The Mech Touch



"This is not a good idea, Gloriana! I admit that your mother came up with a clever-sounding scheme, but the problem is that she isn't paying attention to the huge amount of undesirable attention that I will attract. It is all well-and-good for the Hexers to take revenge on the Fridaymen by taking away their colonial state, but what about me? The benefits offered to me pale in comparison to all of the trouble it will bring to my door. This deal of yours is a poisoned chalice!"

Gloriana already expected Ves to express a lot of fear and reluctance.

As his wife, she already developed an extensive model of his logic and decision-making process.

If not for the uncomfortable fact that he occasionally violated his own logic and made extremely irrational decisions that no one could understand, she would have been able to trap him in a web of her own making by this time!

Still, part of the reason why she developed such a strong attraction to him in the first place was his habit of out-of-the-box thinking. The marvelous and crazy ideas he came up with from time to time truly had the potential to revolutionize the mech industry several times over!

In any case, she could not allow her husband to keep all of his useful innovations to himself and his clan. It was an enormous waste for him to hoard his goods for so long!

"Meow!"

Gloriana's expression turned serious as she stood up. The gem cat in her lap climbed up until he embraced her shoulder in order to remain in a comfortable position.

"The contents of a holy chalice is powerful even if it is tainted with poison."

Ves frowned as he looked up at his approaching wife. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You are no longer a Journeyman Mech Designer, Ves. You have been promoted to a Senior, and a highly promising one at that. This represents a huge change in status. In the absence of Masters, it is customary for Seniors to take charge and assume responsibility. I have long grown frustrated at your restraint. You have invented so many fantastic means, but you constantly hide them away because you are afraid of 'trouble'."

"Hey! There are good reasons why I withhold a lot of my innovations! The MTA shares my concerns and has strongly reminded me not to spill anything before our society is ready to accept the changes."

This was a valid excuse, but it wasn't good enough for Gloriana. The woman shook her head in disappointment.

"I am aware that you cannot bring out a number of your most powerful inventions, but that still leaves you with plenty of attractive solutions that you can easily leverage to your advantage. The time for us to maintain a low profile and hide in the shadows has passed. If we want to ensure the best future for our children and smoothly promote to first-raters, we must accumulate the wealth, resources and connections to support our rise. We cannot do that fast enough if we continue to scour the deep frontier like scavengers digging into alien tombs."

Ves looked gobsmacked at his wife. This situation seemed incredibly absurd to him. Normally, he was the one who advocated bold decisions while his wife always preferred a safer course of action.

It was highly unusual for his wife to embrace risk to such an enormous degree!

It did not take a lot of thinking for Ves to figure out why she changed her stance.

Gloriana wanted to support her mother along with the rest of the Hex Federation. Doing that required her to convince her husband to upgrade the Hexer ace mechs to the best of his ability!

However, there was more to it than that. She wanted Ves to act boldly for other reasons as well!

Her aura became more aggressive as she channeled her ambition.

"Our circumstances have changed, Ves. We are not as weak as before. Soon, our expeditionary fleet will depart from Davute while carrying tens of thousands of mechs and three powerful ace mechs. No one will have the courage or ability to do anything to us, especially if we employ proper scouts and remain on the move. Aside from that, your friends over at the MTA are already protecting you in ways that you cannot defend against. Since you have repeatedly proven your value to the Survivalists and the Transhumanists, it is in their best interest to allow you to take advantage of your own work."

Ves frowned at her assertion. "I may be a tier 6 galactic citizen and I may have the backing of a few people from the Association, but that does not make me invincible. If I can have the support of an MTA faction, then so can others. What if someone else comes along who is a personal friend of a god pilot or something? It is far too dangerous to put my backing to the test!"

He had a rich experience of getting backstabbed by his friends and 'backers' at the most inconvenient of times. He never put all of his faith in the Mech Trade Association.

He was willing to take advantage of the generosity of the mechers, but he had no illusions about the fact that they were just using him and his work for their own ends. The only one among them that he could really trust was Jovy Armalon, but he was just a tiny figure in an enormous bureaucratic machine.

His wife persisted in her arguments.

"Let us leave that aside and talk about the fact that the cat is already out of the bag."

"Meow?"

"Miaow?"

"What cat? I have a lot of cats, you know. Our clan is filled with them, you know."

Gloriana snorted. "I am talking about the trick with the Phase King. Do you need to remember how many weapons you have blessed with the power of the Phase King after Operation Lighthouse? The ace mechs and expert mechs that benefited from your work have not remained quiet. Anyone who conducts a careful examination will easily be able to find out the driving reason why all of those powerful high-end weapons produce the silhouette of the Phase King before they overcome the toughest defenses."

He understood what she meant. He had upgraded the weapons of ace mechs such as the Thunderer Mark II, the Embodiment of Love and the Embodiment of Sacrifice.

Though he managed to secure a lot of phasewater and other valuable concessions through this trade deal, he also spread around an incredibly useful upgrade that was bound to make a lot of people curious!

This was what Gloriana meant by her previous remark.

Ves sighed in regret. "I should have controlled my greed. Upgrading the firepower of the Thunderer Mark II was excusable at the time because we wouldn't have been able to punch through the defenses of the orven battleship at the time. Upgrading the weapons of all of those other ace mechs was stupid for the most part. Still, I think it also helped to persuade the Adelaides and the Boojays into joining our alliance."

That did not completely make up for his mistake. Ves had been careless and not in his right mind when he made this highly consequential decision.

His wife continued to pat Lucky's back as she looked down on her remorseful husband. "You cannot reverse the choices that you have made in the past. What you can do is exploit the consequences of your earlier actions in the best possible manner. Since you have already 'sold' this powerful service before, you can do so again. The six matriarchal dynasties of the Hex Federation shall be your next client."

"I am not sure I am willing to accept their business…"

"Don't be a coward, Ves. Empowering their ace mechs comes with many rewards. Aside from the benefits that I have already mentioned, you will also earn the gratitude of an entire colonial state, one that will assuredly dominate the Magair Middle Zone with the help of the blessings that you can provide! Do you understand what this means? The Hex Federation shall become another powerful backer for us! As long as you make yourself indispensable to the Hexers, the Hexers shall protect you and revere you even more! Be smart about this. If you are afraid of attracting trouble, then use the power of the Hex Federation to increase your deterrence. As long as you are clever about it, you can harvest ample profit from this transaction."

That actually sounded reasonable, which isn't what he expected from his wife.

He had the feeling that it wasn't necessarily Gloriana but her mother Constance who had come up with these clever-sounding arguments.

Ves still remained reluctant to embrace this proposal. "This is a dangerous game, Gloriana. The Red Ocean is obsessed with power and the means to obtain it. If I become known as a highly effective provider of power, we will have to watch our backs ten times as much as before."

"Every problem can be solved, Ves. We are mech designers. We exist to solve problems. Your work is too useful and too brilliant to remain confined within our circle. Don't you want to spread your work and convince the mech community to embrace living mechs on a wider scale? This is the perfect opportunity for you to boost their acceptance by a significant margin! If more and more ace pilots benefit from your work, their positive experiences will inspire countless average mech pilots into embracing your products!"

Mech pilots revered high-ranking mech pilots. Venerables and Saints were practically idols to them. The products they used often sparked demand for similar goods!

In any case, ace pilots never made use of bad or awful mechs. If lots of Saints enthusiastically endorse and make use of Ves' works, then that would undoubtedly add a lot of credibility to all of his other products!

Ves struggled to make up his mind. "I understand how this can work, but the risks are too great. We will have to fend off dangers that come from many different directions. Once we employ this strategy, we will have to work extra hard to find a lot more powerful backers and supporters, because we sure as hell can't fend off every greedy bastard by ourselves."

Gloriana started to smirk. She knew that she had come close to succeeding in her goal. She just needed to give him another push.

"A poisoned chalice can be life-threatening, but only to the weak. Paracelsus once said that all things are poison and nothing is without poison. An ordinary mech designer cannot withstand the dosage because they are too weak and incapable. You are different. You have built up many powerful mechs and trump cards. You are among the youngest Senior Mech Designers of the Red Ocean. You are an associate of the Survivalist Faction and the Transhumanist Faction. You are the Supreme Son of the Hex Federation. You are the effective leader of an alliance made up of several powerful pioneering organizations. With all of these advantages, do you still think that a mere poisoned chalice can put you down?"

Well, when she put it that way, it did sound a little pathetic for Ves to cower in front of this massive opportunity.

"I will consider it." He replied with a noncommittal answer. "I cannot make a unilateral decision about this issue. This proposal affects our entire clan and many other people as well. I need to consult the opinions of all of my advisors before I can make an informed decision."

His wife figured out that this was the best answer that she could get at this time. "Very well, but do not wait too long. The Vrakens are already taking action. It will not take as much time as you think for one of their ace mechs to enter the Krakatoa Middle Zone and reach Davute. Remember who you are. You are a Larkinson, Ves."