Chapter 6619 Last Demon Standing The two demons that emerged out of Demon Mixer 2 and Demon Mixer 5 both possessed distinctive characteristics. Ves and Ketis studied them in greater detail in order to figure out their special qualities. They had yet to encounter many demons and wanted to know what made them special compared to regular souls. Aside from confirming that they possessed enough rationality to not waste their energy on useless struggle, the pair discovered a number of interesting aspects. "It is as if we are examining a dark mirror of normal souls." Ketis said with a hint of distaste in her words. "Normal souls typically have a neutral or balanced attribute makeup. Every adult human possesses a mix of positive, neutral and negative attributes, and they are usually within proportion of each other. Those with brighter outlooks tend to be biased towards positive attributes, while those who are mired in fury or depression are weighted towards negative attributes. However, I have never witnessed a case where a soul had become so corrupted that there is hardly any light left inside." Her description held a greater implication. "Ah, but what is special is that both of these demons do not consist of pure malevolence." Ves said with a smile. "Not anymore, at least. That tiny portion of light that is hidden inside all of that filth and darkness is likely responsible for giving them a clearer head than normal. Compared to the remnant of the ancient maiden that emerged directly from Lucky's gem before getting Demoncasted into the Maiden Knife, these pair of recently strengthened demons are clearly more rational and subsequently more intelligent. It is quite scary for them to gain these qualities as that makes them harder to predict and guard against." The fact that they were wise enough to hide their possession of the Demon Mixers and prepare an ambush against their creator was proof of that! Their plan may have worked if Ves was an ordinary mech designer as opposed to a part-time phase lord! This incident reminded him once again that any activity related to demons was inherently risky. No matter how clever they became, so long as they remained in a negative state, they would always maintain their hostility towards neutral and positive life forms! Neither Ves nor Ketis could explain where this hostility came from and why it existed. It was as if there was a natural law in force that compelled negative life forms, even ones that may be intelligent enough to question its own instincts and purpose, to always seek the demise and destruction of everything else! The only exception may be other demons, but it was clear that their restraint towards each other was not too strong. "I think it is a matter of priorities." Ketis said. "If these demons are hostile towards each other, then they would have wiped themselves out long before they could pose a threat against us. There are probably instincts baked into them that tell them not to fight each other so easily." Ves nodded in agreement. "I think that something like this is definitely going on. That may be one of the original reasons why ancient cultivators invented gu containers. They want to force poisonous creatures to fight and devour each other, but simply placing them in a large space will cause them to instinctively avoid each other unless they are hungry. By compressing their space and forcing them into each other's comfort zones, you can induce them into a fight or flight mode, and since the latter is not feasible anymore, they have no other choice but to brawl to the death. When you wrap a ritual around this process, you can accelerate and supercharge this process." Now that he had gained a greater insight into gu cultivation, Ves already came up with numerous different ways to improve upon the Demon Mixer design. He had a better idea on how to design and configure the ritual so that it could produce greater yields next time. His goal was to increase the efficiency of the demon gu cultivation process. As a mech designer and a spiritual engineer, he could not stand the thought of stuffing so many Minor Demons and possibly other souls inside the jar, only for 50 or 70 percent of all of that energy to go to waste! Ves still had a lot to go before he could reduce this proportion to an acceptable level. Right now, he was more interested in getting to know the two surviving demons on a more personal level. They had to possess remarkable qualities in order to be able to vanquish over 39 other Minor Demons in their respective gu containers. "Let's take a look at the Minor Demon that has merged with Demon Mixer 1." Ves said. "If you examine it closely and look past the obvious demonization aspects, you can still piece together a semblance of the original soul." Ketis furrowed her brows. "That may be so, but it is difficult for me and Sharpie to look past all of the ugliness inside this Minor Demon. All I can sense is a hostile entity that needs to be banished from this realm." It was not a surprise that a swordmaster would have that reaction. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖 "It's different for me." Ves revealed. "I can rely on my affinity to darkness and Blinky's fine-tuned senses towards E energy to look past the surface layers. Do you know what I see? I can sense that the original soul that spawned this Minor Demon used to be a Senior Mech Designer. We are looking at one of our former colleagues." That caused Ketis to look surprised. "A Senior Mech Designer? Shouldn't there be demons derived from soldiers in this Demon Mixer?" "Yes, I made sure to insert the souls of expert candidates or similar in each of them. I thought their combat acumen would give them an edge after their demise, but apparently that is not the case. There may be other factors that have given this Senior Mech Designer the last laugh." "Brain over brawn." Ketis remarked. Ves shrugged. Since everything that took place inside a closed gu container remained a secret to outside observers, it was unlikely for Ves to figure out the truth. He moved on to examining the demonized mech designer. "As far as I can tell, the Senior Mech Designer is between one and two centuries old when he died and got converted into a Minor Demon," Ves said as he used his senses to get a read on the Minor Demon's original identity. "He is definitely a man. There are still remnants of his design philosophy left inside. As far as I can tell... he has a Class VI design philosophy in ranged skirmisher mechs. He never worked on any other mech type aside from ranged skirmisher mechs." "Ranged skirmisher mechs?" "I'm not too surprised that you are unfamiliar with them since you don't bother with designing ranged mechs." Ves smirked. "They are a subcategory of rifleman mechs. Ranged skirmisher mechs are defined by relatively high mobility and prefer to fight at closer ranges. They are usually armed with submachine guns or shotguns that allow them to strafe or overwhelm a target up close before darting away with the help of their superior speed" "That sounds like a light harasser mech." "The two mech types definitely share a close resemblance to each other. Ranged skirmisher mechs can be seen as the big brother version of a light harasser mechs. They are always medium mechs. They essentially trade mobility for better armor, higher caliber and greater ammunition reserves. They have more staying power and can take a beating." "That sounds interesting." Ketis looked intrigued. "They actually sound as if they are good at countering melee mechs. Fighting at closer ranges is risky, but as long as their mobility is higher than that of a swordsman mech, they can still remain out of harm's way. Their rapid-fire machine guns or impactful shotguns can quickly compromise and wear down the armor of a typical melee mech. Precision is not as important for those weapons, so they can always inflict damage even if all of the mechs involved in a fight are maneuvering like crazy. Why haven't they become more popular?" "Because they are too demanding to pilot." Ves responded. "You know as well as I do that mech pilots can roughly be divided into two broad categories. There are the gung-ho warrior types that prize their martial skills and want to dive into the thick of battle in order to hack and slash their enemies apart. Then there are the more rational and analytical types that like to maintain their distance from the enemy and pick them apart with precisely placed shots with their trusty firearms. Which of these categories best describe? the mech pilots of ranged skirmisher mechs?" The swordmaster crossed her arms and pressed her lips in thought. "They should definitely be counted among the former category, but..." "If they are bloodthirsty and get excited about the prospect of overpowering their enemies up close, then they may as well do that by specializing in swordsmanship or similar. That is not to say that specializing in submachine guns and shotguns are bad, but they not only require a different set of skills to master, but also introduce a number of complications in battle. The greatest shortcoming is that if an enemy melee mech ever manages to catch up to a ranged skirmisher mech somehow, the latter will lose all of its advantages. Third-class mech cadets were not as capable of learning a broad range of skills as their second-class counterparts. They had to make hard choices on how to invest their time in the mech academy. There were already mature and well-developed pipelines for training and educating regular melee mech pilots, so that became the default choice for all cadets who sought a life of action and excitement. "If that is the case, this Senior Mech Designer probably never managed to attain critical success. His products have never managed to grow beyond their niche status." Ketis analyzed. "That is probably the case. I can clearly feel a strong source of resentment in him. It is a type of resentment that is familiar to many mech designers. It is the resentment of dedicating your entire life to realizing a design philosophy, yet failing to earn recognition from the market. Too few mech pilots appreciate his works, and it was likely that few if any of them have managed to become an expert pilot with the help of his work. Even when he worked his way up to the rank of Senior, his industry influence and market impact was probably too weak." "I can imagine how angry he must feel as he had reached the end of his lifespan without managing to fulfill any of his major ambitions." Ketis said in a sympathetic tone. "He died aggrieved, having reached a measure of wealth and academic accomplishments, yet failing to leave a lasting legacy behind. With his death, his design philosophy has become lost. Most of his work and accomplishment has become buried with his body." That was one of the most painful outcomes that could happen to a truly passionate mech designer. No ordinary individual could become a Senior Mech Designer. The original identity of this Minor Demon had definitely invested far too much of his life into his work. If only he had more time. Since the Senior was unable to afford life-prolonging treatment, that probably meant that he was ultimately not commercially successful or not valued enough by the establishment to receive more than the cheapest form of life-prolonging treatment. Ultimately, the mech market was fair. If the Senior Mech Designer actually designed mechs that were practical and powerful enough to make a difference in a conflict, then his life and career wouldn't have ended in a whimper. The fact that the Senior still retained so much resentment after his demonization meant. that this was probably the main source of the Minor Demon's strength and motivation! It turned out that the man was so unwilling to die as a loser that he fought like hell inside Demon Mixer 2 and successfully managed to become the last demon standing!