The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1801

Chapter 1801 Unacceptable

The story got really confusing from there. In order to allow Ves to take Gloriana's place as the lead designer of the classified design project, something needed to happen to Gloriana.

Not only that, but the transition had to be done with such haste and priority that his status as a male foreigner should never have an opportunity to hinder his promotion!

Calabast laid out an elaborate scheme that involved misclassifying the classified design project, taking advantage that the mech designers were 'stationed' in the distant Ylvaine Protectorate instead of somewhere in the Hegemony.

After all of this preparation and more, a critical step had to be made.

"Gloriana must die."

"What?!"

Ves almost jumped out of his office chair! What was Calabast talking about?! He would never allow his girlfriend to come to any harm!

"Calm down, kid!" Calabast sternly admonished him. "We're not really killing her. We just need her to be clinically dead for less than a minute to transfer her deceased status to some headquarters in the Hegemony. Ranya Wodin has agreed to induce Gloriana in a state of death and will revive her right away regardless of the results. The goal is to make her dead long enough for you to automatically be promoted from contributing designer to lead designer under emergency rules that happen to neglect some checks, including inspecting your gender and your origin!"

"Unacceptable!"

This sounded like an excessively risky step in the plan! Was this commission truly worth the risks? All kinds of complications could take place! Even if her body survived unscathed, what about her spirituality? The mind, body and spirit were intimately connected to each other! Damaging one would definitely damage the other two!

Yet Calabast didn't know all that. She didn't see the potential risks like he did. "Ves, you're blowing this matter up. With someone as capable as Dr. Ranya and some other doctors by her side, the life of your girlfriend is guaranteed! We would never gamble with Gloriana's life if we weren't confident we could revive her under our care!"

"I don't agree!" Ves shouted. This time, he was determined to put his foot down. "I'll refuse this commission if you need to perform this harebrained scheme for me to take over the design project!"

The two argued back and forth about this topic until Calabast finally accepted that Ves would remain unreasonably stubborn!

"Fine." She spat out. "We'll just have to resort to the backup option, then. You're lucky I anticipated your stupid objection to this step in the plan."

"What is the backup plan?"

Calabast regained her poise all of a sudden. "If we want to make things easier, we need to do something about your status as a boy or a foreigner. As long as we amend one of these two traits, it will be a lot easier for us to pave the way for you to take over the project."

He had a bad feeling about this. "What are you proposing?"

"Why, turning you into a Hexer, of course!" She grinned and waved her arm. "Aren't you rather divorced from your home state recently? There's little point in sticking to your identity as a Brighter. As long as you are willing, we can arrange Hexer citizenship for you. Normally, this is extremely difficult to arrange as they're only granted rarely to exceptional females and very handsome males. However, with the Temple of Hexism's backing, we can turn you into a full Hexer citizen within a week!"

"NO!"

Ves did not even have to think before uttering his refusal! He was horrified by the very idea of becoming a Hexer! There was no way he would join their ilk and subject himself to the deplorable treatment that boys like him deserved!

"Hear me out, Ves. It's not as bad as you think. Once you become a Hexer, you will enjoy the backing of our entire state. This is useful as the backing of a second-rate state is very useful and affords you a lot of protection whenever you are in a third-rate state. In addition, once you become a citizen, you will enjoy all of the other rights a Hexer is entitled to, such as access to institutions, permission to buy and sell property and so on. You can't imagine how good it is to be a second-class citizen!" _{freёwebnovel.com}

He sneered at Calabast. Did she think he was stupid? Well, she probably did, but right now she was outright insulting his astuteness!

"I'm already a galactic citizen, which already affords me enough of a status to protect me against certain abuses. Even if it's not as good as the support of a second-rate state, at least my galactic citizenship doesn't come with many strings attached! Once I become a Hexer, I'm not only gaining a lot of rights, but also a lot of obligations. I bet worshipping the ground that women walk is definitely one of them. If you think you can hoodwink me with this offer, then think again!"

"Wait! There is one more benefit. Becoming a Hexer will also knock down the biggest hurdle that is preventing you from advancing your relationship with Gloriana. Just think about it! You don't have to go through an insane amount of effort to earn their approval. The Wodins are very devout, and they respect the Temple of Hexism greatly!"

"I don't need this handicap." Ves scoffed, growing more and more impatient at Calabast's dangerous proposals. "I doubt that becoming a citizen is enough to make me qualified in the eyes of Madame Constance Wodin. If I want to gain her respect, I need to prove my worth by showcasing my own abilities!"

The former spy looked more and more frustrated. Ves guessed she was truly annoyed this time. She started tapping her heel against the floor. The cadence of those taps distracted him somewhat.

"It's a shame." She eventually sighed. "Letting you become a citizen of the Hegemony would solve so many problems and advance our cooperation. You're passing such a great opportunity. Many third-raters would kill to become a citizen of a stronger state!"

To someone who already set his mind on the largely-untamed Red Ocean, citizenship became increasingly meaningless to Ves. Whether he called himself a Brighter, Ylvainan or Hexer, soon he would only consider himself a galactic pioneer!