Chapter 7092: Candidate Carmine Mech Pilots There it was. The Cybers would not go out of their way to meet with Ves and gift him a precious artificial fire heart if they did not seek to exploit their relationship with him. They wanted him and sought to secure his services. Ves was not principally opposed to that. Collaborating with the Cybers on a mech design project, even an important one, was not a big deal if it was just a singular instance. The question was whether they were willing to leave it at that. Ves had a feeling that the Cybers wanted a lot more out of him than this single request. Ves briefly glanced at his cat. Lucky remained intrigued by the artificial fire heart. It looked as if he was resisting the temptation to take a bite out of the construct. "Meow." After confirming that Lucky did not detect anything amiss, Ves turned back to Hugo and thought on how he should respond to the current inquiry. "Bloodfire mechs." He finally said as he broke the silence in the chamber. "I am not too surprised that you know about them, especially given that you guys owned the Dominion of Man for half a century. I have a question. Did you guys not attempt to create your own Bloodfire mechs? I mean, your Living Machine Tower has raised plenty of Journeyman Mech Designers who specialize in living mechs. Their fundamental capabilities should not be that much worse than mine. The Dominion of Man serves as a working example of a Carmine System based on the fire element. It may be difficult to do this, but it is not impossible to derive a working Bloodfire System from what you already have. You just need to possess a bit of ingenuity and a decent grasp on cultivation science." His words caused the Cyber mech designer to look sheepish for a moment. "We tried. We failed. What you have done to the Dominion of Man is exceptional and completely unreplicable considering the variables involved. We tried to take inspiration from your work and develop simplified versions of what are called Carmine mechs, but we have mostly disappointed Her Imperial Majesty. This tech remains exclusive to you for the time being, and that is why we desire to seek your cooperation." Ves felt surprised that the Cybers were being frank and honest about their difficulties in attempting to reproduce Carmine mechs and Bloodfire mechs. It would have been better for the CE’s negotiating position if they tried to make it sound as if they had other options aside from collaborating with the Father of Carmine mechs. Then again, showing weakness in one area might enable them to gain advantages in another area. Ves just couldn’t figure out their game at the moment. "I am a busy mech designer." He said. "Our Design Department is also fairly limited in capacity, especially for high-end projects like the one that you are talking about. Besides, if I want to collaborate with another party on developing the first Bloodfire mech, I do not necessarily have to turn to your Living Machine Tower for cooperation. I am sure that there are plenty of other parties that have a strong interest in Carmine mechs that can wield the power of fire deeper than other machines. I bet that I can even convince the Red Fleet of the necessity of helping me develop Bloodfire mechs, as their Bloodfire System serve as the foundation of converting their warships into living monuments of human supremacy." As Ves issued his counterargument, Hugo merely smirked in response. "Come now, Ves. Would a mech designer truly share responsibility of one of his most powerful works with the fleeters of all people? No. Forget about the RF and every other group that you can think of. We are the only suitable partners for this project. Let me explain the reasons to you one by one. First, we have spent 50 years studying and mastering the power of the fire element. Furia is more than a source of fire energy in Bridgehead One. She is a mentor and a benefactor. She did not only bestow us with her fire seeds. She granted us a more precious gift: knowledge." It sounded as if Furia did not remain completely dormant during the Time of Isolation. Given that she was constantly being brainwashed by the prayers of millions if not billions of citizens of the Cybernetic Empire, it did not seem outlandish that she would try to act on their beliefs and serve as the benevolent guardian of her worshipers. Teaching them how to harness her favored element fit right into her portfolio. "Okay, so you guys know how to play with fire. You are not the only ones." Ves said while doing his best to look unimpressed. The Red Collective understands fire as well as many other elements. Hell, even I know a thing or two about it. Even if my understanding has yet to reach an acceptable standard, I just have to allocate more time on it until I am capable of solving all of the problems myself." Hugo still continued to smile. "A mech designer such as yourself is certainly capable of solving nearly every design problem, but is it a good use of your valuable time? That is much less certain. Even Her Imperial Majesty cannot design, produce, sell and repair every single machine in her dominion by herself. She needs our labor just as we need her intelligence. We are already accustomed to helping clever and innovative mech designers realize their ideas. We can provide you with all of the support you need?" "Support like what?" Ves asked. "We offer multiple distinct benefits. First, we can contribute theoretical and practical knowledge on how to wield the power of the fire element in your Bloodfire mech designs. We have developed many specialized applications that make use of fire energy to produce results that you cannot imagine. We already have a good selection of mech designers from our Living Machine Tower and outside of it that possess helpful specializations that can upgrade your works to the next level." "Hm. I believe you, but as I have mentioned before, there are others that can provide other insights in the same field. What else can you offer that others cannot easily replicate?" "A reserve of mech pilots for our new collaborative works." Hugo mentioned next. "The Cybernetic Empress has anticipated the release of your Bloodfire mech early on. Developing and releasing these fine Carmine mechs is not enough. You need to pair them up with Carmine mech pilots that can safely channel the power of fire energy through their bodies. Our candidate Bloodfire mech pilots have already integrated the necessary cybernetic implants and body components that are highly resistant against heat and fire. They have also studied the theory and practice of piloting mechs in advance. With the help of their brain augmentations, it will take as little as half a year for them to reach the standard of a professional mech pilot, if only barely." Those were hefty claims! Ves raised his eyebrow. "Are you saying that your empire has started to train specialized Bloodfire mech pilots far in advance of the release of this possible Carmine mech?" "When Her Imperial Majesty makes a prediction based on extensive data, she is always correct. You are on the path of designing a Bloodfire mech. In fact, you already intend to design one for your reconstructed ace pilot, correct? Saint Isobel Kotin is one of the most perfect choices to bring out the full potential of such an unprecedented machine. As long as you are able to deliver a powerful ace Bloodfire mech, you can use the data and experience from this project to design Bloodfire mechs for the wider audience, in a manner of speaking. We can be that audience." Hugo Fournier sounded earnest in his appeal. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖 When he spoke, he was not just representing the will of his star empire. He spoke on behalf of the many preparatory candidates for a Carmine mech variation that did not yet exist and may never exist if Ves acted contrary to the Polymath’s prediction. That took guts. Ves could not imagine how many of these candidates the Cybernetic Empire had accumulated. Was there an entire mech regiment in waiting? What about a mech division or an entire mech corps? Perhaps the numbers were even greater! Ves felt both flattered and pressured by how much the Cybers had banked on one of his future works. It made him feel guilty. He did not want to disappoint all of the hopeful candidates who may have waited multiple decades to get their chance. "How many?" "At least tens of thousands can be mobilized right away when you are able to deliver a finished Bloodfire mech design." Hugo replied. "Tens of thousands more can rapidly be trained or retrained into piloting a Bloodfire mech. The greatest hurdle is the conversion to a complete cybernetic body that can fully withstand continuous exposure to dangerous fire energy." Though Ves did not want to admit it, hearing that the Cybers placed so much faith in his Bloodfire mechs to the point of training tens of thousands of their own people into making good use of them as soon as possible sounded incredibly encouraging. If Hugo’s opinion represented the majority opinion, then Ves could look forward to satisfying the wishes of Carmine mech pilots who put so much faith in his works that their lives would be ruined if he failed to fulfill their dreams. "Okay." Ves said. "Having a good number of candidates waiting to pilot A Bloodfire mech as soon as the design is ready is... convenient. It is not entirely necessary, though. You can transfer low-aptitude mech pilots or even third-class mech pilots and prep them to pilot my Bloodfire mechs. Since they already have a foundation in general mech piloting, they only need to learn a fraction of the theory and skills to pilot a Bloodfire mech." "They lack the implants and body that can withstand the potentially lethal pressure of an active Bloodfire Pact." The Cyber mech designer reminded Ves. "Yes. That is indeed the case." Ves felt annoyed at this demand. Was it truly necessary to go through such extremes just to satisfy a condition of piloting Bloodfire mechs? What if he found a way to reduce the load on the physique of the mech pilot? What if he found a substitute for raw fire energy that was much less onerous to the human body? He grimaced. He could not think of a way to lessen this demand. Fire energy was too essential to the functioning of the Bloodfire System. The whole point of its existence was to take advantage of a medium that was more powerful than simple human blood. Ves could not think of many particle or energy types that could satisfy all of the necessary conditions to design a Carmine System around. He also did not want to complicate the progression of his design philosophy by deviating from his relatively straightforward plan. Five elements. Five elemental Carmine mechs. Simple. "There is another argument why it is best if you choose to cooperate with us, Ves." Hugo said while leaning forward. The pitch of his voice began to lower. "You are a mech designer. A true mech designer. Your life’s mission is to serve humans. All humans. As many of them as possible. We are already aware that you are actively working to design a Woodsap mech with the cooperation of the Terrans." Ves nodded. This was not a big secret, though the Terrans did not actively advertise it either. "We are making good progress on that. The first results of the Arboreal Project should be out within a quarter year if everything goes right. It may take a bit longer if we have encountered a few unexpected problems. The results of this project will go on to help me design the other elemental Carmine mech design projects." Hugo nodded and continued. "We are also aware that you have reached an accord with the mechers on co-developing a Polymetal mech that is partially based on our tech no less. Although we do not like it, we can understand why you prefer to cooperate with the mechers on this particular project. Of the three available choices that are left, there is only 1 that truly fits our Cybernetic Empire. No one else is more suited to collaborate with you on realizing the concept of a Bloodfire mech. Make the logical decision."