The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7444

Chapter 7444: Military Commitment

Though Ves really felt annoyed by the attempts made by the elves to pull him into their political orbit, he still appreciated the novelty of their existence.

As one of the key figures responsible for their ’creation’, the First and Second Elf had a strong interest in building up a relationship with him. They apparently thought they needed more backing in order to further their interests.

This made sense as Terran society had become intensely divided over the elven initiative. The galactic net had been lit on fire ever since the initial announcement spread, and emotions only became more heated over time.

The two leading elves had come under such intense pressure that their ongoing charm offensive could literally decide whether the elven race could survive beyond this year!

Naturally, obtaining the explicit support of the inventor of the Carmine System, the founder of the Red Collective and the director of the Phase Lord Department could solve a lot of problems!

Unfortunately for the elves, Ves did not see any reason to lend any substantial support.

He still needed to maintain a certain degree of separation from the elven initiative.

The only reason for him to disregard this priority was if the benefits of allying himself with the elves exceeded the downsides.

So far, he saw little of that. Perhaps the elves had a lot of promise in specialized fields, but red humanity still maintained an overwhelming head-start in all matters of development.

Another reason why he felt reluctant to grant the elves a seal of approval was because they might pose a genuine threat to red humanity in the future.

Sure, the elves all made the politically correct statements of how they were simply an ’arboreal variant of human’, but he knew how easy it was for divergent biologies to eventually identify themselves as a different or superior race.

In that sense, Ves partially agreed with Saint Jannzi’s wary attitude.

He still supported human supremacy, though his definition of it was much broader than normal.

The creation of a new race and one that borrowed from extremely well-established myths of stories went a step too far!

Ves did not want to get hit in the face with the potential backlash that might occur if the elves ever decided to sever their ties to human civilization in the future!

That said, he did not want to spoil his relationship with the elven race before it could get off to a good start.

The current trajectory suggested that a significant proportion of Terrans planned to convert themselves into elves.

This group would definitely be weighted towards people belonging to the middle and upper layers of society.

That meant that the elves would definitely wield an outsized influence over the direction of the Terran Alliance in the future!

In other words, Ves needed to walk a tightrope when it came to the elves. He had to make a friendly impression without getting caught in their trap.

"...we understand the fear of the common folk towards our emergence, but our creation is not as radical as they think." The First Elf patiently explained her viewpoint to Ves and his fellow Larkinsons. "We consider ourselves to be a logical progression of an ongoing development. When you look at our civilization from a macro perspective, we have been engaging in transhumanism since the Age of Stars. When we compare ourselves to the many alien races of the Milky Way and Red Ocean, we often feel dissatisfied with our lack of strength, intelligence and other traits. Since we have the technology to improve upon our inadequate baseline, many of us have embraced its possibilities to improve and build upon our foundation."

"There is a difference between augmenting yourself and inventing a new race." Saint Jannzi flatly stated.

"We do not share the same view." Yenya Aduc elegantly replied. "Human augmentation has long become ubiquitous. The introduction of so-called curated qi cultivation methods has only further lowered the barrier to entry, as even third-raters can break their mortal limits without breaking the bank. Baseline humans have long become extinct in the new frontier."

This was a fact that no one could argue. Even the dullest third-class human who never came in touch with the qi cultivation methods published by the Red Collective had already mutated beyond their original biological makeup.

Years of passive exposure to exotic radiation had subtly changed and altered their body, mind and spirit into a package that could easily be distinguished from a third-class human who remained in the old galaxy.

"You are still moving beyond established conventions of human augmentation." Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson stated from the side. "It is one thing to choose to augment yourself into a special human with pointy ears. It is another thing to create a race whose offspring will permanently inherit the same ears and other improvements. Your children and grandchildren will forever bear the consequences of your choices. You have deprived them of the right to choose."

The First Elf shook her head. "We do not live in a utopia where choice is sacrosanct. Consider this, honorable saint. The well-established market for designer babies has long made it so that humans start off on a stronger footing from the moment of their artificial conception. This is actually an extrapolation of the older trend of augmenting the bodies of infants at an age where they lack the agency to decide on their own improvement. What we have done is merely a continuation of this existing trend. We solidified the designer baby approach so that the parents of tomorrow no longer have to undergo the tedious and expensive process of commissioning a designer baby from a genetics lab."

"We are aware of this obligation and have no intention of neglecting it." The Second Elf sternly answered. "Many elves are chosen among the ranks of soldiers who have volunteered for frontline duty. They will do their best to fight our alien enemies and defend the Terran Alliance. We have an obligation to protect any citizen of the Terran Alliance no matter the race. Whether they are human or elf is of little consequence to us. We identify ourselves as Terrans first."

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