The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7479

Chapter 7479: The Power of Desecration

"Is it possible to reproduce the same phenomenon without relying on whole archeshells harvested from these alien individuals?" Ves inquired.

His wife frowned in thought. "Theoretically, it should be possible to do so, but the prerequisites are too great. I have to meet a large number of conditions to make that possible. At this point, our understanding of archetech is too shallow. We have only explored a single corner of this large and promising field. The arche has definitely mastered more, but even they have not managed to uncover the full potential of their unique tech base. We would not only have to catch up to the arche in terms of understanding archetech, but also continue to innovate until we have reached a very high level. This is an effort that will require decades if not centuries of focused research."

That sounded completely unrealistic.

"If that is the case, then that means that if we want to take advantage of the rare and exceptional properties of genuine archeshells, we can only acquire them by prying them off the backs of arche individuals." Ves concluded. "That is troublesome. The arche are not as numerous as the nunsers and puelmers. They are also fiendishly difficult to find. It is unfeasible to capture large amounts of them that are required to turn this into a dedicated industry."

"Archeshells are similar to Mentalist Crystals in this regard." His wife agreed.

That comparison caused Ves’ eyes to light up all of a sudden. "Not quite! Mentalist Crystals are impossible to acquire in large numbers because they cannot be farmed with any degree of regularity. They only tend to form randomly within the brains of mutated exobeasts who choose to rely on their smarts instead of brute force to overcome predation. This kind of random process can only be semi-regularly harvested by an organization like the Hunting Association which oversees entire untamed planets. This does not apply to the arche, who are simple biological creatures who don’t rely on any strange mutations or random chance to reproduce. The only reason why their numbers are so low is due to lack of living space."

Gloriana understood what he was trying to convey. She began to look intrigued.

"Are you suggesting that we capture enough arche and put them in a controlled environment and treat them like cattle?"

"Why not? If the only purpose is to establish a reliable and consistent means of producing archeshells, then we only need to set up a planet with a habitat that conforms to the physiological needs of the arche race and force the aliens to breed vigorously with each other. We can then proceed to control the growth process of the juvenile arche by cramming different combinations of materials down their throats. The arche have already proven the capacity to produce archeshells with specific properties and abilities by being selective with their diets. We just need to steal their recipes and imitate their methods to industrialize this initiative. We can even develop new varieties of archeshells by experimenting with the input!"

This sounded promising, but Gloriana had a few misgivings about this proposal.

"It will not be easy to set up this arche breeding farm of yours. We will at least need to dedicate an entire planet to make this a worthwhile effort. Furthermore, we will have to breed millions or at least billions of arche in order to achieve a profitable and meaningful production scale. The greatest impediment to this plan is the timespan of a single breeding cycle. The time it takes for an arche to attain biological maturity from the moment of conception spans more than a decade at the very least. Archeshells grow at an incremental rate. That is part of the reason that makes them so fascinating."

Ves shook his head in disagreement. "You are still thinking within natural boundaries. We do not have to abide by the natural limitations of this race. Technology can solve any problem! Think about it. Our current capabilities allow batch humans to be grown in large numbers. Not only that, we can utilize advanced tech to educate them and turn them into functional adults in a handful of years! The Cybernetic Empire has already extensively developed this tech, and I am sure it is only a matter of time before the other major players invest in their own batch human programs. Population size is a core source of strength for them all. Do you think it will be difficult for us to adapt the same tech used to produce batch humans on the arche?"

That was a very serious but valid question.

Gloriana could not provide an easy answer. "I honestly do not know. I will have to consult multiple specialists in order to know for certain. I am not that well-versed in biology, and my familiarity with the arche as a species is not deep enough to estimate whether it is possible to compress their growth rate in a tight window. However, if it turns out that it is possible to do so, then your proposal has a lot of merit. High-quality archeshells can never match the strategic value of Mentalist Crystals on a 1-to-1 basis, but it is not impossible for an industry that focuses on the former to overtake the industry that focuses on the latter in terms of total value. The most important requirements are scale and high-quality resource inputs. We would need to work with tens of millions of arche at the beginning and ensure that they are force-fed enough high-quality exotics and hypers to make this effort worthwhile. Oh, and you cannot forget about phasewater either."

As Ves and Gloriana continued to become engrossed in a discussion on how to turn the arche into cattle for red humanity, the crippled alien leader remained well within earshot.

The pair of mech designers did not bother to talk over an encrypted communication channel.

Though the alien leader had not learned how to speak standard human language himself, he still possessed unknown tech or augmentations that allowed him to parse human words.

This meant that he had to tolerate several minutes of hearing two evil humans discuss how to enslave and exploit the members of his race in the cruelest and heartless fashion possible!

As much as he looked down on the lesser members of his own race, the archecruiser captain could not possibly stand the thought of his proud people being reduced to cattle for the purpose of harvesting their archeshells!

At least when he had asked his own crew to sacrifice their blood and archeshells, he had done so for a desperate cause.

Trying to attain godhood through the sacrifice of his fellow arche was a noble act in his eyes.

Though the gambit ultimately failed, that did not diminish the heroism of this attempt.

Yet what these despicable humans thought about doing far exceeded his psychological boundaries!

"@$@&@$."

"STOP. DO NOT SPEAK OF VIOLATING THE MEMBERS OF MY RACE. OUR ARCHESHELLS ARE NOT YOURS TO DESECRATE AT WILL. I PROMISE YOU THAT IF YOU TRULY ATTEMPT TO REALIZE YOUR PLAN AS THE TWO OF YOU HAVE DESCRIBED, YOU WILL EARN THE ETERNAL HATRED OF OUR ENTIRE PEOPLE. NOT EVEN THE OTHER RACES FROM OUR GALAXY HAS CONSIDERED SUCH A GREAT EVIL. WE WILL NEVER REST UNTIL WE HAVE KILLED EACH AND EVERY HUMAN THAT WE CAN FIND."

"$#$Y$."

"...I CANNOT SPEAK ON BEHALF OF ALL OF MY PEOPLE. I AM ALSO INCAPABLE OF OFFERING SO MUCH. NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, YOU CAN NEVER CONVINCE US TO ALLY WITH YOU. HOWEVER, I AM WILLING TO DO WHAT I CAN BY MYSELF TO STOP YOU OR OTHER HUMANS FROM TREATING MY PEOPLE AS CATTLE."

"$#$@."

"IF I HAVE REACHED DIVINITY AS I HAD HOPED, I WOULD NEVER ALLOW YOU TO DESECRATE MY DIVINITY BY DISSECTING MY FORM. IT IS GOOD FOR YOU THAT THIS IS NOT THE CASE. MY ASCENSION HAS FAILED. THE STRENGTH I WIELD IS NOTHING IMPRESSIVE COMPARED TO WHAT A PROPER GOD OF THE ARCHE IS CAPABLE OF BRINGING TO BEAR. MY SHELL HAS FAILED TO FUSE IN A SINGLE WHOLE. TRYING TO REPRODUCE IT IS SIMILAR TO TRYING TO COPY A BROKEN SHIP."

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify