The Mech Touch

6048 Hidden Policy Change

The second session ended with success.

Many councilors eventually caway somewhat satisfied with the decisions made by the Interim Leadership Council.

Of course, no one truly got everything they wanted, but few councilors had much cause for complaint.

Ves learned a bit more how high-level politics was supposed to operate.

That said, he did not delude himself into thinking that everything could be decided in the debate chamber alone.

He was still missing a huge amount of backroom politics. The fact that Ves had not really participated in it meant that he still hadn't properly integrated himself into upper society.

That was fine. Ves knew his limits and understood that he still had a lot to go. He needed to strengthen his power base and forge closer relationships before it was safe for him to exert more influence on human society.

As the councilors began to bid goodbye to each other and cut off the remote connections, a few of them lingered and exchanged a few extra words with each other as usual.

Much to Ves' surprise, the Limitless Provider took the initiative to seek out Ves. Her projected form glided above the floor and approached like an ethereal lady.

"Professor Larkinson. On the behalf of the Expansionist Faction, we would like to thank you for your many contributions. Your companion spirit fruits and your kinship networks has increased the enthusiasm of the New Elites and helped them gain the strength they need to defend our borders."

The Star Designer sounded sincere enough. She presented herself with a gentle countenance, appearing in the form of a brunette middle-aged woman that could easily look like someone's mother.

However, when Ves stared a little closer, he was able to glimpse the real Limitless Provider behind her human shell.

Every Star Designer had practically evolved into an energy- based life form, and the Limitless Provider seemed to embrace this transformation more than others!

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The woman held an immense amount of energy, more than Ves could possibly estimate. Not only that, but she was probably capable of absorbing a huge amount of energy from the environment, which definitely included E energy!

Though Ves did not know how exactly the Limitless Provider benefited from all of this, she was most certainly putting on an act!

Of course, every Star Designer did so to varying degrees. They had evolved so much that they needed to put conscious effort into retaining their humanity.

Ves made a short bow in front of the old and powerful woman. "I am glad you appreciate my innovations. I am a part of red humanity as well, so I am always happy to make our race stronger. We all need to work together in order to fend off the native aliens."

"With enough contributions, we can do more than repel the alien incursions." The Limitless Provider spoke with a firmer voice. "As long as we develop fast enough, we can take the fight to our enemies and inflict defeats that will force them to give up their territories! Once the Deep Strike Plan truly begins, we will control the rhythm of the Red War, enabling us to erode the grip that the Red Cabal holds onto the new frontier. Step by step, we shall reduce our weaknesses and expand our warmaking potential with the spoils delivered by our victory!"

The Star Designer sounded unreasonably confident about red humanity's ability to regain the upper hand!

Ves did not exactly know why. Was this because the Limitless Provider possessed inside knowledge that made her a lot more optimistic about red humanity's chances, or was it because she was just as overconfident as every other Expansionist?

"Forgivefor asking, but for what purpose have you approached me? As much as I wish to make more contributions, I do not have any inventions that I can pull from my hat."

The Limitless Provider smiled at Ves in a manner that hinted at her disbelief.

"There is an opportunity for further cooperation in the future. It is better if we make our acquaintance with each other in advance." The Star Designer mysteriously said. "The impending native alien offensive along with several other future developments may alter the conditions of our plan. We must allow it to unfold before we can discuss specifics. When the right tcomes, the rise of red humanity in the new frontier shall truly commence."

That certainly sounded vague. Ves had very little idea what the Limitless Provider had in mind. The lack of information made it useless to speculate about the intentions of the Expansionist Faction.

All that mattered was that the most powerful faction of the Red Association took the initiative to express goodwill towards Ves. The fact that they thought he was worth cooperating with was a positive sign that he was steadily moving up in society.

He needed this. The more powerful groups he cooperated with, the less isolated he became.

"I look forward to hearing your proposal, Your Excellency."

Ves had met enough Star Designers to get rid of the instinctive awe that any lesser mech designer held towards the apex members of their profession.

So long as the Star Designers did not talk about their works, they sounded remarkably human to Ves.

After a minute of polite chatting, the Limitless Provider said goodbye and disappeared, but not before making a meaningful nod towards the Evolution Witch.

Just like in the previous session, the very real form of the Evolution Witch lingered in the meeting chamber so that she could speak with Ves in private.

Once no one else showed any intention of approaching Ves, the god pilot strengthened her God Kingdom and formed an almost completely isolated zone around herself.

It becmore difficult for the Hyper Chamber underneath Diandi Base to maintain a stable connection with the distant site.

"<nullb>Professor Larkinson. As the offspring of my collaborator and a man who possesses greater insights into cultivation than most people in the Red Ocean, you have earned the right to receive additional information. Letremind you that what I am about to share must not be divulged to anyone. This includes your design spirits, including that Golden Cat that is trying in vain to keep an eye on your person."

Ves tried his best to maintain a neutral expression. He already felt that the Evolution Witch's God Kingdom had crossed boundaries and made sure to temporarily block his permanent connection with Goldie.

Curiously enough, the god pilot was not able to cut him off from Vulcan and Veronica. That made sense as the latter two were intrinsically extensions of himself.

"I promise that I will not share any secrets you have decided to pass on to me." He said with as much sincerity as he could muster.

That seemed to satisfy Lucie.

"<nullb>As you have most certainly deduced, I have held extensive discussions on the merits of demonic cultivation with your mother. She has proven to be quite persuasive, and I have cto agree with her stance that most forms of power are neither inherently good or bad. It is what we do with power and who we affect with our actions that determines whether we are doing what is right."

"Uhm, that sounds interesting and all, but can you get to the point, Your Holiness?"

"<nullb>You brat." The Evolution Witch playfully scoffed. "<nullb>Very well. I shall be direct. There is a debate between Star Designers on whether aspects of demonic cultivation should be incorporated into the Red Kingdom. Your mother has been helpful enough to formulate several cultivation models that I have relayed to the Star Designers to support this argument. If a majority of Star Designers agree, then mech pilots of almost every rank will experience faster growth than before as long as they are engaged in lethal combat against alien foes."

"What?!"

Ves never expected that such a development had occurred!

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This was too fast and radical!

The Kingdom of Mechs and the Red Kingdom formed the foundation of the mech community in two different galaxies.

They were extremely important, which meant that the Star Designers who held authority over them could never afford to make any mistakes.

Even if it was a good idea to apply a change to an invisible kingdom, Ves thought it should have taken a lot longer to test and verify whether the proposal was capable of producing the desired results!

The Evolution Witch recognized his confusion and offered an explanation.

"<nullb>The Kingdom of Mechs of original humanity has rarely changed over the generations due to several reasons. Humanity in the Milky Way occupies a dominant position, so there is no urgent need for change. There are also many more Star Designers present in the old galaxy, which makes it much harder to gain the support of a broad majority. Neither of these factors apply to the Red Kingdom. We are urgently in need of change, and there are not as many Star Designers that we must convince in order to enact a promising proposal."

That made sense. Ves needed to stop thinking that all of the rules from the old galaxy automatically applied to the new frontier.

Ves grew more apprehensive as a result. Demonic cultivation had a very bad reputation. The antics of the Five Scrolls Compact alone provided abundant examples of cultivators growing mad with power and wantonly slaughtering lots of innocent civilians!

Turning this dangerous force into a core part of the mech piloting profession was incredibly reckless!

"<nullb>Trust in us, boy. The Star Designers will not allow mech pilots to beccorrupted. Even if they agree to implement this proposal, it will only be phased in on a gradual basis. The effects will not be strong from the beginning. Perhaps certain mech pilots will experience greater gains from killing enemies than others for the purpose of observation. As long as the mech pilots in question do not lose control, the Red Kingdom will gradually increase the effect of demonic cultivation on every mech pilot. Those who risk their lives to defend our civilization will receive much more direct feedback than in the past.

"Why is it necessary to resort to this measure?" Ves questioned. "One of the most admirable aspects of mech pilots is that most of them are honorable and upright. Implementing this change may compromise them. Even high-ranking mech pilots may becseduced by the power granted through unbridled slaughter. As strong-willed as they may be, I am not willing to bet that each of them will be able to maintain their cool."

The Evolution Witch smirked. "<nullb>That is not necessarily a problem as long as the mech pilots remember that they must harvest alien lives in order to obtain greater strength. The Star Designers will try to deactivate this reward mechanism whenever mech pilots kill other humans. This will make the differences more obvious and incentivize more soldiers to participate in the New Elites Program."

"I see. It sounds like you guys already know what to do. Why tell me? Is there a way I can help?"

"<nullb>You can. You are correct in your concerns that rapid growth through predation will generate negative side effects among mech pilots. This is an unavoidable consequence, and one we intend to monitor carefully. It does not hinder us from changing the Red Kingdom. Only by helping it adapt to our current circumstances will we be able to gain the strength we need to fight against our true enemies. We can no longer wait for multiple generations for expert pilots and ace pilots to gradually raise their resonance strengths and reach their breakthrough thresholds."

It sounded as if even the mechers had becdissatisfied at the relatively slow growth rates of high-ranking mech pilots.

This sounded like a repeat of an earlier policy decision. The mech community becwilling to sacrifice stability in exchange for power. So long as ace pilots and potentially god pilots began to pop up like mushrooms in the coming 5 decades, who cared if a handful of them were not quite right in the head?

Sanity was overrated!