The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1393

Due to his strong position, Ves held the upper hand during the extensive negotiations.

He continually opened his mouth and demanded an extensive amount of concessions and accommodations.

Lady Miralix tried her best to limit the damage. On some points, she conceded without too much fuss.

She held her ground in other areas, though. In particular, she was loathe to cede any control over her hunting team.

However, Ves continued to insist on reserving the right to issue certain orders, such as holding back an attack or delay killing Zeigra if they ever managed to defeat the Crown Cat in battle.

\"Why?\" She asked.

\"Because I’m not certain if I can obtain what I want from Zeigra. I may require extensive observation up close before I gain a sufficient amount of inspiration. Don’t worry, my lady. I won’t stop you from killing the Crown Cat and claiming its head as a trophy.\"

In truth, Ves did aspire for the head as well. It contained the brains of the Crown Cat which definitely housed the creature’s spirituality. He could probably do a lot of things he hadn’t done before, especially if he continued to climb up the path of life.

Sadly, Lady Miralix would never let go of Zeigra’s head. She had to return to her noble house with an impressive trophy in her possession. Without physical proof of her accomplishment, she would only gain half as much prestige from the risky hunt!

Eventually, he did manage to gain the right to influence the proceedings of the hunt. Ves insisted on it as he wasn’t sure how he could obtain a spiritual fragment from a Crown Cat as formidable as Zeigra.

He also wasn’t sure whether he could harvest a spiritual fragment from the beast when he was dead. Ves developed a guess that he might be able to obtain more than just a fragment if he was present at the moment of its death.

However, this was just a guess. He didn’t know for sure, so just to be safe, Ves planned to secure a spiritual fragment before Lady Miralix forced the confrontation.

\"If everything goes well, I’ll probably need an extra night after we first encounter the Crown Cat.\" He said.

\"Zeigra may decide to go on the attack as soon as he detects our scouts.\"

\"Then by all means, fight.\"

The negotiations continued. Ves and Lady Miralix grew more comfortable with each other as they hammered out an agreement that left both of them somewhat satisfied.

In summary, the agreement stipulated several demands to both Ves and Lady Miralix.

Ves promised to do his utmost to upgrade the lady’s personal mech. He would also spend some time to go over the other mechs of her hunting team and suggest various modifications.

In addition, he would also accompany the hunting trip and continually advise and assist in field maintenance of their mechs. Nothing about this was new to him. Considering the relatively short duration of a hunting trip, Ves did not expect to endure anything like he experienced on the surface of Aeon Corona VII.

In return for these simple services, Lady Miralix made a lot of concessions.

First, she already promised to give him some initiative over the direction of her hunting team. While she remained in full operational control, Ves had the right to issue certain broad instructions as long as they didn’t pose a grave threat to the lives of the hunters or the success of the hunting trip.

Second, Lady Miralix surrendered the rest of the carcass into his possession. While Ves wasn’t sure what he could get out of the remainder of Zeigra’s carcass without its essential head, he didn’t rule out anything.

Next, she promised to provide him with access to both the Sentinel Peacekeeper Association and a very prohibited black market organization called the Circle of Mota.

The former didn’t require much elaboration. The outfits acting as pirate hunters, bounty hunters and foolhardy prospectors frequently entered the Nyxian Gap and returned with a variety of booty in their cargo holds.

While the Peacekeepers kept most of the good stuff to themselves, they frequently sold spoils they didn’t find any use for. This applied to numerous strange exotics uncovered from the ubiquitous asteroid in the Gap.

In fact, much of the exotics for sale at Centerpoint originated from organizations like the Peacekeepers!

Ves had high hopes of accessing their exotics marketplace. He wanted to uncover more treasures like the P-stone. Even if he couldn’t get another space rock that possessed the capability to hold and store spiritual energy, perhaps he might be able to find something that repelled spirituality or converted it into another form!

As for gaining access to the more obscure and secretive Circle of Mota, Lady Miralix emphasized its prohibited nature.

\"Within the Sentinel Kingdom, it’s a serious crime to associate with pirates. I can get in serious trouble if I introduce you to the Circle of Mota. I can only arrange for you to get in touch with them through a middleman.\"

He grew curious that such a thing was possible at all. \"How pervasive is the trade between Sentinels and Nyxian pirates?\"

\"Not as much as you think. The royal house and many noble houses are very strict about befriending pirates. However, there are still many goods in the possession of the pirates that Sentinel nobles are willing to pay a high price to acquire. The same goes the other way. The Nyxian pirates and dark mercenaries have a very high demand on technologically sophisticated goods and services. The chaotic and undeveloped region of the Nyxian Gap is an awful environment to develop a tech center.\"

Just like the frontier, the Nyxian Gap suffered an enduring shortage of techs and science adepts. Mech technicians, mech designers, ship spacers, doctors, and other skilled and educated personnel did not grow from trees!

A region required a robust educational system to produce these kinds of people en masse. While virtual education programs and modules offered an alternative, the results often left much to be desired. At the very least, the quantity and quality of graduates who were raised this way was vastly lower than those graduating from formal institutions!

\"For this reason, the most convenient and abundant trade goods that Sentinels supply to the Nyxian Gap are slaves.\" She declared.