The Mech Touch

Ves was fairly satisfied with the minor concessions he gained this time.

Although the Transhumanists and Survivalists hadn't budged too much on this issue, the right to make much more extensive use of luminar crystal weapons within the Golden Skull Alliance was an important win!

This meant that he was able to arm all of his ranged mechs with heavier and more potent luminar crystal weapons that could pose a much more substantial threat against enemy expert mechs!

He could finally realize his dreams of converting the Battle Criers into his most elite expert mech killer unit!

Ves smirked as he thought about all of the hell and fury his enemies would be faced with in the future.

Not just the Fearless Project, but also other formidable ranged mechs such as the Transcendent Punisher Mark II would be able to fire much more powerful and threatening energy beams!

Combined with the varying beam effects that different types of attack phase crystals could produce, his mech forces did not have to fear as many enemies as before!

In any case, Ves never expected the MTA to make an exception to the taboos and grant him the right to mount warship-grade luminar crystal guns on his starships. This was way too excessive and would also attract way too much attention to him from everybody. This was contradictory to the goal of avoiding suspicion!

He didn't really mind this restriction. If the rumors were true and the Big Two decided to lift the taboos on fielding warships one day, Ves would definitely be ready to mount super-sized luminar crystal cannons on every ship that could accommodate the hardware!

After coming to a consensus on the matter of luminar crystal technology, Ves and Master Dervidian discussed the remaining points of the expansive contract.

The other clauses were relatively straightforward.

The MTA Transhumanist Faction gained the right to 'borrow' the Aspect of Transcendence for an indefinite period of time so that it could perform its own research on its glow and other properties.

Although Master Dervidian already had the power to do this without signing any paperwork, it was better to follow a more proper procedure.

The Transhumanists could not conduct this research alone. Dervidian fully realized that the help of the originator was indispensable to achieve further progress.

For this reason, Ves was obliged to contribute to the development of 'transcendence technology'.

"We do not expect you to put everything aside and help us further our understanding and application of transcendence technology extensively at the beginning." Dervidian clarified. "You are still a Journeyman at the moment and your priority should be directed towards designing mechs and progressing your design philosophy. We will not burden you with collaborating directly with myself and other notable researchers from our Association. Instead, we believe it is better if we convert your proposed T Institute into a joint venture."

"A joint venture? You mean a new company or organization that is owned and operated by two different parties?"

Master Dervidian smiled. "Correct. Our Association cannot work directly with you on this. What we can do is push forward a family led by one of our trusted associates to invest in your T Institute and supply the specialized expertise that you have requested."

This was an important issue. Since Ves intended for the T Institute to be the center of his research on spiritual engineering and breakthroughs, not just any random group of people were qualified to cooperate with him in these fields!

The Transhumanists had to know this, so the selection of the party that would be cooperating with Ves on a long-term basis was of critical importance!

"What can you tell me about this family?"

"The Aduc Family has a long heritage. It originated from the Greater Terran United Confederation and experienced many different events during the Age of Conquest. It eventually declined and suffered a crisis that forced it to depart from Terran space. The family only made a slow resurgence after the Age of Mechs had arisen. The family's main business is terraforming planets. At this time, the Aduc Family has already expanded its business operations in the Red Ocean."

This was a brief story that revealed almost nothing special about the Aduc Family. Other than the fact that it had Terran origins, Ves couldn't really figure out what made the Aducs special enough to work together with him. Were they truly capable of helping him conduct research on spiritual applications?

Master Dervidian shook his head. "The Aduc Family is not simple. Its actual history is much more involved than you can imagine. Due to its prior entanglements, I cannot divulge as much as I need to make you understand why partnering with the Aduc Family is a good choice. You will have to meet with its members and discuss your cooperative venture with them in order to learn more. For now, it is enough for you to know that the Aducs are more than simple terraformers."

The terraforming industry was actually a massive and difficult sector. It was a business activity with an extremely high barrier to entry.

This was because terraforming companies were tasked with transforming planets that were devoid of life into globes that could sustain human life!

A single person could never complete such an enormous project. Any terraforming project involved a huge amount of professionals. They needed to analyze a planet and calculate what steps they needed to take in order to make it livable.

Then the terraformers had to leverage a lot of capital to perform the expensive terraforming procedures. Depending on the conditions of the planet, it took a lot of expensive and time-consuming steps to slowly turn the environment more friendly towards native human life.

The difficulty of terraforming planets vastly exceeded the difficulty of building starships!

The two industries weren't even on the same level!

Terraforming had the potential to be insanely profitable, but the high costs and lengthy years needed to complete the transformations also produced a lot of risks.

A single delayed project or botched transformation could cost the terraforming company dearly!

In short, it took a lot of guts, capital, personnel and expertise to succeed in the terraforming industry.

No matter what, the Aduc Family was probably quite formidable to gain a foothold in this lucrative but difficult sector.

Ves just wondered what terraforming had to do with spiritual engineering. Were the Aducs tied to the Five Scrolls Compact? Did they manage to retain unique skills and applications from their past entanglement with the secretive cult?

Why had the Aduc Family fallen into the orbit of the Transhumanist Faction?

What value did the Aducs provide to the mechers that allowed one of them to become an associate of the Transhumanists?

Ves had a lot of questions about this sudden family that he was supposed to partner with in the future, but he recognized that Master Dervidian wasn't willing to say too much.

He just had to wait and meet with the Aducs himself to satisfy his curiosity. He just hoped that his new collaborators weren't too weird.

After Ves gained more clarification on how he was supposed to contribute to the development of transcendence technology by using the T Institute as a vehicle, he no longer had any pressing questions about the contract.

The remaining clauses of the legal document weren't that important. Ves already understood everything he needed to know and had no objections about how the Transhumanists wished to cooperate with Ves and his clan.

"Very well. Let us proceed with signing the contract." Master Dervidian proposed. "It will take immediate effect as soon as you have taken this step. This is the last time for you to back out. If you have any points you wish to raise, please speak up now. This is a life-changing agreement that will impose many rights and obligations to you. Our faction will also become a permanent fixture in your life."

Ves suddenly recalled he wanted to know more about the Transhumanists. Since he was about to partner up with them, it was only right for him to obtain more information!

"I have a question. You have explained a lot about your faction today, but you haven't told me anything about its enemies. Which factions are opposed to your Transhumanists?"

Master Dervidian crossed his arms. "That is not a simple question to answer. You must know that the different factions are not always opposed to each other. Different coalitions will form each time a new issue has emerged. However, there are a number of factions that have always opposed our ideology and initiatives more often than usual."

"Can you reveal them to me so that I know who to watch out for in the future?"

"Our chief political opponent within the Association is the Preserving Order Faction. I think you can understand why these arch-conservatives and reactionaries are opposed to our policies. The Preservers do not wish to disrupt or alter the state of human society. My fellow Transhumanists and I heavily disagree with this direction. In our opinion, the human race is far from reaching its full potential. We must constantly develop ourselves further and seek new solutions that can make us stronger than before."

This made a lot of sense. The Preservers were actually incompatible with many factions due to its insistence on keeping everything the same.

"Are there any other opposing factions?" Ves asked.

"Well, you should be careful around the members of the Terran and Rubarthan Faction. The proponents of reconciliation and greater cooperation with the first-rate superstates harbor a great degree of animosity towards Transhumanists such as myself. It is best not to catch their attention."

Ves grimaced again. This was a good point. Having seen how 'humanely' a research-obsessed man like Master Dervidian treated his involuntary test subjects, it was no wonder the cheerleaders of the Terran Confederation and the Rubarth Empire hated the Transhumanists!

Allying himself with the Survivalists was not a big deal since they pursued noble goals and generally did not make a lot of enemies, but the Transhumanists were different!

Much of their research was centered around humans and mech pilots. In order to gather the richest and most relevant data, they needed to perform dangerous experiments on high-quality test subjects.

The better the training and background of the test subjects, the better!

Obviously, the Transhumanists couldn't kidnap the members of the CFA without starting a war of untold proportions.

They couldn't experiment on fellow mechers either.

The best available choices left was to conduct their experiments on the most powerful first-raters around. As long as they managed to find proof that groups of Terrans and Rubarthans broke the taboos, their respective states could not justifiably object to their treatment!

Although the first-rate superstates couldn't do anything to prevent the MTA researchers from behaving unscrupulously on this matter, it was certain that the Terrans and Rubarthans built up a lot of grievances towards the Transhumanist Faction!

And now, Ves was just about to turn into one of its 'unofficial' associates!

No matter whether he was not formally an associate of the Transhumanists, everyone else in the know would probably think he was best friends with these folk.

This might complicate the rise of the Larkinson Clan and his future interactions with the Terrans and Rubarthans.

He shook his head. From the moment he exposed his transcendence glow, he already fell into the camp of the MTA.

Although the relations between the Big Two and the first-rate superstates were tense and complex, they were not completely hostile. It was not impossible for him to maintain superficial friendship and cooperation with Terran and Rubarthan parties in the future.

"Are there any other factions that I should take note of, Master?"

"Not particularly. We have our usual differences with the Dissolution Faction and do not always agree with the Longevity Faction's vision for humanity's future, but these disputes should not involve associates such as yourself. As long as you succeed in evading everyone's attention, you do not need to be so concerned."

After Ves learned what he needed, he was ready to sign the contract.

When he raised his hand and used the autopen to automatically place his signature onto the virtual document, he finally formalized his extensive and far-reaching agreement with the Transhumanist Faction!

He was finally done with this lengthy and life-changing visit!