The Mech Touch

Veronica was still in shock!

The cyborg cat incarnation couldn't believe that her mother actually encouraged him to leverage the power of the crown!

That was the opposite of what Veronica wanted!

She came here in order to neutralize the threat posed by the crown. She was even willing to throw the crown in the direction of the nearest star if that was what it took to get rid of its nefarious influence!

Veronica's priority lay in protecting herself as much as possible. She was not particularly greedy for power because she had a poor understanding of the power that could be derived from the crown.

Even though she thought that her mother was right that he could potentially derive a lot of benefits from the crown, doing so was playing with fire! The risks were way too high for her to gamble that she could keep its influence under control!

Cynthia possessed a different perspective. Her own understanding of the crown prompted her to devise a way to harness the power of the crown in a reasonable fashion. Whether that was possible or not, it was definitely clear that she thought it was worthwhile to make the attempt!

After Veronica calmed down for a bit, the cyborg cat looked up at her mother in concern.

"You know, parents are supposed to protect their kids, you know? I don't think it is proper for them to encourage their offspring to play around with a radioactive toy."

The powerful True God snorted again. "The crown is not radioactive, physically or metaphysically. As I have mentioned to you before, you are severely mischaracterizing the true nature of the crown. It is not your fault. You do not know the truth. I do. I understand its dangers, and that is why I have devised a plan for you to harness its potential without succumbing to its dangers."

"I don't think your plan is doing anything to reduce the danger coefficient!" The cyborg cat complained! "Your suggestion only amounts to tricking the crown into latching on to my incarnation instead! I don't know if you have noticed, but Vulcan is another aspect of myself! Anything that harms Vulcan will affect me in turn!"

"That is not entirely true." Cynthia shook her head. "Your concerns are very much valid if you are talking about a more direct incarnation as Blinky, but Vulcan is different. There is a much clearer separation between you and your dwarven alter ego. Theoretically, any negative side effects produced by the crown will only affect Vulcan, with only a low chance at spilling over to you and Blinky. So long as you take the right precautions, you should be able to handle any spillovers without too much cause for alarm."

That sounded way too iffy to Veronica. Her mother was making an awful lot of assumptions about the workings of the crowns and Vulcan's ability to keep all of the contamination to himself.

What if her mother was wrong? Cynthia might be incredibly well-versed in all matters related to cultivation, but how much did she truly know about the so-called Iron Resonant Crucifix Crown?

"What is the point of letting Vulcan wear the crown?" Veronica asked with clear skepticism in her tone. "I mean, my incarnation is already doing pretty decently. He is receiving a lot of spiritual feedback from a growing number of dwarves and craftsmen. He has been working to adapt and modify the Heart of Steel Mantra to better suit his needs."

"It is not enough." Cynthia shook her head. "It has been amusing to observe your incarnation playing around with forces that he does not truly comprehend, but now that you have found yourself in the possession of a dangerous crown, playtime is over. It is time for you to get more serious about the cultivation of your dwarven incarnation."

"VULCAN IS NOT A DWARF! He just looks like that sometimes because far too many dwarves imagine him as a god that matches their own image!"

"Whatever you say, my child. What I wanted to bring up to you is the fact that the Heart of Steel Mantra is not a good fit for Vulcan. Think, my child. What form of cultivation is associated with this method?"

Veronica briefly recalled the System description of the mantra.

[Heart of Steel Mantra Fruit]

Imparts a complete understanding of a mantra that allows its practitioners to form a Heart of Steel. The Heart of Steel's primary advantage is that it can gradually increase its holder's compatibility and affinity towards metal and anything related to this element. The mantra is also capable of strengthening the willpower, mental fortitude and resistance against all attacks. However, the practitioners of this method are also prone to weakening their empathy and compassion.

Those who practice this mantra to the fullest will turn into gods that are able to transform, manipulate and clad themselves with the hardest and most powerful metals. The Heart of Steel Mantra can only be fully practiced by humans that possess specific genes, a specialized mechanical heart implant, an affinity towards metal and have not practiced any other cultivation techniques. This enlightenment fruit allows an individual to ignore these conditions.

When Veronica first obtained this reward after drawing a radiant lottery ticket, she had been ecstatic. She mainly focused on how much it emphasized metal, making it especially suitable for Vulcan.

Now that Veronica had learned a lot more about cultivation science, she interpreted the Heart of Steel Mantra a lot differently than before. It was remarkable how much context could completely change her understanding of a cultivation method.

"The Heart of Steel Mantra is originally a body cultivation method." He said. "The System did something weird to it so that an entity without a physical body such as Vulcan can practice it as well. I suppose that it is a qi cultivation method now. Vulcan has already grown the Heart of Steel for a while now. It has helped a lot with harnessing the high-level metal energy that we managed to obtain in the past. It is difficult for my incarnation to make a lot of progress though, especially since he is actively trying to adapt and improve the method."

Cynthia looked down in disapproval, "just because the Heart of Steel Mantra is based on the metal element does not mean that it is suitable for Vulcan. It is a body cultivation method in intent and essence. No matter how many adjustments you make, as long as they are not extensive enough, they will not change this fundamental truth. The greatest shortcoming is that it does not contain any elements that play into his role as a god. The lack of deity cultivation is wasting your incarnation's potential."

Veronica looked helpless. "Vulcan can't give up on the Heart of Steel that has formed deep inside his intangible body. It is just too useful. The problem is that if the mantra changes too much, the Heart of Steel will regress. It might even collapse entirely if Vulcan goes too far!"

"It is okay." Her mother said as she began to stroke the cyborg cat's back once again. "It just so happens that the Heart of Steel Mantra can actually play a useful role this time. If you think about the original meaning of the mantra, you will know that it is designed to shield its practitioner against every possible threat, both physical and otherwise. The consequence of weakening the body cultivator's emotions is not a negative side effect. It is an intentional outcome. The goal is to make the practitioner much less susceptible to external influences. Those who develop a heart of steel are completely and utterly unshakable in the presence of gods and demons. They shall do their duty and execute their mission without any fear. Their morale can never be harmed. They make for the perfect royal guards or elite assault soldiers."

Veronica widened her eyes. Even though the Heart of Steel Mantra indeed contained a fair amount of references and allusions towards this purpose, she had overlooked this particular insight!

Now that her mother offered greater clarification, it became clear why the Heart of Steel Mantra was a poor fit for Vulcan.

The God of Dwarves, Mechs and Craftsmanship did not match the image of a steel-hearted fighter. Vulcan was not supposed to be a god that was obsessed with war or combat.

Veronica instead envisioned her external incarnation as a father figure of an entire people and industry.

Vulcan did not belong on the frontlines. He should feel more at home in a workshop or a throne room.

Various clues came together in Veronica's mind. She recalled her mother's earlier words. Cynthia's proposal no longer seemed as crazy as before.

It was actually rather brilliant!

Veronica looked back at the assorted translated notes of an ancient Divine Blacksmith.

"Let me get this straight. You want Vulcan to wear the Iron Resonant Crucifix Crown in order to borrow from its power. To do so, you want to adapt the writings of the Divine Blacksmith so that Vulcan can somehow resemble the ideal candidate of the crown a lot more."

"That is correct, but it will be a struggle to convert the notes into a cohesive and effective creation cultivation method." Cynthia said. "You will need my aid to make this happen. I can draw upon multiple different creation cultivation methods that are not subject to any restrictions. It will be difficult to adapt them to an incarnation that does not have a physical body and is unable to practice creation cultivation directly, but I have a number of potential solutions in mind."

"All of that sounds nice, but your only solution to mitigate the contamination of the crown is to rely on the emotion-dampening properties of the Heart of Steel to remain unmoved, is that right?"

The female True God nodded. "That is correct. We should preserve this quality as much as possible. It will be difficult to combine other forms of cultivation with the original Heart of Steel Mantra, but we must do it if we want to succeed in our effort to tame your new crown."

All of this sounded way too complicated for Veronica. Her own understanding of cultivation science was a lot more shallow. She was completely unable to conceive of a way to mash creation cultivation, deity cultivation, artifact cultivation and qi cultivation together into a specific package that could produce just the right effects!

While Cynthia had volunteered to do the heavy lifting this time, Veronica wasn't sure whether her work was reliable enough to make use of it. Was this plan worth all of the risks of playing with an ancient relic of unknown power?

Vulcan played an important role in her future plans. Veronica did not want her external incarnation to suffer any setbacks or get corrupted by a crown that not even a Star Designer could resist against!

Yet... when Ves thought back on the actions and decisions of the Xenotechnician, the Fist of Defiance and the Polymath, they all seemed unusually desperate for effective solutions.

Their urgency and desperation indicated that red humanity was under much greater threat than most people currently realized.

Coasting along didn't cut it anymore. People needed to grasp as much power as possible in a relatively short time frame. The only way to become strong enough to survive the tribulations of the future was to take a lot of risks!

Playing with the crown made a lot more sense in this context. Ves couldn't help but think that his mother might have a good point. Perhaps a time would come when he had a need for a powerful incarnation.

Veronica let out a sigh. "I am not too sure about this, but I am willing to explore the idea. Let's try and figure out an effective cultivation method first. I want to see it with my own eyes before I decide whether I should transfer the crown to Vulcan."

"You have made the right decision." Cynthia smiled with pride and satisfaction. "Let us begin. Do not expect instant results. This is a complicated task."

"I understand."