The Mech Touch

Ves felt that Casella's ambition had a lot of potential.

If she was able to extend her Command Field to other star systems by exploiting the advantages of deity cultivation in combination with her companion spirit, then she may be able to defend an entire zone by herself!

However, it was way too premature to entertain this fantastical idea. Casella needed to grow a lot stronger, and Ves needed to conduct a lot of research in order to develop the necessary factors that could enable this speculative method of power projection.

The configuration of the Minerva Mark II was already good in its current form. There was no need to overcomplicate the design by piling up features at a late stage. Feature creep would only cause unnecessary delays.

There was only one possible upgrade in particular that may be worth adding to the mech design.

"You haven't given me a solid answer yet about whether you are willing to allow us to add a Carmine System to your ace command mech." Ves responded. "You only told me that you are afraid of the consequences of making the wrong choice, but that is not a clear answer. The upgrade project has already reached a certain stage of development, but it is not too late to add this feature. If you wait too long, then the default outcome will mean that the Mark II will not feature the Carmine System. You can only wait for the Mark III to form a Blood Pact, but that may be at least a decade away, if not several. This is a lot of time that you could have spent on forming a more intimate relationship with your living mech."

Casella knew how beneficial it was for high-ranking mech pilots to develop a strong bond with a living mech. Venerable Jannzi and her Bastion regularly demonstrated capabilities beyond the norm due to their excellent relationship with each other.

The Saint Commander lowered her head as she struggled to make her choice. "To be honest, I was hoping that you would overlook this subject. I am truly reluctant to issue a verdict on this matter. I hate the fact that you are forcing me to make a clear choice. Do you know how damaging it is to confront mech pilots with this choice? If you ask them whether they are willing to let you install a Carmine System into their living mechs, saying no will obviously indicate that they distrust their battle partners. Even the act of showing reluctance is already enough to cast a mech pilot's commitment to a living mech into doubt."

Ves merely shrugged in response. "I am not unaware of this dynamic. I have never pressured mech pilots into switching to Carmine mechs. As long as these fellows are already doing fine with their conventional mechs, there is no need to overcomplicate this matter. There are pros and cons to both kinds of mechs, so I don't think that there is a wrong choice for potentates. You should not feel pressured either. There are advantages to sticking to your current setup. I am sure that your Minerva will understand your reasoning."

"Perhaps, perhaps not. I would rather prefer to avoid an uncomfortable and difficult discussion, but your actions have made this a certainty. Thank you for that, sir."

"You are welcome." Ves sardonically grinned. "By the way, you are stalling or avoiding the topic again. Is this the courage of an ace commander? Come on. You are a saint. The fear that I am forcing you to confront is not small, but you should really grow up and consider it from a rational approach. If you think you will gain more than you will lose, then go for it. If you are still afraid from making this life-changing decision, then how can you ever expect to survive the road to no return and become a powerful god pilot? You can kiss any grand goals and ambitions goodbye if this is the case."

His last words struck a nerve in the ace commander. Her faint Command Field grew sharper and more agitated as Casella's eyes glazed over for a time.

Her ultimate goal was to bring her brother back to life. In order to make this impossible event come true, she needed to become powerful enough to reverse time, or master it entirely!

There was no way she could do something so outrageous as a mere ace pilot.

Not even becoming a god pilot was enough!

She needed to go further and reach a rank that no god pilot had yet to reach in order to gain the slightest possibility of reviving her brother!

Given the extremely arduous twists and turns that Casella needed to overcome, the decision on whether to include a Carmine System into her Minerva Mark II seemed a lot more trivial.
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The patriarch was right. An ace commander like her needed to develop the courage to make big and impactful decisions.

The specter of failure must never hold her back from fulfilling her greatest ambition!

With her extraordinary mind and spirit, Saint Commander Casella processed these thoughts and more in a remarkably short amount of time.

Her demeanor slightly shifted. Her posture changed as she straightened her back a little more. Her eyes also conveyed a sense of daring and fearlessness that cut through most of her doubts and confusion!

"You speak truths. Thank you for the wakeup call. As far as the Carmine System goes… its advantages are clear, but not significant enough to make a difference. Unlike other ace pilots, I depend much less on confronting my enemies directly. The improved control and intimacy with my living mech will not benefit me much. Trying to obtain these marginal benefits in exchange for imposing a serious vulnerability on myself is not a sensible trade. Even the Minerva will reject this transaction. I am different from a direct fighter such as Venerable Rosa Orfan. In her case even minor differences can mean the difference between victory and defeat."

"So the answer is no?" Ves asked in confirmation.

"I am certain of my choice. It is a decision based on logic rather than fear or other redundant emotions. Your design application is too premature. You should only install the Carmine System into the Minerva when you can promise greater performance gains. I will wait for you to develop a stronger and more mature version. If you can improve its feature set and reduce its disadvantages, then you may be able to persuade me to install it into my machine."

"You don't necessarily have to base your decision on short-term interests." Ves spoke. "Although this is only an unproven theory for now, I strongly believe that forming a Blood Pact with a living mech is similar to initiating a couple of steps of the Mech Body Merger Process in advance. If you try to remove the barriers between yourself and your living mech in advance over a span of decades or centuries, then you will be able to step onto the road to no return with a formidable head start."

Casella briefly frowned in thought.

"Your assumption has merit. I am willing to believe you, but… that still does not affect my calculus all that much. I am still a junior ace pilot at the moment. I have many years to go before I truly need to make preparations for my next breakthrough. For now, I want to focus on more immediate concerns. I must do whatever I can to turn the tide of the Red War and save people's lives. I can do so without needing to rely on your immature Carmine System."

Though she underestimated the strengths of the Carmine System, she may not be entirely wrong to hold this stance.

Ves knew better than anyone that the Carmine System was still early in its development cycle. He had only formed the third generation of Carmine Systems a short time ago, and even that did not sound particularly impressive as it was mostly an evolution of what was already present.

He needed to develop a more substantial evolution. The Elemental Carmine System was supposed to be the answer for the needs of high-ranking mech pilots.

Even then, he was not certain whether an Elemental Carmine mech based on any of the 5 classical elements was appropriate for Casella.

Her specialization and domain did not appear to be aligned with fire, water, earth, metal or wood.

Trying to form a Blood Pact based on the wrong element may be detrimental to the Saint Commander.

Out of all of the E energy attributes that he knew of, only the mind attribute made sense for Casella.

Ves had no idea how he was supposed to develop an Elemental Carmine System based on this concept.

Perhaps he might be able to figure it out in the future.

"Very well." He said. "It is not a bad idea to wait and see if I can come up with a qualitatively better version of the Carmine System. We will design the Minerva Mark II with the neural interface as the only means of piloting it. I hope that you do not regret this decision."

"I will not blame you if it turns out that I have made the wrong decision." Casella said. "I am responsible for my own choices. That said, I have learned from Joshua that he was able to form a Blood Pact with the Everchanger and his new weapon in the field. Is it possible that I can perform a similar feat in the middle of an ongoing battle?"

Ves rubbed his hairless chin in thought. "The Minerva is a masterwork mech, so it carries a small piece of myself. I can send down Blinky, who may be able to facilitate the formation of Blood Pact between yourself and your battle partner. However, it is extremely difficult to make this happen without a suitable medium that both of you have in common such as blood or a certain kind of E energy. The reason why it worked so well for Joshua is because his conditions are much more favorable. Both he and his expert mech are strong in life energy. This happens to be an excellent substitute for blood, as the essence of a Blood Pact is to bind both of their lives together."

Though Casella did not really understand the underlying mechanics, she understood that it would not be easy for her to form a Blood Pact with her Minerva in an emergency.

Fortunately, she did not foresee many scenarios where it would be necessary for her to resort to this desperate measure.

Joshua originally wanted to form a Life Sword Pact with the Bitter Scimitar. Forming a pact with the Everchanger was more out of convenience than any other reasons.

As Ves and Casella continued to exchange information, they grew more comfortable with each other.

Both of them understood each other a little better.

As Ves developed more trust in Casella, he struggled to make a difficult decision of his own.

The Saint Commander was sharp enough to notice his hesitation.

"What is the matter, sir?"

"I am facing a similar junction that you have previously overcome. I am also confronted by a difficult decision that is directly related to you. I have… been withholding very important information from you. I did so with the fear that you will misunderstand me and accuse me of crimes that I have not committed. However, this news should be shared to you eventually. The consequences of keeping this secret from you for a longer period of time are much more serious. Now that I have seen that you are able to remain so rational, I think there is no better time to come clean and let you know what happened… to your brother."

Those words immediately caused Casella to grow more alert. Her body language grew a lot more aggressive!

Despite her intense focus towards Ves, she was nonetheless able to maintain control of herself.

She wanted nothing more than to walk up to Ves and strangle his neck until he spit out what he knew about her dear brother, but her rational mind told her that this would not accomplish anything productive!

"Tell me. What secret are you hiding?!"

Ves hesitated for a few more seconds even though it was useless. From the moment he told her that he had information about her brother, he was already doomed to share the secret that he had been keeping from her for a while.

He decided to go all-out and activated a System feature that he previously neglected.

In a space next to where Ves was seated, a form shimmered into existence.

Casella eyes widened as the form began to gain definition.

Even before the manifestation had fully taken shape, the ace commander abruptly rose to her foot!

"Brother?! Have you come back to life?!"