The Mech Touch novel Chapter 6283

Chapter 6283 Crude Revision

The related incidents of the costly operation on Duqaste XI and Saint Commander Casella Ingvar's unexpectedly early breakthrough generated a lot of waves in the Larkinson Clan!

People celebrated Casella's ascension to ace pilot while at the same time mourned for her brother's passing.

The Larkinsons reacted to both events with tempered attitudes. They really wanted to celebrate the rise of a third powerful ace pilot among the Larkinsons, but couldn't do so in an exuberant manner due to the passing of the very same ace pilot's brother.

The clansmen all respected Casella. It would be incredibly disrespectful to organize parties like they did after Saint Tusa broke through.

This left the Larkinsons in an awkward position. Casella's breakthrough was obviously one of the most positive developments so far, but the death of Imon was also one of the most negative developments of the year.

Of course, most Larkinsons tended to focus a lot on the former than the latter.

Losses were a fact of life in any military or martial organization. Participating in the Red War on the frontlines had already resulted in many deaths among the Larkinsons.

While Venerable Imon Ingvar was certainly a much bigger name on the casualty list than others, he was ultimately just a single figure, and not even an important one compared to the likes of her sister.

If the Larkinsons were being really honest, they more than agreed with the premise that it was an incredibly profitable bargain to exchange Imon's life for Casella's early breakthrough!

The ascension of Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson already put the Larkinson Clan on the map.

The rise of a powerful ace commander completely caused a lot of mech pilots to rejoice because they could directly exert a lot more power so long as they benefited from her leadership!

It was only after the Larkinson Clan announced that the new Saint Commander would soon be transferred to the Premier Branch of the Larkinson Clan that a lot of people in the Larkinson Army reacted with dismay.

"Why bring her away from the expeditionary fleet?! She has been fighting alongside us since its founding! She belongs here! I can't imagine how much weaker we'll become once she is gone!"

"No! If Casella is no longer in charge of the Living Sentinels, we'll be completely reduced to the bottom of the ranking of the mech legions. She was our only star. She made sure we gained our fair share of resources and support. Once she is gone, the Avatars and the other mech legions will definitely try to encroach on our rights."

"Who will they appoint to replace Casella as our general? Don't tell me they will put Legion Commander Melkor forward. He's an okay Larkinson, but he's… not brilliant."

"What do you expect from a third-rater? There are plenty of talented people from the early days of the clan who have excelled on a bigger stage, but Commander Melkor is not one of them. Appointing someone as dull and unexceptional as him to the head of the Larkinson Army goes against the principles of meritocracy of our clan. It is pure nepotism if the patriarch puts his name forward anyway."

The clansmen continued to talk and gossip as they enjoyed their downtime from the latest battle in the Arvest Lima System.

Just as predicted, the orven assault fleets declined to press the attack now that they had suffered a greater blow than usual.

Wary of any further surprises from the new Saint Commander, the native alien leaders called for reinforcements and were content to sit around and wait until they managed to scrounge up a lot more phasefighters and warships.

The Saint Commander did not make any further public appearances. She and her expert mech had disappeared inside the Spirit of Bentheim for days on end.

The reason for the absence of the Minerva was fairly clear. The mech endured a certain degree of strain due to channeling forced resonance for a time. Even if the intensity of it was not as great as it could have been, the masterwork command mech clearly needed a thorough round of servicing in order to ensure that the Saint Commander piloted mechanically sound machine in her subsequent battles.

While the mech technicians were in the process of partially disassembling the precious machine in order to conduct in-depth maintenance tasks, they also began to perform minor modifications and replacements.

Shortly after Casella broke through, both Ves and Gloriana had dug up their old design files of the original Minerva and began to apply quick and easy upgrades to the outdated expert mech.

As the Minerva was being prepared to participate in subsequent battles in the Torald Middle Zone, Saint Casella already spent a lot of time on sorting out her complex thoughts.

Ves called the Saint Commander to keep her up to date on the work done to the Minerva before he began to inquire about her personal condition.

"How are you today, Casella?"

"I am… not ready yet." The ace pilot's willpower feebly dispersed into the surrounding air. "I still cannot accept what has befallen my brother. Only the hope that I can potentially bring him back if I become powerful enough is keeping me motivated. Yet when I think about what is needed to reach this height…"

"Don't think about the vast distance that you have to traverse to reach your destination." Ves advised the woman. "I mean, it is good that you have set an ambitious goal for yourself, but you can't get there by taking a few steps. You should break up your journey into smaller chunks and focus on the more immediate and attainable goals. You should focus on growing your resonance strength until you have become a peak ace pilot first before you think about anything further."

As a mech commander, Casella was familiar with this management approach. She just failed to apply it to her own condition because she was too caught up in her own emotions.

Saint Casella let out a sigh. "You are correct. My mood is not conducive to planning for the future, but… I am not being productive while I continue to mope around like this. I shall pick myself up again soon enough. I have not forgotten my duties."

"Hey, don't feel compelled to rush back to the battlefield. You are a soldier, but you are also a grieving sister. Arvest Lima will remain in the possession of red humanity for quite a while. Even if you remain absent, the remaining defenders are no slouches either. You are not shouldering the entire fate of the human race in the Red Ocean. Not yet at least."

"No. I will not let my grief prevent me from doing what is necessary to stop the native aliens from overrunning the 3rd defensive band. I will blame myself for the rest of my life if it ends up falling when I could have fought harder to keep it intact."

"...Very well." Ves said with lingering concern in his voice. "Let's move onto a more positive subject. In the process of hastily upgrading your Minerva, my wife and I have already come up with a few ideas on what your future ace mech should look like. In order to present you with a more definite proposal, you need to decide how you wish to develop and specialize your command abilities further. Have you made up your mind on what I have asked?"

Casella's eyes grew more intense. "I did. I am ready to share my thoughts."