The Mech Touch - Chapter 6803

Superdimensional matter had definitely taken the place of phasewater as a coveted prize.

Everyone wanted to get a piece of superdimensional matter after witnessing how the Fist of Defiance was able to crush multiple ancient phase whales with ease.

Of course, many people were clever enough to figure out that superdimensional matter on its own was not enough to slay ancient phase whales left and right.

The Fist of Defiance was already strong to begin with, but augmenting his combat strength with high-grade superdimensional matter turned him into the undisputed phase whale killer of red humanity!

His heroic performance at Yernstall reinvigorated red humanity and enabled many people to regain hope.

They became a lot more confident in red humanity's ability to preserve itself in the face of growing opposition.

The only issue was that there was only one superdimensional god mech.

There were rumors that the Fist of Defiance was already scheduled to rotate to the frontlines, but that meant that another god pilot had to be pulled back to defend Yernstall and other strategically important star systems.

No matter how much faster and stronger the Fist of Defiance had become, he was still only a single god pilot.

The latest upgrades to his god mech made him practically invincible against the native aliens, but he was only able to project his power in a single star system at a time.

As long as that remained the case, his strategic impact remained distressingly limited.

Ves could foresee that the Fist of Defiance may be able to guarantee the survival of at least a small population of red humans.

If the native aliens succeeded in their offensive and continued to take back the territories claimed by red humanity, then the enemy would eventually find themselves unable to push any further.

As long as red humanity's territories shrunk until all of the god pilots were able to form an impenetrable wall around the location of Bridgehead One, their civilization would still be able to retain its existence.

Yet if the situation deteriorated to this extent, over 99 percent of the human population would have perished.

The remaining survivors would have stuffed themselves into overcrowded starships or were dumped into all of the planets that remained in their territories.

Poverty, squalor and despair would become prevalent while the bigshots scrambled to preserve what little power and authority they had left in a crumbling society.

Only the strong would rule while the others would be relegated to a life of bleak subsistence.

The lack of industry and resources would curtail red humanity's ability to recover and rebuild its armed forces.

Even if the native aliens were no longer able to push any further and finish the job they had started, containing red humanity to a corner of the Red Ocean was already enough to win the Red War!

Perhaps… the only way out for all of these pathetic survivors was to find a way back to the Milky Way.

Ves shook his head! He refused to accept this outcome! He had to do everything in his power to avoid red humanity sliding into defeat!

Unfortunately, he couldn't think of many ways to help the people fight back aside from designing the Final Glory Project, and even that was more of a means to cast spite on the invading aliens.

"We need more superdimensional matter. We need it badly."

Everyone wanted it. So far, using it to upgrade god mechs appeared to be the most cost-effective way to use it up. Unlike powerful warships and station-sized superweapons, god mechs were only a little bit bigger than the average mech.

As the Invictus had already proven with its deeds, it shouldn't take much high-grade superdimensional matter to transform any god mech into an ancient phase whale killer!

Their deterrence would skyrocket after gaining the power of superdimensional matter.

Even if they were still unable to protect the entire frontlines, at least the native aliens including their leadership would become a lot more scared whenever they ventured deeper into alien space.

Perhaps it may even force the native aliens to restrain themselves and stop their genocides.

Humans living on conquered planets would still be able to live, if only because the Red Cabal was afraid of triggering god pilots that possessed the power to kill any ancient phase whale.

"Still, is that realistic?"

This was how a human behaved. The native aliens could employ completely different logic for all he knew. The enemy may respond by attacking humans even harder in order to prevent them from taking advantage of their new superdimensional assets!

Ves grew depressed when he realized that upgrading a single or even a handful of god mechs with superdimensional matter was not enough to win the Red War.

Even if the superdimensional god mechs no longer bothered with defense and instead traveled deep into alien space, they could never inflict enough damage to enemy infrastructure to cripple their warmaking potential.

The aliens had way too many industries and population centers! Destroying them one-by-one was incredibly inefficient!

Perhaps the superdimensional god mechs could produce a greater impact by traveling straight to the capital star systems of every major race and destroying everything in their sight.

However, the major races would hardly be affected as their territories were too expansive to allow the fall of a single capital to affect their overall strength.

Perhaps razing the capitals of every alien empire would cause enemy morale to plunge, but as long as red humanity remained weak, that was not enough to force the aliens to sue for peace.

Killing the enemy phase leaders would create a greater impact, but that came with its own fair share of problems.

Most of the native gods either reigned over their own territories or hid inside their own pocket spaces located in the corners of populated as well as unpopulated star systems.

Trying to hunt them down was like trying to find needles in a haystack!

Just like the CFA and the RF, the native aliens unintentionally minimized the threat posed by god pilots by spreading themselves out and making it extremely hard to track them all down!

All of these realizations caused Ves to conclude that superdimensional god mechs were strong enough to prevent a total loss, but not capable enough to win the Red War by themselves.

"More god pilots is always better."

Red humanity could get away with a lot more if there were more god pilots available to patrol the borders and block enemy incursions.

The more god pilots came into their power, the more human territories they could save from indiscriminate orbital bombardment.

If the quantity of god pilots tripled or quadrupled in the next decade, then red humanity could even attempt to launch a counterattack and win back ground, but that was a matter for the future.

For now, Ves understood that the greatest priority was to supply as much superdimensional matter to the Red Association as possible.

The fleeters must have their own plans concerning superdimensional matter. They would never relinquish their own stash in order to help out the mechers.

Just as predicted, Jovy stopped by Ves' office in order to request the Larkinson Clan to trade away its own modest collection of high-grade superdimensional matter.

"No." Ves responded. "I am well aware that this stuff can make a substantial difference in the war effort, but… if our clan isn't allowed to enjoy the fruits of our own labor, what reason do we have to open up another gateway into the Blue Dimension? I am aware of what is at stake, and I know that we are all better off if there are more superdimensional god mechs watching over us, but please do not force us to choose between our morals and our own interests. I already plan to apply armor-grade superdimensional matter to the Riot Mark III, and Ketis is most definitely planning to pair the First Sword Mark III with a superdimensional sword. We will not compromise our visions to your moral blackmail."

It was times like these when Ves needed to stand up for his clan and prevent the mechers from appealing to his sense of responsibility towards his race and civilization.

If he let the mechers tread over him once, they would continue to do so again and again until they had completely sucked him dry!

Fortunately, Jovy did not push his luck any further. He innocently raised his palms and made a symbolic step back.

"I did not wish to give you the impression that we are forcing you to hand over your high-grade superdimensional matter. It would have been great if you were willing to exchange your collection for additional EdNet slots, phasewater, exclusive technologies or even a fleet carrier. We are willing to go through great lengths to satisfy your needs. There are god mechs that can make much better use of our superdimensional matter than an expert mech and an ace mech."

"Stop it. Just stop it, Jovy. There is only one person in this room that is called the Devil Tongue, and it is definitely not you. My decision is already set. I am not changing my mind on this, and I will not allow you to pressure Ketis into changing her mind either. Our clan deserves to benefit from our own harvest. We did not even gather all that much superdimensional matter anyway. You and the mechers have managed to harvest a lot more stuff than we could have hoped. You should thank us that we did not take advantage of our leverage to force you guys to pay a hefty tax."

Since Ves vehemently objected to any notion of giving away any superdimensional matter, Jovy sighed and addressed the next topic.

"We have urgent need for Ketis to coax the Heavensword into creating another portal into the 365th dimension. We have discussed this matter with her, but she has only given us cryptic answers about how long it will take to fulfill our request. The last we heard, she says that she may be able to do so in a month. Is there anything you can do that can shorten this timeframe?"

Ketis probably wanted to wait for at least a month in order for enough time to pass for the Mission Hall to refresh its Mission Board.

Only by completing Missions would she be able to earn the hundreds of AP needed to open up another Dimension Breach and upgrade the functions of the Dimension Blade!

The same applied to Ves. He was already thinking about earning a few hundred AP so that he could spend them on upgrades that increased the size or duration of a dimension breach.

These upgrades were urgently needed!

The current dimension breaches were too small, and they lasted too short. That severely limited the amount of gains that they could make with every dimensional foray.

In order to earn enough AP to afford all of these upgrades, Ves was willing to go on another marathon.

He suspected that Ketis had the same intentions.

It didn't matter anymore that marathons were incredibly exhausting to them. The two would rather endure another round of mental torture than to witness the gradual collapse of human civilization in the Red Ocean!

Of course, there was no reason to share that information to the Red Association.

"I am not a swordmaster, nor a wielder of a grand work." Ves shrugged in a clueless manner. "I can call her and give her encouragement, but that is it. I can only work on my own solutions, not that they are all that impressive."

Jovy tersely nodded. "If you can, please encourage her to accept additional protection. The… unusual needs of Swordmaster Ketis is vexing my superiors. It is frustrating to witness the only woman capable of giving us an entryway to the 365th dimension boarding enemy warships and putting her own life in harm's way."

"She wields the Heavensword. I am pretty sure that grand work won't let her die so easily." Ves pointed out the obvious.

"Absolute safety is an illusion. There is always a way to defeat the undefeatable. The more she plays with fire, the greater the chance that she will get burned. We have mixed feelings about letting her remain in the Middle Zones. The fighting over there is not optimistic, but… she will only throw herself at stronger and much more technologically advanced opponents if she is transferring to the Upper Zones. Even then, the native aliens will likely attempt to assassinate her once they realize her importance to the war effort."