Contingents of the Avatars of Myth, the Flagrant Vandals, the Swordmaidens and the Penitent Sisters ca together.
Much of the gathered chs consisted of lee chs. Ranged chs tended to suffer from a disadvantage in the current battlefield, though they could still be useful in certain situations.
Nonetheless, Legion Commander lkor was happy with what he got. The mixture of premium second-class chs and considerably more powerful quasi-first-class chs should be enough to close the gap in equipnt.
"Captain Koltov, which alien leader unit is leading the phasefighters allocated to this area?"
"We have identified dozens of elite phasefighters of puelr design that are coated in dark yellow and bear purple markings. Typical of the puelr race, each phasefighter is made out of highly saturated transphasic materials and possesses different pieces of advanced technologies. Our Light Hunters have only been able to collect enough readings to identify a portion of them. The only confirmation we have is that the puelr phasefighters are definitely equipped with imitations of modern human hyper technology."
"Great." lkor frowned. "What is your judgnt on their combat power, captain?" "I would say that they are tougher and more difficult to take down compared to our quasi-first-class chs. Their power reactors are definitely more powerful than ours as we are still restricted by the limitations imposed on second-class chs."
This was not the first ti lkor cursed the artificial rules and restrictions that ensured a strict separation between tech levels.
All of the quasi-first-class chs fielded by the Larkinson Clan could have easily beco at least twice as powerful if only they were able to upgrade their power reactors to proper first-class machines.
However, unlike ordinary grunts, Commander lkor understood the reasons why the Red Three had never rescinded this restrictive policy.
The Red Ocean was already suffering from a shortage of resources, especially first-class materials that were strong enough to withstand the rigors of high-end warfare.
Letting second-raters make use of first-class exotic materials would instantly cause their prices to skyrocket!
Many first-class ch forces would instantly experience a lot more difficulties in replenishing their losses as their chs cost 50 or even 100 percent as much to
The clear demarcation of tech levels also had a guiding function to the native aliens. While the Red Cabal and the major alien races never divided their own heterogeneous tech developnt into nurous distinct classes, they quickly learned from their hated enemies and adjusted their own troop deploynts accordingly.
Both sides developed a tacit agreent where they only sent their best units to the Upper Zones, their more disposable cannon fodder to the Middle Zones and their trash to the Lower Zones.
Even the aliens struggled to deploy enough high-end warships and phasefighters to the front in a short amount of ti. Their production was gradually ramping up, but the losses inflicted by red humanity was also considerable.
Just the hardware being lost to rampaging god pilots alone had reached an astronomical figure!
This made it so that the native aliens preferred to concentrate their best assets and distribute their lesser units to war theaters with lower strategic value.
That did not an that all of the alien units sent to the Middle Zones were garbage. Just like how every significant human troop concentration hosted champions and elites, the native aliens also made sure to do the sa.
These powerful combatants were not necessarily ant to carry the entire fight. They instead acted as force multipliers that could easily amplify the combat power of
regular units due to their special characteristics.
"Puelr phasefighters are rare, but they are definitely among the most troubleso to fight against." Commander lkor frowned.
"The yellow ones that showed up this ti look like their alien pilots are trying to prove themselves. Captain Koltov comnted, "Our scouts haven't made enough observations to provide enough proof, but when I look at the images, I can't help but suspect that they are trying to lure us into a trap so that they can annihilate us in one fell swoop. Call it a gut feeling"
That was an interesting opinion to share.
Captain Sara Koltov was a veteran Flagrant Vandal pilot that had managed to keep up with the growth of the Larkinson Clan.
She began with piloting the old Hellcat model of the original 6th Flagrant Vandals. Over the course of nurous years, she switched over to specializing in the Ferocious Piranha while working her way up to the rank of ch captain.
As a forr Brighter and third-rater, that was quite impressive, as she constantly had to improve and learn in order to keep up with the rising standards of the clan. Second-raters and first-raters that were born as designer babies and received further
Although forr third-raters such as lkor and Sara Koltov still managed to maintain their current positions by virtue of their dedication and contributions, they still had to work hard in order to et the minimum standards required to do their
jobs.
For now, they were doing fine, but what about the future?
Systematic cultivation allowed the people of different classes to close the gap between each other, at least on the surface.
The argunt was that qi cultivation thods provided the exact sa benefits to first-raters, second-raters and third-raters.
They should therefore benefit first-raters the least and third-raters the most.
However, the availability and affordability of cultivation resources could easily cause these people to grow apart from each other.
First-raters earned more and had much more money and resources at their disposal. It was much easier for them to acquire powerful elixirs and helpful artifacts that could speed up their cultivation progress. They also had easier access to high-end cultivation thods and could easily afford the expensive resources to get started in these advanced scriptures.
Third-raters could only make do by relying on their own talent and efforts.
lkor was glad that he was no longer in the latter position anymore. As the Avatar Commander, he had earned enough salary and rits to afford many expensive cultivation resources.
In fact, he already ordered a bunch of them in order to get a better feel and understanding of their associated qi cultivation thods.
He already acquired access to three different thods that had caught his interest.
One of them had been developed by the T Institute while he redeed the remaining
two from the Repository.
Each of them made large promises. They were especially designed for military commanders that were looking to make a greater impact on the battlefield.
He actually considered two more promising qi cultivation thods, but he ultimately
kept them as reserve options.
The reason for that was because they promised to help him empower his subordinates in a similar way to Saint Commander Casella's famous Command Field.
lkor instinctively rejected the decision to imitate Casella.
It was not that he thought that he placed a lower value on the direct empowernt of subordinates, but he simply did not want to be known as an imitation of the Saint
Commander.
It might not be much, but lkor was determined to make it grow, and to do that, he
needed to beco stronger in his own way.
He briefly went over his options so that he could make up his mind. The most obvious cultivation thod for a Larkinson in his position was the
Larkinson Design Spirit Contract thod.
Developed by the T Institute with input from the patriarch himself, it was a cultivation thod that made the practitioner powerful by forming a mutually agreed contract with a more powerful entity, which in this case happened to be one of the design
spirits of the Larkinson Clan.
The T Institute actually told him that it was primarily a form of 'contract cultivation' due to the fact that lkor would mainly be able to develop his strength by absorbing the strength of another entity.
It actually had a lot in common with the Blood Pacts that beca more prevalent these days. Both cases involved two different parties signing a taphysical contract with each other that imposed certain rights and restrictions.
The design spirit could not unscrupulously try to manipulate the contract cultivator.
The practitioner also had to abide by any specific demands or requirents the design spirit might impose in exchange for donating a portion of his or her power. Both parties had the right to unilaterally dissolve the contract at any ti.
If that ever happened, the practitioner would get to keep his cultivation progress, but would not be able to form a new contract with another design spirit for around half a year due to ntal stability considerations.
There were several pros and cons associated with this new contract cultivation
thod.
The obvious advantage was that it imposed very low requirents on the part of the practitioner. It did not require any talent to get started, though having it would certainly make it easier to absorb and digest the strength of compatible design spirits. The practitioner also did not have to spend much of his ti on ditation, ntal exercises or constructing an extrely complicated artistic conception. The design spirit already did the heavy lifting. lkor only had to focus on assimilating the
foreign energy.
Depending on how quickly he was able to absorb the strength of a design spirit, lkor could grow powerful at a rapid speed.
Personally, one of the reasons why he liked the Larkinson Design Spirit Contract thod was because it fit the the of the Avatars of Myth extrely well!
As long as lkor absorbed enough power from a design spirit such as Titania to the
point that his domain was nearly identical to her own, he could one day have her descend into his body or maybe his companion spirit, thereby turning one of them
into her avatar!
Titania would subsequently be able to channel her strength and fight against enemies like a real qi cultivator for as long as lkor was able to sustain her presence! This ability promised to beco more powerful as his own cultivation advanced. Perhaps one day, he would be able to replicate the effect of a battle formation, but allowing it to last a lot longer without requiring the assistance of others! However, as much as lkor found this thod to be attractive, it also ca with
obvious downsides.
For example, there was no way to avoid contamination. The more lkor absorbed
the strength of a design spirit such as Titania or Qilanxo, the more he would co to resemble them. His personality, his behavior and his perspective would all co to resemble his contracted design spirit!
lkor was not very willing to sacrifice his humanity in exchange for power. Another disadvantage was that the lack of personal effort required to progress in this thod caused him to lack self sufficiency. The only reason for his power was because he begged another design spirit to donate a few scraps.
If the contract ever expired, lkor would lose much of his capabilities. He would just degenerate into a qi cultivator that was lacking in personal abilities.
What also bothered lkor was that the hard limit of this contract cultivation thod
was that his strength would always be limited by the strength of a design spirit.
If the latter was no longer able to grow, then he would remain limited as well.
Perhaps he could mitigate this problem by forming a contract with a different entity, but that ca with a lot of compatibility problems that would set him back for a long
ti.
Despite all of these factors weighing the Design Spirit Contract thod down, lkor still liked it because it was by far the least difficult cultivation thod in his consideration.
As long as he made a deal with the right design spirit, there should be no chance for
him to fail in his contract cultivation.
After spending several decades fruitlessly trying to advance to the rank of expert candidate, lkor deeply appreciated the certainty and ease of this Larkinson-exclusive thod.
"Do I take the easy way out, or should I take a chance on a more challenging
cultivation thod?"
That was because it was centered around the use of qi formations on the battlefield.
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