The Mech Touch

Once Ves and Gloriana had exhaustively explained all of the complicated functions of the Jupiter Project, they finally turned their attention to the other expert mech design project.

"The Blood Star Mark II is different from the Jupiter Project." Ves emphasized to his grandfather. "While it shares a lot of common tech and principles, the overall purpose, vision and design direction all diverge significantly from the earlier design."

His grandfather nodded. "I can feel it. This mech of mine is not only more alive than what I have experienced before, but it also contains a lot of hidden potential. It may take a long time for me to explore and tap into its latent power."

Ves smiled. "Another aspect of what makes this design different is that it is an upgrade of your existing Carmine mech. Since we cannot construct a brand-new mech for you, we are somewhat restricted in how extensively we can replace and substitute the existing parts of your machine. In particular, it is troublesome to comprehensively upgrade the organic parts of your Carmine System. In order to upgrade it to the second generation that I have recently come up with, I have to implant new organs and inject viruses that can rewrite its DNA. This is a rather troublesome and time-consuming procedure under normal circumstances, but with the help of the advanced instruments from the Terran Alliance, we can speed up the transformation so that the biological modifications will be done after we fabricate the Jupiter Project."

His grandfather frowned for a bit. "You have alluded to the second generation Carmine System to me before, but you have never fully explained what it is all about."

"That is because many of the details of the Carmine System must remain confidential for the time being. Now that you are here in person, I can reveal a bit more about what I have been working on to you in person. There are secrets about the Carmine System that I cannot easily divulge to you all, but what I am about to tell you falls outside of that scope."

Ves swept his gaze across the design lab. Gloriana, Ark, Benjamin and Alexa all understood the significance of this reminder.

Even though not everyone understood the reasons why the Carmine System was so sensitive, they knew that Ves had a habit of coming up with strange but useful inventions.

"Each of you should already understand the basic working principles of the Carmine System. The second generation differs from this by tapping into the power of blood. Instead of using regular human-derived blood, I came up with the idea to use more powerful blood derived from powerful beings. The idea is that the stronger blood can bestow a part of their extraordinary properties to the pilot and Carmine mech."

Alexa reacted with shock most of all. Ves had yet to teach her about the Carmine System, so she only understood the basics up to this point.

"That should not work at all. Even if there is a basis in truth to it, injecting alien blood into your body will only result in blood poisoning."

Ves smiled. "I am aware of that, but the Carmine System will make sure to alter and filter this foreign blood so that it will not poison anymore. The source of power does not lie in the blood cells, but in the hidden energies contained within. The blood of a strong extraordinary organism contains a lot of remarkable traits. According to certain esoteric theories, it is possible to tap into them or extract them directly. The second generation Carmine System is a relatively crude attempt to derive more power from a small quantity of extraordinary blood."

The description disgusted General Ark. He looked at his father with concern.

Even though Benjamin's physical condition had recovered at a remarkable rate, his old body was still marked by time.

How could the old man withstand so much strain on his relatively weak physique?

"Is it necessary for you to conduct this experiment on your grandfather?" Ark skeptically asked.

Ves shook his head. "I admit that grandpa will be more than fine with the original incarnation of the Carmine Version, but we can't stop progress just because we are afraid of the consequences. Besides, I have made a lot of precautions to prevent my latest changes from overwhelming his body. The second generation Carmine System won't flood my grandfather with foreign blood from the start, but will only gradually trickle in so that his body can gradually get used to the new variables. Over time, grandpa will be able to tolerate more and more of this foreign element. Just like how phase lords get stronger when their phasewater concentration has risen, a similar process should also occur in this case."

That led to the next obvious question.

"What sort of blood have you chosen to bless me with?" Venerable Benjamin plainly asked.

"There are many possible choices." Ves replied. "There are numerous powerful mutated beasts aboard the Dragon's Den that have all developed strange abilities that have become noticeably stronger in the Age of Dawn. However, fit and compatibility are also important. I do not think that you have the sort of young and adventurous mindset to embrace these exotic powers."

The old man gruffly nodded. "I was just about to say that. I appreciate the value of power more than most people, but that does not mean that I am eager to pursue it unconditionally."

"Don't worry, grandpa. After an extensive selection process, I have settled on a source of blood that might not be the strongest, but contains enough extraordinary factors to make it useful. The blood comes from... myself."

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"Really?" Ark eventually broke the silence.

Benjamin did not speak up, but his expression made it clear that he looked rather disturbed.

"My blood is quite abnormal, to say the least." Ves defended his choice. "I think both of you have enough senses to tell that I am anything but an average human. Biologically speaking, I have ascended to a higher life level. There are numerous different powers that have seeped into my body and blood. For example, there is a tiny amount of phasewater running through my body. This actually makes me a phase lord, if only barely."

"Isn't phasewater toxic to humans?!" Ark grew alarmed. "Even if your body can tolerate this exotic for a strange reason, that does not mean that others can cope with it as well. What if it ends up killing my father!?"

Benjamin raised his hand. "Calm down, my son. Ves here must have good reasons to make this decision."

"As I have said before, the second generation Carmine System will come with many safety features that will prevent my blood from risking my grandfather's health." Ves confidently explained. "As a high-tier expert pilot, his body has already surpassed the limits of an ordinary human. It might be a bit too reluctant for him to get exposed to phasewater, but once he advances to an ace pilot, his body will quickly change and grow even stronger. I think this may be a means for him to gradually acquire at least some of the traits of a phase lords through gradual exposure therapy."

This was basically an adaptation of one of his earlier ideas. Ves had theorized that it was possible for him to advance his phase lord cultivation by piloting a Carmine mech that circulated a greater concentration of phasewater in its artificial blood stream.

Since it could theoretically work for him, then it could work for other people as well!

Although Ves was aware that it was extremely reckless for him to experiment on his own grandfather, he was confident that it would work out the way he envisioned!

Not only were the two blood relatives, but they also shared a strong family bond. He believed that these relationships would exert a large influence on the Blood Pact and turn the impossible into the possible!

After all, one of the defining traits of high-ranking mech pilots was their ability to distort reality!

In order for this experiment to produce a successful result, Venerable Benjamin had to exert his force of will to make his body more compatible and tame the donated blood!

All of this sounded a bit too esoteric and mystical to everyone else. None of them had a background in cultivation science, so they did not understand why Ves was so unreasonably confident in this matter.

Fortunately, every member of the Larkinson Clan had developed the habit of giving Ves the benefit of the doubt.

If he was convinced that a wacky new invention would work, then they were willing to give him a chance to prove his claims!

"Alright." Benjamin finally spoke. "If you truly think it is beneficial for me to get exposed to your strange blood, then I will try and make it work."

"Don't worry. It won't happen all at once. This is a process that may take many years. We can only truly ramp up your exposure to my blood once you become a Saint."

"I will try my best to keep your wait to a minimum."

After they had dealt with this heavy topic, Ves and Gloriana proceeded to explain the remaining features of the cyborg expert mech.

"The configuration of the Blood Star Mark II is much less complex than the Jupiter Project." Gloriana took over for a time. "According to your preferences and track record, we have shaped it into an offensive knight. Its defenses are considerably stronger, but they are not as formidable as that of a defensive knight."

The Blood Star Mark II could take quite a beating. It could form a resonance shield like other expert mechs, but it could also resist a lot of damage with its transphasic azure energy shield generator.

"Azure energy shield generators are a luxury to most mech pilots because they require phasewater in order to construct them. Aside from that, they also require high-grade water hypers, which are much more scarce due to their high demand. Our clan is able to supply both of these strategic materials, so we do not suffer from this problem. The azure energy shield generator of the Jupiter Project is relatively small due to its limited capacity. The Blood Star Mark II has more room for defensive systems, so its azure energy shield generator is substantially larger and more effective."

Ves was not entirely comfortable with letting his grandfather enter the battlefield once again. He made sure that the Blood Star Mark II was robust enough to withstand plenty of unexpected setbacks.

As far as Ves was concerned, the main goal of the Blood Star Mark II was not to annihilate the enemies of the Larkinson Clan, but to preserve and enrich his grandfather's life!

This was also a motivating factor for adding his own blood to the expert mech's second generation Carmine System.

Ves hoped that his powerful vitality would seep into his grandfather, thereby causing Benjamin to rejuvenate his aged body and allow him to live longer!

Of course, Ves did not let this secret goal detract from the fundamental purposes of a mech.

"The Blood Star Mark H's initial weapon loadout is relatively simple, but we have tried to make their parameters as strong as possible." He explained. "The quasi-first-class transphasic hyper sword and physical shield are relatively unassuming aside from one factor. The hyper material that we have integrated into both of them are attributed towards water. This means that the Blood Star Mark II is almost entirely based on the water element. This may also include the shoulder-mounted weapon hardpoints. For now, we intend to occupy them with a pair of quasi-first-class transphasic hyper shoulder-mounted laser cannons that are also aligned with water. They can be useful in breaching weaker transphasic energy shields with remarkable efficiency, but suffer a bit if the defenses are too strong."

Water was not the best choice for a pair of laser weapons, but Ves did not want to add any conflicts that could weaken the performance of the other systems of the Blood Star Mark II.

Whether that was the right choice remained to be seen.