The Mech Touch

　　"Then how the hell did Mana feel the need to activate a mental protection ability in advance?! What did Alexandria do to our girl when you tried to pull her into your design network?!"

　　"I did nothing! I love her as much as you do, if not more! She's too young and fragile to bear my thoughts. I would never take as many risks as you and try to overwhelm her with so many complicated thoughts and emotions. She deserves to enjoy her childhood!"

　　Aurelia sat on the floor of the design room and looked up at her parents who were arguing once again. Drool trickled down the corner of her mouth as she remained completely unaffected by the heated words exchanged by her mother and father.

　　"Guuuu…"

　　"Miaow miaow~"

　　Clixie nudged the little girl with her head. There were better things to do than watch Ves and Gloriana bicker like an old married couple.

　　"Waaaaa…."

　　Soon enough, Aurelia began to crawl after Clixie in an attempt to grab her tail!

　　Several minutes later, the couple fell silent after Gloriana took the initiative to form a design network with Ves.

　　It was pretty much impossible for her to lie when Ves obtained a direct connection to her mind, so when she said that she did not mess with their daughter's mind, he believed her this time.

　　"Okay." Ves sighed. "I was wrong. I shouldn't have come up to you and accused you like this. You did nothing wrong."

　　Maow!…

　　Alexandria hissed at Ves. The intangible red cat was offended by his mistrust. The Queen Cat shut down her spiritual network and floated over to Aurelia in order to keep an eye on the energetic baby.

　　Gloriana voiced her own theory. "I think the answer to what has happened is not that complicated. Think about all of the places where we brought our daughter. How many times did we bring her close to our mechs? She must have experienced the glows of every living mech in our fleet!"

　　Ves froze when he heard her words. "This…"

　　"The glows of ordinary mechs like the Bright Warriors and the Valkyrie Redeemers are already fairly noticeable. Then there are the more powerful glows of mechs like the Quint, the Shield of Samar and our other expert mechs. Do you really think that bathing our daughter in all of these influences will not produce a reaction?"

　　He recalled all of the times that he and his wife brought Aurelia close to all of those mechs. Though he didn't keep count, it must have happened at least a couple of hundred times!

　　Ever since she was born, Ves and Gloriana made sure that their baby was always with one of them at all times. They did not feel reassured with entrusting their only child to a nanny. Only by keeping her close would they feel at ease with the health and safety of their little girl.

　　Since Ves and Gloriana were both mech designers and leaders in their own right, they frequently got close to various mechs whenever they passed by the hangar bays or workshops.

　　Ves soon began to frown. "There's one problem with your theory. The glows of all of our mechs are benign. While they might influence our daughter in certain ways, they are all harmless towards our fellow Larkinsons. Other children have come close to our mechs as well and nothing bad has happened to them. It is rather strange that Aurelia has made a response that is akin to an allergic reaction towards something as harmless as glows."

　　"Then what else can explain what has happened to our daughter?" Gloriana frowned. "Look, it's fine now. I don't see this as a demerit. Just look at how happy and healthy she is. As far as I'm concerned, I feel much more reassured that no god or deity can tamper with her mind and body anymore. She has developed her own divinity and is growing up to be more than a simple human!"

　　She had a point. Each of the six seed abilities that Ves had implanted in Mana were supposed to be useful. No matter which one Aurelia woke up first, she would undoubtedly become stronger than before.

　　"I'm not disagreeing with you, but I am still concerned it happened at a point where Aurelia isn't able to think about her future yet. She's too young and already Mana's first evolution is already exerting a profound influence on her future development."

　　"I do not think it is as bad as you say." Gloriana said. "Our daughter is safer than ever and her ability doesn't even narrow her options that much. In fact, if she wants to become the next leader of the Larkinson Clan, then having a pure and inviolable mind is a great advantage! She won't be unduly affected by anyone and can hold her ground against both expert pilots and proto-gods. In addition, since this enhancement is centered around her brain, I think this will be a lot of help towards her mental development. She will grow smarter and wiser than any girl of her age! Maybe she can even become as smart as the Polymath!"

　　Ves couldn't stand it any longer. Gloriana's expectations for Aurelia were becoming way too exaggerated! Did she even know what she was talking about by equating her own daughter to the smartest mech designer in human space!?

　　"Okay, stop, I get it. Let's rethink how we raise our daughter and make sure she doesn't get stimulated by any excessive external influences."

　　"Hm? Why?"

　　"Because I don't want her growth to be distorted any further!"

　　Gloriana directed a familiar look at Ves. She adopted the expression that she always used when she thought that Ves was being an idiot.

　　"I think we should do the opposite."

　　"What?!"

　　"I told you that I don't see this development as a disaster. Instead, it's an opportunity! The more we expose her to different glows, the more we exercise her mental defenses. The greater her mental defenses, the more she is able withstand strong pressure! Attacks will bounce off her mind and she will laugh in the face of hostile gods! This is a great way for our daughter to remain safe in the future!"

　　Gloriana was right. Ves might be making a fuss about nothing. No matter how Aurelia's companion spirit developed, Mana was always supposed to be her constant companion, assistant and protector.

　　It did not sound like a bad idea to have her excel in keeping her mind pure.

　　As long as Aurelia and Mana grew more powerful in the future, they could develop the original ability seed into a much more expansive set of abilities.

　　Ves only needed to look at his Four Aspects of Lufa to recall how versatile the concept of purification could be. His daughter could become an absolutely remarkable woman once she fully developed her companion spirit's main strength!

　　Eventually, they decided not to change the way they raised their daughter. In a way, her growth process was actually quite natural. Shielding her from the Larkinson Clan's current environment would be a disservice to her because they would only be skewing her future growth as a result.

　　There was no good reason for Ves and the Gloriana to do so when Aurelia's current growth path was clearly the most appropriate one for her at this time.

　　As Ves and Gloriana finally reconciled their differences, Aurelia hardly took any notice of this. She had crawled to the corner of the design room and finally managed to catch Clixie after a vigorous chase!

　　"Miaow~!"

　　The Rubarthan Sentinel Cat rolled onto her belly and allowed the baby to savor in her victory.

　　"Guuuwaabuuguuu…"

　　Clixie's shiny golden necklace soon caught Aurelia's attention again. The gem set in the center of the ornate collar especially attracted the little girl!

　　The baby climbed over and patted the surface of the necklace with her tiny hands.

　　Of course, before Aurelia could try to chew on the gem, Clixie gently kept the eager little girl at bay with her paws.

　　At this time, the lustrous gem glinted a bit brighter before an invisible energy surge emerged out of it. The subtle wave of energy sought to enter into Aurelia's mind, only to get rebuffed by her defenses!

　　Miew!…

　　As the apparently hostile energy wave stagnated, a cute white kitten appeared from Aurelia's mind. Mana quickly flew forward and sucked in the loose energy with a practiced motion!

　　Unfortunately, the immature spiritual cat couldn't digest the energy. The most she could do was purify it, but aside from that she did not possess the digestion organs that Blinky had inherited from the Unending One.

　　After the swallowed spiritual energy circulated inside Mana for a while, the bloated companion spirit subsequently vomited it towards the nearest friendly cat, who happened to be Clixie!

　　Instead of returning to its original sender, the purified energy instead entered Clixie's body without her notice or awareness. Her body briefly grew brighter for an instant, but nothing else happened.

　　"Miaow~"

　　At this time, Clixie's only concern was acting as a pillow for Aurelia. The baby had grown tired after the chase and dozed off into peaceful slumber.

　　Pure love and devotion welled up in Clixie's eyes as the cat developed an even stronger bond with Aurelia. Her fluffy tail flipped from side to side as she began to purr like a motor.

　　As for Ves, once his concerns for his daughter subsided, he returned to his original schedule. After leaving Aurelia behind in the care of his wife, he returned to his office where he accepted General Verle's call.

　　The middle-aged mech officer's projection soon arrived and saluted the patriarch.

　　"What did you call me for, sir?"

　　"I want to bounce an idea off you." Ves said. "I already told you that I'm concerned about the continued lack of space for enough mechs in our fleet."

　　Verle did not look surprised. "You are not the only one who is concerned about that problem. We are grappling with it daily. There are too few advantages to our current state. Between mechs and mech pilots, the former will always always have a higher casualty rate than the latter. It makes more sense to carry a surplus of mechs so that we always have spare machines on hand when ejected mech pilots quickly need to get back into the fight."

　　The situation the Larkinson Clan had landed in was highly unusual. If not for shedding most of their ships while letting go of none of their personnel, an odd situation like this would have never happened.

　　"I've been thinking on how to handle this problem in the medium term." Ves said. "In the short term, I doubt we'll suffer too many problems, but if this goes on for a few years, I'm afraid our mech pilots will grow frustrated. Not only that, we won't be able to employ all of the new mech models that we are finishing in the coming weeks."

　　"We all understand that, sir. The fundamental issue that is responsible for this is our lack of mech capacity. Unless we can find additional carriers, this state will continue to persist with little change over time."

　　"We don't have to look at ships."

　　"Pardon?"

　　Ves smiled at Verle's projection. "There are more spaces where we can park additional mechs. Planets have lots of room, for example. It's a lot cheaper and easier to build extra mech hangers on land. Space stations are also a viable alternative if we want to keep our mech units away from any planetary environments."

　　"This…"

　　General Verle looked shocked. Ever since Ves came up with his grand expedition, he always insisted that the clan should keep everything together in a single fleet.

　　This was why the Larkinsons never thought about founding a colony like so many other pioneers!

　　Had Ves suddenly changed his mind? Was he ready to plant his flag on one of the many unclaimed star systems in the Krakatoa Middle Zone?