The Mech Touch

Every ace pilot was an exceptional human without a doubt. Though only a miniscule fraction of them had what it took to advance to the rank of god pilot, that did not diminish their exceptional nature in the slightest!

The Great Severing caused their value to rise even further. The introduction of exotic radiation may lead to the promotion of a lot of high-tier expert pilots that were currently hindered by their bottlenecks, but the ace pilots that already existed at this time enjoyed a considerable head start!

The population of red humanity was not as exaggerated as the populations of humans in the Milky Way. The amount of ace pilots in the Red Ocean was also a lot scarcer and less ubiquitous.

Each of them were incomparably precious to the humans that were cut off from their home galaxy.

Ves and many other people had heard rumors that the Red Two soon intended to publish a directive that would prohibit warfare between humans in its entirety!

With the native aliens breathing down red humanity's necks, humanity really couldn't afford to squander resources and manpower on fighting against each other anymore.

What was even more important was that the Red Association really did not want to risk the lives of the powerful ace pilots that fought on behalf of various colonial states.

While their current combat power might not be exaggerated enough to merit so much attention, it was their potential that the mechers prized the most.

Each ace pilot, no matter how messy or troubling their individual circumstances may be, was a precious god pilot seed!

Only 8 god mechs presented red humanity with absolute individual firepower. Aside from the CFA's greatest and most extravagant battleships, those 8 gods in the form of humans and mechs were the only champions who were strong enough to resist the greatest of phase whales!

No one knew how well a god mech was able to fare in a battle against an ancient phase whale.

Even if god mechs held an advantage, the problem was that the entire Red Ocean most definitely produced a much greater quantity of ancient phase whales over the history of this dwarf galaxy!

Once the ancient phase whales recovered from the massive exertion and resource depletion following their successful execution of their Ancient Refuge Plan, the 8 incomparably precious god mechs may not be enough to resist the true onslaught!

All of that was a bit too far away from Ves at the moment. He was far too weak to meddle in these high-level affairs. The galactic net also contained a lot of false and misleading rumors that served no other purpose except to muddle the public's perception.

What Ves found most important was that the importance of an ace pilot like Saintess Ulrika Vraken had risen in the Age of Dawn.

This was not just due to the scarcity of mech pilots that could fight against alien warships head-on, but also due to their potential to become exponentially more powerful by finding ways to properly leverage the power of E energy radiation!

The biggest issue at the moment was that no one appeared to know how exactly ace pilots could exert more power under the light of Messier 87.

As Ves asked a pointed question about this topic, Saintess Ulrika curtly shook her head.

"The Hex Federation and the Red Association is conducting extensive cooperative studies on this broad topic." She responded to Ves. "I have taken part in some of them, but I haven't been able to produce any useful results so far. I can feel the E energy radiation passing through everyone and everything, and I can even draw from it to an extent, but aside from making my resonance strength improve a little faster and making my mech a little stronger, it doesn't help that much."

Ves nodded in understanding when he heard about her lack of progress.

The Macharia Excelsia was a powerful ace mech that was highly tailored to her own individual strengths and preferred piloting style, but that did not change the fact that it was a product of the Age of Mechs.

The absence of hyper materials and other specific adaptations geared towards the Age of Dawn meant that the ace mech was unlikely to become a lot more powerful all of a sudden.

It was held back even further by the fact that it wasn't even alive. This meant that it could not proactively absorb or leverage E energy radiation in a more focused and conscious manner.

Ves already had plenty of ways to resolve these obvious shortcomings, but he was far too lacking in time and resources at the moment.

If he wanted to apply a quick adaptation that could measurably increase the combat power of the Macharia Excelsia, he needed to find a more inventive and creative solution.

As he continued to chat with Saintess Ulrika Vraken, he quietly studied her strong and indomitable willpower.

"How much is your resonance strength?"

"250 laveres." Ulrika replied. "It is not that much compared to the older and more experienced ace pilots of the Hex Federation. They can produce much greater results on the battlefield. Our senior ace pilots wouldn't be struggling so much to penetrate the transphasic energy shields of all of those alien warships."

He fully believed her claim. The resonance strengths of those senior ace pilots reached the thousands, which basically translated into a much more extensive ability to rewrite the rules of reality by relying on sheer willpower alone!

Of course, their stronger ace mechs also helped a lot. The Macharia Excelsia already looked incredibly powerful to Ves, but he knew that the Hex Federation likely developed ace mechs that incorporated the very best tech and materials within their reach!

Ves truly yearned to inspect the ace mechs of senior ace pilots, but the Hexers were extremely reluctant to transfer any of them outside of the borders of their colonial states.

Each of them played an essential role in guarding their most important and strategic star systems against hostile incursions, whether they be human or alien!

The Vraken Matriarchal Dynasty wasn't stupid. It readily sent out one of their most junior ace pilots to test the waters and limit any potential losses that might occur.

This also gave Ves a license to pull off nearly anything he liked. He could experiment on Saintess Ulrika Vraken and the Macharia Excelsia in any way he liked as long as his stunts did not negatively impact their combat effectiveness!

His thoughts currently strayed towards his more radical and extreme ideas at this time.

This was because he already ruled out his more common and reliable solutions.

For example, Ves saw no feasible way in meeting Ulrika's request for a companion spirit.

"Don't misunderstand me, Saintess. I would love to give you a companion spirit if possible, but doing so requires me to operate into the deepest part of your core being and essentially split off a piece of it in order to birth a new life and consciousness. I can reluctantly do this for expert pilots as long as they restrain their instinctive urge to repel intruders, but this approach won't work for a half-god that has honed her strength through the flames of war."

He demonstrated this by pulling out an exhausted Blinky from his head.

"Mroww..."

"Don't resist his approach. Try your best to let my companion spirit get close without shoving him away. This won't work if you keep him out of your inner being."

As Blinky flew closer towards the Saintess, he became more and more affected by her strong force of will.

Even though Saintess Ulrika Vraken employed great discipline and self-control over herself, she couldn't completely suppress her instinctive repulsion towards a foreign spiritual entity such as Blinky!

As the purple spiritual cat moved closer, his energy manifestation grew increasingly wobblier. It was as if he had entered a forcefield that constantly damaged his cohesion!

Blinky would have been able to fare better if he was in his peak condition, but he still wouldn't have been able to shake off the interference!

"Mrow... mrow!"

As soon as Blinky touched Ulrika's head, the ace pilot could no longer hold herself back.

Her more direct contact with a foreign spiritual entity triggered an instinctive defensive mechanism that caused her extraordinary willpower to burst out a repulsion wave that cleansed and pushed out any foreign influences!

The silent outburst not only caused Blinky to spin away from the Hexer ace pilot, but also produced a temporary void as her willpower also repelled the surrounding E energy radiation!

"My apologies, Supreme Son. I... could not control myself." The Saintess said with a genuinely troubled expression.

She never intended this to happen!

"It's okay. No harm is done. I already expected you to react this way. It is part of your nature as a high-ranking mech pilot. Anyway, I hope that explains why I can't give you a companion spirit."

Historically, high-ranking mech pilots arose due to a need to counter and defeat the spiritual sorcerers of the Five Scrolls Compact.

Anything related to qi cultivation was supposed to be anathema to their extraordinary willpower!

This made them almost impervious to spiritual manipulation no matter whether they were benign or malicious in nature!

Ace pilots existed in a different league compared to the vast majority of other humans. The power of their personal will far surpassed any other cultivator at the same height, whether they were mech designers or orthodox qi cultivators.

Ves speculated that it may be too late to grant companion spirits to mech pilots once they evolved to this stage.

This was because they had moved past the expert candidate and expert pilot stages where they were still malleable enough to adapt to drastic changes.

Once a pilot became a Saint, they had completed their soul-searching and solidified their combat approach. This was the point where they had to transition to a higher level track that was mainly focused on elevating their capabilities all the way to the threshold of god pilot!

"In my personal opinion, ace pilots such as yourself have no great need for companion spirits anymore." He told her. "They can provide substantial boosts for weaker mech pilots, but that is because they are not that strong in an extraordinary sense. You are different. Once you interface with your ace mech, you can reproduce almost every feat that a companion spirit can do. You are not missing out on much."

That was not exactly true, but Ves still believed in the overall sentiment.

The Saintess could easily sense his overall sincerity and eventually nodded in agreement. "Perhaps you are correct. I should be looking to develop my strength according to my own situation. It is not a good idea for me to abandon everything I have worked for ever since I entered into service over 60 years ago. Do you have any other ideas on how I can improve my results against our upcoming opponents?" The expeditionary fleet was moving closer and closer to the coordinates of the invading alien warships. That did not leave Ves much options to choose from. He thought of a few alternatives before settling on a choice that he did not feel comfortable with, but had a better chance of working than his other expedient ideas.

"How is your relationship with the Superior Mother?" He carefully asked. "Do you... believe in her as a Supreme like many other Hexers?"

That was a controversial and loaded question. Saintess Ulrika directed a more pointed glance towards the man who was rumored to be the literal son of the Superior Mother.

"We Vrakens are taught to observe reality from an objective and unbiased lens." She slowly said. "We have never been fans of the hexism movement. For a long time, I believed that goddesses and Supremes did not actually exist, but then I came across many instances that caused me to question this long-held assumption. Those living mechs of yours are all tied to an existence that unquestionably holds the identity of the Superior Mother. After encountering so much proof of her existence, her power and her support for our people, I can only conclude that she truly exists."

That was helpful to know, but it was not the answer that Ves wanted to hear.

"You did not exactly answer my question, Saintess. Let me rephrase it a bit. Do you worship the Superior Mother?"

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