The Mech Touch

In contrast to the excitement that Ves had generated when he came back to teach his Frontier Wisdom course, his other two classes concluded in a much more regular fashion.

Ves had already satisfied the curiosity of a lot of Terrans during his infamous second lecture. He had already conveyed plenty of opinions and stances during his explanation and tirades that his target audience had already figured out the essential details.

Besides, Introduction to Living Mech Design and Advanced Manual Superfab Operation were inherently more grounded in actual mech design. There was little room for political discourse when his lessons were primarily about engineering-related subjects.

What gratified him a lot was that the few students who enrolled in both courses had become a lot more attentive and enthusiastic about his lessons!

Ves no longer had to worry about whether the students would grow bored because they all believed that his courses were directly related to the reason why he was able to get recognized as a tier 3 galactic citizen in record time!

Unlike the Larkinsons and the other second-raters that Ves hung out with before, the Terrans all possessed a much deeper awareness and appreciation of what it meant to become a higher-tiered galactic citizen.

It was the ultimate dream for them to become a tier 1 or a tier 2 galactic citizen one way or another.

The fact that a second-class Senior Mech Designer of all people managed to make it to tier 3 proved that even the younger generations had a chance to enter the upper echelon within a couple of decades!

Whether they had any chance to fulfill this dream or not, Ves delightedly explained his theories knowing that his students would take his words as truth.

It would be so easy to indoctrinate them all. Ves actually felt tempted to steer them into his orbit in the hopes that they could join his Premier Branch upon graduation.

He had to restrain himself during those times. He needed to maintain his boundaries as a teacher and leave the choice up to the students themselves.

He would welcome them in his Premier Branch if they applied to join on their own initiative, but until then he needed to give them space to develop by themselves.

His relationship with Alexa Streon had changed considerably after his last serious talk with her. Though she kept up her assumed civilian identity in order to avoid attracting unwanted attention, she became remarkably more candid to Ves now that they had broken through a barrier.

"How soon will you arrive in New Constantinople?" She asked.

"I have no idea." He responded. "I still need to take care of matters on my end. Currently, my main fleet first needs to arrive in the Bortele System. I will probably have to take care of various issues before I am ready to travel to your location. The good news is that the Bluejay Fleet provided by the mechers is remarkably fast. It shouldn't take too much time to enter the Agamemnon Upper Zone."

The projection of Alexa Streon looked satisfied with that. "We shall do our best to hold a proper reception for your arrival. Whether you intend to visit for a short duration or decide to stay for a longer term, we will be happy to accommodate you and any subordinates you might bring. We can even bestow you property close to the campus of our school if that is what you need."

"There is no need to go that far. We can hash out details like this in a more comprehensive treaty between the Terran Alliance and the Larkinson Clan."

Ves deliberately mentioned his clan because he wanted people to get used to dealing with the Larkinson Clan as a 'serious' trading partner that was not subject to their own rule.

His hope was to lay the groundwork for the Larkinson Clan's gradual evolution into a first-class power that could stand on its own. Neither the mechers, fleeters, Terrans or Rubarthans could boss around the Larkinsons at will!

"Have you put any thought into my offer to become my apprentice?"

"I have talked it over with my grandfather and the other leaders of the Streon Ancient Clan." Alexa replied in a serious tone. "I am not ready to give you my answer. My clan and I would like to meet with you in person. No matter how often we have interacted with each other over a distance, people can still turn out to be different in reality. I would like to learn more about you and the clan that you want me to join before I can make an informed decision."

"That is reasonable."

The young lady refused to offer any further clarification on what was going on on her own side, so Ves had little choice but to wait. The Terrans were fairly traditional in the way they conducted business. They were more than willing to wait a few weeks or a few months in order to conduct proper negotiations on major business deals.

It helped that the Terrans already established a solid relationship with Ves through his employment at the Eden Institute of Business & Technology.

Now that Ves had made it clear that he still valued his teaching position, the Terrans weren't in a hurry to attain quick results. They would rather take the time to collect more information and make more preparations to ensure a good outcome.

Since the Terrans were willing to wait until they were ready to discuss more serious matters, Ves soon shifted most of his attention to the Rubarthans.

Ves had no idea what to expect from his upcoming talk with the Inferno Prince. The only reason why such an honored leader was willing to talk to Ves directly was because of his alleged ties with the Destroyer of Worlds.

Since he was able to pull out a minor clone of Emma out of nowhere, he obviously earned the powerful god pilot's favor!

It would be embarrassing if Ves had no other ties to the Rubarthans under the circumstances.

Minister Shederin Purnesse had conducted a lot of research and coached Ves on how to conduct himself.

"The Rubarthans have a reputation for being considerably more direct and results-oriented than the Terrans." The old man said as he gave Ves a final reminder before the remote talk was scheduled to begin. "What complicates our situation further is that an ace pilot will be doing the initial negotiations. Such a figurehead will have little patience for Smalltalk or pleasantries. The greatest point of uncertainty that you must clarify is whether he has been in contact with the Destroyer of Worlds or not. If the Rubarthan god pilot has affirmed your relationship with her or issued direct instructions, then the Inferno Prince will act accordingly."

"I understand."

The god pilots of red humanity had all fallen out of contact shortly after the Great Severing had occurred. The need to maintain confidentiality was high, so it was unclear whether the Rubarthan leadership were able to maintain communications with the Destroyer of Worlds.

Ves knew he would be able to find out the truth pretty soon. He counted down the minutes even as he made his way over to the Hyper Chamber while dressed in his best uniform.

He briefly wondered whether he should wear the tier 3 galactic citizenship badge, but decided to keep it out of sight in order to avoid associating himself too much with the mechers.

The Hyper Chamber took its time to form a brand-new secure connection with a completely new location.

The Hyper Chamber's advanced physical projectors and other sophisticated tech immediately went into action.

An entirely different environment came into shape. The space of the Hyper Chamber were being stretched to their very limit, but not a millimeter beyond, indicating that the Rubarthans understood its details extremely well.

Ves had the illusion of entering a throne room.

The Rubarthans clearly wanted to put on a good show. The entire space was made out of a natural stone material that looked extremely hard and dense at first glance.

Ves had little doubt that the stone material could resist the attacks of ordinary first-class multipurpose mechs!

Banners hung from the walls while solemn carved seats occupied both sides of the magnificent chamber.

The center lane was covered by a burgundy carpet that led all the way up to an exaggeratingly raised dais that ended at a large stone throne with a backrest that led all the way to the ceiling!

There was no way for Ves to hide his reaction to this new environment. The entire throne room was designed to convey the majesty and the power of the Rubarthan Imperial Household.

The entire chamber happened to be empty at the moment.

No one sat on the throne or the benches where guests would be seated during formal events.

Just as Ves was starting to get used to the imperial ambiance, the enormous double doors at the other side slowly slid open.

A small figure strode in from the entrance. That figure slowly appeared larger and larger until Ves stood face to face with the famed Prince Antonius, otherwise known as the Inferno Prince.

The two silently evaluated each other for a few seconds.

The Inferno Prince radiated just as much strength and confidence as the Mace of Retaliation.

This was no surprise as both were not only peak ace pilots, but also descendants of supremely powerful figures.

One of them was the grandson of an actual god pilot.

The other was the 2016th offspring of the Star Emperor.

It was hard to say which of them commanded more power and influence.

In any case, Ves was able to get a sense of the Inferno Spear's powerful domain field through the medium of the Hyper Chamber.

Different from the Mace of Retaliation whose Saint Kingdom conveyed an impression of endless counterattacks, the Inferno Prince came across as an imperial spear that threatened to leave fire and ruination in its wake!

"Professor Larkinson." The prince spoke gruffly as he raised his hand. "So you are the person chosen by the Destroyer of Worlds."

Ves raised his own hand and exchanged a firm handshake with the Rubarthan prince. "I am not sure about getting chosen by her. My relationship with her is not that close."

"Lying is beneath you." The Inferno Prince accused. "Divine Irene Mox would not have granted you a major boon if you did not earn her trust. Tell me, what is it about you that has made you worthy of her attention? Why is it that the rest of us are in the dark about your relationship with one of our greatest protectors?"

The Inferno Spear did not even try to hide the fact that he and the rest of the Rubarthans were still out of contact with the Destroyer Worlds.

At least, that was the impression that he was trying to give. Who knew whether he was merely putting on a charade.

Ves did not think that was the case, though. Ace pilots were much more honest. It was beneath the Inferno Spear to engage in any subterfuge in this matter.

He guessed that the Inferno Spear's interest was much more personal in nature. He was asking as a friend of the Destroyer of Worlds, not as a leader and a representative of the Rubarthan Pact.

Ves couldn't help but feel more at ease for that reason.

Knowing that Prince Antonius was powerful and perceptive enough to detect lies even through a remote connection, Ves tried to word his words carefully.

"I do not think the Destroyer of Worlds will like it if I say too much to you. All I can say is that I helped her a long time ago, and that she owed a debt to me in turn. She turned to me because I was the only one who was available at the time who could help her solve her problem. As I have demonstrated during the recent conference, I am known to provide various unique services that no one else can match."

Hopefully, that should be enough for Ves to raise his status in the eyes of the Rubarthans.