The Mech Touch

When Ves spoke to his cousin Melkor about his breakthrough and other interesting experiences, he suddenly realized that he had overlooked a lucrative as well as impactful market.

What if mech pilots chose to further their evolution by committing to qi cultivation as opposed to willpower cultivation?

People who managed to become expert pilots and ace pilots would naturally be equipped with expert mechs and ace mechs appropriate to their rank and capabilities. Nobody ever believed that it was best for these powerful champions to keep piloting inferior machines that were more suited to be used by their lesser peers.

An expert pilot had to be paired with an expert mech.

An ace pilot had to be paired with an ace mech,

This was common sense in the mech industry. These rules had become so ingrained among mech pilots and mech designers that no one questioned their validity anymore. It was true that the water was wet.

He saw an opportunity that hardly any mech designer had thought about, let alone try to explore.

Ves did not blame the mech industry for this. Most of them were still unfamiliar with systematic cultivation. Their grasp on cultivation science was only a fraction as extensive as his own.

He was different. He possessed a much deeper grasp on both, and also happened to have plenty of experience with trying to incorporate systematic cultivation in his living mech designs.

Part of the reason why his seventh generation living mechs were supposed to be better than the previous generation was due to their ability to proactively guide and assist the pilot's own cultivation efforts!

Sure, Ves had only added a relatively limited auxiliary qi cultivation method to the Karma Cutter model that was supposed to help mech pilots become more perceptive of the bonds of karma, but this was already a game changer in his opinion.

Karma was a highly advanced and abstract concept that was difficult for ordinary people to get in touch with, let alone comprehend. It was very hard for people to get started without receiving expert instruction or special resources.

What made Ves proud of his Karma Cutter design was that it fulfilled both functions at once!

It was like a tutor and cultivation artifact in one. Piloting the mech should effectively reduce the difficulty threshold of learning how to perceive and weigh karma to a minimum!

Though Ves had already been thinking about expanding this nifty feature into his other mech designs, it was only now that he was thinking about using this function to benefit real qi cultivators!

Unlike mech pilots who were still young, fit and way too confident for their own good, the more mature types who lost their hope of breaking through could still become fairly powerful in other ways.

Qi cultivation was not that bad now that he learned how Commander Melkor managed to defeat a bunch of highly advanced puelmer elite phasefighters.

Ves saw immense promise in qi formations. He already concluded that the profession of formation master would one day come close to approaching the value and prestige of a mech designer!

Seeing how a bunch of static formation anchors were able to cut an enemy force in half and cause the trapped phasefighters to fight under much less favorable circumstances, Ves fully acknowledged that Melkor had become an existence that could affect the battlefield to a similar degree to an expert pilot!

Even though a 'combat spell array master' affected the flow of battle in a radically different manner from an expert pilot, the magnitudes of their impact should not be too divergent from each other?

What did this mean?

The Larkinson Clan effectively obtained another 'expert pilot-level champion! Though Melkor clearly sounded as if he understood how much more agency he obtained by gaining so much powerful capabilities, he clearly undersold his own value.

The Avatar Commander had been beating himself up for so long that it had practically become an instinct for him. Perhaps he had good reasons to keep his ego in check while he was still mediocre, but all of that had changed now that he had taken his first true step on the path to godhood.

"Melkor"

"Yes?"

"What you have been able to pull off in the previous battle is only a fraction of what you are capable of when you progress your cultivation and master more advanced techniques, am I correct?" řᴀNÓВÈs̩

The Avatar Commander nodded. "That is true, but it takes time and expensive gear to make that happen."

"Melkor, the time where humans fought against each other with their bodies and cultivation alone is long over. We are a race of tool users. Leveraging technology to amplify our own capabilities has been the standard for our civilization for multiple millenia. Our clan is not so poor that we cannot afford to invest in quality equipment for people such as you. I am already thinking about designing a new classification of mech

To help you realize your full potential, I should have thought about this before. Qi cultivators can become much more powerful if they are paired with the appropriate 'cultivator mechs"!"

Melkor couldn't help but look astonished. He had not considered this idea even though he spent a lot of time agonizing over his future as a qi cultivator.

The classical image of a qi cultivator was a man wearing an elegant and exotic robe while performing feats akin to magic.

Few people would ever think about putting a wizard-type figure into the cockpit of a modern mech. The two belonged to completely different settings!

Yet because red humanity had entered the Age of Dawn, this conflicting idea had suddenly turned into a viable concept!

Ves began to grin as his inspiration injected him with new ideas. "There is no rule that states we have to stick to the classical model of qi cultivation. By merging every form of qi cultivation with artifact cultivation, we can drastically improve the survivability and potency of qi cultivators such as yourself! is such a great idea that I cannot imagine why others have failed to realize it already."

Melkor started to warm up to the idea. If he had a choice, then he would naturally welcome the possibility to amplify his combat effectiveness as a formation master by an

Order of magnitude or more.

"What you just said makes so much sense to me, Ves. I have consulted with other qi

Cultivators in the past, but they never thought about piloting a mech or Carmine mech. They all assumed that they could best wield their powers without relying too much on conventional technology"

"I am not surprised, Melkor. Those cultivators have all fallen into the same trap. Expert pilots require expert mechs because they are barely stronger than a well-trained infantry soldier outside of the cockpit. A qi cultivator such as you is a lot more powerful when utilizing spell arrays by yourself. This naturally produced an attitude that assumes qi cultivators don't need to bother with mechs in order to exert their power to the fullest. I believe that this is a faulty way of thinking. At the very least, we need to test my new hypothesis and gather empirical data on whether cultivator mech can significantly boost your combat effectiveness as a qi cultivator."

Melkor really wanted to work with such an experimental mech, but when he thought about the upcoming battle, his mood began to sink.

"I would love to cooperate with you, Ves, but I am afraid there is not enough time to explore this idea of yours. I need to focus on the upcoming battle. I have to work with

The assets that I have right now."

Ves snorted when he heard Melkor's words.

"Who do you think I am? We don't need to complete a full experimental mech design project in order to give you a powerful boost. I can whip up a short-term solution within

A day or less. This should be enough to give you a leg up in the upcoming battle. I will need to think further on how to design a proper cultivator mech for your specific circumstances. I will not only need to discuss this with Gloriana, but also the people of the T Institute and the Red Collective. Cultivator mechs have the potential to become a big deal considering how much easier it is for people to achieve low-level breakthroughs as qi cultivators as opposed to willpower cultivators."

Hearing that Ves could whip up a quick solution sounded great, but Melkor did not understand how the patriarch would be able to make such improvements.

"What do you have in mind for my current situation?"

"I have already studied the design and modification plan for your Fey Fianna. I understand its current condition quite well. I need to perform a close examination of the so-called formation anchors that you have been using and any theories about it that you can share with me. My goal is to figure out how to convert these formation anchors into living fey. If that is not possible due to compatibility issues, it should at least be possible to mount external thruster modules onto them and allow you to control their flight."

"Uhm, my Fey Fianna is only paired with 8 living fey at the moment. My confinement spell array can only be activated by deploying 25 formation anchors."" "That is true, but I bet you can finely control way more than 8 fey at a time." Ves guessed with a smile. "You told me that your breakthrough has caused your cognitive functions to expand by a lot, right? Your multitasking ability should have improved by a lot. How many fey do you think you can really control now that you are much stronger than

Before?" Melkor frowned. "You are right. I should be able to handle many more now. What about my Fey Fianna? I know that living fey are special because the Fey Fianna is able to split. up pieces of itself and insert them into the spurs. Can my machine handle so much splintering in a short amount of time? The previous times my Fey Fianna's capacity expanded, the people responsible for doing the work warned me that this can only be done once every few months, because we need to give the living mech time to recover

And heal."

Ves chuckled. "This is true, but only under normal circumstances. I can think of several ways to skip this healing and adaptation process. Besides, your Fey Fianna should have grown a lot more powerful as well, I know that when mech pilots break through, they release a lot of energy. Living mechs can absorb a portion of the released energies to substantially fuel their growth. I do not think the effect will be much different when it comes to the breakthroughs of qi cultivators. Don't bother telling me what you think about this. I will remotely examine your custom Fey Fianna and attempt to upgrade it

Right away."

"Thank... thank you, Ves."

The Avatar Commander felt honored that the patriarch of the clan was willing to set

Aside his current work schedule to figure out how to upgrade his current machine in the

Short term.

The eventual result might not be as promising as a proper cultivator mech as Ves envisioned, but it was better than nothing.

"By the way, do you have other spell arrays on hand? You told me that your formation

Anchors have already cracked and are close to breaking apart. If it is possible, I would rather work with the formations anchors of an untouched and undamaged spell array" The Avatar Commander shook his head. "I hate to disappoint you, but I do not have anything available. I don't think I can find anything comparable in the Viola Magnifica System as I am pretty sure that I am the only formation master in this Middle Zone." "Damn. Well, let me take a closer look at the formation anchors, then. Maybe there is a way for us to repair these artifacts..."

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