The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5647 Manipulative Guidance

The Zeal had taken on a whole other meaning.

It was no longer just a masterwork version of the Transcendent Punisher Mark III.

The so-called 'finishing touches' that Ves had applied to the mech at the end completely transformed the living mech's value and instantly caused the machine to transcend his own existence!

The mech was still a fantastic fighting machine. Ves had no doubt about that. The addition of the Final Sacrifice alone guaranteed that it had the power to breach all defenses in a desperate situation.

Yet… how could Ves had known that his whimsical idea to paint all kinds of prophetic visions onto the surface of an actual combat mech could make predictions that possessed so much significance that they could actually shape the future policies of red humanity?!

Ves briefly glanced at Jovy.

His friend as well as his permanent minder did not act in his current identity at the moment.

At this moment, Jovy had become a vessel for the higher-ups of the Red Association. Ves could just feel the gazes of multiple powerful but distant figures paying attention to him, the workshop and most importantly the exterior of the Zeal.

On the one hand, it gratified Ves that his work produced an immediate impact that would hopefully give the big shots at the top a little more forewarning of possible disasters on the horizon.

On the other hand, he became frightened by how frequently he attracted the attention of all of those big figures without meaning to! He never actually desired to continually attract their attention to him as if he was an electromagnet!

This unplanned art exhibition was bound to produce consequences that Ves could not foresee or anticipate. The entire future of red humanity might take a drastically different turn because he couldn't resist the urge to add a bit of additional flair to one of his latest masterwork mechs.

Was it for the better, or for the worse?

Ves could not quite tell. As he could feel the attention directed towards the visual depictions of different snapshots of possible futures, he began to feel more wary and apprehensive at what sort of interpretations and conclusions drew from his artwork.

"What is the matter, Ves?" Jovy asked as he turned away from the Whale Ark. "As the artist and one of the chief individuals responsible for producing these insightful images, you possess a unique insight into their nature and meaning. Your input is of great value. If you have any doubts or concerns, just speak."

Ves pressed his lips as he surveyed his gloomy heavy artillery mech once more.

"I have been mulling over several concerns that we really shouldn't ignore. I have questions that I cannot find the answer to. For whatever reason, I am wondering whether this is not a coincidence as I have initially thought. What if there is an intelligent force out there that has deliberately driven me to produce all of these strange future glimpses at this moment in time?"

That caused both Gloriana and Jovy to take Ves' concerns a lot more seriously.

"We do not have any way of proving or disproving this theory." Gloriana said. "Let me ask you this. Do you think it is a force from the present or the future that has induced you to paint all of these prophetic visions?"

Ves shrugged. "I truly do not know, and neither does Ylvaine. It could be either or both. What I do know is that trying to divine the futures of god pilots and the fates of trillions of lives is so costly that Ylvaine should have suffered a massive backlash before I even made my first brush stroke. Nothing comes for free in this cosmos. Why hasn't anything happened? The only logical answer I can come up with is that another power has paid the cost in our stead."

That was a plausible answer, and one that produced a lot of unsettling implications.

"You are correct to be wary about the sequence of events that has led to this result." Jovy said in a steady voice. "However, you are not the only person with a head on their shoulders. Rest assured that there are many analysts within the Association that are capable of following up on these concerns. Do you have any indication of who may be the party who paid this price?"

Ves shook his head. "Not really, but I have a number of possible candidates in mind. For example, the god pilots may have felt my Ylvaine's gaze and somehow chose to give him a break."

A brief pause ensued before Jovy issued a response.

"That has not happened as far as I can say."

"Then… maybe they did so in the future timeline where the First Flame went rogue?"

"I do not think that time works in such a fashion." Gloriana frowned.

Ves shrugged. "Hey, I am just throwing out possibilities. Who knows whether it might be true?"

"What other guesses do you have, Ves?"

"Well, another obvious candidate is the source of E energy radiation." Ves responded. "Ever since the Red Ocean got displayed to this neighborhood, we have been living under Messier 87's golden light ever since. There are so many ways this supermassive galaxy has affected that I cannot even begin to explain. There may be a possibility that a powerful authority hailing from Messier 87 has nudged Ylvaine's predictions along. This is actually the most frightening possibility because there is no way to tell whether that alien power is benign or malicious towards red humanity."

That was indeed one of the more frightening possibilities. Red humanity had already received more than enough indications that Messier 87 and its many powerful aliens likely did not intend to reach out with a hand of friendship to the humans.

They were just too weak to be worth befriending. What was worse was that humanity occupied a dwarf galaxy that was particularly rich in phasewater, which was a strategic exotic that could truly unlock intergalactic travel on a wider scale for any powerful civilization!

There was no way that the overpowering aliens of Messier 87 would bother to give any concessions to the 'weak' natives of the Red Oceans.

If the heavenly authority of Messier 87 actively colluded with its own native alien civilizations, then directing Ves to paint all of these distressing and concerning visions of doom may be part of a convoluted psychological warfare operation.

"It is… possible that your concerns may be valued." Jovy slowly said. "That does not mean we should discard your painted works entirely. We are fully aware that the source of these visions may not have any good intentions towards us. It would not be the first time that information has been used to twist people's minds and induce them into taking action that is ultimately detrimental towards themselves. The Whale Ark for example breeds the association that the Red Fleet has already given up on defending our holdings in the Red Ocean."

As the only major organization that was highly mobile and nomadic in nature, it was much easier for the fleeters to uproot their lives and abandon the rest of red humanity. They kept to themselves so much that people already started to treat them as distant cousins rather than fellow brothers.

Yet was it truly justified to accuse them of the future crime of cutting and running from all of the calamities unfolding in the Red Ocean?

Just the fact that the sight of the Whale Ark could sow further divisions between different groups of red humanity may ultimately benefit the invaders from Messier 87 the most in the end!

"This scenario has yet to come to pass." Gloriana said with a remarkably sober tone. "Ves has yet to kill my baby boy. Knowing that this might happen is not cause for me to divorce my husband and take my children far away from him. It is… wrong to let a single warning completely consume my attention and dictate my behavior. It is more reasonable to live our lives as before, but take a number of targeted precautions in order to prepare for the worst."

Jovy clapped in approval. "Well said, Gloriana! This is our general attitude as well. We cannot let paranoia and excessive fears plunge us in a spiral of self-

defeating actions. We must stick to our principles and retain our humanity as much as possible. Let us do our best to foil the intentions of any malicious actor that is seeking to manipulate us into defeating ourselves."

Anyone could have induced Ylvaine to make so many prophecies of so many powerful beings. Yet with few clues in hand, there was no way to gain any solid answers about their identities and their intentions.

Ves therefore shoved his concerns to the back of his mind and tried to view the remaining prophetic visions with a more humble attitude.

The sixth major artwork that the group of three paid attention to was a piece of work that evoked a lot more optimism than the other ones.

It depicted an active greater beyonder gate that was disgorging a fleet of different vessels, each of which possessed distinct red human characteristics such as phasewater technology and hyper technology that looked more advanced than anything used in the present!.

What was surprising about this image was that the greater beyonder gate was also surrounded by mechs and warships that lacked these distinct features.

Combined with several other clues such as the light of the local star and the heavy defensive works surrounding the gate, Ves and the others quickly identified the location where this future event was supposed to take place.

"That is Maryun Ultima!" Gloriana gasped. "This is the original primary gate system where so many human immigrants have traveled to in order to enter the Red Ocean. Now that our future fleets have returned to Maryun Ultima, does that mean that we have successfully regained a channel that can take us to our home galaxy?"

Though that sounded like good news, neither Ves nor Jovy looked as optimistic about this possible development.

"I thought that red humanity has already severed all ties with original humanity." Ves spoke.

Jovy nodded. "That should be the case. We cannot control for more hidden channels, but we still stand by our official stance. The greater beyonder gate in Bridgehead One shouldn't even be able to connect to its counterpart in Maryun Ultima before. Even if we disregard the enormous distance, we have already begun the transformation of our own gate. This is an irreversible process."

Yet somehow, there was a future timeline where red humanity managed to get back home anyway.

Did the Red Two secretly build up another greater beyonder gate and hid it somewhere really quiet?

This was a realistic possibility!

Ves did not ask whether this was the case. He knew better than that. What matters was that returning to the Milky Way Galaxy was not as impossible as he thought. That was good news in itself. It at least informed him of another possible escape route. It also generated hope that the two different branches of humanity might be able to resolve their differences and join as one again.

However, as Ves continually perceived the sense of doom and gloom from the Zeal, he had to take into account that this scenario was not as optimistic as it appeared on the surface!

"Has red humanity fled from the new frontier in defeat?" Ves wondered. "Maybe these are the only surviving red humans left."

"It is unlikely for the greater beyonder gate on the other side to remain intact if that was the case." Gloriana said.

"The differences between our two peoples will diverge more and more over time." Jovy carefully stated. "Once enough time has passed where our civilizations have developed in near-complete isolation, we may no longer have the capacity to see each other as a single people and race. Those differences are bound to produce conflicts. What is the name of this painting?"

"The Triumphant Return to the Milky Way."

"I see."

Returning to the Milky Way may not be the triumphant return as the artwork suggested, but there were no clear indications why this was the case.

It was not until they viewed the next image that they saw what the red humans might wreak once they returned 'home'!

Gloriana immediately looked concerned. "Is that… Old Earth?"

"It looks like it. The continents and other planetary features match up." Ves said.

"Then why does it look as if it is in the middle of getting blown up from an explosion that originates from its core?"

"Uhhh…"