The Mech Touch

Even first-raters weren\'t all the same.

It used to be irrelevant to make this distinction in the past because Ves was still far away from reaching this level.

Yet now that their son had a chance to enter a first-class education track right from the beginning, it became a lot more acute for Ves to learn the hierarchy and general relations of different first-rate states!

A simple analysis of this large and diverse collection of first-rate states reminded Ves of the old situation of the Komodo Star Sector.

The Greater Terran United Confederation and the New Rubarth Empire roughly corresponded to the Friday Coalition and the Hexadric Hegemony.

The two states dominated their neighborhood to the point that all of the other states could not go around the behemoths!

Every other first-rate state was essentially the equivalent of a third-rate state in the Komodo Star Sector.

There was a huge difference between attending a school in the Bright Republic and attending a school in the Friday Coalition.

While the differences became less pronounced among first-rate states, there were still noticeable differences between the schooling offered by the first-rate superstates and the more normal first-rate states such as the Yarman Republic.

It was difficult for Ves and Gloriana to decide whether they wanted their son to attend the best possible schools at the cost of exposing their boy to the powerful indoctrination of the Terrans and Rubarthans.

"The first-rate superstates are incredibly proud." Ves grimaced. "Both of them used to dominate human civilization, and they still retained the same amount of pride they had before the Big Two kicked them down a notch. The effectiveness of their brainwashing is several times better than that of weaker first-rate states. At least the citizens of the latter are realistic enough to recognize that they are not the best humans in existence."

Although Gloriana acknowledged this very real danger, she found it difficult to pass on the opportunity to give their baby access to the most prosperous and advanced mech industries outside of the MTA.

"States such as the Yarman Republic and the Omter Republic are good and all, but if our son becomes associated with these states, then he will be denied the opportunity to work with many of the best colleagues, technologies, materials and facilities accessible to our race. This won\'t necessarily stop his rise to the top, but he will have to spend much more time and effort to realize his design philosophy and possibly complete the next step."

That was undoubtedly true, but Ves shook his head.

"Let\'s not be too greedy, honey. There are several reasons why it is a bad idea to resort to the Terrans or Rubarthans. Their strong indoctrination is one of them. What is even more important is that the first-rate superstates are essentially frenemies with the Big Two. The relations between the two power blocs aren\'t openly hostile, but it is still a bad idea to mix them together. I don\'t know if you have noticed, but we are firmly in the camp of the MTA. I am actively cooperating with the mechers on several ongoing research initiatives!"

While it was true that every mech designer had to develop an amiable relationship with the MTA, Ves took it a step further and cooperated with a couple of its factions.

This made it quite unwise to send Marvaine to a Terran or Rubarthan school. Who knew how the Terrans or the Rubarthans would take advantage of this situation to encourage Ves to distance himself from the MTA.

The mechers also wouldn\'t be pleased when they learned that one of their more important associates essentially sent a child to the opposite camp!

"The Larkinson Clan is technically a part of the Red Ocean Union." Ves added. "This doesn\'t mean much so far, but once the Terran Alliance and the Rubarthan Pact go to war against each other, we can easily get dragged into a mess outside of our will. It might even be more awkward if the Red Ocean Union enters the war as well."

His wife looked skeptical. "Surely the Terrans and the Rubarthans won\'t declare war against each other. Such a conflict will be exceptionally destructive. They have too much to lose. They are so evenly matched that the only winners will be the first-rate states who had nothing to do with their rivalry."

"I don\'t think it is that simple, Gloriana. I talked to Minister Shederin Purnesse about the possibility of future unrest and a war between the Terrans and the Rubarthans is very realistic. The most important distinction that you have to make is that the original first-rate superstates won\'t go to war against each other. Instead, it will be their colonial holdings in the Red Ocean that will do the fighting. The people back in the old galaxy will either reinforce their troops in the new frontier or sit back and cheer their cousins in the new frontier."

Gloriana snorted. "Those high officials back in the old galaxy are eager to resume their grudge match against their rivals, but are too cowardly to risk their core territories and possessions. Limiting their conflict to the Red Ocean is a half-hearted choice that will probably revolve more about pride than any serious attempt to take down their adversaries."

He agreed with her assessment as well. It was unlikely for the Terrans and the Rubarthans to commit too much to any future frontier war against each other as the MTA and CFA would eagerly take advantage of the mutual weakening.

There was still a way to wage \'productive\' wars. Ves was no stranger of this as the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom used to be embroiled by them in the past.

The damage would still be great, but as long as the core of the Terran Alliance and the Rubarthan Pact remained largely intact, the lessons learned and the growth experienced by all of the surviving soldiers made it worth the effort!

Still, Ves had to be careful that his clan didn\'t come anywhere close to the conflict zones. The little guys who had no say in the matter often suffered from the decisions of the big guys!

After a few more arguments, Gloriana reluctantly conceded that it might be best to steer away from the first-rate superstates.

They proceeded to narrow their selection of first-class school chains that were largely associated with normal first-rate states.

Many of them were originally rooted in the old galaxy, but they had already begun to set up lots of different branches in the Red Ocean.

As Gloriana browsed through all of the available choices, suddenly came up with an interesting idea.

"Wait, our fleet is currently attempting to retrieve Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik, correct? What if we succeed in delivering him back to safety? The immense amount of gratitude that we will receive from the Yorul-Tavik Clan will effectively give us expanded access to the Omter Republic where it is rooted. Marvaine will be able to get into Omter schools much easier with the backing of the Yorul-Taviks."

That was a good suggestion! The more Ves thought about it, the more he liked it. "Assuming that we succeed in this mission, then we can request the Yorul-Tavik Clan to sponsor Marvaine\'s studies. This will allow us to enroll our son into better schools and reduce the chances that he will get kicked out for one reason or another. He will also be able to develop a better relationship with an excellent teacher."

People with connections simply enjoyed greater advantages than those who had no strong backing to speak of. The Omter Republic was pretty much a powerful foreign territory to the Larkinson Clan, so neither Ves nor Gloriana could exert any leverage over the institutions of the first-rate state.

Aside from that, gaining the friendship of the Yorul-Tavik Clan also made it easier for Marvaine to start his career in the territories that fell within the Omter Republic\'s sphere of influence!

The two parents curiously summoned up a list of Omter schools. There were many of them that were surprisingly open to accepting foreign students.

Ves quickly figured out the reason why they were more accessible than usual. "It has to do with the Omter Republic\'s geopolitical situation. It is a small first-rate state that sits between the two giants in the galactic center. Since the Omters want to promote trade with both the Terran Confederation and the Rubarth Empire, they encourage students from both states to study within their schools. They also welcome talented second-raters because they truly need the help."

"The tuition fees also help." Gloriana remarked. "Since the Omter Republic is so small, it has to go out of its way to earn more revenue to support its incredibly high living standards. Turning all of its schools into profit-generating machines is a good way to increase their export earnings."

While the tuition fees were higher than Ves preferred, the Omter schools provided a lot of advantages compared to their competitors aside from the ones he already mentioned.

The Omters were perhaps the least arrogant and prideful first-raters in human space. The Omter Republic was essentially a buffer state that could easily be crushed by the massive Terran Confederation or Rubarth Empire if either of them woke up on the wrong foot.

This caused the Omters to place a high degree of importance on diplomacy and making friends.

They were much more open-minded than other first-raters and were much more willing to bend in the face of opposition.

The Omter schools also mastered or obtained access to a large diversity of high technologies. The buffer state served as a trading platform where Terrans and Rubarthans could trade all kinds of awesome products with each other through the use of local intermediaries.

This directly exposed the Omters to high technologies that were fairly strong but not to the point of having any significant strategic value.

The sheer quantity of trading that took place between the first-rate superstates meant that the Omter universities essentially accrued expansive libraries of lots of advanced technologies!

This was one of the greatest attractions to attending an Omter tertiary educational institution. Any student who gained the right permissions could study at least a few powerful technological advances that were highly relevant and compatible to their future design philosophies!

Given that Marvaine already gained an early affinity towards life due to Denny\'s evolution, his son might be able to study incredibly useful technological applications that synergized wonderfully with not just his own but also his father\'s specialty!

"The Omter Republic may be small and weak as far as first-rate states are concerned, but those are all good for us." Ves concluded. "What I find important is that there are plenty of Omter schools that are incredibly open, diverse and multicultural. Incredibly talented second-raters who originate from rich families across a wide swathe of human space all come together and learn to get along with each other as they don\'t have much reason to compete against each other. The local teachers and students are also much more used to hosting foreigners and are less likely to discriminate against their guests. This is one of their state\'s major income sources, after all. It doesn\'t make sense to drive all of their well-paying customers away."

The mention of the word \'customers\' caused both Ves and Gloriana to frown.

This was because the tuition fees for any foreign student was high!

"Even the cheapest primary schools charge at least 1 million MTA credits for a single year!" Gloriana painfully complained. "The price is multiple times higher for the more renowned ones, and gets even worse for secondary schools. As for universities..."

It was extremely expensive to produce first-class mech designers. The barrier to entry was much higher than for universities in the lesser states.

At least the schools provided a lot of value for money. The earning potential of a reasonably competent first-class mech designer was so high that it was quite realistic for one to earn back all of that investment within a century or much sooner!

While Ves was confident that his clan\'s earnings would be able to grow fast enough to keep up with the escalating tuition fees for a single foreign student, it was still an incredible burden to the Larkinson Clan\'s finances!

"It would be best if we can secure a discount or a scholarship for Marvaine." He said.

Gloriana pressed her lips. "We must find Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik. Don\'t let others claim him before we have homed in on his location."

"Our clan is already on it. In the meantime, we should tighten our belts and pay more attention to our spending. It would help a lot if you stop spending so much cash on handbags, for example."

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH! YOU DON\'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, VES!"