The Mech Touch

The new Saint Commander did not spend the days after her breakthrough mourning her brother's passing.

She also put a bit of thought on imagining how she wanted to fight and lead her troops after her breakthrough.

Though she admittedly did not analyze her future needs and obligations as thoroughly as she wished, she at least formed a vague impression on how she wanted to fight as an ace pilot as well as a mech commander.

She took a deep breath before she directed her focused stare at Ves' physical projection.

"Let me start by saying that I felt tempted to have it both ways. My Commandeering ability and my recently acquired Enfeoffment ability are both useful in so many ways. It is already a luxury to possess one of them, but to be able to employ both at the same time allows me to make an outsized impact on the battlefield no matter the circumstances. Yet…"

"Do you think you are trying to bite off more than you can chew if you attempt to develop in both directions at once?" Ves guessed.

The ace pilot nodded. "I am fortunate in many ways. I started my career as an incompetent third-class mech commander, but have now become an ace commander that is on track to pilot an amazing first-class ace mech. I owe much of my success to your clan. While I may have worked hard to make the best use of the opportunities that you have provided to me, I did not break through at my early age due to my efforts alone. It is important for me to remind myself of this because I do not want to make the same mistake as General Ark and base my decisions on an overestimation of my own capabilities."

Ark Larkinson may not be directly at fault for killing her brother, but it was undeniable that his mistaken confidence and optimism had created the conditions for a tragic disaster!

This traumatic event clearly struck Casella hard. She resented Ark so much that she wanted to make sure she did not end up resembling her fellow command specialist in any way!

Ves did not have a particularly strong preference on this matter. He was fine with any of the options. He only cared about whether Casella made the decision that fit her goals and inclinations the best.

"So you first ruled out double development, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir. I do not want to be greedy. It may be possible for me to excel in both directions… but the probability that I will succeed is far smaller than if I choose a more cautious approach. As ace pilots, we are known for doing the impossible, but what far too few people realize is that the cost and effort for doing so are also impossible burdens. The more I want to break the constraints, the more they will break me in turn. I… cannot responsibly undertake these risks when my ultimate goal is in jeopardy. I do not care for becoming the most powerful mech pilot or mech commander. What I care about is bringing my brother back to life. I am more interested in maximizing the success rate of subsequent breakthroughs than improving the gains of each advancement."

That was a refreshingly rational take on her future. Casella clearly recognized that she already faced an uphill battle if she wanted to transcend to godhood. Becoming a god pilot was the absolute minimum required for her to find a way to revive Imon Ingvar. With that in mind, it would be stupid for her to make the challenge of traversing the road to no return even more difficult by being greedy about acquiring additional power.

Trying to have it both ways would also prolong her progression. Anything could happen in the meantime that could ruin her chances of bringing her brother back to life. If she wanted to minimize the risks that could adversely affect her goal, then she needed to take matters in her own hands and break through as fast as possible!

In that sense, it was far better to focus on a single specialization and commit to it as much as possible.

"Okay then." Ves said. "Which direction have you decided to commit to? Will you stick with your bread and butter, or will you try to exploit your newer capabilities?"

"The latter." Casella said without hesitation. "I have put a large amount of thought into what I want to accomplish. After much consideration, I believe that I can better accomplish my goals by specializing in Enfeoffment as opposed to Commandeering."

"Oh? What is your reasoning behind this decision? Of the two choices, I thought that it was likelier that you would choose to specialize in Commandeering. It is a tried-and-true ability that has already proven its practicality and usefulness. It is the most fundamental expression of your Command Field, so the risks of developing it further should be the lowest."

"There are many reasons to favor Enfeoffment over Commandeering, sir. While your description is true, that is not the sole factor in my consideration. First, there is the issue of applicability. In order to maximize my Commandeering ability, I should command forces ranging from tens of thousands of mechs to a hundred-thousand mechs. This is my limit at the beginning of my journey as a saint. Once I grow stronger, I will be able to effectively Commandeer increasingly larger quantities of mech armies. I may even be able to empower other friendly craft such as starfighters and warships. All of this may sound fantastic, and I cannot deny the attraction of leading such a vast armada, but… not every battle takes place on a grand scale."

"I see. I understand what you are saying. Many battles occur involving just a dozen, a hundred or at most a thousand mechs. Third-raters tend to field the largest mech armies because of their large population and dirt-cheap hardware. Second-raters also tend to field fairly large mech armies as they are not too constrained by resource shortages. First-raters are much more reluctant to field over a million mechs in any battlefield. It takes far too much money and high-value resources to build them all, and they are needed in too many places for them to congregate in excessively large numbers."

If Casella chose to develop her Commandeering ability, then she would most certainly get better at leading huge mech armies.

That was not to say that she could not improve her ability to empower smaller groupings of mechs, but if she did so, she would always waste a huge amount of her capacity. This was not the most efficient use of her power.

It was like building a mech arena that could host millions of spectators on a rural planet.

Perhaps a big tournament or event may happen every few years that would allow the mech arena to be filled to capacity, but most of the time all of the infrastructure would remain unused as tens of thousands of regular season pass holders attended the less consequential competitive matches.

The main reason to specialize in Commandeering was if Casella prized the ability to effectively lead and empower huge armies.

Evidently, she did not. She sounded as if she was completely fine with skipping out on becoming the next Archistrategos.

"Commandeering may be more useful if we were still operating in the old galaxy, but the rules of war have changed in the new frontier." Casella continued to present her arguments. "Quality is much more important than quantity. The importance of champions is much greater in the Age of Dawn. Everything I have read about the conditions of Messier 87 suggests that battles are solely decided by the strongest individual combatants. The large amounts of cannon fodder that fight alongside them can still make themselves useful, but it is much harder for them to defeat true powerhouses than vice versa."

"It is not impossible for large groups of weaker combatants to pool their energies and inflict serious blows against individual powerhouses." Ves retorted. "Battle networks and more recently the Energy Weaver Mech Ecosystem are but two possible ways for the masses to overpower the strong."

"I acknowledge that, but I think they are ultimately substitutes to true expert mechs and ace mechs. Enfeoffment deals with much smaller quantities of recipients, but they are useful in any scenario. When any mech gains the combat power that is equivalent to an expert mech, they have completely risen from a low-value combat asset to a high-value combat asset. These qualitative changes not only makes it much easier for my Enfeoffed mechs to fight phase lords and other powerful aliens to a standstill, but also grants them the strength to massacre large amounts of weaker enemies depending on their configurations."

It was much easier to punch down than the opposite.

Particularly powerful combatants such as ancient phase whales, dreadnoughts, god pilots and the most terrifying the Subjugation King could not be defeated by sending waves and waves of cannon fodder at them! Each of these powerhouses possessed more than enough strength to shatter weaker mechs en masse!

"I imagine that if we ever end up in a situation where we have to fend off a few enemy powerhouses with lots of standard mech units, a lot of good men and women will die." Ves remarked. "Any victory will turn into a pyrrhic victory. We cannot afford to win our battles in this way, especially when red humanity's population is so much smaller than that of any major alien race."

Casella nodded. "Those are my thoughts as well. Enfeoffed mechs are much stronger, but also much better protected. The 'Barons' and higher effectively gain their own resonance shields, which is a game changer for empowered mechs. Combined with my active leadership, it is much easier for me to ensure they can fully utilize their amazing strength while also pulling them back before they are at risk of falling."

These were all good arguments to invest in Enfeoffment as opposed to Commandeering.

Though she could also imitate the Archistrategos and micromanage her Commandeered mechs to the same degree, she had much less to work with as the degree of empowerment for every individual machine just wouldn't be as strong.

"Are there any other reasons that have driven you to take this route? I have the feeling that there is still a greater motivation behind your choice."

Casella slowly grinned. "You are sharp, patriarch. I do have one more important reason why I want to specialize in Enfeoffment. I have strong reasons to believe that it complements best with my companion spirit's hijacking ability."

A spiritual winged snake dove out of her head and made a twirl in the air.

Although Eleiha did not have a chance to exercise her new Mental Hijack ability during Casella's breakthrough event, the ace pilot was quite confident that her companion spirit was able to dominate any enemy as long as the resistance was not too great!

Ves could see how this could work out well for Casella. "Ah. You want to boost the success rate of Eleiha's own inherent ability to the greatest extent possible by channeling as much of your willpower onto an enemy's mind and spirit as possible. Enfeoffment indeed hits individuals a lot harder than Commandeering."

It was the difference between utilizing a precision laser and a shotgun. The latter was more suited to damage a lot of enemy targets at the same time, but the former was vastly superior if Casella only wanted to focus on a single individual!

"I have a much better chance of reviving my brother if I can capture a powerful alien that possesses abilities that are unmatched by any human." Casella said. "If I can save my brother by making a bargain with a god pilot or other human, then that is better. I do not want to bet on whether that is possible. It is better for me to be proactive about this, so I must develop Eleiha's ability to the best extent possible. There is much greater synergy between her power and Enfeoffment. That alone is enough for me to commit to this specialization."

"I take it that Eleiha can only hijack one being at a time."

The ace pilot nodded. "That is true. Perhaps she can expand that limitation if she trains for it, but that goes against my intentions. It is only the most powerful alien beings that should have the capacity to restore my brother to the greatest extent possible. Their minds are much harder to subvert, so I need all of the power I can get to succeed in gaining their cooperation by force."

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