The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7458

Chapter 7458: Difficult Choice

"URI-2461-V6 is an interesting product." Ves explained with an amused expression. "It is quite funny, actually. Exsanguino and Triton-Remose-B are both accidental creations. The Cybers did not set out to invent them, but managed to make them anyway after they messed around with different alloy formulas. URI-2461-V6 is different as the Special Materials Tower of the Cybernetic Empire sought to develop a means to bestow life to inanimate objects from the beginning."

"That sounds... difficult." Isobel responded. "I think I understand the logic here. Strong enough willpower can turn the impossible into reality. These Cybers probably thought their best chance of replicating your living mechs was to invent a resonating material that could give high-ranking mech pilots a shortcut to doing so. Am I correct?"

Both mech designers looked impressed. Her guess came pretty close to the truth, at least the one disclosed by the Cybers!

It was not without reason why the Larkinsons considered Isobel to be one the more intelligent champions of their clan. Her extensive cybernetic conversion had only further accelerated her mental processes.

"From my perspective, their experiments sound silly... but worth trying." Ves said with a hint of appreciation. "Boundaries exist to be tested. Nothing is truly impossible. The Cybers may have well been able to succeed so long as they decipher the correct rules or got extremely lucky one day. Unfortunately, they have probably wasted a lot of high-quality manpower and resources into this project without yielding a satisfying return. Instead of getting caught up in a sunk cost fallacy, the supervisors in charge probably decided to make the rational decision to cut their losses."

Ves actually felt a little regretful after learning about this decision. He had developed quite a strong interest in this strange resonating material. Even though it failed to satisfy the Cybernetic Empire’s stringent requirements, it still promised an alternate means of bestowing life onto mechs.

"All of that sounds interesting, but what does this new resonating alloy actually do, and why do the Cybers consider it a failure?"

"That demands a bit of an explanation. URI-2461-V6 was made to turn mechs alive, but instead of doing so, it can only grant the ’illusion’ of life onto inanimate objects. Its effects don’t really work on the mech itself, but can affect most objects within range. What I mean by that is that it can animate random objects such as a drone, a shuttle or even a barrel’s worth of phasewater. Even if they are devoid of active control, you can bestow them with a measure of false life that makes it so that they can take autonomous action."

"I see. So it is similar to turning them into bots."

"That is a good description, Isobel. By bestowing them with bot-like intelligence and autonomy, you can turn them into tools that follow your instructions. However, extensive testing by the Special Materials Tower has revealed that the effects are not too remarkable. URI-2461-V6 has never come close to breaching the barrier to true life. The affected objects steadily lose their conditions over time. Their intelligence is rather basic and cannot obey precise or complex instructions. It is similar to ordering a bunch of children around. While all of these descriptions may sound bad, we still believe that this so-called failed product can add wings to the Promethea Mark II."

"Explain, please."

Gloriana smirked as she explained their reasoning. "For all of the experiments conducted by the members of the Special Materials Tower, the Cybers are not experts in the field of living mechs. We are different. We are the inventors and the pioneers of living mechs. We have also expanded beyond this narrow category and bestowed the gift of life to a diverse range of subjects. My husband and I have a strong belief in our ability to make MURI-2461-V6 resonate like nothing else in our hands. Even if we are being overconfident, the measured effects are already useful to your ace mech. We believe that it can easily be adapted to turn all of the flames produced by your battle partner into a living, burning army."

She waved her arm, activating a projection that displayed a simulated combat scenario.

In this projection, the Promethea Mark II flew in from a distance before launching a volley of searing energy beams from her Ignitron Mark II.

Each beam accurately struck and burned through the azure energy shields that protected a formidable armada of alien homeships as well as orbital facilities.

Every strike not only inflicted immediate damage on contact, but also generated purple flames.

These initial fires might not look impressive compared to the scale of the enemy vessels and constructs, but they possessed a degree of intelligence and persistence that was unnatural!

One flame in particular happened to be larger and hotter than others.

Kiroshi had manifested at the flame that struck the largest orbital facility. The companion spirit not only possessed a mind of her own, but also served as an extension of a powerful ace pilot.

This made it a lot easier for Kiroshi and the flames she fanned to burn their way into the orbital station and ignite the most critical parts within their reach!

While all of this seemed relatively familiar to Saint Isobel, that did not apply to the other flames!

Isobel was accustomed to the fact that she could not easily strengthen the flames left on other targets.

She only had one companion spirit, after all. The fires started by her ace mech’s attacks usually propagated at a much lower rate. Enemy damage control teams and automated countermeasures also succeeded quite often in dousing the flames.

Previously, the only way for her to overcome this resistance was to launch repeated attacks at these ships or constructs. She could either concentrate her attacks on a single section to build up an overwhelming firestorm or disperse her attacks to different points in order to overwhelm the fire-fighting teams.

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