The Mech Touch novel Chapter 827

The selection process ended without a single pick! The beast rider project received a lot of criticism. Why didn’t the mech pilots receive more time to make their case? Why couldn’t they prod Qilanxo into making up her mind?

Some even cursed Qilanxo directly for being an uncooperative beast. Was she even sentient, or did all of the eggheads overestimate her intelligence?

The giant chamber built around Qilanxo seemed much emptier now that he mech pilots and most of the researcher left. The few people around mainly consisted of exobiologists in charge of studying Qilanxo’s body properties and helping her heal her wounds.

While grievous, her wounds made remarkable strides in recovering. Much of her recovery came through her own body’s remarkable capacity for recovery.

Any god species underwent numerous battles for dominance and survival as they grew for hundreds of years. If they couldn’t recover from a difficult battle, then none of the god species would have been able to make it past a hundred years.

The most the Vandal exobiologists accomplished at this stage was to accelerate her healing by a small amount. They treated infections, cut out diseased portions of flesh and treated irradiated portions with antirad treatments.

The more Qilanxo improved in health, the less irritable she became. She remained awake for quite a bit longer, though she usually spent her time staring at the walls and the humans buzzing about her giant form.

"I’m sorry none of our mech pilots appealed to you. I didn’t expect their quality to be so bad." He apologized to Qilanxo. He felt no apprehension at talking to a formidable sacred god. Instead, he felt just as exasperated. "I’ll find better candidates for you. There are better Vandals and Swordmaidens among us. You don’t have to be lonely for long."

Qilanxo released a soft roar in response. Despite the unintelligible nature of the roar, Ves made an educated guess about the meaning behind the sound.

"Don’t be like that. Commander Lydia and Captain Byrd won’t feel reassured if you are left without partners who can understand what is going on in your mind. We’ll chop you up for god meat hamburgers if you remain too stubborn, you know."

This time, Qilanxo released an aggressive roar at Ves. It came so ferociously that Ves almost bowled over due to the wind and the awful smell released from her maw. Some of the researchers even became alarmed, thinking that the exobeast might snap from some provocation.

"Nothing’s wrong, guys! Go back to work!" Ves called back to the gawking onlookers. He ignored their attention and turned back to the sacred god. "As for you, don’t give me that attitude. I know that sacred gods like you are used to doing what you want, but you’re not in an ancient city anymore. We come from across the stars, and we descended on this world to complete a very arduous mission. Whether we manage to gain your cooperation or not isn’t as vital as you think."

He attempted to give Qilanxo some perspective. If she remained stubborn to her exacting ways and kept refusing the mech pilots they served up, then her usefulness came to an end. No matter how much her defensive powers assisted the Vandals, if the Flagrant Swordmaidens couldn’t control her, then they might be inviting disaster upon themselves.

For example, Qilanxo merely had to retract her space barrier at a critical moment in order to let those sheltering underneath take the brunt of enemy fire.

While pairing her up with a couple of beast riders wouldn’t prevent this problem, it at least allowed the humans to keep tabs the sacred god.

Ves found it to be a rather novel experience. It was as if the Flagrant Swordmaidens got their hands on an amazingly powerful mech, but feared being led to their doom its decisions and actions.

A mech should always benefit their owners! Even though Ves hadn’t entirely followed this basic principle, he still carved it in his heart. At least in ordinary circumstances, a mech should never be a liability or a double-edged sword.

After some time, Qilanxo released a reluctant-sounded roar.

"I’m glad you came to your senses. For better or worse, your time with Samar is over. Your service with the Vandals and the Swordmaidens is just beginning. What happened in the past is over and done. Rather than keep lamenting on what you lost, try and look forward and think of the future. As long as you prove to be cooperative and helpful to us, it’s not out of the question for us to strengthen you. We’ve recovered a lot of god crystals, you know. Perhaps our exobiologists figure out how to embed additional ones into your hide."

The amount of god crystals a sacred god incorporated into its body was a direct marker of their strength and status. Those with the highest number of crystals could store up much more energy and dominate over the lessers endowed with fewer crystals.

If Ves spoke the truth, then Qilanxo might be able to rise from the ashes from her defeat! She quickly let out an enthusiastic roar.

"That’s the spirit." Ves smiled. "We’re not all that bad. If your mate hadn’t decided to attack us, then we wouldn’t have been forced to defend ourselves. We initially approached the ancient city of Samar because we wanted to trade. There’s nor reason why we can’t make a different transaction between ourselves."

Qilanxo responded with a neutral-sounding roar.

Ves felt as if he came to a verbal accord with Qilanxo.

"Well, I’ll go off and fetch your candidates. I already have the people in mind.

He exited the chamber with firm destinations in mind. While he still remained in this strangely perceptive state, he wanted to approach the possible candidates instead of letting them come to Qilanxo. They’d only be wasting their time if they brought her more unworthy mech pilots.

Due to the distance, Ves had to ride a fast transport back to the camp. Once there, he accessed the records and found the location of the first mech pilot in mind. He went through the camp and came to what looked like a bar.

Ignoring the revelry and chatter, Ves strode across the drinking men and women and came across his target.

"Captain Orfan?"

"Huh? Ves? Whadda you want?"

"Do you want to become a beast rider?"

It took her three seconds to process the request.

"Aren’t mech officers supposed to be barred from trying?"

"Qilanxo is pickier than we thought. None of the mech pilots shown so far are worthy in her eyes. Do you think you can do better?"