Chapter 6681 No Way... Ves began to form a quick and dirty plan to convert the formation anchors into living fey. He did not dare to apply any direct changes to the formation anchors themselves. His plan was to stuff it inside a shell that would act as a carrier for these pillar-shaped constructs. As long as he affixed a few thrusters and maybe small transphasic energy shields onto the shells, they would be able to move wherever they were needed while being able to withstand a few stray shots. Of course, a small energy shield module was not enough to make them last on a real battlefield. They still needed to be protected until they were ready to go active and trap enemy units. Ves intended to apply other features and improvements onto the shell, but they weren't really worth mentioning to Melkor. The mech commander and combat spell array master wouldn't really understand the technical details. The biggest limitation that Ves had to work with was that he had to limit his application of hyper technology and E-technology. Aside from betting that inserting the formation anchors would turn them into pseudo-high-level artifacts, Ves could not permit the use of any other material or tech that had an effect on the flow of E energy radiation. It was hard for him to abide by this limitation. Hyper technology had revolutionized the mech industry as well as many other industries, while E-technology happened to be a part of his main specialization. Ves drew on Veronica's experience of designing the Auto Heretic mech line and quickly got used to the mindset of designing a mech without making use of hyper materials. Of course, he did have the option of using phasewater, but he tried to be a little more restrained with using this material because it might interfere with the functioning of the formation anchors. Work like this was trivial to a Senior Mech Designer like Ves. he was able to whip up a complete solution in a handful of hours. He could have compressed that time even further, but he wanted to be extra careful in order to prevent the already fragile formation anchors from falling apart in mid-flight. While he designed the formation anchor fey, Ves regularly asked questions about formation masters to Melkor. Ves could easily retrieve documents related to this up and coming cultivation specialization from the Red Collective, but he preferred to hear the details from a friendlier and most trustworthy source. Melkor's opinions would definitely influence Ves' policies towards formation masters! The Avatar Commander was well aware of that, so he tried to be careful and attentive. with his wording. He did not want to give Ves the wrong impression about important subjects. "If this cultivator mech concept succeeds and allows you to amplify your power on the battlefield, are you willing to take this to the next level?" Ves asked as he continued to work while repeatedly examining all 25 formation anchors. They were fascinating artifacts that already incorporated the deliberate and systematic use of runes to 'program' their behavior. The Red Collective had made rapid progress in understanding the meaning of runes as well as figuring out how to apply them to create artifacts with a deeper level of complexity than regular hyper products! "What do you mean by that, Ves?" The physical projection of the patriarch smiled in Melkor's direction. "There is one easy way you can improve your combat effectiveness as both a mech pilot as well as a combat spell array master. Have you thought about forming a Blood Pact with a Carmine mech?" To be honest, Melkor did consider this choice. The benefits of the Carmine System to a conventional mech pilot was not as dramatic as was the case for norms, but they were still significant. A mech pilot would be able to gain additional control over a living mech. He would also develop a much deeper relationship with the machine that transcended ordinary friendships. By making a mutual vow to fight together to the exclusion of everyone else for the rest of their lives, the Carmine mech and Carmine mech pilot automatically elevated their trust and friendship to the highest level! The question was whether Melkor was ready to make such a life-changing commitment. Were the benefits of forming a Carmine mech truly worth the limitations imposed upon himself? Different from most mech pilots, Melkor was not the sort of mech pilot to develop an unhealthy attachment to his living mechs. The fact that he had passed on the increasingly more outdated Golden to an Avatar mech officer and switched to piloting the much newer and more powerful Larkinson Edition of the Fey Fianna proved that he valued immediate practicality over sentimentality! Perhaps this was one of several traits that disqualified Melkor from breaking through as a mech pilot. "Not for now." Melkor eventually replied. "I am not the kind of mech pilot that can accept the possibility that I will forever be barred from piloting anything else ever again if my Carmine mech gets destroyed in battle. If you have been fighting the native aliens as often as my men and I, you will know that the native aliens never fight on the same level as us. They play dirty, they readily abuse their advantage of numbers and advantage of resources, and frequently try to shoot at mechs with their formidable warship-grade gun batteries. Any machine that gets hit by the latter will disappear without a doubt." "That is not quite true." Ves responded. "Most expert mechs are able to avoid or resist them quite well. Now that you have become a cultivator on the same level as an expert pilot, you are not as vulnerable to the threat of enemy warships as before. As long as you are paired with a powerful cultivator mech that is designed to the same standard as an expert mech, you will definitely be able to survive many battles." Commander Melkor could understand these points, but he still felt reluctant to commit to such an extreme approach. "I don't think that your comparison holds up as well as you wish. Expert pilots have many different ways to directly enhance the performance of their expert mechs. They are able to resonate with their expert mechs, thereby amplifying their technical performance. True resonance can also generate a resonance shield around an expert mech, which is usually strong enough to resist at least one or more direct hits from the primary cannon of a large warship. Then there is the secret weapon of every expert pilot, their strong and uncanny intuition towards danger. This is how Saint Tusa was able to evade nearly every attack that threatened to shatter his relatively thin and fragile mech over the course of his career." The Avatar Commander raised good counterarguments. He was true about how well expert pilots amplified the performance of their expert mechs. This was the entire reason why the latter became so fast, powerful and unreasonably resistant against. damage. Combined with the uncanny intuition of expert pilots that enabled them to avoid many fatal errors over the course of their active service, they were simply the best out of making the most of their already powerful machines! As a qi cultivator and one oriented around support rather than direct combat, Melkor was distinctly lacking the enhancements that would allow him to fare much better when directly threatened by enemies. Perhaps his overall spiritual growth may have made boosted his intuition by a noticeable extent, but it was probably not as exaggerated as that of an expert pilot. As for resonance, it was impossible for Melkor to resonate with an expert mech due to his relatively weak willpower. His recent breakthrough may have caused his willpower to grow as well, but this was most definitely a side benefit. The important part was that Melkor's willpower did not exceed the standard of a typical qi cultivator. "You're right." Ves admitted. "I didn't fully think this through. A qi cultivator piloting a Carmine mech will not enjoy the extraordinary protection of a proper expert mech. This puts the long-term survivability of your machine under question. While our clan is working on more effective solutions to allow your living mech to survive even if the mech frame gets blown to pieces, they are either limited in effectiveness or not even close to ready for implementation. If you still want to make use of Carmine mechs, but don't want to be restricted by the current limitations of the Carmine System, you can always wait for a number of years. The later generation of Carmine Systems will definitely offer more mitigating solutions that will make it 'safer' to pilot Carmine mechs." "I will look forward to that." Melkor said with an accommodating smile. "I am not principally opposed to using Carmine mechs. I just don't want to put all of my eggs in a single basket." Though Ves felt disappointed by Melkor's rejection, it was not that big of a deal. Multiple mech pilots rejected Carmine mechs for similar reasons. They were all potentates who had no problem with using the neural interface to control their existing machines. Their demand for the Carmine System was not very strong even if Ves tried his best to sell its virtues. Oh well. Ves returned to his work and quickly finished his design for the modified and more personalized version of the Fey Fianna. He proudly presented his quick improvisation to his cousin. "Here you go. This is how your machine will look after it has been changed. It will be paired with 25 formation anchor fey. It will take quite a bit of time to fabricate the components and put them all together, but there are plenty of mech technicians on this ship who can complete this job in a hurry." "You won't do all of the work in person?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢 "I will." Ves responded. "I will just be present in a special form since my actual body is light-years away from Viola Magnifica. Even then, I can't possibly produce 25 formation anchor fey and perform the necessary modifications to the mech frame by myself. Don't worry. I will be constantly monitoring the work of others, and I have other ways to keep them under control. Now what do you think about the revised design?" "Well, I can't mount more than a fraction of all of the fey on the back of my mech. They will have to remain separate from my Fey Fianna. I don't see any other type of fey in your design. Will I be able to control a few spare azure energy shield fey to improve the defenses of my machine? If the native aliens figure out that my mech and I are the ones to control the big spell array, they will definitely focus fire on my machine!" Ves nodded. "That is a realistic possibility. I have chosen to withhold myself from adding more fey to your mech because I already have to split 17 more subordinate spirits from its spiritual foundation. Even if I try to mitigate the damage as much as possible, the strain on the living mech will still be unimaginably high. I do not dare to stretch its limitations any further" "Then my mech will become a sitting duck." "Not if you rely on the support of other mechs and assets, Melkor. You are not alone, remember? You can rely on your subordinates to provide you with cover. In fact, there is an even better way to amplify your performance and increase your survival rate on the battlefield. This is actually one of the main reasons why I insist on designing a special cultivator mech for you. The potential synergy is insane." "What are you talking about, Ves?" "I know you haven't considered it since you are a mech commander yourself, but have you ever thought what would happen if you deploy your spell array while you are actively being Enfcoffed by Saint Commander Casella?" Melkor widened his eyes as he began to consider this possibility. "No way..."