The Mech Touch

As Ves revealed the existence of general cultivation elixirs to the gathered expert pilots, the reaction was decidedly ambivalent.

On one hand, the expert pilots initially reacted with great excitement when they learned that they only had to swallow a bunch of vials filled with strange liquids to push their resonance strength into ace pilot candidate territory!

While it was impossible for expert pilots to advance to ace pilot by doing nothing aside from lying down and ingesting these fancy new elixirs, it was already extravagant enough for them to speed up to the finish line in record time!

Greater realization set in shortly afterwards. Once the expert pilots expanded their vision and thought about the wider implications of the availability of these new elixirs, their moods decidedly dropped.

"These elixirs... sound like cheating." Venerable Dise issued her verdict. "For centuries, mech pilots have always been told that the only way for them to become more powerful is to work hard, dedicate themselves into training, seek out real combat and push themselves beyond their limit. If any expert pilot can skip much of that by swallowing a dozen vials or so, what have we done all of this time?"

"Your struggles aren't in vain." Ves quickly tried to reassure the expert pilots who must be going through an existential crisis at the moment. "The fact that these elixirs aren't able to turn anyone directly into an ace pilot should tell you much about their limitations. While I have been told that they work in mysterious ways, the fact of the matter is that a pilot must still demonstrate a lot of excellence in order to overcome their major bottlenecks."

That was not quite true anymore. His discussions with the likes of the Xenotechnician had already made it clear that the Star Designers intended to lower the apotheosis threshold of the newly established Red Kingdom.

In a time of crisis, red humanity could no longer afford to be picky. The Star Designers intended to drop or lower a lot of requirements related to morality, altruism, mental stability and so on. It was not quite clear to what extent the Red Kingdom would make it easier for pilots to break through, but the difference was bound to be considerable!

The only criteria that mattered nowadays was whether a pilot was strong enough to defeat powerful alien adversaries. Every other concern was secondary to increasing red humanity's high-level combat power!

There was no need for Ves to tell his expert pilots this particular news. He was afraid that he would break their cognition and willpower entirely if he told them that dishonorable scumbags might soon be able to advance to the rank of expert pilot in droves!

Out of all of the expert pilots in the room, only Venerable Benjamin was farsighted enough to understand the significance of the general cultivation elixirs.

"The mechers have always done their best to stand up for mech pilots and high-ranking ones in particular. It is not typical for them to introduce a product that threatens to make a mockery out of most of our struggles. The fact that each of us has reacted poorly to this revelation shows that these elixirs can present real dangers to many mech pilots. The sequelae for using the elixirs should not be trivial either. Who knows what harm they can do to their users. The only reason why the mechers are prepared to make them available despite all of these issues is because the urgency is too great."

Ves nodded at his grandfather. "You are not wrong. These elixirs are just one of many tools that the Red Association intend to make use of in order to train a new generation of super warriors. The goal is to quickly raise as many expert pilots, ace pilots and hopefully god pilots to overwhelm our alien adversaries. Red humanity is in an extremely dire position. There isn't enough time to wait for expert pilots like you to steadily develop your strength and break through to ace pilot a couple of decades later. The elixirs are a necessary evil in this regard."

This was easy enough for the expert pilots to understand, but this was also why they felt so ambivalent about it. A deep sense of helplessness and unwillingness welled up in their minds.

If enough mech pilots were strong enough, then the Red Association wouldn't have been forced to resort to this measure in order to make up for the perceived gap in strength!

As time passed by, the expert pilots slowly managed to rein in their moods. This was already a change that was set in stone. The only thing they could do was to make peace with the Red Association's radical changes in policy.

Venerable Benjamin quickly made a decision. "Ido not need to make use of these elixirs. My resonance strength is already fairly high. The only reason why I am being held back is because I am still waiting for my expert mech."

Ves nodded in agreement. "You're right, grandfather. It will take a bit of time before I can grant your wish, but I can guarantee you that the wait will be worth it. Besides, your health and condition are not the best. I have no idea how exactly these elixirs will burden you. I don't think the Red Association has conducted thorough clinical tests to determine whether they are safe to use for an old expert pilot that has only recently recovered."

Last he checked, Venerable Benjamin had made remarkable progress in restoring his strength. His resonance strength reached 48.3 laveres, which indicated that his renewed potential was fairly abundant.

"What about me, Ves?" Venerable Stark spoke up. "My condition used to be similar to that of your grandfather. Is it safe for me to use an elixir?"

"That depends. Do you want to make use of an elixir?"

The woman furrowed her brows. "I prefer no, but circumstances will not allow it. Expert pilots are too weak nowadays. I am nowhere powerful enough to do what I have to do, let alone defend red humanity against all of the aliens that are breathing down our necks. If there is a way to speed up my growth... then so be it. The sooner I become an ace pilot candidate, the sooner I can work towards my next breakthrough."

She was pragmatic enough to accept the necessity of the elixirs. The benefits they provided to expert pilots with great ambitions and a strong sense of duty were irresistible!

Even though Davia Stark was just a guest pilot, she still had plenty of years left in her contract with the Larkinson Clan. Ves was happy enough to allocate a few elixirs to her so that he could obtain another powerful ace pilot in a much shorter time frame!

"I will ask the mechers to investigate your condition and determine whether it is safe enough for you to use an elixir. I do not expect any problems as you have returned to your prime a long time ago, but it is best to be sure. You won't be able to use the elixirs without gaining the approval of the mechers first anyway."

The Red Association had imposed strict rules on their management and usage to prevent any theft or leakage. Ves actually wanted to take a few elixirs away and study their composition to figure out whether he could reproduce them, but he was forced to abandon that plan when he was unable to take them out of the vault of the Tarrasque.

"Any other questions?"

Venerable Zimro Belson raised his hand. "What is the maximum amount of elixirs that an expert pilot can take?"

"Beats me." Ves shrugged. "I do not think the mechers know any better. This is new to everyone. While they have assured me that the A7-KE1 General Purpose Pilot Cultivation Elixir should be safe enough, do not expect it to be harmless. It is a first generation product, so it is far from perfect."

"Doesn't that make us test pilots?"

Ves nodded. "It does. I won't lie to you. I think that one of the reasons why we are one of the few groups to receive these elixirs years before they are made available is because the mechers want to study their effects on you. It is extra interesting for the Red Association to keep us under observation because each of you have companion spirits. I have a suspicion that the elixirs may not only be helpful to the growth of your resonance strength, but may also boost the growth of your companion spirits."

None of the mechers shared this particular theory to him. This was what he had come up with on his own. The reason for that was because the elixirs were called 'general purpose' for a reason.

He guessed that the elixirs were actually effective to many types of cultivators, including mech designers!

The main reason why the RA restricted their use to mech pilots was because red humanity was in dire need of stronger combatants, not support personnel!

Perhaps the reason why the mechers closely guarded the 500 vials of elixirs that Ves had obtained as a reward was because they were afraid that he and Blinky might devour them all in a frenzy!

Seeing that Zimro still hadn't received a satisfactory answer, Ves offered further clarification.

"From what it sounds like, there probably isn't a maximum limit. The real restriction is that you need to wait until you have 'digested' one vial of elixir before you can start to make use of another one. I am told that this time interval should be around 3 months, give or take a few weeks."

That was a relatively short interval, especially to a low-tier expert pilot that still had a long way to go before he was eligible to advance again!

Zimro widened his eyes as he calculated how many years he needed to wait until he could catch up to the likes of Venerable Benjamin Larkinson and General Ark Larkinson!

"These general purpose elixirs are especially made for younger and weaker expert pilots such as you." Ves told Zimro. "Red humanity's demand for powerful ace pilots will grow exponentially in a decade. The only way to satisfy this demand is to implement measures to speed up the growth of low-tier and medium-tier expert pilots that we currently have on hand as much as possible. This is not to say that you are useless in your current states, but what we need are combatants that can destroy entire alien armies and fleets by themselves. Trying to beat our alien adversaries by relying on quantity is completely hopeless, so we can only try our best to go for quality."

The Larkinson expert pilots increasingly became affected by the constant hints dropped by Ves. As the only Larkinson to attend the Survivalist conference, he knew the most about the looming threats of red humanity.

Since it was clear that he was taking the upcoming dangers seriously, the expert pilots were beginning to feel the pressure.

They all knew that they would indeed be relegated to marginal figures if they failed to grow strong enough in time. No one would be able to give the slowpokes any time to catch up. The war between red humanity and the aliens was bound to escalate to an alarming degree in just half a generation!

"Elixirs aren't the only tool that the Red Association intends to use to speed up your development." Ves warned his expert pilots. "This is just the beginning. You should do your best to let go of any unproductive feelings you might have over this and accept the new reality. If it helps, I can tell you that most of these experimental rewards are reserved for warlords and warfighters. Each of you need to contribute to the defense of red humanity by completing the riskiest missions imaginable."

Only the strongest and worthiest mech pilots earned the right to become the Red Association's test subjects for its cutting-edge products!