The Mech Touch

Chapter 7273: Heart of Courage

Ves did not take her objections seriously.

She would play along as long as he made a sound enough argument.

What was important was that he gave his clients a clear understanding of the risks and rewards.

Putting them in deliberate danger could be excused so long as they voluntarily agreed to cooperate.

Of course, it would not be ethical if Ves tried to push too hard. He especially could not resort to any form of deception.

Just because Ves managed to persuade Rosa Orfan to play along last time did not mean that Isobel Biotin would roll over just as easily.

She was a different kind of mech pilot.

After her tainted breakthrough, she had displayed both rationality and a deep sense of emotional resentment.

The former was old, but the latter was new. Her dramatic failure and near-death had shaken her up badly. The fact that she was not able to process all of her trauma during her critical breakthrough meant that at least a portion of her nightmare of getting burned to death had stuck to her on a more permanent basis.

On the one hand, this taint constantly reminded her of her inadequacy and spurred her on to work harder in order to rise above her failure.

On the other hand, Saint Isobel needed to cleanse herself of this impurity sooner or later if she wanted to become a god pilot.

it would be hard for her to address this trauma head-on without any desire to retreat!

It was due to these future considerations that Ves decided to call Saint Isobel over to his personal lab and present her with an interesting new option.

“You called me over again so soon," she said as she strode forward and plopped herself onto the chair next to Ves. "I appreciate the attention that you are putting into the Promethea, but I thought you were already done with making the big decisions."

He smiled at her. "That is true, but I have recently come up with a promising but dangerous idea. Before I present it to you, let me ask you a few questions. First, are you comfortable in your new body? With the help of the Red Association, you have received a high-quality cybernetic body that is almost completely mechanical. I can imagine that the changes are immense. You are no longer subject to the failings of human flesh, but you are also deprived of its warmth. Are you... satisfied with the treatment that you have received up to this point?"

The saint only stared at Ves for a few seconds before she gave out a measured reply.

“I am not a fragile flower that wilts at the first touch. I did not ask for this, but I do not reject it either. It is not simple to adapt to a near-complete body change, but I am a saint. Controlling my body is not identical to piloting a mech, but the experience that I have gained from the latter helps a lot with the former. Besides, I have no other choice. In order to endure the fire energy channeled by your special Carmine System, I have to rely on this tech in order to withstand the heat."

"Do you miss it, Isobel?"

“Miss what?"

“Your old body."

She shook her head. "No. What is gone is gone. I see no point in pining over the body that failed me at the time. I am a saint. I do not need a human body in order to do my job. itis just as well that I got rid of that flammable sack of flesh. I do not miss it at all. From the moment I burned, I closed a chapter in my life. In my new life, I no longer eat or drink. I just have to swap my energy cells and nutrient vials every few weeks. If my body is damaged, I no longer have to visit the infirmary. I only need to fix your workshop to get my parts back in order."

The way she described her new circumstances sounded rather unsettiing to Ves.

He knew what it was like to lose your own humanity. Not everyone was able to cope with it as well as others, and Isobel's transformation happened to be a lot more extreme than most.

Nonetheless, Ves felt that Isobel was unlikely to go out of control anytime soon.

She definitely had a chip on her shoulder, but she would not let her own weaknesses hold her back.

He judged that she was in a suitable condition to hear the details of his proposal.

"Since you have reached a stage where you have accepted the permanent transformation of your body, then I think you are ready to think about the next step. By altering your body to such an extensive degree, we can make you stronger without putting you in the cockpit of your ace mech. Your current state is already strong enough, but what if you can have more?"

Isobel looked puzzled. "Are you talking about replacing my cybernetic body with a superdimensional version?"

"No," Ves shook his head. "I already thought about that, but the dangers of incorporating anything related to superdimensional tech to your new body are unclear. Who knows what sort of awful extradimensional bugs might become attracted to you. I want to wait until superdimensional technology has developed a lot further than now."

"So where does that leave me, Ves?"

He did not respond in a hurry, but instead directed a familiar-looking bot infiltrated over a container.

Ves carefully opened the container and brought out the Artificial Fire Heart before placing it on the worktable.

Isobel stared at it. She was extremely sensitive to fire energy, so she was somehow able to detect that the object had turned into a possible threat.

“This is... remarkable. It is difficult for me to detect it, but now that you have placed it close to me, I can feel... a source of fire that burns hot."

Ves assumed a modest smile.

It somehow made him look more sinister.

Whatever.

“There are a number of classified secrets surrounding the Artificial Fire Heart. I am not authorized to divulge those secrets to you," Ves honestly said. "However, I can tell you a number of simple facts. For example, Gloriana and I initially wanted to plant it inside the torso of your mech or other compatible mechs. This is still an option if you reject my proposal. The Artificial Fire Heart is a potent source of electric energy and E energy that is somehow stuffed in an object as small as this. That gives us opportunities.”

it did not take long for Isobel to connect the dots. Her cybernetic eyes glowed brighter as realization finally struck.

“You want to implant this heart in my body?! Is that even possible? You just told me that itis powerful enough to be placed into mechs. How can my body..."

Ves grinned. "The Cybers did not build the Artificial Fire Heart to accommodate mechs or cybernetic bodies in particular. We have the freedom to choose. That is why I want you to think about this plan. The Promethea Mark Il is already overloaded. It would help immensely if you assume a certain amount of responsibility."

“Can you elaborate?"

"Sure. I know that you feel uncomfortable about putting a powerful reactor in your own body, but think about the upsides. You will never run out of energy. The Artificial Fire Heart can sustain many energy-hungry systems at once, especially at the infrastructure scale. The biggest problem is... overheating."

The Artificial Fire Heart remained fine, but it was the other parts that interacted with this special object that issues such as overheating became a serious matter.

"Do you see this part here?" Ves pointed with his finger. “This is the control setting that can contain or release the output of the Artificial Fire Heart. Let me demonstrate.”

He slowly dialed up the power setting. The more he did so, the more the object came to fe.

The air heated up. Fire-attributed E energy kept releasing from the device. Isobel felt more and more threatened.

Ves quickly dialed it back to zero output.

“Due to its nature, the Artificial Fire Heart can never be truly brought offline unless you break it, but the Cybers have still managed to figure out how to keep it in a dormant state. This makes it safe enough for your use. Once we implant it in your artificial body, you can slowly dial it up to the point where you and your artificial components can withstand exposure. The upper boundary is quite high, so we do not think you can crank it up too much before the risks become unacceptable.”

Isobel frowned. "What is the point of doing this when it is so unsafe? If my body is still too small and weak, wouldn't it be better to integrate it into my mech?"

“I am getting to that, Isobel. I am confident that as long as you interface with your ace mech, your Saint Kingdom can help your body surpass its technological boundaries. Your upper limit will definitely be raised depending on your own strength and effort. Integrating the Artificial Fire Heart into your ace mech is the safest option, but... you would be missing out on a lot of opportunities.”

"Such as...?"

“Fire resistance," Ves straightforwardly said. "When you pilot your new mech, you wil come into contact with a lot of fire-related stuff. That will rub off on you somehow. The longer you are exposed to higher concentrations of fire energy, the more you will begin to adapt to its existence. If you are diligent in your training and willingly dial up the Artificial Fire Heart to the limit of your tolerance, then a future may come one day where you are immune to the fire energy generated by an artificial organ that is buried right into your choice. This may be able to help you cure your aversion towards getting burned." Isobel's lips twitched when he alluded to her tainted breakthrough event.

“I am not sure what you have described can work, but... it is worth a try. What else?" "Stronger Bloodfire Pact," Ves immediately continued. *In the previous plan for the Promethea Mark I, the Artificial Fire Heart would be integrated into your ace mech. That means that your living mech will be the principal if not only source of fire energy flowing through the Bloodfire System. Any Bloodfire Pact you can form with your ace mech will be severely unbalanced. Your ace mech may even take primacy. If you agree to take the risk of implanting the Artificial Fire Heart inside your own body, then you will become the dominant partner. This may allow you to override your Promethea Mark II's actions."

A stronger Bloodfire Pact sounded incredibly interesting to her. Isobel could not determine what advantages it brought, but she instinctively felt it would be a profound change.

“What else?"

“Higher chance of succeeding in your next major breakthrough.”

"What?" The female ace pilot hissed. Her emotions became a lot more agitated! "Are you being serious? Wait, you are. You truly mean what you have just said. You think that implanting the Artificial Fire Heart will increase my chances of becoming a god pilot." Ves smiled and nodded. "Yes. I can explain my basic theory to you. You will learn the reason why I am confident in my assertion. If you seriously care about ascending to godhood, then you need to make preparations as early as possible. No ace pilot can survive the road to no return if you follow a normal trajectory. You need to build up a strong advantage for yourself by taking risks. Do you care enough about becoming a god pilot that you are willing to put your life on the line? You do not have to make use of the Artificial Fire Heart to pass this test, but you will have to distinguish yourself from other ace pilots in another way if you are serious about pursuing greater strength." (More chapters in Buyers club for TMT)