The Mech Touch

It took over half an hour for the Destroyer of Worlds to rein in her overflowing willpower to a degree that was acceptable.

Her presence had become a lot less overbearing, but that did not mean she had lost any of her strength.

Irene's current state gave Ves the illusion that she had turned herself into a giant bomb. She has compressed nearly all of her destructive potential in a tight shell.

Once she detonated her warhead, Ves had no doubt that the explosion would be powerful enough to wipe him out without exception!

He even had the faint idea that her destructive power had gained such powerful transcendent characteristics that she may even be able to kill his incarnations!

This was an incredibly scary prospect, and one that frightened him to his wits!

Even though it sounded too outlandish to be true, Ves did not dare to doubt the warning issued by his intuition. No god pilot should ever be underestimated. Their highly developed willpower possessed the capability to rewrite reality and turn impossibilities into mundane everyday occurrences.

Ves was incredibly lucky that his first encounter with a god pilot was with a friendly one. The Destroyer of Worlds clearly harbored a lot of goodwill towards him. There was little chance that she would employ her formidable power against him, especially now that she needed help.

However, it was best if Ves avoided any further contact with god pilots. No matter whether they were friendly, neutral or hostile, each of them had the potential to render him and his incarnations at their mercy!

[I am ready.] A female but clearly synthetic voice sounded in the illusionary starship chamber. [You should be able to invite your mother over. Make sure to proceed slowly so that I can prevent my power from lashing out against her approach.]

Ves snapped out of his thoughts and briefly scanned his surroundings. Irene's god kingdom had become a lot more subdued. It even conveyed a sense of opening as if the god pilot had made the difficult decision to open the gates of her impregnable castle.

She easily managed to solve the communication problem as well. As a god pilot, her voice was embedded with her willpower, thereby turning it into a weapon unto itself.

Using an artificial tool such as a simple synthetic voice generator was enough to separate most of her willpower from her words, especially if the fabricated voice profile diverged from her own native voice.

There was still a powerful undercurrent behind her words, but at least they did not hammer Ves' mind as much as before.

After confirming that everything was in order, Ves tried to induce the Superior Mother to manifest in this secure chamber.

It was not easy. Even though Veronica had warned Cynthia in advance, the incarnation of his mother had to enter the belly of one of the most threatening predators to existences such as herself!

Slowly but surely, a fainter and highly subdued energy manifestation of a robed Hexer deity appeared next to Ves.

The translucent image flickered many times as the 'interference' of Irene's god kingdom made it much more challenging to maintain a stable connection.

"Meow!" Lucky greeted the latest arrival.

Soon, the Superior Mother that undoubtedly served as an extension of the Lady of the Night had completed her strenuous descent.

The matronly woman did not exactly look pleased to meet with the infamous Destroyer of Worlds.

"I would not have come here if my son was absent." The Superior Mother spoke in a dignified tone that made it clear she did not intend to submit to the god pilot. "Are you truly a friend to him as you have claimed?"

Irene stood up and faced the Superior Mother with utmost seriousness.

[I do. He has saved my life and led me down this path. I would not be here if not for his intervention. I can tell you that I am always willing to repay the heavy favors that he has bestowed to me. As long as he has not done anything outrageous enough that violates my bottom line, he can always come to me and count on my protection against any enemy, no matter whether they are humans or aliens. I believe I can safeguard his life much better than you in this dwarf galaxy.]

Ves widened his eyes!

He already figured out that the Destroyer of Worlds would reciprocate the help that she received, but this was a massive benefit that just happened to resolve many of his concerns!

If he was able to shelter under the god pilot, Ves did not have to fear any assassination attempts by powerful parties looking to claim his bounty and turn into a powerful greater phase lord.

If the outcome of the Red War ever resulted in a total human defeat, then the vast majority of people would not be able to escape the relentless massacres of the vengeful native aliens.

The only red humans that had the highest chance of surviving this galaxy-wide manhunt were the god pilots that had managed to survive the war.

Even if red humans had been reduced to interstellar rats at this time, Ves wouldn't care so much about that as long as he could rely on the Destroyer of Worlds to guarantee his continued survival!

In fact, Ves did not have to wait until one of these scenarios came true in order to take advantage of her protection. He could already use her promise as a deterrence against any other would-be assassins and enemies that sought to succeed where Master Quan had failed!

Dozens of seconds passed as neither woman spoke any further.

Ves did not sense any exchange of words, but the Destroyer of Worlds and the Superior Mother somehow came to an accord given the subtle changes in expression.

The tension in the air noticeably eased as the two powerful women acted as if they were friendly neighbors.

Their quick resolution shouldn't be too surprising. The two True Gods might originally have reasons to be hostile against each other, but all of this history had been rendered meaningless in the Age of Dawn.

The more pressing were the aliens rather than fellow humans. The Rubarthan god pilot and the former member of the Five Scrolls Compact had every reason to set aside old complications and join forces to deal with common threats.

Cynthia also believed in Irene's willingness to protect Ves when necessary. That alone was enough to temper any hostility.

"1 understand your situation." The energy manifestation of the Superior Mother assumed a more confident and assertive posture. "It is impressive for a mech pilot to reach the third major rank of cultivation. The Progenitors of Mechs have managed to produce a brilliant blueprint that has led to the rise of numerous god pilots whose combat power is unmatched by any other True God in the modern era. Yet even they do not have a clue of how god pilots should proceed as they are ultimately in the third rank themselves. Creating a brand-new promotion path that can lead straight to the fourth major rank is not within their realm of competence as they do not even understand what it means."

That did not surprise the Destroyer of Worlds. She even grew a little more reassured when Cynthia made it clear that she possessed a certain degree of understanding in these high-level secrets.

Ves also possessed a bit of understanding of the major cultivation ranks.

There were so many different cultivation methods and cultivation approaches that they could lead to many diverse divisions in cultivation stages.

That made comparing them to each other difficult as the second stage of one cultivation method could easily overpower the seventh stage of another cultivation method!

However, his mother had already taught him a way to normalize these stages according to their common characteristics.

The zeroth major cultivation rank corresponded to mortals or initiates. They encompassed a wide variety of weaklings such as ordinary people, Apprentice Mech Designers and expert candidates.

The first major cultivation rank was where people truly got started. Once they surpassed the extraordinary threshold, they became foundation builders who possessed a measure of transcendent power. They could range from Journeyman Mech Designers, expert pilots and swordmasters.

The second major cultivation rank could be regarded as domain shapers. Any cultivator that reached this height had developed an actual domain that granted them a great deal of control over a concept, rule or artistic conception. The domain shapers that Ves was familiar with were Master Mech Designers, ace pilots and sword saints.

The third major cultivation rank was the biggest threshold for almost every cultivator. This was the rank that corresponded to True Gods. Not only did people attain godhood in various forms, but also became qualified to access a deeper and more profound level of reality such as faith energy. They encompassed God pilots, Star Designers and the mythical sword gods, but also many other strange and powerful transcendents!

What took Ves aback was that Irene and his mother not only talked about the third major rank in a casual manner, but also addressed the fourth major rank that he had not even heard about before!

It was understandable that his mother never mentioned it to him. Ves was just a Senior Mech Designer at the moment, which classified him as a measly advanced first rank cultivator.

He was still two major ranks away from needing to think about promoting to the fourth major rank!

Even though Ves knew that he was not even close to qualified to join this discussion, he couldn't hold back his curiosity. He wanted to learn more about all of this exciting stuff!

"Can you tell me about the fourth major cultivation rank?! Please tell me what you know. Maybe I can help!"

Though neither woman believed in that last statement, Irene did not see much harm in satisfying his curiosity.

Cynthia might hold a different opinion on this topic, but she did not possess the ability to restrain a powerful god pilot.

[I do not have access to a lot of formal knowledge surrounding the fourth rank.] Irene explained. [The Five Scrolls Compact have always tried their best to hoard the secrets that can enable True Gods to develop themselves further. Many of the old families that have managed to preserve their ancient legacies can only ever reach the third major rank at most. The only references of the fourth rank that the Rubarthans are able to find are passing but highly fearful mentions in diaries, records and so on. I believe the Red Association most certainly has access to more detailed documentation, but I cannot access them unless I agree to concessions that are unacceptable.]

That sounded typical of the mechers. They already had 5 god pilots under their banner, and relied on them to restrain the other 3 god pilots.

The Red Association would not be able to maintain its position of dominance over the first-rate colonial superstates if their god pilots started to fall behind in cultivation!

Fortunately, Cynthia knew more about this mythical fourth rank.

"True Gods are cultivators who have attained godhood or acquired god-like powers that are based on their domains. What comes next is difficult to describe, as different records from different eras each espouse drastically different interpretations on how to define the fourth rank. One of the most common conditions that should be met is to develop your domain much further."

[To what extent?] Irene asked.

"One description claims that a True God must attain total supremacy over a domain in the entire universe in the present time. Every other True God who has developed similar domains must either be killed or subjugated. This is relatively easier to accomplish if your domain is based on an obscure or specific concept, but if you are hoping to gain dominion over a primal force such as destruction, then you will be locked in an endless struggle. Only those who have defeated all of their challengers have the capital to ascend to the fourth major cultivation rank."

[God King.]

"Exactly."

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