The Mech Touch

Ves and many other people serving in the expanded Bluejay Fleet grew increasingly more nervous.

The spacers and mech pilots all knew what they had in store. Their superiors did not dare to keep them in the dark about the extremely high possibility of encountering an ambush along the way.

Though the scouts sent ahead of the Bluejay Fleet had not yet discovered the passage of any fleet of obviously hostile enemies, it was only a matter of time before an incident would occur.

All of the warships raised their alert level to yellow or whatever local equivalent they used. This forced the crew members to maintain a higher state of combat readiness than normal and constantly be on the lookout for enemies lurking in the vicinity.

The mechs residing inside their combat carriers all began to load up on ammunition, fully charged energy cells and other essential supplies, all to ensure they could instantly deploy into the field in their peak conditions.

Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson did not rest either. He continued to improve his ability to wield the tier 3 Destroyer spear and harness its potent might.

Ever since Ves gave him a suggestion on how he should change his approach, Saint Tusa no longer neglected the Destroyer weapon's 'feelings' and tried to treat it as a genuine partner.

Together with using Blackwing's shadow element as a bridge, Tusa's revised approach yielded immediate results.

The Dark Zephyr began to sway back and forth in the cramped cargo hold. A hint of shadow and destruction wafted off the mech frame, causing it to appear more ominous and mysterious than normal.

The transphasic energy shields that were meant to mitigate the damage in case of accidents only had to act to protect the Tarrasque from internal damage a few times.

This was a massive improvement compared to the prior situation!

Although Saint Tusa was not able to fully tame the hungry and irritable Destroyer spear, he at least managed to find the right track that gave him hope of fully mastering the weapon one day!

Unfortunately, it would take a lot longer for him to reach this point. The enemies of Ves were unlikely to give Tusa the time he needed to wield the spear without any risk of self-injury.

In the meantime, Ves engaged in his own form of weapon training. Unlike his powerful cousin, he began to wield a very basic practice spear that possessed a number of surprising properties The speartip was rather hefty, but as soon as it stabbed into an object, it would turn into a putty-like substance.

The entire spear was made out of smart metal! This allowed it to morph into the exact right configuration that was suitable for the wielder. Its edge remained sharp when it needed to, but instantly became dull and flimsy if there was no hostile intent driving the weapon.

This made it the perfect practice weapon, if somewhat an extravagant one due to the cost of such a product.

SInce Ves signed up for a very brief crash course on spearmanship, the dour-faced mech pilot that served as his instructor only really taught him how to stab in several different ways.

"You are too old to become a qualified soldier." The gruff mech pilot obviously did not think much about a mech designer's attempts to gain proficiency in a spear. "Your physicality is fantastic, but it is purely because you are a phase lord, not due to any focused training and conditioning. Raw strength is not enough to outfight an opponent who knows what he is doing. Your complete lack of muscle memory and serious combat training is making you slow to react and execute your techniques. You hesitate too often as you are trapped by your own excessive thinking."

Ves frowned. Though he went into this crash course with the knowledge that he could never equal a true professional warrior, he couldn't help but entertain illusions.

He was a descendant of the Larkinson Family. His grandfather, father and uncle were talented mech pilots. The blood of soldiers had long characterized his entire lineage. Surely he possessed at least some talent in this area, right?

"Is there a way to speed up my progress?"

"No. Aside from being born as a designer baby that is specialized in combat, there is no substitute for hard work. Not even the best implants can turn you into a natural warrior. This is why mech cadets begin to train in swordsmanship and spearmanship in their first year. It literally takes years of persistent drilling to turn all of these conscious moves into subconscious actions. That is the level that every trained soldier has reached, at minimum. It is also a level that you can never hope to attain, either tomorrow or in a decade. You are not young anymore. Even if you had the talent and aptitude to become a master in the spear arts, your brain development has developed towards strengthening your intellectual pursuits. It would have been better if you practiced fencing or any kind of physical sports throughout your youth, but that is not the case. The fact of the matter is that you are a nerd. Obtaining the body of a phase lord hasn't seemed to change much. You have just become a nerd with a giant body. Your intuition towards danger is quite good, but it doesn't help you find the right opportunity to strike in an offensive capacity. A true soldier who enjoys the same degree of physical endowment as you can easily defeat several of you in a spar."

That was the difference that combat skills and more rounded combat intuition could make. As much as Ves wanted to argue against his instructor that he should not be that bad, the results he produced so far did not support his optimism.

Ves truly started out too late, and plainly lacked the time to ever get close to catching up to the level of the weakest first-class multipurpose mech pilot in the Bluejay Fleet.

However, there was one point where the mech instructor was mistaken.

A shortcut did exist. It was just not available to anyone aside from two people as far as he knew of. Only Ves and Ketis had access to the Mech Designer System, and only they could access the juicy fruits produced by the Tree of Enlightenment!

Ves had managed to complete a chunk of Missions in the last half year. His existing commitments did not leave him much time to satisfy the System's demands too much, but he at least managed to make his reserve of Ascension Points look less pathetic than before.

This should be enough for him to procure a basic enlightenment fruit centered around spearmanship.

Although there was no guarantee that the Tree of Possibilities would offer such fruit, Ves could still make do with obtaining an enlightenment fruit that taught him how to wield staves or maybe even swords.

From what Ves had observed from Saint Tusa and other recipients of enlightenment fruits, the proficiency they gained went far beyond stuffing their minds with pure knowledge on weapon techniques!

They also gained the corresponding muscle memory and other intangibles that were necessary for them to exercise their newly gained skills in a competent manner!

Ves was currently very reluctant to spend his AP on an enlightenment fruit that did not directly improve his capabilities as a mech designer. He still hoped that Saint Tusa would be able to gain enough control over the tier 3 Destroyer spear that there was no need for another wielder.

Though Ves possessed near-unending stamina due to his phase lord physique, he could not spend all of his hours in the training room. He had other obligations and he also needed to take his mind off the very boring act of repeatedly stepping forward and stabbing his spear in a specific fashion.

As Ves freshened himself up and returned to his stateroom, he unexpectedly encountered a mech designer waiting outside the entrance.

"Lady Romanda Devos. You did not notify me that you wanted to meet with me in advance."

The slightly older Terran Senior Mech Designer dressed herself in an impeccable outfit as always. Her expression looked graver than usual, indicating that she was not here for a casual chat.

"I need to speak to you about an important matter in private." The descendant of the Devos Ancient Clan spoke. "The subject I wish to address with you is exceedingly sensitive, so it is important that we are not overheard by anyone, including your mecher partners."

Ves frowned. He was starting to have a bad feeling about this. "Can you tell me what this is all about? Is it a matter concerning the Devos Ancient Clan, the Swarm Project or the Red Collective? Are you seeking to defect to the Larkinson Clan or whatever?"

The woman shook her head. "I cannot reveal the actual reason to you at this location. Please arrange a secure meeting place for us. If you cannot find one here, then we can relocate to the combat carrier dispatched by the Devos Ancient Clan."

"That won't be necessary. Come. Let's go inside first. It's not the most secure place on the Tarrasque, but it is not necessary for us to go elsewhere in order to have a private chat."

The pair entered Ves' assigned stateroom. They ignored the wide spaces, the opulent furniture and the artworks that added a lot of class to the chambers.

"Meow." Lucky greeted as he lifted up his head from the bed.

"Lucky, I need you to sniff the stateroom for any unauthorized bugs before deploying an interference field that should hopefully make it harder for the remaining listening devices to eavesdrop on my conversation."

"Meow!"

Lucky could only remove the bugs originating from more dubious sources. After that, the cat continued to remain on the lookout while producing a short-ranged interference field similar to a jamming device.

"Just do it! I will make it up to you later, alright? There are so many goodies for sale in Yernstall that there are definitely minerals available that will sate your appetite."

Now that Ves promised the gem cat a concrete reward, Lucky finally moved into action and began to use his highly developed senses to do his job.

The stateroom was under constant monitoring, and it was not possible to remove them without pissing off the mechers who ran the heavy cruiser.

Lucky could only remove the bugs originating from more dubious sources. After that, the cat continued to remain on the lookout while producing a short-ranged interference field similar to a jamming device.

Ves deployed his own devices in order to produce additional interference while also making sure there was a sufficient degree of redundancy.

He employed one more measure that he only recently came up with. He never utilized it before, but actually possessed the capability to perform it a long time ago. It was rather embarrassing how much time had passed without making this realization.

He carefully exercised his Kelsis organ and formed a fairly small but concentrated spatial barrier around himself, Lady Romanda and Lucky.

Since the spatial barrier was so small, Ves was able to make it a lot stronger and more opaque than usual!

The spatial barrier had become so strong that it was not only able to isolate a lot of signals, but partially block the passage of E energy radiation!

In order to prevent the latter from becoming a potential source of leaks, Blinky appeared and began to suck in the reduced flow of E energy radiation that passed through the spatial barrier. This stopped any of it from leaking out and potentially exposing sensitive information!

"Alright." Ves spoke as the space inside the isolated barrier had become very thick and charged with energy. "This is as secure as I can make it. Are you willing to share with me your secret?"

Lady Romanda did not look entirely comfortable at the security measures that Ves had taken. She did not entirely understand how they worked, and they had not relocated to the Devos combat carrier or at least a secure communication chamber.

However, she was willing to put her trust in Ves. Since he was confident that the mechers would not be able to overhear their conversation, she may as well proceed with her intentions.

The Terran took one deep breath before she made a shocking revelation.

"Please do not overreact. The reason why I sought to meet you in total privacy is because I am a cosmopolitan."

"Okay…? I don't see how… WAIT, WHAT?!"

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