The Mech Touch

Even Ves had to pause when he heard the term 'demonic cultivator'.

It did not evoke any pleasant associations in his mind.

A lot of cultivators tended to be crazy and extreme due to practicing weird methods.

The more outlandish and subversive the cultivation approach, the more they distorted its practitioners!

Even cultivators had their limits. Anything that crossed the line and offended a lot of other beings probably got stuck with this undesirable label.

"What are demonic cultivators, exactly?" Ves asked his mother.

"The definition of demonic cultivation is not absolute." Cynthia calmly responded. "It has changed frequently over the ages as cultures and environmental circumstances undergo major shifts. It is often associated with evil, but I personally do not agree with this sentiment. Is it evil for wolves to prey after sheep? Does the cat bear any guilt when it catches a mouse?"

"Meow...!"

Naturally, Lucky strongly disagreed with that last sentiment!

Irene crossed her arms. [The examples you have mentioned are part of the natural cycle of life. I presume that demonic cultivation goes beyond that. You are talking about disrupting and destroying entire ecosystems for selfish gains. Such deeds will not go unpunished.]

"So what, Irene?" Cynthia sneered at the god pilot. "You are aspiring to become the Greater God King of Destruction. It is impossible for an innocent soul to occupy this throne. You should know as well as I do that the best way to progress your cultivation is to give in to your true nature. Your domain is centered around the concept of destruction. Even if you do not employ special cultivation techniques, I can promise you that you can speed up your growth and deepen your understanding of destruction by shattering a large amount of planets. The more lives you destroy, the more you will resonate with this universal rule."

Ves found it rather perplexing that a destructive god pilot like Irene was so reluctant to employ her greatest power.

Then again, all of the battles and scuffles that she fought in the past were relatively small in scale. Humanity during the Age of Mechs had paused the massive conquests of the past in order to rebuild and consolidate all of its gains.

Now, red humans needed to go back to the more aggressive and ruthless approach that their predecessors had embraced in the past.

The Destroyer of Worlds needed to adapt to a different set of rules!

[So if I want to save red humanity, I must accept the identity of a demon, is that what you are trying to convey?]

Cynthia nodded. "People shall fear you. The aliens will hate you beyond measure. Perhaps one day, much of red humanity shall turn against you, fearing that you have become so corrupted that you may eventually turn your god mech's powerful weapons against your own people. No matter how much you try to defend yourself, your frightening record will render any persuasion ineffective. This is the fate of a true demonic cultivator. Are you willing to bear this injustice in order to fulfill your ultimate goal?"

At this point, it would be stupid for Irene to remain obstinate. [The mission comes first. I am capable of setting aside my personal concerns in order to advance the greater good. Tell me what I must do in order to gain the strength to dominate the Red Ocean.]

That was exactly what Cynthia was waiting for. She gestured towards the image of the dwarf galaxy past the illusionary window of the starship compartment.

A view shifted as the large proportion of space occupied by the native alien races lit up. This was the base of faith that the Destroyer of Worlds must target.

"Faith is the power that separates True Gods from foundation builders and domain shapers. Any True God that aspires to become a God King must practice a form of cultivation that maximizes their intake of faith energy. You can make a good start by destroying planets occupied by millions if not billions of nunsers, orvens and other intelligent aliens. Many of these beings are weak. Killing trillions of them is far from enough. You need to keep destroying more and more planets to the point where you have depopulated entire zones."

The alien territories started to darken and dim. The amount of stars that had lost all life grew to such a frightening scale that Ves could not imagine how many souls would have perished at Irene's hands!

[We cannot engage in total annihilation. The other leaders of red humanity will not tolerate this scale of destruction.] Irene remarked with a frown. [All of the major human groups desire to expand their territories and increase their living space in order to support a larger population base. It is acceptable for me to destroy a modest number of highly fortified alien strongholds, but once I go too far, I will interfere with too many plans.]

Cynthia did not look too surprised. "Then you must go deeper and be more selective with your targets. The risks are greater, but you will be able to make every alien fear for their lives."

The image of the Red Ocean changed. Entire territories no longer descended into total darkness. Instead, they only dimmed to a modest degree, showing that they still preserved enough pockets of life.

The difference now was that the spread of darkness became more pervasive. The Destroyer of Worlds needed to destroy the key planets and population centers across the entire Red Ocean in order to harvest the immense quantity of faith needed to fuel her cultivation!

[This is more acceptable, but is it truly enough to elevate me to a God King?]

"No." Cynthia admitted. "You need to warm up your subjects before you harvest their lives. It is best not to blow up the planets in an instant without warning. You need to... put on a performance. The more your impending victims become aware of you and your threat towards them, the more they shall pray for your mercy and forgiveness. Denying their requests will evoke such strong emotions that their faith will be more intense and rewarding to you. The greater the suffering, the sweeter the rewards."

Ves couldn't help but shudder when he heard that. How come he had the feeling that his mother was speaking from personal experience when she explained her plan?

Cynthia grew confident enough to create a small image of a generic alien planet. It looked like a typical military and industrial hub of the orven race.

"Let us say that this planet can produce too units of faith energy if you blow it up right away."

The planet promptly got struck by an explosive shell blessed by Emma before blowing up in a ruinous fashion!

"This is an enormous waste." The more traditional True God said in clear disapproval. "You have not only given the aliens too little time to say their prayers, but also prevented them from directing their faith to you. If you want to increase your yield, you must let them know who is responsible for dooming their lives."

The image changed to depict an orven city that had become gripped by despair.

The tall humanoid aliens somehow learned of what was coming. Many of them panicked and lashed out against their own kind.

Others went back to their homes and embraced their family for a final time before they met their end.

The complete and total helplessness of the orvens produced remarkably strong reactions, all of which caused the planet's output of faith energy to spike!

"Do you see, Irene? How many planets have you blown up where the alien residents knew what was coming? Even if you did not take the initiative to absorb their faith, you should be able to tell the difference. If the base income is too units of faith energy, then announcing your arrival and letting the aliens stew for an hour may increase your yield by as much as 500 or 1000 units of faith energy."

Irene found the sight of all of this chaos and suffering to be distasteful.

[I understand. I do not like it, but I shall adopt this strategy if I can satisfy my goal with fewer planets destroyed at my hand.]

"lam not finished yet, Irene. If you truly want to amplify the gains you can obtain from a single planet, then you must be more proactive in spreading your faith. It is best to form a new church based on a religion of destruction. Cultivate alien priests through whatever means necessary and dispatch them to all of the densely populated planets that you deem as eligible targets. The more your church captures the population, the more faith you will gain from harvesting their lives. You can claim the sweetest rewards when they willingly devote all of their faith to you at the moment your power deprive them of their lives."

The image changed to show an example of this shocking layout.

It showed snapshots of captured aliens getting brainwashed and indoctrinated by the subordinates of the Destroyer of Worlds.

Once these orvens and nunsers had completed their 'training', they secretly got shipped back to alien space where they promptly 'returned' to their native societies.

Once they took root on different planets, the returnees began to form various local cults.

Through the well-established manipulation methods taught by the human race, many of these cult leaders started to build up a larger and larger following.

No matter if the alien rulers attempted to suppress the subversive religion that claimed that their doomsday was coming, the beliefs could never be entirely eradicated!

It did not matter if the alien believers were sincere about their faith or not. They just needed to be familiar enough with the supposed Goddess of Destruction that would ostensibly come and annihilate them all one day!

All of this was preparation work for the real deal. Once the alien heralds had done their jobs, all the Destroyer of Worlds needed to do was come and reap an extremely ripe and abundant harvest!

The image showed how that would look. The skies darkened as the Ragnarok arrived in high orbit of the planet.

Irene's god kingdom spread out to such a powerful extent that it blocked out the light of the local star and engulfed the lit side of the planet in an eclipse!

This was the signal that the Cult of Destruction had warned about!

When all of the weak and defenseless aliens realized that the doomsday prophecy spread by the new cult was coming true, all of them would go completely mad!

Millions of orvens destroyed the idols that represented their own native gods and fell to their knees in order to beg for forgiveness from the cruel foreign goddess!

Cultists who had prayed to the Goddess of Destruction for months and years would celebrate her arrival by egging on the masses and spreading their self-destructive gospel even further!

Once the Ragnarok fired the ultimate shell that destroyed the planet and every alien that resided on the surface, the cultists as well as the other aliens that had become influenced by the new beliefs all dedicated an enormous amount of faith to the True God that had reaped their lives!

"How much... how much faith energy can Irene harvest in this scenario?" Ves asked.

His mother smirked back at him. "The upper limit is high. There is a large amount of room for expansion depending on how extensively the cult has penetrated the planet and how many converts have turned into fanatical believers. A good operation should easily increase the expected yield by as much as 100,000 units of faith energy!"

Both Ves and Irene looked shocked when they heard this response!

That was a massive increase compared to a base income of just 100 faith energy.

Ves never knew that prepping the target by causing them to convert to a religion that foretold their own doom could make such a massive difference!

His mother... was a genius!