The Mech Touch

Chapter 6445 The Attentive Minister

The affair concerning the Hunting Association should probably be solved in a few months.

The Red Collective would gain symbolic authority over the Hunting Association, but would also promise not to exercise its power.

In exchange for withholding its urge to boss the Hunters around, the RC would receive regular tribute of valuable resources.

This was a simple deal, and one that could probably stand the test of time.

The premise was that both sides agreed to maintain the fiction that the HA was sect and that it had to follow the same rules as other sects.

Once the two parties agreed to work together in this way, Ves would finally be able to approach the Hunting Association in order to discuss a potential collaboration related to his Mergewater biomech concept.

Ves was not in a hurry to begin the development of the latest elemental Carmine biomech idea that came up in his mind.

The water-attributed Carmine biomech had to be fully organic, and also incorporate a lot of advanced and specialized technologies that facilitated the targeted assimilation and selective evolution functions.

While Ves could probably borrow the expertise of the Larkinson Biotech Institute or other research institutions to solve these problems, he would never be able to combine them seamlessly in his biomech design unless he possessed an adequate grasp of the advanced technologies in question.

He was not confident enough in his biotech design skills at this time. He was pretty sure he could design an average biomech, but that was far from enough to satisfy the standards of one of the most powerful organizations that had risen up in the past few years.

The Hunters would probably take offense if Ves presented a flawed and substandard biomech design!

Ves planned to improve his biomech design skills in the next few months to ensure that he could design an organic machine that fully met his standards.

In any case, Ves and his chief of staff continued to discuss various issues that needed to be addressed.

None of them were particularly important, but Ves still had to approve decisions related to hiring additional staff, scheduling virtual meetings with numerous senators, voice his opinion on various policy stances and choose how much autonomy he was willing to grant to Eliza and the rest of his workers stationed in the Astral Octagon.

"I do not intend to visit this place often." Ves plainly said. "I am a busy mech designer and

I prefer to work elsewhere. While I will make sure to free a bit of time in my schedule to attend weekly or monthly meetings, I really can't be bothered with presiding over relatively small affairs. I am willing to announce that you will act as my spokesperson inside this headquarters. Since you have already become a Larkinson, I will extend my trust to you and allow you to make moderate or time-sensitive decisions without needing to wait for my input. I have evaluated your performance so far, and you have impressed me with your thoughtfulness and connections within the Red Collective," "I... you have my gratitude for trusting me to serve on your behalf. I shall endeavor to fulfill my obligations."

Larkinson Network or not, this was still a bold choice!

This was because even if Eliza had good intentions, her strategy may be wrong or she may have become misguided to false information. She could still screw Ves up if she made a mistake.

Ves did not worry too much about that.

"I highly advise you to connect with the other members of the Larkinson Clan that have already joined the Red Collective or will soon become a part of it. These Larkinsons will definitely require guidance, and you are the best person for the job. I need you to bring them together and encourage them to share their problems with each other so that they can figure out solutions together. The Larkinsons serving within the Astral Octagon are allowed to become collies, but I do not want them to forget who they truly serve. If my clansmen hold regular meetings, they will not lose the traits that make the Larkinson. That is crucial in a bureaucracy that encompasses so many strangers."

"Well said, sir. You have made an excellent proposal. However, take into account that not all of the Larkinsons will have enough time to attend regular in-person meetings." The female staffer warned. "Many of your clansmen are second-raters. While our Red Collective has made an effort to lower the work requirements of citizens of third-rate and second-rate states, they are still expected to attend supplementary classes to bolster their competences. In order to keep up with the demanding lessons, they will most certainly have to practice a cultivation method that places significant emphasis on expanding their cognitive performance. The Red Collective is not financially secure enough to invest vast sums into bestowing every member with first-class augmentations."

Ves briefly thought about whether he should fund the upgrades to the clansmen that managed to get employed by the Red Collective.

He quickly rejected the decision. The immense sales volume of the mechs of the Swarm Project and the huge amount of fees that he received by licensing the designs should have probably left him flush with cash.

His latest commercial products had solved all of his debt and financing concerns overnight!

Even if the LMC only received a small cut of the production and sale of budget mechs

with fairly low product margins, the sheer amount of money flowing into the Larkinson Clan's bank accounts should still amount to a towering figure due to quantity alone! Ves could not only afford to pay for first-class augmentations to Larkinsons that entered the Red Collective, but probably a lot of other people in the clan as well! However, he ultimately decided against this decision due to two different reasons.

First, the availability of cultivation methods made augmentations a lot less relevant. Sure, the people who already received a lot of powerful implants and genetic treatments will probably engage in cultivation as well, but it was unlikely for them to be able to

widen the gap.

The improvements bestowed by technological augmentations were immediate but also static. It cost vastly more sums of money to attain increasingly more incremental performance boosts.

The improvements attained through systematic cultivation were gradual but ramped up over time so long as the practitioners did not hit a bottleneck.

The former held the advantage in the short-term, but the latter would probably grow so powerful after enough years that it completely marginalized the effects of old school

augmentations!

In this light, it was not cost effective for the clan to waste so much funds on first-class augmentations. Ves preferred to spend all of that money on other strategic investments, such as expanding his first-class mech force and improving the modules of his future

warships!

He also couldn't forget about the Larkinson Clan's initial attempts at colonization. While he was currently not too certain whether it was wise to sink so much money and resources into building up settlements when the Red Tide Offensive threatened to topple a lot of human territories.

"We are different from the RA and the RF." Ves said. "The RC is not only the new kid on the block, but it is also less dependent on conventional technologies as well. That does not mean we should reject modern technology entirely and regress into barbarians that try to rely on cultivation to solve every problem. I merely think that if practicing a cognitive-boosting cultivation method can produce similar results as cranial implants but with only a fraction of the cost, then we should make the logical choice." The Red Collective followed a brand new path that the Red Association and the Red Fleet was not willing to pursue to the same degree. The collies needed to prove with their actions that they had faith in the mandate of their superorganization! "You make a good point, chief councilor. I shall disseminate your opinion and do what I can to encourage this mindset among my colleagues."

"By the way, what cultivation method are you practicing at the moment?" Ves inquired. "I can clearly tell that you have made certain attainments in your cultivation." Eliza Mo Ragadan smiled. "I have the privilege of practicing the Attentive Minister Qi

Cultivation Method Version 3.5 of the Minister Series. The Repository classifies it as a high-grade premium curated qi cultivation method that is characterized by the keywords of governance, intelligence and empathy. It is difficult for most collies to access it. They need to prove their talent and affinity for it before earning the large amount of RC merits to redeem the right to practice it. Making further progress is hard. I need to buy elixirs tailored to this cultivation method to make substantial progress over time, and I need to spend at least an hour of my time on pure cultivation by building up a palace in my inner self. I further need to practice 'good governance' according to my own judgment and ideals. It is a method that is ideal for ministers and other public officials."

As the chief of staff summarized what she knew about her own cultivation method, Ves used his high security clearance to call up the information with his cranial implant. Just as expected, the Attentive Minister Qi Cultivation Method was not the best option available that was suitable for government officials. There were more powerful methods available. One of them was even called the Prime Minister Qi Cultivation Method. However, the differences between them were substantial. The Attentive Minister Method was fully modern and lacked a lot of inscrutable mysteries. This caused the predicted effects to be within a tolerable range of complexity and mystery. The downside was that its ceiling was currently low, but cultivation scientists were still in the process of developing the higher stages of this method.

The Prime Minister Qi Cultivation Method was an entirely different beast. Its theory was much more convoluted as it involved very deep and complex concepts such as destiny, karma, innate goodness, literature, reading people's hearts and the 5 elements. It was clear that much of the contents were based on an ancient cultivation method that the cultivation scientists had attempted to modernize.

The latter promised vastly greater benefits and power. It not only boasted protection against sneak attacks, but also gave the practitioner the power to kill people with the help of empowered words!

However, the talent and work required to achieve success in the Prime Minister Qi Cultivation Method was also vastly greater. Only a few collies in upper management dared to take a gamble and practice this method with the hopes of propelling themselves to the top if they managed to achieve great success!

Ves actually found out that the two methods were related to each other. A research

team developed the Attentive Minister Qi Cultivation Method from the ground up. The goal was to reproduce the Prime Minister Qi Cultivation Method with as little inefficient baggage and hidden dangers as possible.

There were other cultivation methods in the Repository that shared similar was up to the collies themselves to decide which methods they

relationships.

preferred. "You have made an interesting choice. Ves said. "I think that the Attentive Minister

Method is not the most powerful one among the modern high-grade options. Much of

this is due to its focus on improving your empathy and ability to read other people. If you wanted to make a better impression on people, you could have chosen the version that emphasizes grace."

"My ambition is not that great." His assistant and advisor resolutely shook her head. "I chose the Attentive Minister because it speaks to me the most. I do not have qualities to achieve greatness, but I can help the ones that do. I want to help you achieve your political aims, and I believe I can serve you best if I understand how you feel about different topics. An Attentive Minister is also able to read the emotions and attitudes of other people without engaging in active manipulation. I do not desire to attract attention. Finally, I am not a fighter, so I have little interest in acquiring combat capabilities. It is enough for me to expand my lifespan and make my body less vulnerablen/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

to diseases and accidents."

"I see."