The Mech Touch novel Chapter 617

The Starlight Megalodon represented more than just a tool for war. Though classified as capital ships, their majesty and power outshined all other capital ship classes.

The fleet carriers utilized by the militaries of human states paled in comparison to even a single warship. Whether it came to size, technology, materials, firepower, toughness, the combat prowess of a battleship surpassed the combined combat power of a fleet carrier and her full complement of mechs.

A single fleet carrier possessed enough strength to conquer an average medium-populated planet. A battleship possessed enough firepower to destroy the same planet.

Naturally, Ves also came in touch with rumors of even greater weapons of war. The Common Fleet Alliance supposedly developed dreadnoughts capable of snuffing out stars. Even wilder rumors hinted at the existence of gigantic planet-sized constructions capable of wiping out black holes.

That last bit sounded far too mindblowing to Ves. In any case, battleships already formed the culmination of humanity’s peak strength. Their dreadful firepower had amply been proven during the Age of Conquest, having broken through countless alien fleets and paving the way for total conquest.

The legacy of that glorious age lived on until today. Much of the traces of alien occupation had been wiped out. Star systems that used to be marked by millennia of alien occupation had been utterly paved over by human terraforming in order to make the planets more favorable for human habitation.

Billions and trillions of planets that used to host diverse ecosystems and marvels of nature lost their unique brands under the vigorous efforts of human expansion. The ceaseless hunger for human-compatible living space turned the ecosystems of these diverse once-alien planets into carbon copies of Old Earth’s ancient environment.

All of this was only possible due to humanity’s ceaseless development of battleships. Even at the onset of the Age of Mechs, the constant evolution of battleships and other terrible warship classes had never ceased. The CFA had only put them out of sight of human society. Keeping to themselves, they continued to nurture their strength in the shadows in order to safeguard humanity’s accomplishments over the aliens that survived until today.

The conquest of the galaxy by the human race had never ceased. It only entered an intermission period. Once the drums of war began to rumble, the power of battleships would definitely make a return to the battlefield.

Even if the Starlight Megalodon had fallen several hundred years ago, a battleship as large as a city would never degrade so easily. Much of her assets would have likely retained their value, even under the crushing influence of five times standard gravity.

"I’ve got one more question." Ves said. "The Starlight Megalodon is a treasure trove of advanced technology and high-grade exotics. However, she’s so large that it’s impossible for any single faction to swallow her whole. The CFA would definitely recognize the signs. What is it about the Megalodon that is driving all of you to such extremes that you’re even willing to activate your hidden forces on Harkensen I?"

Ves vaguely guessed that the True Sons of Vesia and the other terrorist groups had taken an awful long time to plant on Harkensen I. It must have taken years or decades to accumulate such strength. The investment involved in building up this strength must have been imaginable, but for the potential wealth of the Megalodon, the hidden power responsible for planting these seeds decisively activated them prematurely.

This decision didn’t make any sense if the gains from the Megalodon only amount to a few scraps of advanced technology!

"Hm, since you know this much, it won’t do any harm of telling you the next part." Calabast amiably said. Now that Ves had agreed to cooperate with her organization, he became a little more pleasing to her eyes. "It’s true that we don’t dare to plunder the Megalodon wantonly on account of her former owner. No, the true prize we are after is something very different, and won’t touch the bottom line of CFA. Can you guess what it is?"

What could those hidden players be after if not for advanced technology or high-grade exotics? Ves furrowed his brows. He couldn’t figure out anything someone could gain from the Megalodon that wouldn’t touch the nerves of the CFA somehow.

It was like a bunch of robbers invading the summer of a wealthy individual. Even if the robbers only stole something as trivial as a couple of spoons, the mere fact that the home had been intruded upon would definitely enrage the owner.

A few seconds passed as Ves flitted through countless possibilities.

"Let me save you the trouble. What we are truly after is life-prolonging treatment medicine. And not the basic kind, either. These ones will allow someone to extend their lifespan to three-hundred or four-hundred years!"

All of it made sense now! Ves became fully enlightened why the players didn’t hesitate to expend all of their accumulation on obtaining the route to the Starlight Megalodon!

It was all about extending their lives!

In the galactic rim, prolonging a human’s natural lifespan by a hundred years was expensive and out of reach to most people. Even by borrowing the power of a state, perhaps only a dozen people might benefit from this at most.

However, more advanced treatments had been developed as well. Extending a human’s lives by two-hundred, three-hundred or four-hundred years was very much possible.

The only problem was that the cost was too ruinous to contemplate.

Even the Friday Coalition might not be able to bear the cost of prolonging the lives of all of its leaders.

As for Master Mech Designers, not everyone among their ranks earned enough wealth to fund an extension of their lives. Each gradation of life-prolonging treatments demanded an exponentially greater price!

This was why mech designers worked so hard to conquer the mech market. From their first mech design when they became a Novice, they had stepped in an unimaginably competitive race for income and market share. The winners earned enough wealth to extend their lives, while the losers eventually expired under the passing of years.

"If the vault is so hard to get into, how are you planning to break into it? Even if you borrow the power of a taboo weapon, you still won’t be able to make a dent on such a formidable vault." _{freēwēbηovel.c૦m}