The Mech Touch

"What… do you mean exactly when you say 'His Holiness' is your leader?" Ves carefully asked.

"I mean exactly what I said. Divine Hussain Albedo is our leader. Ever since he attained his current rank and took charge of our faction, he has set our rules, our vision, our principles, our goals and our research directions. The Transhumanist Faction that exists today is largely aligned with his views on what humanity must do in order to attain greater power and surpass any alien races that exist today and may emerge in the future."

"That… is quite hands-on for a god pilot." Ves remarked.

Master Dervidian understood why Ves sounded so dubious. "Did you think that a faction as large and important as ours should be led by highly accomplished administrators and intellectuals such as Star Designers or galactic mech councilors?"

"It would make more sense to me." Ves carefully said. "Mech pilots excel in battle, but they tend to be on the dogmatic and stubborn side when it comes to matters outside of the battlefield. Those traits generally aren't as desirable in politics or administration. There are very few if any states that allow their high-ranking mech pilots to rule over them. The few that do are often embroiled in… turmoil."

"Expert pilots and ace pilots are deeply flawed beings. I am readily willing to admit that, Mr. Larkinson. They do not make for the best leaders because they are still in transition. They are much better off by focusing all of their time and energy in developing their skills, tempering their character and growing their resonance strength. However, your understanding of god pilots is insufficient. Did you not recall what I just said a moment earlier?"

Ves had to rewind his mind to the past, which was much more difficult now that the secure communication chamber forcibly repressed his cranial implant.

Slowly but surely, he recalled a detail that he had brushed past because of the overflow of shocking information.

"Are you referring to the description that god pilots are much smarter than normal?"

"Correct." Master Dervidian smiled. "Expert pilots and ace pilots have largely earned a bad but deserved reputation for being brutes that only sees reality through absolutes. God pilots are similar in a sense, but that is tempered by their vastly increased intelligence and ability to absorb and accept information. There is a huge divide between ace pilots and god pilots that cannot be described in a short amount of time. You cannot simply extrapolate the abilities of an ace pilot to a higher level. There is one crucial factor that completely changes the way we think and perceive reality."

It took a bit of time for Ves to understand the Master's point, but when he recalled an important detail that he heard about god pilots, he suddenly became enlightened.

"Ah! Is it because god pilots have essentially merged with their god mechs?!"

Master Dervidian smiled. "That is a clever deduction that you have made, Mr. Larkinson. Indeed. If you know this much, then I can tell you that the fusion between pilot and mech is truly complete. The form doesn't necessarily matter anymore. God pilots can appear as humans, mechs or more fantastical creatures. or into anything else. They are mostly energy life forms at that point."

"Energy life forms that can think like supercomputers?"

"Yes. God pilots have fully integrated all of the power and capabilities of their god mechs. That includes the latter's logical thinking and incredibly high processing power. When you combine a human that is supremely powerful due to their extreme willpower with a machine that is the apex of what we can make in this form, you will end up with an amalgamation that combines the advantages of both while covering for each other's weaknesses. The product has become so strong that it is not without reason that they are called gods."

Ves and many other people did not know what god pilots were like at all. They possessed more information about how expert pilots and ace pilots were like in general, and assumed that god pilots followed the same trajectory.

It turned out that they were all wrong. Only insiders know the actual truth. The true fusion between god pilots and god mechs introduced so many massive changes to how the resulting products thought and behaved that they were truly an entirely different species!

"Wait, does this mean that god pilots can become mech designers as well?!"

Dervidian chuckled. "No. You do not have to be afraid that god pilots will take over our jobs. Though they can become excellent engineers and scientists if they wish, their course is already set. God pilots are unable to develop the psionic abilities that make our own profession special. This means that god pilots are unable to design their own god mechs. They still need the assistance of Star Designers to design and update their machines."

This was a good balance.

If god pilots became self-sufficient, then the status of mech designers within the mech community would doubtlessly drop!

If mech designers became dominant, then mech pilots would probably be relegated to pure cannon fodder.

Compared to those possible realities, it was much better for both of them if they achieved an equal balance. Both of them were dependent on each other and neither of them would be able to stand up to the CFA and other powerful forces if they tried to keep to themselves.

Seeing how Master Dervidian not only knew so much about god pilots, but also spoke freely about this mythical subject, there was no way that Ves would waste this opportunity!

This was probably the best chance for Ves to learn more about the most powerful group of mech pilots in existence!

Who knew when Master Derividian would be in such a generous and open mood next time.

"Is it normal then for god pilots to engage in politics or take a more active hand in leading organizations?" Ves curiously asked.

"Every god pilot is unique and different from each other." The MTA Master explained. "Whether they choose to involve themselves in matters outside of their immediate combat duties is largely based on their goals and other motivations. Some choose to dedicate themselves solely to guarding essential human locations. Others have decided to train and educate as many mech pilots as possible. A proportion of god pilots have sought to spread their ideals through leading factions or other organizations. Our Transhumanist Faction is proud to be led by one whose consciousness is strongly biased towards human supremacy and evolution."

"Is that rare within the MTA?"

"It is not particularly rare. There are many god pilots, and they all have their own beliefs and ideals. When they attain so much combat strength that they can wipe out any planet by themselves, they gain enough confidence to pursue the goals that they previously suppressed due to insufficient strength, status and influence."

"Ah. That makes sense."

Ves understood now why god pilots weren't as detached as expert pilots and ace pilots. The latter two were powerful alright, but they were ultimately not prominent enough to defy the rules of powerful states or human civilization as a whole.

It was only after they became god pilots that they possessed the right to speak on a civilization-wide scale!

The high status of god pilots as well as their insanely high threat was enough to force a lot of other parties to compromise with these supreme beings.

After all, if someone as powerful as god pilots continued to get denied, they always had the option of overturning the table and relying on force to push their ideals!

By allowing them to exert their influence in a more proper manner by becoming a part of an official faction or organization, they at least had to abide by the rules of the game.

"How powerful are god pilots relative to Star Designers?" Ves curiously asked.

This was a controversial question that could provoke a lot of contentious arguments on the galactic net. Nobody knew what either professions were capable of, so their points were largely based on assumptions and speculation.

Compared to anonymous speakers on the galactic net, Ves believed that someone as high-ranked and knowledgeable as Master Dervidian definitely possessed more accurate information!

The older man smirked. It appeared that he was well aware of how many people wanted to know the same answer.

"There is no straightforward comparison between the two. Comparing them is no different from comparing apples and oranges. That said, the differences between the two are not as great as you think they are. When people reach their tier of power, they become capable of more than what they initially trained to do. Mech designers are no longer as harmless as before and mech pilots are useful for far more purposes than fighting."

Ves leaned forward. "What do you mean by that, Master?"

"Let me ask you a question, Mr. Larkinson. As a child, did you ever dream of becoming a mech pilot? Tell me honestly, Mr. Larkinson."

"I did hold this dream once." Ves plainly admitted. "I no longer have any desire to do so. I can do much more as a mech designer than as a grunt on the battlefield."

Master Dervidian chuckled. "Then what I say is that while Star Designers nominally have no combat power on their own, they can develop their own equipment to compensate for that. Think about everything you heard about their design capabilities. Do you think it is possible for a Star Designer to develop a personal suit of armor that is equipped with the most powerful offensive, defensive, mobility and utility systems and wear it in order to fight mechs or warships?"

Ves widened his eyes!

He never thought about this possibility before!

"You mean… there are Star Designers that have actually fought against enemies in this way?"

"Correct. Star Designers are high-profile individuals, Mr. Larkinson. They attract a lot of scrutiny and there are many enemies who wish to eliminate them in order to weaken our Association or humanity as a whole. It is essential for each and every Star Designer to be able to fight against mechs at the very least. With their knowledge, wealth and design capabilities, they can easily develop a personal war armor that will allow them to crush ordinary mechs with ease and compete against expert mechs on a fair basis. If they encounter anything stronger, then they can utilize their many means of escape to avoid getting caught. You cannot imagine how difficult it is to pin them down."

What he just heard completely defied Ves' impression of Star Designers!

It was well-known that mech designers were nerds that possessed no talent or potential for combat.

Aside from outliers such as Ketis, there was no expectation that mech designers could make any direct contribution in any battle.

However, Star Designers were completely different. They were not only good at designing mechs, but could transplant many of their design principles and specialties to other products, including combat armor!

Even if they did not resort to any special solutions, their insane wealth and abundant influence was enough for them to acquire the rarest and most expensive resources which they could build self-protection gear.

The more Ves thought about it, the more he truly thought it was viable for Star Designers to fight against powerful mechs without piloting one themselves!

He soon calmed down. Although it was nice to dream about being able to fight against mechs, it was a horrendous waste and a completely unnecessary risk for Star Designers to engage in such brutality!

The few people who managed to make it all the way to Star Designer developed an extremely deep affinity and affection for mech design. Whatever desire they used to harbor about piloting mechs or at least being able to compete against them would have long melted away at that point.

"Star Designers can never compete against god pilots on an individual basis." Master Dervidian added. "The disparity in combat power is too great. The only case where Star Designers have any chance of doing so is to develop vast warfleets or fortifications and rely on brute force to deter god pilots. However, the cost is too great and any weakness can lead to instant defeat."

In other words, god pilots were too unreasonable to fight against. Although producing them was insanely hard, once they reached this level of strength, they instantly crushed every other means of defeating them in open combat.

They were rightfully considered to be the kings of the battlefield!