The Mech Touch

Ves had no idea how many benefits he could extract from the Polymath.

He was suffering from a major case of information asymmetry. He did not even know whether the Polymath had been instructed to provide compensation or whether she voluntarily agreed to do this in order to satisfy her own principles.

Whatever the case, the Polymath did not intend to make life too difficult for the young tier 3 galactic citizen.

The Polymath leaned forward. "I can provide you with many possible benefits to compensate for any damages that you have suffered at my hands. The Survivalists will permit me to satisfy your requests within reason."

"And what does that exactly mean?" Ves furrowed his brows.

All of this sounded awfully vague so far. He had little idea on how much he could ask for. Perhaps this was why the Polymath took the lead in this conversation.

"For starters, do not ask me for any boons related to the Red Kingdom. The shade of the Seleucid... has permanently deprived my right to enter the Red Kingdom. I assume the same applies to the Kingdom of Mechs. You are correct in that my conduct was in direct opposition to the original intentions of the Progenitors of Mechs. I accept that a price has to be paid for my transgressions. If I succeeded in my plan, then I would have been able to dictate the rules of the Red Kingdom instead."

That was interesting news. Ves wondered how extensively this impacted her work.

"Will you become any less of a Star Designer after getting exiled from the kingdom?"

"Not in the ways that matter. The kingdom helps with managing disciples, propagating realized design philosophies and more, but these benefits are limited and dispensable to a Star Designer. The life of a mech designer does not end once you have reached this rank."

Ves leaned back as he tried to get back to the topic at hand.

"That is nice to know. Anyway, I have been thinking... is it possible for you to arrange a Battlecruiser Token for me? I am sure you are able to trade a lot of favors with the Red Fleet for this reward."

This request sounded so absurd that the Polymath immediately shot it down!

"Do not even think about this, young man. The Warship Quota Program is under the management of the Red Fleet. The more significant tokens are firmly out of your reach."

Well, at least Ves tried. Perhaps he could lighten his request and get away with a Destroyer Token, but that did not sound too appealing.

"What do you suggest, then? I am not too familiar with what you have and what you are permitted to offer."

"I can award you with a wide variety of smaller benefits if you are undecided. I can also offer you one major boon within my power if you are more discerning. 1 highly recommend you take the latter. The Survivalists who are supervising my action will not mind it if 1 grant you a significant but selective reward. According to my analysis of your career and organization, you are working hard to become a first-class mech designer, correct?"

"I am. I can accomplish this myself, though. I am aware that Senior Mech Designers have to learn a huge amount of advanced knowledge, but 1 am confident 1 can absorb the required knowledge in a number of years."

"The Red Association and possibly our entire civilization cannot afford to wait that long." The Polymath critically responded. "The immense contributions that you have made combined with the promise of greater advancements has turned you into a subject of great focus to our Association. There will be a great drive to help you gain the qualifications you need to become a serious first-class mech designer. This must happen for the good of red humanity. The only uncertainty is how we can fulfill this objective. Independent self-study is the least desirable solution that you can choose. There are much more efficient methods at your disposal."

"You mean... the EdNet. I already exchanged 10 permanent quotas to this impressive service."

"Correct. You should be familiar with its functions. It is one of our Association's many advantages. If you are willing to submerge yourself into the EdNet for four continuous years, then you will be able to emerge with twenty years worth of study."

"Unacceptable!" Ves strongly pushed back on this suggestion. "I am not the kind of mech designer who works best when isolating myself in a virtual environment. My design philosophy can't even properly function inside one. I am much more effective when I am operating in the field. I also cannot afford to make myself unavailable for such a long period of time. I do not have many years to raise my three children, with possibly more on the way. I want to enjoy these precious years to the fullest."

The Polymath's disapproving expression said enough of what she thought about this reason.

"You can reduce the submersion time to two years if necessary. That will allow you to return sooner. You can also bring your family along as well."

Ves shook his head. "Still not acceptable. I don't like what I am hearing about how the EdNet stresses and damages the brain."

"There are methods to compensate for it. One of my breakthroughs is centered around mitigating the damage accrued by increasing the perception of time inside the network. I can spend additional time on applying the latest advancements on our best iteration of the EdNet. I can also apply custom modifications to it that will allow you to push your cognition to the limit to gain the highest benefits from connecting to it. The listed time multiplier of 5 is far from the technical limit of this device. It is possible to increase this factor to 10 if you and your chosen candidates can endure the pressure. Only mech pilots should refrain themselves from using the EdNet at this extreme setting."

That... actually sounded impressive. It could make a huge difference for a lot of Larkinsons if they could quickly get up to speed while only sacrificing a couple of years of their lives.

However, Ves ultimately shook his head.

"I think I can manage on my own. 1 am a pretty fast learner. I just need to allocate more time in my schedule for my studies as opposed to my other work responsibilities. 1 am a lot more interested in extending this service to my clansmen. If you mechers are so insistent on promoting me to a first-class mech designer, then let me bring as much of my family and subordinates along with me. I do not want to leave behind the people who I have fought alongside with for many years."

"It is much more effective and convenient for you to form an entirely new force and organization that is entirely comprised of first-raters, are you aware of that? Your growing reputation, contribution and deeds will soon turn you into one of the most desirable employers to many ambitious people. The Terrans, the Rubarthans and even the mechers from our own Association will seek to gain your favor. It will not be a challenge for you to form a legitimate first-class organization within a year."

That was a tempting strategy. Ves had already begun to entertain the thought of hiring a limited number of first-raters in order to prepare a section of his clan for a formal entry into the Upper Zones.

Ves did not think about replacing the entirety of his clan with brand-new first-raters. That was a step too far for him. He prized the loyalty of his subordinates and was committed to uplifting the most worthy and capable among them. This was why he still valued the EdNet even after he learned about all of its harmful side effects.

"You do not understand me enough if you think that will make me change my mind." Ves shook his head. "Can you give me a 100,000 permanent quotas of the EdNet instead? That should be enough to uplift the majority of my clan in the span of a few years."

The gigantic figure provoked another reaction from the Polymath.

"The EdNet is a highly specialized tool that is designed for rapidly accelerated learning. It is not a service that is commonly made available to anyone. The cost alone is excessive. There is a good reason why you have only been able to trade 10 permanent quotas for your service."

Ves leaned forward. "You can improve upon the technology. You can build more spots for it. I don't think it will even take you that long to expand upon the current EdNet. You're a Star Designer, after all. Besides, I still remember that accelerated teaching of batch humans is an important component of your Unity Plan."

The powerful woman nodded. "I have been in discussion with the others about this particular initiative. It may very well be possible that we shall introduce batch humans to our society in the near future. Our manpower problems are severe and will only grow worse once we start launching a large amount of raiding fleets deep behind enemy lines."

That... made a lot of sense. This was an important piece of information. It showed that the leaders of the Survivalist Faction weren't opposed to borrowing bits and pieces from the other plans.

"If that is the case, then you should be focusing much of your efforts on improving and mass producing interfacing pods for the EdNet, right?"

"The EdNet is not the same for everyone, Professor Larkinson. One of the improvements 1 have made over the work of the Neuromancer is that I have developed multiple different specialized variations that are optimized for different groups of clients. The EdNet designed for batch humans is radically different and demand specialized solutions that cannot be applied to other versions."

"Some of that research must be common between all of the EdNets, right?"

"That is only true to a limited extent."

Ves learned more about the EdNet from its current chief developer than he ever imagined. The Polymath had been frank about the basic properties and design problems of this learning system.

As the creator of the Mental Simulation Training System, Ves was able to understand her perspective remarkably well.

He even felt tempted to bring up his own work and see whether they could combine their tech together.

He refrained from doing so. The MSTS was based on a completely different set of principles. The tech bases were too far apart to combine together.

Ves believed that the Polymath must be aware of its existence as well. Since she declined to bring it up, she must have come to the same conclusion.

Since that was the case, Ves no longer tried to ask for the impossible and instead tried to settle for a more reasonable form of compensation.

They negotiated for a while. The Polymath had to invest a large amount of time and resources to accommodate Ves' request, but she ultimately agreed to grant him 5000 one-use quotas of the EdNet.

Ves did not exactly feel satisfied with this outcome.

"You do not understand the value of those quotas. They encompass more than a lengthy session in an accelerated virtual reality setting. The people who redeem these quotas are also eligible to receive a tailored regime of augmentations that allows them to make effective use of the EdNet. Once they have completed their sessions, they will emerge as proper first-raters so long as they are not incompetent."

That... was an excellent bonus. Even if these augmentations were far from the best of what the Association could offer, they were still leagues ahead of what the Larkinson Clan could provide!

As Ves thought about how these high-quality gene optimization treatments and cranial implants would improve his clansmen, he felt that this should be enough to raise an elite force of first-class Larkinsons within the span of a couple of years!

This neatly solved a lot of problems and concerns. The only issue was that there would be a lull period of around 2 to 4 years, but that was still a preferable situation compared to the alternatives.