The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7360

Chapter 7360: Collaborating With Ritualists

Though the higher-ups shot down his request to make an attempt to establish a stronger myth, it may have been for the best.

When Ves reflected on his mindset at the time, he readily admitted that he had been overtaken by hubris.

He went too far.

His competitive urges had acted up when he learned about the nature of myths and rituals. He did not feel content with reproducing an existing myth in a pathetic manner. The difference in scope, scale, accuracy and other factors made him feel so inferior that he felt shamed at all of the inadequacies.

His inner Gloriana must have made a resurgence, prompting him to devise a much more elaborate plan that actually involved the kidnapping and ritualistic sacrifice of actual ace pilots!

Now that he regained his sanity, he gradually realized that harvesting the lives of actual saints for the express purpose of reusing their spirituality in a macabre experiment would taint his name and reputation forever!

Perhaps it would bring him a lot closer to realizing one of the visions where his society turned against him and shackled him in an ominous chamber.

Though Ves knew that the higher he climbed, the more he could get away with transgressions, he had yet to join the ranks of the true power players.

Until he became as powerful as the likes of the Polymath, he needed to remain careful about his words and deeds. He could only occasionally dictate the rules whenever he introduced a grand new invention or convinced the public to accept his crazy ideas.

Outside of that, he was still a part of the same society as everyone else, which meant he needed to abide by its various rules.

In a civilization that had been influenced by a strong and ubiquitous mech culture for centuries, mech pilots and especially the ones who had tread on the path to godhood earned an exalted status among humans.

They were more than simple soldiers and warriors. Anyone could become a fighter if they joined a dojo or enlisted in an infantry or naval unit.

No. Mech pilots possessed greater honor and valor because they had not only been blessed with compatible genetic aptitude, but chose to develop their potential and become professional mech pilots in an age where they bore the main burden of engaging in warfare.

Even though the age where mechs had nearly completely displaced other war platforms such as infantry, tanks and warships had come to an end, that did not diminish their status in the present age all that much.

God pilots remained overbearingly strong. With these immensely powerful standard bearers taking the lead in protecting fragile human space, it became natural for other mech pilots to benefit from their existing glory.

This was especially the case for ace pilots, who had made it much farther on the path of godhood than most of their peers!

For these reasons and more, openly talking about sacrificing ’disobedient’ ace pilots still remained a definite taboo.

It did not matter whether they betrayed their oaths and turned their hostility against their fellow humans.

It did not matter that they harbored intentions to destroy life-saving research samples and technology.

It did not matter that their actions forced red humanity to scramble scarce forces and resources that could have been better spent at combating the alien threats.

So long as millions upon millions of mech pilots fought at the frontlines and served as examples to other people, they would continue to retain the honor and status that they had rightfully earned.

Under this climate, it was a really bad idea to earn the universal hostility of the entire mech piloting profession.

It was especially egregious for a mech designer like Ves to become tainted with this stigma!

Even if he harbored nefarious intentions towards mech pilots, he should not act stupid and engage in forbidden experiments directly.

Instead, he should learn from examples such as the Xenotechnician who regularly attracted suspicion, but had never been caught red-handed.

Relying on proxies and remote-controlled dummies was the kingly way. Ves had climbed too far on the ladder to put his primary identity at risk.

As Ves grew increasingly more sober, work on the second trial continued to progress without interruption.

Dr. Zeron Khabeel and his associates from the Ritualist Department provided a huge amount of external assistance.

The only downside was that it became necessary to expose these external consultants to many details of the Larkinson Clan’s attempt to reproduce stolen resonance.

There was no way that the details would remain confidential for too long.

Ves possessed a strong awareness of how many players had gotten involved in the Red Collective. Many members originated from groups like the Red Two, the first-rate colonial superstates or other distinctive organizations.

Aside from the Cybernetic Empire, every other major player would soon gain a lot of information about the methods and solutions that the Larkinson Clan intended to employ in their own experiments!

This meant that Ves and his fellow Larkinson researchers had a limited amount of time at their disposal.

If they could not produce a successful result in the next handful of days, the other research teams within the escort fleet would definitely combine their own advantages with the ’best practices’ of the Larkinson Clan and win the race!

"There is no need to be too afraid, sir." Dr. Zeron told Ves. "Our Ritualist Department is not that large. We also prefer to work with true insiders such as yourself. The mechers, fleeters, Rubarthans and so on have called on our department’s aid after they all learned that our rituals may be able to play an indispensable role in their respective research projects, but we are merely fulfilling our obligations towards them. Helping you is much more to our liking."

Ves gave the ritualist a deep stare.

This was not a casual remark. It was a pretty strong declaration of support.

It made sense. Ves may not consider himself to be a full RC insider, but his role in founding the superorganization and shaping its structure was undeniable.

More importantly than that, taking over the Phase Lord Department and rectifying it caused his name to become even more tied to the Red Collective.

Yet these reasons should not be enough for the Ritualist Department to take a bet on Ves.

The other groups possessed many capabilities that surpassed his own.

The ritualists needed to bet on a winner.

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