The Mech Touch

There were always small groups of people who valued the sanctity of their mind and souls. The very notion of eating a strange fruit that caused them to spawn an entirely new personality in their own bodies sounded like the beginning of a horror drama to their ears.

Ves did not expect to win over everybody. He just wanted to obtain sufficient support from both the grassroots and the upper echelon to attain widespread adoption if not acceptance across society.

From what it looked like, he sold the benefits of companion spirits well enough to build up a huge amount of demand to anyone who became aware of their existence!

He could already imagine the conversations spreading across the halls and corridors outside of this secure chamber.

Much of the details surrounding companion spirits had to remain confidential in order to prevent anyone with red or purple dots on their badges from getting the wrong idea.

However, the existence of companion spirits by themselves was not prohibited. As such, many of the 700 mechers and associates eagerly spread the word and shared the potentially explosive benefits of having them to any of their friends and acquaintances aboard the Khamatar Reign!

Once the conference came to an end, thousands if not tens of thousands of people would soon go back to their old haunts and tip off a lot more people of this amazing new 'augmentation1!

As the inventor of companion spirits, Ves was entitled to earn a lot of credit and recognition. If everything proceeded as he hoped, he would definitely be celebrated as one of the major contributors of red humanity!

From the moment he concluded his presentation, his identity had already changed. Ves knew it was impossible for him to cling onto the identity of an 'ordinary' associate or an 'ordinary' second-class Senior Mech Designer.

When the benefits of companion spirits to humanity were so great that they had reached the standard where they could be featured in the announcement of the next mech generation, Ves knew that he had formally entered the big leagues of his civilization!

This brought amazing benefits as well as a lot of new dangers to him. There was no way he could roam the new frontier as casually as before.

Ves was afraid of what might come, but he knew he didn't really have another choice. All of the other alternatives were worse.

In order to avoid the fate of cannon fodder, he needed to speed up his rise to power, and the only way he could do so with his current means was to follow Calabast's advice and pursue a high-profile strategy!

As Ves sat in front of the three hand-picked representatives of a handful of the most powerful human leaders in the Red Ocean, he realized he had reached a critical junction where he could shape his own future.

The three Master Mech Designers did not have to listen to the input of a mere associate. They could make decisions entirely on their own based on the information that Ves had provided during the presentation. Each of them were incredibly intelligent and possessed far greater awareness of the needs and the circumstances of red human civilization.

However, that did not happen. Each of them reserved precious time from their busy schedules in order to accommodate and indulge Ves in person. This was a very clear message and indication that his soft power and influence among the Survivalists and beyond had broken through a new threshold!

He knew what he had to do during this time. He had to demonstrate that he possessed the maturity, judgment and wisdom to play the game at an exceedingly high level.

There was no need for him to be as brilliant as a first-class politician raised from birth. His value rested in his ability to innovate fantastic new solutions that could help red humanity tide over the current crisis. He just had to avoid sounding like a fool. He also had to avoid any irresponsible remarks.

As Ves mulled over the question that he was supposed to answer, he decided to voice his true opinion.

"When I initially came up with companion spirits, I did not expect this to be more than a privilege that is reserved for my closest friends and family." He said. "It was only recently that breakthroughs in the relevant research project opened up a lot more options for everyone. Given how cultivation is on the rise and how companion spirits can amplify the extraordinary growth efforts of any red human, my invention can easily raise the comprehensive strength of our people and civilization to a whole new level. If everyone has become as strong as a dragon with the aid of their own companion spirits, is there any reason for us to fear the native aliens of the Red Ocean?"

This was the dream that many people had in mind when they learned about companion spirits.

Whether it could come true was not entirely certain. The Red Association still needed to find a way to mass produce companion spirit fruit trees, but this should not be too difficult given how much research ability it commanded.

Master Tolarian Cerny appeared particularly receptive towards this vision. "The Polymath is in favor of any initiative that can enhance the potential of our entire race. It does not appear that the cost of production is a major burden. The most important input is E energy radiation, and the trees can absorb that for free in any location. If that is the case, then we can turn companion spirit fruits into a universal benefit. This should have massive implications for our entire society. An uncountable amount of lives will transform forever. What we find particularly encouraging about your companion spirits is that they offer hope to the weakest and least capable of our population."

That was right! Ves understood what Master Cerny was talking about.

To the individuals who already had easy access to augmentations and superior education, companion spirits were like icing on the cake. They most definitely brought a lot of benefits to the lives of individual Terrans and Rubarthans, but it was not as if this addition completely changed their lives.

At most, companion spirits functioned like another augment in their large collection of other enhancements. The marginal improvements to their lives were rather modest in the greater scheme of things.

The situation was completely different for third-raters. The citizens of the lower zones that Ves had almost entirely ignored ever since he entered the Red Ocean did not have access to so many fancy gene treatments and implants.

They lived in the most resource-poor regions and had to work with inferior means. This caused them to remain incredibly weak and incapable of playing a more significant role in defending red humanity against the onslaught of aliens.

While their third-class mechs and fleets were able to put up at least some fight against the rabble of the native alien races, their fragile tin-can assets easily fell apart as soon as they got ambushed by a ship or a fleet of a much more powerful race!

Against the might of potent transphasic gun batteries, transphasic energy shields and dazzlingly fast warp drives, no third-class fleet could ever hope to form a proper resistance against the more serious native fighting forces!

Quantity did not help as the tech and performance disparities were so great that a single superior ship could wipe out thousands of inferior vessels in a prolonged battle!

In this circumstance, companion spirits introduced an alternate means of empowerment that was a lot more affordable than the more traditional technological solutions.

If third-raters couldn't become strong enough to defend their homes against the aliens because they couldn't obtain stronger machines, then they could partially compensate for this shortcoming by strengthening their human resources instead!

Ves did not have a clear idea on how exactly this was supposed to happen. Companion spirits gave people a much easier path towards cultivation, but the choice of cultivation methods played a crucial role on how they developed in the future.

This was not his problem. He was sure that the Survivalists and the Red Association would prepare tailor-made cultivation methods for the masses that enabled a large proportion of them to become a lot more useful in the escalating conflict.

Ves constantly had to remind himself that not every problem was his problem. He was part of an enormous community. There were plenty of clever people around who could handle these affairs a lot better than a simple mech designer.

However, not everyone was in agreement with this universal approach.

"We cannot afford to pamper the weak." Master Henry Urbeck espoused the view of the Fist of Defiance. "Propping up the third-raters just so they can play a minor role in the war is not worthwhile. By giving out these fruits for free, we devalue them. People will begin to take their companion spirits for granted since everyone else already has them. No matter how cheap it is to mass produce these fruits, we need to restrict their spread by raising the threshold of earning them. Only by making them earn their companion spirits through hard work will they continue to invest significant effort into growing them. This way, we can ensure that the limited resources at our disposal will mainly be used to benefit the strongest and most hard-working human heroes."

This opinion did not sit well with Master Cerny. The other man felt it was a waste to heavily restrict the spread of companion spirit fruits and completely disregard the possible contributions that third-raters could make.

"Our population is too small as it is now that we are cut off from the Milky Way." The Polymath's envoy critiqued. "Do not exacerbate the problem by limiting this new augmentation to a select few elites."

Master Urbeck crossed his arms. "A companion spirit must become the mark of heroes. The way I see it, we should reserve the fruits that grant them to those who seriously contribute to the survival of our race. If our faction has chosen to settle for our Deep Strike Plan, we can issue these fruits as a reward for every human who participates in a deep strike operation. Each and every soldier who risks his life by going deep behind enemy lines deserves to earn this life-changing reward! Others who do not bear the same risks but contribute in a different form may also earn companion spirit fruits without necessarily risking their lives. Think of financing the operation, providing the essential starships or designing many of the mechs chosen by the raiding units. Whatever the case, people who sit back and do little to increase our chances of winning the war are not deserving of this reward."

"That will split our society in half! Inequality will increase to a level unseen since ancient times!" Master Cerny protested! "Previous generations of humans have worked hard to build a modern and mutually supportive society where every person can attain the opportunities they need to climb the social ladder and better themselves. Professor Larkinson here is one of the best success stories of that. Many more hidden talents may be buried among the third-class colonists that occupy the lower zones. They only need a single opportunity to reveal their impressive talents. Companion spirits have the potential to lift them out of their mudballs. Universal proliferation is the right course of action if we want to uplift red humanity as a whole."

"Not everyone deserves to be uplifted! We have entered a time of unprecedented danger and turmoil! We must abide by the survival of the fittest, not the survival of the deadbeats and wastrels. A modern society cannot properly cope in a situation where it is beset by an overwhelming amount of hostile civilizations. We must recognize our new reality and accept that we have entered a new phase where only the best can lead us to victory."

It became increasingly more clear that the Fist of Defiance and the Polymath held opposing attitudes in how to mobilize the population. They did not appear to be able to find a compromise on this contentious issue!