"

Let's trade." The second mecha pilot said directly to the point.

"No." My big bro replied stubbornly. "Get Quesera and get the hell out of my academy."

"Exactly my point. I am willing to trade Quesera for the schematics of the Deathscythe." The second mecha pilot said.

I expected my big bro to curse him and continue to shoo him off the premises of the academy, but to my surprise, he remained silent.

"She will resume her studies at the National Mecha Pilot Academy and she will have no ties to the Military High Command Cadet Corps. You will gain a highly skilled student, and for absolutely no loss on your side. In fact, the Federation will benefit from a strengthened Military High Command!" The second mecha pilot continued.

"I have made my report to the president. You have absolutely no way of recreating any of the Mecha Disciples, and thus it is completely useless for you to gain the schematics. To minimize the risk of the schematics being leaked to other powers, I was instructed not to share those schematics with anyone. That is a direct presidential order. You should know that." My big bro said tersely and fairly.

"I am not aiming to recreate the Mecha Disciples. I just want the blueprint for study and research. There is great value for my researchers in studying a masterpiece!" The second mecha pilot said stubbornly as well.

"I will not violate the presidential order." My big bro replied calmly.

"Hehehehe. Bruce Pang! I have been waiting for you to say that. Here! Take a good look at this!" The second mecha pilot cackled loudly and beamed a projection of what seemed to be a recently signed presidential order.

In short, the order instructs all organizations to comply with the requests of the Military High Command.

It was a sweeping instruction that could have allowed the second mecha pilot to brute force his way to get his blueprint without even needing to propose a trade.

But he was extremely politically savvy, and he knew that if he brute forced his way using that particular presidential order, he would piss off Bruce Pang and cause him to seek revenge. And that would be disastrous for him.

In fact, it might even result in the president revoking that order entirely.

So he sweetened the deal with my big bro's weak point - his care for his students.

Offering to return Quesera Giannis was an extremely shrewd move.

It worked like a charm.

But of course my big bro was no pushover, and he was a master of negotiation.

And a law of negotiation simply states that - Never accept the first offer.

"No." My big bro said after a while. He purposely paused to indicate that he was interested, but rejected him outright to tell him that his price was far too low.

"Quesera is by far the biggest genius of her generation!" The second mecha pilot pressed. "Having her in your academy would increase your chances of winning the Tri Annual Mecha Competition!"

"That championship trophy is ours with or without Quesera." My big bro said casually. "I don't need her to win it."

"Fine. Quesera AND Keenan Williams! The two girls are the best of their respective generations! That's my final price! No more!" The second mecha pilot shouted loudly.

He may be a godlike fighter, but he truly sucked at negotiations.

Guess what Bruce Pang did in the face of the second mecha pilot's over excited negotiation style?

"No. If that's all you're prepared to trade, you're wasting my time. Get the hell out of my academy before I mobilize the Blood Moon!" My big bro took out the big guns and pushed him a little bit.

"Wait! Wait! Fine! Both girls AND Park Ha Jin! That's my- WAIT!! And the blueprints to my flight module! That's fair, right? You get blueprints to improve your mechas!" The second mecha pilot shouted desperately.historical

Behind him, I could see the first mecha shake his head lightly. He knew that his leader just got ripped off.

"Quesera, Keenan, Ha Jin, and a measly flight module blueprint? For a full Mecha Disciple blueprint? Are you sure that's fair? Would YOU take that trade if you were me?" My big bro chuckled lightly

"I would!" The second mecha pilot declared confidently. "In a heartbeat!"

"Of course you would. You have no idea just how valuable the Mecha Disciple blueprint is. If you know, you would reject it outright like I am doing now. Enough of this farce. Go away if you're not serious." My big bro turned around and started to lead me away.

That's the perfect definition of walk away power. In any negotiation, you must always, always maintain walk away power.

Walk away power is the full knowledge that you can walk away from the deal if it isn't beneficial for you.

Not having walkaway power would simply put you in a position where you would accept even a very crappy deal.

And that was exactly what was happening to the second mecha pilot.

Seeing my big bro start to walk away was probably like seeing the sky start to fall!

He quickly did what most desperate negotiators would do in such situations.

He went all in.

"FINE!! TAKE YOUR PICK OF FIVE STUDENTS FROM MY CADET CORPS! AND FULL BLUEPRINTS FOR THREE MECHAS!" He shouted loudly. "AND. THAT. IS. MY. FINAL. OFFER!"

My big bro turned around to face him once more, and simply said one word. "Deal."

Bang.

The first mecha was so frustrated that he actually placed his hand on his head!

"Huh? De-deal?" The second mecha pilot said in confusion. His emotional state was in a complete mess as he wanted to rejoice over his success in getting what he wanted, and as he wanted to cry due to the massive price he had to pay for it!

"I will visit your HQ tomorrow to settle our deal. You can leave Quesera here with me. Now go! I still have a lot to do before the day ends!" My big bro said as he quickly leapt forward to take Quesera out of her downed mecha.

Her mecha cockpit opened, and out came a little girl, looking like she was just fourteen or fifteen years old.

"Oh my god. She is so young!!" I exclaimed loudly. "What the hell? Why are there so many crazy geniuses out there?"

"Hohoho Margaret. You have a rival now. Do you think you can win a fight against her?" James asked teasingly.

However, Margaret replied very seriously.

"I will be able to defeat her in three months." She said.

"Three? Why three? Why not two or four?" James asked curiously.

"Three months is all I need to get used to high grade mechas and push their limits. Once I do that, I will defeat her without a doubt." Margaret said.

"Really? So you're saying that the you right now is better than Bruce Pang? Because that girl can win against him in a straight up fight!" James said.

"I don't need to be better than Bruce Pang to defeat her." Margaret said with a smile. "Justin did that, didn't he?"

"Justin is a cheater." James promptly replied.

"And I am not?" Margaret asked very simply.

"Hahahaha! Long live Shi Fu! That's the spirit!!" Eliana Wang shouted gleefully.

"All is fair in love and war. Why use conventional and righteous methods if we can cheat our way to victory? Hehehehe." Elise Wang laughed as well.

"It seems that you will probably get to put your claim to the test. Look. She's entering Chronos, and the Military High Command dudes are retreating!" James said excitedly.

"Finally! Is our day finally over?" Olivia exclaimed. "I am beyond exhausted!"

"It is over. Look, Bruce is rising up to the sky and the instructors are joining him! All hail grade one! All hail grade one victors!!" Elise Wang yelled out loud and caused the rest of the first graders to explode out with cheers once more!

But the National Mecha Pilot Academy would not be as notorious as it was if things happened the way we expected them to simply because we thought that the day had ended with the coming of night and dinner time.

"First phase of today's mission had been completed perfectly. The first graders have won it. Well done, and now we will enter phase two of today's mission.

The second phase of today's mission is very, very simple.

Fifty of your instructors will enter the battle ground in intervals of one minute for a total of fifty minutes. Their primary purpose is to take the flags from you, and their secondary purpose is to destroy all of you.

The second phase will end in your victory if you are able to secure at least 2 flags by the time the timer for 1 hour hits zero.

Ready? Set? Go!" My big bro shouted loudly and caused the entire crown of surviving first graders to be stunned!