Of all of the ideas he heard today, the one suggested by Venerable Tusa was the most absurd!

There was strength in numbers. Ves knew this. Every other Larkinson knew it. Even his opponents on the planet were aware of this universal truth!

This was also the reason why Ves was greedy for more biomechs and the people that piloted them. Biomechs and their accompanying pilots were worth far more than exotics and other ordinary goods at this time!

The more mechs his side accumulated, the smaller the chance of getting defeated by someone else. Gathering more mechs was the number one priority of Ves and his allies who were stranded on the surface!

"Do you think you can take over the entire planet by yourself?" Ves asked. His befuddlement was clear to see! "Do you think you're some kind of lone wanderer who can solve the conflict by yourself. Do you see yourself as a courier who can deliver peace to the masses? What if our base falls without our assistance? You'll be the sole survivor of our people on this war-wracked planet!"

Venerable Tusa did not look admonished. His expression was as firm as ever.

"I know it sounds risky, but I think we can gain much more if I split off and explore on my own. I'm good at this. You know that. I can take care of myself, especially when I have the Ferocious Piranha. If you feel I really won't be able to make it on my own, you can assign some mechs to me. They'll slow me down, but as long as they carry some supplies, I can do a lot more in the field."

"Absolutely not! We need those mechs to defend our base and participate in any ambitious plans we might have. We cannot afford to divert a single mech to you. Everyone else isn't as confident in being able to survive on their own. In fact, I'm still doubting whether you are as good as you say. You've never gone on a solo operation like this, right?"

"I've gone through my fair share of excitement during the Bright-Vesia War. Remember that? I'm a former soldier, you know. I have the training. I know what to watch out for and how to take care of myself when I'm alone."

"That training only applied to third-class mechs operating in third-class environments!" Ves retorted. "Battlefields in second-rate states are much more dangerous! There are way more threats you need to watch out for, especially on a planet that is filled with unfamiliar biotechnology!"

Venerable Tusa crossed his arms and leaned on one of his legs. "I won't be of much use if I stay here. Sure, I can contribute a lot to the defense of our base. I'll give you that. Yet the point I'm trying to make is that I can do more if I am out there, finding new allies and directing potential new recruits to head over here to join our clan. A part of me yearns to head over the city. This is calling, Ves."

When the expert pilot spoke those words, his force of will seemed to resonate with his voice.

Ves could sense the powerful will and desire in the statement. Venerable Tusa spoke with his heart and did not get swayed at all by any doubts.

This was the troublesome aspect of expert pilots. Ves already glowered when he realized that his arguments would never have any effect.

While Ves had the power and authority to deny Tusa's request, the harm it would cause was quite great. The expert pilot would just feel restricted and blame his inability to follow his desires on the person responsible for shackling him in place.

This was one of the worst things that Ves could do to an expert pilot that prized freedom and the ability to decide his own fate.

"Fine." Ves said with obvious reluctance. "I'll give you permission to go out there. Just be mindful of the endurance and operating time of your mech. While the Piranha Prime is an upgraded variant of the base model, its energy reserves are not that much better. Its special armor may allow you to block many attacks, but it won't do you any good if your mech runs out of power because you fought too intensely."

"You don't need to remind me of that, Ves. This is mech piloting 101. I'll carry some extra supplies as I go in. I don't want to run out of energy cells too soon."

Both of them discussed how the Piranha Prime should be equipped and piloted to make the most out of this solo reconnaissance mission. Ves dug up his memories on how he modified and configured the Piranha Prime and made some small suggestions that could extend the operating time of the prime mech.

"If you want to conserve energy, then don't take flight." Ves advised. "The Ferocious Piranha doesn't waste too much energy when moving through space because it doesn't have to fight against gravity. Here, anytime you lift your mech in the air, it constantly has to exert downwards thrust in order to keep a lot of tons worth of metal and alloy in the air. Compared to running on land, flight is inherently inefficient!"

"It's fast, though. If I accelerate forward as fast as possible and reach my destination in a fraction of the time it takes to travel over land, will I save more energy this way?"

Ves frowned. He performed some rapid calculations with the help of his implant.

"It depends. Some cities and busy environments are much harder to traverse, but even if the streets are all straight and even, you will still waste a lot more energy if you fight in the air. That's not a problem if you are fighting within range of easy resupply, but if you are all alone in the field…"

"I'll make it back in time."

After Venerable Tusa received a couple more tips on how to handle his mech, the expert pilot quickly left. Now that he got what he wanted, he couldn't wait to see what he could do on his own!

No one came to visit Ves after that, so he gladly took the opportunity to take a much-needed rest. He had gone through so many different ordeals today that he didn't feel confident if he continued to work without rest.

Even though there were many time-sensitive priorities on his plate, Ves learned that he was never able to address all of his items on his to-do list.

"Time is precious, but having a good mentality is even more precious."

The best way to get around the constraints of lack of time was to work smarter. In order to do that, he needed to refresh his mind.

When Ves began to slumber on his bed with his combat armor sealing his body, Lucky yawned and began to move himself a bit closer.

"Meow."

A few hours later, Ves woke up and had a brief breakfast while listening to a report.

"...We've inducted more refugees into the clan a few hours ago, sir." Commander Casella reported. "Most of the Trezin Showstoppers and the Right Siders welcomed the opportunity to become a part of us, but just as before, not all of their ranks agreed with the decision of the majority."

Ves dismissively waved his hand. "We don't need to care too much about these doubters. Since they're too reluctant to join our clan, they're not the kind of people who we can rely on in a fight. We don't need to try too hard to persuade these doubters."

"You can say that for most of the refugees parked outside. By the way, word about that has already spread. Three more refugee groups have made their way over here."

"Huh? More have arrived?"

Casella nodded. "They were already in the area or witnessed the passage of your refugee train. While the newcomers aren't sure what we're actually doing, they just want to take comfort in the safety that hundreds of mechs can provide."

This was a positive development. If people were willing to come on their own accord, then it proved that his plan to form an indigenous force of biomechs and biomech pilots might actually work!

After discussing a few issues with regards to accepting other newcomers, they quickly changed the subject to another important matter.

"The Roving Hunters are complaining about their inability to service their biomechs. The biomech technicians that we've accepted are all saying that there is little they can do to repair the Taragon, the Bluestar, the Perringer and the Optimon. All of the mech infrastructure in this base is meant to service classical mechs. We don't have the capability to perform work on any biomech, and this is going to be a serious problem going forward."

Ves understood the gravity of her message. "Since our current plan calls for quickly expanding our strength by acquiring a lot of mechs, we can't get around the reality that we'll be having a lot of biomechs on our hands."

This was a serious matter. The mechs of the Roving Hunters were all hurt and could no longer fight as well as before. While they could heal many light to moderate injuries on their own, it took way too long for the biomechs to heal by relying on their natural regeneration alone.

At the very least, they all had to supply a lot of nutrients to the hungry biomechs in order to support their healing process!

"Ugh." Ves palmed his face after he realized the depth of this issue. "Gentle Lotus Base isn't set up to service biomechs at all, right?"

"That's correct. The infrastructure required to turn this site into a location where we can maintain and repair a lot of biomechs is a huge endeavor. At the very least, we need a biomech designer or a bioindustrial engineer to form a plan to set up the required facilities. Then we need to go out and bring back an immense amount of industrial goods and equipment. Then we have to put it all together to form lots of feeder pools and other necessities required to service biomechs."

All of that sounded extremely cumbersome! Building an entirely new biomech processing facility took months or even years. There was no way that Ves could wait that long to achieve results.

"This won't work, Casella. It's an enormous waste of time and energy for us to build something that we are not even good at. Rather than trying to build our own biomech facility, we should take over an existing one! There are plenty of places like that on this planet."

"Those are our thoughts as well, sir. We have already tasked our intelligence personnel with locating and scouting any nearby biomech facilities that can allow us to service our growing collection."

She called up a map of the local province and pointed out several possible interesting locations.

Ves rubbed his smooth-shaven chin. "Moving away from Gentle Lotus Base is a big endeavor. We might not have any fancy biotech, but this place is fairly remote and secure. In part, this is because there is nothing to fight for in this boring place. Once we move back closer to the city in order to take over one of its biomech facilities, we'll be painting another target on our backs. I don't think I need to explain why."

Commander Casella understood the implications. "The most valuable assets of any force on this planet are biomechs and mech pilots. Yet they can only fight one or two battles before they require servicing in order to regain their peak condition. A strong force could easily become feeble and weak if it doesn't have access to any facilities that can keep their war machines in shape!"

Right now, this wasn't a serious concern, but Ves could already predict that this would become a huge issue in time.

Any organization that simply fought with abandon but did not pay attention to this problem would definitely pay for it later on! Only those who were farsighted enough to secure a precious facility would have the capital to continue to fight on this planet!

Ves had to follow suit. Staying in Gentle Lotus Base would only weaken his forces over time. If he wanted to increase his agency during this crisis, then he couldn't get around this necessity!

"It looks like we'll have to abandon this place, then."