The Mech Touch

Given the preferences of the two mech designers, neither of them valued Superdimensional Transformation over the other choices, so that was an easy climination.

Ves and Ketis just needed to come to a consensus on which of the remaining two upgrade tracks they should commit to. Their decision would have far-reaching consequences on how they progressed in the future and how they affected the society they lived in. Neither of the two could take this matter lightly!

"It seems you are pretty optimistic about the five elements."

Ketis nodded. "You may have a point that the natives of Messier 87 have likely mastered the uses of the five elements to a much greater extent than us, but that is all the more reason why we need to catch up and eventually surpass them if possible. You can say all you want about the native aliens, but the way in which they rapidly closed the tech gap is admirable. Wars between two different civilizations have always resulted in mutual technology theft. It is how humans were able to rise so quickly during the Age of Conquest, after all. In my opinion, we should do everything in our power to help red humanity develop a strong foundation in the five elements. I think we will almost certainly fall short compared to the aliens from Messier 87, but at least we have closed the gap just enough that we can actually understand the methods of the extragalactic aliens... and copy them in a short amount of time!"

There was a certain degree of merit in her argument. As long as red humanity was able to survive its initial contact with the Subjugation King, people would soon get exposed to a lot of powerful methods from the extragalactic invaders!

If red humanity's understanding of E energy manipulation was too shallow at that. point, then there was no hope of imitating the enemy's best practices and technology in a short amount of time!

Selecting Five Elements Mastery would massively reduce this risk from happening. Either red humanity caught up quite a lot, or it actually managed to exceed the civilizations of Messier 87 in a few areas!

Ves did not completely buy into this argument, though.

"You may be right, but we don't necessarily need to rely on the Mech Designer System to explore how we can make better use of the five elements. The Red Three and every major power is already hard at work in trying to develop many new applications that make use of them. Our contributions can still be helpful, but it wouldn't be as game changing as you think. It is actually quite easy for any mech designer or researcher to study new ways to make use of the classical elements. There is not much about them that is exclusive or difficult to access."

Plausible, but it was difficult to determine the truth.

Ketis brought up another argument that caused her to favor this option.

"Do not forget that we are mech designers. Of all of the upgrade tracks, the gains we make from Five Elements Mastery is the easiest to implement in mass production mechs. Every advancement we make in this area can be spread far and wide. We can also share much of the knowledge we obtain from the elemental enlightenment fruits so that we can uplift all of the military industries that are desperately looking for ways to strengthen their mechs, warships and other combat assets even further!"

That was a great argument to be honest. Ves also felt it was important to stimulate red humanity's overall technological development. Helping people gain a much better grasp of the five elements would positively impact the lives of many ordinary individuals.

"There are two issues about your argument that I have a problem with." Ves said. "First, knowledge related to the five elements can easily be stolen and shared. In the short term, the native aliens will most certainly get their hands on everything we have taught to red humanity. The gap in technology between us and our immediate enemies in the Red Ocean will not improve in any serious way. At most, the native aliens will be a few years behind, but certainly not any further."

"That is... true, but my argument relating to the aliens of Messier 87 still stands."

"That is what my second problem is about, Ketis. Five Element Mastery will help us close the gap and catch up to the Messier 87 aliens. What I do not see much hope for is a way to surpass our enemies. If we want to win in any conflict against these powerful foes, then we cannot do so by trying to compete against them in an area that they are more familiar with and understand the best. This is why I think Demoncasting is a lot better in this regard. No one else will be able to replicate this method. Not even the aliens from Messier 87 will be able to come up with anything similar or stronger. If we try to harness the five elements, we would be like my daughter Andraste trying to beat you with her swordsmanship. You are much more adept at wielding the sword."

Ketis frowned and crossed her arms. "You are putting a large amount of effort into casting Five Elements Mastery in a bad light. I distinctly remember that you sang its praises not too long ago. Doesn't this upgrade track allow you to design better elemental Carmine mechs and help you become a Star Designer much faster than normal? I thought you would readily embrace this option for this reason alone. Every mech designer dreams of becoming a Star Designer, and the System just gives you a possibility to practically guarantee your future promotion."

"Is that what you think, Ketis? You are not thinking deep enough. First, there is a risk that absorbing too many elemental Carmine fruits will cause my design philosophy to be based on lessons and advancements that don't belong to me. I may end up becoming the puppet of whoever originally generated all of that knowledge. Even if I use the elemental enlightenment fruits in moderation, this problem doesn't entirely go away."

The swordmaster was not impressed by this potential danger.

"Much of what we know is borrowed knowledge. I don't see you making a big deal about that. We don't have the time to conduct empirical experiments and derive new laws for every single phenomenon. The same goes for E energy theory. Most of the cultivation methods constructed by the Red Collective are based on ancient cultivation records. Is that a problem? Not necessarily as long as you know what you are doing. Their origin is not a concern. What truly matters is what we do with it. The earlier we build up a strong foundation in the five elements, the sooner we can develop our own frameworks and design applications. It is better to start now and do our best to expand our repertoire over the span of several decades. The alternative is that everyone muddles along and suddenly get completely overwhelmed by the vastly superior elemental manipulation of the aliens from Messier 87."

Accumulation took time and effort. Red humanity was already in the process of building an entire R&D infrastructure that sought to leverage the inherent advantages

Of working with the five elements.

However, without the extensive and complete knowledge that Ves and Ketis could obtain from the elemental enlightenment fruits, the R&D initiatives would probably progress so slowly that red humanity would look like cavemen in front of alien civilizations who had been harnessing the five elements for many ages!

This was why there was a strong argument in favor of selecting Five Elements

Mastery.

Ves shook his head in disapproval, though. "My point still stands, though. I don't think it is the wisest idea to try to outdo the aliens from Messier 87 in the areas that they are strong at. I think it is much better if we try to defeat them in an asymmetrical manner. We need to take them by surprise and attack them in a way that they cannot easily understand, imitate or counter. Demoncasting meets all of these requirements. This should be a good fit for you as well. What are your objections to this upgrade track? Are you so hung up over the fact that it has an evil air around it? You shouldn't pay too much attention to silly labels and the judgments of others." This was a point in which neither of the two could see eye to eye with each other. "I can't do that, Ves. I am a swordmaster. While I do not fight for high-minded ideals such as justice and the good of red humanity, I still have to abide by a bottom line. Stuffing 'demons' into mechs and tempting mech pilots to make use of the tainted products feels incredibly dirty to me. Are we so desperate for power that we must resort to such an awful method? Where do demons come from anyway? Do they all come from amalgamations of ordinary souls that have fused together in a terrible manner? What if the 'demons' we summon from other dimensions originated from lost human or alien souls?"

"So what if that is the case?" Ves calmly pushed back. "Don't be sanctimonious, Ketis. Good or evil are irrelevant in the face of possible extinction. There is only do or don't. Look, if it makes you feel better about it, we can put restrictions on ourselves that will strictly limit us to using demons derived from alien souls. So many of them are attacking our border regions that they are dying by the millions if not more. As long as you set up a mechanism where you can stably harvest the right souls, we should have no shortage of demons to perform our castings."

"That... sounds more reasonable, but it doesn't resolve my inherent dislike towards Demoncasting"

"Don't tell me you are unwilling to repurpose alien souls into a useful resource. Are you turning into a cosmopolitan or something? The native aliens deserve no sympathy for us as they have never extended it to us. They have made no secret that the main reason why they are waging this war is to wipe us all out. We cannot afford to be squeamish or soft-hearted towards them. Even if the act of converting 'innocent' souls into depraved demons is a universal taboo, I will willingly damn myself if that is what it takes to equip our best champions with the strongest demon arms!"

After all of this argumentation, Ves did not stray away from his decision to commit to

Demoncasting.

It had grown even stronger!

That was not to say that Five Elements Mastery was so much worse. Its benefits were undeniable, but Ves couldn't muster up as much enthusiasm towards it anymore.

It was too boring and generic in his opinion. It was too lacking in possibilities to develop a unique advantage that could help red humanity inflict a surprising defeat against the aliens from Messier 87!

"I am not extending any unwarranted sympathy towards the native aliens," Ketis defended herself. "I just think that maintaining honor is about abiding by a universal code of conduct. There are vile and less savory acts that we should refrain from engaging in even if there are reasons that encourage us to do so. If we lose control over ourselves and give in to temptation, we will degenerate into beasts. Demoncasting sounds as if it has far too many temptations that encourage us to fall into depravity. I am not too afraid that I will slip, especially if I am being accompanied with the Heavensword. It is you that I am worried about. You often get carried away."

Ves did not take this risk too seriously. "I can see why you have that impression, but you are unfairly maligning me. I am perfectly able to control myself. I occasionally choose not to just so that I can fire up my passion and achieve better results. Tell you what. If you are so worried that I will go astray, why not tackle Demoncasting together? We can apply both of our strengths in a single work. In the meantime, we can continually monitor each other and make sure we are not crossing any lines. Does that sound like a good suggestion?"

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