The Mech Touch

Chapter 7128: Delinquent Hunters

After concluding a massive deal with the Red Fleet, Ves began to meet with the other representatives.

He asked Aurelia whether she wanted to stay with him or leave and enjoy the activities on the other continents. It might be fun for her to accompany Athena for a day.

She refused with the shake of her head. "I want to be present while you negotiate with others. I want to see how it is done. It is not often that I am allowed to witness these talks. As for Athena, I should be able to meet with her plenty of times once I attend the naval academy."

With that said, Aurelia settled into her seat. There was never a dull moment as Clixie offered her back for pets while Marigold embraced her new role as the young lady’s companion, maid and protector.

The next appointment came with the arrival of Deep Wanderer Soto Nil. He and his fellow Hunters still garbed themselves in their savage leathers, hides and bone trinkets.

Though the Hunters had been forced to disarm in order to step foot onto the Microplanet, they still exuded an air of repressed danger and savagery.

They briefly glanced at Aurelia and especially her new medallion.

They also directed a wary glance towards Marigold. The Hunters somehow recognized how dangerous the humanized artifact could be, especially since she possessed a lot of autonomy.

Even so, they reserved most of vigilance towards Ves, knowing that he was a phase lord who could put up a mean fight if he was desperate.

The Hunters couldn’t help it. They were predators. They had hunted prey that were bigger and stronger than themselves.

The biggest difference between the Hunters and the apex predators that fell to them was intelligence.

The Deep Wanderer was able to travel deeper behind enemy lines and hunt prey on planets normally held by the native aliens before slipping away completely unnoticed due to being smart about it. The Hunters did not utilize the best tech, nor made use of the most expensive gear, but they were consistently able to fell giants by targeting their weaknesses.

No true Hunter was truly harmless. No Hunter ceased to think about the best and most efficient way to kill you. No Hunter was a fool.

As the Hunter entourage entered the garden courtyard, they did not hide their contempt at the surroundings.

What other people regarded as a masterful and harmonious display of horticulture, the Hunters only saw a pale mockery of mother nature.

The untamed planets possessed an abundance of wild power. Each exobeast could mutate into a more powerful and unrestrained version of itself.

Once they turned into mutated beasts, they quickly dominated the ecosystem.

If they won enough battles, they eventually evolved into calamity beasts, which were literally capable of producing localized calamities that could out nearly any hostile force, be they other exobeasts or human mechs!

As for the next step, no evolved creature had yet crossed this massive threshold, mostly because the Hunters usually wiped out every calamity beast to prevent the worst from happening.

Unfortunately, the Hunting Association was not able to stretch too deep into alien space. The Hunters all feared that the alien races would remain ignorant and complacent about the true threat posed by leaving mutated beasts and calamity beasts unchecked.

Yet their fears about the Red Cabal and the other alien races botching this responsibility had taken a backseat.

Ever since the mutated voribugs revealed themselves to be a massive threat to any organic being in the Red Ocean, the Hunters entered into a bad mood.

None of their hunting strategies worked against these implacable swarm creatures. Their weapons and other strange capabilities worked more or less, but when they were being flooded by millions of small but still fairly resilient bugs, no weapon system could last that long!

The mutated voribugs represented a bug in the system. They did not enrich an ecosystem. They drained it of all of its vitality and biodiversity. No creature could survive their voracious hunger. Every organic matter disappeared in their gullets, only to be digested and used to produce more of their kind.

This turned the voribugs into a massive existential threat. There was no way to reach a compromise with it. AT least the native aliens were civilized enough to understand and abide by the concepts of cease fire and treaties.

As for the voribugs? They devoured the copies of treaties!

Perhaps it might be possible to conclude a deal with the mysterious alien entity that reigned at the top, but if there were limits to what the Hunters could accomplish.

If it was possible to solve the mutated voribug problem this way, then the Huntsman would hace already taken action by this time.

The fact that the mutated voribugs remained a serious threat and that the Hunters sought out Ves in particular meant that the Hunting Association had no other coice.

The bugs needed to be fought against, but all existing mechs and solutions were not suited to be deployed against this enemy type.

This was what mech designers like Ves was for. People like him never believed that any single enemy was unbeatable.

"The main reason why red humanity is struggling to fight against the mutated voribugs is because we have yet to design and field the right solutions to the problem." Ves spoke with confidence as he addressed the Hunters. "My Mergewater mech concept can be one of those solutions. It has its flaws and shortcomings, but its strengths should be undeniable. I had hoped you guys would see its value back when the native aliens were the only enemies we had to worry about."

The Hunters most definitely heard his unspoken accusation.

Instead of addressing it directly so that they could clear the air between the two sides, the Deep Wandered chose to sidestep it. This was a convenient action.

"How soon can you begin development of your Mergewater mechs?"

"Not so quickly." Ves honestly responded. "While our cooperation on this elemental Carmine mech design project has stalled for a number of months, I have already formed initial agreements with the Cybernetic Empire and the Red Association about two other elemental Carmine mech design projects. I need to be fair to them and prioritize them first before it is finally your turn."

"Can you not design them concurrently?"

Ves shook his head. "No. My time is limited and my work output can only be split into so many projects at a time. I am already committed to working on the Promethea Mark II Project, the Lionheart Mark II Project. Furthermore, I may also need to participate in the design of two first-class multipurpose mech design projects. Granted, I am not the lead designer of those projects, so I do not have to spend too much time on them, especially now that our clan has welcomed the return of freshly promoted first-class mech designers. The same cannot be said for the development of my Polymetal mechs and Bloodfire mechs."

Although he was still able to rely a lot on external mech designers to do the heavy lifting, the elemental Carmine mech design projects ultimately had to carry his touch, so he did not dare to neglect them on this front. He could not afford to be lazy and let others make the majority of the design choices. He still needed to retain his ownership of the final iterations of the elemental Carmine mechs.

The Hunters did not quite understand his perspective, but that was okay. Ves had given them an explanation. It was up to them whether they wanted to accept it or not. He clearly did not like it when the Hunting Association showed so much disrespect by stalling their initial collaboration for so many months.

How could Ves possibly tolerate it when the Hunters suspended work on their collaboration project without giving him a proper explanation, before hastily trying to revive it just because circumstances had made it important again?

This was absurd!

Ves did not want to accept this arrangement because it would prove that the Hunters could push him around without suffering any consequence!

Deep Wanderer Soto Nil most definitely understood the reasons behind Ves’ frustrations.

Yet he still had a mission to accomplish.

"The importance of your Mergewater mechs has risen, professor." He respectfully said as he subtly lowered his posture. "The stakes are high. Many planets are at risk. The voribugs not only threaten to wipe out countless humans, but they are also threatening to devour unique alien ecosystems that possess one-of-a-kind biodiversity. The loss of so many lives will ultimately inflict irreparable harm to our civilization. The longer we are deprived from deploying a proper counter against the mutated voribugs, the more the Rubarthan Pact and all of its territories will turn into a collection of lifeless globes. The Red Ocean Union and the Terran Alliance will be next."

Ves shook his head. He refused this desperation argument!

"The Hunting Association is far from the only major human power to fight against this new major threat. The Rubarthans are not helpless. They have gathered the courage to declare independence, knowing that they would have to take a lot of stuff on their own. Granted, they may not have expected for the mutated voribugs to pop up, but I do not think that would have swayed them from their initial decisions. Even if the Rubarthan Pact cannot repel the mutated voribugs alone, the colonial alliance is more than willing to enter into a deal with the Cybernetic Empire to obtain much-needed military aid."

Although Ves was not privy to the secret talks between the two sides, he did not think they would stall much longer. The warfleets and most likely the war planets of the Cybernetic Empire were bound to relocate to the Rubarthan frontlines on a large scale in the coming days or weeks.

Perhaps the Rubarthans may be forced to pay a heavy price up to giving up a lot of territory in order to receive this aid, but the most important part was that they could always retake more territory once red humanity gained enough space to launch counterattacks against its enemies!

Of course, the Rubarthans might not think this way. They could be proud and stubborn about a lot of different issues.

"We have amassed a large reserve of high-value organic resources." The Deep Wanderer spoke to Ves. "We are aware that you have a particularly strong interest in our Mentalist Crystals. If you are willing to expedite the development of Mergewater mechs, we can assign you a couple of extra quotas for the next round of issuances."

"No." Ves simply replied. "You are correct that I have developed an interest in Mentalist Crystals. I can never have too many of them, especially if they are whole and undamaged. However, no amount of Mentalist Crystals can make me do more work in the same amount of time. I have already explained to you that my schedule is full. No matter what, I will reserve this collaboration project after I have completed the other two elemental Carmine mech design projects. The mechers and the Cybers will get their toys first assuming that they are fully committed to their development."

He did not expect them to repeat the behavior of the Hunters.

The mechers prioritized good relations with Ves and would never neglect him in this manner.

They understood mech designers the best and would never tick him off by unexpectedly postponing development due to stupid reasons.

The Cybers badly wanted to get their hands on Bloodfire mechs. They had been stuck in isolation for over half a century. Now that they returned to realspace, they eagerly wanted to complete the goals that they had set many years prior!

In other words, Ves expected to be able to cooperate well with these two groups. This put the Hunters in an awkward position as they were the only clients that become delinquents in his eyes.

It would take far more than a couple of Mentalist Crystals for the Hunters to return to his good graces.