The Mech Touch (Web Novel)
chapter-6475

High Autonomy Living Mechs violated a taboo of the mech industry.

Veronica knew more than well that humans must always be in control of the technology they commanded.

This was why they never dared to let AI automate everything and allow humans to sit back and relax. Every artificial system is vulnerable and prone to subversion. It would be incredibly idiotic to automate an entire society, only for a hostile alien force or a rival human power to hack the master control system and hijack everything!

Even though there were countless examples throughout human history that emphasized the harm of relying too much on automation, Veronica still chose to rely on her new HALM concept to develop her MW Carmine mechs.

It couldn't be helped. The training and education of a potentate into a competent and professional mech pilot took at least 10 years. It was possible to add or subtract 5 years to that duration, but that would substantially affect the quality of the pilot in question.

The Oblivion Gate Consortium couldn't wait for 5 or more years for most brand-new Carmine mech pilots to become skilled enough to wreck stuff with their new machines.

Veronica could probably shave a few years off that training period if she chose to simplify the Carmine mechs like she did with the Yellow Jackets, but this was not a good choice.

Many people believed that the most ideal mech was a humanoid machine. Such mechs held greater attraction to people than a frontline mech that lacked articulating arms.

While there should still be enough people who would be glad to pilot a frontline mech, such machines were limited in other ways that were detrimental to her overall purpose.

Therefore, even if she knew that it would make the process of mastering the Carmine mech a lot harder for their bonded pilots, Veronica still decided to adopt the shape that held the broadest appeal.

Besides, the Cyborg Cat already compensated for the added difficulty of piloting a humanoid mech by letting the living mech itself take charge of its own movements!

"Carmine mechs are not normal mechs." The silvery cat explained her reasoning to Master Willix. "There are two important traits that distinguish the former from the latter. The presence of the Carmine System and the fact that every Carmine mech is alive can be used as the foundation of a new paradigm in mech piloting. Instead of relying on the old model where a mech pilot is taught to control every large and significant process of a mech, we instead turn the pilot into a commander that delegates the fine control of his machine to his bonded partner."

Master Willix immediately understood the underlying implications of this reasoning.

"You are advocating an abolishment of traditional mech pilot training for this new class of warriors. You place so much faith in the reliability and trustworthiness of your living mechs that you believe that it is acceptable to allow them to retain this role. The Carmine mech pilots will play a role that is equivalent to a tank commander where he oversees the battlefield and relays instructions that his living partner must follow."

The Cyborg Cat smiled. "I have put a lot of thought behind this alternate model. I know it is flawed. This approach is extremely unlikely to produce high-ranking mech pilots. The pilots must take the effort to learn and master the art of controlling his own weapons. Relying too much on others to do the actual fighting will put too much distance between himself and the critical decision making process. Despite this major flaw, I think it is completely acceptable in the short term if a beginner Carmine mech pilot relies a lot on his HALM to do much of the actual fighting. I fear that many pilots will grow overly dependent on their HALM. In order to prevent this from happening, I plan to develop an additional measure to make sure the Carmine mech pilots will actually learn how to fight by themselves if necessary."

"What do you have in mind?"

Veronica did not explain directly, but instead began to add new lines to the draft design.

She sketched the model of a mech pilot and began to connect it to one of the Carmine mechs.

Then, the cat slowly pushed the pilot closer and closer to the machine.

There was a lot of significance in this move. Master Willix was already able to decipher much of the other mech designer's intentions.

"You are planning to develop a variation of your Blood Pact." The older woman speculated. "You wish to emulate the Mech Body Merger Process for the purpose of transferring piloting skills from machine to human. This is… both dangerous and unprecedented. I do not believe that you have conducted any studies on this, so the viability of this proposed solution is still in doubt."

"You have made an accurate deduction. I call it the Partial Convergence Blood Pact, as the distance between man and machine will shrink as a result of this new measure." Veronica said. "We can investigate this ourselves by conducting experiments. I am sure my mother will find suitable volunteers to test whether forcing a partial merger between human and living mech will yield the desired results. I am well aware that we cannot force a complete merger. From what I have witnessed in the past, if we want the mech pilot to remain healthy, sane and in control, he must possess strong enough willpower to protect his own sense of self."

"You must conduct live trials with Carmine mechs that possess the capacity to form these dangerous Blood Pact and witness for yourself whether the mech pilot can absorb the piloting skills mastered by the Carmine mech without too many side effects."

This was difficult to accomplish as Veronica was almost certain that contamination would take place.

He just hoped that the side effects would be mild enough to dismiss them as an acceptable prize to accelerate the training of the Carmine mech pilot.

If the cat was able to make this work, then Carmine mechs would have great significance in both galaxies!

If the Red War took a turn for the worse, then Veronica could always modify the Yellow Jackets or quickly whip up another Carmine mech design that incorporated this new feature!

No longer would humans have to train for years to be able to competently pilot mechs. They could rely on HALM to get by in the first few months while they steadily absorbed the piloting and fighting skills of their own machines.

If the Carmine mech pilots had done a good job at absorbing the fighting methods of their living machines, they should finally be able to take back control and thereby increase the probability of breaking through!

Becoming an expert pilot, ace pilot and god pilot held a strong attraction to any mech fanatic. Veronica did not fear that too many Carmine mech pilots refused to take back control once they learned how to control their machines.

Doing so would deny them the opportunity to break through!

"This may not be enough." Master Willix commented. "The new Carmine mech pilots may not be patient or disciplined enough to spend long hours on practicing skills that their Carmine mechs have already mastered. You need to add another incentive to encourage them to work hard to attain their own breakthroughs. Otherwise, they will all remain slaves to their machines."

Veronica began to grin. "That is why I intend to add the transcendence glow to these Carmine mechs! By turning Lufa as the Aspect of Transcendence into the design spirit of this mech and focusing the glow onto the cockpit, the Carmine mech pilots will operate under a different mindset that will motivate them to work harder to transcend their own limitations."

Master Willix was not unfamiliar with the glow in question. "That… may not work as well as you wish, Veronica. The Carmine mech pilots may become acclimated to this glow, thereby reducing their effects over time."

"That is why I will program the transcendence glow to vary in strength." Veronica eagerly explained her plan. "The transcendence glow will start out at low strength, but it will rise and maybe even peak if the Carmine mech pilot does anything that advances his personal strength. This can range from conducting drills to fighting actual enemies on the battlefield. Whenever the pilot risks his life and finds himself in a situation that brings him close to death, the transcendence glow will peak, thereby maximizing the chance of breakthroughs!"

Veronica did not anticipate that expert pilots would pop up everywhere by using the transcendence glow in this manner, but it should definitely make a difference!

As long as enough humans became mech pilots, then the absolute quantity of expert pilots that might emerge among Carmine mech pilots should definitely not be small!

Master Willix fell silent for half a minute. She began to think about all of the potential consequences and ripple effects of releasing a Carmine mech model that brought its own transcendence glow.

She suddenly managed to unravel Veronica's true intentions.

Although Willix did not possess the complete picture yet, the pieces that she managed to fit together already allowed her to deduce the essence of the Senior Mech Designer's greater plan!

She looked deeply at the Cyborg Cat. Neither of them mentioned anything out loud. The Oblivion Empress would definitely be able to learn what Veronica actually had in mind and take steps to stop the plan in its tracks.

This was Veronica's counterattack.

The Oblivion Gate Consortium looked down on the masses. The conspirators only used the human population of the old galaxy as tools to further their own ambitions. This was why the former was eager to grant Carmine mechs to the latter.

While it was inevitable for all of these humans to use their new machines in petty conflicts, these battles could hone a lot of Carmine mech pilots.

Normally, it would take a long time for these amateurs to develop genuine piloting skills and strengthen their willpower to the point where they might break through.

The combination of HALM, the Partial Convergence Blood Pact and the transcendence glow could massively cut down the time it took for Carmine mech pilots to ascend to the next rank!

While there were serious dangers and side effects to employing both controversial measures, Veronica was confident that the potential outcomes would be more than worth all of the risks!

However, Master Willix still observed a significant gap in this layout.

Veronica's plan for this Carmine mech was unlikely to produce the critical success that she was truly trying to attain.

The Cyborg Cat wanted nothing more than to spread her Carmine mechs far and wide, thereby allowing many hidden talents to bloom and break through at a much more accelerated rate than normal!

Even though it sounded impossible, who knew whether there was a talent akin to the Chosen Human among the stupendously huge population base of original humanity?

With all of the enhancements to the Carmine mechs, their progression was bound to speed up, perhaps to the point where they might become expert pilots in a year, ace pilots within 5 years and god pilots within one or two decades!

As long as the Carmine mechs produced god pilots fast enough and in significant quantities, the 'space peasants' of the Milky Way that every major player had disregarded for so long may eventually be able to rise up and rebel against the tyrants and hegemons that exploited the common people for so long!

This was the ultimate ideal and expression of Veronica's design philosophy towards the crisis that was about to engulf original humanity!

This was the most beautiful layout of Mutual Growth in Adversity that the Cyborg Cat could gift to all of the oppressed humans!

There were only one or two big gaps that needed to be filled for Veronica to allow her ambitious and deviant plan to come to fruition!