The Mech Touch

"I… AM… VULCAN!" Ves shouted as an overwhelming surge of power ran through his body, mind and spirit!

MROW!

The twin eruptions that emerged from Ves and Blinky just spread out two overlapping waves of energy throughout the Larkinson fleet!

The quantity of energy being released at once was much larger than a death wave attack released by a Peniten Sister battle formation!

Though the eruption was not meant to be lethal, the heads of the hundreds of surviving dwarven captives in the cargo bay instantly exploded as their close proximity to the birth of Vulcan was too much for them to bear!

Even as a huge amount of bloody explosions showered the center of the cargo bay in red, three different barriers quickly formed around the center and partially blocked the violent expansion!

Nyaaaaa!

Goldie emerged from the Larkinson Mandate that hung from Nitaa's armor and tried her best to form a golden barrier that would hopefully prevent the Black Cats serving aboard the Blinding Banshee from getting killed.

Qilanxo emerged next to the ancestral spirit of the Larkinson Clan and formed even a stronger barrier that bled away much of the dangerous energy.

Finally, a giant human hand came into view and formed a barrier made out of hexagons.

With the intervention of the three spirits, Calabast, the bodyguards and every other human in the vicinity merely lost their consciousness. The weakened energy eruptions only retained than 10 percent of their potency, which was enough to produce a lot of disruption but was no longer powerful enough to kill any Larkinsons.

Once the three spirits had done their job, they both looked at Ves and Blinky's current state.

Not all was well at the moment! The insane procedure that Ves had just completed had produced an unintentional reaction that caused Vulcan to pour an excessive amount of spiritual energy into his progenitor!

"AAAHHHHHHH!"

Even Blinky became affected by the energies coursing through his body! The light trails running across his purple body glowed with so much power that it was as if the companion spirit was evolving into a higher state!

If Ves still retained his awareness, he would have been able to figure out why he and Blinky were in this condition.

When Ves turned Vulcan into his incarnation, an unbreakable spiritual channel had formed between the two. This had massive implications, and one of the most obvious ones was that a process of osmosis might ensue.

It was like brewing a hot cup of tea. If the cup of tea was left on a table at room temperature, over time the heat levels of the tea and the room would equalize.

It was impossible for the cup of tea to stay warmer than the rest of the room! Unless there was external intervention, then the heat contained in the tea would slowly warm up the room over time.

Right now, something similar was happening to a lesser degree. Ves was a Journeyman Mech Designer, which was a respectable amount of strength but still put him close to the starting line of his transcendent life. He was roughly equivalent to an experienced low-tier expert pilot in his own estimation.

Vulcan had absorbed so much potent universal life energy that he had already come close to matching the Superior Mother's strength level from the moment he was born! This level of strength was analogous to a senior ace pilot!

Since Ves was so much weaker than Vulcan in spiritual terms, the latter was automatically strengthening the former.

Of course, there was a limit to this equalization process. Ves was still a Journeyman and could not exceed his limits. On the other hand, it was impossible for Vulcan to sacrifice half his strength or more in order to feed a weakling!

Due to these limitations, the influx of energy pouring into Ves was already slowing down to a more reasonable level. Blinky was no longer burdened with trying to convert an excessive amount of spirituality now that Ves had reached saturation.

Mrow….

Even so, it was apparent that there were still a couple of flaws with this arrangement.

Vulcan continued to lose spiritual energy as if he was a leaking boat.

Meanwhile, Blinky was constantly glowing as he had no other destination for all of the spiritual energy he continued to produce.

Mrow…

Goldie flew close to Blinky and began to sniff the purple cat. She turned back to Qilanxo and the giant hand and adopted a questioning expression.

Nyaaaaa?

Qilanxo shook her head and began to dissipate her spiritual manifestation.

The Superior Mother on other hand was not as helpless. The giant hand hovered closer and began to poke Vulcan's newborn incorporeal body.

After a few seconds, the Superior Mother repeated the same move on Ves' head.

Soon enough, all of the uncontrollable processes taking place in their bodies had died down. The giant hand stroked Ves' prone body one last time before disappearing.

Nyaaa!

Goldie looked thankful and returned to the Larkinson Mandate without any further concerns.

"Ngh…"

Ves woke up a couple of minutes later. He wearily shook his head and stared at his companion spirit.

"I guess… I succeeded. The procedure… went exactly as planned!"

Mrow…

As soon as Ves began to recover his strength, he realized that he had won the gamble!

"Hahahaha! I did it! I pulled off my brilliant plan and gained the power of a design spirit!"

At the same time, his latest design spirit not only became his incarnation, but also gained a human element. This changed Vulcan's nature of existence in a fundamental way, but one that would hopefully allow him to surpass the limitations of other design spirits!

Ves could already sense a strong connection to Vulcan, but he was not able to glean anything useful due to all of the excessive strain he endured. The condition of his mind and Spirituality were terrible.

The latter was especially concerning. When Ves inspected his own mind, he could see that the wound that Blinky had created and attempted to heal was still in a fragile and precarious state.

"If I overexert myself, I risk compromising the healing process." He determined.

Even so, the spiritual essence taken from Vulcan had tentatively merged with his Spirituality, just as he predicted. The huge amount of universal life energy had solved every compatibility issue through brute force!

Even though this was a wasteful and inefficient way to perform a spiritual transplantation, Ves felt it was more than worth it to use up the remaining energy in the vial of high-grade serum!

When Ves tentatively crawled to his knees and picked up the vial that had somehow dropped on the deck, he could sense that it no longer contained a scrap of life.

"It's completely spent!" He spoke with a bit of distress.

One vial represented one opportunity to enable someone old to gain another century of life!

"I only have 3 untouched vials and 1 half-expended vial left."

Though it sounded as if he still had plenty of universal life energy left to play around with, only a year or so had passed since he obtained them from the Life Research Association. There were so many different ways he could make use of this useful resource that he would probably run out in a couple of years at this rate!

"I need to stop being so extravagant from now on." Ves depreciating said to himself.

He did not regret using up all of the potential contained in an entire vial. The serum was precious, but the value he obtained by using it along with other precious ingredients was worth at least ten times as much in his subjective opinion!

After all, he and his wife were still young and spry. It would take several centuries before they even needed to think about relying on high-grade serum to extend their lives. By that time, they would probably become so powerful that they could easily earn enough merits to obtain several vials!

Compared to saving up an entire vial for several hundred years, Ves vastly preferred to convert it into something of much greater value. A design spirit incarnation that complemented his mech design capabilities in several powerful ways was definitely worth the sacrifice!

"Vulcan…"

Once Ves directed his attention towards Vulcan, he felt as if he was looking at himself from another perspective.

The two were definitely connected. Just as Ves was staring at Vulcan, the design spirit was also looking at his principal.

When Ves raised his hand, so did Vulcan.

"Hey…"

This was weird. As Ves began to gain a bit of control over the bond he shared with Vulcan, he learned that design spirits were completely different existences.

They did not possess regular human thoughts and emotions. They did not view reality in the same way as ordinary life. Their perception of the material realm was a lot dimmer than he thought.

The more Ves tried to gain a sense of what Vulcan was experiencing, the less he comprehended.

"It's too weird!"

It was as if he was trying to talk to someone who spoke an alien language. Neither he nor his conversation partner possessed anything in common that could build up mutual understanding.

The only way for him to figure out what the alien was talking about was to learn the latter's language.

Ves had a sense that he needed to do something similar with regards to Vulcan. Even though he felt he could take direct control over Vulcan in the same way he could do with Blinky, it was pointless if he couldn't process the operation mode of his design spirit!

"Maybe the spiritual essence I've taken from Vulcan will help once it has fully merged with my Spirituality." He muttered as he rubbed his head.

Though Vulcan was immensely powerful in his current state, he was still a newborn as far as spirits went. Not only that, his sudden existence and his massively accelerated growth process had caused him to become a giant who wasn't even able to control his own body!

Power was useless without sufficient control. Vulcan probably needed a long time to adapt and familarize himself with his formidable strength and abilities. Ves was able to figure out that much through their unbreakable bond.

Ves tiredly waved his hand. "You should settle down. I don't need to borrow your powers immediately so do your best to acclimatize to your new life."

The giant spiritual dwarf silently nodded before he entered the Hammer of Brilliance.

As soon as he did, the entire totem made out of Unending alloy reacted as if it had absorbed a huge amount of energy! It not only radiated a powerful glow, but also began to glow as if it was an expert mech that was under the influence of true resonance!

Ves tentatively waded through all of the dwarven blood and other foul matter that had splattered over the deck before reaching the center. He carefully picked up the Hammer of Brilliance and felt as if he was handling a hot piece of lava!

"I feel like I can create a masterwork with a single strike!"

It was just an illusion, of course. Ves soon reined in his exuberance and shook his head.

He swept his gaze across his surroundings. The hundreds of dwarven captives had all lost their heads without exception.

He frowned. "What a waste of test subjects. I still have plenty of experiments in mind."

Ves also noticed that Calabast and his honor guard had been knocked out as well. Only Arnold managed to maintain his consciousness. The chubby eight-legged exobeast was distressingly poking his nose against Calabast's forehead.

"Squeak! Squeak!"

Everything seemed fine to Ves. He could tell that the unconscious Larkinsons had just experienced a moderate spiritual shock. They would naturally be able to wake up as if they had just taken a short nap.

"Well, it looks like all is well!" Ves tiredly grinned. "Now that I have made my new incarnation, I can finally take revenge against the blasted Vulcan Empire!"