The Mech Touch (Web Novel)-Chapter 6886 Superdimensional Musings

Everyone looked forward to observing the upcoming sparring session between Saint Dise Larkinson and Saint Alessandro Devos, otherwise known as the Wind of Destruction.

The matchup between them should be interesting to say the least.

The disparity between ace pilots was obvious. No one could dispute that Saint Dise was younger, weaker and less experienced.

However, most people considered the First Sword Mark III to be a superior machine relative to the Black Lord.

That did not necessarily mean the Black Lord was weak. The Devos Ancient Clan was still one of the ruling powers of the Terran Alliance. It had persisted for thousands of years and accumulated a lot of wealth and power. It mastered many of the high technologies that made the Terrans competitive against the other major powers.

The Black Lord encapsulated a small proportion of the best tech and materials accessible to the Devosans. Master Laila Devos most definitely leveraged her specialization to stuff a lot of nifty tech inside its robust and intimidating mech frame.

Even without any hint of superdimensional tech, the Black Lord deserved the same amount of respect as any other senior ace mech.

Therefore, few people believed that Saint Dise could win this highly anticipated bout. The real competition was how long she could last and how well she was able to hold up against her adversary's onslaught.

Even if defeat was a foregone conclusion, the First Sword Mark III could still earn a lot of respect by showcasing how well her superdimensional tech fared against a superior opponent.

The next day couldn't arrive soon enough.

The Larkinson Clan and the Devos Ancient Clan carefully prepared the selected sparring grounds in space to maximize safety and information gathering.

Many different groups wanted to know how the first full superdimensional mech fared against a formidable opponent.

Everyone had a vague idea of how much superdimensional tech could change the game, but not precisely to what extent.

It would take far more battles than this sparring session for everyone to gain a clearer understanding of how much of a difference superdimensional tech could make.

However, this upcoming bout should give everyone crucial information that could dictate their policies going forward.

This was especially important in a period where very few full superdimensional mechs had emerged thus far. Each data point was precious.

The performance of the First Sword Mark III may largely influence how hard the other major powers were willing to pay for mid to high-grade superdimensional matter!

It was in the Larkinson Clan's best interest for Saint Dise to give her best possible performance on this day. The stronger a superdimensional ace mech turned out to be, the greater the demand for superdimensional matter!

Ketis' portals into the Blue Dimension would gain greater importance. The major powers would also be willing to pay more to obtain superdimensional matter.

The Larkinsons needed to make sure to convince others that none of them could afford to fall behind in the superdimensional race.

An hour before the start of the highly anticipated sparring session, many third parties had already dispatched their own observers.

It was futile to keep this sparring session confidential. The battle could only take place in space, and anyone with a long-ranged sensor system could pick up the emissions from the coming clash.

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The enemies of red humanity would find out about the First Sword Mark III's true prowess sooner or later.

Since that was the case, the Larkinson Clan might as well turn this bout into a spectacle.

This was the right time for the Larkinson Clan to step up its position in society and strengthen its reputation among the masses.

Controlling sole access to the Blue Dimension thus far granted the Larkinsons so much honor and prestige that they were already beginning to rival one of the weaker Terran ancient clans on these terms.

Ves had already taken his place behind a workstation in one of the control compartments of the Tarrasque.

He spoke with Master Devos over a tight beam communication channel on a number of logistical issues.

"Our latest trade agreement with your ancient clan should have already granted you a generous batch of superdimensional matter." Ves mentioned. "How long will it take before you convert the Black Lord into a partial or full superdimensional mech?"

"It will take time." Master Laila Devos said. "Our urgency is not too great at the moment. We can afford to take our time and make more effective use of our stockpile of superdimensional matter. I am not reluctant to admit that our R&D into superdimensional tech is not as strong as that of the Mech Supremacist Faction. I also prefer to develop more advanced and effective applications of superdimensional matter. The mechers have clearly chosen to settle for basic and relatively reliable means of processing superdimensional matter into stable mech components. We believe that our Black Lord can tolerate greater risks."

"I see. If an accident threatens to occur, the Wind of Destruction can leverage his formidable willpower to suppress any uncontrolled reactions."

"That is correct, Ves. This is actually one of the strategies we employ to raise the performance of senior ace mechs over that of weaker machines. As long as the willpower of an ace pilot is strong enough, we have greater room to experiment and push the envelope. Even if we make mistakes, the strong corrective power of a Saint Kingdom can forcibly prevent any accidents from occurring. I do have to note that this only applies to active components. The ace mech must still remain stable and inert when it is not being piloted."

That made sense. The absence of an ace pilot in the cockpit deprived the ace mech from leveraging the Saint Kingdom to rewrite reality so that an accident would not occur.

"You haven't exactly answered the question yet, Master."

"I cannot give you a timeline. That is sensitive information. The Wind of Destruction is strong enough for the time being. As long as the Agamemnon Upper Zone is able to hold for up to half a year, then I am confident that we can upgrade the Black Lord into a truly fearsome superdimensional ace mech. Our strategic outlook will be completely different if the native aliens have managed to breach our border systems. We will have to settle for more rudimentary design applications while we hastily prepare our ace mech for combat against enemy phase whales."

The Devosans intended to take their time if they could help it. They would not ignore the need to defend their territories when attacked by alien invasion fleets, but so long as the enemy was not too aggressive, the Devosans were more than content to invest in quality design applications.

This was typical for Terran ancient clans. They did not earn the designation of 'ancient' for nothing. They prided themselves over taking rational and relatively cautious decisions that best served their long-term survival.

After Ves ended his call with Master Laila Devos, he continued to think about the ramifications of the slow proliferation of superdimensional tech.

He saw real hope in relying on the power of superdimensional matter. Even if it could only affect battles on a small scale, strengthening the most powerful champions of red humanity may not necessarily turn the tide of the ongoing war, but they reduced the probability that their race and civilization would go extinct.

That did not exactly sound like an ideal outcome, but it was better than total annihilation.

As Ves thought about the power of superdimensional tech, he couldn't help but think back on one of the potential upgrade tracks that he could have chosen upon welcoming the Mech Designer System Version 4.0.

[Upgrade Track #3: Superdimensional Transformation. This upgrade track will expand the Dimension Observatory. The new facilities will allow you to spend Ascension Points to initiate a transformation into an increasingly more powerful or versatile superdimensional entity. The augmentations that you can choose to apply to yourself can be based on the characteristics of exotic dimensions. These may grant you dimensional powers such as the ability to multiply your mental processing by expanding your brains into many more dimensions, or the ability to enter a dimension inaccessible to others where you can build a private refuge. This may allow you to transform into a native of that dimension, allowing you to natively enter, survive and persistently exist in it. Over time, you can choose to continually strengthen your relation to a small amount of exotic dimensions in order to cultivate strong dimensional powers. You can also choose to increase your relation with many different dimensions, allowing you to freely enter any of them and be able to make better use of their advantages.]

Ves previously lacked the context to fully understand and appreciate all of the upgrade tracks, but especially this last one.

If Ves or Ketis had opened up a dimension breach that led to the 365th dimension sooner, they would have been introduced to the wonders of superdimensional matter before completing the latest System upgrade.

That could have made a huge difference. Or not. Ves was not quite sure.

When given a choice between Five Element Mastery, Demoncasting and Superdimensional Transformation, Ves might have picked the latter if he knew as much as he did in the present.

Five Element Mastery remained a solid and relevant choice, but it largely accelerated what he was destined to master.

Demoncasting was a wildcard that introduced a radically different way of empowering his works that was normally out of his reach.

Superdimensional Transformation massively increased his advantages in the field of superdimensional tech.

It would have turned him into a specialist in a field that became highly relevant to the war effort!

Still… despite how well Ves would be able to get along with superdimensional matter if he chose the last upgrade track, he had a feeling that his choice would ultimately remain the same.

Ves craved novelty. He wanted his works to be unique. Whereas most high-tier galactic citizens were already thinking about incorporating superdimensional tech in their most important mechs, starships and gear, he wanted to raise the standards of what was possible through unconventional angles.

While he recognized that there was still a chance that he might go for the more reliable option of Superdimensional Transformation, it still did not fit with his inclinations.

He ultimately believed that superdimensional technology would eventually lose its novelty and become as commoditized as phasewater technology and hyper technology.

Demoncasting was much more exotic and difficult to replicate by others. Ves felt confident that he could retain his monopoly on this exclusive form of enhancement for a much longer period of time.

In fact, now that he thought about it, the latest developments only vindicated his choice.

It turned out that relying on the Dimension Breach Creation upgrade track alone was already enough to unlock superdimensional technology to red humanity.

Since that was the case, Demoncasting granted Ves another trump card that could help him maintain an edge over the competition. It also helped that it fell within his original area of expertise.

Superdimensional technology on the other hand was predominantly new and unfamiliar to Ves.

He could apply a part of the insights of phasewater technology on this new tech base, but that was where the story ended.

It was not wise to bite off more than he could chew. As an ambitious mech designer, it was necessary for him to keep up with the overall developments in this new scientific discipline.

Yet he did not think it was all that much helpful or useful to commit too much time and energy into mastering it. Specialists in materials science such as Tristan Wesseling were much more suited to learn and develop their own specializations in the broad new field of superdimensional tech.

"Ugh, when will Tristan become available?"

He felt a little bad about it, but he secretly hoped that the Colonial Federation of Davute would get smashed into pieces by the invading aliens.

Ves inwardly shook his head. This was not a constructive train of thought!

The Davutans did not deserve his ill wishes.

He also needed to stop pining after Tristan and look for alternatives. There should be more underappreciated gems available in the mech industry that could become proficient in manipulating superdimensional matter.