The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

Who did not want to live longer?

Ves had seen enough cases of people who did everything possible to extend their lifespans.

Life-prolonging treatments used to be an unattainable dream to him. Even when he managed to get his hands on a few vials of life-prolonging treatment serum, he did not dare to squander them at will, but treated them as precious resources.

The chance to live forever was practically priceless. A lot of old geezers who had managed to make a lot of accomplishments all kept working even harder just to earn another way to extend their lifespans.

Ves knew that he was far too young to care too much about this pressing need, but he was probably the exception rather than the rule.

It was not easy for people to live for hundreds of years more than their natural lifespans.

Only a tiny proportion of humans were powerful enough to earn the huge amounts of merits required to redeem life-prolonging treatments.

An even smaller number of people possessed the luck, talent and ability to ascend into god pilots or Star Designers.

Opening up an alternative means to extending people's lives would definitely excite a lot of people who previously thought that they had reached the end of their ropes!

If the mechers dangled the chance of becoming a human phase lord as bait, then a lot of old geezers would probably invest nearly everything at their disposal to snatch as much phasewater from the native aliens as possible!

What a devious plan. This was probably an integral part of the calculations of the mechers.

When Ves was finally done with pumping enough information about human phase lords from Jovy, he briefly discussed his intention of going on a vacation.

It went without saying that the Bluejay Fleet had already begun to make the appropriate preparations.

"Your safety is our highest concern." The mecher stated. "We are well-equipped to protect you against most of the threats on Ocanon VI, but you will be exposing yourself and your children to many different risks, a number of which we may be less equipped to handle than others. We advise you to forgo the most dangerous hunting opportunities."

Ves frowned. "I don't want to challenge exobeasts that are too weak. I also intend to hunt down real beasts in my true body form. While I do not intend to spend too much time on my phase lord cultivation, I at least want to feel what it is like to kill in this form. Maybe I will be able to gain useful inspiration during this experience."

That made it harder for the mechers to protect him, but Jovy eventually acquiesced to this plan.

"Fine. We will be ready to employ the right safety measures. Our presence may invalidate your chance to earn a valid hunting trophy, but your safety is more important than satisfying your vanity."

That was a disappointment, but Ves already expected as much.

He instead spent his time on thinking about his own combat system.

He was not a pure phase lord, so there was no reason for him to fight like one. He had a companion spirit as well as other incarnations at his disposal. He could borrow the strength of different design spirits if he needed further help.

More importantly, the Worclaw energy produced by his Jutland organ had not only become a lot more abundant, but Ves also improved his control over its destructive potency!

Ves felt an urge to develop a unique means of combat and self-defense that was fully suited to his own situation.

He was especially interested in combining his spatial manipulation abilities with his ability to command E energy.

Not only would he be able to learn various tricks that could potentially produce amazing synergies, but he could also apply all of his newfound insights in his mech designs!

That last part was especially important to him. He was a mech designer first, so every activity had to improve his ability to do his work.

Jovy looked intrigued when Ves briefly explained his intentions.

"Earlier, you mentioned that your sensitivity to E energy had dropped by a large extent when you unveiled your true body. It should be much harder for you to manipulate space and E energy at the same time if that is the case. That lines up with what we have found among the aliens. The more they are saturated with phasewater, the less they are able to form a connection with E energy. It is an odd interaction that we do not fully understand. We certainly hope that the aliens are unable to solve this interaction."

It was good news that powerful alien phase lords and phase whales were not able to exert a lot of control over E energy.

Powerful ancient phase whales would become several times more difficult to defeat if they were able to utilize their vast and powerful minds to draw strength from the power of heaven as if they were qi cultivators!

"From what I have experienced, it has become a lot harder to leverage E energy when I activate my true body, but this is not an absolute rule." Ves cautioned. "I think that if I really put effort into it, I may be able to leverage space-attributed E energy. I just haven't figured out how to do it when I am in that strange condition."

"That sounds concerning." Jovy frowned. "We shall be sure to investigate that further. By the way, we have noticed that you have made active use of your companion spirit during the testing session. How well were you able to borrow the power of E energy with the help of Blinky?"

"It was much better than before. Blinky's strength lies in this aspect. He was able to employ his full power without getting affected by my body's changes. The only problem is that my own reduced sensitivity towards E energy has left me unable to assist what my companion spirit was doing at the time."

"Interesting. There is still a strong synergy. I do not think you need this reminder, but I truly do have to repeat to you that you are not allowed to grant a design spirit to any alien entity, period. If a powerful ancient phase whale is able to overcome his congenital shortcomings in this aspect with the help of a companion spirit, then we will have to fight against an apex predator who is strong in both body and energy! The combat effectiveness of such a monstrosity may approach that of a god pilot!"

That was a nightmare scenario for every red human!

Ves simply smiled in response. "I am not stupid enough to make that happen. Rest assured that I have no intentions of arming the native aliens with companion spirits."

"Good. E energy radiation has become a universal resource to both red humanity and the native aliens. We have clear advantages in its usage. The phase whales and the other powerful alien races are still stuck at the starting line. We cannot afford to shrink this gap. The more the native aliens are able to utilize the power of E energy, the more losses we will suffer. Your powerful solutions must remain in red humanity's hands at all cost."

"I agree."

What neither of the two mentioned was that the Bluejay Fleet would likely take measures to prevent Ves from handing over the means to produce companion spirits to the native aliens.

From the moment Ves had presented his companion spirits to the Survivalists during their last conference, it may have already been inevitable for him to get shadowed by their forces!

The soldiers of the Bluejay Fleet were both his protectors as well as his minders.

They might even turn into his executioners if he displayed any intention to betray the interests of red humanity!

Ves did not find this pleasant to say the least, but it was useless for him to complain about it. The only way he could get rid of the Sword of Damocles that was literally hovering high above his head was to become powerful enough to grasp its hilt!

"Anyway, I have stayed here long enough. I should get back and keep my children company."

When Ves finally returned to Diandi Base, he still remained distracted by all of the new insights he gained when he had unfolded his true body.

When he was in that remarkable state, he felt unprecedentedly close to the existence of space.

His connection to the phasewater had increased and his affinity to space had improved by a large margin. This enabled him to look at old problems related to phasewater theory and spatial manipulation from much better angles.

Part of the reason why he found it much easier for him to teleport his body was because of his vastly improved connection to space!

His eyes lit up when he thought about how this might be useful in his work.

He could theoretically experiment with different applications of phasewater technology.

That was not all. He could also team up with Blinky to explore possible ways to combine phasewater technology with hyper technology!

Whereas other mech designers were only able to explore these possibilities by painstakingly fabricating experimental designs before putting them to the test, Ves could try out his ideas much more directly by unfolding his true body!

"This is great!"

While his ability to exploit this advantage was not unlimited, Ves was sure that he could massively speed up his efforts to improve his utilization of both technological fields!

The only issue was that he regularly needed to retreat to a large and strong enough chamber for him to experiment with his extraordinary powers.

"It would be great if I can work together with another clever mind." Ves thought.

His wife was not a suitable research partner or assistant. Her interests rested elsewhere, and her specialization did not grant her any advantages in these exotic fields.

"Alexa will be able to provide better help and feedback."

Though she was still young, she had already proved her excellence many times.

She was not only quite proficient in phasewater theory and hyper technology due to her superior learning ability, she also possessed a strong interest in learning more about living mechs and by extension E-technology.

Ves could not think of a better candidate for him to bounce his ideas from than General Axelar Streon's granddaughter!

Now that he had formed this idea, he decided to approach her at the soonest possible opportunity to learn what she had to say.

Of course, it took quite a bit of time to explain the circumstances surrounding his phase lord cultivation to her. The young assistant was already accustomed to his many surprises, so she hardly looked fazed when he casually explained the full extent of his true body!

"So you are possibly the first real human phase lord." She spoke. "I have many questions, but I shall refrain from answering them. I do not know whether I can be of service to you. It is true that I have been working on improving my grasp of phasewater theory and hyper technology, but how well does that translate to your power utilization? Conventional science simply does not work anymore in those cases."

"It is not as bad as you think. I work differently from high-ranking mech pilots. I think we should just hold a session and give you a glimpse of how I work. I am convinced that we can explore many new applications of phasewater technology and hyper technology by using my true body as an experimental platform!"

It would be as if Ves turned his own true body into a persistent prototype! The amount of research he could conduct by taking advantage of his unique condition was unfathomable.

Ves even started to develop a greater interest in advancing his phase lord cultivation!

He did not want to become a stronger phase lord because he wanted to pursue greater strength, but because it would help him discover more advanced technological applications!

"Wait, 1 just thought of a good idea. Let us head over to the nearest secure chamber so that we can explore it right away!"