The Mech Touch

Though Master Benedict no longer continued this discussion any further, Ves still had plenty of food for thought.

Unlike Gloriana, he could hardly focus on examining the Neo Amadeus and its various pieces of high-end equipment due to all of the turbulent thoughts running through his mind.

Ves understood that he had made enough progress and produced enough results in the Red Ocean to move into the big leagues of the mech community.

Though his status as a Journeyman caused many people up high to dismiss his presence, that did not stop the more discerning people from taking him seriously.

As Master Benedict just said, the power imbalance was too great for Ves to feel secure. Anything could happen to him as his work began to make more changes to society.

Some people stood to benefit from the popularization of living mechs while others would definitely lose business.

Instead of waiting until a greater and more damaging event occurred in the future, Ves needed to preempt these risks.

The way to do that was to build up more leverage and support by developing a close relationship with a mecher that was powerful enough to cover for him but also friendly enough to take risks on his behalf.

As Ves thought of possible candidates that he could get closer with, he found out that the list of people he might be able to depend upon wasn't great.

He was certain that the Survivalist Faction and the Transhumanist Faction encompassed a huge amount of people, including a huge amount of powerful Masters and numerous Star Designers.

Yet just because their factions supported Ves didn't mean that they would stick up for him during the bad times.

This was what Master Benedict was truly warning him about. Ves had never met the vast majority of Survivalists and Transhumanists and could not possibly count on them to cover his back if he needed their help.

The only people he could truly count upon were those he spoke to in person and developed a positive impression on him. What Ves needed to do was to increase his value in their eyes and build a more reliable relationship with them. It was best to forge a true partnership with them just like the one he formed with Calabast.

The amount of people from the MTA that Ves could approach was awfully short.

He had built up a great relationship with Master Willix in the past, but the huge distance between them had cooled their friendship as the years continued to pass by. Ves did not dare to assume that Moira Willix would stick up to him when they hadn't spoken with each other for more than five years.

Master Termaneo Dervidian was a better target. Ves had sporadic contact with him as the prestigious Master possessed a clear interest in his work. Yet the talks between the two mostly amounted to Ves updating his contact person from the Transhumanist Faction of his latest research results.

This was not enough anymore. If Ves wanted to turn Master Derividian into a more reliable backer, then he needed to expand his talks with the busy MTA mech designer.

However, the difficulty of doing this was too great. Even if Master Dervidian favored Ves, that didn't necessarily mean that this man who only submitted to Star Designers would sincerely interact with a little punk!

The difference in status between the two were simply too great for Ves to have much confidence.

If Ves wanted to make more progress, then he needed to approach someone who was not as distant and aloof.

The problem with that was that anyone weaker than Master Dervidian might not necessarily have the pull within the MTA to provide him with the cover that he sought.

"The closest person that comes to mind is Jovy Armalon."

Ves smiled a bit as he thought about his first real friend within the MTA. Though they had never met each other in the last five years, they still got in touch from time to time.

In fact, their friendship should have already passed a point where Jovy would be glad to assist Ves in dealing with potential trouble.

"He's still too young, though." Ves sighed.

Jovy was a great friend, but his influence within the MTA was too marginal. His value was almost entirely based on his potential rather than his accomplishments so far. Until he was able to realize his design philosophy and prove that he had the capability to throw his weight around, there was little that he could do to affect the MTA's trends.

The most that Jovy could do was ask for help from his own backing to help Ves out. He had already done that a few times, but there was a limit to how many favors he could cash in at a time.

"Damnit." Ves frowned. "It's still not enough. I need to approach other people, preferably ones like my wife that clearly benefit from my work."

"What did you say, Ves?" Gloriana looked up from her data screen as she heard him mention her name.

"Ah, it's nothing, honey."

Ves slowly floated over to Gloriana's position.

At this time, his wife was hovering over the derelict frame of the Neo Amadeus. Despite missing its cockpit, the overall damage to its frame was fairly light. This granted her plenty of insights about the design work of famed Gauger mech designers such as Master Huron and the Multi-Armed Designer.

"What do you think of the Neo Amadeus?"

"There is so much about this ace mech that is wonderful that I don't even know where to begin." Gloriana gasped. "I have to admit that the Masters of the Gauge Dynasty truly deserve their reputation. The way they developed and integrated all of these advanced components is almost perfect. I have discovered so many new methods and design solutions that I could spend years on studying them all. To be honest, it is too premature for me to study a mech as high-end as this. I understand to a better degree why such work is usually left to Masters."

As Ves took a look at the Neo Amadeus from above, he could feel the lingering influences that Saint Jeremiah's strong willpower had imparted to the frame.

As an ace swordman mech, the wreck gave off a vibe that vaguely reminded Ves of Ketis' distinctive mech designs.

"Ketis should come and see this. She can probably provide a lot of insights from the perspective of a swordswoman." Ves noted.

"She will have plenty of time to do that once our fleet has left the Friday Colonies."

Both Ves and Gloriana began to take a closer look at specific aspects of the Neo Amadeus.

Anytime they made an interesting observation, they exchanged their thoughts and enriched each other's understanding of the captured ace mech.

"It's a shame that a mech as new, advanced and valuable as this can't be used anymore." Ves spoke with regret. "The passing of Saint Jeremiah means that the Neo Amadeus is no longer able to fulfill its primary job. The only ways for us to make use of it is to study its design, turn it into a trophy or break it down so that we can recycle a portion of its high-grade materials."

"Is that truly the case, Ves?"

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Don't act stupid in front of me." Gloriana turned in his direction. "I paid attention to you when you approached the cockpit of the Neo Amadeus and retrieved an important part of Jeremiah. Be honest with me. Is it possible for you to revive him to an extent and make it possible for a version of him to pilot this ace mech again?"

"What?! Don't be ridiculous, honey. That's impossible! Saint Jeremiah obviously died. The Whale-Cutting Saber ran right through his body!"

"Then what were you doing with your P-stones back then? I've heard some of your theories. I know in part what is going on in your mind by connecting with each other through our design networks. I can guess what you are thinking whenever a devious grin appears on your face. I'm not stupid, you know. Ace pilots are already close to becoming gods. I don't believe that Saint Jeremiah is as dead as everyone thinks he is. I believe with certainty that he can come back alive as long as he has fallen into the right hands. Don't you agree, Ves?"

He couldn't hide the truth from his wife. She knew him far too well.

"Okay, I admit it. I did think about it, but it was just a thought experiment, that was all. As you are already aware, I have developed something of a knack of bringing entities back from the dead in a sense. I have speculated that if I really wanted to, it may be possible to revive Saint Jeremiah by nurturing his remnant spirituality and willpower while preparing a healthy cloned body for him. I don't know what I will get out of this, but the chances are far too great that I will just bring an irreconcilably hostile enemy back to life. Do you really think it is a good idea to give back a powerful ace pilot back to the Gauge Dynasty and the Friday Coalition?"

"Can't you do anything about it? You're in complete control over his remnant spirit. Why can't you reprogram it so that he can become the ultimate tool in your hands?"

Ves couldn't believe what his wife was saying!

"We can't do that, Gloriana! The entire mech community will kill us if the public learns what we have done. Besides, I don't think it is possible to induce any serious changes to Saint Jeremiah's spirit. It is so deeply intertwined with his willpower that it is unchangeable. The protection is simply too strong for me to manipulate it like I can with other spirits."

Willpower acted like copy protection more or less.

Though Ves hadn't attempted anything, he already theorized that if he tried to make any alterations to Jeremiah's remnant spirituality, the former ace pilot's willpower would either block or lash out when it detected anything that did not look right.

His wife looked disappointed. "So you can't do anything useful with what you have?"

"Well, I need to study the spiritual remnant and perform experiments in order to figure out the answer, but if my guess is right, you shouldn't expect too much from me. Ace pilots are so strong that they can still maintain their dignity after their passing."

That didn't stop Ves from coming up with strange ideas, though. It was not in his nature to abide by common sense. The spiritual ingredients that he had just salvaged from the cockpit were among the most valuable that he had ever obtained up to this point!

For example, Ves came up with a potential idea after witnessing the stellar performance of the Titan-5 Project.

Despite the fact that the meat suit clearly possessed a hostile and rebellious personality, its combat prowess was incredible. Ves didn't think he could develop a stronger mounted wargear loadout for the Everchanger unless he invested in insanely expensive tech and materials.

If Ves could take the concept that made the meat suit such a unique living product and apply it to a different mech or weapon, he might be able to introduce a brand new category of living mechs!

Ves was tempted to call them devil mechs, as their concept aligned with what he originally had in mind with his Devil Tiger.

Saint Jeremiah's spiritual remnant could play a useful role in this potential research project. Ves could either use it to create a new design spirit, or he could convert it into the spiritual foundation of a supermech of unsurpassed power!

Of course, he didn't think it would be that easy to make use of this super ingredient, but he was willing to give it a try.