The Mech Touch

The first half of the Age of Conquest was a glorious time for the human race.

The second half of the Age of Conquest was a time of despair for humanity.

Unrestricted warfare between different human states, polities and trans-galactic enterprises led to the slaughter of trillions of people. Entire planets got blown up for the most whimsical reasons, and power-hungry admirals terrorized entire star sectors with their invincible warfleets.

Every age encapsulated the best and worst sides of humanity.

The Age of Stars exemplified humanity's insatiable curiosity for the stars. Yet they also found out the hard way that curiosity killed the cat.

The Age of Conquest showcased humanity's cunning and ingenuity. Yet they grew so quickly that they began to run wild with power.

Prophet Ylvaine grew up in a time of uncertainty and degeneration.

Higher-ups blatantly subjected their bodies to genetic modification that inserted 'superior' alien genes in their genetic makeup. While these leaders and powerful people largely got what they asked, they neglected the side effects affecting their psyche!

Human commoners throughout the galaxy lost faith in their leaders. Everyone who promoted upwards to a certain extent could not help but join the trend of incorporating the latest and most cutting-edge gene mod templates that they could afford!

Ambitious individuals who rejected this trend would never be able to keep up with their superior colleagues!

This led to a wide scale pattern where the most cautious and sober people stagnated in their careers. Their superiors didn't appreciate cowardly baseline humans who performed poorly.

Instead, those who willingly augmented their bodies with gene mod templates always climbed higher.

Over time, this disparity led to a self-reinforcing pattern where reckless leaders promoted reckless subordinates.

It was no wonder that the lower classes lost faith in the wisdom and judgement of the higher classes.

Prophet Ylvaine grew up during a time where the differences were incredibly stark.

In this time of fear and uncertainty, he rose up one day in the galactic heartland by presenting a vision of hope.

While the Ylvainan Faith he spurred on possessed some wild beliefs, the overall thread of his predictions warmed the hearts of many believers.

Prophet Ylvained claimed that no matter how dark the times had gotten, there was always light at the end of the tunnel.

His message rejected the differences between humans and aliens and humans and humans. The fighting for territory, resources and power in the material realm was as meaningless as two kids fighting over a toy.

One day, he claimed, all life in the galaxy would transcend into a higher existence. The wants and needs that everyone held back then were ultimately meaningless.

Yet the prophet didn't practice what he preached. Rather than set an example by living in moderation, he indulged in many fancies and excesses.

This contradictory behavior led many secularists to believe that the prophet was a swindler who managed to sucker billions of people into opening up their wallets to his cult.

Ultimately, no one really knew what Ylvaine really thought. The sources describing him were all biased.

Perhaps Ves was the first person to come in touch with the true Ylvaine.

As Ves projected his Spirituality and touched the original sentiment that Prophet Ylvaine left behind on the nutrient pack wrapper, he became swept by an inordinately strong emotion.

Absolute faith!

The original sentiment attached to the holy relic didn't carry the full range of Prophet Ylvaine's personality. Instead, it only encompassed the strongest and most defined aspects of his spirit.

What immediately became clear to Ves that the prophet strongly believed in his own message!

He was a man on a holy mission to propagate the revelations he received!

Every sentient being in the galaxy must know what is to come!

"There is no doubt in Prophet Ylvaine's mind!" Ves gasped.

At the very least, his doubts were far too weak to be passed on to the original sentiment he left behind on the nutrient pack wrapper.

There were other facets to the original sentiments. As Ves slowly worked his way around the prophet's blindingly strong faith, he noted a touch of.. weakness.

"Maybe weakness is the wrong word. Mortality?"

The prophet claimed that everyone would transcend to godhood one day, but that time had not yet come. Ylvaine plainly admitted to himself and his worshippers that he was very much a fallible, mortal being who possessed the associated human wants and needs.

Ylvaine hated his mortal shackles. He hated his fragile human shell. He couldn't wait for the Time of Ascension to arrive so that he would be liberated from his body.

Until then, he wasn't shy about indulging in his mortal desires. He never claimed to be a personification of a god.

He was merely a man with a holy message, but still very much a man.

Ves didn't know what to make of the prophet's original sentiment. The prophet's absolute faith paired with a resigned acceptance of his weakness led to a complex individual who was lucky enough to cultivate a receptive audience.

The prophet's acceptance of his own flawed existence led to a distinct lack of desire to undergo genetic modification. Ves already became aware that the Ylvainans frowned upon the practice more than usual.

To the Ylvainans, their mortal shell and minds were inconsequential. It didn't matter how bad or good they were when everyone transcended into something greater one day.

There was another flavor interspersed with faith and weakness.

"Ambition."

The massive growth of his cult inflated the prophet's certainty that his revelations could change the face of the galaxy! In the dark times when he was alive, Ylvaine's message of hope and salvation converted many people to his faith!

While many religions offered hope and salvations to their believers, none were so daring as the Ylvainan Faith. The prophet's predictions were uniquely tailored to the current times and resonated much better to the people than older, more outdated faiths.

A blossoming ambition grew within the mind of the prophet. He wanted to accelerate the growth of his cult, reach more people and sweep over all of human space!

And that wasn't enough. Once he converted all of humanity to his faith, the prophet harbored the even wilder ambition of converting aliens to his beliefs as well!

The Ylvainan Faith didn't discriminate between humans and aliens! Rather than consider different races as adversaries, the prophet regarded them as brothers who shared a common origin!

Ylvaine's controversial belief completely upended humanity's prevailing attitude towards aliens!

Ves didn't find any doubt or duplicity of this belief in Ylvaine's original sentiment. The prophet truly believed that a time would come where humans and aliens settled their differences with each other.

"How does he come up with these prophecies?" Ves wondered.

The man behind the revelations didn't know why he received them in the first place.

Perhaps he received glimpses of the future. Perhaps some unfathomable existence gifted him with a blueprint of what was to come.

No matter what, the prophet considered himself a messenger.

This left Ves with an unanswered question. The prophet sincerely believed in the revelations he received, but didn't know where they originated.

Perhaps a small part of himself didn't want to know the answer.

Therefore, the question whether the prophet was a visionary or a charlaton remained in limbo. Ves couldn't determine from his inspection whether divine inspiration or psychosis was the source to Ylvaine's revelations.

It seemed that Ves wouldn't be able to crack the greatest mystery about the Ylvainan Faith today.

"At the very least, the prophet is sincere." He sighed with relief.

Ves wanted to design a mech that inspired sincere belief.

It would have been bad if the prophet turned out to be an unabashed swindler who cynically took advantage of his gullible worshippers. How could Ves make use of a spiritual fragment of such a detestable man?

Designing a mech that carried the aura of a scam artist and a profiteer would definitely encite the entire Protectorate against him! He'd be dead before he left the planet!

Therefore, Ves became relieved that the prophet's original sentiment possessed the sincerity he sought.

He could use this quality to make his upcoming mech design affirm with the beliefs of the Ylvainans!

As for whether this faith was built upon delusion or divine inspiration, Ves didn't dig any deeper. It wasn't necessary for him to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Meow?"

"Yes, Lucky. You haven't stolen this nutrient pack wrapper in vain." Ves smiled and petted Lucky on his head. "You've done a very good job. I'll be sure to ship in your reward as soon as possible."

"Meow!"

After comforting Lucky, Ves turned his attention back to the holy relic with a heated stare. Its value didn't disappointed him at all!

Of course, its value also turned it into an extremely hot potato! Once someone found out that he possessed the most valuable holy relic on Kesseling VIII, he'd be dead in an instant!

"The entire planet, no, the entire Protectorate is hunting for this relic!"

Ves couldn't spend too much time exploring its original sentiment and surrounding spiritual accumulation. He needed to process it as fast as possible in order to minimize the risk of exposure!

"Let's start!"

He centered himself and focused his mind. He brought nearly all of his concentration to bear as he began to employ his new spiritual techniques.

The first step was to wipe out the spiritual imprints of an uncountable amount of Ylvainans who worshipped the nutrient pack wrapper.

The quantity of spiritual accumulation was daunting, but Ves didn't encounter any significant trouble. The spiritual accumulation looked strong on the outside, but was fragmented from within.

The only concern that Ves faced was that he needed to cover a lot of ground. The sheer quantity of spiritual imprints caused him to spend three hours to clean out every spiritual imprint that didn't belong to the prophet!

"What an exhausting chore!" Ves wiped some sweat off his brow.

He exerted himself as hard as possible to complete this task quickly, but he was forced to take a pause immediately afterwards.

After a short rest, began to take the next step.

All of the spiritual accumulation the holy relic acquired turned into ownerless spiritual energy. If Ves didn't do something about it, the spiritual energy would eventually begin to drift away.

This wasn't what he wanted, so he needed to take action quickly.

To encourage Ylvaine's spiritual imprint to take over the spiritual accumulation, Ves needed to feed it with thoughts and emotions that matched the original sentiment.

Ves already constructed an image of Prophet Ylvaine beforehand. While his depiction of the prophet differed a bit from what he perceived from the original sentiment, they still shared a lot in common.

Ves carefully donned the mask of Prophet Ylvaine.

An entirely different personality swept into his mind and body. Ves hadn't injected any of his spiritual energy in it yet, so the mask didn't overpower his true personality.

However, the strength and detail of this image surpassed any other mask he used before.

He momentarily fell into confusion and doubt before he managed to reconcile himself a bit.

The most important part now was to convince himself that he was an absolute believer of the Ylvainan Faith. Only strong conviction would allow him to gain recognition from the original sentiment!

He adjusted his mindset for at least ten minutes before he became assured that he could proceed.

As his strong but not entirely perfect beliefs swept over the original sentiment, its spiritual imprint became excited.

Despite the many discrepancies, Ves succeeded in fooling the spiritual imprint!

As the remnant of someone who died, the spiritual imprint had long lost its liveness and wisdom. It instinctively sought to feed off the fake thoughts and emotions that Ves provided it without determining if they were authentic!

A huge suction emerged where Ves felt as if the holy relic he was holding became a bottomless existence! The thoughts and emotions it absorbed exceeded his expectations!

"Damnit, its sucking me dry!"