The Mech Touch

The atmosphere in the conference had changed.

After numerous days of lobbying, knowledge exchange and debates about new discoveries, the conference attendees no longer possessed the same mindsets as before.

All of the sessions on topics as varied as E energy manipulation to the estimated warmaking potential of the native alien races had fully made everyone aware of what it meant to enter the Age of Dawn.

Red humanity was not in a good position.

That became clear enough to anyone who attended at least one session centered around aliens.

Too few people had grown up in a time where war against rival alien civilizations had been a major concern.

Aside from a few old fossils such as the Xenotechnician, most people grew up in the heyday of the Age of Mechs. Internal competition against rival human states and organizations dominated everyone's consciousness.

Correcting this outdated mindset was one of the common goals of this conference. People had to stop obsessing over beating their fellow humans and start to put their skills to use against the much more existential threat posed by their external adversaries!

In that, the Survivalists succeeded. No one who spent a few days aboard the Khamatar Reign felt the desire to think about their old struggles anymore. It all sounded trivial and even counterproductive when the aliens clearly benefited if the humans kept their infighting alive.

A common sense of duty and purpose had overtaken the attendees. The Survivalists as well as the elite associates all became infected by a common sense of duty that they must set an example for the rest of red humanity!

The vote on the next day gained a lot more significance now that people knew what was at stake. The expressions on everyone grew graver as the time to determine the future direction of red humanity approached.

Those who had no say in the matter mostly felt relieved that they did not have to bear this heavy burden.

Those who knew that they were one among several hundred people who could condemn a trillion people to death while saving trillions more no longer dared to make any thoughtless remarks.

While the knowledge sharing continued, the members of the three cliques continually appealed to the cadre as well as the few high-tiered associates that had yet to commit to a plan.

Ves did not have a clear idea on where the wind was blowing these days. He only heard snippets of opinions every now and then whenever he participated in different sessions.

"What's the word on the street?" Ves casually asked as he and Jovy took a break in a private lounge.

Ves no longer felt comfortable with staying in open spaces. Word had spread about his personal meetings with the leaders of all three cliques. It added a lot of notoriety towards him as people kept wondering whether there was anything more about him that made him special.

Given how galactic citizenship tiers were essentially labels that confirmed truths that were already in place, Ves had a growing suspicion that tier 4 might not be his current limit.

"I can't tell you much." Jovy said as he nibbled on a materialized muffin. "More and more people are starting to keep their secrets closer to their chests. While retaliation shouldn't exist in our faction, people are still afraid of offending those that they need to depend upon in the future. Few people are willing to oppose the likes of the Xenotechnician and the Polymath directly in their faces. The only ones who dare are those that already chose a side and enjoy the cover of one of the three leaders."

The three leaders of the Survivalist Faction in the Red Ocean had effectively claimed all of the power.

This hadn't been the case in the past. A lot more Survivalists had managed to get by on their own or adopted one of the other god pilots and Star Designers as their patron.

The Great Severing had left behind many of these other leaders, causing a considerable proportion of Survivalists to become orphans.

Many of them had quickly joined one the three camps that were left, but many more thought to make the smarter play by withholding their decisions and wait until it became clear who had the final say.

"It's a gamble." Jovy spoke. "If you join up with one of our leaders, then the probability that your side will 'win' is roughly 33 percent. The rewards are great if the plan supported by your leader has won the support of the majority. That means that the Xenotechnician or anyone else will delegate a lot of authority and power to the men and women he trusts the most. The other Survivalists and associates won't necessarily get left out, but they can expect to receive much less priority unless their skills are indispensable."

"I see." Ves rubbed his hairless chin. "That is literally gambling in my opinion. If you don't have a strong ideological fit with one of the three candidates, then it would be safer to just sit out. Sure, it might be cowardly to do so, but at least you don't piss off anyone important either. Have you adopted this strategy as well, Jovy?"

The other man chuckled as he finished his cup of coffee before tossing it over the side. The cup dematerialized before it hit the deck.

"I am not a bigshot, Ves. I will still be a tier 6 galactic citizen by the end of this conference. No one really cares about what I think. You are different. People might not have paid as much attention to you as before, but that has definitely changed with each presentation that you have made. You only have one more to go. Do you think that you will be able to blow the minds of your audience once again?"

"I didn't even ask to take part in this secret session. I have plenty of stuff to say about the topic under discussion, but 1 don't think all of those biotech researchers will necessarily be pleased to hear what I have to say. While I think I can offer a lot of vital clarification to their current studies, my solution isn't necessarily more attainable."

"Well, just do your best. Remember that your presumed galactic citizenship tier is no longer as low as before. You don't have to follow the instructions of anyone who is less important than you. If the secret panel members are smart enough, then they will understand that as well and adjust their behavior in advance."

Ves was no longer afraid of this secret session as he was at the start of the conference.

Within the span of a few days, he had successfully raised his status to the point where three faction leaders begged for his services.

This meant that he had become untouchable!

There shouldn't be anyone within the Survivalist Faction who would be stupid enough to forcibly teleport Ves over to a biotech lab and cut his body open to see how the hell a 'human' like him managed to stay alive with traces of phasewater running through his veins!

With that reality in mind, Ves straightened his back and assumed a more assertive demeanor to send the right message.

This was how he appeared in front of a relatively small group of old and eager professionals who were predominantly wearing lab coats.

The amount of people who attended this secret session on the viability of human phase lords was greater than Ves expected.

Roughly 40 individuals took part because each of them had conducted serious research on how to safely integrate phasewater into the physiology of a living human individual.

Over half of them turned out to belong to the same research group that was solely dedicated to this goal!

While many of the faces were unfamiliar to him, Master Xena Wintress thankfully provided a familiar anchor.

"Professor Larkinson." The woman spoke as she approached. The other researchers all gave deference to her by falling silent. "Come. We have waited for your arrival for quite some time. Any input that you can provide is valuable to us all. In the interest of clarity, we will have you speak after everyone else has presented their findings. You can learn the theories and understand how much progress we made."

Ves shrugged. "That sounds fine by me, Master."

They soon sat down in a typical lecture hall and began the closed session.

Though Master Xena Wintress presided over the entire secret session, she was not its main speaker.

No one was, really. As the minutes went by, it became clear that the session was organized like a meeting of a study group.

All kinds of different exobiologists, geneticists and other relevant biotech researchers stepped up to the podium and presented their individual findings.

Though Ves found it difficult to follow the dense and technical explanations, he could still understand the broad strokes of the presentations.

He couldn't help but feel more and more contempt towards all of these scientists. Their theories sounded good, but it was a pity that none of them were close to being true.

"...Our experiments on finding the right half-alien genetic template have not yielded any true successes. Out of the 3053 cloned bodies that incorporate different genetic codes derived from all of the major alien races of the Red Ocean, none were able to last more than a minute when injected with a single milligram of phasewater. The toxicity of this substance remains lethal no matter how many combinations between human and alien genes we have employed..."

Ves wanted to palm his face when he heard about stupid experiments like this. Even the native aliens would die if a drop of phasewater entered their bodies! How could the researchers expect anything different by producing hybrids between humans and aliens?

Once all of these researchers proved that they hadn't wasted their time on dead-end research by ruling out a lot of options and making a few tangentially related observations, the star of the show finally had his turn.

Every scientist knew that their speech was not as important as that of Ves.

This caused many of them to feel ambivalent.

Their qualifications in the field of biotechnology were stellar. They might not look like much, but each of them were either stars back in their states or highly accomplished researchers employed directly by the Association!

Yet for all of their expertise, they ultimately got beaten by an odd and eccentric second-class mech designer who happened to have a penchant for going on expeditions!

Ves Larkinson managed to turn the dream of producing a human phase lord into reality, and he did so without a deep background in biotechnology and augmentation!

These authoritative scientists would be lying if they claimed that they were happy that Ves was here to share his own insights.

Though it wasn't appropriate for them to voice this, they wished that Ves did not exist. This way, these researchers could continue to work towards critical breakthroughs where they could claim all of the credit!

As it was, the Red Association had no reason to indulge in the selfish desires of these failed scientists.

Since the mechers wanted Ves to explain the truth as he understood it, then so be it. He was not here to play nice with these fellows.

Once he stepped up to the podium and stood in front of the group of experts, he raised his palm and performed a mysterious motion.

"If the Khamatar Reign's inhibitors did not suppress any unauthorized manifestations of phasewater manipulation, then I would have given you a demonstration. Well, you will just have to settle for my words. Before any of you ask, it is true. I am technically a phase lord. I don't think I am anything impressive given that my phasewater concentration has only reached O.O1 percent, but I guess that is much more progress than any of you have ever made. Do you want to know why I succeeded while all of you have squandered so much phasewater with little to show for your efforts?"

A number of people began to frown. It was never pleasant for scientists to hear another person devalue all of their research.

"Please proceed and do not leave us in suspense, Professor Larkinson." Master Wintress urged him to continue.

Ves smirked.

"Very well. If you want to know the truth, then this is it. I never injected myself with phasewater. It appeared on its own. In fact, I never planned to become a phase lord to begin with. I happened to end up this way due to an unanticipated turn of events while I was subjecting myself to a different experimental procedure. The truth is that each of you have developed a profound lack of understanding of what is needed to become a phase lord. It is not a process of augmentation as you understand it. It is a process of active self-evolution, or in other words, cultivation!"

The answer that Ves provided to them completely detonated a bomb among the audience!

Few if any of these biotech researchers expected that Ves had managed to succeed by relying on a completely different discipline!