Ves expected to receive a confidential call from Master Dervidian or another representative of the Transhumanist Faction. After all, he had corresponded the most with the Transhumanists in the past few years. Much of his work regarding the transcendence glow and other spiritual projects was of paramount importance to the mechers whose goal was to enable human ascension. However, the physical projection that showed up did not come in the form of a familiar-looking gray-haired man wearing a brightly colored tech suit over a lab coat. Ves instead came face to face with an entirely new figure. He quickly scanned the appearance of the new man. At first, the projected individual did not look like a mech designer. His head was prominently bald and he wore an excellent tailored business suit. The only unusual part about his appearance was that he wore a purple patterned cape over his shoulders. Ves was sure that if the newcomer turned around, he would be able to see unknown heraldry on the cape. Despite this unusual feature, the man did not exude the demeanor of an aristocrat or a priest. Ves could clearly sense from the projected vision that he had met another Master Mech Designer, one that likely stood at the same height as Master Dervidian! Though the new Master carried himself with the similar air of a leader within the Association, he did not show any disdain towards Ves. It was the opposite! The high-ranking mecher conveyed respect and appreciation through his body language and his expression. This caused Ves to gain a better impression of the man and allowed him to relax a bit. The ensuing conversation should not be too troublesome. The man eventually introduced himself. "I am Master Vayro Goldstein. I am a friend of the Polymath and I manage a number of her affairs within the Survivalist Faction. I believe you should already be aware of the reason for my call." Ves nodded without any pretension. "I do. To be honest, I was expecting a call from the Transhumanists." "We are aware of your increasing cooperation with the Transhumanist Faction, but your most recent work is of much greater interest to us. I would like to explain more, but our current means of communication leaves much to be desired." "I understand. What do you want to talk about then, Master?" "We can still discuss other matters aside from going into greater detail of your latest technological accomplishment. One piece of news that I have been asked to convey is that Mr. Jovy Armalon should soon be able to contact you again." Ves grew a little more excited at this mention. "I haven't seen or heard from my friend in a while. I have only been able to talk with him over the comm on an infrequent basis." Master Goldstein nodded. "Mr. Armalon is a promising seed that has demonstrated both competence and a willingness to challenge the unknown in more ways than one. We have subjected him to a strict regime in order to prevent him from wasting his potential. He should be done with his current program in the near future. If he is able to live up to our expectations, then he will be able to upgrade his status and gain considerable autonomy over his own schedule." Though Ves was happy to hear that Jovy was doing well within the Association, it was a bit strange for a Master Mech Designer who was presumably a bigshot among the mechers to convey this news in person. It was as absurd as employing a galactic mech councilor to deliver a parcel to a random person in the Red Ocean! The only way Master Goldstein's actions made sense was if the Survivalists valued Ves and Jovy to a much greater extent than before! Ves gained more confidence at the realization that his standing among the Survivalists had risen yet again. That did not mean it was a good idea to start acting presumptuously in front of one of the direct subordinates of the Polymath, though. He quickly reined in his messy thoughts and tried to maintain his professional demeanor. "Thank you for informing me of Jovy's current conditions. I consider him to be a friend and I would like it if I am able to regain proper contact with him again." Master Goldstein smiled. "That is good to hear, but let us move on to more substantive business. We have quietly observed your progress and your work since you have entered the Red Ocean. We are generally satisfied with your productivity, your diligence, your contributions and your sincerity in cooperation with our Mech Trade Association. We admire your passion towards mechs and your drive to advance your own vision of them, but we are also concerned with your more extreme tendencies." "Mech designers such as myself are usually capable of producing many brilliant innovations by pursuing ideas that more prudent colleagues have dismissed." Ves mildly retorted. "I do not disagree with you, but everything must have a sense of proportion. You, Mr. Larkinson, do not seem to know the meaning of the word. This has become especially obvious now that you have left the stable environment of the Davute System and have gone on expeditions that mech designers usually do not take part in, especially ones as successful and high profile as you. We have observed that there is a much higher prevalence of radical actions and decisions when you subject yourself to greater turbulence." Well, that was what Ves pretty much figured out about himself as well. The only difference was that Ves saw this as a positive development while Master Goldstein made it sound as if this was an expression of insanity! Ves did not feel ashamed at his approach. He felt no need to deny or repudiate his strategy. "Davute has provided my family and I with a comfortable living environment." He admitted. "However, I know myself well enough that I do not have the talent or personality to do my best in a quiet and stagnant locale. Perhaps I may be able to work towards Senior and Master over time by coasting along, but that has never been my end goal." Master Goldstein grew less stern after hearing this answer. "Ambition is good. We will not fault you for your decisions as long as you are aware of the risks and have a clear purpose in mind. The fact that you have produced excellent results makes your actions more tolerable." In other words, the Survivalists were inclined to let Ves do whatever he wanted as long as he was successful in his endeavors. Their response would probably be a lot different if Ves badly screwed up during his adventures! The unspoken context of Master Goldstein's message was that the Survivalists did not want him to suffer an accident. At the very least, Ves could still make a lot of contributions to the MTA! It was intolerable for him to cut his miraculous career short before he managed to realize his design philosophy and passed on his teachings to the rest of the mech industry! Both of them were smart people, so there was no need to discuss this kind of topic in the open. As Ves grew older and wiser, he was beginning to resemble those old and wise statesmen to an increasing degree. Hanging around with people such as Calabast and Shederin Purnesse allowed him to acquire more and more of their tricks and depth of thinking. Though Master Goldstein was still far above his level of cognition, Ves at least reached a level where he wouldn't embarrass himself in this sort of exchange. The two began to talk a bit more substantively about his recent work. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦 Though neither Ves nor Master Goldstein could go into detail about the specific details due to the lack of trust in the confidentiality of the communication channel, they did not need to convey too many words to express their meaning. Master Goldstein had already done his homework and was fully up to date with the research that Ves had handed over to the MTA. Sometimes the two didn't even need to open their mouths to convey a meaning to each other. It was not a surprise that someone as old and brilliant as Master Goldstein to be able to do so, but the highly experienced mech designer was surprised that a relatively young Journeyman had reached this level so quickly. In fact, Ves was already accustomed to communicating through non-verbal means. He interacted with many design spirits on a regular basis. Many of them did not communicate through words but instead through emotions or more esoteric spiritual cues. Ves had to become good at deciphering the more obscure forms of communication from inhuman design spirits such as the Titania and the Phase King! "I am pleasantly surprised at the restraint and forethought of your attitude towards the propagation of your tech." Master Goldstein said in an appreciative tone. "You are correct to hold back and wait for our judgment. You are far from the only mech designer that has developed radical new design solutions, but the mech industry and our greater society is not always ready to adopt them. The purpose of instituting the system of mech generations is to control and regulate the pace of technological progress. Too much innovation at once is not always beneficial. In your case, it may take at least two or three mech generations before your more consequential inventions are eligible for propagation." That did not deviate too much from Ves' own expectations. "I can still apply my own work to my own clan or network, right?" He asked. This was what mattered the most to Ves! His greatest motivation for coming up with inventions such as blessed weapons was to give his clan an insurmountable edge against rivals and opponents. If Master Goldstein told him that he wasn't even allowed to equip his own clansmen with blessed weapons, then Ves would seriously question the wisdom of continuing to associate with the Survivalist Faction! Fortunately, the man did not make it difficult for Ves. "An innovator such as yourself is allowed to spread his work to his own organization. That is the prevailing custom within our industry." The MTA Master reiterated. "We see no reason to deviate from the rules in your case, but that only applies so long as you handle your work in a responsible manner. Try to stay within reasonable boundaries and be certain that your more explosive products will not be of any use to others if they happen to fall into the wrong hands." Ves was already familiar with this demand. The Polymath had already warned him before. "I have already taken the necessary precautions. I have added multiple safeguards to my latest toy so that it will never perform as well as it did in our clan." Master Goldstein nodded in satisfaction. "You must continue to remain thorough in safeguarding your tech. It is already detrimental enough if your work falls into the hands of other human groups, but they are not significant to us. What we are truly concerned about is the possibility that advanced alien races such as the puelmers may obtain new human tech in advance." That was indeed an extremely serious possibility. "I heard the indigenous alien races have been making a lot of progress in closing the technological gap." "It is true." Goldstein admitted with a frown. "Traitors among humanity have contributed much towards this unwelcome development, but the aliens have become increasingly more proactive in their attempts to steal samples of our advanced technology so that they can study their weaknesses and deduce their working principles. The puelmer race has become particularly obsessed with mastering our high technologies. One of the purposes for contacting you is to remind you to strengthen your protection measures so that we will not find imitations of your work in alien hands one day. I can assure you that our corrective measures will be swift and fierce if it becomes clear that you have voluntarily or involuntarily colluded with aliens." "...I will be sure to pay more attention to this possible risk."