The Mech Touch

Ves gained a new relative.

He still had to wrap his mind around that fact.

After discovering that his Valkyrie mechs had changed to a new design spirit that he had never encountered before, his entire outlook had changed.

It turned out that a lot of extraordinary events recently took place back in his home galaxy!

Even as Ves and his clan rapidly managed to settle down and thrive in the Red Ocean, his parents took off as well!

Using the Nyxian Gap as their base of operations, the so-called 'Oblivion Empress' and the 'Dark Saint' built a nascent empire out of conquered pirate groups.

His mother had even begun to elevate mech pilots into expert pilots through her own means, which was absolutely remarkable!

This alone caused Ves to feel as if he was being overshadowed by his mother once again. What was she capable of and how vast was her knowledge on spiritual engineering?

He previously thought that his mother was just connected to an unknown group of refugees that sought to escape the clutches of the Five Scrolls Compact, but her incredible powers made him feel her identity was much more remarkable than he previously assumed.

Being able to contend against the sorcerers of the Ruined Temple showed that her original status likely reached their height!

However, Ves didn't care about his mother's past at this time.

He became much more concerned about her present and future actions!

Although the Big Two had remained conspicuously absent while the Nyxian War raged on, Ves would be a fool to believe the mechers and fleeters were ignorant of what was going on in one of their backyards!

Ves knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Mech Trade Association was paying extremely close attention to the Oblivion Empress' rumored ability to elevate ordinary mech pilots onto the path of godhood.

If someone smart and clever like Master Willix or the Polymath took a look at the situation, then they would probably make a lot of deductions with the help of their frightening analytical prowess.

The chain of logic would go like this:

Fact 1: The Oblivion Empress was rumored to possess the ability to help mech pilots advance beyond their mortal limitations.

Fact 2: The Nyxian Gap was known to be a region where the threshold to become extraordinary was lower. It was also a region where extraordinary beings found it easier to reside and manifest their power.

Fact 3: The Dark Saint, formerly known as the Dark Cleaver, had promoted from mech pilot to expert pilot to ace pilot within a single decade, which was absolutely a remarkable record that could never be attained through ordinary methods! Not even the most talented mech pilots with A-grade genetic aptitudes could break this record!

Fact 4: Both the Oblivion Empress and the Dark Saint were rumored to be a couple. They had appeared in the Nyxian Gap at the same time and had always worked together.

Fact 5: Ves Larkinson, an exceptionally remarkable Journeyman who developed a lot of fantastic applications, originated from the Bright Republic. He definitely had to have received help, resources and guidance in order to develop this far. 'Mr. S.' was rumored to be his teacher, but that might not be the extent of his hidden backing.

Fact 6: Ves Larkinson was born in a third-rate state in the Komodo Star Sector. This star sector also happened to encompass the Nyxian Gap.

Fact 7: Ves Larkinson's mother had 'died' early in his childhood while his father went missing as soon as he started his mech design career.

Fact 8: The people who eventually became known as the Oblivion Empress and the Dark Saint were known to operate in the Nyxian Gap at least a few years after Ves Larkinson's parents went missing.

Fact 9: Ves Larkinson's transcendence glow could achieve the same results as the Oblivion Empress' rumored ability.

Conclusion: It was highly likely that Ves Larkinson's missing parents the Oblivion Empress and the Dark Saint!

"Damnit." Ves cursed.

If someone like Ves could form this chain of logic, then so could the smartest mech designers of the MTA!

While Ves was relieved that only a limited number of people knew all of the aforementioned facts, he was certain that the Survivalist Faction and the Transhumanist Faction already figured this out! His identity and the identity of his parents became at least partially exposed!

"Fortunately, I have already thrown my lot with the MTA."

The reason why Ves didn't worry too much about this exposure was because he had already aligned himself with the MTA. There was no reason for the Association to screw him over considering that he was already actively collaborating with the mechers!

As an organization that had risen to prosperity by becoming good at establishing mutually-beneficial relationships with many people, Ves did not think that the Polymath would suddenly come out of nowhere and squeeze his secrets out of his mouth.

That would be too crude and short-sighted!

Instead, it was better to maintain the current pattern of cooperation. As long as the Survivalists and the Transhumanists were willing to be patient, they could slowly obtain his wonderful methods and applications.

This was not a bad deal for Ves. One of the upsides to this 'exposure' was that the mechers would definitely assign a higher value to him! This meant that they would put more effort into protecting him and keeping him in their camps.

Ves was also a mech designer, so he was already a good fit for the Association. Both of them shared some of the same goals with regards to mech design, so a cooperation would definitely benefit both sides!

As Ves slowly relaxed, Helena's pale and translucent body curiously floated around his office.

She proved her ability to interfere with the material realm by picking up the mug which depicted Ves in the guise of a devil.

"This is so cute!" She spoke.

Her speech was remarkable as well. Most spiritual entities were only capable of communicating through conveying their intentions in a non-verbal manner.

This allowed them to talk among themselves without getting hindered by the language barrier. Every spirit could basically understand other spirits regardless of what languages they learned.

Even exobeasts who never utilized the concept of language in their original lives were also capable of holding articulate discussions with another spiritual life forms!

However, communicating with physical entities such as humans was beyond them. Most people did not possess any notable spiritual sensitivity at all, so they were essentially deaf to spirits.

Aside from shenanigans involving living mechs and glows, the only way for a spirit like Helena to communicate with ordinary people was to exert enough power over reality to produce sound waves!

This not only required a lot of power, but also fine control as it was not easy to produce coherent sound waves that completely reproduced the effect of human speech!

"You're awfully strong and skilled for a newborn design spirit." Ves remarked.

Helena smirked as she put the mug back on its place. "I am a god, not a mere 'spirit' as you call it. I wield one of the fundamental forces of nature and reality. I am the embodiment of death in many of its facets. I AM A DEATH GODDESS WHO CAN HARVEST LIFE AND SOW DEATH WHENEVER I PLEASE! BILLIONS OF HEXERS HAVE BEGUN TO WORSHIP ME AND MILLIONS OF LIVES HAVE ALREADY BEEN SACRIFICED IN MY NAME! BOW BEFORE ME, BROTHER, AND ACKNOWLEDGE MY POWER AS I HAVE SLAIN AN OPPOSING GOD AND BEATEN BACK ANOTHER PAIR OF DEITIES WITHIN THE FIRST MINUTE OF MY BIRTH!"

"...Are you done now, Helena?"

A childish pout appeared on the spiritual entity's face. "You could have indulged me by pretending to be impressed, you know! I'm only a day old, you know! I'm still an infant goddess!"

"Gods don't exist." Ves reflexively stated.

"I can't believe this." His sister palmed her face. "Hello? A goddess is floating right before you! I might not be THE goddess of death, but I'm getting there! Even though I still have a long road ahead of me, I am already a god according to its classical definition in human language!"

Ves crossed his arms. "As your father and grandfather, it is my duty to educate you. Here's your first lesson from me. Gods don't exist and you are not a god! As far as I know, you are not omnipotent and omniscient. You are merely a special form of life that is much more powerful than ordinary organic life forms, but still subject to many of the same limitations that constrain every ordinary life."

Helena clearly didn't agree with his opinion. The air shook around her as a fraction of her death energy escaped from her manifested body!

"I AM YOUR SISTER, NOT YOUR DAUGHTER OR GRANDFATHER! NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT MY CREATION, I AM A DAUGHTER OF THE SUPERIOR MOTHER, AND YOU ARE HER SON! HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR, BROTHER?!"

"Hey, control yourself! Don't destroy my ship just because you have a temper tantrum!"

It would have been bad if his guards were here, but Ves had dismissed them since he didn't want anyone to overhear his talks with this self-proclaimed goddess.

Only Lucky had remained by his side, and currently the gem cat had floated all the way up to the corner of the compartment! Helena had suddenly become a lot scarier!

"Meow!"

"I said cut it out, Helena! You're scaring my cat!"

Helena blinked and retracted her lethal energy. "Oh. Sorry."

All of her anger faded away so quickly that Ves couldn't get used to it. He hadn't interacted with the Daughter of Death for a long and already found her to be incomprehensible.

"Ahem, pardon me about that. You acknowledge me as your sister, right?"

"Uhh…."

"RIGHT?!"

Ves felt it was quite unwise for him to deny Helena's request, so he quickly nodded and raised his hands.

"Yes, yes, whatever you say, Helena! You're my sister! My new sister! Now that I think about it, I always wanted a sibling, haha!"

That last part was true. Ves always felt a bit alone when he grew up back in his childhood home. His mother was the joy of his life, but she had left him far too soon.

Though his father Ryncol had always brought him warmth, Ves frequently wished he had brothers and sisters to keep him company during those times.

While he finally obtained a little sister, she had come two decades too late. Ves still felt reluctant to treat the newborn spirit as his family.

Helena was not as entangled, however.

Her gray form floated towards Ves and dove in to embrace him in a hug.

Surprisingly enough, her physical embrace was not as cold and dangerous as he feared. Despite being made up out of death energy, Helena possessed exquisite control over herself.

None of her dangerous death energy affected Ves at all. Instead, she wholeheartedly radiated the love and affection she held towards the human she saw as her older brother!

Speech could still be faked, but the feelings from the depth of a spirit could never be falsified.

Helena did not hide her thoughts towards him at all, so Ves could clearly recognize that her family affection towards him was real and authentic. There was no hesitation from her at all, and that was enough for him to embrace this bewildering reality.

"Sister…"

"Brother…"

The two spent a few more seconds embracing each other as if they hadn't seen each other in decades.

Helena became happy again as she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. "Mother was right. You are so full of life. Say, haven't you forgotten about something, big brother?"

"What did I forget?"

"I just celebrated my zeroth birthday yesterday! How could you have forgotten! Am I not your baby sister? Where is my birthday present!"

Helena had only been born a short time ago and already she had learned how to beg for gifts like any cute little sister!

"Uhh… let me think of something."