Published at 13th of January 2026 7:32 am

Chapter 7368 Principled Matriarch

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Ves contacted the necessary people in order to get the ball rolling.

Just as he predicted, the Larkinson Clan did not object to his proposal.

"This is a radical switch in strategy." The physical projection of Saint Commander Casella Ingvar warned. "Recalling our ace pilots early will incur certain costs. We will disappoint multiple parties if we attempt to transfer our saints away on short notice. I advise that we take our time on consolidation. It is not necessary for us to gather together at the fastest possible speed. If we extend our timeline by several months, there will be much less friction and hard feelings."

Ves thought for a moment before nodding. "That sounds reasonable. Let us do that, then. I am not in a hurry to get into action again. We can use the additional time to deepen our preparations and wait for other developments to fall into place."

"Outside of having your Ascended Giants fight against more suitable opponents, are there any other reasons why you are insistent on campaigning over here?" The Saint Commander asked.

He nodded. "There are multiple reasons, of which two of them are particularly relevant. The first is that the development of Woodsap mechs will soon reach a stage where they conduct trials of workable prototypes. The complexity of my elemental Carmine mechs surpass that of any mass production models that I have worked on in the past. Biotech is inherently more dangerous, especially when it directly interfaces with the human body. It is for this reason that my latest Carmine mech design project demands a more thorough and extensive testing process. Compared to managing the prototypes by remote, I would much rather test them right under my nose."

While Ves had been occupied by many affairs as of late, he had never forgotten about the development of Woodsap mechs.

Due to the immense amount of technical support from the Terrans, Ves did not have to invest a lot of design work on the highly complicated biomech.

He adopted the role of a distant project manager. He mainly set targets while sparing what little time he could spare on the more essential features such as the Carmine System and the spiritual foundation of the Woodsap mech.

He could leave the very complicated bioengineering and other design tasks to the R&D teams that the Terrans had mobilized for this secret but highly anticipated national project.

Although not all of the Terran ancient clans participated in its development, enough of them had seen value in his upcoming Woodsap mechs to give their blessing as well as more concrete forms of support.

As such, even if Ves wanted to increase his involvement, it would have been quite difficult to do so as most of his skills could not surpass that of Terran specialists who dedicated at least a century in their respective fields.

It didn't matter too much to Ves. While his ownership in his first elemental Carmine mech design project was not as high as it would like, he considered it to be a worthwhile tradeoff.

However, now that the development of his Woodsap mechs approached the prototype testing phase, he no longer wanted to be as hands-off as before.

No matter how little Ves invested in this collaborative design project, it would still bear his name first and foremost.

Its impact on his reputation and prestige would be massive, second only to the release of the Yellow Jacket series, the very first Carmine mechs available to the public.

While the Yellow Jackets granted norms the ability to pilot mechs for the first time, the cheap and accessible nature of these Carmine mechs heavily limited their value on the battlefield.

Pairing poorly-trained Carmine mech pilots with mechs that were easy to mass produce made sense from an industrial perspective, but military strategists barely had any use for them. The Yellow Jackets could only serve as cannon fodder for the time being.

While the mech industry tried to compensate for this by designing ever more elaborate variants of the base model, there were clear limits to how far they could deviate from the initial template.

This was due to Ves' limitation as a Senior Mech Designer.

Unless he broke through, only he could develop a truly elite version of the Carmine mech.

The demand was overwhelming. Not a day passed by without thousands of virtual letters arriving at his public inbox that begged him to design a Carmine mech that could keep up with the more powerful machines on the battlefield.

Ves had no time to read any of them in person, but Gavin had let him know that those messages never stopped arriving.

As a mech designer, he felt an obligation to meet the needs of the public.

In the past, the uncompromising limits of existing neural interface technology at least gave people like Ves an excuse to ignore the complaints of helpless norms.

That excuse no longer applied anymore.

By releasing the Carmine System, 96.5 percent of the population now had a valid reason to demand mechs of their own!

Therefore, Ves would definitely be able to lift a heavy weight off his shoulders once he finally finished the Woodsap mechs.

Not all of the weights, but at least one of them. The fact that the Terran Alliance had already claimed exclusivity on Woodsap mechs heavily limited their availability outside of the colonial star empire's borders.

"What other reason do you have to insist on consolidating our forces?" The physical projection of the Saint Commander asked. "You previously stated that you wanted to spend time with the Rubarthans because you have already familiarized yourself with the Terrans. Your new plan contradicts your previous goals."

Ves nodded. "You are not wrong, but circumstances have changed. The Rubarthans are not happy to see me and my Ascended Giants go, but both of us have agreed that I have fulfilled my obligations to the Rubarthan Pact in advance. The star empire is the biggest beneficiary of the Battle of Philaster Crestia. They have not only secured a significant share of ownership of the captured Ixith Goliath, but also have additional opportunities to capture more Goliaths with similar properties. Thanks to developing a successful proof of concept of a stolen willpower generator, the Rubarthans stand to become the leader in stolen resonance technology."

Transferring the first and only known Ixith Goliath to the Yernstall Central Star Node was not as big of a deal as it looked.

Assuming the Goliath Hive would keep pumping out Level 8 Goliaths with stolen resonance capabilities going forward, the rarity and uniqueness of this research specimen would definitely fall in the coming months and years.

There was only so much R&D that the other major players could conduct on a single captured Goliath.

The only way they could expand their research on the genuine articles was to make a deal with the Rubarthan Pact to exchange their military assistance for the right to claim valuable spoils on the battlefield.

This was especially important as any Goliath with stolen resonance capabilities presumably possessed a core made out of Mentalist Crystals!

This should do much to relieve the acute shortage of combat assets at the Rubarthan front.

Therefore, the recent departure of the Bluejay Fleet and other forces had already been made up by the arrival of fast-reaction forces dispatched by other groups with the assent of the Rubarthans.

Ves and the rest did not have to feel guilty for 'abandoning' the people assailed by the mutated voribugs.

"About the stolen resonance generator that you have just made." The matriarch of the Larkinson Clan narrowed her eyes. "What is its current condition?"

"It is… stable, Casella. It is a highly experimental design, so the fact that it hasn't exploded or fallen apart despite all of the radical new stuff that we have put into it is a small miracle unto itself. It is not an effective product, though. Its efficiency is extremely poor, mainly due to our lack of understanding and the immature design. It will take both time and effort to raise the effectiveness of this device. The good news is that we don't have to do most of the work. The other major players will invest their own effort into its development. We have the right to borrow their more general and less specialized advancements in our own works. The downside is that unless we develop specialized design solutions of our own, we won't be able to produce anything that surpasses third-party works."

"That is not what I am interested in." The Saint Commander responded. "Let me rephrase my question. What is the condition of the source of willpower that you have employed?"

Oh.

As an ace pilot herself, it made sense that she cared more about the spiritual remnant of a fellow pilot rather than the rest of the device.

"He… it… has been forced into dormancy." Ves awkwardly responded. "As you know, the source is derived from a former enemy of ours. Despite spending years in isolation, the spiritual remnant has never let go of its unending hostility towards me and our clan. Before you ask, I frankly do not see any way to reconcile with it. I even think that the only reason why it is able to maintain a sliver of extraordinary willpower is due to its obsessive hatred towards us. This also makes it dangerous for us to rely on the stolen willpower generator for any real applications."

The ace commander nodded in understanding. "I think it is important to establish our bottom line on this matter. As much as I can foresee how many lives we can save by repurposing the willpower of our defeated enemies, we cannot afford to stoop to this level. This is not because I sympathize with Venerable Ghanso and the others, but because I believe that it is more important for us to maintain our honor and stay true to our principles. As contemptible as your defeated cousin may be, he was still a human and a soldier. How we treat our fellow humans defines our character. I do not want our clansmen to forget the value of life and adopt overly utilitarian mindsets."

Though the Saint Commander sounded a bit too soft and forgiving in Ves' ears, she still made a good point.

"I agree." Ves hesitantly said. "Maybe not as wholeheartedly as you, but I can support your principled stance. Honor and respect for life are what defines the Larkinson Clan. It sets us apart from the rest who do not cling to those notions as consistently as us. As much as I can think of how to make good use of Venerable Ghanso's spiritual remnant, it is not strictly necessary for us to exploit it. I can promise you that once we have concluded our research on our experimental device, I will disassemble it and put my fallen cousin's remnant back into storage."

Casella Ingvar smiled. "That is for the best. Do not misunderstand me, though. I am not going as far as forbidding the use of this willpower source. I just think that you should look for more acceptable alternatives first before you resort to this particular option. What are the prospects that you can succeed in this effort?"

Ves shrugged. "Honestly? Very poor. As you should know, stolen resonance cannot come from any artificial sources. It has to be derived from the extraordinary willpower of a real individual. Sadly, the only known willpower cultivators that we know of are human high-ranking mech pilots and human swordmasters. That means that they are the only ones we can use to 'activate' stolen resonance generators. I have extensively discussed this problem with the other researchers in the escort fleet, and none of them have come up with any better alternatives. The only suggestion that sounds remotely realistic is to develop a willpower cultivation method that can be practiced by the major alien races of the Red Ocean. Suffice to say, this is an extremely controversial proposal."

Only the Cosmopolitan Movement would be in favor of this crazy idea!

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