The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5697 A Big Gift

Gray beams enabled the Hexer mech pilots to neutralize enemy warships without inflicting excessive damage to their integrity. This would make it easier to recoup the losses of a battle and plunder larger quantities of intact phasewater.

Gloriana still did not think this change was extreme enough.

"A luminar crystal weapon that can fire gray beams will most definitely increase the versatility and combat effectiveness of the Mark III, but it is not a unique advantage anymore. Death hyper materials are becoming increasingly more prevalent, and most notably appear in greater quantities on past battlefields. I think that more and more mechs will be released that are able to employ similar attacks."

"I know." Ves shrugged his shoulders. "We definitely enjoy a head-start compared to the competition. We also have Helena backing up the Valkyrie Redeemers. There won't be any other second-class mech models that can match their performance. Besides, this is only a single piece of the puzzle. I think we can be a lot more ambitious about preparing the general version of the Mark III for combat against alien warships."

"What do you mean by that, Ves?"

He smirked and pointed at the draft design. "There are two more gimmicks which will further cement the Valkyrie Redeemer as the premier mech model in harnessing the power of death. The more subtle of the two is a change in how my living mech grows through battle. Aside from the normal means of growth, I think I can make it so that the Valkyrie mechs grow a lot faster when they harvest more lives."

That certainly attracted Gloriana's interest. "That sounds troubling… but also promising. Are you sure that the Valkyrie mechs can absorb death energy without suffering any negative consequences?"

"It does not come without its risks." Ves admitted. "However, I know it is possible to turn my Valkyrie Redeemers into carnivores because they already have this capability. It is just too weak to attract much notice. My comprehension of spiritual engineering has advanced a lot further since then, and the introduction of E energy radiation and hyper materials has given me a lot of new tools to enhance this previously obscure function. The speed in which the next iteration of Valkyrie Redeemers can grow will be noticeably greater so long as they are actively used in battle."

"Will this produce any major differences in performance that is obvious enough to make a substantial difference in battle? Do not take offense at this, Ves, but much of the growth of a living mech is 'invisible'. The mech pilot may notice the differences and perform better as a result, but it is difficult to attribute these improvements to the machine."

"I know what you mean, honey, but this will definitely make the older Valkyrie Redeemers stand out more. The Mark III's will all be fourth generation living mechs, which means that they can only evolve to a third order living mech a lot easier, but acquire Ascension Runes as they grow further. The faster their growth, the further they can develop along an Ascension Path. I am still not entirely clear of their origin and their working principles, but what I do know is that a Valkyrie mech with multiple Ascension Runes will be able to harness E energy to a stronger degree. Their attacks and other properties related to E-technology will definitely be stronger, and the best part about all of this is that this growth should have a very high ceiling, which means that there is hope that the best Valkyrie mechs will eventually grow as powerful as expert mechs!"

This was an ambitious claim!

He had no idea whether this was possible, but that was no reason for him to set aside this dream!

Ves possessed a lot of faith in his fourth generation living mechs. He had incorporated a few useful principles related to traditional blacksmithing into the latest version of his most famous design application.

The recent changes and additions had brought his latest version of his living mechs closer to high-level artifacts.

This meant that each of them had the potential to become as powerful as the Oceancaller one day!

"How will you ensure that the Valkyrie mechs will not be overtaken by contamination?"

"I will employ multiple safeguards to slow or limit the absorption rate." He answered. "If the mech has killed a lot of aliens at once, there will be a hard limit in place that will make sure that the mech will only absorb enough death E energy that it is able to handle. Helena will remain as its design spirit and will help to regulate this process as well. Even so, I expect that it is impossible to completely filter out every undesirable element. The mechs will probably grow more flawed as they get older, but it is a worthwhile tradeoff for a substantial power boost."

The addition of this accelerated growth measure ultimately pleased his wife. Gloriana was glad that the Hexers would gain a powerful advantage that was not accessible to other people. More power ultimately benefited the Hex Federation and ensured the second-rate colonial state would remain strong enough to survive the coming tribulations.

"I see. The Valkyrie Redeemer Mark III will become a powerful force on the battlefield if you can deliver on your promises."

She deliberately emphasized the latter words, as if she was questioning whether Ves could deliver on his bold claims.

Ves possessed plenty of confidence in his ability to do so. This was a feature that was tailor-made for the Valkyrie Redeemers.

"Don't worry. Most of the building blocks of my planned Soultaker System already exist in other living mech designs. I just need to borrow them and put them together to produce this powerful result."

They continued to talk a bit more about this special E energy system before they moved on to another addition to the Valkyrie mech line.

"If the Soultaker System is supposed to be the more subtle addition to the Mark III, what else do you have that will make the Mark III even stronger?" Gloriana asked with anticipation in her voice.

He smirked. "It's quite simple. I will free up the restraints that prevent unauthorized people from employing battle formations."

"What?!"

His wife looked shocked! As far as she knew, Ves had always been stingy about the use and the proliferation of his precious battle formations!

Their power was undeniable, but it also served as one of the strongest and most effective trump cards of the Larkinson Clan.

Ves had already shown a lot of tolerance by allowing the Glory Seekers to pull it off as well.

To open the floodgates and potentially allow any serving member of the Hex Army to make use of battle formations while they piloted a Valkyrie Redeemer sounded crazy even to Gloriana!

The Hexers would definitely generate a lot of fear and envy once they employed battle formations on a larger scale.

A dozen of them could easily appear in a single battle, thereby overwhelming any typical alien raiding fleet and scouring all of their powerful starships from life!

Hyper energy shields might be able to take the edge off these attacks, but strong enough battle formations should still be able to overwhelm them due to Helene's overwhelming power!

"Is it possible for the Hexers to employ battle formations on demand?" Gloriana asked. "I thought that they impose strict requirements that necessitate special training."

"You are not wrong, but I do not think it is a challenge for many more Hexer mech units to meet all of the requirements. The Glory Seekers managed to do this for years. They have learned a lot of lessons and can easily pass on their teachings to the soldiers of the Hex Army. A high degree of homogeneity is still essential, but this is a condition that can be accomplished through training."

"I see…"

Not every Valkyrie mech unit would be able to launch devastating battle formation attacks, but the more elite and well-trained ones should definitely be able to do it. This would guarantee that the Hex Army would utilize these attacks on a wider scale!

Though Gloriana had her concerns about this radicular shift, she was happy that her husband was willing to go above and beyond to strengthen the Hexers.

"This is an extreme change that is not typical of your decision making. What prompted this, Ves?"

"I have slowly begun to realize that I can get away with a lot more stuff than in the past. Status makes a huge difference in our society. I have become a part of the upper echelon, so I have already joined the group of people who are able to dictate the rules as opposed to following them. It is really nice to be able to stop being afraid of stepping too far out of line."

Gloriana felt that there may be more to this, but she let it go. She already began to look forward to how this feature would benefit the Hex Federation.

She leaned forward and shared her body warmth with her husband. "I can already imagine it. The Hexers will be able to defeat more enemies while suffering much less losses. They can accumulate war merits at a considerably faster rate and exchange for much more benefits compared to the Fridaymen and other local rivals. As long as the Hexers are able to keep this advantage, they can even begin to promote their most promising elites to first-raters, thereby enabling them to keep up with our growth and be of greater use for our clan! How wonderful!"

"Hehehe. I never leave my friends behind."

Ves knew that he was bound to generate a lot of controversy with this radical design choice.

Since the Transhumanists were already pushing him to release his Carmine mechs to the public in the near future, he figured that making his battle formations available to a wider audience would hardly make a difference at that point.

Perhaps it could even prime red humanity for all of the other crazy stuff that he intended to phase into his works over the coming years and decades.

Once Gloriana got over her initial joy over this planned gift to the Hexers, she slowly began to frown as she considered the potential downsides of this move.

"The native aliens are not static opponents. They are slower to change, but once they start to lose so many of their warships to death energy battle formations, they will work harder to develop countermeasures against them. Not only will they speed up their adoption of hyper technology, they will also be able to figure out other solutions through repeated exposure to these powerful attacks. This means that our trump card may lose its effectiveness over time."

Ves shrugged. "I am aware of that, but that is a price that I am willing to pay. We can't keep relying on our old hits to prop us up. The power of mechs ultimately comes from themselves. We just have to design better mechs with even better innovations if we want to maintain our competitive edge."

He also wanted to make a greater contribution to the war effort. If the Transhumanist Faction felt compelled to speed up the pace of technological innovation, then he might as well follow suit.

He was more confident that if he provoked any trouble or generated any controversy, the Red Association would continue to have his back. This was the benefit of becoming their honorary member.

Ves was beginning to warm up to this bolder approach to mech design. The Fey Fianna and the Ultimatum mech lines had already changed second-class battles forever, and this was just the start as far as he was concerned!

"Dare to design."

"Dare to design." Gloriana echoed with an approving smile.

It was always a lot more beneficial for a mech designer to do his job with less restraint. Ves believed he could make a lot more progress if he stopped holding back as much.

This not only applied to updating his existing mech lines, but also in the design of brand new mechs based around completely new concepts!