The Mech Touch (Web Novel)
chapter-6470

The acquisition of Yondu Milk fulfilled a major objective for Ves!

The only factor that did not meet his expectations was that the Evolution Witch did not use her own transcendent willpower to generate the desired quantity of Yondu Milk.

This was not a surprise. The Red Tide Offensive had broken out, forcing every god pilot to spend much of their time rotating through the border regions in order to squash as many alien assault fleets as possible.

All of this fighting and travel occupied the god pilots so much that they did not have much time and energy left to spare for priorities.

Ves could not ask the Evolution Witch to neglect her duty to defend the borders of human space just so that she could slowly generate Yondu Milk.

Fortunately, the successful operation of the Oblivion Gates neatly solved this problem. Ves guessed that the Evolution Witch requested the Beast of Fear to acquire Yondu Milk from the original source and place it into the cargo sphere in the hopes of transporting it to the Red Ocean.

There was a considerable chance that the experiment might fail.

If everyone was lucky, then the cargo spheres would just remain in their original places.

If they were not as lucky, the goods may have entered the wormholes, but somehow got lost or torn along the way, thereby making it impossible to transfer any of these precious goods to their destination intact!

Ves would have torn his hair out if that happened to his precious bottle of Yondu Milk!

Since that did not happen in the end, the mech designer put down his worries and considered his next steps.

He looked forward to seeing what would happen 30 days later. Once the System got back online, it would definitely offer him powerful and game changing upgrade tracks. None of the upgrades that took place after completing a Supply Mission was weak! Given that Yondu Milk possessed strong relations with life and vitality, he figured that the System would probably play into that aspect.

Perhaps the next upgrade might even be able to enhance his ability to design living mechs!

Ves grew increasingly more eager to complete the final 2 Supply Missions. He immediately turned his attention back to the Evolution Witch.

"I need 45.5343 grams Orphedeian Glow Glass and 2 complete pieces of Abalask Eyes."

He straightforwardly said. "I asked about them before, but it appears they can't be sourced from this dwarf galaxy. Can you arrange a trade of these goods?"

"The Oblivion Gate Consortium exists to provide the strong and the worthy with the rare and difficult-to-source resources they need to advance their evolution." The Evolution Witch explained to Ves. "Your request falls within the consortium's mandate. Considering your current and expected contributions, it is not unreasonable to investigate the materials that you have mentioned and arrange a transfer. Be aware that neither of these super-class resources are easy to obtain."

"Are you familiar with them? Can you tell me what they are? I have no information about them aside from their names."

The Evolution Witch paused for a moment. "I suppose I can indulge you considering how helpful you have been so far. Orphedeian Glow Glass is the human name for a rare material manufactured by the Fifth Apex Race. Anyone who learned about the Ocicyth race in school should know that this insectile race is divided into many subspecies. There is an extensive hierarchy between them. The Sovereign Ocicyth subrace comprises the kings and queens of this alien race. What you likely did not learn at school is their reproduction method."

Ves grew intrigued. "So Orphedeian Glow Glass is used in the reproduction process of the Fifth Apex Race?"

"Correct. When the Ocicyth desire to create a new Sovereign offspring, they reproduce by combining significant quantities of powerful exotics and other precious materials into an egg. They then proceed to place the egg into a tough and heat-resistant incubation chamber that orbits a large and powerful star in close proximity."

"That... sounds crazy!" Ves reacted. "How can a species evolve to develop such an insane reproduction method? Won't the egg get cooked until it reaches a hard-boiled state? The radiation produced by a large star at relatively close distances is enough to vaporize almost any organism!"

The Evolution Witch smiled. "That is what makes the Ocicyth so interesting and powerful. They have forced a qualitative evolution of one of their subspecies by attempting to harness the greater potential of a star. They do this by installing small amounts of Orphedeian Glow Glass onto the incubation chambers that resemble the appearance of portholes. This special glass is designed to filter the strong electromagnetic radiation emitted by the powerful star and convert the remaining energies into a special form of high-grade radiation. It is this extraordinary radiation that is responsible for transforming the egg and larva into a new King or Queen

Ocicyth."

Ves never knew that the Ocicyth race had to go through such a troublesome process in order to expand its leader caste.

"How easy is it for the aliens to produce Ornhedeian Glow Glass?"

"It is difficult and costly. What is worse is that the incubation of a new Sovereign Ocicyth has a low success rate. This is because stars are inherently inconsistent and volatile. If a strong enough flare occurs that ejects excessive quantities of electromagnetic radiation or stellar particles in the direction of the incubation chamber, then the chamber and everything inside it will vaporize and disappear."

That would essentially invalidate all of the time, effort and resources the Ocicyth put into producing a new leader!

"Is it worth it for the Fifth Apex Race?" Ves questioned.

The god pilot smiled. "There is no definite answer. That is the beauty of evolution. Every species is free to develop any solution to make themselves stronger or more adaptable. The Ocicyth have artificially chosen to pursue strength over adaptability by developing this costly and convoluted reproduction method. As costly as this method of reproduction has turned out, the results are terrifying. A mature Sovereign Ocicyth is equivalent to an ace mech in power. If this alien King or Queen is able to develop much further, then it is even possible to pose a small challenge to a god pilot."

That sounded impressive!

Even if the Sovereign Ocicyth was ultimately unable to defeat a god pilot, just being able to get this close was already an impressive accomplishment!

"So that is why humanity was able to defeat the Ocicyth race so easily during the Age of Conquest." Ves deduced. "Since the reproduction process is so troublesome, it is very difficult to replenish them quickly. It should have been easy for humanity to destabilize the Ocicyth Empire by initiating lots of decapitation strikes on the alien Kings and Queens. How did our race manage to kill so many of them when ace mechs and god mechs were not even a thing during that period of the Age of Conquest?" "I only mentioned that the Sovereign Ocicyth are comparable to them in strength. They possess great individual power, but their defenses and mobility are not comparable to god mechs. They rely more on the other Ocicyth races to form armies that can shield them on the battlefield. The usual response of human fleets towards a King or Queen is to restrict its movement and bombard its coordinates with as many warship gun batteries as possible. No matter how remarkable their bodies or how much cannon fodder they put forth, superior firepower will always prevail."

"I see."

While this made the Ocicyth sound weak, it was still impressive for them to develop a relatively standardized if costly means of reproduction of their strongest subspecies. Ves finally understood the significance of Orphedeian Glow Glass. The System likely wanted to use it in order to transform lower grades of energy into higher grades of

energy.

This was a fairly common requirement for high-level breakthroughs and transformations. The more powerful a cultivator or artifact, the more they relied on

high-grade energies

functions.

order to support their more powerful and reality-defying

"What about Abalask Eyes?" Ves inquired.

"They are the eyeballs grown by a relatively small but remarkable astral beast species called the Abalask. This species has only been encountered in the galactic center, most notably around stellar nurseries. The astral beasts feed off specific types of high-grade exotics generated and ejected by the process of star forms. Since these materials are very rare and difficult to find on planets let alone in the vastness of space, the Abalask have either evolved or been altered by another species to develop special eyes. These ocular organs possess remarkable abilities that no human has

managed to decipher."

"What can these eyes do that makes them worth all of the trouble?"

The Evolution Witch smiled. "Abalask Eyes have two distinct abilities that make them

highly coveted by many parties. First, they can seemingly pierce through space and observe extremely distant locations in real-time. These distances can span up to

dozens of light-years."

"What?! Does that actually mean you can directly observe a planet that is located on another star system?! In real-time without relying on the galactic net?!" "Correct. This is already enough to construct one of the best remote spying devices. Abalask Eyes possess a second function that makes them even more useful. The Abalask feed themselves by ingesting very rare and specific high-grade exotics. Finding them in the vastness of space is a billion times more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack. In order to prevent themselves from going extinct due to mass starvation, the eyes of an Abalask is able to track down and accurately determine the locations of the desired materials that match specific criteria through unknown

means."

That sounded even more ridiculous!

Ves could not imagine that the Abalask evolved this amazing function naturally! Their

eyes had to be artificially developed!

"I understand now why they are so powerful and difficult to obtain." The Evolution Witch responded to Ves in a surprising manner. Her eyeballs abruptly bulged and changed into a pair of glowing blue eyeballs that somehow appeared to pearce right through Ves' true body!

"It has taken me a great deal of effort and favors to acquire the eyes for myself. It was

worth it, as these are perhaps the most exquisite alien eyes that I have obtained so far. They remind me once again of the limitless potential of evolution."

Ves never expected that the Evolution Witch actually possessed a pair of Abalask Eyes!

For a very brief moment, he briefly thought about getting close so that he could rip out the Abalask Eyes from the Evolution Witch's eye sockets.

Then, he squashed this incredibly stupid impulse and tried to make sure that it would not be able to tempt him once again!

The god pilot most definitely managed to discern what Ves had been thinking about, but she merely smiled as if she was daring for him to make his move. Ves awkwardly coughed. "Ahem, those are a nice pair of eyes. I would like to obtain a

pair myself. How easy would it be for your friends and allies in the Milky Way to secure the Orphedeian Glow Glass and the pair of Abalask Eyes that I have requested?" "Neither materials are easy to obtain. They are almost never stockpiled. Hunting parties must be formed and sent into dangerous regions of space in order to acquire either of them. This can take months if not years depending on the strength and composition of the hunting parties."

That did not sound reliable at all. Ves had little choice but to remain patient until these groups successfully returned to civilized space and shipped the precious goods through the lesser beyonder gates. Then he needed to wait for the biannual activation of the Oblivion Gates to get his hands on what he needed. "I guess I have no other choice but to settle for a long wait."