The Mech Touch

While Ves dealt with the aftermath of the Elegant Rage's exposure on New Constantinople VIII, the expeditionary fleet of the Golden Skull Alliance continued to wait and prepare for the tough times ahead.

All of the soldiers of the expeditionary fleet had set aside their pride and satisfaction for taking down the Torment Fleet as the atmosphere in the border regions became increasingly more tense.

Every Larkinson, Glory Seeker and so on frantically exchanged their money and war merits for tangible benefits that could give them a better chance to survive the storm to come.

Nobody dared to underestimate the native aliens that were about to bear down on the border regions. The more time passed by, the more intelligence trickled down from above.

Both the quantity and quality of alien fleets had increased by a huge margin compared to before.

The Red Cabal was no longer content with sending out rabble in an attempt to exhaust red humanity's resources.

Perhaps the high-and-mighty phase whales finally noticed that this strategy was starting to become counterproductive.

Simply sending in a steady stream of shabby alien raiding fleets could no longer shake the defenses of red humanity.

Many human forces were madly upgrading their combat assets, and the Red Two had also built up a lot of fortifications in the most vulnerable regions.

Faced with such a stiff set of metaphorical walls, it made a lot more sense for the native aliens to concentrate their forces and send them all out at once.

The momentum of this imminent alien assault was bound to shake the entire dwarf galaxy!

In the face of all of these threats, no one could guarantee they could live their way past all of the battles that would break out in the next few years.

However, many people also saw this as a great opportunity to temper themselves and attain greatness.

Heroes were born in wars!

Many veteran mech pilots wished that they had been born a decade or a couple of decades sooner. They had fought and toiled during the Age of Mechs where human space used to be a lot calmer and more stagnant.

The wars that took place during those years amounted to little more than human infighting.

Under the suppression of the MTA and the CFA, the fighting between different states often led to a lot of misery, but rarely resulted in the kind of mass slaughters that used to take place during the most terrible days of the Age of Conquest.

It was a lot harder for mech pilots to stand out, break past their limits and ascend the path of godhood under those controlled circumstances.

Now that red humanity had not only lost the backing of original humanity, but also entered into a war against aliens who never agreed to play by the rules of their adversaries, many mech pilots felt more pressured than ever.

While it was true that a lot of mech pilots who had grown up during times of peace failed to adapt to the changing times, the ones that fought in the border regions and went on to become linefighters benefited the most from the Red War!

These rising elites and heroes not only tempered their fighting spirits while confronting warships that could disintegrate their fragile mechs with a single salvo of their powerful batteries, but also earned precious war merits!

The importance of these war merits could not be overstated. The Red Association, the Red Fleet, the Terran Alliance and the Rubarthan Pact generously set up exclusive exchanges for the New Elites to reward them for fulfilling the collective duty of red humanity.

The Red Two and the first-rate colonial superstates behaved quite sincerely and opened up access to plenty of goods and services that used to be exclusive to their own people!

The War Exchange had quickly become the favorite destination for every blooded linefighter.

Not only did it offer attractive rewards at every price point, but the providers also discounted a lot of goods!

Everything they did was for the purpose of incentivizing as many soldiers to fight on the frontlines as possible. The powers that be also wanted to speed up the development of the New Elites and allow them to rise up faster.

One of the beneficiaries of the new policies was Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson.

Although the first ace pilot of the Larkinson Clan did not manage to achieve a dramatic breakthrough on the battlefield like most of his peers, Tusa had already proven his strength before and after his breakthrough.

He managed to earn a lot of war merits recently for his key role in defeating the Torment Fleet!

His quick takedown of the powerful Eminence of Torment especially earned him a high bonus, as it was in red humanity's best interest to kill as many phase leaders as possible!

At this time, the value of a war merit was roughly equal to that of an MTA merit.

This alone made war merits more desirable as MTA merits were usually a lot more valuable than the same sum in MTA credits!

Many third-raters and second-raters never dared to imagine that they would be able to earn rewards equivalent to the salaries and bonuses that first-raters took for granted!

Even so, compared to the total proportion of combatants in the new frontier, only a modest proportion of mech pilots and other soldiers earned the status of linefighters so far.

It couldn't be helped. Many people rationally figured out that there was no way for them to enjoy their rich rewards when there was a large chance that they would die after getting targeted by a scary warship!

Modern humans had developed such an acquired fear towards the threat posed by warships that many mech pilots chose to stay in the rear.

They were not necessarily cowards. There were plenty of veterans among them that had fought against a multitude of mech forces.

It was just that the anti-warship propaganda of the MTA and the CFA worked too well.

It was difficult for so many adults to unlearn their extreme apprehensions at the thought of fighting not just one warship, but an entire fleet of armed vessels!

The casualty figures were horrendous. So many hopeful mech pilots died or got crippled after just one or two encounters against the aliens.

Whatever war merits they managed to earn all became lost as they were neither transferable or inheritable.

Only the strong and the living deserved to cash in their rewards!

This was why the War Exchange became so lucrative to the few soldiers who were courageous enough to fight the aliens, but also lucky enough to survive the successive battles.

Those who were in a position to take advantage of the War Exchange had survived the harshest crucible and came out stronger in every way!

These were the true New Elites that the Fist of Defiance wanted to nurture from a human population that had long grown complacent in their past superiority.

As a participant of many battles against the native aliens, Saint Tusa already managed to build up a generous stash of war merits.

The additional rewards for contributing to the defeat of the Torment Fleet had practically doubled the amount of war merits in his possession. Tusa felt like a rich man after accumulating so much wealth!

Despite all of this, Tusa never felt the urge to spend them on anything expensive.

As far as he was concerned, the Larkinson Clan already took care of all of his essential needs.

From providing and upgrading the Dark Zephyr to bestowing him with a companion spirit, Tusa did not feel like he was lacking anything.

As a former third-rater, Tusa still retained the frugality of his humble background, and never thought about squandering his war merits on goodies that were ultimately dispensable.

To high-ranking mech pilots like himself, their only basis for power was their extraordinary willpower and their mechs!

This was why Tusa finally thought about spending his war merits for the first time.

His Dark Zephyr had received a monumental upgrade not too long ago, but now the living mech faced one of his most important transformations in his existence.

Under the gaze of awed members of the Crosser Clan, Saint Tusa calmly stepped deeper into the bowels of the factory ship known as the Cyclical Cross.

Although the second-class ship was horribly outdated compared to the frequently updated Spirit of Bentheim, the Cyclical Cross possessed her own ruggedness and industrial charm that Tusa could respect.

After passing through an armored hatch, he finally stepped inside one of Master Benedict Cortez' private workshops.

The Dark Zephyr had already been placed in the center of the chamber. Master Benedict had not yet finalized the design of the ace mech iteration of the powerful living mech, but that did not stop him from applying numerous iterative improvements in advance!

This showed the difference between Master Benedict and the mech designers of the Larkinson Clan.

Whereas Ves and Gloriana preferred to work on their big projects and move on after delivering their mechs, Master Benedict never left his most important works alone.

For example, the Mars received frequent incremental upgrades over time that steadily improved its performance over time. Its parts received updated tech while weaker materials also got swapped with superior ones.

It was not easy to keep the high-ranking mechs of the Cross Clan up to date. Master Benedict frequently had to set aside his research projects and original mech design projects in order to revisit his old works.

However, the advantage of an incremental upgrade approach was that the Mars never needed to undergo a massive refit like the mechs fielded by the Larkinson Clan!

Master Benedict also tried to make the best out of his situation by constantly conducting small experiments with the Mars and other powerful machines. This allowed him to improve and optimize his Endex System at a rapid rate!

In any case, now that the Larkinson Clan entrusted the upgrade of the Dark Zephyr to the second leader of the Cross Clan, Master Benedict did not delay too long before he started to tinker with the powerful machine.

As Tusa stopped in front of his dormant mech, he looked up as Master Benedict personally worked on components located beneath a disassembled abdomen plate.

The ace pilot did not have the faintest clue what the Master Mech Designer was working upon.

"Master Benedict." The young ace pilot greeted. "How goes your work?"

The older man grumbled as he continued to struggle with the complicated alien tech around him. "Slow. Difficult. Interesting. This archetech that Gloriana Wodin has adapted to your mech is endlessly fascinating, but it is also hindering my work. My proficiency in this alien tech is far behind. It does not help that your machine has become a masterwork either. I cannot be careless when applying any change. I have to collaborate with Gloriana every time I wish to modify your mech."

"Does that mean it will take longer before I can pilot a true ace mech?" Tusa frowned.

"There is no need for you to feel too concerned. This is a problem of logistics, not competence. I will be able to fully upgrade your Dark Zephyr in a reasonable timeframe. Perhaps you may be forced to fight the first two or three opening battles of the upcoming alien offensive with a mere high-tier expert mech, but you will soon be able to fight at your best."

That mollified Tusa a little. "What can I do to help?"

"I need you to spend as many war merits as you can tolerate on a set of ace mech-grade resonating exotics. It is best if you spend all of it at once." Master Benedict explained. "Do not take this decision lightly. The current set of resonating exotics are not bad, but they can no longer keep up with your growth. It is better to replace them with stronger materials that can amplify the power of your upcoming ace mech much more drastically."

"I understand, Master. I am willing to invest my war merits, but why so much?"

"I need you to spend as many war merits as you can tolerate on a set of ace mech-grade resonating exotics. It is best if you spend all of it at once." Master Benedict explained. "Do not take this decision lightly. The current set of resonating exotics are not bad, but they can no longer keep up with your growth. It is better to replace them with stronger materials that can amplify the power of your upcoming ace mech much more drastically."

"I understand, Master. I am willing to invest my war merits, but why so much?"

"I would be happy to explain why you do not want to rein in your spending this time."

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