The Mech Touch

After establishing the first connection, he used the same crude method to connect the remainder of the squad members to the Superior Mother's new crown. Though it felt strange to use his own spiritual energy to make these bonds, he didn't have any other choice.

The moment he made these connections, the test subjects barely changed. Aside from gaining a bit more awareness towards the Superior Mother, they still remained normal.

This was by design.

To Ves, a battle network served a different purpose than the Larkinson Network.

The latter was a means to unify different clansmen and warn them of any traitors in their midst. It did not play a direct role in battle, though Ves might be able to change that when he upgraded the network in the future.

Still, due to its central importance, Ves was very reluctant to mess with something so profound. He was more inclined to create different networks that served specific roles.

For now, it appeared that the battle network that he had fashioned had finally come into being! Though he only connected ten Penitent Sister mech pilots to the network, there should still be room for more. If the crown ever reached its maximum capacity, then Ves merely had to wait for the living spiritual construct to grow in order to accommodate more connections.

Unlike the Larkinson Network or the unnamed network that allowed the Superior Mother to connect to every Hexer, a battle network was much smaller in scope.

Battle networks had to be robust, so Ves wanted to make sure it reinforced its connections to its mech pilots as much as possible. It had to withstand external disturbances and had to withstand any attempts to cut them off. After all, suddenly losing connection to the network while in the middle of an active battle could prove fatal to the mech pilots involved!

A battle network also had to empower the participants involved to a substantially greater extent.

The Larkinson Network only established a relatively modest connection to the members of the clan. The bandwidth of these thin connections wasn't all that impressive.

A battle network on the other hand was capable of maintaining significantly greater bonds. Even now, the Superior Mother's crown was already nourishing the bonds that Ves had made.

What made a battle network stand out even more was the fact that it was only active when it needed to be. Outside of battle, it would remain dormant and accumulate energy. Only when the members of the networks all deployed together in battle and formed into a cohesive unit would the crown begin to truly activate the connections!

Not only would the Penitent Sister mech pilots in question be able to form an active bond with the Superior Mother, her crown also enabled them to connect to each other!

This was Ves' attempt to form a spiritual equivalent of Master Huron's neural network. With the Superior Mother acting as both the system administrator and the source of power, Ves had high expectations for the battle network in its active state!

There were still a lot of uncertainties, though. Due to his insufficient theoretical foundation in spirituality, he had to leave many areas ambiguous and open to adaptation. How exactly the battle network was supposed to augment the mech pilots in battle, Ves truly didn't know. He kind of left that problem to the Superior Mother. As an inherent spiritual entity, she was capable of exerting these kinds of effects with much greater proficiency.

If Ves attempted to come up with something on his own, his solution would likely be flawed and filled with loopholes. He decided not to take the rest and simply left it up to the Superior Mother to fill in the blanks however she wanted.

Whether her method of empowerment was strong or weak didn't matter too much for Ves. He just wanted this experiment to produce some solid results and confirm his theories.

As long as this battle network produced plenty of results, Ves would be in a much better position to design more refined battle networks for some of his other mech forces!

It didn't take too long for the crown to complete the reinforcements of all of the bonds. Ves had only involved ten test subjects so far, so it didn't require that much work.

Ves clapped his hands. "Alright, let us see whether you have truly become her adopted daughters. Please suit up and board your mechs. Once you sortie into space, please stand by. You need to mentally prepare yourselves to reach out to the Superior Mother, just like before. The test can't proceed if you are too distracted. It's important that each of you have her in your mind, is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

Some Penitent Sisters guided the mech pilots away. Meanwhile, Ves followed Commander Chancy to the expansive bridge of the Surly Cockatrice.

The two remained silent for most of the walk. They passed through various corridors where a number of Penitent Sisters looked a bit surprised at his presence.

Though some of them looked hostile, the intensity of those piercing stares were much less than he would have received a few months ago. It seemed that every single Hexer on this ship had already become affected by the Superior Mother's alternate ideology.

Just as planned.

"What can we expect to see now that you have.. done whatever it is you did?" Commander Chancy reluctantly asked.

"That is up to the Superior Mother and the devotion of your mech pilots. The conditions of what I have been trying to accomplish are fairly harsh. There is a chance that we won't see any meaningful differences. Still, as long as your mech pilots are at least somewhat willing to surrender themselves to the Supreme, then we should at least see something different."

"I will make sure my mech pilots have received this message. Not that I doubt them at all. After experiencing that unforgettable moment, I don't think any of the mech pilots in question possess any remaining doubts!"

That was true. Though Ves disdained the religious-themed theatrics he resorted to, he had to admit it was extraordinarily effective against these Hexer fanatics. The more bombastic the ritual, the more extensively the Penitent Sisters bought into his illusion!

The fact that all of the show and dance was based on falsehoods did not bother Ves at all. He saw it as an effective way of achieving his goal.

Having studied and taken inspiration from Master Huron's work, he knew that it was of the utmost importance to align the mech pilots involved as closely as possible.

The Fridaymen who piloted Master Huron's work mainly drew from their strong camaraderie and distinct esprit de corps to maintain this condition.

Ves partially chose to start his experiment with the Penitent Sisters because they too possessed these two essential traits.

What Ves did differently from Master Huron was that he added another element that was capable of centering the mech pilots even further.

By connecting the minds and spirits to the Superior Mother's crown, they all gained a very simple condition.

As long as they centered their thoughts around the Superior Mother, they didn't have to resort to other more ambiguous thoughts in order to align themselves. By opening themselves up to the Superior Mother, they became much more receptive to the battle network's input.

Would the results exceed Master Huron's work? Ves wasn't sure. It was extremely arrogant for him to believe that a Journeyman like him could essentially outcompete a Master Mech Designer in this area.

Besides, what little Ves knew about Master Huron's was only what the public knew. The Fridayman Master doubtlessly worked on many other projects, some of which were still classified and others that had never seen the light of day.

For all Ves knew, the neural networks that were known to the public were simply the most superficial application of Huron's work.

He shook his head. He had no reason to compare himself to a Master Mech Designer at his stage. There was no shame in acknowledging that his efforts would definitely pale in comparison to Huron's better work. There was also no reason for him to feel any undeserved pride for thinking that he exceeded a Master at his own game.

All Ves wanted was to invent a new method to strengthen his combat forces for the upcoming battle. With very severe time, resource, manpower and industrial capacity constraints, he didn't have a lot of ways to lessen the disparity between his mechs and the warships fielded by the pirates.

This was why he engaged in something as risky as trying to form a battle network. Even though everything proceeded well so far, Ves knew that his attempt could have easily ended up in disaster if any of the steps went awry.

Fortunately, the connections he forged between the test subjects and the Superior Mother remained healthy and stable.

While the crown was in its inactive state, the connections were essentially closed. Other than feeling a hint of the Superior Mother's majesty, the connected mech pilots didn't feel anything different. At most, this small influence would have a subtle indoctrination effect.

Ves designed these bonds in this way for multiple reasons. First, he wanted to conserve energy. The thick bonds actually consumed quite a bit of energy in order to remain active. While the Superior Mother received a huge amount of spiritual feedback these days, Ves did not condone needless waste.

What if he expanded the battle network? What if he not only applied it to the Penitent Sisters, but also to a select number of soldiers of the Hex Army?

Ves already planned to apply the battle network in conjunction with a future Hexer mech design. He wanted to see how powerful a mech could be if it was designed with the battle network in mind from the ground up. The strengthened cohesion between mech, mech pilot and design spirit would definitely produce surprising results!

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the case today. The Penitent Sisters only had access to lastgen second-class commercial mechs. Each of them were designed by Hexers, so there was no opportunity for Ves to take ownership of them unless he invested a lot of time in modifying each and every machine.

It was better this way. By leaving a living mech out of consideration, the upcoming test was much simpler. Only two real variables mattered this time. Ves closely monitored the mech pilots in order to see how aligned they were to each other.

Judging from their worshipful expressions as they entered their cockpits and waited their turn to deploy into space, Ves shouldn't have to worry too much.

The ritual that they had lived through was still very fresh in their minds. This was also why Ves wanted to hurry up and start the test right away.

The second variable that Ves paid attention to was the reaction of the Superior Mother. Since she was in an unconscious state, it was a bit of a mystery how her unconscious self would do with the battle network once it became active.

The worst outcome was that the Superior Mother remained unmoved. With channeling any spiritual energy through the network, there was no substance to it. The mech pilots wouldn't gain much power this way!

"I hope we'll see something."

Soon, the test went underway. After the squad of Penitent Sisters mechs flew further away, their mech pilots began to follow their instructions.

"Superior Mother, please grant me your power!"

"Aid us in battle, please!"

The mech pilots actively beseeched the Superior Mother. This was the way to activate the battle network.

The crown grew active a minute after receiving the signals. It glowed a little as it began to radiate some power. Even without the Superior Mother's conscious direction, she had automatically begun to divert some of her energy into the living spiritual construct.

The crown soon began to process and channel that energy through the connections!

Ves leaned forward to look at the projections of the mechs with attention.

"Is it working?"