Of the 1.3 billion MTA merits that the Golden Skull Alliance was about to gain, at least a third of it would go to the Larkinson Clan! Last Ves checked his record, he still had around 129 million MTA merits to his name. This already represented an incredible sum of wealth, but if he added a couple of million more MTA merits to his account, he would truly become truly loaded! Ves mentally salivated at all of the goodies he could exchange for. Obtaining a vial of high-grade life-prolonging treatment no longer sounded as ludicrous as before! However, he quickly sobered himself up. There was no need for him to spend so much MTA merits on a product he already had in his possession. It would also take many years for him and his little family to grow old enough to actually require life-prolonging treatment. As Ves thought about Master Vayro Goldstein's encouragement, he realized that he should be thinking more strategically about his MTA merit spending. It was not appropriate for him to hoard hundreds of millions of MTA merits. Letting them rot in his account was no different from self-sabotaging himself! The much smarter option would be to spend the majority of his MTA merits on goods and services that could strengthen his clan and accelerate its growth. Of course, he could not forget about investing in his own development. Ves was in the rare position of having much more MTA merits at his disposal than he knew what to do with it. He could easily squander the majority of his gains on a useless purchase, so he was under a lot more pressure than before! One of the reasons why having a lot of MTA merits was a burden was because it was a high-end currency. Even though it was a made-up token that the mechers created out of nothing only to receive it again at extremely favorable rates to themselves, that didn't stop Ves from playing along. The company store was the only venue in town. The Mech Trade Association ultimately exploited everyone who made use of MTA merits due to its exclusive and monopolistic nature. Unless pioneers honestly submitted 16 tons of phasewater to the Association, they would never be able to retrieve their souls from its grasp! "Can you advise me on where I should spend my MTA merits, Master?" He politely requested. "I can certainly do that for you, Mr. Larkinson." Master Goldstein smiled as if he was waiting for this request. "Let me start by giving you a special offer. We have been made aware that you are looking for better schooling for your children. As a parent, it is only natural for you to wish the best for your offspring." Ves immediately grew a bit more vigilant as soon as the MTA Master mentioned his children. As their father, he was quite protective of them and he did not want anyone to mess around with their lives! "That is true. What of it, Master?" "As you are doubtlessly aware of, our Association occasionally recruits its members among the greater human community. Our criteria are highly variable. Occasionally, we recruit third-raters in order to increase the diversity and representation of our ranks. Other times, we extend invitations to the best pupils of first-rate states to inject fresh blood in our pool of future leaders. Right now, there is one child of yours that I am willing to induct into our ranks." It did not take much time and effort for Ves to guess which child that Master Goldstein had in mind. "Are you offering to allow my son Marvaine to become a mecher?" "Yes." Master Goldstein replied. "I would like to induct him into our ranks without any requirements, but since this is an invitation that falls outside of our regular recruitment rounds, you will have to spend MTA merits to make this happen." "How much?" "It depends on how far you are willing to go to invest in his development. Our Association offers different support programs. If you only spend around 10 million MTA merits, then we will induct him into our normal ranks. There is nothing wrong with that. As long as he excels in his studies and displays enough talent at an early age, he will earn greater opportunities and receive the opportunity to become a seed that receives more focused attention. If you are willing to spend more, say 100 million MTA merits, you can not only provide him with additional learning resources, but also give him a cushion against failure. If he happens to fail a number of important exams, we will not eject him right away, but use up one of his cushions first." "That…" "The more MTA merits you spend, the more attention your child receives." Master Goldstein grinned like a cheap used shuttle salesman. "If you are open to spending 500 million MTA merits, we can arrange for him to be apprenticed to one of our Master Mech Designers. While this sum of merits is not enough for him to become my personal student, I can refer him to many younger but accomplished colleagues of mine who can take him under their wing. There is no limit to how much MTA merits you can submit to arrange for a better teacher. It is even possible for your son to become an apprentice to the Polymath herself as long as you are able to cover her entry fee." Ves had no interest in asking how many MTA merits it took to get a person apprenticed to a Star Designer. He was afraid that by the time he struggled to gather an astronomical sum of MTA merits together, he probably would have degenerated into a complete slave of the Association by that time! That said, Ves didn't even have any interest in taking up the cheapest option. "Your offers certainly sound compelling, but… inducting him into your Association will mean that he will no longer be able to stay with my family, right?" "I am afraid so. From the moment he becomes a mecher, he will have to follow a highly regimented life. We do provide allowances for members to contact their old families over the galactic net. Your son may even be able to go on leave to visit you as long as either of you are willing to spend enough MTA merits." Ves already learned enough. "I understand. Letting our son become a member of your esteemed Association is a great privilege, but it is not what my wife and I had in mind for our son, or any of our children for that matter." He replied in a careful voice. "We Larkinsons value family, and I do not see a reasonable way to allow our son to grow up in a warm and loving household when he is stationed in an MTA base that is far away from my fleet." It was painful for Ves to reject the most promising option for his son. Becoming a member of one of the Big Two was an incredible dream to the majority of the people in human civilization. Few people wanted to stay among space peasants. Everything was so much better in the MTA that Marvaine would most definitely receive opportunities that Ves could never provide! The best augmentations! The best schools! The best materials! The best mechs! The best mech designers! These were but a handful of the reasons why the mechers could do more! However… Ves couldn't bear the thought of sending his son off to the MTA where he would likely be indoctrinated to become a loyal member. By the time Marvaine was ten years old, it was extremely doubtful whether he would retain any serious love or affection to his parents! As for the Larkinson Clan? Hah! One puny clan could never match the prestige of the mighty Mech Trade Association! It would be easier for Ves to drop one of his kids off to the MTA if he already had a hundred other offspring, but that was not the case. Marvaine was his pride and joy. He was his first son and the presumed heir of his mech design legacy. There was no way that Ves would allow the mechers to get their grubby hands on his boy! Master Goldstein directed a measured stare at Ves. "That is your prerogative. It is your right as a parent to decide how you wish to raise your child. This particular offer will remain open until he reaches a certain age. As an alternative, you may wait until he has reached maturity and is ready to build a life outside of his parental home to join our ranks. He will have to join us under a different arrangement, and that will demand more MTA merits." "I understand." Ves nodded. "Can you make other suggestions on how I should spend my MTA merits?" He deeply wanted to change the topic. He was afraid that he might actually get seduced into hauling his son off to the MTA if this continued! "You can buy a high-grade planet from us." Master Goldstein proposed. "This is different from what you think. Instead of traveling to an unoccupied star system and building up an independent colony on an available planet, you will instead colonize a planet in a star system that we have designated. Since you are colonizing it under our auspices, you will receive a limited amount of subsidies, resources, construction equipment and infrastructural support. The resulting colony will belong to you, but since the locations that we have designated always hold strategic value to us, our Association will likely build a major branch or stronghold in the star system." "And that means…?" "We will implicitly protect your colony against alien incursions. You will not need to fear any attacks from humanity's external enemies. Aside from that, your colony will also be able to benefit in other ways. None of our branches are completely isolated from the environments they reside in. There will be limited opportunities for trade that can be immensely profitable. Supporting one of our branches is one of the most reliable methods to earn a consistent amount of MTA merits." Ves had never heard of this kind of arrangement. He would be lying if he said he was not interested in this scheme. One of the biggest risks to founding a planet in the Red Ocean was that a bunch of aliens could arrive at any time to bomb it to oblivion. While it was true that the colonies in the hinterland of human-occupied space were no longer under effective threat of aliens, the problem was that all of the best colony sites had already been claimed! There were still plenty of untouched star systems in places like the Magair Middle Zone, but they were pretty much barren in his eyes! The better colony candidates were located closer to the local galactic center. That sounded great until people remembered that they were also much more prone to getting raided by alien warships! If the Larkinson Clan founded a colony that was essentially sponsored by the MTA, this risk factor would eventually drop to the bottom! Ves would be able to rule over his own planet while using the mechers as his shield. Hardly anyone would dare to mess with a close friend of the Association! However, there were many other reasons why he would want to avoid this course of action. He would be tying his clan and himself to the MTA, which was not desirable in his opinion. It was fine for him to maintain a mutual exchange of interests with the MTA, but that did not mean he wanted to become overly dependent on this overbearing organization! 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎 One of his motives for becoming stronger was to become less dependent on the protection of the MTA. It would be backwards if he chose to become a de facto vassal of the Association by founding a colony within its empire!