It didn't take as long as Ves thought to secure an additional concession from the Gemini Family. Granted, it didn't really cost the Geminis anything to provide this additional service. The only point of uncertainty was whether the Gemini Saints would agree with this additional chore. It was not exactly proper for them to provide guidance to a bunch of foreign expert pilots and expert candidates. After consulting with Saint Sandro Gemini and Saint Kaia Gemini, the leaders of the Gemini Family issued a mostly positive response. "Our Saints have agreed to tutor your expert pilots in person for half a day. They have no objection to promising to do their best to promote the advancement of your most powerful Larkinson mech pilots. However, they have refused to do the same for your expert candidates." Ves frowned in displeasure. "Why not?" "They say it is not conducive to their growth prospects." Patriarch Kobal Gemini calmly answered. "The gap in strength is too big. Your expert candidates will likely lose their confidence in themselves if they meet and receive lessons from ace pilots at close proximity. You need to remember that expert pilots only emerge from soldiers who have strong willpower. Expert pilots have enough resolve to resist the urge to surrender to a Saint, but I am afraid that expert candidates are far from reaching that level. This is for their own good." Now that he thought about it, the Gemini Saints had a good point. Expert candidates were truly too fragile to engage people like Patriarch Reginald Cross in a serious discussion. "Okay. I can accept that argument." Ves said after a time. "We already have plenty of expert pilots to occupy the attention of your ace pilots. As long as your Gemini Saints will make a solemn promise to help our Larkinson expert pilots without any ulterior motives, then I am willing to accept this service as an additional concession." As long as the wording of the promise was solid enough, then he would not have to fear any possibility where the Gemini Saints deliberately tried to sabotage the Larkinson expert pilots by leading them astray. Their strong principles prohibited them from breaking their promises! Ves already had plenty of experiences with expert pilots honoring their commitments. This trait was even stronger among ace pilots! There wasn't even any need to put these terms in a written contract, though the Larkinson Clan would insist on doing so anyway just to make it nice and official. Ves and the Gemini leaders continued to chat with each other for a while. They cautiously explored further trades, but neither side could come to any further agreements. The Gemini Family wasn't able to offer any further value. It had already committed to investing much of the spoils gained from Operation Lighthouse into building a future state where the Gemini way of life was the new standard. The opposition to this initiative would probably be massive, so the Geminis wanted to counter that by being overprepared. The more wealth and resources they had at their disposal, the greater their chances of success in challenging the status quo! As such, Ves did not receive a positive response when he asked to obtain a portion of their harvested phasewater, alien technology, valuable materials and other high-value goods. As for Ves, he was not that enthusiastic about backing the Geminis to the same degree as the Hexer people. Ves had already become irrevocably tainted by his strong association with the Hexers. His iconic products not only strengthened their military, but also influenced their culture and beliefs! The fact that he somehow maneuvered his way into getting recognized as the living son of their most important deity was a blatant sign that he had ?— rather haphazardly ?— become the spiritual leader of the Hex Federation! This was profoundly ironic considering that he was a man rather than woman! In any case, Ves could only tolerate one such stain in his record. "Once may be an exception. Twice is deliberate." If it looked as if Ves made great efforts to prop up the Gemini Family through his works, then that would lead the public to develop many false assumptions! For example, people might be under the impression that Ves actively supported its family policies! Perhaps people might suspect that Ves was secretly a huge sister lover and that he wouldn't have hesitated to start an intimate relationship with a sibling. Only the fact that his parents had one kid stopped Ves from fulfilling this taboo dream! He coughed. This was a complete falsehood, of course. Ves wanted nothing to do with the Gemini Family after this ordeal was over. His only goal was to try and see if he could squeeze more concessions from the Geminis. Seeing that neither side was able to agree to any further trades, they decided to settle with the current outcome. "You are welcome to send your expert pilots over to our fleet as soon as our lawyers have finalized the contract." Matriarch Sena Gemini said. "Got it." Ves smiled and nodded. "We maintain an active rotation of expert mech patrols so we can only send them to you piece by piece." "That is not a problem. We can formulate a schedule that we can both agree upon." "Alright. I guess that's it. Happy cooperation." "Happy cooperation." While Ves did not forget about all of the shenanigans the Gemini Family pulled off, the trade deal that he had just concluded wiped away much of his resentment. There was nothing like a good agreement to help two resentful parties make up with each other. It was a reminder that they had much more to gain by cooperating with each other rather than engaging in any unproductive conflicts. The rest of the meeting did not drag on for too long. It seemed that it had mainly been held to give Ves an opportunity to sell his blessed weapon upgrades to the different pioneering groups. The Geminis only held a few informative speeches before sending everyone on their way. Minister Shederin Purnesse and Director Calabast joined Ves and his guards as he made his way out of the half-restored alien base fragment. Lucky also came back after he had snuck out some time ago. The cat somehow looked a lot more satisfied than before. "Did you find anything good?" "Meow~" The cat comfortably flew into Calabast's embrace. "Anything you are willing to share?" "Meow meow." "Thanks, Lucky." Ves waited until they boarded their shuttle before he solicited the opinion of his closest advisors. "What do you think?" "You performed well." Minister Shederin voiced his opinion. "You dominated the gathering with ease. While I can tell you that you could have employed different tactics that could allow you to gain further concessions from your trading partners, that would come at the cost of souring your relations with them. The manner in which you have conducted yourself has always made your counterpart come away with a more positive outlook towards the Larkinson Clan than before." Ves furrowed his brows. This was not an ordinary remark. "What are you saying, Shederin?" The older man gestured to him. "You have changed, Ves. You had always been greedy to gain advantages for yourself, but the approach you have decided upon has discouraged you from driving a harder bargain than normal. Certainly, our new trading partners had to make significant concessions, but I highly suspect that you have hardly touched their bottom lines." "Maybe you're right, but I see little point in quibbling over a couple of kilograms of phasewater." "That may be true, but that does not change the fact that you have adopted a softer attitude, apparently without conscious thought. I think you have changed in a way that has made you more inclined to seek mutually beneficial agreements." Ves wanted to scratch his head. "That doesn't sound any different from what I have done before. I don't like screwing people over. Besides, I am already gaining more out of these deals than everyone realizes. Just the opportunity to get into contact with so many different mech weapons developed by so many brilliant mech designers will do much to advance our own weapon development." "I should caution you that it is not always in our best interest to placate another party. There are times where reconciliation will cost us more than if we maintain a confrontational stance." "If that is the case, then I hope that you and your guys will warn me in advance." "That is what we are for, sir." Minister Shederin affirmed. The only major downside was that none of the other mech designers of the Larkinson Clan was permitted to examine the powerful gear. Only Ves himself was allowed to work with the exclusive equipment. Calabast voiced her opinion as well. "Whatever you are doing, it's working. This gathering could have ended much uglier for us all. While I cannot speak with any certainty, we have analyzed that there was a small but very real possibility that some of the coalition partners could have turned hostile against us. The charm that you have shown earlier today has eased much of those concerns." "That doesn't make any sense." Ves looked skeptical. "Anyone knows that I have the backing of the MTA. Our clan is not weak either. Anyone who attacks us will suffer so much damage that they will lose more than what they can gain out of an assault." "That is true, but there are ways to circumvent those losses. They can conspire with other pioneering fleets in the region for example. This is a rather common occurrence in the region. They can also find and lure a hostile fleet of aliens to our location, though this is much more difficult to pull off. Whatever the case, none of the coalition partners have any reason to engage in hostilities against us, especially when you still need to work on their mech weapons." That was a good observation. Ves felt a lot better about himself. Anything that reduced potential threats against himself and his clan was a positive development in his book. Ves continued to exchange his views with his two advisors until his shuttle finally returned to the Spirit of Bentheim. After he handled a few affairs, he finally found an opportunity to retreat to a secure chamber at his personal workshop. He had jammed and locked down the entire space as best as possible to ensure that not a single signal would leak out. He did not want the MTA or anyone else to learn about what he was about to do in this space. "Here, kitty kitty. It's okay for you to show up now." "Myaow." His cyborg cat phased through the floor while dropping its camouflage. The living divine artifact exuded both power and elegance as its beautiful silver plating reflected the ambient lighting. The cat possessed quite a curious and playful personality by itself, though Ves could easily assume control if he wished. The only complication was the powerful and unquestionably hostile spiritual entity contained within its belly! "Sorry for letting you wait for so long. I had to make sure that no one noticed what had happened and decided to follow up on the matter. Has it been hard for you to contain that rebellious whale?" "Myaow myaow." The cyborg cat was coping better with the situation than before. It had been hard for the divine artifact to keep the harvest spirituality of the unclean whale contained, but it had gradually grown and adapted to this role. That was good news. Ves didn't intend to keep the captured spirit in limbo much longer, though. Anything could happen while the unclean whale was in his current predicament. Though the natives of the Red Ocean did not stand out in terms of spiritual excellence, they were not weak in this aspect. It was best for Ves to deal with the unclean whale before he turned into another Nyxie. "What will I do with you?" Ves idly asked as he continued to stare at the cyborg cat's belly.