No one objected to the Exemplar Plan. No one had the guts to do so. Ves had signalled very clearly that he was passionate about the profit-sharing scheme.

This meant that criticizing the Exemplar Plan implicitly translated to an attack on Ves! As long as the assistants weren't crazy, they wouldn't take the initiative to piss off their boss.

Though Ves felt dirty for resorting to such a coercive psychological trick, he liked the alternative even less.

As long as his mech designers mounted a serious challenge to the Exemplar Plan, then Ves would not be able to hold the high ground anymore. The illusion he weaved in their minds might shatter as long as someone pointed out the flaws.

The stories he crafted about benevolently investing in the clan and that earning money wasn't important to them were just excuses designed to stop them from demanding more money or shares!

Everything went according to plan. Gloriana did not challenge his plan while the rest were too weak to rock the boat.

A lot of mech designers began to dream about the honor of becoming an Exemplar. They got so caught up in his story that they didn't even realize that they had fallen into his trap.

All of the ceremonial window-dressing surrounding the Exemplar Plan such as limiting it to the eight best mech designers were just artificial constructs meant to distract everyone.

It was just as worthless as an 'employee of the month' contest!

As long as every ambitious mech designer fought to become an Exemplar, they weren't fighting for what they should truly earn, which was actual shares in the LMC!

He had to admit that Gavin possessed quite a devious mind for coming up with a scheme that exploited the weaknesses of the human psyche. As long as the end result did not cross any of his red lines, anything was acceptable, no matter how unethical they looked!

The most he did after announcing the plan was to answer some questions.

"What happens if an Exemplar retires due to old age or some other reason?" Catherine Evenson asked.

As expected from someone with a noble background. Aristocrats tended to look much further ahead than others. Continuity and inheritance always factored into their decisions.

Ves smiled. "Good question. In principle, the list of Exemplars is not fixed. Those who get on the list can also be removed from it due to various reasons. Retirement is one possible reason. Getting surpassed by a more helpful and hardworking mech designer is another reason. In short, no Exemplar should rest on his or her laurels. The main criteria used in deciding who belongs to the top 8 is largely based on contributions. Those who have played an important part in the success of the LMC are more exemplary than those who have only played a marginal role."

"How do you actually measure contribution, then?"

"We look at whether the work done by a mech designer has resulted in higher performance and more sales. Mind you, the time range that we use to judge everyone's contributions isn't much. At most, it will stretch a few years in the past. To go back to your original question, when a retired Exemplar has no longer made any significant contributions for a couple of years, even if his prior work is still responsible for pulling in millions of sales, it becomes increasingly more untenable for him to hold this position. Exemplars aren't nobles, and legacy must not trump current efforts."

That disappointed a few mech designers in the crowd, but also delighted many others.

If the list of Exemplars was based on current contributions rather than accumulations made in the past, then latecomers had a better chance of catching up. Those who got on the list earlier couldn't relax and had to keep working hard in order to maintain their superior position.

Overall, the Exemplar Plan succeeded in motivating every mech designer. Previously, everyone's goal was to become a lead designer. They wanted to become a Journeyman and receive greater responsibilities so that they could exert actual influence on LMC mech designs.

Yet Ves was afraid that once the new Journeymen reached this goal, they no longer had any way to go higher.

It wasn't as if they could keep climbing up in the LMC. Ves was not willing to hand over too much responsibility to any mech designer. Whether they were Apprentices or Journeymen, he wanted them to obediently remain in the Design Department and keep doing their work they were meant to perform!

Introducing the position of Exemplar was a good way to give the current and future lead designers something to work towards. The brilliant part about this change was that no Exemplar could guarantee they could keep their honored position. They would continually worry about maintaining their existing benefits, thereby giving them less time to think about promoting to an even higher rank!

Of course, he couldn't leave it at that. If Ves didn't introduce enough sweets to make the position desirable enough, his mech designers wouldn't be motivated enough.

"Do Exemplars get anything aside from earning a share of the dividends and outranking everyone else who is below?" Moltar Ringer asked.

Ves nodded. "Exemplars are the top mech designers in the LMC and the Larkinson Clan aside from myself and my wife. Their status in the clan is different. For one, they can have a greater say in how the clan is run. I have already made an agreement with the Larkinson Assembly. They agreed to recognize every active Exemplar as an assembly member!"

This was quite a big gesture! His audience all looked moved!

In the early days of the Larkinson Clan, the Larkinson Assembly didn't seem very important. While it passed a lot of rules and decided on the finer details on how the clan should be organized, most Larkinsons considered the Assembly as a boring club for older clansmen who liked debate all the time.

That impression gradually changed as the Larkinson Clan expanded its ranks. As thousands and tens of thousands of adopted Larkinsons entered the fold, the importance of the legislative body of the clan increased.

Many people started to realize that all of those old fogeys actually wielded a lot of decision-making power!

Even though Ves and the Executive Council wielded a lot of direct power, they couldn't possibly direct their attention to every single matter.

Originally, the Larkinson Assembly consisted of 50 members. The Assembly expanded several times over the course of the last year as the assembly members had to address more and more dossiers.

After factoring in the 8 possible Exemplars, the Larkinson Assembly currently consisted of 333 seats.

Half of the members were chosen by factoring in their seniority, rank and expertise. The other half were chosen through direct elections.

While this wasn't a perfect setup by any means, there shouldn't be any problems in the short and medium term. There was plenty of time to adopt a better solution once the clan ceased its initial growth phase.

Ves inwardly smirked as he saw some of the ambitious Larkinsons fantasizing about becoming a member of the influential Larkinson Assembly.

The power of the Assembly might be substantial, but a single assembly member among hundreds could hardly effect any change!

In other words, allowing Exemplars to join the Larkinson Assembly was another empty reward. With how much time they needed to spend on maintaining their position on the list, how could the Exemplars spend any time on politicking?

The most that they could do was spare some time to vote on bills. It was very improbable that any Exemplar would do something drastic like starting a faction and gathering followers.

Even if they did, the Larkinson Assembly was not as powerful in front of Ves. As clan patriarch, he could override any of their decisions unless the assembly members booted him out of office.

Of course, he didn't reveal any of this to his excited audience. What mattered was giving them the illusion of power without actually granting it. Hardly any mech designers realized that he was scamming them! Only a couple of politically-astute individuals such as Catherine Evenson faintly realized the truth.

After answering a couple more questions, Ves ended the announcement. As everyone went back to their stations in order to resume their work, Gloriana marched over while clutching Clixie against her body.

"Ves. We need to talk. NOW."

"Miaow." Clixie released a warning sound.

"Ehm, can this wait?" Ves raised his hands. "Due to all of the changes that have happened in the past week, we are beginning to fall behind schedule. This announcement has already taken up a lot of time. Let's do our best to catch up today."

"Talk. Now!"

Ves had no choice. He slumped his shoulders a bit as he followed his wife to a private office. As they entered and closed the hatch, Ves didn't even have the benefit of Lucky's company.

His pet was probably being pampered by Calabast as she used him as her personal sniffer.

As Gloriana released Clixie and faced her husband, she crossed her arms and tapped the deck with her shoe.

"So, care to explain?"

"What is there to explain?" Ves innocently shrugged.

"What is up with your so-called Exemplar Plan?!"

"It's exactly what I have just said! It's a means to motivate and reward our best mech designers. It's an alternative to issuing stock that ensures that we will continue to maintain our grip on the LMC!"

"Our grip or your grip?" She suspiciously probed.

"Ours! We're a married couple, honey. We share our possessions!"

"That's not what you have said the last few times. You made it pretty clear that you called the shots in the LMC. Why did you leave my name off of the list of Exemplars? Where are my dividends, Ves?"

"That's not true." Ves lied. "Your input is crucial. You rank higher than any Exemplar as far as I'm concerned. It's just a rat race. As an elegant cat, you wouldn't lower yourself to their level, right?"

"Miaow?" Clixie looked confused.

Gloriana furrowed her brows for a moment before shaking her head. "Don't try to play your stupid word games on me! Either tell me the truth or give me my rightful shares!"

"Come on, honey. Calm down. Don't be angry at me." He spoke as he sidled closer.

Even though she adopted a defensive posture, she allowed him to embrace her body. She relaxed a bit as their bodies pressed against each other.

Ves brought his lips close to the side of head in order to whisper in her ear.

"Ever since we slipped our wedding bands on each other's fingers, we became one. What is yours is mine, and what is mine is yours. On paper, I might own a 59 percent stake in the LMC. That ownership is yours as well. It's a mistake to think you don't own any shares. The truth is that you hold 59 percent ownership in the company as well! Do you get it now? Joining the Exemplar Plan is completely pointless for you because the dividends that I have apportioned come from us in the first place."

"Oh." She uttered. "Well.. if you put it that way, it does look kind of silly. However, if what is yours is truly mine, does that mean that I can exercise more leadership in the LMC?"

"Um, eh, it's complicated. Let's just say that I will listen to your input. As long as I approve, I am more than willing to implement your suggestions."

"If that's the case, then I want to dictate our next design projects!" She exclaimed as she drew back. "You've had your fun for a long time, Ves, but the next round is mine. We have to design a lot of expert mechs and custom mechs in order to reward our expert pilots and other individual mech pilots. Do I need to remind you that you have been neglecting Commander Melkor's request all this time? He's been waiting for a custom rifleman mech for years!"