The Mech Touch

Chapter 6590 The Corruption of the Rule Breaker Project

In a near-future situation where the manpower pool of conventional mechs got dwarfed by the manpower pool of Carmine mechs, mech battles would never become the same again.

At least red humanity became too consumed by the Red War to even think about employing Carmine mechs against their fellow man.

Original humanity did not have any particularly threatening external enemies at this moment.

The people of the Milky Way would most certainly turn their shiny new Carmine mechs against each other!

This meant that the adoption rate and development of brand new mech doctrines centered around their usage would accelerate very quickly.

Those that understood the advantages of Carmine mechs faster than others would definitely invent pioneering new strategies and approaches towards warfare.

Carmine mechs would definitely be deployed in far greater numbers than ordinary machines.

Shipbuilding activity would pick up greatly as original humanity had a much higher demand for mech transportation capacity.

Many planets would probably form dedicated planetary militias for the sole purpose of mobilizing part-time Carmine mech pilots into somewhat effective defenders.

Every battle for the control of a planet would definitely cause collisions between mech forces that were easily ten times or even a hundred times greater than before!

Even if most of the additional machines on the battlefield consisted of cheap and disposable Rule Breaker mechs, the scale of devastation was bound to become a lot higher as well!

Collateral damage from all of this fighting would reach a scale that was not much different from being subjected to orbital bombardment.

Even if the starting forms of the Rule Breaker mechs performed poorly compared to modern conventional mechs, that did not change the fact that they were still mechanical war platforms that possessed enough offensive power to devastate a typical city district if given enough time!

Throw in tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands in a typical metropolis, and almost none of the tall structures would remain intact by the time the battle had reached its conclusion!

Civilian casualties could not be avoided no matter how well the local authorities evacuated them.

A huge amount of children would become orphans, and a large number of parents would also lose their precious sons and daughters.

As the mech designer who held ultimate responsibility for developing and introducing the Carmine System to both branches of humanity, Veronica could not escape the blame for indirectly triggering all of this human suffering.

It had been difficult for the Cyborg Cat to shoulder all of this future guilt.

Stopping was not an option, though. Her mother commanded her to design these mechs, so Veronica persisted despite her misgivings.

While it became easier for her to bear this abstract burden over time, Veronica could never completely get rid of her discomfort.

All of the high-minded reasoning and rationalizations could not completely excuse the death and destruction that would ensue in the coming years and decades.

Yet on a certain day, Veronica's perspective... changed.

When Ves finally dealt with the System upgrade, Veronica suddenly became infused by a brand new incentive.

Her new goal?

To harvest as many souls as possible in a galaxy that was filled with life!

In order to fuel Ves' newfound fascination with Demoncasting, Veronica needed to use her mech designs to set up the largest soul harvesting operation in modern human history!

The more souls she harvested, the better!

Humans, aliens and even living mechs could not be exempted from this new directive!

Veronica found it hard not to disagree with this sentiment.

Demoncasting was not just useful for Ves in the Red Ocean, but also Veronica in the Milky Way!

The only issue was that there were much less mech pilots she cared about at the moment.

The only person who she could truly help with Demoncasting was her father.

Veronica had not been able to meet with Ryncol Larkinson very often in the past few months and years.

The Dark Saint had been running around the periphery of the Oblivion Empire in order to solve a myriad of security problems.

His mental condition also fluctuated from time to time. There were times where he could go through his day while keeping his head sharp, but there were also times where Ryncol became angry and aggressive without good reason.

Whatever shenanigans Cynthia resorted to in order to accelerate her husband's growth, the sequelae were severe to the point where he lost control at times.

Veronica suspected that this may be the reason why her father chose to accept assignments that would see him travel far away from his wife and child. He did not have enough confidence to maintain control in front of his family.

That was a shame, because she really wanted to show off her groundbreaking Carmine mechs to her father.

She also wanted to take another look at the current iteration of the Devil Tiger. The best way she could employ Demoncasting in the Milky Way was to transform her first Masterwork mech into a D-mech, or at the very least equip it with a set of D-arms.

Oh well. Veronica was not in a hurry. It may be better to wait on this as she needed to accrue a lot more experience in Demoncasting or maybe even Demonforging before she felt confident she could bestow her father with a worthy D-mech.

In any case, now that Veronica gained a brand-new hunger for souls, she needed to implement a few last-minute changes to the designs of the Rule Breaker Project.

"Master Willix."

"Yes, Veronica?"

"A change has occurred. I... need to alter the designs in order to accommodate a new

goal"

"Explain."

She did. Veronica did not reveal too much information, but she made sure to impress the need to add Helena as the secondary design spirit of the Rule Breaker Project.

Master Willix fell silent when she heard that Veronica wanted to make such a substantial change just when the Rule Breaker Project had reached the final stages.

If everything went according to schedule, they would have proceeded to convert the completed mech designs into mech templates that could be utilized across the Milky

Way Galaxy!

"I cannot fully foresee the consequences of applying this change so late in the design process." Master Willix eventually said. "From the beginning, we designed the three versions of the Rule Breaker Project according to a single vision that we have mutually agreed upon. Even if the Carmine mechs end up being a harbinger of death and destruction to many states throughout human space, that has never been their highest purpose. Their ultimate goal is to serve their mech pilots. This is why you installed an aspect of Lufa as the design spirit for the Rule Breaker Project. Changing the mech designs to include your 'eldest sister' Helena at this junction will be anything but planned and orderly. It is little different from corrupting the mech designs and

you want, Veronica?"

1

The Cyborg Cat grimaced a bit. She knew as well as Master Willix that this was

anything but an ideal circumstance. Mech designers learned early on that they should never allow themselves to become susceptible to feature creep. That had caused the demise and failure of far too many mech design projects in the past. However, the need for demons was too great. Without enough demons, Veronica would never be able to utilize the Demoncasting function to the fullest.

She could not afford to take it easy and ignore it for a few months or years as the Red Cabal was moving closer to collapsing red humanity's defenses.

"The Rule Breaker Project will change the humans of this galaxy forever." Veronica eventually said. "Many of the changes will have a negative impact on them. This is undeniable. However, I have witnessed the effects of large-scale warfare in the Red Ocean, and one of the more positive changes that I have noticed is how red humans are increasingly coming together and drawing out the potential that they previously kept dormant. They are more alive than ever. They are no longer taking their superiority for granted. They have solved many small problems that have long plagued their society in their drive to reduce waste and increase the efficiency of their war machine. In just the span of a few years, red humans have become the most exemplary version of the human race that I have the pleasure of witnessing."

"That sounds remarkable, but what does this have to do with the subject at hand?"

"I was getting there, Master. The Rule Breaker Project will become a catalyst for societal change. Many people's dreams will come true. The most exceptional among them may even be able to step onto the path of godhood. However, where there are winners, there are losers. Those who prove themselves to be superior in strength, skill, strategy and conviction deserve to triumph over those who do not score well in these aspects, because that is the only way for humans to make meaningful progress on a societal level. On a personal level, the growth of Carmine mech pilots is actively being rewarded with the inclusion of the transcendence glow as well as demonic cultivation. I don't intend to break these reward mechanisms. I am merely proposing

to levy a 'tax' on the latter."

A tax on demonic cultivation.

This sounded like an incredibly absurd concept, but was the most elegant way to approach this new issue.

Master Willix still did not appear to be pleased, though.

"Imposing a tax on the rewards that the mech pilots and Carmine mechs have earned

by risking their lives on the battlefield is... disturbing. This change will reinforce the already disconcerting attitude of treating the souls of the deceased as resources as opposed to the remnant of living beings. It will further degrade the sanctity of life, a principle that I assumed you would defend given your works. Instead, your implementation of the Rule Breaker Project may end up undermining it. When you

create so many incentives to fight, to kill and to resort to violence, it will become even more difficult to reassert peace and stability once the new rulers of the Milky Way

have won the great struggle. For as long as the Rule Breakers continue to exist, they will stand as a symbol for greed and strife."

Her concerns were quite valid, but that was not enough of a reason for Veronica ton/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

change her course.

"Then so be it. When I set out to design these mechs, I already accepted the reality that I will receive both scorn and appreciation from my customers in this galaxy. If it makes you feel better, I will set the tax rate at 33 percent, which sounds reasonable enough considering how many benefits Carmine mech pilots enjoy by piloting their machines. The safeguards against potential abuse of demonic cultivation will still be intact. Neither the Carmine mech, the Carmine mech pilot nor Helena will benefit from harvesting the souls reaped from innocent human civilians throughout the Milky

Way Galaxy!"

Of course, Veronica conveniently left her own name out of this promise, but the wiley

Master was too sharp to let this pass.

"What about yourself?" "Oh, I guess I will not use these innocent human souls to taint my works." Veronica emphatically did not mention that she only talked about herself, and not Ves.

The two were completely separate from each other. Totally. A promise made by one

did not apply to the other. Why should that be the case? They were not even a part of the same race!

"That is... sufficient as long as you abide by what you have said." Master Willix did not

push any further. "From the moment you treat the masses who are spread across this galaxy as a resource to be exploited is the moment you have turned into a monster. Remember who you are and what you are fighting for. Do not lose your humanity. I have already lost much of it, but that is exactly why I make a greater effort to preserve what little of it I have left. You should pay attention to this as well."

"I will."