The Mech Touch

Chapter 6911  Light Contamination

Ves and the others still couldn't decide how to use the Radiant particle.

There were too many valid choices, and each of them could have a significant impact on the future of the Larkinsons.

It was even more difficult to decide the use of the Radiant particle than superdimensional matter because the latter was more abundant.

In terms of value and power, superdimensional matter obviously ranked higher.

It was a rare and highly special resource that not only countered the native aliens extremely well, but had never been attainable until recently.

Radiant particles likely existed since the time the Light of Sol first ascended to godhood. He had the power to will them into existence for many years. The fact that they were rare enough that Ves did not even know about them meant that the Terran god pilot likely limited its availability by choice.

There had to be a good reason why the Light of Sol did not spread Radiant particles everywhere.

After all, one of the weaknesses of god pilots was that they were incapable of directly projecting their power across vast distances.

The Light of Sol should be able to partially overcome this limit by distributing his Radiant particles.

To Ves, they were like tiny but concentrated totems that carried a seed of the god pilot's willpower, which was effectively the god pilot himself.

So long as the Radiant particle did not completely run out of energy, the Light of Sol should theoretically be able to descend in it and exercise his power for a brief amount of time.

Of course, the capacity of this single particle was not that big in the first place, so the god pilot might not even have more than a couple of seconds to complete his tasks before he was forced to withdraw.

Perhaps that was why the Light of Sol did not take this means too seriously. The cost-effectiveness was too low. Who knew how much time and energy it took for him to create a Radiant particle and imbue it with a small portion of his willpower.

Ves relaxed after guessing that it was not worthwhile for the god pilot to descend a portion of his consciousness into the Radiant particle.

It would be difficult for the Light of Sol to dial his power to a minimum. It went against their own nature to restrain themselves in order to save energy. They were also not suited to split themselves up and be present in multiple star systems at a time.

Unlike other True Gods, god pilots concentrated all of their power in their own selves. They were incredibly powerful in direct combat, but they were much less suited for other activities.

It would be difficult for the Light of Sol to dial his power to a minimum. It went against their own nature to restrain themselves in order to save energy. They were also not suited to split themselves up and be present in multiple star systems at a time.

The only exception that Ves knew of was the Destroyer of Worlds, and that was only because he had bestowed her with a companion spirit during a Mastery experience.

Even then, Ves was only able to use Emma's spiritual fragment to call down the god pilot's companion spirit and a small measure of Irene's willpower for a brief amount of time. The consumption of energy was too great.

"Everything costs too much."

God pilots normally did not suffer from energy problems because they were easily able to cover their own consumption.

They were simultaneously able to generate a huge amount of energy and expend them through their god mechs.

Yet if they tried to do anything further away, the balance between energy supply and energy consumption broke.

The former sank to the bottom while the latter still remained fairly high despite the god pilot's best efforts.

This should be the root cause why the Light of Sol, the Destroyer of Worlds and other god pilots were not able to mass produce totems, particles, spiritual fragments or other stuff and spread them around so they could descend into many different star systems.

Even if it was possible for them to do so, the effect wouldn't be that good due to energy constraints!

"If your theory is right, then the significance of this willpower-infused particle is clear." Gloriana said. "The Light of Sol did not make it so that he could intervene with our affairs. His willpower is purely present in order to amplify the performance of the Radiant particle."

Ves nodded in agreement. "I think you are right. We can't completely dismiss the possibility that the god pilot will decide to drop by and issue a directive to us, but he will certainly pay way more for it than the Destroyer of Worlds. Emma is able to give her additional flexibility that other god pilots can only envy."

While that came as a reassurance, they soon ascertained a different problem.

"This will-infused Radiant particle is not safe to handle." Alexa Streon said. "It is not as damaging as a Destroyer particle, but it is a strong source of contamination to those whose minds are too weak. When I get close to the particle when we have taken it out of its container, then I have to suppress the urge to hop into a fast-moving vehicle or praise the local star as a ubiquitous source of light. The longer I am exposed to the Radiant particle, the more the Light of Sol's willpower seeps into my own psyche."

She brought up a serious issue. Ves did not experience this contamination himself, but his mental defenses were a lot stronger. It was impossible for him to notice anything concerning while his exposure to the Radiant particle remained relatively brief.

"Is the contamination strong enough to contaminate expert pilots or ace pilots?" Ves seriously asked.

"That is another subject I wanted to address, sir. Technically speaking, most high-ranking mech pilots should not be susceptible to direct contamination. However, I no longer recommend that you think about using it to upgrade a part or weapon of a high-ranking mech. Any device empowered by this Radiant particle can be regarded as an extension of the Light of Sol's might. A Radiant weapon is powerful because the god pilot's willpower is directly distorting its interaction with reality. The effect may be strong, but that is mainly due to an outside source instead of the actual wielder. A champion who wants to become strong by relying on her own merits such as Saint Dise will only get harmed if her First Sword Mark III wields a Radiant sword, do you understand?"

Ves slowly nodded.

Unlike Destroyer particles which possessed unclear relations with the god pilots who spawned them, Radiant particles could not avoid their close association with the Light of Sol as he was their only source.

This made it much harder to decouple the resource from its creator.

The Light of Sol had not made this any easier by imbuing the singular particle with his willpower.

This made it a lot stronger, but also reinforced the truth that it was an extension of himself.

Ves grimaced. "If this is true, then using this Radiant particle to upgrade the performance of an expert mech or ace mech will do more harm than good in most cases. Expert pilots and ace pilots must nurture their confidence and belief in themselves in order to progress. Their resonance strength will cease to grow from the moment they become too dependent on the strength and willpower of a superior pilot."

This was disappointing news. Now that he looked at this situation from another perspective, upgrading the Instrument of Vengeance with the Radiant particle was a terrible decision!

This was because Saint Davia Stark wielded the power of the light attribute in her own unique way.

If Ves suddenly introduced a mech weapon that not only represented another pilot's interpretation of the light element, but also happened to be a lot further in his journey, then Saint Stark might lose faith in her own direction!

Her Saint Kingdom could regress or even collapse if she lost her confidence in herself!

Gloriana voiced her own opinion after taking in this information. "There are only three viable applications that we can choose from. First, we can design a Radiant weapon for a high-ranking mech pilot that is more tolerant towards the idea of borrowing the power of others. The Saint Commander is the only eligible choice."

Her suggestion made sense. Other ace pilots were too obsessed with their own strength. Only Casella Ingvar possessed a weaker ego and was a lot more open to cooperating with others.

Ves rubbed his hairless chin in thought. "This is an interesting idea. We can use the Radiant particle to turn the Irvan luminar crystal rifle into a serious threat. A better idea is to integrate the Radiant particle into the Victrix and see what happens. We may be able to turn the Minerva Mark II's living fey into a light-infused powerhouse."

"The attributes do not match." Gloriana pointed out. "You risk contaminating the Saint Commander, her companion spirit, the Minerva Mark II or her subordinate spirit. This is already a problem if the attributes match, but when they are different, the consequences are much direr for Casella Ingvar."

"Then if we want to be safe, it is best not to arm our ace pilots with any Radiant arms. It is no wonder the Terrans themselves have not made use of this function."

"What are the other two applications?"

"The second application is to integrate it into a warship, preferably a large one that can offer greater room for isolation and protective measures." Gloriana continued. "As long as we can keep the compartment containing the Radiant particle in question off-limits to humans, the risk of contamination should not be too great. Distance combined with isolating materials can make it safe for a warship to open fire with an energy weapon empowered by the particle. The damage output will definitely be a spectacle."

Ves grew a little disappointed at the thought of utilizing a Radiant particle to empower a warship instead of a mech.

As a mech designer, he vastly preferred to work on mechs. It would go against his profession to favor other solutions even if they were objectively better.

"We'll keep this idea in reserve." He decided. "If there are no better options, we can reconsider this proposal."

"The last application I can think of is much more personal to you. This is because you can use it to build you a better weapon."

Ves blinked. "Really? You want me to hog the Radiant particle for myself?"

"Why not? I know you, Ves. I know that you are never able to keep yourself calm and away from the throes of combat. Once your highly-anticipated campaign commences, you will find yourself on the field of battle one way or another. Even if you try your best to avoid it, you cannot help yourself. If this happens, then I want to make sure you deploy into space with a proper set of equipment, and not whatever makeshift gear that you have on hand."

"I am already working on a new raiment and stuff." Ves responded. "It will even be superdimensional."

"That is good to hear, but you can still do better. In my opinion, since you do not have any extraordinary willpower yourself, you will benefit the most from borrowing the willpower of a god pilot. Even if you cannot use it to resonate with your own gear, you can still use its ability to distort reality to raise the power of your weapon. I recommend you use it to design a phase lord–scaled luminar crystal weapon for yourself. You can use that special flute of yours as a staff, but you do not possess an adequate ranged weapon. Have you already thought about designing a firearm for yourself?"

"Only at our current scale." Ves admitted. "I am working to upgrade the Amarastendira as well, but that is only useful indoors. I have yet to think about developing a luminar crystal weapon that I can use as a phase lord to threaten other powerful opponents. Now that I think about it, I should be remedying this shortcoming right away."