The Mech Touch

Ves had witnessed examples in the past where two strong sources of willpower joined forces and combined their strengths.

The Embodiment of Love and Sacrifice piloted by Saint Sandro Gemini and Saint Kaia Gemini produced extremely impressive results during Operation Lighthouse.

The two ace mechs were not only able to merge physically with each other, but also seamlessly blended their Saint Kingdoms.

The result was an amalgamation that allowed the two junior ace pilots to exert much of the effective combat power of a senior ace pilot!

The synergy that Saint Sandro and Saint Kaia demonstrated at the time had made a powerful impact on Ves.

The Geminis successfully developed an approach where they could combine several weaker assets in order to produce results that they should not be able to pull off in theory!

The combination between the Embodiment of Love and the Embodiment of Sacrifice easily possessed the effective combat power of three ace mechs!

It was as if the Gemini Family obtained an entire ace mech for free!

Of course, this was a bit of an exaggeration. Saint Sandro and Saint Kaia had to endure additional strain and other burdens in order to maintain their merged state. They expended their resources a lot faster as well as they could not keep their heightened intensity for a long period of time.

"It's still a powerful advantage!"

Ves dreamt of replicating this powerful form of synergy.

The problem was that even if he managed to get his hands on a suitable dual cultivation method, he did not want to turn his Larkinson Clan into a mirror of the Gemini Family!

He would rather slit his throat than command the close relatives among his mech pilots to marry each other!

This was why he started to build up an expectation towards making a living mech develop willpower as well.

First he had to find out whether it was even possible.

Ves only had access to only a single instance of an entity other than a human developing extraordinary willpower.

Even then, he wasn't even sure whether she could be classified as a human due to the nature of her existence.

He met with Ketis in her own design lab. The swordmaster was in the middle of tinkering with the configuration of the Storm Sword Project when his arrival interrupted her work.

"What's up, Ves?"

"Can I take a look at Sharpie? I am currently engaged in research related to willpower, so I need to take a good look at your companion spirit in order to figure out how she is able to form her own force of will."

Ketis looked skeptical at his request, but she obliged anyway.

The Bloodsinger floated into her arms. She drew out her personal greatsword and called out her companion spirit.

"Sharp! Sharp! Heaven! Heaven!" A cute and squeaky voice called as Sharpie dove out of the impressive weapon!

Ves observed the Bloodsinger for a few minutes. He could not help but notice that Ketis had essentially engaged in a form of artifact cultivation all this time.

Her greatsword had undergone years of slight willpower baptism, causing it to grow stronger, sharper and more extraordinary.

Ever since the Age of Dawn had begun, Ketis had been able to accelerate the Bloodsinger's transformation by making use of a part of the ambient spiritual energy in the environment!

What interested Ves quite a bit was that the processes utilized by Ketis and her companion spirit did not appear to be as primitive and rudimentary as other self-developed cultivation methods.

It resembled a more mature and structural cultivation method developed by cultivation organizations with long inheritances!

Ves immediately formed a guess.

"Ketis... has traditional swordsmanship become a lot more powerful now that we are all bathing in the light of Messier 87?"

"Heaven! Heaven!" Sharpie enthusiastically nodded.

Ketis smirked. "You're not the only one here who has access to secret knowledge. While I don't have access to the best swordmasters or the extensive libraries located in the Heavensword Association, our fleet has recruited a lot of people from that state. They have learned a lot of old traditions that turned out to be surprisingly useful in this new age. We also have access to a modest virtual library that contains a lot of textbooks, some of which have been written so long ago that we don't know the exact dates. Their contents had never been taken seriously by the Heavensworders because it was all nonsense, but now that E energy radiation has become available, that is no longer the case."

She elaborated a bit on what the Heavensworders had discovered. Their sword styles and traditional methods had become a lot more effective now that their conditions have changed.

"Now that traditional swordsmanship has reconnected to exotic radiation, many ancient and traditional training methods and sword styles have gone through a revival. Our swordsmen and swordswomen are progressing faster than before, and it has also become a lot easier for them to execute extraordinary sword techniques."

"Have their chances of breaking through increased as well, Ketis?"

"I think so. I expect more swordmasters to arise from our ranks fairly soon." Ketis said with a touch of satisfaction. "They won't be able to make much of a difference in the battles that we are typically engaged in, but you never know. If any of them have the opportunity to become sword saints in the future, then their ability to fight against larger opponents will not be small."

There was no way that sword saints could defeat an ace mech.

Ves wasn't sure about other types of opponents.

"Can a sword saint defeat an expert mech?" He curiously asked.

"That is difficult to say." Ketis said in a more cautious tone. "It depends on a lot of different factors. They need a really good sword and possibly a suit of combat armor. I can take care of that, but even then I imagine it will be difficult for sword saints to defeat an expert mech, let alone catch up with one. The difference in scale and equipment means that sword saints can't possibly move as fast as a mech equipped with a transphasic flight system."

That was understandable. Even if a sword saint possessed the same quality of extraordinary willpower as an ace pilot, the difference in equipment made a huge difference!

If having a good sword and suit of combat armor produced an amplification factor of 10, then a good mech like the Mars produced an amplification factor of too or even 1000!

Perhaps there might be ways to enrich the loadout of a swordmaster and a sword saint to the point where they could put up a decent fight against mechs or warships, but what was the point?

A powerful enough mech could do the same job a lot more effectively!

Even Ketis, who had assumed the role of the patron of traditional swordsmanship in the Red Ocean, could not deny the relative weaknesses of her own warrior profession.

"I think it is still worthwhile for our clan to support and encourage the swordmasters that will emerge in the future." Ketis told him. "They only require a fraction of the resources and attention that we spend on our expert pilots. They can keep themselves busy and make themselves useful by themselves. The battles against alien fleets are giving them plenty of opportunities to test their mettle in real combat."

Ves dismissively waved his hand. "I don't mind that. I don't think that swordmasters are useless. They can serve as excellent bodyguards, especially in cases where it is not possible to bring any escort mechs along. If any of them are open to serving as honor guards for myself or other important clan figures, then they are free to apply."

"I will pass that on." Ketis smiled.

She supported any initiative that made swordmasters more useful and relevant to the clan. Despite all of the new dangers that Messier 87 introduced, she felt grateful for being able to experience this promising new age.

Their discussion soon turned back to the original topic.

Ketis had strong ideas about what Ves was trying to accomplish.

"I do not think that your premise has any chance of working." The swordmaster stated and jerked her head at Sharpie. "Look at her. Do you think she is human like myself or something else like a mech?"

"Heaven! Heaven?"

Ves peered closely at Sharpie. She used to look like a spiritual sword, but now turned into a miniature version of Ketis.

She exuded a strong force of will that possessed an unquestionably human flavor.

According to his own theories, companion spirits weren't necessarily separate life forms from their human principles. They were more akin to split personalities that received a major autonomy upgrade.

"I think... Sharpie is you." Ves told Ketis. "I don't think your companion spirit is complete if she doesn't have access to your memories, your knowledge and so on. She may be able to form her own thoughts and emotions, but that does not separate her completely from you. Her willpower is your willpower. That is why you are seamlessly able to harness it and leverage it despite already becoming a Journeyman Mech Designer."

"That's right. This is why I think your idea is unlikely to work. Look, I don't deny that your living mechs can become extremely clever and strong-willed. What I am saying is that they are not in a good position to push their willpower beyond the limit. Situations like that only arise when people who care a lot about stuff and have developed strong opinions are put under enormous pressure."

He started to understand where Ketis was going with this argument. "Are you saying that life quality is an important variable?"

She nodded. "It makes a lot of sense for humans who have lived for at least two or three decades to have plenty of reasons to yearn for greater strength and break through as a consequence. How old are our mechs? Most of them are only seven years or younger! They are like children compared to us! Even if they grow older, will they truly be able to develop the depth of life and the complexity of relationships to have something to fight for on their own? I'm not too sure about that. They just aren't as complete as humans in these areas."

"What if they borrow the help from their mech pilots?" Ves suggested. "What if they can leverage the extraordinary willpower of their pilots to facilitate their own breakthroughs?"

Ketis firmly shook her head. "That will never work. The strength of someone's willpower is a reflection of that person's desire to obtain the power to change his or her destiny. Putting too much stock in a partner is a sign of weakness. It is counterproductive to expect a living mech to produce strong willpower when it is depending so much on the pilot."

"Sharp! Sharp!" Her companion spirit echoed.

"I see. I think you are right. It is highly unlikely for living mechs to become willpower cultivators themselves." Ves regretfully concluded. "They are similar to clones in that sense. They can pass off as humans on the surface, but they possess severe deficiencies that make them inferior."

Ves had no choice but to drop this radical idea. It was too impractical to work under the present circumstances. He might have reason to revisit it if he had access to better resources and more extensive knowledge, but that sounded unlikely.

Just as he was about to say goodbye and leave, Ketis made one more suggestion.

"Wait, Ves." She called. "Have you ever thought about finding ways to leverage the companion spirits of our expert pilots?" "Hmm?"

She gripped the Bloodsinger again and sent Sharpie back inside.

The sword exuded a lot more power and sharpness now that it was reinforced by a companion spirit!

"Now that Venerable Dise and all of our other expert pilots have their own companion spirits, they have been looking into ways to make them useful in combat. The pilots have produced limited results, but I think they can do a lot better if they have a little more help from someone who knows what he is doing. Why don't you try and expand upon that instead?"

His eyes suddenly lit up. "You're right! Why didn't I think of that sooner?!"

He immediately thought of an iconic example of how a companion spirit could massively amplify the combat effectiveness of a mech.

The Destroyer of Worlds could not have become the most destructive god pilot without the help of Emma!