The Mech Touch

5917 The Ultimate Choice

After Ves engaged in an exhaustive exploration of every possibility, he narrowed his selection down to four different choices.

He had already decided that he would make the risky but promising decision to expand his domain.

Ves knew this was not a light decision to make.

His current domain, nascent it may be, was a full and honest reflection of all of his studies, effort, principles and life experiences.

It was a natural construct that fit his inclinations perfectly.

If he altered his domain in any way, he would cause it to become misaligned with his personality.

There were three possible consequences to creating a misalignment.

First, Ves and his domain would remain out of sync, causing his productivity and effectiveness to drop. At worst, he wouldn't be able to make any further progress in his design philosophy until he solved this problem!

Second, Ves easily adjusted to his altered domain. This was the best case scenario as it was his intention to change himself for the better. A more versatile domain would add a lot more handy solutions to his toolbox.

Third, Ves underestimated his capacity for change and continued to stick to his original design philosophy. Over time, this might cause his domain to backslide back to its original state where it was only dominated by life and mechs. This was clearly the worst possible outcome as Ves would throw away the opportunity granted by this encounter!

Suffice to say, Ves feared that he would end up in the first or third scenario. The risk of wasting this priceless opportunity to request a custom-made reward from the heavenly authority of Messier 87 almost persuaded him to opt for a safer reward instead.

He mentally shook his head. In the face of all of the threats targeted towards him, his family and red humanity as a whole, he could not afford to play it safe.

Since Ves had the confidence to proceed with this course of action, he no longer immersed himself with doubts and settled on moving forward.

The only point of uncertainty that remained was what element or concept he wished to acquire from this opportunity.

His previous activities had done a lot to curb his decision paralysis, but he was still left with 3 attractive choices in the end.

He considered the fire element to be the default choice. The Subjugation King was right that Ves could not go wrong with this element. It had obvious synergy with every machine because they all had to run on at least one form of conventional energy. Fire could fuel people's passion and encourage them to perform at their best and beyond. Fire was also fantastic in enhancing his direct combat power.

Wood was another classical element with incredible strategic value. It would allow him to broaden and diversify his life domain. His mechs would be able to absorb wood energy to speed up their self-repair functionality. Wood may also allow him to work with mutated exoplants and enable him to develop his own elixirs. He might even be able to develop solutions that could prolong the longevity of everyone he cared about.

The final element that Ves considered was light. It became clear that the light element possessed a lot of weight in Messier 87 or at least the portions occupied by the powerful Krelion Empire. What better way to learn how to defeat an overpowering opponent than to learn one of his greatest strengths? At the very least, so long as he understood the secrets of light, Ves was confident in his ability to deepen his comprehension of luminar crystal technology, which always possessed a lot more potential.

When the time had come for Ves to announce his choice, the shadow of the Subjugation King expressed more interest than at any point during this encounter.

"The element that I have chosen for this is…"

"Is…"

"Is…"

His words trailed off. A part of him wanted to say the final word that would change his life forever, yet as he continued to look up at the eerie three eyes of the Subjugation King, he suddenly became beset by doubts once again.

He had settled on the element of light. He not only took a liking for it because he had been tinkering with luminar crystal technology for so long, but also because it was one of the prevailing trends of Messier 87. It seemed logical for him to follow the existing pattern and do his best to understand his future opponents.

However… a growing part of Ves rebelled against this logic.

It might make sense, but the reasoning did not align with his heart!

Since when did humanity surrender themselves so easily against their alien and inhuman foes?

Ves suddenly felt as if he had become as dirty and hypocritical as the cosmopolitans. He realized that he had been placed in a similar position to the ancient diplomats who steadily forgot the people they were supposed to serve and gradually came under the thrall of their alien masters.

The soul mark in his Spirituality did not seem to produce any activity that encouraged him to obey the directives of the Subjugation King, but what if its influence was not overt? What if this incredibly insidious spiritual construct had been nudging his thinking process without making it too obvious?

Since the Subjugation King was able to extend a tiny part of himself to this mysterious space, what if he was able to induce the soul mark to subtly warp Ves' thinking?

This was an incredibly scary prospect!

All Ves knew was that the Subjugation King clearly favored the light element himself. Settling on this E energy attribute would play right into the God King's hands!

While Ves could argue that that there was no apparent conflict between his own interests and that of the Subjugation King in this situation, that did not mean his first choice should be to align with his puppet master!

In addition, Ves could not ignore the fact that the Subjugation King absolutely saw no threat in Ves adopting the light element. This meant that the God King or one of his fellow Krelions already possessed such great mastery over it that it was unlikely that any other being could beat these aliens at their own game!

Ves had never been particularly good at playing other people's games, especially when they were hostiles.

He usually liked to flip the table and impose a completely different game on his enemies instead!

It always made sense for him to do so as it would be stupid for him to compete against his enemies in the aspects they favored the most.

The proper way to deal with his enemies had always been to target their weaknesses!

"#$$&@@$#@$"

"YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED YOUR SENTENCE. WHAT IS YOUR DECISION?"

Ves deliberately ignored the Subjugation King's urging and continued to think about how he almost made a terrible mistake.

Although his reasoning was far from perfect, he rejected the light element!

So what if it was the most dominant element of Messier 87, similar to how space was the favorite element of the Red Ocean?

Ves had never been a mech designer who mindlessly followed all of the trends!

His vision for mechs partially conflicted with the status quo. Instead of bending to the industry standards, Ves boldly swam against the current and got rewarded for his efforts!

This circumstance was no different in his opinion. Messier 87 had already begun to invade the Red Ocean, and the first step to properly subjugating the quaint and ignorant 'natives' was to convert them to the culture and customs of the supermassive galaxy!

Ves felt ashamed that he had almost followed in the footsteps of those dirty cosmopolitans.

He understood what he truly needed to do in order to resist the constant encroachment of Messier 87.

Just as Supreme Marshal Caramond Perle made the seemingly suicidal decision to go to war against every alien empire in the Milky Way, Ves needed to draw a line and make a stand.

Logic did not necessarily matter anymore!

Even if he made an objectively bad decision, as long as it aligned with his heart, Ves believed he would find a way to make it work, just like how he managed to turn living mechs into reality!

The fire in his heart burned hotter as he truly felt he was moving in a direction that aligned with his ideals.

Humanity did not bow down to aliens!

If anything, it should be the aliens that should conform to the will of mankind!

A vicious grin appeared on his face. Ves made no intentions to hide his hostility and defiance against the Subjugation King!

It felt so liberating to channel the emotions that defined the Fist of Defiance!

Ves had always felt close to that particular god pilot even though he barely talked with the Survivalist leader at all. He spent a lot more time with the Destroyer of Worlds and the Evolution Witch, but that did not necessarily mean he vibed with their domains.

The truth was that Ves always resonated more with the Fist of Defiance!

With that thought in mind, he became absolutely certain about how he should make use of this opportunity.

"You know, there is an old but timeless human expression that I wish to share with you." He said as he continued to direct a vicious grin towards the shadow of the God King.

The powerful figure did not deign to respond to such an impertinent remark.

"Well, here it is: SCREW. YOU. No really. Screw you. I am not your slave, and you are not my master! Your stupid attempts to assimilate me into your light will not succeed, because I will fight and oppose you until I finally manage to break your tarnished chains and snuff out that disgusting light of yours!"

"#$&@#@!"

"BLASPHEMY! YOU ARE COMMITING A GREAT AFFRONT!"

"And I don't care!" Ves shouted back! "You are an enemy of me and all of mankind! While I admit that you are powerful enough to defeat the strongest protectors of the Red Ocean, direct confrontation is not the only viable means to oppose you. Hear me now, you filthy alien! I request a boon that will expand my nascent domain with the element that opposes light! I choose darkness as my third core element!"

A surprisingly strong wave of revulsion and rejection emanated from the shadow of the Subjugation King! The alien tyrant really did not like what Ves had said!

"#$%&#$#$%!"

"YOU ARE MAKING A TERRIBLE MISTAKE, BLASPHEMER! RECANT YOUR DECISION! IT IS NOT TOO LATE! IF YOU PROCEED TO EMBRACE THE UNHOLY TAINT KNOWN AS DARKNESS, YOU SHALL SOIL YOUR SOUL FOREVER! I WILL NEVER ALLOW MYSELF TO COLLECT A SLAVE THAT HAS SURRENDERED HIMSELF THE DARKNESS OF THE UNIVERSE. IF YOU DO NOT RETURN TO THE LIGHT THIS INSTANT, YOU SHALL NO LONGER RECEIVE THE RECOGNITION OF A WORTHY SLAVE! I WILL DECLARE YOU A HERETIC THAT DESERVES NO MERCY AND AN ETERNAL ENEMY OF THE KRELION EMPIRE!"

"Hahahahahaha!" Ves burst into laughter as he could already feel the press of darkness onto his Spirituality! "If you think that will persuade me to return to the light, then think again! I thrive from your opposition! I feel more certain than ever that I have made the right decision! I would rather die than live as your slave! The fact that you think I would do the opposite is a serious misjudgment of my character. This is who I truly am! From today onwards, darkness shall be my greatest ally in my fight against your tyranny!"

He actually found it surprising how well he resonated with darkness!

He realized that all of the stereotypical associations between darkness and evil was only a fraction of its full meaning.

Darkness symbolized far more concepts than evil or the absence of light!

To Ves, this element embodied many other meanings.

Darkness represented defiance against a flawed and corrupt order.

Darkness was the protective veil that shielded the weak against the persecution of the strong.

Darkness stood for a willingness to break the laws that stopped people from doing what was truly right.

As Ves continued to grasp all of these alternative interpretations, he found that his design philosophy was already starting to shift based on his brand-new realizations!

His entire being was already starting to adapt to the onset of darkness!

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