6933 Peeping Attempt While the Moloch Squadron began to integrate into the Bluejay Fleet, the final piece of the puzzle had finally arrived. The Larkinson Biotech Institute dispatched a transport vessel under escort. The starship carried extremely important cargo that had great implications for the patriarch of the Larkinson CLan. When the containers carefully arrived on the surface, they went through multiple rounds of inspection and examination. The accompanying biotech experts hailing from the Dragon's Den along with the ones hired by Premier Branch both worked together to fulfill their responsibilities as seriously as possible. They could not afford to make any mistakes when it came to preparing the recently grown and optimised phasewater organs for implantation. The practice of developing, growing and implanting phasewater organs into the bodies of phase lords was nothing special to the native aliens of the Red Ocean. The phase whales along with the other major races performed this process many times in the last million years or so. Every race had developed their own understanding of phasewater organs and how to integrate them in the bodies of their native gods. The advantage that red humans enjoyed as latecomers was that they could steal the knowledge of their alien adversaries and replicate all of their best practices. There was a huge list of do's and don'ts that happened to be fairly universal among the races. Unfortunately, there were also steps that needed to be tailored for each individual race. Since human phase lords were still a new phenomenon, the biotech experts all had to tread new ground and develop new solutions. It would have been extremely helpful for the Larkinson Biotech Institute to work together with the Phase Lord Department of the Red Collective, but Ves rejected this option. The LBI needed to be able to figure this stuff out on its own. His clan couldn't keep relying on the Red Three for handouts. The Larkinson Clan already developed far too many dependency relationships with third parties for his liking. Since the LBI scientists had to rely on their own work and efforts to prepare all of the phasewater organs, they came under immense pressure. They needed to complete the implantation surgery in the most perfect way possible in order to prove their competence and fulfill the expectations of their patriarch. The Larkinson Biotech Institute had risen to become one of the most important R&D arms of the Larkinson Clan. Only the T Institute could rival it in importance and prestige. The biotechs did not want to lose out to the cultivation scientists! 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢 Only by proving that their biological mastery could deliver a huge amount of value to the Larkinson Clan would their patriarch continue to channel generous amounts of funding and resources to their institute! As life became increasingly more difficult for humans in the Red Ocean, it became harder to secure high-quality resources from different regions. Not just the LBI, but every other organization needed to tighten its belt and cut down on expenses. If Ves thought that the LBI was no longer worth the huge amount of investment, then its researchers would no longer be able to study so much interesting organic phenomena! It was for this reason and more that Vice Director Maria Abselon personally accompanied the transport vessel and constantly monitored the health and condition of all of the phasewater organs. She had also chosen to join the team that was responsible for performing the serial implantations! The Premier Branch had already prepared the operating theater in advance. The Larkinsons had bought out an empty piece of terrain in an undeveloped region of New Constantinople VIII before erecting a large underground structure. They installed considerable defensive facilities and also stationed 200 mechs of the Premier mechs in the region. Saint Dise and the First Sword Mark IIII also transferred over the underground facility. The combination served as an excellent guard and deterrent. They could also rely on their powerful Saint Kingdom to protect the vital phasewater organs against any form of tampering. The precautions sounded excessive at first, but it turned out that the Larkinsons had been correct to invest so much effort into security. Ves read through a report that summarized over 100 suspicious incidents. Patsies hired by unknown third parties initially attempted to spy on the underground facility by dispatching microscopic bots. The devices were hard to catch because their tech and materials were purpose-built to evade nearly all forms of modern detection. They never slipped in by themselves where they could easily stand out from other particles and molecules. Instead, they carefully adapted their internal structures to closely resemble other inconspicuous materials such as clothing, food and even organic substances such as skin or bone cells! While the state-of-the-art scanners installed at the entrances detected many of the bugs, Ves grew concerned when around 25 percent of them only managed to get caught by Saint Dise! Ves did not necessarily worry about Saint Dise's ability to detect anything untowards. Her institution was among the best in the Larkinson Clan. Only Saint Tusa could beat her on this front. The report also mentioned other attempts at infiltration. From bribing personnel to using a long-ranged scanner that was good at penetrating through soil and metal barriers, it became clear that an awful lot of parties had developed an interest in the upcoming implantation surgery. That was concerning news. The Larkinsons had implemented heavy security measures, and they did not hide the deployment of a powerful superdimensional ace mech. Both humans and aliens should be highly familiar with the powerful capabilities of a Saint Kingdom. The fact that unknown groups still tried to spy on the facility where the surgery would take place was an ominous sign! Ves recalled the last time when he got threatened despite all of the safeguards put into place. For whatever reason, his own implant surgeon tried to mess up his brain! The incident with Dr. Lupo Guernica taught Ves a valuable lesson about taking security lightly and overlooking security vulnerabilities. Still, the Premier Branch made much more extensive preparations this time. The Devos Ancient Clan had also been notified and provided additional assistance and support to keep the region free from intruders. Ves still had a bad feeling about this, though. There was one mention in the report that particularly sounded concerning. He decided to summon the Farseer to his new office within the Tortuous Scream in order to discuss this in person. "Good afternoon, professor." "Good afternoon. Please take a seat. I am sure you have read this report as well. Have you been able to confirm that Saint Dise's weird peeping sensation corresponds to a scrying attempt by a third party?" The older woman's expression hardened. "I have. The signs are subtle, but I know my craft well enough to detect the traces of a scrying technique even when the individual responsible for performing it has already stopped." "I am afraid that I must disappoint you, sir. I am not yet able to do so ex post facto. I must be present and ready to perform counter-scrying to follow the thread to its source and capture a visual image of the opposing scryer with my Astral Mirror." In hindsight, it was a mistake not to station Andrea Vos in the vicinity of the underground operating facility. It had also been a mistake not to apply anti-scrying measures at the facility. Saint Commander Casella Ingvar and Vice Director Maria Abselon had devised the security plan before the arrival of the Moloch Squadron. Even if they knew that the collies could introduce their own security measures, the urgency did not seem great at the time because of the presence of an ace mech. While Saint Dise was so strong that she had easily managed to crush the tentative scrying attempt, her brute force lacked the sophistication needed to trace back the connection to its source. This was where a subtle and more versatile qi cultivator could produce better results! "Let's talk about who may be responsible." Ves moved on. "I do not believe that scrying has become a common capability. Are there many cultivators within the Red Collective that can glimpse stuff from afar?" "I know of dozens of formation masters that can perform techniques similar to the one that tried and failed to monitor the underground facility. Each of them are potential suspects, but I do not have any further data that can help me narrow down the list of names. They may not necessarily be formation masters." "Huh? Can others perform scrying without relying on qi formations?" Andrea Vos nodded. "Priests or ritualists that I have spoken about during our initial meeting may be able to see past walls and obstacles over greater distances. Their scrying attempts are much less stable and effective. The maximum range is small and the failure rate is high. It is also more sensitive towards interference. In my professional judgment, the possibility that cultivators other than formation masters are responsible for this attempted breach is low, but not zero." "I have my ideas, sir, but I do not dare to trust my judgment on this matter. The names that bear the most suspicion in my eyes may actually be decoys deliberately set up by the true mastermind. It is taboo for scryers such as myself to form reckless conclusions without verifying every source of data to the best possible extent. Any false suggestion can lead to a chain of suspicion that can condemn innocent people to crimes they did not commit." "I see." Ves said. "Is there a possibility that the person who attempted to scry the underground facility is not a member of the Red Collective?" Andrea paused for a few seconds before she issued a careful response. "It is… possible. The legacy of formation masters is extensive. There are relatively many old sources available to us. The Cultivation Method Department has done an excellent job of translating, summarizing, modernizing and optimizing them all. We have extensive records of who is able to access the curated qi cultivation methods, and we are pretty certain that none of them have violated the safeguards against unauthorized leaking. That does not mean that others are able to independently study and learn from the old and original tomes that can teach people how to scry." "I see." "I was already planning to offer the services of the Moloch Squadron." She said. "Be that as it may, all of this is still new to us. Our diviners, ritualists and other qi cultivators are not yet able to investigate the parties that harbor ill intent towards you, but that may change in the future. As long as they are able to develop and grow faster than our rivals, my men and I will be able to collect valuable intelligence that you cannot obtain through other means. We can only ask you to be patient and help fulfill our funding and material needs." 22:08 In other words, they were unable to pin down the possible suspects. Since they could not make any further progress on this front, Ves eventually shrugged his shoulders. "If we don't have any direction to go on, then we have no choice but to remain passive and guard against future intrusions. I want you to work together with the others to secure the underground facility. Time is short, but I am sure you can manage." "I was already planning to offer the services of the Moloch Squadron." She said. "Be that as it may, all of this is still new to us. Our diviners, ritualists and other qi cultivators are not yet able to investigate the parties that harbor ill intent towards you, but that may change in the future. As long as they are able to develop and grow faster than our rivals, my men and I will be able to collect valuable intelligence that you cannot obtain through other means. We can only ask you to be patient and help fulfill our funding and material needs." "If you want more money and expensive stuff, you need to present me with proposals. I am not opposed to giving you a hand, but you need to justify the expenditures. Have I made myself clear?" "Yes, Larkinson." Thank you for reading my work. If you wish to support The Mech Touch, please vote with your golden tickets! Purchase Privilege for The Mech Touch! Read a varying amount of chapters ahead of regular readers while enjoying a 99% discount on unlocking new chapters! Join The Mech Touch's unofficial Discord server: https://discord.gg/APB5KCU Exlor