The Mech Touch

Chapter 6410 Blood Is Thicker Than Water

As Tristan Wesseling continued to listen to Ves answer all sorts of questions from the podium, his expression grew increasingly more complex.

His emotions had long turned into a jumbled mess. His friend had truly taken the entire mech community, no, all of red humanity by storm!

As a mech designer, Tristan understood the implications of Carmine mechs a little better than most people. He had already grown fearful for the huge storm that the Yellow Jacket designs was about to unleash!

Everything was about to change!

A huge new market had opened up now that 96.5 percent of the population finally gained the ability to pilot mechs!

Even if the initial Carmine mechs only catered to the bottom end of the market, this shrewd design choice would ensure that the maximum number of people would soon become invested in this new craze.

The entire mech mech industry was already beginning to tip into a frenzy because of this! Many mech designers and mech companies were frantically trying to license the revolutionary Yellow Jacket designs and try to make sense of them as soon as possible. The faster they worked out a way to design their own Carmine mechs, the sooner they could capture market share in a vast new market that possessed unlimited possibilities! The introduction of Carmine mechs would definitely cause massive shifts in the economy. A lot of factories devoted to producing other war materiel would soon be retooled to produce as many Carmine mechs as possible. This would subsequently cause the supply of other goods to drop, thereby causing their prices to rise by a significant degree.

That was bound to have a negative impact on the war effort!

However, Tristan had already listened to Ves' response to this problem. The Red Association, or at least parts of it, had already known about the Yellow Jacket designs beforehand, so the mechers should have made the corresponding preparations. They should already be prepared to impose regulations to restrict the production of Carmine mechs.

While that was good development, it would definitely exacerbate the problem of meeting the insane demand of all of the norms that had the money and willingness to purchase a Carmine mech for themselves.

So many people would become obsessed with them that they would definitely want to pay huge premiums just to get their hands on a Carmine mech early.

Under all of this ongoing frenzy, other mechs would no longer be able to occupy people's attention as before.

Prior to the Carmine Revolution, only potentates possessed the gift of piloting mechs. Many mech insiders actually consisted of norms, but still paid a lot of attention to mechs because they possessed relations with mech pilots who could make use of these products.

Tristan foresaw a lot of upheaval in the coming years. A lot of mech companies were able to scramble for market dominance in this huge new market. Only the lack of skilled and trained Carmine mech pilots would restrain their commitment to this brand new sector, but that would only last for so long.

Where did that leave relatively ordinary mech designers like Tristan? Did he have to license a Yellow Jacket design as well and figure out how to design a Carmine mech in his own style just to keep up with the crowd?

Personally, Tristan did not see the point in it. His design philosophy did not possess any special synergies with living mechs, and he was not confident that his designs would win over a lot of customers.

He was more comfortable with sticking to his current direction and put most of his focus on developing better hyper gems.

The good news was that Carmine mechs should still be compatible with his gems. He just had to market his solution to other mech companies and hope that they were willingn/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

to incorporate his signature products in their own designs.

Elsewhere, a certain Star Designer quietly corresponded with a number of other

colleagues at the same level.

Every Star Designer that was not engaged in critical affairs that could not be postponed had followed the product reveal.

They would never do so for the introduction of an ordinary mech design, but the Yellow Jackets and their revolutionary Carmine Systems fully deserved their attention.

This was a supreme honor for any Senior Mech Designer.

Holed up in his private box which he already reinforced with his own smart metal, the Nanolord comfortably corresponded with his fellow Star Designers about the many implications of today's product reveal.

"I agree."

"It is true that he has broken the rules, but who of us has not done the same? Certainly, we usually wait until we have become Masters and reach a dead end in our research before we break the rules and customs that keep our industry in order, but the Age of Mechs has passed. It is high time we shatter the overly conservative restrictions and allow the youngsters to redefine the game."

"Do not think I am unaware of what you are planning to do. You are taking the materials previously reserved for upgrading the Invictus to design a Carmine mech for yourself. You should answer to the Fist of Defiance first before you proceed with your plan. None of us will save you if he comes to you and flatten your work with his fists."

"No, the Evolution Witch has become even more secretive than before. She has entrusted none of her secretaries and subordinates with her latest scheme, nor spread any data that we can lift. This speaks to how much value she attaches to her plan. This is strange. Her recent movements indicate that she is planning to unveil an initiative that will have a drastic impact on our society, but she has not done anything to leverage the necessary infrastructure."

"These god pilots are becoming increasingly more difficult to control. Unlike in the Milky Way, there are too few of them, which gives them too much leeway to pursue their own personal interests and obsessions. The Spacelock and the Light of Sol are still reliable, but the remaining 6 are a lost cause. I advise you to give up on them and place our hopes on the next generation of god pilots. It does not take much for us to win the favor of promising ace pilots. Let us monitor them and select the ones that are more amenable

to reason."

"Do not repeat that quote in front of us. I have not forgotten our purpose. We serve mech pilots, but that does not mean that we must provide our unconditional service. Too many god pilots are becoming increasingly less restrained. They are becoming more aware that they have become powerful enough to reshape our society according to their own ideas. Only other god pilots can constrain them, but there are too few to form meaningful restraints."

"I agree that stepping forward and demonstrating our own power is a flawed solution, but we may not have the luxury to remain low key. Let us wait and see how the Red Tide Offensive develops. The release of these Carmine mechs has invalidated our calculations. We must form new projections that incorporate the new variables. Let us not be too hasty about moving forward based on outdated plans. We should not follow in the footsteps of the Polymath."

As the Nanolord continued to speak about subjects of great import, many more people held simpler talks about everything surrounding the Carmine System.

Back in the expeditionary fleet, the gathering of high-ranking mech pilots had produced

quite a few discussions.

The Carmine System was not exactly a secret to them due to Venerable Jannzi and Venerable Benjamin, but they never expected that their patriarch would come out with

a product that could actually be used by the masses!

"Has anyone mentioned how soon our own clansmen will be able to pilot these new Carmine mechs?" Venerable Joshua asked. "Casella? Benjamin? Do you know?" The pilots shifted their attention to the Saint Commander and the patriarch's grandfather. If anyone should know, it was one of them. The others probably remained in

the dark.

"I have not received any messages related to the Carmine System or the Yellow Jackets." Saint Commander Casella spoke up, her Saint Kingdom affecting everyone, but in a gentle and unobtrusive manner. "I do not think the Yellow Jackets are designed to be used by our clan. The patriarch has always tried to assign our forces with more premium mechs. The Yellow Jackets are too flimsy. Even if their Biodomes are better at preserving the lives of the mech pilots, the casualty rate will not be low. Our clan cannot handle the deaths of so many friends and family."

Venerable Benjamin Larkinson nodded in agreement. "The readiness of the new volunteers are also questionable. I like to believe that the norms of the Larkinson Clan

are braver than average, but that does not turn them into good soldiers. It takes time to train them to a standard that we can rely upon. Until then, their chances of dying on the battlefield will remain unacceptably high. Our patriarch will never permit our clansmen to die at an excessive rate."

"Benjamin, you have been piloting the Blood Star Mark II with the help of a Carmine System for many months. How is it compared to using a conventional neural interface?" "I cannot describe the differences to you." The oldest man in the room stated. "What is

new to me is not only the Blood Pact, but also the fact that I am fighting together with an intelligent and living machine. The experience is much different from what I used back when I was in my old prime. The Carmine System has proven to be more generous. If I have to make more concrete observations, then I can say that my ability to exert direct control over the systems of my Blood Star Mark II has slightly decreased. However, my closeness to the living mech is helping me impose more control over the

mech frame."

"That sounds as if you are slowly beginning to merge with your living mechs. Are you not afraid of suffering accidents?"

Benjamin crossed his arms and smiled. "I have already reached the verge of death before my grandson pulled me back. I do not mind returning to that point if I fail to win a bet. I enjoy life, but I have also lived long enough that I do not have any regrets if I die overnight. It is true that it is becoming more natural for me to become closer to the Blood Star Mark II. Both of us desire this. It is strange, but it feels natural to us. Where

this will lead, I cannot say. I should ask my grandson, but we do not speak on a daily

basis."

Benjamin actually corresponded more with Gloriana and her children over the galactic net than talk to Ves himself.

It was not because they were avoiding each other. They simply did not really have much

to talk about. They were also busy with their own priorities, so they rarely had any excuses to talk to each other in person.

Now that Ves finally pulled the veil of secrecy from the Carmine System, Venerable Benjamin now felt a greater urge to contact his grandson.

He had been thinking about why he had failed to break through despite all of the good

conditions. Speaking to the likes of Saint Tusa and Saint Commander Casella had given him a few more clues.

The Blood Star Mark II was a good expert mech, but there was always room for improvement. Benjamin Larkinson had hunch that he could benefit from having a more powerful version of the Carmine System at his disposal.

The brief mention about the so-called 'elemental Carmine System' may just be the

solution he had been waiting for! Benjamin just needed to pick an element that fit him

best.

The name of his expert mech already gave him a hint.

"Blood is thicker than water."