The Mech Touch

Alliances were fragile.

In some cases, they could be considered a single entity. In other cases, they were fractured beyond belief.

Ves had encountered numerous states throughout his travels that exhibited both sides of the equation.

The Friday Coalition was a typical example that embodied both extremes.

On the one hand, they united together and formed a common bond to defend against the persistent threat of the Hexadric Hegemony.

On the other hand, of the original nine partners that founded the Coalition, only six of them were left.

What happened to the three forgotten partners that seemed to have disappeared from history in the time between the founding of the state and the outbreak of the Komodo War?

Obviously, something very fishy took place that caused the three Coalition partners to disappear without getting entangled in open conflict.

Then there was the old Vesia Kingdom. While Ves wasn't sure how much it had changed after the aftermath of the Sand War caused it to swallow up a lot of ruined territories, but before this massive event, its various noble houses ostensibly answered to the royal house but in practice pursued their own ends.

The ducal houses had become too powerful, causing them to develop a distinct lack of respect towards the central authorities and a lot of animosity towards their fellow rivals. If not for the fact that they possessed a common hatred against the Bright Republic, they would have long descended into more overt power struggles!

"Then there's the Garlen Empire."

On the surface, it was one huge second-rate state that dominated the Vicious Mountain Star Sector. Unlike the Friday Coalition and the Hexadric Hegemony, it did not have to share territory with any other rival state.

That should have turned the Garlen Empire into a calm and peaceful refuge where the only threat to its territorial integrity came from beyond its star sector.

Yet the glory hounds of this infamous state were not satisfied with peace! The aggressive ace pilots and expert pilots hungered for greater advancement and eternal glory, and an absence of conflict was not conducive to furthering these goals.

So what did they do instead? They turned on each other and provoked conflicts with the flimsiest of excuses!

Therefore, alliances were not necessarily harmonious. If an organization really thought that a treaty could protect them from betrayal from their own allies, then it was incredibly naive!

The Cross Clan happened to fall victim to this kind of betrayal. After its flight from Vicious Mountain, it surely had to have learned a couple of lessons. With the addition of a former pirate leader in the form of Professor Benedict, there was no way that the Crossers remained as naive as before!

Right now, the Larkinson Clan was in its ascendency. The Cross Clan attached itself to the upstarts because it depended on Ves to provide them with the benefits the Crossers needed to rebuild their own glory.

The establishment of the Cross Clan's exclusive kinship network and Patriarch Reginald's strong desire for Ves to contribute to the design of his next expert mech were both compelling benefits. They were the primary reasons why the Cross Clan was willing to follow the lead of the Larkinson Clan.

Yet leading the Crossers straight into a potentially hostile state that was much more powerful than the Golden Skull Alliance was definitely stretching their willingness to play along.

Ves would essentially be taking advantage over the fact that he possessed a hold over the Cross Clan if he forced Patriarch Reginald and his men to come along his risky trip.

If he wanted to placate his allies and ensure the Golden Skull Alliance remained stable, he needed to throw them another bone so that they remained committed to defending the Larkinson Clan.

This was quite problematic as he wasn't able to think up anything that sounded attractive enough. He couldn't guarantee the delivery of a masterwork mech and he had already provided them with a kinship network.

He supposed he could choose to offer other valuable services such as providing the Crossers with companion spirits or battle networks, but Ves wasn't stupid enough to spread his own trump cards.

The main reasons why he was okay with sharing his kinship network was because it didn't threaten him and would always remain under his control. The same could not be said for his other spiritual products.

Ves scratched his cheek. It became clear that he did not have any good ideas at the moment.

Since he couldn't come up with an answer, Professor Benedict decided to give him a hand.

"What do you think about our clan, Ves?"

"Huh? Uhm, you have done well in picking yourselves up from your lowest point. I no longer have the impression that you are in decline anymore. Your clan grows stronger with each day that passes. That is quite impressive. It's not easy to dispel the depression that comes from losing so many loved ones and being run out of your territory like a pack of defeated dogs."

Patriarch Reginald briefly clenched his fists. "We cannot give the traitors the satisfaction of ending us completely. We may have lost much of our might and glory, but we have not lost sight of our dignity and honor! As long as we hold our heads high, we defy the Praetors, the Planats, the Billards, the Chardons and any other enemy that has conspired to annihilate our clan!"

Both Ves and Professor Benedict had to lean back from the ferocity that the expert pilot was exuding. The Cross of Rebirth that hung on his waist even seemed to resonate with his earnest will, causing Patriarch Reginald to come across as a tragic hero who was hellbent on exacting his revenge!

Ves lightly coughed. "Uhm, yes. That's a really good sentiment. The best way to refute their attempts at taking down your clan is to grow it to an even greater height. In my opinion, the best way to do that is to take advantage of the opportunities of the Red Ocean to grow to an even greater height than the Garlen Empire could ever accomplish. Vicious Mountain can only offer so much, and the star sector is already divided into hundreds of different tribes and clans. There is no meaningful room for expansion over there, so it should only be a matter of time before your clan can surpass all of your enemies."

Of course, it was not as simple as that. Rewards always come paired with risks. The greater the reward, the greater the risk. It was true that it was easy for pioneers to become rich and powerful in the Red Ocean, but there were even greater odds for them to face ruination!

Professor Benedict smiled at Ves in a peculiar way. "While it is good for our clan to spite its original enemies by surpassing them in size and wealth, this form of revenge isn't quite as satisfying as crushing the Praetors, Planats and any other enemy that had a hand in driving the Cross Clan out of Vicious Mountain, don't you think so, Ves?"

Ves frowned a bit. "We're too weak to beat them in person. I know how it feels to be unable to punch your enemies directly in the face. I too have grudges against certain powerful enemies like the Friday Coalition, but do you see me turning around and pitting my tiny clan against the might of an entire second-rate state? We can't let our personal desires get in the way of doing what is best for our people. Exacting direct revenge won't accomplish anything except causing all of us to fall just so we can derive selfish satisfaction out of the act."

He had a high interest in staying alive. Committing revenge felt good but not if he had to pay an excessive price. He always found it irrational for many people to forsake everything including their own existences just to get payback for their perceived slights!

Ves dearly hoped that Patriarch Reginald and his band of Crossers weren't a part of this group. If they were, then the Larkinson Clan would seriously have to reconsider its association with the crazy Cross Clan!

Fortunately, Patriarch Reginald forcibly calmed himself down. Though it was more than obvious that he wanted to do exactly what Ves feared, the expert pilot didn't completely disregard his responsibilities to his own clansmen. He was a lot better than his father in this regard.

"We can dream all we want, but without power, they will always remain figments of our imagination." The expert pilot gruffly spoke. "The only way for our clan to exceed our rivals is for us to gain more strength. My ascension to my father's old rank is all that matters to us. In the event that you are unable to supply a masterwork expert mech to me, do you have any other means of enabling my promotion?"

Ves helplessly spread his hands. "Who do you think I am? A miracle worker? No one has a foolproof way of producing ace pilots, let alone expert pilots"

"The MTA seems to think you have a chance." Reginald stated as he pinned Ves with a pointed stare. "Haven't they assigned a batch of its own mech pilots for you to convert into expert pilots?"

It seemed that the Cross Clan wasn't completely blind. Though news of this mission shouldn't have spread, it was hard for close allies to miss Master Willix's arrival and the appearance of twenty highly competent guest pilots within the ranks of the Larkinson Clan.

Ves sheepishly smiled. "The MTA has a lot of faith in us due to our history of producing a noticeable amount of expert pilots and expert candidates. I've been trying to tell them that this is not because we stumbled upon a secret formula or anything. While I do believe that living mechs can help with nurturing mech pilots, my mech company has sold tens of millions of living mechs and I haven't heard any stories about lots of breakthroughs. The actual reason why our clan did well during our journey through the Nyxian Gap is because of the inherent weirdness of this anomalous region. Our mech pilots have a much harder time advancing now that we have left it behind."

This was a plausible-sounding excuse that Ves had used multiple times to brush away the noteworthy breakthroughs. It had the benefit of being true to an extent.

"I have heard that you.. have developed another solution." The Cross Patriarch slowly said.

Ves raised his eyebrows as he petted Lucky again. "Oh? That's news to me. If I had another method up to my sleeves, I would have already applied it to my own mech pilots."

"I have received word from scattered survivors from Prosperous Hill and other sources that you have come up with a new invention in the field. It is said that you have created a set of four artifacts that are able to induce different emotions in people. They are called the Aspects of Lufa, if I am correct."

"Uhm, that's correct."

"We know what three of them can do, but you have always kept the fourth one under wraps, is that correct?"

"Yes…"

"Well, from what I have learned, you have called the final statue the Aspect of Transcendence. While I do not have any solid facts on hand, am I correct in guessing that this is an experimental new tool of yours to induce breakthroughs in mech pilots?"

Both Patriarch Reginald and Professor Benedict were paying very close attention to Ves right now!

The abrupt increase in scrutiny made Ves feel as if he was being put on the spot. His mind was racing even as he forcibly froze his body to avoid giving away any clues.

Damn! How the hell did the Cross Clan find all of this out?! It shouldn't be too difficult to learn about some of the Aspects of Lufa, but Ves had always tried to obscure the Aspect of Transcendence as much as possible.

How did the Crossers uncover the existence of this fourth Aspect? Was there a traitor within the ranks of the Larkinson Clan? That shouldn't be possible!