Chapter 6955 Setting A High Standard Gloriana's malaise disappeared almost entirely after Ves unexpectedly decided to initiate her into his greatest secret. Ves knew he made an irrational decision. Given Gloriana's track record when it came to protecting secrets, anyone with a bit of common sense would think he was a fool for trusting she could do better this time! There was little justification in letting her know about vital secrets. This not only encompassed the source behind his rapid ascension, but also the true reason why Ketis was able to open up a portal to the Blue Dimension! The exposure of any single one of these details alone was enough to put Ves and potentially Ketis into a huge amount of trouble! Yet… Ves no longer wanted to keep such important secrets from the woman of his life. The two were married to each other. They shared many things with each other. Their relationship was built on a foundation of mutual trust and respect. While there was no overarching imperative for Ves to improve his existing relationship with his wife, he felt he needed to abide by his principles and do right by her by initiating her into the Mech Designer System. From a practical perspective, letting her into the System would definitely allow her to accelerate her career. More than Ves and Ketis, Gloriana seemed like the detail-oriented mech designer that would definitely make good use of the sheer amount of potential contained within the System! So long as Gloriana learned the ropes and understood what kind of goodies she could redeem by spending Ascension Points, she would definitely be able to strengthen her foundation and speed up her progression by a significant margin. Although letting her improve to such an extent introduced the risk that she might advance to the rank of Master Mech Designer before Ves, he did not mind the friendly competition. In any case, it would be better for the Larkinson Clan to welcome a Master from its own ranks sooner rather than later. By initiating Gloriana into the Mech Designer System, Ves would remove a major barrier that had always separated the two from each other. His wife would truly know without a shadow of a doubt that he loved her and that he was utterly committed to their relationship. He did not ask too much from her in return. It was true that she had very little to offer to Ves at this current stage, but Ves did not make this decision because he performed a detailed cost-benefit analysis. Ves chose to bring Gloriana onboard this aspect of his life because he wanted to. Simple as that. If he ended up making a mistake, then so be it. He had reached a point in his life where exposing the Mech Designer System was not an immediately fatal outcome. That did not mean that he could shrug it off. The consequences were still fairly dire, but he was confident in his ability to manage the newly introduced risks. At worst, Ves could always take shelter under the protection of the Red Association, the Red Collective and other protectors if necessary. It would be best if it did not come to that, though. Ves still valued his independence. Even if he took up a high position within the Red Collective, he still wanted to maintain a certain degree of separation from the youngest superorganization. This was especially relevant now that Ves learned that it was about to experience its first schism! 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶 No matter whether Gloriana was able to keep her word or not, Ves would be ready either way. A naive person would believe in her promises and assume that she would obediently keep her mouth shut on the Mech Designer System. Ves was not that naive. This was why he was already planning for the worst case scenario. He still hoped that it wouldn't be necessary for him to resort to these measures, but that remained to be seen. In any case, he first needed to actually divulge the existence of the Mech Designer System to Gloriana and bring her into the System Space to show off its capabilities. "I will expose the truth to you, but not now. Not today." That interrupted Gloriana's good moon. "You will not…?" "It's been a long day, honey. I have completed a lengthy implantation surgery where I stuffed 4 new phasewater organs inside my body. Somehow, my phasewater concentration rose and I got pulled in a tribulation that caused me to spawn a rogue personality. An assassination attempt occurred where Sev made a debut and beat up the alien ambushers. After that, I had to undergo testing and examinations. While none of these exertions have brought me to the brink of exhaustion, I fear that my mental state has deteriorated to the point where I am prone to making mistakes. I need to take a break and reset my mental faculties as best as possible." His wife frowned even as she leaned against his body. "I see. I suppose that is prudent. I hope you do not think of taking back the decision that you have made today." "I won't." He said. "I am a man of my word. I will not turn back this decision. I just need a bit more time before I am ready to initiate you. During this time, you should not remain idle. This is a good moment for you to inspect your security measures and upgrade them whenever possible. You need to repay my trust by demonstrating to me with your actions that you are capable of keeping important secrets." Her expression grew more serious. "I will not disappoint you, Ves." "You better. The magnitude of what I intend to reveal to you is huge. If you spill any of it to third parties, then you will not only put us in danger, but also our children. You don't want them to stay in heightened protective custody forever due to the possibility that evildoers will seek to kidnap them in order to gain leverage over us, right?" The possibility of harming her own children truly alarmed Gloriana! While it was not enough to persuade her to give up on the agreement, she truly took this matter seriously at this point. "I intend to consult several security experts within our clan for assistance tomorrow morning." She said. "I will also borrow the services of Saint Dise to thoroughly sweep my hardware for bugs and other hidden security threats." Ves became pleased when he heard that Gloriana was already thinking up concrete measures. "I trust you will do a good job. Make sure to get your cranial implant suite checked out. It is created with the help of Mentalist Crystal fragments. This special hyper material possesses weird and unfamiliar properties. I wouldn't be surprised if people secretly developed a device that might be able to lift data from your cranial implant." His wife looked at him as if he was stupid. "The implant developers would never overlook such an obvious and foreseeable vulnerability. Arachne 01 Distributed Mech Project Leader First-Class Cranial Implant Set is especially developed for my use. Every developer involved in the project is thoroughly vetted. Their work also passed through multiple different inspections, including one conducted by our own personnel. The experts from the LBI has regularly monitored my condition and the conditions of my implant set and never encountered any red flags." Ves softly patted her shoulder. "I believe you, but it is best not to be too overconfident when it comes to stuff like this. Any vulnerability, no matter how tiny it may be, is a potential security nightmare. What happened during the surgery has refreshed my awareness of new threats. Since we can take advantage of E energy manipulation to do a lot of cool new stuff, so can the enemy. You can approach the Moloch Squadron for general advice and assistance. The qi cultivators over there have mastered a variety of strange new abilities. Their leader is a formation master who specializes in scrying!" His wife slowly frowned. She did not adequately consider threats from this angle. His reminder came at a timely moment. "I will take care of it. It may take a few days to get my security situation in order." "That is good. Take your time. Let's retire for the night." The next day, both Ves and Gloriana woke up refreshed and in a much better mood than before. The tension and alienation that existed between them had entirely disappeared. In fact, they felt a lot closer to each other than they had in years. Ves had shown that despite his alter ego's callous words, he still loved her and appreciated her company. For her part, Gloriana felt flattered by his faith in her. Her motivation had grown and she clearly looked forward to the day when she was finally able to take a greater part of his life. She even began to hum as she helped to feed Marvaine his breakfast of fortified nutrients that were specially tailored to his transhuman physique. The children all noticed the differences. They had heard a lot of rumors yesterday, and not all of them sounded pleasant. "Papa?" "Yes, Aurelia?" "Why are you quitting? You could have tried harder to stay in power." Ves smiled indulgently at his oldest daughter. "I am not 'quitting' per se. I am scheduled to resign from my position as patriarch as soon as our clan has elected a new leader. I have suffered an accident that has made it dangerous for me to hold so much power and authority. As their patriarch, I have a duty and an obligation to serve the Larkinsons to the best of my ability. When that ability is compromised, then continuing to cling to power is a disservice to those clansmen. This is why I am moving out. Sometimes, the greatest form of service is to step back and give those with better ability a chance to do a better job." "Hmph." Andraste angrily huffed. "From what I have heard, those other leaders sound way too happy to push you out of the door. None of them have made any decent attempts to keep you in power. They pounced on you as soon as they smelled blood in the water! They are all traitors!" Gloriana quickly reached out and pressed Andraste's overeager body. "Shhh. Do not speak nonsense, daughter! Your father's situation is much more complex than that. He is the founder of our clan. As the first-generation leader, he is setting an example for all of the matriarchs that come after him. By showing a resolute determination to make way for a successor from the moment we discover that he has become compromised, he is setting an impeccable standard of integrity in our clan. All of the senior members of our clan will be expected to emulate this behavior. That is how we ensure that our clan will continue to remain in the right hands in the years to come." Aurelia couldn't help but nod. "I learned about that in school. The Terran ancient clans that exist to this day were all able to last because of their insistence on maintaining good governance. The clans that failed to survive up to this day almost always suffered from a leadership deficit. Either their clan leaders became too corrupt and carelessly violated the rules that have kept their heritage safe, or they set the wrong example to the rest of the hierarchy, thereby causing their clans to collapse due to unforced errors and mass incompetence." The Terrans had been the model when it came to good governance. While there were plenty of academics who argued that it was not adaptive to rapid changes and overly prone to stagnation, it was safe enough for most people who wanted to pass on a legacy over many generations. Although he originally did not intend to do so, Ves definitely had the ambition to turn the Larkinson Clan into a long-lasting institution. The Larkinson Family lasted for nearly the entire duration of the Age of Mechs. Ves admired that. He found it regretful that he had indirectly contributed to its collapse. He hoped he could make it up for all of his Larkinson ancestors by erecting a much stronger clan that would allow their family name to be remembered by many more people over many more years!