The Mech Touch

Minutes passed as Ketis quietly basked in the birth of her living mind sword. Ves carefully observed her integration with the new living entity.

Ves had not injected it with too much of his spiritual energy, so its sentience and intelligence was incomparable to his design spirits.

It acted more like a puppy in the form of a sword more than anything else. It held no complex thoughts and was still very dependent on Ketis. The two were one in the same, mostly.

He was glad that the living spiritual construct embraced Ketis wholeheartedly. What little foreignness he injected into the mind sword did not cause it to forget where it originally came from. Ves had no doubt that something bad would happen if the living spiritual weapon was taken out of her mind!

The formation of this wondrous living spiritual construct had been an eye-opening experience to Ves. His understanding of life had progressed and he figured out a number of new promising applications.

As soon as he began another design session, Ves intended to see whether he could augment the triggered abilities of the Valkyrie Redeemer by making them alive!

It sounded ridiculous, and Ves had no idea whether it would work at all, but he really wanted to see what resulted from basing triggered abilities on actual living spiritual constructs!

While Ves began to fantasize about implanting abilities into his mech designs that could grow and adapt over the course of their existence, Ketis began to get a better grip on her young but eager mind sword.

She smiled brilliantly at Ves. "My sword intent has become alive! This is amazing, Ves! While I feel a bit disappointed at myself that I haven't been able to form her on my own, I would have never been able to form something so vivid and sharp on my own!"

Hardly any of her earlier discomfort remained. At this stage, she fully accepted the new addition to her mind. Likewise, the living mind sword fully embraced Ketis as her sole partner.

The only thing strange was that Ves didn't see anything about the mind sword that suggested that she was female.

Ves didn't bother too much with it. As long as this little quirk helped increase her compatibility with her mind sword, it should be fine.

An odd thought came to his mind. He chuckled a bit at its absurdity. "I guess I have finally fulfilled my promise of gifting you with a new pet! Congratulations!"

The mind sword was not quite a pet. She was actually a piece of Ketis that gained some independent life with his help. Ves actually didn't really know how to regard her existence. Living spiritual constructs differed from the design spirits he was familiar with, so he did not have a good grasp of what they were capable of at the moment.

Nonetheless, Ves did not believe that the mind sword would become a burden to Ketis. Already, he could see that her spiritual potential was slowly growing more vigorous. Her path to advancing to Journeyman just became a little smoother.

In fact, Ves had a suspicion that the formation of the mind sword might even trigger the process of forming a design seed right away!

That was actually an undesirable outcome to Ves. While Ketis was a fine Apprentice Mech Designer and knew a lot about mechs and swords, he did not believe she designed enough mechs to reach a sufficient degree of maturity with regards to her work.

Letting her advance to Journeyman while she was still in a relatively immature state would only doom her career later on! Only by climbing up through her own power would she be worthy to a higher rank.

As Ketis acclimatized to her new 'pet', she suddenly stood up and grabbed her sword from the stack of Breyer alloy bars. She lifted her greatsword over her head before concentrating her mind!

"What are you doing, Ketis?!"

"Look at this! My sword can cut all matter!"

A strong glow appeared along the entire length of the sword! Though it looked a bit wobbly and unstable, this was the first time she was able to apply her superpower onto such a huge weapon!

His vision seemed to freeze as Ketis unhesitantly swung down her sword! The glow around her CFA greatsword left a bright moon-shaped imprint as the sword parted straight through every single bar of Breyer alloy in the way without encountering any hindrance!

If not for her conscious control, her sword would have cut straight through the reinforced deck that isolated Compartment G-13 from the rest of the ship!

Ves looked wide-eyed at the result. While the CFA greatsword was already strong and sharp enough to cut through armor plating, in practice it was not that easy for her to cut through so many bars of second-grade alloy.

Yet with the help of her superpower that had been augmented by her living mind sword, she was able to cut straight through by relying on a phenomena that defied the natural laws!

If his suspicions were right, Ketis could even cut through the chest armor of a Bright Warrior with a single swing!

Ketis released a victorious war cry after cutting through so many bars! The strength she exuded was magnificent, and both her spiritual potential and her mind sword seemed to change and adjust after she had tested her own prowess!

Unfortunately, she couldn't repeat her trick again. Her mind sword looked exhausted after this exertion. It would be better for her if she stuck to her new cutlass for now.

Once her excitement finally faded a bit, she turned to Ves with a smile. "This is a fantastic gift, Ves! My sword intent is so sharp that I can study it for hours. I have formed so many new ideas."

"Well, before you get lost in them, aren't you forgetting something?"

"Uh, what?"

Ves smiled. "Since your new sword is now alive, she deserves a new name!"

"I forgot about that! Let me think.."

It took around thirty seconds for her to come up with a name.

"From now on, my sword intent is called Sharpie, the Grand Cutter!"

Ves felt like puking blood when he heard that name. He expected Ketis to call her living sword something grand and ostentatious like Excalibur or Durandal. If not, she at least should have been capable of giving her sword a dignified name.

He overlooked the fact that she grew up as an uncultured daughter of the frontier!

Though Ves wanted to suggest an alternative, he stopped when he saw that Ketis had become inordinately pleased at the name she bestowed on the new sword. Likewise, the newly-named Sharpie did not know any better and enthusiastically embraced his new designation!

"Forget it.." Ves sighed.

Names had power. For Ketis, it might not be bad for her to give her new sword a pet-like name. Her love, appreciation and intimacy towards Sharpie constantly grew. This was something that would only help Ketis bond even further with her living mind sword.

In order to make sure that Ketis did not suffer any wounds during the experiment, Ves brought her away from Compartment G-13 and handed her over to Dr. Ranya in order to perform a complete medical inspection.

"What's up with her?" The former Hexer frowned. She disliked getting pulled away from her research into the life-prolonging treatment serum. "She looks much.. happier than before."

"I can't really explain, doctor. Just make sure there isn't anything wrong in her body. Pay close attention to the state of her brain and head. If there are any anomalies, inform me right away."

"Okay, sir." Ranya skeptically replied. "So far, the preliminary scans haven't uncovered anything that deviates from her usual state. This is a good sign."

Ves nodded in satisfaction. "Since I'm here, I might as well check up on you. How are you these days?"

"I'm okay. While I'm not happy to be in the Nyxian Gap, some of the biological materials your fleet has plundered has given me a lot of interesting options."

"Oh?"

"Every different environment breeds a different form of life. While the Nyxian Gap is most famed for its endless, barren asteroids, even life can bloom in this strange region."

She directed him towards a lab machine that seemed to incubate some unusual-looking exoplants. The chamber was almost completely dark and cold. Ves couldn't immediately find out what provided the plant with the energy to grow.

"Strange, isn't it?" Dr. Ranya grinned. "These nameless plants are considered weeds by the Nyxian pirates. They are treasures to me, though. They are actually feeding on Kavenit to grow."

"Really?!"

Ves studied the soil and found out that it largely consisted of finely-ground Kavenit ore. The unknown plants seemed to derive almost all of their energy and all of their nutrients from this sole material.

This must be why the plants looked very stiff and rigid.

"So what is the use of this plant?"

"On its own, it's not that useful. It's when they are combined or altered that they become of use to us. It will take a lot of research, though. I don't have enough samples to start a big research project."

"Don't forget your primary responsibilities."

"I know. This is just a side activity."

He quizzed Ranya a bit further. While she hadn't made any major breakthroughs in her current research projects, she still figured a bit more useful insights about the high-grade life-prolonging treatment serum.

None of them immediately helped him, though. After he finished his questioning, he left Ranya to conduct her examination on Ketis and returned to his stateroom.

He sent a quick message through his comm before sitting down to wait. He played around with Lucky for a time.

"Meow."

Ves tossed his cat into the air in a spin. Lucky didn't look dizzy at all. Instead, his metallic frame seemed to drift up and down as if he was as light as a feather.

"You haven't produced a gem in months, Lucky. When are you going to pay your rent?"

"Meow!"

"C'mon! You ate so many valuable exotics from the pirate bases we've raided! Where is all of that going?!"

The argument lasted until his latest guest arrived. Ves stopped arguing with his cat and instead stood up to welcome the new arrival.

"Dietrich! It's good to see you again!"

"Hello, Ves."

Though the two hadn't been in touch very often, they were still friends.

Both of them soon sat down.

"So, I believe you'll be a part of the group that will pay a visit to Ulimo Citadel in disguise, right?"

Dietrich nodded. "Yup. I've already become familiar with the fake pirate outfit we've invented. I know many of the fellows who will be a part of this charade. We have had a lot of fun trying to plan out our disguise."

"That's good to hear." Ves was already aware of some of the details. "Let's get to the reasons why I called you here. First, I told you to bring your gear along so that I can upgrade them in person. How are you faring with my old stuff?"

"The Peaceful Repose is very powerful, though it doesn't quite fit me. The Sparous Vize possesses many functions that are too complicated for me. It's frankly a waste for me to wear such an advanced suit."

"I don't think so. Our Larkinson Clan already has better. Since you have some misgivings about your gear, I'll go ahead and make some additional modifications while I upgrade them. I'll automate some of the hacking and scanner functions."

"That will be very helpful. Thank you, Ves. I don't really deserve all of this attention from someone important like you. There must be better ways for you to spend your time."

Ves smiled and faintly shook his head. "I don't think so. While I am showing some favoritism, I don't give a damn. You're one of the few Larkinsons in the clan that doesn't look at me like I'm some sort of great figure or a superstar."

He shrugged in a nonchalant manner. "It helps that I've been in your chair, if only for a brief amount of time. Becoming the leader of an organization is a huge burden. The moment you became the clan patriarch is the moment you put yourself on top of other people. I figure you don't want to lose the few close relationsh.i.p.s you have."

He was right. Ves found it hard to make any new friends among the Larkinsons. He mostly clung to his existing circle. This was a bit shortsighted as the clan had absorbed many new talents and notable people.

"I'll pay more attention to this issue." Ves pledged.