The Mech Touch



"How?"

"How what?"

"How does this work?!"

Venerable Jannzi never thought that holding a strangely colored tower shield would produce such a result. She was still shocked at how the thin energy barrier was able to block a shot from a pistol.

"Didn't you just listen to me earlier?" Ves responded after he stopped laughing like a demented scientist. "You took a bunch of energy from Object 431 and infused it with your willpower. That has allowed you to create a pseudo-spatial barrier that can roughly reproduce the spatial barriers that are characteristic to Qilanxo."

"This is impossible!" Jannzi exclaimed! "Isn't this supposed to be a power that only belongs to Qilanxo? I can tell that this energy came from her, but when I did what you suggested, I did not feel her presence from beginning to end. How am I able to make a spatial barrier like her when I did not resonate with her when I held this shield? In fact, how am I able to do without the amplification of an expert mech?!"

Ves smirked as he calmly put the gun back to its safety mode and unloaded it before putting it down on the worktable.

"You don't even know what you are capable of. How many years has it been since you became a demigod? While I don't really like this term because it has obvious religious connotations, I have to admit that the people who associated it with expert pilots are not on the wrong track. Forget about mechs for the time being. This is a power that is intrinsic to demigods. Your force of will is the prototypical form of a Saint Kingdom, which means it can induce the powers of the latter on a limited scale. While you can't do anything special with it outside of your mech, I have theorized that prime resonance can help you harness it in an effective manner. Do you understand what I am talking about?"

Jannzi still looked flabbergasted. "I'm a soldier, not a scientist!"

That caused Ves to grow annoyed. "I can't be bothered to think up a simple analogy that can help you understand what happened. Just take my word for it that you can do this as long as you concentrate your mind. Your willpower is strong, Jannzi. The differences between you and Ketis are not as great as you think. Willpower is a metaphysical force that can strengthen, reinforce and empower anything it comes in touch with. I theorize that you have already been able to do this, but normally the effects aren't strong enough for you to bother with this. My experimental shield basically lowers the threshold and provides you with a ready-made structure to apply your strength in this manner."

Jannzi still couldn't follow his explanation. "This sounds similar to what Joshua can do with his Everchanger. Isn't his expert mech based around borrowing the power of different design spirits to pull off different 'prime abilities'? I thought that this was his exclusive power."

Ves shook his head. "You are partially correct, but didn't you manage to develop a prime ability as well when you piloted the Shield of Samar?"

"I did, but that was when I was working together with Sammie and Qilanxo." She replied. "This is different. I am on my own this time."

"That is not a problem, Jannzi. You depend too much on the help of your battle partners that you never truly realized how strong you have become. You're a mid-tier expert pilot by now, right?"

Jannzi nodded. "I think I am, though I haven't measured it for many months."

"You have already grown a lot stronger since you initially broke through all of those years ago. Your willpower has become dozens of times stronger, and that is a massive difference even if it is not that exaggerated on the battlefield. What I am trying to tell you is that your willpower has already become strong enough to distort reality. You just need a little help and direction, and that is what tools like Object 431 are supposed to provide."

She began to understand what he was trying to convey to her. The expert pilot looked at the heavy shield she strapped on her arm with greater respect than before.

"Does that mean I can become a 'shieldmaster' like you have described?"

"Theoretically, yes, but in practice you operate in a different manner from a swordmaster." Ves replied. "A real swordmaster can generate true resonance with a sword. This is a powerful force that operates by different rules. You cannot do anything comparable with your new shield. Its principles are based on prime resonance, and the requirements of generating it is to combine willpower with spiritual energy."

Venerable Jannzi began to frown. "If expert pilots like myself can form these strange resonance barriers, then why has no one else done this before?"

"Prime resonance is an exclusive invention of mine. There are many requirements to make it happen. You not only need to get your hands on prime materials which are extremely scarce, but you also need to fill them up with spiritual energy, which few people can harness."

"And that allows you to create shields that can strengthen their ability to resist damage without using any normal power sources?"

"Only with a defensive expert pilot such as you." Ves responded with a smile. "An offensive expert pilot such as Venerable Stark won't be able to do what you can do, but she can probably generate stronger attacks if I arm her with a special luminar crystal gun. The tool needs to fit the user. Do you think I would have spent my time on creating a product as large and troublesome as a tower shield if you weren't a defensive expert pilot?"

"I… see…"

"Let me continue with my explanation. What I have done this time is create a shield that contains different 'reagents' that can produce different effects when you act upon it with your willpower. Since you are a protector by heart, the results that you can produce with the help of Object 431 will always come in the form of a protective barrier. The reason why it exists is that I think you can do even more with it than you have already shown."

"In what way?" Jannzi asked.

Ves waved his hand at her new shield. "Try and do what you did before, but with spiritual energy from a different source than Qilanxo. You should be familiar with the Illustrious One. Try and find his energy from the 'prime batteries' that I have integrated into Object 431. It will be a lot harder for you to grasp because you never had any intersection with the Illustrious One's power in the past, but this is where your willpower plays a role. Use your strength to put this energy under your control. You are not cooperating with any living mechs or design spirits this time, so don't worry about anyone's feelings. You need to impose your will on your equipment."

Though his words were ridiculous to her, Venerable Jannzi seriously tried to follow his instructions.

It was much harder for her to produce a result this time. She had never directly worked with the Illustrious One and did not possess enough familiarity or compatibility with his spiritual energy.

Without the guidance of the design spirit, Jannzi had to figure out how to harness his energy by herself from scratch. This was both difficult and frustrating.

"I can't do it." She said as she became frustrated by her failed attempts. "It is as if I am trying to pick up a glass of water when my hand is coated with oil. I can vaguely feel the Illustrious One's energy, but I can't really 'grab' it like I did with Qilanxo's energy."

Ves did not look particularly surprised when he heard that. "Don't worry too much, Jannzi. There is a learning curve to harnessing every form of energy. This is why I created Object 431 instead of waiting until I completed the Dullahan Project. The Rainbow Shield that I have envisioned for your next expert mech will carry a full-sized version of this scaled down prototype. Once you begin to pilot your new expert pilot, you will still be unable to handle its new tower shield correctly because you don't know how to harness energy of different attributes. In order to test out the concept of the Rainbow Shield and give you time to practice and develop new techniques with it, I need you to figure out ways to make use of Object 431."

The woman listened to Ves but tried to concentrate her efforts into harnessing the Illustrious One's energy. She refused to let this hindrance get in her way!

Her stubbornness eventually enabled her to grasp a part of the energy donated by the Illustrious One. While her 'grip' wasn't as solid as she wished, she was reluctantly able to form a dim and shaky energy barrier over Object 431's surface!

"Is this… what you wanted to see?"

Ves grinned. "I knew you could do it, Jannzi. You are a demigod, and you have just taken your first proper step in leveraging your own strength by yourself. Let's see how effective your new barrier is, shall we? Since the Illustrious One is based on light, it is only fitting to make use of an energy weapon."

He turned back to his work bench and picked up a luminar crystal pistol that he had prepared in advance.

Before he could repeat his previous test, Jannzi lost her focus and caused the prime resonance barrier to disappear!

"Stop! Don't shoot me, Ves! This isn't safe, you know! That barrier I just made felt so weak that a flashlight could have broken it. I don't want to end up in the infirmary because you were too impatient to conduct a proper test!"

Ves looked disappointed but put down his energy firearm. "Fine. I suppose we can postpone this test for a few weeks in order to give you time to familiarize yourself with your new experimental shield."

"I don't want you to test the defenses of these dubious barriers."

"Don't underestimate your power, Jannzi. That barrier just now did not look that strong, but it should be much more effective against energy attacks than you think."

Venerable Jannzi narrowed her eyes in thought. "Is that one of the reasons why you came up with this Rainbow Shield of yours?"

"Partially." Ves smirked. "You haven't even tried to form a prime resonance barrier by drawing upon the energies from multiple sources. That is an even more advanced application of this concept. You're probably not ready for it, so for now you should try to do what you have done until you have thoroughly familiarized yourself with the energies of multiple design spirits."

That sounded like an enormous headache to Jannzi.

"Why should I spend so much time and effort on this, Ves? Can't you just develop a normal physical shield for expert mech?"

"I could, but then you would be missing out. Look, one of the rationales for the Rainbow Shield is that it should theoretically allow you to withstand the attacks of many different varieties of expert mechs and other enemy types. There are so many different dangers out there that one form of defense might not work as effectively as another form of defense. By giving you the capacity to leverage different energies to form custom prime resonance barriers according to the situation should allow you to defend all manner of unconventional threats. This has to do with the nature and the effects of different attributes."

"You're afraid." She accused him. "You did not put all of this effort into creating a tool that can help my expert mech block ordinary attacks. You're afraid of fighting against these unknown threats and their powers. You need me to shield you from the attacks from these exotic enemies. Am I correct?"

He did not bother to deny her accusation. "Not all of our enemies are normal."