The Mech Touch

After augmenting the Valkyrie Prime, the Bright Sword Prime and the Piranha Prime with some remarkable gems, only two more prime mechs awaited their prizes.

As Ves entered the cockpit of the Bright Beam Prime, he brought out another Unstable Chaos Essence gem.

Yet before he installed it into the mech, he paused and directed his gaze back to his pouch.

The contents of his pouch had dwindled. Aside from the Maiden's Affection and a small amount of Unstable Chaos Essence gems, it also contained Lucky's latest products.

Ves slowly put back the gem he had originally brought out and pulled out a different gem instead.

It immediately stood out for its round shape with sharp spikes sticking out from the surface. Ves happened to possess two of these unusual gems.

"Meow!" Lucky hissed as he flew back at the sight of a spiky gem!

Ves chuckled. "Your guts must have gotten quite a workout to produce these abnormal gems!"

"Meeeeeow!"

He recalled that Lucky originally 'produced' a couple of Antithesis Essence gems after he attempted to cure his pet's indigestion problem.

The Nyxian Gap, Unending alloy and B-stone all combined to generate a pair of spiky gems with an ambiguous description.

[Antithesis Essence]

???

If not even the System was capable of deciphering their effects, then they must definitely be on a higher tier than his other gems!

The problem was that all of this potency was shrouded behind a veil. What if they brought harm to the mech pilot? What if their effects were conditional to specific circumstances?

At the very least, the Unstable Chaos Essence gems appeared to be a little more straightforward.

The few clues he had hinted to Ves that the Antithesis gems might have a surprising effect against spiritual entities and maybe expert mechs.

"The Nyxian Gap. Unending Alloy. B-stone. Antithesis. All of these put together will definitely not result in something weak!"

His first thought was that he should employ these gems into mechs that could be used to repel expert mechs.

"The Fridaymen, Praetors and Planats brought 11 expert mechs. Even if the Glory Seekers and Crossers do their best, they can't guarantee they'll be able to contain every enemy expert mech."

If just one of them managed to break through the blockade, the Larkinson mech forces would definitely experience much greater pressure!

Therefore, the Larkinson Clan needed to prepare a response against expert mechs.

While expert mechs could not be beaten so easily, it was still possible to hinder them by bombarding them from a distance.

"This Bright Beam Prime is already very suited for this purpose. I'm not sure whether its firepower is truly capable of inflicting damage to an expert mech, but it doesn't hurt to strengthen this capability."

The only downside was that the Bright Beam Prime was only capable of firing a total of three prime resonance-empowered shots in a single go. Ves essentially had to gamble whether an Antithesis gem brought enough power to make it worthwhile to expend such a precious but mysterious resource.

"Ahh, let's just do it!" He shouted in the cockpit! "I have a good feeling about this, and that is enough!"

When faced with inexplicable and uncertain circumstances, Ves usually defaulted to his intuition. Even though it did not send any positive or negative signals at the moment, it did not suppress his bold streak.

As soon as he installed one of his two Antithesis gems into the Bright Beam Prime, the mech seemed to experience a profound change. Ves carefully observed the mech with his regular and spiritual vision, but he failed to glean any clues.

"I'll just have to wait until the battle starts to see the results of my decisions." He muttered.

For the final mech, Ves briefly contemplated using his second Antithesis gem before shaking his head.

The Bright Spear Prime stood no chance against an expert mech at close range. He could make much better use of the Antithesis gem by embedding it into another ranged mech.

"I guess I'll use one of my remaining Unstable Chaos Essence gems, then. I hope Venerable Orfan is able to cope with this addition."

Every prime mech possessed a gem now. In order to prevent Venerable Jannzi from feeling left out, Ves entered the Shield of Samar's cockpit and pretended to do something. Once he emerged from the final mech, Ves told the expert pilots that he was done with the prime mechs.

"I can't tell you how your mechs have changed. While they have definitely become more potent in battle, I cannot determine the exact outcomes. What's worse, my actions may have introduced some side effects to your machines. Just bear with them. The power bestowed to your mechs is very much worth it. Our overarching priority is to defeat the enemies that intend to crush our clan and kill all of our comrades."

"We can bear any pain so long as we gain greater power." Venerable Dise stated in an indomitable tone. "We appreciate all of the help that you have given to us. The Fridaymen will taste our wrath on the battlefield!"

Ves smiled. "Well said!"

Now that he handled the prime mechs, Ves quickly moved to another section of the Spirit of Bentheim. In order to waste as little time as possible, he utilized the flight system of his Unending Regalia and rapidly flew through the hallways.

He eventually reached the mech stables where a number of Transcender Punishers were being readied for the upcoming engagement.

Ves happened to meet two familiar Ylvainans next to the Prophet's Fist.

"Bright Martyr. I knew you would come to visit." James Ylvaine greeted him with an exhausted tone.

"You look.. older."

The Living Prophet didn't seem so lively today. His pure white robe drooped over his listless body as if it was a funeral shroud. Wrinkles marred his previously youthful face and a portion of his slick brown hair had turned white.

This was a drastic change! Ves had met with James not too long ago. He looked around 10 to 20 years younger back then. How could the cult leader look so much closer to the traditional depiction of the Great Prophet as an old and wiser man?

"Power always comes at a price." James sardonically smiled at Ves. "Isn't that what you always said? Even transcendents cannot escape the law of conservation of energy."

Ves did not pay attention to how James managed to decipher some of his inner thoughts. He sensed a heavy weight had settled in the air. His spiritual advisor looked much worse off than before!

"Is it because of my request?" He asked.

"I told you, Ves. The fates of the strong are harder to read than the fates of the weak."

In other words, James Ylvaine sacrificed a lot in order to provide Ves with the intelligence he demanded!

"Is your condition permanent?"

The prophet nodded and patted his chest. "My sight is strong, but my body is weak. This vessel is too flawed. I am not the first to suffer from premature aging. So do not feel guilty for seeing me in this form. The body is just a channel for me to interact with our flock. If it expires, it expires. I have faced death many times before. It gets old after the first few times."

This was incredibly troubling talk! Ves gained so much information that he could hardly determine how much of it consisted of shameless boasting!

Ves was always aware that James, for all of his humanness, was actually a clone. Perhaps his interaction with Ylvaine's resurrected spirit may have given him more life, but that did not mean he suddenly turned into a normal human. At the very least, his physiological shortcomings still remained.

Due to overdrafting his power, James had brought his time of death a lot closer!

Ves didn't know what to think about that. It was partially his fault that James lost a significant amount of years of his life.

Even so, his forces truly needed to know in advance how many expert mechs they were about to face. The Golden Skull Alliance was able to prepare much more thorough countermeasures now that they knew what to expect.

For this reason, Ves did not regret his choice. It was absolutely worth it to sacrifice a single person's lifespan to obtain crucial information that significantly increased their odds of winning.

Besides, he knew that James was wise and clear-minded enough to know the implications of what he had done. If the Living Prophet valued his life more, then he would have refused to make the prediction.

"How long do you have left?" Ves softly asked.

"I cannot say. It might sound strange to you, but looking into my own fate is the most costliest prediction I can make. Before I can even get an answer, my body will definitely expire."

"I see."

Ves didn't understand anything. He hated prophecies. Not only were they rooted in superstition, they also implied that the future was fixed or that fate actually existed.

He did not believe in this nonsense. He was an adherent of free choice and the future was inherently chaotic. At each moment of time, there was an infinite amount of possible futures. While some futures had a much higher chance of coming true than others, the rules of probability taught him that the most likely outcomes were never guaranteed to happen.

James sighed and turned to gaze up at the Prophet's Fist. "It is okay, Bright Martyr. You do not need to entangle yourself with my future. Whether my body can persist or not, our flock does not need me anymore. They have you to turn to after I am gone."

"Prophet!" Taon Melin couldn't remain silent any longer. "What are you saying?! We still need your guidance!"

"You misunderstand, Taon." James gently shook his head. "I will never be gone. Life and death is just a cycle to me. Besides, it is high time that the faithful must learn to stand up for themselves. The galaxy will not remain tranquil forever."

"Prophet…"

"No more, Taon. You need to think about solving our current predicament before you should consider anything else. Bright Martyr, please proceed with your plan."

Ves nodded. He originally planned to ask James whether he could determine the effects of the Antithesis gem, but he decided to drop it. He did not want to waste the remaining charges of his human-shaped prediction engine.

He turned to the Ylvainan mech pilot. "Taon, your mech along with every other Transcendent Punisher will play a vital role in the coming battle. The firepower at your disposal is massive. Aside from our prime mechs and our Valkyrie Redeemers, our other second-class mechs simply don't have the firepower to efficiently chew through the armor of the enemy mechs we expect to face. Our general battle approach is to provide our heavy artillery mechs with as many opportunities to fire upon enemy elements as possible."

"We understand, Bright Martyr. We will do our best to shoot down each and every enemy mech even if they are expert mechs!"

"Good man." Ves lightly patted Taon's shoulder. "I'll be going ahead with adding something extra to the Prophet's Fist."

He issued the same warning to Taon as he did his expert pilots. The Ylvainan mech pilot had to be on guard against any possible negative side effects.

It did not take long for Ves to install the Antithesis Essence gem in the first production copy of the Transcendent Punisher. He was faintly afraid that the ominous Nyxian gem might have corrupted the previously pure Ylvainan mech.

However, just like with his other decisions, he didn't have the luxury of worrying about any potential sequelae. As long as the gems brought additional power, any price was acceptable!

As Ves was about to leave, he briefly considered doing something extra for the Ylvainans.

Should he establish a battle network for them? Ves briefly checked up on Ylvaine the design spirit.

He silently shook his head.

The design spirit of the Transcendent Punisher was too weak. There were too few Ylvainans providing him with spiritual feedback.

What happened to Ylvaine might also happen to the Superior Mother if the Hexers lost their foundation. Ves became more resolved to beat the enemy strike enemy force today.

He could not allow the Friday Coalition to succeed!