The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7077

Chapter 7077: A New Identity

The Rubarthans were a strange sort of people.

They completely opposed the Terrans and tried to run their government completely differently.

Instead of running a decentralized oligopoly where multiple ancient clans all shared power, the Rubarthans liked to elevate a single central leader to a position of supreme authority.

One voice. One direction. Zero division.

At least that was supposed to be the case in theory. Ves knew that it worked out a lot messier in practice, but the Rubarthans still clung to the fantasy of answering to a single leader.

What complicated this insistence on centralization was the heavy promotion of meritocracy.

The Rubarthans believed that any one of them had a chance to ascend to greatness. They should be given a fair opportunity to excel in their studies and prove their worth in their work.

This was nearly impossible to realize in practice. Cronyism, favoritism, prejudices and office politics often caused people to promote their friends and minions above those who deserved the positions more.

Such abuses were more prevalent in certain states and organizations.

The Red Fleet had recently moved to a much more closer form of a well-functioning meritocracy after letting ARCHIE evaluate its members. The increasingly more sentient and powerful AI effectively gained the power to decide on which fleeters were eligible for promotions!

The Rubarthans had not gone that far. Humans still decided who to hire, promote and fire from their jobs. So long as this remained the case, the Rubarthans could never be truly fair and neutral when dealing with each other.

Even so, most Rubarthans tended to be quite fair. Their culture promoted a strong sense of responsibility. Each of them needed to be fair about each other’s merits and shortcomings. This was the only way the Rubarthans could overtake the supposedly decadent and corrupt Terrans and become the ultimate masters of the universe.

While Ves admired the noble and ambitious sentiments of the Rubarthan people, he personally thought that they were too stubborn about clinging to old glories.

The New Rubarth Empire had indeed been great during the heyday of the Age of Conquest, but they had declined in power and influence ever since.

Ves seriously doubted whether the Rubarthans in both the old galaxy and the new frontier had any hope of regaining their former glory.

Red humanity was currently living through the Age of Dawn.

This was two ages past the Age of Conquest. Not only had they arrived in a different time period, but they also found themselves in a completely new galaxy, if only a small one.

Why the hell were they still pining after the dream of restoring a star empire that effectively died over 4 centuries ago?

Rather than engage in a difficult and most likely futile attempt at necromancy, Ves would rather have these people form a new polity that was unburdened by the shameful failures of the past.

At least they were making a bit of progress on that front by cleaning out their old stash of undesirable relics.

After returning to his compound with his latest prize in tow, he carefully began to study the damaged banner.

He first unfolded it and spread it across the floor of his borrowed workshop.

The original banner was around as tall as a mech, but only a fraction of its length remained intact.

After brushing the surface of ancient soot and ash, he could spot various stylistic elements used by the Rubarthan Imperial Household.

Ves had already verified it earlier, but as he touched the banner with his own hands, he could feel its connection to a pivotal period of Rubarthan history most acutely.

It was not the main item that symbolized the New Rubarth Empire’s dramatic fall from grace, but plenty of people harbored a lot of ill will towards this banner and the sovereign it was supposed to represent.

All of those hatreds and regrets caused the banner to become a focal point of negativity.

Back in the old galaxy, that translated into nothing more than to subtly stoke the hatreds of any Rubarthans that beheld this damaged relic.

Yet it was different in the new frontier.

Here, the thoughts and emotions of every sentient being could exert enough power to alter reality.

All of the dormant negative emotions embedded into the imperial banner gradually became increasingly more active and significant.

Ves could not guess what sort of difference they could make, but he doubted that it was anything good.

The Rubarthans had made the right choice by getting rid of this banner because it might turn into a source of bad luck if they remained in close proximity.

Even Ves might fall victim to the vagaries of misfortune if he stayed in its presence for too long.

“Let’s stash it away for the time being.”

After completing his examination of the banner, he requested for it to be stored in a vault that was hopefully isolated.

He already had a good idea of how he wanted to process it and rework it into a canopy for the Flower Parasol, but he needed to do a lot more preparation work first.

Ves briefly pulled the artifact in question from his System Space.

The object’s attitude towards him was lukewarm at best. He was clearly not the right person to own it, which was understandable considering its pink canopy.

“Don’t worry. It won’t be long until I gift you to my daughter whose company you prefer a lot more. I first need to modernize and transform you into a more suitable protector. Your original was made and used in a very different time and place. Things are completely different here in the Red Ocean. You will need greater protection and reinforcement. Let me show you what I have in mind.”

Ves began to project his draft design for the upgraded Flower Parasol, giving the high-level artifact a good view of its next iteration.