The Mech Touch

6930  Mastering the Laws of Reality

The Red Collective did not gather a random group of qi cultivators and sent them off to Ves before calling it a day.

Whoever was in charge of setting up the Moloch Squadron put a lot of thought behind the selection of personnel to reinforce the Bluejay Fleet.

In hindsight, it shouldn't have been surprising that the collies sent a remarkably competent formation master to Ves who specialized in scrying.

This was because Ves was too important of a leader and innovator to remain vulnerable to this novel method of remote observation.

Even if Ves was confident enough that his Spirituality or his companion spirit would have been sensitive enough to detect and counteract such attempts, they might not be able to prevent all scrying attempts if they remained unaware of this potential method of intrusion.

Besides, Ves was not the only target of scrying. What if an unknown party tried to spy on his wife, his children or the other members of his clan?

Formation masters also did not sit still. They were constantly exploring the limits of their craft and improving the depth of their techniques. Their spell arrays were fairly rudimentary as they had only just started out, but they would definitely become a lot more refined in the coming years and decades.

It was not impossible for scryers such as the Farseer to improve their methods to the point where they could easily spy on Ves from a distance without setting off any alarms!

While Ves remained reasonably confident that ace pilots such as the Saint Commander Casella Ingvar and Saint Dise would be able to catch and squash most attempts, they couldn't remain in their cockpits and by his side all of the time.

It was much better to invest in specialized countermeasures. This must be the primary reason why the Red Collective sent a formation master as good as the Farseer to the Larkinson Clan.

It appeared that the Red Collective had already opened Pandora's Box.

The return of systematic cultivation to red humanity revived a lot of old and nearly forgotten specializations.

From scryers to curse masters, human cultivators mastered much richer and more diverse methods than a few years prior.

If not for the fact that the native aliens attracted everyone's hostility, Ves should have been a lot more afraid of what other human groups might do to the Larkinsons!

Strength remained the ultimate safety guarantee. Only by becoming as strong as a god pilot would Ves be able to shake off or deter most of these threats.

Ves continued to hold an avid discussion with Formation Master Andrea Vos about the value of scrying and anti-scrying.

The Larkinson Clan absolutely could not afford to neglect this new facet of E energy manipulation!

Ves even thought about whether he could upgrade the Astral Mirror. He surreptitiously glanced at it so many times that he lost count.

As a mech designer and a craftsman, he could understand the exquisiteness of this artifact.

After learning that it had come into contact with the blood of the Spacelock, Ves felt the professional urge to study and dismantle the work.

He wanted to learn all of its secrets!

Ves naturally suppressed this destructive urge. His desire to understand the Silver Artisan's proprietary crafting methods was too selfish.

He could not afford to break the Astral Mirror!

Ves already possessed a well-developed crafting style of his own. He had mastered his own collection of techniques that made up his core skillset.

If that was not enough, he could reach beyond his own inherent capabilities by borrowing the much richer and more diverse techniques acquired by Vulcan!

In short, he had no reason to feel jealous towards the Silver Artisan. The man was a full-time goldsmith long before the Age of Dawn. It was natural for him to quickly master extraordinary smithing methods and create an artifact as special as the Astral Mirror.

Ves was capable of creating his own powerful artifacts. With the ability to infuse life into his creations, he could produce works that were much more intelligent and responsive than others.

Then there was Demoncasting which he had yet to fully explore!

After reminding himself that he had no reasons to feel envious towards the Silver Artisan, Ves slowly suppressed his less productive urges and tried his best to focus on more important subjects.

He asked a lot of questions about the Farseer's scrying capabilities.

At this moment, she was able to scry events taking place on lots of planets and moons in the New Constantinople System.

"My maximum range is not a constant." She explained to him. "My scrying effectiveness fluctuates based on time, location, symbolism and luck. It is exhausting to explain the variables to you in detail. Under predominantly favorable circumstances, I can observe as far as the edge of the current star system. Under predominantly adverse circumstances I may not be able to scry the other side of a planet."

Ves frowned when he processed her words.

The Farseer's scrying capabilities did not sound very reliable.

According to her description, her floor was low and her ceiling was high.

This meant that she could be virtually omniscient on a good day, but become almost blind on a bad day!

Ves scratched his head. "Your abilities are too random."

The older woman looked almost offended by his contempt. "That is one of the disadvantages of pioneering a relatively obscure and difficult branch of qi formations. I am one of the most accomplished scryers of the Red Collective. I have penned dozens of academic articles that hundreds of formation masters rely upon to gain proficiency in this branch of spell arrays. I have spent most of my research and experimentation on extending the maximum range of my scrying capabilities. I have yet to turn my focus on increasing the stability and reliability of my techniques. That shall come later as it is more important to prove that scrying has a bright future."

Her strategy was sound. Scrying was a useful capability to be certain, but there was a big difference in being able to spy on people a few hundred kilometers away and half a star system away!

As long as Andrea Vos was able to do the latter, even if she was not able to repeat this feat very often, she would most certainly cement her value and the usefulness of her craft!

In any case, her claims already convinced Ves. He had to keep her in his pocket at all costs.

There was no way he wanted to let go of such a powerful intelligence gathering asset.

It did not matter if her current abilities and qi formations were inadequate at this time. She was a cultivator and could slowly develop her abilities over time. She had excellent growth prospects considering her deep foundation as an academic.

That was not the only reason for Ves to value the old woman. In order to be appointed as the leader of the cultivators of the Moloch Squadron, her leadership ability must be the real deal.

As long as she continued to do a good job, then Ves did not have to worry about trying to keep all of the messy RC cultivators happy. It would be a nightmare for him to manage them directly.

Their needs, desires and inclinations were so different that it would take up all of his time if he wanted to cater to all of their needs.

After Ves learned what he wanted to know about the Farseer's scrying abilities, the discussion soon turned to the capabilities of the other cultivators of the Moloch Squadron.

Just as he expected, the faction of the Red Collective that sent out the Moloch Squadron attempted to make a statement.

"I am glad to be away from the Astral Octagon." Andrea Vos confessed to Ves. "The foundation of the Red Collective is too weak. It has only been founded fairly recently and has yet to establish a strong and unified culture. Its institutions are still developing and many different leaders and factions are attempting to establish dominance that can last for centuries. At this time, the Phase Lord Department has made the greatest accomplishments. Unlike other cultivators, the human phase lords of the Ur-Titan Phalanx and more recently the Flesh Chopper Phalanx are able to make an immediate difference on the battlefield. They are not subtle at all. Their size and direct combat power allows them to take credit for any success without dispute."

Ves nodded in understanding. "I see. I already guessed that would be the case. It is much more difficult to attribute a successful battle or operation to the work of other cultivators when they are mostly working in the background. The intelligence gathered through your scrying attempts can also make a difference, but because the relationship is indirect, it is difficult to earn recognition from the masses."

"This is why we want to prove ourselves by assisting you in your campaign and other endeavors, sir. Many of us are of the opinion that cultivators should be more than giant brutes who only rely on their enormous bodies to crush their enemies as if they are primitives. The true wonder of systematic cultivation is to enable us to grasp the power to reshape reality and wield forces beyond mortal comprehension. This is why many of us are avid volunteers. We may not be able to fight the aliens directly, but we intend to provide so much assistance that your Premier Fleet will suffer the least amount of losses when fighting against the native aliens."

In other words, her faction wanted to prove their value as force multipliers. They wanted to prove the usefulness of qi cultivation that did not demand people train to enter the battlefield directly.

It was absurd for a woman who worked as a scientist for more than 2 centuries to take up arms and fight the native aliens directly!

The founding of the Red Collective granted non-combatants such as the Farseer a new way to make massive contributions to the war effort. This was her chance and the chance for other qi cultivators to prove their value as a new class of force multipliers.

If the combination between the Premier Fleet and the Bluejay Fleet performed exceptionally well in the coming months, then the Moloch Squadron would be able to claim credit for at least a part of the success.

Ves had no doubt that the Red Three and many other groups would be paying close attention to the victories as well as the processes that led to these outcomes.

Many smart people would be gathering every scrap of data they could get their hands on and analyze the reasons for all of the victories. The Moloch Squadron should not be shy about circulating word of any contributions made by the qi cultivators.

So long as they truly proved themselves useful, Ves did not mind affirming their contributions.

Although he did not have a lot of appetite for intervening in the factional disputes of the RC, he would not belittle the contributions of the Moloch Squadron so long as it actually made a positive difference.

"All we ask for is a fair opportunity." The Farseer made a short bow towards Ves in respect and gratitude. "We do not want human phase lords to become the face of the Red Collective. It would set the wrong tone and cause our superorganization to become too focused on martial pursuits. The state of the Red War is constantly pushing our civilization into a spiral of violence and barbarism. It may be tempting for humans to grasp this power, but we cannot forget that our race has only become strong by relying on our intellect and ingenuity. Only by mastering the expanded laws of reality will we be able to become the masters of the Red Ocean."

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