The Mech Touch (Web Novel)
chapter-6484

While Ves occupied his time by inspecting the Larkinson Biotech Institute and its many research initiatives, the Red Tide Offensive continued to batter against the defenses of red humanity.

After more than 6 months of continuous fighting, the defenders had endured an enormous amount of tempering.

Many brave and dutiful soldiers had died, but more had risen from the ranks of mediocrity and managed to embark on the path of godhood!

Expert candidates broke through in droves. The high intensity of combat, though brutal, provided excellent stimulation. The more the mech pilots around them died, the more the survivors fought to preserve their own lives as well as causes greater than themselves!

Compared to previous conflicts, the rate of breakthroughs at nearly every level multiplied by several times.

Years-long exposure to exotic radiation finally started to show results as many people who previously lacked the 'talent' to step onto the path of godhood finally gained an opportunity to surpass the extraordinary threshold.

Among them were many mech pilots who already satisfied all of the other qualifications a long time ago. They were highly disciplined, they were perfectly able to control their fear and they invested a lot of emotions in their respective causes. The only factor that held them back all of these years was their lacking spirituality, but now that constant exposure to E energy radiation made up for this shortcoming, they finally began to break through in large numbers throughout the Red Tide Offensive! The explosion of expert candidates was one of the many reasons why red humanity managed to hold onto their remaining fortified star systems.

The Red Cabal and the alien empires that operated under its direction continued to throw raiding fleets and assault fleets at the frontlines with very little regard for consumption.

Although the native aliens definitely began to experience an escalating degree of strain due to all of the losses they suffered, the enemies gritted their teeth and persisted in their effort to send so many troops and warships to their graves in the hopes of finally breaking past the defenses of red humanity!

Nobody was able to count the amount of human and alien lives that had died among the stars. Frozen blood had spread in every direction and far too many pieces of debris were left to float in the darkness of space as the salvagers began to grow picky about their yield.

Among the frozen corpses and shattered chunks of metal, mechs and phasefighters continued to collide against each other as if there was no escape.

Alien warships bombarded the titan shields of orbital fortresses. The highly resilient space stations weathered the blows with difficulty and struck back with just as much ferocity with the power of their warship-grade gun batteries.

A symphony of death and destruction unfolded in strategic locations such as the Viola Magnifica System.

There were a limited number of port systems in the Torald Middle Zone. As red humanity continually lost possession of them, it became more and more difficult to maintain safe and efficient supply lines.

Human starships were able to travel much faster and more directly to port systems. Their FTL drives were able to dial in their coordinates from a much further distance, thereby not only saving them a lot of time, but also reducing the probability of enemy interception.

Port systems therefore not only served as excellent logistical hubs, but also served as an excellent location to draw and redirect reinforcements.

The fall of a port system usually meant that all nearby fortified star systems became a lot more vulnerable!

This was not just because the native aliens could direct more of their available assets to assault their other targets, but because the loss of a port system significantly slowed down the arrival of reinforcements.

This was quite fatal to the defending humans. They were so badly outnumbered that they had to maximize the few advantages they retained.

Not only did the humans rely a lot on their defensive posture, but also managed their logistics carefully.

Alien logistics was a mess. The thirteen alien races, of which not all participated in the current war, only reluctantly fought alongside each other. They were rational enough to understand the need to unite against a common enemy for the most part, but that did not mean that they could erase racial grievances going back tens if not hundreds of millenia!

In practice, every race had to handle their own logistical needs. There was a limited degree of trade and commerce at the star systems that the aliens designated as staging points, but it was impossible for the orvans of puelmers to rely on others to ship the supplies they needed to wage war on a galactic scale.

In contrast, red humanity managed their logistics a lot better. As divided as the major human players may be, their common identity was much stronger on account of belonging to the same race that had all suffered the same misfortune.

Even as the temporary removal of Bridgehead One disrupted the war machine of human civilization in the Red Ocean, the remaining central star nodes quickly compensated for the absence and made sure that everything ran as smoothly as before.

As long as the port systems still remained standing, their associated defensive bands would largely remain firm in the face of persistent alien attacks.

It did not matter too much if the native aliens managed to overrun the defensive locations around them. So long as the port systems remained standing, the continuous influx of mech forces, auxiliary fleets and essential supplies barely kept the defenders alive and in an adequate fighting condition.

They could even branch out and repel the alien forces that had just conquered a star system previously held by humans!

Yet these counter attacks were all too rare and only really happened after an errant. god pilot passed by to cleanse the local alien infection.

Aside from these rare bright spots, humans had continuously lost ground during the

Red Tide Offensive.

The continuous setbacks suffered by red humanity had made it harder for the soldiers

to keep up morale.

While the bravest and most determined among them still found ways to excel as long as they managed to stay alive, many other soldiers could not help but begin to feel as

if their situation was doomed from the start.

The aliens possessed too many numbers. Even the most ignorant mech pilot could guess that the native aliens could still throw ten times more warships at red humanity

if they wanted.

However, the events that recently took place in the Sapphire of the Red Ocean had given the defenders numerous reasons to regain their optimism for the future. The people in the rear had not been wasting their time. The historic unveiling of Carmine mechs, the founding of the Red Collective and the unveiling of the Oblivion Gates all gave the human soldiers hope that their sacrifices were meaningful.

Aside from renewing everyone's hope and confidence, many of the announcements did not have an immediate effect on the situation at the frontlines.

After all, what did Carmine mechs have to do with all of the existing mech pilots and

other servicemen assigned to many different positions?

There was no immediate benefit to switching careers. Mechs still needed to be serviced. Orbital fortresses still needed to be manned by specialists. Starships still needed to be managed by officers.

It was irresponsible for them to abandon their vital posts just to indulge in their childish mech piloting fantasies.

Even if former mech technicians, space station personnel or starfighter pilots fought

hard to switch over to piloting Carmine mechs, their lack of training meant that they had to spend precious years training the necessary skills to become useful on the

battlefield.

That was unacceptable.

The people fighting at the frontlines could only hope that the groups in the rear rushed the training of Carmine mech pilots as quickly as possible in order to relieve

the pressure.

Yet even that would take at least 2 years.

The news about the Oblivion Gates also did not impress the soldiers all that much. Once they got over the excitement of regaining contact with the Milky Way, they quickly understood that the precious trade goods had no direct effect on their own

circumstances.

What high-level resources got swapped between the galaxies would mostly benefit the god pilots and other bigshots. That might make red humanity a little stronger, but the changes weren't tangible enough for the soldiers that were fighting in the trenches.

The lack of transparency did not help matters either. Nobody knew what the Evolution Witch obtained from the Milky Way and whether any of it would flow in their

direction.

The only solid piece of information they received was that the Evolution Witch intended to use much of the imported resources to upgrade the Red Oblivion Gate.

In the end, it was the Red Collective that had the most direct and immediate impact on

the lives of the people fighting at the front.

The year-long preparation enabled the Red Collective to start off on a strong footing. Even if most of the departments under the new superorganization sounded as if they had nothing to do with the lives of ordinary people, there was one institution in

particular that no human could ignore.

The Repository managed by the Cultivation Method Department had quickly become one of the most popular virtual portals visited by both civilians and soldiers. Just the fact that many qi and body cultivation methods were able to extend their

lifespans was enough to lure even the most skeptical individuals into trying out the extensive free selection!

As mech pilots began to explore what was available, they quickly learned that there was a special category of cultivation methods that were specifically designed for their

profession.

"What are these 'auxiliary qi cultivation methods"?"

"It is not advisable for mech pilots to practice normal qi cultivation methods, especially the more advanced and complicated ones. There is a risk that practicing them will cause you to evolve into a superhuman that has gained impressive powers, but also closes the door to transforming your willpower. You can still choose to practice them if you think you have no hope of triggering your apotheosis, but if you have any desire to become an expert pilot one day, take all of the warnings seriously and do not make a careless selection." "Then what am I supposed to do, then?"

"Doing nothing is a waste of E energy in the Age of Dawn. In order to give mech pilots such as yourself something useful to do, the Red Collective has compiled numerous different auxiliary qi cultivation methods. As their name suggests, they only exist to promote your evolution in a narrow scope, making sure to keep your chances of becoming stronger mech pilots intact. I highly suggest you begin by practicing the free curated cultivation methods from the Controller series. They are all geared towards beginners in cultivation and are not that difficult to practice. As long as you are diligent enough, it only takes a short time for you to gain newfound strength that will help you survive the coming battles."

"I see that there are more than a dozen different choices available. Which ones should

I choose?"

"It depends on your goals and specializations. Read the descriptions. For example, the

Healthy Controller Auxiliary Qi Cultivation Method mainly focuses on extending your lifespan, increasing your physical regeneration and making your body a little tougher. This is the easiest option for mech pilots and is only really meant to be practiced by old, injured and retired veterans. Don't expect any miracles as it is just a low-difficulty free cultivation method. If you want to increase your immediate combat effectiveness, then there are many other choices that can increase your learning ability or sharpen your combat instincts. Once you have made achievements in these free methods, you should think about spending your RC merits or war merits on exchanging for a premium method."

As the curious mech pilots began to explore and try out the brand-new auxiliary qi cultivation methods, they slowly began to see the difference in as little as a week!