The Mech Touch

The worth of a single product could sway an entire company.

That was the power of a good mech design. Ves inwardly grinned as he saw that his gambit had made a lot of progress.

It was not without reason why Ves and Master Decimus Horst had taken their time to design the Supremo Project.

The mech design went through multiple ups and downs as the abrupt transition from the Age of Mechs to the Age of Dawn forced both mech designers to reimagine their original mech concept.

After a lot of hard work, they finally managed to design an excellent second-class heavy artillery mech that was largely made out of Davutan technology and materials.

It was expressly developed to serve the offensive and defensive needs of the Colonial Federation of Davute, but it could easily be just as useful for any other second-rate state!

The Davutan adaptations clearly did not bother the CEO of Isthmus Manufacturing that much. At worst, their own in-house design teams could easily swap the Davutan components for alternatives that were much easier to deal with in the Rubarthan Pact.

To be honest, the overarching reason why Micky Tarukan valued the Supremo Project so highly was because the Destroyer of Worlds was actually involved in the design process!

Even if her involvement was only minimal, that was already enough to make a lot of Rubarthans crazy with desire!

If there was actual concrete proof that she improved the Supremo Project somehow, then that would likely turn it into one of the most popular second-class heavy artillery mechs in the Rubarthan Pact!

No.

That should hardly be the limit for this mech model.

The Supremo Project would likely catch on in the Red Ocean Union as well! After all, how many mech designs could boast of having the capacity to channel a minute fraction of a god pilot's awesome power?

As long as the performance of the Supremo Project was high enough to back up everyone's expectation, it was bound to capture a large share of the market for heavy artillery mechs!

The only market where the Supremo Project would fail to gain traction was in the Terran Alliance.

There was no way the Terrans would permit the widespread use and proliferation of a mech that was empowered by a Rubarthan god pilot.

It didn't matter if the Terrans themselves did not make use of the Supremo Project. They probably wouldn't be able to stand it if their vessels would rather resort to a 'Rubarthan' mech as opposed to one of the many second-class mechs designed by Terran or Terran-aligned parties!

Tarukan held no expectations towards the Terran Alliance's mech market. Both the Terrans and the Rubarthans had pretty much kept their mechs within their own spheres of influence.

As Tarukan finalized his expansive analysis of the Supremo Project based on the limited amount of information supplied by Ves, he made note of one more important factor.

If Ves could design one mech that slightly borrowed the power of the Destroyer of Worlds, he should easily be able to do so again.

There were all sorts of useful mech types that could gain a lot of wind in their sails if they could harness even the slightest amount of power of an actual god pilot!

The help bestowed by the Destroyer of Worlds was especially easy to work with because she could make every attack hit harder. The destruction properties of her god kingdom were well-known to the Rubarthans. As long as she could amplify the firepower of every ranged mech, then that would grant a mech company like Isthmus Manufacturing a huge amount of irreplaceable cash cows!

The insane potential for subsequent business opportunities made it even more important for Isthmus to secure Ves' cooperation.

Micky Tarukan completely forgot about his initial reaction after the Senior Mech Designer made an excessively greedy demand.

Compared to the value of his mech designs, his demands became a lot more reasonable!

"The terms and scope of this potential agreement has vastly exceeded my expectations." The CEO hastily told Ves. "We must deliberate on your counter-offer. The Supremo Project is a particularly compelling mech design. It should do well in Rubarthan space. It is a waste to turn it into an exclusive product for a single ordinary second-rate colonial state."

That told Ves that Micky Tarukan would definitely go back and report to the board of directors.

No. That was too slow. A decision as big as this could only be made by the ultimate controller and decision-maker of Isthmus Manufacturing.

Ves needed to wait until this bigshot issued a response before they could talk more substantively about cooperation.

"Very well. Please do not take too long. I originally intended to hand the Supremo Project over to the Colonial Federation of Davute. If you do not issue a response quickly enough, then unforeseen complications may arise."

"Please give us a week. That should be long enough to explore the possibilities of partnering up with each other."

"You have three days. I am not sticking around in Bortele III much longer. I intend to wrap up all of the major business decisions that require my intervention while I am here. After that, I will turn my attention back to my design projects."

"Understood. We shall return quickly now that I have raised the priority on this matter."

The chief executive did not linger much longer. Time was of the essence as a lot of stakeholders needed to be informed.

The expansive projection of the reception hall disappeared as the communication channel shut down on the other end.

"Good job, boss!" Gavin cheered as he approached from the side. "We were initially scared when you veered from the script, but you applied the right kind of pressure. Asking for 20 percent ownership in a company as massive as Isthmus Manufacturing may still be excessive, but the number shouldn't be large enough to shut down the negotiations outright. We should already be happy if we can obtain 15 percent, especially if you can continue to design mechs such as the Supremo Project. It is just like with the Hex Federation but on a much larger scale. You can conquer an entire population as long as you design the right mechs."

The comparison sounded inappropriate at first, but Ves quickly realized that their situations were quite similar.

The Superior Mother was one of the deities that the Hexers already worshiped and revered. The chance of experiencing her power and gaining the opportunity to come into contact with her was high.

A lot of Hexers flocked to mechs such as the Valkyrie Redeemer precisely because they thought the mech could bring them closer to their Supreme!

The Destroyer of Worlds might not be a classical god, but she may as well be one given how much the Rubarthans adored her like one! Even non-Rubarthans looked up to her due to her awesome firepower and her ability to shatter entire planets.

Gavin did not exaggerate when he made that remark.

Ves raised his hand and placed it on his assistant's shoulder. "Please pay attention to this matter. I am counting on you to explore the ramification of this possible deal and how our relationship with the Rubarthan Pact and other major groups will change as a result."

"You are right to be concerned." Gavin grew a little more serious. "From the moment we start to establish roots within the Rubarthan Pact, we will enter a colonial alliance that is beset by a leadership crisis. Many princes are openly or covertly jockeying for power. The temptation to become the Red Ocean's version of the Star Emperor is simply too great for them to resist. Once we wade into this mud pool, we are bound to get dirty."

Ves casually shrugged when he heard that. "We can handle it. With the Destroyer of Worlds backing me up, the princes won't dare to cross the line. Besides, it is not as if I have any actual horse in this silly race."

"Oh? Shouldn't we be favoring the Inferno Spear Prince. He is close to the Destroyer of Worlds. Once he is able to ascend the new throne, it will become much easier for us to lobby him. We can build a real base of power in Rubarthan space."

Ves shook his head. "It is not my intention to allow us to get assimilated by the Rubarthans. We need to maintain a certain degree of detachment in order to maintain our independence and neutrality. Cozying up too much to the Rubarthans will just cause us to get alienated from the Terrans. We should keep everything strictly business. Owning stock in a large mech company and designing a few exclusive mechs for them still falls within the business scope of a mech designer. Besides, the Destroyer of Worlds actually doesn't care about the Inferno Spear Prince all that much."

"Huh?"

"It's complicated. I have already said too much. Anyway, please follow up on this issue. I think it won't take long for the Impresario Prince to make up his mind and contact me directly."

Gavin nodded in agreement. "That is a likely possibility. If the 5733rd prince truly takes the initiative to contact you in a hurry, then we have already won this bet. There is no way a bigshot like him wants to talk to you more directly just to refuse your counteroffer."

Ves really looked forward to seeing that happen. The repercussions of forging a successful deal would be great, but he was confident that he could deal with them. This was a time where the Larkinson Clan must continue to sustain its rapid expansion in order to keep up with his rapidly growing demands.

"Meooow...!"

Both Ves and Gavin interrupted their conversation and glanced at the gem cat that was moaning and squirming on the desk.

The injured but healing cat had come under increasing strain all of a sudden.

"What is wrong with your cat?"

"I think... it is finally time for him to use the kitty litter box once more!"

It was gem time again!

Ves had been waiting for so long to get his hands on the next batch of gems!

"Meeow... meoooow... meeeeeoooow...!"

Given recent events, Lucky's upcoming batch of gems were bound to possess particularly exotic and remarkable properties this time!

"You can go now." Ves hastily dismissed his assistant. "Lucky needs a bit of personal attention. Make sure to block any appointments in the next hours, including the urgent ones!"

"Meeeeeeeoooow..."

Lucky appeared to be in even more pain as his archemetal body had yet to heal from the damage inflicted by Master Quan.

Hopefully, his self-evolving cat managed to make the right adaptations that enabled him to cope a lot better against this kind of attack next time.

Ves didn't care too much about this, though. The only topic that remained on his mind was GEMS!

"C'mon, buddy. Your digestion system has hold onto the gems long enough. Let it all out. I hope that you have been saving up for something this time."

Ves may have reduced his reliance on gems as of late, but that was not that big of a deal.

If it was no longer cost-effective to apply the valuable gems to individual mechs, then he would just find another use for them! He just needed to figure out a way to safely extract and make use of what they contained inside their crystalline structures.

As the minutes passed by, Lucky's metallic body convulsed increasingly more.

At a certain point, the cat had finally reached his limit!

"MEEEEOOW!"

Three large and brightly glowing gems ejected from the exit port and slammed against the wall like bullets!

Ves immediately ditched his cat and ran off to pick up the hot and steaming gems that had fallen on the office room floor.

"Just three? They better be good."

He already had a feeling that he had obtained a big prize this time.