The Mech Touch

A harmonious atmosphere descended upon the cockpit of the Everchanger. As Task Force Fisherman had just exited the immediate sphere of influence of the Swarm Kingdom, everyone in the group relaxed.

With their lineup and with a distance advantage, none of the mech pilots were afraid of tussling with a horde that consisted of tens of thousands Swarmer fish-whales.

However, no one wanted to waste needless time, effort and resources on wiping out lots of forgettable cannon fodder that the Swarm Kingdom could quickly regenerate in a matter of days!

This was why the mechs of the task force were able to move fairly quickly when needed. Most fish-whales actually didn't excel at speed.

After all, qualified cannon fodder did not need to excel at fleeing or chasing. Since most battles in Purgatory centered around conquering territory, the grunt fish-whales just had to be as tough and resilient as possible in order to make the enemy consume more strength to get rid of them all. Speed was a secondary priority!

The only concern was whether the Swarmers possessed more powerful and elite fish-whale troops. Although the powerful Swarm Kingdom had only shown relatively weak and beatable fish-whales so far, who knew whether it hid an elite force that it could unveil at critical times.

This was why the mech pilots did not dare to relax too much. The Flagrant Vandals dispatched their light mechs ahead of the main force in order to make sure they were not heading into a trap.

As the time of arrival came closer, Ves and Joshua had grown a bit closer than before.

Though Venerable Joshua was an expert pilot who possessed far more confidence and strength than the average mech pilot, he had always looked up to Ves. Advancing to a demigod had not reduced that tendency in the slightest. Instead, it had become a part of his persona!

It took several hours in the same cockpit for Venerable Joshua to put down his apprehension and talk to Ves on a more familiar level.

The Everchanger's cockpit was quite cozy if a bit cramped due to the addition of an extra seat. Ves had invested quite a bit of effort into designing the original interior and he had not touched that at all when he remodeled the cockpit.

When Ves looked at the sculpted metal surfaces and the other little artworks that he had applied in order to make the cockpit a bit more special, he felt as if he had withdrawn to a log cabin together with his good friend and most loyal mech pilot.

Inside this cockpit, it was just the two of them. There was no need for them to put on any airs. The hierarchy didn't matter in this private space.

"Both of us grew up in Cloudy Curtain." Ves smiled as he cast his mind back to the past. "Do you recall the old days? Back then, both of us looked up to the Bright Republic and the Mech Corps. How naive we were back then. Do you know how our home planet is doing these days?"

Joshua nodded. "I heard that it has changed a lot from before. I haven't checked up on it in years, but Cloudy Curtain's population has ballooned after absorbing all of the refugees from the Sand War. Still… it's a pity that Bentheim eventually got sandblasted in the end."

Ves nodded. That was indeed a massive and largely preventable loss of life. At least the Big Two had paid a price for their consistent complacency and underestimation of the threat posed by the sandman race.

He sighed. "The Bright Republic is trying to rebuild the ruined planet in order to put the strategic port system back to use, but it will never be able to return to its former glory in at least a century. The dynamic in the region has changed and Cloudy Curtain has turned into a booming planet because of its proximity to the Bentheim System."

The port system still functioned as an important navigational hub. The problem was that much of its stellar and planetary infrastructure had been wrecked. Rebuilding all of that took a lot of time, especially when the Brighters had to start from scratch.

Faced with all of these delays, it was more convenient and economical to build up nearby star systems such as Cloudy Curtain as stopgap solutions!

Together with settling billions of third-class refugees from a lot of ruined planets, this had led to the odd situation where Ves and Joshua's shared homeplanet had undergone a metamorphosis in a single generation!

Venerable Joshua looked wistful. "If we ever have the opportunity to return to the planet of our birth one day, how much of the city of Orinoco will we recognize?"

"Probably little. The explosive rise of Cloudy Curtain demands an explosive rise of urban development. Back when our home planet only had a population of 15 million people, it didn't matter if the place was a bit shabby. Nowadays… there should be a lot more high-rise structures in order to accommodate all of the economic activity taking place in the star system."

Cloudy Curtain had ultimately done well for itself. Ves, Joshua and the rest of the original gang from this once-quiet rural planet had also done well for themselves.

As Ves thought about their drastic growth, he grew a bit more sentimental.

He had spent so much time moving forward and working towards the future that he hadn't stopped and looked back on how much he and his fellow companions had changed.

It was quite odd to compare his old self who lived in a much simpler time to his current self.

Though he had lost his innocence, he had gained a lot of power and accomplishments in return. This was a profitable deal and a worthwhile tradeoff.

As Ves thought about how much further they could go from their humble beginnings, he directed a speculative look to the expert pilot controlling the Everchanger.

"I have heard that Ketis has recently taken in an expensive design baby based on both of your DNA. Congratulations, Joshua. You'll be a father soon."

Venerable Joshua couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, sir. Congratulations to you too as well. My wife told me that she implanted a designer baby at the same time as your wife. Both of them will be experiencing their pregnancies at the same time."

"Our kids will also have an opportunity to grow together." Ves piped up. "Our wives are already determined to make them playmates. Depending on how they grow up, they might become something more."

"That… is possible, but I don't think it is a good idea to force our children to get along. We should let them sort out their own relationship."

The two had good reasons to tie their offspring together. Ves and Joshua had both developed a symbiotic relationship. Ves was the mech designer who provided the best living mechs while Joshua was the powerful mech pilot that could pilot them to their full potential.

The rapid rise of the Larkinson Clan was inseparable from the fact that the two former kids from Cloudy Curtain complimented each other well.

If their future children could develop a close relationship with each other, then that would cement their implicit partnership and tie them to each other on a more permanent basis!

Of course, Ves and Joshua generally didn't care that much about this method of strengthening their mutually-beneficial relationship. Their wives were a lot more preoccupied about this for some reason.

"I am a little concerned about my future son and other children." Venerable Joshua spoke. "An expeditionary fleet on an exploration mission is not a safe place to raise my kids. How often do you intend to bring us out on an excursion?"

Ves was caught off-guard by this question. He didn't have any good answers available but he quickly collected a couple of scattered thoughts.

"As a father, I share the same concerns. I do not intend to lead our expeditionary fleet into the most dubious and shady places in the Red Ocean, if that is what you want to hear. I have recently come up with a few ideas about our next years."

"Oh? Are you willing to share them to me, sir?" Joshua grew interested.

Ves grew silent for a bit. He truly hadn't settled his mind on this topic, but this might be a good opportunity for him to gather feedback on his ideas.

"None of this is set in stone, but I am inclined to keep our fleet in the vicinity of the Garimel System for the foreseeable future. Our trip to the Garimel System should be our last excursion for quite a while."

Joshua was surprised by this answer! "You are actually thinking about settling down?"

"Not entirely." Ves shook his head. "The reason why we are going out to places like these is because we are in need of harvest. The pocket spaces we have found and the plunder that we are striving for all have the potential to yield immense profits. The money, resources and other advantages that we can gain from this place is enough to allow our Larkinson Clan to digest all of the gains. We won't be lacking money or any other essentials for the time being."

Joshua displayed a mixed expression. A part of him was happy to embrace calm, but another part of him worried about the repercussion. This was why he held a slightly different opinion.

"Isn't the point of entering the Red Ocean to seize the opportunities that are only available in the early period of the invasion? If we squander our best years due to caution, nothing valuable will be left for us to obtain."

"That is true, but have you thought about how much we are benefiting from the Simile Halifax's presence in our fleet?" Ves asked back. "Once the MTA vessel departs from our side, our fleet will become acceptable targets to a lot of jealous human groups. We cannot defend our fleet against any attack launched by shady groups, especially when we are still weak. Given these risks, I am inclined to adjust my original plan and precipitate in and around Davute for a few years."

Venerable Joshua reacted with surprise. The patriarch of the Larkinson Clan had never hidden his stance on what the Larkinson Clan should do in the Red Ocean. The struggle to climb up was difficult and only through taking risks and exploring dangerous but lucrative places like this phase whale enclave would the former natives of the Komodo Star Sector gain a chance to reach the higher echelons of human civilization!

However, when Joshua thought about all of the new discoveries they had made recently, he understood that it was only possible to take a break after they successfully returned with an impressive haul.

Of particular note was the humongous amount of phasewater!

Even if the MTA flew by and swiped away the vast majority of this amazingly rich find, just the drops that squeezed through the fingers of the mechers was enough to enrich the Larkinson Clan for years!

"It is only after traveling around a bit and encountering unfathomable enemies such as the Titania and all of the fish-whales around us that I realize that our strength is still too inadequate." Ves continued with a sigh. "We started our exploration too soon and the quantity and quality of our older mechs are unable to keep up with our demands. I think it is best for me to focus on building up our commercial ventures for a few years so that we can gradually replace our older, rim-level mechs with newer heartland-level mechs. Once we have reformed and expanded our mech legions, that will be the time when we can more confidently explore the Red Ocean."

He hadn't given up on journeying the new frontier and stumbling upon exciting discoveries like Purgatory and the Royal Tomb, but he gained a deeper sense of unease.

This time, Ves could at least count on the MTA to bail him out to a degree. Next time, he had to make do without this safety net, so he better prepare for the challenges ahead in a patient and honest manner!