The Mech Touch

Chapter 7595 Strategic Resource Constraints

The talk with Rosa Orfan cleared a lot of doubts.

She and the Prophet's Bane had entered a new phase in their tempestuous relationship.

While they still remained hostile with each other, a possibility had opened up where they might agree to set aside their differences for a short moment.

Of course, whether such an occurrence took place completely depended on the whims of the Middle Demon.

The Prophet's Bane held all of the power in this relationship. It was he alone who could decide whether to assail his human prey or suspend hostilities.

That was very much an undesirable state of affairs, but no one could do anything about it. Aside from achieving a major breakthrough, the only ways for Rosa Orfan to truly resolve the threat of a takeover was to defeat the demon in totality or achieve a genuine state of symbiosis.

None of these outcomes could be attained in the short term.

What was worse was that Ves also had to go out of his way to satisfy the latest request of the Prophet's Bane.

The promise weighed heavily on his mind. He felt so tempted to discard it, but a deal was a deal. Ves was not willing to compromise his integrity and piss off the most powerful ace mech in his arsenal just because he felt squeamish all of a sudden.

Before he left, he made sure to voice his intentions.

"Demon, I am glad to see you living with Saint Orfan in peace at this time. I hope you can continue to grant her relief in the future. Your mercy shall not go unnoticed. As soon as I get back to my office, I will begin to make arrangements regarding the supply of… human sacrifices. Given that our deal makes no demands on the particulars of the human subjects, I intend to negotiate a transfer of heinous prisoners with nearby states. Passing them on to you will not only satisfy your appetite, but also cleanse our society of unproductive actors. It will take time for us to collect these people, so please be patient."

The Riot Mark III shook a little, but that was all. The ace mech could hardly do anything now that it was locked down to this extent.

Ves still got the message, though. He wordlessly nodded in acknowledgement before turning around and making his departure.

Half an hour later, the tired and injured Senior Mech Designer processed the most critical paperwork in his personal office.

Now that the fleet had suffered so much attrition, Ves and other leaders had to make a lot of hard decisions.

Dozens of emergencies had popped up, so much so that the limited manpower at their disposal could never address all of them. The Larkinsons and other groups had little choice but to ignore lesser matters.

Fortunately, Ves did not assume a lot of direct responsibility this time. The Saint Commander and other leadership figures had to oversee many more units and activities. This was why they were not quite ready to attend a briefing.

Since Ves gained a little time for himself, he chose to leave his office and drop by the design lab.

"You have finally deigned to enter your workspace."

"Well, I am glad to see you too, Gloriana. Aren't you concerned about my injury?"

His wife looked up from one of the worktables and directed a measuring glance towards the stiff and bandaged shoulder.

"You spent many minutes on the battlefield after you concluded your duel with the Blackwater Summoner. You did not choose to remain in the infirmary. This means that your injury is not severe enough to warrant my attention. If your condition was critical enough, then you or your doctors would have notified me directly. That has not happened."

Well, she may be right about this, but she didn't have to adopt such a heartless tone.

Ves still moved closer until he was able to lean forward in order to plant a kiss on her cheek.

His wife did not cooperate. She scowled while deliberately leaning backwards.

"Gloriana! What is up with you today?! Can't you welcome back your wounded husband properly?"

"I am not in the mood, Ves. Have you not spent a single second of your life thinking how your recklessness affects our children and I? DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW WORRIED I BECAME WHEN I SAW SO MANY SOLDIERS FALL?! ARE YOU IGNORANT OF THE FACT THAT BOTH OF OUR CHILDREN BECAME SCARED OUT OF THEIR WITS WHEN THEY SAW YOUR SUPERDIMENSIONAL RAIMENT GET BREACHED BY BLACKWATER EXPOSURE? MARVAINE EVEN CRIED WHEN HE THOUGHT THAT THE PHASE WHALE MANAGED TO BRING YOU CLOSE TO DEATH!"

Ves winced as he took a few steps backwards. He never found it pleasant to endure her shouting.

That did not mean it was unwarranted. Ves had already begun to think back on his prior decisions and mistakes. Though he did not feel as badly about his missteps as his wife, he did not think she was doing anything wrong.

He deserved this rebuke.

"While we all embarked on this campaign with the knowledge that we may face higher-than-expected resistance, I admit that our curiosity and unfounded courage may have led us to take more risks than necessary." Ves explained with an even tone. "I apologise for that. As soon as we entered the edge of the Hypeh-Tekas System, we should have recorded all of the abnormalities that we could gather from this safe location and depart right afterwards. Whatever the native aliens were up to inside the dark miasma, we did not have an obligation to pierce through this dangerous veil. We should have transmitted our findings to the Terran Alliance and the Red Three so that they could organize and dispatch a proper assault fleet."

This was one of the conclusions he had made after spending a bit of time on reflection. The combined fleet possessed a lot of strength to be sure, but it still had major shortcomings. Ves and the Saint Commander should have stuck to conducting low-risk raids on inadequately defended supply depots and industrial hubs. There was no need to tempt fate and match their weapons against the elites of the Red Cabal!

Regardless, the battle had already been fought. It was too late for them to turn back the clock. The surviving humans had little choice but to accept the consequences and make the best of this situation.

Now that Gloriana had vented her frustration, she calmed down and moved on to more interesting business.

"I have been paying attention to the spoils brought back by our salvaging teams. The goods that belong to the native aliens are valuable, but they do not hold my interest. Much of it has already lost its novelty in my opinion. Perhaps the only truly new goods that we can obtain from this group are strange and unfamiliar phasewater organs. You and your 'Ascended Giants' may be eager to get your hands on them, but they hold no appeal to mech designers such as myself."

"I wouldn't say so with absolute certainty."

"Pardon?"

Ves smirked back at her. "Biomechs, especially ones that are able to imitate the physiology of phase lord bodies, may be able to integrate these alien phasewater organs and tap into your exotic power."

"Such biomechs do not exist."

"Yet." He emphasized. "I am sure it will only be a matter of time before a biomech designer that is crazy enough has managed to merge the two together into a functional whole. That individual may be me one day. There is a small possibility that my current Woodsap mechs or my future Mergewater mechs may be able to evolve into phase lords. After all, they are all alive. Phase lord cultivation is universal enough that it works for many sapient alien species that do not have much in common with each other. If that is the case, I see no reason why my living biomechs should be exempt from this rule. You can pretty much regard them as separate organic species in their own right."

"Your theory sounds crazy…" His spouse said in a tone that conveyed both doubt and amazement. "Yet its logic is sound enough that it may actually be viable. I do not think it will be easy to achieve this, though. Many minor alien races of the Red Ocean have tried their best but failed to produce a single phase lord among their ranks. If entire civilizations cannot accomplish this, then I doubt that a single mech designer such as yourself can beat the odds."

He readily acknowledged her skepticism and shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose you are right. I am only viewing this from an opportunistic lens. If there is a quick and easy way to turn my biomechs into artificial phase lords, then I will definitely invest in this research direction. If there are no such openings, then I will spend my time on other priorities. There is no urgency to produce the biomech equivalent of phase lords. The cost in phasewater alone makes mass prohibitively expensive."

Even though phasewater had lost its limelight to superdimensional matter in recent months, that did not mean that the former had lost all of its luster and desirability.

Phasewater was still an immensely valuable substance that could drastically elevate the performance of weapons, armor, energy shields, FTL drives and so much more!

The Phase Lord Department of the Red Collective already received a lot of flack for its voracious demand for phasewater. There was no other way to produce so many human phase lords and fuel their subsequent growth and progression.

Since much of his power and authority was derived from this department, the last thing Ves wanted to do was to create a competitor to his giants!

There was not enough phasewater to satisfy the hunger both at the same time.