The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5783 You're A Cultivator

The Evolution Witch did not have to give Ves any more speaking time.

She was more than capable of picking up his proposal and flesh it out according to her own ideas.

The fact that she allowed Ves to expound upon his idea showed that she recognized him and valued his voice on this matter.

She did not just do so because she liked him or trusted his judgment.

It was because he was a convenient vessel to formally present this subversive proposal to the public.

If the Evolution Witch unilaterally took charge of this initiative, then the political dynamic around it would change. It would effectively make it look as if she personally attempted to rebel against the Red Association that she had pledged an oath to protect and defend!

Even if she managed to find a loophole that would allow her to squirm her way out of her responsibilities and support an initiative that directly damaged the interests of the Red Association, the dishonor she brought with her actions would be immense.

However, if the idea continued to belong to Ves, the Evolution Witch would present herself as a powerful individual who was willing to lend her aid to a worthy cause. This would allow her to retain her honor and reduce the amount of objections she incurred.

The key phrase here was 'worthy cause'.

If Ves wanted to drag the Evolution Witch on his metaphorical pirate ship, then he had to frame his radical initiative in a way that genuinely benefited red humanity!

If this was not the case, then recklessly attempting to break the duopoly of the Red Two would only lead to further conflict, chaos and division!

The stakes were high. Ves had jumped onto the back of a very dangerous tiger and had no choice but to ride it all the way. There was no disembarking from the pirate ship that he had personally launched!

His thoughts never stilled from the moment he decided to go all out.

Even though he had shrunk his true body at this time, it didn't really matter because the only way he could win this struggle was through rhetoric and ideas.

Proceeding down this perilous path led to a lot of unknowns. He was bound to make a number of allies among the powerful, yet he would also make a lot more enemies in the process.

Ves found it incredibly difficult to muster up the courage to expand on a plan that was bound to offend numerous tier 1 galactic citizens!

After all, the Red Two was their power base. Harming the Red Assocation and the Red Fleet directly threatened their own personal interests as well!

"<nullb>MIEW~"

With the attention of all of red humanity on him, Ves took a deep breath and took comfort in the reassuring presence of Emma.

The lovely god cat was so powerful, yet so divinely cute!

Her obvious support and affection gave Ves the injection of courage he needed to resist the overwhelming pressure and follow through with his ambitious plan.

"Red humanity has entered a crossroads since the Great Severing changed our society forever." He addressed the public in a steady voice that did not betray a hint of nervousness. "A distantly familiar phenomenon has returned, one that our race already knows how to harness with devastating effects. As I have stated before, our past legacies that are still preserved in the hands of many old families with long memories can quickly teach us how to harness E energy for good… or evil."

People already had an idea of what that entailed.

Good examples of cultivation were mech pilots and mech designers.

Bad examples were lawless criminals such as his own mother!

The three sessions had already given the public a basic understanding of both, so Ves did not have to explain them all over again.

What mattered was how the organization was supposed to handle them. There were many different organizational models and management strategies that Ves could choose from. Each of them would have enormous implications on the rights, obligations, freedoms and restrictions of cultivators.

Ves decided to go for an approach that he could personally stomach. There was no reason for him to kneecap himself, after all. Since he had been invested with the power to dictate the initial framework of an organization that had the potential to rival the Red Two, he would be stupid if he did not take advantage of this golden opportunity!

"The new as-of-yet-unnamed organization that I am envisioning should roughly be modeled after the Mech Trade Association." Ves explained. "It must be a singular human-wide authority that is invested with the mandate to govern anything that is related to cultivation. However, it must strike a balance between tolerance and enforcement."

Everyone listened carefully to his words. No matter how much or little they thought about the Senior Mech Designer who commanded the attention of all of red humanity, his words would definitely carry a lot of influence towards the true decision makers!

"According to my own understanding of cultivation, I believe that every human will eventually be able to engage with it. Many are already doing so. Mech pilots and mech designers are the most famous examples of cultivators. However, exposure to E energy radiation has made many other forms of cultivation viable. Throughout my journey through the new frontier, I have observed definite signs of cultivation from other groups. Examples include the members of the Hunting Association and even the members of the Red Fleet or the participants of their Auxiliary Fleet Program!"

That last statement finally elicited a shocked reaction from a number of people!

Captain Zonrad Reze looked almost betrayed as Ves casually spilled the secret that he had originally shared.

Lieutenant-Commander Astrid Jameson clearly looked as if she did not believe a word about this outrageous claim!

If not for the fact that two god pilots were present at the moment, she would have tried to challenge him already!

Ves smirked in her direction.

"You can deny it all you want, lieutenant-commander, but the fact of the matter is that you, a member of the most cultivation-averse wing of the Red Fleet, are already a cultivator. Your ancestor is a cultivator along with every other serving member of the Jameson Spaceborn Clan."

The direct accusation was finally too much for the poor RF officer. Her outrage had grown so strong that it exceeded her fear towards the god pilots!

"You are slandering us! We are not cultivators! We are true humans who are tasked with protecting our race from your ilk!"

"Hahahaha!" Ves openly laughed! "That's funny! I am not here to argue with you about the truth. All I can say to you and every other fleeter is to take another look at ARCHIE, your AI evaluation and personnel management system. Do you know how gods are made in the world of cultivation? Do you know that the act of worship doesn't have to be dressed in religious rituals? Do you understand the consequence of having billions of people collectively looking up to a single existence?"

The young officer's eyes widened. She was smart enough to understand his logic, but her dogmatic ideology and animosity towards him prevented her from accepting his claim!

"You are conflating facts! You are making associations that do not exist!"

Ves shook his head in disappointment. "People keep forgetting this fact, but the fact of the matter is that E energy is both psychoactive and psychoreactive. In short, as long as you think about something hard enough, E energy will try to make it true, no matter whether you consciously intended for it to happen or not. The will of the collective is a powerful force, Miss Jameson. The way you fleeters interact with ARCHIE is feeding it to the point where he is evolving from a comprehensive AI into a deity-like cultivator. To reward you for contributing to its growth, ARCHIE subsequently rewards you fleeters by feeding back a measure of its power, thereby making you a little smarter, stronger and better in other ways. This is undeniably a form of cultivation. Don't believe me? Then compare the statistics. I am sure that any proper empirical study will prove my claims."

Astrid had no words anymore. She looked as if her operating system had encountered two conflicting directives and decided to crash.

"This is why a specialized cultivation organization is essential to red humanity." Ves stated as he faced the general audience again. "As you can see, even the Red Fleet with all of its power and knowledge is not equipped to regulate all of the phenomena related to cultivation! Its inherent biases and ignorance towards this power either makes it blind to its dangers, or prevents it from handling it in a constructive manner!"

There was no need for Ves to prove these claims, because the Fifth Enforcement Fleet's conduct throughout this entire public inquiry already proved their validity!

Through a simple twist of words, Ves managed to frame a situation where Admiral Amelie Jameson and her descendant had turned into their own worst enemies!

Their domineering behavior, their clear biases and their unwillingness to consider any reasonable compromises clearly proved to the public that they were not trustworthy and competent enough to regulate cultivation for the benefit of red humanity!

This strengthened the argument that it was better to set up a third major organization.

"You may wonder whether the Red Association may be more qualified to take on this important mandate." Ves said as he addressed the other alternative. "After all, they already have an abundant amount of experience in promoting and regulating two specialized cultivation professions. There are already mechers that are actively engaged in other forms of cultivation. Why not expand their responsibilities?"

That was a good question.

"It is not the best way forward in my opinion." Ves said a few seconds later. "The Red Association is geared towards mechs. It will lose its focus and more if it takes on too many varied responsibilities. Cultivation outside of mechs is so enormous and varied in scope that it is better to handle it separately, despite how they might be related to each other."

There was another reason why Ves felt it was best to keep the two worlds separated.

"More importantly than that, the new cultivation organization needs to be kept in check. Red humanity must not forget what our predecessors have wrought during the twilight years of the Age of Conquest. Cultivators had become mad with power. Their behavior became more rampant because there was nothing else that could keep them in check anymore. We must not repeat that mistake. Checks and balances must be established to keep cultivators in line, and I can think of no better way to do so than to allow the mechers and their true mechs to act as an additional source of deterrence. The Fifth Enforcement Fleet can also serve a similar role if they wish."

As much as Ves wanted to disgrace Admiral Amelie Jameson and demolish her precious Fifth Enforcement Fleet, it was unrealistic for him to fulfill this selfish desire.

The obstinate fleeters needed to be part of the solution in order for this ambitious scheme to work.

Ves presented another concern. "Integrating cultivation in our society will not be easy. It is far more accessible than mechs and warships, since even the mechers and the fleeters can engage in it! Therefore, I do not think it practical to make this cultivation organization exclusive. I propose to do the opposite instead. Everyone must feel welcome under its broad umbrella. The organization must actively welcome the participation of both mechers and fleeters. This will prevent them from conflicting with each other on how to regulate cultivation without allowing it to threaten the existing value of mechs and warships. Inclusivity is paramount. Only by working together can we tame this ubiquitous power and consistently implement fair and safe policies throughout human-occupied space."

This was a heavy compromise. Ves could have insisted on making the new cultivation association more exclusive, but that would have been politically unacceptable to a lot of leaders from the Red Two.

The existence of a third major human organization already shook the foundation of the Red Association and the Red Fleet.

By inviting their members to become a part of the new organization, their objections wouldn't be as fierce anymore.

After all, if they ended up in charge of the new cultivation association, then they might not end up losing any power in the long run!

Ves did not expect it to work that way. The Cultivation Association would become so large and messy that it would never be completely aligned with the existing Red Two.

Mixing mechers, fleeters and other adversaries into a single melting pot was a recipe for conflict and disagreements!

If this circumstance came about, then there was no way for either of the Red Two to effectively enact their policies through this new vehicle.

The constant pushback from internal competitors would effectively ensure that the third organization would effectively maintain a considerable degree of separation from the older powerful institutions!