The Mech Touch

5906 My Least Favorite Consultant

Ves inwardly cursed the current predicament.

The tribulation storm had targeted their weaknesses too well.

The phoenix exerted so much pressure onto Furia that the awakened Fire Elemental actually thought about giving the original creator of the Fire Scroll a chance to make a comeback!

As bad as it was to lose the Dominion of Man, Ves had good reasons to believe that the return of such a tyrannical figure may be worse!

He was sure that a lot of leaders who kept track of the ongoing situation might think differently about this subject, but Ves was a strong believer that red humanity could still win without giving up any of its sovereignty!

If Ves had to choose between an underpowered Furia and an absurdly strong tyrant from ancient times, he would always prefer the former over the latter!

This was why Ves strongly urged Furia to not give in to temptation.

"We can still figure this out, Furia. Caramond, make sure you continue to feed her with plenty of faith energy. We need her to remain loyal and friendly towards humanity."

"<nullb>You do not need to remind me, progenitor. Do not despair, Furia. Mankind has always prevailed against the aliens. Now that you have become more human yourself, you have become a part of our community. Take heart and face your test with courage."

The encouragement from Ves and Caramond seemed to work, at least for the time being.

The heat emanating from Furia had subsided a bit, which indicated that she was still open to alternatives.

Ves feared that this might not last if they failed to figure out a proper solution to the problem.

Time was short. The longer this crisis persisted, the more the Dominion of Man melted apart.

While the potent alloys used to construct her extremely resilient hull plating and internal structure held out remarkably well, the phoenix's powerful and hostile domain caused a lot of hyper technology to fail, thereby weakening the structural integrity of the ship!

Already, plenty of small and vulnerable systems had succumbed to the heat. A lot of gun turrets that had already incurred a certain degree of damage started to malfunction as well. The automatic repair systems of the dreadnought were already working at full capacity to prolong the lifespan of all of these modules, but they were far too sparse to solve all of the problems that piled up with each passing second!

Since Ves possessed enough of a technical understanding of the ship to understand the enormity of all of the damage, he hurriedly tried to figure out how Furia could tap into her hidden potential.

"Have you been able to explore the personal rune that describes the nature of your domain?"

"<nullb>NO… IT IS NOT RESPONSIVE TO ME. I… I LACK THE CONTEXT TO RESONATE WITH IT AND MAKE USE OF IT. THE RUNE MAY AS WELL NOT EXIST. <nullb>IT IS NOT GIVING ME ANY CLUES OR IMPRESSIONS ON WHAT IT CAN DO OR WHAT IT IS BASED UPON."

That was bad news. Ves would have thought that Furia would at least be able to glean a few clues. The lack of responsiveness was probably a consequence of generating a divergent personality.

Furia possessed a radically different personality from the original. Her values, principles and even her origin shared little resemblance to the original creator of the Fire Scroll.

This caused her to become severely misaligned with her own domain. The differences were so great that Furia found herself completely unable to tap into the greater powers that belonged to a proper True God!

"I see."

Now that Ves figured out a plausible theory why Furia remained stuck at this juncture, he could figure out a strategy to resolve the problem.

"Information. We don't have enough information. Captain! Are you still in contact with high command?"

"We still maintain contact, but our ability to communicate with others is continuing to deteriorate. The storm clouds already produce a large amount of interference, but the phoenix has exacerbated the problem. The more this monster's domain engulfs our ship, the harder it becomes to maintain outside contact."

"I see. Please get in contact with a high-ranked official who has information on the creator of the Fire Scroll. We need to learn more about him if we want Furia to properly leverage her own domain and power over fire."

The dread captain agreed with this suggestion and immediately conveyed the request.

Since the situation was growing more urgent by the second, there was hardly any delay before a powerful figure established a communication link with the Dominion of Man.

"<nullb>YOU HAVE TOYED WITH FORCES THAT ARE FAR BEYOND YOUR ABILITY TO CONTROL." A very familiar powerhouse spoke in an accusing tone. "<nullb>NOW, YOU AND YOUR FLAILING FLEETERS FIND YOURSELVES UNABLE TO EXTRICATE YOURSELVES FROM A CRISIS OF YOUR OWN MAKING. I SHOULD NOT HAVE EXPECTED ANY BETTER FROM A TROUBLEMAKER OF A MECH DESIGNER. I ORIGINALLY EXPECTED YOU TO SUBSIDE FOR AT LEAST A YEAR BEFORE CAUSING ANOTHER INCIDENT, BUT I HAVE UNDERESTIMATED YOUR CAPRICIOUSNESS."

Despite all of the noise, hardly anyone aboard the Dominion of Man failed to recognize this voice.

That was because it was the voice of a god pilot.

While Ves was normally happy to receive the guidance of 7 out of 8 god pilots, his mood instantly sunk when he realized that he just so happened to get into contact with the sole god pilot remaining who he didn't like!

Ves did not exactly end his first encounter with the First Flame on good terms.

The farcical public inquiry had caused the two to stand on opposite sides of a far-reaching political issue.

The way the public inquiry unfolded ultimately forced the First Flame to cease his resistance and retreat into a corner, but that had done nothing to solve the animosity that existed between Ves and the cranky old god pilot!

Though Ves really preferred to talk to any other Tier 1 galactic citizen aside from the First Flame, he had to admit that there was probably no one more suitable to talk to in the Red Ocean.

The First Flame probably knew more about phoenixes than anyone else. Since his god mech was able to transform into one during combat, he should be intimately familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of this mythical species!

The god pilot also possessed a huge amount of understanding of fire. Perhaps only the Lord of Thermodynamics was able to beat the First Flame in a few aspects, but only one of them made a living out of wielding fire in battle.

What made the First Flame even more relevant in this situation was that he was by far the oldest among the god pilots.

Many public sources stated that the First Flame was over 600 years old. This meant that he was born 200 years before the start of the Age of Mechs!

The man grew up during the twilight of the Age of Conquest. Whatever mechs existed during the First Flame's childhood had to be incredibly rudimentary and probably looked completely different from mechs from the current generation.

Yet what Ves prized the most about the First Flame was that he most likely possessed an intimate understanding of the Five Scrolls Compact and the Fire Shrine in particular.

While none of the biographies of the First Flame mentioned anything related to this secret cult, it was easy for Ves to guess that the god pilot had been one of the many soldiers who fought against the Compact and contributed to the nefarious organization's defeat.

The only point of uncertainty that bothered Ves was whether the First Flame used to be a member of the Compact before the Big Two initiated their rebellion.

"Please save your recriminations for later. I am sure you understand that there are greater concerns at stake than rehashing our philosophical disagreements. Right now, there's an awakened and indoctrinated Fire Elemental inside the Spark Reactor of this ship that desperately needs a crash course on how to tap into her greater potential. I have already relayed my request. Do you have answers that you are willing to supply to us, or are you just going to waste our time?"

"<nullb>YOUR LACK OF RESPECT IS DISTURBING, BUT I AM AWARE OF THE PRESSING SITUATION. I HAPPEN TO POSSESS A LARGE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE CREATOR OF THE FIRE SCROLL, MUCH OF WHICH IS TOO DANGEROUS FOR ME TO DISSEMINATE."

"Can you give us a name, at least?" Ves asked. "It is getting rather tiresome to refer to him as 'the creator of the Fire Scroll' all of the time."

"<nullb>NO."

"What? Why?"

"<nullb>NAMES HAVE POWER. DID NO ONE TEACH YOU THAT? I AM AWARE OF AT LEAST SOME OF THE NAMES AND TITLES THAT ARE TIED TO THE IDENTITY OF THE CREATOR OF THE FIRE SCROLL, BUT MENTIONING THEM IS DANGEROUS. FOR BEINGS OF SUCH POWER AND COMPREHENSION, MERELY SAYING ONE OF THEIR NAMES IS ENOUGH TO DRAW THEIR ATTENTION ON YOU. IT MAY EVEN REVIVE HIM TO THE POINT WHERE HE WILL REGAIN CONTROL OF THAT FIRE ELEMENTAL OF YOURS AND EXPRESS HIS IRE TOWARDS US FOR RUINING HIS GREAT PLAN."

Damn!

Ves had heard the phrase several times before, but he didn't think it was so bad! Who the hell was this creator of the Fire Scroll? Was he a God King, or had he reached a higher level of cultivation?

Whatever the case, Ves made sure to remind himself to never mention the Subjugation King out loud!

"Okay… forget about the name then. What can you tell me about this fellow's domain? It is very obvious that this guy has delved into fire, but I very much doubt that he has dabbled in everything. What is his specialization? How does he prefer to wield his power over flames?"

A short pause ensued before the First Flame was willing to respond.

"<nullb>THAT… I CAN SHARE WITH YOU, IF ONLY BRIEFLY. THE CREATOR OF THE FIRE SCROLL DOES NOT 'SPECIALIZE' IN AN ASPECT OF FIRE IN THE MANNER YOU ARE ACCUSTOMED TO. THAT MAN… THAT GOD…IS FIRE INCARNATE. HE IS THE CAMPFIRE THAT PROVIDES WARMTH TO HUNTERS. HE IS THE ENERGY THAT ALLOWS FACTORIES TO WORK THEIR METAL. HE IS THE HEAT THAT ENABLE LASER BEAMS TO MELT OR VAPORIZE THEIR TARGETS."

"Err… okay. That is… a lot. That doesn't really help us out that much. Does he have any favorites? What aspect of fire symbolizes him the most?"

"<nullb>THE STAR. THE CREATOR OF THE FIRE SCROLL IS KNOWN TO BE VERSATILE, BUT THE MOST CONSTANT SYMBOL THAT REPRESENTS HIS POWER IS THE STAR. IT IS TOLD THAT HE IS ABLE TO INCARNATE INTO A BLAZING STAR THAT CAN LIGHT UP AN ENTIRE STAR SYSTEM AND PROVIDE LIGHT AND ENERGY NEARBY SATELLITES. HE CAN DO MUCH MORE THAN THAT IF HE CEASES TO HOLD BACK HIS POWER."

That… was impressive! Ves had already figured that the creator of the Fire Scroll was a powerhouse that surpassed the strength of god pilots, but this was incredible!

"Is his domain tied to a star?"

"<nullb>I DARE NOT SAY. MY JUDGMENT IS THAT HE PRACTICES ONE OR MORE CULTIVATION METHODS THAT ARE COMPLEX AND CONVOLUTED BEYOND YOUR IMAGINATION. IT IS HIGHLY LIKELY THAT HIS DOMAIN, BACK WHEN HE WAS A TRUE GOD, WAS ALREADY ELABORATE AND PRECISELY CONSTRUCTED TO A DEGREE THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO REPLICATE. FIXATING ON THE MEANING OF A STAR ALONE IS A MISTAKE. IT IS NO DIFFERENT FROM JUDGING A MECH BY EXAMINING ITS POWER REACTOR ALONE."

Ves understood the First Flame's analogy. He was inclined to agree with this description as he already felt that the Fire Elemental's domain was in no way simple.

"Be that as it may, will Furia be able to strengthen her command over her own domain if she starts to concentrate on stars?"

"<nullb>...THAT REMAINS TO BE SEEN. WE ARE IN UNCHARTED TERRITORY."

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