The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5911 Deep Desires

Lightning tribulations were mysterious phenomena. Many cultivators questioned why they existed in the first place.

Did the heavens wish to punish them for going against the natural order?

Was it a self-regulating mechanism designed to preserve the ecosystem of a galactic environment?

Or was it simply a self-defense mechanism designed to channel the most valuable resources to the most worthy cultivators?

Ves believed that all of these possible reasons could be true at the same time. In a universe that was restricted by limited resources, struggle and hardships became an inevitable fact of life. Letting the weak or undeserving obtain power without earning it would only lead to a wholesale collapse.

Perhaps the calamity that caused the old Milky Way to lose all of its prosperity and degenerate into a galaxy devoid of the power of heaven served as an example of what happened if this enforcement mechanism failed to do its job.

Whatever the case, one of the universal rules that governed all lightning tribulations was that there was always a symmetry between punishment and reward.

The only justice in the cosmos was strength.

Those who possessed the strength and resilience to survive a brutal punishment were entitled to receive a more magnanimous reward!

Ves personally detested this rule. It basically encouraged the rise of selfish tyrants and trampled on the interests of the collective masses.

It was a principle that was wholly contradictory to modern human society.

Yet… Ves also understood the warped logic behind this universal rule.

It rewarded success and promoted a type of order that made sense in medium to high-energy environments.

Lightning tribulations heavily rewarded the powerful.

Given that Ves endured multiple tribulations sent by the heavenly authorities and largely passed the challenges sent by them, it was only logical to conclude that he was quite strong himself!

Aside from the abject failure of the Elemental Lord, Ves had proven his chops as an exceedingly competent and inventive creator of life and machines.

The vast majority of mech designers and creators had never managed to trigger a lightning tribulation, let alone heard of this phenomenon!

Given that Ves was one of the few who not only triggered them, but also enabled most of his creations to survive the brutal punishments, he had begun to take a liking to their existence!

Though a part of Ves wondered whether he was actually a masochist, there was no doubt in his mind that the phenomenon of lightning tribulations enabled the rise of some of his greatest creations.

The Superior Mother, Veronica and now the very first living warship in existence were all game changing existences to him! The rewards they received for surviving baptisms of lightning served as the vital element that elevated their existence beyond any reasonable norm!

The present lightning tribulation was by far the most powerful one that he had completed to date. Transforming the Dominion of Man into a unique and unprecedented Carmine dreadnought provoked a huge response from the heavens. Both the ship and her associated True Gods had been forced to exceed their limits many times in order to keep up with the escalating challenges.

Most ships would have never been able to make it out intact. The Dominion of Man shouldn't have been able to survive this ordeal in the first place considering that she had originally attracted a 81 strike multi-modal lightning tribulation.

However,the intervention of a certain God King had changed the fate of the dreadnought. The challenge turned into a 72 strike multi-modal lightning tribulation.

This was still a nearly impossible challenge to overcome for any ship, even a dreadnought as excellent as the Dominion of Man.

Nonetheless, the fact of the matter was that the ship had managed to survive with dignity.

Sure, it received a bit of help from Ves and the First Flame, but the mysterious rules that governed tribulation events did not declare this to be a violation of its rules.

Ves played an instrumental role in transforming the Dominion of Man. The First Flame limited his intervention to words.

This experience had taught him many lessons about lightning tribulations. One of the greatest rewards that he gained from this long, painful and exhausting ordeal was the knowledge he harvested from all of the events.

From learning about the threats that were native to Messier 87 to obtaining a huge amount of insights on relevant subjects such as runes and fire-attributed E energy, Ves managed to accrue a huge amount of inspiration today!

There was nothing more satisfying to a mech designer than to obtain the answers to many long-standing questions. Ves believed that as long as he took the time to process these gains, his ability to design mechs would undergo a qualitative leap!

Already, his mind was filled with hundreds of new ideas. He wanted to design mechs so badly that he felt the urge to ignore everything that was happening around him. He would rather be in his design lab than on this ship if he was being honest!

Yet the magnitude of what had happened today made it impossible for him to shirk his remaining duties and responsibilities. The successful transformation and the evolution of the Dominion of Man was too big of an accomplishment for him to sneak away and pretend as if nothing had changed.

Ves found it incredibly frustrating that he wouldn't be able to act upon all of the wonderful inspiration he obtained in the past few hours.

Instead, he braced himself to receive the largest lightning baptism to date!

"The storm clouds are converging above our ship! They are growing increasingly more dense!"

"We are detecting massive amounts of spatial activity! An enormous concentration of E energy is pouring from the condensed storm clouds!"

"A new light source has emerged! It's… it's a rainbow! A large rainbow has formed above the star system!"

The size of this rainbow was incredible. It looked completely absurd, yet conveyed a huge amount of positive energy. Everyone who looked at it would instantly yearn to dive into this paradise.

The gigantic rainbow hovered above the Dominion of Man for a moment before plunging straight into the massive ship!

A transformation unlike anything else took place. The power granted by the heavens of multiple galaxies gave the dreadnought exactly what she deserved.

A lot of damaged and broken components spontaneously became whole.

Missing and utterly destroyed pieces of equipment appeared out of nowhere and slotted seemingly into the hull.

The entire structure and materials that comprised the dreadnought shone with rainbow light as they comprehensively improved in any conceivable aspect.

Each and every crew member received rewards of their own. No matter how much or how little they contributed to the survival of the Dominion of Man, their bodies became stronger and their spiritualities grew in power as well.

The Bloodfire Pact that tied so many people to the ship also experienced a few upgrades. It not only became stronger and more difficult to break, but also gained a few mysterious properties that the crew would have to explore by themselves.

The two True Gods whose existences were tied to the dreadnought also received their respective rewards.

Caramond not only completed his long-stalled transition into a True God without suffering any sequelae, but also strengthened his foundation in excess to any other ancestral spirit!

While he still did not gain a lot of actual strength, his qualifications and growth potential was among the best of his kind, enabling him to enjoy a smoother journey in his future cultivation!

Aside from that, Caramond also received an additional gift that strengthened his power as a newly ascended deity!

The Black Scepter that Ves had added to his persona no longer held a symbolic meaning anymore. The heavens saw fit to transform it into a real artifact that was permanently bonded to the human god. The Scepter could not turn physical or imaginary with a single command, but also started to get covered with runes that were intimately tied to the concept of human supremacy!

The second True God that not only fought to save the Dominion of Man, but also struggled to secure her present existence, the rewards issued by the heavens were no less consequential.

The heavens seemed to know exactly what she needed to improve her own circumstances. They did not grant her a direct boost of power, for she already had plenty of that for the time being.

The power from beyond instead opted to alter her domain!

Ves and Furia never expected that this could happen. Technically speaking, the Fire Elemental inherited its domain from its original creator.

Since the latter was way more powerful than anyone else, it should have been unthinkable for Furia to casually alter such a fundamental inherited trait.

However, the heavens appeared to possess a higher authority than the legendary creator of the Fire Scroll.

The tribulation energies easily erased the structure that made the domain so solid and immutable. They subsequently started to make a lot surgical and targeted changes that subtly altered the expression and the meaning of the domain.

For all of their generosity, the heavens did not do any further work than they deemed necessary.

Furia's domain still remained for the most part. It was still based on the fire element, and it was also tied to the symbolism of a star.

However, the accents that Furia previously imposed on it became more permanent elements of the domain.

The boundless arrogance and contempt towards all lesser beings had become less pronounced.

Instead, the domain started to take on a slightly more protective and benign aspect, especially towards the human race.

Though these changes ultimately sounded trivial in comparison to the rewards bestowed to Caramond, this was literally a lifesaver to Furia!

The reward she earned through her own efforts directly addressed one of her greatest concerns, which was the possible revival of the original creator of the Fire Scroll!

By shifting the essence of the Fire Elemental to align more with her present incarnation meant that it became easier to stave off degeneration.

The creator of the Fire Scroll no longer possessed an absolute claim over his derivative creation anymore. The Fire Elemental had begun to drift away from him. Though the changes were not too great, even a minor shift was enough to make a difference during a crucial moment!

In fact, the greatest reward that Furia obtained from this ordeal was not this relatively subtle shift, but the knowledge that it was possible to completely divorce herself from her original creator!

So long as she continued to work hard and pursue greater opportunities, she knew that it would be possible to continue this shift until she no longer held any connection to that ancient but terrible cultivator!

With the slight realignment of her domain, she became a lot more in tune with the Dominion of Man.

The dreadnought had already undergone an extensive upgrade that made her more compatible with the fire energy generated by Furia.

Her own evolution allowed her to meld with the ship considerably better.

Combined, the two had become more capable of defeating powerful entities such as the phoenix than ever!

If there was ever a rematch, then the present iteration of the Dominion of Man could easily dismantle the phoenix without incurring any significant damage!

It made certain people wonder whether it was still favorable that the tribulation storm had skipped out on the 9th round.

Of course, this was such a dangerous notion that no one dared to express any regrets!

In any case, there was one more important individual who had managed to win the approval of the heavens and earned a set of personalized rewards in the process.

The only quirk was that his reward process was a lot different from that of anyone else.

In one moment, Ves stood on the deck of the ship's command center.

In the next moment, he appeared in an illusionary space that looked like a cloud cover!

White and fluffy clouds floated beneath his feet while a golden sky shone directly from above.

Ves did not have the luxury of appreciating the view.

This was because a shape that looked disturbingly identical to the Subjugation King appeared in this space as well!

"Why are you here?!"