The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7284

Chapter 7284: Cynical Agreement

The Guidance Faction had long maintained a lot of power during the early half of the Age of Mechs.

Many of the members and leaders of the Mech Trade Association consisted of survivors of the final years of the Age of Conquest.

Their desire to smother the independence of humans was great. They were chiefly responsible for turning the MTA into an overbearing institution that deprives the states of their sovereignty and numerous of their rights.

It was not until human civilization had recovered from the ravages of the Age of Conquest that the Guidance Faction's influence started to wane.

While the power of inertia was still strong enough for the Guidance Faction to retain a significant influence throughout the remainder of the Age of Mechs, it was clear that the newer generation of high- tiered galactic citizens rejected its paternalistic behavior.

More and more people who had never suffered the atrocities committed during that apocalyptic past age found the Guidance Faction to be filled with nagging parents and grandparents.

The Evolution Witch especially despised the busybodies who felt it was their sacred mission to guide humanity's development.

Naturally, their wisdom trumped the wisdom of the remainder of the human population. Even powerful god pilots like Divine Lucie Miyazaki had been deemed too impulsive and reckless to be granted a measure of actual control over a large and powerful organization.

Back in the old galaxy, the Evolution Witch constantly chafed under the monitoring of risk-averse peers such as the Chosen Human and the leaders of the Guidance Faction.

Now that the Great Severing left most of those pedantic figures behind, a growing number of tier 1 galactic citizens gradually built up the courage to defy the prevailing consensus and break away from the status quo.

It was actually quite ironic that the god pilot most at risk of going rogue had actually demonstrated enough patience to stay within the Red Association.

Instead, the Huntsman and the Polymath proved to be much more decisive in their actions!

Was it unfair that so many people maintained a guarded attitude towards the Evolution Witch?

Perhaps. Ves did not blame them for their fears.

For all of their selfishness, the Polymath and the Huntsman at least led organizations that remained recognizably human.

Sure, the Cybers and the Hunters both stretched the definition of humanity when they encouraged each other to pursue different forms of ascension, but their intentions remained noble.

People could not say the same for the Evolution Witch. She had never obfuscated her beliefs and ideology.

To her, being human was a transition. Each human had to possess the drive to improve themselves by any means necessary. If that meant giving up their humanity and transforming themselves into a biotechnological abomination, then that was an acceptable tradeoff in her opinion!

This 'open-minded' perspective happened to turn her into an ideal patron for Ves, but it also turned her into a growing concern by others.

"The Missile Messiah must be feeling really bad right now." Ves remarked. "I don't know too much about him, but if he is entrusted by the Guidance Faction to watch over the development of humans in the Red Ocean, then he has most certainly lost control. His actual power and influence must be quite minimal these days."

"You are correct, relatively speaking." Jovy carefully said. "A Star Designer will always wield a great amount of influence. Even the Polymath at her low point still enjoyed a large degree of support and indirect assistance due to the inherent value of her work. His Excellency Kevar Arendstein is still our best missile weapon specialist in the Red Ocean. His work is especially appreciated by the Red Fleet, whose warships are more dependent on this weapon type."

Ves perked up when he heard that. "Is there a possibility that the Missile Messiah might decide to defect to the Red Fleet?"

"The probability is small, but... we cannot dismiss it entirely." The Survivalist admitted. "We still hope that the Missile Messiah will stay true to his roots and remain an upstanding member of the Red Association. Even with the departure of the Huntsman, the Evolution Witch and the Marmedion Dynasty, we can still be assured that the Mech Supremacist Faction along with the Survivalist Faction will remain behind to maintain the core institutions of the RA. At most, we may have to shrink our forces, our direct territorial holdings and our R&D expenditures."

The Red Association was still too strong of an institution to collapse. So long as at least a couple of tier 1 galactic citizens remained behind, it would always exist, though it would struggle to regain the grandeur it once held.

Ves actually felt rather sad that the RA had entered a declining trajectory, but it had no one to blame but itself.

Sure, the Great Severing may have set up the conditions for all of the defections, but the reasons why the likes of the Huntsman and the Polymath preferred to operate alone rather than remain a member of the club was because it failed to satisfy their needs and ambitions.

"Who are the Red Association loyalists?" Ves asked.

"The Lord of Thermodynamics and the Web Mistress for certain." Jovy responded. "Both Star Designers are old enough to have grown up in an era where the fear of returning to the degeneracy of the dark days of the Age of Conquest still loomed over their shoulders. They value the strength and stability brought by the Mech Trade Association. It is safe to say that they are the staunchest members of the old guard. Of the two, the Lord of Thermodynamics is much more of a relic of the past age."

The Web Mistress was significantly younger, so she possessed a bit more modern sensibilities.

However, it was clear that she still believed in the original mission of the Red Association.

Having met and spoken to the Web Mistress in person, Ves knew that she mastered the law of networks

to such a profound degree that she could crack into any data network.

Her abilities appeared to be outright magic from his perspective!

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