The Mech Touch

The ancient space gate was a marvel of phase whale technology. Even though Ves and the other researchers failed to learn anything solid by examining the construct, it was already beneficial for them to open their eyes to the wonders of the cosmos.

"Humans rarely come in touch with alien technology nowadays." A Lifer biotech expert said as he glanced admiringly at the impressive gate. "I think that is a shame, because we have much to learn from races that have developed their tech in radically different directions than our own. Many aliens don't think like us. I won't say anything about how much of a danger they pose to humanity, but if we can sit down in the same room and conduct a technological exchange with each other, I bet that we can push our mastery of biotechnology to the same heights as conventional technology!"

That was a controversial argument to make. Plenty of people looked askance at the bioresearcher.

"The aliens are our enemies, you know. I doubt that other humans will approve of trading our technology for theirs."

"I am not suggesting anything like that. We can just conquer their star systems and claim their tech for ourselves." The bioresearcher quickly said. "I think that invading the Red Ocean has been one of the best decisions that humanity has made. Just look at what other races have accomplished in this dwarf galaxy. We have become exposed to so many new possibilities that I intend to start a brand-new research project once I get back to the Dragon's Den!"

The thoughtful expressions on the faces of the other members of the research teams showed that he was hardly the only one to think this way.

Although the organic space gate stubbornly protected its secrets, just getting in touch with it stimulated a lot of people's imagination!

Just seeing what other races had accomplished on the technological front was an eye-opening experience!

"Back in the Life Research Association, much of the progress that we have made in advancing the state of biotechnology has stalled. Even though we were constantly able to come out with better inventions and applications, much of that progress was achieved by relying on better materials that have come out in recent years. The fundamental tech we have relied upon to develop our bioproducts hasn't evolved that much throughout different generations. I think the reason why we haven't made that much progress is because we were insulating ourselves too much."

This exploration run had provided them all with more gains and more eye-opening insights in a couple of days than they had obtained in decades!

Ves was no exception either. Though he had gained even less from studying the space gate than others because of lacking the right expertise, his imagination still grew wild as he continually entertained new thoughts.

However, he knew that he shouldn't get too obsessed about alien ingenuity. He was strongly aware of how the Big Two regarded those who got too obsessed with pursuing alien technology over human technology.

"I agree with you." Ves stated. "Getting in touch with advanced alien technology developed according to different paradigms and understanding of reality can inspire us to develop entirely new applications. We can also quickly upgrade our capabilities by adapting alien tech outright. That said, our civilization rose up because we were smart enough to internalize the lessons we have learned from other races. Only the technology that we understand and master ourselves is truly worth relying upon. We should all be careful and avoid fetishizing alien inventions too much."

Of course, no one told him that the Larkinsons should stop making so much use of luminar crystal technology.

The power of this tech when adapted to second-class combat was too good!

While there were other forms of human tech that could deliver even greater combat power in the second-class arena, the problem was that they were often exclusive and not easily accessible in the public domain.

The Larkinson Clan was hardly the only organization that conducted private research and developed specialty products. Each power player eventually built up an accumulation of specialties that they relied upon to do business or secure alliances with other strong players.

If possible, Ves wanted to understand or master the ancient space gate, but it seemed that this was not in the cards. Even his personal intervention didn't make a difference in the face of an organic device that was far too ancient and far too advanced for him to grasp.

"A pity."

Ves no longer wasted any time on the gate and spent the rest of the day exploring other sights.

He not only surveyed the terrain around Fort Fishblood, but also took a close look at the remains of various fish-whale subspecies.

He did not really gain any inspiration or other harvests from studying the corpses. The grunt fishes and sergeant fishes were too different and not that special to the Larkinson Biotech Institute.

The only fish that possessed greater research value was the so-called assassin fish. These red fish-whales were not only larger and stronger than the other fish-whales, but were also capable of performing instant short-range teleportation!

Naturally, Ves wanted to get to the bottom of this phenomenon. The body and mass of an assassin fish was roughly equivalent to that of a medium mech. If he and his research team could figure out the science behind this wonderful teleportation ability, he could make good use of all of the phasewater that his clan had already harvested and what it stood to gain from raiding the Lake Continent!

Every assassin fish corpse was an incredibly valuable treasure to the Larkinson Biotech Institute. Though the expeditionary forces had already transferred a lot of red fish-whale bodies to the Dragon's Den, a few of them remained on this side of the portal in order to study whether the environment affected them differently.

When he entered one of the hastily-erected biolabs, his attention immediately drew towards the giant red bodies that were put into special chambers.

The state of the two bodies were quite poor. Both of them had clearly received the tender mercies of the Second Sword mechs of the Swordmaidens. Large cuts and gashes marked their bodies and caused them to look as if they had a bad encounter with a serial killer!

Still, despite the damaged state of their bodies, they weren't mangled and brutalized beyond recognition. There was enough intact biomatter left for the biotech researchers to learn plenty of details on how their bodies worked.

Ves approached the nearest supervisor and quizzed her about what they had learned.

The female biotech expert looked enthused. "The specimens are fascinating examples of targeted breeding and evolution. We do not exactly know to what extent their genes have been tinkered with, but they did not develop their short-range teleportation ability through natural selection. However, the earliest iterations of the assassin fish were probably weaker and cruder than the ones you see in front of you. It is only through the passage of time that stronger and more fitter red fish-whales emerged. Through constant and targeted pressure, they have grown to a state where their efficiency, power and growth rate has approached the optimal level for your biological parameters!"

In other words, the creator of this subspecies started off a long time ago with developing assassin fish version 1.0 before calling it day.

Then something happened that left Purgatory unattended. This presumably allowed the Swarm Kingdom to rise and to implement several measures that caused the red fish-whales to experience a lot of challenges.

The weakest among them died but the stronger and more adaptable ones survived.

While it was hard to guarantee that the next generation of assassin fish became stronger, through repeated cycles an upward trend slowly came about. After millions of years, the red fish-whales were incomparably more effective in battle than before!

This was both good and bad news to Ves and his men.

The upside was that a more efficient and optimized assassin fish physiology meant that the creature functioned like a well-designed mech. The biological systems responsible for accomplishing teleportation must have undergone a lot of improvement!

The downside was that stronger assassin fishes also posed a greater threat against the expeditionary forces.

Their ability to appear in the midst of vulnerable mech formations and deal instant damage was too hard to guard against!

The only way to stop them from smashing vulnerable mechs was to take them out from a distance, which wasn't always easy when there were lots of grunt fishes in the way!

As Ves continued to quiz the supervisor on what the scientists figured out about the assassin fish, he soon made an important request.

"You told me that the red fish-whales activate their short-ranged teleportation ability by stimulating a special organ, is that right? Can you take me to one and show me it in person?"

"I can do that. We have already harvested one and placed it in another lab. Follow me, please."

They moved over to a separate biolab that was considerably more well-equipped than before. It was clear that the rest of the red fish-whale body didn't merit as much attention as this specialized teleportation organ!

At first glance, the red sack of meat did not look all that special. Ves wouldn't be able to distinguish it from the many other organs buried within the bodies of the fish-whales.

However, the scanners detected clear concentrations of phasewater inside this crucial biomass! This was undeniable proof that it was related to the signature ability of the assassin fish subspecies!

"Have you learned how it works?"

"No, sir. Our progress in understanding its principles has been slow." The supervisor shook her head. "This is a fascinating product of biotechnology and contains many elegant and profound implementations that are equivalent to applications of high technology. In order to understand and replicate this 'blinking organ', we must slowly study and experiment on numerous samples in order to learn its many secrets on a sequential basis. It will take decades for this research project to bear fruit based on our current capabilities."

This was better than Ves expected. Unlike the ancient space gate, the blinking organ was a more accessible form of biotechnology!

"I will approve of this research project." He quickly said. "No matter how long it takes, we must master this application of phasewater so that we can gain additional advantage on the battlefield. This is a perfect tool for both assault-oriented and assassin-oriented mechs!"

He was sure that the Big Two and a few other powerful players had managed to figure out how to perform instant teleportation by leveraging phasewater. However, it was unlikely that they were willing to share this trump card to others!

The time it took to yield results was a bit long, though. Even though he believed that the Larkinson Biotech Institute would constantly improve its manpower and research capabilities as the clan continued to grow, that still meant that it would take a decade or so for Ves to design his first blinking mech!

Ves directed a speculative look at the harvested organ.

What if… he didn't have to wait so long to impart a short-ranged teleportation ability in his mechs.

What if… he was able to transplant these whole and presumably functional organs in a mech of his own design?

His eyes lit up! This was a viable idea! It was just like reusing the parts of one mech to enhance another mech!

Although the idea of empowering his mechs by stuffing them with the fleshy remains of dead fish-whales sounded gross, who cared as long as it worked?!

"Can this organ work even if it is separated from an assassin fish body?" Ves excitedly asked. "Are we able to leverage its ability if we find a way to transplant it in a mech or another vehicle?"

"We… do not know enough about its mechanisms to give you a positive answer." The supervisor cautiously replied. "The blinking organ is calibrated to teleport fish-whales. If I have to make a judgment, it is theoretically possible to make it work in either a biomech or a cyborg mech as long as we can decipher and alter its bioprogramming. It won't even take that long since we have plenty of samples to study and experiment upon."

It was possible!