The Mech Touch

"In the context of the Deep Strike Plan, the Overlord Project is yet another effort to increase the high-level combat power of our civilization. There are powerful aliens among the opposition that cannot be defeated by relying on quantity alone." The projection of Master Xena Wintress patiently explained to the newly instated advisor and consultant.

"Isn't that what god mechs and powerful battleships are for? I mean, I can understand how cultivating human phase lords can make a difference, but there is so little time that the war will probably be decided long before any of our homegrown body cultivators can reach the top."

That caused the RA Master to smile.

"Ah, but that is what is special about the Overlord Project, it is true that it can take many years for typical phase lords and phase whales to increase their phasewater concentration, but they can employ shortcuts to accelerate their progress. Many of them rely on absorbing phasewater as well as other materials obtained from external sources to grow stronger in a shorter period of time. In addition to that, it is possible to leapfrog their progress by implanting phasewater organs from other sources."

That caused Ves to jerk in his seat!

"Wait! Is that what you mechers have been trying to accomplish whenever you capture a phase whale?"

Ves thought back on the expeditions where he somehow bumped into a phase whale. Whether the enormous alien was mutated or nor, the Association always swooped in order to study the hell out of the biologies of those powerful beasts!

"As I have stated earlier, knowing our enemies is crucial to winning this war. We have conducted enough examinations on the bodies of a variety of phase whales, unclean whales and other miscellaneous phase lords to develop a basic understanding of their growth processes. What we are particularly Interested in is the fact that the cultivation of phase lords can be sped up at an enormous rate so long as there is an abundant supply of relevant resources. This makes it possible for us to rapidly transform a select number of human candidates into greater phase lords. If one of them is particularly talented and qualified, we may even be able to produce an ancient phase lord. If this can be done in twenty years or less, then we can change the balance of power in the Red Ocean."

That was an enormous ambition!

Ves wasn't too sure whether it was possible to produce a sizable batch of human phase lords in such a short timeframe. Cultivation had to be done step-by-step. Expending lots of resources could speed this up too quickly, causing the foundations of the body cultivators to become so flawed that they might eventually collapse!

Aside from that, Master Wintress mentioned an unfamiliar phrase that caught Ves' attention.

"Ancient phase lord?"

"Ah. That is our label for a hypothetical phase lord who has grown to become the equivalent of an ancient phase whale. The intelligence that we have collected from the indigenous aliens indicate that such a powerful being has yer to arise, but that it is possible for a greater phase lord to attain this level of strength. The reason why it has never happened throughout the long history of the Red Ocean is because we speculate that it requires the implantation of the enormous organs of an existing ancient phase lord."

That made a lot of sense. Aliens outside of phase whales were naturally deficient in this special body cultivation method. They only managed to get started on this because they were too fixated to quit and develop more suitable cultivation methods for themselves.

The phase lords that emerged as a result of their strong determination to become physical gods needed to make up for their inherent inadequacies by borrowing the strength of real phase whales!

Theoretically, if the aliens could do it, so could humans!

The carcasses of ancient phase whales should be especially valuable for this purpose, but obtaining them was easier said than done!

No native alien had the guts to confront and kill an ancient phase whale. These were the oldest and strongest of the descendants of the Elder Gods. Fighting them was not only far too difficult, but also a religions taboo in alien society!

This was not a subject that the Overlord Project should be focusing upon right now. Red humanity hadn't even managed to develop a reliable method to get humans started as phase lords. It was much more important to complete the first steps of a phase lord body cultivation method than to think about the last stages!

"You are not required to work with us right away. We are still in the process of collecting information from our growing archives of ancient knowledge." Master Wintress explained. "We have found that your advice that we should treat the development of a phase lord as a body cultivation to be remarkably useful. While none of our knowledge repositories has lied any method to phasewater, our specialists have accumulated a large amount of relevant expertise in this broad area. We expect that they should soon be able to compose the basic framework of a systematic body cultivation method. Our biotech researchers and phasewater experts should be able to supplement the model even further."

That sounded like the right approach. Even though the mechers had been following the wrong direction for years, they were not incompetent by any means. They just lacked enough information and direction.

Now that they made up for both shortcomings, their progress and efficiency had become remarkably better, especially now that a top Master Mech Designer such as Xena Wintress had been put in charge!

"It sounds like you guys are already managing fairly well by yourselves." Ves spoke in an impressed tone. "Doi even need to provide my feedback ar all? I am sure that the members of your expanded research team have already mastered a lot more specialized knowledge than myself."

Master Wintress responded with a rueful smile. "Past Incidents have shown that expertise alone is not enough to succeed. You are a pioneer in this field. The fact that you are the first human to become a phase lord without relying on a systematic and purposeful method means that you are gifted in this area. We anticipate that any progress we make In this project will affect you the most."

Ves couldn't help but grow skeptical at this. "Are you saying that my talent in phase lord cultivation is the highest? You have little proof of this. Besides, even if 1 am good at this, I am already a Senior Mech Designer. I don't have the time to dedicate all of my efforts to this stuff."

"We understand. We do not mean to impose on you. Your personal experiences and insights as a lesser phase lord is still of enormous value to the Overlord Project. Our dependence on this input will decrease significantly once we have finally managed to create our own human phase lords."

They talked a bit more about the planning and the expectations of the Overlord Project. Ves grew more and more reassured that the mechers knew what they were doing.

Even if they got a few derails wrong, Ves could always offer corrections through his feedback.

Once they went over all of the essential topics, Ves inquired about the place of phase lords in red humanity's society.

Master Wintress did not cut back on her answer. "We are transitioning red humanity into a martial society. Personal strength and capabilities will become Important measures to power in our new society. Wealth will still remain important, but it will become more difficult to preserve it without enough strength. Not every human is suitable to become a high-ranking mech pilot or mech designer. This is why our Association is working to introduce multiple means of self-evolution. The Overlord Project will open up a new avenue for humans who are not brilliant enough to become excellent mech designers or not talented enough to become successful mech pilots."

If the Overlord Project fulfilled its main goal, then humans with different inclinations and talents gained hope of being able to gain personal combat power equivalent to a high-ranking mech!

They could attain all of this without pulling too many people away from the mech community.

This was important as the Rod Association would never abandon its focus on cultivating as many god pilots as possible!

There was one problem that the mechers couldn't avoid, though.

"If this actually takes off... the demand for phasewater will skyrocket even further." Ves spoke. "All of those little human phase lords will need to gain access to lots of phasewater if they want to raise their strength. The supply of phasewater in onr meager territories is already inadequate. Adding a whole new burden will exacerbate the shortage to a whole new extreme!"

The female Master Mech Designer did not look concerned. "We are aware of that. We have already planned for it, even. When the demand lor a scarce resource skyrockets, the incentive to proactively seek it out will increase as well. What do you think will happen, Professor Larkinson?"

It did nor rake much time for Ves to run this scenario through.

"Oh. I get it. If the demand for phasewater grows much higher, a lot of humans will be eager to obtain it at any cost. I can think of no better way to acquire large quantities of this rare material by stealing large reserves of it from the aliens. I bet that a lot more forces will be eager to take part in the upcoming deep strike operations!"

All of this tell in line with the Deep Strike Plan.

No matter whether people were greedy for war merits or phasewater, the greater the attraction of raiding alien territories, the more ferociously red humanity fought back against their enemies!

Greed was a powerful motivator! Ves had plenty of first-hand experiences with this. The promise of becoming a phase god that could resist powerful mechs by relying on the body alone was enough to drive people mad!

'Phasewater is not the only resource that will see an increase in demand as a consequence of our work." Master Wintress added. "Phase whales augment their own capabilities through biotechnological self-modification. Native alien phase lords often rely on constructing technological equipment to make up for their substantial shortcomings. We can employ the same approach but to a much greater extent. We have developed many powerful technologies and products that are dedicated to strengthening mechs. We can adapt much of it to phase lords without needing to start from the beginning."

"That..."

Ves recalled the battle against the Trampler of Stars. The nunser phase lord initially fought with an advanced suit of armor that was tailor-made to complement his own strengths.

While its properties weren't impressive when compared to mechs, there was lots of room for improvement!

He couldn't help but think about the original purpose of rhe Metal Scroll.

The modern incarnation of mechs didn't exist in ancient times. Creation cultivators that worked with metal did not produce anything like the war machines that were ubiquitous today.

Instead, they worked valuable materials into powerful armaments.

Powerful combat-oriented cultivators could gain a huge increase in defense, offensive and other properties by equipping themselves with exquisite sets of armor and weapons!

If human phase lords rose up one day, il would be stupid of them to participate in battle while wearing ordinary armor.

They needed high-quality equipment in order to maximize their combat power!

Ves anticipated that a lot of mech designers would be eager to meet this demand. Perhaps an entirely new branch of industry would emerge that was dedicated towards servicing phase lords!

He didn't know what to make of this scenario. It sounded as if society was progressing forward, but it felt more like a regression that brought red humanity back to ancient times.

"Phase lords won't take over our society, right?"

"There is no reason to fear their emergence, Professor Larkinson. There isn't enough phasewater in the Red Ocean to make that happen."

"I hope that assumption is true."

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