The Mech Touch

"Meowww…"

Lucky painfully meowed as he squirmed on top of the desk. His indigestion was still as bad as a few weeks ago. Something about the Unending alloy he had eaten still caused him lots of problems to this day.

Fortunately, most of his wounds had healed. His metallic tiger-striped body no longer bore any exposed and open sections.

Ves estimated that Lucky would need one more week at most to heal all of his external damage. Maybe at that time, his gem cat could devote most of his energy on boosting his digestion.

"Time is running out, Lucky. You better finish your business quickly in the next few weeks. If you haven't accomplished anything by that time, I'll stuff you with you some B-stone to see if that will help unclog your pipes."

"Meow! Meow.. meow!"

Lucky reacted with alarm when he heard the threat. His weak body flailed a bit. It was as if he desperately wanted to phase his body and run as far away as possible from his devilish owner!

"Hehehe.." Ves grinned as he patted Lucky's limp back. "Work hard if you don't want to eat a B-stone sandwich for lunch."

"Meow!..."

Ves ignored his distressed cat and began to plan his new round of experiments.

He successfully realized the battle network concept, though the outcome did not match his initial expectations.

He initially aimed to replicate the high cohesion and coordination enabled by Master Huron's basic neural networks. What he got was something different.

When Ves activated his desk terminal and studied the public footage of the famed Master Mech Designer's products in battle, he did not see anything special about the formations they adopted.

Certainly, the mech pilots connected to the neural networks were able to employ all manner of complicated formations, but none of them added any extra oomph to their mechs.

The Fridaymen mechs didn't radiate any unusual energy projections either.

"The two aren't the same. They're completely different concepts."

Aside from sharing some superficial aspects, battle formations worked on an entirely different paradigm. He couldn't keep looking at neural networks for answers. He had to explore his new invention from scratch and avoid making unfounded assumptions.

"How troublesome!"

That said, the power of his battle formations were evident, if a bit unrefined. They had barely scratched the surface of this new battle method.

Naturally, Ves did not intend to spread something so good to too many many people. For now, he intended to keep it firmly within the clan as a unique, competitive advantage.

"I'm not sure it's entirely safe or practical though." He muttered. "Only by employing them in an actual battle will I know for sure whether it is a boon rather than a bane."

One of the more worrying side effects of employing battle formations was that the mech pilots usually experienced substantial mental exhaustion at the end. This made activating them very risky in large and difficult battles.

"It's best to employ them close to the end of a battle, but will there be any mech pilots left alive at the end?"

Energy, alignment and mental strain each imposed restrictions to battle formations. While Ves believed he might be able to lift or alleviate some of these constraints, he didn't have the time to explore this research at the moment.

He needed to move on and set up at least two more battle networks for the Swordmaidens and the Battle Criers.

As for the Avatars.. Ves reluctantly shook his head.

The experiments he performed on the Penitent Sisters already proved his guess that the mech pilots connected to the battle network needed to be as uniform as possible. Their thoughts all had to be highly aligned in order to meet the conditions to engage a battle formation.

"My Avatars are too heterogeneous. Not enough time has passed to form a strong and established martial tradition."

This was a massive pity. The excellent training, superior aptitude and powerful LMC mechs of the Avatars all suggested that uniting them in a battle formation might produce extremely powerful results!

"Well, the Swordmaidens and the Battle Criers aren't that bad."

He expected much from the Swordmaidens. They may not be watched over by a powerful ancestral spirit like the Superior Mother, but they had their own rising hero in the form of Commander Dise.

When Ves began to refine his design for the Swordmaiden battle network, he wondered whether centering it around Commander Dise adversely affected the crucial expert candidate.

If his experiments inadvertently prevented her from experiencing apotheosis in the coming battle, then Ves would have lost far more than he gained!

"I can't go too far!"

He revisited the notes he scribbled in his implant and began to revise them based on the results he had obtained from his earlier experiments. Now that he knew much more about battle networks and battle formations, he intended to introduce a more refined and adapted version for the Swordmaidens.

"It has to center around Commander Dise, but it also needs another unifying factor!"

Ves was worried whether using Commander Dise as the center of his second battle network would be sufficient in aligning the thoughts of every Swordmaiden mech pilot.

Even if she advanced to expert pilot, the Swordmaidens weren't really the type to completely surrender themselves to someone else. They possessed an incomparably strong degree of pride in themselves.

He thought about Ketis and how she obsessed about Sharpie and her sword all the time.

"Maybe that is what I need to add to the battle network. A sword!"

When Ves created his first battle network, he chose to shape it as a crown for superficial reasons. He just wanted to create something that reinforced the Superior Mother's control over the mech pilots.

For his second battle network, Ves thought about using the greatswords that the Swordmaidens were fond of as a model for the living spiritual construct.

It would be like creating a second Sharpie in a different Swordmaiden's mind!

"This is going to be costly."

Back when he created Ketis' living mind sword, he sacrificed a tiny portion of life-prolonging treatment serum to form it. If Ves intended to do the same for Commander Dise, then he would have to use up another drop.

"What a painful price!"

There was no way he could avoid it if he wanted to go through with his plan. Still, thinking about the potential power that Dise and her mech pilots might be able to exert, Ves pushed aside his stinginess.

Why should he put so much effort into conserving the drops of serum in his possession? If he held back too much, the chances that his task force would lose the upcoming battle would definitely be greater!

There was another reason why he needed to invest more power into his second battle network. Comparatively, the Superior Mother was far stronger than Commander Dise.

Even if the Swordmaiden leader advanced to expert pilot, her actual spiritual strength would still pale in comparison with the upper echelon of design spirits. This meant that any battle formation the Swordmaidens evoked would definitely yield disappointing results!

Ves spent hours on refining the design of his next battle network. Unlike the more general battle network targeted to the Penitent Sisters, his second one was much more narrow in scope.

It single-mindedly sought to enhance any combat action related to swords!

How that actually worked out, Ves wasn't sure. He couldn't really predict whether his second battle network would also express its power in the form of a battle formation.

"Hopefully, it doesn't, but who knows."

Though he had covered up much of the spiritual traces of the first battle network by superimposing the energy silhouette with a technological projection, it wasn't a foolproof solution.

If he had to do the same for the Swordmaidens and every other group connected to battle networks, then the beneficiaries had to implement the same projections to every single mech they piloted!

"How troublesome!"

As Ves began to encounter an increasing amount of uncertainties in his battle network design, he became more and more unsure of what he was trying to accomplish.

Trying to design a battle network that could be entirely sustained by a mech pilot was very risky. He became increasingly more afraid of taking missteps that would ruin Commander Dise's chances of future advancement.

"I could use some help or at least a second opinion."

Should he summon Ketis?

"No. She knows quite a lot about swords and mechs, but she won't be able to answer any of my questions."

What about the primary recipient, Commander Dise?

"I will definitely have to take her input into account, but she's my client, not my helper."

He needed assistance from someone who was versed with spirituality. Out of all of the clansmen in the fleet, only one person possessed the qualifications to speak to him in detail about this subject.

His mouth curled into a frown.

The list of spiritually-knowledgeable experts was pathetically short.

In fact, other than himself, there was only one other name!

Though he wanted to find reasons not to meet with the bastard, Ves had no alternative.

He reluctantly invited James to shuttle over the Scarlet Rose in order to discuss something confidential.

The Living Prophet calmly entered Ves' stateroom while garbed in a pure white robe draped over his standard Larkinson uniform.

"Bright Martyr, it is good to see you again. I believe you have doubts."

Ves couldn't be bothered to express his annoyance at James' foresight. "Sit down and help me understand what I'm dealing with right now. I have many questions and I hope you can answer at least some of them before I lose my patience."

He began to provide brief explanations on battle networks and battle formations. He also provided James with some of his theories and assumptions related to his current research.

For his part, the clone looked quite intrigued. "Hmmm.. this is interesting. I have to admit that I have never touched something like this before. This is truly as new to you as it is to me. Back in my time, most battles were fought between titanic warships."

"Yes, yes, yes, you old git, you lived through the Age of Conquest, now can you actually tell me something useful?"

James raised his hand and pointed at a projection of Commander Dise. "You are underestimating her power."

"What?" Ves looked confused.

"Great mech pilots are capable of evoking and harnessing far greater power than you think. Do you know why?"

"They express their power through their will."

"That is correct, but do you know why? What is so special about infusing their will with power? What makes them different from those with power who aren't mech pilots such as you and Qilanxo?"

Ves blinked. He always wondered about this question but he never really researched it in depth.

"I don't really know, to be honest. If I had to make a guess, it is that mech pilots are specialists. They are different because they augment their power with their will."

James tutted and shook his head. "Your views on expert pilots and more impressive mech pilots are woefully shallow. Mech pilots like Jannzi Larkinson, Joshua Larkinson and so on are defined by their will. Tell me, where does will come from? What is the source of will?"

It took a moment for Ves to form his answer. "Will comes from the mind. Will comes from thought."

"Where does the power you regularly manipulate come from?"

Ves widened his eyes. "It comes from the same source!"

Both spiritual energy and willpower shared a common origin!

Seeing that Ves grasped this point, James lifted both his arms. "Suppose I'm trying to hold a sword."

He stretched out one hand. "If I hold it with my dominant arm, I can probably swing it with decent force."

The Living Prophet stretched out his other hand. "If I hold it with my weaker arm, I will probably struggle to launch a decent attack."

He then stretched out both hands at the same time. "If I hold the sword with both hands, I can probably exert much more force than before."

Ves looked astonished, but only for a moment. He quickly grew skeptical. "This is different. The power that we wield is strong and versatile. Will is formless and unable to affect reality on its own. They may share the same origin, but they're completely different in terms of strength!"

"Are you sure about that?" James grinned. "Is willpower truly powerless?"