The Mech Touch

　　If Ves had to describe the changes, then he would say that they had all grown less uptight and more relaxed. Their postures weren't so stiff and their chins weren't pointed so far upwards anymore. They also exhibited more respect towards him, which was a welcome surprise.

　　"We understand." A man who went by the name of Yusu Tjalen said. "We have been managing fine on our own. There is plenty to do in the Larkinson Clan. Though your facilities aren't as good as the ones we are accustomed to using, we've learned other lessons while we trained and fought alongside your mech legions."

　　Carlton Detrivo nodded. "The swordsmanship training provided by the Swordmaidens and Heavensworders has helped me reinvent my own approach to melee combat. The guidance provided by Miss Ketis has improved my combat effectiveness with swordsman mechs by more than 20 percent. That is a much larger jump than I could have hoped. If I can continue to improve like this, I will be happy even if I don't break through."

　　The question whether any of them would be able to break through to expert candidate or expert pilot still weighed heavily on their shoulders, but they knew that hard work was not always sufficient to shed their mortality. Talent, luck and happenstance played an even greater role in determining whether any of them would find their chance!

　　Ves leaned back on his comfy chair and fell into thought.

　　He planned several experimental initiatives that might give mech pilots a better chance of breaking through, but with the Simile Halifax hovering so closely to the Spirit of Bentheim, he had put those plans aside.

　　Though Ves accepted that the MTA was probably snooping on him for the entire duration the MTA frigate was traveling with the expeditionary fleet, he did not want to be too blatant about exposing his more sensitive secrets.

　　In truth, he had already been a bit liberal about showing off his more innocent capabilities. Little quirks such as forming design networks, allowing Lucky to phase through solid matter and exposing the existence of companion spirits were all deliberately shown off in order to impress Jovy and inform the MTA that his clan was special without attracting too much attention.

　　However, once he directly exposed a more drastic secret such as the existence of a remnant of the Metal Scroll or the ability to artificially induce a breakthrough, the very top of the MTA would get involved right away!

　　In order to draw attention away from those extremely sensitive matters, Ves had no qualms about using other secrets as decoys.

　　In any case, now that he had become an associate of the Survivalist Faction, he could probably get away with a few small actions such as making use of the high-grade life-prolonging treatment serum that he stole from the Supreme Sage's pinnacle lab.

　　Speaking of factions, now that Ves became more aware of the inner workings of the Mech Trade Association, who did these mech pilots all belong to? Were they all aligned to the Survivalists or did they come from several other factions?

　　Though Ves was curious to know the truth, he did not find it appropriate to ask this question to them. They were his guests, not his captives. The matter of their factional allegiances weren't really relevant anyway.

　　"We developed a few plans at the start, but our situation has changed a lot since then." Ves told them. "Each of you are adults so each of you are more than capable of choosing your own training programs. Our clan can give you recommendations, but in our experience the best way for you to push yourself beyond your limits is to fight actual battles where your lives are on the line. I think you'll be able to experience plenty of that in the years to come."

　　Although the MTA mech pilots all knew that, it still disappointed them that Ves did not offer them anything better.

　　"Patriarch Ves, Master Willix assigned us to you because she is convinced that you can be of service to us." Jessica Quentin said. "While your clan has its strong points, we have yet to undergo any unique or special procedures."

　　Ves looked exasperated. "Master Willix was a little too overeager, Miss Quentin. She foisted you on our clan without properly considering that my clan and I don't have a ready-made solution available. My own clansmen are in the same boat as you. Few of our mech pilots have broken through as late."

　　"What about the Quint, sir? This masterwork mech of yours has already stood out as a mech that can help people break through."

　　"I believe so as well, but a sample size of 2 is hardly a conclusive indicator that the Quint is a breakthrough machine. Besides, the core identity of the Quint is an ascended Bright Warrior mech. That means it is exclusive or at least highly partial to the Larkinson Clan. None of you are Larkinsons so I do not believe the effect will be as strong on your group. Besides, there is only one Quint and twenty of you guys."

　　That caused the mech pilots to frown. They all knew quite well that even if they had the opportunity to pilot the Quint, they would all have to make tough choices on who was allowed to go first.

　　Jessica didn't give up though. "Then… can't you design a more purpose-built mech for us? It doesn't have to be as good as the Quint, but if this new mech model has only a fraction of its advantages, that will still leave us better off than piloting your modified Larkinson mechs."

　　Her words suddenly caused Ves to gain a new idea.

　　He envisioned a mech that conformed exactly with what she described. It didn't even have to be a brand new mech design. He could just design a quick variant of the Bright Warrior that was compatible with outsiders and designed with facilitating breakthroughs in mind.

　　He came up with two different experimental features that could help this breakthrough-oriented mech perform its job.

　　First, he could employ a weakened version of the glow of the Aspect of Transcendence onto the mech. Though Ves originally planned to test this glow on lab rats, those trials not only took too long, but would also make it too obvious what he was doing to the MTA.

　　Though the glow of this infamous statue had produced plenty of head explosions, that was only when he exposed it to his test subjects under the most extreme conditions.

　　What if he toned it down? What if he dampened the effect to just 5 percent of the intensity? While the glow might not be able to produce any immediate breakthroughs under this setting, the chance that someone's head might explode should drop as well!

　　The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was a viable idea. After witnessing hundreds if not thousands of different glow-induced head explosions, he possessed a good understanding of what caused his pirate and dwarven test subjects to sacrifice their lives in the name of science.

　　They endured too much pressure.

　　That was it. Although the glow of the Aspect of Transcendence wasn't actually that strong, Ves had programmed it in a way that led to a constant buildup of extreme obsession.

　　If not for the fact that there was a possibility that it might actually succeed in letting enemies break past their limits, he would have been tempted to weaponize it already!

　　As long as his theory was right, it shouldn't be difficult to address this lethality problem.

　　If excess was the problem, then moderation was the solution.

　　It was just like pumping a balloon with too much gas or a human drinking far too much water. Both cases led to unfortunate results but could easily be avoided if they didn't take in so much substance.

　　Though Ves wasn't completely sure it was safe to apply the same concept to the Angel of Transcendence, he was confident enough to give it a try.

　　His eyes glinted as he gazed at the hopeful MTA mech pilots. Weren't they suitable test subjects? They literally asked to volunteer for this experiment!

　　Even if one of them died, Ves could just say it was their fault for consenting to pilot one of his experimental new machines.

　　This neatly solved the problem of guilt. Ves could never subject his clansmen to such a risky procedure without performing plenty of tests. This was why he never attempted this kind of experiment when he thought about performing a similar experiment in the past.

　　This was different. After spending more than a year with the Larkinsons, the MTA mech pilots had all grown impatient about their relative lack of progress. If Ves possessed a means for them to transform their lives, then they were desperate enough to take it even if he warned them of the risks.

　　This was not all, though.

　　He wasn't confident that implementing a weakened version of the Angel of Transcendence in a variant mech design was enough to produce the desired results.

　　Theoretically, this glow should set mech pilots on the right path, but Ves knew that truly extraordinary mech pilots did not break through just because they wanted it so bad.

　　They also had to go through a mental journey. In the process of becoming a demigod, a mech pilot had to discover what they cared about, how they wanted to fight and shed aside all of their doubts.

　　This was why Ves turned his attention back to the Quint. It was not just a masterwork mech, but also a living mech with a spiritual presence that had gone through multiple bursts of accelerated growth.

　　Since it was alive, didn't that mean that Ves could treat it like a design spirit in a way?

　　"This…"

　　Ves completely fell into his own thoughts as inspiration struck.

　　This was an incredibly promising idea!

　　Even though it sounded silly to use an existing mech as a design spirit when it was already being watched over by the Golden Cat, according to his theoretical framework it should be more than possible!

　　Ves initially thought about harvesting spiritual fragments from the Quint so that he could implant them in his 20 breakthrough mechs, but the price of doing so was too unbearable.

　　The Quint was a Larkinson as well, and Ves could not bear to harm one of his prized works without good reason!

　　By employing the Quint as a design spirit, the mech would not come to any harm.

　　In fact, it might be the opposite. The Quint might actually be able to accept spiritual feedback from the MTA mech pilots and thereby accelerate its growth even further!

　　It would also be good for the Quint to become exposed to more mech pilots. Commander Casella had complained to him about the masterwork mech's unruly personality.

　　Ves knew that this was mainly because the Quint had originally grown alongside Joshua. He figured that the problem would go away in time as the masterwork mech spent time with other mech pilots, but it would be even better if he was able to accelerate this process!

　　The wheels kept spinning in Ves' mind even as he neglected his guests. It didn't matter if the MTA mech pilots thought he was being rude. His inspiration was much more valuable than their concerns!

　　"What if…"

　　What if Ves applied this approach to his other living mechs?

　　It wouldn't work on his weaker living mechs. Any first-order and second-order living mech were simply too weak on a spiritual basis to support this mode.

　　It had to be a third-order living mech. They were so much smarter, stronger and more aware that they could be considered the mech equivalent of mutated beasts!

　　"They're more alike than I thought!"

　　A light shone in his head!

　　Ves had ascertained that one of the defining characteristics of spiritual potency was sentience.

　　Mutated beasts like Arnold and Qilanxo all showed the capacity of independent thought and the ability to assert their own identity.

　　Third-order living mechs like the Quint and the Everchanger all showed the capacity of independent thought and the ability to assert their own identity.

　　Didn't that mean… he could turn all of his powerful living mechs into his design spirits?