The Mech Touch

Ves originally intended to head down to his workshop, but he changed his mind and detoured to the nearest mech stables.

He examined a few of the Transcendent Punishers that were assigned to function as bunker mechs in combat scenarios.

These Transcendent Punishers were all relatively old and had been upgraded to the Mark II version of their design in the last few years.

Although they were still far from becoming third order living mechs, these heavy stalwarts developed just enough to acquire greater autonomy and develop more defined personalities.

On their own, the Transcendent Punishers were not doing anything special. Most living mechs did not have a lot of distractions when they were not being actively piloted.

The only ones that received additional privileges were third order living mechs. They not only kept in touch with each other through the MSTS and other channels, but could also interact more directly with the Larkinsons by remotely controlling their own cat avatars.

Anyway, Ves wanted to see whether the living heavy artillery mechs had begun to interact with E energy radiation in new and interesting ways.

"Hm, nothing."

Ves did not observe anything different up to this point. The Transcendent Punishers were slowly and passively absorbing the traces of energies that aligned with Ylvaine.

The design spirit did not play an active role in this process, but the presence of his glow made it a lot easier for the living mechs to filter out and absorb compatible elements.

"Interesting."

This was the extent of their interaction with the environment. Ves became slightly disappointed that his living mechs had not yet learned any other tricks, but perhaps he was examining the wrong machines.

"I need to visit a more powerful living mech."

Ves left the current compartment and moved to another one which currently held one of the oldest and special living mechs that he had created over the years.

Ever since he updated the Quint by applying a combination of both common and custom Ascension Paths to the living mech based on his own self-evolved capabilities, he became a lot easier to quantify his progress.

Compared to the Phobos that only attained 2 Ascension Runes due to the special circumstances of his creation, the Quint boasted 7 Ascension Runes!

These Runes fell under two Ascension Paths.

The Path of the Larkinson was the common Ascension Path that Ves had designed for the Golden Cat.

As the name suggested, this Path centered completely around improving and augmenting the mech's connection to the Golden Cat and the Larkinson Clan.

It might not be the most powerful or flashy Ascension Path, but it granted the Quint a better ability to track every Larkinson and increased his ability to resonate with a Larkinson mech pilot.

The second Ascension Path was based on the Quint's second identity as a design spirit, though he was relatively underutilized in this capacity.

The seven Ascension Runes corresponding to the Path of the Machine Mentor did not necessarily grant the Quint any new abilities, but they systematically solidified and strengthened his own improvised and evolved capabilities.

For example, the Path enabled the Quint to form a much stronger man-machine connection with his mech pilot, allowed the living mech to display the copied memories of his past pilots into the mind of his current one and enable him to override the pilot and take direct control for a short amount of time no matter the circumstances.

Each of these Ascension Runes substantially improved and empowered the Quint in his current roles.

Ves could confidently state that there was no other living mech like his living masterwork mech in existence.

Even if Ves attempted to design and create a combat-ready training mech, he would never be able to produce one as spiritually strong and developed as the Quint!

This was the greatest disadvantage of his design philosophy. His living products could grow into formidable machines that could demonstrate strength and capabilities far beyond what he should be able to output at his current rank, but it took way too much time and nourishment to grow into another Quint, especially if the new machine started off as a second order living mech!

What this meant was that Ves could replicate or mass produce mechs that were similar to the current Quint.

He would truly hate it if the Quint ever befell an accident and died. The loss to the Larkinson Clan would be incalculable even if the living mech was somehow able to transition into a pure design spirit like Qilanxo had once accomplished.

"Hello, Quint."

The three eyes of the highly modified Bright Warrior mech flashed to life. "PROGENITOR. YOU USUALLY DO NOT BOTHER TO VISIT ME. THERE ARE MANY OTHER STRONGER AND MORE EXCITING LIVING MECHS FOR YOU TO PLAY WITH. SHOULDN'T YOU BE VISITING THE BASTION OR THE PHOBOS?"

"I could, but they aren't as old and as developed as you." Ves spoke to his creation. "I need your help with research that has a high influence on the power of my future mech designs. If my experiments with you produce the outcomes that I desire, then I will be able to truly turn my new mech ecosystem into a strong advantage for our clan!"

That stirred the Quint's interest. The living mech cared just as much about the Larkinson Clan considering that his identity was defined by it from the start.

"WHAT IS IT THAT YOU REQUIRE?"

"I am sure you have heard all about exotic radiation." Ves said. "E energy radiation is the spiritual energy that is constantly leaking from M87 and being spread into the surrounding galactic environment. Considering that living mechs such as yourselves are at least partially energy-based life forms, you should have been able to absorb a part of the spiritual energy that is floating nearby, correct?"

"THAT IS TRUE, BUT THERE IS NOT THAT MUCH IN THE ENVIRONMENT THAT IS ACTUALLY USEFUL TO ME." The Quint responded. "THE GOLDEN CAT IS IN THE SAME POSITION. WE STILL RELY ON OUR OLD METHODS TO GROW AND DEVELOP OURSELVES. WE PREFER IT THAT WAY, ACTUALLY. WE LIVE AND DIE BY THE LARKINSON CLAN."

Ves felt touched by the Quint's commitment, but that did not help his current purpose.

"I need you to try and actively absorb the stuff in the air that you can take in. You don't need to integrate all of the ambient spiritual energy into your spiritual foundation. It is already enough if you circulate it inside of yourself."

"HOW?"

"Uh, that's what I am attempting to figure out. Let's work together."

Ves essentially tried to teach the Quint the methods that Mana naturally employed without much thought.

Though the circumstances were drastically different, the Quint possessed a strong spirit and was quite clever compared to other living mechs.

Soon enough, the living mech began to absorb and circulate compatible ambient spiritual energy inside himself.

The attraction force drew in more spiritual energy with attributes related to kinship in the immediate surroundings.

"Don't limit yourself to sucking in the ambient spiritual energy." Ves told the living mech. "That will only stuff you to the point where you will erupt. Try and gently disperse the ambient energies back into the environment, preferably after it has circulated inside you for a time. If my guess is right, this will allow you to extend your presence and awareness in your immediate area."

The Quint did as instructed. He no longer acted like a weak vacuum for spiritual energy, but released his internal pressure by slowly throwing out what he had absorbed.

It was like the living mech was farting out the excess energies, but he was doing it all around his physical form.

"THIS FEELS MORE COMFORTABLE."

When the ambient spiritual energy came into contact with the Quint for a time, it changed in subtle ways as it went back outside.

This eventually caused the Quint to gain extra awareness.

"Can you feel your connection to the environment growing stronger?"

"I... UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN. THIS IS... NEW. IT IS SIMILAR TO THOSE DOMAINS THAT MAKE ACE MECHS SO STRONG, BUT IT IS MUCH... WEAKER."

If a genuine Saint Kingdom was like a first-rate superstate, then the rudimentary domain generated by the Quint was comparable to a small and pathetic fourth-rate 'state'!

Several minutes passed by as the Quint adjusted his technique and slowly improved the way he interacted with the environment.

One of the factors that affected the Quint's ability to harmonize with his immediate surroundings was how long the absorbed spiritual energy circulated inside the living mech and how strongly he imprinted himself on it. The foreign energy also imposed a certain burden to the spiritual foundation, which meant that there was an element of risk involved.

However, the Quint only stuck to a rudimentary circulation pattern that was not comparable to that of Mana. The results were not impressive, but the advantage was that the process was a lot more foolproof.

It took a bit of time for the Quint to alter the immediate area around his form to the extent that he was finally able to exert greater control in this limited sphere!

"NOW WHAT?"

"Hm. Let me think for a second." Ves said.

He pulled out his small Hammer of Melody from his toolbelt and gently placed it onto the deck right in front of the massive feet of the Quint.

"Don't move your physical frame. Stay still. Use your control over the environment to push this little hammer in my direction. Can you do that, Quint?"

"I... WILL TRY."

Ten minutes passed by as the Quint fumbled around. Unlike Mana whose eyes activated with an inherent ability derived from the Illustrious One, the living masterwork mech had to start from scratch because this did not fall within his existing purpose or functions.

Despite all of the failures, Ves remained patient and continued to stand in place as he continued to observe the Quint with his spiritual senses.

The third order living mech demonstrated his capacity for thought, intelligence and problem solving as he methodically ruled out steps that did not work and explored the ones that showed slightly more positive reactions.

Through trial and error, the Quint slowly managed to find a way to strengthen his awareness in the space in front of him and somehow stir the energies there to act according to his intentions.

The Hammer of Melody shook a bit before it shifted less than a single millimeter away from the Quint.

Now that the living mech found the correct method, he immediately sought to optimize and expand upon it further!

The ambient spiritual energy around the older masterwork mech spun in a stronger vortex as he sought to leverage more energy and generate a stronger physical push!

Skrrrt!

The hammer made a scratching noise as it slowly and jerkily began to drag across the deck!

An invisible hand kept pushing it forward and forward until it finally bumped onto the tip of Ves' mechanical left foot!

Ting!

"That's enough." Ves spoke as he bent down and retrieved the Hammer of Melody. "Good job, Quint. You have shown exactly what I wanted to see. The data that I have gathered from this little session is extremely useful to me. I will be conducting follow-up research based on what you have demonstrated. In the meantime, I suggest you continue to play around with the ambient spiritual energy."

The Quint expressed obvious doubt and skepticism. "IS THIS TRULY USEFUL? I AM ALREADY EXHAUSTED AFTER TRYING TO PUSH A SMALL OBJECT A SHORT DISTANCE ACROSS THE DECK. I SEE NO DISCERNABLE COMBAT APPLICATION FOR THIS TRICK."

"That's because this is just the beginning." Ves smirked. "The biggest shortcoming is that nothing about you is designed to interact with E energy radiation. This will undoubtedly change once I design the right parts and apply the right modifications to your mech frame and spiritual foundation. I need to conduct further research, but I can already tell you that if I am able to succeed, living mechs such as yourself will acquire a much greater meaning in the future."