The Mech Touch

Meeting the MTA's requirements was only one part of the equation.

Ves also had to make sure that Andraste was in a state to accept the treatment if he ever felt she needed this life-changing service!

"Are there any specific requirements that the recipient needs to meet in order to become eligible to undergo Genetic Aptitude Reparation?"

"Good question. As you can imagine, it is not easy for Divine Hussain Albedo to change the entire brain and body structure of a child." Master Dervidian patiently explained. "The closer a subject is to a model mech pilot, the less effort it takes to transform him or her. His Holiness has imposed a number of hard requirements for this reason. The most basic one is that he will not treat anyone older than 15 years old."

"Is there a reason for that?"

"There are multiple. First off, it is to cut off the hopes of people such as yourself. There are many adults who have gone on to enjoy successful careers in other vocations. They contribute much more to our society in their current positions than if they would start all over as an ordinary soldier who is also starting late. On the premise of keeping human civilization strong, it would be unconscionable for Divine Albedo to rob other sectors of their talents."

Though Ves tried his best to remain calm, a part of him still felt as if he had lost an opportunity.

"Is that the only reason for this age limit?"

"No. There are other reasons. For example, as the brains and bodies of people continue to grow over time, they become increasingly less malleable to changes. It is far too strenuous for Divine Albedo to turn a norm who is over 60 or 100 years old into a potentate. The price does not match the benefits. My advice to you is to start as soon as possible. Do not wait until your child has reached 15 before applying for this service."

"I see. That is good to know."

"The second requirement is that the recipient must also possess a sound and healthy mentality. This is rather difficult to define in words or numbers. There have been cases where His Holiness has refused to make a move because the child in question is too spoiled or possesses a distorted personality. In general, if our leader judges that turning the recipient into a potentate will do more harm than good, then he cannot in good conscience proceed with taking action."

Divine Albedo sounded like a particularly righteous and noble god pilot. For him to take morality and conduct so seriously meant that Ves had to be extra careful not to expose any of his uglier traits!

In addition, he had to make sure he raised Andraste properly. He already planned to invest more effort into molding her into a noble and righteous woman. It would not do for her personality to turn in a stumbling block at a critical moment!

"The third requirement is that the recipient must be human, or close to it." Dervidian spoke. "The closer a child is to a healthy baseline human being, the better."

Uh oh. When Ves thought of all of the deep and extensive genetic and spiritual modifications he applied to both Andraste as well as her older sister, he had a feeling that this was a much more serious issue!

"How much leeway do children have in order to remain eligible for this treatment?"

"That is difficult to say. It is completely up to His Holiness to define whether a child has strayed too far from the human norm. In general, augmentations are not necessarily harmful as long as they preserve the human condition. Try to avoid genetic modification that insert alien and inhuman genes into a child's DNA as much as possible. There are more restrained alternatives available that seek to improve and optimize a human's physiology and cognitive functions. They are much more harmless in our eyes."

Ves would have liked to learn about this detail before he agreed to produce a designer baby!

He did not know enough about Withshaw & Seneca's designer baby templates, but he hoped that the genetics company did not add too much alien crap in their genetic programming codes!

"Are there any further requirements?" He tentatively asked.

What he heard up until now made it clear that gaining access to Genetic Aptitude Reparation was anything but straightforward!

Fortunately, the MTA Master finally ceased to bring up further demands.

"Not per se. The final detail that you should know is what Divine Hussain Albedo can do for a child. You see, Genetic Aptitude Reparation encompasses more than just granting the right genetic aptitude to a child that lacks this quality."

"Oh?" Ves became even more attentive than before. He had a feeling that he was about to learn something very important! "Are you saying that His Holiness can also affect children who already possess the minimum qualifications needed to pilot mechs?"

"He can." Dervidian smiled. "Parents who are disappointed by the genetic aptitudes of their children can request His Holiness to improve or repair this property so that their offspring become a lot more talented."

What an extravagant measure! What was crazy about all of this was that Ves could fully understand why some parents were willing to pay astronomical sums in order to improve the piloting ability of their child.

Many aspects of a potentate can be improved, but genetic aptitude was one of the elements that could not be improved in the slightest!

The only person who could do anything about it was the Chosen Human. This granted the god pilot an invaluable monopoly on a highly desirable service!

Ves could imagine that there were many powerful parents within the Association that wanted their favorite offspring to possess the best chances in their piloting careers.

If there was a way to improve one's talent, then those with way too much money and merits on their hands would definitely be willing to pay a hefty price!

"Can you explain to me exactly how Genetic Aptitude Reparation affects the qualifications of eligible recipients?"

"Most certainly. Let us begin with those who are not capable of piloting mechs. Divine Albedo can repair their genetic aptitudes, but only up to a certain point. Before you ask, he cannot continually apply this procedure to the same individual more than once. Therefore, for the majority of children who present themselves to His Holiness, their genetic aptitudes will make three major leaps forward."

This meant that a talentless kid with F-grade genetic aptitude would be able to obtain C-grade genetic aptitude at most.

That… was already enough for most people. While C-grade genetic aptitude was considered rather average or even insufficient to pilot the most advanced and complex first-class multipurpose mechs, being able to pilot mechs at all was already a fantastic step forward!

There was no need to be greedy for more.

"Will children with higher grades of genetic aptitude make three leaps forward as well?" Ves asked.

"Not exactly. It becomes more difficult to improve this aspect as it nears the most ideal state. In general, recipients with E or D-grades can reach B-grade. Those with C-grade can barely attain A-grade. As for the blessed children that already possess A-grade genetic aptitude, they can only attain a minor improvement at most. Children that score A- can attain A-grade. Children that already score A can possibly reach A+, but there are no guarantees."

These were revolutionary possibilities!

While genetic aptitude was not the sole determinant to a mech pilot's eventual success, being able to reach a higher starting point definitely made everything easier!

Given how much human society and especially the MTA valued high-ranking mech pilots so much, the demand for Genetic Aptitude Reparation must be insanely high!

Divine Albedo most definitely served as an immense source of income, favors and other resources for his faction!

Yet… as soon as Ves thought about the astronomical price of 1 billion MTA merits, he began to deflate.

How the hell was he going to earn so many merits in so little time?!

With a maximum time limit of 15 years, it sounded impossible for him to earn so many merits.

He would either have to produce the most groundbreaking invention in his life, or he would have to take a lot of risks in order to gather as much phasewater and other valuable curiosities for the MTA!

Ves narrowed his eyes for a moment. Given how easily he was able to obtain all of this information, he suspected that he was being manipulated into working even harder on behalf of the MTA.

After all, the only way to earn MTA merits was to make the organization in question happy!

All of this sounded like an elaborate scheme to get him to dedicate his entire life to the Association!

What was even more depressing was that the mechers did not even try that hard to hide this scheme. The reason for that was that they were not afraid that people would refuse what they had to offer.

This had been the MTA's modus operandi for a long time!

Ves softly sighed. There was no practical way he could gain access to Genetic Aptitude Reparation. Perhaps Star Designers and tier 1 galactic citizens might not even blink an eye at the cost, but someone as poor and weak as Ves had to work way too hard in order to get his foot in the door!

A part of him felt that he would have been better off if he remained ignorant of this possibility.

Still, a larger part of him felt grateful towards Master Dervidian for driving away a part of the fog that obscured the truth about god pilots.

Ves had no intention of contracting Divine Albedo's services, though. As much as he loved and adored Andraste, there were more vocations available to humans than piloting mechs.

Perhaps he could encourage his red-headed daughter to follow Ketis' footsteps and become a mech designer who just happened to know how to fight.

This way, she would still be able to make good use of her designer baby genes.

"There is one more piece of information that you need to know if you are ever considering to apply for Genetic Aptitude Reparation, Mr. Larkinson. In order to obtain the help of His Holiness, you must bring yourself and your child to him. That can be a challenge as he is currently stationed in the Milky Way for the time being."

That could be a major problem!

"Will… His Holiness travel to the Red Ocean in the near future?"

"I cannot say." Dervidian shrugged. "I am far from powerful enough to understand the deployment of god pilots. I can say in general terms that many of them are stationed where they are needed. They cannot cover an enormous amount of territory, but they can provide absolute safety to the local star systems and regions they are guarding. Currently, there is always a need to guard essential border systems in the galactic center. There are still many surviving alien races in the Milky Way that possess the strength to compete against our civilization."

"Does that mean…"

"In my judgment, it is unlikely that Divine Albedo will be transferred to the Red Ocean. Compared to the powerful threats of our home galaxy, the indigenous alien races of the new frontier are weaker in almost every conceivable criteria. We can easily defeat them in time without relying on any god pilot."

In other words, the MTA didn't take the major alien races of the Red Ocean seriously. If that was the case, then there was not much reason to bring over too many god pilots to this dwarf galaxy!

"I understand."

Ves already began to think beyond this option.

The most valuable piece of information he obtained from this discussion was learning about how much value god pilots provided in a more productive setting.

The second-most valuable piece of information that he received was that it was possible to improve or repair the genetic aptude of different people!

Although the tech for it did not exist as of yet, at least Ves discovered that there was a possibility!

This was already enough!

If Ves was feeling truly desperate or ambitious, perhaps he could develop his own solution to the problem!

Hopefully, he wouldn't need it, though. It might be that all of his concerns about Andraste's genetic aptitude and piloting talent were unfounded.

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