The Mech Touch

Chapter 7424  Word of Streon Action

Ves let out a sigh.

He had no solution for the cost of making use of his new SDS.

It couldn't be helped. Both superdimensional technology and Destroyer technology were expensive and highly exclusive. Combining the two only made this situation worse!

Even if he was willing to go public with the new Super-Destroyer System, the amount of groups that possessed the wealth and resources to make use of it was depressingly low!

Ves should count himself lucky that the Larkinson Clan happened to be one of them, if only reluctantly due to the limited amount of Destroyer weapons in its possession.

If he wanted to continue this line of research, then he would have to get his hands on more Destroyer weapons.

It would be a bit too suspicious if he requested another exchange so soon after acquiring the Elegant Sword.

He decided to remain low-key and continue to obfuscate his latest research interest. There was no need for him to achieve rapid progress when his initial results already promised a significant performance boost.

With just two Destroyer particles, he had transformed the Murder Knife Mark II from a mediocre D-arm into a weapon that could overpenetrate Saint Armors and land an unexpectedly lethal blow!

Of course, Ves still valued his Withering Sting more.

He favored its reach and the ability to keep his enemy at a greater distance.

In addition, the spear was much more effective against enemies of a significantly greater scale than his other self.

This was especially the case due to the superdimensional weapon's extraordinary withering and corrupting effects.

Ves did not necessarily need to land a killing blow at once. He just needed to stab the enemy enough times to rot its flesh and spread the power of decay across the rest of its body!

Considering that he was about to accompany a combined fleet into enemy territory, he had little doubt his forces would encounter plenty of phase lords of superior scale.

Employing a measly knife against them sounded foolish.

Nonetheless, he still resolved to find an opportunity to test its experimental module on a suitable occasion. The need for research data slightly outweighed the risks of wielding the sidearm.

After Ves wrapped up his session and made sure to cleanse and purge his entire lab and workshop, he finally left and resumed his normal duties.

He had left his wife and the rest of his team hanging for a while. He did not regret his decision to do so as he already established a strong habit of acting on his inspiration.

Nonetheless, he did not miss the signs of discontent upon the expressions of his fellow mech designers and other clansmen.

This was yet another sign that it had been the right decision for him to resign from his leadership position.

His assistants quickly filled him in on what he missed during his brief research frenzy.

"The Saint Commander along with your wife has stepped up and attended numerous social occasions on your behalf." Gavin Neumann reported to Ves in his office. "The Terrans are honored with their presence, but it is not hard to notice that they are impatient to meet with the architect of the Arboreal Project and one of the chief catalysts to their successful breakaway from the Red Two. The two women may have reached an exalted status among the common citizens, but they are nothing special in the eyes of the true movers and shakers of a colonial star empire."

The Terran Alliance had way more junior ace pilots and Senior Mech Designers within its own ranks.

Though the members of the Larkinson Clan had managed to stand out and rise up at an impressive pace, the Terrans did not necessarily put too much stock in potential alone.

Most Terrans came from old stock. They proudly tracked their lineages and could trace their origins all the way back to the Age of Stars. Many ancient clans that managed to stand proud today had experienced their fair share of crises.

This gave them a greater appreciation of stable multi-generational families over the emergence of individual geniuses who could fall as rapidly as they rose.

While Ves technically fell into the latter category, he believed he had done a good job of rising above his more unstable and less proven peers.

Besides, Ves' lineage was not as plain and common as it appeared on the surface. He was the descendant of a powerful True God, one who lived for multiple centuries and witnessed the transition of two ages!

Considering all of these factors, the Terrans had plenty of reasons to elevate the status of himself far above the rest of the Larkinsons.

This was especially the case when cooperating with him yielded lots of benefits, both in the present and the future!

The only member of the clan that could come close to him on this aspect was Ketis.

Gloriana fell a bit short on this evaluation, but that could as long as she managed to advance her rank and make enough contributions to raise her galactic citizenship tier.

"Who do I need to meet as soon as possible?" Ves inquired.

"Master Laila Rebecca Devos has invited you to visit the gathered leaders, investors, mech designers, researchers, test pilots and prototype biomechs that the Terrans have brought to this star system. In short, the Terran stakeholders are eager to take your measure and receive your input on their earnest efforts. This is a major visitation that will probably last much of the day, so I suggest you get your smaller appointments out of the way first."

"And those are…?"

"Senechal Benny Smith-Streon of the Streon Ancient Clan has requested a meeting with you." Gavin said in a slightly admiring tone. "The Streons are about to embark on their own military campaign. There is talk that they may be the first to launch a deep strike expedition into native alien space. More and more warships, carriers and transports under the flag of this ancient clan have arrived in Bridgehead One, so it is fairly obvious what they intend to do next."

Ves couldn't help but smile. Though he was more than aware of the dangers of launching a massive raid deep into enemy territory, he believed that the Renewer of Terra and his people had already completed all of the necessary preparations.

As one of the few individuals who had been informed of General Axelar Streon's true intentions in advance, Ves wished the peak ace pilot luck.

Though the risks of stepping onto the road to no return would always remain great, but Axelar was much better prepared than that reckless rebel who practically committed suicide in front of Ves.

Though the Voice of Liberty gave up his life for what he believed to be a good cause, he was still a dummy for being too impatient.

General Axelar would never commit the same mistakes. As a scion and leader of one of the proud ancient clans of Terra, the man understood the value of accumulation and preparation.

That said, a part of Ves couldn't help but worry whether Axelar would still fall flat on his face and perish due to reasons of no fault of his own.

Becoming a god pilot remained a highly perilous action.

Many champions who prepared just as thoroughly as him had fallen short of completing the dreaded Mech Body Merger Process.

Their tragic deaths definitively proved that there was no true 100 percent guarantee for any human to ascend to godhood along this difficult path.

Perhaps only the Chosen Human may have been the exception to this rule, but it was precisely due to his unattainable S-grade genetic aptitude that everyone regarded him as an outlier.

Fortunately, General Axelar had his own unique opportunities.

Though his genetic aptitude did not reach a mythical level, he was paired with the 'oldest' living mech in existence.

Even if the Ouroborus had been defective for much of its natural lifespan, the iconic Terran hero mech that was famed for wielding just two weapons had become a proper third order living mech by this time.

In fact, Ves believed that this was not its limit!

Its accumulation was massive compared to other living mechs that had only experienced less than two decades of life.

Now that it had gained proper human-like intelligence, all of those life experiences could finally be utilized to the fullest.

Paired with one of the most powerful ace pilots in the Red Ocean, the Ouroboros was definitely evolving into a powerhouse that could easily surpass other peak ace mechs!

In short, the help that the Ouroboros could provide to General Axelar during the Mech Body Merger Process would definitely be significantly greater than other mechs!

While Ves did not underestimate any ace mech that had been prepared to transform into a god mech, Ves still valued the quality of life over any other property.

Living mechs possessed more vitality than other machines. This was exactly what prospective god pilots needed during their most critical transformation.

Ves smiled wider. "I look forward to meeting with Benny. Our contact with the Streon Ancient Clan may not be as frequent as the Devos Ancient Clan these days, but I have forged genuine friendship with the former. As for the Devosans, our relationship with them is more transactional. While there is still plenty of goodwill between us, there is no illusion that we are both taking what we need from each other."

The unforgettable Mastery experience had established a relationship between Ves and General Axelar that could not be replicated through other means.

Though Ves had not spoken to the Renewer of Terra for a while now, he was in daily contact with his granddaughter, who served as an acceptable substitute despite renouncing her ties to her ancient clan.

"The Streons have expressed their support for our initiative." Gavin said. "While their own planning does not take our own campaign into account, the timing between our two operations happen to coincide with each other. It would be convenient for us to raid the alien strongholds just across the border while the Streons strike at alien core worlds deeper into enemy territory at the same time. This will force the enemies on this side of the dwarf galaxy to experience a dilemma on where they should direct their rapid response forces."

While that sounded great, Ves doubted that the native aliens would truly have to split up their forces.

It was well-known that the native aliens still had an enormous reserve of prime military forces. They were just dispersed across the entire Red Ocean due to the need for individual major races to adequately defend their core territories against their old enemies.

Perhaps the dual invasions might shake the native aliens in the surrounding sectors to lay down their mutual hostility and cooperate with each other more sincerely, but Ves had a feeling that they would never bring themselves to this point.

Only a greater authority such as the Red Cabal could force them to fight alongside each other, but there were limits to such pronouncements.

In any case, Ves did not dismiss this favor. It would indeed be better if both of them launched their operations at the same time.

Given Axelar's primary goal for his deep strike operation, the native aliens were far likelier to send their most powerful reinforcements to stop the marauding Streons than strike down the upstart Larkinsons.

The scope and impact of their two operations were not on the same level!

If the Streons manage to pull off a feat that was so shocking that it stunned the native aliens, then perhaps the Larkinsons might be able to take advantage of the situation and get away with their own daring heist!

Ves smirked at the thought.

"I think it is definitely necessary for me to meet with Benny in private and hear what he has to say. I need to confirm the details with him and make sure that our two clans help each other despite the enormous distance between our forces."