The Mech Touch

5920 Despicable Dreadnought

Ves and the dread captain did not teleport directly over to the most secure and sensitive vault of the Dominion of Man.

Instead, they took the scenic route and traversed across all of the hallways and spaces that led to their destination.

Fortunately, they did not walk all the way through. Both of them stepped onto floater platforms that quickly ferried them across the large and wide corridors at a moderate speed.

The lengthy journey gave the two plenty of time to talk about all kinds of topics. While they refrained from bringing up any sensitive topics, they spoke with much less restraint towards each other.

Bonds forged on the battlefield were much more powerful than many other kinds of relationships.

In addition to that, Ves was the great benefactor of the Dominion of Man.

It did not matter anymore that Ves was a mech designer who had always aligned himself with the Red Association.

Though the fleeters were certainly aware that Ves had literally been playing with fire, a successful outcome possessed the capacity to forgive many misdeeds.

"You have changed, professor." The man who wore an upgraded version of an Officer Dread Armor spoke. "And I do not mean physically. Our state-of-the-art sensors have detected that your real body has certainly grown larger, but there is another change that is not as easy to measure with our technology. My subjective impression has shifted. It is… peculiar."

"The tribulation storm rewards everyone based on their merits. Aside from promoting my phase lord cultivation, the tribulation has also gifted me with brand-new insights on E energy manipulation." Ves spoke frankly. "I am still adjusting to my new state. It's not supposed to be obvious, though I think that the rewards you have been showered with has made you more sensitive to such matters than before."

As the captain of the Dominion of Man, he played a crucial role in the running of the mighty ship.

He deserved great credit for keeping up morale and providing direction to his entire crew.

Aside from that, he had also become the chosen representative of both Caramond and Furia.

This meant that he had gained a lot of strength compared to his original state!

His body became revitalized. The lethargy brought on by living for almost 3 centuries had disappeared. His spirituality had grown by several orders of magnitude!

Though the dread captain was not suited to become a spiritual sorcerer, his massively strengthened spirit allowed him to harmonize with the dreadnought and her associated True Gods a lot easier than before!

Ves even suspected that Dread Captain Argile gained the ability to invoke Caramond or Furia as well.

The captain probably gained many other benefits that Ves had yet to discern.

Ves personally disliked contract cultivation as it was completely dependent on the care and attention of external forces.

However, the advantage of engaging in contract cultivation was that the practitioner did not have to wrestle with any convoluted cultivation methods. He simply had to demonstrate his value to a deity cultivator and do his job to the best of his ability.

It was actually an incredibly suitable cultivation method to modern humanity. It was not easy for most people to keep up with the demands of their jobs. They had to study hard and learn all kinds of advanced sciences. How could they possibly have any time to devote to cultivation?

Rather than try to wrestle with weird and anachronistic cultivation methods, they could continue to work their jobs like before and get rewarded for their efforts.

The only difference was that aside from earning a regular salary, they could also gain a boost to their cultivation.

This was quite an interesting scheme to Ves. He had a hunch that contract cultivation actually had a very good chance of becoming the most dominant form of cultivation in the new frontier.

After all, both mech pilots and mech designers had always been disguised contract cultivators for a very long time. It was not until they made enough progress that they received the right to know about the Kingdom of Mechs or the Red Kingdom.

"Everything has changed so much that we urgently need to take stock of our new condition." The dread captain spoke. "Now that we have lived through this ordeal, the Red Fleet must conduct a long and extensive study to examine what has changed. This will be a lengthy process that may take months if not years. Only when we have gained a thorough understanding of what has taken place will there be room for a possible repeat. Can the Red Fleet count on your assistance?"

Ves immediately frowned. "I am not too sure. Many coincidences happened this time that ultimately contributed to a good outcome. While I am sure that we can learn a lot of lessons from our first attempt, our second attempt might not be as good. I have already expended several opportunities to facilitate the transformation of the Dominion of Man, so we can't count on a number of easy solutions to help us out. Furthermore, the Subjugation King is a huge risk factor in itself. Whether he comes or not will have a major influence. Even if he drops by again, he may try his best to destroy the dreadnought at all cost. He won't do us a favor by removing the final round of a lightning tribulation again."

In fact, much of the reason why Ves did not feel too enthusiastic about upgrading another dreadnought was because he did not want to confront the Subjugation King again!

The powerful alien tyrant planted a soul mark onto Ves during their first encounter.

What else would the God King do if he came across Ves a second time?

After Ves chose to embrace darkness, he had completely turned himself into a pariah to the Subjugation King!

There was no way the slaving bastard would forgive such sacrilege!

What Ves feared the most was that the Subjugation King would find a way to strengthen the original soul mark.

It was already bad enough for Ves to carry around this persistent spiritual parasite. If it became any stronger, it could pose a huge threat to his life!

"I fear you may be correct about the danger of attracting the powerful alien leader." The dread captain frowned. "The god-

like abilities he has already demonstrated earlier has reminded us all why cultivators are so feared among the oldest generations of our organization. It is frustrating to learn that for all of our technological progress, we ultimately have to rely on our own True Gods to repel powerful alien gods such as the mirror beast, the phoenix and the aforementioned three-eyed leader."

Ves smiled and gestured around him. "Don't be too concerned. I don't know about other ships, but the future of the Dominion of Man is bright. She has become a fully fledged living warship, similar to my living mechs. She has gained the capacity to grow in a metaphysical manner. To put it in terms that you can understand, she has gained a huge upgrade based on E-technology, one that automatically grows stronger over time."

The dread captain looked hopeful. "I have already read many reports on your living mechs. It is still difficult to believe that you managed to apply the same technology to a warship, and a dreadnought at that! Is this growth unconditional?"

"No." Ves shook his head. "The Dominion of Man is still very young at this stage, so you can expect her to undergo a growth spurt for a number of years. However, if you keep her in the rear and refuse to field her in serious battles as she was meant to be used, then you will find that her growth rate will begin to plateau. My living mechs always grow when they are serving their true calling. Your dreadnought is no exception in this regard. As dangerous as it sounds, if you want your magnificent ship to grow strong enough to defeat a god mech, then you must throw her into the crucible of war."

The dread captain felt ambivalent about this.

On the one hand, he wanted his proud ship to demonstrate her new strength and forge a legend in the Red Ocean! The fleeters had always been suppressed by god mechs for a long time, but now they had a god ship of their own!

On the other hand, he did not want to put her ship at risk while she was still in a development stage. It would be ruinous if a bunch of ancient phase whales ganged up on the Dominion of Man and brought her down by relying on a numbers advantage!

Oh well.

The decision was out of Volkert Argile's hands. Only his father and the rest of the Red Admiralty had the authority to decide how to make use of the new and improved living dreadnought.

That said, the dread captain along with everyone who forged a Bloodfire Pact with the Dominion of Man no longer held as much reverence towards the Red Fleet as before.

Whether they were aware of it or not, their loyalty to their mighty ship surpassed all of their existing loyalties!

This was the price they paid for bonding with the Carmine dreadnought.

As the pair entered a high-security section and came close to reaching the entrance of the vault, Ves decided to ask a different question.

"You possess a bit of insight on how the other 7 dreadnoughts work, correct? Can you tell me more about the Heart of Darkness?"

That surprised the old captain. "Why the interest in that particular dreadnought? Did you not mention in a previous discussion that if you were willing to upgrade another ship, that you would choose the Indignation of Righteousness?"

"The variables have changed, captain." Ves smoothly replied. "The original plan did not call for the emergence of Furia. Now that we have gained a fire god that metaphorically feeds off human anger, I do not think that I can apply a similar transformation to the Indignation of Righteousness. It is still possible to turn her into a living dreadnought, but we have to figure out a different way to do so. In the meantime, it is best to prepare for the upgrade and conversion of a different hull."

"I agree with your logic, but there should be other choices that can better satisfy your requirements, professor. There is great interest in upgrading the Doom of Xenos. Out of all of our dreadnoughts, she has by far the great offensive power. Transforming her into a god ship will give us a much more powerful weapon against the ancient phase whales and possibly other deity-level threats."

Ves was not quite sure about that. The Doom of Xenos most definitely possessed the largest caliber gun in the entire Red Ocean, but her spinal cannon was so slow and unwieldy that any decent ancient phase whale would be able to get out of the line of fire.

"I can understand the attraction for greater firepower, but the Heart of Darkness is much more valuable in a strategic sense. The ship has the potential to debilitate or maybe brainwash entire populations of aliens. She can play a much better role in the conquest and possible conversion of captured alien territories. I also think it will be a lot easier for me to upgrade into a living dreadnought than the other hulls."

It became quite clear that Ves developed a strong interest for this particular vessel for whatever reason. The dread captain remained silent for a few seconds before he shared a bit of information.

"The Heart of Darkness is… unsettling. Her signature tech is much more unorthodox than the tech that allows the Reign of Frost to freeze her targets. I do not have proof of this, but I personally suspect that the Heart of Darkness employs more taboo tech derived from the infamous Compact than any other vessel. Her name is truly apt. The ship is largely dedicated to fighting our enemies through the most despicable means imaginable."

"How bad?"

"Let me put it this way, professor. Back when dreadnoughts were designed to fight against god mechs, the Heart of Darkness was never meant to be employed directly against a god mech. What she was actually built to do was to evade god mechs whenever possible and attack their support base. She is meant to drive god pilots crazy by attacking the population under their protection. So long as their entire organization, state or society collapses due to the madness spread by the Heart of Darkness, the entire pillar of faith and logistical support surrounding these god pilots will collapse. Does that answer your question?"

That was crazy!

Yet… the more Ves thought about it, the more he realized that it was a brilliant way to kneecap an undefeatable opponent!

"It's… a brilliant strategy!"

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