The Mech Touch

Chapter 6764 How To Survive the Cold

The initial discussion with the Stewards Siamesia had been incredibly enlightening to Saint Davia Stark,

She had never spoken to high-ranking mech pilots that share similar goals as hers. The Chevor twins were among the few people in human civilization that not only found war distasteful, but dedicated the rest of their lives to making it less prevalent than before.

Above all else, the Stewards Siamesia fought for a future where humans no longer needed to kill each other in wanton violence in order to gain purpose in their lives. It was very clear that the two Rubarthan saints clearly focused their thinking and ideology on humans. Alien lives did not enter into their consideration at all. Their advocacy only extended to human-on-human conflicts.

The Red War forced them to confront situations and dilemmas that involved races other than humans. This introduced a whole new set of problems, but also allowed the twins to think about the same topics from different angles.

This was actually good for the Chevors. By thinking about these problems and figuring out satisfactory resolutions to them, they steadily closed the loopholes in their conviction and were able to bring their ideals closer to reality.

Even so, it was clear that there was still a considerable distance between the two. Reality was never simple. No ace pilot or god pilot for that matter had the power to reshape society by themselves.

Perfection was not necessary. What mattered was that the high-ranking mech pilot remained true to his purpose and never made any compromises on what truly mattered.

In other words, the journey was more important than the destination.

Every purpose and conviction presented a challenge to expert pilots and ace pilots. How well they navigated these tests determined how well they tempered their willpower and how much they increased their qualifications to reach the ultimate rank.

The indisputable fact that only a hundred or so god pilots emerged among an uncountable number of mech pilots proved that the standards of passing were exceedingly high!

It was already hard enough for mech pilots to trigger their apotheosis once or twice. The requirements were high from the beginning and became more stringent at higher ranks.

Yet the chasm between a peak ace pilot and a god pilot was so much more

insurmountable that only the most exemplary and legendary ace pilots were able to

cross this impossible divide!

Saint Stark already had a basic understanding of how much ace pilots needed to work in order to cross the road to no return, but when the Stewards Siamesia frankly described their own journey and struggles to attain their current strength, she was able to learn a lot of lessons of wisdom.

This was an important part of the mentorship process. Ace pilots could learn from other ace pilots. All that was required was for the mentor to trust the pilot of the younger generation.

This was why compatibility was such a big deal.

HHC did not try to match Saint Stark with the Stewards Siamesia out of superficial reasons.

They genuinely calculated that the two senior ace pilots would take a liking to the newly ascended saint.

Stark learned more in an hour than she did in years.

Her eyes changed as she became more cognizant of the challenges ahead.

There was no hard bottleneck preventing a starting junior ace pilot like herself from reaching the limit of a senior ace pilot.

However, there were still plenty of pitfalls that could cause an ace pilot to stumble, slow down or even stop progressing entirely!

"When you become an ace pilot, your Saint Kingdom has become the primary means in which you impose your own will onto reality." Alo Chevor explained. "Its qualities are directly related to how well you have abided by your convictions and how extensively you have solved the issues surrounding them. You must understand yourself if you want to alter the universe around you. This means that you must also have the courage to confront yourself and ask the questions that you would rather avoid."

Saint Stark grimaced. "I know what you mean. Confronting ourselves is one of the most difficult things to ask from anyway. Every human prefers to cling to his or her delusions."

The male twin nodded in a sagely manner. "Yet it is this mortal instinct that is hindering us from growing our willpower. No saint is perfect. We are all human enough that we depend on lies, ignorance and misdirection to maintain our pride and self-esteem. This may sound detrimental, but it is actually not. These lies and false platitudes are like clothes that keep us warm on a winter's night. If you try to strip yourself naked in a single instant, you will quickly freeze to death."

Davia Stark caught on the implications of his words.

"Are you saying... that we should not be so eager to engage in introspection and

avnose the truth about ourcalves?"

"Yes," Alo grimly said. "Why do you think that ace pilots spend decades or even a century to reach the peak of their ranks? It is because we cannot bear to strip our clothes too quickly. The parts of us that are still mortal remain our greatest weakness. It is an even greater vulnerability than our mortal human bodies as far as we are concerned. If we tear our clothes from our body too quickly or in a clumsy manner, we risk doing more damage than we can tolerate. We may even die if we do not take any safeguards."

Stark shuddered when she learned of this possibility. She had never heard stories about ace pilots thinking themselves to death, but she figured that there were too many people that had a vested interest in maintaining the heroic reputations of those

saints.

She did not think that Alo was spreading falsehood. It was difficult to imagine that an ace pilot of his caliber would still engage in deception. He wouldn't lie even to his

enemies.

"Is... this a warning about the consequences of rushing my progression?" Stark asked in a slightly uncertain tone.

Aloretzi Chevor shook his head. "Not entirely, my guest. My description applies to the Milky Way. Things work differently in the Red Ocean. The exotic radiation from Messier 87 has changed the rules somewhat. If we use the earlier metafor, then you can believe that the reason why we must strip down our clothes at a slow pace is because we need to give ourselves time to adapt to the colder and harsher environment. E energy radiation accelerates this process. It passively makes us stronger and more resistant to the cold, so we can safely strip down our clothes several times faster than before. It will not take long for new ace pilots such as yourself to reach the threshold to god pilot. This is a blessing as well as a curse."

"I can understand why you would call it a blessing, but why is it a curse?" Davia Stark frowned as she couldn't figure out the reason.

"That is because being able to train yourself to survive the cold air when naked is

never our final goal. Each of us are not satisfied with remaining stuck as saints. We all desire to become god pilots. That requires us to pass a more extreme test. You can think of it as diving into an ice lake and trying to survive in the water on a permanent.

duration."

"It is impossible for humans to do that unless their bodies are highly augmented!"

"That is correct, Davia" Alo Chevor affirmed. "This is why we must grow strong enough to do the impossible. We must ascend our humanity and turn into a higher existence. We cannot do this by our willpower alone, but it is vital to our transformation. What actually helps us transform are our ace mechs. In this metaphor, you can think of it as the mechanical shell that will contain our minds. The process of transferring ourselves to the mechanical shell is extremely painful and difficult to complete. We must temper and grow our willpower to such a strong extent

that we can endure the suffering and remain cognizant enough to complete the steps. Oh, and we must do all of this while diving into the cold and deadly lake!"

In this metafor, the act of jumping into the freezing lake was equivalent to stepping on

the road to no return!

It was no wonder that not a single god pilot candidate could come back after starting the Mech Body Merger Process!

Saint Stark learned a lot of insights from this metaphor and warning.

First, exotic radiation from Messier 87 evidently made it easier and faster for expert pilots as well as ace pilots to realize their potential and grow stronger.

This was probably because the Heaven component of the Heaven Earth Man Trifecta was a lot stronger in the Red Ocean than in the Milky Way.

Yet high-ranking mech pilots never relied on external conveniences to become strong unless they were mech commanders.

Their willpower was the ultimate source of their strength, and was inherently

focused on the self.

God pilots had taken this to an extreme. They were able to tolerate the least amount

of flaws or weaknesses!

This was why being able to progress faster did not necessarily translate into being able to survive the road of no return,

Second, a good mech could substantially increase the success rate of the transformation process. Stark needed to raise her Earth score to the highest possible level in order to provide adequate support during the most difficult test of her career. In the past, the most successful god pilot candidates of the Milky Way relied entirely on the excellence of their ace mechs to ascend to godhood!

It was exceedingly difficult to make an ace mech that had the makings of a god mech.

Super-class materials were too scarce, and only the very best mech designers were able to draw out their greater strengths by making use of the most advanced high

technologies.

Ever since the Great Severing occurred, the Red Ocean gradually became more rich in resources. Even the Kayana System became a lot more valuable due to the emergence of many hyper materials.

Did this mean that it was easier for the mech designers residing in the Red Ocean to design qualified god mech candidates?

Stark certainly hoped so. Ves and Gloriana were still awfully young. While they were

most definitely talented and innovative, they were too far away from becoming Star

Designers.

That meant that when Saint Stark would finally be ready to start the Mech Body

Merger Process, the main designers of her battle partner would likely still be Master

Mech Designers!

Most peak ace pilots that were finally ready to make the attempt tended to make use of mechs that were at least partially designed by Star Designers these days. This slightly contributed to a higher survival rate for those who tread upon the road to no

return. Stark hoped that with all of the wonders introduced by E energy radiation, the Miracle Couple could transform the Amaranto into a work comparable or greater than the ace mech piloted by the Stewards Siamesia!

"We can't do this alone. Stark concluded. "We can only rely on ourselves to polish our willpower. It will be our fault if we do anything wrong. When it comes to our ace mechs, we have no choice but to rely on the work of mech designers. If they make a mistake, we will be the ones who will suffer the consequences."

"That is why it is vital that you work with mech designers that you can trust and believe in." Alo said as he nodded in agreement. "You must seek out those who understand your needs and possess the competence to design machines that match or exceed your expectations and maintain good relations with them. This comes easier to some ace pilots than others. From what I have learned, you are quite lucky in this

regard. You enjoy the privilege of piloting a remarkable ace mech designed by one of the leaders of his generation."

Stark couldn't help but swell with pride. "Professor Ves Larkinson is a madman that knows how to produce results. His wife is also a perfect assistant."