The Mech Touch

Chapter 7541 Carving Out A Path To Victory

"Hatred Crafting." Gloriana flatly said.

"Yes. That's the one."

"You are being serious."

"I am."

"Do you know how insane this sounds?"

"Brilliance can often be found within the intersection between genius and madness." Ves retorted. "If we want to find a truly powerful solution to the problem at hand, then we need to think outside of the box. What may seem stupid at first may actually turn out to be the salvation that we have always sought. I am not asking you to love my proposal at first sight. I just want you to look past the surface and realize how much of a difference it can make."

His wife still remained skeptical. "It seems to me that you are trying to force the use of Demoncasting for your own selfish motives. I know that you have been trying to justify this choice by finding occasions where you can use it as a solution, but this matter is far too dangerous for you to let your biases overrule your judgment. Tell us why you think this will work."

Ves helplessly spread out his arms. "It's quite simple, really. The Omega Threshers are our most formidable source of firepower at the moment. As far as I am concerned, we already have plenty of ace mechs and Ascended Giants that can defend our fleet at close range and entangle any enemy champions that the aliens might throw at us. The true battle is the one between our regular forces and the seemingly endless tide of deathborn. We need to be a lot more effective at killing the latter. The Principles of a Divine Kingdom may help with that by strengthening her Command Field, but I think it is worthwhile to focus on the mechs that benefit the most from her Commandeering and Enfeoffment."

His clever wife quickly deduced his logic. "I see. You want to increase the base strength of the Omega Threshers, so that when Casella's Command Field acts upon them, applying the same multiplier on them will ultimately produce drastically greater output."

"Exactly. It's a math problem as far as I am concerned. This is not just about increasing the raw power of the Omega Thresher's ranged armaments. It is also about imbuing the power of hatred in them. This will make these weapons a lot more effective at killing the deathborn. Purely material weapons have proven to be a lot less effective than desirable. The only reason why they can kill the deathborn at all is because of the very recent adoption of hyper technology and to a lesser extent E-technology. By performing Hatred Crafting on these mechs, we are in essence increasing the weight of the latter. When these upgraded weapons benefit from the multiplicative boost of the Minerva Mark II, their firepower will reach an entirely different dimension. Think about what this means. As long as we work fast enough, we will effectively be able to deploy several hundred expert mechs that are especially good at killing deathborn and other incorporeal enemies!"

Gloriana and the other mech designers no longer thought that his proposal was nonsense anymore.

He actually made a very good argument. The Saint Commander's overall strength and agency largely depended on the forces under her command.

The stronger the units at her disposal, the greater her impact on the battlefield!

Among these assets, warships provided a lot of hard firepower, but was not scaleable due to several reasons.

She was much more capable of amplifying the power of mechs. The degree of amplification was highly complex and depended on many different variables.

There was no need to dive too deep into this convoluted mess.

They all understood the general principle that a weak mech still remained fairly modest even after getting boosted by Casella's Command Field.

Even if the Saint Commander managed to improve her domain field by 30 or 60 percent, the eventual output still wouldn't raise too many eyebrows.

On the other hand, when a powerful mech enjoyed the same effect, the absolute difference in performance ended up much greater!

This was how Ves justified his proposal's focus on the Omega Threshers. He truly could not pick better mechs to strengthen aside from maybe the Dracoloids.

However, the Dracoloids performed best at close range. Choosing them may be a viable alternative, but they would have to use them alongside the Ascended Giants if that was the case.

Due to restrictions imposed by the Command Field, it was better to strengthen their long-ranged firepower instead, allowing them to use the souped-up Omega Threshers as their most effective firepower batteries!

"We get it now." Ketis spoke with a tone of finality. "Now that we have each presented our proposals, it is time to decide which one to adopt. Before we go further, does anyone want to withdraw their proposal in case you think another one is better?"

They all looked at each other. They had invested a lot of thinking into constructing their respective plans. They did not easily wish to give up on them. They still maintained sufficient confidence in their own proposals!"

This did not make it easier for them to come to a consensus, though.

"I do not have time for this." Gloriana let out an exasperated noise. "We have worked too much already. Let us hold a vote. You can choose to favor any of the four proposals aside from your own. Hopefully, this should either lead to a clear favorite or narrow our choices at the very least."

Ves and the others nodded in agreement. "That sounds straightforward enough."

They proceeded to note down their votes without sharing any of their opinions with each other.

Gloriana quickly announced the tally. "Alexa's plan received two votes. My plan received a single vote. My husband's plan also received a solitary vote."

The results painted a clear picture. Alexa Streon surprisingly managed to win over two other mech designers.

This meant that so long as the young mech designer still favored her own initiative, her plan had managed to win over a clear majority!

Alexa herself looked bewildered more than happy. She clearly enjoyed the validation she received from her fellow mech designers, but did not expect them to cast their votes in her direction.

"I thought my proposal was considered high risk high reward. The other proposals might not yield as much, but they come with considerably less complications."

"You're right, Alexa." Ves responded. "I still think it is worth a try. The Last Defiance Manual can comprehensively strengthen our Woodsap mechs even without considering the special gambit. Even if we fail to trigger a genocide among the deathborn, our living mechs will still be able to fight far above their usual level. What is even better is that the method of this enlightenment fruit can also be shared to Ascended Giants. We have brought enough of them that strengthening them will result in a massive difference once the fight begins."

Ketis cast the other vote. "I share the same thoughts as Ves. While I personally prefer a direct decapitation strike, it is not a bad idea to make the forces at your disposal a lot more powerful. You cannot neglect their contributions. Our clan has been pampered by our champions for a long time that it is all too easy to forget that ordinary troops still exist. I believe that it is important to make sure the latter can still keep up with the development of the former. If the gap between them grows too big, it will become all too easy for them to reject each other's existence."

The swordmaster clearly held deep concerns about this. She did not want the high-ranking mech pilots to become so strong that they considered themselves to be a separate species from the ordinary folk!

This was also why she did not feel too upset that her own proposal ended up receiving none of the votes. She had become too fixated on helping Saint Dise and the First Sword Mark III that she had overlooked the value of the other units in the combined fleet.

It couldn't be helped. Ketis still remained very unfamiliar with the rest of the first-class forces fighting alongside Ves.

Gloriana on the other hand felt a little relieved that her proposal received at least one vote. She quickly deduced that it belonged to Alexa. The former Terran was quite sensible in this regard.

"Wait." Ketis suddenly turned to Gloriana. "Did you vote for Ves' proposal?"

"I did." Gloriana admitted with a sigh. "Do not misunderstand me. I believe that all four proposals have their own merits. When I cast my vote, I did not solely consider their contents. I also based my choice on the people who devised those proposals. Whenever I have doubts about Ves, he has repeatedly defied the odds. I have learned over time that betting on him will often pay out despite the questions that I may have about his unorthodox thinking."

"I see. Now that we have learned that Alexa's proposal has received two votes, are you willing to change your mind?"

A 'majority' among just four mech designers sounded rather pathetic, but they were not ordinary people. Each of them were highly competent mech designers with very pronounced strengths.

Gloriana could not ignore that. She threw a single apologetic look at Ves before announcing her verdict.

"As I have stated before, I think that all of the proposals are acceptable. Even if I possess a slight fondness for my husband, I see little problem in shifting my support to Alexa's plan. I am concerned about its risk factor, but if we want to catch the deathborn completely off-guard, this may be the plan that can do this the best. It is worth an attempt."

The four mech designers had come to a consensus.

They decided to realize the proposal based on redeeming the Last Defiance Manual Enlightenment Fruit!

Though each of them had not let go of their affection towards their own individual proposals, it was clear that there was no point in arguing for them. Alexa has received too much support already.

As the decision settled in, everyone's expression grew severe.

Implementing Alexa's plan would not be easy. Ves might be able to gain a lot of understanding and proficiency in the associates techniques, but everyone else would have to make do with the texts that he was about to transcribe.

In fact, Gloriana and Ketis would not be able to provide much help going forward. They still lacked too much understanding of biotechnology to help with upgrading the Woodsap mechs in such a special way.

"I feel as if we are standing at a crossroads of destiny." She voiced her own apprehension. "We managed to earn a respectable amount of Ascension Points this time, but it is only enough to redeem a single fairly expensive enlightenment fruit. Each of the ones we have used to formulate our plans promise amazing benefits for us all, but they are all different. Choosing the Last Defiance Manual means that we will not be able to access the knowledge contained in those other fruits. It will take years for us to absorb the remainder. I hope… that the delay will not end up dooming us all in the far future."

They could only move on from one direction at the crossroads. This was why Gloriana felt so uncertain at the moment. She was not accustomed to making such weighty decisions.

Ves was different in this regard. He had already become accustomed to making high-level decisions. He personally believed that even if he ended up making the wrong choice, it was always better to be proactive than reactive!

Perhaps this was just an excuse for his habit of making risky decisions, but he did not see anything wrong with that. One of the reasons why he often managed to get away with such reckless behavior was because the advantages obtained from the Mech Designer Systems were truly powerful enough to force impossibilities into reality!

In other words, he was a strong believer in carving out a path to victory by force!

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