The Mech Touch

Ves watched and listened with great interest as the Superior Mother and the Destroyer of Worlds spoke about how to become a so-called God King.

His perspective and understanding of what True Gods needed to do in order to march towards the fourth major cultivation rank broadened with each passing minute!

Neither of the two older women held back any details from Ves as far as he was aware of. They openly explored Irene's cultivation and mentioned details that exposed her weak points and made her more vulnerable in battle if they leaked out in public.

Yet despite all of these concerns, the Rubarthan god pilot extended her full trust to Ves and his mother. It did not matter if they did not belong to the same camp. The Destroyer of Worlds regarded the Larkinsons as her friends and believed in their goodwill.

Ves felt honored by her willingness to extend so much trust to him and his mother. He doubted that anyone else in her life had received comparable treatment.

God pilots were not immune to criticism. They had become so powerful that each of their actions conveyed a lot of political significance. The big players carefully tracked each of their moves and constantly saw fault in any decision that did not fall in line with their core duties of fighting the enemies of the human race.

The mechers must be incredibly concerned about why the Destroyer of Worlds eagerly wanted to meet with Ves. It was unfortunate for them that Irene's god kingdom could easily defeat all of their attempts at eavesdropping on the conversation. It must frustrate them a lot to have no clues why such a powerful god pilot spontaneously met with a Senior Mech Designer!

"You have chosen wisely." The Superior Mother said as her elegant translucent body floated around the illusionary starship chamber. "The essence of a god pilot is already made clear by its label. The foundation of your strength is based around combining godhood with mech piloting. Deviating from this fundamental pattern by reducing the importance of your god will simplify your progression to the fourth major cultivation rank, but it will damage your foundation forever. I do not look down on those that have decided to transition into a different kind of god for expedient reasons, but it would be an enormous waste if you followed suit."

Irene wordlessly nodded.

The First Flame and maybe other god pilots had already shown a willingness to put less emphasis on their god mechs going forward. Whether it was because they truly sought to change into a different sort of divine entity or simply wanted to accelerate their progression at all cost, nobody could tell.

However, their valiant sacrifices relieved a lot of pressure for other god pilots such as Irene who still possessed the desire to keep her god mech relevant going forward.

[While it does not look like it at the moment, I am also the Ragnarok, a god mech that excels in heavy artillery.] The powerful god pilot said with the help of her synthetic voice generator. [At the same time, I am Irene Mox, a god pilot who has developed a strong domain based on the power of destruction. Finally, I am also Emma, a companion spirit that has become an E Energy True God in her own right. These are the three components that make up my core existence. I will not accept anything that will cause one or two of them to fall behind. All three must advance in unison in order to maintain my absolute strength relative to other True Gods.]

Most god pilots only comprised of two equal components. Irene was a clear outlier among the too or so other known god pilots. Ves wondered increasingly whether his decision to grant her a companion spirit had played a key role in her successful advancement to the third major cultivation rank.

He turned his head and carefully studied Emma. Though he did not dare to open up all of his spiritual senses for fear of getting blinded and injured by a god pilot's overwhelming power, he carefully studied the powerful spiritual entity that had taken the guise of a living explosion that just happened to match the contours of a feline.

"Huh."

Though Ves' examination was anything but thorough, he did not sense any potent willpower in her form.

He knew that Irene was able to infuse Emma with a lot of willpower in order to amplify the explosive potential of her attacks, but when the companion spirit was at rest, she came across as a pure True God-level spiritual entity.

Ves switched his gaze between Irene and Emma multiple times. He immediately speculated that the relationship between the two had turned into the inverse of the relationship between Ketis and Sharpie.

Irene was the willpower cultivator in her pairing, while Sharpie was the one that carried Ketis' extraordinary willpower!

It was fascinating that both of them had opted for different approaches. Neither of them had that much of a choice as their initial professions already defined the roles of their companion spirits.

Ves rubbed his hairless chin in thought as he wondered about the implications of these contrasting approaches.

"What is it, Ves?" The Superior Mother asked when she noticed his odd behavior.

"I have a question, Irene. When you went through the Mech Body Merger Process, did the existence of Emma increase your chances of making it through the end?"

The Destroyer of Worlds remained silent for a few seconds before she nodded.

[I hoped to discuss the utility of your companion spirits in a separate conversation, but now that you have raised this topic, you deserve to know the answer. At the time, I did not know what I was getting into at the time. None of my Rubarthan peers could give me any reliable guidance on this matter. I had to initiate the Mech Body Merger Process without knowing how my companion spirit affected the process.]

Both Ves and the Superior Mother listened with great interest at her retelling.

[Operation union is the easiest to achieve as long as a peak ace pilot has already been paired with the same mech for many years. I only received the Ragnarok 4 years ago. The original plan called for waiting at least a decade before starting the process, but I chose to start early because I was impatient and because I had a feeling that waiting longer would not make that much of a difference.]

"Were you right?"

[Maybe. I believe so. I did stumble with forming an operation union with my Ragnarok at first, but when I used Emma as an extra bridge, I managed to complete the first phase smoothly.]

Ves' eyes lit up. "So your companion spirit did play an integral part in your advancement process! According to your own experiences, you think that other god pilot candidates should be able to start the Mech Body Merger Process a lot sooner because their companion spirits can make up for the lack of accumulation over time, is that correct?"

Irene nodded. [We are always short on time. I know of peak ace pilots who do not have much confidence in their chances of surviving. They sought to increase their success rate by piloting the same mech over a span of 20, 50 or over too years. While that does help with breaking down barriers, the excessive wait will cause them to lose their courage, which is a much greater loss in my opinion. I personally believe it is better if they start the Mech Body Merger Process too soon rather than too late. In such situations, a companion spirit can provide crucial help in completing the first phase.]

This already made companion spirits worth it for ambitious mech pilots!

Unlike mech designers, it was always better if mech pilots advanced as young as possible. Their profession was inherently based on combat, so being younger and more hot-blooded was strongly correlated with faster progression.

[When I initiated the second phase, I found that the existence of Emma has made this process more complicated for me. Compared to the experiences shared by other god pilots, my attempt to establish domain field union became more difficult because I had to work with three different components of myself rather than two. I was lucky that Emma's domain was nearly identical to my own. If she developed in a different direction, then it would have become much harder to merge her domain with the rest.]

That caused Ves to lose a bit of excitement. He had no idea how difficult it was for mech pilots to complete the second phase, but it should not be a trivial step.

Companion spirits did not have to match the properties of their principals. They were free to develop other domains in order to increase their versatility and usefulness in different situations.

However, if divergent development caused mech pilots to experience much greater difficulties during the second phase of the Mech Body Merger Process, then Ves and the Red Association had to warn every mech pilot with a companion spirit to be careful about choosing this development strategy!

[After that, Emma made no difference during the third phase.] Irene continued to explain. [Corporeal union is a process where the pilot physically merges with the mech. It is a very mysterious process that can never be understood by others. When I completed the third phase, I turned into an unstable fusion that is made up of both energy and matter. That was when I initiated the final countdown. If I did not commence the fourth phase in a timely manner, I would have collapsed and died.]

That was an important detail that Ves had not learned before.

"What about the fourth and final phase?"

Irene's expression grew wistful as she recalled the difficulties she experienced during that time.

[I cannot say too much about it. Total union is the deadliest phase of all. To explain it in simple terms, I must throw away the vestiges of my mortality so that I can purify my willpower to the point where it can sustain my consciousness and my life. Only then can it perfectly combine with the powerful frame of my god mech. The part that is the most dangerous is when I am making the transition. I had to kill many parts of myself that are core to my life and existence. The more I throw these parts away, the more damage my soul sustains. Once it has reached its breaking point, I will essentially die unless my purified willpower can substitute for all of the parts that I have discarded. This is a difficult process because it is impossible for this to happen in normal cases. My willpower has to be strong and decisive enough to defy the rules of reality and essentially form a complete soul out of itself. If it was any slower, then it would have been too late for me to make it out alive.]

Ves looked amazed as the god pilot provided a first-hand description of the fourth and most mysterious phase.

He already learned or figured out the gist of what took place during this phase, but hearing the details made him more amazed at the few god pilots who succeeded.

"All god pilots are living miracles." The Superior Mother aptly said. "They are an impossibility. They cannot exist if the rules governing reality are absolute. Yet because they have cultivated their willpower to an extreme height, they have gained the power to reshape themselves into a stronger and more perfect existence, all without the need to borrow outside help."

"That does not mean that additional help is unwanted." Ves spoke. "The success rate of the Mech Body Merger Process is so abysmally low precisely because the fourth phase is so insanely difficult. Did the existence of Emma help in any fashion?"

[You can say that I owe my life to her.] Irene said as she gazed affectionately at her other self. [I have never told anyone about this because I previously thought my companion spirit was unique. When I tore apart my own soul and started to lose consciousness, Emma still remained fully cognizant. The fourth phase may be called total union, but it actually has little to do with my companion spirit. The only parts about her that got hurt was her connection to my soul. Aside from that, she remained fully conscious and able to act on her own accord. She prodded my willpower to take action sooner and she also made sure that other necessary procedures took place.]

This was a massive revelation. If other companion spirits could play the same role as Emma at the time, then that meant that many other peak ace pilots had a much better chance of surviving the infamous fourth phase!

Once they overcame this final hurdle, there was nothing stopping them from successfully advancing to the rank of god pilot!