The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3600

Chapter 3600 Tentative New Contract

Though Ves was incredibly annoyed that the Larkinson Clan was on the receiving end of Zachren Bilitsa's tough negotiating stance, that didn't prevent him from employing the same strategy!

The House of Barach was clearly in a worse negotiating position than the Larkinson Clan. Ves owed nothing to the designer house. He also didn't require its services that urgently. That meant that he could completely gain the upper hand in any talks.

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!"

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