The Mech Touch

"It is almost time." Ves said as he stood in the front of the forward observation chamber.

The recent upgrades to his flagship included a comprehensive overhaul of the observation decks.

They offered better views and a more tasteful arrangement of plants and trees. Everyone who visited the top decks for the first time inevitably felt tranquil and detached from the constant activity taking place in the decks down below.

Ves had already done what he could in the short time that remained. All of the mechs and mech pilots aboard the factory ship were as ready as they could be, and the other elements that the Golden Skull Alliance put into play understood their respective roles as well.

It would soon be time to see whether all of their planning and preparation worked out and enabled them to defeat the yurzen raiding fleet.

He found it a bit ridiculous that he put far more effort and preparation in this battle than he did in the previous one against the wheednar raiding fleet.

However, the appearance of a hidden archeship along with the presence of two puelmer heavy cruisers, of which one of them still retained her full mobility, caused him to become a lot more vigilant towards this upcoming confrontation.

He still questioned whether it was a good idea to pull the trigger and go through with this confrontation even though there were clear signs that the situation in the Corellix System was anything but simple.

"Nyaaaa-"

The Golden Cat rested on his armored shoulder and pressed her head against his cheek. The ancestral spirit sensed his unrest and sought to calm his nerves.

Ves smiled and reached out to softly pat Goldie's manifested body. "I know. We're quite strong and we possess a lot of advantages. So long as the aliens don't spring too many surprises on us, we should be able to cope with whatever they bring to bear."

The problem was that the Golden Skull Alliance did not have a good idea on what their enemies were capable of. All of the scouting efforts only supplied them with a limited amount of information.

Their biggest shortcoming was that they did not have a complete understanding of the combat capabilities of the puelmer heavy cruisers.

Most of the homeships built by the puelmers were customizable combat platforms that tended to become more and more weird the older they became. Each and every year, the puelmer crew members upgraded the parts they did not like anymore and added new systems based on the latest inventions by their most inventive researchers.

This variability made puelmer warships a lot harder to defeat than equivalent vessels, but it also made them a lot more valuable as well.

Ves already had a glimpse of all of the wealth and insights that he could obtain from the archeship that was filled with exotic alien technology. Those two puelmer homeships should definitely contain other products of valuable alien ingenuity!

Two more spiritual entities manifested next to Ves.

Both Helena and the Superior Mother made an appearance in order to provide him with additional encouragement.

"You will do fine, little brother." Helena spoke as she gazed off in the distance. "So long as the Penitent Sisters and the Glory Seekers get close enough, they can call me down so that I can reap the souls of all of those alien crew members. Not even the puelmers should be able to resist my power."

Ves shook his head. "I don't think it will be that easy to eliminate the puelmers. We know that the aliens have collected intelligence on us. Our analysts and planners predict that the aliens will deliberately spread out their starships and do their best to intercept our Valkyrie mechs at all cost. We can still use the battle formations as a deterrence and a way to limit the movements of our upcoming opponents, but I'm not sure it will be possible for us to wipe out the crews of dozens of opposing warships as before."

Helena furrowed herbrows. "That is... regrettable."

He glanced towards the manifestation of the Superior Mother.

She showed up in a robed visage that shared obvious parallels with his actual mother over in the Nyxian Gap.

Ever since Cynthia Larkinson regained her body and assumed the power of a True God, her incarnation received a massive boost.

In the past, it had always been the Superior Mother who supported Cynthia.

This time, the balance of power between the two had reversed. It was Cynthia who was currently supplying the ancestral spirit with high-quality spiritual feedback!

This not only accelerated the growth and evolution of the Superior Mother even further, but also enabled Cynthia to descend her consciousness onto her incarnation in a much better fashion!

True Gods were truly existences on another level. Every pre-divinity entity did not come close to these higher life forms in terms of power, longevity and abilities.

Ves had learned from his mother that classical qi cultivators who had reached the state of a True God generally possessed the greatest and most versatile means.

It was not that difficult for Cynthia to strengthen and upgrade her incarnation in her own distinct ways.

However, even a True God like herself could not do much about the immense distance between the Milky Way and the displaced Red Ocean!

Perhaps the story might be different if Cynthia specialized in the manipulation of spacetime, but even she could not master every possible field of cultivation science!

"I have been keeping an eye on the Hexers." The Superior Mother spoke in a gentle and motherly tone that sounded nearly identical to that of the Oblivion Empress. "Their enthusiasm for this ritual is high. I find it rather adorable how eager they are for this. They truly yearn for victory after having tasted the bitter fruit of defeat."

Ves looked a little surprised. "Are the matriarchs truly in support of our initiative?"

"They are." His mother replied. "It is true that they have their own calculations, but they are not as duplicitous and selfish as you think No matter what you think about them, they are truly cognizant of the immense responsibility they hold over their Hexer population. They know that their people are fragile and that they can easily enter into a self-reinforcing spiral of fear and uncertainty in this new and dangerous age. In order to prevent that from happening, they must lift the morale of their people. The citizens of a state must have optimism for the future in order to stand the test of time."

Helena nodded in agreement. "The matriarchs seek to bolster the destiny of their colonial state. Securing a dramatic victory is one of the best ways to do so. They already experienced this before after you and the Hex Army successfully raided Pima Prime. Not only did that lift the destiny of the Hex Federation, but it also sapped the national strength of the Friday Colonies."

All this talk about destiny sounded a bit strange to Ves. He knew that they did not use this term randomly.

"Does destiny really exist? I find it hard to believe that everyone's futures and outcomes can already be determined in advance. Quantum mechanics makes fools out of anyone who assumes this is the case."

Both Helena and the Superior Mother looked at each other and chuckled.

"Nyaaaa nyaaa nyaaa." Goldie said as she hopped from Ves' shoulder and lowered herself into Helena's arms.

"Perhaps destiny as you interpret it does not actually exist. Who knows." The Superior Mother nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders. "However, I am sure you are familiar with the concept of esprit de corps. Any cohesive group that is tight-knit and unified enough is able to form a shared spirit that exemplifies their collective pride and identity. This has greater meaning in an environment where even the most average citizen of a state can develop an inkling of supernatural power. Esprit de corps will no longer be as insubstantial as before. It will gain real weight in this new age, and those who understand its power and take advantage of its potential will most assuredly be able to exceed their lesser peers."

Much of this sounded familiar to Ves. General Verle talked a lot about how important it was to actively reinforce the esprit de corps of the Larkinson Army and give the Larkinsons more reasons to remain attached and dedicated to their growing clan.

Ves threw a glance towards the Golden Cat. The esprit de corps of most organizations were rather insubstantial, but the Larkinson Clan happened to be an exception because he had already turned it into a living representation!

The Superior Mother grinned. "Can you sense how well the Golden Cat is developing? She is much stronger than she should be relative to how many people she is watching over. One of the reasons for that is because the Larkinson Clan under your leadership is doing extremely well. The battles you've won, the enormous earnings that you have made and the escalating expectations of your clansmen have all raised the destiny of your clan to a much higher peak than that of other pioneering organizations. If this trend persists, it will only be a matter of time before you and your clansmen will be promoted into first-raters."

Her talk of the Larkinson Clan's constantly rising fortunes reminded Ves of a certain little tree that his grandfather gifted to him a long time ago. He hadn't checked it as of late. Perhaps he should take another look at it and see whether the changed environment altered its properties.

As much as his mother and his sister made a lot of sense, Ves still retained his skepticism towards the more nebulous connotations of destiny.

"I understand your overall sentiment, but I don't really buy into all of that crap about fate and destiny." He told them. "I get it that groups of people can be mobilized in order to assist in various endeavors. This is why I wanted the Hex Federation to attempt a grand ritual in the first place. As long as this works, we can leverage the power of a large and unified collective to pull off a lot of powerful feats!"

It would be similar to employing a battle formation but on a massive scale!

Of course, Ves did not believe that measures like these could defeat every opponent. The masses consisted of all kinds of messy individuals who diverged in many ways. It was impossible for random Hexer citizens to align with each other to the same degree as tight-knit elites who trained and fought alongside each other for many years.

The upcoming battle needed to be fought with mechs and mech pilots. As long as they were strong and capable enough, there was no need for Ves to rely on dubious means to overcome his opponents.

That said, Ves did not wish to reject any additional form of strengthening. The more cards in his hand, the greater his depth in combat. He never wanted to be left in a position where he had no card left to play on the battlefield!

"I hope that Saintess Ulrika Vraken will cooperate with us on this." He said. "By the way, is it possible for ace pilots to engage in deity cultivation? I'm afraid it may have a detrimental influence on their growth instead."

His mother responded with a coy smile. "You can seek the answer to this question yourself, my son. Perhaps the upcoming ritual will be enough to give you a clue."

Ves hated it whenever his mother answered like this, but he understood that she didn't want him to be lazy.

Rather than treating her as an easy repository for information, it would be better if Ves made his own discoveries.

Only by conducting his own research would he be able to leap beyond the existing confines of cultivation science and develop his own unique theories!

In this regard, the ritual he planned with the Hex Federation was one such attempt!