Published at 24th of March 2026 7:05 am

Chapter 7428 Increasing Entropy

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After Ves promised Cormaunt Hempkamp to apply for access to historic neural interface research files, the rest of the meeting proceeded without any additional fuss.

The other mech designers had yet to make a lot of gains, so Ves did not have to spend too much attention on their reports.

Once Ves caught up with their work, he proceeded to explain a bit of his own gains.

"I have conducted certain experiments that have led to surprising gains." He revealed his most recent actions to his gathered colleagues. "Due to certain reasons, I cannot go into too much detail. What I can tell you is that observing new phenomena and gathering novel data has allowed me to gain a greater comprehension of what we are dealing with. My vision towards our latest project has evolved. I have a better idea of what we must do in order to make the Riot Mark III stronger."

"Please elaborate, sir." Alexa Streon politely requested.

Ves paused for a moment in order to think about his next words. "I think the keyword that each of you need to have in mind is entropy. As you all know, the Riot Mark III is a mech designed for chaos. That is what makes this machine different from all of our other living mechs. Its primary purpose is to make the battlefield messier so long as this plays to our advantage. It is powerful enough to provoke enemies and durable enough to withstand their counterattacks. The latest revision especially plays into this role. As long as it does a good job, it can always cause disarray among the enemy's line of battle."

Every mech designer knew what entropy meant. The laws of thermodynamics centered around this key concept. It was difficult to provide a clear and succinct definition to this word.

However, most laymen did not need to know more beyond the fact that low entropy systems tended to be very neat and ordered and that high entropy systems looked like a complete mess!

In this context, Ves clearly positioned the Riot Mark III as a battlefield piece whose sole job was to increase as much entropy on the battlefield as possible!

Of course, it was best to direct this activity towards the enemy forces as much as possible.

Due to Saint Rosa Orfan's lack of discipline and the Riot Mark III's many risk factors, the D-mech could potentially end up spreading chaos within friendly ranks as well!

"How does referring to entropy play into our research project?" Merill O'Brian asked with a slightly skeptical expression.

"From a certain perspective, the Riot Mark III is heavily biased towards increasing entropy." Ves responded. "The perpetual conflict between Saint Orfan and her own D-mech is a reflection of this truth. Their fight has a lot of ups and downs, thereby spreading chaos within the machine itself. All of the wasted energy that they are generating as a result of their constant struggle for dominance is therefore highly chaotic and inconsistent in origin. High entropy. Converting that into a useful medium that can be used to power other systems is a significant challenge. We will need to lower the entropy somehow in order to make that work. Only when there is sufficient low entropy can you convert this energy resource into useful work."

Multiple mech designers frowned.

"It may be difficult to achieve a profitable enough yield if that is the case." The young female rational mech designer softly responded. "We have yet to explore the specifics, but it is highly likely that the energy expended to lower the entropy of this 'conflict energy' may be in excess of the output. It would have been better to make use of the former as the energy source of an additional module."

She was probably right in most cases.

The second law of thermodynamics already described how every process produced waste energy. Perfect conversion of energy was almost unattainable.

It was a lot easier and less costly for low entropy systems to turn into high entropy systems than the other way around.

However, this was not a usual situation.

Ves slowly began to smirk.

"The reason why I mentioned entropy to you all is because it is relevant to our project. After examining Destroyer particles and by extension Destroyer weapons for a while, I have figured out that they are extremely biased towards high entropy. They eat practically everything that has a bit of order and convert that into destructive energies that seek to increase entropy into anything that it comes into contact with. The more powerful the Destroyer weapon, the greater the efficacy. I believe this is one the reasons why high-tier Destroyer weapons are so much more valuable. My hypothesis is that the waste energies produced from the constant conflict between pilot and machine can be channeled into the tier 3 Destroyer spear to power it up. The greater the opposition between Saint Orfan and her own D-mech, the greater the performance boost."

Zanthar looked both impressed and disturbed. "I am not sure whether Destroyer weapons can eat these kinds of energies, but if it is true, you will literally be turning the Destroyer spear that is feeding off the pain and misery suffered by its wielders!"

"That is… a possible interpretation of our work." Ves reluctantly conceded. "We do not have any data to describe how effective this conversion may be. It is very well possible that the performance of the tier 3 Destroyer spear only increases by 1 percent or less despite our hard work. That is not worth our effort. However, all is not lost in that case. One of my earlier experiments has led me to find a different way to empower a Destroyer weapon. It is a lot costlier, though."

"Can you elaborate, sir?"

"Simply put, I have discovered that there is a very direct but incredibly expensive way to temporarily boost the lethality of a Destroyer spear. If a small quantity of superdimensional matter directly makes contact with Destroyer particles, the former will get annihilated by the latter, thereby generating a massive and uncontrolled release of different energies, most notably strong spatial disorder. I have already leveraged this effect to empower an existing Destroyer weapon on a small scale. It works. The blade has become much more effective at cutting through obstacles and destroying matter. I believe that its effectiveness against any form of superdimensional armor has become noticeably greater. High-grade superdimensional matter produces the strongest effect, whereas low-grade superdimensional matter only makes a small difference."

Several Larkinson mech designers widened their eyes. Though the outcome of this particular test did not sound too surprising, they still felt it was astonishing that Ves had been willing to sacrifice pieces of high-grade matter just to verify this effect!

"How much superdimensional matter did you expend, and how long did the increase in combat effectiveness last?"

Ves transmitted the raw data tables.

"As you can see, the quantities are relatively modest in relation to the strength and duration of the empowered state. However, keep in mind that I tested this with a slender tier 10 Destroyer sword. The difference in scale between this dress sword and a much more massive tier 3 Destroyer spear is much greater. The amount of Destroyer particles are much greater in the latter case. In my estimation, the same miniscule piece of superdimensional matter will only last a fraction of a second before it disappears. The resulting effect is so small-scale that you might not even be able to tell the difference."

Zanthar and a few other mech designers winced again. They all performed quick calculations in their minds.

If the scaling was normal and predictable, then that meant that it may take several or even dozens of kilograms of precious superdimensional matter to empower the mech-grade Destroyer spear for just a single second!

Of course, this assumed that all of the Destroyer particles would make contact with superdimensional matter all at once.

Ves continued to explain a few more details. His audience became enraptured by his theories and guesses.

"It sounds as if you can already implement this new feature without needing to draw upon other energies." Alexa said.

"That is true, but I believe that our project is still worth pursuing. Our true goal is to integrate the tier 3 Destroyer spear more tightly with its wielders. I believe that there is a lot more we can do to make the Riot Mark III more powerful. While the benefits won't be as direct as applying a straightforward superdimensional upgrade to the Destroyer weapon, the advancements will most definitely promote an evolution of the entire battle system."

Ves believed that the Riot Mark III could make a qualitative leap towards generating greater entropy.

This would not only make the unconventional ace spearman mech even more difficult to defeat, but also help bridge the gap between a junior ace mech and a senior ace mech.

Once he was done with this side project, he did not anticipate that he would have to apply any further work on the Riot Mark III.

He already showered it with plenty of attention. He needed to move on to other projects.

Of course, compared to other high-ranking mechs, Saint Rosa Orfan still enjoyed greater priority in his mind.

She had sacrificed much more than her peers. Her condition was also a lot more unstable than the rest.

Ves did not want to shift his attention away from her, only for the Riot Mark III to explode and mutate into a demonic monstrosity one day!

Though Saint Isobel Kotin had lost much of her body, she at least regained a semblance of normality with her biomechanical replacement form.

She also retained much more of her sanity and rationality.

Unless Ves turned the upcoming Promethea Mark II into a D-mech, she would never require as much babysitting as Saint Orfan.

As the meeting finally wound down, Ves began to stand up. "That's it for the time being. I won't be able to spend time on our current project. I will be preoccupied with winning and dining with the Terrans for the next few days. The Arboreal Project has reached a critical stage. Even I don't entirely know what the Terrans have in mind for the prototype Woodsap mechs."

Both Alexa and Merrill showed elevated interest at the mention of this special project.

"Will you teach us the principles on how to design one of your elemental Carmine mechs?" Merrill uncharacteristically asked. "I am aware that you have yet to complete a design, but the Arboreal Project should be close enough that you have verified the concept of a Woodsap mech."

Ves frowned. "What you are asking is rather tricky. I do not mind it if I teach you the basic principles. I never intended it to be a secret for long. However, elemental Carmine mechs are much more advanced compared to basic ones like the Yellow Jackets. You can't just design one even if you have mastered the trick to designing a basic Carmine mech. There are too many advanced concepts and parts such as wood energy, TE Wood, the proprietary Hibiscus System and more. I will need to spend a disproportionate amount of time and effort to teach you how to design the simplest Woodsap mech. It is better to wait until I have realized my design philosophy. The difficulty of learning my more advanced craft will be 10 times easier."

The Journeyman nodded at this answer. She expected as much, though it never hurt to ask.

"I will wait until you have advanced to the rank of Master Mech Designer, then. Will you implement any restrictions to gain access to your teachings?"

"In principle, I want every mech designer to be able to design living mechs." Ves steadily answered. "Not immediately, but definitely once I become a Master. This also extends to Carmine mechs as well as elemental Carmine mechs. Once I have broken through, I will write a few textbooks on it so that I can disseminate my design philosophy to a much wider audience. However, that does not mean that anyone can design any Woodsap or Polymetal mech."

"How can we gain the necessary qualifications?"

"I have already signed agreements with numerous parties that give them exclusivity on certain elemental Carmine mech types. I will always be able to retain the right to design those mechs given that I invented this category, but that does not necessarily apply to the rest of you. Still, as members of the Larkinsons, I am sure that you will be able to form different agreements with the Terrans or other groups. Just tell them that I taught you guys in person, and I am sure they will be inclined to make preferential deals, especially if your ideas are especially good."

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