The Mech Touch

After Ves deconstructed the paths of a mech pilot and a mech designer with the help of the teachings of his mother, he felt as if he had fully pierced the truth of these two professions.

He no longer held as many doubts and uncertainties towards these two special cultivation methods as before.

The fog had lifted!

Ves had the illusion that he had stepped outside of the box of mechs and taken a good look at it from the perspective of an outside observer.

This provided him with many benefits. He not only understood a lot better what it took for mech pilots and mech designers to advance up the ranks, but he could also devise more specific solutions that could substantially promote their growth!

He already had a powerful tool in his arsenal.

"Mother?"

"Yes, baby?"

The cyborg cat's expression twitched when his mother referred to him as a baby. He was already a father himself! Just because he was currently occupying the form of a diminutive cat didn't mean he had regressed into a child!

"Ahem, I would like to ask how my companion spirits tie into this picture. From what I have observed, my companion spirits have somehow become Just enough separated from their principles that they can easily follow other cultivation paths without too many restrictions. I mean, Ketis has somehow managed to become a swordmaster and a Journeyman Mech Designer at the same time. I am pretty sure that is supposed to happen under normal circumstances."

His mother directed a proud expression at the cyborg cat.

"While I do not entirely approve of your decision to conduct a dangerous procedure on yourself and others, I cannot deny your results. You have truly created a new and wonderful means to engage in multiple cultivation methods at the same time, including ones that ordinarily conflict with each other. The companion spirits that you are able to make are also much more talented in most forms of cultivation due to their immaterial forms. The Five Scrolls Compact would literally allow every other human to master the secrets of your companion spirits. Compared to ordinary organisms, companion spirits share a closer resemblance to True Gods, so they will experience fewer barriers in cultivation as they can mitigate the lack of talent."

"There's more to them than that." Veronica spoke. "Back in the Red Ocean, I have noticed that every design spirit and companion spirit is inherently able to absorb and draw strength from the power of heaven and earth. They are all natural cultivators, am I correct? They don't need to learn or Invent any specific cultivation methods. They can just grow stronger by following their natural instincts."

Cynthia frowned a bit. "That is... somewhat correct. I do not understand the nature of your created spirits too well. Remember what I have told you. Natural cultivation is convenient to those who have access to it, but it is rarely the best, strongest or most effective means to become a True God. My personal prediction is that it may be easy for companion spirits to grow stronger by relying solely on natural cultivation, it will also provide the least benefits and may not give them much hope of breaking past more challenging bottlenecks. It is always better for natural cultivators to take fate in their own hands and practice a more structural and better-designed cultivation method."

Veronica agreed with this sentiment. Nothing came for free. The good stuff always demanded a greater price.

"1 will take that into account when I work on my own plans."

Cynthia leaned back and relaxed her posture. She looked satisfied now that she had imparted Ves with a clear understanding of the high-level processes of cultivation.

"Since you are interested in helping your creations grow stronger by themselves through cultivation, I believe you may benefit from taking a look at existing examples. I can share a selection of different cultivation methods to you. Their quality may be mixed, but they are highly reliable and have proven their effectiveness for many generations."

She waved her glowing arms, causing the air in front of her to stir and shake.

The silvery cat sitting close by widened her eyes as she saw entire paper scrolls and books materialize into existence!

This was an actual conversion of energy to matter without the use of any sophisticated technological products!

Materialization may be an impossible feat to Ves, but it was a common ability for every True God!

Once she created the scrolls and tomes out of thin air, Cynthia gently waved her hand, causing her brand-new creations to drop in front of the avatar of her son.

"Feel free to examine these texts."

The cyborg cat immediately pounced. As soon as she unrolled the first scroll, she quickly attempted to read, only to encounter a major problem right away.

"Uh, mom?"

"Yes, my child?"

"What the hell is this language? Why does this alphabet look so alien? I can't read any of this stuff!"

"Ah, I forgot. Let me correct that for you." Cynthia waved her hand and magically caused the foreign texts to change into standard human language. "Do note that it is highly Inadvisable for anyone to practice these cultivation methods. Translations can never perfectly convey the original context and meaning of different languages, especially when there is an enormous separation of time and place. Many cultivation methods are also adapted to specific environments, so the examples I have given to you are unlikely to work as well in Messier 87. The power of heaven and earth over there is shaped by the galaxy's unique circumstances, so it is much more foreign and alien than what used to be the case in the Milky Way."

These were serious warnings and immediately doused any thoughts about making his clansmen practice any of these ancient cultivation methods.

Just like how the mechs designed 200 years ago would never be able to compete against modern machines, the methods contained within the created scrolls and books should be treated as historical antiques!

They only held research value to Ves. He may not be able to use any of these methods directly, but he could learn from their approaches and design his own ones!

That was clearly his mother's intention when she created these texts out of thin air.

Minutes passed by as Ves quickly skimmed through all of the texts at a rapid speed. His learning and data processing capabilities were extremely high, so he had no problem keeping up despite flipping through papers so quickly.

The cyborg cat's expression grew odder and odder. The concepts, methods and other demands mentioned in these texts evoked strong reactions from her. The sheer amount of superstitions and silly beliefs contained in these cultivation methods drove her to madness!

"I see now why you hold them in so much contempt." Veronica spoke. "Many of these cultivation methods either respect heaven as the ultimate authority or try to defy its restrictions at any cost. There are some cultivation methods that try to do both at the same time!"

Heaven played such an enormous role for many cultivation methods from many eras that all of those delusional cultivators likely created and strengthened an abstract god of their own making!

Ves briefly recalled getting in touch with the living consciousness of both the Milky Way and the Red Ocean during an odd mental trip.

Had both of these galaxies become alive after being used as stand-ins for the abstract concept of 'heaven'?

His mother could obviously explain a lot more about this subject, but she chose to smile and remain silent.

"I don't fully understand why these cultivators have to make their artistic conceptions so complicated." He said. "One of them speaks about creating an entirely new universe inside your own body. From creating a body of space to forming stellar objects such as planets and stars, how much effort and resources is needed to form an entire star system?"

"This is one of the strongest cultivation methods that I have shared with you." Cynthia responded. "Think about what it means to have the power of a galaxy at your disposal. Not only can you launch a physical attack with the combined mass of all of those heavy masses, you can also fuel your own cultivation and abilities with the energy produced by your own personal star."

That... actually sounded a bit clever. If not for the fact that this cultivation method demanded an Insane amount of resources in order to progress, Ves would have felt tempted to experiment with it himself!

"What's this about building a purple palace?" Veronica asked as her metallic paw tapped an unrolled scroll. "Why do you need to build a palace in your mind step by step and also worry about how many pillars are cracked and so on. Can't you just fix them up if they get damaged?"

"The construction of a purple palace is a cultivation tool that can structurally enable a practitioner to upgrade the quality of his ql. It is not necessary to visualize a palace, but this particular model has proven to work much better than others for historical reasons. The cracking of the pillars is a visual representation of the flawed and Imperfect results of the upgrade progress. Upgrading your own life state and ql quality so that you more closely resemble a True God is one of the greatest difficulties of qi cultivation. Unlike natural cultivation where it may be possible for a gifted being to evolve into a True God in a single leap, qi cultivation can only progress through steps. It is also why mech pilots and mech designers must advance through several ranks."

The notion that a standard mech pilot could transform into a god pilot in a single transition sounded incredibly absurd to Ves!

The same went for a Novice Mech Designer directly turning into a Star Designer!

There were way too many requirements to reach these True God ranks that beginners had to go through a long process of evolution and strengthening before they could become remotely qualified to make the last and ultimate leap!

Understanding that granted Ves a better perspective of all of the crazy and imaginative stages described in the ancient cultivation methods.

"Growing dao fruits... why are you not allowed to eat them? Forming nascent souls... isn't that just a more primitive and distorted variety of a companion spirit? Walt, harvesting the souls of millions of people in order to force a qualitative transformation through excess quantitative accumulation? The practitioners of these bloodthirsty methods must have all turned into genocidal killers! Walt... worship the Heavenly Emperor in order to receive his blessing that can unlock further breakthroughs... isn't this Just a disguised form of deity cultivation? What a scam!"

If Ves read through all of these texts without his mother's clear explanations, then he would have definitely taken them all at face value. He might even force his clansmen or their design spirits to practice these heavily flawed methods without demanding any changes!

Yet now that Cynthia had opened his eyes, it had become impossible for Ves to have any confidence in their safety and effectiveness!

"Compared to other cultivators who cannot see the forest for the trees, you are in a much better position. I have taught you the purpose and the process of cultivation. I have explained the fundamental need for any method to draw power from an energy source. I have given you multiple different classifications of cultivation approaches that you can combine to produce superior results. I have even shown you examples of old but authentic cultivation methods that have worked in the past. You should have all of the building blocks you need to proceed on your own. You do not require any further assistance in your current research."

His mother was right. While Cynthia clearly possessed a lot more secrets, it was not necessary for her to give him any more tutelage.

He was a Senior Mech Designer. He excelled at learning limited amounts of knowledge and applying what he knew to create fantastic works!

His grasp over spiritual engineering had Improved by such an enormous leap today that he couldn't wait to Invent brand-new cultivation methods for all of his living products!

Before he left his mother alone, he asked one more question.

"You mentioned at the start that you would give me a gift. Where is it, mother?"

"Ah. Of course. Here you go, my child."

One more scroll materialized before Veronica. This one looked fancier and more luxurious than the other ones. It signified that Cynthia considered the texts contained within to be a lot more valuable than the other ones!

As the cyborg cat slowly used her feline body to unroll the scroll, he quickly noticed the enormous differences!

"Did you... create this cultivation method... for me?" She asked.

"I did. I cannot help but notice that your Blinky is not using his abilities to the utmost." The Oblivion Empress said with a loving smile. "If you wish to retain your leadership and keep your strengthening subordinates under your control, it is best if you can improve your strength more quickly. This cultivation method that I have created for you makes use of simple but reliable cultivation techniques to upgrade Bllnky's devouring ability until he can match or surpass the capabilities of the entity you call the Unending One. When practiced to the end, your companion spirit can become a god that devour and break down every form of qi. You can treat all of the power of heaven and earth as your food!"

That certainly sounded incredibly Impressive!

However, Ves already rejected the cultivation method created by his mother. Not only did it neglect the other qualities of his companion spirit such as his crucial design network, it also came with an even greater fatal flaw!

The central artistic conception used to form the basis of this qi cultivation method was the Unending One!

What this meant was that this method ultimately demanded Blinky to change from his current cute cat form into a giant tentacled whale monstrosity!

This was an intolerable demand to cat lover like Ves!