Chapter 7399  High Hypocrisy

The Resonance Smith dropped a critically important announcement.

According to the deliberations of the tier 1 galactic citizens, red humanity intended to prohibit the use of human-derived willpower vessels.

The god pilots and Star Designers intended to institute this rule as soon as possible in order to cut off any brazen attempt at converting a high-ranking mech pilot's willpower into a stolen resonance generator.

Even though the Resonance Smith openly expressed his contempt at adopting yet another restriction upon human society, he had always been a marginal voice in galactic politics.

Most tier 1 galactic citizens fortunately possessed a lot more sense than the leader of the Unbound Humanity Faction.

They still recognized the value of rules and had no intention of undermining them anytime soon.

Red humanity needed to cling to order harder than ever if it wanted to remain somewhat united in the face of common external enemies.

This was why the higher-ups took the Pilot Humanist Society seriously.

The PHS only existed for a short amount of time, and its membership rolls were not too great.

Yet its actual influence far outweighed its official size!

Many mech pilots as well as people adjacent to them had a strong and passionate belief in the sanctity of the piloting profession.

To push through the widespread adoption of stolen resonance generators without setting a firm stance on this contentious issue would likely provoke a lot of outrage.

This was exactly what red humanity could not afford at the moment!

In the interest of maintaining stability, the tier 1 galactic citizens had little choice but to placate the most urgent demands of the PHS and its many sympathisers.

Though Ves personally felt annoyed that he could not legally make use of the human-derived willpower sources that he already had in storage, another part of him felt relieved that red humanity would not have to sink so low.

The only problem was that the demand for stolen resonance technology would still remain unmet.

There was no way that bigshots had truly decided to abandon this powerful new tech.

Ves could only draw one powerful conclusion from the latest decision.

"If red humanity is not allowed to use its own people as willpower batteries… then it can only come from other sources."

The Resonance Smith nodded as if this was the most obvious fact in the universe.

"Indeed. I do not mind revealing to you that I shall play an integral part in realizing these 'alternate' sources. What do you think, professor?"

Ves really did not want to voice his suspicions. Even though both of them definitely knew the answer, there was a difference between keeping it in mind and mentioning it out loud!

Yet it seemed that the Resonance Smith was not content with keeping everything implicit. He seemed determined to force Ves to confront taboos head-on this time!

"The most palatable way to acquire a willpower source is to generate it artificially." Ves mentioned his preferred solution. "However, the nature of extraordinary willpower makes that virtually impossible. At the very least, I can think of no way on how to generate it on a completely artificial basis. The very notion that smart AIs can develop willpower in the same way as humans is too outlandish. Perhaps the Red Fleet may be able to pull it off in the distant future, but I don't expect any progress in the short term. This leaves only one viable alternative…"

The Star Designer smiled expectantly at Ves. "Go on. Say it, young man. There is no need for you to fear the consequences of mentioning your theory."

Since that was the case, Ves did not hesitate any further.

"You guys… intend to impart willpower cultivation to the native aliens." He said with a heavy voice. "I don't know how you intend to do it, but it probably won't take long before we learn that one or several alien races have 'coincidentally' learned how to produce their own version of expert pilots or swordmasters. Perhaps the Cosmopolitan Movement just happened to translate our methods into working alien versions. Perhaps the native alien researchers themselves managed to achieve a breakthrough in their research. Perhaps the most radical members of the Pilot Humanist Society had completely turned traitor. Whatever the case, the end result is that red humanity will have to fight against newly empowered aliens, but gain richer rewards if they manage to win."

A heavy silence ensued after Ves plainly voiced his suspicions.

Many people already suspected that the big shots had hatched this kind of plan, yet that did not mean it was politically acceptable to talk about it in the open.

Ves himself preferred to know as little about these potentially treasonous actions as possible.

It was a pity that the Resonance Smith did not agree with this particular stance!

The Star Designer actually chuckled!

"Hahaha! Do you not find it amusing that the vast majority of my fellow gods and leaders are eager to set aside their rules and principles just so that they can secure alien sources of willpower? For all of their supposed veneration of order and stability, the attraction of stolen resonance technology has proven to be too great for them to keep abiding by their principles. They have readily agreed to teach the native aliens how to produce their own version of willpower cultivators! Even if it can be argued that this will benefit our civilization in the long run, it is still a clear form of hypocrisy! Since the rules do not matter in this instance, it is better to get rid of them entirely!"

So that was what the Resonance Smith tried to convey.

He wanted to inform Ves that the other tier 1 galactic citizens were not so different from His Excellency after all. Greed could turn every rule-abiding citizen into a lawless bandit!

"I… appreciate your opinion, but I do not think that it is wise for me to share my opinion on this matter." Ves carefully responded.

The Star Designer looked down at Ves with contempt. "I would not speak of this to any random mech designer. You are a tier 2 galactic citizen. You are fully qualified to participate in this discussion. It is cowardice to run away from the responsibilities that you have acquired since we have acknowledged you as a leader of red humanity. You will only become more involved in these discussions, not less."

Ves had no choice but to believe this to be true.

By becoming the leader of the Phase Lord Department, he had implicitly thrust himself onto a greater stage.

So long as the Ascended Giants remained numerous and powerful enough to affect the course of human civilization in the Red Ocean, he would continue to remain important.

In fact, even without several hundred giants at his beck and call, his work as a mech designer also approached this level of influence!

Therefore, it was not premature for a Star Designer like the Resonance Smith to drag him into these kinds of high-level talks.

If Ves wanted to get out of it, then he had to relinquish his power and fade into the background.

It would not be difficult for him to do so, yet he refused to consider this course of action.

He would be a fool to give up so much power and influence when he worked so hard to attain it in the first place!

Ves never wanted to go back to the days where he was too small and inconsequential for him to fight for his interests.

In the past, he had little choice but to roll with the punches and suffer at the hand of other people's decisions.

Now that he managed to get a seat at the table, he could at least obtain a forewarning of upcoming events.

If he was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, he could even nudge the direction of new developments!

In short, Ves should have nothing to complain about.

It was much better to have a bit of agency even if he had to bear greater burdens as a consequence.

"Do you expect me to do anything in order to promote the proliferation of willpower cultivation among the native aliens?"

"Your participation is redundant. We have already formed our own plans and measures." The Resonance Smith simply replied. "If everything goes according to plan, it should take no longer than half a year before the most human-like aliens such as the orvens begin to present their own willpower cultivators. Due to the vastly greater populations of the major alien races, we expect thousands if not tens of thousands of willpower cultivators to emerge. There is a great amount of latent talent buried among the aliens. Once they have been taught the right methods, their talent will bloom in a short amount of time. These are prime willpower vessels. Give them more time to grow, and they may rival our ace pilots in a handful of years, especially if the native aliens are able to provide them with effective resources."

A handful of years!

That was way too fast!

Ves did not find this to be entirely unrealistic, though.

Perhaps there were indeed a few dozen 'talents' among the native aliens who possessed talent that was almost as great as that of the Chosen Human!

This also made Ves hesitant to put his full support behind this plan.

Teaching willpower cultivation to the native aliens could easily backfire on red humanity.

What if the enemy managed to become a lot stronger in the process?

What if the new alien powerhouses ended up winning a lot more battles and killing a lot more people in the coming years?

The Red War would become a much bloodier affair!

However, it was clear that the tier 1 galactic citizens had weighed all of the risks yet decided to proceed anyway.

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