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Ves didn\'t mind, though. The Larkinson Clan was first and foremost propped up by its mech designers, not its politicians or mech pilots. It made complete sense to channel a large amount of resources to expand and improve the capabilities of its existing mech designers.

However, absorbing any form of high technology was easier said than done. People did not randomly place the word \'high\' before \'technology\' without a good reason. The combined phrase was a formal acknowledgement that a specific field of technology was both powerful and extremely advanced!

The tech involved theories and laws of nature that were far beyond the scope of the science taught to scientists and engineers in universities.

Only the most brilliant among them who had spent decades advancing their accumulation in the relevant fields had a chance of mastering these forms of high technology!

Mech designers comparable to Ves and the other young Journeymen in the clan may be smarter and more talented compared to their peers, but their qualifications fell far short of this level!

While it was possible for people like Sara Voiken and Juliet Stameros to study high technology in advance, the time and effort they need to put into this difficult task would definitely dominate their lives for the next decade!

Only more established Senior Mech Designers or Master Mech Designers were capable of harnessing high technology. They possessed the intellect, the knowledge base and the wealth of experience to not only get started on difficult tech, but also go further and make subsequent advancements!

All of this meant that the Larkinson mech designers lacked the ability to make good use of this expensive investment.

Spending tens of millions of MTA merits would definitely provide a massive boost to Professor Benedict Cortez of the Cross Clan in the short term. His ability to absorb and understand high technology was at least several times better than any of the Journeymen of the Larkinson Clan!

In contrast, Gloriana would still be struggling to master the basics of a single category of high technology after several years!

This was why not everyone thought it was wise to spend a whopping sum of 60 MTA million MTA merits in this fashion!

Director Ranya Wodin of the Larkinon Biotech Institute was more cognizant of the difficulty of learning high technology than many others.

"Patriarch, are you sure that this is the right time to invest in such an endeavor? The price of phasewater technology is inflated in this early period. I can understand the rationale of paying a premium to learn advanced early, but with the knowledge accumulation of you and your fellow mech designers, I am afraid it will take a long time before you can do anything worthwhile with what you have learned. You might as well spend the MTA merits on more immediate advantages and wait until you have advanced to Senior before making a serious attempt at mastering high technology. Your learning efficiency will be much higher at that point."

She made a valid point. Ranya knew what she was talking about as biotechnology also encompassed many weird or powerful pieces of high technology.

Ves listened to what she said but did not change his mind. "I understand your argument, but we aren\'t regular Journeymen. We are not underestimating the challenges of learning high technology. If it comes down to it, I am prepared to invest in powerful augmentations that can help us absorb all of the knowledge faster."

He did not elaborate any further on this topic. He planned to go into further detail on these matters when he talked to his fellow Journeymen in a future meeting.

For now, he just wanted to let everyone know that the mech designers of the Larkinson Clan would soon begin to study the more profound uses of phasewater.

The goal that Ves had in mind was nothing less than allowing the clan to make effective use of phasewater!

Exchanging it for MTA merits or selling it to other companies was a waste in his eyes. Only when the Larkinsons harnessed the powerful properties of this wonder exotic for themselves would the clan truly be able to rise in the Red Ocean!

The planning session moved on to other topics.

Ves and many of the gathered Larkinsons began to discuss important decisions such as expanding the fleet, upgrading their capital ships, fleshing out the Larkinson merit system and improving the quality of life for the clansmen stationed on smaller vessels.

After multiple rounds of discussion, the representatives of the Larkinson Clan finally initiated a debate on arguably the most important item on the agenda.

Ves stood up and introduced the topic.

"All of you know by now that I have changed my policy about containing our entire clan to our main fleet. The establishment of the branch system is already a clear indicator that I am willing to relax my original decision. I am open to allowing a portion of our clansmen to live and work at branches located on the surfaces of different moons and planets. All we need to decide now is where we should settle first."

He majestically waved his hand, causing the large center projection to display a three-dimensional map of the Red Ocean.

He pinched his fingers, causing the map to zoom in on the Krakatoa Middle Zone.

If the Red Ocean was equivalent to a pie, then Krakatoa was situated close to one of its edges.

All of the territories that the Big Two had managed to conquer was equivalent to just a big bite out of a single slice of the pie!

There were still a lot of territories that the MTA and CFA still needed to overrun in order to control the dwarf galaxy in its entirety!

Even without the various setbacks suffered by the Big Two, conquering these vast territories would still take many decades to complete!

This meant that Krakatoa would keep playing an important role for at least half a century. It was difficult to ensure it would remain relevant as humanity must have pushed further towards the galactic center by then, but a lot of trade and traffic would definitely continue to flow through the middle zone for a long time due to its strategic location.

The clansmen had to choose carefully where to settle their first and most important outposts. Their choices affected how the clan conducted its business and interacted with other players.

The wrong decision could easily cause the Larkinsons to fall behind because they made too many enemies or something!

Ves therefore took this issue extremely seriously. "Right now, there are three general directions we can choose from. Let me start with the most expensive option."

He pointed at an empty star system, causing the projection to zoom in until it showed a lifeless terrestrial planet.

"We could settle on an unclaimed planet like this one. Although it is expensive, the benefit of founding our own colony is that we can control every aspect of what goes on in our own territory. We don\'t need to build an entire state. Developing a single star system is more than enough for our clan. The downside of doing this is that we have to invest much of our windfall while taking responsibility for everything, from construction to security."

A few ambitious Larkinsons looked hopeful when they studied the projected planet. However, many other clansmen were sober enough to realize that a colonization project was way too big for the Larkinson Clan.

"Our fleet is our home." Chief Shipwright Vivian Tsai reminded everyone. "We can either invest our resources into building a fixed colony or we can spend most of it on upgrading our fleet. We don\'t have the capital to do both."

General Verle added his own opinion as well. "Even if we build a colony, it is still questionable whether we can defend it. We can fend off ordinary incursions such as the arrival of lone astral beasts or damaged alien vessels, but we cannot contend against the main threats that even the Big Two are struggling against. If we have the misfortune of receiving a visit from a nunser or puelmer fleet… then we can write off all of the funds and resources invested into our colony."

This was the great game of colonization in a hostile galaxy. The Red Ocean wasn\'t virgin territory where there were no competitors aside from other humans. Different native alien races had already dominated the region for many eons. Displacing the existing inhabitants by force did not mean the danger had passed.

On the contrary, the news frequently mentioned incidents where alien revenge fleets showed up out of nowhere and proceeded to bombard nascent colonies into pieces!

Some people believed that this was spontaneous behavior by scattered aliens in charge of isolated fleets. Others were convinced that the natives were systematically sabotaging the colonization effort to slow down humanity\'s conquest even further.

Whatever the case, any human pioneer who decided to invest in a colony essentially made a huge gamble!

When Ves thought about the huge losses the Larkinsons would occur if they bet wrong, his expression grew grim.

"I agree with Chief Shipwright Vivian and General Verle." He said. "Our clan hasn\'t made any prior preparations to colonize a planet. We have come to the Red Ocean with a different development strategy in mind. Switching to the opposite approach will cost us far too much while not necessarily gaining us anything. The risks of enemies coming to destroy what we have built is too great. I will not agree to this course of action without additional forms of protection."

His words put an end to any further discussion on colonization.

"Compared to colonization, the other two possibilities are much less risky. We can either build a major outpost on a rural planet colonized by another pioneer or simply focus on erecting our main manufacturing complex on Davute VII which we are orbiting right now. Whatever we choose, we will have to build new relationships with our hosts."

Many Larkinsons had already thought about the pros and cons of establishing branches at different locations.

General Verle spoke up first. "There are too many rules and restrictions in a busy port system like Davute. There are also many competitors and threats among the large number of organizations that are trying to expand their presence here as well. We will have to rely entirely on the defense forces of other organizations to defend our own property in this busy star system."

This was a major stumbling block for Ves. His trust in official institutions was low as he had been betrayed by them too many times.

However, the advantages of settling in a center of trade and commerce were too attractive to dismiss!

"We can\'t assume the worst of everyone." Gloriana spoke to everyone. "Davute is one of the most civilized star systems in the new frontier. Every other colony is a rural backwater where development has fallen far behind. In comparison, Davute already offers a high standard of living as well as access to all of the goods and services that we want. While it is true that we have to play by the rules of others, they apply to everyone, so we are not at a disadvantage. In fact, if we are able to befriend some of the powers in charge of this prototypical state, we can gain immense advantages in the future!"

"We\'ll just get caught up in messy politics and power struggles again." Commander Cinnabar of the Battle Criers sighed. "There is no reason for us to fight for power and territory. Settling in the outskirts of all of these regional power centers will allow us to walk around all of these escalating rivalries. Let the other pioneers war among themselves. We can sit back and enjoy the show while selling our mechs to every side of a conflict."

The Kinner legion commander made a good point. His suggestion fell much more in line with Ves\' original plans!