The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5839 Creating Monsters

Ves became stumped by what his spiritual senses managed to perceive.

While it was difficult to glean too many details when he tried to dull them as much as possible, he sure as hell could not miss the distinctly humanoid shape of the 'spark' resting in the center of the Spark Reactor.

Ves suddenly had an illusion that the Spark Reactor was not as complicated as its immense size suggested.

The starship-sized contract appeared to be nothing more than a giant prison, regulator and power siphon!

Its main purpose was to do nothing more than to contain and exploit this mysterious spark entity!

A lot of thoughts were racing through his mind right now. There was very little data for him to pursue, but what flew observations he made through his suppressed spiritual senses already blew up a lot of assumptions about the Spark Reactor!

He never imagined that the fleeters, who abhorred cultivation and metaphysical phenomena of all kinds, would actually resort to powering their precious dreadnoughts by drawing energy from a fire entity!

Regardless of the severe violation of their own principles, it was clearly worthwhile for the fleeters to develop the Spark Reactor.

Part of the reason why Ves felt so discomfited even if he was standing hundreds of meters away from the center of the Spark Reactor was because the flame entity was just that powerful.

Ves initially thought that it was a True God or equivalent due to the sheer concentration of power locked inside his insubstantial body. He could feel that the flame entity possessed a fiery domain that exuded so much power that it spilled out into the environment.

This was the sole source of energy of the Spark Reactor!

Yet as Ves continued his observations, he picked up several clues that showed that this flame entity was not as dangerous as it seemed.

For one, it was abnormally young and undeveloped. Its life was incredibly deficient because it was devoid of any markings that came with experience.

This gave Ves the impression that the flame entity had remained dormant since its creation. It had never really woken up and done anything that could have shaped its life.

Another notable clue was that the flame entity did not appear to possess any consciousness. It was not asleep, so much as it was a dummy that lacked anything more than the bare necessities to keep its domain coherent and stable!

It was as if Ves was looking at the spiritual equivalent of a clone. Perhaps he had come close to guessing the truth, because he could not think of any other explanation of how the flame entity came to pass!

If this was true, then the spark wasn't as threatening as it initially appeared. The flame entity locked inside the Spark Reactor certainly possessed the raw power to destroy starships and burn humans into ash.

Not even Ves believed that his incarnations, his design spirits or his true body could withstand the fury of a hostile fire god!

However, Ves was not looking at a real deity. At most, he was looking at the lobotomized clone of one. The living spark may have inherited or copied much of the power of the original, but the lack of any coherent consciousness or personality prevented it from being channeled!

Ves briefly grew concerned about whether E energy radiation might have caused the living but directionless sparks to spontaneously develop new personalities. It had happened to the organic AI cores of the Brain Trust, so why should the sparks be exempt from this effect?

It took several minutes of careful observation for Ves to feel a little more relieved.

He had no idea whether the fleeters would be able to maintain the status quo, but right now it seemed that the sparks were not making any progress on this front.

Either the flame entities were so deficient that the possibility of mutating into an actual living entity was too low, or the Spark Reactor incorporated highly specialized safeguards that suppressed such activity.

Ves guessed that both of these conditions were valid. The fleeters certainly wouldn't have employed an extraordinary power generator as dangerous as the Spark Reactor without implementing multiple redundant safeguards!

Since the Common Fleet Alliance built at least 8 dreadnoughts and equipped them all with Spark Reactors, the organization definitely possessed the confidence to harness the power of these thoughtless entities.

Ves still had many other questions.

Where did they come from? How were they made? How many of them existed in the Red Ocean?

As Ves studied the flame entities a bit more, he failed to obtain any clues that could offer any further clarification.

He could only make a few unsubstantiated guesses.

So far, he only came up with two probable answers.

The first possible explanation was that the fleeters and possibly the mecheres managed to capture a powerful True God-level qi cultivator with a fire domain.

Instead of killing this exceedingly dangerous Compact leader, the fleeters instead kept him prisoner and literally leeched his extraordinary power to create defective clones of himself.

The second possible explanation was a lot more profound. A long time ago, Sigrund himself told Ves that the MTA and the CFA managed to capture the Fire Scroll during the Great Betrayal.

What happened to the Fire Scroll after the Age of Conquest came to an end?

Ves sure as hell did not believe that the mechers and the fleeters were content to leave such a powerful relic unused. It was even more unthinkable for them to destroy it like what happened with a few other Sacred Scrolls.

He knew the mechers and the fleeters well enough that they were hungry for power and always sought for ways to expand their might.

While it still remained unclear to Ves what exactly the Big Two had done with the Fire Scroll over the years, Ves guessed that he may be looking at one of the use cases.

Perhaps the fleeters had figured out a way to induce the Fire Scroll to create flame entities that possessed the raw power of a True God but lacked the personalities to properly control and direct their domains.

It sounded crazy at first. How could an artifact, even one as mythical as the Fire Scroll, create True Gods on demand?

Ves did not think it was as impossible as it sounded. He had started off his career with a fraction of the Metal Scroll but managed to rise up to become a tier 3 galactic citizen in record time!

The Polymath not only advanced to the rank of Star Designer in record time, but managed to amaze the entire mech community by the breadth of her knowledge and innovations.

If the two of them were able to accomplish this much while only having access to a remnant of a Sacred Scroll, what more could a completely intact one accomplish?

This also caused Ves to think about what would happen if he completed a succession of Supply Missions in the near term.

He was getting closer and closer to satisfying the Mech Designer System's appetite by feeding it with Yondu Milk and EE-343F-00334R.

It was not clear how much functionality these two super-

materials would be able to restore, but it was a possibility that completing two more Supply Missions would bring the System a lot closer to the functionality of a complete Metal Scroll!

Ves did not dare to assume that completing all five original Supply Missions would allow his fragment to form into a whole Sacred Scroll.

He did not think that these key materials were enough to recreate an artifact that by all right could match the Kingdom of Mechs in terms of power and capabilities.

Perhaps the System would impose another set of Supply Missions afterwards. Only this time Ves would have to secure much greater quantities of extremely rare and powerful materials!

He hoped that wouldn't happen. He did not like to be ordered around as if he was an errand boy.

"Are you doing alright, Professor Larkinson?" Captain Reze asked with clear concern.

"I am still okay. I don't have any desire to come closer, though. Let me stay for a few minutes. I almost got what I came for. Being able to see the Spark Reactor from this distance has been very fruitful. I can already see that I need to modify a few plans to account for the actual state of the Spark Reactor."

Ves was not lying. He truly had to adjust his plans to prevent his potential solutions from either subsuming, destroying or maybe even 'waking' up the living sparks that were supposed to remain silent and unmoving!

A part of him briefly entertained the idea of granting the fiery entity inside the Spark Reactor with an actual personality, but he quickly got rid of this dangerous notion!

As much as he wanted to make the entire dreadnought alive, it was far too dangerous to override all of the decisions and precautions made by the fleeters!

"Is there anyone around here that can give us an explanation of the Spark Reactor?" Ves asked.

"I can approach a few of the engineers, but do not expect any answers out of them. It is doubtful that they know more than the subsystems they are assigned to maintain, and they are probably restricted from divulging any useful information regardless."

Sigrund was right. Every engineer he spoke to had been less than forthcoming. Just because Dread Captain Argile allowed the guests to visit the Spark Chamber did not mean that the Dominion of Man was ready to offer up every secret!

The only way for Ves to gain answers was to ask Volkert Argile directly.

This would only happen if Ves came up with good reasons why he needed to know a specific secret.

Seeing that there was no way for Ves and Sigrund to gain anything in the Spark Chamber, they soon turned around and left.

Ves gradually experienced more relief as he put more distance between himself and the Spark Reactor.

As much as he wanted to study the living spark for a couple of hours, it had become progressively more uncomfortable for him to draw back his awareness for so long.

He was sure that his mother probably mastered a few cultivation techniques that enabled her to do this a lot better.

Once the pair of guests entered a spare lounge where they were allowed to wait until Dread Captain Argile got back to them, Sigrund couldn't help but ask a question.

"What is your impression of the Brain Trust?"

"It is… macabre… but effective."

"Do you think more Brain Trusts should be made?"

"Hell no!" Ves vehemently denied. "Only the fleeters would do something as outrageous as harvesting the brains of extremely talented potentates and converting them into organic processors. Outside of the Red Fleet, every other individual who is gifted with A-grade genetic aptitude will almost certainly be mech pilots. No matter whether they have stepped on the road to godhood or not, each of them are eminently honorable soldiers and warriors. They deserve to be treated with respect, in life and in death. They deserved to be buried or cremated with the honor they deserve."

"Isn't that a waste of resources?"

"It is." Ves plainly admitted. "However, human decency comes first. No matter how bad the Red War can get, we all need to cling to the humanity that we possess. Once we start putting cold hard logic over the principles that define who we are, we will become nothing but monsters in the end."

"Maybe it is not enough for us to remain 'human'."

"I don't believe that. I will not begrudge the fleeters for resorting to desperate measures, but I think that there is always a better alternative available. We just have to work hard enough to create the impossible and give human civilization a better alternative. My third plan… is meant to be such a solution. That is the reason why I favor it so much."

"What if you end up creating a monster in the end?"

"Then I at least hope that it has retained enough humanity to direct its aggression towards the aliens."