The Mech Touch - Chapter 7398 Vague Attribution
Chapter 7398 Vague Attribution
Jannzi Larkinson broke through.
After spending many months settling down after her rapid ascent to the limit of what an expert pilot could achieve, she ‘unexpectedly’ broke through shortly after the end of the most recent affair.
It was very easy to tie the two events together, particularly given that Jannzi herself had openly admitted that she became inspired by the late ace pilot’s example!
Now, Jannzi had become a saint herself, thereby taking a major step forward in the path to godhood.
She had joined the ranks of Tusa, Casella and Ark and became one of the strongest and most exemplary members of the Larkinson Clan.
Though the addition of ‘another’ saint did not change the status quo too much at this stage, the addition of another powerful ace pilot further deepened the foundation of the Larkinson Clan.
What mattered the most was that she was a rare defensive expert.
The clan had plenty of offensive powerhouses among its saints, but those who focused on defense were much less ubiquitous.
Saint Jannzi’s breakthrough addressed one of the clan’s major shortcomings. Once her Bastion got upgraded into a proper ace heavy knight mech, the improved machine would not only benefit from all of the latest technological advancements of the Age of Mechs, but would also be fully clad in high-grade superdimensional alloy!
Although Ves did not know on the top of his head whether the Larkinson Clan had stockpiled enough armor-grade superdimensional matter to fully upgrade a big and heavy machine like the Bastion, even partial coverage was enough to qualitatively increase her survivability!
Ves immediately knew that Gloriana would have to rearrange her design schedule once again.
They had made good progress on the Promethea Mark II Project and the Lionheart Mark II Project. Their increased productivity and other assisting factors enabled them to progress both projects at the same speed as they did when they focused on one high-end project at the time.
While it would still take up to two months or so to finalize both projects to their satisfaction, they could tackle the Bastion Mark II Project right afterwards.
In fact, if any other Larkinson expert pilot also relied on the same catalyst to break through, he or she may receive the same kind of treatment!
Before he could fantasize more about what it would be like to have an ace mech version of the Bastion at his disposal, he suddenly shook his head.
This was bad!
He almost became completely trapped in his conversation partner’s rhythm!
“I know what you are doing.” Ves almost growled. “You are trying to make me feel grateful to you for sparking Saint Jannzi’s breakthrough. That is nonsense. She was already an ace pilot candidate for a while now. If she didn’t advance to the next rank today, then she would have done so eventually. Perhaps it would have taken a few more years for her to overcome her bottleneck, but I had no doubt that she would be able to do so within a decade. At most, the sequence of events that you have engineered has brought the timeline forward by a couple of years.”
The Resonance Smith smiled indulgently at Ves. “If that is what you want to believe. It is admittedly difficult to attribute one or another outcome directly to a specific event. It may very well be the case that your clan’s defensive expert was already on the cusp of achieving a breakthrough. However, it is undeniable that my plan has indeed allowed her to achieve greatness sooner than normal. She is not the only one. There will be many other expert pilots and ace pilots who owe their accelerated progress to the sacrificial actions of the Voice of Liberty. When taken as a whole, the new trend will have a significantly positive effect on the war effort. This is the goal that I have been striving for. I have induced a shock that was strong enough to jolt them into action.”
Ves had heard it all before. He was growing tired of this argument.
“If I am being honest, Your Excellency, I am not interested in arguing philosophy with you. This kind of stuff is too big for me. I am still a Senior Mech Designer. My greatest concern is working towards my own breakthrough. My preferred way to contribute to red humanity is to design mechs. I think it is best if I stick to that instead of trying to learn from your example.”
“Fair enough.” The Resonance Smith said and nodded. “I am imparting information to you because you are more than just an ordinary Senior Mech Designer. It will take shorter than you think before you are able to pull the same sort of levers. If there is one lesson you must learn from my example, it is that your clients can also be subject to engineering. A good mech designer must never waste any opportunity to make improvements. There will be occasions in the future where you can nudge individuals in the right directions. So long as your judgment is correct, you can achieve more change with a single psychological hint than selling thousands of powerful mechs.”
He could believe that. The Resonance Smith was a clear example of how much change could be accomplished through social engineering rather than pure mechanical engineering.
The outcast Star Designer spoke as if the both of them were made from the same cloth. Ves did not like this implication, but he couldn’t deny that they indeed shared a number of traits in common.
Yet that did not mean that they had to become buddies all of a sudden. Ves remained suspicious by nature. He had long overcome his instinctual and irrational hero worship of anyone who bore the title of Star Designer.
So far, he loathed the Polymath, and he possessed a dim view on the Xenotechnician.
While he used to regard the Resonance Smith in a positive light, the latest circumstances forced him to reconsider this evaluation.
Ves felt disappointed that the Resonance Smith did not meet his expectations.
His biggest mistake was not realizing what it meant for His Excellency to be a leader of the Unbound Humanity Faction.
The Resonance Smith was almost like an anarchist at heart! He truly believed in breaking the rules!
That alone prevented Ves from taking the Unbounder’s side.
No matter how sympathetic his arguments may sound, the Resonance Smith was ultimately a source of danger.
His formidable design capabilities may have turned him into a fantastic productive asset, but as long as he continued to adhere to his ideals, he could easily destroy far more than he created!
Both Ves and the Resonance Smith knew that the divide between the two had only grown deeper instead of shallower.
The former felt more alienated by the Star Designer.
The latter felt disappointed that Ves continued to buy his head in the sand.
Oh well.
Life still had to go on.
The projections disappeared. The Resonance Smith no longer tried to insist that he had been partially responsible for helping Saint Jannzi realize her potential today.
They moved on and began to talk about more serious and relevant subjects.
“Progress has been made in the secret discussions concerning stolen resonance technology.”
“Oh. Can… you share the details?”
“I am afraid not, Professor Larkinson. Despite your personal involvement in this ongoing affair, you have explicitly not been invited to this clandestine gathering. I cannot even tell you who has sat on the panel, but I am sure your imagination can fill in the gaps. What matters is that we have formed an initial consensus on how to manage stolen resonance technology.”
“So what have you guys decided?” Ves asked. “Have you permitted everyone to make use of stolen resonance tech? What are the rules concerning sources?”
“All of that will be explained as soon as the Red Association has published an official document on the matter. This will not take long. We will not permit humans to slaughter our high-ranking mech pilots for the purpose of harvesting their extraordinary willpower. In fact, the use of any human source of willpower will face heavy prohibitions by our institutions.”
Ves couldn’t help but smirk. “I bet that you objected heavily to the imposition of these rules.”
“You have guessed correctly, professor. The last thing we need is to impose more rules onto us. High-ranking mech pilots can already protect themselves by staying prudent and lending their services to the right organizations. If they cannot behave according to this standard, then they deserve to be tricked. We should not coddle this class of people. Their intuition already gives them a significant advantage in detecting and countering trickery. They are mostly accustomed to employing their judgment on the battlefield, but it is time they develop the habit of using it off the battlefield as well.”
The additional rules would probably make a lot of people unhappy, particularly industry insiders who were already burdened with excessive rules.
However, Ves did not object too much. He might personally agree that many rules had lost their relevance in the new age, but he did not think that pursuing the opposite to the extreme was any better.
“There is a problem with the resolution that you have just described.” Ves said as he suddenly thought about a concerning situation. “You claim that the RA will soon publish a prohibition on the use of human-derived willpower sources. That is all well and good, but that is pretty much the only source of extraordinary willpower that is available in both the old galaxy and the new frontier. Even if we can use the Oblivion Gates to trade this resource back and forth, that still doesn’t change anything!”
The Resonance Smith did not even deign to make a verbal reply this time. He simply stared directly at Ves with his false human eyes.
“…”
A highly disconcerting idea began to take hold in Ves’ mind.
The only logical conclusion that he could draw upon the most recent decision was that the major powers readily prohibited the use of human willpower sources because they prepared an alternative solution.
That alternative solution could only be an alien source of extraordinary willpower!
Thank you for reading my work. If you wish to support The Mech Touch, please vote with your golden tickets!
Purchase Privilege for The Mech Touch! Read a varying amount of chapters ahead of regular readers while enjoying a 99% discount on unlocking new chapters!
Join The Mech Touch’s unofficial Discord server: .gg/APB5KCU
