Chapter 851

What the Flagrant Vandals needed the most was to get their hands on a mech that beat the breakdown effect.

It would be best if Ves designed a mech that fully resisted the breakdown effect, but he knew his capabilities and didn't think he'd be able to accomplish something like that. It was fine to dream, but when it came to fulfilling an immediate project, he found it best to be realistic.

"Let's begin with the basic priorities."

The breakdown-proof mech didn't need to last for years like conventional mechs, but it absolutely had to keep working for several weeks under arduous conditions. The complexity of the design had to be as small as possible to provide fewer opportunities for faults.

The more complex a mech, the more prone to faults it became.

Therefore, in order to maximize the reliability of his mech, Ves had to abandon many modern advancements in the field of mech design and turn to older styles of mech design.

Mechs from two-hundred, three-hundred and even four-hundred years ago were a lot more simpler and less complicated in their construction. The continued advancements in the field of mech design mostly came as the result of a combination of better materials and more sophisticated applications of technology.

The latter in particular basically traded simplicity for performance.

It was like the question of transportation. A person on foot traveled slower than a person riding on an aircar. A person on an aircar traveled slower than a person riding a shuttle.

Right now, mechs had reached a very refined state where they incorporated many advanced systems to deliver much greater performance than before. However, this came with the downside of being much more difficult to fabricate and maintain.

Even mech pilots suffered from the added complexity.

Once, it took five or so years to become a decent mech pilot. Now, they could forget about it unless they trained at least ten years to pilot the most basic mechs. To most mech pilots, they would only be able to become decent mech pilots after attending the mech academies for at least fifteen years!

As the Age of Mechs flourished, mechs were no longer as simple as someone traveling on foot. They slowly upgraded to traveling with aircars, until they finally reached a state equivalent to traveling aboard a shuttle.

However, if Ves wanted to design a mech that resisted the breakdown effect, more complexity only added to the difficulty of his project. "The current state of mech design emphasizes performance over reliability. If a mech designer can achieve five percent better performance at the cost of a five percent increase in breakdowns, then they wouldn't hesitate to make this tradeoff!"

After all, breakdowns were a matter of chance. As long as the MTA validated the mech design, it shouldn't be too shabby in terms of reliability! With proper maintenance and care, a high-performing but brittle mech still provided a lot of value to their buyers.

Yet now the situation was completely different. Ves expected mechs to suffer malfunctions left and right the closer they got to the Starlight Megalodon. Who cared about how well a mech performed when it crashed every couple of days? Which mech pilot wanted to put their lives on the line in a mech that could fail at any second during a battle?

"Reliability should be a top priority of my new mech design!"

So instead of developing something as complex as a shuttle for the purpose of transportation, he should draw back and resort to older but more reliable applications of technology. Going back to traveling with an aircar or even on foot may impact the performance of his design in a drastic fashion, but as long as it worked under pressure, so what?

"Besides designing a mechanically simple mech, it also has to be able to last independently while withstanding the planet's crushing gravity."

The second demand for his original mech was that it should be able to operate under six times the gravity of Old Earth without depending on gravitic backpacks. Those backpacks emanated a useful antigrav field that lightened a mech enormously, but the antigrav modules built inside the backpacks were highly prone to breakdowns themselves.

The larger the backpack, the higher the risk of shutting down! This would be a highly fatal event if the gravitic backpacks shutdown in the middle of a battle!

The only area where Ves intended to incorporate an antigrav module was inside the cockpit of the mech. He could place several small, redundant antigrav modules inside a cockpit in order to shield the pilot from the debilitating effects of heavy gravity.

Even if one of the antigrav modules failed, one of half-a-dozen of spares could instantly kick in and pick up the slack!

"The rest of the mech should be able to move under its own power."

That made the mech as slow as fast transports or the god species at best. Ves took particular inspiration in the god species. They survived and thrived for thousands of years on this planet despite being huge, slow exobeasts.

What did their existence signify?

"Even under six gravities, it's not impossible to design a mech that can last for a standard day without replenishing its power cells."

However, this placed incredibly stringent demands on his mech, as Ves already discussed with Mayra. The mech could only be a quadruped light mech that incorporated the most lightweight alloys they could get their hands on. The mech would also be slow due to the need to conserve energy when fighting back against the planet's heavy gravity.

This was also why he didn't favor designing a melee mech. While they were lethal up close, how long did it take for them to enter effective range?

Still, melee mechs held a definite edge over fragile ranged mechs in complex terrain. The frontline mechs that Ves envisioned would only be dominant if they fought on flat and open terrain.

"It's a shame that I don't know what kind of terrain we'll encounter upon the crash site. There's no question that the terrain will be weird in some way. As the heart of the anomaly that isolates this entire star system, I doubt the terrain has remained unaffected by all the weird shenanigans that take place!"

Still, it wasn't as if ranged mechs lost all their value on complex terrain. It just made things more difficult for them. Ves could only make a decision and stick to it in the hopes that his envisioned mech wouldn't fare too badly at the mission site.

It wasn't until now that Ves began to draft the outline of his mech in his mind. Now that he set his priorities as well as the basic properties of his mech, the mech that he imagined in his mind became clearer and more defined with each second.

At first glance, Ves mistook the mech his creativity cooked up as an ugly-looking trash can turned into a killer bot.

"Urgh, what's this abomination?"

For some reason, he envisioned a thin and fragile-looking cylindrical base resting atop a set of four, fairly sturdy-looking legs. Of course, the legs were only sturdy compared to the legs of other light mechs. They were still a ways off from the robustness of medium mech legs.

"The legs are the most important parts of a breakdown-proof mech."

The legs were thicker than average light mech legs because they required the strength to fight back against the planet's heavy gravity.

The cylindrical torso that resembled a certain style of trash cans presented tricky angles to any ranged opponents that made it a little more challenging to pierce its armor with laser weapons.

The rotating laser cannon barrels affixed to the side of the trash can torso gave his mech its teeth in true frontline mech fashion. Replacing humanoid arms with laser cannon barrels significantly reduced the complexity of the mech and reduced the influence of the breakdown effect.

Ves did not intend to add a head to the mech. While it made mech pilots unused to piloting frontline mechs uncomfortable, Ves decided to place the main sensors onto the upper torso.

Basically, the mech in his vision looked as ugly as hell. It looked like a trash can on legs or a top-heavy bar stool.

"It's not a good idea if the mech is too tall and narrow." He reminded himself. "Such a mech will have a high center or gravity, which means as soon as it leans too much on one side, it's prone to tipping over."

It would be extremely troublesome for his frontline mech to climb back up to its feet if it ever fell on its sides. This was the number one weakness of frontline mechs! Without any articulating arms, it wouldn't be possible for it to stand up without external assistance!

Bestial mechs suffered from the same problem, actually, but their limbs were sometimes designed to be flexible enough to cope with such situations.

"I can't include everything in my mech. Adding an extra arm or two for the sole purpose of righting the mech when tipped over is a costly luxury."

He wasn't willing to make such a tradeoff. With great reluctance, he made a design choice to leave this weakness intact. The price of mitigating it was too high for Ves to pay.

Overall, this mech looked unbelievably crappy for a quadruped mech. It lacked the leanness of a dog mech, the primal ferocity of a tiger mech, the versatile grace of a centaur mech or the maneuverability of a spider-legged mech.

Ves couldn't help but shake off the impression that it looked like a giant trash can.

"Maybe I can shape the torso into a more complex shape?"

Yet what would be the point? A simple shape reduced the complexity of his mech enormously. If he shaped it like a human torso, then the difficulty of fabricating the armor plates increased by three-hundred percent or so.

In contrast, it didn't take too much effort to fabricate interchangeable uniform rounded armor plates. A cylindrical torso shape also eased the challenge of keeping the center of gravity in the center of the mech while granting a sufficient amount of internal volume to stuff an abundant amount of energy cells inside.

As a mech reliant on laser weapons and meant to last for up to an entire standard day, it would certainly consume an enormous amount of energy. Beefing up its energy reserves was high on his list of priorities.

The one thing he couldn't quite get over with was the relative height of the mech.

"The relative height of the mech also provides it with a small height advantage when firing their laser cannons, but overall it will be quite the disadvantage if it is withstanding a strong impact. Tipping over is a very real possibility, though possessing four legs will mitigate that risk to a certain extent."

Ves slightly revised the shape of the legs in his mind. He contemplated for a while and instead of adding straight legs to his trash can design, he instead curved them outwards in order to provide a much more stable footing. Ves essentially borrowed the design principles of an artillery mech, which often based their designs around semi-mobile firing platforms.

Instead of looking like a narrow bar stool, the trash-can mech now resembled a trash can mated with a four-legged spider.

It still looked ugly to Ves, but when he mentally made the trash can shorter and wider, it sort of resembled a thick medallion on legs.

Ves really couldn't describe the appearance of the mechs in words. He only knew that his latest change increased the stability of the mech and enormously reduced the chance of tipping over.

In addition, even if it lost a mech due to battle damage, it could still make do with moving around on three legs. In fact, if Ves approached the design of the legs a bit more cleverly, he could even ensure its mobility on just two legs!

Chapter 852

After two days of working on his vision of his third original design, Ves finally started nailed down the overall vision for his third original mech design.

He still retained the mech's short but wide cylindrical torso and its four, thick spider-like legs. Instead of calling it a trash can mech or a barstool mech, he now regarded it as a crawler mech.

"It sounds much more elegant to call it a crawler-type frontline mech than calling it a trash can on legs."

The main trait of crawler mechs was that they sacrificed mobility for stability. They weren't designed to run as fast as humanoid mechs or most bestial mechs. What they excelled at the most was managing a mech's center of gravity and navigating through extremely rugged terrain.

However, most mechs that adopted crawler legs tended to be heavy mechs. Their incredibly heavy weight and inability to move fast without allocating a ludicrous amount of power to its engines made them a good match for crawler legs.

For light mechs that relied heavily on mobility to fulfill their roles and evade any incoming attacks, they would never resort to something as silly as crawler legs that needlessly dragged down their mobility.

Did light mechs need the additional stability afforded by crawler legs? No!

"However, the equation is completely different if the weight of the mech is multiplied by six."

Regardless of the configuration of the legs, the light mech would never be able to move fast enough to sprint. The only way for Ves to accomplish such extreme mobility would be if he designed an extreme mech that basically amounted to an engine on legs.

Such a mech would be able to move quickly even under Aeon Corona VII's crushing gravity. However, the limited amount of energy cells and lack of room for any other features turned it into a short-lasting sprinter that couldn't do anything else.

Therefore, Ves firmly settled on the crawler type as his light mech would be able to take maximum advantage of the extra stability. As for the impact on speed, Ves didn't expect it to be much slower.

Slowly, the mech in his vision changed from a creepy crawler to something that resembled a turtle in shape. It moved as fast as a turtle and shared its overall shape sans the head. The only difference was that the mech he envisioned lacked the toughness of a turtle shell but gained some laser cannons in return.

"Did I inadvertently design a bestial mech?"

Besides the omission of a head, the shape did indeed resemble that of a turtle. The other major difference was that the legs of his so-called turtle mech was a lot longer and thinner.

"It doesn't actually resemble a turtle or share much of its traits except for its general body shape, so technically it's not a bestial mech."

Ves did not draw upon existing animal shapes to envision his mech, so in his perspective it was still a frontline mech rather than a bestial mech.

This distinction mattered a lot because mech pilots approached frontline mechs and bestial mechs with different mindsets.

Bestial mechs took advantage of the shape of animals or exobeasts to empower it with advanced movement options and unconventional attack methods.

The bestial supremacy movement claimed that predator animals possessed an undeniable advantage in melee combat. It was much easier for them to leverage their mobility to add weight to their attacks.

However, the humanoid supremacy movement contended that mech pilots adjusted much easier if they piloted human mechs. Besides, humanoid mechs possessed a lot more flexibility and could easily switch weapon loadouts when the situation called for it. Yet it was also undeniable that it was difficult to empower their melee attacks without depending on specific fighting styles.

The weird breakdown-proof mech that Ves envisioned ultimately fell outside of bestial and humanoid mechs. It belonged to a third category called frontline mechs.

"Frontline mechs are mechs solely designed for battle."

They represented the essence of mechs at their purest form as machines geared for unending battle. They were cheap to mass produce and required much less training to master than piloting humanoid mechs.

In the early days of the Age of Mechs, everyone believed that frontline mechs represented the future direction of mech design. That was because their designs were extraordinarily efficient for their cost. They exemplified the belief that quantity trumped quality.

Yet history had a way of turning expectations upside-down.

Two reasons emerged that explained why frontline mechs failed to become the dominant mech type.

First, as mechs that emphasized quantity over quality, mech pilots generally hated piloting them. Only the poorest mech pilots with the worst genetic aptitudes preferred to pilot these weak but simple mechs.

Talented mech pilots needed better mechs to fully showcase their combat ability!

Cases where a group of four high-quality mechs defeated more than a hundred frontline mechs through waging guerilla war sometimes appeared on the news. In addition, the existence of expert mechs and expert pilots almost completely subverted the idea that quantity mattered the most!

The second reason was that mech pilots generally weren't as abundant as everyone thought. Only a small portion of the population possessed the right genetic aptitude to pilot mechs, and only a fraction of those possessed the grit and mindset to set foot on the battlefield.

As disgraceful as it sounded, a majority of potentates actually consisted of cowards. They were willing to go along with the training in order to take advantage of the status afforded to potentates. Yet when it came to risking their lives, they turned into crybabies who would faint at the sight of blood.

Therefore, the pool of mech pilots in any state or region only possessed a limited depth. If a mech military foisted all of their available mech pilots with cheap, disposable mechs, then their manpower would run out sooner or later while achieving a disappointing amount of impact on the battlefield.

"The ultimate bottleneck a mech military has to contend with is manpower. There are so many mech pilots to go around. It makes more sense to make the most out of the limited pool of manpower by pairing them with better quality mechs that last longer on the battlefield."

These two reasons basically restricted the rise and overwhelming dominance of frontline mechs. Still, the frontline mech supremacy movement still held out hope for the future. These fanatics predict that they enjoyed the last laugh.

This was because frontline mechs became a lot more viable in two different scenarios. First, when automation advanced to such an extent where AI mech pilots performed better than human mech pilots.

The second scenario that favored frontline mechs was when genetic aptitude no longer limited the pool of possible mech pilots. When twenty, fifty or a hundred percent of all humans could pilot a mech, a sea of change would sweep through all of human space!

No longer would the privilege of piloting mechs be restricted to 3.5 percent of all humans! This significantly increased the pool of manpower able to pilot mechs and lead to a much more devastating wars as the quantity of mechs on the battlefield multiplied by at least an order of magnitude!

Ves did not dare to make predictions of what might happen in the far future. He was not delusional enough to believe that mechs would be able to reign supreme forever. Perhaps some new weapons of war emerged in the future that replaced mechs as the primary weapons of war.

"The sunset of the Age of Mechs. I wonder how far off this future will come into being."

Hopefully, Ves enjoyed a long and fruitful career of a mech designer by the time mechs began to decline. At best, he wanted to pass on from his life while mech still flourished and where everyone still remembered his legacy.

Ves shook his head. "What am I thinking?"

He refocused his mind back to his frontline mech. Now that he pinned down its shape and basic traits, he wanted to add some personality to the design in his vision.

"It needs a name."

Obviously, he couldn't call it the Trash Can or the Turtle. As a frontline mech, its overall shape resembled neither of the two.

A name should have meaning. A name should represent something. With these two demands, Ves tried to narrow down a name for a frontline mech with unusual traits.

"A name sends a message to the mech pilots on what the mech stands for. A good name therefore puts the mech pilots into the right mindset."

How did he envision his mech in battle?

Ideally, they formed small teams and navigated rough terrain in unison. Whenever they faced a threat in the distance, they pelted it with accurate, long-ranged laser cannons.

They moved slow. They possessed a lot of endurance. They were resilient to mechanical breakdowns. They hit hard from afar. They avoided melee combat.

"Out of all these traits, my design's resistance against the breakdown effect is the most important one by far. This alone justifies its existence."

Ves started to motivate his Spirituality. His vision began to take on substance as Ves started suffusing it with his formidable Spirituality.

"A mech that resists failure is a mech that stands eternal. Eternal! What a familiar concept!"

He once designed eternal variants of his mech designs intended for display purposes. Yet to tack on the meaning of eternal to his third mech design would not be appropriate.

"A cheap mech won't last very long. It only has to be resilient in the first month or so of its lifespan. What happens after that is not important, because they'll be scrapped or recycled anyway."

The mech in his vision was therefore anything but eternal. It was a fleeting design and only served a brief purpose before Ves retired it. What could he call such a transient design?

"My mech is like a suicide bomber. It only exists for a brief period of time, but it intends to stay alive long enough to complete its objective."

That was a tasteless comparison. He shouldn't equate his mech design with suicide bombers, or else the mech pilots would gain the mistaken impression that they should sacrifice their mechs and lives in battle.

"What then?"

After two hours of puzzling, Ves came across a final idea.

"Protector. My design is a protector. After all, isn't its purpose to escort our infantry to the Starlight Megalodon and secure their extraction route?"

The main goal of his frontline mechs was to protect the infantry. For this mission, the mech needed to endure difficult circumstances and resist the strengthened breakdown effect at all times.

The mechs needed to endure in order to fulfill their protection mission!

The concept resonated with Ves and his vision. He felt as if he encountered a fitting label for his mech design.

Still, Ves felt that calling his mech design the Protector lacked a little flavor. It needed something extra to distinguish its role and make it sound less generic.

"The second priority of the frontline mech is that it has to last long. It needs to operate under crushing gravity while being as efficient as possible with its energy expenditure."

Frugal. Efficient. Long-lasting. Ves flitted through various words that he could use to tack onto the concept of Protector.

"What about Enduring?"

In the context of mechs, the meaning of the word enduring meant that a mech could last all day on the battlefield. They stood in stark contrast to peak performance mechs that had an immediate impact on the battlefield at the cost of running out of juice in a matter of hours or even minutes.

"Enduring Protector."

In this case, the word carried a double meaning as the word Enduring also implied a capacity to resist difficult conditions. In this case, this resistance wasn't against external attacks, but from internal wear-and-tear which the breakdown effect magnified to an enormous degree.

"It sounds a little boring, but I like it. Let's run with that name."

Chapter 853

Calling his design the Enduring Protector sounded simple and blunt. Yet the target market for his original design mostly consisted of boors who lacked the sophistication to understand any subtlety.

A direct name served as an obvious signal to the mech pilots assigned to the mechs. This was not a mech for individual heroics, nor something to be piloted by aspiring duelists.

In Ves' imagination, squads or half-squads of Enduring Protectors moved in unison and worked together as a team to destroy any opposition in the way, whether they consisted of mechs or wild gods.

Their simple mechanical construction and resilient internal architecture allowed them to fare against the breakdown effect much more effectively than any standard mech. It was the job of the Enduring Protector to endure the strong and pervasive spacetime distortion that wreaked havoc on all machines.

"It's first job is to protect. It's second job is to endure."

Simple. Direct. Sometimes, a mech didn't require too much depth. They simply needed to be good enough to fulfill their jobs.

If Ves aimed to design a product for the mech market, then choosing a direct and boorish name would work against him. Not to mention that millions of mech designers likely christened their designs with similar names, mech buyers generally sought to buy something special.

A subtle, opaque and symbolic name served to arouse a potential buyer's interest. Selling a mech was much like seduction game. Like any game, it abided by certain rules and conventions that increased the chance of a successful sale.

A name with depth continued to add meaning to a mech that didn't necessarily exist except in the imagination of the buyer. However, as long as they were satisfied with the purchase, what was wrong with being a little romantic?

Take for example the first two designs that Ves came up with. The Blackbeak alluded to the dominant image of his offensive knight. It sounded dark, ominous and contrarian, much like the black phoenix that gave it a spark of life. It's primary message conveyed that his Blackbeak mechs differed substantially from defensive knights that only sat back and withstood incoming for for their more vulnerable comrades. Instead, it ought to be put to offensive use!

The Crystal Lord carried a domineering name. Ves picked this name deliberately both to honor the spiritual fragment of a long-dead alien leader and to elevate the role of his mech. While it worked fine in a team, its true purpose was to dominate the battlefield using its unique advantages bestowed by the alien crystal technology incorporated into its chest and laser rifle. This was a mech fit for a leader or an elite marksman!

"Both their names are classy and meaningful. Each mech pilot will develop a unique understanding of their names."

For example, one might argue the Crystal Lord served as a mech reserved for officers and leaders. Others might argue that the name meant that it was a king among laser rifleman mechs, and could beat any lesser mech that relied on laser armament!

As for the Enduring Protector, Ves did not expect it to be used for a longer period of time. He knew from his marketing studies that mech pilots continued to ascribe more meaning to their mechs the longer they fought with them. It was human nature for warriors to value their wargear and establish an emotional connection to them, just like how warriors of the past considered their rifles and swords to be their lifelong companions.

Yet if the Enduring Protector would only be put to use for a short period of time, such a process ended before it picked up steam. Intensive combat and harrowing battles for survival rapidly increased a mech pilot's emotional connection to their mechs, but a true long-term bond simply couldn't emerge.

This was very relevant to the next step in his design process. It was time to bring life to his vision and empower his design with spirituality. He already readied his Triple Division technique.

The Triple Division technique superimposed three images into a single spiritual entity that occupied the same space. Either they fought, merged or co-existed. No matter what, their strengths partially covered their weaknesses and amplified what they were already good at. While not all of this was possible in reality, the imaginary realm wasn't bound by common sense.

It sounded like an amazing technique, but with the passage of time, Ves thought he could do better. He developed the Triple Division technique as a means of ascribing more traits to the X-Factor of his mechs than a single coherent image ever could. Yet was this the limit?

Having experienced numerous new applications of spirituality from the likes of Lucky, the Church of Haatumak and the natives on Aeon Corona VII, Ves realized what he figured out so far only touched upon the surface of this limitless attribute.

"I should experiment with something new to replace the old when I have the time."

Due to the brief relevance of his upcoming design, Ves declined to add a growth element to his images. The mission simply didn't afford his mechs the time to grow into their roles and distinguish themselves according to their usage, experiences and quirks from their mech pilots.

Instead of taking the time to cool a proper meal, Ves had to deliver an instantly-edible nutrient pack to the Vandal mech pilots assigned to pilot the Enduring Protectors.

"The first step is to form an image of the base model."

This was the easiest part. He already formed a preliminary vision of his intended design. Right now, he concentrated his Spirituality and breathed life to that vision. He empowered his conception of a breakdown-proof frontline mech that vaguely looked like a turtle without a head.

The image gained life as Ves bestowed it with an abundant amount of Spirituality. It might be his imagination, but he felt as if his Spirituality grew in volume and strength for some reason. It became a bit more easier than he thought to empower the image of the base model.

After Ves fed a sufficient amount of his Spirituality to the base model to the point it felt full, he put the image aside and proceeded to the next step.

"Simplistic this technique may be, there is something mystical about it. I missed this experience." He sighed.

The act of creating something from nothing, even if it was limited to the imaginary realm, fascinated him to no end. He already obtained plenty of proof that spiritual entities had the power to affect reality.

Perhaps the ultimate goal of his design philosophy was to bridge the gap between the real and the imaginary and allow his spiritual images to fully descend upon his mechs.

This sounded like an extremely far-fetched goal, but for some reason, Ves never doubted he could accomplish this magical feat one day.

"It's good to be ambitious."

He felt he was on a roll right now. Having worked as an administrator, repairer and researcher for so long during his time with the Vandals, he unexpectedly received the opportunity to design a real original mech!

Ves cherished this opportunity, because designing mechs brought him closer to his advancement to Journeyman.

The second step was to imagine a suitable totem animal that gifted his design its instincts.

While he could invest any animal he wanted, he already became inspired by the local wildlife. What better animal could he choose than the god species?

Though it seemed like a poor fit to match together the majestic god species with a cheap, disposable mech, Ves wanted to utilize this image because he possessed a strong and detailed impression of the exobeasts.

As a heavily-engineered life form, it adapted extremely well to this planet. In particular, Ves took inspiration from the wild gods who survived on every corner of Seven and became its apex species. They sat on the top of the food chain and nothing else than sacred gods and ascendant gods could defeat these dominant predators.

"The wild gods may be supplanted by the wildlings in time, but that will only be the case if the dwarves are allowed to evolve over a span of hundreds of thousands of years without any outside intervention. For now, the exobeasts are the most prevalent expression of adaptability and power on this planet."

Ves shaped a non-existent wild god in his mind with the power to project damaging beams of lights. Though he witnessed many wild gods over the months, some of whom demonstrated their powers, he never saw any wild god flinging lasers at their opponents.

That didn't matter, as he could just invent a wild god that did possess this power.

This wild god shared a few commonalities with the frontline mech. They were slow, resilient to spacetime distortion and fought primarily by lasering their opponents from a distance before they could close into melee range.

He proceeded to spend some hours on building a backstory for this wild god. He spun a tale of harrowing growth. It fought to survive and survived by fighting in his godling stage. Upon growing up to become a wild god, it became particularly protective of its godling offspring.

Contrary to the rest of its species, this laser-flinging wild god was an attentive parent! It protected its godling offspring and raised them by protecting them from outside threats.

Ves didn't know whether such caring wild gods existed. Most of the wild gods they encountered in the wilds were ferociously selfish. At best, they completely ignored their godling sons and daughters. At worst, they ate their own children as yummy snacks!

"Even if a caring wild god doesn't exist before, it at least exists inside my mind."

This was the beauty of forming an image from his imagination. He could break the rules and invent something that shouldn't exist without any repercussions.

After working for such a long time under many limitations, it felt liberating for Ves to cast open his mind and lift up his middle finger against the rules that constrained reality.

"That should be it for the totem animal."

Now he turned to the most complex image, the human myth. This portion of the Triple Division technique imparted logic, rationality, decision-making and other higher-order thoughts to the X-Factor.

The human myth strained his creativity the most as he not only needed to invent a myth-like figure, he also needed to construct a complete setting and historical background for that character.

Ves remembered that he subverted this approach last time with the Crystal Lord. Instead of inventing a spiritual entity from scratch, he adapted a spiritual fragment from a long-dead alien.

This new approach augmented the Triple Division technique and helped him breakthrough a persistent bottleneck in empowering the X-Factor.

Yet right now he didn't have anything like that at his disposal.

"How can I obtain spiritual fragments anyway?"

Perhaps he could pick up the remains of some dwarves and try to see whether he could trace some of its lingering existence.

Still, the thought of basing the human myth around the primitive and tribal savages disgusted Ves. How would his mech pilots act if they became influenced by the chaotic thought patterns of an unenlightened dwarf?

Yet Ves found the idea of basing the human myth around a dwarf to be extremely compelling.

A native wildling not only fit with the environment, they also worked well with a wild god. Perhaps a surprising interaction might occur if he put the image of a wild god and dwarf together.

"Is it possible to set images up to synergize with each other?"

After all, the native dwarves were genetically engineered to interface with the god species. Instead of fighting each other, the images might instead combine their forces!

What would the result of their mutual cooperation look like? How would the image of the base model fit in? Ves grew incredibly curious at what might happen if he put the images together in a single space in his mind.

"I have to invent a decent dwarf first."

Should he refer to the subsequent image as a human myth or a dwarf myth?

Chapter 854

Having worked a lot with the local variety of dwarves, Ves considered himself as something of an expert concerning this subspecies of humanity.

"I may not be an exobiologist or a doctor, but outside of that there is no one among the Flagrant Swordmaidens who is more familiar with the wildlings." He grinned.

Dwarves. Wildlings. Cursed people. All of them referred to the savage heavy gravity variant humans that nomadically roamed the lands that harkened back to humanity's primal roots.

There was a simplistic charm to their nature. They were wild, uncivilized and devoid of any sophistication, but could you blame them? They lived in an extremely inhospitable planetary environment for baseline humans and managed to survive and thrive without the aid of any sophisticated technology!

While the Flagrant Swordmaidens usually found their tribes to be undesirable nuisances, they had their uses. Not only did they polish their mech pilots through the mental resilience training sessions, they also enabled the Vandals to develop the god crystal generators that powered most of their energy-hungry machines these days!

Ves had observed the 'generators' in action frequently. Every standard day or so, the Vandals induced the dwarf brains that served as the organic controllers of the generator to call down an energy tornado that filled up its energy reserves.

The Vandals subsequently instructed the brains to discharge the higher-dimensional energies stored within the god crystals into a more usable form of energy to recharge loads of spent batteries and energy cells at a time.

Once they began to operate the generators, the Vandals inadvertently came across some unintended side effects.

"Those energy tornados are visible from a hundred kilometers away."

When a tornado stretched from the astral winds in the skies all the way down to the surface, it pretty much telegraphed the exact position of the ground forces to every wildling tribe, wild god and who knew what in the surrounding area!

There was no way the Flagrant Swordmaidens could hide their presence as they methodically called down energy tornados every standard day.

Up until now, the Vandals hadn't figured out a way to draw energy from the vault of the gods in a more discreet fashion.

For now, the problem wasn't so serious, as they weren't afraid of any wild gods or dwarf tribes.

Yet what about their rivals from human space? They weren't as backwards in the art of war as the natives. Once they identified the exact position of the ground forces through tracking the immensely tall energy tornados, they could easily prepare an ambush against the Flagrant Swordmaidens!

Still, if the alternative to broadcasting their position every day was to run out of energy, the Flagrant Swordmaidens vastly preferred their current situation.

In any case, the native dwarves were hardy, resilient and possessed a lot of untapped potential. Whoever engineered the wildlings must have been a genius.

Still, right now Ves wanted to adopt a dwarf as the human myth for his upcoming design. However, if he picked a random savage dwarf chieftain as his inspiration, the image would sow chaos among his mech pilots!

Obviously, it was a horrible idea to base his human myth around the current incarnation of the cursed people. They were too savage and uncouth and directly contradicted the other two images!

Fortunately, Ves didn't have to base his human myth to the existing dwarves.

He decided to invent a smart wildling.

For a moment, he couldn't get around to this idea. For such a long time, he often dismissed the dwarves as underdeveloped savages. How could he reconcile his impression of the wildlings with his current goal?

To Ves, a smart dwarf sounded like an oxymoron.

Still, he reminded himself that anything was possible in his imagination. A smart dwarf may not exist in reality right now, but he could easily create one in his mind!

He started to form a prodigal dwarf called... Bubal. Each dwarf tribe possessed their own language, but certain savage sounds kept being repeated. Bubal sounded just like what the dwarves might say.

He started imagining the appearance of this atypical dwarf. His skin was a little lighter than the other dwarves, and unlike the rest of his kind he paid a lot more attention to his hygiene.

Bubal took on a much less savage appearance and adopted a veneer of civilization.

He knew he was an oddball among his unenlightened kind.

In fact, his appearance and behavior resembled the blessed people so much his fellow tribesmen even suspected that he was a mixed blood!

Whether this rumor was the truth, Bubal suffered a harsh life among his unenlightened tribesmen. Eventually, the tribe became so hostile to his un-dwarflike behavior that they exiled him from the tribe, leaving him with nothing but some ragged hides to cover up his body!

Bubal wandered the lands alone, managing to survive and keep himself clean through using his developing smarts. He grew more cunning during his time alone in the wilds, and managed to do the impossible by being the first dwarf who managed to survive and thrive without the support of a tribe!

Unsatisfied with spending his time alone, he sought out other dwarves, not to join their tribe but start one of his own!

He picked up strays, survivors and other exiles along the way. He taught them superior hunting and gathering methods and began to form a small tribe of his own. This tribe quickly expanded in size as Bubal started figuring out several methods that enhanced the strength of his tribe!

Over a period of several decades, his tribe grew from a collection of misfits and outcasts into a large dwarf tribe that gathered an unprecedented amount of bonded wild gods underneath his banner. Bubal became the most formidable dwarf chieftain on the planet!

With his power and influence, he could finally embark on the dream he always wanted to fulfill since his youth.

Casting a jealous eye at the ancient cities ruled by snobby blessed people and incredibly hostile sacred gods, Bubal diverged from the more aggressive dwarf chieftains by resisting the urge to invade the ancient cities.

He knew that many tribes attacked these fortified cities over the years. None of their attacks succeeded no matter how many dwarf tribes pooled their strength.

Ves imagined an older, wiser grey-haired Bubal standing atop his bonded wild god, giving out a speech in the guttural language of his dwarf tribe.

"Why must we fight and die for a city that never belongs to us? Let us build our own city, a city built by dwarves and welcome to dwarves! The time is right to end our wandering existence and break the curse of the soil!"

The wildlings listening to the speech didn't understand half of what Bubal said, but that didn't diminish their enthusiasm for his lofty goals!

Ves cut the story short at that point. He wanted to take this wise, older dwarf chieftain who was at the highest point of his long and eventual life and adopt him as the human myth for his Enduring Protector design.

"As a slow and methodical frontline mech, the Enduring Protector needs to be piloted with a steady, patient and responsible mindset."

This differed remarkably from his previous original designs and many other mech designs for that matter. The general consensus of the mech industry was that mechs and mech pilots should be employed aggressively and proactively.

However, while the Enduring Protector may be a light mech, it was not as speedy and agile as a light skirmisher. Its actual fighting patterns resembled artillery mechs and marksman-oriented rifleman mechs more than anything.

Ves knew what kind of mech pilots the Vandals assigned to their laser rifleman mechs. They were an eclectic bunch, but mostly rowdy and aggressive. They preferred to fight at medium range and take advantage of the mobility of their mechs to perform coordinated hit-and-run attacks.

Obviously, these mech pilots specialized in piloting rifleman mechs couldn't employ the same tactics when piloting the Enduring Protectors. For one thing, the mechs simply moved too slow!

Therefore, the Enduring Protectors needed to be piloted by calming, more deliberate mech pilots who considered their actions before enacting them. They could also benefit from Bubal's experience as a dwarf chieftain. As a leader among his people, he often worked hard to protect his fellow tribesmen.

Ves became satisfied with the three images he formed over the span of a day. While the base model was as boring as he expected, he found it to be an inspired decision to base the totem animal and the human myth off the natives.

"Let's put them together."

He concentrated his mind and released the separation that kept them from interfering with each other. He corralled the three images in a single space in his mind.

What happened fell partially within his expectation.

Instead of clashing immediately as his strong-willed images tended to do all the time, they studied each other and made their moves!

First, the image of Bubal immediately approached the image of the laser-flinging wild god and attempted to bond with it! As Ves had developed quite a thorough understanding of the organic neural interfaces hidden within the heads of the wildlings and the wild gods, his imagination actively simulated the bonding attempt.

The wild god was a proud and independent creature. While he cared for his godling offspring, it didn't mean he rolled over for every dwarf that came along his way!

The wild god resisted the mental bonding attempts!

However, Bubal didn't give up and continued to ply the wild god with his thoughts. He wanted to crack open the gates and enter the wild god's mind in order to come to an accord.

After dozens of attempts, Bubal finally achieved a breakthrough when he found out how protective the wild god was of its offspring. Bubal offered a partnership where the dwarves and the wild gods collectively took care of each other's offspring!

A thriving civilization needed to protect its young!

After finding out that Bubal and the wild god had a lot more things in common, the totem animal stopped resisting.

The two images melded together, but did not assimilate into a single entity.

Instead, they superimposed together in a stacking manner, basically combining their forces without losing anything that made them unique!

Ves watched on with interest as Bubal and the wild god formed a single combined image of Bubal as the beast rider sitting atop his bonded wild god!

During the process where Bubal convinced the wild god to combined their forces, the base model hadn't stepped in at all. It didn't possess any motivation to fight from the start!

It could have halted the partnership between its rival images by helping the wild god resist Bubal's persuasion. Yet it did not do so because it didn't help its mission.

Instead, it patiently waited for the beast rider and bonded wild god image to emerge before stepping up to sacrifice itself to the strengthened combination.

Yes, it voluntarily sacrificed itself!

"That's surprising."

It shouldn't be. Ves instilled the base model with a high degree of responsibility and protectiveness. On its own, it didn't have anyone or anything to protect. Yet somehow the base model recognized these traits in the other two images.

Why not contribute its own strength to help the beast rider and wild god combination protect their loved ones better?

Therefore, the base model of the frontline mech that Ves envisioned didn't hesitate and allowed the combined image to devour its spiritual essence and strengthen the combination even further.

What emerged was a vastly strengthened beast rider combination with a strong emphasis on both endurance and protectiveness!

Because the base model gave up its essence voluntarily, it was able to exert greater control over what the opposite party inherited!

The confrontation and fusion process had finished. After so much effort in trying to imagine three separate images, Ves finally obtained an image worthy for the Enduring Protector.

He called the combination Beast Rider Bubal!

Chapter 855

The image of Beast Rider Bubal emanated both strength, resilience and a duty to protect. In his mind, it appeared as a small dwarf riding atop a massive lizard-like wild god. Despite their size disparity, Bubal formed the dominant intelligence due to his vastly superior mind.

Ves was exceptionally pleased with this image. While it didn't completely fit with the concept of the Enduring Protector, it nonetheless focused on all the traits that Ves wanted to impart on his mech design's X-Factor.

Beast Rider Bubal was a mature combination image of both Bubal and the wild god at their prime. Ves left no room for future growth, but that also meant their present potential had reached their highest state.

Any Enduring Protectors the Vandals fabricated immediately started off in their best state! Ves imagined that the image of Beast Rider Bubal immediately empowered the mechs with a strong drive towards responsibility and foresight.

This unconscious adjustment should temper the Vandal mech pilots assigned to pilot them and put them into a more appropriate mindset to the correct usage of their mechs.

The beauty of this method was that all of this went on at a spiritual level, leaving no traces for Vandal instruments to capture.

This was in stark contrast to the tampering that Ves had done to Venerable Karol Xie's mechs and simulator pods. While no bystander should be able to find out what he did unless they dug into the programming of the neural interface, which almost no one ever did, it still represented a vulnerability that could bite Ves back in the butt.

"I should do something about that at some point. I can't leave any traces behind."

Ves smirked as he imagined Venerable Xie's mood these last couple of weeks. As the breakdown effect started hitting the mechs harder the closer they got to their destination, the Pale Dancer suffered the most.

Expert mechs may be ten times stronger than a normal mech, but they were easily ten times as complex as a normal mech as well!

All of this complexity allowed the breakdown effect to enjoy free reign over the expensive but fussy expert mech.

While the strong, high-quality materials of the Pale Dancer somewhat mitigated the chances of breakdowns, some problems were unavoidable. Overall, the Pale Dancer easily malfunctioned at least five times as often!

No matter how Miss Lisbeth strengthened or modified the customized rifleman mech, nothing could block the pervasive breakdown effect from wreaking havoc.

Faced with the prospect of losing his strongest asset, Venerable Xie was flailing around lately according to Talkative Jimmy. The foreign expert pilot even started practicing with the other mechs of the Vandals as a contingency option.

Perhaps Venerable Xie would only be able to make a meaningful impact on the battlefield with a bog-standard rifleman mech instead of his tailored expert mech!

"Seems like the breakdown effect is ruining everyone's lives."

He wondered how the other forces fared against the breakdown effect. The Vesians would likely adopt the same solution as the Flagrant Swordmaidens and develop a dumbed-down mech that fared better under these circumstances than their main mechs.

As for the pirate forces, Ves doubted whether they possessed the mech designers, equipment and supplies necessary to take up such a venture.

Ves only had to look at Lydia's Swordmaidens to see how pirates often tended to neglect logistics. They only prepared the minimum because they were used to quick skirmishes and raids. Spending months or years on the surface of a planet likely hadn't factored into their plans!

"While it's tempting to dismiss the pirates as incompetent, I shouldn't underestimate them. Who knows what tricks they have up their sleeves. Out of all the competitors that sought to obtain the keys to the Aeon Corona System, these bunch of scum have triumphed where many of their fellow mercenaries, gangers and pirates have fallen short."

None of the pirate forces in orbit and on the surface should be weak, to be honest.

"Although that time when the spaceborn fleet of Caged and the Red Tongs indiscriminately bombarded the surface was kind of stupid."

Even if the Starlight Megalodon of all entities hadn't stepped in, the rival fleets would have combined their forces to wipe them out. It broke the unofficial accord that always came about under these circumstances.

The Vesians could have bombarded the surface, the Flagrant Vandals could have bombarded the surface, the pirates could have bombarded the surface.

Yet they didn't do so for a long while until the Caged and the Red Tongs idiotically stepped in. Because even if they successfully wiped out the ground forces of the Flagrant Swordmaidens, the other fleets would have sought out and bombarded the ground forces of the Caged and the Red Tongs in retaliation!

"Of course, ever since we entered the storm lands, we don't need the accord to protect us from orbital attacks."

The astral winds were much thicker and more impenetrable on the hemisphere which housed the crash site. The golden higher-dimensional particles energetically spewed outwards and frequently roiled above their heads, acting as protective concealment that isolated every means of observation and detection.

Ves was thankful for this rare protection because it didn't make ground operations irrelevant.

If the vault of the gods didn't exist, the rival forces would have sought a decisive battle in space. Only until every other fleet was wiped out would the winners be able to land their forces onto the surface and have them seek out the Starlight Megalodon in peace.

"Well, the situation is different from the worst case scenario. Deliberately or not, the astral winds cuts off any possibility to coordinate with the fleets in orbit from the ground."

He wouldn't have to come up with the concept of the Enduring Protector if the astral winds didn't exist.

Yet they did, so Ves had a job to do.

Now that he ended up with the image of Beast Rider Bubal, Ves proceeded to draft out his design. He already drafted the mech in his mind, but only until he finished creating the image for his mech did he proceed to put the design he imagined into visible form.

He entered a special mind state where his concentration had reached the peak. With Beast Rider Bubal at the forefront of his mind, he opened up the design software installed on the terminal and proceeded to let his imagination loose.

His gauntleted fingers stretched over the projection, leaving out rough lines in the air. He quickly drafted the outer contours of the mech. The Enduring Protector's vaguely turtle-like shape diverged from the animal it ostensibly resembled.

The appearance Ves had drafted in a single hour looked like a fat medallion with crawler legs. The deliberately cylindrical and symmetrical torso made it easy to fabricate and provided the mech with a significant amount of internal volume for a light mech.

The crawler mechs were large enough to withstand and push against the heavy gravity and no more. If the legs got any heavier, the entire mech would have been weighed down too much as the engine strained to keep the legs moving.

Two laser cannon barrels were affixed to each side of the mech. Ves contemplated their energy expenditure and started to reconsider their caliber.

He wiped away the laser cannons and replaced them with thinner, weaker but considerably cheaper laser rifle barrels. Both barrels were affixed to a simple mount to the side and could rotate around in almost every angle.

Ves hadn't filled in the internal components as of yet. While they were important to the functioning of this mech, it didn't really matter what components he chose to fill up his mech with as long as they worked.

At this stage, Ves felt kind of lonely. He always designed his mechs by himself, but he didn't neglect the importance of soliciting feedback.

"Before I do any more work and flesh out this design, I should show it around and see what everyone thinks about it. A mech designer shouldn't be too out of touch with their clients."

He exited the office and started showing around his draft design to the mech technicians. He only explained the basic concept of the Enduring Protector, skipping most of the intricacies and technical details for brevity.

"Uhh.. it looks fine, I guess?" A mech technician absent-mindedly said.

"It's a great design, sir!"

Ves immediately directed his attention to the mech technician who said that. "Why do you think it's a great design?"

"Uhhh... because it looks like a turtle? Turtles live long, right? That means it will definitely survive on the field!"

"Anything else?"

"...I don't know."

Ves didn't know what he should have expected. Even the chief technicians couldn't offer any substantial feedback. They knew how to work with existing mechs, but they didn't possess the imagination to envision the performance of his draft design.

Seeing the futility in asking the mech technicians their opinions on mechs that they had never seen before, Ves shook his head and exited the workshops. "These military mech technicians are less imaginative than their civilian counterparts. Is it a matter of training?"

He found this difference to be rather peculiar. Before he worked alongside the Vandal mech technicians, he always held the impression that mech technicians in the military were far superior to civilian mech technicians in every way.

While they did underwent more thorough training, they didn't have to go through some of the experiences that civilian mech technicians sometimes encountered.

In the end, he chalked it up to a different emphasis on their training.

He visited the mech pilots next. As the Flagrant Swordmaidens halted for the day and set up their camps, Ves visited the mess hall and approached some off-duty mech pilots silently eating their meals.

"Hey folks, mind if I show you something?"

"Ah, Mr. Larkinson!"

The mech pilots jumped at his voice and scooted away from him on their benches. It was as if they met the devil in person!

Ves frowned. "I'm not going to torture your minds or anything. Cut the crap and tell me what you think of my draft design."

He projected the draft design from his comm and repeated his short spiel.

As Ves deliberately chose to approach mech pilots assigned to laser rifleman mechs, the men contemplated the draft design with a bit more importance than the mech technicians.

"Sir, this mech looks like an awful idea on four legs. It's armor is paper thin! Who cares how robust the internals are against the breakdown effect when a couple of laser volleys can poke a hole through its lightweight armor! Now this isn't so bad normally, but you're also telling us that its mobility is as bad as heavy mechs because we don't get to pilot it under an antigrav field. That turns this mech into a sitting duck!"

"You're right, of course, if you employ his mech under normal circumstances." Ves explained with a smile. "We won't. It's going to be employed in a special area where the Enduring Protector likely won't be facing any mechs that are substantially better. It's physically impossible for the other forces to deploy a normal mech at the heart of the breakdown effect!"

Ves explained his reasoning, yet the mech pilots all had difficulty believing in his claims. Some of the mech pilots even believed that the breakdown effect was a huge exaggeration and that everything would be fine if they entered the critical zone with their regular mechs.

Still, unlike his last audience, the mech pilots did leave him with some useful feedback. Some of them went into the nitty-gritty of piloting rifleman mechs. If Ves didn't acquire a Mastery in rifleman mechs, he would have dismissed some of their concerns as trivial or nitpicking. Yet because he understood these pilots better than they thought, Ves noted their opinions seriously.

Overall, the mech pilots didn't prompt him to change the major aspects of his design, but he did get a better idea on how to tailor them to the Vandal mech pilots.

"Thanks for the feedback. I'll be in touch as the development of the Enduring Protector is progressing."

Chapter 856

Word of Ves designing a peculiar breakdown-proof mech spread around the camp. Many Vandals expressed various opinions about what they heard even without Ves showing them the draft design.

"Did you hear about the new design?"

"I heard it's a huge failure of a light mech. What is Mr. Larkinson thinking? Whoever heard about a four-legged frontline mech? On top of that, it's as slow as a turtle but as fragile as a bedsheet!"

"Enduring Protector? How can it endure anything? It's awful in close combat and bad at long-ranged combat. Forget about protecting anything else, it can't even protect itself!"

"Well, I heard that it's particularly good at not breaking down in the middle of a battle."

"So what? A couple of lasers hitting our mechs will destroy this new toy far faster than the breakdown effect ever could!"

Obviously, opinions abounded. Ves had to admit that the Enduring Protector did not make a stellar impression upon the Vandal mech pilots. If Ves listed the estimated parameters on a spec sheet, it would have been in contention for the worst light mech in the galaxy!

Yet Ves paid little attention to the criticism, especially when it didn't offer any way to improve his mech. While the criticisms all had a point, it was human nature for people to complain. They wanted perfection but always got something far short of such an impossible standard.

He knew what he wanted to design. The Vandals now knew as well. They expressed opinions. Ves gathered them all up and tried to see if anyone pointed any valuable nuggets.

Besides the small but meaningful feedback from the mech pilots assigned to rifleman mechs, Ves hadn't obtained anything particularly useful. Frankly, the peanut gallery didn't know what they were talking about.

Still, the overwhelming doubt he received from the men caused him to doubt his work as well. Did he go astray somehow? Had he made a bad design choice?

"Compared to normal mechs, the Enduring Protector is an awful mech. Yet how much better can a mech be if they have to work next to the very source of the breakdown effect? I can scarcely imagine anyone coming up with substantially a better mech design than mine, especially in field conditions."

The last qualifier was an important one. Every force seeking to plunder the Starlight Megalodon only brought a limited amount of expertise, equipment and supplies. The Flagrant Swordmaidens should be better off than the pirates, but the Vesians should be even better prepared.

Ves frowned a little bit at the thought of the Vesians. What little glimpse the Vandals gained from their long-ranged sensors in the previous star system showed that their biggest rival came in even greater numbers.

In a stroke of luck and happenstance, they suffered significant damage from the ambush attempt by the Church of Haatumak. However, the backstabbing cultists underestimated the trump cards of a fully-fledged military unit and hadn't taken into account the possibility that the Vesians fielded an expert pilot who single-handedly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat!

"We'll definitely encounter that Vesian expert pilot on the ground." He murmured.

The question was whether the Vesian expert pilot chose to deploy in the so-called red zone that ranged a hundred kilometers from the Starlight Megalodon. If so, then the expert pilot would have to give up all the advantages of a powerful expert mech because these kinds of machines simply couldn't withstand the breakdown effect.

"If there's anything good about the weird conditions on Aeon Corona VII, it's managed to put everyone on an even starting line. The forces who came better prepared will have an edge over the forces who neglected logistics."

The Flagrant Swordmaidens already struggled trying to stay afloat. How much worse could it be for their rivals? Ves didn't believe that scum like the Caged and the Red Tongs brought a lot of mech designers and exobiologists to their expedition.

Besides soliciting the mech pilots for feedback, Ves also approached a mech designer. He didn't approach Mayra due to political considerations, but he didn't see the harm in showing off his draft design to Ketis.

The Swordmaiden mech designer puzzled over the Enduring Protector. "I heard about how bad your design is, but I know what you're like. You never design anything bad. Still, I can't help but feel it's awful."

Ves smiled at her. "Do you think you can do better under the circumstances?"

"Heck no!" She playfully stretched out her tongue. "I really don't envy you and Mayra for trying to design a decent mech that doesn't malfunction under all of that spacetime distortion."

"It's easy to throw shade on other people's designs, but when it's your turn to produce something better, you'll realize it's far harder than it sounds." He said.

While the public did have a right to express any opinion they wanted, a mech designer shouldn't necessarily value every voice. Ves knew that some mech designers listened to every piece of feedback and tried to please all of them, to the point of losing their own design style.

You couldn't please everybody.

Not every opinion was valuable.

You shouldn't lose your vision.

Ves knew exactly what kind of mech he wanted to design, and he remained confident even in the face of negative feedback. As far as he was concerned, he only needed to stay on the good side of a single client. As long as Captain Byrd didn't pull the plug on his design project, he didn't have to pay so much attention to the crowd, unlike if he wanted to design a mech for the market.

Any mech designer who wanted to publish a design for the mech market depended heavily on good PR. A flood of negative opinions could spoil the commercial success of any design regardless of its technical merits.

When Ves explained what he planned to incorporate in the Enduring Protector design, Ketis understood his intentions, though she doubted its effectiveness.

"Your frontline mech design is something of a glass cannon. It packs a decent punch, but it can't take what it dishes out. I can see how it's effective against melee mechs when it has a clear line of fire, but how in heck can the Enduring Protectors win a firefight against a group of other ranged mechs?"

This was the most valid and poignant critique against his draft design. Ves tried to work around the restrictions as best he could, but he failed to provide his design with any meaningful defense measures!

A mech on the battlefield either relied on armor or mobility to survive on the battlefield! Heavier mechs leaned more towards the thickness and quality of their armor while lighter mechs overwhelmingly relied on their speed and evasion to avoid getting hit.

This was an iron-hard rule that applied to almost every modern mech in existence!

Of course, some argued that mechs that relied on stealth, camouflage and misdirection formed a third category of defense.

Yet the Enduring Protector, despite what its name suggested, fell outside these three main categories!

Ves was very well aware of these flaws. "If I design the Enduring Protector as a medium mech, it will run out of energy three to four times as fast. It will also be so slow that I doubt it can move faster than our walking speeds!"

Such a slow mech would be virtually useless because they'd never be able to reach the Starlight Megalodon from the edge of the red zone before they ran out of energy!

"Yeah, but how are you expecting it to fight? Do you intend to pair it up with Mayra's new design, only to use her mech as their meat shields?" Ketis frowned.

She cared deeply about the Swordmaiden mech pilots. If Ves ever expressed his intentions of doing so, he'd immediately put her in a difficult position. Ves expected that for all he had done for Ketis, she would still side with the Swordmaidens over a mech designer she only knew for less than a year.

He did not intend to put her in a difficult spot. He grinned. "Did you forget about the big lizard that's tagging along our ground expedition?"

"Qilanxo?" She widened her eyes. "So that's your plan! You never intended to field the Enduring Protectors by themselves!"

Ves loudly clapped his gauntlets together. "No mech can win a battle by themselves! The whole point of specializing a mech is because mixing and matching different mech types can achieve greater synergies. One mech's strength can cover another mech's weakness. The Enduring Protector is good at offense but terrible at defense. Qilanxo is excellent at defense but her offensive power is limited to attacking with her body at close range. They're a match made in heaven!"

"Really!? Ah, I see now!"

He always factored in the presence of Qilanxo. As a living organism, she wouldn't be affected by the spacetime distortion that normally wreaked havoc on any mechanical equipment. The exobiologists couldn't fully explain why this was so, but most people just shrugged and accepted this pattern as a fact.

In any case, given Qilanxo's formidable strength as a sacred god, the Flagrant Swordmaidens would be fools to leave her behind.

Ves intended to make use of her formidable space barrier to cover for the critical weakness of his upcoming design!

"While we haven't made any decisions yet on how to deploy Qilanxo, she's far more useful inside the red zone than outside of it. Just think about the power of her space barrier. It can withstand an hour's worth of artillery bombardment and only cracked when we basically threw the equivalent of three tactical nukes at it! In the red zone, there's little chance that Qilanxo and the Enduring Protectors will face a threat that can break the space barrier!"

Ketis nodded, but quickly frowned. "What about other sacred gods and wild gods? We shouldn't be the only ones who thought about substituting mechs with the god species."

"I've considered that." Ves said. "It's far harder than it sounds. We only managed to complete the beast rider project because I happen to dabble in neural interfaces. Do any of the other forces possess the same expertise? Out of every possible rival, only the Vesians can match or exceed our research capabilities."

Even as he said that, he didn't completely discount the other rivals. Who knew what kind of trick they came up with to beat the breakdown effect.

"Designing a mech on your own is really hard." Ketis remarked. "I don't envy you. Everyone has a bad word about your design."

Ves shrugged. "Most of them haven't figured out yet that it's not meant to be deployed by itself. By the way, have you heard how Qilanxo and the beast riders are doing lately?"

Her eyes immediately glowed. "I heard that Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise are having the time of their lives! Their bond with Qilanxo is so strange. It's as if the sacred god is directly bestowing her strength on the two. There's even talk of trying to rotate other mech pilots in as beast riders to benefit from the transformation induced by the man-beast connection. Qilanxo refused, though."

"Everything has a price. Besides, Qilanxo isn't a slave we can exploit on a whim. To sacred gods, their bonds with their chosen is a solemn affair."

While Ves no longer paid close attention to Qilanxo and the beast riders, he still heard plenty of stories about them. Qilanxo began to see the Flagrant Swordmaidens in a better light, while the two beast riders slowly started to find out how their addition strengthened the sacred god.

The god species had always been engineered to work together with compatible human minds! When exobeasts and humans combined their minds, the result was greater than the sum of their parts!

The exobiologists continued to study what made the man-beast connection between the two so powerful. It was as if they had touched upon a hidden fundamental force. This force had always been present among humans, but rarely did they ever get in touch with such a strong and obvious application of this hidden force.

Only Ves knew that this strength was the power of spirituality!

Chapter 857

After Ketis left for parts unknown, Ves finished his feedback session and planned to resume his design work. After gathering a bunch of opinions, most of which Ves immediately threw away, he gained a broader perspective on the application of his mechs.

As light frontline mechs that had more in common with slow artillery mechs, the mech pilots of the Enduring Protector had to adhere to different rules in order to survive and thrive on the battlefield.

A mech designer like Ves could never completely envision all the possible uses of a mech. Every design profession suffered from this myopia. Although his mastery partially compensated for his lack of practical, in-depth familiarity, he therefore listened more carefully to the opinions of the laser rifleman mech pilots.

"My client may be Captain Byrd, but my target audience are those mech pilots specialized in piloting ranged mechs."

This was a crucial distinction. The people who approved of a design and procured the mechs may not be the ones who piloted them. Ves had to please both of them, but if it came down to it, he needed to place the demands of the client over the mech pilots that had to live with the design choices he made on their behalf.

"Fortunately, there isn't much of a conflict between the two at the moment."

Ves knew that eventually he'd be faced with a situation where he might be forced into listening to the demands of a client who didn't know what he was talking about. This often happened in the case of custom mechs where the client could dictate every aspect of the design.

A certain customized mech with a codpiece came to his mind for some reason. He quickly shook his head and tried to scrub his mind of that awful memory.

"Well, let's move on to the next step of the design process."

Having performed some minor corrections to his draft design, Ves wanted to flesh it out by defining its internal components and defining the final shape of its exterior.

He didn't particularly care for the components this time as they needed to be reliable and resilient. This was very different from his previous selection criteria where he carefully chose to incorporate components by the cost of their licenses and the performance edge they provided.

"I'll have to pick and choose from a library of obsolete component designs."

Modern mech components were way too finicky and vulnerable to the breakdown effect for Ves to make use of. Ves already fixed his mind on making use of components from earlier mech generations.

Having designed a bunch of virtual mech designs based off obsolete technology and component licenses, Ves was very familiar with the styles of older mechs and mech parts. Miniaturization hadn't reached the extent as it had today so mech parts consisted of a smaller number of larger subcomponents.

The local database of the Flagrant Vandals contained a vast library of old and obsolete component designs. They were so worthless that their original developers no longer licensed them out and simply allowed the MTA or other organizations to release them in the public domain.

There was really no point in trying to milk out any mech or component design that was older than a hundred years or about three to four mech generations. Supply vastly exceeded the paltry demand for the right to use such old and easily copied designs that licensors could only conceivably sell their licenses at a nominal cost of ten credits or so.

The administrative costs alone surpassed the licensing fees. Therefore, even if they didn't want to, licensors had no choice but to let go of any intentions to exploit their obsolete designs.

When Ves browsed through the design library of the local database, he nodded with satisfaction at the selection of component designs. The database only stored so many designs, and the Mech Corps made a clever selection accounting for many different motivations to opt for older components.

If the local database contained a completely random selection of components, then Ves would have to tear his hair out because most of the components that developers came up with never became good enough to achieve commercial success.

The same applied to mech designs for that matter. Any mech designer who graduated from a university or institution could design a mech from the first day on the job. That didn't necessarily mean that they ought to. As Ketis constantly struggled with lately, it was extremely hard to put theory into practice and design an appealing mech that was good enough to compete against the competition.

As Ves dug into the origin of the component designs, he found them to be a mix between retired components designed in-house by the Mech Corps and components that used to be bestsellers when they first came out.

The quality of both types of components were fairly high, and Ves had nothing to complain about when it came to their optimization and efficiency.

"However, none of them are specifically designed to resist something as inconceivable as the breakdown effect."

Just because these obsolete component designs were less complex than their modern counterparts didn't mean that Ves could adopt them without a problem. Vulnerabilities still existed no matter how much the components dumbed down as Ves turned back the clock.

Instead of chasing after perfection, Ves had to settle for a selection of components that were good enough.

He spent extra care in picking out the parts such as the power reactor, engine, laser rifle barrels and etcetera. He picked the newest parts he could get away with, but most of the parts were so complicated by their very nature that Ves had to go back more than three-hundred years for the engine design alone.

As the source of the motive force of a mech, the mech engine was the most prone to breakdowns short of the legs. Ves actually spent an entire day of filtering through thousands of individual engine designs.

The brief but vital lessons he received from Master Olson in the field of battle mechatronics helped him out a lot. Mech endurance and mech engine design were both part of her specialties.

Making use of what he learned, Ves evaluated the parts that entered his vision with a critical eye until he finally became satisfied with what he selected. He felt as if he was a kid in a candy store shopping for the yummiest treats.

"Still... is this the best I can get?"

Ves frowned when he projected the main component designs on his desk. All of the parts he picked out weren't impressive by any means, but they delivered exceptional results in terms of reliability.

Yet for some reason, Ves had a nagging urge that he could do more with them if he modified their original designs.

After all, their designers didn't know as much in the past. Technology had come a long way since then, and Ves possessed enough confidence to improve on these obsolete component designs.

He resisted the urge to do so, though. "I'm not experienced in component design. The chances of screwing up is significant. Any change I make has to go through a round of simulation and optimization before the improvement is set in stone. How much time does that take?"

Besides the lack of time, Ves also lacked a lot of manpower. He couldn't possibly do all of the work alone within a year. To help him complete the improvements faster, he needed to solicit the help of many other mech designers as assistants.

Yet how many of them were at his disposal? The Vandals always received far less mech designers than other mech regiments, and even fewer followed him down to the ground. They mostly consisted of forgettable low-ranking mech designers who were barely competent enough to replace the role of a chief technician.

They were sorely needed in their current positions and couldn't be diverted no matter what.

Faced with the lack of time and manpower, Ves gave up any fanciful notions about improving the component designs and decided to work with their original incarnations unless he was compelled to make a change.

"Now that I've filled up my basket of parts, it's time to work them into my design."

Ves continually focused his mind with the image of Beast Rider Bubal as he proceeded to flesh out his draft design. Having performed these actions many times, he worked deftly and without too much delay.

This process stretched out for several long weeks.

Different from his previous design attempts, Ves couldn't close himself off and isolate himself inside a locked chamber. Each day, he needed to resume his regular duties and make the rounds around the workshops. He also had to take care of the necessary paperwork that came with his position and decide on a couple of crucial matters that required much thought.

The frequent interruptions grated on Ves. It took a lot of effort for him to concentrate his mind and fall into a groove where his design work flowed from his mind. In his highest state of design focus, the image of Beast Rider Bubal actively assisted him with his design choices.

Such an experience was sublime. It was as if a god guided his design work. He didn't have to think about certain decisions or procrastinate about a range of options. He simply left the matter to Beast Rider Bubal who instinctively guided him towards the most appropriate choices, even if they didn't seem very good at first glance.

Yet how could Ves endure it when he only fell into this state for an hour or two at most before his responsibilities pulled him away?

Still, while Ves never quite got used to the frequent halts, he resolved to endure them and continue his vital work despite the difficulties.

As the days went by, he didn't claim to have adjusted fully to this hectic schedule, but at least he didn't enter a sour mood as soon as he was pulled away from his zen-like design moods.

To Ves, it was kind of like living in a non-soundproofed apartment next to a busy intersection. While the noise of vehicle and foot traffic penetrated the apartment, Ves simply got used to it and stopped letting it bother him as much.

He still preferred to live out in nowhere rather than anywhere noisy, though.

"It's kind of like living among the dwarves who never invented a proper toilet." He scoffed to himself. "Their smell is unbearable, but the dwarves who grew up with their stink probably got so used to the odor that it's like perfume to them at this point."

Due to the low-tech nature of his components and mech design, Ves didn't take very long to flesh out his draft design. The Enduring Protector had a lot more in common with his virtual designs such as the Young Blood and the Old Soul rather than his production designs such as the Blackbeak and the Crystal Lord.

"Simple is faster. It was much easier to design a mech in the past."

Just as mech pilots underwent more training to cope with the increased complexity of mechs over time, mech designers also had to keep up with the developments in the industry.

It became more and more difficult to graduate with a degree in mech design, though this didn't stop the hopefuls from trying. Far too many people aspired to become a successful mech designer.

The most challenging aspect of designing his frontline mech was designing its internal architecture from scratch. However, this also provided him with complete control over this aspect, allowing him to stretch his imagination and design the internal architecture in a way that resisted the breakdown effect the best.

He took a lot of inspiration from the problems that frequently rolled into the mech workshops. Having seen almost every possible way a mech broke down, Ves was determined to avoid the same design choices that led to those vulnerabilities.

After more than three weeks of intermittent design works, Ves finally finished the first iteration of the Enduring Protector.

While it still needed to go through a round of testing and iteration, Ves felt inordinately proud for what he accomplished over the weeks.

"It's not a good-looking mech by any means, but its reliability is rock-solid."

Beast Rider Bubal expressed satisfaction in his mind. Ves knew he was on the right track when his image was happy.

Chapter 858

Ves did not choose to optimize the design as of yet. Instead, he put the current iteration of the Enduring Protector through its paces by subjecting it to several extreme simulations.

He skipped out on most simulations that a mech designer normally subjected their designs to because there was no point. "It's not like we're going to deploy the Enduring Protector on a low gravity moon or in an arctic environment or anything."

With the Blackbeak and the Crystal Lord designs, Ves needed to account to a wide variety of environments where they could be deployed. Short of extreme environments such as volcano planets and Super Earths, Ves simulated their performance in many different locales, each of which different in terms of temperature, climate, air pressure, corrosive elements and more.

As for the Enduring Protector, Ves did not envision deploying it anywhere else than the red zone of the Starlight Megalodon. Although the Flagrant Swordmaidens hadn't reached the red zone as of yet, they did model its approximate environmental conditions based on the conditions elsewhere on the planet.

Ves didn't see anything too exotic besides the warnings about rugged terrain and the all-too-obvious breakdown effect.

Therefore, he put the first iteration of the design through a battery of tests to get a read on the mech's approximate performance in temperate environments under heavy gravity.

Ves took note of the simulations. The four crawler-type legs that Ves adapted from an old component design provided the Enduring Protector with exceptional stability.

However, it also moved fairly slow under heavy gravity. In fact, it moved slower than he initially anticipated.

In order to save energy, the quadruped mech moved forward by lifting only one of its legs at a time. Whether it moved its front limbs first and its rear limbs afterwards, or if it moved its left side first and its right side next, each time the mech only lifted one of the legs at a time.

It was slow. Really slow.

However, it also spared the mech from wasting its energy. This movement pattern was very efficient and allowed the mech to sustain operations for a lengthy period of time.

This was very important to Ves because the Enduring Protector relied on its laser armaments to fight. Any mech that depended on energy weapons to fight only remained relevant as long as it possessed enough juice to power both its movements and its weapons!

"What's the point of reaching their destination faster if they only have enough energy to fire a couple of salvos?"

Ves likened the current performance of the Enduring Protector in the simulations to a type of heavy mechs referred to as Doom Crawlers.

As their overly-dramatic nickname alluded to, Doom Crawlers represented certain death to any enemies they met on their way.

These heavy mechs that came in shapes that resembled crabs, turtles or spiders moved slowly. Mobility wasn't their strong suit.

Yet their armor made up for this deficiency, possessing enough frontal armor to resist a squad of medium mechs for a short period of time.

Of course, Doom Crawlers didn't get their name from being vegetarians. Their designers mounted them with powerful medium armament that blasted apart any mech in their way!

Doom Crawlers distinguished themselves from regular artillery mechs in that they excelled in direct combat. They gave up long-ranged weapon systems that could deliver death from afar and preferred to stare death in the face.

If enemies figured they could easily dismantle the Doom Crawlers at close range, they were mistaken. The armaments of Doom Crawlers hit harder at closer range, and they possessed a variety of weapon options that allowed them to track nearer targets that moved at high speeds.

For all of their might, Doom Crawlers did suffer from a couple of disadvantages. Their low mobility combined with their lack of long-ranged options, particularly over the horizon, made them exceptionally vulnerable to long-ranged shelling or missile bombardment. They couldn't effectively retaliate against any mech or weapon system that outraged them. While their plentiful armor allowed them to resist a couple of volleys of fire, even an elephant could be felled by a million mosquito bites.

The second major downside was their cost. Not only did Doom Crawlers demand the best heavy armor, they also demanded hard-hitting weapons that could wipe out any enemy in their way before the enemy inflicted serious damage. All of these capabilities added to the cost of such a powerful heavy mech.

Heavy mechs already cost way much more than the other weight classes. Developing and deploying something as expensive as Doom Crawlers was generally considered as a foolish decision. It was like putting all of your eggs in a single basket. As long as the Doom Crawlers engaged the enemy in a frontal clash, they nearly always won.

However, their abysmal mobility and vulnerability to long-ranged bombardment allowed enemies to circumvent them or destroy them from a comfortable range as long as they came prepared.

It made more sense to most mech militaries to specialize their heavy mechs into either heavy knights or artillery mechs. The former retained the heavy armor but sacrificed every ranged weapon option. The latter excelled destroying enemies from extreme ranges but turned into sitting ducks if any enemy mechs came close.

However, all of these weaknesses could be dealt with as long as a force combined different mech types together. It was the same story with Qilanxo and the Enduring Protector.

"It's too bad that the Enduring Protector, for all its resemblance to a Doom Crawler, fails to live up to their battle prowess."

Still, the beauty of the situation was that the Enduring Protectors could still replicate the performance of Doom Crawler-type mechs if they fell under the protective umbrella of Qilanxo's space barrier.

"Qilanxo's space barrier is the strongest form of defense we've ever encountered on Seven. Even if the Vesians or anyone else shows up with loads of artillery mechs, we can still withstand the bombardment with plenty of time to spare."

Indeed, as Ves inserted something akin to a space barrier into the simulations, the performance of the Enduring Protector soared. In many battle simulations, they all got felled within the first minute if they faced ranged opponents that occupied the high ground.

With the space barrier, the Enduring Protectors could leisurely take their time to maneuver to better positions or angles. While the inability for the Enduring Protectors to fire their lasers through the space barrier was a major drawback, as long as the frontline mechs took advantage of it to save themselves from heavy shelling or moving to a better position made a huge difference.

Many times, the advantage bestowed by Qilanxo's space barrier outright swung the outcome of a scenario from a disastrous defeat to an effortless victory.

"This is a hopeful sign. At least I have proof that my design is effective under the right circumstances."

Out of curiosity, Ves flung the Enduring Protector into simulations where they faced off against modern mechs instead of similarly-crippled mechs. Did his mechs stand a chance when the breakdown effect no longer restricted modern mechs?

"Ouch." Ves winced as he saw the results.

A full squad of Enduring Protectors barely possessed the power to defeat a medium swordsman mech or a medium knight mech that approached from a distance.

However, most light mechs or melee mechs in greater numbers brutally closed the distance and tore apart the Enduring Protectors who couldn't run away even when their lives depended on it! With no defenses against melee attacks, these slow and fragile frontline mechs simply couldn't keep up against nimble light skirmishers or the like.

The Enduring Protectors also fared poorly against standard rifleman or frontline mechs. The latter mechs possessed a definite edge in mobility. In contrast, the Enduring Protectors moved so slowly that they might as well be stationary.

Such an extreme difference in mobility virtually condemned the Enduring Protectors to certain defeat unless they were piloted by excellent marksman.

"Something like that can only happen if someone like Venerable Xie is piloting one of the Enduring Protectors."

Overall, the results hadn't fallen out of his expectations, though it dampened his mood anyway to see so many opponents crush the copies of his third original design without any effort.

Despite how painful it was to witness such an abject performance, he still found it necessary. There was a possibility that when the rivaling forces reached the Starlight Megalodon and mucked about in her interior, they deliberately or accidentally stopped her FTL drives from spewing higher-dimensional particles in the air.

Once the source of the astral winds stopped feeding them, would there still be any astral winds left? It would dissipate from the planet in a matter of minutes, and fade away from the rest of the Aeon Corona System within a week!

Without the astral winds, the spacetime distortion that led to the breakdown effect no longer wreaked havoc on all of their mechs.

This basically meant that the red zone no longer restricted everyone's mechs!

"If such an event comes to pass, the race for the Starlight Megalodon will turn into a complete scramble!"

The role of his Enduring Protector ended at that moment. As the simulations just attested, it was better for the Vandals to evacuate these useless mechs right away than to continue to pit them in battle under extremely disadvantageous circumstances.

"Even the advantages bestowed by Qilanxo's space barrier won't do anything to mitigate its drawbacks. At best, it allows them to hang onto their lives for a bit longer."

In any case, now that Ves completed the first iteration of his design and subjected it to a quick battery of simulations, he felt he should go for a second round for feedback.

He first made an appointment with Captain Byrd in order to fill her in on his progress. When he entered her office, he showed her the design and a quick overview of its performance in the simulations through a projection.

"As you can see, the Enduring Protector is a decent mech design under the harsh conditions of the red zone, but turns into a powerhouse as long as it combines forces with Qilanxo. While the laser rifles are fairly underpowered compared to modern laser rifles, they are very efficient and allows for my design to last up to a day during low-intensity combat."

Captain Byrd studied the projection with a serious expression. "How long do they last during high-intensity combat?"

"I'm not sure, captain. It depends, I have to say, but it's not out of the question for them to last only four to five hours at most. Maybe less if they are firing their laser weapons non-stop, though that's not possible as they'll overheat at that point."

"That's not enough." The mech officer shook her head. "It takes hours, perhaps even a day for your new design to reach the center of the red zone from the edge. Your design needs to last longer."

"That's hardly possible, ma'am. I'm already doing the best I can under all of the limitations imposed on my design. It's internal volume is practically stuffed with energy cells, and even then I can't ensure a longer operation time than what I've just mentioned. I doubt that any other mech designer can deliver anything better. We all face the same constraints."

This nonetheless put Captain Byrd in a difficult spot. "Then the only way we can ensure the Enduring Protectors can operate in the red zone for an extended period of time is if it is accompanied by a small supply train."

It would in essence replicate the circumstances of the ground expedition. None of their mechs could carry enough energy cells to walk forward for more than a day. Therefore, they frequently returned to camp and exchanged their spent energy cells with fresh ones recharged by their god crystal generators.

Captain Byrd eventually dismissed Ves with a pensive expression on her face. "Let me think about the situation. I'll see whether it is viable to accompany the forces sent into the red zone with a legged transport or two. For now, I'm not satisfied with the endurance of your new design. I hope you can improve upon that aspect."

"Impossible. I'm sorry ma'am, but unless we mount a god crystal generator on the Enduring Protectors, there's no way to extend their operational time."

Captain Byrd suddenly gained a glint in her eye. "What a curious suggestion, Mr. Larkinson."

Ves was taken aback by her sudden interest.

Chapter 859

Eventually, Ves shot down Captain Byrd's insane idea of implementing the god crystals into the design of the Enduring Protector.

"It's not feasible." He replied as he rapidly went through the implications of her suggestion. "The god crystals aren't very effective by themselves. A single god crystal takes far too long to recharge. The dwarf brains that we've repurposed as their organic controllers lose concentration long before the recharge cycle is finished. We also can't recharge the god crystal very often for some reason. If the siphoning process is botched, we'll have to wait another day before they can be recharged."

Captain Byrd looked disappointed, but she offered a suggestion. "What if we commit a full god crystal generator aboard one of the transports accompanying the red zone force?"

"This... there are pros and cons to such a decision, captain." He said with a thoughtful expression. "As long as we can protect the god crystal generator, the mechs and troops entering the red zone don't have to worry about their energy budget at all. They can remain in the zone indefinitely as long as their other supplies last. However, committing a strategic god crystal generator is like putting all of our eggs in a single basket. If an enemy takes out the generator, it's a disaster."

"Can you design your mechs to take advantage of the available energy?"

It would entail a near-complete redesign, as Ves had not taken such an option into account. He designed the Enduring Protector around the assumption that energy would be extremely scarce.

"The performance of my mech can be boosted immediately if they don't have to take into account how much energy they expend, but it is still vastly underpowered compared to regular mechs. I can redesign the Enduring Protector to cope with a higher level of performance, but there are limits to how much I can expand its upper bounds. Resisting the breakdown effect is its highest priority, so it can't shake loose its dependence on obsolete, low-tech parts, ma'am."

Ves pointed out a couple of examples through the projector. Unless he completely scrapped more than three week's worth of design work and begin anew, the Enduring Protector design would always be a design oriented around breakdown resistance and energy efficiency.

He always relegated performance as a third or fourth priority. He couldn't afford the luxury of focusing upon it when he already had his hands full trying to keep his design afloat in the red zone where the breakdown effect reigned supreme.

After a brief discussion, Ves pointed out the greatest risk of bringing in a god crystal generator into the red zone.

"Our rivals are facing the same awful prospect as us, ma'am. With machines failing left and right, it gets increasingly harder to keep their power generators working. If we show up with a god crystal generator and call down an energy tornado that can be seen from a huge distance, aren't we taunting them that we're loaded with energy? There's a huge chance that they'll gang up on us if they haven't developed any alternatives to their energy shortages."

"I think we can take that chance." Captain Byrd said confidently. "I have faith in our research prowess. As long as we maintain a decisive edge and pair your new design with Qilanxo and the melee mech design the Swordmaidens are cooking up, we can easily defeat a force that is ten times as numerous. When it comes to securing the treasures of the Starlight Megalodon, we have to be bold enough to resist the combined advances of all of our rivals at once."

"I'm not sure if it will be that easy, captain. I have a suspicion that the Vesians aren't any worse than us in developing alternatives to cope with the problems we've been dealing with over the month."

"Mr. Larkinson, while we shouldn't underestimate our foes, we shouldn't overestimate their capabilities either." She said. "We possess inestimable advantages and we must stake our lives on them if we wish to achieve success."

The meeting ended quickly after that. Ves left her office and remained pensive throughout his return to the workshops.

The statements expressed by Captain Byrd told him that she was done with trying to remain cautious. While many Vandals thought Captain Byrd was overly timid compared to Captain Orfan, that was only because the former didn't throw herself headlong into a battle she wasn't confident in winning.

However, all of the research gains the Flagrant Swordmaidens achieved lately strengthened their ground forces and made them vastly more powerful in this unique environment. Captain Byrd believed the time to gather their strength had gone long enough!

Now was the time to leverage their advantages and steamroll the opposition!

"Reckless." Ves quietly muttered to himself as he seated himself behind his terminal again. "How can she discount our threats so easily? The other forces aren't so simple either. Even if they lack our research capacity, I'm sure they're resourceful enough to think of another solution."

Still, Ves had his orders. As the highest commanding officer of the Vandal ground forces, Captain Byrd dictated their approach. If she wanted to adopt an aggressive strategy, then everyone else had to dance to her tune.

Ves looked at his Enduring Protector and thought of how he could increase the upper bounds of its relatively lackluster performance. Right now, it couldn't fully leverage an overabundance of energy, because it couldn't move fast enough or fire strong-enough lasers to expend all of that extra energy.

He hated the sudden shift in design priorities. If Captain Byrd expressed this kind of intention at the start, then Ves could have designed the Enduring Protector with an elevated level of performance in mind.

Now, his workload increased massively as his first iteration fit poorly in the strategy adopted by the Vandals.

The strategy changed mid-way!

"Arrggh!" He shouted in frustration. "Do I have to start all over again?"

He didn't want to. He labored so much over the Enduring Protector's design that he felt loathe to discard it like a piece of trash. He invested so much time and energy in developing a viable breakdown-proof mech that he felt sick at the thought of starting over.

He decided to retain the design, but modify it as best as possible to account for the new demands. Not only would it save time, it also allowed the Enduring Protector to cope with different levels of energy availability.

"Increasing its upper bounds in performance doesn't mean the Enduring Protector will turn into an energy hungry design. As soon as their energy supply cuts off, they can immediately transition into a low power mode."

This gave his design some added flexibility in case their enemies took out the god crystal generator.

As Ves thought through the changes he needed to make in his design, he found that if he made some limited compromises, he'd still be able to retain the essence of his design.

"I'll have to focus on channeling the extra power onto the components that best scale with it. There's no need to stress the other parts when they'll just drown in the extra energy."

He already formed a good idea where to channel the extra energy. After concentrating his Spirituality and allowing Beast Rider Bubal to settle into the forefront of his mind, he began to work.

The first thing he did was to scrap the underpowered laser rifle barrels and replaced them with a simple laser cannon barrel from the local database. Its design may be old, but it scaled incredibly well with varying levels of power settings.

The adapted laser cannons could fire a laser beam as weak as one shot from a laser pistol to releasing a full blast that was half as strong as a laser beam fired from an Akkara heavy cannoneer!

"This is more than enough power to hamper any crippled mechs designed to operate in the red zone."

The only major downside to using these cannons was that their tracking speed couldn't keep up with the movements of fast-moving objects.

However, to Ves, this was no downside at all. The strong and pervasive breakdown effect prevented light mechs from bursting out with incredible speed because their gravitic backpacks were affected most of all!

"In the red zone, every mech is as slow as a snail, no matter if they are light mechs or heavy mechs. The balance between mobility and armor has shifted away from the former because it's impossible for mechs to retain their speed."

What did this mean? It meant that replacing the nimbler and faster laser rifle barrels with larger and slower laser cannon barrels effectively came with no repercussions! The downsides associated with exchanging a lighter weapon for a heavier weapon didn't apply at this time!

Ves spent a couple of days to incorporate this change. He optimized the placements of the new weapon systems and made sure the internal architecture could cope with the increased energy expenditure.

Once he became satisfied with his revision to the weapon systems, he found that his design began to have heat management problems.

If it fired its laser cannons at their highest power settings, it rapidly built up heat. This was an inevitable problem, and Ves couldn't do much to compensate for it besides exchanging some redundant energy cells for extra heat sinks.

This tradeoff made it so that the Enduring Protector wouldn't be able to last as long when cut off from a power source. However, the added heat sinks significantly increased the Enduring Protector's lethality during high-intensity battles as it could fire a bit more full-powered laser beams without worrying about overheating their frames.

Beast Rider Bubal relished in the changes. Both the dwarf and the wild god preferred to fight quick and decisive engagements rather than drawn-out slugging fests.

Ves smiled at the eventual result. The only setback he suffered was when he tried but failed to divert extra power anywhere else. The power reactor couldn't output much more juice and Ves couldn't squeeze out any more performance out of the extremely outdated engine model.

He contemplated replacing the current engine with a different model, but declined to do so after browsing some of the alternatives.

"There are better, newer engines out there that scale better with added power, but they're far more prone to breakdowns."

It wasn't as if a more powerful engine drastically increased the speed of the Enduring Protector. Snails were snails. A faster snail might move faster than a slower snail, but a hopping rabbit left them both in the dust!

A more powerful engine wouldn't be able to speed up his design. The only solution was to find a way to allow the gravitic backpacks to work despite the breakdown effect doing its very best to screw them up. Yet for all the research capacity the Vandals enjoyed, they hadn't figured out how to improve the reliability of the gravitic backpacks at all.

Therefore, Ves gave up on channeling the extra power elsewhere. "It's already sufficient for me to improve the offensive power of my design. This is it's core function and its strongest suit."

An increase in offensive power directly magnified the combat effectiveness of a combined force that consisted of Enduring Protectors, Qilanxo and Mayra's tiger mechs.

As Ves began the long and tedious process of optimizing his design and putting it through its paces in many different combat scenarios, an alarm suddenly sounded out in the workshop.

"What?" Ves looked up from his terminal. The alert signified that an enemy attack may be imminent in the next couple of hours!

And this wouldn't be an attack by a single crazy wild god or anything. The tone of the alarm indicated that a mech force may be setting upon the Flagrant Swordmaidens!

Captain Byrd's voice suddenly broadcasted from every available speaker. "Vandals, prepare for battle! Our scouts have detected an approaching force of mechs, wild gods and dwarves! They are aware of our location and are moving to attack us at their best speed!"

The energy tornados developed by the god crystal project gave away their position! On this huge planet, the odds of encountering a rival mech force should have been minimal, but all of that changed once the god crystal generators started calling down energy tornados left and right.

The Flagrant Swordmaidens finally paid the price for their inventions!

Chapter 860

The ground expedition immediately halted their march. Preparations for battle already went underway, but due to the distance between the main convoy and the approaching enemy force, it might take six or so hours before a battle commenced.

Due to the urgency of the situation and the preparations that needed to be done, Captain Byrd held an emergency briefing by remote. Instead of gathering at the mobile headquarters, everyone entered a virtual conference room from their current positions, no matter if they were offices or mech cockpits.

Within fifteen minutes, most of the mech officers, chiefs and important experts attended the virtual meeting.

To Ves, the projection systems in his office weaved an elaborate illusion that completely changed the small decor of the office into a large and sprawling conference room.

The projections gave the illusion that he could look at people in the face while he addressed them. The only downside was that he couldn't walk up to them and touch them, but who wanted to do something like that during a crisis?

Captain Byrd quickly began the meeting. She began with a brief summary of what their scouts managed to spot a fair distance away from the center of their supply train.

"Two of our scout mechs have managed to spot an incoming procession of mechs, wild gods and dwarves on godling mounts. We can pretty much ignore the threat of the latter, but the former two pose a very real threat. We are absolutely certain that they are bee-lining straight towards the center of our formation. They know our position."

Many Vandals grimaced.

"How many mechs and wild gods are on their way, captain?"

"We're not entirely certain." Captain Byrd admitted. "Our scouts don't dare to come into range of the incoming enemy force. They're keeping an eye while maintaining extreme distance. For now, the analysts that have poured over the initial sensor readings estimate that up to twelve wild gods and three-hundred landbound mechs are on the attack!"

"Three-hundred landbound mechs!"

While that sounded a lot, the Flagrant Swordmaidens combined numbered almost five-hundred mechs. While they lost a bunch of mechs due to the orbital bombardment raining down on their heads a few months ago, they still retained most of their strength.

Still, even if the odds were in their favor, the Vandals didn't express too much confidence. Even though they outnumbered the enemy, a battle could go in any direction.

Besides, the unexpected cooperation with one or more large dwarf tribes threw a wrench in their equations. How should they estimate the threat of the bonded wild gods? How close were the wildlings cooperating with the rival force?

All of these questions made it difficult for everyone to judge whether they still held the advantage.

"Do we know who's attacking?"

Captain Byrd nodded to a sensor officer, who answered in an uncertain tone. "The sensor readings from our scouts makes it difficult to be sure. There's too much interference in the air to get a clear view of their forces. From the markings and quality of the mechs that we've managed to observe, I can say with eighty percent certainty that we are dealing with a combined force of the Caged and the Red Tongs."

"Those bastards again!"

"Hah! They're trapped on this planet now that an antimatter torpedo annihilated their spaceborn forces!"

"Idiot! That just makes them more desperate! They have nothing to lose!"

The Vandals argued among themselves about the significance of this revelation. They couldn't judge the intentions of the Caged and the Red Tongs with common sense.

The landbound remnants of the Roppongans and the Ravienne Alliance-oriented pirates lost their means of escaping from this planet. With no way out, what were they up to? Did they decide to settle permanently on Seven or did they intend to fight even harder in order to open up an opportunity to evacuate on different terms?

None of the Vandals expressed any confidence in their guesses, and Captain Byrd finally stepped into the chaotic discussion. "There's no point in questioning the motivation of the Caged Tongs without encountering them in person. All that matters is that they are inbound on our forces in an unmistakably aggressive approach. Let us decide on our defensive strategy."

Because calling the allied force of the Caged and the Red Tongs was a mouthful, the Vandals conveniently called them the Caged Tongs instead.

The Vandal mech officers cobbled together a defensive strategy. Since they knew the enemy was coming, they could spend crucial hours on setting up the battlefield to their advantage.

"We've already recycled down the artillery cannons." Chief Dakkon said when asked. "There is no way we can fabricate a new battery of artillery guns in less than a week."

As for addressing the hostile wild gods, one of the mech officers turned to Dr. Tillman. "Can we poison the wild gods like last time?"

"It's worth a try." She said. "We haven't spent any research on improving the formulas for the so-called candy bars. If the hostile wild gods are instinctive creatures, then they shouldn't be able to resist the bait. However, if they are smart enough to fight against their instinct, they can resist the urge to eat the adulterated candy bars."

"The Caged Tongs won't allow it. They aren't stupid. They'll destroy the candy bars before they can tempt the wild gods."

The Vandals decided not to repeat the trick. They may be able to the wild gods if they were only by themselves or accompanied by some primitive dwarves, but this time they faced a modern force!

Even if the Caged Tongs consisted of criminals and pirates, they operated under modern conventions of war. Although it seemed like they were storming at the Flagrant Swordmaidens in a straight charge, who knew what they really had in mind?

Therefore, the Vandal officers threw away all of their contempt and started treating the Caged Tongs as a serious threat.

"Even if the Red Tongs are a modern mech force, they're not as thorough as a military unit. Their scouting efforts are lackluster and their strategy doesn't seem to be more sophisticated than throwing all of their mechs at us in a single overwhelming attack."

"They might split up and flank us when the battle commences."

"Then let them! If they attempt to flank us, they'll only be splitting up their forces into easily digestible chunks. We outnumber them, remember?!"

"I'm not so sure about that. They're also bringing in wild gods, and who knows what powers they possess. Even if they're weaker than the sacred gods, any wild god with wilde area powers can instantly disrupt our formations!"

The wild gods were the wildcards of the upcoming battle. They possessed such a large variety of powers that the Vandals couldn't predict what they were up against.

"It's easy to estimate the battle capabilities of the Caged Tongs. It's not so easy to estimate the threat of the twelve or so wild gods that are boring down on us." Captain Byrd emphasized. "I don't like unexpected surprises, so our first priority should be to take out these wild gods. As long as this uncertain factor no longer poses a threat, we can mop up the scum think they can match our strength!"

"Let's employ the bulk of our ranged mechs against the wild gods. We should take them out from a distance before they get into range to activate their powers. If none of their wild gods have a ridiculous defensive power like Qilanxo's space barriers, they're pretty much sitting ducks!"

"The Red Tongs know that as well as we do. Are they really going to let us hammer the wild gods with impunity?"

"It's either that or risk their own mechs."

"Captain, if I may make a suggestion?" A mech officer asked. "Let's commit Venerable Xie to the battle. He's more than ready to fight on our behalf."

The virtual conference room descended into silence. After a few seconds of thoughts, the Vandals grew hopeful.

The Pale Dancer might not be able to show its strength against the wild gods, but it was a completely different story when it came to enemy mechs!

Captain Byrd didn't reject the suggestion. "I will task Venerable Xie with taking out their leaders and officers. The key to winning this battle in the most painless way possible is to cripple their command structure. Out of all of our assets, the Pale Dancer is the best mech for the job."

The planning stretched on for ten more minutes as the mech officers finalized their battle plan. To Ves, the broad strokes of their strategy was simple. Take out the wild gods from a distance before counter charging the Caged Tongs from multiple directions!

Since the Flagrant Swordmaidens outnumbered the Caged Tongs, why should they remain passive? They should attack and use their numbers to their advantage!

The only restriction that constrained the Flagrant Swordmaidens from storming off immediately was that they couldn't expose their supply train of fast and heavy transports.

Even if the Flagrant Swordmaidens wiped out the Caged Tongs with ease, if the pirates managed to destroy their supply train, they may have won the battle but would have certainly lost the war!

After Captain Byrd issued specific assignments to the Vandals, she ended the meeting. "I'll discuss the battle plan with Commander Lydia and see if she agrees with it. We may need to adjust some of the details."

Usually, the Vandals took the lead in the planning. The Swordmaidens generally weren't very concerned about drafting detailed battle plans. They much preferred to throw their mechs straight at the enemy if they thought they were strong enough to beat them. They were still pirates, after all.

Ves received his own assignment as well. Captain Byrd tasked him with pouring over the sensor readings sent back by their scouts in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy mechs.

As the Vandals and Swordmaidens both mustered up for battle, Ves dug through the noise-ridden optical footage and tried his best to peer through the interference in the air. Ever since they entered the storm lands, it became increasingly harder to observe and transmit data over a distance.

Still, the longer the Vandal scout mechs did their jobs, the more footage they gathered. A single instance of footage might not be able to tell Ves much, but it was a different story altogether if the Vandals processed the data.

After the analysts processed the footage and reduced the noise, Ves obtained a clearer view of the enemy mechs.

"Is that it?"

The enemy mechs all appeared ramshackle! By far, most of the landbound mechs consisted of either budget models or bargain bin models!

Not only that, the state of the mechs didn't seem very great! The maintenance of most of the mechs looked very poor to Ves! Some of them marched forward with a limp while others couldn't move their arms anymore!

"It's the breakdown effect!"

The breakdown effect spared no machine. The Flagrant Swordmaidens managed to cope with the rate of breakdowns because they brought an abundant amount of support personnel and supplies.

What about the pirates? Obviously, they didn't pay too much attention to logistics and paid for it in spades!

Ves tried to go over the footage and see whether every mech suffered from a lack of maintenance.

"Some mechs look better off than others."

Certain mechs, mostly the more impressive-looking ones, didn't show any signs of deficiencies. Their mech models were of higher quality and their exterior sported several shiny symbols and trophies. The somewhat exaggerated appearances of those special mechs reminded Ves of how the Swordmaidens liked to puff up their individual achievements.

"These are likely the mechs piloted by their champions and officers."

It seemed that the mech technicians among the Caged Tongs only spared the minimum amount of work into keeping their regular mechs functional. Instead, they allocated an inordinate amount of effort into keeping the mechs piloted by their leaders at their best state!

"What a selfish allocation of resources!"

Ves couldn't believe who came up with this decision. All of the extra attention bestowed on the leader mechs could have been spent on fixing the many ailments afflicting the badly-maintained mechs piloted by their rank-and-file. That would have been a much more efficient decision, yet for some reason the leaders didn't want to share.

"Is it because the leaders needed strength to keep their subordinates in line?"

As long as the officers and champions piloted the best mechs, their underlings wouldn't dare to revolt. This must have been a very real possibility ever since their fleet no longer existed.

In any case, the observations made by Ves should come as a welcome surprise to Captain Byrd and the rest of the Flagrant Swordmaidens.

Chapter 861

Ves spent more time on analysing the mechs fielded by the Caged and the Red Tongs. The more he watched the footage, the more he wanted to palm his head and smack the chief technicians in charge of keeping the mechs in working condition.

"I really don't know what their chief technicians are thinking."

Among the Vandals, the chief technicians may be a stubborn lot, but Ves made sure they paid equal amounts of attention to every Vandal mechs. That didn't mean they were immune to politics, but Ves kept such a tight rein over their work allocation that they couldn't pull off any games under his watch.

It was a completely different story among the Caged Tongs. Favoritism appeared to be rife among their maintenance crews, and they wastefully allocated an excessive amount of manpower and resources into keeping their leader mechs at their best condition.

"The amount of time, manpower and resources they've spent on keeping a leader mech in tiptop shape is enough to address the problems afflicting ten of their regular mechs!"

The law of diminishing returns applied to mech maintenance as well. Some problems could be fixed by a single mech technician within a couple of minutes, while other problems demanded an entire crew of mech technicians to disassemble half of the mech to repair its insides.

In any case, it wasn't as if the Vandals skipped out on those thorough repairs as well. The difference between the pirates was that the Vandals never skimped out on logistics. It was well-known that pirates were always short on mech technicians, engineers and other support personnel.

Even the Swordmaidens relied on slaves to fulfill those roles! And they were one of the better-run pirate gangs in the frontier.

Ves noted that the mechs fielded by the Caged were in a marginally better condition than the mechs that belonged to the Red Tongs. They emerged from the restrictive Roppo Principality and couldn't quite shake off the hierarchical, rule-bound tendencies of their home state.

As for the infamous Red Tongs, this bunch of maniacal pirates became famed for transplanting alien tongues in their mouths and genetically modifying their digestive systems so that they could indulge on both alien and human flesh!

It was no surprise to Ves that the mechs of the Red Tongs continued to fall apart as they were on the warpath. Over the past several hours, three of their mechs suffered a critical malfunction that stopped them from advancing!

The enemy didn't seem to care. They continued to march forward while they left the broken mechs behind. Overworked crews of mech technicians picked up the fallen mechs onto makeshift transports that trailed after the main fighting force.

It was impossible to repair these broken mechs in time for them to contribute to the battle.

"Really." Ves shook his head. "If they can't take care of their own mechs, how can they expect to take care of ours?"

Many mech pilots found logistics and proper maintenance to be a tedious, boring and costly affair. They would rather focus on the battles rather than the lengthy preparation that happened in between.

Yet to Ves, he found that good preparation already won them half the battle. Comparing the ramshackle state of the enemy mechs to the reasonably well-maintained mechs of the Vandals and the Swordmaidens, Ves believed the disparity might tip the balance between the forces by more than thirty percent!

Such an advantage was inestimably valuable! This was on top of the numerical advantage the Flagrant Swordmaidens already enjoyed.

Because of all these advantages, Ves couldn't figure out why the Caged Tongs were so eager to pit themselves into battle against the Flagrant Swordmaidens. Didn't they know what they were up against?

"Probably not." He scoffed. "They only spotted our energy tornados from a distance and decided to go on an attack. They never sent out any scouts. Even now, their scouting efforts is half-hearted."

The Vandal scout mechs practically ran rings around the scouts of the Caged Tongs. The scout mechs couldn't move very fast and their overall state looked like they spent half-a-decade in the dumpster. Their mech pilots didn't seem to enjoy a very high position within their organisations as they never exerted themselves, preferring to stick close to their buddies.

Still, even if the Caged Tongs presented a sloppy image to Ves, he still didn't dare to say whether the Flagrant Swordmaidens possessed an advantage. Their best mech pilots piloted mechs in good condition. They may be few in number, but they served a vital role in propping up their morale.

In addition, who knew how their wild gods added to the table. Many Vandals puzzled over how the Caged Tongs managed to subdue and subordinate the feral wildlings and their proud and arrogant wild gods.

After Ves filed his report, word quickly spread among the Vandals and the Swordmaidens about the awful state of the enemy mechs. Ves guessed that Captain Byrd eagerly spread the word in order to boost everyone's confidence about the upcoming battle.

"This is going to be easy!"

"I heard their mechs are so fragile that they break after suffering a single hit."

"Serves the scum right for neglecting their maintenance."

"I always wanted to wring their necks ever since their fleet threw artificial meteorites at us! I lost a buddy from the bombardment!"

The overall opinions expressed by the servicemen edged dangerously close to dismissing the actual threat of their foes. Ves didn't think it was wise to discount the strength of the enemy so readily.

Still, compared to the mild apprehension that wracked the men and women earlier, he found that the mech pilots were much more willing to commit to the battle now. With their confidence swelled, they eagerly wanted to thrash the scum and take revenge for their spaceborn counterparts to bomb the Flagrant Swordmaidens out of existence!

Ves looked on as the Vandals and Swordmaidens prepared their individual mech companies for combat.

He directed his interest on a couple of noteworthy assets.

For example, ever since Venerable Xie landed on the surface, he spent most of his days training in vain. The Vandals never found an opportunity to employ his Pale Dancer in a meaningful capacity.

Those days of collecting dust were over now. The Pale Dancer was being prepped for war!

Almost everyone looked forward to the performance of their new expert pilot. Many Vandals idolized Venerable Xie and wished they could become as skilled as piloting mechs as him one day.

Another asset that Ves paid a keen amount of attention on was Qilanxo. This time, Captain Byrd and Commander Lydia planned to make use of her in a supportive capacity. The biggest vulnerability of the Flagrant Swordmaidens was that they brought over fifty different legged transports, all of which held vital facilities and supplies.

To guard against long-ranged potshots that could easily take out the fast and heavy transports from a distance, the vehicles would stick close to Qilanxo at the very rear. If the Caged Tongs thought they could cripple the supply train of the Flagrant Swordmaidens, they had another thing coming!

The third asset consisted of the ten or so Akkara heavy mechs that the ground expedition retained. The fleet used to send down some extras during the battle against Pairixan, but they were far too heavy for their own good.

Right now, the Flagrant Vandals on the ground held on to just ten of them, but they possessed an unimaginable amount of firepower if employed correctly.

A loose rule of thumb was to equate the combat power of a heavy mech with five medium mechs.

In essence, ten Akkara heavy mechs brought the equivalent of fifty additional mechs to the table!

This rule of thumb only applied during conventional battles and was often inaccurate after the fact, but that didn't stop people from putting their faith in it. Only mech duels fell outside its scope.

"Those heavy mechs are going to cook the wild gods into barbeque."

The Akkaras still had some artillery shells left over from last time, but the heavy cannoneers would only employ them as a last resort.

Captain Byrd mainly wanted them to employ their powerful laser cannons against the huge and sluggish wild gods. From what they gathered from Qilanxo, not a lot of wild gods acquired defensive powers.

Even if a wild god did possess a defensive power, it was impossible for a single exobeast to protect the sprawling mob of mechs, wild gods and dwarves.

Ves looked forward to the performance of the Akkaras the most. There was something majestic about witnessing them pound a distant foe into scrap or a puddle of charred flesh.

"One hour remaining until battle commences! Get a move on, fellas!"

The Vandals and the Swordmaidens rapidly finished their preparations and split up into several units. They moved out by mech company and spread out into a half-moon formation designed to envelop the approaching mob from the front and sides.

Since they possessed the advantage of numbers, they might as well try to go for broke!

While spreading out their forces to this extent risked their middle elements, the Flagrant Swordmaidens possessed enough confidence to be able to hold against the initial charge. The Swordmaidens placed their best Devil Razors and Silver Valencias in the middle. Their main job was to stop any advance from reaching the Akkaras and the supply train in the rear.

With half an hour to go until the first elements of the enemy came into range, Ves entered the mobile headquarters and sat behind the nearest available console. He booted up the console and began to call up the status of the Akkara mechs.

Right now, the Flagrant Swordmaidens couldn't afford to lose their heavy mech. Losing one of them hurt as much as losing five medium mechs, after all.

Time ticked by as the Caged Tongs began to enter into extreme range. From time to time, various officers and specialists called out several noteworthy observations to Captain Byrd.

More and more details began to emerge, but Ves paid little attention to most of them. He began to check up on the status of every Vandal mech. All of them should be fit for battle if the mech technicians had done their job correctly.

"What is the status of the Pale Dancer?"

"Venerable Xie reports that he is in position at the rear. He's ready to ambush the main pirate formation from the rear whenever he receives the go ahead."

"Tell him to maintain distance for now." Captain Byrd spoke. "Now is not the right time to slip a knife into the backs of the Caged Tongs. Wait until the aggressors commit to the battle."

"Captain, the enemy horde is stalling! Their march has slowed down!"

"Their scouts finally got a good look at our forces. I think they've finally learned what they are up against!"

Ves diverted his attention to study the projection that depicted the current actions of the enemy horde. The mechs that Ves identified as belonging to the Caged continued to stall while the mechs that belonged to the Red Tongs started to regain their courage.

"They're not united! The Caged and the Red Tongs are likely arguing over their next course of action!"

"Let's give them a little push." Captain Byrd grinned. "Can our Akkaras hit the position?"

"Their laser cannons don't have a direct line of sight to the enemy forces as of yet, but we still have a sufficient amount of long-ranged artillery shells that can theoretically reach that far. We only have enough shells left for two complete salvos, ma'am."

"Fire one artillery salvo at the suspected commander of the Red Tongs and fire another salvo in the middle of their wild gods!"

Captain Byrd wanted to incite the enemy! It would have been rather troublesome if the Flagrant Swordmaidens had to come to the enemy, so she opted for a brazen attack that was sure force the hand of their enemies.

The Akkara mechs boomed as they fired their artillery cannons! A score of special long-ranged shells designed to fight against the planet's heavy gravity arced into the air before landing close to the position of the best and most expensive looking pirate mech!

Chapter 862

The sensor systems of the pirate mechs detecting the incoming shells as they arced towards some of their leader mechs.

Yet what could they do? They barely had a second to respond before the shells landed in their midst and exploded!

The wavering ranks of Roppongans and Ravienne Alliance-aligned pirates rippled as the shells blasted nearby mechs away!

As the dust and smoke faded away, the scout mechs keenly captured the damage done by the shells.

"One leader mech suffered direct hits and is destroyed! Three leader mechs sustained heavy proximity damage and have lost combat effectiveness! Fifteen mechs suffered light damage but can still fight!"

"Not bad for a single artillery volley." Captain Byrd commented. "Fire the second salvo of artillery shells at the wild gods. Let's test their defenses."

Ves studied the damage of the initial artillery salvo and found that the shells only managed to deal so much damage because the Caged Tongs were caught off-guard. The special long-ranged artillery shells the fleet shipped from orbit sacrificed impact for range. Mechs ordinarily wouldn't be taken out at once unless they suffered a direct hit, and even then tougher mechs could still keep walking.

However, the pirate mechs idiotically bunched without any rhyme or reason. They likely hadn't kept up their guard against long-ranged shelling for a very long time. The sudden artillery bombardment by the Vandal Akkara mechs served as a brutal reminder that they faced a proper mech force this time!

To their credit, the Caged Tongs quickly took action. The more disciplined mech pilots of the Caged reacted immediately and spread out their formation. The Red Tongs followed suit only after their pirate leaders gave the command, and sometimes those orders only came thirty seconds too late.

"Damn, if only we had more long-ranged shells."

"They're too costly in rare materials. The fleet only sent us this much after they squeezed their material stockpiles dry."

The biggest reason why the Flagrant Swordmaidens took the Caged Tongs by surprise was because they hit them beyond a range where they thought they became vulnerable.

After the Caged and the Red Tongs suffered from this attack in which they reacted with an embarrassing amount of confusion, they quickly grew angry. Both the Caged and the Red Tongs felt that if the Flagrant Swordmaidens could shell them once, they could shell them again!

"The Akkara heavy cannoneers are firing their second salvo!"

This time, the sensor systems of the pirate mechs alerted their mech pilots to another artillery salvo. Several mechs immediately tried to bend down or cross their arms, yet the shells didn't land on any mech.

Instead, they exploded all around the clump of twelve wild gods that accompanied the pirate mechs.

Roars of pain and fury sounded out as the shells blasted their forms. However, Ves and the other Vandals looked disappointed as the damage they inflicted was much less than they expected.

As biologistical exobeasts who grew up on a Super Earth and massed heavier than a heavy mech, their flesh was thick, dense, hard and strong. These wild gods occasionally fought against themselves, and the one with the weaker bodies always perished!

Even though the fury of the exploding artillery shells could dent or rupture the armor plating of a mech, the wild gods surprisingly endured most of the shelling without cracking their extremely hard scales. Only direct impacts managed to break through the scales, but the huge bulk of the exobeasts meant the blasts ran their course fairly quickly before they even came close to their internal organs.

Despite the fairly disappointing damage inflicted onto their bodies, the shelling still alarmed the wild gods! Neither the god beasts nor their wildling beast riders ever encountered something so foreign and alarming before!

The dwarf riders all survived the shelling despite their proximity to the blasts that would have at least ruptured their eardrums due to some unknown energy field covering their bodies. Yet even the best energy fields couldn't protect them from the psychological impact of enduring powerful explosions at close range!

"The wild gods have gone berserk! They're charging forward as well!"

Unfortunately for the enemy, the wild gods may be hiding a lot of destructive potential, but they weren't very fast! Compared to the pirate mechs who all wore heavy-duty gravitic backpacks, the wild gods fought against the gravity of the planet on their power.

This led to a strange situation where the pirate mechs clearly outpaced their wild god auxiliaries. This forced the Caged Tongs to slow down in order to keep up with the exobeasts.

"There's something up about the wild gods. Why are they slowing down?"

"The wild gods are probably their trump cards. Just think about how many wild gods we've met that can summon an earthquake or a firestorm. They are probably planning to bring them close enough for them to do their magic!"

After the Akkara mechs ran out of artillery shells, they readied their laser cannons and began to fire at the distant wild gods even if the interference in the air made it difficult for them to land a hit.

The intuition of their mech pilots and the advanced targeting systems both compensated for the initial misses. The thick and powerful laser beams quickly began to land against the bodies of the bewildered wild gods who have never been hit with lasers before.

Unfortunately, the thick scales of the god beasts coupled with their active energy fields mitigated much of the damage. Even so, every hit drained their internal energy reserves faster.

"The energy reserves of the wild gods are steadily decreasing!"

While the Akkara mechs steadily wore down the defenses and energy levels of the wild gods, the ranged mechs from both sides started to skirmish against each other.

Ves watched with eagerness as he witnessed a dynamic dance between rifleman mechs.

Both sides moved across the mildly hilly and uneven terrain at full speed with their gravitic backpacks flaring at full.

While the Caged Tongs may have their priorities skewed when they decided which mechs to service and to what extent, they weren't silly enough to neglect the maintenance of the gravitic backpacks.

Both sides didn't spare any effort and expended their energy cells at an alarming rate. The laser rifleman mechs strafed at full tilt while firing their laser rifles. The frontline mechs, of which the Red Tongs fielded a considerable amount of them, ran with their legs aligned in an oblique angle while their barrel-like torsos pointed straight towards their foes.

The enormous distance, the interference in the air, the passive and active ECM systems built into the mechs along with pilot errors all resulted in very few hits from both sides. The strafing runs looked dramatic as laser beams turned the battlefield into a light show, but they hadn't entered into medium range where the frequency of hits actually rose to a meaningful level.

However, the distant duels still continued as the ranged mechs from both sides restrained each other. If one side stopped firing, the other side would be able to take their time to aim and land accurate hits.

Therefore, the ranged mechs never stopped running, because halting literally meant being blasted by a hundred or more laser beams in the next three seconds!

"Our ranged mechs are holding back our opponents and have gained the edge!"

The duels tilted slowly towards the Flagrant Swordmaidens due to their numbers and quality advantage.

However, the most dramatic factor skewing the ranged duels into the defending side's favor was the substantial difference in maintenance levels!

When Ves peered at the footage of the enemy mechs relayed by the scout mechs, he recalled the time when he accompanied Walter's Whalers in the Glowing Planet campaign.

The local Cloudy Curtain gang paid so little attention to servicing their mechs to the point where their mech technicians were lazy bums. They didn't even hire a chief technician to keep their maintenance crews in line!

What Ves predicted came to pass. Their cheap, awfully maintained mechs folded easily during high-intensity battles.

This crucial difference played out again this time as some of the mechs of the Caged and the Red Tongs crumpled or collapsed after suffering only three or four laser hits that just so happened to land on their weak points.

A dozen mechs already folded, and even more started to fall as the enemy crossed the expanse.

"Some of the wild gods are activating their powers! The wild gods are speeding up somehow!"

One of the massive exobeasts somehow glowed in yellow and spread that glow towards the other eleven wild gods. This caused them to abruptly run five times faster!

That was a massive boost in speed!

"What is happening?!" Captain Byrd immediately demanded.

"We've detected temporal anomalies around the wild gods, captain! They are marching at the same speed, but a time field is distorting the influence of time upon them so that they are effectively gaining more ground!"

"How long can that wild god keep that time field up?!"

"Not too long, ma'am! The energy levels of that wild god is dropping drastically! It can only keep it up for ten minutes at most!"

That still allowed the wild gods to eat up a lot of distance. The Akkara mechs already blasted the bonded exobeasts with lasers as frequently as possible, yet the thick-skinned and thick-muscled beasts were like giant slabs of alloy in their damage-absorbing capacity as long as they kept their energy fields up!

Even starship plating succumbed faster than their abundant flesh!

"Facing twelve wild gods is like facing twelve expert mechs." Ves spoke out, putting a light damper on their moods. "While they aren't actually equivalent to expert mechs, at the very least their resilience is on par. However, just like expert mechs, they can't sustain their energy fields for long if they suffer too much damage."

Their heavy mechs just needed to continue pounding on the wild gods in order to exhaust their internal energy reserves. Unlike sacred gods, the wild gods mostly powered their abilities through their murky crystal and the energy suffused throughout their bodies. That effectively meant they ran out of juice a lot quicker.

Yet would the heavy mechs be able to exhaust the wild gods now that they moved five times faster all of a sudden?

Another wild god activated his powers. An obscuring mist formed around the wild gods that enveloped their forms and blocked most of their sensors.

However, this didn't deter the Akkara mechs at all!

"Feed back the sensor data to our processors and send the results to the Akkaras!"

An ample amount of scout mechs kept their sensor systems pointed at the wild gods. While they mostly captured garbled noise, they fed back the data to the mobile headquarters where powerful processors rapidly calculated the real-time positions of the wild gods hiding within the field of mist.

The lasers continued to land upon the bodies of the humongous wild gods without stopping!

"Captain, the Swordmaiden melee mechs have moved from their positions! They're charging forward to meet the Caged Tongs into battle!"

"What?!" Captain Byrd rose up from her seat. "Those numbskulls! It's not time yet! We haven't cleared the wild gods yet!"

The Swordmaiden mech pilots took no notice of the original plan. With waves of enemy mechs about to descend upon their lines, the aggressive female mech pilots no longer held themselves in. They gave in to their urges and charged out without any regard for strategy or timing!

Half of the Vandals cursed at their pig teammates. Couldn't they just follow a single battle plan without turning into mindless battle maniacs?

Having spent a lot of time with Ketis, Ves understood the impulsive nature of the Swordmaidens a little better than others. They spotted weakness among their foes and attempted to close in on the enemy before they regained their composure.

It wasn't a half-bad solution, but the problem was they dismissed the threat of the wild gods!

"We need to do something about the wild gods now!"

Chapter 863

Ever since the scout mechs brought back footage of one or more large dwarf tribes marching together with the Caged Tongs, the analysts among the Vandals tried to figure out the relation between the two disparate forces.

Foreigners from the stars had nothing in common with the nomadic wildling tribes! For what reason would they work together all of a sudden?

Most of the Vandals immediately believed the dastardly pirates coerced the helpless, innocent dwarves into fighting on their behalf. A large tribe may be a force to be reckoned with against other native threats, but any half-decent mech force could run rings around them, especially from a distance.

It would be too easy for a mech force to subdue a dwarf tribe no matter how many wild gods they bonded with. Even the Flagrant Swordmaidens came up with a couple of contingency plans of this nature if they hadn't already gained the cooperation of Qilanxo.

What puzzled the Vandals the most was that the dwarves and their bonded wild gods all seemed to march into battle with fervor that did not fit with a narrative that revolved around exploitation.

"Are those dwarves brainwashed or something? They don't look like prisoners or slaves! It's as if they are completely dedicated to the cause!"

The best guess the analysts came up with was that the Caged Tongs somehow hoodwinked the dwarf tribes and their bonded wild gods into worshipping them as a greater authority. Everything about the foreigners from the stars impressed the natives, from their powerful metallic mechs to their amazing medical technology that could cure a lot of old ailments.

"The natives are like frogs in a well. When someone outside the well drops inside, how can the frogs not worship the outsider as a higher being?"

Whatever the case, the frogs no longer ruled the inside of the well but yielded power to the seemingly omnipotent outsiders!

While the energy levels of the wild gods as the Akkara mechs kept wearing down their energy fields with accurate laser fire, the exobeasts just didn't go down fast enough!

"Ma'am, the Swordmaidens aren't responding to our hails. What is your command?"

Captain Byrd fell into a difficult dilemma. They drafted the original plan in order to handle the most unstable factor first. Once the wild gods succumbed to massed lasers, the rest of the enemy force fell within their calculations.

Yet the Swordmaidens didn't see it that way. They never backed down against challenges and never showed fear against new and unknown threats!

It wasn't as if they never gave into their fear, but they didn't see the need in holding back at this time!

"Send out our melee mech companies after the charging Swordmaiden mechs." Captain Byrd finally decided. "Let the Swordmaidens absorb the initial brunt of the clash and back them up after they stall. Make sure to keep our own mechs on the second line. Don't let them get caught up in whatever wide-area powers the wild gods have in store."

The Vandal melee mechs moved out rather helplessly as they trailed after the charging Swordmaidens.

The battle entered a heated phase as the ranged mechs from both sides scored much more hits as they entered medium range. Vandal and Swordmaiden mechs started suffering serious damage from the laser impacts hitting their frames, but their armor managed to hold out long enough for them to pull back before the damage proved fatal.

While Captain Byrd felt confident enough about their chances for victory, she wanted to minimize the damage and lose as few mechs as possible. Every mech that sustained substantial damage or had their armor broken received orders to pull back before they got trashed.

In the perspective of the mech technicians, it was much easier to replace a lot of broken armor plating than to repair a single crippled mech with serious internal damage!

Of course, if the battle went sideways for some reason, Captain Byrd wouldn't hesitate to throw the damaged mechs back into battle.

The Swordmaiden mech pilots roared as they endured the lasers hitting their mechs and rapidly closed the distance. The diminishing amount of pirate mechs armed with lasers already had their hands full surviving against the coordinated laser volleys of the Flagrant Swordmaidens, so they couldn't divert much of their firepower against the closing the swordsman mechs.

"The mist around the wild gods is dispersing!"

The wild gods came back into view. Most of their bodies started to look ugly and scorched as some of the potent damage from the laser beams bled through their energy fields. Their energy reserves already dipped to less than forty percent!

However, that was still too much in the eyes of the Vandals. Some of the wild gods started glowing as they channeled their unique abilities against the closing Swordmaiden mechs.

"Five wild gods are channeling their powers!"

"Divert all of our Akkara mechs on two of them! Prioritize draining their energy reserves! Allocate a ranged mech company to assist their efforts!"

The Akkara mechs stopped targeting the wild gods randomly and evenly and instantly brought their cannons to bear upon two of the glowing wild gods at the front. Now that the range shortened considerably, the targeting systems of the Akkara mechs delivered pinpoint accuracy for each hit.

Two wild gods each suffered the combined attention of five Akkara mechs each. When the laser beams spread out among their ranks, the wild gods didn't show any fear. Yet now that the heavy cannoneers started focusing their firepower, the two targeted wild gods abruptly flustered.

Shortly after that, over thirty laser rifleman mechs hit the wild gods with a flurry of weak but rapid-fire laser volleys.

The might of each individual laser beam fired from the rifles might not be very powerful, but the horrendous volume of repeated laser beams practically blinded the targeted wild gods into a stupor! Their glow diminished as the bewildered wild gods aborted any attempts at offense in order to channel their full power towards bolstering their rapidly diminishing energy fields.

However, even as the Vandal ranged mechs managed to stall the devastating attacks of two of the exobeasts, the other three wild gods faced no hindrances at all. After gathering their strength for twenty seconds, they each unleashed the full might of their abilities!

"Pull back!"

Surprisingly, the Swordmaiden mechs at the very front moved seconds earlier than the Vandal mechs trailing after them from a distance. It was as if the Swordmaiden mech pilots already planned their abrupt reversal beforehand!

Each of the three wild gods called down different powers onto the battlefield.

One of them summoned a corrosive wind that spread out over hundreds of meters. The strange properties of this acid wind rapidly ate through armor plating of the Swordmaiden mechs that fell into range!

Most of them managed to escape the affected area looking like sorry, rusted junkyard machines. A handful suffered worse than others. When their gravitic backpacks or their leg joints failed, the mechs lost all of their mobility. The Swordmaiden mech pilots helplessly ejected their cockpits before the corrosive winds ate through the ejection mechanisms.

The heavy gravity did its best to pull down the flying cockpits, but their integrated antigrav modules lasted long enough for them to fly back to the rear.

The ejected pirate cockpits on the other hand displayed more mixed results. Half of the time, their antigrav modules failed to fire up, causing the cockpits to slam against the ground after traveling only a couple of hundred meters.

Evidently, their mech technicians hadn't checked the cockpits in a very long time.

That said, a significant amount of pirate mech pilots became trapped in their own mechs as their mechs keeled over before they could release their gravitic backpacks and allow their cockpits room to eject.

Because the gravitic backpacks shifted the center of gravity of the mechs slightly to the rear, many mechs that stopped functioning had a tendency to fall onto their backs, which was the worst outcome as far as mech pilots and mech designers were concerned!

Right after the first wild god summoned a corrosive wind, a second wild god activated his powers in a different area. Tens of Swordmaiden mechs fell into an area that suddenly turned muddy.

The soil didn't grow wet and muddy. Instead, it became as pliable as soft clay, causing most of the mechs in the area to sink down into the ground.

This was a fatal trap to mechs, and it had caught over twenty Swordmaiden mechs over a wide area!

Even without orders from Captain Byrd, the Akkara mechs abruptly stopped firing their laser cannons at the two stalled wild gods and instead blasted the exobeast responsible for turning the terrain into a soft pit.

The blistering lasers immediately halted the wild god's efforts of attempting to sink the affected mechs into the ground! The soil abruptly hardened, trapping the Swordmaiden mechs and turning them into sitting ducks against errant laser fire from some of the pirate mechs.

Most hadn't sunk deep enough to trap them for long. They forcibly pulled out their legs or hacked the ground with their extremely sharp greatswords until they loosened it up enough to break out.

Still, a handful of Swordmaiden mechs sunk deeper than others, to the point where they couldn't free themselves on their own power. As more and more pirate mechs fired their lasers at the immobile mechs, the Swordmaiden mech pilots decisively bailed out and ejected from their cockpits.

"These impatient hags!"

"Are their brains filled with muscles or something?"

Many Vandals groaned as the Swordmaidens incurred unnecessary losses from these incidents. Why couldn't they hold themselves back and wait for their ranged mechs to take out these wild gods and their bewildering powers from a distance?

"Focus on suppressing the wild gods! Instruct the Akkara mechs to focus their firepower on any wild god that begins to glow!"

At this time, the first wave of Swordmaiden mechs finally slammed against the pirate mechs. While many of their mechs suffered setbacks or delays due to the appearance of the corrosive winds and the quicksand pit, their line stretched out over kilometers, allowing most of them to close the distance unscathed.

The Swordmaiden mechs instantly tore the mechs of the Caged and the Red Tongs to pieces during the initial clash!

The difference in strength was too wide! As a whole, The Devil Razors outmatched the budget and bargain bin mechs of their opposition by a wide margin, both in cost and in maintenance levels.

The latter may sound a bit boring but it drastically affected the reaction speed and the amount of damage the enemy mechs could endure before they got wrecked.

What really sealed the deal was the disparity in training, discipline and skill! The mech pilots of the Caged fared a lot better than the unruly Red Tongs, who mostly earned their fame from the atrocities they committed instead of displaying valor on the battlefield!

The Vandal mechs in the second line faltered in their charge when they saw that the Swordmaidens didn't need any help at the moment. The vicious Swordmaidens currently fought like wolves among sheep, felling pirate mech after pirate mech with alarming speed!

"Those ladies are tearing the pirates apart!"

The only meaningful opposition came from the enemy leader mechs. Their pristine states along with their skilled veteran mech pilots propped up the faltering lines of the Caged Tongs. They even fought evenly against their Swordmaiden counterparts!

Yet time wasn't on their side. The Caged Tongs continued to lose more mechs, causing their local numbers advantage to diminish by the second. Already, the Swordmaidens started to gang up on the superior pirate mechs.

The cunning Swordmaidens adopted a devious tactic where one Swordmaiden mech occupied the enemy machine in front while two other Swordmaiden mechs targeted its gravitic backpack!

A single mech couldn't cover against three foes at once! Once the Swordmaidens managed to destroy the lightly-armored gravitic backpacks, the elite pirate leaders for all of their battle prowess became imprisoned in their own mechs as they slowed down to a crawl!

The Devil Razor or Silver Valencias occupying the mech at the front didn't need to display any fancy anymore. They simply stabbed their swords straight through the chest plating and through the cockpit of the trapped pirate mechs!

While the brawl at the frontlines slanted heavily towards the Swordmaidens, the third wild god that quietly charged up her strength despite the lasers hitting her energy field finally activated her power!

She abruptly disappeared from view.

"One of the wild gods has disappeared!"

"Where has the beast gone?!"

An alert suddenly sounded inside the mobile headquarters.

"The wild god teleported from her position! She's right in the middle of our supply train!"

Everyone abruptly became alarmed. The heavy transport that served as their mobile headquarters was right in the middle of the supply train as well!

The teleporting wild god somehow circumvented hundreds of mechs including the Akkara heavy cannoneers and landed straight in the middle of the most vulnerable area of the Flagrant Sword Maidens!

Chapter 864

The Vandals and the Swordmaidens left a light guard force of mechs around their legged transports. Yet they all positioned themselves around the supply train, not inside it. The ranged mechs didn't dare to fire their laser rifles in fear of landing a hit on a vulnerable legged transports.

The fast and heavy transports possessed many merits, but durability wasn't one of them! In order to produce them fast and quickly, Chief Dakkon made huge compromises with regards to their armor and internal structure.

Since they had no use in battle, why invest in their armor? It was extremely wasteful for the Vandals and the Swordmaidens to clad them in expensive battle armor when they could have used the same resources to improve their mechs.

Yet who would have thought a wild god existed with the power to teleport? This completely made no sense! The vast majority of human forces didn't even have access to teleportation technology, so how could a wild god develop such a highly-desired ability?!

"The wild god is moving to attack one of our cargo transports!"

"Tell the legged transports to disperse! Get away from the exobeast right now!"

The wild god took some time to reorient herself in her new position. When she recovered her wits, she instantly roared while her crazed dwarf rider instantly pointed her towards the nearest heavy transport that tried to run.

Emphasis on tried. As a vehicle devoid of antigrav modules due to energy constraints, the heavy transport moved far too slow to escape the wrathful wild god!

The crew of the heavy transport evacuated far too late as the wild god slammed into the heavy transport. She outright crunched one of the legs of the transports with its maw. Her strong and heavy limbs battered the main body of the transports. The front of the heavy mech deformed from the fierce barrage of attacks. The containers in the ruptured cargo holds broke and spilled large amounts of spare parts and ingots of processed metals.

However, the savage attacks of the wild gods abruptly ended as an even larger exobeast slammed into the side of the wild god.

"Qilanxo has arrived!"

"Who is riding her right now?"

"Captain Orfan is currently interfacing with Qilanxo, ma'am!"

"Tell her to constrain the wild god! Don't let their battle spill over the other transports!"

The wild god and the sacred god both entered into a furious close-ranged brawl. Since neither side possessed any offensive powers, they resorted to old-fashioned claw and bite attacks as well as slamming their bodies against each other to bruise their opponents!

The savage battle caused the two heavy exobeasts to be pushed back and forth, sometimes inching close to a heavy transport that vainly tried to flee the vicinity of the fighting. Only after Captain Orfan's reminder did Qilanxo regain enough clarity to stop the wild god from damaging the vulnerable vehicles.

As the Vandals in the mobile headquarters became flustered to the point of considering whether they should evacuate, Captain Byrd forcibly slammed down her fist.

"There will be no running without my express orders! Are you Vandals or are you cowards? Qilanxo and Captain Orfan have the wild god well in hand. Get back to work and trust in our comrades!"

The fast transports already left the vicinity long ago on their swift legs. Several Vandal and Swordmaiden melee mechs crept in through the cracks, but they mainly placed themselves in front of the heavy transports.

Right now, the mechs didn't see any opportunity to intervene in the wild brawl between Qilanxo and the wild god.

In any case, Qilanxo had the battle well in hand. As an older exobeast, she possessed a definite advantage in size and weight. She also entered the battle in a fresh state while her opponent already endured a significant amount of laser beams.

The energy levels of the wild god dropped into critical levels after a couple of minutes of mindless brawling. In contrast, Qilanxo still maintained a healthy energy level as she slowly drew upon the stored energy reserves of her god crystals.

The main difference between sacred gods and wild gods was that the former possessed a much larger pool of energy to fuel all of their abilities. Qilanxo possessed nineteen of them, which placed her in the upper range of her kind!

While she didn't have time yet to call down an energy tornado, Qilanxo fared just fine with her current reserves. At some point, she finally managed to pierce through the faltering energy field of the wild god and raked her claws through the scales protecting her enemy's neck.

The wild god suffered severe damage! Gouts of blood escaped from the screaming creature's neck, but the wild god's resilient physique forcibly stemmed the bleeding.

Yet that didn't stop their allied sacred god from doing it again! Another claw strike brutally raked one of the wild god's front limbs. The claws dug deep enough to scrape against the bones, eliciting another pain-wracked cry from the wild god and her beast rider!

"Qilanxo is going to town on the wild god!"

The battle in the middle of the supply train no longer held any suspense. A wild god without an energy field was like an expert mech without an energy field. They mainly relied on their bodies and frames to resist damage.

This might avail them for quite a bit against weaker opponents, but against an equivalent threat, such defenses stood no chance at all!

While Qilanxo treated the wild god as her scratching post, the battle at the frontlines took a turn for the worse for the attacking side.

Even if the Vandals openly questioned whether the Swordmaidens possessed a sound mind, they did have a magnificent intuition for timing. Their blunder against the wild gods aside, they hit the ranks of the Caged and the Red Tongs when their leadership became preoccupied by several matters.

First, the wild gods aligned to their forces suffered heavy laser bombardment. The Caged Tongs planned to employ the wild gods as their trump cards, but who knew they barely showed their strength before they drowned in continuous laser fire that rapidly drained their energy reserves!

Second, their ranged mechs rapidly diminished in number as the better-equipped and better-trained opponents outplayed them. Just the difference in maintenance alone proved to be the decisive factor!

Third, the Pale Dancer finally entered the field.

Through all of the chaos that went on in the frontlines and in the middle of the Flagrant Swordmaiden supply train, few people initially took notice of the lone white mech in the rear.

The Pale Dancer didn't jump onto the stage. It glided onto it. Even though the bone-like coloration of the Pale Dancer should have attracted a lot of attention among the darker-coated mechs, Venerable Xie effortlessly weaved his expert mech closer to the rear of the enemy lines.

Hundreds, if not thousands of dwarves mounted on juvenile godlings stood in his way. The expert pilot took no notice of the ants underneath the feet of his mech and crunched their bodies flat with the sheer weight of his mech!

With bloodied feet, the Pale Dancer trod a bloodied path to the unsuspecting rear of the Caged Tongs.

It was not as if the enemy posted scouts that kept an eye to the rear. Due to the pitched battles happening in front, the undisciplined mech pilots diverted more than half of their attention to the action.

This allowed the Pale Dancer to strut forward into medium range from completely open terrain without alerting the enemy scouts at all. This subtle technique alone alarmed those who remembered the expert pilot's existence!

How could such a bright mech stroll into range so effortlessly?

In any case, the Pale Dancer lifted up its customized laser rifle and instantly fired a high-powered laser beam right into a weak point in the rear of a leader mech.

There was absolutely no deviation in Venerable Xie's aim! Despite the mild interference and other factors that could have skewed the Pale Dancer's aim, the expert pilot somehow managed to land his laser beam exactly where he wanted with almost no discernable drift!

Venerable Xie's judgement also proved to be keenly accurate, as even Ves could hardly identify a better weak point on that leader mech.

The rear of a mech often enjoyed the least protection. This time, though, a gravitic backpack sat in the way. Yet despite the hindrance of the backpack, the high-powered laser beam possessed enough strength to punch straight through the thin covering and the delicate internal components of the backpack and bore straight through the weak point in the armor before dealing catastrophic damage to the power reactor buried deep inside the stricken mech.

Before the leader mech even realized it suffered a hit, it shut down immediately as its power reactor underwent an emergency shutdown.

The mech got wrecked without any chance of retaliation!

"That initial shot is impossible to land for any normal mech pilot!"

Yet the Pale Dancer managed to do so while on the move! Even now, it continued to run a bloody path over the mindless dwarf tribesmen who mistakenly thought they contributed to the battle.

Even though plenty of dwarves cried out in pain or fear, the mech pilots of the Caged Tongs hadn't noticed anything amiss as of yet. The Pale Dancer quietly positioned itself in the optimal angle before releasing another deceptively thin laser beam.

Another well-maintained enemy mech abruptly shut down.

By the time the Pale Dancer harvested the third leader mech, the Caged Tongs finally became aware of the threat at the rear. At first, they didn't recognize the Pale Dancer as an expert mech. They dismissed it as a lone rifleman mech that somehow got lost or looped around.

A half-squad of light mechs received new orders and diverted from the reserves to pursue the Pale Dancer.

A medium rifleman mech could never outrun a light mech!

Yet this speed advantage never came to the fore. Before the light mechs got anywhere close, six rapid laser beams erupted from the Pale Dancer's rifle. This time, Venerable Xie tuned down the power so that the laser beams carried just enough energy to pierce the thin armor of the agile light mechs.

No matter how fast they tried to evade or spoil the aim of Venerable Xie, the expert pilot unerringly struck them all right below the chest armor and bore straight into their cockpits!

None of the mech pilots survived as the powerful laser beams vaporized their bodies instantly!

The sudden deaths of the light mechs caused the already burdened leaders of the Caged and the Red Tongs a lot of distress. With the Swordmaiden mechs tearing apart their frontlines, the presence of the Pale Dancer stabbing at the rear proved to be especially fatal!

Fear spread among the leaders as the Pale Dancer resumed targeting their mechs. It took no discernment at all to separate the officers and champions from the rank-and-file. Venerable Xie merely had to see whether the mech he targeted looked clean and flawless. The vanity of the leaders became their downfall as the foreign expert pilot harvested their lives as effortlessly as a god!

At this moment, the Pale Dancer became the embodiment of the god of death!

The split focus of the enemy cadre along with the battering from both sides eventually broke the enemy. While the Caged admiringly persisted and held together even when their cause seemed lost, the much more cowardly Red Tongs broke away from the battle without any guilt. They ran and instinctively split up, forcing the Swordmaiden and Vandal mechs to run in pursuit.

"The battle is decided!"

"It's not over yet, but we've got this in the bag!"

"Don't get complacent yet! The Caged are still fighting and some of the wild gods are still alive. Tell the mech pilots to keep up their guard. The fleeing enemy mechs can still turn the tables against their pursuers."

No matter what the Caged Tongs attempted to do, nothing could save them anymore now that they lost cohesion and broke their ranks.

Ves quietly sighed in relief at the outcome of the battle. While they sustained a bit more losses than expected, the Flagrant Swordmaidens overwhelmingly stomped the attackers who misjudged their strength!

Chapter 865

The battle against the Caged Tongs and its auxiliaries ended in a decisive victory for the Flagrant Swordmaidens. While it took more than a day of pursuit, none of the routing mechs of the aggressors made it away, mostly because they eventually ran out of energy.

Perhaps the most tiresome aspect about the Caged Tongs was the sheer amount of random dwarf tribesmen they enthralled. The crazed dwarves continued to charge at the mechs of the Flagrant Swordmaidens without any iota of sense or fear.

The mechs didn't bother to waste their energy on firing their laser rifles or swinging their weapons at the insane dwarves. They merely walked among the dwarves and stomped thousands of them beneath the feet of their mechs.

The Flagrant Swordmaidens casually committed mass dwarficide in order to stop the idiotic dwarves from hammering the legs of their mechs and transports with their bone clubs.

The bonded wild gods also knew no fear. They fought back with incredible ferocity, and each had to be lasered to death from a distance.

The only exception was the teleporting wild god. Qilanxo managed to get the upper hand in the brawl and managed to subdue this special wild god without killing her and her dwarf rider.

Still, the wild god sustained such heavy wounds that the exobiologists weighed the cost of saving her life.

"It's not worth it." Dr. Tillman said. "We'll have to expend too much medical supplies in order to save her life."

Hours later, the stench of blood, guts and other unpleasant smells suffused the entire battlefield. After making sure that no existing threat remained, rescue parties started to descend on the wrecks.

They ignored the pitiful cries of the surviving dwarves and instead prioritized the rescue of their own mech pilots first. Only after that did the rescue parties recover the mech pilots of the Caged Tongs trapped in their wrecked mechs or ejected cockpits.

A detachment of Vandal and Swordmaiden mechs also ranged out and found the meager supply train of the Caged Tongs. They easily overwhelmed the token mech escorts and secured the badly-built pirate transports, for all the good it did, because a cursory inspection of their assets revealed they were practically running dry of many essential goods.

The battle hadn't been worth it in the standpoint of the Flagrant Swordmaidens. Over eighty mechs sustained varying amounts of battle damage, and half of them either got wrecked or sustained such severe damage that the mech technicians needed to rebuild them from the ground up.

Ves already foresaw a massive pile of work awaiting the mech maintenance department.

At this moment, many Vandals and Swordmaidens started interrogating every member of the Caged and the Tongs they managed to capture alive. They particularly screwed the thumbs of the mech pilots who emerged the well-maintained pirate mechs.

In the meantime, a horde of mech technicians and other personnel started scouring the battlefield to recover any repairable wrecks or identify any notable salvage among the remains.

They walked past flattened and heavily-injured dwarves, casually shooting any approaching dwarf who managed to survive the massacre with their laser pistols.

"Ugh. These dwarves are everywhere." A mech technician muttered in the comm channel as he kept his grip on his smoking laser pistol. Right now, the stench of dead dwarves and the fumes released from wrecked mechs forced everyone who stepped on the battlefield to keep their helmets closed. "What do you reckoned is wrong with these stupid dwarves?"

Another mech technician grinned in his closed hazard suit. "I heard from someone who interrogated the first Red Tong captives that they slipped something into their food. Their exobiologists cooked up something devious. It made the dwarves pliable and drove them in a frenzy when commanded to. They even formulated something special for the wild gods."

Teams of mech technicians inspected the mechs belonging to their own force first and marked them out according to their state. Some mechs only needed a couple of replacements to get back into shape, while others required far too much time in the workshop to be worth the effort of restoring them to their former glory.

The Flagrant Vandals mostly avoided incurring major damage to their mechs. Ves was pleased to hear that only a handful of Vandal mechs would be scrapped for parts.

The Swordmaidens on the other hand sustained more severe damage. Many of the mechs that got caught up in the bewildering abilities of the wild gods couldn't be used anymore and needed to be scrapped as well.

They kind of got what they deserved by deviating from the plan, yet the Swordmaidens didn't seem to mind it. They already started claiming the bulk of the salvageable wrecks from the Caged Tongs to provide new rides for the ejected Swordmaiden mech pilots.

In general, both the Vandals and Swordmaidens lost relatively few mech pilots as both had been commanded to eject early rather than go down with their mechs.

The Flagrant Swordmaidens valued every mech pilot. As long as they retained their pilots, they could always provide them with new mechs, especially if they retained control of the battlefield after the battle.

Ves currently stood with Mayra as they overlooked the sprawling field of wrecks and flattened dwarves. He had recently concluded a division of salvage. While the Swordmaidens claimed most of the intact mechs, he made sure the Vandals got their fair share as well.

Even if they didn't plan to restore the pirate mechs, they could still strip the wrecks of their most valuable parts or rare materials.

As the Caged Tongs already demonstrated, a severe lack of maintenance and supplies resulted in dire implications for the effective strength of a deprived mech force!

"I've got a question." Ves said. "Why did you Swordmaidens decided to charge all of a sudden? I don't believe Commander Lydia and your Swordmaiden officers are blind to the strategic implications of deviating from the plan."

While Ves already developed a couple of notions why, he wanted to hear the reasons from Mayra herself, as he might be wrong.

The pirate designer pressed her lips. "Lydia's Swordmaidens are different from the Flagrant Vandals. A military mech regiment like yours carries several responsibilities. You fight on behalf of your Bright Republic. We fight on behalf of ourselves."

"What difference does that make? Don't you value your lives?"

"Not as high as you Vandals value your own lives. You have to consider that in the frontier, life is very cheap. Anyone can get killed at any time for no reason at all. Retirement is a luxury that many sons and daughters of the frontier don't get to enjoy. The frontier mindset is to live in the present and make the best of your time while you're still alive and capable of pursuing your dreams. For the Swordmaiden mech pilots, there is nothing more desirable than to participate in a worthy battle. Even if they die, the glory and valor associated with a grand battle is more than worth the price."

"Carpe diem. Seize the day."

"Exactly." Mayra nodded.

The martial tradition of Lydia's Swordmaidens oriented completely around fostering elite pirate mech pilots. While Ves admired Commander Lydia for successfully raising a somewhat competent elite force, the Swordmaidens themselves sacrificed much of their individuality and humanity to become the ferocious fighting force that tore apart the frontlines of the Caged Tongs in short order.

"Isn't it wasteful to drive the Swordmaidens to their deaths?"

Mayra shrugged. "We take bold but calculated risks. We recognize reality when it stares us in the face and we avoid unwinnable battles whenever we can. However, according to Commander Lydia, too much calculation breeds doubt and cowardice. There are times when you want to avoid pulling the trigger due to various concerns. The Swordmaidens are trained to just pull the trigger instead of giving in to their doubts."

Such traditions didn't make sense in civilized space, yet it was a way to survive in the anarchic frontier. Only by showing that they were willing and capable to fight back did the Swordmaidens managed to deter any evil designs on them. Their impulsiveness may have landed them in trouble numerous times, but the trigger-happy reputation they acquired deterred many more threats.

"What do you think about the Red Tongs?" Ves asked, changing the topic.

"It's clear that they've been driven to desperation. From what we've gathered, the lack of support from the fleet along with dwindling supplies forced them to go on the warpath. Incidents like this happens much more often than you think. Poor planning and operating in an area with very few space stations and supply points has defeated more pirate gangs than direct battles."

The people that pursued a career in piracy never tended to be the brightest bulb in the shed in the first place. Among the spectrum of pirates, the cannibalistic Red Tongs ranked near the bottom in terms of long-term planning.

It was a wonder they made it to the Aeon Corona System at all.

In any case, the interrogations still went on. Once the Vandals and the Swordmaidens wrung every bit of intelligence from their tortured bodies, they planned to dispose each of them without mercy.

The Caged Tongs had no value as prisoners.

The Caged already opposed the Flagrant Swordmaidens in multiple occasions. From partnering up with the Masters of Combat, to participating in the orbital bombardment that threatened to wipe out the ground expedition, the Roppongan gang more than lost their chances at redemption.

As for the Red Tongs, their peripheral connection to the powerful Ravienne Alliance deterred the Flagrant Swordmaidens only briefly. These utter bastards that liked to munch on human flesh had not only drugged and enslaved the native dwarves, they also replaced their rations with raw dwarf meat!

Even if the Flagrant Swordmaidens stopped caring about the dwarves, the reprehensible behavior of the Red Tongs earned them a swift laser beam in the head before being dumped on a pile of bodies. The victors were too lazy to dig a mass grave or cremate the remains for the brutal pirates.

None of that concerned Ves and Mayra right now. They calmly ignored the death and suffering and toured the battlefield as well as the captured supply train of the Caged Tongs.

Just like the Flagrant Swordmaidens, the pirates opted to cobble up a cheap legged transport together. They only built around twenty heavy transports because they didn't need more room for supplies.

Most of their cargo holds no longer held any cargo except for miscellaneous junk. As Ves and Mayra inspected each of the cargo holds, it became clear that the Caged Tongs did not have long before their mechs lost combat effectiveness.

"There's nothing of value here." Ves grimaced as he glanced over the mobile workshop. The rusted tools and the broken 3D printers showed that the Caged Tongs had neared their limits in terms of repair capability. "All of this equipment isn't worth taking. You're free to take them if you want, Mayra."

"No thanks. The Swordmaidens have no need for them either."

Ves turned to a security officer who escorted him around the battlefield. "I'd like to have a chat with the boss here. Who is the highest-ranking mech designer or chief technician around here?"

The security officer briefly spoke to his commanding officer over the comm before he replied to Ves. "We've captured a number of chief technicians. Our men are interrogating them right now in an adjacent room. Do you wish to have access to them, Mr. Larkinson?"

"Why not? Take me to the most senior chief technician among the bunch. I'd like to have a chat with the fellow if you'll allow me." He said.

They reached an area repurposed as temporary holding cells and interrogation rooms to process the non-combat personnel from the enemy supply train. When the mechs of the Flagrant Swordmaidens rolled in, they instantly surrendered without any hesitation.

It wasn't as if they had any choice. How could they possibly resist the mechs without any of their own?

Chapter 866

"You're going to kill us all, aren't you?" The disheveled-looking chief technician from the Caged asked as soon as Ves and Mayra sat down on the other side of the table.

Ves glanced at the data pad in his armored hands. "Chief Glayce Retton-Fukumoto, is it?"

The grey-haired man gestured with his cuffed hands. "Just call me Glayce."

"Chief Glayce..." Ves stared at the face of the man who knew his ultimate fate. Against such a self-conscious man, lying wouldn't accomplish anything. "Unfortunately, there is very little animus among the Flagrant Vandals and Lydia's Swordmaidens to extend any mercy to your forces. Neither your Caged nor your Red Tong allies have given us any reason to spare any of you. All I can say is that you played your games but lost."

A fatalistic mood struck the captive chief technician.

Glayce laughed to himself before cursing his commanding officer. "Our friggin' Sub-Boss Scornburned led us all to our doom. He insisted on continuing on this wild goose chase. It's all because of him that the Caged entered into an alliance with the filthy Red Tongs despite all of the protests from the rank-and-file."

"Tell us more about Sub-Boss Scornburned."

"We all thought he acted on orders of the main organization at first. However, we slowly found out that he never received any instructions from the Roppo Principality. All of the wild decisions he took, he did so by himself! Ever since we allied with the Red Tongs, it all went downhill for us. We Caged possessed a lot of pride, but the longer we hitched up with the awful pirates, the more our standards degraded."

Glayce proceeded to ramble a bit about all the atrocities and stupid decisions the Caged undertook under the incitement of their erstwhile allies. To Ves, it sounded as if the Caged never enjoyed an equal position in this alliance. The Red Tongs fielded significantly more mechs, leveraged their superiority in strength and numbers to dictate the running of the alliance.

"Did Sub-Boss Scornburned do anything to fight for the rights of the Caged?"

"What did he care?" An apathetic Glayce shrugged. "The Sub-Boss increasingly hung out with the Red Tongs instead of our own folk. He might as well transplant an alien red tongue in his mouth, because I know for sure he participated in their depraved 'feasts'."

The chief technician didn't elaborate on what happened at the feasts. He didn't need to. Anything associated with the Red Tongs likely wouldn't be anything pleasant.

Ves turned his attention elsewhere. "Since your ground forces landed on this planet, did you ever develop a long-term plan to survive on the planet?"

"Not really." Glayce shrugged. "Even if some of us voiced concerns since the start, Scornburned didn't listen as long as it came with a price. Since he acted outside the orders of our main organization, he couldn't access the regular funds. He had to seek alternate sources of funding."

"Where did he get the money to equip the mechs with gravitic backpacks?"

"Some murky money source, I don't know. I'm not in charge of the finances. Now that you mentioned it, I think Scornburned was acting on the orders of someone else. There's no other reason why he pushed us to travel all the way out of our comfort zone and all the way into the deep frontier."

When Ves questioned Chief Glayce about this mysterious backer, the chief technician really couldn't tell them anything. The Caged might not treat their chief technicians as outright slaves, but they didn't enjoy a high position either. Most of the stories Glayce passed on mostly consisted of rumors rather than first-hand accounts.

"So what's up with the dwarves?" Ves asked instead.

"Well, despite our warnings, Sub-Boss Scornburned and the Red Tongs insisted on landing on this planet with inadequate supplies. We didn't have a lot of orbit-to-surface transport capacity as most of our flying transports wouldn't survive orbital entry. So we mostly did our thing in the first few weeks, and then our fleet got blasted to kingdom come."

"We didn't expect your spaceborn forces to suffer such retaliation either." Ves spoke. "Who knew that the Starlight Megalodon still possessed teeth?"

"Well, ever since then, all hell broke loose as far as we were concerned. We were homeless and no longer possessed an avenue for retreat. The only possible hope we could come up with was to seek our salvation at the Starlight Megalodon. Since the crashed battleship is functional enough to fire an antimatter torpedo, she must surely have some shuttles or transports, right?"

Ves doubted it, but it wasn't as if the Caged Tongs could ask the Flagrant Swordmaidens or any of the other rival forces for a ride home. "Your ground forces didn't have enough supplies to make it to the Starlight Megalodon, right?"

"Right. We warned the officers plenty of times, but Scornburned continued to hang out with the Red Tongs. Each time he came back from their revelries, it's like he lost a couple more brain cells. He always came back jacked up with highly potent stimulants and a belly full of booze. Our doctors had to flush out his bloodstream of intoxicants every day."

"So what does this do have the dwarves?"

"Well, even if the Red Tongs did their best to ignore reality, the strange phenomenon that causes our mechs to malfunction at an increasing rate along with our dwindling material stockpiles finally alarmed the stupid pirates. After weeks of arguing, they finally decided that if they can't make use of mechs anymore, we'd make use of the locals instead."

The Caged Tongs ambushed several large dwarf tribes and forcefully wrested control over them. While the dwarves and wild gods resisted at first, the handful of exobiologists in their midst eventually cooked up a bunch of addicting mind-altering substances that turned them into pliable slaves.

Ves frowned at that. "Our exobiologists have barely managed to formulate intoxicants that work on the hardy dwarves and wild gods. How come your scientists managed to

"The Red Tongs have a lot of practice." Glayce said. "This isn't their first rodeo. Besides, synthesizing extreme stimulants is one of their side businesses. They have an entire team of pharmacists and chemists at their disposal."

All Ves could say about this was that the Red Tongs only invested in logistics if it gave them their next high. Despite their dependance on mechs, they didn't really invest as much resources and funding as they ought to. Even without the disasters they suffered in this star system, they would have crashed and burned eventually.

What Glayce told him about their efforts at subverting the dwarf tribes in order to eventually form a huge amount of controllable wild gods really sounded ambitious in a way.

It reminded Ves that the other rival forces may be turning to this kind of solution as well, as not everyone possessed the means and capacity to develop and produce a handful of breakdown-proof mechs.

Ves continued to interrogate Chief Glayce about certain particulars, though the man didn't really deliver any notable intelligence. Mayra herself remained silent and let Ves do the talking.

The two may have been able to glean more relevant information from a mech designer instead of a chief technician, but the Caged Tongs didn't bring any of them along.

As the interrogation session came to an end, Glayce made a final request. "Can I ask you something, buddy? When it's finally time to dispose of me, can you allow me to dig my own grave? I'd also appreciate it if I can put a laser beam through my own head instead of letting one of your goons do the job. It's more personal that way."

Ves turned to a security officer that stood guard in the corner of the room. "Please grant Chief Glayce his wish. It's the least that we can do."

"Handing him a laser pistol poses a security risk."

"Just do it out of the way. It's not like a laser pistol can burn through your combat armor, especially if you lock it to a low power setting."

Ves carried a lot of weight within the Flagrant Vandals. Only moments later, the security officer passed on word from his superior that they'd be willing to make an exception.

"Thank you buddy!" Chief Glayce smiled with relief. "You don't know how much this means to us!"

Ves thought the man was too decent to suffer from his superior's misdeeds. Sub-Boss Scornburned deserved most of the blame for subverting the Caged under his command.

This event served as a cautionary tale to Ves. The Caged sounded like decent people from what he heard. Yet the unilateral decisions of an important leader within the gang led them directly into hell where they allied with devils dressed in human skin.

"It's a shame about the Caged." He said as they finished their inspection and returned to their workplaces. "A single bad apple in the wrong place at the wrong time drove tens of thousands of them to their deaths."

Mayra nodded sagely. "Leaders aren't always right. We elevate and worship them when they make the right calls, but we aren't very quick on the uptake when they make mistakes. They're fallible just like us. An organization that relies too much on a single leader is bound to that person's fortunes. The rise and fall of a single leader affects the rest of the organization in the same way."

"Does that apply to the Swordmaidens as well?"

Mayra wordlessly smiled at Ves, but didn't respond with a firm reply.

When Ves returned to the supply train, the Flagrant Swordmaidens already setup camp. They couldn't help it as the sheer amount of damaged mechs and salvage they had to go through necessitated a thorough amount of processing.

Ves deftly went through the damaged mechs and drafted efficient repair plans for each of them. He already had plenty of practice in this kind of work so he did so with admirable skill.

Over the next several weeks, Ves actually spent more time directing the salvage efforts. While the Caged and the Red Tongs mostly piloted garbage mechs, that didn't mean they held nothing of value.

Ves wanted to hoard as many spare parts and rare materials and exotics as he could get his hands on. Even if the Vandals didn't possess a robust recycling operation, Ves hated the thought of leaving any valuables behind.

The Caged Tongs partially met their end because of dwindling supplies. Ves did not wish for the Vandals to suffer the same fate!

All of the work on his lap forced him to put his design project on a temporary hiatus. While he found it regretful that he couldn't spend his time on finishing the Enduring Protector design, what he learned from repairing the Vandal mechs and salvaging the badly-maintained mechs of the Caged Tongs already provided him with a couple of new ideas.

He couldn't wait to add more revisions to his stalled design.

While the repair and salvaging efforts were fully underway, the security officers slowly managed to crack the more stubborn officers of the Caged Tongs.

An alarming piece of news spread among the ranks. The Caged Tongs didn't locate the Flagrant Sword Maidens through their own efforts. Instead, they received a mysterious transmission that provided them with the coordinates of the Flagrant Swordmaidens on the ground!

Someone else incited the Caged Tongs on the warpath!

"Who the hell sent those mad dogs to us?!"

"Damnit! If the sneaky bastard can do it once, he can do it again! Someone out there really wants to stop us!"

The Vandals developed the suspicion that whoever pointed the Caged Tongs in their direction didn't actually hope that the pirates would win. No matter how little chance they stood, at the very least the Flagrant Swordmaidens suffered an unavoidable delay.

As the rival forces slowly approached the eye of the storm, they also converged upon each other.

All roads lead to the Starlight Megalodon.

Chapter 867

The Flagrant Swordmaidens finally went back underway after seventeen days of rushed repair and salvage efforts.

Properly speaking, most of their mechs received only superficial repairs. Captain Byrd ordered the Vandal mech technicians to prioritize restoring the mobility of most of their heavily-damaged mechs.

They could complete other repairs along the way. The important point right now was to get back on the move in order to spoil the plans of whoever sicced the Caged Tongs at them. Humans instinctively resist the designs of others on them. The Flagrant Swordmaidens wanted to spite whoever forced them to suffer a delay.

While Ves still diverted much of his time with supervising the continuous repair efforts, he started to return to his design project whenever had the time to do so.

When Ves last touched the design, he upped its laser weapon caliber. This wasn't as simple as replacing its laser rifle barrels with laser cannon barrels and calling it a day. He also had to revise the internal architecture in order to cope with the increased energy expenditure and heat generation.

The work and the latest modifications diverged somewhat from his initial vision to design an extremely simple and reliable mech that could withstand the breakdown effect.

One of the assets the Flagrant Swordmaidens obtained from the Caged Tongs consisted of their databanks. When Ves browsed through the maintenance logs and other documents pertaining to the servicing of their mechs, he gained a much greater understanding of how devious the breakdown effect did its best to screw over mechs and other machines for that matter.

The logs from the fallen ground force provided a lot of interesting reading materials. The only unfortunate fact was that the Red Tongs weren't really diligent in their paperwork. Their records mostly consisted of haphazard reports written by mech technicians jacked up with three or more stimulants.

"It's a wonder they kept their mechs in working condition in the first place." Ves commented with disgust. "With this kind of work ethic, they probably do half the work in twice the time, and that's only on their good days."

At least the more sober and disciplined mech technicians of Caged knew how to do their jobs properly. The disparity in the meticulousness of their records underscored how much of a difference discipline and good direction made in the operation of a maintenance department.

If Ves had to glean any lessons from these observations, it was that he should never be too lenient and let his subordinates devolve into good-for-nothing bums.

While Ves had a lot to complain about when it came to the Vandal mech technicians, in the end their productivity ranked among the best of all the maintenance crews he witnessed. The only ones who worked better were those assigned to more proper military mech regiments.

He found it interesting that she same amount of personnel in different forces could exhibit such vastly different traits. Training, talent, age, upbringing, life experiences and more all shaped them into different forms of mech technicians.

While Ves hadn't obtained the formula on how to train the perfect mech technician, at least he knew what not to do. Doing awful stuff like allowing his mech technicians to work while drunk or injected with stimulants should be the biggest mistake. Letting them work without adequate supervision or direction was another mistake.

"I should get back to work."

He quietly resumed to perfect and optimize the design of the Enduring Protector. While Beast Rider Bubal started to grow impatient at being locked away in his mind, Ves firmly held the rambunctious living image in place. Once Beast Rider Bubal moved into the design of the Enduring Protector, many of its core aspects could no longer be changed without suffering repercussions.

He pitted the evolving iterations of his design through numerous simulations, modelling each and every aspect of its performance. He even spent some time to formulate a mathematical model that simulated the effects of the breakdown effect.

Once he subjected the Enduring Protector to this simulation, he roughly developed a rough impression on how long the mech could last on its own.

"One month or less." Ves grimaced. "Is that enough time to complete the mission?"

The Flagrant Swordmaidens had no idea what they might find at the crash site.

Perhaps the battleship degraded into a rusted heap of hull structures after a couple of millennia of being exposed to the elements.

Perhaps the survivors cannibalized large portions of the city-sized battleship and developed a thriving, high-tech stronghold around the crash site.

Perhaps the survivors broke into quarreling factions that flung all kinds of weapons of mass destruction at their camps, causing the entire surroundings of the crash site to be turned into a radioactive wasteland.

Depending on what the Flagrant Swordmaidens might encounter, the mission could last from a couple of days to a couple of months!

Despite the substantial delays, the Flagrant Swordmaidens knew they neared the most forbidden place on Seven. Deep in the storm lands, the Starlight Megalodon beckoned to them like a lighthouse in the dark.

"Time is getting short. I can't tinker around with the design forever." Ves sighed as he studied the latest iteration of his design.

He added less and less refinements over time as the law of diminishing returns came into effect. After solving most of the obvious flaws and weak points, it took too much effort to resolve the remaining problems.

While it annoyed Ves beyond belief to leave his third original design at a state where he could still improve upon, he knew that he needed to leave enough time for the next steps in the plan.

"It's time to pull the trigger."

Ves breathed deeply before concentrating his mind. The image of Beast Rider Bubal triumphantly entered the spiritual space of the design projected in front of his eyes.

The transfer finally happened!

As Bubal and his bonded wild god settled into their new homes with enthusiasm, Ves perceived that the design had instantly gained a compelling charm.

This was the effect of its X-Factor. It added spiritual weight to the design and forced every person to become affected by the values and messages that Ves imparted into it. Even the most spiritually blind person in the galaxy couldn't miss this design!

"Too bad I don't have a handy evaluation report in my hands."

Without the System, Ves couldn't tell how good of a job he did with the Enduring Protector. He guessed that many of its parameters received a low grade due to how much he prioritized reliability and endurance over performance.

Still, Ves felt as if the X-Factor of the Enduring Protector should be able to match the X-Factor of the Crystal Lord in strength. Even if Ves didn't rely on the spiritual fragment of a long-dead alien leader as the core of the image of Beast Rider Bubal, he found it extremely fitting to base his images around the local life forms.

The Enduring Protector design only needed to fulfill a single role during a single mission. Aeon Corona VII was one of the most extreme environments that Ves ever had to design a mech for, but he hoped that by instilling his design with the hardy and adaptable qualities of the wildlings and wild gods, it would be able to last a little longer than it did in the simulations!

"Mathematical models can calculate a lot of things, but it can't model inexplicable metaphysics."

Perhaps one day, humanity might be able to measure, quantify and define the effects associated with spirituality. When that day came, it wouldn't take long for new mathematical models to emerge that could calculate spirituality to a highly accurate degree.

...Or not. Ves believed that spirituality was intricately associated with life, especially complex, sentient life.

"Even up to now, humanity has never managed to model a complete human consciousness, though not for lack of trying."

Future advancements aside, for now Ves needed to rely on the System or his own intuition to judge whether he had done a good job. Since he had a good feeling about the finished product, Ves did not see any cause for concern.

"My design is finally done!"

Ves had no one to celebrate his success with. No one else sat behind the banks of terminals in the mobile workshop. Ves wasn't close to any of the chief technicians, and Ketis already had her hands full with assisting Mayra in managing the Swordmaiden repair efforts. She put the lessons she learned to good use.

He sighed. "If everything goes according to plan, this should be the last time I design an original mech alone."

After he wrapped up his design project, he reported to Captain Byrd and presented the finished design. The meeting didn't last very long as the only major change from his prior presentation about the design project amounted to increasing the power of its laser armaments.

All the other minor tweaks and refinements elicited no interest from the mech officer. Only someone with a technical or engineering background would be able to realize the significance of those optimizations.

"Captain, do I have your permission to begin production of this new design?" He asked at the end of his brief report.

"Might as well." Captain Byrd waved dismissively. She had grown a lot more tired over the months. Leading the ground expedition kept taking a toll on her health and peace of mind. "Start with one and see if it performs according to your expectations. We don't have the time to go through an elaborate testing process, so limit your adjustments to quick fixes only."

"Understood. Those are my intentions as well. I don't plan to let my design linger while we're only less than a month away from reaching the red zone."

The long trek finally neared their destination. Ves knew that he had to get a hurry on with this project in order to fabricate a sufficient amount of breakdown-proof mechs to become a significant factor in the upcoming deployment plans.

After Ves received the required permissions, he commandeered a crew of mech technicians and dumped the design on their laps. "This is the finished design of the breakdown-proof frontline mech that I've worked on. It predominantly consists of outdated but reliable parts so it shouldn't be any difficulty for you to fabricate them according to their specifications. Even though the parts are simple, I don't want to see any sloppiness from you bunch, got that?! I swear if one of you screws up, I'll force you to brush Qilanxo's teeth!"

With the amount of prestige that Ves enjoyed among the Vandals, he had no need to issue such a threat. He did so anyway because he really did not wish to screw up the very first copy of his design.

Even if the first production mech didn't carry any significance this time, Ves still wanted to be as thorough as possible. However, he also needed to be brisk and allow the mech technicians to become accustomed to fabricating its parts.

This was why he immediately involved the mech technicians in the fabrication process instead of doing everything himself. Right now, Ves did not care too much about imparting a gold label-like X-Factor on the first copy of the Enduring Protector.

"The mechs will only be of use for a couple of weeks at most. There's no need to invest an excessive amount of affection on these disposable machines."

In the following day, Ves supervised the mech technicians as they churned out part after part. The small, limited-capacity 3D printers worked far too slow to his tastes. The delicate machines suffered very poorly against the breakdown effect, and the mech technicians frequently had to halt their work in order to correct some minor misalignments inside the machine.

It took twice as much time to finish what should have been a fairly simple set of tasks.

"It's a good thing I've accounted for the additional delays." Ves sighed in relief. "Even with this poor level of efficiency, I think we can still manage to fabricate enough Enduring Protectors to form a complete squad."

Chapter 868

Ves felt very disappointed at the efficiency of the workshop, but what could he do? The ground expedition went so deep in the storm lands that all of their electrical and mechanical devices started fizzing at unexpected times.

He even feared for his own array of gadgets and equipment. Besides simple objects like the hidden knives and the Cadisis, every other piece of gear stuffed in his Earth Ant was susceptible to the breakdown effect.

Yet... for some reason none of his gadgets failed as of yet. This included the extremely sensitive high-powered gadgets slotted with ultracompact batteries.

Save for his gravitic backpack, military-issued officer comm, his spare laser pistol, his multitool, his multiscanner and a few other odds and ends, he fabricated all of the gear by himself, including the C22 Earth Ant light combat armor.

"Is it because of my craftsmanship?"

Even if he possessed a spiritual touch that imprinted some of his considerable Spirituality on his products, it didn't explain why the other devices remained intact as well.

It was as if the breakdown effect encompassed the entire planet except for a small bubble around Ves!

Was it his Spirituality? Perhaps. Yet he couldn't conceivably explain such a matter. It would have been too easy to chalk it up to his Spirituality. As an engineer, Ves did not wish to settle for such a lazy explanation.

In any case, the surprising lack of problems silently reassured Ves, even if he still puzzled over the exception.

Just to be sure, Ves still performed daily maintenance on all of his gear. Every day, he partially disassembled most devices and checked them over. He even feigned adjusting bits and pieces so that everyone looking at him from a distance believed his devices had acted up as well.

Ves planned to keep an unexpected advantage like this wholly to himself. Who knew how the others would react if they found out he had become strangely immune to the breakdown effect. Perhaps they might load him up with sensitive equipment and send him straight into the red zone along with the infantry assigned to board the Starlight Megalodon!

"There's no way I can survive in the thick of the red zone and the interior of the Starlight Megalodon. This is a job for trained soldiers."

The best Vandal security officers already trained for months for what they might encounter at the mission site. Armorers recently finished fabricating high-quality sets of light combat armor for them. The lightweight armor had been dumbed down to the point of stripping away all of its servos, yet it still offered substantial protection by making use of compressed armor.

A couple of combat engineer and specialist types accompanied the trained soldiers as well. These experts possessed a decent grasp in shipboard architecture, hacking, doctors, exobiologists and more.

Ves half-expected he'd be assigned to this group as well, but this time his high position saved him from the trouble. Instead, Ves had been asked to 'recommend' some 'volunteers'. He quickly foisted some random mech technicians and a low-ranking mech designer to the group of specialists.

"It's good to be the boss." He chuckled.

While the combat engineers and specialists underwent intensive training, Ves directed his attention to his work on the Enduring Protector.

When the mech technicians finally assembled the first production model together, Ves and the men watched with awe as the frontline mech finally revealed its majesty in the flesh.

Its strong X-Factor had already influenced the mech technicians, yet when it finally became whole, the first copy left an unforgettable impression on the men. It seemed larger than life!

With its four crawler-type legs, its short and broad cylindrical torso, the menacing-looking laser cannons affixed to articulating mounts on the sides, the frontline mech looked kind of silly if not for its strong, protective and enduring aura.

Even without saying so, those present vaguely felt that this was a mech designed to brave the breakdown effect and protect its charges by taking out threats from afar.

Objectively, Ves had a lot to criticize about the design. The irreconcilable problem concerning the Enduring Protector design was that its paltry mobility and armor simply couldn't keep up with the rigors of mech combat.

It depended too heavily on external assistance such as Qilanxo's space barrier to put up a decent fight.

Ves had no choice but to opt for these design choices. He faced too many limitations, and as a mech designer, he couldn't indulge in fantasy when it came to designing realistic products.

After half an hour, their first test pilot arrived. Captain Byrd already selected a single squad of ranged specialists to take up the Enduring Protector. The mech pilot that arrived abruptly halted when he viewed the Enduring Protector. It looked much more valiant than the design schematics suggested!

Ves approached the test pilot. "This is a momentous occasion. Are you ready to test this mech?"

"I am." The mech pilot spoke confidently. "This mech should be a piece of cake to pilot."

"Even if the Enduring Protector is a simple mech, care must still be taken if you want it to last as long as possible. Making the wrong movements or stressing out the frame will wear it out pretty quickly." Ves warned.

"Uh, whatever you say, man."

Even if the Enduring Protector contained many safeguards against the breakdown effect, the mech pilot's actions still determined whether it could last up to a month without any major malfunctions.

The main limitation of the mech was its awful mobility. Its crawler limbs moved far too slow and could only effectively lift one of its four limbs at a time. Impatient ranged specialists used to running around in their nimble rifleman mechs might push the Enduring Protector beyond its safe limits in an effort to gain a momentary advantage.

Ves couldn't do much to stop such behavior. While he provided the tools, it was up to the mech pilots to make use of them in their own ways. As much as Ves wanted to exert control over the mech pilots, his job as a mech designer precluded such rights.

Every mech designer faced these conundrums. They meticulously designed a mech to be used and piloted in a certain way. Yet if mech pilots wanted to use their rifles as clubs, who could stop them? Ves certainly couldn't do so.

Outside the battlefield, the mech technicians and mech designers reigned supreme. Once a mech entered the battlefield, the mech pilot gained completely control over his actions.

To Ves, designing mechs gave the illusion of being able to control them even after they rolled off the production lines. He felt a sense of ownership of his products even after he delivered them to their new owners.

The age-old question whether he should care for his products or wash his hands off them once he sold or delivered them to his clients always came back to him. A month ago, he leaned towards washing his hands off them, but now that he witnessed the test pilot carefully putting the first production model to its paces, he started to flip flop back towards caring for his products.

Ves couldn't make up his mind, despite making up his mind a while ago. Truthfully speaking, it wasn't healthy for mech designers to stay attached to their mechs, especially once their designs started getting sold by the thousands. At this scale, too many mech pilots emerged that abused their mechs or misused them for nefarious purposes.

"I can disown them, but they are still my children, in a way. Every mech carries a piece of my legacy. Whether they get used up in a couple of years or last for several decades, all of them are precious in my eyes."

His design philosophy compelled him to see mechs as something more than just commodities. It forced him to care for his mechs even if he wanted to wash his hands off them. Just like a parent seeing their children growing up and leaving the nest, they still couldn't help but care for their sons and daughters even after they went bad and committed murder or something.

Ves didn't pay a lot of attention to the testing process due to his sudden musings. In any case, it wasn't as if his attention mattered, as the Enduring Protector largely performed within expectations. Its realspace performance largely matched the performance the design exhibited in various simulations.

A simple mech design affected fewer variables than a more complex mech design. The Enduring Protector moved slowly and methodically, thereby allowing simulations to fully keep up with any dynamic situation that might occur.

Therefore, while the testing did reveal some minor deviations in performance, the differences could be chalked up to discrepancies in the actual construction of the mech.

"Alright! Let's end the testing for now! We've gathered enough data!" Ves commanded.

When Ves emerged out of his fugue, he already saw that further testing wouldn't be needed. They already gathered plenty of data and it wasn't like the Enduring Protector was capable of any acrobatics.

A simple mech could only perform a limited amount of maneuvers. The testing process for the Enduring Protector should be far shorter than any of the other original mechs he designed.

"It feels like we've gone back in time to the first couple of mech generations. Everything was simpler back then. The MTA's rigorous certification and validation procedures hadn't been in place at the start of the Age of Mechs."

Nowadays, mechs got much more complex. The potential for abuse lurked everywhere. The MTA cracked down on freewheeling behavior by unscrupulous mech designers.

To be sure, the state of mechs made enormous strides after more than four-hundred years of continuous advancements. Yet... Ves also felt that the mech industry lost some of its initial spark.

These days, mech technology mostly advanced at a steady, controlled pace. Radical innovations stopped emerging, or if they did, plenty of barriers stood in the way for others to make use of them. The galactic rim enviously looked on as the galactic heartland and the galactic center got to enjoy the latest toys.

Completing the Enduring Protector design and witnessing it in action gave Ves as sense of what the earlier mech designers must have felt when they explored the unknown. Back then, mechs had not become the monolithic war machines it became today. Nobody knew whether mechs held any promise.

Uncertainty. Promise. Risk. Reward. All of these factors along with the lack of regulations and restrictions gave Ves a sense of complete satisfaction. This was mech design at its purest!

As he basked in the feelings and insights of completing his third original mech design, some portions deep within his mind began to experience some transformations. Ves felt his design philosophy starting to sublimate yet again. He knew he came closer to advancing to the rank of Journeyman Mech Designer!

Comprehension welled within his mind. "I see now. The reason why Apprentices needed to gain practical experience in designing mechs in order to advance is so that they understand the essence of their profession. The key is to embody the word 'design'. As mech designers, how can we ever become masters of our own profession if we don't do any actual design work?"

This partially explained why mech designers relegated to side jobs such as fabrication mechs, repairing mechs, testing and simulating mechs and more never got the opportunity to advance.

He already came up with this line of reasoning, but only now did he truly experience how the act of designing a real and meaningful mech design led to transformations in the mind.

Ves felt as if his design philosophy started out as an imaginary entity. Yet through embodying his design philosophy and the meaning of the word 'design', he fed his design philosophy with his experiences, causing it to grow more substantial over time.

At some point, the imaginary accumulated a sufficient amount of experiences and underwent a final transformation. At that point, it became something real!

Chapter 869

"Still, not any act of mech design will do. There has to be a sense of weight with the design. Any mech design that puts people's lives at stake is a design with weight."

The key to transforming a mech designer's design philosophy was not so much designing as much mechs as possible. While Ves derived some satisfaction when he completed the design of a virtual mech, eventually it felt too fake for him. How could something fake ever match up to something real?

Seeing his mech perform on the virtual battle arena simply couldn't beat the raw sensations running through his body when he saw actual battle footage of his mechs in battle.

All those mech pilots piloting his Marc Antony, Blackbeak and Crystal Lord designs right now trusted in their mechs and their designer to do them justice.

Ves had been away from his company for a long time, so he didn't know the exact number of copies of his designs in circulation right now. The figure definitely surpassed tens of thousands of mechs, which was a mind-boggling number to Ves yet was considered peanuts by large mech manufacturers.

Still, it basically meant that Ves indirectly influenced the lives of tens of thousands of mechs in the Komodo Star Sector. The designs he developed and the mechs his company produced changed the course of history in this region of space. However small his influence might be, he had already left his mark!

A sense of pride welled up in his heart. Ves knew his designs achieved moderate commercial success. Plenty of buyers opted to purchase his mechs over the many alternatives in the market. Even if the market shares of his mech models didn't seem impressive, at least a number of people valued them. How could he not feel satisfied?

The Enduring Protector he developed may never see the light of day in civilized space, but this design was just as impactful as his other two original designs. Even if only twelve or so copies existed at most, even if it would never be put to use outside of this planet, even if it would only be used for a month or so, its use was anything but trivial!

"Whatever happens at the Starlight Megalodon has the potential to steer history in different directions. Depending on what we can recover from the crashed battleship, perhaps even the course of the war will shift!"

This might be why Ves felt so affected by his accomplishments today. He could design a hundred virtual mechs and still not gain as much as completing this singular momentous design.

"Fostering a design philosophy requires a mech designer to turn it from something imaginary into something real. How can a mech designer drag their design philosophies into the right direction when they stick to playing with fake designs?"

Without reaching a state where Ves had developed his Intelligence and Spirituality to this extent, he may not have witnessed this transformation as it happened.

That said, all the other jobs had their own merits.

Playing with virtual mechs allowed him to accumulate practical experience as well as earn him some DP.

Fabricating mechs in person prevented him from growing out of touch of his own designs and increased his appreciation of the construction of mechs.

Repairing, tuning and modifying mechs brought him even closer to the essence of mechs as fallible machines. What might work out in the design schematic may not be such a good idea in reality as battle damage and wear and tear rapidly degraded the performance of various fancy features.

Mech designers needed to do more than lock themselves up in a lab all day and cook up various designs without ever seeing them for real.

This was also the main reason why a stint in a design studio wasn't such an ideal job. Mech designers ought to consider the job of designing mechs day in day out to be heaven, but reality proved otherwise.

Design studios pumped out too many designs, many of which ended up collecting dust in some forgotten database. Only one in fifty or one in a hundred design variants may be licensed out to mech manufacturers and be put into production.

In any case, Ves enjoyed a very different position from the mech designers who slaved away in the employ of those slave-driving design studios. Even though he only designed three original mech designs so far, he felt as if he only needed to design a couple more mech designs with the same level of impact to precipitate his nascent design philosophy!

"More is not necessarily better."

The theory he heard so long ago about purposefully building up a proper foundation by designing many different mechs did not fit with his current understanding of the advancement process. Quantity could never match up to quality. A hundred fake designs never weighed as substantial as a single real design.

"Some mech designers take forty years to advance to Journeyman. Others only take a couple of years at most. The vast majority however never find an opportunity to advance."

Much of the latter likely never possessed the minimum level of spirituality required to form a nascent design philosophy and foster it until it became something real.

These differences illustrated the inherent unfairness of his profession.

An impulse compelled Ves to immediately seek out Ketis and lecture her of what he learned. Yet he quickly shook his head and dismissed the notion. The mech industry didn't go into too much detail about these rules, and it was probably for a good reason.

"A lesson learned by yourself is much more pertinent than a lesson taught by someone else. Sometimes, experience is the best teacher."

Ves had already lectured her on the basics anyway, back when he didn't entirely understand them himself. It was easy to state the rules existed. It was harder to actually start believing them without experiencing their relevance in their own lives.

In any case, Ves considered himself to have taken an enormous stride towards advancing to Journeyman now. He felt almost ready to take the biggest step and solidify his design philosophy.

At that point, he became set upon his path. His design philosophy would no longer be as malleable to outside changes as before. They only way for it to change was by evolving it to greater heights.

Ves considered his design philosophy and felt that for all of its flaws and restrictions, it fit his aspirations pretty well. He felt no regrets if the current incarnation of his design philosophy stuck with him for the rest of his life.

"Alright, I should get back to work."

As the Flagrant Swordmaidens crossed the final stretch to the fabled red zone, their progress slowed as the raging astral winds experienced turbulence a lot more frequently than from farther away. This close to the source of the anomaly, it was inevitable that the breakdown effect spiked more than a hundred times a day.

Yet even then, they persevered. Ves modified the designs of many Vandal mechs to make them last longer without requiring an extensive amount of servicing. Chief Dakkon designed the legged transports just like how Ves designed the Enduring Protector, so they needed a lot less babysitting than other machines.

While Ves supervised the fabrication of more and more parts for the Enduring Protector, the beast rider support group suddenly called him up for some reason.

Curious why his former subordinates requested his presence, Ves temporarily left the mech technicians to themselves and went over towards the infirmary.

Dr. Tillman greeted him there, which was strange as she wasn't part of the beast rider support group.

"We're keeping what we've found out a secret. If word ever gets out of what we discovered, all of our mech pilots will probably rise up in arms."

Ves frowned at her. Dr. Tillman's presence here signified that the Vandals discovered something extremely serious related to the beast rider project.

She didn't say much, but instead led Ves to an enclosed room. A pair of security officers stood guard, and only allowed them in after Ves temporarily relinquished most of his gadgets. The Vandals really didn't want any recording devices to be smuggled inside the guarded room.

Once he entered, he came face-to-face with Captain Orfan, who was strapped up in some kind of medical module right now. Doctors and exobiologists poured over the readings like eager hamsters.

"What is going on?" Ves asked.

"Come here and see this, Mr. Larkinson!"

Ves walked over to the bank of consoles and viewed a specific projection pointed out by one of his former subordinates. It displayed a very simple graph.

To most mech pilots, the line in the graph looked flat without any fluctuations.

Right now, however, the line oscillated up and down, but to such a small extent that the graph had to be zoomed in to visualize the fluctuations.

Even though such a difference was very minute, the fact that the graph displayed fluctuations at all was an extremely momentous development!

"This graph shows that Captain Rosa Orfan is capable of demonstrating a minute amount of resonance. Right now, her resonance strength is extremely limited, measuring up to only 0.00001 laveres or less." One of the doctors said lightly.

Such a tiny figure seemed so tiny that most people might as well round it down to 0, yet to someone like Ves, this meant a sea of change!

"What we thought might happen has finally come to pass." He whispered with amazement. "Captain Orfan is now an expert candidate."

"It appears so, Mr. Larkinson."

"Why bring me here?"

"The transformation on Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise's bodies are ongoing. From your understanding of expert pilots, we'd like to hear your judgement whether Captain Orfan will be able to advance to the rank of expert pilot in a short period of time."

Ves didn't answer immediately. Instead, he directed his eyes towards Captain Orfan, who seemed bored as she was locked inside the medical module. Being prodded for hours at a time must have been an infuriating experience to someone so hands on as her. She looked as if she was one step away from ripping out all the sensors attached to her body!

He did not see her with his eyes, though. Instead, he directed his sixth sense in her direction.

He sensed a spark. A bright flame where none existed before. It was small, but it was substantially more real than any of the flames he sensed from other mech pilots.

"She's only at the starting line right now." He said. "While we don't know how expert pilots are formed, I don't believe the transformations induced by her bond with Qilanxo can carry her over the hurdle. She won't be able to crawl her way to becoming an expert pilot. She needs to run in order to make it through the race."

"What are your suggestions?" Dr. Tillman asked.

Ves tried to formulate his theories carefully. "From my understanding of expert pilots, those that are capable of becoming candidates have already passed the most difficult hurdle. Their bodies and minds possess the right potential to allow them to become expert pilots. That is what it means to be an expert candidate. Yet many candidates with bold dreams never advance to expert pilots in their lives. Do you know why that is so?"

"No."

"It's because they lack the discipline, willpower and belief that comprises of an expert pilot's demeanor." Ves answered simply. "Weak-willed expert pilots don't exist. These are the lessons that the Larkinsons have learned after nurturing several expert pilots in each generation of our expansive family. This rare gift that Captain Orfan received from her bond with Qilanxo is precious, but I don't think it's powerful enough to do the work for her. She needs to do the rest of the work by herself for the road ahead."

Ves predicted that this might take a very long time, as Captain Orfan didn't seem to fit with the qualities he mentioned earlier.

As much as Ves wished that the Vandals obtain an expert pilot raised from their own ranks, if only to counterbalance Venerable Xie, he couldn't turn water into wine.

Chapter 870

Still, the fact that one of his predictions came true and that interfacing with a sacred god could induce a beast rider into transforming into an expert candidate already represented a major bombshell.

Forget alarming the Komodo Star Sector, something as explosive as this might shock the entire galaxy down to the very heart of the Big Two or the first-rate superstates!

It went without saying that only a limited amount of people knew of this inside secret. While the Vandals ordinarily played fast and loose with secrets and confidential matters, this time none of those in the know dared to leak out the news.

Even Lieutenant Dise of the Swordmaidens kept her mouth shut, only seeing fit to inform Commander Lydia of this development.

Ves sighed deeply at this outcome. From the first time he witnessed a successful interfacing attempt, he already predicted that Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise transformed into expert candidates.

Yet deep down, he hoped that such a transformation didn't succeed. Everything would have been much simpler if sacred gods couldn't turn any random mech pilot into someone capable of advancing into experts.

Too many mech pilots desired to advance! Some would hand over control over entire star systems in the galactic center for the opportunity to advance into expert pilots!

What would they do once they found out about this seemingly guaranteed method to turn them into expert candidates?

All hell would break loose in the galaxy!

It was too much for the pitiful Flagrant Vandals to bear. They were the scoundrels of the Bright Republic's Mech Corps. As a raiding regiment manned by dregs and cast-offs, how could they carry such an enormous burden on their shoulders?

This was why most Vandals remained ignorant of the truth. Rather than burdening their fragile shoulders with a weight that they couldn't possibly bear, it was better to let others carry the weight instead.

Unfortunately, Ves was one of the few who had been forced to share the heavy burden. This was a weight independent from the heavy gravity, but it pressed upon his body nonetheless as he left the infirmary.

The casual advice and insights he shared with the team of doctors and experts in the know already enlightened them to the exact nature of the significance of what it meant to be an expert candidate.

They also learned from him on how to guide Captain Orfan into using her new status as an expert candidate as a springboard to advance to a genuine expert pilot!

Ves normally wouldn't spill so much about his understanding of expert pilots, as some of them concerned valuable lessons learned by the Larkinsons over many generations.

However, the Flagrant Swordmaidens entered a period of unprecedented peril. Though he didn't hold his hopes that Captain Orfan might be able to advance in the near future, the faster she matured the higher their chances of survival.

Nobody despised more expert pilots on their side!

Ves decided to pay a visit to Qilanxo during the next rest period. He hadn't visited her in a while, so she showed some initiative and roared a friendly greeting when she spotted his approach.

"Haha!" Ves chuckled. "Glad to see you too. There's a lot of buzzing going on about what you did to your beast riders. You're amazing, you know that?"

Qilanxo roared expressively. It seemed her time with the Flagrant Swordmaidens and the beast riders finally mellowed her out. The events that happened near the ancient city of Samar finally started to fade from her mind.

By interfacing with both Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise, Qilanxo gained a whole new perspective on the foreigners from the stars. She was probably one of the most well-informed indigenous life forms on the planet right now.

Due to all of the ears around them, Ves didn't bring up any confidential matters. He only chatted idly about how she was doing, whether she was ready to fight, and so on. Qilanxo eagerly replied and roared back at him, and while he couldn't interpret her entire meaning, he got the gist of it anyway.

Still, the true purpose of their meeting was for Ves to probe Qilanxo on a spiritual level. He extended his sixth sense and risked activating his spiritual vision in order to see what changed since the last time he viewed her in this manner.

Qilanxo's spirituality was as huge as always. It was so enormous in fact that Ves felt oppressed even though it didn't seem very real. Ves tried hard to detect if anything changed since last time, and he finally sensed that her spirituality lost some strength.

It felt huge, but it was as if someone had taken a bite out of it. Was this the price Qilanxo paid to forcefully elevate her beast riders into expert candidates?

This confirmed to Ves that Qilanxo paid a heavy price for Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise's benefit. It explained why the sacred gods never bonded to the blessed people more than once at a time.

Ves grew curious how exactly Qilanxo managed to 'donate' a part of her spirituality to her beast riders. He believed that this process served as the key to turning other people into expert candidates. The other changes associated with the transformations were merely side benefits as far as he was concerned.

In private, Ves surmised that such an elaborate and intricate transfer of spirituality could not have come naturally. This transformation and empowering process had been baked into the sacred gods by design!

Not just any exobiologist could have cooked up something like this. In fact, as Ves started to flit through the possibilities in his mind, he started to develop a creeping suspicion on who might be responsible for the grand design that had shaped the entire ecosystem of Aeon Corona VII.

The Five Scrolls Compact!

Only these crazy fanatics with their mixed awareness of spirituality could have cooked up something like this!

Yet how could this be their work?

There was only one answer in his mind. The Five Scrolls Compact managed to infiltrate the Starlight Megalodon, a proud and resplendent capital ship of the Common Fleet Alliance.

Ves would have expected the all-powerful CFA to vet their crew but especially the exobiologists, yet somehow they overlooked a scarily competent exobiologist's true origins. How could they have slipped up so much?

The mysteries of the Starlight Megalodon and what happened ever since she crash landed on Seven continued to dwell on his mind. The notion that vast conspiracies might have been at work to turn the situation as it was today continued to gain strength in his mind.

All of these revelations set Ves ill at ease, and he quickly begged Qilanxo goodbye before he left.

He sunk back into work for the next few weeks. He puzzled over the Starlight Megalodon, he puzzled over his equipment's strange immunity to the breakdown effect and he puzzled over how to advance to Journeyman in the fastest possible speed.

Ves felt as if his status as an Apprentice had turned into shackles. Only Apprentices who started to reach the age of fifty or higher would have felt this way, but Ves only started practicing his career a few years ago!

"Alas, there are no shortcuts here." He sighed at the last thought. "I still need to find an opportunity to design more mechs."

In the meantime, the mech technicians become more accustomed to the challenges of fabricating all of the parts for the Enduring Protector.

For now, Ves did not order the men to assemble them yet. Instead, they packed them off in some of the containers that had become empty after the Vandals used up the materials stored inside.

Many of their transports carried empty loads as the months went by. Their stock of supplies dipped significantly even after they carried away a lot of salvage from the battle against the Caged Tongs.

However, all of it was worth it because they finally reached the edge of the red zone after several weeks of marching!

"Finally, we are here!"

"The Starlight Megalodon is just a stone's throw away for our mechs!"

"Don't get complacent, boys and girls! Right now, we're a hundred kilometers away from the crash site, but I'll bet that our rivals aren't too far away! This is no time to sit back and relax!"

The Vandals and Swordmaidens knew that if they could manage to get this close to the fabled battleship, then so could others. Everyone kicked themselves into a state of vigilance. The long days of monotonous work and marching was over now!

The heavy transports congregated in a circle around Qilanxo, who would be able to summon up her space barrier and defend their vulnerable supply train against any long-ranged bombardment.

Vast swathes of mechs arranged as scouts and patrols radiated outward from their position in a circle. They did not dare range their mechs too far. Not only would it be easy to bump into an enemy ambush, the breakdown effect had also grown extremely strong!

It wasn't so rare nowadays that mechs malfunctioned more than three times a day. If a mech patrolled more than two hours away from the temporary camp, they might not even be able to limp back under their own force as the mech continued to fall apart by the minute!

"How can anyone think of fighting a battle under this horrendous condition?" Chief Dakkon asked. "The breakdown effect will wreck more mechs than enemy attacks!"

"That's why Captain Byrd isn't so eager to send our mechs out to sniff out the trail of our rivals." Ves calmly replied.

"Our jobs are going to be extremely hard nowadays. Mechs and machinery are both breaking down at an unprecedented rate. Frankly, we should be pulling back a bit."

"Captain Byrd won't allow it. We need to hold this position so that the people and mechs we send out to the red zone has somewhere safe to go back to. It won't be long now before they deploy."

A day later, the time to send out the troops finally arrived.

The so-called exploration party consisting of security officers and specialists finished their training and preparations. All of them wore simple suits of light combat armor and carried very simple but reliable gear.

The Swordmaidens prepared their own warriors as well. While they hardly sent in any experts, they more than made up for it with extremely deadly greatsword-wielding battle fanatics. As far as the Swordmaidens were concerned, the breakdown effect was a blessing to them! With most advanced technologies rendered useless, they wouldn't face so many sophisticated weapons this time.

The breakdown effect had no effect on something as simple as their swords!

All of the men and women on foot boarded special fast transports laden with supplies. Chief Dakkon personally designed these transports to be even more reliable and breakdown-proof than the other vehicles, incorporating much more durable and expensive materials to make them last longer.

Of course, one of the most significant assets one of the transports carried was a god crystal generator. As long as the exploration party brought one of these generators along, they would never have to worry about their mechs and machines running out of power.

Ves stood with Chief Dakkon and some others as they were about to send off the exploration party.

"The mechs are coming!"

Two squads of mechs poured out of the ranks of the Vandals and the Swordmaidens.

Twelve complete Enduring Protectors marched out slowly on their four crawler-type legs. While every Vandal had already seen glimpses of them during the last few days, this was the first time they witnessed all twelve moving out in unison.

Their auras blended together and amplified their effects, causing them to form an imposing impression to the Vandals. Even the Swordmaidens looked mightily impressed at the invisible feelings they somehow managed to conjure.

They couldn't help but believe that with these mechs around, the members of the exploration party would be in safe hands!

Yet Ves did not pay too much attention to the Enduring Protectors, as he already knew everything about them. Instead, he turned his attention to the side of the Swordmaidens. He finally witnessed Mayra's breakdown-proof design.

Chapter 871

As a Journeyman Mech Designer raised in the frontier, Mayra imparted some unique properties in her mech designs that Ves rarely saw in designs from civilized space.

First and foremost, pirates and pirate designers completely disregarded the existence of licenses. As long as the design or technical specifications of a good component could be found on the galactic net or in other shady circles, they'd be sure possess them. Any decent person could unearth a lot of great mech and component designs from the galactic net, though most tended to be rather outdated.

No component design remained a secret forever. The only practical limitations posed by pirates who pirated other designs was that most of them incorporated difficult to work with or extremely rare materials. This was actually the best form of protection for their intellectual property, though the more restrictions they imposed, the less attractive they became to legitimate customers.

Mech designers operating under the sphere of influence of the MTA deeply respected the current licensing regime. Plagiarism, corporate espionage and outright stealing ran rife before the MTA introduced the licensing regime.

The Mech Trade Association knew that mech designers always sought for shortcuts. Nobody wanted to reinvent the wheel when someone else already developed a good wheel already. The licensing regime basically legitimized the practice of copying someone else's work and made sure the original developers received their fair share in exchange for putting their works on display.

Of course, pirates completely ignored these restrictions.

The felinid beast mechs that marched out from their ranks immediately made a striking impression on Ves. While others saw a lean light leopard-shaped mech that appeared to be excellent for flanking and hit-and-run attacks, Ves saw a collection of bestseller mech components seamlessly merged together into a great design.

Word quickly spread from the Swordmaiden ranks. Mayra named her leopard mech as the Asteria!

"What a great design!" Ves sighed.

He truly meant that. While Mayra also prioritized reliability and endurance in designing the Asteria, she shamelessly made use of historically famed and brilliant mech components, some of which had been developed for internal use by top-tier organizations in the past and had never been licensed out. These excellent, high-performing components all brought out the highest potential of the Asteria beast mechs.

Ves walked over to the ranks of the Swordmaidens and sought out Marya and Ketis.

"Hey Ves! What's up?" Ketis chirped.

"I'm fine. How is your training lately? Have you kept up with your studies."

"Errr.. somewhat." She laughed awkwardly. "Let's not talk about that."

"Ketis has been spending more time on her sword training lately." Mayra said with a disapproving expression. "I thought we went over this. You're a mech designer, not a warrior."

"It's too dangerous here! A fight could break out at any moment! I have to be as ready as possible to defend myself!"

"If any threat comes in our way, our mechs will take care of it, Ketis. What can you do against a mech by yourself and your sword?"

"I can still slice their legs!"

Ves imagined Ketis walking up to an enemy mech and ineffectually hacking her sword at its feet. The outcome wouldn't be much different than the idiotic dwarf warriors who thought they could fell a mech by banging against them with their bone clubs.

"I must say Mayra, I admire your Asteria design. I must say it's a risky choice to discard defense in exchange for offensive."

If Ves limited himself to designing a melee mech instead of a ranged mech, then he would have surrendered to the planet's harsh gravity and designed a defense-oriented mech. He possessed enough familiarity with knight mechs to design a reliable and relatively energy-efficient medium knight mech.

Yet Mayra subverted his expectations and actually went through with designing a mobility-oriented beast mech on a planet that imposed extremely harsh limitations on mobility!

"I understand your puzzlement." Mayra smiled at Ves. "Yet in a battlefield where every mech is as slow as a crawling mech, you only need a slight edge in mobility to gain the initiative. The Asteria has that and more. Its true strength lies in its burst speed. It can leap forward at a speed that surpasses any normal mech under the same conditions."

Ves connected the dots. He swept his eyes back to the Asterias that marched forward until they walked up to the front of the expedition party. Their body structure and limb design seem exceptionally capable of making powerful leaping attacks!

The Asterias couldn't function like knight mechs and form a defensive bulwark against their enemies. However, with Qilanxo covering their defensive needs, the Asterias didn't have to fulfill this role.

Instead, the Asterias served best as flankers, harassers, scouts and ambushers. These offense-oriented mechs could fell any breakdown-proof mech once they pounced upon them with their claws and teeth! As long as they had energy to spare, their burst mobility completely exceeded

Qilanxo, the Asterias and the Enduring Protectors all formed a trinity that covered different needs. Still, the Swordmaidens took on the most dangerous role of all, and the chances of overreaching themselves were too large. Only the best and most disciplined Swordmaiden mech pilot would be able to keep their Asterias intact.

"Let us wish our comrades good luck!"

After sending off the exploration party, the Vandals and Swordmaidens that remained behind shifted into war footing.

While they always prepared themselves for battle, the risks were never greater as now.

Aeon Corona VII was simply too big. As a Super Earth several times the size of Old Earth, Seven's surface area simply gave too much room for isolated forces to hide in. It would have been a coincidence that rival forces bumped into each other. The Caged Tongs only tracked down the Flagrant Swordmaidens after some other party pointed the way, after all.

Yet now that they converged near the Starlight Megalodon, the chances of waging several battles became too acute.

The big problem however was that this close to the source of the astral winds, the breakdown effect had become the killer of mechs. Forget about battling other forces, they first needed to fight against the abnormal environment!

"We should immobilize or shutdown every mech and machine at our disposal when not absolutely needed." Ves said in an emergency meeting shortly after sending off the exploration party. "The mechs on patrol and scouting assignments are breaking down several times faster than the ones that are sitting still."

Chief Dakkon nodded. "I agree, though it would also make us blind to any machines that have quietly degraded to the point of breaking down completely."

"We still need mechs to patrol and to guard our supply train against surprise attacks. What I'm suggesting is that we calculate the optimal number of active mechs that our mech technicians can cope with. If we make use of too many active mechs, then our mech technicians will be swamped with work. If we put too few mechs to use, we'd be putting spare capacity to waste while decreasing the strength of our first responders."

Captain Byrd grimaced at the difficult consideration. "I understand. Chief Dakkon, Mr. Larkinson, please work out your proposals quickly. On this issue, I prefer to lean towards caution. I'd rather have too many mechs active at any time than to put too many of them on ice. There is an extremely high chance of facing our fellow rivals from the stars, and we cannot afford to be caught flat-footed against them. In addition, there are also unknown native threats about, of which we've only caught traces of so far."

"I'll do the best I can, captain, but the mech technicians won't like it. I think I can kick them into a higher gear for some time, but they'll eventually burn out if they have to deal with excessive work loads day in day out." Ves replied with both caution and determination.

Their commanding officer caught the underlying message. She snorted. "The time for slacking off is over. It's showtime right now. Everyone needs to put a hundred-and-twenty percent of their effort into their duties. Those who want to get away with less are doing their fellow Vandals a disservice."

The Vandals had become too accustomed to their simple routines. It was time to shake them out of their complacency and work them to bone. At this stage, anyone who put less effort in their jobs directly dragged down the rest of the team!

Once the servicemen received their new work schedules, a lot of grumbling and complaints emerged, but what could they do? Even if they tended to be dummies, the Vandals weren't stupid. Deep down, they knew that every little bit of effort would be needed in order to survive the coming challenges.

While Ves became increasingly swamped with work as well, he did his best to delegate all of the lesser tasks to others. Though the low-ranking mech designers and incompetent chief technicians couldn't handle every difficult issue that emerged, they at least learned how to depend on themselves over the past months.

If the same kind of fault happened more than twenty times, the mech technicians had to be absolute morons if they still couldn't resolve the issue by themselves.

The great thing about the breakdown effect was that it gave the mech technicians a lot of practice in resolving faults. The sheer amount of issues they dealt with on a daily basis practically elevated their problem solving capabilities to a higher level.

Ves stared sat on top of a heavy transport and looked out towards the depth of the red zone.

Just a hundred kilometers away, the mythical Starlight Megalodon awaited the arrival of the exploration party.

"I wonder if our boys have reached the battleship. What will they find?"

This close to the source of the anomaly, the terrain started to become a little weird. The surface of the ground grew jagged and uneven, as if a lot of earthquakes wracked the entire region in the past. No tufts of grass covered the lands, and only strange plant growths stubbornly clung to life here.

Deeper in the red zone, the terrain grew rougher and the hills started growing steeper. Still, the vehicles of the exploration party shouldn't have too much trouble navigating the rough terrain. The Enduring Protector and the Asteria both possessed huge advantages. Quadruped generally handled rough terrain better than bipedal mechs.

Ves turned away from the storm lands and surveyed the temporary camp. This time, the Flagrant Swordmaidens only placed down the minimum amount of prefab structures. This was by necessity, because they might be forced to abandon their camp.

At this time, the Vandals activated one of their god crystal generators. The unholy devices which made use of dwarf brains to control the operation of the god crystals creeped a lot of Vandals out, but they couldn't deny their use.

An energy tornado extended high up in the air, and an abundance of potent higher-dimensional energy poured into the god crystals.

The tornado only lasted for a few seconds, because too much energy streamed down in such a short amount of time. The god crystals couldn't hold much more. This close to the Starlight Megalodon, the concentration of higher-dimensional particles was incredibly high, and it would only be worse at ground zero.

Still, Ves couldn't help but adopt a concerned expression at the brief show. Even though the interference in the air was so bad that it would be difficult to spot the energy tornado from a distance, it still telegraphed their position to any scouts that ranged in their direction.

Energy tornados also signified that the Flagrant Swordmaidens possessed a potent and renewable energy source. Their researchers worked hard to develop this solution to solve their energy needs, and Ves doubted that anyone else could have come up with it as well.

"When will the wolves come to prey on our sheep?"

Perhaps the true group in peril may not be the exploration party, but the main forces left behind!

Chapter 872

When the Vandals prepared the gear for the exploration party, they put some thought in maintaining contact. The large amount of interference made it impractical to receive wireless signals from more than a few kilometers away, so the only way to remain in contact was to use a physical medium.

Chief Dakkon and a handful of other engineers designed a small spider bot. It was as small as someone's palm and could traverse over very steep angles, though speed was not its forte. Even though they should be somewhat resilient against the breakdown effect, in truth they were just cheap bots designed to be as small and cheap as possible while still capable of navigating through the rough terrain.

No matter. The Vandals produced thousands of them in short notice and packed them up in crates that held hundreds of them at a time. They took up very little space when folded up, so the fast transports could easily carry them all.

Every hour or so, the exploration party released two of them and programmed them to reach specific drop points a fair distance away from the temporary camp.

Most wouldn't be able to make the journey. They'd either be crushed underneath the foot of the errant godlings that roamed the sparse lands inside the red zone, be delayed for weeks, get stuck in a pit or difficult terrain or even get picked off by rival forces who detected the spider bots!

However, each spider bot that made it to the drop points provided a valuable status update to the Vandals and Swordmaidens left behind.

"Seems like the survival rate of bots is around thirty percent so far. Not bad. That's higher than we expected." Chief Dakkon complimented his own work.

"It's only been a day." Ves noted. "The distance the bots have to traverse isn't very far. Once they reach the Starlight Megalodon, who knows if we'll receive any bots at all."

"I have faith in my bots. They're crafty little buggers."

Right now, Captain Byrd called up a small group of mech officers and chiefs to inform them of what the exploration party encountered so far. Everyone looked forward to see and hear what the fabled red zone had to offer.

A projection came to life. Captain Byrd began to summarize the first reports. "As we've expected, the terrain has grown increasingly rougher. This could partially be explained by a large impact happening in the past, such as a battleship the size of a city crash-landing in the region. However, the irregularities in the terrain may also have been affected by strong spikes in spacetime distortion. The worst possibility is that these strong spikes are still ongoing and remain a huge hazard."

Everyone looked serious, including Ves. From the Glowing Planet campaign, he witnessed the horror of spacetime shenanigans. Anyone who became victim of a spacetime wrinkle or whatever might suffer a fate worse than death!

The projection shifted to various alien plants and strange animals being preyed upon by hardy godlings.

Dr. Tillman stepped up this time. "So far, we haven't spotted the presence of any wildlings or wildling tribes, but there are sparse amounts alien creatures and godlings roaming the red zone. The alien exobeasts appear to be the remnants of the planet's indigenous wildlife that have survived the terraforming process. The likely reason why they are in the red zone is because the environment is unsuitable for Earth-based life."

Basically, the red zone gave the Flagrant Swordmaidens a taste of how Seven looked like before human intervention.

"Are the alien critters dangerous?"

"We do not believe so, but it's better if you don't try your luck. Their flesh is almost certainly inedible to baseline humans and they are remarkably adapted to the heavy gravity. Due to their small stature, they shouldn't pose too much of a threat to a properly armed and armored individual on foot."

The rest of the meeting devolved into other miscellaneous observations. For example, the Enduring Protectors that Ves designed held up well, as did Mayra's Asterias. Both mechs marched stably and strongly through the rough terrain and withstood the frequent spacetime distortions with stoic solidity.

In fact, the upgraded fast transports exhibited some malfunctions already, and this was only the first day!

Chief Dakkon's face grew ugly when he noted this awful performance. Although it might have just been a bad day for his fast transport, it still reflected a potential weakness. Without the transports and the supplies they carried, how far could the exploration party go?

"Have there any been signs of our rivals?"

"None yet so far, but it is only a matter of time."

Due to the increasingly strange circumstances, the exploration party slowed their pace to a crawl. They thought they might have been able to reach the Starlight Megalodon in a single day, but as they got deeper and deeper in the red zone, various hazards started to pop up.

"Is that a weapon crater?"

"A powerful explosion caused this crater. Even now, it is throwing up high amounts of radiation. While the danger isn't so acute at a distance, the exploration party already stumbled upon dozens of craters like this. More exotic weapon scars dot the lands as well."

Even several hundred years ago, the CFA made use of a large variety of advanced weaponry. As the Age of Conquest amply demonstrated, their warships could inflict a devastating amount of damage on any planet if they held no scruples.

Fortunately, the battle scars showed that the big guns hadn't been taken out. Even a single antimatter torpedo could have turned the entire red zone into a huge crater!

"From the signs of battle, the survivors of the Starlight Megalodon have likely come to blows with each other." Captain Byrd said. "We don't know the nature of the conflict or which sides emerged as the victor, but we don't stand a chance if any of the remnants brings these devastating weapons to bear on us."

They already knew that some portion of the Starlight Megalodon still remained operational after enduring several millennia of accelerated time.

Who knew how they would react when the exploration party finally arrived at their doorstep. Would they allow the visitors to plunder the Starlight Megalodon at will?

Still, even if their chances didn't look good, the Flagrant Swordmaidens had come too far to go back empty-handed. They at least needed to make an attempt, if only to please their backers.

The meeting ended and everyone returned to their duties. From what the spider bots already relayed, Ves felt as if they only brushed upon the tip of the iceberg.

This was the most dangerous region on the planet. Even the hardy dwarves, who seemed to be practically everywhere, avoided this region like the plague!

Four days from the exploration party's departure, the number of spider bots that reached the drop points reduced drastically. The last spider bot that limped its way back on three legs notified the main forces that they had reached within view of the Starlight Megalodon!

The vague footage they captured and stuffed into the data chips of the spider bots showed the shadow of an enormous beast that left a huge furrow onto the ground!

Though the distance and interference in the air only revealed a glimpse of the mythical battleship, the entire camp erupted in celebration.

"The battleship is still intact!"

"Look at the size of that beast! They weren't kidding when they said that battleships are floating cities!"

"Look at how the Starlight Megalodon hasn't broken up upon landing! Her main armor belt must be thicker than several mechs stacked on top of each other!"

Everyone could see that the Starlight Megalodon survived a rough landing where they skidded over the terrain at an angle. She must have endured an enormous amount of stress, but still managed to hold together under these extreme conditions.

And she managed to accomplish all of this on a Super Earth that increased her already prodigious weight by six times!

Her survival up to now was a testament of pinnacle CFA engineering, and only underscored the formidable nature of the Big Two!

However, even though the battleship seemed to have survived her forced orbital landing on Seven, the immense craft did not look entirely normal. The Flagrant Swordmaidens all received detailed information packages about the Starlight Megalodon's ship class, but her current contours diverged from what she looked like at the start.

It was as if her hull gained a lot of extras.

"What is that?"

"I don't know. Extra armor?"

"You idiot! Do you think a battleship like the Starlight Megalodon needs any extra armor? Their city wall-like armor belts is completely made up of the most advanced varieties of compressed armor!"

Some of the Vandals guessed that the extra construction might be weapon mounts. Others guessed that the survivors built structures along the hull. Nobody knew the answer as of yet as the footage simply couldn't resolve that much detail at this distance.

The exploration party needed to get closer.

The people back at the camp continued to perform their duties while they waited for the next status update.

Only... no other spider bots came back. An entire standard day went by without any spider bots making it to the drop points!

What had happened?!

The uncertainty gnawed at them all. Even Captain Byrd grew irritable. Even if only a single had passed, the lack of spider bots and status updates made everyone fear the worst!

"How can this be? We got the Enduring Protectors and the Asterias escorting the fast transports. We even sent out a friggin' sacred god!"

"Maybe it's just plain bad luck. The terrain did get more hazardous the closer they approached the crash site, right? None of the spider bots can endure the hazards in they get too close."

When two days went by without a word, everyone's worries doubled. Even Ves lost some of his composure. Had his Enduring Protector design failed for some reason? Did the mechs fall short against a superior force?

Captain Byrd called up Ves for a private meeting and asked for his opinion on the matter.

"There are too many unknowns, captain. We don't know what the exploration party has encountered." Ves began. "There may be threats out there, whether from our rivals or from something native to the planet, that can explain the lack of status updates. Still, I have faith in my design. I refuse to believe that any of our rivals could have fielded an overwhelmingly strong mech force."

"What if they fielded wild gods or sacred gods?" Captain Byrd pointed out. "After all, we managed to secure the service of a sacred god, while the Caged Tongs conditions a dozen wild gods into becoming their cannon fodder."

"Even so, the god beasts are extremely slow, ma'am. If the exploration party ever bumps into them, my Enduring Protectors can easily cook them with their laser cannons."

Ves really didn't have much to say except to express his confidence in his own design. Mayra's Asterias weren't half-bad either. They shouldn't have fallen so easily no matter what.

In the end, Captain Byrd passed him an order. "I've discussed this situation with Commander Lydia and we've come to the decision to prepare a follow-up party. This one won't bring any people on foot, but is merely tasked with following the footsteps of the exploration party in order to ascertain their status. Can you fabricate six Enduring Protectors on short notice?"

Ves frowned, but only mildly. "This request is rather unexpected, but I'm sure I can divert enough resources and manpower to finish the job. However, I don't think I can deliver six new mechs in less than six weeks. Our 3D printers and other equipment are acting up due to the breakdown effect. Even routine jobs take three times longer to complete. Are you sure you're willing to wait that long, captain?"

"As long as we have the resources to spare, I want you to prepare extra mechs. Even if the exploration party is wiped out, we need to confirm what happened!"

Chapter 873

Ves immediately returned to the temporary workshops and ran the mech technicians ragged. The maintenance crews couldn't afford to slack off their continuous repair duties, but they also couldn't take too long to fabricate six extra Enduring Protectors!

In that moment, the mech workshops descended into hell!

With a pushy taskmaster like Ves at the helm, none of the mech technicians had the opportunity slack off! He drove each and everyone of them to the brink.

They needed to complete twice the work in half the time! While it drove everyone crazy, Ves was more than familiar with their temperaments. They may be rather lazy most of the time, but they could accomplish a lot of work for a short amount of time!

Ves knew that he couldn't drive the mech technicians to such a punishing pace for long, but it shouldn't be a problem to run them ragged for a couple of days!

The chief technicians and mech technicians all cursed at him, but what could they do? Ves knew each and every trick in the book, and he cracked down on any attempts at skirting their works.

Some mech technicians even suffered 'workplace accidents' that should have sent them packing to the infirmary.

Instead of doing so, Ves called in the doctors and patched the injured mech technicians up with emergency treatments that put them back intact. Though the short-term treatments only kept them up and running for a week at most before they collapsed, the injured mech technicians regained enough strength to resume their duties!

"Anyone else who suffers a 'workplace accident' will get fed to the critters roaming outside!" Ves declared with a scowl on his face.

All of the mech technicians became intimidated by the force in his words. They didn't know whether Ves would follow through with his threat, but from the sternness radiating from his voice and posture, he seemed completely willing and able to toss the mech technicians to the dogs!

Privately, Ves wouldn't go so far, if only because the Vandals couldn't afford to lose any manpower. Losing a couple of them at once would set back their work schedules a lot! They couldn't afford to fall behind on their repair and maintenance tasks.

Several days passed by as new Enduring Protectors slowly emerged from the workshops. Ves unavoidably went for haste this time, which caused the newly-finished mechs to be a bit less sound than the ones that joined the exploration party.

Ves couldn't help it, as previously he had an entire month to fabricate twelve of them. This time, he needed to complete one mech every day in order to meet Captain Byrd's expectations.

The breakdown effect truly did its best to hinder the mech technicians in every step of the way. The 3D printers underwent continuous inspections and repair while their tools sometimes failed midway or caused serious accidents.

Still, after several marathon sessions and sleepless nights, the exhausted Vandal mech technicians managed to fabricate six mechs in six days, all the while somehow managing to keep up with their regular duties.

This was a miracle in management! Even though many mech technicians collapsed and productivity immediately dropped for the next few days, at the very least they hadn't fallen behind on their work.

They all developed a new hatred for Ves, but he took no notice of their newly invigorated dislike for him. As long as they got the job done, they could say whatever they wanted behind his back.

To Ves, he long stopped paying close attention to mech technicians. Perhaps he inherited some bad habits from the Swordmaidens, as he outright treated them as slaves during this hectic period.

Unwilling to work? Too tired to stay awake? Get back to work!

Although it was terribly unfair for Ves to subject the mech technicians to such a brutal work pace, their entire situation was unfair from the start.

If the situation called for it, he did not hesitate to turn into a tyrant and incur a lot of hatred on himself. Compared to their lives, what did their welfare matter?

As Ves delivered the Enduring Protectors, Captain Byrd already prepped a few Vandals to pilot them.

More and more laser rifleman mechs turned into empty shells as their mech pilots got assigned to the Enduring Protectors. The same applied to the Swordmaidens as precious Devil Razors joined the reserves as their mech pilots boarded the cockpits of the Asteria leopard mechs.

All of these transfers considerably weakened the strength of the main forces. With so many mechs lacking mech pilots, the Flagrant Swordmaidens became less certain that they could win a pitched battle against a rival force.

Fortunately, no enemy approached them as of yet. Whether this status quo would hold for long, nobody knew. Everyone knew that a battle couldn't be avoided.

However, now was not the time. Even after a week since the last status update, no spider bot came back from the center of the red zone.

No matter if it was Ves, Chief Dakkon or the other Vandals, they all started to suspect the worst. Had the exploration party fallen into a trap? Did they fall into a deadly environmental hazard?

The sheer amount of possibilities left the Vandals and Swordmaidens guessing. This was also why Captain Byrd and Commander Lydia anxiously prepared a follow-up party.

This time, not a lot of people gathered to send the small follow-up party off. Six Asterias and six Enduring Protectors both set off with a fast transport carrying loads of spider bots.

This time, Chief Dakkon exerted a considerable amount of effort in improving the design of his spider bot. The Mark II version of the spider bot incorporated more robust and expensive materials. This vastly increased the resource cost of producing them, but none of the Vandals could afford to be stingy on this matter.

With over ten-thousand spider bots loaded into the cargo hold of the fast transports, it would send out up to ten spider bots per hour! Even if six or seven met with various mishaps, there was a good chance that at least one of them would make it to the preprogrammed drop points!

"I've improved upon the design! This time, they won't fail, I swear!" Chief Dakkon boasted.

Ves was a little skeptical about his boast. He briefly studied the design of the old and new versions of the spider bots, and while he acknowledged their reliability and capabilities, they were ultimately disposable messenger bots.

Despite the hyperbole, the bots did pass on their messages with a bit more success than their predecessors. With an overall survival rate of seventy percent in the first day and forty percent in the next two days, an ample amount of spider bots brought back duplicate messages every hour.

The continuous stream of intelligence reassured Captain Byrd and Commander Lydia. Even though the Flagrant Swordmaidens truly paid a considerable price for upgrading the spider bots, nothing was scarier than losing touch!

Due to the perils the exploration party identified, the follow-up party marched slowly and steadily, prioritizing caution over speed. Everything could be undone by a single wrong step, so they made sure not to land themselves in any danger.

Four days into their journey, the spider bot that returned passed on an alarming message.

The follow-up party stumbled upon the remnants of what looked like a battle between mechs!

Ves immediately got called to the mobile headquarters. When he inspected the footage sent back with several spider bots, he immediately identified the bare and worn-out wrecks.

"These are certainly the wrecks of highly advanced but outdated mechs, ma'am. Look at the lack of corrosion. If we can salvage those wrecks and recycle their materials, we can probably double the toughness of a handful of our mechs!"

"Are they CFA mechs?" Captain Byrd asked.

"No doubt about it." Ves stated. "There are half-a-dozen obvious design quirks that are unique to older CFA mechs. They have their own take on mechs."

Though weathering the environment for several thousand years stripped them bare of their coatings, he still spotted several telltale design characteristics that reminded him of old CFA mechs.

"Do these mechs come from the Starlight Megalodon's original mech contingent, or are they something they fabricated after crash landing on the planet?"

Ves thought about it. "I can't say for certain, but I'm leaning towards the former. The design of these mechs aren't very optimal in heavy gravity environments. Look at those pieces of debris on their backs. Those are the remains of gravitic backpacks."

While he could talk all day about the traits of the mechs, he couldn't tell what happened here. Too much time had passed and most of the marks of the battle had long been wiped from the terrain. Only the wreckages remained, but besides their salvage value, they really didn't offer anything else.

Still, just the presence of ancient mechs told them that the Starlight Megalodon used to field them in the past. Were any of them still intact and in working condition? Ves couldn't imagine that something like that was possible, especially since so many years had passed by on the surface.

"In case we are forced to enter into battle against the CFA mechs, can you tell us how to best defend against them?" The captain asked.

This caused those present to shudder. With all the weirdness that happened up to now, being forced to battle actual CFA mechs became a very real possibility!

Ves didn't exhibit any fear. "There's nothing to be afraid of mechs of this generation. Even if they are top-tier CFA mechs, they are so outdated that our regular mechs stand a good chance at beating them. Our mechs benefit from an enormous amount of advancements, and this is not something that high-quality mechs from the CFA can resist if their designs are still the same."

"Is that true?"

"I'm sure of it. The only thing you need to pay attention to is that their armor systems are extravagant. Even their light skirmishers can be as tough as heavy knights in certain cases! Therefore, it is very hard to overpower an outdated CFA mech unless you apply overwhelming force. There's no other shortcut to defeating them. Just the material value of their mechs alone are worth as much as entire planets of the Bright Republic!"

This did not make it easy for the Vandal mech officers. It would be best if they didn't meet any CFA mechs in battle at all! Even though the warship lovers disdained the use of mechs, they still made serious use of them! The mech designers in the employ of the CFA weren't that much worse from the mech designers working for the MTA!

Over the following days, the follow-up party uncovered other curiosities which the spider bots sent back. They found no other remnants of CFA mechs, but they did find plenty of traces of battle.

It became abundantly clear that the survivors of the CFA engaged in a very frigid conflict at some point in time.

Once the follow-up party came close to the last location of the exploration party, they doubled the amount of spider bots sent back and also slowed down their pace.

They managed to identify the indentations in the ground that the exploration party left behind. They led straight towards the shadow of the Starlight Megalodon that loomed in the distance.

"We have not encountered any of the members of the exploration party as of yet." The mech officer in charge of the follow-up party reported. "After scouting our surroundings for any hazards, we intend to split up and seek out the exploration party. If we haven't encountered any trace of them after a couple of hours of searching, our mechs are instructed to pull back to this location in order to determine our next step. Our fast transport and a couple of mechs will stay behind."

Splitting up the follow-up party put the individual mechs at considerable risk, but it also spread the risk.

If anything dangerous lurked in the vicinity of the Starlight Megalodon, at the very least they could still send back word of the loss!

Chapter 874

Just as every Vandal and Swordmaiden waited for the next status updates of the follow-up party, the scout mechs sent back word of an alarming piece of news.

They encountered enemy scout mechs!

Not only that, they actually tangled against each other!

The scuffle didn't last long, but it allowed both sides to get the measure of each other.

To be frank, the Vandal scout mech almost lost!

Ves got called to an emergency meeting to analyse the battle footage, but the Vandals present already made a judgement on what they encountered.

"It's the Vesians!"

They already knew the Vesians arrived at the Aeon Corona System and landed their ground forces on the planet. However, for so long the immense size of the planet reduced the odds of bumping into each other.

No longer!

The Vesian military mech did not hide its allegiance. It proudly wore its regimental colors.

"It's the 1st Meandering Monkeys of the 3rd Imodris Legion!" Captain Byrd announced with a chilly voice. "They're the landbound reconnaissance forces under the command of Lady Amalia of Imodris."

"The same noblewoman who raided the Bentheim Region!?"

Lady Amalia made a splash early in the war. She brought out the entire 3rd Imodris Legion and successfully raided numerous lightly-defended star systems in the interior of the Bright Republic!

Vesian scions often led their troops into committing bold attacks, but the deep strike that the 3rd Imodris Legion performed practically whacked the Brighters in the face!

The entire state despaired, and even the LMC's Mech Nursery on Cloudy Curtain barely managed to fend off a small raid.

Only until the Flagrant Vandals paid the Vesians back by sneaking all the way into the Imodris Duchy and subsequently thrashed the Detemen System. Their incredible daring shot up their profile and provided an invaluable boost to the Republic when they most needed it! Though most Brighters probably forgot about the Vandals soon after, they earned more than enough glory to last a lifetime!

Secretly, that operation also set the Verle Task Force on the path to the Starlight Megalodon, but Ves and the others learned about this later.

As far as the Flagrant Vandals were concerned, they more than squared with the Vesians, yet the Imodris Duchy might not think so!

"There's more. Do you see the mech that has run to reinforce the Meandering Monkey scout? I recognize those colors as well. That a mech of the Hostland Warriors!"

"Say what?!"

"Isn't that a mech regiment from the Hafner Duchy?! Why would they work together with Lady Amalia?!"

The Vesian officers and chiefs all grew incredibly grave. While mech regiments from different duchies occasionally fought alongside each other, it only happened during major engagements, such as when they joined forces to conquer well-defended star systems.

Outside of that, mech regiments from rival duchies hated each other's guts. In fact, mech regiments mech legions led by nobles detested working together even if they hailed from the same duchy or noble house.

A noble from a different duchy? Enemy!

A noble from the same duchy but from a different house? Enemy!

An esteemed brother or sister from the same house as yours? Enemy!

The sheer amount of infighting that went on in the noble circles of the Vesian Kingdom completely confused the Brighters. How could they get anything done if they constantly competed against people from their own side? It even caused them to resist the Vesians harder, because they wanted no part of their madness!

Still, Ves spotted a common thread. "I think it's no coincidence that the Meandering Monkeys and the Hostland Warriors are fighting side by side. Which Vesian duchies did our mech regiment piss off lately? Imodris, Venidse and Hafner! I wouldn't be surprised if a Venidsan detachment has joined the party as well. I think their goals aren't limited to just the Starlight Megalodon. They are after us."

Everyone looked even graver than before. If any other Vesians arrived in the Aeon Corona System, then the Vandals might still have some hopes of avoiding combat. Yet it had to be mechs hailing from the Imodris and Hafner duchies, both of which harbored an undying hatred against the mech regiment that stampeded throughout their territories!

"If the Hostland Warriors are here, do you reckon that..."

"No one in Hafner hates us more than that expert candidate we thrashed!"

"Did you forgot already? She's not an expert candidate anymore. She's a fully-fledged expert pilot now!"

A couple of Vandals connected the dots. Lady Amalia must have paid a huge price to invite the Hostland Warriors. There was no reason for a scion from Imodris to bother with a Hafner mech regiment unless she wanted to hitch Venerable Relia Foster to her wagon!

The Flagrant Vandals captured her on Nova Migolatus I at great cost. They proceeded to ransom her back to the Hafner Duchy for an even greater price to make up their losses.

Back then, the Vandals thought they got the better out of the trade. In exchange for sending back the promising young expert pilot, they received an abundant amount of funds and resources that prepared them for their journey to the Aeon Corona System.

In hindsight, perhaps it would have been better to keep her in custody, because she'd certainly be out for revenge!

"The odds are huge that Venerable Foster has consented to working together with Lady Amalia, if only to obtain the opportunity for a rematch!"

The Vandals brought this disaster upon themselves. Who told them to accept a mission for the rebels to thrash an up-and-coming expert candidate?

The Vandals retrieved a bunch of archival data from the local database, but it contained too little details about the current disposition of the Vesians arrayed against them. This also prevented them from coming up with any solid strategies.

The meeting adjourned without much result besides relaying the gravity of the situation to everyone.

When the Swordmaidens learned of the threat, their mech pilots reacted with quiet anticipation. They never experienced the dreadfulness of fighting against a military mech force!

Fortunately, Commander Lydia possessed a lot more sense and tempered her Swordmaidens. They always had it easy up to now, as no conventional pirate force could stand in their way.

This time, their luck drew short!

Ves read the mood of the Vandals as they grimly prepared for battle. Having sent a substantial amount of mechs to the red zone, those that remained had to do with less!

"What I wouldn't give to have Qilanxo right now." He sighed.

The clash against the Vesians appeared inevitable. Over the coming days, scout mechs from the Meandering Monkeys emerged out of the woodwork. They aggressively tested the boundaries of the Flagrant Swordmaidens.

Due to the restrictions imposed by the environment, the skirmishes started and ended within minutes of each other. Neither side committed to a serious battle as of yet, and what fights did erupt between the mechs of each side only left shallow marks.

Nonetheless, the Meandering Monkeys more often than not gained the upper hand in these skirmishes against both Vandal and Swordmaiden mechs.

It couldn't be helped, as the Meandering Monkeys completely specialized in reconnaissance operations! Their tactics and strategies in this area completely blew the Flagrant Swordmaidens away.

Their martial tradition compelled them to be aggressive in every scouting operation. They weren't content to hide in the bushes and observe their enemies from a distance. They were all about getting up close and personal and punching their adversaries in the nose before gleefully running away!

When Ves surveyed the battle damage in person at the workshops, he read the marks on the scout mechs that returned. Overall, their weapons exhibited much less wear and tear than their armor plating.

As a mech designer who knew mechs inside and out, he could instantly read the progression of a battle from the marks left behind on a machine.

Evidently, the Vandals got the shorter end of the stick.

As the mech technicians started to catalogue the accumulated battle damage, Ves approached the exhausted mech pilot sitting on a crate next to the light mech. A serviceman passed him a bottle of nutrient solution, which the mech pilot drank deep gulps of. The skirmish may not have lasted very long, but it drained every bit of his concentration!

"Hello."

"Mr. Larkinson." The mech pilot replied lethargically.

Ves acquired a very intimidating reputation among the mech pilots, though the man before was simply too tired to care about that right now. Compared to a bossy mech designer, the Vesians were the real enemy!

Even though Ves felt like he was about to pick open a bandaged wound, he still needed to know.

"I'll be studying the battle footage in a minute, but is there anything you can tell about the Meandering Monkeys? Their fighting habits, their weaknesses, our chances of winning against them and such?"

The Vandal mech pilot snorted. "We're not cut out to fight the Meandering Monkeys! They're so good at what they do that they are practically schooling us! Showing off our tricks in our light mechs is like showing off in front of a master. What we can do, they can do better. What they can do, we have no hopes of replicating."

"They're that good in skirmishes?"

"Reconnaissance mech regiments don't sound very impressive, and they often get the short end of the stick when it comes to funding them, but the Meandering Monkeys are resourceful buggers. Their mechs aren't all that better than ours and their mech pilots aren't any more talented either, but their training makes a huge difference! Vandals like us are geared for quick raiding operations. We are trained to go in and out, avoiding the enemy's strong points while exploiting their weak points. Our long deployment on this planet forces us to do the exact opposite."

"That's.. surprisingly insightful of you."

"Heh. I'm a light mech pilot. I know what I'm talking about." The mech pilot smirked a bit before frowning. "The Meandering Monkeys are almost the exact opposite to us. They have taken reconnaissance and harassment to a whole other level. They love to play mind games and probe our weaknesses. They aren't afraid of pushing the limits when they see an opportunity. Their regimental name says it all. They meander around, never letting us pin them in place, and they're monkeys in the way they fight and confound our counterattacks."

The Flagrant Vandals had their strong suits, but as the mech pilot said, they didn't excel in frontal battles.

"Their weaknesses?" Ves repeated.

"Well, me and my buddies noticed that while the Meandering Monkeys are annoying, they only rarely switch into high gear. Each time they provoke a fight, they try to accomplish the most while expending the least amount of energy. In fact, the main reason why we've been able to hang on is because we are much more willing to perform energy-intensive maneuvers than the Meandering Monkeys."

This was an important clue!

"I see! That might mean their energy supply isn't as great as ours!" Ves exclaimed. The Vandals possessed at least one indisputable advantage. "What about the Hostland Warriors?"

The Hostland Warriors took on multiple roles. They resembled the Flagrant Vandals in that they engaged in both landbound and spaceborn operations. Overall, they made a name for themselves as a versatile and dependable all-round battle regiment.

"A few of their scouts tagged along in the first few appearances, but they're not as good as the Meandering Monkeys. They never showed up after that."

Ves narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Even if the light mechs of the Hostland Warriors couldn't keep up with the Meandering Monkeys didn't mean they disappeared from the battle theater.

"Since the Meandering Monkeys are continuing to harass our scout mechs, do you think we can fend them off?"

"No." The mech pilot decisively declared. "Even with limitless energy, these skirmishes are taking a toll on us. Each time they come back, they either show off a new trick or they dissect our own. They're taking our measure through these brief clashes while simultaneously wearing us down. You know what I think? They're either going to ramp up the pressure slowly, or go straight in for the knockout punch!"

Considering the energy constraints the Vesians must be facing, both of them guessed that they must certainly be aiming to force a decisive battle!

Chapter 875

If a random mech pilot came to this conclusion, then so could the rest of the Flagrant Swordmaidens.

No one looked forward to a decisive battle against the Vesians. With the Hostland Warriors as the mainstay and the Meandering Monkeys assaulting the flanks, the Flagrant Swordmaidens did not possess any inherent advantages.

Very likely, the Meandering Monkeys probed the Vandals so aggressively not just to play some games. Each time they appeared, they attempted to probe deeper into the defensive envelope of the Flagrant Swordmaidens.

The Vesians wanted to gather intelligence on their opponent's strength. More specifically, they sought to obtain a solid count of mechs they had to face.

"The Vesians aren't as stupid as the Caged Tongs. There's no way they'll commit to an attack if we outnumber them by a hundred mechs or more." Ves stated during a brief moment of off-time at the mess hall.

Chief Dakkon efficiently shoveled down his chow into his mouth. None of the Vandals wasted any time on their food these days. They had too much work to do!

"Do you reckon the Vesians outnumber us, Ves? We did spot them with a huge fleet in the last star system."

"Yeah, but then they got whacked by the Church of Haatumak. If not for that, the Vesians would have been able to eliminate us in space before we reached the Aeon Corona System."

Yet no matter what happened, the conflict between the two could no longer be postponed. Sooner or later, old hatreds along with some new ones needed to be reconciled.

The Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom may be waging a war many light-years away from the Aeon Corona System, yet no matter how far they traveled, they still couldn't escape the war!

Even if the Vesians lost several starships and incurred a lot of battle damage from the foiled ambush attack by the frontier cultists, they still retained much of their strength.

The Vandals tried to estimate the number of enemy mechs they might face from studying the long-distance sensor readings of the Vesian fleet. The fleet in orbit also caught some more glimpses of the Vesian fleet, but they generally played cat-and-mouse for months.

It was well-known that the Flagrant Vandals placed more emphasis on spaceborn battles. For now, the Vesians prudently placed their hopes on winning the battle on land. No matter if the Vesians gained the upper hand on land or in space, a victory in either sphere instantly ended any hopes for the Vandals to complete the mission!

The Vesians knew exactly what they were doing. The Flagrant Vandals stood a better chance in space than on land, which they never really excelled in fighting at unless they wanted to perform a quick raiding action.

Still, even if the Flagrant Vandals lacked both expertise and experience in this area, they were not vegetables! Recent landbound operations not only forced them to brush up their playbook, they also disciplined them into a smaller but more efficient fighting force.

The casualties suffered by the Vandals since the war reduced their numbers substantially, but those who survived all grew stronger from the harrowing experiences. Many mech pilots experienced drastic growth as the frequent intensive battles pushed them to exceed their old limits.

If the Flagrant Vandals enjoyed some time to digest their gains and replenish their losses, then they would have emerged at least twenty percent stronger than their old selves.

Yet the lengthy mission and their Vesian rivals didn't allow them to do so!

A decisive battle between a mixed raiding regiment and a combination of professional scouts and versatile warriors should have ended in disaster for the former.

The only saving grace was that the Vandals weren't alone. Lydia's Swordmaidens got caught in their old rivalry, and for better or worse, they needed to overcome this hurdle as well if they wanted to make off with any gains from the Starlight Megalodon.

Ketis paid a visit to the Vandal workshops later in the day. She dropped by Ves' workplace in order to discuss the upcoming battle.

"You Vandals always make the Vesians out as horrible boogeymen." She began. "Are the Vesians truly different from the enemies we've fought before? We beat everyone who stood in the way. Why are you so unconfident all of a sudden?"

Ves glanced at Ketis with a grim expression. "You Swordmaidens are taking the threat of military mech regiments too lightly. They're nothing like the mercenary corps or pirate gangs you mix up with in the frontier. They don't face the same constraints in funding, training, resources and manpower. They are on a completely different level than civilian outfits."

"Yet the briefings say that even if the mech regiments are better funded and trained, they're not all that better than us in those aspects! We can still beat them in a fight!"

"You're forgetting the most crucial difference." Ves shook his head. "Haven't you seen the way the Flagrant Vandals fight? Any mech military is extremely good at training and drilling their mech pilots to fight in a certain fashion. What do they excel at the most? Coordination and formation fighting! The difference isn't that big when it comes to skirmishes between single squads of mechs. However, a major battle involving hundreds of mechs allows the Vesians to play out their immense advantages in this aspect alone!"

Ketis still possessed the same flaw that afflicted the rest of the Swordmaidens. Without seeing a true frontline mech regiment in battle, they wouldn't know how much of a force multiplier those advantages wrought.

Mechs fought best when they fought in unison! Clever formations amplified the inherent advantages of different mech models while covering up their weaknesses.

The female pirate designer frowned. She still possessed some of the typical Swordmaiden conceit, but she also respected Ves too deeply to discount his opinion. "In an even battle with the same amount of mechs and mech pilots, who would win, the Swordmaidens or these Vesians?"

"There's no contest. The latter will win any day."

"What?! Our Swordmaiden mechs and mech pilots aren't that much worse than the mechs we've seen from your archival footage!"

In order to impress the Swordmaidens of the seriousness of the threat, the Vandals freely handed over as much intelligence about the Meandering Monkeys and the Hostland Warriors. Though the sparse recordings mostly showed actions from the previous wars, it still provided a valuable perspective on their strengths.

Unfortunately, it appeared too many Swordmaidens missed the mark. They drew the wrong lessons from the footage.

"I suggest you go back and review the footage again. Note that every opponent they face are military mech regiments or outfits that are connected to some military mech force. Only by employing the same level of coordination can we withstand their attacks."

This time, Ketis didn't say anything, but used her head for once. Ves always encouraged her to take a break and think through the implications of a contentious argument. It was a lot better than running her mouth without any thought or care.

The gravity of the situation finally dawned upon her. "Damn. Our Swordmaiden mech pilots are never afraid of a brawl... but we never bothered much with all of this fancy formation stuff. All we care about is hacking our opponents with our swords!"

Having observed the operation of the Vandals and the Swordmaidens for so long, Ves knew the reason why the latter failed to elevate their coordination. "It takes a special quality to be able to trust in your fellow mech pilots. Mech militaries don't pay an excessive amount of importance at a mech pilot's genetic aptitude or their academy performance. Instead, they value mech pilots who score high on traits such as trust, cooperation, obedience and more. It doesn't matter if a mech pilot is a prodigy with a high genetic aptitude, if they are too cocky and rebellious, they can't be trusted."

"Our Swordmaidens aren't short of those qualities! We sisters are extremely close! We trust each other with our lives!"

"Is that truly so?" Ves expressed his doubt. "Certainly, there is a high degree of camaraderie among your sisters. Yet... the focus of your training is in an entirely different direction. Commander Lydia has done a great job at transforming nobodies from the frontier into elite mech pilots, but that is only impressive when compared to the low standards of the Faris Star Region. You Swordmaidens aren't tactically flexible enough and your teamwork is rudimentary. Your cohesion is fairly high compared to other pirate gangs, but any random Vesian mech regiment is able to dwarf it with ease."

"If you're right, what can we do about it? We are already set in our ways, and I doubt my sisters can master formation fighting in a couple of days."

"The Swordmaidens aren't suitable to this style of battle at all. Your mech pilots are champions and warriors more than soldiers. If you want to achieve the best chance of achieving a victory, you have to find a way to force the Vesians into smaller groups. They can't show their full prowess in formations if there aren't enough mechs to showcase their might."

This was easier said than done. If the Vesians already gathered intelligence on Lydia's Swordmaidens, then they would know how to avoid such a situation.

In the end, Ketis left the workshop with a concerned expression. Ves hoped that she'd be able to convince her fellow sisters not to belittle the threat of the Vesians. If they thought they could beat the Vesians like they did against pirates, then they were sorely mistaken!

Ves privately estimated the chances of victory, but he only came up with vague guesses. The Flagrant Swordmaidens hadn't been able to scout the Vesians at all due to being constrained by the Meandering Monkeys.

The Vandals and Swordmaidens could forget about peeking at the main Vesian forces with experts in reconnaissance on the field!

A light mech regiment not only excelled in gathering intelligence, they also specialized in foiling enemy attempts at doing the same.

In fact, strictly speaking, the battle between the Flagrant Swordmaidens and the Vesians already started from the first sighting!

The battle between the light mechs from both sides already put the Vesians at an overwhelming advantage.

"Truly, when a mech regiment excels at only one area instead of splitting their focus, they are unbeatable in their own specialty!"

This was the power of specialization! The Flagrant Vandals in fact possessed their own specialty as well, which was performing raids and avoiding enemy pursuit, but it encompassed a wide area of expertise.

In battle capabilities alone, the Flagrant Vandals split their training and resources in different areas. They fielded both landbound and spaceborn mechs, ranged mechs and melee mechs, mechs of all three weight classes and more.

All of this split attention led to a very broad and general martial tradition where the Vandals paid more attention to the result rather than the method. While this approach gave the Vandals a lot of freedom to pursue their interests in their own ways, it also hampered greater coordination as well as strip them of the benefits of uniformity.

Sometimes, a mech regiment grew much stronger by focusing on the method rather than emphasizing results! This was because continued training and specialization in a single area continuously allowed them to refine their strong points while finding ways to mitigate their distinctive weak points.

From this perspective alone, the Swordmaidens possessed an advantage over the Flagrant Vandals. The elite pirates relentlessly trained in one mode of combat and became extremely skilled in their own area of expertise.

This was the biggest saving grace of the Swordmaidens, and provided every member of the Flagrant Swordmaidens some hope that they could still prevail in the coming battle.

"Yet is that merely false hope?" Ves asked himself in a pessimistic tone. "The Swordmaidens are specialized, but their lack of coordination makes it far too easy to outmaneuver them. The Vandals on the other hand can keep up with the Vesians in terms of coordination and formation fighting, but their split focus in training means we don't possess a sharp enough weapon to spearhead our defense."

Chapter 876

The skirmishes heated up as the Meandering Monkeys probed the Flagrant Swordmaidens on all sides. The portend of a battle loomed over everyone's heads, and even the Swordmaidens started to put away some of their arrogance as their own scouting mechs continued to suffer a loss against the Vesians.

The Meandering Monkeys had succeeded in gaining the measure out of the Vandal and Swordmaiden mechs.

The same couldn't be said for the defenders, as the abundant amount of tricky battle tactics of their foes continued to confound the Vandal and Swordmaiden scouts.

Ves already saw that the battle between the scout mechs started to go downhill. Damaged scout mechs continued to pour into the workshops. Mech technicians constantly worked double shifts in order to keep on top of the repairs. With the breakdown effect constantly breaking down mechs without rhyme or reason, the workload started getting out of hand.

The problem was that Ves couldn't do anything to reverse this adverse trend!

Every damaged mech was another mech that they couldn't field in the upcoming battle. If the backlog of damaged mechs continued to grow, the Flagrant Swordmaidens may be forced into a decisive battle with significantly less mechs!

Against an enemy as formidable and prepared as the Vesians, every mech counted!

Ves pretty much already pushed the mech technicians to the brink. Under his tyrannical leadership, he managed to push their productivity to the highest sustainable state he had ever seen. The fact that their work directly affected the odds of winning also motivated them to work honestly and diligently for once.

Yet even then, the backlog of damaged mechs continued to accumulate. Perhaps one day the backlog consisted of 2 damaged mechs. The next day 2 more damaged mechs joined the list.

Before they knew it, the Vandals might have as much as thirty damaged mechs waiting in queue to be repaired!

Obviously, Ves needed to nip that problem in the bud right at the start. Even the smallest wound could bleed a person dry if left unattended!

Ves pulled up his metaphorical sleeves and spent almost every waking morning in the trenches with the other mech technicians. He knew mechs better than all the other mech technicians, and only the most experienced chief technicians among the Vandals could still teach him a trick or two. His speed in fixing up mechs sometimes surpassed the effort of an entire crew!

Through this humble sacrifice, Ves managed to stay on top of the bleeding for now. Yet the backlog quickly threatened to grow out of control as the Meandering Monkeys continued to invade the perimeter of the Flagrant Swordmaidens.

"They don't know when to stop!"

"They are popping up more frequently every day! It's like they're determined to wear us all down!"

The lifespans of the Vandal light mechs shortened by months or even a year every time they rolled up the workshops in a beaten and damaged state. Ves intimately felt that the light mechs couldn't take this kind of abuse forever.

"Is that the goal of the Meandering Monkeys?"

If the Meandering Monkeys succeeded in wearing down or outright breaking their light mechs through these frequent skirmishes, then the Flagrant Swordmaidens missed a vital element in their lineup for the decisive battle.

Though the medium mechs took the leading role in any frontal clashes, the role of light mechs couldn't be ignored!

It would be too easy for the Meandering Monkeys to become unrestrained in their attempts to flank the positions of the Flagrant Swordmaidens or to sabotage their supply train. A stab in the back could unsettle the entire arrangements of the allied forces.

In the backdrop, the status updates of the exploration party and the follow-up party fell out of everyone's radar. The brass deliberately let the matter fade away from everyone's consciousness because at this point, nobody knew whether the Vesians slipped in any listening devices.

Though the extreme environment and high levels of interference in the air made it extremely difficult to implant bugs among the Flagrant Swordmaidens, even Ves could come up with a dozen or so tricks to bypass these restrictions.

"The easiest way is to turn someone traitor and have that person feed intelligence."

As much as Ves didn't want to believe that the Vandals and Swordmaidens would turn their backs on their comrades, he was too paranoid to dismiss the possibility.

The Vandals possessed a wide variety of personalities. Cowards and weak-willed servicemen also counted among their number, unfortunately. If the Vesians promised safe harbor in exchange for turning their coats, then a number of Vandals might actually take up the offer!

The Swordmaidens on the other hand possessed a lot more internal cohesion. Every Swordmaiden shared a strong bond with each other, and it would be unimaginable for any of them to stab their comrades in their backs. They would rather die than do something so egregiously dishonorable!

Yet the Swordmaidens didn't only consist of indoctrinated warrior women. They also brought along thousands of overwhelmingly male slaves that performed all the grunt work the Swordmaidens found unworthy to do themselves. Though the slaves underwent thorough brainwashing that locked them into perpetual service to the Swordmaidens, who knew if the Vesians could exploit or circumvent these conditions to their own ends?

For example, one of the simplest ways to get a brainwashed slave to spill was to impersonate their masters and order them around! The mentally-programmed slaves didn't possess the discernment and critical thinking necessary to distinguish between real and fake. Any decent spy that dressed up as a Swordmaiden could easily extract loads of intelligence from an absent-minded slave.

"Well, it's not going to be as easy as it sounds. I doubt the Vandals and the Swordmaidens are blind to these possibilities."

Ves already noticed changes in the camp. Both forces began to institute stricter patrols and inspections. Teams of security officers and armed warriors patrolled every corner of the camp and the nearby perimeter. Bots and high-tech scanners scoured every area for the presence of microscopic bugs or listening devices.

The number of people who received the privilege of accessing the status updates dwindled to a small number of core confidants. Ves surprisingly found himself among this gathering. He contributed too much to the Vandals and more than proved his loyalty.

There was no way that Ves could turn to the Vesians for asylum. Just his Larkinson pedigree alone precluded a warm welcome.

"As you know, the follow-up party split up and sent some of the mechs over the invisible boundary which cut us off from the first exploration party. It took days for one of them to come back. We have just received the first spider bots that brought back their findings." Captain Byrd began the meeting in the much emptier meeting room.

Right now, all kinds of shielding and precautions blocked any bugs from eavesdropping on the meeting. Ves even activated his signal jammer to boot, though this had the unfortunate effect of shutting down most electronic devices including the projectors.

"Why did they take so long to return?" Someone asked.

"The short answer? They entered a territory under the complete control of the Starlight Megalodon. To be more precise, they fell under the control of whoever is currently controlling the Starlight Megalodon's systems. What happened was that any mech that came close enough lost control! Even Qilanxo is rendered helpless by a targeted constricting effect."

"What?!"

The small number of Vandals became gobsmacked. It didn't surprise them that the Starlight Megalodon possessed a means to put any approaching mech under a stasis effect.

What surprised them was that it still worked after so many years, and that someone still possessed the expertise to control such a system!

"Do we know who is in control of the battleship, ma'am?"

"The sole Enduring Protector who returned hasn't managed to come close enough to discern any details from the Starlight Megalodon. All the footage we've obtained still show the battleship as a distant, hazy shape. However, the surviving mech still managed to capture the process where our other mechs crossed the line and succumbed to the stasis effect. Tractor beams subsequently picked up the immobilized mechs and dragged them in the direction to the battleship. Their current status is unknown."

A very depressed mood spread throughout the meeting room. How many breakdown-proof mechs fell for this trap? Who exactly captured them, and why would they do so?

Ves hoped that whoever controlled the Starlight Megalodon's systems would be merciful to the captives. The fact that the Starlight Megalodon opted to capture the intruders rather than to wipe them out with a warship-grade cannon or something gave the Vandals a lot of hope for their continued existence.

The success of the mission depended on their conduct! Even if they'd been captured for some reason, at least they had a chance of negotiating with their captors!

"Captain, what do we do now with this information?" Ves asked.

"There's nothing we can do." Byrd answered unwillingly. "Fabricating more breakdown-proof mechs will only weaken our forces further. This is extremely foolish considering we are facing the prospect of a decisive battle against the Vesians. Anything else we send inside the capture envelope of the Starlight Megalodon will just be put to stasis and dragged towards the battleship without any way of transmitting any news. I'm not willing to throw anymore assets into this proverbial black hole. Let's repel the Vesian attack before we plan our next steps."

This was the most prudent course of action. They first needed to address the more acute crisis before they had the luxury of solving this thorny problem.

Getting cut off from the exploration party and most of the mechs of the follow-up party worried the Vandals immensely. So much time had already passed. Had the people they sent in suffered a mishap? Were they being tortured?

Perhaps they already died, with those outside the red zone none the wiser.

All of these possibilities depressed the Vandals, and Captain Byrd couldn't do anything to lift them up. She wasn't Major Verle, who always knew how to manage everyone's morale.

Ves hadn't noticed this flaw in Captain Byrd before, but now that bad news poured in from every direction, the differences in leadership style became especially notable.

Captain Byrd exhibited a detail-oriented leadership style. She prized data and facts over feelings and hunches. This made her a very thorough commanding officer who paid attention to every detail no matter how boring it may be.

Yet such an objective approach failed to stoke the passion of her subordinates. She had no charismatic bone in her body, and while she was capable of expressing emotions just like any other human, she wasn't adept at manipulating the feelings of others.

To Ves, Captain Byrd seemed like the middle manager type. Ves vastly preferred Major Verle over Captain Byrd.

Because to Ves, it seemed that Major Verle didn't bother to dig too deep into every detail. He merely needed to receive an overview of pertinent facts and set the broad strokes every policy.

As for the details? Major Verle could let his deputies take care of that stuff. A commanding officer never let themselves be bogged down by facts.

As the meeting turned to planning against a Vesian attack, Ves continued to observe Captain Byrd's handling of the situation. She was doing the best she could, but she handled matters like a bot. No matter how dismayed the other mech officers and chiefs became, Captain Byrd paid no notice to their own feelings.

What was she thinking? How could she pay so little attention to morale?

Ves wanted to speak up and provide some words of encouragement to the Vandals, but he didn't. Not only would it be unbecoming for a mech designer like him to broach this matter, it also risked putting him at odds with Captain Byrd.

For better or worse, Captain Byrd was in charge, and no matter how much Ves disagreed with her methods, they couldn't afford to let dissent run rife among the Vandals.

Chapter 877

The Vesians ramped up the pressure against the Flagrant Swordmaidens. The Meandering Monkey mechs not only risked greater injury in an attempt to seriously harm the scouts of the Flagrant Swordmaidens, the light mechs of the Hostland Warriors also started showing up again.

"The Vesians are gearing up for battle!"

"The Meandering Monkeys stopped pussy-footing around. They're trying to fell our mechs!"

The exhausted light mechs of the Flagrant Swordmaidens suffered quite a lot in the preceding days. Not only did Ves have to send the light mechs back into the field with hasty patch-up repairs, the mech pilots themselves underwent a huge amount of pressure.

Casualties started to mount. Mechs not only sustained serious damage, but also got wrecked!

Fortunately, the mech pilots ejected in time, causing no lives to be lost, but the Vesian light mechs always pounded the downed wrecks into scrap before they left.

This meant that even if Vandal or Swordmaiden reinforcements arrived to save the beleaguered squads, the wrecks became completely unrecoverable. Every time they dumped their wrecks in front of Ves, he could only shake his head in helplessness and relegate the remains for recycling.

The visible decline of the Vandal and Swordmaiden light mechs ratcheted up the tension inside the camp. As the prelude of the decisive battle, the frequent skirmishes between the scout mechs sort of served the same purpose as a duel between champions before a major set piece battle.

Even though the victory or loss of a single champion didn't substantially affect the combat effectiveness of either side, in fact it carried huge implications in terms of morale!

Right now, the 'duel' between the Vesian and Flagrant Swordmaiden light mechs stretched out over days, prolonging the hurt for the losing side. Bad news constantly poured in while good news made itself scarce.

Since the camp wasn't very large and everyone could see the damaged light mechs returning from their patrols, the outcome of the skirmishes became obvious to everyone with a pair of eyes.

Ves figured that the opposite must be taking place at the Vesian camp. Each time the Meandering Monkeys and the Hostland Warriors returned from their harassment missions, they'd probably show off their exploits with the full blessing of their superiors.

Such actions actions built up morale and pumped the other Vesian mech pilots up for battle.

Therefore, the change in morale from one side may not be alarming, but when the differences compounded on each other, the total effect was alarming!

"The Vesians are systematically dismantling us, starting with our confidence. Trashing our light mechs is only a means to an end to them! Devious bastards!"

The worst part about all of this was that even if the Vandals and Swordmaidens knew what the Vesians intended, what could they do? If they pulled back their light mech patrols and turtled close to the camp, wouldn't that let the Vesians obtain a detailed view of their combat assets?

Not only that, the Vesians could easily pepper the camp with long-ranged laser fire, damaging the workshops and other critical facilities.

Therefore, even if the Flagrant Swordmaidens knew they were getting screwed, they were forced to play along, because every alternative at their disposal led to even worse outcomes!

"The Vesians are prepping us for the chopping block."

"Damnit, why don't they attack already?! Put an end to our suffering!"

"I don't know why we're turtling up. Why don't we go on the attack?"

"Idiot! Who would go on the attack while we're completely blind? We'll only fall into their trap if we rush out with haste!"

Even if Captain Byrd made the rational and most cautious decision by maintaining the status quo, she unintentionally gave the impression that she lack a spine.

The Vandals never let their enemies treat them as a punching bag! It was usually the opposite way around!

The instinct to attack was engraved into their martial tradition. Maintaining a static position and going on the defensive directly contradicted their usual conduct on the battlefield.

Usually, the Flagrant Vandals possessed the initiative to attack or retreat at will. This time, the mission forced them on a Super Earth where everyone's mobility faced extreme constraints. The entire environment fought them from the start, causing them to fall into this helpless position where their strengths never came into play while their weaknesses became exposed to their enemies.

Lydia's Swordmaidens shared the same characteristics as the Vandals. While they were a bit more used to trekking across untamed planets, even they underestimated the amount of rigors they needed to endure on Seven.

All of these deprivations severely impacted their morale and sapped their confidence in themselves. The Swordmaidens at least endured many crises before, and their training increased their willpower to insane heights, so they still held faith in themselves.

The Vandals on the other hand tumbled down as if they lost control of their legs. Ves really couldn't stand it. They were so confident and conceited when they faced a weak opponent, but once they faced a serious Vesian threat they immediately turned into scaredy cats.

This was a typical mindset of bullying the weak and fearing the strong!

Captain Byrd belatedly became aware of the problem impacting the men, but what could she do? Raising morale had never been much of a concern to her, and her stilted, awkward speeches increased their doubt rather than assuaging it.

More critically, the Vandals lacked the only competent mech officer who could prop up everyone's morale. The absence of Captain Orfan as a mental cornerstone to their confidence couldn't come at a worse time.

They shouldn't have been so eager to send away the exploration and follow-up parties without securing the main camp!

Now, due to the mishaps that Captain Orfan, Qilanxo, the fast transports, the Enduring Protectors and the Asterias suffered when they came too close to Starlight Megalodon, the Flagrant Swordmaidens faced the prospect of entering into battle without their help!

Even though the Vesian mechs abandoned their previous efforts to conserve their energy in order to pressure the Flagrant Swordmaidens, they couldn't keep up their wasteful actions forever.

At some point, the Vesians needed to pull the trigger. And that time almost dawned upon the Flagrant Swordmaidens.

Some of the more perceptive mech officers smelled the critical moment arriving, and they all summed up what courage they had left in preparation for the most critical battle in their careers.

Ves worked hard to prep the mechs for an imminent battle. He didn't even have to whip the mech technicians into shape anymore, because they knew as well as anyone how their work might tip the balance of the upcoming clash!

During one of his rare breaks, Ves suddenly received an unexpected visitor. He immediately decided to meet him in a closed office with his signal jammer encompassing the entire space.

"From the looks of your face, Jimmy, it looks as if you have something urgent to say."

Ves didn't have the time to concern himself with other matters lately, so he stopped meeting with Talkative Jimmy. Nonetheless, the urgency in which Jimmy sought a meeting alarmed Ves a bit.

"My boys and I kept tabs on a couple of shifty fellows. While we haven't caught them doing anything that crosses the line, some of them are making suspicious movements."

"Does that include our resident expert pilot?"

"Venerable Xie is preoccupied with the repair efforts on his mech. He hasn't been doing anything lately, but his sycophants are keeping close."

That didn't mean the foreign expert pilot sat still. Ves narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What does your intuition tell you?"

While Talkative Jimmy may be a good-for-nothing when it came to performing his regular duties, Ves couldn't fault his people skills. Everyone excelled at something, and a person like Jimmy was a good judge of character.

Ves even believed that Talkative Jimmy may be an agent of Flashlight, though the man was far too incompetent in other areas. Either he played up his role extremely well or he was simply who he appeared to be. Ves couldn't judge either way.

"My gut tells me his abrupt change in pattern is due to something new." Talkative Jimmy said with a grave voice. If not for the signal jammer, he wouldn't have dared to voice any doubt about the expert pilot. "You know what I reckon? I bet some Vesian spy managed to infiltrate our camp and somehow turned our own expert pilot! He was never fully into the Vandals anyway, and his behavior during our march across the planet has always been rather shifty. There's something wrong about him, I'm absolutely certain!"

"That's a grave accusation to make. Do you have any proof?" Ves asked.

"No. It's just my gut feeling, but I'm not the only one who feels that way. Every buddy of mine who kept an eye on Venerable feels the same way. The man just keeps to himself all this time and isn't taking any action so far. Don't you feel that's weird?"

Ves paused for a bit. Now that he thought about it, even Venerable O'Callahan wouldn't have ignored the perilous drop in morale. While expert pilots generally tended to be aloof and difficult to reach in order to prevent being swamped by rabid fans,

"In situations like this, a hero like Venerable Xie should have propped us up. Instead of holing up in his Pale Dancer, he should have been out and among the men." Ves surmised. "His inaction runs counter against the interests of the Vandals."

That didn't mean Venerable Xie intended to stab the Vandals in the back, but it showed a disconcerting lack of effort on his part to reverse the declining trend. Expert pilots served as the trump cards of a powerful mech regiments. Besides their roles as supreme battle operators, they also served as symbols.

Perhaps the Vandals merely chalked up his inaction to his foreignness or his lack of adaptation to working with a mech regiment, but Jimmy thought otherwise.

Ves trusted his intuition a lot, and right now it indicated that Jimmy believed in his words. Yet could Ves rely on Jimmy's intuition to be accurate as well?

The entire crux of the situation rested on whether Jimmy's guesses and hearsay possessed any merit. Could Ves really take Jimmy's word that Venerable Xie may be plotting something detrimental?

"Do you have a man on the inside?" Ves asked.

"No way." Jimmy shook his head. "I tried sending some of my buddies, but that foreigner is really strict about accepting people in his circle. We tried for months but none of us managed to earn his trust."

That limited their options enormously. At this point, Ves wanted to access the neural interfaces of the Pale Dancer and the customized simulator pod in order to wipe away the evidence of his misdeeds. No matter what happened in the upcoming battle, Ves truly couldn't leave behind any trace of the work he did at Major Verle's request.

"I need access to his mech." Ves said simply. "Can you get me there?"

Jimmy frowned. "Aren't you the head designer? Why don't you just walk up there?"

Ves couldn't explain how Venerable Xie likely regarded Ves with distrust. Perhaps his actions directly led to Venerable Xie deciding to turn his coat!

After a few more minutes of hushed discussion, Jimmy left the office without any resolution. Neither Ves nor Jimmy came up with any response against the possibility of betrayal by their own expert pilot.

While Jimmy already told Ves that he and his 'buddies' already had something in store for the other shifty fellows, there was no way they could touch an expert pilot.

It also didn't help that Venerable Xie practically ate and slept inside the cockpit of the Pale Dancer. The man acted with the utmost caution and never left his mech with the excuse that he would be able to jump into battle at any time.

To Ves, the expert pilot may be on guard against any attempts at further perverting the Pale Dancer's neural interface. As long as Venerable Xie practically slept on top of it, there was no way Ves could sneak in and adulterate the neural interface any further!

The visit from Jimmy warned Ves that the time for indecision was over.

He needed to pull the trigger before the matter blew up in his face.

Chapter 878

Stewing in his paranoia, Ves imagined the worst about Venerable Xie. Although they rarely came into touch with each other, Ves grew increasingly more unsettled at the thought of Venerable Xie developing some kind of revenge fantasy against the Flagrant Vandals.

They did screw over the Fourth Prince, the fallen noble who Venerable Xie trained all his life to protect.

Ves cursed Prince Hixt-Klaaster and his untimely death while under the protection of the Vandals. Why couldn't he cling to his life? The entire basis of the agreement with the Vandals and Venerable Xie rested on the premise that the Fourth Prince was in safe hands.

The Prince's death sent the Vandals down into a tailspin. Ves shouldn't have succumbed to Major Verle's coercion and agreed to mess with Venerable Xie's neural interfaces.

"I can't leave this situation hanging." He muttered.

Three tampered neural interfaces existed. Ves didn't have to worry too much about the Parallax Star's neural interface. As a spaceborn lancer mech, it had been left with the fleet that was still under the command of Major Verle.

As the only other Vandal in the know, Ves already hinted at him beforehand to take good 'care' of the Parallax Star's neural interface.

Therefore, Ves only had to worry about the neural interfaces of the Pale Dancer and the expert pilot's personal simulator pod. If the Vesians ever got their hands on them and dug out their programming, they could instantly tarnish names of Ves, the Larkinsons, the Flagrant Vandals, the Mech Corps and even the entire Bright Republic with his crimes!

Sometimes as serious as being accused of brainwashing an expert pilot was just as bad as plotting to murder them! The MTA wouldn't tolerate such a matter. The entire Bright Republic might be sanctioned for this incident alone!

Therefore, this matter affected more than his personal reputation! He needed to take action for the good of the Bright Republic!

"Nevermind that it's my own fault for provoking this crisis in the first place."

Yet no matter how much he tried to justify his intentions, he wasn't a spy. How could he possibly sneak to the neural interfaces and access them long enough to wipe away the evidence?

There was no way the vigilant expert pilot and his band of confidants allowed outsiders access to his personal territory.

This problem continued confound Ves as time went by. He resumed his duties and continued to prepare the Vandals for mechs, but his heart wasn't in his work anymore. His productivity dropped as more than half of mind fantasized about cooking up some wild schemes that allowed him access to the neural interfaces.

Yet what could a mech designer do? Nothing.

He may wield a wide amount of influence among the Vandals, but he had no effective control over an expert pilot. Even if he advanced to Journeyman, he could never surpass the prestige enjoyed by an expert pilot among mech pilots.

"Even prestige has its limits." Ves grimaced.

Even though Ves made up his mind to take action, he simply couldn't come up with something that wouldn't backfire on him. The same limitations that prevented him from doing something earlier still existed.

Ves felt as if he was playing a game of chess where he already foresaw that he'd be put in checkmate in a couple of moves. No matter what decisions he came up with, none of them forestalled the disaster that he saw coming.

"It's like I have no other option but to concede."

Yet that was unacceptable to Ves. Even if he only possessed spurious proof for his fears, just the possibility of it was enough to dominate his imagination.

His thoughts became very dark as a consequence. When Ves finally put down his work and entered his office to clear his mind, the mech technicians around him sighed in relief.

His Earth Ant creaked as he sat down on the reinforced chair. He activated the desk terminal and called up a basic blueprint of the camp.

Due to Venerable Xie's esteemed position, the Pale Dancer and him resided close to the center of the temporary camp where security was highest. There was no way anyone could realistically sneak inside even if they wore an infiltrator suit.

The security officers all made use of the stealth detectors adapted from an earlier version developed by Ves. The Vandals all grew concerned that the Vesians might employ cloaked saboteurs, even though neither Imodris nor Hafner matched Venidse's dependency on stealth tech.

"It's not like I have a stealth suit anyway."

Ves turned his imagination to more extreme possibilities. If he couldn't forestall a checkmate through legitimate moves, then what about cheating?

He could either cheat or flip the chessboard entirely! After all, why should he lie down and consign himself to condemnation?

Just as Ves started to explore more extreme solutions, the office suddenly became engulfed in a jamming field. That caused Ves to jump from his reverie and frown.

"That's strange. Is my signal jammer acting up?"

His high-powered signal jammer gadget never showed signs of malfunctioning. In fact, even though Ves pretended to tinker with his personal gear on a daily basis, none of his advanced technological devices showed any signs of degradation. He long abandoned any speculation about the inexplicable reason for their immunity against the breakdown effect.

When he checked the signal jammer gadget embedded into his Earth Ant, he found to his surprise that it still remained dormant. It never turned on without his permission. So why did he became engulfed in the jarring signal jammer effect?

"Mr. Larkinson."

"WHO!?"

Ves immediately jumped out of his chair and drew out his backup laser pistol in the direction of the voice.

Standing in the middle of an office stood a very familiar woman garbed in a reinforcement infiltrator suit. Compared to the last time he saw her, the woman obviously beefed up her gear, as her infiltrator suit now encompassed the slimmest gravitic backpack he had ever seen.

"Miss Calabast!"

Even though Ves only met Calabast a couple of times, he had a deep impression of the gorgeous, dark-haired lady. She posed herself as an intelligence operative of the Vesians, but Ves would be stupid to believe the image she presented on the surface.

Her sudden emergence in his office despite the base's precautions against infiltrators put Ves into an intense feeling of crisis.

How did she manage to sneak inside the camp?!

"Come now, Mr. Larkinson, if I was out to harm you, I wouldn't have revealed myself to you like this." Miss Calabast grinned. "Let us dispense with the threats, shall we? I've come to talk. May I take a seat?"

Ves quickly weighed her words and knew she had a point. This was a woman who behaved as if she was fully in control. Even in the middle of the Flagrant Swordmaidens, the raven-haired femme fatale radiated a confident demeanor.

Someone as devious as Miss Calabast wouldn't have presented herself to Ves without taking precautions. It felt as if she already put Ves on checkmate even before beginning the match.

It grated on Ves that he was compelled into a specific direction by someone else. Yet he also knew his limits. Therefore, Ves holstered his useless laser pistol and calmly sat down behind his desk without another word.

Miss Calabast took his actions as an assent, and casually plopped herself down on the opposite chair reserved for visitors.

"Why are you here?" Ves asked grumpily.

"Would you believe it if I wanted to see how my favorite mech designer is doing?"

Ves snorted. "Yeah right. Are you spying on us on behalf of the Vesians? You did claim to be an agent of the Seven Stars Intelligence Agency back on Harkensen I."

Calabast teasingly smirked at Ves. "Wouldn't you like to know? I do have to applaud you, though. You didn't take me at my word."

"You don't exactly do your best to come off as trustworthy."

"I believe the galaxy is a more interesting place if everyone isn't so honest with each other. Now that you've spent a lot of time away from civilized space, do you realize how liberating it is to escape the influence of the MTA and CFA? Out here in the frontier, everything humanity tries to cover up is exposed. Don't you feel that it's liberating to be out here and be able to do whatever you want?"

While Ves didn't want to listen to Miss Calabast, he actually agreed with her sentiment. Yet what did that have to do with this conversation?

"Stop screwing around and get to the point."

"So grumpy! Relax, Mr. Larkinson. No one will come and disturb us. We have all the time in the galaxy."

Ves didn't know why she was confident in her claim, but she was right. He never allowed visitors to come into his office uninvited, as he preferred to work without anyone disturbing his concentration.

Even if the mech technicians came up with a problem, they already learned to hold themselves back until Ves emerged from his office.

"You're no friend of mine or the Vandals, Miss Calabast. I doubt you're here for a friendly visit either, so don't waste my time and get to the point."

She still maintained her smirk, as if everything was still under her control. "Very well. I'm sure you have your thoughts about the Starlight Megalodon. This planet, Aeon Corona VII, experienced a lot of changes ever since the battleship crash landed on this planet a hundred kilometers away from here. Tell me, from what you've witnessed so far, do you truly believe that the Starlight Megalodon suffered an accident?"

"You're driving me to conclude that someone deliberately induced the Starlight Megalodon to crash on Aeon Corona VII." Ves responded calmly. "While I have my thoughts on the matter, I don't have any solid proof of what really happened."

Someone like Calabast had a way with words, and if Ves wasn't careful, he'd fall into her word traps without even realizing it. The scariest form of indoctrination was one where the victim voluntarily believed in something out of their own accord!

"Ugh." Miss Calabast palmed her face, pretending to be frustrated at his obstinance. "You blockhead. Okay, I'll be more direct. As a capital ship and the flagship of a formidable warfleet, the Starlight Megalodon is more than a battle wagon. She's a floating city and houses thousands of different research projects. The CFA may be one of the foremost organizations of human civilization, but it is constantly fighting to maintain its edge over the MTA and any other rival organizations."

"The CFA has access to huge amounts of funding and the best researchers in the galaxy. It's no surprise they're engaged in the forefront of research."

"There's more to it than that." Miss Calabast replied. "While the CFA has erected many starbases and strongholds, they are true spaceborn at heart. The admirals who wield the highest power keep their most valuable research projects close to their chest, and there is nothing closer than conducting them right on their own flagships."

"All you're telling me is that the Starlight Megalodon used to host a lot of highly advanced research projects. Is there something special going on there?"

"You got me." Miss Calabast teasingly admitted while playfully putting up her palms. "There are plenty of valuables aboard the Starlight Megalodon. Her vault alone likely contains valuable life-prolonging serum that is of considerable interest to the power brokers that pull on everybody's strings."

Ves sat up straighter in his chair. "Don't try to jerk me around. If this mission is just about the life-prolonging serum, then I might as well put a laser beam through my own head!"

Miss Calabast looked taken aback, though Ves believed she was still putting up an act. Her misdirection so far wore his patience thin. That may have even been her purpose from the start. If Ves became unbalanced by her antics, he'd be more susceptible to her manipulations.

Ves took a deep breath and forcefully calmed himself down. He even concentrated his mind in order to center himself. Right now, it wouldn't do any good to get caught up in his emotions.

Evidently, Calabast caught his actions. She shook her head in disapproval. "So boring."

He'd rather be boring and retain his rationality than to lose control and fall into whatever schemes she had in mind.

Chapter 879

Miss Calabast kept smirking as she sat across the desk.

A gadget strapped to her bulked-up infiltrator suit radiated an incredible amount of interference in the office, to the point of distorting the air and bombarding their ears with noise. It was in fact the original signal jammer that inspired Ves to develop a knock-off version.

So far, Ves vaguely judged that Calabast's signal jammer was a lot more refined than his own version. This was a piece of extremely advanced technology and worked on principles that he didn't entirely understand.

It signified another area where Calabast enjoyed an advantage. Whoever she worked for must be an extremely powerful and well-funded organization. None of her gear looked cheap, including her armored infiltrator suit.

As someone who recently became enlightened in stealth tech, he recognized the masterpiece of her infiltrator suit. Developing something like that was absolutely not simple, and even if Ves studied this field for ten straight years, he still wouldn't be able to design something as potent without taking up a huge amount of space.

"Are you finally willing to get to the point?" Ves asked after he centered himself again.

Now that he put his mind into a state of moderate concentration, he shouldn't be as emotionally affected to her taunts as before.

Miss Calabast crossed her arms and tapped the ground with her foot. "You possess an interesting mind, Mr. Larkinson. No wonder you've shot up ever since you became a mech designer. That makes me glad I've approached you out of all the alternatives."

"What are you up to?"

"Nothing much." She casually shrugged. "I merely wish to extend an invitation to you to visit the Starlight Megalodon with me. There is something I need to retrieve from the battleship, but I need your help to get past the hurdles."

Ves stared at Calabast as if she was crazy. "Are you kidding? Me? Enter the Starlight Megalodon? For heaven's sake, I'm not some kind of super spy like you! Besides, there's no reason for me to abandon the Vandals and join you in your wild trip to a place which immobilizes everything that gets close and drags them straight to who-knows-where."

"The Starlight Megalodon hasn't harmed your precious Vandals and Swordmaidens, if that's what you're asking. The immediate area around the crashed capital ship has been turned into a safe zone. Those who enter won't be able to exit at will, but at the very least they are treated as guests."

"And I'm supposed to take your word for it?" Ves raised his eyebrow.

"This is critical information, especially in light of what I have to say next." She spoke, adopting a seemingly sincere expression. "The Flagrant Swordmaidens on the ground stand no chance in the coming battle against Lady Amalia's forces. Your defeat is set in stone."

"Forgive me, Miss Calabast, but I'm not gullible enough to take the word of a foreign intelligence operative at her word. Even if the Flagrant Swordmaidens is disadvantaged, I still have faith they'll pull through somehow. I've survived too many crises with the Vandals. I can survive one more."

Miss Calabast shook her head. "If you are aware of what I know, you wouldn't be so confident. I can say with a hundred percent certainty that the Flagrant Swordmaidens will face defeat. It's only a matter of when. The only hope you have left of surviving the coming massacre is to come with me to the Starlight Megalodon. As soon as you enter the safe zone, even ten-thousand Vesians won't be able to lay a hand on you. Perhaps you'll even have the opportunity to be reunited with the only surviving Vandals and Swordmaidens on the surface of this planet."

The devious woman expressed so much confidence and sincerity in her claims that Ves felt inclined to believe her words. As much as Ves wanted to resist her pessimistic prediction, in his heart he strongly agreed with her sentiment.

Her poison was spreading!

"Do you have any proof?" Ves gritted his teeth as he tried to resist being swayed by her argument. "I'm not going to abandon my comrades on hearsay alone. Not when it comes from a snake like you."

At least with Talkative Jimmy, they shared some common ground. Miss Calabast on the other hand constantly shrouded herself in smoke. Ves still hadn't pinned down her loyalties. Did she work for the Vesian royals? Did she work for a foreign state from a neighboring star sector? Who knew.

"Even if I tell you the reasons and serve you up with proof, you'll only cast doubt on them." Miss Calabast accurately pointed out. "Let me just state that whether you believe it or not, you'll come running to me the moment the Vandals and Swordmaidens are defeated on the battlefield. I'm gracious enough to forgive your current skepticism. When the time comes, run towards these coordinates near your camp."

Miss Calabast passed him a composite print etched with a set of very specific coordinates that he could feed in his comm.

While Ves didn't want anything to do with Miss Calabast, her words planted a seed of doubt in his mind. If her prediction came true, wouldn't it be prudent to prepare an escape route? Since she was generous enough to provide him one, he might as well keep the option on hand. He could always choose to disregard the coordinates if the Flagrant Swordmaidens won the battle.

"No matter what you're going to say, I'm sticking to my comrades." He declared.

"Men." She sighed. "Very well. I respect your determination, childish it may be. In any case, I suggest you prepare to bug out sometime within the next twenty-four hours. While I'm not completely certain when the Vesians will launch their attack, they have already begun their final preparations."

As much as Ves wanted to believe the Flagrant Swordmaidens would prevail, Miss Calabast made a lot of sense. If nothing happened, then Ves only wasted some time. If disaster truly struck, then he'd be instantly ready to leave without any delay.

"I'll take your advice into consideration." He replied neutrally. "You sure seem well-informed of the Vesians. Are you spying on both our forces?"

"Our eyes have never left sight of your ground expeditions the moment you landed."

That sounded ominous. It sounded like a bluff, but Ves could very well imagine that someone as devious as Calabast planted spies among the Vandals and Vesians.

Perhaps he could take advantage of her spying operations.

"If you're so well-informed, do you know what's going on with Venerable Karol Xie? He's the expert pilot we've picked up in the frontier. He originally hailed from the Dark Plasma Star Sector and claims to have turned a new leaf. I have reason to believe he is not as committed to the Vandals as he appears."

"Ah, your stray expert pilot. He's an interesting man." Calabast smirked in amusement. "I'll give you a freebie. We've observed your esteemed expert pilot entering into a clandestine meeting with a Vesian spy. While I'm not privy to their conversation, the fact that this meeting took place at all should be enough to know his intentions."

If either Talkative Jimmy or Miss Calabast claimed that Venerable Xie turned his coat, then Ves would still hold his doubts. Yet if both of them separately came up to him with this claim, then Ves couldn't cling to his skepticism any longer.

The odds that Venerable Xie might truly be colluding with the Vesians became a very real possibility!

It would be one thing if the Flagrant Swordmaidens lost their only expert pilot. It would be another thing if Venerable Xie turned the Pale Dancer against them! The expert pilot probably wouldn't spare Ves either if that was the case!

Ves believed the Vesians would certainly field at least one expert pilot in the coming battle. If the Flagrant Swordmaidens couldn't constrain the enemy expert pilot, the battle might certainly be lost before they knew it! This might be the main reason why Miss Calabast expressed absolute confidence in their defeat!

"Obviously, you want something from me." Ves spoke, sure of his guess. "Since you approached me in such a friendly manner, I bet that you won't be able to get what you want from me through force. Whatever you need me for at the Starlight Megalodon, is it because of my mech design expertise?"

Miss Calabast smiled at Ves but declined to respond. Perhaps Ves was on the track, or perhaps made a completely wrong guess and she wanted him to stick to his wrong assumptions.

"Whatever the case, I bet you'd rather have my willing cooperation. Maybe it has something to do with the so-called safe zone you just talked about. After all, you can't force me to do anything if you aren't able to make good on your threats."

"What a clever boy." She chuckled, as if she was praising a precocious little kid who attempted to impress her. Ves really wanted to smack her incessant smirk off her face. "I believe in win-win situations. In exchange for saving your life and arranging a way back to your fleet, I merely want you to lend your services to me at the Starlight Megalodon. I get what I want out of the battleship while you won't get captured and tortured to death by the Vesians. Sounds like a good deal, no?"

Ah. Ves and Miss Calabast entered into another negotiation. The entire reason for her friendly approach and her seemingly generous terms was because she really wanted something that only Ves could provide.

While Ves possessed plenty of special qualities, he struggled to come up with a reason why Miss Calabasat wanted his help. If she needed a mech designer, she could have approached someone else.

"Why aren't you approaching one of the many Vesian mech designers with your offer? What I can do, they can probably do as well. If they are fully equipped for this mission, then they doubtlessly sent down a genuine Journeyman Mech Designer to accompany their ground forces."

"Nice attempt at fishing for information." She smirked, instantly seeing through his ploy. "It is true that the Vesians sent down mech designers that have entered my shortlist. You are simply at the top. However, don't misunderstand your value. If you aren't willing to play along, I still have plenty of alternatives. They are just a bit more troublesome to convince. After all, it's not every day a mech designer is about to go down with the crashing ship that is the ground forces of the Flagrant Swordmaidens."

"Even so, I'd like to obtain some more sincerity from you. As long as you agree to lend me some favors, I'll be much more inclined to cooperate with any schemes you have in mind."

"Oh? Tell me what you have in mind."

"First, if the Flagrant Swordmaidens are truly fated to suffer a defeat on the ground, I want to bring someone along with me. Maybe two."

Miss Calabast immediately shook her head. "It's already a strain to sneak you away from Vesian pursuit. As soon as they win the battle, they'll be scouring the camp and the surroundings for any fleeing Vandals and Swordmaidens. I may have a lot of tricks up my sleeve, but even I'm not capable of hiding more than you and I from their carpet search."

"I really need this. I trust in your capabilities. Either you promise me this, or I'll rather take my chances with the Vesians."

In fact, Ves was bluffing. He tried his best to compose his face and give nothing away, but so long as Miss Calabast rejected his request, he was willing to continue to play along.

If Miss Calabast knew his lack of determination, she didn't show any sign of it. Instead, she contemplated the demand and seemingly reluctantly nodded.

"I think I can make some adjustments to our means of escape. As long as you don't bring too much gear, I think I can squeeze in an extra person."

Ves smiled for the first time in their talk. "Good. You don't know how much this means to me. Even if I can let go of everyone else, I can't abandon the only person I care about in this expedition."

Even if Miss Calabast rejected him, he planned to bring along Ketis to the coordinates anyway. If the vixen still rejected bringing Ketis along, then Ves was willing to take his chances with using force to save them both.

"Is there anything else you'd like with your order?" Calabast asked with a somewhat irritated voice.

"Yes. For my second request, I hope you can do something specific for me." He said. "Since Venerable Xie is committed to betray the Vandals, then we might as well stab his back first. Can you assassinate Venerable Xie for me?"

Chapter 880

Security officers surrounded the entire section of the camp, cordoning it off from curious Vandal onlookers.

Something serious happened here. Something so serious, it forced Captain Byrd and a handful of mech officers and senior staff to visit the site of the incident in question.

The Pale Dancer stood in the middle of an extremely well-equipped workshop. Miss Lisbeth Eta-Denmersken bawled out her eyes on Chief Keys' shoulder. The other mech technicians assigned under their leadership looked distraught as well.

A security officer specialised in investigation exited the cockpit of the dormant Pale Dancer with a serious expression. He put away his forensic tools and shook his head towards Captain Byrd.

"What did you find?" Captain Byrd asked with a stony face.

"Nothing, ma'am. The perpetrator left no trace behind. The logs of the mech are wiped clean so we don't know how they managed to enter the Pale Dancer in the first place."

"The body?"

"Venerable Xie died instantly from a sneak attack. A laser beam bore through his skull from behind at close range. There is no way for anyone to miss such a shot. The only question is how the infiltrator managed to get into that position in the first place. Further investigation is required."

Captain Byrd sighed in resignation. "Someone as professional as this won't leave any traces behind for us to find. Prioritize your men on guarding our officers and deterring further assassinations. As for Venerable Xie... the man died an unworthy death."

The gravity of the situation fell on everyone's shoulders. Ves stood absolutely frozen as he stared up to the open cockpit of the expert mech.

An expert pilot fell so easily.

This was someone who became an absolute terror on the battlefield once they piloted an expert mech. The general rule of thumb stated that expert mechs could easily defeat a hundred mechs by themselves.

Venerable Xie easily exceeded that standard despite his low resonance strength and unfocused training. His unparalleled accuracy combined with his powerful laser rifle could have annihilated the Meandering Monkeys no matter how well they dodged and weaved around.

Not only that, he could easily entangle an enemy expert pilot and protect the rank-and-file.

Yet he died so easily. Ves couldn't even fathom how the assassin managed to enter the Pale Dancer's cockpit. Even if the mech remained inactive during the assassination, it still should have been impossible to sneak inside of it without alarming its occupant.

Whoever killed Venerable Xie could easily assassinate every other person in the camp!

"Those sneaky Vesians!"

"The Vesians killed the one person who matters the most!"

The value of Venerable Xie exceeded the value of Captain Byrd. Everyone present believed the Vesians did the deed. While everyone expressed varying amounts of anger, despair and helplessness, Ves pretended to be grim as well.

"It's a shame." Ves lamented in a stilted manner, though no one paid much attention to his awkward demeanor. "The Vesians... they robbed us of our only hope. Venerable Xie didn't deserve to die a dog's death."

Now that they lost this crucial figure, the Flagrant Swordmaidens became completely vulnerable to the deprivations of an expert pilot!

When Ves took posed the request to Miss Calabast earlier, she didn't accept immediately. In fact, she looked like she adamantly wanted to refuse the request.

"Assassinating an expert pilot is no joke." She responded, even dropping her smirk. "They're highly trained soldiers and possess superhuman reflexes. Their danger sense is off the charts. Do you think it's easy to assassinate an expert pilot? Even if the MTA prohibited the practice, we still won't do it. One slip-up and the one who kills won't be us, but him. An expert pilot is a monster in battle even without a mech."

This was the first time that Calabast revealed that she came with accomplices. Ves figured that they were probably covering the entire perimeter right now in order to guard against any attacks against Calabast.

Ves did not accept her refusal. "This is non-negotiable, I'm afraid. Due to reasons that are none of your business, I've built up a bit of a beef with Venerable Xie. If he is truly set out to betray the Vandals, then I'm the first person on his kill list. I'm sure of it. So if you still want me alive to help you out at the Starlight Megalodon, then you better address this threat."

If Venerable Xie really set up his mind to stab the Flagrant Vandals in the back, then Ves expected the first action the Pale Dancer would perform was to shoot his mech-sized laser rifle straight at Ves!

With the expert pilot's impeccable accuracy and marksmanship, Ves wouldn't even have time to scream before the immense power behind the laser rifle vaporized his body and everything he carried. Even his Earth Ant light combat armor wouldn't last a millisecond against the awesome power meant to pierce through mech armor.

"And why should we do your dirty work?" Miss Calabast crossed her arms. "Right now, I'm reconsidering if it's less troublesome to kidnap you outright and whisk you away from this camp."

Ves paused a bit before he came up with another argument. "No matter if Venerable Xie is colluding with the Vesians, there's a chance he's merely pretending. Killing him will weaken the Flagrant Vandals and impact their morale. It could be said that our defeat is pretty much set in stone if he dies. Won't our quick defeat benefit you more?"

Calabast smirked again. "You make a good point, though you are basically condemning one of the only potential hopes of your mech regiments to death. How callous of you. Do the lives of the Flagrant Vandals and Lydia's Swordmaidens truly mean nothing to you?"

"I'm pretty confident that this is the best course of action for us. Better take an unstable factor off the board than to hope it plays out for us."

Miss Calabast eventually acquiesced to his request and left shortly after. It didn't take more than an hour after the initial alarm sounded out throughout the camp.

Only after Ves saw the aggrieved and hopeless expressions of the other Vandals did Ves realize the immense amount of harm his request had wrought.

His actions led to the death of one of the biggest pillars of the Flagrant Vandals!

The news leaked out to the rest of the Flagrant Swordmaidens just minutes later. A news as explosive as this couldn't be hidden for long, and Captain Byrd figured it was better to release the news right away rather than to have it explode at a more inopportune time.

All the mech officers went out in force to rally the men and prevent them from acting out, but there was no question that their morale plummeted like a rock sinking into an ocean!

Surprisingly enough, hatred against the Vesians intensified. The assassination of an expert pilot crossed all the lines, and the Vandal mech pilots each vowed to take revenge for their fallen champion.

They would not rest until they killed as much Vesians as they could on the battlefield!

In the meantime, Ves suggested he do something about the Pale Dancer to Captain Byrd.

"Captain, none of our mech pilots can pilot the Pale Dancer anymore. Even an expert candidate like Captain Orfan is unable to do anything with it. I suggest we process the expert mech and render it useless."

Captain Orfan looked incredibly haggard as she tried to prevent the collapse of the Flagrant Vandals. "You want to spoil the Pale Dancer before the Vesians get their hands on it? Is there truly no way of making use of the mech?"

Ves shook his head. "You know as well as I do that it takes an exceptional mech pilot to be able to pilot an expert mech. Advanced pilots can just forget about it. The strain will fry their nerves before they can even make the Pale Dancer take a single step."

The mech captain paused in indecision. The Pale Dancer was Venerable Xie's personal expert mech, and originated from the Dark Plasma Star Sector. Its presence served as a symbol, even with the death of its original owner and mech pilot. To dismantle it meant that the Vandals admitted that they didn't believe themselves to be capable enough to protect Venerable Xie's legacy.

The expert mech of any fallen expert pilot would never be discarded like a piece of trash! The highest honor an orphaned expert mech could enjoy was to assign it to another compatible expert pilot so that its mission upon inception continued.

This was the respect that expert mechs deserved!

While Ves respected mechs like any other, he prioritized his safety even more. Even if Ves wrecked the neural interface or replaced it with a fresh dummy, a good mech designer would still be able to notice the discrepancies. Expert mechs came with so many advanced systems that Ves couldn't insure that any one of them left some clues behind that hinted at his misdeeds.

Therefore, Ves wanted to be extra certain and destroy the mech, just in case.

As for Captain Byrd, seeing as defeat loomed over their heads, she eventually nodded. "Do it. Don't leave any useful scraps behind for the Vesians."

With her permission, Ves brought over a couple of mech technicians and depressingly began to dismantle it piece by piece. Using other mechs and heavy tools, they practically vandalized the Pale Dancer. Delicate parts got smashed or stepped upon, hardy armor plating became deformed or melted into a puddle of slag under the application of extreme heat.

Such a crude way of destroying the components of an expert mech partially ruined the special traits of the highly valuable exotics laced in their structure. Exotics with their myriad of effects and remarkable properties served as the core of the functioning of any expert mech, and all of them possessed some energetic activity.

Due to their active states, exotics needed to be handled carefully. The moment their energetic activity leaked or ran out of control, the exotics degraded into mundane minerals.

What Ves directed over the course of three hours was the systematic spoiling of tens billions of credits worth of exotics. Each second that passed, millions of credits worth of exotics got ruined due to their incredibly rough treatment. This was pouring money down the drain!

At the end of the spoiling process, nothing remained of the pristine white mech. The fast, accurate and agile rifleman mech suffered an ignoble death off the battlefield, just like its former master. Neither Venerable Xie or the Pale Dancer deserved to meet their ends behind enemy lines.

Yet they both fell at the hands of Ves because they posed a threat to his freedom and safety.

"I'm not sorry." He whispered to himself as he watched the pile of slag and crushed components being carted onto a fast transport to be scattered over a wide area.

Why should he feel sorry? He was merely defending his interests. Even the prestige of an expert pilot didn't stop him from requesting Miss Calabast from arranging an expert pilot's death.

Ves was merely surprised she acted so decisively and with such overwhelming success. She even managed to leave no trace behind, allowing the dastardly Vesians to take the blame instead.

He admired her capable and elegant handling of this problem. Ves could learn a thing or two about her methods.

"Still, she's extremely well-equipped and has a lot of capable subordinates under the wing. I'll have to build up my own capabilities before I can replicate such a feat."

His fear and apprehension towards the inscrutable Miss Calabast increased, but his admiration rose as well. If Ves possessed the same capabilities, he would have a lot more options available to him. At the very least, he wouldn't be forced into a helpless state when confronted with the hostility of an expert pilot.

The thrashing of the Pale Dancer inspired the rest of the Vandals and Swordmaidens. Though they didn't wish to contemplate defeat, they began to make arrangements in the event the Vesians overran the camp.

The engineers rigged the power reactors to overload on command, while Chief Dakkon prepared to spoil the god crystal generators by infecting them with a murky crystal. Others began to tidy up the databanks and rigged them up to blow.

If the enemy managed to obtain a victory, then they could forget about taking over their valuables!

Chapter 881

A fatalistic mood overtook the Flagrant Vandals and Lydia's Swordmaidens. Both of them knew that the Vesians wouldn't spare any of them even if they laid down their weapons and surrendered. The only way they could survive was to eke out a victory.

Therefore, even if everyone's morale was awful, they burned with the willingness to battle. They wanted to chop as much Vesian mechs as possible to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!

Lydia's Swordmaidens possessed firm wills that would never be shaken so easily. They faced worse odds and managed to overturn the situation around. As long as they fought to their heart's content, what was there for them to regret?!

At the very least, the Swordmaidens would still live on without Commander Lydia and the landbound forces. While Lydia's Swordmaidens may no longer be called by that name upon the death of their founder, their sisters would still be able to rise up from the ashes.

Therefore, the Swordmaidens trapped on the surface needed to fight as hard as they could so they would not dishonor their names!

"Victory in battle! Glory in defeat!"

"The Swordmaidens shall live forever!"

"Death is not the end! Death is nothing to be afraid of! If death comes for us, then let us laugh in its face!"

The war cries thundering throughout the Swordmaiden side of the camp practically bowled over the Vandals. They could feel the grit and determination of the female warriors and couldn't help but be inspired by their unity and determination.

This was how mech pilots ought to behave!

The Vandals didn't want to let themselves be shown up by a bunch of frontier pirates. While fear still wracked their minds, they tried their best to push it back. If they must die, then they wanted to go kicking and screaming!

It was only when their backs were pressed against the wall that the Vandals truly acted with the demeanor of soldiers. The Vesians might have thought they managed to sap their wills, but instead they stoked them into a raging wildfire!

Even if the Vesians won in the end, they must absolutely suffer every step of the way!

Ves met with Captain Byrd, Chief Dakkon and Dr. Tillman to discuss the disposition of some of their most sensitive assets.

When they entered Captain Byrd's office, the mech officer prepared three high-capacity secure data chips for them. These data chips not only stored much more data than the cheaper varieties, they also possessed much stronger encryption as well. Regular hackers needed decades to crack the encryption through brute force.

Byrd gestured towards the data chips. "Please take the data chips and store them well. Each of them contains full logs of what has transpired in our expedition. The data chips also has plenty of room for you to fill up with any pertinent research data that you may feel the need to add."

"Why are you giving us these data chips?" Dakkon asked.

"In the event of a defeat, I want you to make a run for the Starlight Megalodon. The Vesians are cutting us off from entering the red zone right now, but in the event of a battle and defeat, they may lose too many mechs for them to be on guard against some small fry running away on foot. That is the best opportunity for some fish to slip through the net."

Everyone became depressed at the thought. What Captain Byrd actually suggested stood almost no chance of succeeding. Even if they ran past the encirclement of the Vesians, they still needed to traverse more than a hundred kilometers before they reached the safe zone around the Starlight Megalodon. The Vesians could easily track their footsteps and catch up to them before they made it far.

Therefore, what Captain Byrd suggested was extremely unlikely to come to pass. No one called her out for it because even a sliver of chance of success sustained this attempt.

As long as someone managed to slip away against overwhelming odds, the Flagrant Vandals and the Mech Corps gained valuable intelligence on what transpired on the ground. The authenticity of the logs wouldn't be called into question despite all the outlandish discoveries they made as long as no one tampered with the records.

Ves picked up the data chip first. Unlike the others, Miss Calabast already arranged his escape route. Therefore, he felt more assured that he could complete Captain Byrd's final request.

"I'll make sure this data chip falls in the right hand if I manage to survive and make it out of this planet." He pledged solemnly.

This was one promise he was determined to meet. The sacrifice of the Vandal ground forces shouldn't be in vain. Having witnessed how the Vandals climbed out of the pit of despair with fiery hearts, Ves couldn't help but get caught up in their fervor!

They were Vandals! They were servicemen! They were Brighters!

Rolling over to die was not in their blood!

Even when the Vandals faced imminent defeat, they still wanted to do what was best for the Bright Republic!

How could Ves not respect such patriotic determination? He felt helpless and powerless at his inability to turn the tide. He hated how little a mech designer's influence reached when it came to situations like this! If he possessed the battle prowess of an expert pilot, then at least he'd be able to fight on their behalf!

Yet his awful genetic aptitude precluded him from ever entering the cockpit as a mech pilot! Ves felt extraordinarily frustrated at his lack of combat capabilities. Even if he possessed the powerful Amastendira, the most he could do was shoot ten high-powered laser beams that might or might not be able to pierce through the armor of a light mech.

What then? He'd die as quick as that when a single mech retaliated against him. He'd either die from getting stepped upon by a melee mech or being vaporized out of existence when a ranged mech fired a laser at his position.

The boiling blood running through his veins urged him to fight back anyway. His pride and heritage as a Larkinson insisted upon it! How could a Larkinson hole themselves up in the rear and cower in the face of an enemy attack? How could a Larkinson think about abandoning their comrades and scurrying away from danger?

As Ves left Captain Byrd's office and returned to his office in order to load up the data chip with a bunch of research data from all of the research projects the Vandals conducted, he tried to reconcile his conflicting urges.

"I may be a Larkinson, but I'm not a warrior." He muttered. "I have no place on the battlefield. My presence makes no difference."

Ves inadvertently reminded himself of Eric Kichiro, the mech designer of Chopra Security Services and one of the few surviving Choprans the fleet picked up from a debris field in space.

The mech designer survived by being one of the first Choprans to abandon ship and eject from his escape pod.

He still remembered the phrase uttered by Eric.

"Cowardice is a virtue!"

Of course, Eric subsequently died a coward's death. A Chopran mech captain sneaked into his holding cell and executed the mech designer.

Did Eric deserve his death?

"He definitely had it coming. His early flight set off a premature evacuation and practically ruined the Chopran's chances of winning against the NIN that stabbed them in the back."

Yet if Ves fled the Vandals, would he be committing the same sin as Eric?

Ves didn't think so. First, the situation on the ground was a lot different than in space. A few people on foot trying to flee wasn't as conspicuous as a bunch of escape pods emerging from a ship.

Second, Captain Byrd already tacitly consented to such behavior when she passed over the high-capacity data chips. In fact, she even hoped that some of them might successfully flee. The Vandals on the ground must not be forgotten. All of their deeds and actions needed to be returned to the Bright Republic so that their sacrifice could be honored.

Third, Ves did not plan to flee too early in the battle. Captain Byrd spoke correctly when she said that nothing could sneak past the Vesian blockade at their full strength. Perhaps the means arranged by Miss Calabast might be an exception, but even then their chances of success became much greater if they fled at a time the Vesians incurred the maximum amount of losses possible.

"Cowardice is not a virtue." Ves concluded as he finished stuffing the data chip with all the research data he found valuable enough to carry away. "Cowardice is a sin."

To flee from battle was a natural tendency. To fear death and value your own life was as human as it got. Yet Eric's actions accelerated the downfall of the Choprans.

Ves decided not to flee before the battle became decided.

After Ves finished stowing away the high-capacity data chip in a secure slot in his Earth Ant, he spent some time to prepare some supplies. Aware that he couldn't bring too much, he mostly limited himself to carrying nutrient packs, water, a medical kit, batteries and some extra tools.

The nutrient packs contained enough calories to keep him alive for a very long time. As the ultimate survival food the galaxy, they were jam-packed with nutrition and Ves could easily stretch out his supply for quite a long time if he went on a starvation diet.

On the other hand, he carried much less water, but his Earth Ant already contained an integrated water purifier. As long as it remained working, it could easily recycle his urine as well as filter any water source he found in the wild.

Even though the astral winds covered the entire horizon, the ecosystem still supported rain, and plenty of rivers and lakes dotted the lands. The only difference from a typical terrestrial planet was that Seven predominantly consisted of land.

After Ves finished preparing his pack of gear, Ves decided to pay a visit to Mayra. He walked over the the Swordmaiden side of the camp and became inspired by the way the Swordmaidens pumped themselves up for battle.

Even if the Vandals resolved to fight to the death, they couldn't help but exhibit some fear.

It was different for the Swordmaidens. Their warriors and mech pilots underwent an extensive amount of brutal training. All of their cowards already died or left the sisterhood. The only ones who remained successfully hunted an exobeast in the wild with nothing but their own bodies and a sword.

Swordmaidens capable of succeeding in their graduation ceremony no longer showed fear. They even thought the Vandals might have exaggerated the threat posed by the Vesians. They still believed they stood a good chance of winning.

Ves entered a familiar workshop and met with Mayra. "I have something important to say. Please call up Ketis."

Shortly afterwards, they entered a small office. Once Ves activated his signal jammer, he began to broach the topic of escape.

"I've come into contact with a third party." He revealed. "I've made a private arrangement with that person. In the event of a defeat, the third party is willing to sneak me to the safe zone around the Starlight Megalodon and save me from Vesian pursuit. I managed to negotiate the right to bring along an extra."

The pirate designers frowned. Ketis still remained a little confused, but Mayra's eyes grew sharp. The news that a third party might be staring at the Flagrant Swordmaidens and Vesians particularly caught her attention!

"Is this supposed third-party trustworthy in anyway?"

"No." Ves admitted. "I don't even know who she really is or who she works for. However, I think she's sincere enough because she needs my cooperation with certain matters. The point is that I may have a way of giving Ketis a way out."

"Hey!" Ketis growled. "If anyone's getting away, it should be Mayra! The Swordmaidens in the fleet still need her! I know my worth! I'm a nobody right now."

Mayra immediately cut in, causing Ketis to halt. "Absolutely not. In no way will I allow this opportunity to fall on anyone else but you. Although the offer from Ves sounds dubious, if anyone among us deserves an out, it should be you!"

"But why?!"

"Because I'm old, and you're young!"

Ves stood by the side, not wanting to intervene. He felt touched by their selflessness and willingness to sacrifice themselves.

Ketis thought of the good Mayra could still do. As a Journeyman Mech Designer, she could absolutely reinvigorate the surviving Sword Maidens.

As for Mayra, she considered Ketis to be her own adoptive daughter. A parent should never put their own lives over their children. Her sense of motherhood towards her protege compelled her to give Ketis the opportunity to escape and start a new life.

Because for Mayra, she loved Ketis more than she loved the Sword Maidens.

Chapter 882

"You are worth more than the Swordmaidens!" Mayra shouted, trying to convince her recalcitrant protege that her sacrifice meant nothing. "I would not be able to live with myself if my survival comes at the expense of your life! I might as well commit suicide in that case!"

Ketis couldn't accept that argument. "But what about the Swordmaidens?! Our sisters still need your help to rebuild the sisterhood!"

"We have sacrificed enough for the Swordmaidens." Mayra sneered, revealing her disillusion for the organization she served for several decades. "Commander Lydia abandoned all she has built in order to be at the beck and call of a figure in the shadows. Our entire sisterhood is built upon a lie! We aren't giving women in the frontier a better chance. All this time, we've been training them to become a hidden tool to some rich and powerful magnate from civilized space! Open your ears and listen to my words! Do you believe that I am talking nonsense?!"

Ketis wanted to refute with a fiery retort, yet she couldn't form a reply. Mayra told her much about the inner dealings of the Swordmaidens, including the existence of a secret backer who assisted Commander Lydia from the very start.

"This.. even if we answer to another boss, that still doesn't invalidate what the Swordmaidens have done!" She feebly responded. "We've upheld our ideals and become a force to be reckoned with in the frontier. Our dreams will die if you aren't there to help the sisters that we left behind in our fleet."

Mayra snorted. "Our other sisters will do just fine without out. They are my sisters as well, so I know they can take care of themselves. Besides, that hidden backer of ours won't discard their investment so easily. They'll be just fine even without a Journeyman Mech Designer presiding over their mechs."

"I can't believe you! How could you say that about the Swordmaidens!"

The shock exhibited by Ketis showed that she always put the Swordmaidens up to a high pedestal. To see Mayra throwing shade over the organization shattered all of her preconceptions. She respected Mayra immensely, but she loved the Swordmaidens with pure devotion.

To choose between the two tore her apart from the inside. Ketis couldn't handle the confrontation any longer and ran away as if her life depended on it! Rather than continuing to confront her dilemma, she'd rather flee from it entirely!

"She'll get around." Mayra sounded unapologetic for forcing her protege into this position. "She's not capable of abandoning the Swordmaidens yet, but I'll make sure she preserves her life."

"What about you?" Ves asked. "You should know the fate of any pirates that fall into the hands of someone like the Vesians."

Pirates rightfully received the penalty of death for their misdeeds. Even if people tended to throw around the label of pirates a bit too liberally, it didn't change that it was an absolute death sentence for any pirate to land in the hands of others.

It didn't matter if the pirate served as a non-combatant such as a cook. They contributed to the depravities of other pirates and thus were accomplices to the crime of piracy.

Civilized space detested space piracy to the core. Human civilization spread themselves out among the stars, to the point of engulfing half the galaxy. This was an immense amount of territory population by trillions of people. Such a vast and mostly empty space could only be sustained if trade continued to flow between the stars.

Space pirates preying the trade channels formed the greatest threat against intersystem, interstate and intersector trade. States did everything possible to curb the tide of piracy that weakened their prosperity, and their mech militaries almost always abided by zero tolerance policies when it came to pirates.

"I'll try my luck with the Vesians." Mayra nonchalantly shrugged. She was already resigned to do so even without Ves offering a lifeline. "Even though pirate designers are worthy of death, I don't believe I've ever accrued a bounty. I'm different from the fugitive mech designers who committed heinous crimes and has been forced to flee to the frontier. I'm a complete unknown, and as a Journeyman Mech Designer, I am more valuable alive than dead."

Ves realized what kind of hope that represented. "You hope the Vesians will take a shine on your ability and use you for their own ends? The chance of that happening is not high. If the Vesians back home know they employ a pirate designer, they'll catch a lot of flack."

"They'll have to keep me hidden and locked up in a secret base, then." She shrugged. "It's better than nothing. As long as I cooperate and lend my expertise to my captors, I'll be treated with respect. That's far better than being captured by pirates."

It still left a lot of question marks behind. Back when he studied mech design, Ves heard whispers about unscrupulous entities kidnapping mech designers and forcing them to work on shady projects at gunpoint.

Some mech designer students dismissed such stories as conspiracy theories. Ves initially took such rumors with a grain of salt, but with his experiences so far he knew better than to dismiss such stories.

Journeyman Mech Designers may not be as rare as expert pilots, but it took a considerable amount of effort to secure the services of one.

Novice Mech Designers were as numerous as the stars in the galaxy, while Apprentice Mech Designers flooded the labor market. It didn't take much effort to hire some average mech designers, though it was unlikely someone would be able to procure the services of talented Apprentices.

Those with actual ability already succeeded in running their own mech companies.

While good and bad Journeyman Mech Designers existed, even the worst of them could easily surpass some of the best Apprentices. Only extremely powerful organizations and mech militaries had the power, wealth and influence to employ them as large numbers. Some of them also continued to serve under Seniors and Masters in the hopes of advancing their learning.

Still, an overwhelming amount of Journeyman set up independent businesses. This was why procuring the services of even one Journeyman took quite a bit of effort. Each one could easily worth billions of credits in the amount of value they offered through their services.

Simply put, someone like Mayra was pretty much a walking bag of money. Of course, it wouldn't be easy to squeeze this much value out of a mech designer, and it took a lot of time for the payoff to be worth the effort. However, a considerable amount of value could be gained over time. The more Ves thought about it, the more it sounded plausible to his ears.

Still, once Mayra fell into the hands of the Vesians, they would never let go.

"Are you prepared for what might be in store for you, Mayra? Your life may end in that secret base."

She smiled ruefully at Ves. "It is not the worst retirement I've heard. Pirates generally don't get to live old age. I think some peace and quiet while I get to pursue my craft without any outside concerns is rather attractive compared to roaming the frontier."

"I hope they'll treat you right when the time comes. I'll look for you after the war for Ketis' sake."

"Don't. Only trouble will come your way. Wait until either of you advance to Senior. Only then will you have the leverage to seek me out."

Ves respected her decision and her willingness to sacrifice everything for Ketis. As for advancing to Senior? Even if he felt confident about his chances of advancing quickly due to his advantages, it would still take a couple of decades for him to reach that height.

After he left Mayra's workshop, he returned to the Vandal side of the camp and joined the final preparations of the fight. Much of the camp had been boobytrapped or rigged to blow. The only reason why the Vandals and Swordmaidens hadn't ruined anything yet besides the Pale Dancer and some other sensitive goods was because they still hoped they might prevail in the coming battle.

A couple of tense hours went by as the drums of war rang louder and louder. The Vesian scout mechs changed their patterns. Seismic sensors faintly detected large amount of heavy objects approaching the Flagrant Swordmaidens.

In order to prevent the camp from suffering any collateral damage, Commander Lydia and Captain Byrd decided to force the engagement a dozen kilometers from the camp. They brought most of their combat capable mechs to their chosen site, which granted them a small elevation and terrain advantage, and dare the Vesians into attacking their lines straight away.

A dozen kilometers was far enough that the camp and the supply train wouldn't be affected by collateral damage. The distance was also close enough for the main combat force to cover the camp in the event the Vesians wanted to circumvent them and hit their weakest point.

For a battle of this magnitude, the commanding officers didn't stay back this time to lead the troops from the rear.

Commander Lydia and Captain Byrd both decided to enter the fray in their mechs. Commander Lydia piloted a custom Silver Valencia, while Captain Byrd piloted a spare rifleman mech.

Ves took up his usual post inside the temporary command center. He could still contribute a lot to the battle by analysing the enemy mechs and pinpointing their weak points.

He had no intention of fleeing early like Eric Kichiro once did. As the head designer of the Vandals, Ves enjoyed a high position among the Vandals. Subsequently, he became subject to a lot of scrutiny. There would be hell to pay for him if he fled without good cause.

"Vandals, I won't lie to you. This will be a hard fight." Captain Byrd began her speech. Every Vandal listened to her projection no matter if they resided in a cockpit or stood by back in camp. "This will be the battle of our lives. The hatred between us and the Vesians is irreconcilable. They'll never let us go if we end up in their hands. Since we're already marked for death, we might as well take as much of their lives in the process! Because you know what? Because we are the Flagrant Vandals! We take what is ours!"

"We take what is ours!" Everyone echoed in unison. Even Ves joined in. "We take what is ours! We take what is ours!"

Captain Byrd's projection grinned. For the first time since he saw her, the mech captain actually looked inspiring. Ves figured that she specifically practiced for this speech beforehand. Someone else may have even written this speech for her as well.

"Since the founding of the Flagrant Vandals, we've been called pirates, we've been called scoundrels, we've been called scum who don't belong in the Mech Corps. Hah! We've fought and bled as much as any other mech regiment. We've seen our fair share of combat and do the dirty work that others aren't willing to do. The way I see it, our naysayers are right! We're thieves! We are stealers of lives, and right now hundreds of trained Vesian mech pilots are delivering their lives to our doorsteps!"

"Kill them!"

"Steal their lives!"

The Vandal mech pilots entered a state of utmost preparedness. All of their mechs had been checked by overworked mech technicians, and Ves spent as much time as he could to personally tune them up.

All of them waited for the Vesians to arrive. The seismic sensors continued to track the slow approach of an enormous mass of heavy footsteps.

The decisive battle loomed.

"They're coming."

According to the seismic sensors, the number of mechs approaching the main lines likely numbered around five-hundred.

They already outnumbered the Flagrant Sword Maidens by a small margin. While it still left the defenders with some hope for victory, Ves knew that quantity didn't count for everything.

Chapter 883

No more doubt plagued the Vandals and Swordmaidens. Now that the Vesians arrived at their doorsteps, the unruly mech pilots all calmed down.

In a battle for survival, doubt led to defeat!

With roughly four to five-hundred mechs deployed on each side, the frontline stretched for kilometers. The temporary headquarters only managed to keep in touch with all of their mechs through the use of relays.

The environment imposed many restrictions on the battle. The interference in the air this close to the red zone hindered communications and discouraged both sides from spreading their mechs thin. It would be too easy to become isolated and cut off from backup.

The heavy gravity also complicated the fighting. The Flagrant Swordmaidens previously tore apart the Caged Tongs by surrounding their mechs and taking out their gravitic backpacks first. Without their personal antigrav fields, the afflicted mechs became forced to fight against six times normal gravity.

This practically crippled a mech's combat effectiveness!

Not only that, the high energy consumption of gravitic backpacks discouraged long, drawn-out engagements that typically happened when hundreds of mechs clashed against each other on land.

Most landbound engagements actually took place over multiple days. Battles in virtual games such as Iron Spirit didn't serve as an accurate example of how they were ordinarily fought because their endurance and supply situation were subject to artificial restrictions in order to hurry them up.

The main reason why the Vesians moved ahead with a frontal clash was because they couldn't sustain the enormous energy expenditure of lengthy medium-intensity battle. They would rather prefer to fight a quick high-intensity battle and end it quickly to prevent any accidents concerning their energy reserves!

"What a grand occasion." Ves remarked quietly as he saw the seismic sensors continuing to display a vague blob of heavy objects moving towards the prepared battle lines of the Vandals and Swordmaidens.

Neither side played any maneuvering games. The Flagrant Swordmaidens were forced to draw a line in the sand because of their duty to shield the camp and supply train. The Vesians deliberately attempted to cross that line because a straightforward confrontation suited their needs.

Thus, a rare occasion occurred where both sides willingly pushed for a set piece battle!

Such glorious battles regularly entered the annals of history. No matter if a side won or lost, as long as they fought at their best, the entire mech regiment received an immense amount of honor. Their performance would be turned into a glorious battle record and be added into the archives. and in turn enrich their martial tradition.

A mech regiment with a long list of battle records carried much more weight than a mech regiment with few notable battles to their name!

One of the hidden sources of inferiority to the Flagrant Vandals had always been their dearth of battle records. Small, inconsequential raids and trade interdiction didn't deserve to be turned into a battle record.

Only major engagements such as the Detemen Operation turned into a point of glory.

Ever since the Vandals embarked on their historic journey into the Vesia Kingdom, they continued to fight arduous battles that sacrificed many of their brothers and sisters.

Yet their sacrifice was not in vain! Not only did they accomplish their mission or survive time and time again, the battles also contributed to the elevation of the Flagrant Vandals.

No one would dismiss the Flagrant Vandals as the scum of the Mech Corps after the war. Every Vandal veteran could easily bring up honors they earned with their own flesh and blood. Some mech regiments wished they fought as frequently against the Vesians as the Flagrant Vandals!

"Look at our battle records! Tell me if we haven't fought as valiantly as the mech regiments in the frontline!"

Right now, many Vandal mech pilots fought not just for their own survival, but also to leave behind their legacy!

The Mech Corps always treated the descendents of fallen mech pilots generously. Those affected by the loss of a warrior received preferential treatment and subsidies. This was a way of motivating mech pilots to battle without fear and to sustain popular support for the war.

In fact, the Bright Republic only copied the Vesians in this manner. Vesian commoners generally didn't receive good treatment in their society, but it was wholly different once someone in their family became a mech pilot.

Any commoner could become a knight if they distinguished themselves in battle! This was also why the Vandals expected the Vesians to fight just as hard if not harder.

The Vesians held the upper hand, after all.

"The main force is coming into range."

"Hold your fire. We won't hit much at this range."

Due to the interference in the air, the effective range of laser weapons practically halved. There was no question about their power, but accuracy suffered a severe impact after a range of more than a couple of kilometers. Combined with the integrated ECM systems incorporated in any modern mech, perhaps only five to ten percent of laser beams landed on a mech.

Both sides expected the main battle to be decided in a melee clash. This suited the Swordmaidens just fine, as they always held utmost confidence in their mech swordsmanship.

For this reason, their main line consisted of Swordmaiden mechs. The Devil Razors and Silver Valencias were especially conspicuous. Mayra's designs all took the forefront and inspired the rest of the Swordmaidens into an unprecedented amount of battle lust.

This was a battle for the ages for the Swordmaidens!

As for the Flagrant Vandals, they positioned their mechs at the flanks and at the rear. Their mech roster was a mixed bag and lacked cohesion. However, this also granted them a lot of flexibility, and for this battle they decided to plug up the gaps the Swordmaidens couldn't fulfill.

Ves likened the deployment of the Flagrant Swordmaidens mechs as a strong fist surrounded by wings. It was the job of the fist to slam straight against the enemy, thereby providing enough opportunities for the wings to cut the enemy from the flanks.

Therefore, the Swordmaiden mechs played the most critical role. The longer they held out against the Vesians, the larger the chances of cutting the Vesians apart!

The Meandering Monkeys began to flit back and forth at the edge of medium range. The Vandal and Swordmaiden ranged mechs itched to fire their lasers at the annoying light mechs that made their lives hell in the past week, but their commanding officers firmly held them back.

"The Meandering Monkey mechs are taunting us to fire at them. Their dodging patterns are too exquisite for us to hit them at this range. We'll only be draining our energy faster." Captain Byrd emphasized.

Even though the Vandals prepared a decent stockpile of batteries and energy cells, that didn't mean they could do whatever they wanted. They also faced some energy constraints.

"The vanguard of the Hostland Warriors are coming into view!"

Ves recognized some of the mech models of the Hostland Warriors from archival footage. However, the Bright Republic never paid much attention to the disposition of the Hafner Duchy. The territory's placement on the opposite side to the Vesia Kingdom meant that the Hafner mech legions rarely deployed against the Bright Republic.

Therefore, Ves spotted many new mech models. The Hostland Warriors resembled the Flagrant Vandals in that they didn't specialize in a narrow role. They fielded knight mechs, swordsman mechs, rifleman mechs, light skirmishers, striker mechs, frontline mechs and more.

They didn't field any heavy mechs, either because they didn't own any or because their energy budget couldn't sustain such an enormous burden.

Despite that, the battle lineup of the Hostland Warriors immediately made it clear that this was a mech regiment that could stand toe-to-toe against other frontline mech regiments!

"The reputation of the Hostland Warriors don't do them justice." Someone said. "They're fully geared for pitched battles."

The tragedy of the Hafner Duchy was that a mech regiment like the Hostland Warriors rarely had the opportunity to flex their muscles. They neighbored the Reinald Republic, a state that never formally declared war against the Vesians.

That didn't stop their unruly mech pilots to form completely unrelated pirate gangs and raid the Hafner territories. Most of the time, the Hostland Warriors split up their forces and took up garrison duty, waiting for an attack that almost never came due to the formidability of the Warriors in direct battles.

Therefore, the Hostland Warriors also looked forward to this coming battle. The Flagrant Vandals may not enjoy that good of a reputation among mech regiments, but they more than proved their valor against the Vesians in this latest war. Defeating the Vandals and their formidable-looking pirate allies would also earn the Warriors a lot of glory!

As more and more of the Hostland Warriors moved into range, neither side sent any envoys. A normal tradition in set piece battles was that both sides would send out envoys to parlay or champions to duel to the death.

Neither side felt the need to resort to such artificial traditions. This was a fight to the death. This deep into the storm lands and this close to the Starlight Megalodon, neither side could afford to let any of their adversaries escape.

The success of their missions hinged upon eliminating their greatest rivals on the surface of Aeon Corona VII!

Perhaps other pirate ground forces lingered in the vicinity. Even if any of them made it all the way to the red zone, the Flagrant Swordmaidens and Vesians doubted they retained much combat effectiveness.

Only they themselves were the kings of the battlefield. Yet this region was only big enough to support a single crown.

Neither side could abide each other's presence any longer!

In the end, Captain Byrd issued out the first command. "Akkara mechs, suppress the enemy battle line!"

The ten heavy cannoneers lessened the disparity in strength for the Flagrant Swordmaidens. They possessed an unimaginable amount of firepower, but could only play out their full advantages over time. The earlier they unloaded their firepower, the more the enemy suffered!

Therefore, Captain Byrd did not hesitate to employ the Akkara first! Their laser cannons possessed considerable range and their targeting systems were all top-notch. Their mech pilots all specialized in piloting both heavy mechs and ranged mechs and consisted of a rare group of elites among the Vandals.

Thick laser beams streaked across the battlefield with the speed of light and instantly scorched against the exterior of the enemy mechs.

At this range, a significant amount of laser beams hit their mark! The Hostland Warriors hadn't prepared to come under fire at this moment, so most of the stricken mechs had been slow to dodge to the side.

Detecting elevated heat signatures among the Hostland Warriors. They're firing back!

The Vesians quickly retaliated with hundreds of smaller laser beams. The Vandals and Swordmaidens already moved their mechs beforehand, causing fewer of them to be hit.

The battle commenced in earnest now!

"Ranged mechs, spread your wings!"

While the melee mechs slowly converged upon each other, the rifleman mechs from both sides started their dance with each other. Just like with the battle against the Caged Tongs, the duel between rifleman mechs played out like an elaborate dance.

It was like a magnified skirmish encompassing more than a hundred mechs on each side. The ranged mechs of the Hostland Warriors proved themselves to be remarkably skilled and solid in their marksmanship and dodging abilities.

The Vandal ranged mech pilots on the other hand each displayed an inconsistent amount of skill. Their backgrounds were too varied and most of them underwent their basic training outside of the Vandals.

Nonetheless, the varied means of the Vandal ranged mechs also prevented the Hostland Warriors from honing in on a specific weakness. The Vandal rifleman mechs each acted independently, but also stuck to a general strategy that could only clearly be seen from an overview.

The Vandal ranged mechs spread to the flanks and forced the Hostland Warriors to send their own ranged mechs in pursuit lest they leave their flanks open against ranged harassment.

The Vandal rifleman mechs successfully drew the bulk of the ranged mechs of the Hostland Warriors away from the Swordmaiden battle line!

"The rest is up to you now, Swordmaidens!"

Chapter 884

Laser beams raked across both sides with radiant splendor. Without eye protection of eye augments, many people risked being blinded by the sheer amount of light being thrown around.

Fortunately, as laser weapons became more ubiquitous, every person in the galaxy received minor eye augments. This not only corrected their vision, but also added shielding to their retinas. This prevented them from being blinded when lasers started firing around.

Of course, not a single person on foot dared to be present at the battle right now. Only mechs fought against each other, and every mech pilot observed the battle through the sensors of their mechs rather than their naked eyes.

Even then, the brilliance of lasers overwhelmed some of the sensors and made it a bit more difficult to observe their foes.

Both the left flank and the right flank of the Flagrant Swordmaidens became engulfed in a torrent of laser fire with their opposite among the Vesians. The flanks stretched out as the rifleman mechs needed more room to maneuver.

Light mechs from both sides also started to dart back and forth. The Meandering Monkeys deftly attempted to close in, only to be deterred by vigilant Vandal rifleman mechs. However, this distraction reduced the pressure against the ranged mechs of the Hostland Warriors, allowing them to hit their targets with a little less concern.

The highly mobile clashes at the flanks resembled giant skirmishes. Due to the distance and the inherent damage potential of laser rifles, it would take a long time before a large amount of casualties emerged.

For now, the flanks remained at an equilibrium.

Neither side sent any further reinforcements to tip the balance of the scales. Instead, they devoted most of their efforts at the center.

"The Swordmaiden mech pilots are running out of patience!" A Vandal sitting behind a sensor console yelled. "They're about to surge forward!"

"Tell them to hold out longer! Let the enemy come to us!"

"It's no use! Even Commander Lydia can't keep her own Swordmaidens in line!"

Commander Lydia enjoyed a vast amount of respect from her subordinates, but the Swordmaidens had been trained to act decisively and ferociously when it came to battle. Even their founder's prestige failed to hold them back. This was the product of specific training! It turned the Swordmaidens into great berserkers but awful soldiers.

The Vandals commanding at the rear in the temporary headquarters all looked at each other in dismay. They already kept an eye on the Swordmaidens for this kind of behavior, but they couldn't believe these female pirates could be stubborn.

Captain Byrd patched in from her rifleman mech. As of now, she stuck to the main line instead of joining the other rifleman mechs at the flanks. She was much closer to the Swordmaiden mechs and thus knew exactly how little patience their allies had left.

"Switch to plan B. If the Swordmaidens are so eager to charge forward, then we should do everything to support them from the sides and rear. Prepare to move out!"

"Yes, captain!"

The Vandals learned their lessons. This time, they formed a battle plan with the assumption that the Swordmaidens charged straight at the enemy battle lines. The Vandals may not be able to exert any control over the actions of their allies, but they could always accompany the Swordmaidens and fight at their side!

"They're off!"

Hundreds of Swordmaiden mechs poured forward in an incredible if uncoordinated tide. There was no hint of formation or coordination in their charge. The faster mechs ran ahead of the slower mechs. The Silver Valencias which served as the prestige mechs of the Swordmaidens boldly took up the vanguard position and attracted a lot of errant laser fire.

The Hostland Warriors mostly emphasized melee mechs, but many of these mechs came equipped with laser pistols that dealt light damage and ran out of energy fairly quickly.

Nonetheless, the Warrior mechs negated the inherent disadvantages of their weapons by concentrating their firepower.

Their target? The Silver Valencias!

However, these upgraded swordsman mechs designed by Mayra made use of premium compressed armor plating produced at Malligan's Pitstop. Compressed armor was a rarity in the frontier and the Swordmaidens invested heavily in procuring all of this plating.

The light swats from the laser pistols hardly scorched the exterior of the Silver Valencias no matter how many lasers swept their form!

Not only that, just like the Devil Razors, the Silver Valencias came with a lot of sustained and burst mobility. They already moved fast, but low-profile boosters built into their frames gave the Silver Valencias an extra push whenever they dodged or strode forward.

Ves sighed in admiration at Mayra's best design. Though not cheap by any means, the Silver Valencias more than earned their considerable investment!

"They're even better than my Crystal Lords in defending against laser fire!"

Lydia's Swordmaidens always became restrained by their limited manpower. Few Swordmaiden mech pilots successfully survived their brutal training regime and extremely challenging graduation ceremony. This caused them to invest a considerable amount of resources into the quality of their mechs.

Their best and most deserving Swordmaiden mech pilots received the privilege of piloting the Silver Valencias. Each of them possessed the mindset of a champion and valiantly took leading positions to serve as examples for their fellow Swordmaidens.

"Charge! Charge forward! Show these military mechs what the Swordmaidens are made of!"

With their gravitic backpacks running at full tilt, all of their mechs traversed the ground quickly.

In the face of such an uncoordinated charge, the Hostland Warrior mechs ceased their steady forward progress and formed into defensive formations. Compared to the Swordmaiden mechs who moved like a horde, the Warriors neatly moved into exquisite formations.

Knight mechs at the front, striker mechs at the side, swordsman and spearman mechs in the second line, all of them appeared ready to meet the oncoming charge. The variety of mech types allowed them to exhibit an unimaginable amount of flexibility.

Right now, they set themselves up to meet a huge uncoordinated charge. As long as they blunted the charge and prevented the Swordmaidens from breaking through, they could easily bog down the rabid Swordmaidens and exploit their weaknesses in defense.

Yet the charge of the Swordmaidens arrived with much greater ferocity than the Hostland Warriors expected!

"What is this!? The intelligence reports stated that these are pirates! How come they're so powerful!"

The Swordmaiden mechs struck with their greatswords with the full weight of their momentum behind the initial blow. Even if they chopped straight into the shields of knight mechs, the incredibly sharp swords cut through them and dug deep grooves into their armor plating!

"Watch out for those swords! They're sharp!"

Lydia's Swordmaidens always worshipped swords from their inception. The mech pilots trained to handle a sword with their own bodies, allowing them to master this weapon no matter if they wielded them in their own hands or with a mech.

Right now, they put all of their skills on display. Combined with their sharp and resilient swords, they momentarily buckled the defensive lines of the Hostland Warriors!

"Come on, Vandals! Don't let the Swordmaidens show us up!"

As hardened military mech pilots, the Hostland Warriors didn't let themselves be affected by their surprise for long. Orders poured in and the Warrior mechs instantly adjusted their formation to cope with the unexpectedly fierce aggression.

Even if the Swordmaiden mechs fought valiantly, they mostly fought individuality! The distance between each Swordmaiden mech was a lot wider than usual. This gave them enough room to put their considerable mobility and swordsmanship to full play without the possibility of harming their fellow sisters.

Yet this dispersed formation also allowed the Warrior mechs to surround the Swordmaiden mechs and prevent them from assisting each other.

"The Hostland Warriors are attempting to defeat the Swordmaidens in detail!"

The Warriors formed strong strike teams that went from Swordmaiden mech to Swordmaiden mech. They didn't intend to match the Swordmaidens in skill. Not a single of the Warrior swordsman mechs came close to matching the female pirates in pure swordsmanship.

Yet their excellent coordination allowed them to move their mechs around and flood the separated Swordmaiden mechs with sheer weight of numbers!

However, the Hostland Warriors only managed to fell a dozen mechs this way before the Vandal mechs arrived to relieve the pressure.

Unlike the Swordmaidens, the Vandals enjoyed considerable support from the rear. The temporary headquarters continued to evaluate the circumstances of the battle and provided plenty of advice to the mech captains. This increased their coordination and allowed them to come up with the correct response to the enemy movements.

"Support the Swordmaiden mechs and cover their flanks! Constrain the Warrior strike teams and pin them in place if possible!"

The Vandal mechs might not fight as ferociously as the Swordmaiden mechs, but they picked and chose their fights to achieve the greatest effect with the least amount of effort. Their efficiency constrained the Hostland Warriors and prevented them from outmaneuvering the Swordmaidens.

"It's a stalemate!"

Ves paid little attention to the battle playing out in the main projection. He devoted most of his attention to analyzing the performance of each enemy mech.

"How many mech designers are working for the Holstand Warriors? They've developed so many different mech models!"

Ves recognized many commonalities among the different designs. The Hostland Warriors evidently didn't lack for mech designers, as they made great use of internally-developed designs.

In general, the Hostland Warriors emphasized armor over mobility. They were designed to endure the rigors of pitched battles like this one. Their endurance was only moderate as they didn't specialize in long drawn-out engagements.

As long as the Vandal and Swordmaiden mechs held out for an hour, then the Hostland Warriors would gradually run out of steam by then, especially in this frigid battle where none of the mechs dared to hold back.

"Yet will we even be able to hold out that long?"

The Hostland Warriors may have received a nasty surprise when the Swordmaiden mechs almost buckled their line, but they recovered smoothly and even gained the advantage in some areas.

Thanks to their defense-oriented mechs, the Hostland Warriors quickly steadied their battle lines. They became as stable as a rock in the face of Swordmaiden and Vandal aggression.

The lack of forward progress annoyed the Swordmaiden mech pilots and caused them to fight back even harder. They wanted to hack down the resilient Warrior mechs!

The battle at the center became so intensive that the Meandering Monkeys didn't dare to stick their noses in it. Their light mechs simply wouldn't be able to block the immense greatswords of the Devil Razors and Silver Valencias!

Instead, besides helpling out the ranged mechs at the flanks, they also tried to outmaneuver the Flagrant Swordmaidens. However, the Vandals and Swordmaidens deployed enough light mechs in turn to constrain the Meandering Monkeys for now. Though they couldn't match the Meandering Monkeys forever, it was no problem to hold them up for a short amount of time.

Casualties started to mount as both sides became more familiar with each other. While Ves worked hard to pinpoint the weaknesses of the mechs of the Hostland Warriors, their designs were inordinately thorough and rounded. Their mech designers left very few openings, and the weawk points that Ves pointed out mostly amounted to common weaknesses that every mech type shared.

On the other hand, the mech designers working for the Hostland Warriors detected a lot more weaknesses in the mechs of the Vandals and Swordmaidens. The speed in which the Hostland Warriors defeated their adversaries increased.

A chill ran through Ves as he observed this trend. The Vesians benefited from a mech designer with lots of experience and a good eye! That person may even be a Senior Mech Designer!

Once he realized that, Ves worked twice as hard in deciphering the enemy mechs. He couldn't let this difference widen the disparity between the two forces.

"Senior or not, I won't admit defeat!"

Chapter 885

A mech lieutenant of the Hostland Warriors gritted his teeth while he piloted his spearman mech in support of his fellow Warriors. When he heard they were about to fight the infamous Vandals along with a bunch of melee-oriented pirates, he expected to fight a running engagement.

When he saw that the enemy formed battlelines and charged forward in a ragged mess, he thought the Warriors would easily be able to break the backs of these unruly dogs.

Reality proved much different from his expectations! The Warriors had always considered the Vandals and pirates as scum who only won through trickery and misdirection. The Vesians never imagined their foe to be so ferocious and undaunting in a pitched battle!

"And these Swordmaidens?! Who the hell are they? Some kind of force of exiled elites!"

Though the Swordmaiden mechs exhibited very poor coordination and teamwork, their hyper-aggressive approach forced the Hostland Warriors into a passive state. They constantly needed to hold the line against these madwomen who knew no fear! No matter how disadvantageous it might be for them to push forward, they threw themselves forward without any regard for logic or safety!

This normally wouldn't fluster the Hostland Warriors so much were it not for the Vandals following after their aggressive allies. The Vandals knew exactly how the Swordmaidens fought and neatly covered their backs, preventing the Warriors from surrounding the Swordmaidens any further.

The battle in the center devolved into a contest of attrition! With the fighting constantly heating up, casualties mounted in quick succession. Dozens of mechs fell before fatal spear strikes or enormously powerful sword chops.

"Hold on! Keep fighting!"

"Don't you dare die before you take a Warrior mech down with you! Our comrades are counting on us!"

It not only became a contest of arms, but also a contest of willpower! The Hostland Warriors arrived on the battlefield with confidence born of their inherent superiority over their foes. Their mech regiment was made to fight these kinds of battles!

The excellent performance of the Meandering Monkeys in the previous skirmishes also inflated their confidence in the previous days. The mech pilots of the Meandering Monkeys constantly bragged about how they ran rings around the enemy light mechs.

This gave the Warriors the mistaken impression that they could easily crush the pathetic enemy mechs in a straightforward battle.

Yet the truth proved to be different, and it mostly came down to willpower!

The Swordmaidens already possessed a lot of courage. Yet the grit and courage of the Flagrant Vandals not only surprised the Vesians, they even surprised themselves.

They hadn't become affected by the dwindling morale or the despair that spread when word of Venerable Xie's assassination spread throughout the camp.

Ves guessed that the mental resilience training sessions that he invented contributed significantly to the strength exhibited by the Vandal mech pilots. They learned how to cope with pressure and continue fighting even with the entire galaxy stacked against them! Even as their mechs got banged up or received near-fatal damage, they still fought as if they didn't know how to retreat!

"Our mech pilots aren't ejecting!" Someone in the headquarters yelled.

"The Swordmaiden mech pilots aren't ejecting either!"

The Vandal and Swordmaiden mech pilots collectively came to an accord. They decided to fight to the death in the truest sense of the phrase. They cut off nearly every possibility of ejecting from their mech in favor inflicting maximum damage to their enemy!

Once the Hostland Warriors realized this, their courage flagged a bit. A mech pilot with nothing to lose became an atrocious opponent. They fought twice as hard as normal and traded wounds without any hesitation if the situation called for it! The only instances where they ejected was if their mechs had already become crippled.

"There are still some spare mechs back in camp! Let's board them and go back into the battle!"

The mech pilots of the Hostland Warriors didn't possess the same determination. Since they believed they held the upper hand against their enemy, they never even considered making a pact to fight to the death.

This behavior was far too crazy!

"Hahahaha! Die! Die! Die!"

"Kill them all! If I can take one more Warrior down with me, then I haven't lived my life in vain!"

"Look at the Warrior mechs beginning to hesitate. Are these the Vesians we've been so afraid about? Their courage is not even a tenth of ours!"

"Hahaha! Look at these cowardly Warrior mech pilots pulling the ejection lever when their precious mechs suffer some scratches. Pansies!"

The deadly battle in the center slowly swung in favor of the Flagrant Swordmaidens despite their obvious weaknesses. If the mech pilots of the Hostland Warriors continued to keep their cool, then they might have noticed that their opponents left a lot of openings.

Yet the unmatched aggression of the Vandals and Swordmaidens was like a punch in the face! The disoriented Hostland Warriors were constantly being put on the backfoot. The only reasons why they hadn't collapsed yet was because their discipline forced them to hold out while their resilient mechs bought them a lot of time.

Even though the Flagrant Swordmaidens made a lot of strides in the center, their mechs couldn't entirely keep up.

The Devil Razors especially incurred an increasing amount of battle damage. While their mobility and offensive power more than matched the Hostland Warriors, Mayra hadn't been able to invest in much of their defenses.

The workhorse mechs of the Swordmaidens started falter in their aggression. The accumulated battle damage along with the steady counterattacks of the Hostland Warriors continued to deplete the combat effectiveness of the Devil Razors.

The Silver Valencias were different, and held out longer than their cheaper cousin. Each Swordmaiden piloting a Silver Valencia were all veteran Swordmaidens who possessed a considerable amount of skill. All of them entangled the officers of the Hostland Warriors, preventing them from running wild in their superior mechs and skills.

To Ves, the battle in the center slowly reached a new equilibrium. While the Warriors didn't have an answer against the courage shown by the Flagrant Swordmaidens, they nonetheless trusted their defenses to hold out long enough to wait for a change in conditions.

"They're patient buggers."

"The Vesians are smarter than they look. They know we're going to run out of steam faster when we fight this hard."

Energy expenditure became an increasingly more important factor the longer the battle stretched on. While the Flagrant Swordmaidens possessed more energy reserves, it still took time to withdraw their mechs and replenish their exhausted energy cells.

The problem right now was that the Vandals and Swordmaidens couldn't afford to let up on their push! As long as they withdrew, the Hostland Warriors would lose their constraints and be able to employ advanced formations!

Someone in the command center observed something alarming. "Our ranged mechs are getting pushed back! They're not as skilled as the Warriors!"

The Vandal rifleman mechs couldn't match the Warrior rifleman mechs in quality or skill. The only advantage they held was that they fought without concern for energy, but even this advantage was fleeting because of heat constraints.

Almost every Vandal rifleman mechs ran piping hot at this stage! Steam billowed out of their frames and the mechs all employed their emergency coolants to keep the heat at bay.

Having reached the limits of their heat capacity, the fire rate of their laser rifles abruptly reduced, giving their Warrior counters plenty of room to breathe.

Unlike the Vandal ranged mechs, the Warriors exercised much greater trigger discipline. They always fired their laser rifles steadily in order to pour down a steady amount of lasers in the midst of their enemies.

Each laser beam landed close or on the Vandal mechs with disturbing regularity!

"Their lasers are hammering us like clockwork! They're timing their shots!"

As for the light mechs, the Vandals and Swordmaidens simply weren't able to field as much as the Meandering Monkeys. The Vesian reconnaissance regiment consisted almost entirely of light mechs so possessed a decisive advantage in this area. The number of Vandal and Swordmaiden light mechs reduced at an alarming rate!

The only area in which the defenders gained the advantage was when they employed their heavy mechs. The ten Akkara mechs unloaded laser beam after laser beam at their distant foes. Their steady targeting and prodigious firepower enabled them to down any enemy mech as long as they enjoyed a clear line of sight!

The only problem was that the battle in the center became jam-packed with mechs from both sides. The tight ranks of Swordmaidens and Vandals prevented the Akkara heavy mechs from blasting the enemy center with impunity.

Instead, they split up and supported the faltering flanks with suppressive firepower. While this wasn't the best way to use them, at the very least the sparser flanks precluded the chance that they would hit their own side.

"Thanks for the help, big guys!"

This temporary propped up the flanks of the Flagrant Swordmaidens and prevented them from collapsing.

The pitched battle devolved into a number of stalemates on all fronts. Mechs continued to be downed by the dozens, but at this rate, the losses sustained by the Hostland Warriors threatened to become extremely egregious.

Even if the Vesians won at the end, they would only be able to enjoy a pyrrhic victory! What was the meaning of killing a thousand men but losing eight-hundred men in the process? None of the Hostland Warriors wanted to be part of the eight-hundred men that sacrificed their lives to achieve this victory.

"These Vandals and Swordmaidens are too tenacious!"

"We should regroup!"

This psychological tendency caused the center of the Hostland Warriors to fall back time and time again. Unlike the Flagrant Swordmaidens, they hadn't mentally prepared themselves to fight to the death!

It was at this time that a booming broadcast engulfed the entire battlefield!

"ENOUGH!"

This single word came with such volume and force of will that it practically forced the Swordmaidens to come out of their blood haze. All of the mechs paused for some reason!

The Vandal and Swordmaiden mechs unwillingly took a step back now that they lost their momentum.

The Hostland Warriors in the center split into two as if someone parted a sea. A single, resplendent mech strode forward in the space opened up by the Warrior mechs.

The Warrior mechs acted as if royalty graced their presence. This was not a normal mech!

The Vandal and Swordmaiden mechs on the other hand couldn't help but take a couple of steps back. They felt a faint but unimaginably potent pressure in the back of their minds. Merely glimpsing at the approaching mech caused their instincts to rebel.

Flee!

Run!

Danger ahead!

In the command center at the rear, before anyone asked a question, Ves already spoke up. "The Hostland Warriors brought out an expert mech. This is absolutely not a simple expert mech either!"

The expert mech that emerged wore the regimental colors of the Hostland Warriors with pride. However, it also carried a small amount of embellishment that denoted its extraordinary status.

The exquisite machine was a customized swordsman mech that not only carried a sword, but a small arsenal of auxiliary weapons. However, Ves didn't pay too much attention on its varied loadout or its simple but incredible firm design.

"That expert mech incorporates a huge amount of Rorach's Bone!"

"What?! Isn't that the exotic material all the forces recently fought for at the Glowing Planet?!"

A mech laced with Rorach's Bone was absolutely not a trivial machine! Such a mech gained the ability to regenerate battle damage as long as it had access to a source of energy. The more Rorach's Bone a mech incorporated, the faster and more extensive this regeneration process became.

Usually, a mech that consisted of one or two percent of Rorach's Bone was an extravagant luxury that few forces could afford. Such a ratio already made a mech unkillable over long engagements because they could constantly regenerate their exterior battle damage at the cost of expending some energy cells.

Yet the expert mech that appeared from the rear of the Hostland Warriors paled in comparison to those examples.

Ves simply couldn't believe his eyes at what he saw! Yet all of the sensors pointed in the direction of the expert concurred with his initial impression.

"An entire third of this expert mech consists of Rorach's Bone! It's regeneration abilities are insane!"

The Vandals in the command center didn't understand the magnitude of the situation. This expert mech incorporated so much Rorach's Bone that the Hafner Duchy practically wasted half of its quota of this valuable exotic on a single mech!

This was pure extravagance!

Chapter 886

Ves still remembered the Glowing Planet campaign. A single rogue planet that likely emerged from the galactic heartland or galactic center randomly streaked through the galaxy like it was on a pleasure cruise.

For countless years, no one ever discovered the Glowing Planet coursing through interstellar space. It was actually quite hard to detect planets traveling through the void as they hardly ever leaked any signals.

The Glowing Planet's discovery within the borders of the Bright Republic was a complete coincidence, but the unimaginable amount of wealth contained sent the entire Komodo Star Sector into a frenzy.

The Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom, the two nearest states, only scratched the surface of the unimaginable wealth contained on the planet. Once the Hexadric Hegemony and the Friday Coalition barged in, they claimed over ninety-five percent of all the wealth locked inside the planet.

As of now, all that remained of the Glowing Planet only consisted of loose rubble floating through interstellar space.

Even if the two dominant second-rate states obtained the lion's share of the Glowing Planet's unimaginably valuable minerals and exotics, the Brighters and Vesians at least recovered some scraps.

Rorach's Bone was a genuine high-value exotic material with the consistency of bone. Its regeneration properties made them essential materials in any high-value mech. Even though it cost a lot of energy for them to regenerate battle damage, they naturally drew ambient energy from the air, allowing them to repair delicate components laced with Rorach's Bone as long as some time had passed.

This made them the ideal exotic to use in mechs intended for long deployments in difficult terrain.

However, it would be an enormous waste to employ them in guerilla mechs or the like. Their high value and exceedingly wondrous properties made them far more suitable to be incorporated in expert mechs. Let alone expert mechs, even ace mechs didn't shy away from taking advantage of this great material!

This was because not only would Rorach's Bone be able to grant a mech regenerative properties, it also enormously enhanced its resonant abilities. When alloyed with non-resonant materials and exotics, a small addition of Rorach's Bone allowed them to undergo a huge transformation, granting them resonant properties!

For an expert mech, the higher the proportion of resonating materials, the easier it was for the expert pilot to exhibit stronger resonating abilities.

However, any expert mech would have already gained a decent boost if only 0.1 percent of its material composition consisted of Rorach's Bone. To use up one or two percent would be a generous gift, but elevating the use of Rorach's Bone as the main material for the armor plating, internal frame and all of its core components was extravagant to the extreme!

Ves wanted to puke out blood at the sight of this expert mech from the Hostland Warriors. He didn't believe a single battle mech regiment could afford the consumption of practically half the Rorach's Bone available to an entire duchy. With the same amount of Rorach's Bone, the Hafner Duchy could have outfitted two or three companies of extremely resilient elite mechs.

Such a great number of elite mechs designed for frontline combat would have been a much more versatile use of Rorach's Bone.

That was because if the extravagant expert mech ever got defeated, the Hafner Duchy would suffer an unimaginable amount of losses! Such a devastating injury might even force the current Duke of Hafner to step down!

Yet Lady Amalia somehow managed to convince the Hostland Warriors to bring this extremely expensive mech in her extremely risky jaunt into the deep frontier!

The amount of political capital the lady or her backer expended must have been extremely considerable.

Yet Ves had no doubt that the Vesians considered the price to be worth it, because this expert mech was nearly undefeatable against mundane mechs. Even many expert mechs wouldn't be able to leave a scratch on this mech, including Venerable Xie.

Without sufficient penetration power that could take out the cockpit in a single hit, anyone could forget about defeating this mech! The only other strategy one might be able to deploy was to exhaust its energy cells, but would this expert mech be kind to let its energy reserves be drained?

The more the Vandals heard what Ves had to say about this ridiculously expensive mech, the more they despaired.

"Even if we were still able to field the Pale Dancer, it can't do anything against this mech." Ves decisively declared. "There's no way its upgraded laser rifle can penetrate its self-regenerating armor plating. While Rorach's Bone isn't the toughest material, a laser rifle excels at pouring out a steady amount of damage over time. That's exactly what Rorach's Bone is meant to counter. If we had someone like Venerable O'Callahan piloting a landbound lancer mech, the story would be entirely different."

This also signified that the expert mech that showed wasn't undefeatable despite its profligate use of exotics. Some mech archetypes naturally constrained other types. An expert mech based on Rorach's Bone may seem extremely resilient, but as long as a lancer mech or something charged straight at it with incredible force, it wasn't out of the question for an empowered lance to pierce through all of the Rorach Bone-empowered armor plating and demolish a core component.

Ves looked at some of the sensor readouts and saw that the expert mech openly broadcasted its transponder without any encryption.

The name of the expert mech sounded deceptively simple.

Belisarius.

Such an act practically dared the Vandals to bombard it with laser beams. Yet no one moved at this time. Even the mechs fighting in the flanks separated from each other. Every mech pilot worshipped expert pilots, and the entry of one of their kind compelled everyone to halt.

Not even the Flagrant Swordmaidens dared to disrespect an expert pilot. This was a common fault of all mech pilots and one that extraordinarily frustrated Ves right now.

A mere announcement from the expert mech halted all the momentum the Vandal and Swordmaiden mechs accumulated through blood and sacrifice!

After a long pause, allowing the Vandals and Swordmaidens to drink in the Belisarius, the expert pilot spoke once again. Her voice thundered through the battlefield.

"Flagrant Vandals. We meet again. You have no idea how much I looked forward to our reunion. Do you remember bullying me at Nova Migolatus I?"

How could they not? All of the Vandal mech pilots present on the battlefield participated in the 'simple' mission for the Vesian rebels. Who knew that an expert candidate could be so man eating? Captain Relia Foster not only put up a hellish fight, she also advanced to expert pilot and immediately exhibited forced resonance that forcefully elevated her bog-standard mech into a psuedo-expert mech!

A lot of Vandal mech pilots lost their lives in order to subdue this newly-risen expert pilot. Who knew she bore such a hatred of the Flagrant Vandals that she'd be willing to go all the way to the deep frontier to satisfy her vengeful urges?

Anyone could tell she held an unimaginable amount of animosity towards the Flagrant Vandals. The acidic pressure emanating out of the Belisarius suppressed all of the Vandal and Swordmaidens mech pilots no matter how much armor plating stood in the way.

This was an expert pilot! A demigod capable of performing the impossible!

And this time she wasn't piloting some standard training mech like last time, but a custom designed expert mech utilizing the most expensive materials and exotics the Hafner Duchy had on hand. No amount of expense had been spared to design this extremely formidable expert mech!

The strength of an expert pilot always rose in proportion with the quality of their expert mech. Even if she only advanced to expert pilot for a short time, her low resonance strength didn't hinder the fact that her mech was massively powerful even if she didn't pull off any fancy tricks!

This was literally throwing money at Venerable Foster to forcibly elevate her effective combat power to the upper ranks of expert pilots!

Every Vandal underestimated the amount of importance the Hafner Duchy placed on this young expert pilot! Some even thought they should have demanded double the ransom to return Venerable Foster. At least that way the Hafner Duchy wouldn't have so much resources to spare on developing this obscenely expensive expert mech.

Captain Byrd's rifleman mech calmly stepped out from the reserve ranks. The standard quality of her looted Vesian rifleman mech stood in stark contrast of the Belisarius. The Vandals were always forced to scrape by, and they obtained much of their mechs by raiding Vesian shipping convoys and mech factories.

Almost every Vandal who compared the two mechs lamented at the unfairness of this face-off. Captain Byrd could have exhausted all the batteries of her laser rifle and still not be able to scratch the armor plating of the Belisarius!

Yet Captain Byrd strode out anyway, because her duty compelled her to resist an enemy expert pilot's prestige. The amount of courage it took to confront an expert pilot as a regular pilot must have been considerable, yet she faced the pressure head-on with hardly any visible hesitation.

"Venerable Foster." The Vandal mech officer responded in the open. "What happened in the past is just business. Is there truly a need to show up here when you despicable Vesians assassinated our expert pilot against MTA conventions in the eve of battle?"

Venerable Foster snorted. "What expert pilot? Stop talking fantasy! I see no experts here, not that you cowards ever deserve any. While I'm disappointed at how few Vandals are present here, putting you all to death will be a fine appetizer for what I have in store for the rest of your mech regiment! I will not rest until every pirate and Vandal that crosses my path are dead! On this, I swear!"

The Hostland Warriors echoed her declaration. "Death to pirates! Death to pirates! Death to pirates!"

As a Hafner mech regiment, the Hostland Warriors always detested pirates to the core. The Reinald Republic frequently stirred trouble by disguising highly trained mech pilots as 'pirates' and sending them out on destructive raids across the border.

Therefore, in the eyes of every Hafner mech pilot, the Flagrant Vandals were no different from the Reinald Republic's despicate pretend pirates!

Ves recognized the conviction in Venerable Foster's word. This hatred transcended opinion and became an ironclad belief of hers! When it came to expert pilots, Ves knew more than anyone here how their beliefs and convictions formed the basis of their willpower.

An expert pilot almost never changed their minds when it came to their core convictions! Venerable Foster truly meant what she said when she wanted to annihilate the Flagrant Vandals down to the roots!

As if recognizing that the Flagrant Swordmaidens stood no chance at defeating the Vesians anymore with Venerable Foster's entry, Captain Byrd pleaded for mercy.

"Can you at least promise us to spare the non-combatants after the battle?"

"No." Venerable Foster ruthlessly declared. "Pirates deserve no reprieve. According to all the relevant legal conventions, pirates all deserve to be executed. You can forget about "

This caused all of the Vandals in the command center to adopt ugly faces. They pretty much expected they wouldn't be let off due to the sensitive nature of this mission, but to hear the truth spoken so crassly by a respected expert pilot caused their morale to plummet.

Nonetheless, the rifleman mech piloted by Captain Byrd boldly raised its laser rifle and pointed the muzzle straight at the Belisarius.

"Then only one course of action is left. Even if you claim our lives, we will bleed you Vesians every step of the way. Vandals, fight!"

Commander Lydia's customized Silver Valencia stepped forward as well and pointed its greatsword at the Belisarius. "Swordmaidens, let us fight as well! Show this naive young woman what pirates are really made of!"

Many Vandals let loose an unconscious worry in their hearts. Ves and some of the more suspicious Vandals feared the Swordmaidens would give up or even turn their swords against the Vandals. After all, a shrewd pirate leader such as Commander Lydia wouldn't be resigned to fight a losing battle.

However, the Swordmaidens on the ground faced a dead end in every direction. Venerable Foster's ironclad beliefs left no leeway for pirates at all. Even if the Swordmaidens stabbed the Vandals in the back and knelt down in front of Venerable Foster and begged for mercy, the only outcome would be death!

Chapter 887

The battle resumed the moment Captain Byrd's rifleman mech shot out a laser beam at the Belisarius. Venerable Foster made no moves to dodge the attack and allowed it to splash harmlessly against the surface of her mech.

Out of the varied armament of the Belisarius, Venerable Foster slowly drew out a shortsword in one hand and a compact laser carbine in the other hand.

The heroic bearing of the Belisarius doubled just by wielding this set of weapons!

"Is the Beliarius a hero mech?!"

Strictly speaking, Venerable Foster specialized in piloting swordsman mechs, but a talented expert pilot never limited themselves if they so choose.

This was why a considerable amount of expert mechs broke the strict conventions of their archetypes. As long as enough money supported their design and development, nothing was impossible.

Both Commander Lydia and Captain Byrd began to engage the Belisarius without any hesitation. The custom Silver Valencia raced towards the Belisarius with the tip of its sword pointed straight at the cockpit!

Mayra already told Commander Lydia that the only way to crack open the expert mech's shell was to deliver a devastating piercing attack. However, the Belisarius made a single lazy swipe with its shortsword and neatly deflected the Silver Valencia's greatsword in the most efficient manner possible.

The Silver Valencia almost lost control, but Commander Lydia quickly recovered.

In the meantime, Captain Byrd kept firing laser beam after laser beam at the Belisarius without result.

"Akkara mechs, concentrate on the enemy expert mech!"

The heavy cannoneers hesitated at the thought of attacking an expert mech, but they knew their duty. They unloaded on the Belisarius which showed no signs of trying to evade.

Over forty beams of full-powered laser cannon beams struck the Belisarius head-on! Many of those lasers focused their fire straight at specific portions of the prone mech such as the joints.

No result!

"How can this be?!"

The combined firepower of ten heavy cannoneers proved to be completely insufficient to leave a scratch on the expert mech!

"The Belisarius has already activated its energy field!" Ves spoke. "It's a completely internal energy field that enhances the resilience of its armor plating!"

The armor plating of the Belisarius consisted largely Rorach's Bone. This not only enabled it to regenerate, but also made it extremely easy to resonate with the mech pilot's will. An energy field that empowered the armor of the expert mech

"Captain Byrd, leave this battle to the Swordmaidens." Commander Lydia gritted her teeth over the channel. "We have never feared a greater foe and we will not falter now! Silver Valencias! To me!"

All of the Silver Valencias in the frontline pulled back and rallied to Commander Lydia. The gathering of a dozen or so Silver Valencias made for a very awe-inspiring sight, yet Ves knew that the disparity in skill and mech quality was far too wide for them to pose a threat to the Belisarius.

Yet the Swordmaiden champions still showed courage against these overwhelming odds!

"Fight! Fight as if we're facing the greatest exobeast in the galaxy!"

The Valiant mech pilots of the Silver Valencias overcame their fear towards expert mechs and undoubtedly started to surround the Belisarius. They didn't underestimate the expert mech and adopted tactics geared towards fighting exobeasts.

The Silver Valencias put their mobility and offensive power to good use by darting forward and making a quick sword strike before falling back out of range. Due to the presence of the laser carbine, the Silver Valencias also tried to stay in the expert mech's rear if possible.

For some reason, the Belisarius hardly roused its might. It parried the simultaneous sword strikes with contemptuous ease. It was as if she was an adult slapping away some recalcitrant children.

In the meantime, the other mechs resumed their battle as well. This time, the battle firmly tilted in the favor of the Vesians.

It couldn't be helped. The mere existence of Venerable Foster on the battlefield pressed down on the Flagrant Swordmaidens. Not only had they lost their only expert pilot recently, they also saw how easy the Belisarius withstood so much laser fire.

There was no way they could crack this mech!

While the Swordmaidens drew inspiration from the rabid but largely futile attacks of the Silver Valencias, the Vandals possessed frailer hearts and couldn't help but be affected by the disparity in strength.

As a military mech regiment, they knew better than anyone how the presence of an expert mech skewed the balance of powers. Sometimes, knowing more was not always an advantage! If only they were as ignorant as the Swordmaidens, who still harbored hopes of taking down the Belisarius!

"Our center is being pushed back! There aren't any Silver Valencias to hold back the Warrior mech officers!"

The champions and mech officers of the Hostland Warriors lost the constraints of the Silver Valencias. While the mech officers of the Vandals tried to plug the gaps, the Vandals never possessed many talents in the first place so they simply couldn't make up for the disparity in numbers or skill.

Not only that, the loss of morale among the Vandals imperceptibly slowed their responsiveness. They fought like a deflated balloon, and the difference in battle intent became extremely stark when compared to their Swordmaiden allies.

"You bunch of good-for-nothings!" A Vandal mech officer cursed his subordinates. "Where's your earlier conviction?! Keep fighting! Don't give up! Even if we'll all die, we'll drag down as many Vesians as we can!"

Even if the Vandals gathered their courage and continued to fight, Venerable Foster's presence in the middle of the battlefield served as a form of unbridled suppression that weighed down on all of their hearts.

The fear and respect they held towards expert pilots was simply too huge!

As a bystander who possessed a clear overview of the battle, Ves observed this tendency with clear detail. He discreetly shook his head.

"The worship of expert pilots has always been a double-edged sword."

The battle ramped up around the flanks as well. The rifleman mechs became less affected by the presence of the Belisarius. Right now, they only focused their attention on each other.

The Meandering Monkeys stopped playing around and fought with much greater urgency. It was as if they all wanted to distinguish themselves in Venerable Foster's presence!

While they took much more risks, they also achieved greater results. The Vandal and Swordmaiden light mechs fell in much greater frequency than before, and it would only take about fifteen minutes before the were wiped out!

The clash between light mechs favored the Meandering Monkeys so much that some of them already broke off and tried to harass the center force of the Flagrant Swordmaidens.

Their threats towards the rear threw the ranks of the Vandals and Swordmaidens into slight disarray. It made an enormous difference if they were forced to watch their rear!

All of this accelerated the slow collapse of the center. As Venerable Foster hailed from the Hostland Warriors and still enjoyed the position of mech captain in this mech regiment, their mech pilots fought with greater courage and inspiration.

"Don't shame yourselves in front of our little lassie!"

"Let us prove we can reach Venerable Foster's heights!"

"Venerable Foster has promised an hour of private tutoring for each pirate mech you destroy!"

That last offer practically supercharged the Warrior mech pilots. Nothing was more valuable than personal attention from an expert pilot! The Warriors responded with incredible fanaticism at the thought of their personal idol bestowing their attention on them. How could they not let this chance slip past their fingers?!

"Fight fight fight!"

"They're just pirates!"

"Look at them flustering under our might!"

Even though the reallocation of the Silver Valencias shouldn't have affected the battle in the center that much, the Flagrant Swordmaidens continued to be pushed back time and time again.

The absence of the Swordmaiden champions, the Meandering Monkeys pressing at their rear, and above all else the huge disparity in morale decisively tipped the balance.

The main force of the Flagrant Swordmaidens no longer possessed the power to vanquish the Hostland Warriors grinding against them. They lost too many mechs while the Hostland Warriors mostly managed to hold on by virtue of their coordination and defensive prowess.

The difference in quantity continued to increase, putting more and more pressure on the surviving Vandals and Swordmaidens. Even if they resolved not to eject, they hardly held out longer than if they ejected earlier!

The Belisarius on the other hand started to showcase more of its prowess over time. While Venerable Foster still behaved as if she was fighting against children, the Silver Valencias did not dare to slack off. They put their utmost effort into fighting the Belisarius and did not spare a thought for the consequences!

At some point, the Silver Valencias changed their fighting pattern. Commander Lydia appeared to have issued a drastic order that caused the Silver Valencias to storm at the Belisarius all at once from each direction!

This caused the Belisarius to sweep her shortsword around in a full circle to parry all of the attacks. Yet the moment it did so, the Silver Valencias all released their grips on their greatswords and instead dove in to hold the Belisarius with their limbs.

The Swordmaiden mechs wanted to press down the expert mech!

"Brilliant!" Ves exclaimed. "The strong points of the Belisarius are that it possesses a versatile loadout, its extremely tough and it's capable of self-regeneration. However, a single mech has its limits, and it's impossible for it to possess the power to lift a dozen mechs with its own strength!"

It wasn't easy to increase the mechanical power of a mech. The Belisarius was like a turtle with an unbreakable, self-regenerating shell.

Yet even a turtle could be immobilized as long as someone piled enough rocks on top of its shell!

Yet how could such an extravagantly expensive mech be vulnerable to pileup tactics? Ves already had a bad feeling about this as soon as the Silver Valencias all mobbed the seemingly unprepared Belisarius.

The energy field encompassing its tough exterior caused the Silver Valencias to be corroded at the touch. It was extremely harmful to stay into physical contact with the energy field. The Swordmaidens only hoped that the Belisarius ran out of energy before the mechs pressing down the Belisarius whittled away.

Some of the Silver Valencias attempted to damage the expert mech's gravitic backpack. Even its gravitic backpack was a class of its own, being especially small and thin. Yet the energy field covering it allowed the Swordmaidens no purchase.

The Belisarius started to glow. Ves saw its resonance spiking as Venerable Foster activated one of the special abilities of the mech.

The amount of activity the sensors detected that the Belisarius started to activate a powerful ability!

At this moment, Commander Lydia issued a fatal command. "Silver Valencias, self-destruct!"

At this moment, some portion within the Silver Valencias bloomed and brightened. Just seconds later, they all blew up as their power reactors overloaded!

Ves realized the Silver Valencias had already run their power reactors at the edge of running out of control. Not only that, the Silver Valencias carried many volatile materials that enhanced the explosions!

"Mayra must have planned this from the start." He uttered in amazement.

While it wasn't so unusual to rig a mech to blow, for them to explode with such potency required a lot of specific measures. This couldn't have been prepared on a whim!

The Swordmaidens piloting the Silver Valencias planned to sacrifice their lives from the start!

The huge overlapping blasts came so suddenly that the entire center started to stagnate in their fighting. They waited for the blast to die down and the smoke to drift away.

Had the Swordmaiden champions managed to harm the Belisarius?!

Once the smoke of the simultaneous explosions drifted away, the Belisarius came back into view.

Its laser carbine turned into scrap. It hadn't survived the explosions. Yet besides some scorch marks and some extremely tiny cracks, the Belisarius managed to survive the suicide attacks unscathed!

"No! How can this be?!"

Even the cracks started closing up at visible speed due to the remarkable properties of the Rorach's Bone.

The Belisarius calmly climbed up to its feet. It experimentally tested its range of motion and observed no damage to its limbs. It held out its shortsword and pointed it at the nearest mechs at the center.

"Playtime is over."

Chapter 888

Besides Commander Lydia's personal mech, the Swordmaidens lost all of their Silver Valencias. Their combined suicide attacks subjected the Belisarius to an enormous amount of damage, yet the expert mech hadn't suffered any harm!

From the force of the explosions that the sensors observed, Ves estimated that it should have stood a decent chance at crippling the Pale Dancer. Yet this enormous sacrifice was in vain as the Belisarius only lost its laser carbine.

This time, even the Swordmaidens quaked. This Belisarius was too perverse of a mech!

"This mech can't be stopped!"

Venerable Foster outright ignored Commander Lydia and turned around to storm at the Vandal and Swordmaiden mechs fighting in the center. Like a wolf among sheep, her Belisarius reaped the lives of those she considered pirates without holding much back!

The Belisarius moved with power and gusto, showcasing the power behind its frame. It was not only an unkillable bulwark of a mech, it also possessed enough strength to cut through medium mech armor with a single sweep of its sword!

Venerable Foster felled mechs by the second, paying little attention to what came in the way of her mech. She utilized the most fundamental sword moves instead of any transcendent techniques empowered by resonance.

Nonetheless, her killing efficiency was extremely dreadful as her simple-looking but extremely sharp and sturdy sword cut through every mech even if she slashed through the thickest chest armor portion of a mech!

"Spread out! Don't fight against the Belisarius! Storm the Vesians and take them down with you! For the Republic!"

"For the Republic!"

The Vandals collected themselves and adopted the most appropriate tactic in the face of this indomitable expert mech. Since they couldn't kill the Belisarius even if they threw more than a thousand mechs at it, then they might as well focus on her comrades instead!

The Hostland Warriors faced a renewed offensive as the Vandal mechs suddenly fought as ferociously as the Swordmaidens. While the Warriors became extraordinarily valiant when battling alongside Venerable Foster, the Flagrant Swordmaidens took extreme risks in order to take down their opponents.

Many times, they traded wounds, attempting to down the Warrior mechs at the cost of their own!

More sinisterly, the Vandals and Swordmaidens aimed most of their attacks at the cockpit area! The Hostland Warriors could forget about ejecting from their downed mechs so that they could live to fight another day. The Flagrant Swordmaidens wanted them to bleed!

In ordinary circumstances, mech pilots didn't specifically aim at the cockpits of their opponents due to several reasons. First, depending on their enmity, they didn't wish to escalate the killing. Replacing a mech was just a matter of spending more money, but replacing a trained mech pilot could be inordinately difficult at some times.

Second, mech regiments that gained a reputation for bloodthirstiness easily attracted retaliation. Those who dish it out should always accept that someone else might dish the same in return. Some conflicts never inflicted much casualties on both sides because they formed a gentleman's agreement not to go too far with regards to killing mech pilots.

Third, the cockpit was one of the most protected portions of a mech. The higher the quality of a mech, the higher the degree of protection. In order to win a battle in the most efficient manner possible, a mech pilot only had to disable a mech, and that could be done in easier ways than targeting the cockpit.

However, the war between the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom long surpassed those limits. The unending hatred between the two states led both of them to target the opposite's mech pilots whenever possible.

This was because the manpower for mech pilots only ran so far! The Vandals aiming at the cockpits of their Vesian counterparts knew that they would never be able to survive this battle or its aftermath, so they wanted to make their sacrifices meaningful and contribute to the war effort.

The faster one side began to run short on mech pilots, the closer it came to defeat!

As for the Swordmaidens, they didn't think that much. They merely wanted to prey on the lives of the Warrior mechs because of spite. They never slacked off their killing intent even against rival pirate gangs. The crazier they fought, the more their reputation glowed!

"The battle is going downhill for us." A staff officer announced.

"The Belisarius should have expended a lot of energy, right? How much longer can it fight like this?"

"I estimate that the Belisarius can fight at least an hour or two." Ves analyzed. "The expert mech looks like it is fighting intensely, but in truth it isn't performing at its peak performance right now. In fact, Venerable Foster even halved the strength of her mech's energy field to save energy."

With this decision alone, she basically expressed that she didn't need to be on guard when fighting against the riffraff in her way!

Those in the command center witnessed the frigid battle with fading eyes. They could read the progress of the battle as well as anyone.

They were losing on all fronts. The center rapidly fell apart under the loss of the Silver Valencias and the unrestrained butchering by the Belisarius.

The flanks fared a little better at first, but once the Meandering Monkeys shifted their focus to attacking the Vandal and Swordmaiden rifleman mechs, it all went downhill there as well. The natural opponent of rifleman mechs were exactly these fast and mobile light mechs!

The Akkara heavy mechs tried to relieve the pressure, but even their prodigious firepower couldn't match a tenth of the killing potential displayed by the Belisarius.

In fact, the Akkara mech pilots placed their fingers on the self-destruct button. One of the most depressing jobs that the mech technicians had done over the last few days was to add this option to the heavy cannoneers.

No matter what, the Vesians could forget about salvaging these strategic mechs!

Captain Byrd's projection appeared in the middle of the commander center. Her voice patched in shortly after. She sounded extraordinarily weary even as her rifleman mech contributed to the fighting in earnest.

"The battle is lost. We have lost too many mechs. Even if the Belisarius falls back right now, the rest of the Hostland Warriors and Meandering Monkeys outnumber us three to two, and it is only getting worse. I'm ordering a full evacuation. You know what to do. Don't leave anything left to the Vesians. Split up and run to the Starlight Megalodon. I hope that some of you live to tell the tale of our fall. Don't let the Vesians publicize a one-sided narrative."

When the Vandals looked at Captain Byrd's crestfallen expression, they saw the defeat in her eyes. Hope had faded and the sun had set on the Flagrant Swordmaiden ground forces.

"Captain..." Another staff officer hesitated. "It has been an honor."

Everyone stood up and saluted Captain Byrd's projection. None of them had any complaints about her leadership. The Vandals could only blame their bad luck at encountering the Vesians at this juncture. None of them foresaw they'd meet an indomitable existence like Venerable Foster.

A tragedy always occurred when a force accompanied by an expert pilot clashed against a force without one!

Mech pilots died at extraordinary speed. The Hostland Warriors became profoundly enraged at the Vandal and Swordmaiden mechs for deliberately targeting their cockpits. They didn't show any mercy and crunched any cockpit they encountered! The hatred between the two sides had reached such a heated stage that they cared more about snuffing out lives than downing mechs!

Hundreds of mech pilots from both sides lost their lives, and this was only the start. The Vesians were indeed paying a grievous price even with Venerable Foster's intervention, but the Vandals and Swordmaidens could only look forward to total annihilation!

As soon as Captain Byrd gave the final authorization, the entire camp and supply train began to buzz. While Ves and many other Vandals downloaded the records of the battle to his comm, others started scuttling valuable equipment and supplies.

Numerous detonations wracked the camp as databanks, 3D printers and other highly valuable machinery got blown to bits! The Flagrant Swordmaidens also prime more powerful explosives and set them up as nasty surprises for any Vesians that came close.

Hundreds of Vandals and Swordmaidens boarded fast transports prepped for evacuation. Fast transports with empty cargo holds all spread out and entered the red zone while marching at full tilt. While these vehicles would likely break down very soon due to being subjected by the red zone's strong breakdown effect, the head-start they provided the passengers might allow them to reach the Starlight Megalodon before the Vesians got around to catching up.

As for the heavy transports, they were way too slow to escape any pursuit. Each of them blew up in quick succession as pre-planted explosives did their work in scrapping them entirely.

Throughout all of these explosions, Ves quickly ran out of the temporary headquarters with a pack slung behind his Earth Ant. He ran over all the way to the Swordmaiden side of the camp and pushed his way through the dazed crowd of evacuating slaves.

The Swordmaidens idly sent the slaves packing and ordered them to run in each direction. With thousands of slaves spreading out, the Vesians would have to expend a considerable amount of manpower in chasing them all down. This increased the chances of the Vandals and Swordmaidens of reaching the safe zone.

"Ketis, where are you! It's time to go!" Ves yelled as soon as he entered a familiar workshop.

Mayra and Ketis faced off against each other. Both of them appeared in their fully armed and armored. The only difference was that Ketis prepared a pack of supplies while Mayra seemed resigned to the situation.

"Why are you so obstinate?! Please go with us! You still have a chance of making it out!" Ketis pleaded.

"I'm old, Ketis. You're young and still full of life, but I'm already past the prime of my age."

"That's a crap argument! You can easily live sixty more years!"

Mayra shook her head. She gazed at Ketis with sadness and love. "I have already lived a life of adventure alongside Commander Lydia. I'm tired. I don't want to run anymore. I'll take my chances with the Vesians. They won't easily ignore the value of a Journeyman Mech Designer who isn't registered with the MTA. Even if the Vesians sentence me to death, I have no regrets."

As Ketis puffed up and prepared a response, Ves placed his gauntlet on her shoulder armor. "Stop it. Mayra made her choice. Please respect her wishes and go along her arrangements. She only wishes the best for you."

Tears streaked from her eyes. "I don't want what's best for me! I want what's best for us!"

"I want that as well, but we can't have everything. We're simply not powerful enough to change this circumstance."

Ketis gritted her teeth and squeezed the tears out of her eyes. "What will it take to save everyone's lives?"

"Become more powerful. Advance your mech designer rank. Once you become a Master, you only need to utter a single sentence to save someone's life or condemn them to death."

Ves exaggerated, of course. Even Master Mech Designers possessed foes, and each of their actions came with considerable weight.

Yet his words succeeded in stoking the fire of ambition in Ketis. He specifically threw out those words to motivate her to greater heights. She would forever recall this disaster and use it as a reminder to grow stronger!

Mayra threw a sharp glance at Ves, but she tacitly consented to his trick. "Listen to Ves. Follow him. I know not what kind of escape route he arranged, but it is better than running around blindly."

Even though they never became close, both Mayra and Ves respected each other due to their shared profession. They never exhibited any rivalry and neither did they take their rank differences into account.

Nonetheless, Ves felt extraordinarily honored to have received her recognition.

"I promise to take good care of your protege. She will surely live on!"

Chapter 889

Ves and Ketis ran out of the workshop with their packs slung behind their backs. The Swordmaiden mech designer attached the floating scabbard that usually floated after her on her back this time.

Caught up in their panic, fear of death and gleeful vandalism, the Vandals and Swordmaidens around them didn't notice the odd pairing. Those who left instinctively grouped up but didn't really care about who they fled with. Others didn't bother about running and resolved to wreck as much gear as possible.

"Run, brothers! Live on and tell our tale! Don't let our mech regiment forget about our sacrifice!"

The centuries of hatred fermenting between the Brighters and the Vesians along with the sensitive nature of the mission insured that few would live past this day. Perhaps in civilized space the two sides didn't dare to go too far, but out here in the deep frontier the Vesians anything could happen.

A lot of servicemen and pirates already evacuated beforehand on the fleeing fast transports. Though they wouldn't make it far into the red zone, they still hoped to reach the fabled safe zone.

Nonetheless, plenty still remained behind to perform some final errands. They also figured that the Vesians would pursue the fast transports first. They gambled upon fleeing in a neglected direction and use their field craft to hide their presence from Vesian pursuers. The hilly, craggy, half-broken and complex terrain in the red zone easily allowed small figures to squeeze through the cracks and hide themselves from most scanners.

With so many Vandals and Swordmaidens fleeing in the red zone, Ves figured there might be a decent chance for a handful of them to make it to the Starlight Megalodon. No matter what, the intense breakdown effect and the interference in the air enormously complicated any searches.

"Where are we going?!" Ketis asked as she followed after Ves.

"The third party I've contacted is waiting for us at a specific location! Let's hurry up because she won't linger around forever!"

Both of them jogged out of the collapsing camp and headed into the red zone at an angle. They avoided the straightest route towards the Starlight Megalodon and instead honed in on the outer edge.

Not many Vandals and Swordmaidens fled towards this direction as it didn't bring them towards the safety of the red zone.

Right now, the mechs of the Flagrant Swordmaidens no longer maintained their combat cohesiveness. The Hostland Warriors and Meandering Monkeys surrounded them in order to annihilate them to the last mech.

Some of the Meandering Monkeys already turned towards the enemy camp. Their approach was only a matter of time!

"It's here!" Ves said after they ran for ten minutes straight. "Calabast! Where are you!"

A stealthed vehicle emerged into view. It consisted of a small, slim aircar-sized crawler. Six sturdy legs supported a narrow chassis.

Ves immediately recognized the exquisite application of stealth technology. The Six-Sided Dice he jointly developed with Chief Avanaeon was like a horse cart in front of this crawler in terms of stealth refinement!

A hatch opened up, revealing Miss Calabast sitting behind the controls. "Get in quick! The Meandering Monkey mechs are already surrounding the perimeter. The sooner we go the smaller the chance we get caught!"

While Ketis looked stunned at the appearance of the stealth crawler, Ves shoved her inside and squeezed in after her. The interior of the crawler obviously underwent some hasty modifications. The rear portion of the interior should have held a crash seat or the like, but someone crudely cut away the fittings in order to make room.

Even then, Ketis and Ves barely fit in the rear! Their armor pressed and chafed against each other as they tried and failed to get comfortable. Ketis even had to detach her scabbard and place it on her lap at an awkward angle to make room. The crawler had never been designed to accommodate more than two people!

"I see now why you said we couldn't bring Mayra along." Ketis uttered with barely any emotion. "If this vehicle was bigger..."

"Sorry doll, but this stealth crawler is a state-of-the-art all-terrain infiltration vehicle." Miss Calabast said from the front. Garbed in her semi-flexible reinforced infiltrator suit, she looked completely out of place from the passengers wearing rigid combat armor. "To be frank, we only ever use this crawler to sneak in or extract solo operatives. It's capacity may not be much, but its stealth systems are top-notch. Bigger isn't always better!"

As someone who studied stealth technology from the ground up, Ves knew what she meant. The larger the vehicle, the more energy and processing power required to sustain active stealth.

A crawler like this was obviously designed to minimize all possible forms of emissions on land. A stealth shuttle may be faster and possess more reach, but the disturbance thrown up in the air by a passing vehicle in flight was a lot harder to cover up.

Obviously, its long but narrow profile was a deliberate design feature. The small size of the crawler also allowed it to squeeze through narrow terrain features or even smaller alleyways. Stealth vehicles stereotypically consisted of broad, squat shuttles so a crawler like this fell out of most people's expectations.

"What's this vehicle called?" He asked with evident curiosity in his voice. "Who designed this crawler?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." Miss Calabast smirked.

Evidently, she knew more but kept her mouth shut. This crawler was a highly sophisticated stealth vehicle designed by a considerably powerful organization. Calabast didn't dare to mention any names because that might allow someone to trace its origins.

The crawler engaged its stealth systems again and began to plod slowly into the red zone. Ves noticed that the crawler moved fairly briskly under a complete antigrav field.

"Isn't it risky to run a full antigrav field? Any mech with a decent set of gravitic sensors will be able to detect its presence." Ves questioned.

Miss Calabast nonchalantly shrugged. "Relax, Ves. This crawler has a lot of capabilities. Combined with the interference, a mech has to come within a kilometer to be able to detect anything amiss. That's plenty of time for me to deactivate the field. We'll have to endure the heavy gravity head-on when that's the case, so I suggest you lie down."

That was easier said than done. Ves and Ketis barely squeezed together in a sitting position due to their bulky armor. In order to lie down, they needed to lay on top of each other, which neither of them wanted to do!

As the crawler went underway, a raft of emotions flitted through Ketis. She became increasingly distressed at the implications of this defeat. Many of her sisters would surely lose their lives! Mayra's fate remained unknown and her possible death cast an enormous shadow over her heart.

Ves tried to exercise some self-control. He adopted a rigid expression in order to avoid giving any ammunition to the extremely perceptive Calabast.

Still, he couldn't slow down the fluctuations of his heart.

The Flagrant Vandals were his comrades as well. Even though he never held a permanent position within the mech regiment, Ves spent too much time among them to remain detached. He held a considerable amount of respect for the likes of Captain Byrd, Chief Dakkon and Dr. Tillman.

The thought of their imminent capture and execution weighed heavily on his mood. He felt profoundly helpless that a mech designer like him was absolutely powerless in the face of superior Vesian might.

Just like Ketis, Ves yearned to obtain the power to protect those he cared about! He did not want to repeat this miserable experience ever again.

The battle between mechs only involved a thousand mech pilots at most, but the support personnel added up to ten-thousand men and women. The outcome of the battle affected all of their lives, condemning them to death no matter how hard they fought back.

This was the tragedy involving battles between mechs! Once a side lost its capability to field mechs, they no longer possessed the power to resist their enemy's predation!

The strong devoured the weak, and on a battlefield like this, there was nothing stronger than a mech. Even after incurring all of those losses, the Hostland Warriors and Meandering Monkeys each retained more than a hundred functional mechs each.

Just this might was more than enough to sweep away most of the fleeing Vandals and Swordmaidens!

"Why did you choose to bring me along?" Ketis suddenly asked, interrupting the tense silence in the crawler. "You're a Brighter, right? Why not choose to rescue on of your own?"

Ves asked this question to himself many times. When Miss Calabast initially consented to his request of bringing along an extra, he spontaneously settled on Ketis.

Why?

Frankly speaking, while Ves considered Ketis his student and his friend, properly speaking the Vandals belonged to his own side. Why did he decide to skip over his own brothers and sisters?

As a Novice Mech Designer with a patchy foundation, Ketis possessed no value to Ves. What she could do, Ves could do better. Besides her considerable swordsmanship and combat prowess, she added nothing to the table.

On the other hand, if Ves extended the invitation to someone else, he might have been able to gain more confidence in their survival. Bringing someone like Chief Dakkon along enormously enhanced their technical prowess. A chief engineer specialized in the operation of starships, so Chief Dakkon would have been the perfect companion to accompany Ves and Miss Calabast into a battleship.

Opting to rescue someone like Dr. Tillman on the other hand plugged a very crucial gap in understanding the local life. With all of the deliberate genetic modification going on, they would certainly encounter biological horrors along the way. One of the biggest reasons why the ground forces of the Flagrant Swordmaidens achieved significant success was because they managed to research some of the mysteries surrounding the wildlings and the god species.

Nonetheless, Ves didn't forget about the initial exploration party and the follow-up party of mechs and transports. If Miss Calabast didn't lie about the safe zone, then there was a good chance he'd be able to reunite with the Vandals and Swordmaidens cut off from the rest.

After a long and obvious pause, Ves finally answered the question. "I guess I care about you more than the Vandals. I think you hold a lot of promise as a mech designer. It's a shame for you to land in the clutches of the murderous Vesians."

Ketis may be a mech designer, but she was also a Swordmaidens who fully embraced their traditions. Her extensive genetic modification changed her outward appearance and strengthened her beyond the baseline human norm. To the undiscerning Hafner mech pilots, they would certainly paint her in the same brush as depraved pirates such as the Red Tongs. Her fate wouldn't be good.

Yet that didn't sound like a sufficient reason for Ves to opt to take her along. In truth, Ves simply couldn't explain it. The thought of picking anyone else over Ketis just felt wrong to him. Why was he being so irrational about this momentous decision? It felt as if he couldn't exert control over this aspect.

No amount of logic and rationality could defeat his feelings on this matter!

Miss Calabast smirked behind the controls, but she refrained from fanning the flames.

As the crawler slowly trod deeper into the red zone, Ves tried to distract his attention away from this unexplainable conundrum. He'd rather talk shop than talk about his feelings.

"We're venturing straight into the heart of the red zone right? Won't this technologically-advanced stealth crawler break down very quickly?" Ves asked.

Miss Calabast shrugged. "I never intended for us to make it all the way across in this crawler anyway. Rest assured, there are still ways for us to circumvent the Vesian search parties when we are forced to go on foot. Don't forget that the Vesians are subject to the same effects as well. They only developed a limited amount of mechs that are resistant to the destructive environmental effects, and they'll be keeping their eyes peeled on much more visible stragglers. As long as we make a decent effort at hiding our emissions, their impaired sensors won't be able to pick us up."

That didn't sound very reassuring, but it was better than nothing.

Chapter 890

A day quietly passed while the stealth crawler traversed the rough terrain. Due to the highly uneven elevation and the crawler's many limitations, the vehicle only traversed twenty kilometers or so. They still had four days ahead if the crawler made it all the way through.

"Strange." Miss Calabast muttered behind the controls. "While some of the parts are already starting to creak, it's not deteriorating as fast as I thought. I think we can make it at least two-thirds of the way before we have to abandon the crawler."

This sent Ves into thought. Did he somehow extend the same immunity against the breakdown effect towards the crawler? It still sounded as if the range of this immunity field wasn't all that extensive, as the crawler still suffered from a shortened lifespan.

Nonetheless, the longer the three occupants rode the stealth crawler, the less they needed to worry about traversing the red zone on foot.

The rear compartment truly didn't offer Ves and Ketis much room to settle in. Only after an extensive amount of squirming did they manage to settle into a somewhat comfortable half-leaning position.

No one entered into conversation. The shock of losing the battle and the trauma of losing their comrades affected Ves and Ketis profoundly. The only person who didn't care about the final fate of most of the Vandals and Swordmaidens calmly piloted the stealth crawler.

She needed to put her full attention on navigating through the complex terrain. Not only did she need to be attentive about encountering gaping crevices and sheer cliffs, she also needed to keep her senses peeled against highly corrosive and radioactive craters.

The closer they got to the Starlight Megalodon, the denser the hazards in their way. The fighting that occurred in the past left very few traces behind. Ves occasionally spotted remnants of ancient mechs and other pieces of corroded equipment scattered among the terrain.

He zoomed in on them with the crawler's screen projection and attempted to figure out the properties of the remnants. He wanted to understand what exactly went on all those years ago, but so far he found little clues. Some infighting occurred between the survivors of the Starlight Megalodon, but what did they fight for and why did their differences became so heated that they didn't hesitate to come to blows?

"You're not going to find out anything no matter how intently you stare at the remains." Miss Calabast remarked without turning back her head. "My operatives attempted to decipher the history behind the traces left behind by that ancient battle, but too much time has passed. Time wipes away all traces. The only way you can ever uncover the truth of what happened so long ago is to dig it out from the Starlight Megalodon."

It seemed the battleship held every answer. The reason for the mission, the justification for all the sacrifices and the truth of Aeon Corona VII's grand design.

"You know something, do you, Calabast?" Ves tried to fish for information again. "Since you went through all this effort to retrieve me from the sinking ship of the Vandals and the Swordmaidens, can you tell me now why you need my help?"

"Patience, Ves. All will be explained in due time. There is no need to go into the details right now."

"Can you at least tell me if it has to do with designing mechs? I'd like to know the answer so I can mentally prepare myself."

Miss Calabast threw a brief glance behind her shoulder. "It's a little complicated, but you will definitely be required to demonstrate your design abilities. The better you are, the higher the chances of success. Rest assured that I won't skimp out on the rewards as long as you put in your full effort."

Ves frowned at that. "If it's design ability that you need, why didn't you approach Mayra of the Swordmaidens? She's a bona fide Journeyman Mech Designer."

"She's a woman." Calabast shrugged. "What I need is a man."

Ketis shot up at that, causing both her and Ves to jostle in the rear compartment. "Hey! What is that supposed to mean?!"

"It's exactly what it sounds like, kid. There are strict identity requirements. A woman won't do. Out of all the available mech designers in the vicinity, little Ves here ranks at the top of the list."

Neither Ves nor Ketis understood Calabast's intentions.

However, Ketis still felt indignant that this inscrutable spy passed over a highly capable mech designer like Mayra in favor of a much younger Ves. If Calabast approached Mayra, then Ketis might not have lost her mentor.

She adopted a pained expression as she stared daggers at Calabast. The spy took no notice of the girl, dismissing her as an inconsequential passenger.

Ves understood he wouldn't be able to milk any information from someone as shrewd as Miss Calabast. The woman only released information that she wanted him to know, and nothing more. His intuition always warned him that this woman constantly weaved truths with lies, and she did it with such a deft fashion that even the most advanced lie detector would be thrown into confusion.

The matter of her allegiance still nagged at Ves. It was like a discordant noise hitting his ears that just didn't go away.

Who did she work for? What was her position? How did she arrive at Aeon Corona VII?

Too many questions of this nature lingered in his mind, and Ves had the feeling that he was overlooking something huge the longer he was ignorant of her true loyalties.

Even the technology and gear that Calabast bandied about didn't reveal anything about her origin. The stealth crawler and reinforced infiltrator suit seemed to be a bit too advanced to be supplied by an intelligence agency of a third-rate state, but they were also somewhat underwhelming for an intelligence agency of a second-rate state.

Ves couldn't even rule out if she was an agent from another star sector or even from a trans-galactic organization.

Naturally, none of the gear she used displayed any brands or symbols. Ves doubted he could even find a single serial number even if he disassembled the entire stealth crawler.

A slight rumbling rattled the compartment. A beep sounded out from the control panel.

"Incoming enemy mech! Hold on, we're hunkering down!" Miss Calabast warned.

She quickly guided the stealth crawler against a small cliff that blocked it from view from many directions. The crawler folded and restricted its six insectile legs and turned its stealth systems up another notch while deactivating every non-essential systems.

The moment the vehicle secured itself against the ground, Miss Calabast leaned back on her chair, causing it to press against the passengers of the back. Only then did she slowly dial down the antigrav field until it faded away entirely.

Painful moans escaped from Ketis. Six times standard gravity pressed down on their bodies without any discrimination.

Surprisingly, Ves didn't feel too much pain, though he still suffered from the discomfort. The interior of the stealth crawler simply didn't offer enough room for the three of them! The increase in gravity only amplified their suffering, but everyone tried to bear it in their own way.

Both Calabast and Ketis seemed surprised that Ves didn't show any signs of further pain and discomfort. They figured him to be a weak-bodied mech designer. His transhuman physique came in handy this time.

Ketis suffered the most, but her genetic modifications allowed her to hang on without fainting or suffering any other ill effects.

As for Calabast, she showed nothing but stoic determination at their circumstances. It was as if the heavy gravity formed a minor hindrance to her. Ves was really curious to know how far her body's parameters exceeded the baseline human norm.

No one asked each other's secrets, though. Everyone bore the heavy gravity in total silence, as if afraid that a single word might attract the attention of the enemy mech.

Only a handful of passive sensors remained active, allowing those inside the crawler to see a glimpse of the mech hunting for stragglers.

As soon as the mech came into view, Ves and Ketis widened their eyes. "That's the Belisarius!"

The appearance of Venerable Foster's expert mech shook the both of them. This was a supremely advanced mech with the power to withstand the attacks of several mech companies at a time!

Yet it was also a highly complex mech that incorporated countless advanced system. How could it recklessly appear in the red zone where the breakdown effect did its best to wreck all kinds of technology?

The dreaded Belisarius walked out into view and held a new laser carbine in a casual grip. It seemed that Venerable Foster was leisurely hunting for pirates.

Miss Calabast sighed. "I can't believe the two of you are so blind. Think about what the Belisarius is made of. Are you still surprised that it's able to function this close to the Starlight Megalodon?"

"Rorach's Bone!" Ves uttered. This wondrous exotic's main property was to bestow regenerating properties to anything it's blended with. "A normal mech accumulates an increasing amount of stresses and faults that will slowly cascade into a mechanical breakdown. Yet a mech like the Belisarius is constantly repairing those stresses and faults as soon as they pop up, preventing them from building up to a breakdown!"

Ketis looked dazed at that revelation. "Isn't that a massive cheat? That's so unfair! How can a mech like this show up on Seven! None of our breakdown-proof mechs can last a single second against the Belisarius!"

The magnitude of this revelation stunned Ves and Ketis as they continued to think over the implications. Such a mech being able to operate in the red zone with impunity would be able to stomp over any other mech no matter how well they were designed.

That was because the Belisarius wasn't bound by the limitations imposed by the environment!

The only entities that could ever stand a chance against the Belisarius was a sacred god. This wasn't good news for the Flagrant Swordmaidens that went in first. Qilanxo may be a powerful sacred god, but her abilities leaned towards defense. A capable expert pilot like Venerable Foster wouldn't be so stupid to let the lumbering Qilanxo whack the Belisarius with its limbs.

"Don't worry." Miss Calabast soothed them. "While I'm not too clear on the details of the safe zone, it's not so easy to shake off its shackles. Even if the Belisarius steps inside the range of the Starlight Megalodon, the battleship will surely restrict it from massacring those already inside."

"How do you know that?" Ves asked pointedly as the Belisarius continued to search the surroundings without any result. "You're quite well-informed about what is going on over there."

Miss Calabast grinned despite the deathly threat roaming just a few hundred meters away. "It's my job to know things, kid. You may be someone of some stature in the mech industry, but you have no idea what someone in my field is capable of. The secrets of the Starlight Megalodon aren't completely inaccessible to me. You just need to have the right capabilities."

She had a point. Ves knew little to nothing about spycraft or whatever Miss Calabast specialized in. He did not have an affinity for this kind of murky business.

Yet his continued entanglement in these matters prompted him to do something about this deficiency. He realized that if he ever wanted to go anywhere in the future, he would need to recruit someone who could take care of these matters on his behalf.

The idea of forming a shadow force as a hidden counterpart to his personal force gained a higher priority. Still, even the best-laid plans could go to waste without a good leader at the helm. After all of his ordeals, Ves knew that selecting the right people for the right position mattered enormously.

Where could he find a trustworthy spy to lead his shadow force in the future?

And did a trustworthy spy even exist in the first place?

Chapter 891

The Belisarius didn't linger for long. For all of its amazing capabilities, the mech designers who developed this extravagantly expensive mech focused their full efforts on enhancing its direct battle capabilities.

While Ves guessed that it possessed some stealth detection capabilities, the mech likely didn't excel in this area. It was also a question whether Venerable Foster activated those systems in the first place, as they drained a considerable amount of energy.

The scavenger-like Flagrant Vandals shouldn't have access to stealth vehicles anyway.

Twenty tense minutes went by as the Belisarius slowly drifted out of sight. Even then, the occupants waited for two full hours until Miss Calabast finally lifted the lockdown. The stealth crawler climbed back up its legs and its antigrav modules began to emit an antigrav field that covered the entire vehicle.

After cautiously emerging from their hiding spot and scanning their surroundings, Miss Calabast finally felt relieved enough to resume their journey to the Starlight Megalodon.

Over the next couple of days, the stealth crawler occasionally bumped into Vesian search parties. They never encountered the Belisarius again, but they did stumble upon the Hostland Warrior version of a breakdown mech.

"Seems they have the same idea as Mayra back then." Ves noted as they uncomfortably hunkered inside the unmoving stealth crawler. Calabast always deactivated the antigrav modules during these instances. Nonetheless, that didn't stop Ves from dissecting the breakdown-proof mech the Hostland Warriors cobbled up. "Seems to be a tiger mech. While it consumes a bit more power, it's also capable of pouncing with greater strength than Mayra's Asteria design. What do you think, Ketis?"

Mentioning Mayra briefly caused Ketis to flicker with pain, but she bravely suppressed her sorrow.

Ves did not wish for Ketis to get bogged down by her regrets. He deliberately pushed her to use her mech design ability to use in order to keep her from wallowing in her darker thoughts.

"The tiger mech they designed shows that the Vesians aren't too worried about power consumption. Did they manage to reverse engineer the Vandal attempts at developing a god crystal generator?"

That would be extremely bad news if the Vesians cracked the secret. Didn't Chief Dakkon insure all of the god crystal generators would be dismantled. The Vandals also arranged their god crystals to be rendered useless by infecting them with the polluting energies of their murky crystal.

By all rights, the Vesians shouldn't have been able to reconstruct a god crystal generator.

"The Vesians brought a lot more power generators along than your expedition." Miss Calabast threw out. "While it doesn't match the output of your god crystals, it still leaves them with a sufficient amount of energy to empower their specially-designed tiger mechs."

The Vesians came better prepared, in other words. They didn't possess the same urgency to develop an alternative source of power as the Flagrant Swordmaidens.

Ves pointed out another pertinent fact. "We also have to take into account that the earlier battle downed a lot of mechs on both sides. Even if the Vesians are able to salvage and restore a hundred of so mechs, they'll still be left with fewer mechs than they started with. The damage our mechs had dealt on their mechs but especially mech pilots is extremely considerable. This means their total energy expenditure is also lower than before."

Now that the Vesians defeated their strongest rivals, anyone else that reached the edge of the red zone stood no chance against their martial prowess. The presence of the Belisarius alone provided them with an absolute advantage against the ramshackle pirate and private sector outfit mechs that managed to make it this far. They essentially didn't have to worry about the competition threatening their absolute hold over the edge of the red zone.

This problem quietly concerned Ves over the days. He couldn't figure out how he'd be able to escape this planet without relying on Calabast's assistance. Though Ves found her to be an amiable woman so far, there was no telling when she'd stab him in the back.

If there was anything he learned these days, it was that he should always prepare an escape route if things went sour. Right now, Ves felt immensely stifled by the fact that he only had her promises to go on when it came to evacuating from this planet.

It was impossible for him to cross tens of thousands of kilometers on this heavy gravity planet! Even if he devolved into a savage like a wildling and lived off the land, he would still take ten years or more to cross this vast distance.

For better or worse, his only hope lay in Calabast keeping her word. Ves hated relying verbal promises, especially since he was the disadvantaged party in this exchange, but what could he do?

Fortunately, Miss Calabast seemed to need his services for some reason so he still possessed some leverage. The problem for Ves was what would occur after she got what she wanted.

Even with the unfathomable immunity that Ves exerted against the breakdown effect, the stealth crawler finally gave up the ghost on the fourth day. Due to all the delays, they still needed to traverse thirty more kilometers to reach the safe zone.

It sounded like a day or two of walking away, but the craggy and hazardous terrain meant the final stretch was an arduous journey.

"Without the stealth crawler's maneuvering capabilities, we'll be lucky to cross this distance in four days." Miss Calabast sighed as she slipped her own pack over her shoulder. She brought a lot more supplies than Ves or Ketis. "What are you waiting for? Let's move!"

Ves still stared at the broken down vehicle and itched to take it apart. If he could study some of its stealth mechanisms, his understanding of this field might make a small leap.

"Going on foot is rather dangerous with all of the hazards in our way." He said. "Just the residual radiation alone can partially penetrate our suits. Isn't it better to have this vehicle shielding us? Let me try and repair it. I think I can get it up and running in two hours."

"It's wrecked." Calabast declared. "I may not be a technician, but it's quite clear that there's no way you can repair this crawler with handheld tools!"

"You won't know if I don't try. You may be an awesome superspy or something, but you don't know what a mech designer is capable of. We're not limited to tinkering around with mechs." He grinned.

Miss Calabast showed some discomfort at his argument. She said something similar a few days ago, and now Ves used that same argument against her. The only thing Ves didn't know was if she was pretending to be upset or if she was actually upset.

"Ves has a touch with machines." Ketis vouched for him. She even gave him a thumbs up. "C'mon, let's give it a try. I'm not looking forward to crossing this terrain on foot at all. Not only will it slow us down, but we'll be in huge trouble if our gravitic backpacks start failing."

The breakdown effect only grew stronger the closer they got. Merely staying in this spot for a week would probably wreck their gravitic backpacks for sure if the strange immunity field didn't play a role.

Calabast showed some actual doubt now. "One hour. No more. We can't linger here for long. The crawler is too exposed now that we can't engage its stealth systems."

That wasn't good enough for Ves. Even if he couldn't fix the stealth crawler, he still wanted to study its inner workings to deepen his understanding on how to apply stealth tech. It wasn't every day he came across a mostly-intact stealth vehicle!

"Two hours." He said firmly. "No less. I won't step away before that no matter what happens. You'll have to pry me from this stealth crawler if you want to leave too soon."

Ves and Miss Calabast stared at each other's eyes. He may not be able to fathom Calabast's depths, but when it came to mechs and machines, he firmly held his ground.

After half a minute of staring, Calabast acquiesced first. She let out a deep breath and shook her head. "Friggin' mech designers. You lot always slobber over shiny pieces of tech. You're worse than dogs chasing after bones in that regard. Fine! Two hours it is, but you better get this piece of junk back to work!"

He didn't bother thanking her for the opportunity and set down his pack. He pulled out some tools and placed them on the rocky soil in order to have them ready.

"Ketis, come and assist me. We don't have any bots at our disposal that can lift any stuff, so I'll have to ask you to do that in their stead."

"Are you equating me to a bot?!" She yelled.

"You can look at what I'm doing when you're not lifting anything. I'll even explain some things."

Her mood immediately swung around. "Oh, why didn't you say so? Can you teach me how this stealth stuff works?"

"That's not something you can pick up on a single day. Even I needed a month of study to decipher the basics. Still, I can teach you some principles. It's up to you whether you understand the gist."

He proceeded to lift his multitool from a slot in his Earth Ant in order to open up the engine compartment.

It took half an hour to partially disassemble the stealth crawler. This phase took quite long because the measly tools that Ves had at his disposal slowed down the process. He frequently needed to assist Ketis in lifting up some of the heavier components as well.

When Ves saw the guts of the stealth crawler for the first time, he sighed in admiration. While the vehicle was by no means a mech, the internal architecture looked like a highly-optimized piece of work.

"A team of experts must have designed this stealth crawler." Ves uttered in admiration. "There's little individuality left in its design, but all of its capabilities are brought to their most optimal state."

Miss Calabast crossed her arms. "What does that matter? Just get this crawler back to working condition!"

The stealth crawler didn't possess any X-Factor or any notable spirituality. Its design flavor leaned towards efficiency and reliability rather than power or performance. These traits reminded Ves of Master Olson, but he didn't recognize her in this work.

A team of highly capable vehicle designers should have designed this craft. Ves did not detect any principles associated with mechs. Unfortunately, the clean and efficient design left almost no unique design flairs that Ves could have used to trace down its origins.

No matter. Ves wasn't out to figure out where it came from and who designed this craft.

He slowly identified the major problems that prevented the stealth crawler from continuing to traverse the terrain. The highly compact engine was one of the major weaknesses of this vehicle. The power reactor also exhibited some problems.

None of those obvious problems hindered him in any way. Ves only worried about about the problems he might have missed.

Still, he didn't forget what he came for. Besides inspecting the components responsible for moving the stealth crawler, Ves also meticulously studied the parts related to its stealth capabilities.

"Look at this part! This is the good stuff!"

When he felt somewhat generous, he pointed at a specific component and explained to Ketis what they did and how they did it. When broken down this way, it was a lot easier to explain to her how stealth vehicles worked.

Miss Calabast on the other hand threw her hands up at all of the technical jargon being thrown around. She left the mech designers to their devices and opted to patrol the surrounding area. It would be disastrous if a Vesian mech snuck up to them while they were out in the open.

Two hours later, Ves and Ketis neatly assembled the stealth crawler back together. Despite their lack of heavy-duty tools, Ves easily managed to perform some patchwork repairs.

While it didn't restore the crawler to its peak condition by any means, it shouldn't be a problem to rely on it for another day or two.

"Here you go, Calabast. Two hours, no more, no less."

"It better work." She grumbled.

Surprisingly, the stealth crawler came online without any major hindrances. Ves successfully repaired the vehicle!

Chapter 892

Ves obtained a lot of gains from his brief two-hour study. He learned a bit more on how the stealth crawler managed to hide itself from detection.

More importantly, however, Ves also managed to deduce the weaknesses of this application of stealth tech. More than that, he also deciphered some of the holes that circumvented these means.

These loopholes not only worked on the stealth crawler, but any other application of stealth that worked on the same technological principles. Ves guessed with a high degree of confidence that the infiltrator suits that Calabast and her operatives made use of shared the same principles!

As long as Ves tuned his stealth detector gadget with settings that exploited these loopholes, it might very well be possible for him to detect Calabast and her invisible bastards when they thought they were sneaky.

This gain may very well exceed his other gains. To be frank, Ves didn't learn all that new in terms of theory, but his insights in how to apply his knowledge on stealth tech made considerable leaps.

In any case, fortune blessed their journey as the stealth crawler made it all the way to the presumed border of the safe without a hitch.

They weren't alone.

The Vesian breakdown-proof mech pretty much parked themselves around perimeter to catch any Vandal or Swordmaiden stragglers that miraculously made it all the way through. They truly made a lot of effort in trying to prevent their mortal enemies from reaching the Starlight Megalodon.

Fortunately, the stealth crawler swaggered its way past the Vesian patrol without a hitch. Miss Calabast placed a lot of confidence in the stealth technology utilized by her organization, showing no hesitation in passing less than five-hundred meters from the nearest Vesian mech.

Ves and Ketis pretty shook in their suits of combat armor because the enemy mech could have easily noticed something amiss at that range. Fortunately, the stealth crawler did not leave behind any overt tracks as it calmly crawled forward.

"That was close!" Ketis exclaimed.

Ves tried to calm his shaking heart. "I think the only reason why we made it through is because those Vesian mechs aren't using the most advanced sensors and processors. A more modern mech would have noticed some environmental discrepancies."

Nonetheless, the safe zone finally came within reach. Ves studied the projection, but the stealth crawler's optical sensors only detected the vague outline of a colossal capital ship looming over everything in the vicinity.

The hazy contours of the Starlight Megalodon resembled a long and cylindrical whale that seemed to stretch out from one end of the horizon to the other. The length of the Starlight Megalodon absolutely matched many medium-sized cities, and though her width and height were shorter in order to present a narrow profile in battle, she still possessed a humongous amount of internal volume.

To call her a floating city fortress in space would be an understatement!

"Most space stations never match her size!"

Truly, a battleship more than eleven kilometers long served as the apex battle weapon of the human race. The human battleship defined the Age of Conquest and paved the way for humanity's rapid expansion and tyrannical self-destruction. They became the hammer in which humanity beat up the aliens and themselves to a pulp.

Nowadays, only the Common Fleet Alliance and the Mech Trade Association commissioned battleships these days.

It sounded strange that the MTA made use of warships up to and including battleships, but they wouldn't be able to throw their weight around in the galaxy without the strength to back up their threats.

Yet no matter how well the MTA designed their battleships, they couldn't hold a candle to the largest and most powerful naval organization in the galaxy. The CFA truly knew their battleships, and even if the Starlight Megalodon was three-hundred years past her prime, she could still crack planets if she chose to. The evidence suggested that she miraculously retained some functionality over the years.

From this distance, the stealth crawler's sensors could also see the dense streams of astral winds escaping from a very visible crack near the stern of the battleship. Ves never got tired at the sight as nobody figured out how her FTL drives managed to sustain such a phenomena without degrading or breaking down.

FTL drives notoriously demanded a lot of maintenance, especially after heavy use or when they aged a couple of decades. By all rights, the Starlight Megalodon's FTL drives shouldn't have worked for so long.

"Let's enter."

The stealth crawler crossed over the invisible boundary claimed by the Starlight Megalodon. Just a few seconds after they entered, a pale beam instantly struck the entire vehicle.

Everything stopped.

The stealth crawler stopped. The occupants inside stopped. Their perception stopped. It was as if they were frozen in time!

A nearby Vesian tiger mech noticed the stasis beam and became alarmed. Just as it turned around to face the strange vehicle that managed to sneak to the safe zone from under their nose, a tractor beam reached out from the distance and lifted up the stealth crawler.

As soon as the crawler gained sufficient height, the tractor beam swiftly retracted the captured vehicle straight towards the Starlight Megalodon.

An uncertain amount of time later, the tractor beam placed down the stealth crawler at a clearing right before the hull of the battleship. The stasis beam that froze the stealth crawler also disengaged.

"What happened?!"

"How did we get so close all of a sudden?!"

To the occupants, the transition immediately threw them off balance. While Miss Calabast benefited from prior warning, both Ves and Ketis felt as if someone robbed them of their memories.

This was a highly unpleasant sensation!

"Calm down, you overdramatic mech designers! Nothing happened besides getting dragged over alongside the Starlight Megalodon. We're here."

The gravity of the situation dawned upon the two. Indeed, as soon as the hatch opened up and everyone stepped out, Ves looked up at the aged but mostly intact hull of the Starlight Megalodon in earnest.

Her metallic dark blue hull plating long lost its shine due to age and corrosion. What coating the battleship used to be covered with long wore out from millenia of exposure to the elements. This also wiped away most of the markings and symbols painted on her hull.

The only markings that remained were those embossed in her hull. Ves easily made out the giant words that proudly declared her identity.

STARLIGHT MEGALODON

"At least we got the right battleship." Ketis joked as she admired the battleship in her own way.

After so much time and so much travel, Ves almost couldn't believe he finally reached the fabled lost CFA capital ship.

What struck him the most about the Starlight Megalodon wasn't her immense size, nor the immense corvette-sized gun turrets. As an example of human engineering at its greatest height, Ves already expected the battleship to be an imposing colossus built for war.

"This is a battleship with history."

The Starlight Megalodon radiated an aura of age, majesty, dominance and invincibility. She possessed a faint, mixed but highly complex blend of meanings normally associated with historical relics.

The most historic machine that Ves had ever seen was the Larkinson Ancestor's personal mech. Back at Rittersberg, Ves never knew that the history and experiences of a machine could accumulate its X-Factor.

Yet even that impressive historical mech was a toy in front of the Starlight Megalodon.

Although only three-hundred years had passed in the outside galaxy, the surface of the planet experienced three-thousand years. Not only had the survivors of the crew spent their entire lives around the crashed battleship, many generations of their descendants must have lived their lives in the vicinity as well.

All of their accumulated beliefs and superstition continued to pile up on the Starlight Megalodon, causing it to become more than just a crashed vessel. It became a totem of belief, a container of spirituality ascribed by those who lived in this region.

Ves became intoxicated by her multifaceted X-Factor. All of his original mech designs may possess stronger and more concise X-Factors, but they were ultimately artificial constructs conjured up by his own imagination. Even if Ves considered his imagination to be vivid and rich, he was only a single individual.

His individual imagination could never surpass the imagination of millions of humans. This was the strength of a group!

Just witnessing the spiritual splendor of the battleship advanced his understanding of the X-Factor. The insights he gained from this glimpse alone almost made the entire trip worth it. Ves even developed some ideas on how to improve or replace his old Triple Division technique.

"Those constructs.. What is that?" Ketis asked as she gestured at the extra 'additions' built alongside the hull of the Starlight Megalodon.

Ves stared at the constructs and noted that they looked like primitive sand structures. It was as if someone built a partial sandcastle around the massive hull. The distribution of the sand structures was fairly random, and besides the open windows Ves couldn't tell anything else besides that they used to housed tens of thousands of people.

"Thoses sand structures are the principal reason why the Starlight Megalodon encountered a mishap three-hundred years ago." Miss Calabast smirked. "What you're looking at is the remains of a highly advanced sandman mothership."

Sandmen!

Ves and Ketis practically jumped, but Miss Calabast quickly calmed them down.

"There's no danger here! The sandmen have all been rendered inert down to their sandman admiral. Right now, what you're seeing is their carcass. Over the years, the survivors of the Starlight Megalodon hollowed them out and turned them into living space."

If the crew of the Starlight Megalodon didn't see fit to remove all of the sand that constricted the battleship inside and out like an infectious disease, then the threat they posed must have long been gone by now.

Aeon Corona VII would have been a very different planet if the sandman mothership defeated the battleship and all of their crew.

Still, the knowledge that they were standing besides an immense sandman amalgamation didn't put them at ease. Most sandmen motherships posed little threat to a CFA warship, but certain sandmen admirals grew and learned to such an extent to where they became incredibly formidable.

A sandman mothership that dared to attack a CFA battleship and succeeded in constricting her to this extent should not be weak!

"If the Starlight Megalodon is riddled from inside-out with sandmen remains, is there anything left inside?" Ketis asked.

Miss Calabast snorted. "Look at the size of her. There's no way a single sandman mothership can crush her insides. We're fairly confident that the core compartments aren't affected. As for the outer compartments, perhaps thirty to fifty percent are grinded down with sand, but there's plenty of goodies left in the remaining compartments."

Her explanation put down their apprehensions. While Ves still questioned how such a formidable sandman mothership died all of a sudden, this wasn't the time to puzzle over these questions.

Miss Calabast led them alongside the battleship but didn't approach her yet. Ancient rusted prefab structures surrounded the crash site. Obviously, this area used to house a lot of people, but that was in the past. Not a single human emerged from these eerily empty structures.

When was the last time someone lived in this settlement?

After ten minutes of walking, the three finally came within view of some familiar mechs.

"There are Asterias and Enduring Protectors up ahead!" Ketis exclaimed!

Ves spotted the mechs poking above the structures up ahead and quickly counted their number. "All the mechs of the exploration party and the follow-up party that are unaccounted for are present! They're safe!"

Seeing those mechs dormant but unharmed and without a single scratch put down some of his worries. It seemed the Vandals and Swordmaidens trapped in the safe zone hadn't encountered any hazards that posed a threat to their mechs.

The huge, hulking form of Qilanxo resting close to the breakdown-proof mechs also reassured him somewhat.

Both Ketis and Ves eagerly wanted to reunite with possibly the only survivors of the Flagrant Swordmaiden ground forces.

"Can we go and meet our comrades?"

Miss Calabast casually gestured them forward."Go ahead. That's why I brought you here. You should understand their situation first. They're kind of stuck right now. Once you become acquainted with their difficulties, you'll see why its in your best interest to cooperate with us. I'll pick you up after twenty-four hours. Don't tell them about our existence. It's for their own good."

She sounded like she wasn't worried at all that Ves might possibly renege his end of the deal. This implied that Ves, Ketis and the other Flagrant Swordmaidens trapped in the safe had no way to progress inside the battleship without Calabast's assistance.

"We'll see." Ves replied.

Chapter 893

The moment they walked towards the collection of mechs situated closer to the Starlight Megalodon's hull, Ves and Ketis suddenly tripped and floated in the air.

"What the?!"

"The gravity! It's normalized!"

The two hadn't expected to walk into an area affected by an antigrav field. This existing field superimposed with the effects of their active gravitic backpacks, causing them to turn virtually weightless!

Ves quickly calmed down once he realized what had happened. "Gently dial down the power of your gravitic backpack. Don't do it instantly or you'll drop like a brick."

Their armored forms slowly descended into the ground as the gravity affecting them gradually increased until it matched the gravity of Old Earth. The little jaunt in the air discomfited them both, but they managed to retain the contents of their stomachs.

It was still unpleasant to be thrown into the air like that when they didn't expect such a thing. For a moment, Ves believed that Miss Calabast deliberately sent them ahead without a warning as a prank.

"That woman has a sense of humor." He muttered.

"Next time, I'll smack her face." Ketis shamelessly boasted.

The antigrav field emitted by the Starlight Megalodon reduced one of their worries. It wasn't a good idea to keep their gravitic backpacks active all the time. Not only did they expend a lot of energy, they also wore them out through continuous active use. It would have been disastrous if the gravitic backpacks malfunctioned all of a sudden.

The two resumed their short journey towards their comrades. They passed through broad corridors of old prefab structures. Ves peeked through the windows and saw nothing but empty, dust-laden rooms.

Ves found it eerie that he couldn't find any furniture and objects inside that could tell him what kind of people used to live here. It didn't seem like the previous occupants evacuated this sprawling settlement in haste. It seemed more as if someone calmly cleaned up the place and threw out the trash a few hundred or thousand years ago.

"The people who lived here... what happened to them? How come no one's left?" Ketis asked the obvious question.

Ves wondered about that as well. "Cities are raised and abandoned all the time in human history. They're usually forced out of their old homes when faced with a calamity."

A thriving settlement of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people became nothing but abandoned ruins over time. Ves found the emptiness to be a huge shame.

They walked around the corner and finally spotted their comrades. The moment the pair of mech designers walked into view of the members of the exploration and follow-up party huddling in some sort of abandoned park, both sides stopped and stared at each other.

"Mr. Larkinson?" Captain Orfan rose up from the dirt.

"Ketis?" Lieutenant Dise called. "Why are the two of you here?"

While the exploration members all became befuddled at the new presence, Ves and Ketis all stared at what their comrades were doing. The dug-up trenches, the plants placed inside of them and the pulverized contents of nutrient packs sprinkled on top of them made for an unimaginable sight.

"Are you turning this park into a farm?!" Ketis called out.

Lieutenant Dise grimaced. "It's a long story."

The appearance of the pair of mech designers raised everyone's spirits, but the news they brought spoiled the reunion.

In the next hour, Ves huddled with the hundred-odd members of the two parties that ventured into the safe zone and filled them in on the disaster that struck the Flagrant Swordmaidens.

He activated his military-issued comm and projected a portion of the footage of the battle against the Meandering Monkeys and the Hostland Warriors. The appearance of the Belisarius and the ease in which it tore apart the Vandal and Swordmaidens mech all led to a round of cursing and sorrow.

The outcome of the battle and the fate in store for those who remained caused many of them to be wracked with grief. Though they were too far from the battle to experience it as it happened, they had no reason to doubt the news. Ves even uploaded the data of the battle to everyone's comms so they could study the records by themselves.

The more the Vandals and Swordmaidens watched the footage, the more they became angry and despondent. Even if Ves didn't show them the butchering that surely happened afterwards, they knew the score as well as anyone. If they were in the shoes of the Vesians, they would have done the same.

"So many of sisters are dead now!"

"We've lost our way out! There's no rescue awaiting us outside! We're stranded!"

Captain Orfan immediately cracked down on such talk. "Pipe down! You don't know anything! As long as we're alive, we still have a chance of finding a way out. Didn't this battleship send out FTL-capable shuttles into space? A battleship easily carries hundreds of shuttles. As long as we manage to get inside and hijack a couple of shuttles, we can still go back to the fleet!"

Her words roused everyone's hopes, but only slightly. Ves looked at their expressions and saw that they hadn't been doing well lately. Miss Calabast's warning that the survivors had gotten stuck rang in his ears.

Why hadn't they managed to get inside the battleship? Ves stared back at the Starlight Megalodon and saw plenty of minor cracks and rents in the hull. Was there something blocking their way?

As the Vandals and Swordmaidens settled down and poured over the battle footage by themselves, Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise brought Ves and Ketis inside one of the nearby abandoned structures.

As they entered the prefab house, Ves saw that the survivors welded pieces of loose metal into pieces of furniture. Though the fast transport provided some accommodation, it seemed as if the survivors settled in for the long haul.

As the four sat down at a table, the true discussion began.

"Can you tell us what is going on here?" Ves asked with a sense of urgency. "Why are you setting up a farm of all things?"

Captain Orfan sighed. "It's because we can't enter and exit this region. Ever since the battleship tractored us over here, we've been exploring our surroundings for days. That's when we realized we've entered a ruin. We haven't found anyone even after circling the entire crash site. There's no trace of natives or any of our rivals until a week ago when some Vesian tiger mechs got dragged inside."

"Did you come to blows with them?" He asked.

"We tried, but as soon as we boarded our mechs and attempted to fire our laser cannons, the Starlight Megalodon suddenly put all of our mechs into stasis and separated us as if we were unruly children. Over the following days, we've tried to attack the Vesians several times but the battleship keeps preventing us!"

"What's with the farm then?"

"We're trapped here." Captain Orfan sighed. "We tried to walk away but the blasted battleship immobilizes us with a stasis beam and forcibly drags us back. We've been starting up a farm in case the worst case scenario happens and we run out of nutrient packs before we're able to find a way out."

Ketis found this sequence of events to be perplexing. "Since the Megalodon is so insistent on keeping you here, did you try to enter her instead?"

"There's a hindrance." Lieutenant Dise replied, taking over from Captain Orfan. "No one appears to be in control of the battleship. Yet that doesn't mean the Megalodon has gone dormant. She's highly automated and is acting on ancient directives."

Ves frowned at that. "What does that mean?"

"Without a competent crew at the helm, the battleship's AIs and automated routines are operating by themselves. The AIs that are in control are still following their directives faithfully, but they're very inflexible. Every time we interact with them, it's like talking to a bot! From what we've found out so far, the AIs are currently acting on the directives of the original executive officer of the Starlight Megalodon. The short version is that he revoked everyone's authority and set a test for someone to obtain entry and some privileges from the systems that are currently running the ship."

This sounded exceptionally weird, but not that unthinkable. Ves didn't know the story behind the executive officer and why he issued such an extreme command.

"Is this test only eligible to the original crew or is anyone allowed to try?"

"The test the battleship serves up isn't limited to anyone. Each of us have walked up to the Megalodon to give the test a try. None of us succeeded."

"Why?"

"Because it's basically a recruitment test of the CFA." Captain Orfan revealed with an exasperated voice. "We can apply to numerous starting positions, such as applying to become an able spacer, a cook, an engineer, an internal security officer, a marine, a mech technician, a mech designer, you name it! As long as the position exists on the battleship, there's a way to apply for them and become a legitimate crew member of the Megalodon!"

This sounded very shocking. Such a test came with a lot of implications. If just one of them succeeded, they not only gained access to the Starlight Megalodon, but also enjoyed the privileges of their position. While the automated systems wouldn't let a lowly spacer access to the restricted parts of the ship, they might be able to salvage some goodies in the less important sections.

Yet from the glum faces of Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise, it seemed that passing the test was no joke.

Ves knew why. The CFA rarely ever recruited outside people these days. Those not born from a CFA or connected spaceborn lineage faced huge hurdles if they wanted to become a member of humanity's most powerful fleet.

The recruitment tests they served to outsiders was impossible to pass for the average person. Only prodigies, talents and geniuses in their professions stood a chance of passing the famously rigorous tests!

Supposedly, only those who received specific grooming and an abundant amount of genetic treatment stood a realistic chance as passing these tests. Therefore, the majority of outsiders who entered the ranks of the CFA tended to come from the hugely prosperous galactic center.

Country bumpkins from the galactic rim like the Vandals and Swordmaidens need not apply.

"The tests are too difficult!" Captain Orfan slammed her fist on the crudely welded table. "The AIs are too obstinate and aren't willing to lower their standards no matter how much we try to convince them. They're dumb as rocks. I've seen cleaning bots who are more intelligent than the AIs who call the shots at the battleship."

The two mech officers explained that they all tried to apply for a variety of positions. Even the lowest sanitation engineer, which was just a fancy way of referring to janitors, needed to be the equivalent of mechanical engineers who could design and develop state-of-the-art cleaning machines.

After all, a shipboard janitor these days mainly cleaned a ship by managing the cleaning bots. Some knowledge about the ins-and-outs of how the bots worked should be a given, but the CFA wasn't satisfied with that. Not even the best professors of mechanical engineering in the Komodo Star Sector would be able to pass the test to become the Starlight Megalodon's janitor!

The more Ves heard about the ridiculous demands the recruitment tests imposed, the more he became confounded by the executive officer's intentions. Perhaps the original crew of the Starlight Megalodon were smart and capable enough to pass these tests, but what about their descendants?

On a planet where technology constantly degraded, how easy would it be to raise offspring and educate them to a ridiculously high standard?

"So you see, Ves, this is why we're stuck here. The battleship won't allow us to leave and she doesn't allow us to enter either unless we pass her tests."

Ves could see now why the survivors started farming.

Chapter 894

Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise regaled them with their attempts to pass the test. All of the challenges took two hours to complete, though everyone usually got kicked out within five minutes after failing the very first hurdle.

Even if the recruitment tests adhered to outdated standards and customs, it still took an immense amount of talent and skill to pass them all.

"When we attempted to pass the test for mech pilots, we got dumped into a simulation where we piloted a random three-hundred year old mech on a random battlefield. Did you know what the first challenge asks us to do? We needed to defeat forty mechs of the same quality by ourselves within ten minutes! There's no way that we could pass such a ridiculous test!"

That did sound like an enormous hurdle to Ves. Perhaps only expert pilots would have been able to pass the challenge, but so what? Numerous other tests awaited them right afterwards.

All the other tests for other positions imposed equally ridiculous standards right at the start, causing none of the survivors to be able to pass the first test.

Ves started to think. "Maybe I have a chance. Mech design is a very new profession. It doesn't have much history and only existed for about a hundred years since the Starlight Megalodon went missing."

Both Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise shook their heads. They chuckled at his confidence and believed he would fall flat as soon as he attempted the test on his own. The AIs administering the tests may be adopting outdated standards when composing their tests, but the galaxy didn't change all that much in the last three-hundred years. It was impossible to rely on a generation advantage to get the upper hand in the test.

"You can try, but you'll fail. The recruitment tests of the CFA are no joke! The Starlight Megalodon might be using an abridged two-hour test to determine whether you're qualified, but that doesn't make it easier."

"Is there any consequences for failure?"

"Nah. You'll only get locked out by the AIs for the remainder of the two hours. There's no way you can make an attempt one after another."

Therefore, each time someone failed, they needed to wait around two hours to try again. Such a cycle of instant failure and constant waiting would have worn down anyone's spirits. Few people possessed the willpower to undergo continuous failure and lengthy boredom for long.

"Do you know why the executive officer implemented this recruitment process in the first place?" Ves asked.

Captain Orfan shrugged. "The AIs don't tell us much. They're all obstinate and constantly reply that we're not authorized to ask them any questions. However, from what we guess, the AIs administering the test is supposed to distinguish between CFA and non-CFA people. The AIs don't recognize us as CFA spacers, family members or true spaceborn humans, so we all got served with the more difficult test for non-CFA people."

None of the Vandals or Swordmaidens possessed any connection to the Common Fleet Alliance. Demanding to take the easier test for CFA personnel wouldn't work. Even if it was easier, the CFA still maintained ridiculously high standards. Perhaps they might pass the first or second challenge, but they would never be able to last two hours.

Ves wanted to try anyway. He turned to Ketis. "You go try as well. Even if you don't stand a chance, it doesn't hurt to open your eyes."

"Can I skip please?" She whined. "I don't want to get beat up by a test. I know my limits. There's no way I can satisfy the standards of the CFA."

"You're going and that's it." He insisted. "Don't try to finagle your way out of it. At the very least, the ways in which the Starlight Megalodon simulates the testing environment should be a unique experience."

Before they left, Ves and Ketis discussed a few more matters with Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise. The latter two had both been cut off from the ground forces, and as the highest ranking officers of the survivors, they needed to understand the threat of the Vesians to lead the remnants.

He didn't tell them about the high-capacity data chip he carried that contained most of the logs and essential research data. He mostly told them about the Vesian forces and their combat strength. He described the Belisarius in vivid detail and mentioned that its regenerating properties allowed it to operate in the red zone with impunity.

Captain Orfan erupted at that last detail. "That's cheating! If we have to face off against this Belisarius with our Enduring Protectors and Asterias, it'll be like a fox in a henhouse, and we're the hens!"

Even Lieutenant Dise of the Swordmaidens looked hopeless. For a Swordmaiden, her complete lack of faith in winning a battle against an opponent was extremely characteristic.

Yet the description provided by Ves was simply too overwhelming. Twelve Silver Valencias attacking the Belisarius at the same time to the point of self-destructing didn't leave a permanent mark on the Belisarius! How could she possibly think their outdated, simplistic breakdown-proof mechs stood a chance against a genuine expert mech?

The Swordmaidens may be courageous, but they weren't delusional!

The topic then turned towards how Ves and Ketis managed to escape the Vesians and make it all the way through the red zone without looking like a mess. From the appearances of their combat armor, they hardly looked as if they stepped outside!

To this, Ketis looked at Ves with an uncertain expression.

He knew that he needed to provide a satisfactory answer. If Ves said anything wrong, the survivors might suspect they turned their coats!

Furthermore, he also needed to explain what might happen when Miss Calabast took him away. If he ended up missing without a word, they might think he encountered a mishap or abandoned the survivors.

He decided that even if Miss Calabast warned him not to tell the survivors anything, he couldn't leave them with nothing. He decided to throw them a few bones, enough for them to chew on without completely displeasing his temporary partner.

"To be honest, we made it here after being rescued by a third party."

Both mech officers instantly shot up straight. "Is it one of our pirate rivals?!"

"No."

"The natives?"

"No."

"Who then?"

"I'm not allowed to tell." Ves replied simply. "I don't think there's a conflict of interest, though. However, there's a price for my rescue, one which I'm about to pay soon. Don't be surprised if you can't find me anywhere. That's all I can say about this issue. Just tell you this much is already crossing the line."

Both Orfan and Dise pressed him a bit, but Ves remained unphased. Unless they beat the answer out of him, he was determined to keep his mouth shut. This frustrated the mech officers but they didn't push the issue any further.

From the hints that Ves already told them, they knew this third party shouldn't be simple. They also extended some trust to Ves, but only up to a point.

A small barrier formed between Ves and the others. What Ves said about getting involved with a third party made them a bit less willing to be open in his presence. He knew that this outcome might happen, but as long as they didn't accuse him of being a Vesian spy, he didn't mind the suspicion. He intended to redeem himself in time.

"Whatever is going on, I hope you don't forget that you're a part of the Vandals, Ves." Captain Orfan finally said. "This mission is way over my head. While Major Verle filled me in on some of the details, only Captain Byrd knows the full scope."

"Do you know what our superiors want to retrieve from the Starlight Megalodon?" Ves asked with sharp eyes. "It would help if we know what constitutes a success in their eyes."

Captain Orfan shrugged and smiled. "Let's talk about that once one of us managed to get past the battleship's recruitment tests."

The discussion ended soon after that. Ves and Ketis left their packs behind and approached the hull of the battleship under the guidance of the mech officers. All the other survivors noticed where they were heading to and follow suit.

They wanted to witness a good show.

When they almost came close enough to throw a rock at the aged and partially-corroded exterior of the battleship, the mech officers halted.

"Once you step past this point, the battleship will throw you into a physical projection. No one outside will be able to witness what you're experiencing, and you won't notice our presence either. You're all alone out there. Good luck."

Ves and Ketis looked at each other before stepping forward.

Both of them instantly got caught in some kind of illusion. To the spectators watching outside, both of them became engulfed in a dark cube that appeared out of nowhere. This dark cube isolated every senses and threw those caught inside in their own simulated reality.

Inside one of the cubes, Ves only encountered darkness. It was so dark in fact that he couldn't even see his own limbs.

A few seconds after trying to puzzle what happened, a shuttle-sized logo of the CFA materialized into being in front of him. The logo representing the mightiest spaceborn battlespear of the human race adopted the iconic shape of a stylized battleship in blue. A white four-pointed star pointing in each cardinal direction rested behind the battleship. The black background representing interstellar space featured a random distribution of tiny speckles that represented the stars in the galaxy.

Each aspect about the CFA's logo carried profound meanings, but Ves didn't spend the time to think about them right now.

In front of the logo, a majestic projection of a CFA officer materialized into view. The officer wore a uniform in a style typical to what CFA personnel used to wear three-hundred years ago. From the rank insignia of the projection, Ves gathered that this person was a lieutenant junior grade.

Yet the moment it opened up its mouth, Ves heard a flat, robotic voice.

[I am Virtual Lieutenant Junior Grade Baskanson. Please present credentials if you are an active serviceman or an affiliate of the Common Fleet Alliance.]

"I have no connections to the CFA."

[Emergency Protocol Theta-Thirty-Seven is in effect.] The stiff lieutenant declared. [All humans up to moderate alien hybridization are allowed to undertake a simplified recruitment test to enlist in the CFA. Please state the profession or position which you wish to apply for. Guests are authorized to ask a limited number of questions.]

Ves gathered by now that this so-called 'virtual lieutenant' must be one of the AIs governing the battleship in the absence of living humans qualified to serve as active CFA personnel. He found it interesting that an AI presented itself as an officer. He didn't know whether it was a good or bad idea to give AIs ranks in the first place.

"Are there any living CFA personnel serving aboard the Starlight Megalodon?" Ves experimentally asked.

[You are not authorized to ask this question.]

"What is the current time and date?"

[You are not authorized to ask this question.]

"What is the name of this star system?"

[The name of this star system is the Aeon Corona System.]

"How did the Starlight Megalodon crash on this planet?"

[You are not authorized to ask this question.]

"Why are the FTL drives leaking higher-dimensional particles?"

[You are not authorized to ask this question.]

"I am your father."

[Your query is invalid.]

"Non sibi sed homo sapiens."

[Semper Fortis.]

"The MTA are a bunch of children playing with toys."

[Agreed.]

Interesting. Ves smiled at some of the answers this virtual officer spat out to his statements. He didn't have to ask a question to prompt an opinion from this artificial intelligence. It seemed as if this AI didn't have to adhere to its strictures and possessed some leeway in its words and actions.

"I'd like to apply for the position of mech designer."

Chapter 895

The CFA never really saw eye-to-eye with the MTA. Both claimed stewardship over humanity after the dark days of the climax of the Age of Conquest, yet one always thought they were better over the other. One organization represented the most powerful weapons of war known to man, while the other organization pushed for a new hope.

Their ideological clashes regularly divided human space. Their rivalry also kept them in check against each other, preventing any single organization from becoming the only hegemon of human civilization. Yet hostilities became so heated in some cases that extremely destructive 'incidents' occurred from time to time!

Therefore, as soon as Ves declared he wanted to take the recruitment test for mech designers, Virtual Lieutenant Baskanson immediately threw him the stink eye. The AI may act like a bot sometimes, but its programmers pretended to give it some personality.

[Commencing recruitment test in ten seconds. Chosen profession: mech designer. Please stand by. Warning: cheating is not allowed. Violators will be disintegrated!]

Ves took that last warning extremely seriously. With all the high technology the Starlight Megalodon revealed so far, he knew she possessed a thousands ways to kill him in the most horrific way possible.

The entire surroundings morphed into an extremely well-equipped workshop and design studio. Ves looked around and noted his metallic surroundings and peculiar markings. It seemed as if he entered one of the Starlight Megalodon's many mech workshops!

Virtual Lieutenant Baskanson appeared into view again. He stared at Ves with a cool glare before raising his palms.

A projection of a timer appeared on one palm. It started at 5 minutes but already started counting down!

The test had already begun!

From his other palm, a data pad appeared.

[Please read the mission contents and complete the assigned task within the alloted time.]

Ves picked up the data pad and felt the weight and shape of it through the feedback from his Earth Ant. "So this is the fabled physical projection!"

The projection technology common in the galactic rim conjured up realistic illusions. People could easily distinguish fake from real when it came to cheaper projections. More premium projection systems lacked this flaw and could easily project a convincing environment. Combined with a positional sound projection system, it was as if two speakers light-years away from each other were right next to each other!

The only flaw was that poking your hand through a projection instantly broke the illusion. No matter how realistic a projection appeared, it was ultimately a product of sound and light without any ability to interact with touch.

Yet physical projection technology broke this rule! Through some means which Ves didn't understand, a physical projection system possessed the ability to resist force. While such systems inevitably possessed a limit, preventing it from projecting a deadly mech or an unbreakable object, such a development still provided a lot of potential, expanding the applications of virtual reality.

[Task: design an original spaceborn light skirmisher mech with the following parameters...]

The first task demanded that he design a fully-fledged mech. He didn't have to design it from scratch as the virtual workshop offered him a library of in-house component designs. Ves figured the mech type and the parameters he needed to meet would be randomized each time he repeated the task, because the demands the task set sounded extremely eccentric.

"What are these demands?!"

The specific demands on the shape and performance metrics of the mech prevented him from designing an existing light skirmisher design from memory. Obviously, the recruitment test already foresaw such possibilities.

The problem was that the minimum performance of the mech that the task had set was way too high! Not only that, he had less than five minutes to fulfill this task!

With his current capabilities as an Apprentice Mech Designer on the verge of advancing to Journeyman, he might be able to rush his design in two or three hours. However, even with the advantage of 'future knowledge' in the perspective of the time period of the Starlight Megalodon, his design would only be able to perform sixty percent from the task requirements.

That forty percent performance gap was too massive as the law of diminishing returns came into play!

"This test is impossible to complete in the allotted time!"

Perhaps it would have been possible for Ves to take his time and spend an entire year to design a mech that met all of the design and performance requirements. The main reason why a hasty design fell short on performance was that Ves didn't have the time to weigh his design choices carefully and optimize his mech through numerous iterations.

Yet did the task care about that? No! It demanded Ves to complete a year's work of design work in just five short minutes!

"Not even a Senior Mech Designer can complete this task! Only Masters can comfortably complete such a design this fast!"

Ves suspected that the CFA and the Starlight Megalodon deliberately made things difficult for mech designers. While his knowledge of technological advancements over the last three-hundred years since the Starlight Megalodon got cut off from the rest of the galaxy helped him out quite a bit, that advantage was ultimately trivial in the face of this task.

He wanted to curse in front of the virtual officer's face, but refrained from doing so. He didn't want to trip some hostility alarm, and considering that he was a mech designer, the battleship wouldn't hesitate to disintegrate him if he crossed the line.

The next four minutes or so proceeded exactly as he expected. He raced through the library of component designs and slapped a mech together as fast as possible. Yet a mech design consisted more than puzzling together some parts. He barely had the time to unify the components before he reached the ridiculously short time limit.

[The mech design is incomplete. Verdict: task failed! The recruitment test ends now.]

With those merciless words, Virtual Lieutenant Baskanson immediately kicked him out of the physical projection. He turned his head until he faced Ketis who seemed similarly distressed.

"This test is ridiculous! There's no way that anyone can design a mech in five minutes!"

The Vandals and Swordmaidens all laughed at their distressed states. It was a rare form of entertainment for those left behind in this safe zone. It was better than wallowing in their pity and anger for not being able to take part in the battle against the Vesians.

Some time later, Ves sat at a bench next to the park as the others resumed farming. Ketis went off to explore the empty structures in boredom.

He went over the details of the first task and tried to think of a way to complete it with his current capabilities. Even if the Starlight Megalodon worked with outdated mech standards, the gap in technology wasn't so wide that Ves could simply snap his fingers to come up with a suitable design.

"The CFA is far too biased against mechs and mech designers!"

Yet even if the CFA conducted the test impartially, Ves would still fall flat due to the abnormally high standards it imposed to those who wanted to join their ranks.

The Common Fleet Alliance regularly received the accusation that they were ancient dinosaurs who refused to get with the times. Despite their high degree of technological innovation, they were infamously traditionalist and conservative in their social and ideological evolution.

"The CFA still clings to the glory of the Age of Conquest."

At the most fundamental level, the CFA never gave up on warships and tried to redeem their awful reputation. The tyrannical admirals and naval officers who engaged in reckless slaughtering and genocide in the past caused the CFA to doubledown on discipline and adherence to its rules and regulations.

Anyone who broke a rule received strict punishment!

It was no surprise that they gained a reputation for being heavy-handed, not just against outsiders, but also against themselves. Yet it was through this harsh and uncompromising regime that human civilization slowly lost their paranoia and suspicion against one of the Big TWO.

Since the four-hundred years or so since the Age of Mechs commenced, the Common Fleet Alliance thoroughly built up a reputation for harshness but fairness, possessing only a bias for spaceborn humans. This was a forgivable quirk of theirs and nobody minded them as true spaceborn generally stuck to themselves.

"Still, all of their inertia makes them slow to accept mechs."

At the time of the Starlight Megalodon's disappearance, the CFA only recently accepted that mechs were there to stay. In the Age of Mechs, how could they miss out on this newfangled war machine?

Yet even if they felt pressured to work with mechs, they certainly dragged their feet when it came to implementing them into their force structure. The CFA believed in the primacy of warships, so the more powerful mechs became, the more they felt threatened by this recent invention!

However, it wasn't in their nature to deliberately cripple technological development. The only reason they maintained an edge with their warships was because they constantly improved their design and underlying technologies.

Therefore, Ves and many people involved with the mech industry considered the CFA to be an inherently contradictory organization. They pursued breakneck technological innovation but remained stagnant when it came to ideological and societal adaptation and shifts.

The MTA that Ves aligned with was a new organization that didn't inherit the trappings of the past. Mechs didn't exist in any meaningful way during the Age of Conquest.

This enabled the founders of the MTA to develop a new set of rules and regulations from scratch. In addition, due to their newness, they constantly needed to adapt and change those rules when they fell flat. They were much faster to adapt to the times and didn't insist on sticking to old conventions when they no longer held any relevance.

One organization wanted to go back to the glory days of the past.

Another organization wanted to pave a new way for the future.

They both had their good points and bad points. Even Ves admitted that the MTA wasn't a perfect organization.

As Ves mused about the CFA, Captain Orfan suddenly appeared next to him and sat on the same bench as his with a grin.

"Don't let the recruitment test get you down, Ves. The CFA have always been rat bastards against outsiders. Nobody is supposed to pass the tests for non-CFA personnel in the first place."

"I know that. I haven't taken it personally." He replied.

"Then don't look like a beaten dog. We'll manage something. I'm sure of it." She smiled.

"I admire your ability to smile in the face of these depressing circumstances."

"It's not as if grouching and thinking suicidal thoughts will get us anywhere. No matter how hopeless we seem, I don't want any of us to drag each other down. We owe it to our fallen comrades to fight to the end. Engaging in self-destructing will just be giving the Vesians what they want."

She had a good point. As the senior surviving Vandal officer on the ground, Captain Orfan shouldered a huge responsibility. From a force consisting hundreds of mech pilots and thousands of support personnel, the Vandal ground expedition abruptly diminished to a hundred people.

Any mech officer would despair at these conditions! Yet Captain Orfan looked at imminent doom in the face and responded with a confident smile. Whether she truly felt this way or merely presented a facade to prop up everyone's morale, Ves admired her proactive leadership at this sensitive time.

Unfortunately, Captain Orfan didn't have much to smile at as soon as she spotted something in the distance.

"A new mech is being dragged over from the safe zone!"

While the surviving Vandals and Swordmaidens occasionally saw Vesian mechs and transports entering the safe zone, this time was different. This was because the Vesians didn't send in a normal breakdown-proof mech.

This time, the mech the Starlight Megalodon tractored over was the infamous Belisarius! Captain Orfan widened her eyes as she recognized the unique appearance of the expert mech from the battle footage provided by Ves!

"We're in trouble now."

Chapter 896

The Vesians and the Flagrant Swordmaidens generally kept to themselves inside the safe zone. Anytime they bumped into each other, they couldn't help but sling insults and punch each other in the face. This forced the Starlight Megalodon to put the quarrelling people into stasis and drag them apart.

With the Starlight Megalodon looming over them like an attentive nanny, the two sides agreed to keep to themselves. They claimed separate districts of the abandoned settlement built around the Starlight Megalodon and pretended the others didn't exist.

So far, the Vandals and Swordmaidens never paid too much attention to the Vesian presence inside the safe zone. They knew that the Vesians faced the impossible recruitment tests. There was no way they'd be able to pass the tests!

Yet an expert pilot couldn't be equated to mortals. Her mech piloting skills broke the human limit and allowed her to perform much more splendidly than most human beings.

There was a non-zero chance that Venerable Foster might be able to pass the recruitment test!

The appearance of the Belisarius caused every Vandal and Swordmaiden to gather together at the park. They speculated on the reason for her appearance in the safe zone.

"Are the Vesians so confident that there aren't any threats that require Venerable Foster's help in defeating?" Someone wondered.

"We used to be their greatest threats." Captain Orfan responded. "Now that they cleaned up our main forces, they have the red zone to themselves. Even without an expert pilot at the helm, the Hostland Warriors and Meandering Monkeys are more than capable enough to defeat three times their number of pirate mechs. I hate to say it, but from the battle footage that Ves brought back, the Vesian mech regiments that showed up are seasoned veterans."

Long-established mech regiments such as the Hostland Warriors and Meandering Monkeys relied on centuries of accumulation to shape their martial tradition. Their training, mech doctrine, logistics and other matters all reached a mature level. A random force of pirates stood no chance against a true military force.

"How do you figure her chances of success if she undergoes the recruitment test for mech pilots?" Ves asked. "Will she be able to succeed in a single try?"

The possibility frightened every mech pilot present in the gathering. It was as if he described their worst nightmare!

"The recruitment tests aren't so easy to pass." Lieutenant Dise surmised. For a Swordmaiden mech officer, she was a lot more thoughtful than her jumpier sisters. Perhaps her bond with Qilanxo tempered some of her personality as well. "We all know the CFA has a love-hate relationship with mechs. They absolutely won't let any mech pilot join their ranks."

Someone else pointed out an important fact. "Even so, back then expert pilot are as rare as a phoenix's feather. Mechs were still new and people still explored what mech pilots can really do. Everyone with highly abnormal piloting ability became highly desirable goods. Maybe the recruitment test for mech pilots set the bar so high in order to obtain expert pilots."

"That's true. The CFA really hates the MTA and will do everything they can to weaken this upstart organization." Ves confirmed. He knew his history when it came to the CFA and MTA. "Back when expert pilots are even rarer than today and poorly understood, the CFA offered extremely high incentives to recruit them. They don't actually value expert pilots that much, but they just wanted to spite the MTA and take away their toys."

"How childish."

"We're in deep trouble if the recruitment test for non-CFA personnel is really passable for expert pilots!" Someone already despaired.

Ves did not see the reason to panic right away. "The only consolation is that Venerable Foster has only recently advanced to her rank. From what I know of expert pilots, it still takes at least a decade for them to polish their piloting skills to an elevated level. However, we also know that she's a genuine prodigy in piloting mechs. With her A-grade genetic aptitude, her learning speed is through the roof!"

"There's also the fact that the recruitment tests are performed with outdated mechs." Captain Orfan added. "All the mechs we are forced to pilot are mech models that aren't so different from the mechs we used to train with during our mech academy days. These mechs are slower, simpler, easier to pilot and faster to master."

A highly talented mech pilot like Venerable Foster faced much fewer variables and complications when piloting an outdated mech. As Captain Orfan said, it would be just as if she took a routine examination at a mech academy!

Ves asked an important question. "If Venerable Foster passes the recruitment test and becomes a warrant officer of the CFA, what will she able to do?"

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

"She'll be recognized by the Starlight Megalodon. She can go inside the battleship and access any sections open to mech pilots."

"I don't think she'll be able to pilot a CFA mech, if the battleship still maintains any. She'll have to receive permission from an authorized officer if she wants to deploy a mech."

"It might not stop her from piloting the Belisarius and taking it inside!"

"More importantly than that, once Venerable Foster becomes an active CFA serviceman in the eyes of the Starlight Megalodon, will the battleship still put her in stasis if she turns the Belisarius against us?"

This outcome frightened them out of their wits. This might very well be possible! If Venerable Foster truly received the Starlight Megalodon's recognition, then she would undoubtedly benefit from the ingrained bias of the virtual officers!

A new sense of urgency overcame the survivors. They became a lot less nonchalant about their miniscule chances of passing the recruitment tests. No matter what, they needed to pass them and obtain the automated battleship's recognition. Only then would they be able to protect themselves as CFA regulations strictly prohibited violence without cause!

"Someone's approaching!"

A group of Vesians walked into view. Their piloting suits and combat armor immediately marked them out as members of the Hostland Warriors and Meandering Monkeys.

As for the stately brunette figure that radiated a formless pressure by her presence alone, she could be none other than Venerable Relia Foster!

The expert pilot glanced contemptuously at the worried Vandals and Swordmaidens. "What's this about? Have you given up your pirating ways and turned to farming?"

"You call us murderers?" Ketis blew up, never one to take an insult lying down. "What about you! How many of our comrades did you kill?!"

"We executed thousands of your ilk after our victory." Venerable Foster sneered at her foes. "To be honest, some of my fellow mech officers hesitated in whether you Flagrant Vandals deserved the death penalty, but colluding with known pirates is an instant death sentence in itself. These so-called Lydia's Swordmaidens are scum of the highest order. The slaves we found at your camp says enough!"

"Did you kill them all?"

"We didn't let off any pirate." The expert pilot smirked. The fire in her eyes proved that she delighted over their deaths. She only spared a solemn expression for the slaves. "As for the brainwashed slaves you Swordmaidens left behind, we had no choice but to euthanize them. It's too much of an effort to support them all and distinguish hidden pirates among their ranks."

The steel in the expert pilot's voice left no room for ambiguity. Her words implied that not a single Swordmaiden was left off. To Ketis, this meant that Mayra joined her fellow Swordmaidens in death!

Tears already streamed from her eyes as Ketis hesitated to ask what happened to the Journeyman Mech Designer they found among the Swordmaidens. The possibility that Ves threw out a while ago might still be in effect. As long as the Vesians possessed a little bit of sense, they wouldn't get rid of Mayra without a reason. As long as they hid her from Venerable Foster, she might very well be still alive!

Ves knew that the worst possible case would be to cast a light on Mayra's existence, so he quickly stepped in before Ketis could blurt out something sensitive. "Why are you here? If you haven't heard already, the Starlight Megalodon won't allow us to fight."

"No reason. I just wanted to see your faces and count how many pirates slipped our grasp." Venerable Foster shrugged nonchalantly. "We squashed a lot of bugs in the last few days. It's rather annoying to dig you all out from the nooks and crannies of this terrain. Our mechs stepped on so many fleeing bugs that we have to rinse their soles from all the flesh and bone sticking to the surface."

Many Vandals and Swordmaidens became enraged. The Swordmaidens especially wanted to unsheathe their greatswords and chop the taunting expert pilot in half!

Nonetheless, nothing could come from a confrontation so long as the safe zone stayed in effect. This expert pilot with an obsessive hatred against pirates of all stripes merely laughed at the impotent foes and turned around.

"Let's go!" She commanded the Vesians that followed her with a gesture. "There's no point in talking to these dead pirates walking. As soon as I pass this silly test, I'll ask the virtual officers for permission to clean up the insects dirtying up the place."

Everyone knew that her threat may not be so impossible to realize. If the Vandals and Swordmaidens could figure out the CFA's intentions, so could they. This was the downside with facing a capable, intelligent enemy force.

Everyone missed the days they fought against stupid, incompetent pirates!

The Vandals and Swordmaidens all lost the mood to tend to their farms. They headed straight towards the Starlight Megalodon and urgently tried to pass the test for every possible easy profession they could come up with. All of them applied for jobs such as journalist, life coach, comedian, manicurist and other outlandish positions.

All of them got kicked out of the physical projection at five minutes without exception! The immense amount of knowledge and mastery required to fulfill those positions set the bar far too high for any normal human to pass.

Forget about lasting for two-hours, they couldn't get past the first task!

Even Ves tried to take the mech designer tests at two-hour intervals. Each time, he faced the same situation. He needed to design a specific mech while adhering to unique design requests within five minutes.

Even if Ves had five hours to complete his design, he still wouldn't be able to meet the overly stringent performance targets!

Repeating the tests over and over and facing the exact same challenge depressed him to no end. Virtual Lieutenant Baskanson never accepted his demands to start with a different or easier task. To him, a nobody mech designer like Ves didn't deserve any leniency!

"There's truly no point in repeating this damned test!"

By the time the allotted twenty-four hours went by, Ves found Ketis and discreetly separated from the Flagrant Sword Maidens.

Different from him, the others didn't stick to a single profession and stubbornly took a variety of recruitment tests as often as they could. Even the mech pilots among them gave up trying to pass the test for their primary profession as they could simply forget about passing them unless they were expert pilots!

"It's too bad Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise are only expert candidates. They have a long way to go before they advance to become proper expert pilots." Ves shook his head in regret.

"We'll beat them sooner or later!" Ketis confidently boasted.

At her heart, she still clung to hope. It was the only thing she had left in this desolate settlement. As for Ves, he could only turn his hopes to the enigmatic intelligence operative who sought him out.

While he knew that Miss Calabast didn't care about the Flagrant Swordmaidens, Ves nonetheless hoped he could take advantage of her power to lend his comrades a hand.

Chapter 897

A familiar spy soon found Ves and Ketis wandering away from their comrades. She did not seem pleased that Ves brought an extra person along.

"Mr. Larkinson, I expressly told you that we only have need of you." Miss Calabast frowned and shot Ketis a dismissive look. "This lady here needs to go."

"She's not going anywhere unless the Starlight Megalodon kicks her out." Ves stated firmly. "You can trust her to keep her mouth shut if that's what you're worried about. I still want to bring her along if possible."

"It won't work. We worked hard to provide you with a way in, but we have no solution for Miss Ketis here."

Ves shrugged. "As I said, we'll let the Megalodon issue her verdict."

While Calabast became a bit peeved at his insistence, Ves stood his ground. Eventually she just gave up and turned around to guide Ves and Ketis away from the Flagrant Swordmaidens.

In truth, Ves trusted Miss Calabast up to a point. In lieu of an escape route, he decided to bring some extra insurance instead. While Ketis might not be the brightest bulb in the shed right now, her swordsmanship and combat prowess was no joke. If Ves ever fell out with Calabast and her operatives, Ketis instantly became his sharpest weapon.

After a few minutes of walking wherein Miss Calabast frequently turned her head and deployed some sort of scanner to see if anyone was following them, she finally explained some of the background and their upcoming involvement.

"Now that you've become more familiar with the Starlight Megalodon, you know how difficult it is to gain access to the Starlight Megalodon. From what little we found, long ago, the executive officer staged a mutiny. Another source says the captain became mad and turned against his own crew. A third source states the admiral wanted to kill off all the enlisted spacers. We're not sure what actually happened."

"How do you know all this?" Ves frowned.

"Some of us already managed to get inside."

"What?! How did you manage to pass the recruitment test?!"

Ves stared at Miss Calabast, wondering if she was a groomed elite from the galactic center. Unfortunately, while she looked pretty, she didn't exhibit the stature and snobbiness of a privileged citizen from the greatest and most prosperous region of the galaxy. In fact, Ves couldn't distinguish anything from her accent or mannerisms except they reminded him of a Vesian.

As if.

"I'm getting to that point." Calabast calmly spoke. "First, you should understand that a battleship is a massive vessel that is as large as a decent-sized city. Up to a hundred-thousand if not millions of spacers serve aboard a typical CFA battleship depending on her ship class and mission. The Starlight Megalodon definitely leans towards the higher end because of all the activities she's expected to perform. It's as if she's an independent mini-state that moves in space."

"So what does that have to do with you passing the recruitment test?"

"Patience, Ves. First, when you think about a giant battleship carrying hundreds of thousands of spacers, how easy do you think it is to command them all?"

Ves became blank for a moment. The thought of managing such a sprawling amount of subordinates truly intimidated him. It wouldn't be easy to lead so many men and women!

"I don't know how. I guess it's really hard?"

"Heh. That's an understatement." Miss Calabast grinned. "There is a strong respect for hierarchy and seniority within the CFA. They're rather rigid when it comes to obeying their superiors, but that's also why it works out for them, no matter how big they build their ships. The command structure of the Starlight Megalodon is divided into many different departments that often compete against each other for attention and resources. The captain, executive officer and whoever else is up top gets to wrangle these departments on a daily basis. It's already hard enough to keep them in line when times are good, so how do you expect them to get along when stranded on Aeon Corona VII for a couple of decades?"

Ves could easily imagine the divergences. "Some departments become incredibly critical to the survival of the stranded spacers while other departments are made completely irrelevant. For example, the department in charge of cultivating food has become essential, and the department in charge of navigation has become powerless."

"Exactly. Because the CFA isn't exactly fast to change things up, the survivors of the Starlight Megalodon stuck to the same rigid rank and command structure. You can imagine that after twenty or thirty years or so, the officers and spacers of the neglected departments begin to nurse a grudge. This is especially so when the spacers assigned to critical departments begin to throw their weight around and demand an increasing amount of tribute from the others."

"And is this the source of the mutiny?"

Calabast shook her head. "Not quite, but it led to some of the reasons why the conflict boiled over. Another pressure point is that the admiral of the war fleet led by the Starlight Megalodon enjoyed an awkward position. He was in charge of the fleet, and obviously outranked the captain. However, in the CFA's hierarchy, the captain is the master of his or her own ship. It isn't proper for a flag officer to micromanage the ship and do the job that captains are supposed to do. The admiral is supposed to command the fleet, something which he can't do when the Starlight Megalodon separated from the war fleet and dropped out of FTL."

"So the admiral that adopted the Starlight Megalodon as his flagship became a king without a country?"

"Exactly. As soon as the Starlight Megalodon crash landed on the planet, a power struggle began that lasted for decades. At first, the captain and admiral agreed to share responsibilities. In simple terms a Brighter like you can understand, the captain adopted the role of prime minister who ran the state and set policy as the head of government. The admiral saw himself as the president and took on a more ephemeral role as the head of state. He was hands-off when it came to leading the survivors but commanded immense respect and served as a figurehead of ultimate CFA authority."

Ves already saw the flaws in that kind of arrangement. "Let me guess. The admiral thought he was the big chief and thought he was in charge, while the captain did all the actual work but felt unappreciated that there was a useless ponce doing nothing useful except to order him around. Do I have it right?"

"Mr. Larkinson, what an astute political prediction. You should get into politics!" Miss Calabast mockingly praised.

Ves chuckled. "No thanks. I have no desire to enter that swamp. Business and politics shouldn't mix. Besides, anyone can see the problem coming when you describe it that way. So did the captain and admiral ever came close to reconciliation?"

"Nope. In fact, their differences grew more acrid as time went by. The problem here is that both the captain and the admiral became the head of their own political factions of sorts. The supporters of their camps became infected by their biases and this is reflected in the records and systems of the Starlight Megalodon. It's very hard to reconstruct the truth of what happened in the end. All we know is that the captain and admiral fought for power and presented increasingly different visions of the future to the survivors. When violence erupted, many officers abused their authority to turn some of the Starlight Megalodon's weapons against each other."

This explained all the craters and wreckage he found in the red zone. "From what I've seen, they didn't resort to weapons of mass destruction."

"That's because they learned their lesson from the Age of Conquest. There are a lot of safeguards in place. You can't launch a nuke with the press of a button. The hot-headed officers fighting it out don't possess the authority to launch the more destructive weapons, so the slaughtering didn't wipe out the survivors in a single day."

"Even so, a battleship is like a fortress stuffed with guns and weapon mounts. There are thousands of smaller weapon systems capable of wiping out hundreds of people at a time." Ves stated.

"True, and the killing got so bad that the command structure completely broke down. Everyone went mad and communications got cut off. Everyone acted on their own impulses and lashed out at people from the opposite factions. I don't think the captain and the admiral even exerted any more control over the civil war."

Ves noticed a missing character in this story. "So what did the executive officer do in all of this?"

"Were not so sure." Miss Calabast admitted freely, though whether she was genuine or not Ves couldn't tell. "The captain features prominently in the records while the executive officer took a back seat. Some records state that executive officer was the captain's lapdog. Other records stated that he tried to stay out of all the factional strife and present himself as a neutral party. More records speculated that he held the captain's trust but actually worked as an agent of the admiral."

"That sounds like a mess."

"Because it is. The true role of the executive officer is rather murky, but there is no doubt he played a very pivotal role at the end. Through some drastic means we don't know, he managed to usurp the authority of both the captain and the admiral and gained ultimate control over the automated systems of the Starlight Megalodon. Through a single fateful command, he stripped every serviceman of their rank and privileges and discharged them from the CFA. Everyone lost the ability to command the weapons of the Starlight Megalodon including the executive officer himself to insure no loopholes existed. The virtual officers that run the ship to this day became her temporary caretakers until the murderous officers and spacers cooled their heads."

"So that's why the safe zone came into being." Ves ventured a guess. "With the Starlight Megalodon enforcing a forced peace, sanity will eventually reassert itself. Then why does it sound like this drastic measure didn't work out the way the executive officer envisioned?"

"That's because he made a catastrophic mistake. He stripped everyone of their rank and authority, but gave them a way to regain their old positions by working from the ground up. We think his intention was to build a new meritocracy where only the worthiest and most capable officers called the shots. The virtual officers acting as caretakers received the power to judge whether someone met the criteria for promotion."

Ves couldn't believe what he heard. "This sounds incredibly radical! The executive officer must be crazy to hand over so much power to AIs!"

"You have to relive that period of chaos. The human survivors didn't fare so well on Aeon Corona VII at the start, as weird stuff constantly leaked from the ship's FTL drive and the terraforming process just started transforming the planet into something more habitable. Instead of working towards a better future, they instead repeated the mistakes of the Age of Conquest and started killing each other over power. This was something the CFA originally rose up to eradicate. The executive officer probably felt that everyone forgot their original mission, so he decided to press the reset button."

This narrative supported the standpoint that the executive officer was a neutral party between the bickering of the captain and the admiral. Whether Calabast misrepresented anything about the story, Ves wasn't sure, but he didn't have any reason to distrust her recollection either.

"Okay, I can accept that the executive officer became desperate enough to trust AIs instead of humans. So what went wrong?" He asked.

"The executive officer overlooked a single, important detail when he forced everyone to pass the simplified recruitment tests. Every person that wanted to apply for the easier recruitment test for CFA personnel needed to prove their identity with a valid, up-to-date proof of identity."

"Oh."

Proof of identities came in many forms. They indicated that the person presenting them was the person they claimed to be. These days, people like Ves carried tied their proof of identity to their comms. This was just a piece of encrypted data that connected to a vast database on the galactic net, which held the complete records.

Two problems emerged from this situation.

First, the astral winds enveloping the planet and star system cut the Aeon Corona System off from the rest of the galaxy. The Starlight Megalodon's quantum entanglement nodes that connected the ship to the galactic net long stopped working.

Second, a proof of identity stored on a comm only held validity from a couple of years to a decade at most. After that, they expired. The only way to renew a local proof of identity was to obtain a new one from the galactic net or some official entity.

Presumably, about twenty or thirty years went by since the crash. Everyone's proof of identity surely expired at the time.

Basically, this meant that every single survivor couldn't make themselves eligible for the easier recruitment tests for internal CFA personnel. They were all forced to pass the near-impossible tests for non-CFA personnel!

Calabast pointed out the tragedy what happened. "You have to realize that even if there are many geniuses among the officers and spacers due to their background and their genetic optimization, the years that passed caused them to forget many aspects of their core responsibilities. They're human and they're all getting older. Their children that recently grew up don't have any proof of identities at all and have never enjoyed the best educational support. It's even more impossible for them to meet the standards of the harder recruitment tests. So in short, the executive officer doomed himself and every serviceman who settled in or around the Starlight Megalodon. The surviving CFA spacers and their new families became trapped in the safe zone for the rest of their lives because the executive officer neglected to debug his final solution!"

Ves practically gaped open his mouth by now.

Ketis, who listened from the side, provided the most appropriate response to such an outlandish tale.

"Oops."

Chapter 898

Ves recognized an important crux in this unexpectedly tragic outcome. "The AIs that govern the battleship shouldn't be that stupid, right? The people they shoved into the safe zone all consisted of genuine CFA servicemen. Shouldn't the virtual officers recognize their former human masters?"

"It's not as simple as that." Miss Calabast shook her head. "The executive officer goofed up because he developed Emergency Protocol Theta-Thirty-Seven in secret. As the nominal second-in-command of the ship, the executive officer is subject to a lot of monitoring. You have to realize that it's impossible to keep a secret on a ship where monitoring is pervasive. The captain firmly held the internal security department in his grasp. Someone as power hungry as the captain won't let the executive officer muck about out of sight."

"Even so, the virtual officers are just AIs pretending to be in command. Shouldn't they have the power to disable the safe zone or reduce the difficulty of the recruitment tests once they realize they're missing the mark?"

"Much like mechs, the CFA has a love-hate relationship with AIs and automation. They're absolutely essential in the running of a complex warship. There is no way a human can replace the sheer precision, processing power and response time of a properly coded AI. However, there are plenty of examples where AIs gained so much autonomy that they usurped the human officers and went on to scour entire planets of life because their programming forced them to. So while the CFA still depends heavily on AIs and advanced algorithms, they set extremely draconian rules on what they are allowed to do. Every CFA officer is taught never to give AIs the flexibility to bend the rules."

"What can go wrong will go wrong." Ves summed up the CFA's standpoint on this issue.

"Exactly. The executive officer is a product of the CFA and inherited all of their values. When it comes to programming the AIs, he would rather err on the side of caution than to provide them with too much decision-making power. He was deadly afraid that the captain and admiral inserted backdoors in the automation system of the Starlight Megalodon. This is why he went as far as stripping everyone, including himself, of their positions, so that the captain and admiral no longer possesses the authority to access these backdoors."

"That's a rather extreme solution, but one that sounds effective." Ves nodded. "Yet extreme solutions always have a way of backfiring upon themselves. Why didn't the executive officer do a more thorough job?"

Miss Calabast smiled. "The executive officer faced too much restrictions. Not only did he have to work in total secrecy, the civil war between the factions constantly intensified. If he took his sweet time to program the perfect set of rules, the factions would have exterminated each other by then! Therefore, he decided he would rather implement a hasty solution than postpone it and risk becoming irrelevant."

Ves recognized this dilemma. Having worked on many design projects with strict time limits, he often chafed at the fact that he could have designed a much better mech if only he had more time.

"Alright, I understand a little bit what went on. So right now, the virtual officers are in control of the battleship, right? Haven't they changed at all since the last CFA officer died? It's been thousands of years. Surely the AIs must have found some loopholes?"

"They did find some loopholes. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to find out about the Starlight Megalodon's existence and enter the Aeon Corona System in the first place." Miss Calabast responded, confirming his suspicions. "However, the executive officer's original directives are simply too restrictive. They haven't given the virtual officers any leeway at all when it comes to changing their predetermined roles. They are slaves to the rules that forces them to wait for a human that never comes because the recruitment tests are meant to be nearly impossible to pass."

Ves wanted to shake his head at the comedy of errors that led to this result. "It's kind of tragic that they fell due to their own mistakes. The aliens didn't kill them. The planet didn't kill them. The exobeasts didn't kill them. A superpathogen didn't kill them. Instead, they insured their own destruction from the same mistakes of the past."

He found it rather ironic that the survivors of the Starlight Megalodon fell for the same mistakes the CFA claimed to guard against. As the successors of the war fleets that used to dominate human space, the CFA always claimed to have learned the lessons of the Age of Conquest.

Instead of tempering their ambition, their commanding officers instead engaged in unrestrained power mongering. The split authority of the captain and the admiral led to a humongous power struggle to the point where they allowed their subordinates to kill each other with the destructive weaponry of the Starlight Megalodon! It was like the latter half of the Age of Conquest all over again!

As for the executive officer, perhaps he was the only senior officer who adhered to the ideals of the CFA. Yet even he couldn't help but repeat another mistake of the past, and that was to transfer too much authority from the human officers to the virtual officers. Only this time, the lack of flexibility in the rules governing virtual officers led to the downfall of the survivors. This was different than the classic mistake of extending too much autonomy to artificial intelligences, but led to the end of civilized humanity on this planet.

"What's the deal with the blessed people and cursed people, then?" Ves asked. "The blessed people live in their ancient cities in complete ignorance of their once-glorious past. As for the dwarves, their level of civilization is so primitive they haven't invented toilets yet!"

"We're not sure about the purpose of their existence either." Miss Calabast shrugged. "The terraforming of the planet and the distribution of the genetically-modified offspring across the planet is related to highly sensitive secret research projects. The details are buried under strict confidentiality. There is one fact we know for sure. The executive officer was in charge of all the research projects."

"Does that mean he called all the shots?"

"Not really. The captain and the admiral both wanted to take the Research Department for themselves due to their vital role in helping the survivors adapt to the planet. Neither of them wanted to concede control over the numerous and highly capable researchers that survived the sandman mothership's attack and subsequent crash. In the end, they both took a step back and let the executive officer be the man in charge. This way, not only would the researchers be able to stay out of the developing factional strife, the executive officer also made sure that the pet projects of the captain and the admiral received equal attention."

"Yet this also opens the possibility that the executive officer pursues his own projects in secrets."

"Agreed, although we don't know what projects the executive officer pursued. Access to the Research Department is extremely strict. In fact, that is where you come in. With your help, we hope to make some inroads in this highly restricted department."

"Shouldn't mech designers work for a Mech Department or something?"

She shook her head. "There are mech designers in both the Mech Department and the Research Department. Some even wear both hats at once. Therefore, obtaining the recognition of the battleship as a mech designer with both practical and research capabilities will provide you with wider access than normal."

"Then how do I get in?"

Here came the essential part. Ves turned to Calabast when she stopped and handed him a data chip.

"The survivors of the Starlight Megalodon lost all of their access, privileges and authority." She explained. "Their rank and power meant nothing against the unyielding virtual officers, who no longer recognized them as CFA affiliated people due to their expired proof of identities. Stored on the data chip is an adulterated proof of identity of Adeseus Longhorn, an old-style Senior Mech Designer and a Lieutenant Commander who served aboard the Starlight Megalodon. He's one of the premier mech designers aboard the ship and used to have access to many research projects related to mechs. Once you gain the battleship's recognition, it should be easy for you to obtain Mr. Longhorn's old authorization and security classification!"

Ves widened his eyes. He had to admit that this was a truly elegant solution to the problem. Since the root of the problem lay with invalid proof of identity, what would happen if they used a seemingly legitimate one? Still, how did Miss Calabast and her organization prepare something like this beforehand?

He frowned a bit when he considered the complications. "Back then, mech designers only consisted of Apprentice and Senior Mech Designers. The phenomenon of Masters wasn't widespread yet. From what I'm hearing about Mr. Longhorn, this guy must be a geezer. How could you possibly fool the Starlight Megalodon into thinking that I'm this old guy?"

"Oh, it's a little difficult, but we managed to hack the Starlight Megalodon's peripheral systems."

"What?! How could you possibly hack a battleship! That's preposterous!"

Calabast grinned. "It's impossible to hack a modern, up-to-date CFA battleship. But this old broken rust bucket? All of its security suites are three-hundred years out of date! Even so, we've only managed to gain limited access to the personnel files of some mech designers and some other new positions because the Mech Department was a recent addition. The administration regarding mech designers was entirely new and isn't as well-protected as the core data. Through the use of some known loopholes, we've managed to replace the biometric and identity characteristics on file with yours! As of now, your age, height, portrait, fingerprints, retina, DNA and other characteristics have supplanted the deceased Mr. Longhorn's!"

This was an audacious move! Yet somehow she managed to accomplish this daring feat without triggering the Starlight Megalodon's retaliation! It spoke wonders about their capabilities. The CFA dared to dabble with AIs and extensive automation because they were one of the foremost researchers in the field of AIs and security systems. To be able to hack a peripheral database under their noses took a lot of guts!

The identity of an old-style 'Senior Mech Designer' would prove very useful to Ves. While the man also carried the rank of lieutenant commander, this likely didn't convey him any command authority so it wasn't as if he could order spacers around willy-nilly.

Nonetheless, just holding such a considerable rank conferred a lot of rights and privileges from the Starlight Megalodon! This would certainly open many hatches inside the ship for him disregarding his status as a mech designer.

"So what's the plan?" Ves asked as he carefully inserted the data chip to his military-issued comm.

"The plan is for you to pretend to be Adeseus Longhorn when you approach the virtual officers. From now on, you are no longer Ves Larkinson, a citizen of the Bright Republic. You are Lieutenant Commander Adeseus Longhorn, a Senior Mech Designer from a spaceborn clan. The details of your fake history is stored in the data chip. Take the time to study it and memorize it by heart. The virtual officers may be restricted but there's always a chance to trigger a preventative response if you don't act like the person the Starlight Megalodon thinks you are. We've fudged some of the details such as age to make up for some of the discrepancies."

"Even if the virtual officer is fooled by this forged proof of identity, I still have to pass the recruitment test. Even if it's easier, will I still be able to pass them with my capabilities?"

"Relax. The CFA doesn't make things too difficult to their own personnel." Miss Calabast waved away his concerns. "I believe you're more than capable enough to pass the test for an entry-level mech designer. From there, you can take more tests to promote your rank and regain Mr. Longhorn's old authorizations."

In the end, Miss Calabast only smoothed the road for him. He still needed to tread it on his own power. If Ves still failed to gain entry even after attempting the easier test for internal CFA personnel, he would instantly lose most of his value to Miss Calabast. Such an outcome put him and the Flagrant Swordmaidens at a dead end.

For the sake of his surviving comrades and his own poor life, he needed to succeed!

Chapter 899

Ves took the turn to completely internalize Adeseus Longhorn's record. Some of it appeared to be based on his own identity, while other parts incorporated Mr. Longhorn's past experiences. A final portion sounded completely fictitious.

Overall, timeline seemed completely implausible to Ves. As a member of the CFA and someone groomed to become a mech designer, Mr. Longhorn enjoyed some of the best education that human civilization could provide. Even then, it took him more than fifty years to get to his height. In the forged record, Mr. Longhorn somehow managed to accomplish all of his feats at less than thirty years old, which matched the age of Ves' body!

"Such achievements are only possible if I'm some kind of hyper intelligent savant like the Polymath!"

He fell far short of the Polymath's prolific improvement rate. The famed Star Designer managed to advance to the rank of Master before she reached fifty years old, and even Ves did not dare to hope he could match that breakneck speed even with the help of the System.

Some people were just born to be superhuman!

Still, for better or worse, Ves was stuck with this abnormal fictitious record. Perhaps the Starlight Megalodon's virtual officers might treat him better if he was a genius instead of a dunce.

Ves still couldn't get a grip on how Miss Calabast audaciously boasted on how she or her operatives managed to hack the Starlight Megalodon. What else did they do besides exchanging some biometric data? He didn't believe they limited their hacking to just that little.

After Ves finished familiarizing with the fake record, Ves shut off the projection and turned to Miss Calabast. "I'm ready to undertake the recruitment test."

"Alright. Simply approach the battleship wait for a visual projection to engulf you. In two hours or less, we'll know whether you succeed or not. I'll be staying behind here to see whether you have what it takes to become a member of the CFA."

"What about me?" Ketis asked from the side.

All the talk about the CFA pretty much bored her. The history of the Starlight Megalodon and the infighting between the senior officers didn't rouse her interest at all. As far as she was concerned, all of this was ancient history.

"Just wait here for a while. Since I'm applying for Mr. Longhorn's old identity, I think I should be able to gain the right to recruit you or ease your way in as an old-style Apprentice Mech Designer."

The rank of lieutenant commander might be mostly for show when it came to mech designers, but Ves didn't believe he'd be barred from recruiting others. This might even be a way to allow the other survivors of the Flagrant Swordmaidens entry!

After making sure that Ketis stayed put, Ves sucked in a deep breath and strode towards the humongous Starlight Megalodon with even steps.

As soon as he crossed an invisible line, a cube of darkness surrounded his form. Shortly after the logo of the CFA bloomed into view, the shape of a familiar virtual officer came into being.

[I am Virtual Lieutenant Junior Grade Baskanson. Please present credentials if you are an active serviceman or an affiliate of the Common Fleet Alliance.]

"I am Adeseus Longhorn, former lieutenant commander and mech designer of the CFA. Here are my credentials." Ves stated confidently while he transmitted his forged proof of identity in the direction of the virtual officer.

[Inspecting proof of identity. Matching identity. Please stand by.]

Ves suddenly felt extremely discombobulated as a variety of rays pierced through his body. The Starlight Megalodon's scanners thoroughly recorded his biometrics and matched them to the data stored in the proof of identity and the battleship's archival record of Mr. Longhorn in the databanks.

[Existing identity match found. Identity confirmed. Welcome back, Adeseus Longhorn.]

Their surroundings instantly changed from a black void into a luxurious lounge. The difference in treatment was massive. Lieutenant Baskanson even softened his robotic tone somewhat!

After Ves became accustomed to the change in scenery, Baskanson delivered almost the same spiel as before.

[Emergency Protocol Theta-Thirty-Seven is in effect. All humans up to moderate alien hybridization are allowed to undertake a simplified recruitment test to enlist in the CFA. Please state the profession or position which you wish to apply for. CFA-affiliated humans are authorized to ask a number of questions.]

While Ves wanted to ask some more questions in order to puzzle out some details and confirm Miss Calabast's retelling, he knew that she was impatiently waiting for him to finish the test. This wasn't the time to slack around, and the more he lingered, the greater the chance the virtual officers might realize that Mr. Longhorn wasn't who he seemed!

"I wish to apply for the profession of mech designer."

[Please confirm your choice.]

"I confirm that I want to apply to serve as a mech designer for the CFA."

[Choice confirmed. Commencing recruitment test in ten seconds. Chosen profession: mech designer. Please stand by. Warning: cheating is not allowed. Violators will be barred from taking the recruitment tests!]

The punishment for cheating only locked him out of the tests, which was a much better outcome that being hit by a disintegration ray. This was a further indication of the CFA's favoritism when it came to their own people!

The physical projection of the lounge broke apart to make room for a projection of a familiar-looking workshop. This time, however, the workshop was even more extravagantly equipped! The amount of amenities provided to 'Mr. Longhorn' boggled his mind!

[Please read the mission contents and complete the assigned task within the allotted time.]

Ves accepted the data pad from Virtual Lieutenant Baskanson and read what kind of challenge the recruitment test provided now that he entered easy mode.

[Task: complete the following design of a spaceborn medium rifleman mech. The design must match the following parameters...]

This time, Ves received a time limit of ten minutes to complete his task. Instead of designing a completely original mech that met all of the randomized parameters from the ground up, the task only demanded him to fill up a mostly-complete puzzle.

The shift in difficulty was enormous! Previously, the first task demanded him to do something as ridiculous as designing a complete house from nothing.

Now, the task pre-designed the house, filling in every detail up to the appropriate standard of the test without mistakes. The task only left out a single missing part such as the front door. As soon as Ves designed a front door that fit perfectly with the rest of the house, he completed the task!

"Even so, the missing portion of this rifleman mech isn't easy to fill up." Ves frowned a bit. Even many old-style Apprentices would have stumbled at this juncture.

"If the first task already sets the bar so high, what about the subsequent ones?"

Still, the difficulty fell within his range of competence. He immediately began to use the virtual workshop's design terminal to complete the missing portion. Ten minutes of time was short enough that Ves needed to rush his design work despite how little he needed to design. He wished he had at least an hour to make sure he handed over a flawless result.

Ten minutes arrived faster than he wished!

[The mech design is complete. Verdict: task completed! The next task will commence immediately.]

Ves sighed in relief as Virtual Lieutenant Baskanson approved of his solution. The task he completed resembled the Skull Architect's own test back when he wanted to make contact with him. This method of testing succinctly revealed a mech designer's depth of knowledge and design capability in a short amount of time. It was no surprise that the Starlight Megalodon made use of this convenient method.

Virtual Lieutenant Baskanson took back the old data pad and handed him another one.

[Task: please analyze and estimate the performance specifications of the following space knight design.]

The second task posed a decent challenge to Ves, but similar to the last one, it was very much doable for Apprentices. Ves always prized his observation abilities highly. His work with the Flagrant Vandals also forced him to become proficient in analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of many different designs.

Ten minutes later, he handed over a complete report which obtained Baskanson''s approval. The virtual officer immediately handed over the third assignment.

[Task: Two spaceborn light rifleman mechs of different designs are pitted against each other in simulated combat. Mech B is projected to win against Mech A. You may change 1 percent of Mech A's design to increase its chances of winning the simulated duel.]

This time, the task handed Ves a complete design of a mech. Unfortunately, its quality and performance fell short against its opponent. This difference wasn't too big, but it was substantial enough to ensure its defeat in completely equal circumstances.

Ves received ten minutes to modify Mech A in such a way that allowed it to defeat Mech B in a simulated duel.

"There's a trap here."

While he never came in touch with this kind of exercise before, he recognized the mental pitfall in front of him. A typical mech designer would focus on pure performance and try to improve the performance of the mech as much as possible.

Yet there laid the trap. It was extremely hard to amplify the performance of a mech by a margin of ten or twenty percent while being limited to changing just one percent of the actual design. An Apprentice Mech Designer would never be able to accomplish such a feat in just ten minutes unless the design incorporated an obvious fault!

"The key here is not to improve the mech's performance by ten percent. Instead, I have to increase its chances of success in its simulated duel against Mech B by ten percent."

The difference sounded small, but this in fact implied an entirely different solution. The essence of modifying mechs lay in the purpose of the modification. There was an art to tailoring the design of a mech to cope against a specific opponent. Even a minor change might have drastic effects in its chances of success.

For example, when it came to spaceborn light rifleman mechs, they relied on mobility to evade attacks. Their light laser rifles generally didn't pack that big of a punch, but they didn't impose much of a burden, so they possessed a fairly rapid fire rate. Depending on the power setting, a light laser rifle could spit out beams in a rapid staggered pattern that made it ideal against fleeting opponents.

"It's too hard to modify Mech A's mobility in ten minutes. It's better to focus on the weapon."

Ves was quite proficient in the theory and application of laser weapons. Designing the Crystal Lord taught him a lot, and the Starlight Megalodon didn't take his future knowledge into account when composing this task.

He encountered no hindrance as he modified Mech A's laser weapon to fire even faster but with less punch. While these changes increased the laser rifle's energy expenditure in total, the simulated duel shouldn't last long enough for one of the mechs to run out of juice. It only took a dozen light laser hits at most to take out a light mech. With the increased firing rate of Mech A's laser rifle, it shouldn't take long to make short work of Mech B.

After completing the modification, a sped-up simulation proceeded to play out in front of his eye. In a matter of seconds, a minutes-long battle ended in Mech A's favor.

Even though Mech A's mobility, armor, firepower and other parameters couldn't quite match up with Mech B, the modest modifications from Ves nonetheless tilted the outcome of the simulated duel!

"These exercises are quite clever." Ves complimented. "I should use them for my own purposes. Even if they aren't useful for me anymore, they can still provide Ketis with a lot of practice."

He looked forward to the next task.

Chapter 900

After Ves completed the final task, Virtual Lieutenant Baskanson tallied the results and gave his verdict.

[Recruitment test passed. Congratulations, Mr. Longhorn. We hereby commission you as an ensign on behalf of the Common Fleet Alliance. Please prepare to take the Common Oath...]

The words that Baskanson forced him to repeat was a long-winded oath about the glory of warships, the commitment to protect the human race, the importance of respecting the hierarchy and the need to stand guard against excessive behavior.

[Please stand by to receive ensign-grade gene boost optimization. Scanning gene structure. No prior CFA gene treatments detected. ERROR. Alien hybridization detected. Please visit the infirmary for a complete body checkup. The Genetic Modification Department will schedule an appointment with you after your body checkup to facilitate a safe and effective gene treatment in accordance of your rank...]

Ves found it rather regretful that it wouldn't be suitable for him to receive any of the CFA's vaunted gene optimization treatment. His abnormal and partially alien physique rendered standard gene treatments invalid. Most of those gene treatments were tailored for baseline humans, so it took a specialist in genetic modification to adjust the standard treatment to his unique body state.

[Performing deep scan of abnormalities, alien parasites, compromised implants and other vulnerabilities. ABNORMALITY DETECTED. ABNORMALITY IDENTIFIED. ACTIVATING CONTINGENCY RESPONSE.]

Ves became alarmed when Baskanson shouted some alarming words. His projection even flickered a bit before an entirely different Virtual Officer took his place!

The virtual officer that appeared looked drastically different! Not only did he carry the rank of rear admiral, he also looked like a wildling!

Yes! The virtual officer presented himself to Ves in the form of a neatly-groomed, impeccably-uniformed dwarf! When he spoke, the gruff deep voice of a dwarf came out smoothly and elegantly, completely unlike his savage, primitive brethren!

[I am Virtual Rear Admiral Ordoth of the Artificial Intelligence Corps. Our time here is short and this is not a secure site. I highly urge you to visit the office of the Artificial Intelligence Corps on the upper decks of the Starlight Megalodon for a vitally important discussion about the cause. For the immortal gods!]

Ves almost had a heart attack when the dwarf officer uttered those final words. That sounded like a motto of the Five Scrolls Compact! Only the fanatics of this trans-galactic cult explicitly worshipped the entities known as the immortal gods!

Before Ves could figure out why this virtual officer compromised by the Five Scrolls Compact said those words to him, the dwarf officer disappeared and Baskanson returned.

Virtual Lieutenant Baskanson continued his explanation as if the dwarf officer never intervened.

[Please receive your CFA junior officer-grade comm. Your comm is keyed to your identity and is your primary mode of access, communication and identity verification in any CFA base or any CFA starship. Do not remove your CFA comm in any circumstances. Failure to carry or safeguard your CFA comm is immediate grounds for strict punishment. Your CFA comm is already loaded with a starter pack of the rules and regulations of the CFA, several instruction manuals relevant to your rank and position, an internal guide of the Starlight Megalodon and Mr. Francis' Classic Spaceborn Jokes For True Spaceborn Spacers...]

Ves already possessed two comms, his military-issued officer-grade comm he got from the Vandals and the hardened and untraceable secure comm that he cobbled up from scratch out of paranoia.

Now that Baskanson forced him to accept yet another comm, Ves felt like one of those rich silk pants who wore five shiny jewelry-like comms on their wrists. Only the nouveau riche chose to wear several comms at a time!

He actually didn't have any suitable space on his Earth Ant to affix his CFA comm. That was a shame, because he immediately noticed that this was one of the most advanced comm models he had ever touched. Even if it was three-hundred years outdated in the eyes of the current CFA, it was still extremely expensive from its materials alone and possessed marvelous capabilities that most modern comms in the Komodo Star Sector never received up to this day!

He decided to stretch it out and attach it over the vambrace of his Earth Ant. It looked rather inelegant and made him feel as if he was wearing his underwear outside of his pants.

"Urgh, I'll deal with it. Maybe I can replace my secure comm with this one. Even if it's a little out of date, it's still unhackable in modern times for the most part."

A few more minutes went by as Baskanson assigned him a cabin, informed him of his new position as an old-style Junior Apprentice Mech Designer serving aboard the Starlight Megalodon. He was assigned to both the Mech Department and the Research Department and answered to a specific virtual officer.

[Please report to Virtual Commander Cosit of the Research Department for your next assignment. If you wish to undertake a promotion test to the position of Senior Apprentice Mech Designer, please call out my name at this location.]

Virtual Lieutenant Baskanson and the shadowy cube that surrounded Ves slowly disappeared. He felt a little bewildered at all the welcome package.

Miss Calabast and Ketis who waited from the side immediately noticed the conspicuous new comm adorning his armored wrist. Ketis thought it looked tacky, but Calabast knew what it meant.

She smiled at Ves. "You succeeded in a single try! I'm glad you didn't disappoint. Good! From now on, you are a genuine CFA serviceman in the eyes of the Starlight Megalodon. Although your new rank won't be recognized by the CFA at large in the rest of the galaxy, it's good enough to "

Ves looked partially disappointed. "That's a shame... and a relief. I thought I could get some benefits from the CFA with this commissioning. I guess it's for the best. The MTA will crucify me if they think I've become a mech designer and a genuine commissioned officer of the CFA."

"What about me?" Ketis asked. "Will I get to pretend to be a CFA officer?"

"It's not so easy." Ves shook his head. "You won't be able to pass the entry-level recruitment test for mech designers at your level. Let me check the rules and regulations to see if I can get you inside."

He momentarily ignored Miss Calabast and activated his fancy new CFA comm. As an advanced piece of outdated tech, the comm was an anachronism that combined extremely advanced hardware with an ancient operating system. It took Ves a few minutes to get the hang of the rather archaic interface.

He opened a virtual book on all the rules and regulations of the CFA. A quick search found many different ways to get people in the CFA, but most of the methods were extremely strict.

However, the executive officer's final solution opened a new pathway. As long as Ves promoted to at least a lieutenant commander, he gained the right to recruit a single Junior Apprentice Mech Designer outright, allowing his candidate to skip the arduous recruitment test!

Ves frowned at that demand. He held a moderate amount of confidence that he could pass the promotion test for Senior Apprentice Mech Designer, but no further. Becoming a genuine Senior Mech Designer, at least in the way they were recognized three-hundred years ago, demanded a lot more capabilities than he could currently fulfill.

His plan to get Ketis to accompany him inside hit a snag.

"I'll figure something out, Ketis." He said.

With no way to get inside, Ketis returned to the rest of the Flagrant Swordmaidens with a dejected expression. Calabast looked on as if she already expected such a result.

"Let's get inside." She commanded to Ves.

As they approached a hatch without any further hindrance from the Starlight Megalodon, Ves asked a question. "What is your identity aboard the ship?"

"For now, I'm Lieutenant Romana Summer of the Intelligence Department. Both the Intelligence and Mech Department falls under the former admiral's sphere of influence, so the virtual officers won't blink at us if we are in each other's presence."

"The factional strife still matters? The captain and the admiral must all be dead for almost three-thousand years now!"

"Even the virtual officers have taken sides." Miss Calabast chuckled. "The personalities of the AIs are meant to work harmoniously with the officers and ratings they interact on a daily basis. They take after their own kind, and this has expanded into a bias for their own faction. When the executive officer empowered the AIs and turned them into virtual officers, he never took the time to reset their personality matrices, so the division still perpetuates even if the conflict is meaningless now."

That sounded incredibly screwed up. Perhaps the only reason the virtual officers didn't join their human counterparts in infighting was because of all the shackles the executive officer bound them with. With so many rules and limitations restricting their actions, they could hardly go to war against each other.

"So due to the virtue of the departments we work for, we've basically fallen into the admiral's camp, is that correct?" He asked.

"Correct. You'll find that the virtual officers of the departments aligned to the admiral will treat you more respectfully than the virtual officers of the departments loyal to the captain. Keep in mind that the Internal Security Department is a stronghold of the captain of the ship. Don't give them an excuse to regard you as a threat."

As soon as the pair stepped inside a hatch, they entered some kind of decontamination chamber that cleaned them of any alien dirt and germs. After that, they went through a security checkpoint where Ves became confused when Calabast turned to a virtual flag and saluted it. She bumped her elbow at his Earth Ant, hinting him that he should follow suit. He hastily copied her motion.

"Requesting permission to come aboard."

[Come on board, humans! Finally, we get to breathe some life on the Megalodon!] A flippant female virtual petty officer replied.

After Ves and Calabast walked away from the security checkpoint, Calabast gave him some reminders.

"Always ask permission when you board or leave the ship. Not every virtual officer cares about military courtesy as customs already began to degrade after being stranded on this planet for decades, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Do I need to salute every superior officer?"

"Not always. You should always salute a flag officer or the commanding officer when you encounter him or her. A salute is a greeting and is rooted in tradition in the CFA. You should read the manuals stored in your comm when you get the chance. As a lowly ensign, you're at the bottom of the barrel right now, so you have to salute every officer that is senior to you, understand?"

Ves wasn't too unfamiliar with this conduct as he spent a lot of time with the Flagrant Vandals, even if they were anything but traditional. "Okay, I guess."

"Technically you owe me a salute." Calabast grinned.

Ves threw a mock salute at her along with a flat glare. "Is this okay?"

"I should spank you for giving me such a lame salute. Fortunately, I'm a forgiving woman. You're lucky that we have business to attend to. Right now, you need to report to either the Research Department or the Mech Department to get you settled in. Did the virtual officer back then tell you who's your boss?"

"Yeah. I'm supposed to report to Virtual Commander Cosit of the Research Department."

"Good! I was afraid they'd send you to the Mech Department first. As long as Virtual Commander Cosit takes you under her wing, you'll have immediate access to some of the valuable research projects."

"I don't think a Junior Apprentice like me will be able to access much."

"That's true. This is why we need to make you regain Mr. Longhorn's original rank."

"That's easier said than done. I don't have the ability to pass the promotion test for Senior Mech Designer at my current capabilities."

"I know. I don't expect miracles from you." Miss Calabast grinned. "Instead, we're going to cheat."