Ves had almost forgotten about Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik.
He couldn't be blamed for it. Time moved quickly for him as he had invested much of his attention on progressing the Ghost Project.
He had already moved on from the Second Battle of Ramage Repulsor. The fight against the Fractured House of the Collapsing Star and her formidable nunser phase lord seemed like ancient history in his memories.
As Ves continued to go down his list of contacts, he had yet to receive a positive result.
It couldn't be helped. Most of his friends, business partners, acquaintances and etc. were second-raters like himself. How the hell could they possibly have any involvement with a highly advanced first-class or quasi-first-class active stealth system, one that was suitable for high-ranking mechs no less?
After ringing more than a dozen different parties, Ves eventually realized his mistake and started to direct his attention to more powerful names.
The obvious candidates he could ask for help was the MTA. He was on speaking terms with Jovy Armalon as well as several of its renowned Masters. There was no way they could fail to provide him with what he needed, either directly or indirectly.
"There's no way I am going to ask the mechers for help." ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
They would definitely be willing to help, but their services never came for free. He and his clan already formulated a spending plan that had ballooned to hundreds of millions of MTA merits.
Though it felt incredibly tempting for Ves to take the easy way out and license a first-class active stealth system from the MTA's extensive library, he stayed true to his original intentions.
If he could resist the urge to give his wife 120 million MTA merits, then he should easily be able to stop himself from spending a smaller fortune on equipping his Ghost Project with a highly effective stealth system!
Fortunately for Ves, the mechers weren't the only first-raters on his contact list.
One of the reasons why he took so many risks and spent so much effort to rescue Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik was to open up another channel for first-class goods and services!
Ves didn't want to develop an overreliance on the MTA for anything fancy, and it had been well worth the trouble to establish a favorable relationship with Pearian and his first-class clan.
"Is it too soon for me to contact Pearian again?" He wondered.
"Meow..." Lucky wearily responded as he laid on the desk.
Ves glowered at his cat. "Hey, if you don't want to suffer from such a persistent stomach ache, then you should exert better control over your portion sizes. It's your own fault that you are taking such an awfully long time to digest all of those hard and tough first-class metals!"
The cat rolled over and laid on the side. "Meow meow..."
"I'm willing to give you more time to digest your latest meal, but don't take too long. I still have a chunk of B-stone on hand in case you need to unclog your pipes, so you better get to work, buddy."
"Meeeeeeooow!..."
After giving his cat his regular reminder to be productive, Ves had made up his mind.
What was the use of becoming the savior of a wealthy scion if he wasn't willing to take advantage of the man's extensive gratitude?
Ves had already exchanged contact information with the rescued first-rater, so he soon initiated a request for contact.
It took a few minutes before the other side accepted the request. The physical projectors in the office came to life in order to depict the current state of the man that was still in the process of recovering from his months-long captivity at the hands of cruel aliens.
Lord Pearian looked a lot better than last time. He wore a looser green and yellow outfit that still allowed him to maintain a refined appearance.
"Are you on vacation at the moment?"
"You can say that, Mr. Larkinson." Pearian responded with a genuine smile. "My clan insists on putting me on a paradise planet and keeping me here for at least a year before I can do anything else. My relatives say that I should not think about returning to any duties or responsibilities until I have gained enough separation from recent events."
Ves managed to pick up a lot of clues from this treatment. It appeared that the Yorul-Tavik Clan genuinely cared about Pearian's well-being.
Of course, his relatives may have wanted to dump this failure on a harmless planet so that he would stay out of the way as long as possible.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Mech Touch