The Mech Touch

Half an hour later, Ves had concluded a bunch of health examinations. After he shrunk his body to his most comfortable human state, he cleaned himself up and donned his uniform again.

He found it a bit regrettable that he had to return the nanosuit, but he did not mind it too much.

He vastly preferred it if he could design and fabricate a suit of his own that could keep up with his growth in scale.

He already had a number of interesting ideas in mind on how to design a suit that could significantly improve the combat capabilities of his true body.

However, all of that sounded rather superfluous to Ves. The quick and overwhelming defeat against a single first-class multipurpose mech thoroughly disabused him of the notion that he could actually fight alongside his own mechs.

He was not his father. He was not his mother. He was not his uncle. He was not his grandfather. He was not Ketis. He was not Venerable Joshua.

Each of these aforementioned people were trained fighters, soldiers and killers. They dedicated their lives to improving their ability to fight and kill.

That was not all. They not only dedicated at least decades worth of training into honing their craft, they actually managed to win against a lot of powerful opponents!

Each of them could be regarded as highly capable and competent combatants in a fight. They were the first fighters that people would turn to if they sought protection. They could handle themselves on many different battlefields.

What about Ves? Phase lord or not, he was still a mech designer in essence!

Neither him nor his incarnations were true warriors. None of them dedicated themselves towards combat, especially in the odd combination of purely physical combat and extensive spatial manipulation.

Ves hoped that his mysterious transformation into a phase lord also came with instinctual combat skills, but it turned out that he was wishing for too much.

The lack of combat training was a serious flaw that caused him to utilize only a fraction of his potential as a phase lord.

Ves could see it, and so could the mechers.

When he finally met up with Jovy in a meeting room, they both took a look at the battle footage.

Ves felt more embarrassed than ever when he saw how much his rapid increase in power had caused him to lose his rationality.

"As we expected, you are not exempt from the rapid shift in mentality that comes with acquiring an oversized physical form." Jovy remarked. "This is a known phenomenon among the native aliens, but hardly any of them complain about it because they think this is only natural. How do you feel now that you are able to reflect on what has happened?"

It took a few seconds for Ves to formulate his words. "It's difficult to take people seriously when they look so much smaller and weaker. It's like looking at a bunch of small critters such as mice or ants. It is irrational for me to think this way, but there is some sort of biological instinct that forces me to think that I have little reason to fear tiny organisms. I can squash them at will, and it is also difficult for me to regard their intellect at the same level of my own. I know that these thoughts are wrong, but it is surprisingly difficult for me to get rid of these delusions."

Jovy nodded with understanding. "We are afraid that may be the case. While we do not have enough human phase lords to form a definite conclusion of what is happening, we think this is not an inherent fault of phase lords. It is more likely that we are being subjected to the faults of our own biological instincts. It is in our nature to dismiss the threat of creatures as small as ants and to fear the danger of coming close to larger animals such as elephants and whales."

That sounded logical. "I guess the same is true for alien species as well. The phase whales have always been regarded as the most arrogant ones in the Red Ocean, and that is not a big surprise considering how they are by far the largest sentient beings of this dwarf galaxy."

In other words, no matter whether they were humans or aliens, each of them would inevitably feel that they were stronger and superior than everyone else as they grew larger!

It was a literal god complex in action!

"As the most recent battles against the phase whales have shown, being bigger does not always translate into victory." Jovy remarked. "It is important for us to counteract this development when we are ready to train our own batch of human phase lords."

Ves raised his eyebrow. "How close are you to turning humans into phase lords?"

"I am not completely certain, to be honest." Jovy shrugged. "You will have to ask the Transhumanists for details. However, my responsibilities as a liaison between you and the various institutions of the Red Association has put me in touch with their researchers. The direction of their requests and inquiries makes me think that they have made a large amount of advancements in recent months."

Both Ves and Jovy exchanged meaningful glances with each other.

"Is it because they have received the guidance of the Evolution Witch?"

"I cannot say anything in relation to the activities of one of our honored god pilots."

That pretty much sounded like a confirmation to Ves. Many people had been wondering what the Evolution Witch was doing now that her Geneforger had successfully assimilated the body and presumably the brain of the Singularity Lord.

Even if the powerful god biomech was only able to salvage a fraction of the knowledge contained within that gigantic brain, it probably contained a wellspring of memories, much of which was undoubtedly related to the secrets of phase whale cultivation!

Gaining any meaningful knowledge from one of the top phase leaders of the dwarf galaxy was a massive coup!

Besides, it wasn't just the Singularity Lord that ended up in the hands of the mechers. Several other ancient phase whales got killed as well, and even if their bodies were in much worse shape, they could still provide a huge amount of research data as well as experimental materials.

It would be surprising if the highly competent biotech researchers of the Transhumanist Faction failed to make any progress with all of this bounty at their disposal!

Of course, the role of Ves was still important. He provided a viable template of a human phase lord. Having him around was like having a cheat sheet at their disposal. He could help the researchers save a lot of time by making a lot of tedious and dangerous experiments redundant.

This was why it was permissible for Ves to know a thing or two about how much progress the mechers had made in this research direction.

"Once you guys have managed to develop a viable way to produce a human phase lord, what is next? I cannot imagine that you are willing to popularize it. From what I know, it takes a gigantic amount of phasewater to develop those huge bodies. Why invest thousands of kilograms of phasewater to nurture a single phase lord when you can use the same amount to equip entire mech divisions with transphasic machines?"

Jovy sighed. "You are right about that. Our society cannot afford to produce large amounts of phase lords. That said, there are still several fantastic uses for them. Their deep control over space combined with their ability to flexibly alter their size from that of a human to that of a space station are undeniable advantages for assassins, saboteurs and bodyguards. I am not privy to any specific plans, but I can guess that our Association has already devised several plans to make the most out of phase lords. The fact that they do not have to be mech pilots is fantastic because that opens up the selection pool by a massive extent."

Infantry no longer became as useless as before. So long as they possessed the right qualifications and so long as there was enough phasewater, each footsoldier had the potential to transform into a massive giant that could stomp ordinary mechs with their gigantic feet!

Naturally, the mechers would never waste all of their phasewater to turn their mech designers into phase lords.

As Ves had shown just earlier, a noncombatant was still inept at fighting even if he was able to match a mech in physical terms!

"What about mech pilots?" Ves asked. "While it might not be cost-effective to turn ordinary mech pilots into phase lords, what about ace pilots? What about god pilots?"

"I cannot say anything official or definitive on this matter. Personally, I think it is superfluous. God pilots already have a strong body in the form of their own god mechs. It makes even less sense to ace pilots. Their only goal is to increase their chances of surviving the ultimate breakthrough process. Becoming a phase lord is a needless diversion that detracts from their greatest goal. Having an abnormally strong body may even interfere with the Mech Body Merger Process as it becomes much harder to merge the body of a mech with an abnormally strong body of a phase lord. Do not forget that willpower is the only source of strength that a god pilot candidate must carry over."

That sounded plausible, but Ves did not completely rule out the possibility that having an abnormally strong body might increase the success rate.

He was sure that the mechers were secretly planning to conduct an experiment of this nature on one of their peak ace pilots.

There were so many of them that the Red Association could afford to volunteer one of them for an important scientific discovery.

If the experiment indeed proved that ace pilots had a much higher chance of surviving the Mech Body Merger Process when they turned themselves into phase lords, then a huge craze for this special form of body cultivation would emerge!

So many ace pilots yearned to become phase lords that the demand of phasewater would grow at least a hundred times greater!

This would have massive ripple effects in red humanity's society. Transphasic mechs would become luxury products that were only reserved for the very few as it became impossible for most parties to obtain phasewater.

Ves did not like this at all because phasewater was a strategic resource that could make all of the mechs and starships of the Larkinson Clan stronger.

His forces would be fighting at a severe disadvantage if they no longer had access to a sufficient supply of phasewater!

Of course, a lot of human forces would also become a lot more enthusiastic about fighting the aliens.

Since phasewater had become virtually unobtainable in human space, then the best way to obtain this precious resource was to plunder alien territories!

Whether mech pilots benefited from it or not, Ves realized that the impending emergence of human phase lords may change the new frontier forever!

From what Ves had learned from his mother, this was definitely a move that purposefully increased the connection between red humanity and the local heavenly authority.

There was great meaning in this move. It showed that the mechers still wanted to develop a closer relationship with the Red Ocean, likely in an attempt to counteract the growing influence of Messier Sy.

"Regardless of the presence or absence of human phase lords, we do not intend to place all of our hopes on them." Jovy told Ves. "We have always rested our hopes on mechs, and that has not changed now that we are on the verge of opening up another means of human transcendence. Mechs remain the most powerful, cost-effective and suitable means to combat the threat from within and without. 1 can assure you that our shared profession will always remain an essential part of our civilization."

"I hope you are right, Jovy. I really do. If our mechs are not strong enough, then we just have to work harder."