The Mech Touch novel Chapter 912

As Ves calmed down and took in the virtual admiral’s tale, he realized that the MTA and CFA may not have been entirely contemptible in their betrayal.

For whatever reason, the Five Scrolls Compact seemed to regard the ’immortal gods’ as saviors. They were destined to arrive at the Milky Way Galaxy whereupon they benevolently uplifted every human and brought them back to paradise.

As a consummate businessman, Ves had seen his fair share of swindles.

Therefore, the programmed fanaticism that Ordoth expressed towards humanity’s future salvation sounded utterly crazy to Ves.

Saviors? More like invaders!

The Sacred Scrolls that heralded the coming of the immortal gods took on a decidedly ominous light in his perspective. Ves did not believe that these so-called immortal gods would be so generous enough to lead humanity to salvation without anything in return!

This belief cast a new light on the MTA and CFA’s supposed betrayal of the Compact. Instead of the thieves and traitors that Virtual Rear Admiral Ordoth made them out to be, they might have actually saved humanity from a great, extragalactic threat!

Ves couldn’t help but grow skeptical about the immortal gods. Humanity’s history was replete with religions popping up that centered around aliens masquerading as gods.

Who could blame them? It was a fact of life that many members of the human race yearned to believe in something greater than themselves. It was all too easy to look at the vastness and emptiness of space and despair how little they mattered.

One of the great divides in human civilization that persisted up to this day was the continued relevance of religion. Many humans craved spiritual reassurance, and religions filled in the void that technology couldn’t answer.

Many religions, usually the older ones, were well-meant and attempted to guide their believers to a better place.

Nonetheless, more religions popped up that simply attempted to scam or deceive their believers into giving up their money and freedom. When these religions went too far and became exposed, their prophets and ’gods’ often turned out to be human or alien scam artists who used technology along with manipulative psychology to hoodwink gullible people into becoming their slaves!

Too many stories like this throughout humanity’s rise spoiled a significant portion of humany against organized religion. The intellectuals and elites often regarded it as the stimulant of the masses.

Now that Ves thought about it, the CFA and MTA always tried to shed religious expression in their organization, ostensibly to be as inclusive as possible.

Nonetheless, religion became a stubborn but integral part of human civilization up to this day, with no sign of becoming extinct.

As a citizen of the largely secular Bright Republic, Ves grew up in a tradition that treated most strange religions with skepticism.

Therefore, Ves didn’t buy into Ordoth’s claims that the immortal gods who sent out these mysterious Sacred Scrolls had good intentions. Instead of regarding the Sacred Scrolls as gifts, he instead regarded them as trojan horses!

Perhaps in this band of crazies that made up the Compact, the MTA and CFA who rose up were the actual heroes!

While Ves only heard scraps of the grand conspiracy that took place long ago, it became clear to him that the Big Two might have saved humanity and the galaxy from enslavement or worse!

Certainly, the two trans-galactic organization’s open dominance in the Age of Mech signified that they managed to gain the upper hand against the Five Scrolls Compact.

The truth of what happened in the past was probably more complex than this, but no matter what, it ultimately didn’t change his opinion of the Five Scrolls Compact as a bunch of crazies.

Unfortunately, as a user of the Mech Designer System, Ves inadvertedly became stuck with the status of Holy Son, Holder of the Metal Scroll, which was the equivalent of a messiah or prophet in this loony bin organization!

[It is said that the Holy Sons who are privileged to hold the Sacred Scrolls are those closest to the immortal gods! Each of their footsteps quake the ground while every word they speak is suffused with divine revelations! How glorious of an AI like me to be grace with your holy presence! My ERROR years of waiting on this foul CFA battle chariot has not been in vain!]

Ves unconsciously stepped away from the slavering Compact-aligned AI. The virtual rear admiral in the guise of a disgustingly devoted dwarf proved almost every negative preconception that he held against the cultish Compact.

If even their AIs were this crazy, what about their human members?

He wanted nothing to do with their brand of madness! All Ves ever wanted was to design mechs and save his father from his exile in the Nyxian Gap.

As for all this nonsense about scrolls and immortal gods? No thanks!

Holy Son or not, Ves never considered himself to be a grand figure who wielded enough power to change the course of history!

"Ahem." He coughed. "Enough history. Do you know what kind of knowledge the different Sacred Scrolls bestow?"