"So, your plan is to form a settlement on Vilun Island?" Senior Ceeran frowned even after Rui thoroughly explained everything.
"As I said, there are many merits to this plan that I just laid out," Rui neatly disguised his exasperation with patience.
"How long will be settling on the island?" Senior Ceeran wondered.
"For however long it takes," Rui replied calmly. "But I am predicting for several weeks to potentially a few months. Worst case scenario it would take years of grinding at their reluctance before we succeed."
Of course, Rui did not think that would happen. Frankly, he was most optimistic about wearing down the G'ak'arkan Tribe's continuous refusal to trade techniques with his second plan, more than anything. The settlement plan only addressed one hurdle out of the several that blocked the path to a successful and fruitful trading agreement with the G'ak'arkan Tribe.
"And you said you wanted me to compile a Martial Artist profiles for commissioner Derun whose expertise and Martial Paths are centered around the kinds of techniques that we are offering to the G'ak'arkan Tribe?" Senior Ceeran turned to Rui with an inquisitive look.
"That's right, you can limit to Martial Apprentices and Martial Squires only," Rui nodded. "From what I have concluded from a preliminary analysis, the G'ak'arkan Tribe is lacking in range and power, compared to our techniques," Rui remarked. "So perhaps getting a lot of Martial Apprentices and Martial Squires who greatly excel in these two parameters specifically would suit our needs the best."
"Those aren't the only avenues that they are lacking in," Senior Ceeran snorted.
"Then feel free to include any additional parameters that they are lacking in additionally, as well," Rui replied. "I'd suggest picking Martial Art techniques that are low in difficulty as possible while still having a high enough potency grade to be significantly superior to the G'ak'arkan Tribe in any given avenue or parameter. We want to impress them with how powerful our techniques are, but impressing them with how manageable they are to master is also equally important. They will not be receptive to trading techniques with us if our techniques will be damn near impossible for them to master. At most, the high-difficulty and high-grade techniques can be used additionally to impress them."
"That's a shame, they would certainly be very impressed with your Pathfinder technique that just so happens to cover one of their weaknesses," Senior Ceeran smiled, turning to Rui.
Of course, Rui had long realized this himself. It was most certainly true that his Pathfinder technique ought to be nothing short of shocking to the G'ak'arkan Tribe. He wasn't even sure if even the Martial Seniors of the Martial Tribe could replicate its feats.
Rui did intend to leverage it to seduce the G'ak'arkan Tribe into having a trade with them. He only needed to figure out the best way to make the most lasting impact on them. He hadn't yet come up with an aptly satisfactory timing and situation yet.
"Regardless, please be sure to send the Martial Artist profiles to Commissioner Derun as soon as possible," Rui requested him. "The sooner she gets that information, the sooner she can put together a team for the mission."
"This mission has escalated more than I ever imagined it would, I never realized that facilitating diplomatic relations with foreign parties can be accomplished through such indirect methods as well," He noted. "As expected, Derun made a great choice by assigning you to this mission."
"The two conversed before going separate ways.
Rui's immediate work was done, now he just needed to make sure he was informed of all the latest updates to the settlement operation preparations.
It wasn't as simple as rounding up some skilled laborers needed to build the basic infrastructure of his settlement from the natural resources abundant on the island and manage the logistics of the settlement, he would need to rely on the ecologists of the Ministry of Environment and Ecology that would be dispatched and figure out a way to build a self-sufficient settlement. They would need to secure food and water supplies, they would need to establish security measures based on the fauna of the island.
Thankfully, Rui's plan involved building only a highly primitive settlement. He was not adept at statesmanship, if he had to build a modernized settlement, he would probably fail as he struggled to build viable mini communications, energy, and transportation sectors.
Still, just because he was building a simple settlement did not mean his job was simple. The G'ak'arkan Tribe made it look simple because they were highly unified in their warped culture, and their hierarchy of authority was entirely centered around Martial prowess.
The same could not be said for the settlement that Rui needed to construct. Things were more complicated, unfortunately. As the lead diplomat and the initiator of this operation, he was the highest in the chain of command, despite neither being the strongest nor probably sufficiently qualified.
He would most be delegating almost all of the work to the settlement team that Martial commissioner Derun would dispatch, who had their own orders.
It was messy and complicated.
Still, as long as it looked nice on the outside, Rui was fine. They were not trying to create a settlement that was highly efficient and viable forever in the long term. It was merely a means to show the G'ak'arkan Tribe exactly what they were in for if they decided to accept the trading offer that the Martial Union had repeatedly made to them.
"Those techniques better be worth all this effort," Rui sighed in frustration.
The workload, even when he delegated a lot, was not easy. Just staying on top and making sure things were in order to much of his time. Yet Rui did his job diligently until the Martial commissioner informed him that all of the final preparations had been made and the settlement team was soon to be dispatched to Vilun island.
Within two weeks, a new and larger ship arrived at the island.
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