Chapter 6686 The Other Mech Commander After the high-ranking mech pilots of the Golden Skull Alliance completed their meeting, they entered the cockpits of their mechs and prepared to launch, Many of them were looking forward to proving themselves or breaking through in battle. "Today is the day." General Ark Larkinson told himself as he interfaced with his Lionheart. He sentimentally stroked the armrest of his piloting chair. "It is only in a time of great need that heroes are able to rise. The stage is set for my imminent ascension. I will prove that I can be the savior and protector that my subordinates and many others expect me to be for them. I have been playing this role for my entire career. I am ready to showcase my skills on a grander stage." Just like many other expert pilots, Ark had developed a strong fascination for the Heaven Earth Man Trifecta. It explained so much why his progress had stalled for so many years. Back in the old galaxy, it was pretty normal for expert pilots to slowly hit their bottlenecks and stall for a number of decades. At first, the expert pilots believed that ordinary accumulation would see them through. When their expected rewards failed to manifest, they grew more desperate. In order to attain their sainthood, they became more proactive and sought more challenges to temper their willpower and prove their mettle. Unfortunately for most of them, their efforts failed to yield results. They all felt as if there was an insurmountable gap between their current rank and the next one. Ark felt grateful for moving to the Red Ocean. The Great Severing had been a disaster to many people, but it also presented rich opportunities to those who yearned to pursue greater power. With the arrival of E energy radiation, humans were able to harness the power of a massive galaxy to fuel their own cultivation. Although high-ranking mech pilots initially believed that the initial wave of systematic cultivation introduced by the Red Collective brought them very little benefits, Ark's opinions had changed after he learned about Ketis' theory. The mech general understood now why the Red Collective released a number of auxiliary qi cultivation methods that were supposed to increase a mech pilot's affinity towards the classical elements and a number of other concepts. It turned out that even mech pilots needed to embody one of the many concepts of the heavens in order to form their own domains! Willpower alone was not enough to transform mech pilot into a god in the form of a human as well as a machine. Although Ark did not yet understand the underlying reason why swordmasters and evidently high-ranking mech pilots had to master an element or concept in order to continue their progression, that did not stop him from obsessing over the concept of idolatry. There were numerous moments where Ark wanted to take this a step further and present himself as a literal god to his fans and worshipers, but that was way too premature in his opinion. Even he understood that he only possessed the qualifications to present himself as a literal deity when he became a god pilot! Until he reached this critical point, Ark needed to be more measured in his ambitions and focus on attaining more immediate goals. "Besides, a saint is already one step away from becoming a god. This is already good enough for the time being." His appetite was not small. Ark had long grown dissatisfied with remaining stuck as a 'venerable' while numerous Larkinsons who belonged to a generation younger than him were already being referred to as saints! What rankled Ark the most was that whenever he contacted the members of the Larkinson Army and the expeditionary fleet, the only mech commander that they truly admired was their 'Saint Commander! The fact that this title had become synonymous to Casella Ingvar filled Ark with a deep sense of unease! It was not difficult for him to feel the lingering resentment that Casella held towards him. Even after all this time, she still blamed him for the death of her brother. As a Larkinson, Ark could understand her pain and loss, but he did not agree with her decision to ascribe all fault to him. Both he and Imon had taken the conscious decision to challenge the Faceless Warrior in the Duqaste System. Ark's expression turned grave. The botched raid on Duqaste IX still weighed heavily on him, not because one of his most important subordinates got killed, but because he failed to break through during that critical time. In hindsight, it had been a mistake to conduct a stealth raid on the alien-held Duqaste IX with just a single stealth ship that only had enough room to accommodate a handful of expert mechs. The decision to leave virtually all of the 77th Warborn Mech Decision behind in orbit. of Duqaste VII had proven to be a fatal error! Ark recently began to wonder if he would have attained his cherished breakthrough if he brought a large audience to the raid. Not only would he and his Lionheart be able to put up a much better fight, but the mere act of showing off his combat prowess in front of hundreds of thousands of mech pilots and support personnel should have provided him with enough admiration and worship to propel him to sainthood! Alas, Ark had remained ignorant of the young Swordmaster's theory on what it took for 'willpower cultivators' to break through. He had unknowingly sabotaged one of his better chances of advancing to the next rank because he mistreated his own source of power. "No more. Ignorance is not an excuse anymore. Now that I understand who I truly am, there is nothing left that can stop me from breaking through." General Ark's willpower burned with confidence in the certainty that the variables were much more favorable this time! Instead of conducting a lone surprise raid with a handful of expert pilots and the crew of a small stealth ship, he would soon deploy onto a battlefield where millions of human soldiers fought by his side! So long as he performed admirably in front of them all, Ark would definitely attract a huge amount of attention, far more than he would have received if he was just fighting alongside the 77th Warborn. There was only one obstacle standing in the way between him and his imminent ascension. Though Ark felt nearly assured that he would be able to become the Larkinson Clan's next ace pilot, he would not be their only ace commander. The 'Saint Commander' had already taken a step in advance! That young brat Casella Ingvar acted all high and mighty now that she possessed both great power and great authority. While she was not wrong in throwing her weight around, Ark felt as if she was constantly irritating him by acting as if she was better than him. Just because she gained a head start did not mean she would remain ahead for long! "Today is the day that I finally get to catch up." Ark grinned with expectation. "The difference between you and I is not that great." Casella's growth had become stalled due to the time it took to upgrade her precious Minerva to a first-class ace command mech. While Ark was aware that his Lionheart also needed to undergo a round of upgrades in order to bring it up to the same standard, he could probably convince his nephew to speed prioritize his needs over any other Larkinson expert pilot or ace pilot. They were family, after all! The only person who may be able to gain a higher priority was his own father Benjamin! However, his old dad was not the sort of person who put his needs above the needs of his children. Benjamin would definitely give way. His patience was immense. He had been waiting for half a lifetime to regain his ability to pilot a mech. He could wait a half wear to a waar hefore his Blood Star received an unarada provided him with enough admiration and worship to propel him to sainthood! Alas, Ark had remained ignorant of the young Swordmaster's theory on what it took for 'willpower cultivators' to break through. He had unknowingly sabotaged one of his better chances of advancing to the next rank because he mistreated his own source of power. "No more. Ignorance is not an excuse anymore. Now that I understand who I truly am, there is nothing left that can stop me from breaking through." General Ark's willpower burned with confidence in the certainty that the variables were much more favorable this time! Instead of conducting a lone surprise raid with a handful of expert pilots and the crew of a small stealth ship, he would soon deploy onto a battlefield where millions of human soldiers fought by his side! So long as he performed admirably in front of them all, Ark would definitely attract a huge amount of attention, far more than he would have received if he was just fighting alongside the 77th Warborn. There was only one obstacle standing in the way between him and his imminent. ascension. Though Ark felt nearly assured that he would be able to become the Larkinson Clan's next ace pilot, he would not be their only ace commander. The 'Saint Commander' had already taken a step in advance! That young brat Casella Ingvar acted all high and mighty now that she possessed both great power and great authority. While she was not wrong in throwing her weight. around, Ark felt as if she was constantly irritating him by acting as if she was better than him. Just because she gained a head start did not mean she would remain ahead for long! "Today is the day that I finally get to catch up." Ark grinned with expectation. "The difference between you and I is not that great." Casella's growth had become stalled due to the time it took to upgrade her precious Minerva to a first-class ace command mech. While Ark was aware that his Lionheart also needed to undergo a round of upgrades in order to bring it up to the same standard, he could probably convince his nephew to speed prioritize his needs over any other Larkinson expert pilot or ace pilot. They were family, after all! The only person who may be able to gain a higher priority was his own father Benjamin! However, his old dad was not the sort of person who put his needs above the needs of his children. Benjamin would definitely give way. His patience was immense. He had been waiting for half a lifetime to regain his ability to pilot a mech. He could wait a half year to a wear before his Blood Stor received an unarado The issue with his father was not a big concern to Ark. What truly concerned him was Casella. The woman had talent and a keen grasp on command. Just because Ark disliked her did not mean he underestimated her. Casella was good at carning the respect and admiration of those who served under her command. Why wouldn't they? Many mech pilots dreamed of becoming her Knight or even better her Baron. Everyone who became a vessel of her true resonance all seemed to gain more inspiration on what they needed to do in order to bring them closer to their own breakthroughs. Though their beliefs had yet to be validated by any hard data, that did not stop the superstitious mech pilots from making the assumption that getting empowered by the Saint Commander practically doubled their breakthrough chances! How could Ark compete against this killer weapon? His extraordinary command style was completely different from that of Casella. Whereas she was more than willing to entrust her power to her subordinates, Ark instead fed off the admiration and worship of his men in order to enhance his own personal power! The two were pretty much opposites as far as they were concerned. Neither of the two could remain dominant at the same time. One approach must vanquish over the other. While Casella's distinctive command style made it very easy for her to build up her popularity among the masses, Ark identified a clear weakness in her command style. It was impossible for her Knights and Barons to give her the capability to defeat a phase lord. As helpful as Commandeering and Enfeoffing a bunch of standard mechs may be, ants would still remain ants even if they grew a lot bigger and more menacing. The general of the 77th Warborn ultimately believed that his own command style would ultimately prevail because concentrating much of the strength of an entire mech force onto a single champion gave the mech division the best chance of defeating a singularly powerful phase lord! Ark's belief in the correctness of his own command style caused him to make a forceful decision. "The Saint Commander believes that high-tier expert pilots like myself should only settle for challenging one of the four lesser phase lords. Feh. As if I will fall for her trap and let her hog all of the attention." The glory of fighting a lesser phase lord was considerable, but it was far from enough for him and his Lionheart to attract the admiration of the masses. Only by challenging one of the two formidable greater phase lords head-on would he be able to distinguish himself on the battlefield! Although it was exceedingly dangerous for him to challenge such a mighty powerhouse in such a solitary fashion, Ark needed the best possible stimulus to trigger his breakthrough, and this would surely do the job! "According to the intelligence, there are two greater phase lords leading the assault. The Herald of the Void is a strident loyalist of the Red Cabal and a member of the jureg race. His defenses are formidable and he is skilled at brawling. The Lower Herdmaster is a nunser god whose skill in many different weapons has earned him the right to wield a Saint Piercer arm." Neither greater phase lords were easy to oppose. The Herald of the Void was equipped with the best raiment and also possessed an extremely hard exoskeleton shell that was proportionate to his enormous size. Ark would not be able to accomplish much if all of his attacks kept bouncing off the jureg greater phase lord's many defenses. The Lower Herdmaster's defenses were not as high, but any attack from his Saint Piercer had a chance of killing his Lionheart with a single strike! Ark would have to fight a lot more carefully than he would like, or else he would end up as the next Imon Ingvar! "Which greater phase lord should I challenge?" He wondered.