The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

6049 Her Golden Age

Ves was shocked by how quickly and decisively the Evolution Witch proposed to change the Red Kingdom.

Even though she made it sound as if the god pilots and Star Designers still needed to debate on this subject, the fact that the Evolution Witch felt confident enough to present this idea signaled that it was likely to pass!

The logic behind it was sound and the need was great. There was no tfor red humanity to enact gradual changes that unfolded over multiple generations.

Now that the Red Two obtained sufficient proof that an alien God King was on his way to subjugate the Red Kingdom, the pace of technological and sociological changes had to be accelerated.

This was no tfor reluctance! The only way for red humanity to obtain a glimmer of hope to survive by the end of the first century of the Age of Dawn was to act decisively and boldly pursue greater power!

When Ves looked at the projected form of the Evolution Witch, he could feel that her God Kingdom becmore and more active.

The start of the Age of Dawn was her golden age!

Now that red humanity had fallen into a similar struggle for survival that had beset the Evolution Witch in prior life as a mortal, the god pilot relished the opportunity to stimulate the evolution of her entire race!

The Evolution Witch never gave up a struggle for survival. She amazingly managed to defeat her congenital ailments by relentlessly pushing herself to improve and break past her limits.

Now, she had an opportunity to do the sfor many other humans, thereby replicating her miracle on a much wider scale than before!

As an ostensible goddess that oversaw the power of evolution, facilitating the growth of red humanity was definitely beneficial to her own progression!

Ves suddenly figured out the god pilot's game. The Evolution Witch not only sought to advance her progression by assimilating other powerful organisms.

The Evolution Witch also aimed to take charge of the evolution of the human race. This was why she actively took over the Transhumanist Faction in the Red Ocean.

By becoming involved in efforts to strengthen humans year after year, she stood to earn a lot of feedback, allowing her to grow stronger through conceptual means!

This was a very sophisticated form of deity cultivation. People did not even have to believe in the Evolution Witch to boost her growth. They merely had to put effort into promoting their own evolution in order to match her domain!

If this was the case, then the Evolution Witch definitely had the potential to becthe most successful god pilot in this era.

It made a lot more sense why she had a vested interest in changing the Red Kingdom.

Speeding up the growth and breakthrough of mech pilots benefited her so much that she was more than willing to disregard the negative impact of her decisions!

What did it matter if mech pilots becdistorted or corrupted by the hidden forces that automatically sped up their growth?

So long as the Evolution Witch was able to advance to a god king pilot before the Subjugation King arrived in the Red Ocean, almost everything was permissible!

"I have a question, Your Holiness."

"<nullb>Ask."

"Earlier, you stated that it was important to make cultivation and its consequences transparent, and to avoid any instances of causing deliberate harm to people. Won't the changes to the Red Kingdom violate these principles? How can you reconcile the act of experimenting on mech pilots with the rules set by your own council?"

The Evolution Witch did not show any sign of guilt despite receiving a direct accusation.

"<nullb>The strategic value of the Red Kingdom is immeasurable. It is not a subject that should be divulged to the general public at all. Every god pilot and Star Designer agrees that its safety and secrecy supersedes all other priorities. As much as we value transparency, that does not mean that every secret is detrimental to society. We would also like to protect people from unreasonable sources of harm, but if protecting them too much leads to a deterioration of humanity's collective strength, then we will ultimately cause more harm in the long run."

Ves wanted to snort. "That sounds like a bunch of copouts. I used to think that god pilots like you are the most principled humans in existence. It turns out that even you guys have to resort to flimsy excuses and cheap rationalizations.

Despite his provocative words, the female god pilot did not grow angry at Ves. She was far too strong-willed to lose control over herself. She also felt it was not worthwhile to allow him to rile her up. This was hardly the first tshe heard this accusation.

"<nullb>Every rule must be tempered by the flawed reality we live in. Each of us wish that we can dispense with compromises, but we are not yet powerful enough to mold reality to our will. That is a sign that we must still pursue greater power before we can fulfill all of our ideals. When I evolve into a god king pilot, I may be able to reform our society so that we no longer have to be as secretive as before, but that will have to wait."

Seeing that the Evolution Witch and likely many other tier 1 galactic citizens had few qualms about conducting secret experiments on mech pilots on an unprecedented scale, Ves dropped this line of argument.

There was no way he could sway the mind of a god pilot, especially when it was related to her domain.

Besides, Ves did not actually disagree with her proposal. It was actually a brilliant idea to empower mech pilots by allowing them to absorb a bit of strength from each alien life they harvested.

The Red Kingdom directly benefited the Larkinson Army. Many of his clansmen would be able to grow faster merely by continuing to fight against the aliens. His expert pilots and ace pilots would be able to grow their resonance strength a lot faster.

It would be as if everyone of them ingested free vials of general purpose cultivation elixirs every one in a while!

Red humanity as a whole also stood to make huge gains. Expert pilots would reach the threshold of ace pilot candidate a lot faster than before, allowing them to waste less tso long as they actively took part in the Red War.

The benefits to ace pilots were even greater as they could reduce the tit took to reach their peak by multiple decades!

One of the overarching goals of the Evolution Witch's secret policy change was to massively increase the pool of peak ace pilots.

The more ace pilots arrived at the junction where they had to complete one more transformation in order to beca god pilot, the greater the rate of ultimate breakthroughs in the coming years!

Ves and many humans were more than happy to welcthe breakthrough of all god pilots no matter their origin!

It did not matter to Ves whether they were mechers, Terrans, Rubarthans or possessed a more obscure origin!

So long as they weren't hostile towards red humanity, the arrival of any god pilot boosted the survival chances of red humanity.

"<nullb>The upcoming offensive shall serve as an excellent crucible for our linefighters. If there is any tto test whether the demonic cultivation methods proposed by your mother can benefit our race." The Evolution Witch crowed. "<nullb>In order to prevent too many accidents from occurring, the Red Kingdom should not make any drastic changes at first. However, as long as many alien fleets continue to invade human space at a fast pace, the linefighters will be able to harvest more alien lives than they have done in the previous months and years. The quantity of deaths on every battlefield will enable the deadliest and most effective mech pilots to benefit massively."

Ves almost felt horrified by how giddy the Evolution Witch sounded about the upcoming offensive.

Instead of treating it as a major threat to red humanity, the god pilot instead regarded it was a catalyst for human evolution!

Only when the Red War's intensity increased would human soldiers truly experience the pressure of needing to overctheir inherent weaknesses and limitations.

If the Evolution Witch's proposal actually started to take effect, then the Red War provided even greater benefits than before!

"You… you sound as if you are treating the lives of all of those alien soldiers as resources. The more aliens invade human space, the more human mech pilots are able to absorb power from their defeated foes."

The Evolution Witch did not deny this calculus. "<nullb>This is war. We can either devour the enemy, or allow the enemy to devour us. There is no middle ground. As the side that is most lacking in resources, we cannot afford to be picky. Your mother toldthat absorbing the souls of defeating enemies is one of the natural tonics for growth, and there are other energies that can enhance one's strength. Granted, the tonics are inconsistent and polluted, but mech pilots can rely on their willpower to resist the negative impact of these processes."

If that was true, then mech pilots may be a lot more suitable for demonic cultivation than other people.

Ves did not completely buy into this story, though. It all sounded a bit too perfect and logical.

"Didn't someone mention earlier about how if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes into you? Even if many mech pilots are able to resist the erosion of absorbing energies from alien corpses by leveraging their willpower, their psychologies are bound to change for the worse, especially if they are smart enough to guess what has changed. What if these changes ultimately produce a lot of distorted and power hungry mech pilots?"

"<nullb>The Red Association will not tolerate rogue mech pilots regardless of their rank. You can trust us on that. We will not tolerate any mech pilot from besmirching the reputation of this protected profession. We shall especially crack down on expert pilots and ace pilots that have "

Why would the mechers be so proactive in hunting down rogue high-ranking mech pilots? Shoudn't they—

Oh.

"Everyone is a potential resource." Ves slowly spoke. "If you are willing to treat hostile aliens as potential resource packages, then it is not that big of a jump to treat hostile humans in a similar manner."

The Evolution Witch's God Kingdom churned for a moment. She directed a much more piercing gaze at Ves for a few seconds.

It felt as if the god pilot figuratively stabbed his head with a sharp blade!

"<nullb>You know much."

Ves dared to snort. "I guess I do. I find it rather funny that you talk a big gabout respecting the sanctity of human life, but as soon as there is an opportunity to harvest life-

prolonging treatment serum juice from the brains of expert pilots and ace pilots, you guys pounce on it like ravenous beasts."

The Evolution Witch did not like to hear that at all, but her God Kingdom only beca little bit more oppressive.

"<nullb>We are at war. Every human is either with us or against us. Our race cannot unlock its greater potential if we are excessively consumed by internal conflict and distractions. We can be lenient and tolerant to individuals who are earnest and sincere about defending our civilization. We cannot extend the streatment to parasites and traitors. If they are to be eliminated, then we must take back all of their wealth, power and other sources of strength. To allow all of that to go to waste is an unaffordable mistake during these trying times. There are many elder Master Mech Designers and other leaders in their own scientific fields that are nearing the limits of their lifespan. They can make many more high-

level contributions to society if their lifespans are extended by a century or more."

As far as Divine Lucie Miyazaki was concerned, the worth of every human life was variable.

There were those who refused to contribute as much as others. From her perspective, it made sense to sacrifice those whose value was not as great to further the growth and longevity of those who contributed much more to society!

It was a profoundly cruel and heartless philosophy that had the potential to spur a lot of progress, but at a harsh cost!

The Evolution Witch would have never gotten away with such an inhuman stance during the Age of Mechs, but the story was different nowadays.

The Age of Dawn was the Evolution Witch's golden age.