The Mech Touch

6071 Observing the Other Side of the Coin

Ketis gazed at Ves' physical projection with an ambiguous expression.

Ves knew what she was trying to convey.

The swordmaster found his decision-making to be contemptible. At the very least, Ketis would have never made the schoices as him if she was in charge!

However, since Ves possessed greater authority than her, his orders took priority.

Of course, Ketis could have chosen to defy his instruction and take unilateral action through Sharpie. She truly wanted to give Venerable Dise a hand and allow her to escape the entanglement of the Emperor Tree's roots.

She ultimately did not do so. If Ves wanted her to hold back, then he must have his own reasons for doing so. His actions were not always righteous, but he had rarely if ever disadvantaged the Larkinson Clan.

The concept of enduring greater hardships in exchange for a greater payoff was deeply rooted among the Larkinsons. Even Ketis could not ignore how much the participants of this mission had grown.

It was just that Ketis did not like it that she had to watch on while so much misery, misunderstandings and animosity took hold of her fellow clansmen.

None of the mech pilots involved in the operation deserved to go through so much suffering.

Now, the careers of two newly ascended expert pilots cinto question, while two high-tier expert pilots felt as if they had failed in their duties.

The only action that Ketis was allowed to take was to convey an emergency command to initiate orbital bombardment on the Emperor Tree.

Even then, the Transcendent Punisher Mark III's stationed on the Wild Torch only received their emergency orders after Taon had broken through.

By then, the incident could no longer be dismissed as a relatively simple case of friendly fire induced through enemy sabotage. The feud between Taon and Lanie had becetched in their very souls!

While Ketis couldn't help but regard this incident as a loss, Ves held the opposite stance.

He was trying his best from grinning!

As far as he was concerned, this mission yielded far more benefits and results than he could have imagined!

First, the strike force managed to retrieve a lot of high-quality samples. Aside from collecting sample specimens of the Emperor Tree's roots, bark, sap, leaves and so on, the expert mechs also managed to retrieve a whole wooden mech as well as fragments of one of the purple mechs!

The latter two were much more important prizes as far as Ves was concerned as they were vital to kickstarting his research on how to design a working Woodsap mech!

Aside from that, what happened to Taon and Lanie truly opened his eyes and enabled him to gain a better understanding of the variables at play when expert candidates broke through.

Unlike Ketis, Ves knew what was truly responsible for deciding on the criteria for breakthroughs and managing the actual process.

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Most people thought that apotheosis was a spontaneous magical event that exceptional mech pilots managed to trigger by themselves, but Ves was aware of the actual truth.

The Red Kingdom decided and managed these pilot breakthroughs.

In his last talk with the Evolution Witch, Ves already received insider knowledge on a possible proposal to modify the Red Kingdom.

Earlier talks with the mechers also exposed the intention of loosening the breakthrough criteria.

In the past, many mech pilots who were otherwise powerful neverearned the right to undergo apotheosis in the past. It was not because they were weak or lazy. It was because they possessed the wrong mentality or were lacking in honor. Bestowing these unstable tbombs with extraordinary willpower would lead to greater instability in the future!

However, red humanity couldn't care so much about stability anymore. Humans needed a lot more champions now. They particularly needed to nurture a batch of exceptionally talented and powerful champions that had the potential to evolve into god pilots in the following decades!

In short, the leaders of the human race couldn't afford to be picky anymore. Ves believed it was a good sign that the Star Designers had already implemented numerous critical changers to the operation of the Red Kingdom. They had moved much faster than he anticipated!

Their swift action was the primary reason why both Taon and Lanie successfully broke through despite their adverse conditions.

From a certain perspective, Taon and Lanie should have never been allowed to advance to expert pilots. They were too extrand steeped in negative thoughts during their breakthrough moments.

Though Ves did not understand everything related to breakthroughs, he managed to learn enough to understand that every core characteristic of an expert candidate becamplified during the process of apotheosis.

This mysterious transformation caused every positive trait such as honor and kindness to becstronger and more defined.

The reason why lots of high-ranking mech pilots were honorable, respectful, diligent and truthful was because of the deliberate selection bias that governed the operations of the Kingdom of Mechs!

Now, the Red Kingdom diverged even more from its origin by getting rid of this selection bias!

This had grave consequences to the mech community in the coming years. Mech pilots who were treacherous, hateful and selfish would beceven more despicable if they managed to step onto the path of godhood!

By giving mech pilots with negative traits an equal chance of breaking through, Ves expected to witness the emergence of a lot more expert pilots with faults comparable to Taon and Lanie!

In that sense, observing the emergence of two different distorted expert pilots truly increased his understanding of the greater nature of high-ranking mech pilots!

It was as if Ves had spent decades looking at one side of a coin all of the time. He may have becknowledgeable about the side that he was able to perceive, but that did not mean he understood the workings of the coin as a whole!

Only when the coin flipped over and exposed its other side to Ves would he truly be able to grasp the full depth of the mech piloting profession.

An additional bonus was how distorted expert pilots were able to induce more extrmutations to their mechs during their breakthroughs.

Though Ves found it a pity that the strike force had to abandon the Zeal, the retrieval of a partially intact Elegant Rage already satisfied him a lot!

He had already ordered Ketis to ship the damaged machine to New Constantinople VIII.

Ves had a strong feeling he could advance his research on Woodsap mechs by a huge extent so long as he was able to get his hands on the current version of the Elegant Rage!

Aside from that, Ves already had other ideas on how he could convert his newly gained insights into concrete gains.

All of that could wait for another time. He first needed to address the current affair.

"It's time." The physical projection of Ves spoke up. "Let's have a chat with the two… Larkinsons. Which one do you want to speak to first?"

"Let us start with the least severe case. Lanie."

They both entered the cell that held the exhausted form of Venerable Lanie Larkinson.

It becabundantly clear that Lanie had already taken her first real step to becoming a god. Her willpower beca lot stronger and more noticeable than before.

Normally, this was a development that many people appreciated, because anyone who developed such a potent aura always succeeded in earning the respect of others.

Right now, respect was not the right word to describe what Ves nor Ketis thought of the girl.

It was more apt to use the words pity or regret when facing the young expert pilot.

While Lanie certainly managed to becunquestionably stronger than before, her willpower and psyche most definitely gained heavy scars in the process!

It was like being confronted by an ugly wound from the moment that the two mech designers caught sight of the poor young woman.

Much of the liveliness and optimism that previously characterized Lanie's heroic persona had disappeared.

In their place, Lanie had begun to radiate a sense of caution and defensiveness that no one ever expected to see in a powerful expert pilot.

She briefly grew defensive when Ves and Ketis entered her cell.

Fortunately, she relaxed a bit, allowing her thorny willpower to subside to an extent.

It was still present, but it was no longer on guard against her visitors.

"Lanie…" Ketis spoke in a caring and informal tone. "How is your body? Do you have any lingering injuries?"

The woman laying in the bed shook her head. "My body used to be a lot more broken than this, but Kelly managed to put it back together."

"Ma-aow…"

A tired but distinctly green spiritual cat emerged from her head. The mutated companion spirit still radiated a bit of life and vitality, but she had already channeled much of it into her principal.

"Mrow."

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Blinky emerged from Ves' head and slowly approached Kelly. The latter reflexively jumped back and hissed in fright!

"Ma-aow! Ma-aow!"

"Mrow mrow mrow."

Blinky took the initiative to open his mouth and spray a jet of life energy into the air.

Though Kelly still looked on guard, she cautiously employed one her recently gained abilities and cautiously absorbed the energy released by the other companion spirit.

Soon enough, Kelly's eyes lit up as she absorbed more and more life energy. It was remarkably easy for her to absorb and digest it. Her mood lifted as she becfilled with life!

"Ma-aow!"

When Kelly dove back inside Lanie, the expert pilot began to look rosier. The expert pilot gradually managed to drive back her exhaustion and feel a lot less vulnerable than before.

"Thank… thank you, patriarch."

"You're welcome." Ves gave the young woman a gentle smile. "You are a Larkinson, after all. You deserve this bit of courtesy fromat least. It is just…"

Lanie looked deeply at Ves and Ketis before letting out a resigned breath.

"I am in trouble."

"You are." Ketis responded with a disappointed expression. "We roughly know what you have been through. No one deserves to get attacked from behind by a fellow comrade. What happened to you was injustice. While you are well within your rights to defend yourself, you should have stayed calm. There was no need for you to retaliate against Taon while the both of you were still in the field. While I cannot entirely blyou for this, it is a fact that you completely lost your cool and defied Joshua's orders. You crossed the line when you proactively attacked the Zeal with the intent to kill your fellow Larkinson."

A surge of red-hot anger welled up inside Lanie!

Her willpower beca lot more agitated, making Ves and Ketis feel a lot more unwelcin her cell!

However, Lanie quickly reined in her emotions and bottled up her frighteningly powerful fury.

"..."

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself, Lanie?"

"What can I say?" Lanie sourly replied. "You most certainly have recordings of what happened. I cannot deny my actions. Can you truly blme for trying to get back at the person who almost managed to kill me? Just because I barely managed to escape death does not mean that Taon gets to go free! Besides, no matter why he struck at my mech in the back, it is unquestionable that he was no longer my ally anymore. There was no way I could remain safe in the presence of the Zeal! Anything could happen that could cause Taon to make another 'mistake' and finish the job! I had to take him out for my safety and the safety of our clan!"

"THAT IS NOT FOR YOU TO DECIDE!" Ketis roared as she lost her cool herself! "YOU ARE A LARKINSON, AND SO IS TAON! YOUR STRIKE FORCE HAS ALREADY BEEN WARNED ABOUT THE EMPEROR TREE'S CAPABILITIES! IT WAS CLEARLY AN ACCIDENT THAT CAUSED THE ZEAL TO SHOOT AT YOUR MECH! WHEN YOU MANAGED TO RECOVER, YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TRIED TO REPEAT YOU WOULD-BE MURDERER'S MISTAKE!"

"Then what should I have done instead?!" Lanie defensively shot back! "Did you expectto stay meek and potentially give Taon another chance to finishoff for good?! Even if the Emperor Tree is at fault, it is Taon's fault that he got fooled by the calamity tree!"

"YOU SHOULD HAVE RETREATED AND LET OTHERS HANDLE TAON! WE HAVE RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THIS! JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE ANGRY IS NO EXCUSE FOR YOU TO TAKE MATTERS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS! A SOLDIER MUST ALWAYS BE IN CONTROL! I THOUGHT YOU OF ALL MECH PILOTS WOULD UNDERSTAND THIS PRINCIPLE!"