The Mech Touch

Due to his strong position, Ves held the upper hand during the extensive negotiations.

He continually opened his mouth and demanded an extensive amount of concessions and accommodations.

Lady Miralix tried her best to limit the damage. On some points, she conceded without too much fuss.

She held her ground in other areas, though. In particular, she was loathe to cede any control over her hunting team.

However, Ves continued to insist on reserving the right to issue certain orders, such as holding back an attack or delay killing Zeigra if they ever managed to defeat the Crown Cat in battle.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I'm not certain if I can obtain what I want from Zeigra. I may require extensive observation up close before I gain a sufficient amount of inspiration. Don't worry, my lady. I won't stop you from killing the Crown Cat and claiming its head as a trophy."

In truth, Ves did aspire for the head as well. It contained the brains of the Crown Cat which definitely housed the creature's spirituality. He could probably do a lot of things he hadn't done before, especially if he continued to climb up the path of life.

Sadly, Lady Miralix would never let go of Zeigra's head. She had to return to her noble house with an impressive trophy in her possession. Without physical proof of her accomplishment, she would only gain half as much prestige from the risky hunt!

Eventually, he did manage to gain the right to influence the proceedings of the hunt. Ves insisted on it as he wasn't sure how he could obtain a spiritual fragment from a Crown Cat as formidable as Zeigra.

He also wasn't sure whether he could harvest a spiritual fragment from the beast when he was dead. Ves developed a guess that he might be able to obtain more than just a fragment if he was present at the moment of its death.

However, this was just a guess. He didn't know for sure, so just to be safe, Ves planned to secure a spiritual fragment before Lady Miralix forced the confrontation.

"If everything goes well, I'll probably need an extra night after we first encounter the Crown Cat." He said.

"Zeigra may decide to go on the attack as soon as he detects our scouts."

"Then by all means, fight."

The negotiations continued. Ves and Lady Miralix grew more comfortable with each other as they hammered out an agreement that left both of them somewhat satisfied.

In summary, the agreement stipulated several demands to both Ves and Lady Miralix.

Ves promised to do his utmost to upgrade the lady's personal mech. He would also spend some time to go over the other mechs of her hunting team and suggest various modifications.

In addition, he would also accompany the hunting trip and continually advise and assist in field maintenance of their mechs. Nothing about this was new to him. Considering the relatively short duration of a hunting trip, Ves did not expect to endure anything like he experienced on the surface of Aeon Corona VII.

In return for these simple services, Lady Miralix made a lot of concessions.

First, she already promised to give him some initiative over the direction of her hunting team. While she remained in full operational control, Ves had the right to issue certain broad instructions as long as they didn't pose a grave threat to the lives of the hunters or the success of the hunting trip.

Second, Lady Miralix surrendered the rest of the carcass into his possession. While Ves wasn't sure what he could get out of the remainder of Zeigra's carcass without its essential head, he didn't rule out anything.

Next, she promised to provide him with access to both the Sentinel Peacekeeper Association and a very prohibited black market organization called the Circle of Mota.

The former didn't require much elaboration. The outfits acting as pirate hunters, bounty hunters and foolhardy prospectors frequently entered the Nyxian Gap and returned with a variety of booty in their cargo holds.

While the Peacekeepers kept most of the good stuff to themselves, they frequently sold spoils they didn't find any use for. This applied to numerous strange exotics uncovered from the ubiquitous asteroid in the Gap.

In fact, much of the exotics for sale at Centerpoint originated from organizations like the Peacekeepers!

Ves had high hopes of accessing their exotics marketplace. He wanted to uncover more treasures like the P-stone. Even if he couldn't get another space rock that possessed the capability to hold and store spiritual energy, perhaps he might be able to find something that repelled spirituality or converted it into another form!

As for gaining access to the more obscure and secretive Circle of Mota, Lady Miralix emphasized its prohibited nature.

"Within the Sentinel Kingdom, it's a serious crime to associate with pirates. I can get in serious trouble if I introduce you to the Circle of Mota. I can only arrange for you to get in touch with them through a middleman."

He grew curious that such a thing was possible at all. "How pervasive is the trade between Sentinels and Nyxian pirates?"

"Not as much as you think. The royal house and many noble houses are very strict about befriending pirates. However, there are still many goods in the possession of the pirates that Sentinel nobles are willing to pay a high price to acquire. The same goes the other way. The Nyxian pirates and dark mercenaries have a very high demand on technologically sophisticated goods and services. The chaotic and undeveloped region of the Nyxian Gap is an awful environment to develop a tech center."

Just like the frontier, the Nyxian Gap suffered an enduring shortage of techs and science adepts. Mech technicians, mech designers, ship spacers, doctors, and other skilled and educated personnel did not grow from trees!

A region required a robust educational system to produce these kinds of people en masse. While virtual education programs and modules offered an alternative, the results often left much to be desired. At the very least, the quantity and quality of graduates who were raised this way was vastly lower than those graduating from formal institutions!

"For this reason, the most convenient and abundant trade goods that Sentinels supply to the Nyxian Gap are slaves." She declared.

The revelation shocked him, though he shouldn't have been surprised. If not for the jammer blocking every form of monitoring in a hotel that was likely under her direct control anyway, she would have never spoken these words aloud!

"How come your noble house is involved with this so-called Circle of Mota?"

She smiled sardonically at him. "Some of our more clandestine biotech products are in high demand. Innocent designer cats like Genevieve here are toys in comparison!"

"Miao!"

"Oh, I didn't mean to disparage you. You're very precious to me, Genevieve!"

As Lady Miralix briefly played with her cat, Ves processed her revelations. If she wasn't so desperate to secure his services, she would have never revealed such a bombshell.

In fact, the risk of revealing House Laterna's relations with the Nyxian pirates was a huge risk in itself. Wasn't she afraid that Ves would tip off the Peacekeepers or something?

Perhaps she already had insurance in place. Perhaps it would take solid proof to back up his accusation. Whatever the case, Ves did not have any intentions of betraying Lady Miralix in the first place, so the point was moot.

What Ves actually saw in the offer was a way for him to connect with the actual power structure Nyxian Gap. Not only would he be able to trade away his Devil Tiger through this contact once he finished its design and production, he might also be able to get some clues about the source of geril spice.

Of course, all of those matters paled in comparison to finding out the whereabouts of his father!

"You've offered a lot to borrow my design abilities." He remarked at the end of this impactful negotiation. "May I ask why you're willing to go this far?"

The lady shrugged. "Because I know it is worth it. You may be a young Journeyman, but studying your record has impressed me very much. Not only are you battle tested and possess a more intimate understanding of the rigors that mechs face in the field, but your products are also extraordinary. If you can elevate my mech to the height of your Transcendent Messenger, then that is a price worth obtaining at great cost!"

Ves was taken aback at her frank enthusiasm. It seemed his prior accomplishments played a huge role in attracting her attention.

Though she didn't initially look like one, it turned out she was actually a huge fan of his work!

"Oh… thank you for the compliment. I have to warn you though that designing a mech like the Transcendent Messenger is a very time and resource-intensive process. I won't be able to bestow the same degree of strength to your mech in the timeframe we are working with. I'm also short on various resources which aren't easy to obtain."

She dismissively flicked her hand. "I am aware it is difficult for you to drum up a miracle on short notice and on an existing mech. Just do the best you can, Mr. Larkinson. Your remuneration depends on the success of our upcoming hunt. As long as we succeed, you will have all the rewards I've promised, so it behooves you to improve our mechs as much as possible!"

That was the critical demand that Lady Miralix imposed during the negotiations. All of her hard work and sacrifices would go to waste if she failed the upcoming hunt!

In order to ensure that Ves would be incentivized to pull out all the stops, she made the hunt's success an essential condition for him to earn all of the rewards!

Ves eventually agreed to it, because he wouldn't be able to obtain all of the valuable concessions otherwise.

He just had to work extra hard in the coming days. Lady Miralix had years to prepare the groundwork for this tradition of her noble house, so her hunting team certainly wouldn't look shabby!

As Lady Miralix finally departed from his hotel suite with Genevieve in her arms, Ves called in Gavin to relay to him the details.

"I hate to ask you again, but is all of that really worth participating in such a dangerous hunt, boss?"

"Benny." Ves directed a flat glare towards Gavin. "I make the decisions here. I've already made up my mind concerning this matter. All of the concessions I can expect to receive upon the successful conclusion of the hunt is more than worth all of this trouble! I won't argue with you any further about this. I've already struck a deal with Lady Miralix so it's not like I can change my mind at this point."

Though he employed Gavin in order to act as a voice of reason, sometimes Ves didn't feel like listening to reason! In the end, he gave in to temptation, trusting Lady Miralix and his own capabilities to stack the deck against Zeigra.

He ignored Gavin's concerns and picked up Lucky, lifting his cat in the air like a baby.

"Meow."

"Who do you think is stronger, you or Zeigra?"

"Meow!"

"Of course you'd say something like that. I don't know if reality will match your expectations." Ves shook his head.

Lucky possessed deadly capabilities, but Ves doubted his ability to hide and deal damage could kill a powerful huge cat in an instant.

Not a single huge cat in Felixia was easy to kill. The ones developed by House Laterna in order to provide a sufficient challenge to mechs were incredibly resistant against damage!

With flesh, hide and even fur resistant to mech-sized weapons, top predators such as Zeigra could probably shrug off his Amastendira's full-powered discharges with ease!

"The best we can do is run away." He told Lucky. "Even then, our stealth probably won't last long enough to outrun a Crown Cat's sense of smell!"

"Meow!"