The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7093

Chapter 7093: Multi-Timeline Chess

Ves frankly felt annoyed at how the Cybers politely but firmly pushed him into collaborating with them on Bloodfire mechs.

Their logic was impeccable, but did they have to be so aggressive about their supposed claim to fire-aspected Carmine mechs?

This was the frustrating thing about the Polymath. She made deductions and acted upon them without sparing much thought on whether the other side agreed to cooperate.

Wait.

Star Designers shouldn’t be that stupid.

The more likely explanation was that she modeled his reaction towards her star empire’s proposal and thought its logic was too strong for him to ever refuse.

After all, Ves had much to gain and little to lose from cooperating with the Cybers on the development of Bloodfire mechs.

He tried his best to find a flaw in Hugo’s arguments, but he failed to find one.

Perhaps he could invent a lame excuse or two, but it would be intellectually dishonest for Ves to engage in such behavior. It also went against his principles as a mech designer, which was even more egregious.

As a mech designer herself, the Polymath knew exactly how to corner Ves into cooperating with her Living Machine Tower.

Ves felt as if he was playing chess against an opponent who was intelligent and meticulous enough to rank in the top 3 of the Red Ocean.

If that was not enough, the Polymath had 53 whole years to move her chess pieces while Ves was only able to make a couple of moves at most!

By the time he finished moving a handful of pawns, the Cybernetic Empress already put him into checkmate!

It was infuriating, but what could he do? He definitely needed to rely on external research support in order to successfully develop his Bloodfire mechs. This was practically mandatory if he wanted his Bloodfire mechs to reach the same standards as his future Woodsap and Polymetal mechs.

When Ves tried to think of alternatives to cooperate with, he could not think of any group that could compete against the accumulated advantages of the Cybernetic Empire.

The Red Association? It might be possible for him to be able to cook up a powerful Bloodfire mech design if he obtained minor technical support from the Lord of Thermodynamics or the Limitless Provider, but the advantages weren’t as great. An even greater issue was that Ves felt very reluctant about letting the mechers gain control over another elemental Carmine mech type.

The Red Fleet? Their understanding of energy was quite profound, but Hugo was correct in saying that it was ridiculous to turn to the fleeters for help with matters relating to mechs. There were bound to be angry fleeters out there who would do anything to sabotage this collaboration effort!

The Rubarthan Pact? Perhaps the Plasma Shaper and her network may be able to develop a plasma weapon-focused Bloodfire mech that may prove powerful in its own way. However, Ves had very little experience with designing mechs based on plasma weapon technology.

The Red Collective? Their knowledge and mastery over the fire element may be more varied due to their much more comprehensive understanding of qi cultivation, but their grasp on high technology was much weaker. Any Bloodfire mech he designed with the help of the collies would probably rank at the top of the weirdness scale.

Ves briefly considered a few other groups, but had to disqualify them for one reason or another.

If he set aside his biases and made a completely objective evaluation based on fair criteria, then the Cybernetic Empire ranked so high that it was meaningless to take a look at the alternatives.

Ves needed the Cybers as much as they needed him. That did not mean he wanted to surrender so easily.

"I need to think about it." He told Hugo. "This is a big decision. I need to talk to my advisors and hear how this cooperation will affect my clan. The Cybernetic Empire does not exactly have a good reputation at the moment. I do not want to offend my existing allies or cause them to lower their trust in me because of my decision to cooperate with you on an important mech design project."

Hugo did not accept these arguments. "Ves, you are exaggerating. Everyone seeks to cooperate with us. Anyone in your position would have accepted our offer without hesitation. Your other allies will understand your situation. Besides, they have no right to dictate your actions. Do not let their selfishness prevent you from doing what is best for you, your clan and your customers. Agree and you will receive greater access to our exclusive technologies related to our deep studies of fire energy. Your works will become all the more stronger for it, enabling them to fight against the native aliens as well as the mutated voribugs with greater effectiveness."

"And I suppose that all of those Bloodfire mechs will exclusively be piloted by the citizens of the Cybernetic Empire, right?" Ves sardonically asked.

Hugo nodded and smiled. "That is only fair since the Terrans and the mechers are unwilling to release their exclusive Woodsap mechs and Polymetal mechs to us. We are aware that your clan is exempted from this exclusivity rule, and we have no issue with adopting this condition as well. If your clan cannot benefit from your own work, then it would be hard to guarantee that you will be doing your best."

As both of them waited for their higher ups to issue their verdicts, Ves thought about taking further advantage of this situation.

Since their negotiations had already come to this point, he might as well take it a step further.

He began to think whether he should invite the Cybers to participate in the Promethea Mark II Project.

He owed it to Saint Isobel Kotin to design the best possible iteration of her ace mech.

Even though she managed to gain a new and powerful body out of her ordeal, Ves noticed that her mental state was not all that strong compared to other saints.

Getting paired with an inferior and more flawed ace mech may cause her confidence and mental health to take a further hit, thereby leading to severe consequences with regards to her progression as a mech designer.

Ves eyed an expectant looking Hugo with greater scrutiny.

It would be helpful if he could gain the support of the Cybers when designing the Promethea Mark II Project.

It should serve as a nice practice run for designing a Bloodfire mech that was suitable to be used by the masses.

The biggest downside was that it would be difficult to maintain confidentiality in relation to one of the Larkinson Clan’s most powerful products.

This was a very serious risk and was extra relevant for ace mechs.

If an enemy studied the Promethea Mark II’s design and managed to defeat the ace mech on the battlefield by taking advantage of leaked information, then that would heavily damage the Larkinson Clan’s future!