The Mech Touch

The mood in the workshop became more tense as a critical moment took place.

When Ves conceived of this experiment, he knew there was an element of risk involved. Each time he performed experiments that tied spirituality and the human mind together, the latter always had an annoying tendency to explode.

Right now, the signs looked concerning. While Imon Ingvar's life signs were only slightly elevated, poor Lanie Larkinson's head must be enduring a great amount of pressure!

Still, Ves wouldn't have selected her as his test subject without some assurances that he'd be able to keep her safe.

Even though he could have put another random kid or mech pilot, she was the ideal recipient of this new technique for several reasons.

First, she was young. Her mind was more malleable and could bend under stress to a slightly greater degree.

Of course, her lack of mental development and piloting conditioning also meant her mentality wasn't as strong from the outset, so she experienced strain at a considerably lower threshold than mature pilots.

Second, she was talented. Lanie's genetic aptitude was B-, which didn't sound high but ranked in the top out of all of the potentates in the Larkinson Clan!

It wasn't easy to encounter someone with a genetic aptitude of A- or higher. The Hafner Duchy wouldn't have invested so much in Venerable Relia Foster if mech pilots of her talent were common in human space.

Genetic aptitude was not the sole factor used to judge mech pilots. Anyone who did would be making a very serious mistake that could prove fatal in battle.

This talent indicator merely denoted the maximum load a mech pilot was able to endure and how easy it was for them to pilot mechs as extensions of their bodies.

They needed to invest less time in order to master piloting skills, allowing the hard-working ones to become a lot better than those with lower genetic aptitude grades.

That didn't mean they were assured of victory all the time. There were plenty of stories where those with less talent prevailed due to a combination of hard work, luck, calculation and circumstance.

All the talent in the cosmos wouldn't save a mech pilot with great talent from getting defeated by ten poorly talented mech pilots if all else was equal!

Another factor that gave average mech pilots hope was that talent no longer became as relevant at the expert pilot level. While a good genetic aptitude still made it easier to advance up the ranks, the gulf between the top and the bottom narrowed.

This was mostly because those with limited genetic aptitude always gained a huge boost in every piloting attribute. Large and complex mechs they couldn't pilot before suddenly became easy as their stronger minds and will were much more able to bear the strain.

Ves personally paid a lot more attention to spiritual potential than genetic aptitude. As long as the latter was higher than a D-grade, then a mech pilot was already good enough to pilot his mechs!

Lanie happened to be one of the few mech cadets who possessed spiritual potential at a very young age. From what Ves observed from many different mech pilots and other people, it was much more common for the lucky ones to develop spiritual potential in their twenties.

The young woman was an abnormality in this case. Ves believed that she could one day bloom into a great mech pilot. If he helped her along when she was still in her academy days, then she would get a head start in becoming an even greater mech pilot!

"Whether the knowledge transfer is permanent or temporary, I hope she's able to take something away from this experience." Ves muttered.

He had become more obsessed with the possibilities of Ancestral Possession now that he revisited the idea with a fresh perspective and greater insight into spirituality.

As Ves kept his attention on Lanie's various body and health parameters, he made sure to keep his finger on the abort button.

While he had already programmed the prototype Bright Warrior to shut down on its own accord once its mech pilot underwent too much strain, it might be too late at that time.

Ves witnessed plenty of head explosions throughout his experiments. Even though they happened rather abruptly, he believed he developed an intuitive sense of when something catastrophically wrong was about to occur.

Whether his judgement was reliable or not remained to be seen. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to put his assumption to the test.

"NNGG! It hurts!" Lanie cried out.

Though Lanie currently experienced a greater amount of mental strain than she had ever experienced in her life, Ves judged that she was still able to endure the pain.

Her life signs were growing more volatile but it had not yet reached any of the safety thresholds. Still, they were getting closer, so Ves might be forced to shut down this attempt before long if nothing changed.

He frowned a bit. "The bond is formed and the spiritual constructs of the two mechs have become active. Why hasn't the next phase commenced?"

The spiritual construct he rebuilt from the ground up was built by relying on his incomplete spiritual framework, his strong intuition and a heavy dose of intent. This construct was responsible for performing the various steps he conceived to enable Ancestral Possession.

With Goldie's help, his two test subjects successfully established a direct spiritual bond with each other. This new channel was not completely open. Otherwise, Lanie would get overwhelmed straight away by Imon's considerably more powerful spirit.

Instead, Goldie continued to pay close attention to the new bond and carefully limited the signal transfer so that Lanie would only receive the input that was necessary for her to improve her mech handling ability.

Yet nothing seemed to change. Lanie only became more and more pained as the new bond wasn't doing its job.

Ves figured out a possible reason. He neglected the role of the source. He quickly turned his attention to the other mech pilot.

"Mr. Ingvar!" He shouted. "I need you to help Lanie out. Don't just sit there in your cockpit while doing nothing. Concentrate your mind and set aside as many distractions as possible. Put yourself in a state of focus with as little fluctuations as possible. Your only thoughts should center around piloting the Bright Warrior in a calm and controlled fashion. Do this while at the same time imagining as if you are teaching someone."

The expert candidate reacted with surprise, but quickly did as instructed. He was worried about Lanie's distress, so he wanted to do everything possible to relieve her burden.

His active involvement immediately changed the equation. Even though he wasn't able to clear his mind and concentrate as well as Ves, his mind became a lot less cluttered than before.

This change altered the kind of signals he transferred through the direct bond. With the cooperation of her Bright Warrior mech, Lanie became much more able to process the foreign input she received.

"Hmmm, I miscalculated." He frowned.

He already figured out a couple of factors that put undue strain on Lanie's mind. Piloting the Bright Warrior was already a burden to her, so adding even a modest amount of input on top of that brought her much closer to the edge.

On top of that, the spiritual construct that was supposed to filter and regulate the input did not work as anticipated.

If he used a normal mech pilot as the source, then the spiritual construct should have been able to process the input properly.

Yet Ves didn't pick a normal mech pilot for a good reason. According to one of his theories, the strength of the source had to fit within a certain range.

A mech pilot without spiritual potential was completely unsuitable to act as a source. Their weak spirits were almost fully tucked inward. It was impossible for Ves to draw any of them out and transmit signals through the direct bond.

He needed to employ someone with at least some spiritual potential. Yet Ves didn't consider this option to be ideal because potential alone was not useful. Only when a mech pilot's potential had bloomed to an extent would they be able to do something with their spiritual energy.

This was why Ves settled on expert candidates as the ideal source. With someone like Imon Ingvar acting as Lanie's teacher, he would be able to transfer enough skills over the direct bond.

To be honest, Imon was not his first choice. He considered opting for expert pilots such as Venerable Joshua instead, but quickly realized that the strength disparity was too great.

An expert pilot was directly capable of overpowering a direct bond, thereby smashing through any limiters that Ves had set and potentially flood Lanie's mind with an excess of input that would surely have devastating consequences on her mind!

As the experiment quickly stabilized, Ves became relieved that most of his guesses and assumptions turned out to be accurate. Now that he handled some the unexpected variables, the bond had stabilized and Lanie received a steady amount of mental signals that no longer pushed her close to the edge.

"It's better sir, but.. nghh.. I still can't hold on too long."

Ves contemplated moving on to the next step of his plan, but he hesitated.

Lanie may have gained a reprieve, but she already went through a difficult ordeal. She didn't seem to be in the right state to put her enhanced abilities to the test.

If Ves was working with a more disposable test subject such as a pirate or some other person he didn't care about, then he wouldn't have hesitated to proceed with his original experiment.

Yet this wasn't the case. Lanie was someone who possessed a lot of promise and might go on to become one of the most powerful Larkinson mech pilots of her generation. He had already pushed his luck to a great extent. Just one bad occurrence could cause everything to tumble down.

He suppressed his curiosity and urge to gather more data and made the prudent decision.

"I am ending this session. Please stay calm."

He told Goldie to dissolve the direct bond while he shut down various systems that enabled the current state. The two mech pilots shut down their mechs in a controlled fashion.

Soon enough, Lanie breathed in relief as she no longer endured any pressure.

When Lanie and Imon finally emerged out of the cockpits and lowered themselves to the deck, Ves left his workstation and approached his two test subjects.

He quickly scanned Imon with his spiritual senses and did not detect anything amiss. That was to be expected.

Lanie did not look so great. From a mental perspective, she looked like she had run a day-long marathon or something. Her mind had become shaky and she looked as if she was unable to regain her center.

"Take the rest of the day off and go to sleep. You'll feel better after you've enjoyed a good night's sleep." Ves suggested based on his own experiences with excessive mental strain. "If that doesn't work, keep resting until you're back to normal."

The young woman cradled her head as if Ves had whacked it with a stick. "I briefly felt as if I was a much stronger mech pilot than before. What exactly.. is this all about?"

Ves smiled and nudged his head to Imon. "I'm sure you have already guessed the answer. What you have just tried out is a new and hidden feature of my Bright Warrior mechs. It's still a bit rough so I have to tinker with it some more. While it's a shame that we haven't been able to see you in action, what you have just told me is highly encouraging. Did you really feel as if you became a lot better than before?"

She nodded while glancing speculatively at Imon. "For a moment, I felt like I completely mastered the Bright Warrior despite the fact this was the first time I piloted it for real. All kinds of thoughts, considerations and even reflexes filled my consciousness."

"Has any of it stuck?" Ves asked an important question.

She shook her head. "No, sir. It's all gone now. However… I still remember a portion of the stuff that spoke to me the most. Even though I only grasped just 1 or 0.1 percent of what I became exposed to, I think I can become a much better mech pilot after I've processed what I've learned!"

Ves and Imon reacted with interest. If this was true, then Lanie definitely benefited from this brief experience!