Athena had put a great deal of thought into the negotiations with the Magic Energy Research Institute. The technologies she sought were, in some sense, priceless and could not simply be bought with money. Thus, when Orton and the others drafted the list, they carefully ensured that all the requested technologies were directly tied to Simonuo himself. Whether he had spearheaded the research, contributed to the design, or, at the very least, approved the developments—this strategy gave Athena valuable room for negotiation.
Since all these technologies were developed with the involvement of Great Elder Simonuo, exchanging them for his release didn't seem like an unreasonable demand, did it?
Athena also realized one thing: compared to others, Great Elder Simonuo was far more critical to the Magic Energy Research Institute.
