Chapter 6016 The Spectrum of Ace Pilots 6016 The Spectrum of Ace Pilots Tusa returned to the expeditionary fleet as a changed man. After traveling to New Constantinople, sublimating his body and willpower before breaking through as an ace pilot, he was no longer comparable to the Larkinson who originally departed from the fleet! His Dark Zephyr had undergone a profound metamorphosis as well. The poor living mech used to carry the unflattering reputation for being the oldest and weakest of the impressive line of Larkinson expert mechs. Sure, his Unending alloy and range of proprietary Larkinson E-technology applications most definitely allowed him to fight on even grounds against stronger and more expensive machines, but there was a limit to how much he could support the growing needs of his battle partner. Those concerns had faded away for the most part. Even though Tusa's semi-anticipated breakthrough meant that the Dark Zephyr could only keep up with most of the ace pilot's operations in the next two years or so, a future upgrade into a much more powerful first-class ace mech was already in the works! It did not surprise anyone that Saint Tusa Billingsley- Larkinson returned to the expeditionary fleet with the demeanor of a conquering hero. This was because he was one of the few expert pilots who successfully managed to conquer the bottleneck that frustrated so many expert pilots! Many heroes with greater reputation and much more combat experience than Tusa fought and toiled for the illusionary chance of attaining a breakthrough, yet far too many of them died or retired with regret. Tusa on the other hand managed to overcome the invisible barriers that tested the limits of every expert pilot and managed to form a Saint Kingdom that forever changed the way he fought on the battlefield! Many people cheered when the new and improved Dark Zephyr launched out of the RA destroyer that ferried the ace pilot and his living back to the expeditionary fleet! "Saint Tusa! Saint Tusa! Saint Tusa!" "The Larkinson Clan has risen even further!" "With another ace pilot watching over us, we will definitely beat the aliens black and blue in our upcoming operation." As the Dark Zephyr boarded the Spirit of Bentheim and was greeted with a grand reception, the Larkinsons celebrated Tusa's breakthrough yet again! Unlike the more formal celebratory banquet that the Larkinson Clan organized for its higher ups, this time all of the Larkinsons and their allies in the expeditionary fleet began to hold a fleet-wide party! They all needed this moment. Times had been good as the expeditionary fleet under the protection of two ace pilots had been faring well in the border regions up to this point. The Red War had inflicted massive losses to the would-be linefighters that attempted to rise to greatness by proving their valor in battle. Alas, only a minority of mech forces were properly equipped to participate in a long campaign against frequent alien incursions. The expeditionary fleet of the Golden Skull Alliance had managed to win all of its battles so far by being quite careful and thorough. First, the expeditionary fleet was not a single collection of lots of mechs and starships. It was actually accompanied by a lot of scouting vessels, each of which conducted real-time surveillance and monitoring of every surrounding star system. This was anything but a foolproof means of detecting any alien ambush force in advance, but it vastly reduced the probability of getting caught off-guard. Second, the Golden Skull Alliance banded together multiple partners in order to achieve superiority through numbers. Many battles became a lot easier to win by throwing tens of thousands of mechs at a typical alien raiding fleet. The enemy warships also found it hard to cope with dozens of expert mechs belonging to all 5 alliance partners, as many of them already gained the strength to occupy or defeat most alien warships by themselves! Third, the presence of Saint Marissa Lewandowski and Saint Kalasandra Boojay provided an extra layer of insurance that made it exponentially more difficult to defeat the expeditionary fleet. Even if an accident or two happened every now and then, the two ace pilots easily crushed whatever hope the aliens relied upon to turn the tide of the battle! In fact, the two ace pilots refrained from taking action during most ordinary engagements. Their intervention was overkill in those cases. It was better to let the rank-and-file depend on themselves and accrue much more actual combat experience. Certainly, plenty of mech pilots died when their machines got struck by the overwhelming primary or secondary weapon batteries of alien warships, but every soldier knew what they were getting into when they agreed to serve in the expeditionary fleet. The Larkinsons always had the option of transferring to one of the many branches located in star systems far from the frontlines if they wanted to stay away from danger. Regardless, Tusa's fortuitous breakthrough substantially increased the fault tolerance of the expeditionary fleet! If the aliens succeeded in ambushing the armed forces of the Golden Skull Alliance, then the presence of one more ace pilot could easily prevent the expeditionary fleet from suffering a catastrophic defeat! What was even better was that Tusa's breakthrough also increased the risk tolerance of the expeditionary fleet. The Larkinsons and their allies became a lot more confident in their ability to confront stronger enemies! After the celebrations had passed, several key leader figures gathered together in one of the most secure conference rooms aboard the Spirit of Bentheim. Commander Casella Ingvar of the Larkinson Clan, Master Benedict Cortez of the Cross Clan, Marshal Ariadne Wodin of the Glory Seekers, General Herman Foraine and Matriarch Rezzie Boojay all greeted each other in a familiar fashion before taking their seats. None of them spoke any further. Instead, they conscientiously turned their gazes to a gathering of three ace pilots. Even outside of their respective mechs, the Saints possessed auras that made it hard to deny their splendor! Each of them seemed to radiate their conviction on the surface of their bodies. The closer anyone got to them, the more people became affected by the overbearingly strong willpower of warriors that managed to trigger apotheosis not once, but twice! It immediately became obvious that a hierarchy had formed. At 230 years old, Saint Kalasandra Boojay was already on the verge of becoming a senior ace pilot. There was no real barrier between junior ace pilots and senior ace pilots. People just made this distinction in order to prevent people from gaining the mistaken impression that all ace pilots were equal in strength. As far as ace pilots went, Saint Kalasandra's growth rate was actually fairly slow. This was reflective of her more reserved and conservative upbringing. She was not the sort of hero that charged straight into battle at the earliest opportunity. However, her growth had always been highly stable as a result. Her foundation was extremely solid and difficult to shake by the other two ace pilots. She had spent a lot of time on introspection and self-discovery, which meant that her willpower had been refined into an unbreakable weapon. This was a woman who would never break or falter in the face of difficulties! Furthermore, she had familiarized and developed her domain to an impressive degree. She had already made a name for herself in the expeditionary fleet due to her ability to weaken even the strongest alien battleships by voicing one of her famous decrees! Everyone gathered in this chamber could already figure out that Saint Kalasandra managed to reach the threshold to senior ace pilot faster than usual due to the expeditionary fleet's participation in the Red War. Even if the fleet stuck to the less intensive conflict zones, the native aliens always unveiled a surprise every now and then that could give Saint Kalasandra a good exercise. The increasing tension in human-occupied space also stimulated her growth. Ace pilots thrived during times of crisis, and red humanity's precarious situation obviously gave the Boojay Saint a greater sense of urgency! Saint Marissa Lewandowski was a lot younger at only 154 years old. In fact, she carried herself as a woman who was at least a century younger than her actual age. This was rather typical of a light mech specialist. Her focus on speed and misdirection caused her to come across as much more informal and relaxed, especially in contrast to the stiff and formal Boojay Saint. During the times she went into action, Saint Marissa and her Jedda Sandivar had often proved effective at disrupting the operations of multiple warships! Although the lethality of the Jedda Sandivar was inferior to the Royal Jeem, the ace light skirmisher's speed and ability to handle larger numbers was considerably better. It was impossible for even the most organized alien fleets to maintain their cohesion after the Jedda Sandivar started to mess up their formations! The ace mech did not even have to go in for the kill. Saint Marissa could already tip the balance in the favor of the Golden Skull Alliance by harassing her enemies. The ace pilot gained enough experience during the battles in the past two years to further her growth and develop a few new tricks to cope against alien warships. Her edge had hardened. Each time she moved, there was an illusion of mist surrounding her form. It made people question whether they were looking at a decoy rather than the actual ace pilot of the Adelaide Mercenary Company. Right now, both female ace pilots greeted their newest and youngest peers in their own distinctive fashion. The fairly restrained domains of both Saint Kalasandra and Saint Marissa pressed against Saint Tusa's much fresher and less developed domain. The Larkinson ace pilot did not stand a chance. All of the joy, confidence and touches of arrogance that he had gained from being recognized as the strongest mech pilot of the Larkinson Clan had shattered. His extraordinary willpower that had undergone at least two qualitative transformations failed to hinder the encroachment from the other two ace pilots. The difference in strength was too big! This shouldn't have been a surprise as the range of power between the weakest ace pilot and the strongest ace pilot was vast! In numerical terms, the resonance strength of ace pilots varied between 67 laveres and 1545 laveres. Yet these numbers did not fully reflect the vast differences in combat power between ace pilots whose resonance strengths diverged considerably! Saint Tusa had no cause to feel proud about himself. This single meeting had thoroughly smashed apart his delusions of grandeur and reminded him once again that he had only just begun his career as an ace pilot. Both Kalasandra and Marissa relented in their power plays. After all, they would all be fighting alongside each other soon enough. There was no reason for them to sow resentment between each other. The much older of the three ace pilots nodded towards Tusa in an imperious manner. "You will do. Your willpower is remarkably tempered for a mech pilot of your age." Saint Kalasandra judged while crossing her arms. "You truly managed to earn your breakthrough. I was afraid that your upgraded mech had been giving you an inflated sense of confidence. Your domain field is much weaker than mine at the time of my own breakthrough. Your youth has not given you enough time to develop your own powerset. We will have to train you in that so that you can quickly begin to address this shortcoming. It is embarrassing for an ace pilot to fight without knowing how to use his Saint Kingdom." Saint Marissa voiced her evaluation as well. "Your Dark Zephyr may still be a high-tier expert mech for the time being, but I have already heard that your machine cannot be compared to others of his kind. I want to experience the power of your upgraded mech as soon as possible. I can instruct you how the world of light skirmishers is much different at our level of strength." "I don't need your help." Saint Tusa pushed back. "I may be young, but I already understand the role of light skirmishers on the battlefield." "You don't understand. Not truly. The existence of Saint Kingdoms completely changes the game for us. The knives in the hands of our ace mechs are not our primary weapons anymore. It is our willpower and the true resonance that we generate with our mechs that gives us the capital to challenge the most powerful alien foes. You will need to learn how to combine the strengths of a light skirmisher with the advantages of your domain field quickly if you want to put up a better fight in the coming operation." The mention of the coming operation caused everyone in the conference room to grow serious.