemies and neutral people who did not possess strong mental defenses were easily susceptible to his unique method of 'negotiation'! Though the ethics of Patriarch Reginald's actions were debatable, Ves could not argue about the results. "How many mechs will your clan be able to field once we have reached the end of our rearming phase?" Ves curiously asked. "I don't exactly know. I leave that business to Benedict and my administrators. I think one of them has given me an estimate that we will have enough carriers to field approximately 12,000 mechs." The ace pilot's grimace made it obvious that this was far from satisfactory to the ace pilot. Back when the Cross Clan was led by Saint Hemmington Cross, the Cross Clan at its height could easily rally hundreds of thousands of mech pilots if not more! However, the circumstances that Reginald and his father operated in were different. The old galaxy was already highly developed and the Garlen Empire was both a powerful and established state that hosted a lot of industrial activity. The new frontier was much more limited in every way. Though shipyards and other factories had been popping up like mushrooms in the past year, the influx of more and more pioneers into the Red Ocean continued to increase demand on starships without any signs of slowing down! Therefore, no matter how 'persuasive' Patriarch Reginald had become, even he could not utilize his formidable willpower to conjure up entire combat carriers out of thin air! "I told Benedict that if other companies are so reluctant to sell carrier ships to us, that we should take our money and build our own shipyards." The Cross Patriarch casually said. "It could even be a lucrative new industry for us seeing how popular it is. I heard that even your clan started to produce starships as well." Ves crossed his arms. "Let me guess. Benedict and the rest of your clan rejected your proposal." "That's exactly what happened! I don't understand! They bring up all kinds of charts and numbers that I don't understand." "If you don't have an existing foundation in shipbuilding, it's extremely hard to get into." Ves told the man. "Even our converted shipyard is mostly relegated to constructing simpler combat carriers for internal use. It's not that we don't want to, it's just that our access to resources is extremely limited. It takes a lot of metal to construct a ship, and while plenty of them gets shipped to Davute every day, a lot of the imports are already reserved by the oldest industries that have signed long-term contracts with the suppliers years ago. These first movers effectively maintain an oligopoly on resources that is hard to get around." Though the Larkinson Clan has been doing its best to establish fixed relationships with newer material suppliers that arrived late to the party, these were still smaller players that could only make contracts with smaller and less dominant mining companies. The logistics behind this was extremely complicated and the overall picture evolved every month due to new developments and random events. One day, a mining planet might get burned to the ground because an errant alien starship had arrived to exact vengeance against the human race. The next day, a mining company might get bought out by a larger party after bribing the shareholders. The new frontier was such a wild environment that even the Larkinson Clan's large Hammerworks Manufacturing Complex had to lower its output at times because the supply of several critical materials had dried up for a few weeks! If the volatility in the supply of raw materials affected the production of mechs, then they most certainly impacted the production of starships as well! "I feel tempted to fight for power and try to take over Davute." Reginald expressed his frustration as his will became more agitated! "Those other fellows that came in earlier than us have claimed so much of the good stuff for themselves that they're not leaving us with enough materials! It is beneath us to keep begging for scraps." "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down, Reginald! Let's not talk about trying to compete for power or anything. It's not worth it. Davute is a planet that is built up by the first wave of pioneers. They put a lot of effort and invested huge amounts of money to develop this trading hub. They are not only highly entrenched in this star system, but they also built up a tight network of allies. I can guarantee you that no matter whether you're an ace pilot or not, if you declare war on a single group, you will instantly make a hundred additional enemies!" The fiery pressure exuded by Patriarch Reginald receded a bit as he recognized the reality of the situation. "You're right. There's too many ace pilots anyway. I am certain I can beat any one of them in a duel, but my father has taught me that it is not wise to fight against multiple of them at the same time." "Your father taught you that lesson with his life." Ves concurred. "Don't disappoint him by ignoring that and making the same preventable mistakes. Compared to fighting against the powerful founders of Davute, you're much better off joining me on my Trailblazer Expedition. Just think about it. Once we head to the deep frontier and explore former alien strongholds, we'll definitely bump into our fair share of exotic alien enemies. You don't need to care about their opinions at all. You can smash them all to pieces with your Mars without needing to restrain yourself!" Reginald grew a lot more excited about this prospect. "You're right! There's no complicated politics or alliances when it comes to aliens. They all hate us anyway, so everyone will think that we are doing a lot of good by killing off the original races of the Red Ocean!" There were so many indigenous alien populations in the Red Ocean that it would take a long time to wipe them all out! This meant that Patriarch Reginald could fight as many of them as he wanted to without worrying about running out of opponents! The Red Ocean was practically paradise to him for that reason alone! "Don't forget about human opponents as well. There are many scavengers and lowlives scurrying about in the deep frontier. Not all of them would take kindly to our presence. The rules are different over there and fights can break out over the slightest reasons. We need to get ready to fight against powerful mech forces at any time, just in case." Ves cautioned the ace pilot. "You're right."