Chapter 7122: Weaponizing Faith Ves thought about the difficulty of trying to turn a dreadnought alive. Compared to the past, Ves possessed a significantly greater understanding of what he was dealing with. He could also derive lessons from the successful transformation of the Dominion of Man. While that should have made it easier for Ves to transform other dreadnoughts, that may not necessarily be true. The most critical part of turning a dreadnought alive was to turn the Spark Reactor into a giant-sized version of a Bloodfire System. In order to do that, converting the dormant ’Fire Elemental’ into a friendly and cooperative True God-level entity was vital! The Fire Elemental was responsible for fueling the extraordinary characteristics of a living dreadnought. While it was not strictly necessary to rely on the Spark Reactor to sustain a powerful godship, the problem was that it was nearly impossible to acquire acceptable substitutes. Regular high technology could not possibly do the job. Perhaps the only realistic way the RF could obtain an alternative to a Fire Elemental was to exchange it with the MTA or CFA, who likely possessed a vault filled with extraordinary objects and materials! The cost of doing so was prohibitive. It was best not to resort to these alternatives when Ves possessed the ability to convert their existing Fire Elementals. Unfortunately for the fleeters, Ves could not use the exact same approach he used to make Furia. "You should understand that Furia is one-of-a-kind." He said. "She is the Wrath of Red Humanity and the embodiment of human supremacy in this dwarf galaxy. This is an excellent way to convert the original entity’s wrath and fire into a friendlier and more productive direction. It also happens to fit the orientation of the Dominion of Man as a dreadnought that relies more on manpower than any other vessel. I do not think it will be that easy to convert the other dreadnoughts given that I cannot use the same trick anymore. There can be only a single Furia." As Ves spoke about the difficulty related to Fire Elementals, he suddenly made a profound realization. Was there a connection between the frozen wood elf that he obtained from the Cybers and the Fire Elementals that served as the heart of the Spark Reactors employed by the RF dreadnoughts? 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞 The two had plenty of similarities. They were both energy-based life forms that still possessed a corporeal footprint. They were both mono elemental and lacked compatibility with other E energy attributes. They were both hostile or at least not friendly towards humans. There were differences as well. Fire Elementals originated from the Milky Way Galaxy while the ’elves’ probably originated from Messier 87. Their power and growth stages were also substantially different. The Fire Elementals were possibly centuries old and had already reached a state of maturity for much of that period. The wood elf specimen that Ves used to breathe life into Marigold was very clearly an infant. It had only existed for a very short amount of time before it got flash-frozen. Despite these major differences, Ves could not help but suspect that they were actually the same kind of existence. Perhaps there may be regional variations between the different galaxies, but Ves could not ignore that they were both fundamentally elemental energy-based life forms. The biggest mystery that prevented Ves from fully believing in this theory was that he did not know where the wood elf and the Fire Elementals came from. Were they created in the same way? The explanation he heard about the former was probably true, but he had no hard proof that the account given by the Cybers was accurate. As for the Fire Elementals, Ves never got a straight answer from the fleeters he talked to, not that he expected them to know anything serious. This was high-level information. Only the highest ranking and most senior of scientists should know the truth. In fact, Ves secretly guessed that the fleeters managed to acquire their Fire Elementals by exploiting the Fire Scroll. He did not forget that after the Big Two rebelled against the Five Scrolls Compact, many of the Sacred Scrolls went missing or shattered into pieces. The only exception was the Fire Scroll. The mechers and the fleeters likely prioritize its acquisition above all else because this was the only Sacred Scroll that could enhance the energy supply and energy levels of all of their tech. Energy was power! The more energy a war platform could channel on the battlefield, the better its performance! It was no coincidence that the defining criteria that determined whether mechs and warships fell into the third-class, second-class or first-class categories was how much power they could generate and expend. This perspective betrayed how much the mechers and the fleeters cared about wielding as much energy as possible. Ves never found out what the MTA and CFA had done with the Fire Scroll now that it fell into their possession. However, it was reasonable to conclude that they secretly applied the knowledge they learned to promote innovations in energy systems. They may have also utilized its more mystical properties to produce Fire Elementals. These darlings of the Fire Elementals may not be friendly and could do a lot of damage if they ever managed to break out of their cages, but they could be incredibly useful if their power could be tapped, which the fleeters had done by stuffing them into Spark Reactors. Could Ves produce something similar with a wood elf? Maybe not. At the very least, the specimen was far too young. Ves would have to spend a lot of time on nurturing its growth before he could use its power to produce a drastic result. This was way too long and there was always a risk that the wood elf might break out of its confinement. Ves did not regret the decision to feed the wood elf to the Flower Parasol. Perhaps Marigold may have inherited at least a part of this extraordinary creature’s growth potential. "We have taken your words into consideration." Astrid Jameson responded to Ves after she took a sip from a cup of tea. "This is one of the reasons why we have sought limited cooperation with the Red Collective. You are not the only expert that we can consult upon when it comes to matters such as this. Our people at the Artifact Warship Department have drafted numerous different plans on how we can ’deify’ the key entities in question. We only need to conduct propaganda campaigns on the population of the Red Ocean Union in order to create a new ’god’ in the service of red humanity." "It is not enough to command humans into worshiping a new god into existence, Astrid. These people have to continually maintain their awe towards the converted deity. They have to pray to it regularly and with sincerity. Lip service is not enough. They truly have to mean it. I have learned that the Cybers continually needed to prod their own population into maintaining their worship of Furia. It is easier now that this religious institution has taken root, but if the Cybers are getting killed off in great numbers or if they abandon their worship, Furia’s human sympathies will weaken, causing her original alien self to become dominant. A powerful human ally will instantly turn into an awakened and incredibly angry foe." The lieutenant-commander looked grim. She was well aware of the potential risks. "We know that, professor. Many of the obstructionists within the Red Fleet have used this reason to justify their rejection of our plans. They do not want to introduce more civilization-ending threats of our own making. They would rather keep our dreadnoughts weak and inadequate so long as their Spark Reactors remain stable and free of any elevated risks. It is only recently that enough of these obstructionists have seen the light and dropped their opposition." Their stance made sense. It was indeed the prudent choice to drag your teeth and do nothing. Unfortunately, all of the recent events that took place recently caused the Red Fleet to suffer and decline in power. If the fleeters kept burying their heads in the sand like before, then they would continue to crumble while the groups around them grew stronger! The Cybers, the mechers, the Terrans and the Rubarthans were not afraid of embracing bold and risky innovation. They were more than willing to break the rules imposed by others as well as themselves if that was what it took to regain dominance! "Since the Red Fleet is ready to go forward, which dreadnoughts are you looking to upgrade this time?" Ves asked. "That... is a matter of great dispute." Astrid honestly said. "We have our own preference, but others have their favorites as well. Your input can influence the final selection. Which ones do you think you can transform into living dreadnoughts with the least amount of risk and cost?" Ves frowned. This was a tricky question to answer. "I told you once before that it is best if the overall theme of the dreadnought does not overlap with that of the Dominion of Man. However, there is a lot of ambiguity in this kind of stuff. The Doom of Xenos can be interpreted as focusing on eradicating aliens, but it can also be regarded as an extension of human supremacy. The former case causes little overlap. The latter is a serious problem. In the worst case scenario, red humans will divide their faith between both dreadnoughts, thereby causing their input of faith to fall below the safety level. That may cause both converted deities to lose control and go berserk." "That is... one of the potential dangers that has prevented us from taking action sooner. We cannot afford to be the source of our own downfall." This was a nightmare scenario! This could very well happen if red humanity lost a huge amount of territory and lost a lot of population in the process. This explanation also highlighted an important variable. "Population is the root of a living dreadnought’s power." Ves slowly stated. "One of the reasons why the Cybers produced so many batch humans in 53 years is to produce more worshipers to keep Furia friendly and in control. Before then, they had to keep her and the Dominion of Man in the most dormant possible state in order to prevent anything bad from happening. I do not know how many red humans can maintain the stability of the proposed new deities. The more powerful they become, the more red humans are needed to saturate them with human faith. This is also why any overlap in themes should be avoided at all costs. People can sincerely worship a god of war and a god of industry, but they cannot worship two gods of war at the same time." "This is also why we are only thinking about converting two of our dreadnoughts through your methods." Astrid affirmed. "We shall limit the remaining dreadnoughts to more conventional and less dangerous upgrades. If there is any necessity, we can always convert them into living godships at a later date. Whatever the case, we first need to make a selection. I have already told you that we are divided over this issue. Which hulls do you prefer to work with? Be honest." Ves furrowed his brows and thought over this issue. "To be honest, I think I can be flexible and inventive enough to work with all 7 choices. My opinion towards this matter has changed a lot from the past. I am much more confident in my abilities nowadays. Loosely speaking, I think it would be easier for me to convert the Guns of Armageddon and Heart of Darkness into living dreadnoughts." These were two extremely contrasting choices. The Guns of Armageddon was a pure gunboat scaled up to dreadnought-sized proportions. Her tech and design was probably the least complicated out of all of the dreadnoughts. The Heart of Darkness on the other hand relied a lot more on weird and disturbing phenomena that most people used to regard as unscientific! Her existence was living proof that the fleeters had been naughty and experimented with the same powers that condemned the Five Scrolls Compact!