The Mech Touch

Ves derived pleasure from Lucky's pain.

The more Lucky suffered from his stomach ache, the greater the probability of producing fantastic gems.

In order to ensure that the gem cat sufficiently digested the massive amount of metals that he had undoubtedly devoured during his trip to the surface, Ves did not want to end Lucky's suffering too soon!

"Hehehe. Just leave him be. He'll get over it eventually. It is normal for cats like him to suffer from stomach aches. It's just like having a toothache. He'll probably get over his problem in a few days."

"What if he is still hurt after that?"

"Then I'll feed him with a special laxative that will force him to go to the toilet early. Don't worry. Your father has everything under control."

Once Ves dealt with this farce by convincing his children to ignore Lucky's awful condition, he was finally able to take his wife aside so that he could introduce his latest experimental project to her skeptical ears.

"Your idea is truly revolutionary." She said. "Assuming it works, that is. How certain are you that this rebirth concept of yours will yield a positive result? From what I can understand, the Shield of Samar used to be a powerful and developed proto-god, but lost much of that after the battle. It is awfully premature for you to think that you can bring it back better than ever after it has lost so much accumulation. Shouldn't it be the case that your living mech will have to start growing from scratch again?"

Ves shook his head. "No. I'm pretty sure that there will be clear gains compared to the first time that the Shield of Samar came into existence. This is because even if its spiritual foundation has suffered massive losses, the remnant bears the essence of a third order living mech. As long as I convert it into a seed that can grow anew without being burdened by the flaws and obsolete elements that no longer play a useful role, I think it will be able to experience a period of accelerated growth!"

It was not unusual for new living mechs to grow at a massive pace once they were put to use. This usually happened when the strength of the pilot was a lot stronger.

Ves had seen it happen to expert mechs such as the Minerva and the Promethea that both started off their existences by getting paired with expert pilots.

The Shield of Samar on the other hand was a much older and more mature living mech. While it had grown alongside Jannzi for many years, it had already reached maturity by the time the Larkinsons upgraded it into a masterwork expert mech.

If Ves was able to take the existing Shield of Samar but revert it to the point where it retained its nature as a third order living mech but brought it back to its infancy, then not even he could predict how much the 'second generation living mech' would be able to surpass its previous incarnation!

As Ves explained his theories and his expectations to his wife, Gloriana began to understand his logic.

She even became optimistic about his chances all of a sudden!

"I understand now!" Her eyes lit up. "What you're talking about has to work!"

"Wait… you believe me?" Ves furrowed his eyebrows.

Though he was happy that he did not have to spend as much time on convincing his wife than he initially expected, it was rather suspicious that she agreed with his theories so quickly.

"Why shouldn't I believe you?" His wife smiled and tilted her head. "I should have thought about it first. What you are attempting to realize with your experiment falls in line with the six phases of hexism. Normally, people like you automatically move on to the next phase when we die, but this might not necessarily be the case for living mechs and proto-gods. Since they are artificial life forms, it is logical that they need help from their maker in order to help them move onto the next phase."

"..."

"Your idea is so brilliant, Ves! The Shield of Samar will definitely transcend into a powerful new deity sooner or later! First comes life. Then comes death. Godhood comes third. This means that your living mechs only have to be reborn twice in order to become a powerhouse that can stand on an equal height to god pilots! You may have accidentally uncovered the secret to producing god mechs by coming up with the Dullahan Project! You have even chosen the right codename of this project. The ancient undead myth corresponds perfectly to the second phase of existence!"

"Wait, Gloriana. Don't get ahead of yourself. There is no proof that what you say is true. It is absurd to think that I can make a god mech just by allowing a living mech to undergo two cycles of rebirth. There is no solid guarantee that a mech like the Shield of Samar will be able to become an existence comparable to a god mech. Besides, it requires Venerable Jannzi to merge with her own machine by definition."

"That's exactly right!" Gloriana's eyes lit up further! "Don't you see, Ves?! What you have described also happens to match the fourth phase of the Mech Body Merger Process! Think about it! When ace pilots that have reached their limit are ready to take the final plunge, they have to shed all of the remaining parts of their mortal selves and rely on their extremely strong willpower to transcend into a god pilot!"

Ves widened his eyes. That was true! Though the sources that he had read in the past were rather vague about the Mech Body Merger Process, what little he knew about it seemed to share a lot of resemblance to his hypothesized rebirth process.

At the very least, the underlying reasons happened to be the same!

Since it was possible to allow an older and more worn living mech to undergo nirvana and achieve greater heights as a result, why shouldn't this process apply to mech pilots as well?

Perhaps the details were different, but the principles should still apply to both cases!

Ves vigorously shook his head. "Stop. Let's not talk about this any further. I haven't proved anything so far, and it is anything but certain that my Dullahan Project can create a new method that can improve the chances of ace pilots undergoing their third and final evolution."

"You're wrong."

"What are you talking about, Gloriana?"

His wife looked at Ves as if he was being stupid again. "How many phases of existence are there in hexism?"

"Six…"

"That means that a living mech like the Shield of Samar can be reborn five more times. No, that's not entirely correct. It can be reborn six times in total! That is because after it reaches the sixth phase, it can undergo one more cycle of death and rebirth to become a Supreme at the same height as the Superior Mother!"

Ves looked befuddled. "That doesn't make sense. Shouldn't there be seven phases of hexism if that is the case?"

"SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT!"

As her dutiful husband, Ves obediently closed his mouth.

Gloriana's expression turned happy again. "Anyway, you are definitely on the right track, Ves. I am sure that once you figure out the secret to inducing rebirth into your products, they will truly take off at that point! The Shield of Samar's second incarnation will probably turn into an undead mech. Its third incarnation will turn into a god mech. Its fourth incarnation will become a devil mech. Its fifth incarnation will probably be its weakest and most invisible version. Its sixth incarnation shall be its second-most powerful version."

"...What about the seventh incarnation?"

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP TALKING NONSENSE, VES!"

Ves didn't find anything credible about Gloriana's deluded theories. The fact that they were based on religious and pseudo-scientific claptrap rather than sound empirical evidence was a giant red flag that he really shouldn't entertain her ideas in the first place.

At least her theory that his rebirth process might be related to the mysterious Mech Body Merger Process was a lot more viable since it was based on concrete phenomena.

Once Gloriana finished her wild conjectures, the discussion between the two finally became more productive.

Ves presented his wife with the sloppy draft design that he had drawn in front of Jannzi.

Though his wife predictably became annoyed at seeing his careless artwork, she soon became intrigued as she took in all of the design choices he had made during the sketching process.

"Recycling the surviving head of the Shield of Samar is a creative idea." Gloriana genuinely praised. "I can understand what you are attempting to achieve with this now that I have heard your explanation. I'm surprised that Jannzi agreed to the drastic changes you have made to the rest of the frame. It's as if you are forcing the Shield of Samar to go on a diet. Did you lose faith in your original concept and vision?"

Ves shook his head. "No. I still believe that pursuing an approach that is based on extreme defense can yield great results in battle. However, the configuration and performance of a mech has to match the situation. The battles that we tend to fight against different enemies tend to be big, decisive, intense and incidental. Take our last fight for example. The Living Sentinels generally did not do as much back then because their low mobility and overly defense-oriented mech doctrines has left them with few options to take the initiative."

His wife was anything but stupid, so she quickly understood his argument.

"I see. You're correct to a degree. If we take our last battles as a model, then you can indeed come to the conclusion that it is better if the Shield of Samar is able to move faster and keep up with other expert mechs in battle."

"You don't sound convinced, honey."

"Human mechs aren't the only opponents we face anymore, Ves." She told him. "Historical trends do not necessarily have to match future trends. If we proceed with the Trailblazer Expedition, we will enter a drastically new environment where we will encounter brand-new enemies. What is to say that a more balanced heavy space knight is better than a more defense-oriented heavy space knight?"

Ves already thought about this angle.

"I agree that there may be cases where we would rather have a heavier and more defensible expert mech by our side. However, if you consider every possible battle scenario, you will find out that we can gain more value out of having a more mobile and adaptable expert mech. The ability to move and reposition quickly is useful in many more circumstances. As long as we ensure that it is tough enough despite slimming it down, everything will be fine. Just look at the Skorpion Kommando. It was able to shrug off a huge amount of damage despite being lighter than the Shield of Samar."

"That's because it was paired with a high-tier expert pilot."

"Venerable Jannzi will eventually grow into a high-tier expert pilot as well." Ves retorted. "It may take decades, but once she has reached this stage, I would rather see her being put to use in many more ways than to have her stick around our fleet while doing nothing else but project a barrier that blocks incoming attacks."

His wife took a deep look at Ves. "It sounds to me that the Skorpion Kommando has made such a strong impression on you that you cannot resist the urge to imitate its configuration. Will the Shield of Samar truly remain our mech or will it become a pale copy of the work of the Viper instead?"

"You don't need to be so dramatic, Gloriana. I still have plenty of ideas that should ensure that the Shield of Samar retains enough of its original identity and traits to keep Venerable Jannzi happy. Let me explain my proposal further…"