The Mech Touch novel Chapter 5127

5127 /7079

Venerable Joshua and the Everchanger observed the feats of other friendlies while they awaited their turn.

They became impressed by how extensively Venerable Isobel, her companion spirit and the Promethea managed to set an entire warship on fire.

As the expert rifleman mech was in the process of doing the same to another large but hapless alien warship, Joshua started to think about how he could make his own impact in battle.

"Everchanger?"

"WHAT IS IT, PARTNER?" The third order living mech responded.

"Do you think you are better or worse than the Promethea?"

"IT DEPENDS ON YOUR CRITERIA. I MAY BE OLDER THAN HER, BUT I AM A MASTERWORK THAT EXPERIENCED MORE GROWTH. I HAVE MORE ASCENSION RUNES THAN THE PROMETHEA AND POSSESS A MORE EXTENSIVE AND VARIED LOADOUT OF WEAPONS. I SHOULD EASILY BE ABLE TO BEAT HER IN A DUEL."

"Can you single-handedly destroy a battleship that is several kilometers long by yourself?"

"...THAT'S NOT A FAIR COMPARISON."

Joshua snorted. While the Everchanger was right about his own strengths, it didn't seem to matter that much under the current circumstances.

The Larkinsons were no longer primarily preoccupied with fighting against human mech forces anymore.

Their new opponents consisted of alien warships with vastly different properties and rules of engagement.

The fact that it was not convenient for the Everchanger to fly close to the enemy fleet at this time severely restricted his effective options.

While the Everchanger possessed an unparalleled degree of versatility due to his mech type and design, he was not as effective in ranged combat as more dedicated expert rifleman mechs.

The only reason why the Everchanger got to participate in this harassment operation at all was because he was the current wielder of the Gray Lotus.

Joshua had witnessed the Gray Lotus in use several times before. He roughly understood what it was capable of. He also received additional instructions from Ves on how he should make use of its properties during this fight.

If he wanted to, he could easily utilize the Gray Lotus to shoot at the large enemy warships. The death beams would pass through the transphasic energy shields and other obstacles without too much hindrance and go on to kill any alien in the way.

He did not think this was a good use of his time. The few deaths he could cause by firing an extremely narrow death beam at an enemy warship would not be able to create a great impact.

Compared to the flames spread by Venerable Isobel, Joshua's paltry death beams wouldn't really make a difference!

"IF YOU WANT TO MAKE A SERIOUS CONTRIBUTION TO THIS BATTLE, THEN YOU SHOULD TRY AND PICK OFF THE PUELMER ALIENS INSTEAD. THEIR LIVES ARE MUCH MORE INDIVIDUALLY IMPORTANT."

Joshua nodded. "That is true, but... it is a lot more difficult to land my shots on Stingray 1 and Stingray 2. Both ships are smaller and a lot more maneuverable in realspace regardless of the states of their warp drives. Their ships are also highly automated so there's much less of a chance of taking away their lives than normal."

A highly skilled and specialized marksman mech pilot such as Venerable Stark would probably be able to land consistent hits on Stingray 1, but Joshua possessed enough self-awareness to know that his marksmanship could not come close.

He needed to play to his advantages instead. The only question was how. He could make so many possible decisions that he still hadn't figured out what strategy to employ this time.

"YOU SHOULD TRY TO MAKE USE OF WILLY, JOSHUA. PART OF WHY THE PROMETHEA IS ABLE TO BURN THOSE SHIPS DOWN IN THEIR ENTIRETY IS BECAUSE OF KIROSHI."

The mention of Willy caused a green cat to emerge out of the head of Venerable Joshua.

Just like Joshua, the companion spirit exuded a strong and refreshing sense of life. Willy's soothing aura could make any random stranger feel more inclined to make friends with the gentle companion spirit!

While Joshua liked Willy a lot as the green cat was great with kids and beasts alike, his direct combat applications weren't all that great.

Unlike Kiroshi who harnessed the power of fire as if he was born from it, Willy was just a friendly green cat!

"Now what should I do with you?" Joshua questioned as he stared at his second self.

"Mraaw mraaw." Willy replied.

Fortunately for Joshua, the Everchanger came to the rescue by supplying a possible new idea.

"WHY DON'T YOU TRY AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF WILLIE'S FRIENDLINESS AND USE HIM TO CALL DOWN ANOTHER DESIGN SPIRIT?"

"Huh?"

"GLOWS AND WORKING TOGETHER WITH DESIGN SPIRITS IS OUR SPECIALTY, JOSHUA. IF WE WANT TO FIGHT AT OUR BEST, WE NEED TO MAKE AS MUCH USE OF THIS AS POSSIBLE. THE GRAY LOTUS CAN BECOME A LOT MORE POWERFUL WITH THE HELP OF HELENA."

Making my gun more powerful won't help if I can't land my shots."

"THAT IS WHY I AM SUGGESTING YOU TO MAKE USE OF WILLY. HAVE YOU EVER USED HIM TO CHANNEL A DESIGN SPIRIT? IT WOULD BE LIKE HAVING A SECOND VERSION OF ME AROUND. THINK ABOUT IT, PARTNER. IF THE BOTH OF US CAN FULLY CHANNEL THE POWERS OF TWO DESIGN SPIRITS AT THE SAME TIME, WE CAN PRODUCE MORE POWERFUL COMBINATIONS OF ABILITIES THAT WILL BE SURE TO MAKE AN IMPACT IN THIS BATTLE."

The expert pilot started to imagine what it would be like and became enamored by the idea!

"Maybe you're on to something, Everchanger! This is a much better way of using Willy than to use him as a simple antenna that can help me resonate a lot better with one of your parts."

Cooperation had always been their strength! The more friends they could ask for help, the better!

However, there were limits to how many pals they could invite at a time. It was possible for the Everchanger to activate multiple design spirits at the same time, but the connections became a lot shallower as a consequence.

What the Everchanger proposed was to switch his design spirit to Helena, while making Willy embody Ylvaine as best as possible to receive as much guidance from the prophetic spirit as possible!

Joshua tried this out right away.

While the Everchanger began to adopt a more gloomy and negative demeanor, Willy began to glow and change until his green fur slowly faded into a sacred shade of white!

"Mraaaaaaaaw!"

Willy did more than invoke the Great Prophet.

He turned himself into a vessel that completely enabled the design spirit to use the companion spirit as a miniature avatar!

Joshua no longer felt as if Willy's consciousness was quite there anymore. It had taken a backseat in order to make way for an aspect of Ylvaine's power!