"Do you feel pressured by the revelation that you have gained a lot of rivals?" "No." Alexa responded with a smile. "I am confident in my own work. The mech designers of the so-called Living Machine Tower may have taken advantage of the Time of Isolation while the Polymath subsidized their work. I doubt these rivals of mine can come close to equaling my motivation and desire to create entire dynasties of living mechs. My greatest advantage is that I am the only orthodox inheritor of your design philosophy. Aside from you, no one understands your work better. I dare say that not even the Polymath is able to surpass me on this criterion." It took a particularly reckless kind of confidence for a Journeyman Mech Designer to claim she knew more than the Polymath about a subject related to mech design! Ves did not expect Alexa to be the kind of woman who was willing to make such an outrageous claim. "So what have you picked up about Hugo during my first dialogue with him?" He asked his insightful protege. "Well, the first conclusion that I have drawn is that the Cybers have chosen well. The empire has likely performed an analysis on the 400 mech designers and determined that Mr. Fournier is the most predisposed to respect and admire you. Once his superiors chose him to represent the Cybernetic Empire, they trained him so that he would know exactly what to say to gain a favorable impression from you. It is abundantly clear to me that 'Hugo' led the conversation from beginning to end as easily as a master musician played his most familiar instrument." Wow. Ves already had a feeling that the Cyber representative manipulated him throughout the entire dialogue, but Alexa as a knowledgeable bystander clearly understood more! "Did you pick up any other clues?" "Yes, plenty, sir. I also suspect that Hugo was receiving instructions from one or multiple analysts. I can spot multiple instances where he has shifted the conversation in a different direction than he initially expected. He must have received secret orders to steer the conversation in specific directions." Ves began to scowl after hearing that. He had the feeling that the Cybers had played him like a fiddle without being aware of what was taking place! Even if the Cybers did not harbor any ill intent towards Ves and the Larkinson Clan, becoming aware of their deliberate manipulation still left a foul taste in his mouth. "The good news is that the Cybernetic Empire places a high value in establishing a relationship with you. Becoming enemies with you is not in their interest." Alexa added. Ves let out a frustrated breath. "That is indeed good to hear, but I don't want to be reduced to a puppet on their strings. I want to cooperate with the Cybers, but if they continue to hold most if not all of the cards, then they will always hold the initiative. I will constantly have to defer to them on many different matters." "If you suspect that the Cybernetic Empire harbors impure motives towards you, then you should try to maintain a certain degree of distance. Do not be in a hurry to accept its offers. Patience is a virtue in this case. I am aware that you feel the need to move quickly, but it is the Cybers that are eager to form a relationship with you, not the other way around. You have been doing fine by yourself. You are currently feeling unbalanced because the existence of the Living Machine Tower sounds so oppressive that you are feeling lost." Ves raised his eyebrow in surprise. "That is a surprisingly accurate assessment of my current mental state. I didn't notice it as clearly as you, but now that you have pointed it out, it is rather obvious that I am rattled by the idea of 400 mech designers with lots of support personnel working to define living mechs according to their own ideas. Even if none of them has become a Senior yet, if they get unleashed onto our existing mech market, they can completely drown out my products, especially if they come with other fancy CE tech." "This is the first time that I have heard you express genuine concern about the competition. You speak of the mech designers of the Living Machine Tower as if they pose a real threat to you. It does not necessarily have to be this way. There should be plenty of room for win-win relationships. Whether one side has earned greater wins than the others is not a matter you should be concerned about." Alexa made yet another good point. Ves could always count on his wisdom and ingenuity to temper the behavior of the Concordiat. "You have given me a lot of good ideas. I need time to sort out my own preferences and weigh each of your suggestions. Good work, Alexa. Your observation and analytical capabilities are excellent." Alexa chose to reveal a portion of her true emotions. She obtained an inordinate amount of pride after being praised so heavily by her current mentor. "Thank you for your appreciation, sir. I try my best to be of use to you. It is the right decision to turn to me to analyze your talk with a Cyber. By the way, one of the other traits that I have picked up from Mr. Fournier is that he is completely sincere about his eagerness to collaborate with you on a mech design project. Many other mech designers of the Living Machine Tower may have shared the same goal at the start, but some of them may have diverged since that time." Ves and Alexa continued to talk and speculate about Hugo Fournier, the Living Machine Tower and the Cybernetic Empire. Their exchange was quite fruitful as Alexa paid attention to a lot of subtle details that Ves largely overlooked. The only issue was that a single conversation with a single Journeyman Mech Designer only supplied them with a limited amount of information. If they wanted to know more about the empire that they wanted to cooperate with, they needed to talk to more citizens of the Cybernetic Empire or visit Bridgehead One in person. "I don't expect to see quick progress in either of these areas." Ves concluded. "The Cybers are deliberately acting mysteriously. That makes me suspect that they are resorting to subterfuge to make themselves appear invincible when they are actually not that outrageously strong." His student nodded in agreement. "One of the greatest weaknesses of the Cybernetic Empire is their lack of high-ranking mech pilots. The Time of Isolation has produced a poor environment for the promotion of mech pilots. All existing high-ranking mech pilots have stayed true to their original oaths and allegiances. If there were any breakthroughs, then those pilots should still be expert pilots or maybe junior ace pilots if we are being optimistic. None of them should be anywhere close to becoming a god pilot unless they are just as talented as the Chosen Human. Then there is the First Flame." Ves snorted. "That old fossil is a stubborn traditionalist who has failed to adapt to a rapidly changing society. He is arguably the strongest god pilot in the Red Ocean before the Fist of Defiance has received his superdimensional upgrade. Now, he has completely been left behind. I haven't had any pleasant experiences with him, but from what I can surmise, he has lost interest in mortal matters. He is like an older phase whale in that sense. His sights are largely set at the top. This is probably why he still hasn't exited from the center of a star despite the fact that Bridgehead One has already reconnected to the rest of the Red Ocean." His overall conclusion was that the First Flame was unlikely to lend his strength to the Polymath and her empire unless they faced a civilization-ending threat. He was more interested in absorbing energy and accumulating strength than engaging in kingdom building. To the First Flame, it didn't matter if the Red Two or the Cybernetic Empire managed to reign over red humanity so long as they remained human. As a god pilot who tried to embody a concept that was closely tied to the existence of human civilization, the First Flame always saw himself as a guardian of humans, not the Red Association per se. Yet just because he disdained to side with the Red Association did not mean he favored the Cybernetic Empire. To this 600-year old relic, both powers were like squabbling children who were fighting over the same toys. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮 "Are you certain of your read of the First Flame?" "Yes, so long as the information is accurate." He said. "If the First Flame is backing the Cybernetic Empire, then he would have said so or sent a very clear signal. Since he has not done so, he is likely preoccupied with reaching the next stage of his evolution." In any case, Ves felt confident enough in his theory that he already assumed that the Cybernetic Empire did not have the First Flame's backing. The Cybernetic Empire could only rely on the Dominion of Man and whatever secret superweapons the Polymath had developed over the course of her reign over Bridgehead One. Was this enough to protect her empire against a direct assault by a hostile god pilot? Nobody knew for certain. What the analysts were slightly confident about was that the Cybernetic Empire was a lot better at defending Bridgehead One than projecting its power outward. After all, Bridgehead One had been in the Polymath's hands for half a century. That was plenty of time for her to lay all kinds of traps and build up multiple superweapons that could hinder or maybe even repel True God-level enemies. However, it would clearly be difficult for the Cybernetic Empire to exert the same degree of threat far away from familiar territory. That was probably what the war planets were for. They were slow, but incredibly well-armed. Their massive internal volumes also offered lots of space to build a secret superweapon. Yet were the enormous but incredibly inflexible war planets enough to stop a god pilot from rampaging? Probably not. Ves believed that this was why the Cybernetic Empire tried to act so mysterious. The Cybers needed to create a smokescreen around them in order to keep their enemies guessing. This was also why the Cybernetic Empire could get away with undermining the Red Association and the Red Fleet. If it was obvious that the Cybers were weak, then nobody would take them seriously. Yet because the Cybernetic Empire may or may not possess the strength to repel hostile god pilots or ancient phase whales, it was able to throw its weight around, even if it was not as exaggerated as everyone thought. "According to Mr. Fournier, the Cybers have made large strides in the development of energy weapon systems." Alexa eventually addressed another topic. "I think that if you want to establish an initial form of cooperation with the new empire, it is best to start small and simple. You should try to persuade the Cybers to share one of their powerful energy weapon systems with you. Inadequate firepower is a common shortcoming among the mechs assigned to fight the native aliens." "I will take your suggestion into account." Ves promised. "This is a good idea, but I am sure the Cybers will drive a hard bargain before giving us the right to put these bad boys to use." Alexa felt the need to warn her mentor about another potential vulnerability. "Our understanding of CE tech may be incomplete, especially if it is based on completely new technological paradigms. This will put us in danger of becoming dependent on the Cybers for updates, modifications and so on. If you do not understand or control the tech you are putting in your mech designs, then you must resign yourself to the reality that the true owners of those advanced technologies will gain partial ownership over your mech designs. The more important the tech, the greater the problem. If you want reliability, then use your own tech." "If only that was possible." Ves sighed.