Ves seriously acknowledged Saint Orfan's warning.
He was already aware that the Riot Mark III must always be guarded against.
It already established a pattern of losing control when the Prophet's Bane took advantage of Saint Orfan's overexertion in the battle against the mutated voribugs!
They had been lucky that the rogue ace ch had not done anything unforgivable at the ti.
This was no reason to underestimate the consequences if it happened again in the future.
Though Ves did not regret the decision to convert the Riot Mark III into a D-ch, he grew increasingly dissatisfied with the constant need to stay on guard against his own combat asset.
Commanders such as Casella needed to take the inherent chance of instability and rebellion into account when planning their operations. This added a lot of unnecessary uncertainty which made it more difficult to formulate reliable plans.
The Riot Mark III also could not be allowed to fight too closely to other friendly assets. The probability that the Prophet's Bane would gain control and thrust the tier 3 Destroyer spear into a friendly ch of starship may not be high, but it certainly was not zero!
What also burdened leaders was the need to manage Saint Rosa Orfan's relatively delicate mindstate. She was constantly locked in a struggle against her own demon. This ant that she had never enjoyed a true mont of relaxation since she had beco permanently bonded with her own ace ch.
It was only due to losing her frail human body that she could persist for so long!
Yet no matter whether she managed to liberate her will and spirit from her now-redundant corporeal form, a mind that had never known peace in the past few months most certainly beca increasingly more warped over ti.
Ves had not noticed too many differences at the mont, but he constantly worried about the loss of humanity.
How long would Saint Orfan be able to rember that she was still a human?
He had a feeling that her ntality and self-image would change drastically just a decade later!
Although all ace pilots tended to lose parts of their humanity as they continued to tread onto the path of godhood, they at least relied on their conviction to rember what they were fighting for. This was extrely important as it was one of the main factors that could make them pull through in the end.
"I need to refine my processes."
It beca increasingly more clear to Ves that he could not afford to make another unstable and uncontrollable D-ch like the Riot Mark III.
If he ever wanted to convert another machine into a D-ch, then he needed to put greater effort into his work. He had to limit the power of the demon and add more restraining factors to prevent it from going out of control.
Although that would subsequently limit the power expression of the product, Ves would gladly trade a bit of power for a lot more control.
This approach would probably make sense for a lot more cases. Not every ace pilot was as desperate or as willing to throw caution to the wind just to force their own breakthroughs.
He thought back on Isobel's opinion towards the offer of obtaining a D-ch.
The Riot Mark III had most definitely created a bad impression of this new ch category. It tainted their views on such chs and made them doubt the necessity of paying such a heavy price just to gain additional power.
Ves frowned deeper. Now that he reflected on his decisions, he may have been too hasty when he applied Demoncasting to one of his best and most powerful machines.
Perhaps he should have started from the bottom and experinted with ordinary D-chs.
He already had a suitable subject in mind, though he was not in a hurry to interrupt present operations in order to engage in another experint.
"I should finish my present business first."
Several hours passed by as he transferred over to one of the biochanical combat carriers of the Terran Alliance.
He had visited this ship and several other similar hulls more than once. As the lead developer of the Arboreal Project, it was his duty and responsibility to look over the prototype Woodsap chs and confirm their conditions first-hand.
The Terran crew mbers had already grown familiar with his presence. Despite the fact that he was not a Terran, he enjoyed wide permissions and could access almost any database or instrunts during his visits.
Ves made use of those privileges as he calmly and thodically conducted deep inspections of a chosen Woodsap ch.
There were too many biochs in the combined fleet. It was not a good use of his ti to look them over one by one.
It also wouldn't be very useful for him to spend just a few minutes on each living bioch before he moved on to the next one.
If he truly wanted to understand the state and the performance characteristics of his Woodsap chs, then he needed to invest his ti and look deeper.
This was why he preferred to conduct periodic deep dives where he devoted an entire session on studying one or two Woodsap chs.
His selection was not completely random, though. He used the database to identify outliers and casually picked the ones that stood out the most.
Compared to Woodsap chs that produced average performance, he preferred the ones that deviated significantly from expected values.
These machines could tell him a lot more about the nature of his latest work as they highlighted multiple variables that significantly affected their overall performance.
This ti, he had chosen to study the Woodsap ch piloted by the Second Elf himself.
Caracalla Shuku had already arrived before his bonded bioch. The man wore his customized piloting suit but kept his helt retracted. His unnaturally tall body and his elongated ears imdiately distinguished him from the surrounding human crew mbers.
An invisible barrier existed between the elf leader and the Terran spacers.
The latter did not receive the privilege of transforming into a different variant of the human race. Their strong and distinctive human appearances and behavior contrasted sharply against the elegant and refined deanor of the elven Woodsap ch pilot.
It seed as if they belonged to two different civilizations that had been forced to worked together due to special circumstances.
Unlike other interactions between ch pilots and the people that services their machines, Caracalla showed absolutely no intention of socializing with the ch technicians that kept his bioch in top form.
Ves looked up at the special Woodsap ch. As the bioch designated for the most important elven ch pilot, the Terrans or rather the Green Coalition had gone above and beyond to ensure he piloted the best possible bioch.
The wooden exterior looked tougher and livelier. The spiritual foundation felt stronger and more active than other machines. Subtle growths and mutations indicated that the Woodsap ch had advanced a bit further beyond the initial blank slate.
"Professor Larkinson." The elf's lyrical voice called. "It is a pleasure to welco you to our ship again. Is my Rosenstorm to your liking?"
"He is certainly interesting." Ves responded. "I did not expect that you have given him a na already."
"I refrained from doing so because my battle partner had not yet earned the right to bear a unique marker. It is only now that he has fought against many enemies and survived nurous battles that he has proven his strength and reliability. Rosenstorm is very happy now that he has earned this reward."
This was unique among the prototype ch pilots. Many of them initially exhibited caution towards their machines. Even though they had already bonded with them for life, they still couldn't be sure whether their Woodsap chs were stable and strong enough to fight alongside with for the rest of their careers.
Many of the pilots had since been convinced by their own battle partners. Despite their nature as prototypes, the Woodsap chs perford so well during the past few weeks that it beca difficult to hold on to their doubts.
Ves actually thought that they were being a bit too premature. Many problems did not beco apparent in a short amount of ti. Just because they fought well enough at the start did not an they would remain this way after a few months of hard and grueling combat.
Though he felt confident in his own work, his duty as a ch designer told him that he needed to reserve his judgnt until the conclusion of the Nesis Campaign. Only then would he be able to issue a final verdict on the readiness of how Woodsap chs.
"Rosenstorm is an… evocative na. It certainly stimulates your imagination. I hope that your machine will be able to survive long enough to make it famous throughout the Terran Alliance. Your Rosenstorm most definitely has the potential to evolve into a unique powerhouse. The first signs are already visible to my eyes."
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