The Mech Touch

　　Ves had employed a deliberate strategy of undercutting the Barachs and emphasizing his own position of comfort. He did not expect to achieve instant results today or even the next week because of his firm and unyielding stance.

　　Under normal circumstances, the House of Barach would never give his offer any serious consideration!

　　The Larkinsons truly asked too much. Sacrificing half of the designer house's valuable and highly-trained craftsmen was completely out of the question. Granting the clan shares in the House of Barach was an even greater taboo!

　　"Is it really unacceptable, though?" Ves wondered.

　　He accessed his desk terminal and called up an intelligence report. After his first meeting with Cefigo, he instructed the Black Cats to delve into the history and the current state of the designer house.

　　"If Calabast is right, then the House of Barach is not in a good state."

　　It was not on its last legs. No matter what, an organization that harbored 7 different master artisans and over a hundred other trained and certified craftsmen meant that the Barachs would always have a place in Pellysa III's economy!

　　The real challenge was to achieve success beyond the planet. In order to make the House of Barach rise again, its artisans had to export its products to other planets and markets.

　　The market for luxury goods was largely inaccessible to ordinary people. Each colony and each settlement could only support a given amount of wealthy individuals who had money to spend.

　　If the House of Barach solely relied on the local market for growth, then it would find out that it could only cater to a ridiculously tiny amount of customers!

　　"Their biggest problem is that they're not the only players in the market. Far from it. There are many competitors in this lucrative sector."

　　The market for overpriced designer handbags, shoes, clothes and other apparel was ridiculously competitive.

　　Ves didn't blame all of the players. A popular and fashionable design could turn a cheap product made out of substandard materials into a premium product that sold more than real quality goods!

　　The key here was that the brand made up most of the difference. If Hoenbach decided to release a new bag model, at least billions of womens would be flocking to the stores the next day!

　　If the House of Barach did the same thing, then hardly anyone in the Pellysa System would notice anything different.

　　"The Barachs have already lost all their glory. They just don't want to acknowledge the truth." Ves contemptuously sneered.

　　A company in decline first needed to recognize its own shortcomings in order to start its road to recovery. A failure to acknowledge the harsh truth meant that the Barachs would never be able to muster enough willingness to reform its outdated policies!

　　Though Ves clearly hinted to Cefigo and Sivare that their house was on shaky grounds, their pride and inertia might be too strong for them to take his warning seriously.

　　"I can't do anything if they think they can make it on their own." He shrugged.

　　Perhaps he might have been able to turn Master Sivare Barach into a more ardent proponent for reform if he lent the use of his hammer, but Ves refrained from doing so. He believed it was better to generate greater yearning and desire by denying the excellent craftsmen his wish.

　　This tactic might backfire on Ves, but even if it did, he wouldn't lose anything.

　　"I can still approach many other companies."

　　This was his new plan, in fact. He always intended to popularize Vulcan among the people of the Red Ocean. Targeting those who depended on craftsmanship above everything else were the best sort of people for the design spirit!

　　Ves was keenly aware that his design spirit hadn't been developing that much lately. Vulcan wasn't being utilized as a design spirit so he couldn't collect any spiritual feedback from any mechs.

　　Though Vulcan had already benefited a lot from integrating the minute amount of high-quality metal energy, he hadn't absorbed anything new as of late.

　　This was concerning. As his incarnation, Vulcan needed to grow in order to avoid becoming a burden to Ves. The two were tied together in an unbreakable spiritual bond. The success of one facilitated the success of another, but the same went for failure!

　　Since Vulcan wasn't able to reach out to any new people in the Red Ocean, the responsibility of spreading the 'faith' fell onto Ves. He had to make at least some progress in this area.

　　"Vulcan doesn't need the worship of random people. It's much more interesting if he can hook up with lots of artisans."

　　The relationships between the two would become transactional in nature. As long as Vulcan occasionally lent his glow and other powers, his supplicants would not only supply him with spiritual feedback, but also share their creative processes to the crafting-oriented spirit!

　　This was what Vulcan truly needed in order to become a better craftsman in his own right. The more the spiritual entity understood the nuances of creating objects, the more help he could provide to Ves!

　　"I'm really benefiting myself with this." He grinned.

　　The important part was to make sure that Vulcan received worship from the 'correct' group. If Vulcan received worship from too many random people, then his character might change in an unpredictable direction.

　　Ves would rather limit the number of worshippers than let a lot of bastards pollute Vulcan with their chaotic thoughts.

　　"I don't want to see a second iteration of the Vulcan Empire!"

　　He had witnessed the dangers of unregulated growth first-hand. The tragedies that took place in the Smiling Samuel Star Sector would have never happened if Ves cleaned up better after his own messes!

　　Perhaps he was overcompensating too much right now, but Ves didn't mind a safer and more restrained approach.

　　"I should look into approaching other companies. I can't bet everything on the House of Barach."

　　Days passed by as the Golden Skull Alliance continued to conduct business in the Pellysa System.

　　The main reason for the expeditionary fleet to divert to the trading system was to sell off its excess salvaged biological matter.

　　The Larkinson Clan and its allies recently sold off the last batch of frozen astral beast flesh. Though Ves had no idea what all buyers intended to do with the alien biomatter, it was none of his business.

　　"How much did we earn from this deal?"

　　"Around 4000 MTA credits, sir." Someone reported. "The demand for the Titania's biomatter is lower than we hoped because of the abundance of similar goods on the market. In addition, the parties who are interested in obtaining these kinds of goods are largely limited to biotech companies, nutrient pack producers and certain farming conglomerates. The majority of people and organizations simply have no use for dead alien flesh. The good news is that we are still holding on to all of the high-grade exotics and other high-value materials that we have harvested from the Titania. We can easily enhance our earnings if we sell off a portion of our strategic reserves."

　　Ves did not look amused. Although 4000 MTA credits was a fortune to many people, the amount was just enough to marginally lower the Larkinson Clan's debt burden.

　　Although the figures changed every week, last he checked the clan currently owed almost 90,000 MTA credits to its various creditors!

　　That was a huge amount!

　　Fortunately, while the number looked scary, the burden was a lot more manageable. The Larkinson Clan only had to make sure to satisfy its rent obligations in order to make do. That amounted to paying several thousand MTA credits a year.

　　In other words, defeating the biggest astral beast the Larkinson Clan had ever encountered was only enough to keep its creditors off its back for around a year!

　　"We need more income." Ves pressed his fingers against his forehead.

　　The next potentially lucrative business opportunity was the business deal with Zachren Bilitsa.

　　After more than a week of posturing, both sides slowly figured out each other's demands and requirements.

　　It made less sense to delay the conclusion of the talks, so Zachren Bilitsa gradually softened its tough stance.

　　In the end, the Larkinson Clan and Zachren Bilitsa reluctantly settled on a contract that they could live with. Neither of them were happy, of course, but from a business standpoint, there were still advantages to signing it. As long as both sides wanted to earn money, they shouldn't pass on the opportunity to start a mutually beneficial relationship.

　　In the end, the two sides held a simple ceremony to commence their cooperation.

　　Ves and the director of the local branch both signed the contract and spoke pleasant words.

　　According to the terms, Zachren Bilitsa would license two updated versions of the Ferocious Piranha design.

　　The first updated version was supposed to be a hasty modification of the current design. The Larkinsons quickly had to convert the design to a configuration that made use of Red Ocean components and materials.

　　After that, the Larkinson Clan promised to provide a more thorough and higher-performing heartland-level version of the Ferocious Piranha within the next five years.

　　The Ferocious Piranha Mark II Version B needed to be a comprehensive evolution of the version that the Flagrant Vandals currently fielded. It had to be faster, tougher, stronger and more resistant against environmental hazards in order to capture a significant market share!

　　This would hopefully turn into a true cash cow to both sides. A Ferocious Piranha that possessed the same debilitating glow but was much more capable of keeping up with the competition was a much more compelling product!

　　In exchange for giving Zachren Bilitsa the right to produce, distribute and sell the Ferocious Piranhas, the Living Mech Corporation received 8 percent of sales.

　　Though 8 percent was higher than Ves initially expected, it still fell short to his ideal range. He would have felt a lot more comfortable if the royalties amounted to 15 percent or 20 percent.

　　"It's too unrealistic."

　　Zachren Bilitsa had to undertake all of the burden of sourcing raw materials, producing the damn mechs and shipping them safely to various marketplaces, promoting the new model and making sure the copies got sold within the Pellysa System and beyond.

　　A lot could go wrong, and it took a lot of manpower, resources and funding to earn a steady income from selling the Ferocious Piranhas!

　　In contrast, the Larkinsons did not have to do anything aside from providing the updated designs!

　　Another important point was that the penalties of prematurely ending the contract were fairly light to both sides. If neither the Larkinson Clan nor Zachren Bilitsa wanted to cooperate any further, they just had to pay a nominal sum to put their cooperation at an end.

　　This prevented both sides from getting locked into an unfavorable business arrangement!

　　What was interesting to Ves was that instead of paying an additional lump sum to the Larkinson Clan, Zachren Bilitsa agreed to produce 400 copies of the Enlightened Warrior model and hand them over without any additional cost!

　　It was a nice solution to the Larkinson Clan's inability to produce the variant that Ves had recently designed.

　　It was not good for the Larkinsons to outsource the production of all of their mechs to external manufacturers, but Ves had little choice.

　　The Larkinson Clan still hadn't been able to forge a deal with a large and reliable raw materials supplier!

　　"I may have an idea, sir." Minister Shederin told Ves as both of them boarded their shuttle. "The issue is that we will have to approach the potential supplier instead of waiting for it to come to us. Any deal we can negotiate with the other party will not be generous towards us. Be prepared."