The negotiation that followed heavily favored Ves.
In exchange for relinquishing most of his gear to be upgraded using Mr. Longhorn's old gear, he granted Virtual Chief Levitt the right to claim full credit for any findings he made when studying them. It was up to him and his subordinates to maximize the amount of merits they could earn from submitting their findings.
Due to his strong bargaining power, Ves reversed the question of payment. Instead of him paying the armory some merits to perform a service, he actually browbeat the armory into paying him merits in advance for the 'privilege' of studying his personal gear!
"Think of it as an investment." Ves grinned as he crossed his arms. "I'm sure that if I offered up my gear for study to the armories, they'll certainly bid a lot of merits for the opportunity. If you don't want this chance to slip through your virtual fingers, you better
