Chapter 7395: Role Fulfilled Many people would feel honored and exhilarated if they received an invitation to meet a Star Designer. That was not necessarily the case for Ves. He generally received much more pleasant outcomes if he was the one who initiated these rare meetings. Getting summoned by an esteemed tier 1 galactic citizen usually meant that the august figure wanted to entrust him with greater responsibilities or take care of a troublesome matter. Ves came up with a lot of different ideas on what the Resonance Smith wanted from him this time. He quickly took care of his remaining affairs in Yernstall. There was so much he wanted to do, but he had little choice but to delegate meetings and other chores to Alexa Streon, Gavin Neumann, Eliza Mo Ragadan, the Divine Harpoon and other subordinates. Alexa badly wanted to have an in-depth discussion with Ves, but he had little choice but to postpone it. He could not afford to be unprepared when meeting one of the brightest and shrewdest minds in the Red Ocean! His wife had clear concerns as well. She approached him as she held a napping Marvaine in her arms. "The Resonance Smith might not give us time to decide how to cash in the minor favor that we are in the middle of earning. We need to make a set of priorities right away. The Resonance Smith has mastered many high technologies related to true resonance. He is the foremost authority on this subject. Since our clan relies so heavily on our champions, I suggest that you ask for advanced knowledge and techniques related to amplifying or narrowing the application of true resonance." Ves frowned. This was a new request. "Of all of the things we can exchange a minor favor for, I am not sure whether it is worthwhile enough for us to ask that kind of stuff." He said. "If stolen resonance technology becomes critical in the coming years, then we should think about gaining the secret to produce materials that can be used to make much more compact stolen resonance generators. Outside of this, I am also thinking about asking for various high-level alloy formulas that can help me bridge the gap between theory and practice in my not-yet-realized elemental Carmine mech design projects." He did not need to rely on any further external aid to complete the development of his Woodsap mechs. He also made ample preparations to develop his Polymetal mechs properly. It was the remaining 3 elemental Carmine mech design projects that still presented a lot of unknown hurdles. Bloodfire mechs demanded extreme heat-resistant modifications to their human Carmine mech pilots, which could get very costly. It was not realistic to demand all of them undergo top-tier full-body cybernetic conversion like Saint Isobel Kotin. Mergewater mechs relied heavily on biomaterials that could assimilate other organic traits without impairing their most essential core functions. The greater their transformations, the greater the risk of losing the traits that made them mechs. As for the earth-based Carmine mechs, Ves still had little clue how to design such beasts! While Ves should have been responsible for solving the key design problems for all of his advanced projects, he felt no shame at turning to a Star Designer for a shortcut. He was not a materials scientist. It was fairly normal for him to turn to outside help when it came to problems of this nature. His projects mattered too much and their impact far exceeded that of a regular Senior or Master’s work. If he could save years worth of tedious experimentation, then that would only benefit red humanity further! So long as he continued to lead the development of the elemental Carmine Systems, it didn’t even matter to him that other mech designers took control of almost every other aspect of his elemental Carmine mechs! This was why he was more than happy to let the Terrans shape the overall form and functions of the Arboreal Project. Both he and the Terrans knew very well that the Woodsap System was the true core of the new mech design. Without Ves contributing this unique and innovative variation of the Carmine System, the Terrans had no way of granting norms the gift of piloting super-powered mechs! "What about asking for his help with exploiting the properties of superdimensional matter?" Gloriana suggested an alternative. "You have always wanted to obtain the secret to creating dimensional containers. I have heard that it is much easier to create with superdimensional matter as opposed to phasewater." Ves shook his head. "It is precisely because it is so much easier that this secret isn’t so valuable. The general knowledge will become available to me sooner or later. If need be, we can even assign one of our R&D institutions to figure it out. No, we need to ask for boons that are practically impossible for us to obtain in the short and medium term." The more time he spent as a high-tier galactic citizen, the more he realized the preciousness of minor favors. He could not squander them at will, as each of them represented the right to call upon the services of a True God-level individual! His talk with his wife had been enlightening, but Ves ultimately had his own ideas. He ended the discussion by kissing her on the cheek before planting a kiss on his only son’s cute forehead. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮 "Sweet dreams, buddy." Little Marvaine continued to nap in bliss. Due to the tight schedule, Ves did not have to wait too long before he answered the summons. He put on one of his best dress uniforms, which his assistant and staff had recently replaced and upgraded, and boarded a high-security shuttle dispatched by the Red Association. Flanked by menacing-looking escort mechs, the shuttle proceeded to bring Ves to an undisclosed location somewhere inside the vast Yernstall Central Star Node. Though Ves possessed far better spatial senses than any normal human, he did not try to track the trajectory of the shuttle in a sign of respect. Not that it would have worked. The shuttle activated many interference systems, and a handful of them were surprisingly effective at scrambling his spatial mapping. The vehicle also passed through half-a-dozen heavy security gates that contained high-powered energy fields that produced much stronger interference! If that was not enough, Ves and his shuttle got teleported around 3 times in rapid succession! The security protocols so far seemed a bit excessive this time. The risk of infiltration, sabotage and assassination had clearly risen by a lot. Ves wondered whether the mechers were trying to guard against alien or human threats. In any case, the shuttle finally touched down in a hangar bay and slowly opened its hatch. When Ves stepped onto the solid metal deck, he could not tell whether he was in an underground facility or a starbase hidden deep inside space. A handful of heavily armored guards received him and forced Ves to undergo a thorough search. Ves had dutifully brought nothing that could ever pose a threat against a Star Designer, let alone another human. Well, that was not entirely true. He could still retrieve the Oceancaller along with a whole bunch of other armaments from the Vault of Eternity. He could also unfold his true body and let the Dark Apostle loose! The conduct from the guards suggested to Ves that they were well aware that he remained deadly even if he had no weapons on hand. However, there was only so much they could do to restrict his lethality without crossing a number of uncomfortable lines. The Resonance Smith’s security measures shouldn’t be so weak that Ves could pose a credible threat to such an august figure. Therefore, once all of the theater had concluded, the guards finally led him down a series of lifts and corridors before approaching one of the most centrally-located labs. Curiously enough, Ves had not encountered any other humans in the vast but somewhat hollow facility. Had they been given a day off? Were they ordered to remain inside their closed chambers? Or did they not exist in the first place? Whatever the case, it didn’t matter as the Star Designer alone could do the work of thousands of researchers if not millions at the same time! Ves could already feel the powerful man’s presence before he was able to observe the True God with his own eyes. The Resonance Smith was the personification of the concept of Resonance. Everything resonated with the Star Designer, and the Star Designer resonated with everything. This created a whole host of effects, many of which were too deep and profound for Ves to understand. Right now, the Resonance Smith stood in the middle of a lab while a tsunami of different materials surrounded him. Thousands of alloy bars and small components streamed in from a side gate and briefly circled around his human form before departing through another gate. The closer the materials came to the Star Designer, the brighter they glowed and the more they resonated. All of this produced both light and sound. Ves was already familiar with the visual phenomena, but the sound was new. Each material possessed its own unique note that sounded increasingly more real as their resonance grew stronger. They all sounded... magical. He grew fascinated. Though he was still unable to understand the essence of what was going on, he was still able to obtain a handful of vague insights. Suddenly, the symphony stopped. The silencing was so sudden that Ves immediately regained his awareness. The absence of sound and resonance was deafening. It felt highly uncomfortable after Ves had immersed himself in such a comfortable environment. Jose Ukele slowly raised his head and stared straight at the visitor. He transmitted a silent command that caused all of the materials to exit out of a gate. The lab had become almost completely empty. Every instrument and machine was hidden behind soft white paneling. "Come closer." He said in a voice that sounded a lot different than before. If Ves had to describe it, the Star Designer spoke not by pushing air out of his lungs, but by directly vibrating the surrounding air with the slightest touch of resonance! It was not only a refined display of power, but also a demonstration of sorts. Ves had the feeling that he was supposed to analyze this phenomenon and draw a lesson from this freebie. If that was the case, he was obviously failing at it. Ves had not put any time on analyzing how the Voice of Liberty was able to manipulate so many people with his music. If he did, then he might have been able to glean a valuable insight. The Resonance Smith clearly picked up on this. His expression remained neutral, betraying no hint of expectation or the lack of it. He simply gained a bunch of data points. When Ves came close enough, he stopped and made a slight but respectful bow. "I have answered your summons as soon as it is expedient, Your Excellency. Before we continue, I... wish to offer my condolences to you. It is well-known that you have formed an acquaintance with the Voice of Liberty. His passing is a tragic loss to red humanity, but he did so on his own accord as far as I know. It is regrettable that he has chosen to do so in the wrong place at the wrong time." He wanted to get those words out first in order to absolve himself and his forces from any blame for the Voice of Liberty’s demise. The Resonance Smith finally turned into a poisonous smile. "You are... not entirely correct, Professor Larkinson. His death is the greatest contribution that he could have made to the human race. The likelihood that he would amount to anything more than a peak ace pilot was minimal. By dying in such a public manner, he has spurred on a wave of breakthroughs as others have taken inspiration from his courage. Through his music and his example, he has liberated other high-ranking mech pilots from their doubts and hesitancy, just as I envisioned. He has fulfilled his role... magnificently." "Wait..."