Chapter 7478  Humans Are Untrustworthy

If Ves was being honest with himself, his belief in human supremacy had changed.

He no longer possessed the naivete of the past.

While still believed that the human race possessed a lot of superior traits, he was not blind to the fact that other races might not necessarily fall behind.

The Red War had long opened his eyes to the fact that most intelligent alien races deserved respect.

They all had their respective strengths and weaknesses.

If he had to make an honest evaluation, then perhaps the native aliens of the Red Ocean might score lower in terms of culture, society and technological mastery, but these were all surmountable faults.

So long as the alien races learned from their human foes and fixed many of the faults that impeded their civilizations, it was not impossible for them to grow rapidly and experience their own versions of the Age of Conquest!

Ves might despise their present incarnations, but he could not underestimate their future potential.

Among all of the alien races, Ves and most humans harbored relatively less hostility towards the arche.

This elusive race had always maintained a relatively low profile due to their lower population and their penchant for stealth operations.

Even if they had attacked human forces and holdings, they often did so in total secrecy, making it that much harder to lay blame on their feet.

This gave the idea that if red humanity had to pinch its nose and seek alliances with one alien race, it would have much less objections if it did so with the arche.

After all, the amount of human blood spilled by this mysterious race barely mattered compared to the much greater misery inflicted by the orvens, nunsers, jurgens and phase whales!

They just needed an opening.

Ves could worry about the reputational fallout later. He believed that he could overcome the controversy much like he managed to do with the last ones.

Those past experiences had taught him that as long as the benefits exceeded the costs, many people would be willing to accept the new status quo!

The main requirement now was to secure a high-level collaborator of the arche race.

The archecruiser captain definitely qualified. In the nomadic ship-based society that the arche had formed after their exile into space, those who earned the right to command such an impressively large stealth vessel definitely possessed a strong voice.

"#$&@%&#."

"I MEAN IT WHEN WE KNOW YOU, LARKINSON. YOUR OWN RACE CALLS YOU THE TONGUE OF THE EVIL GOD. YOUR INFAMY HAS ALREADY SPREAD BEYOND YOUR BORDERS. DESPITE YOUR QUESTIONABLE GODHOOD, YOU HAVE AMPLY DEMONSTRATED YOUR DECEITFULNESS BY SUCCESSFULLY MISDIRECTING HUMAN GODS WHO ARE MUCH MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU TO BEND TO YOUR SELFISH WHIMS. THE ARCHE RACE IS NOT IGNORANT ENOUGH TO FALL FOR YOUR DEVIOUS TRICKS. ANY POSSIBLE AGREEMENT THAT YOU OFFER TO US WILL ONLY CAUSE US TO DEGENERATE INTO YOUR THRALLS."

"..."

"..."

Both Ves and Gloriana reacted with befuddlement after interpreting the heavily injured arche's words.

Ves actually felt offended by the alien's overly negative interpretations of his words and deeds!

Sure, he may have played fast and loose with the truth at times, but he had always tried to be as honest as possible when it came to his work and his public responsibilities!

As far as he knew, he enjoyed an excellent reputation among red humans for being trustworthy and empathic towards the common folk.

His many contributions to society had objectively improved the agency and opportunities for trillions of ordinary red humans!

Even the upper echelon of red humanity enjoyed fantastic benefits in the form of access to superdimensional matter and securing the rights to his advanced Carmine mechs!

Unfortunately, the title that he inadvertently obtained during his initial years as a mech designer still haunted him to this day!

The native aliens could not possibly appreciate all of the good that he had done for his own race. Their biases and inability to understand human nuances caused them to place too much weight on negative rumors and too little weight on positive achievements.

Ves sighed. "I am not the 'evil god' in your imagination. I can be much more reasonable and accommodating in reality. Just give us a chance. If you think that it is harmful to negotiate with me, then I would be happy to put you into contact with our other leaders. Let's face it. A war between our two races will not benefit anyone aside from the major alien races who greedily conquered your territories and turned you into space vagrants in the first place. What has the phase whale race done for your people over all of these years? Why would you possibly band together with your abusers and sacrifice your lives to protect their hegemony over the Red Ocean?"

A swell of contempt radiated from the crippled archeshell mech.

It appeared the alien leader did not think highly of Ves' argument!

"#$@$#@#@."

"WE ARE NOT AS EASILY FOOLED AS YOUR HUMAN BRETHEN. OUR RACE MAY BE STRUGGLING IN THE PRESENT, BUT WE SHALL RISE ONCE MORE IN THE FUTURE. THE ORVENS AND THE NUNSERS ARE IN THE ASCENDANCY NOW, BUT THEY WILL INEVITABLY FALL WITH THE PASSING OF TIME. ALL STRONG RACES, AS LONG AS THEY DO NOT DIE OFF COMPLETELY, UNDERGO THIS REPEATING CYCLE. IT IS THE WAY OF THINGS IN THIS GALAXY. OUR RACE ONLY NEEDS TO BE PATIENT AND OUTLAST EVERYONE ELSE IN ORDER TO RISE AGAIN."

What an… overly passive attitude towards their current race's malaise.

Ves found this to be a lazy and disgusting attitude. The arche essentially dedicated that the way to make a comeback was to sit down and lie low until the big boys got into trouble!

This approach of trying to achieve success by waiting for others to make mistakes lacked the boldness that separated truly successful civilizations from failing ones!

"That won't work out so well this time." He argued back. "An alien as well-informed as you should have known about the rise of the mutated voribug race in another corner of this dwarf galaxy. Those pests have suddenly become a lot stronger and more intelligent than we could have imagined. Even now, they are conquering large swathes of territories occupied by all of the races hailing from the Red Ocean. Only our race has managed to hold the line and stop the mutated voribugs from ravaging large swathes of human territories. We originate from a much larger and more diverse galaxy. In our glorious past, we have defeated many strange but powerful alien races by relying on superior technology and strategy. We will vanquish the mutated voribug race in time. I cannot imagine that those inexperienced races who you are familiar with can do the same. The only advantages they can count on is that they have many more territories and resources to squander before they meet their inevitable demise."

The sudden crisis centered around the mutated voribug race was a big wildcard that screwed up everyone else's plans for the Red Ocean.

The space bugs expanded too quickly. Before every race could properly comprehend the threat they were dealing with, the mutated voribugs already took over more territory than the humans had ever claimed since they entered the new frontier on a large scale!

"#$&@#@%$."

"THE THREAT THAT YOU HAVE DESCRIBED IS REAL, BUT THAT IS NO REASON FOR OUR RACE TO SUBMIT TO YOURS. WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE RED STARS, AND SO ARE THE OTHERS WHO CLAIM THIS GALAXY AS THEIR ONLY HOME. WE WOULD RATHER FIGHT TOGETHER WITH THE RACES THAT WE KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THAN TO ENTRUST OUR LIVES TO A RACE THAT HAS WIPED OUT COUNTLESS OTHERS AND PROCLAIM THEIR SUPERIORITY OVER ALL. YOU DO NOT BELONG IN THESE STARS. TO ALL OF US, YOU ARE LITTLE DIFFERENT FROM THE VORIBUGS. BOTH OF YOU ARE HIGHLY DESTRUCTIVE PARASITES THAT SEEK TO DRIVE EVERYONE ELSE TO EXTINCTION."

Ouch.

That was a very unflattering comparison.

Ves could see where the arche leader was coming from, though. From the perspective of the natives of the Red Ocean, it was not unfair to consider red humanity as extragalactic invaders who could never be compromised with. Human history already made it clear that this particular race was way too aggressive and arrogant to achieve peaceful coexistence over the long term.

Perhaps that might change as the situation in the Red Ocean continued to deteriorate, but would any of the native alien races truly be willing to take a leap of faith on this matter?

If he was in the place of an alien leader, he would never take the risk of trusting these humans!

"Is that your verdict?" Gloriana interjected. "Are your people truly willing to hide in the dark corners of interstellar space in the hopes of waiting for an opportunity to rise that may never come?"

The archeshell mech made a strange wrenching noise.

"#@#&@#."

"DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CONVINCE ME ANY FURTHER. NO ARCHE SHALL EVER SURRENDER TO A HUMAN. THIS IS OUR COLLECTIVE CONSENSUS. "

The archecruiser captain was incorrect.

Red humanity already managed to turn a number of arche on its side. Hekkel would never become so servile to Gloriana if his race was so absolute on this matter.

Unfortunately, it was one thing to brainwash the rank-and-file members of the arche race.

The challenge of converting high-ranking members of the arche into willing collaborators was much greater!

Their loyalty, principles and stubbornness was so much greater that they could not be reasoned with. Logical and practical arguments alone could not persuade them into lowering their guard.

Since the archecruiser captain clearly refused to cooperate with humans in any way, Ves and Gloriana no longer needed to maintain the pretense of politeness.

The pair nonchalantly dropped their smiles. They abandoned their diplomatic postures and began to assume their mantles as mech designers.

The archeshell mech was no longer a living individual that deserved to be treated with respect in their eyes.

It had become a research specimen that was filled with a myriad of insights that had yet to be uncovered.

"You have looked at it long enough, Gloriana. What do you think of its unique archeshell-based structure?"

His wife crossed her arms. "It has opened my eyes to the intrinsic value of archeshells as primary components for an archemech. I have always known that there are differences in quality and other properties between archeshells and archemetal. The former is the origin. The latter is the derivative. According to my current understanding, the best forms of archemetal have never been able to surpass the best types of archeshells. The latter may be more disordered due to their organic growth processes, but they gain an unknown number of special traits and advantages that we have yet to fully map out. The fact that they can be used to bring a cross between a partial phase lord and an archemech to life is just a small glimpse of their amazing potential."

"Can you replicate this specimen in your own way?" Ves asked next.

His wife paused and thought about it. "Hmmm… possibly. I cannot give you any assurances. I would not only have to conduct a deep study into this specialized subject, but also have to secure a large supply of archeshells. As long as I can meet both of these conditions, I may be able to develop a lesser and more generic version of archeshell mechs. It will doubtlessly offer superior performance compared to the more primitive archemechs that we have designed up to this point. However, the effort will not make up for the results. If we want to achieve a positive balance, then I need to draw out the greater potential of the concept of archeshell mechs. I am afraid that I can only do so by reproducing the unique specimen before us. Only by converting a mech into a partial phase lord will the output justify the input."

In other words, it was not worth it to develop generic archeshell mechs that only offered similar or slightly superior performance compared to normal archemechs.

After all, the latter could be produced fairly easily and consistently with specialized production equipment.

It was also much easier to repair normal archemechs as they did not need whole archeshells as replacement materials.

Yet neither Ves nor Gloriana wanted to give up on the greater promise of archeshell mechs so easily.

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