The Mech Touch

Chapter 7543 Leaving

Digesting the contents of the Last Defiance Manual brought profound changes.

Every technique had been created with a purpose in mind.

Every creator injected parts of himself into their works.

The same applied to the Last Defiance Manual.

Ves already expected this, but what he got from the latest enlightenment fruit encompassed more than he initially anticipated!

The unknown warrior who wrote the text did not hold back when it came to injecting his personal beliefs and philosophy into his descriptions.

The entire theoretical framework of his desperation methods was built on a foundation of extreme struggle!

The ancient duelist and challenger believed that the mightiest of gods could only be forged through frequent and arduous combat!

Not just any fight would do. It had to be real in a way that pushed the threat of death as close to the surface as possible.

Only when survival truly came into question would a warrior be able to summon the greatest of desperation.

The Last Defiance Technique literally depended on this extreme emotion to fuel its effects!

It was both pointless and wasteful to perform this special technique in situations where it was not needed.

Most practitioners wouldn't even be able to trigger it in the first place due to failing to meet the requirements.

This also introduced a significant problem to Ves.

It was impossible for regular soldiers to become proficient in this technique by relying on routine practice.

The only way they could pull it off was to do so on an actual battlefield.

Yet that was precisely the most dangerous time for any practitioner!

When a soldier that lacked any experience tried to perform it for the first time, there was a very high chance that he would become drunk with power and lose control over himself!

Such a case could easily cause the deranged soldier to continue to fight above his level until he hollowed himself out. If he did not drain himself to death, then he would still come away with very deep losses to his essence and foundation!

Ves immediately concluded that it was not appropriate to spread this desperation technique far and wide.

Even though red humanity was beset by multiple hostile alien groups at this time, the situation had not truly deteriorated to the worst possible situation.

Perhaps he could restrict access to the contents of the Last Defiance Manual to vetted elite soldiers.

Only when the mech pilots proved that their mental strength and discipline were up to par would they be able to learn and perform the Last Defiance Technique without killing themselves in the process.

Even then, Ves could not rule out the possibility of frequent accidents. The Last Defiance Technique possessed an insanely strong addictive component. Even the most disciplined soldiers might not be able to resist the urge to give up their future potential for an extended burst of immense power!

The only consultation that made him feel a little better was that the output was truly exaggerated.

That still made it worthwhile for Ves to try and see how he could make it work with others.

By others, he meant both mech pilots and living mechs.

However, there was no time for him to utilize the Last Defiance Technique for its intended purpose.

The enlightenment fruit was part of a greater plan to set a very devious trap for the deathborn.

Ves closed his eyes and shook his head a few times.

He tried his best to stir away the contamination brought by the enlightenment fruit.

He repressed his desire to go out right now and challenge himself by diving directly into the dark miasma.

He also held back his instinct to teach the most basic technique to a bunch of mech pilots in order to test how well they could handle it without burning out entirely with their first attempt.

Ves needed to invest way more time and effort on figuring out how to roll out this technique correctly.

Otherwise, a lot of good soldiers would end up killing themselves for no good reason!

"Are you alright, Ves?" Gloriana asked with evident concern. "Did this fruit bring any unpleasant side effects?"

"I… need a bit of time to settle down." Ves let out a sigh. "The Last Defiance Manual is a testament of a battle maniac. It will be difficult for others to prevent themselves from getting overly caught up in the philosophy behind the desperation techniques. Those who learn one of them will inevitably develop the compulsion to use it on the battlefield. It takes a strong and disciplined mind to resist this natural temptation."

The expressions of the three mech designers began to show varying degrees of concern.

"Is the technique that dangerous?"

"We all underestimated it, perhaps." Ves sighed. "At the very least, this is good news for us in the short term. Alexa's plan hinges on two very crucial conditions. The first is baiting the deathborn into swallowing the fruit. With the brand-new knowledge that I have in my mind, I think it should not be a challenge to artificially condense life-bearing fruits that contain a seed of this technique. The second condition is making sure that the deathborn will not be able to stop the runaway process once it starts. I have greater confidence in the latter. Unless the deathborn have fallen under absolute control of a being of a higher rank, it should be impossible for the feral and unruly deathborn to resist the temptation to squeeze more power out of themselves. It goes against their entire nature."

Alexa grinned when she heard that. "Your words vindicate my decision to make use of this enlightenment fruit. I had not been completely certain whether it truly contains the knowledge that is vital to creating the bait."

"Ah, it won't be as simple as you wish, Alexa. The Last Defiance Technique is strongly biased towards generating a lot of power in order to expend it right away. It was never designed to generate a large amount of life energy only to hang on to it all just so that they can serve as new pieces of bait. This sort of indirect attack falls outside of the normal scope of what the original creator of the technique envisioned. We will have to figure out how to break down one of the techniques and retool it until it aligns with your proposal."

"How much time will that take?"

Ves shrugged. "A week? Two weeks? I am not entirely sure. I have a strong feeling that without performing the Last Defiance Technique myself, I will never truly be able to convert my artificial proficiency into true mastery."

Gloriana frowned when she heard that. "If that is the case, then we will need to extend our stay in the System Space even further. We have less than a couple of days in reality to enact one of our proposals. Alexa's plan calls for modifying all of our Woodsap mechs so that they will all be able to dangle poisoned fruit in front of our enemies. Such work will definitely take many hours to complete in realspace. That means that we cannot waste any hours just to develop the specific implementation of this risky plan."

"Alexa and I are all that is needed to complete the necessary steps." Ves spoke with confidence. "No offence, Gloriana, Ketis, but the two of you are largely redundant at this stage. Unless either of you become a lot more competent in the field of biotechnology, there is very little that you can contribute to our progress."

"But… but…"

"Do you have any AP left that you can spend on a few biotechnology or biomech-related enlightenment fruits?"

"No."

"Then that's it." Ves crossed his arms. "If you cannot be of any further assistance, then I suggest you leave early and avoid wasting more resources. We have already paid a heavy price to get this far. We need to cherish every AP that we have left."

"..."

Though his wife looked upset at this, Ketis simply shrugged her shoulders.

"I am fine with that. I know my limits. If you truly think you can make do without our help, then I am not opposed to leaving this System Space first. I wish you all good luck. I look forward to hearing you guys succeed."

Ketis' body disappeared directly afterward.

She had decisively withdrawn herself from the System Space, as was typical for the swordmaster.

Her absence left a very noticeable hole among the remaining users of the Mech Designer System.

Ketis had brought an element of strength, discipline and excitement to the group.

Now that she and her very imposing Heavensword had departed, the mood among the remaining three mech designers had shifted downward.

Ves threw a pointed look at Gloriana. "I am eager to get to work, honey. Is there any reason why you are prolonging your stay here?"

"Not necessarily." His wife reluctantly responded. "I wish that I could contribute more to your work, but it is evident that Alexa's proposal never accounted for my possible input. Very well. If this is how you want to play, then I will leave you two to it without needing to endure my continued presence."

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