Published at 24th of May 2026 6:05 am

Chapter 7496 Control Concerns

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Ves seriously acknowledged Saint Orfan's warning.

He was already aware that the Riot Mark III must always be guarded against.

It already established a pattern of losing control when the Prophet's Bane took advantage of Saint Orfan's overexertion in the battle against the mutated voribugs!

They had been lucky that the rogue ace mech had not done anything unforgivable at the time.

This was no reason to underestimate the consequences if it happened again in the future.

Though Ves did not regret the decision to convert the Riot Mark III into a D-mech, he grew increasingly dissatisfied with the constant need to stay on guard against his own combat asset.

Commanders such as Casella needed to take the inherent chance of instability and rebellion into account when planning their operations. This added a lot of unnecessary uncertainty which made it more difficult to formulate reliable plans.

The Riot Mark III also could not be allowed to fight too closely to other friendly assets. The probability that the Prophet's Bane would gain control and thrust the tier 3 Destroyer spear into a friendly mech of starship may not be high, but it certainly was not zero!

What also burdened leaders was the need to manage Saint Rosa Orfan's relatively delicate mindstate. She was constantly locked in a struggle against her own demon. This meant that she had never enjoyed a true moment of relaxation since she had become permanently bonded with her own ace mech.

It was only due to losing her frail human body that she could persist for so long!

Yet no matter whether she managed to liberate her will and spirit from her now-redundant corporeal form, a mind that had never known peace in the past few months most certainly became increasingly more warped over time.

Ves had not noticed too many differences at the moment, but he constantly worried about the loss of humanity.

How long would Saint Orfan be able to remember that she was still a human?

He had a feeling that her mentality and self-image would change drastically just a decade later!

Although all ace pilots tended to lose parts of their humanity as they continued to tread onto the path of godhood, they at least relied on their conviction to remember what they were fighting for. This was extremely important as it was one of the main factors that could make them pull through in the end.

"I need to refine my processes."

It became increasingly more clear to Ves that he could not afford to make another unstable and uncontrollable D-mech like the Riot Mark III.

If he ever wanted to convert another machine into a D-mech, then he needed to put greater effort into his work. He had to limit the power of the demon and add more restraining factors to prevent it from going out of control.

Although that would subsequently limit the power expression of the product, Ves would gladly trade a bit of power for a lot more control.

This approach would probably make sense for a lot more cases. Not every ace pilot was as desperate or as willing to throw caution to the wind just to force their own breakthroughs.

He thought back on Isobel's opinion towards the offer of obtaining a D-mech.

The Riot Mark III had most definitely created a bad impression of this new mech category. It tainted their views on such mechs and made them doubt the necessity of paying such a heavy price just to gain additional power.

Ves frowned deeper. Now that he reflected on his decisions, he may have been too hasty when he applied Demoncasting to one of his best and most powerful machines.

Perhaps he should have started from the bottom and experimented with ordinary D-mechs.

He already had a suitable subject in mind, though he was not in a hurry to interrupt present operations in order to engage in another experiment.

"I should finish my present business first."

Several hours passed by as he transferred over to one of the biomechanical combat carriers of the Terran Alliance.

He had visited this ship and several other similar hulls more than once. As the lead developer of the Arboreal Project, it was his duty and responsibility to look over the prototype Woodsap mechs and confirm their conditions first-hand.

The Terran crew members had already grown familiar with his presence. Despite the fact that he was not a Terran, he enjoyed wide permissions and could access almost any database or instruments during his visits.

Ves made use of those privileges as he calmly and methodically conducted deep inspections of a chosen Woodsap mech.

There were too many biomechs in the combined fleet. It was not a good use of his time to look them over one by one.

It also wouldn't be very useful for him to spend just a few minutes on each living biomech before he moved on to the next one.

If he truly wanted to understand the state and the performance characteristics of his Woodsap mechs, then he needed to invest his time and look deeper.

This was why he preferred to conduct periodic deep dives where he devoted an entire session on studying one or two Woodsap mechs.

His selection was not completely random, though. He used the database to identify outliers and casually picked the ones that stood out the most.

Compared to Woodsap mechs that produced average performance, he preferred the ones that deviated significantly from expected values.

These machines could tell him a lot more about the nature of his latest work as they highlighted multiple variables that significantly affected their overall performance.

This time, he had chosen to study the Woodsap mech piloted by the Second Elf himself.

Caracalla Shuku had already arrived before his bonded biomech. The man wore his customized piloting suit but kept his helmet retracted. His unnaturally tall body and his elongated ears immediately distinguished him from the surrounding human crew members.

An invisible barrier existed between the elf leader and the Terran spacers.

The latter did not receive the privilege of transforming into a different variant of the human race. Their strong and distinctive human appearances and behavior contrasted sharply against the elegant and refined demeanor of the elven Woodsap mech pilot.

It seemed as if they belonged to two different civilizations that had been forced to worked together due to special circumstances.

Unlike other interactions between mech pilots and the people that services their machines, Caracalla showed absolutely no intention of socializing with the mech technicians that kept his biomech in top form.

Ves looked up at the special Woodsap mech. As the biomech designated for the most important elven mech pilot, the Terrans or rather the Green Coalition had gone above and beyond to ensure he piloted the best possible biomech.

The wooden exterior looked tougher and livelier. The spiritual foundation felt stronger and more active than other machines. Subtle growths and mutations indicated that the Woodsap mech had advanced a bit further beyond the initial blank slate.

"Professor Larkinson." The elf's lyrical voice called. "It is a pleasure to welcome you to our ship again. Is my Rosenstorm to your liking?"

"He is certainly interesting." Ves responded. "I did not expect that you have given him a name already."

"I refrained from doing so because my battle partner had not yet earned the right to bear a unique marker. It is only now that he has fought against many enemies and survived numerous battles that he has proven his strength and reliability. Rosenstorm is very happy now that he has earned this reward."

This was unique among the prototype mech pilots. Many of them initially exhibited caution towards their machines. Even though they had already bonded with them for life, they still couldn't be sure whether their Woodsap mechs were stable and strong enough to fight alongside with for the rest of their careers.

Many of the pilots had since been convinced by their own battle partners. Despite their nature as prototypes, the Woodsap mechs performed so well during the past few weeks that it became difficult to hold on to their doubts.

Ves actually thought that they were being a bit too premature. Many problems did not become apparent in a short amount of time. Just because they fought well enough at the start did not mean they would remain this way after a few months of hard and grueling combat.

Though he felt confident in his own work, his duty as a mech designer told him that he needed to reserve his judgment until the conclusion of the Nemesis Campaign. Only then would he be able to issue a final verdict on the readiness of how Woodsap mechs.

"Rosenstorm is an… evocative name. It certainly stimulates your imagination. I hope that your machine will be able to survive long enough to make it famous throughout the Terran Alliance. Your Rosenstorm most definitely has the potential to evolve into a unique powerhouse. The first signs are already visible to my eyes."

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