The Mech Touch

Ves became pleased with his selection of loot. Most of his gains would form the capital of his future combat system as a... hybrid between a mech designer and a phase lord.

Once he got his very own Polymetal mech up and running, his exquisite gear would complement his powerful new phasewater organs and vice versa. The potential synergies he could achieve with all of these factors should definitely allow him to overpower the average phase lord!

Ves did not dare to ask for more. Defeating an ace mech like the Dark Zephyr was out of the question, especially now that Saint Tusa had taken a liking for the tier 3 Destroyer

Spear.

His main priority with all of these measures was to enhance his survival chances and allow him to withstand assassination attempts that would fell any other mech designer. He had no desire to lead troops from the front and earn glory on the battlefield. Others were far more suitable for this role.

No. Ves reminded himself that he should be the man at the top, the power behind the scenes and the leader who sent other poor sods to die on the battlefield.

If the situation had become so dire that Ves was forced to enter the field himself, then he had already failed.

The Battle of Mazepan was no exception in this regard. Now that the Bluejay Fleet was underway again, Ves managed to gather a lot of unsettling information from the mechers

And other sources.

The more information he obtained, the more it became clear that this entire battle had been anything but a random occurrence!

"Meow meow meow. Lucky continued to relay what he witnessed during his infiltration attempt even as he devoured the high-grade exotics and hypers salvaged from the battlefield. "Meow meow meow meow!"

Ves' expression grew uglier and uglier as he took in the words of his cat.

Much of the clues he gathered so far mostly amounted to claims and hearsay. The fact that Lucky managed to stumble across a Titled Hunter on a cosmopolitan starship was the first piece of hard proof that confirmed his suspicions about the connivances of the bigshots.

To say he was angry was an understatement!

"That damn bastard! Who does he think he is?! Who gave him the right to turn the entire Red Ocean into his personal hunting ground?! And why is he pulling the strings just to set me up?! Is he trying to fatten me up just so that I can serve as his prey?!" Perhaps he was being a little too uncharitable towards the Huntsman. Ves knew that all high-ranking mech pilots tended to be mentally ill. They just differed by degree.

Ves thought that the Huntsman leaned towards the more reasonable side of the mental instability spectrum, but I was clear that he had vastly underestimated the god pilot's rationality.

He normally did not have a problem with this, but that changed as soon as these crazy god pilots started to meddle with his life!

"Why are they wasting their time on me? Don't these god pilots have better things to do? Am I that big of an investment in their eyes?"

The Destroyer of Worlds. The Evolution Witch. The Huntsman. That was three god pilots so far that had become entangled with his life.

Ves did not mind the support from the Destroyer of Worlds. Despite her fearsome moniker, she came across as a lot more human and reasonable in private. It also helped that she always harbored goodwill towards the mech designer who ultimately set her up for success. He did not dare to abuse this relationship and ask for too many favors. He possessed a much more ambivalent relationship with the Evolution Witch. He needed her backing and support, but he despised the way she unilaterally imposed her demands on him, knowing that he could never resist her arrangements. It was only her secret alliance with his mother that Ves did not lower his evaluation of this notorious god pilot even further.

As for the Huntsman... this particular god pilot had just proven himself to be an even greater headache than before. Out of all of the 8 god pilots of Red Humanity, the Huntsman increasingly behaved like a maverick.

Although the Huntsman did not transmit any direct signals, his Hunting Association had made numerous policy decisions that were clearly out of lockstep with the rest of human society.

The Hunting Association and by extension the Huntsman showed an increasing desire to stand apart from the established institutions of red humanity. The Hunters did not show any willingness to become aligned with any of the Red Three.

How could Ves not interpret this behavior as anything but a desire to become an independent power bloc?

If the Hunting Association wanted to abide by the rules, then it should obediently register as a sect at the soon-to-be-founded Red Collective.

However, Ves harbored increasingly less confidence that he would be able to persuade this relatively new organization to follow this arrangement.

Now that he found out that the Huntsman, or at least a figure who was high up in the hierarchy of the HA, deliberately facilitated an ambush on the Blucjay Fleet, Ves had lost. a lot of respect towards this hunting-obsessed god pilot.

Was the Huntsman still willing to protect red humanity?

Yes. Ves did not doubt the god pilot's loyalty and commitment to his race.

The problem was that everyone had their own idea on how to best protect and preserve the human race. The Huntsman evidently allowed his biases and preferences to color his decisions so much that his plans seriously disrupted the arrangements of other leaders.

Ves included!

Ordinary people could never get away with this, but the Huntsman was different. The god pilot was too powerful to suffer the consequences of stepping on other people's toes. So long as he did not go far enough, other god pilots saw no reason to take him to account.

"Ugh, I really hope that no one else will try to get in my way. This is getting really tiresome."

"Meow" Lucky affirmed as he took his last bite of his sumptuous meal.

Time passed by. The Bluejay Fleet had already passed the most dangerous junction of its journey and was finally about to enter the Sapphire of the Red Ocean.

Ves already relaxed as it was virtually impossible for enemies to lurk around and prepare another ambush in a region that centered around the most prosperous and important star system after the Bridgehead One.

Before he was ready to enter Yernstall and immerse himself in politics at the galactic level, he first contacted his wife in order to discuss the gains from the most recent

Battle.

"How fantastic!" Gloriana reacted exactly as he anticipated. "I adore this gift of yours! I shall tell Vice Director Maria Abselon to reassign her best biotech experts to the study of the Sympatico organ. If the analysis of the mechers is accurate, then this phasewater organ may serve as the key to allow not just myself, but other humans to interface with archetech without relying on intermediaries!"

This was indeed a very important development. Gloriana had gradually mastered archetech to the point of becoming a small authority in this alien tech base, but even she was not able to draw out the full potential of archetech.

The acquisition of the Sympatico organ gave her hope that she would be able to interface with her own tech by sight!

"You can't unilaterally decide the LBI's priorities." Ves gently pushed back against his wife. "I have claimed a number of valuable spoils, and their importance is no less than the Sympatico organ. It is impossible to implant these gigantic alien organs directly into my body. Even if phase lords have vastly stronger constitutions and can tolerate a lot more foreign matter than normal, I will still suffer a range of health problems if I try to implant them in my true body. We need a lot of biotech experts to meticulously study the phasewater organs and reverse engineer their working principles. The ultimate goal is for our researchers to cultivate human-adapted versions of the same organs that can safely be integrated in my true body, preferably within a year or two. These are heavy demands, so the LBI will have to invest a huge amount of high-end manpower on the

New projects."

The projection of Gloriana adopted a skeptical look. "I am not an expert in biotechnology, but even I can tell that these are difficult research projects. The LBI does not have enough senior researchers and specialists in phase lord biology to make brisk progress in all of these projects. Do not forget that they are already preoccupied with a large amount of existing projects, many of which are too important to abandon."

Ves sighed. He knew what must be done.

"I will speak to the Vice Director about increasing her budget. Again. We need the biotech researchers. I cannot afford to let all of these precious phasewater organs sit and do nothing for so many years. The researchers still haven't made any gains related to the Dofner organ and the Pelmir organ."

"That is because you are asking too much from them, Ves. No matter their qualifications, they are all new to this emerging field. The biotechs know far too little about how phasewater organs and phase lords work. They also have to learn a large amount of hard physics in order to understand the properties of phasewater before they can begin to learn how this material interacts with living organisms. Since everyone is starting from scratch, there are no readily available experts that can handle phasewater organs as if they worked on them for decades."

She was right. Ves felt frustrated at the absence of truly good help, but the painful reality was that the Larkinson Biotech Institute needed to train all of the specialists from

Scratch.

"If the LBI cannot complete these important projects by themselves, then I will arrange collaborations with other competent biotech institutions." Ves decided. "Confidentiality is important, but speed is also of the essence. I am weak, you know. As a phase lord, I have done little to nothing to develop my personal combat prowess. Blindly increasing my phasewater concentration will only make my problem worse. The only way I can make effective use of my physical gifts is to upgrade and acquire a set of powerful phasewater organs. I do not like to rely on them, but reality isn't giving me any choice." "You do not have to do all of the fighting yourself, Ves. That is what mech pilots are for. I will try to see if I can speed up the completion of the Minerva Mark II Project. However, I cannot truly finish this upgrade project if you fail to come back to New Constantinople with a Mentalist Crystal in your hands. You better find a way to exchange one in Yernstall if you want to enjoy the best possible protection from an ace commander!" Gloriana did not fully understand his difficulties, but then again, she did not undertake the same degree of risks.

That was also why she remained a simple Senior Mech Designer while Ves had become an emerging leader of red humanity at a young age.

"I haven't forgotten about this demand of yours. I will look for a Mentalist Crystal, but I cannot give you any guarantees. The finances of our clan will become even more stretched after funding an expansion of the LBI. I suppose I can still make use of my political leverage, but it is not a good idea to give away lots of favors without receiving

Any in return."

His wife crossed her arms. "What is the point of becoming the leader of the Upper

Council of the Red Collective if you are not allowed to abuse your political station? You

Are being too reticent about taking advantage of your power. Integrity is important, but so are interests. As long as you can protect yourself better, you will live long enough to slowly pay back all of the debts you have accrued. The parties who you have borrowed from will be glad to see this happen. They have a vested interest in your continued survival and success. Make use of that, Ves. Weave a web between these interest groups

And tie them to your chariot."

Ves looked impressed. "That... is sound advice. I did not expect to hear that from you. Did you come up with

That yourself?"

"No. My mother taught me that. She wanted me to pass on that you should not forget to fulfill her request. She is still waiting to receive an appointment to a respectable office in the Red Collective!"

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