The Mech Touch

Emma finally decided to leave Lucky alone and flew towards Ves so that she could rest on his lap.

The companion spirit was exceedingly powerful, and her destruction domain did not make it any less comfortable to remain in close contact.

However, Ves couldn't help but like her company. Emma was so playful and affectionate. Her personality did not match that of a hardened and driven high-ranking mech pilot at all. Was there a special reason for that, or had the companion spirit always retained her liveliness?

"Irene. When you started the process of forming total union, did Emma absorb the pieces that you discarded?"

The god pilot nodded. [She did, but not all of them. One of the purposes of establishing total union is to remove human weaknesses that will largely hold me back once I attain my current rank. Emma has only captured a small amount of pieces that are harmless enough.]

Ves suspected that this had made a massive difference in making her more human and personable compared to other god pilots.

Ace pilots were pretty bad. He could not imagine how much more difficult it was to get along with god pilots when they had thrown away large parts of their humanity!

"You mentioned earlier that you also severed the bond between yourself and Emma during the fourth phase. The two of you are still tied together from what I can see. Did you reform this connection after your successful breakthrough?"

[I did.] Irene answered as she smiled at the lion-sized companion spirit that was resting on Ves' lap. [I did not think about this decision. It felt natural to me. I can tell you that I did not have to do this. I could have chosen to let Emma loose and live her own life. That was not what I wanted, so I chose to take her back without question.]

That sounded as if a god pilot could choose to turn a companion spirit into an internal or external incarnation.

Both types of incarnations had their pros and cons, just like how Blinky and Vulcan fulfilled completely different purposes for Ves.

However, it was most advantageous for god pilots to retain their close connections to their companion spirits. The latter would be able to cooperate and synergize well with the former in battle.

Letting companion spirits go their own separate ways would weaken the god pilots. However, the separation also allowed these liberated energy-based True Gods to develop as more rounded and versatile post-divinity qi cultivators.

This was useful if the god pilots thought they could make a better contribution to humanity by offering True God-level services that were not directly related to combat.

However, there was no question that red humanity needed greater combat power. Retaining close connections to companion spirits was clearly the superior choice in the current circumstances!

Ves lightly stroked Emma's back while he thought about how all of this crucial information would affect his future plans.

"As long as the current generation of expert pilots grow up, they can successfully advance to the third major rank at significantly greater quantities than before." He speculated. "Together with the advantages of E energy radiation, the future of red humanity will become much more secure."

[I wouldn't celebrate so soon if I were you, Ves. We don't have enough time. Even with all of the new possibilities and conveniences brought by exotic radiation, mech pilots must still undergo a large amount of tempering and introspection in order to become worthy to become a god. In the old galaxy, this will take at least a century. In the new frontier, the younger generations of mech pilots may be able to complete this lengthy process in half of the time so long as they engage in frequent combat against the aliens, but...]

Both Ves and the Superior Mother looked increasingly more concerned.

"How much time do we have, exactly?" Ves asked while he started to hug Emma.

The Destroyer of Worlds adopted a troubled expression as she looked at the window that gave her a view of the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy.

[The answer to your question is confidential. Only tier 1 galactic citizens have been briefed of all of the clues that we have gathered since now. I do not believe it is necessary to give you a more comprehensive answer. I think you are smart enough to infer parts of the truth by analyzing my words and behavior.]

Though Ves grew disappointed that she declined to give him a straight answer, her response was already a giant tell in itself.

His mind had constantly been spinning ever since they started to talk. So far, Ves knew that the Destroyer of Worlds and every other tier 1 galactic citizen mainly held a lot of concerns towards Messier 87.

It was too big, too powerful and far too populated with powerful life forms.

Ever since Irene and Cynthia started to talk with each other, the former's primary concern was to receive guidance on how to become a powerful God King as quickly as possible.

This meant that the Destroyer of Worlds along with every other god pilot was under great pressure to increase their strength to confront a threat that might arrive within the next half century!

That was a remarkably short time frame. It was long enough to allow many expert pilots to mature into powerful ace pilots, especially if they had access to general cultivation elixirs, but it was still far too soon for them to think about advancing to the rank of god pilot!

This was a highly unfavorable circumstance as it was already too late to bestow companion spirits to all of the current ace pilots in the present day.

Many powerful and talented ace pilots such as Saintess Ulrika Vraken evolved so much and became so strong that their spiritualities had become incredibly tough and resistant to changes and external influences.

Perhaps Ves and Blinky might be able to conduct spiritual operations on them if they reached the second major cultivation rank, but this was not a certainty.

It would take precious time for him to advance to Master Mech Designer anyway, so a lot of ace pilots that reached their peak in the coming few decades would have to overcome the enormous divide without the life-saving benefits provided by companion spirits.

All of this meant that the quantity of god pilots was unlikely to increase quickly in the short and medium term.

If the unnamed but extremely powerful threat from Messier 87 reached the Red Ocean during this period, then it would be up to the 8 existing god pilots to shoulder the heaviest burden of repelling the strongest of alien invaders.

This was an impossible task if the leading alien powerhouse happened to be a God King or was subordinate to one back in Messier 87!

Though Ves was not entirely certain about these guesses, they made the most sense.

All that mattered was that Irene urgently needed to gain the strength of a God King in order to repel the powerful alien enemies that would eventually pose an existential threat to red humanity.

A heavy weight pressed onto Ves, and it wasn't entirely the fault of Emma.

The leadership of red humanity refrained from issuing any public announcements regarding this looming threat for good reasons. People would just panic and make all kinds of irrational decisions for no good reasons.

As his blood started to pump faster through his body, Ves became prone to the same effects.

The curse of knowledge had struck again.

Though he was glad that he became a little more aware of what was truly going on, he also felt more driven than ever to work hard to better prepare red humanity for the calamity that might break the new frontier!

This issue concerned Cynthia Larkinson as well. The lives of her son and her grandchildren were at stake. If the Destroyer of Worlds and other human god pilots failed in their duties, then it was unlikely for any humans in the dwarf galaxy to survive either!

Cynthia understood the terror of being at the mercy of a higher-ranked cultivator very well. She had no hope that any tyrannical powerful invaders from Messier 87 would be merciful towards the 'indigenous' population of the Red Ocean.

This meant that it was in her best interest to grant the greatest possible assistance to Irene!

"I have been contemplating your conundrum for some time now, Irene. What you are asking for is impossible. On the one hand, you want to advance to the fourth rank in an exceedingly short time frame. As far as I know, True Gods ordinarily have to grow and accumulate their power for thousands if not millions of years. Only in the most favorable circumstances where there is an abundant availability of high-level energy and material resources can a True God speed up her progress to an extreme."

Irene already guessed that this was the case, but she had no choice in the matter.

[Every god pilot and Star Designer that I have spoken to would prefer it if we buy more time, but this is not possible. A god pilot must reach the fourth major rank. Not only that, but I or one of my colleagues must become Greater God King in order to be fully secure.]

"Impossible." The Superior Mother shook her head. "I know you god pilots have a habit of turning the impossible into reality, but this is different. You must not only overcome the laws of reality this time. You must defeat a powerful and intelligent God King who wields vastly more powerful forces than you. I advise you not to aim too high and instead settle for reaching the fourth major rank as a god pilot. I believe that the advantages of a god pilot, especially one with a powerful companion spirit, may be just enough to force a stalemate. You do not have to win. As long as you can deter or slow down the threat that you are fearful of, then you can buy precious time for other god pilots to enter the fourth major rank."

Ves agreed with his mother. He had little understanding of what God Kings were all about, but he did not think that the Destroyer of Worlds had any chance of overthrowing the existing authority that governed over the universal concept of destruction anytime soon!

Even Irene had to bow her head to reality most of the time.

[Very well.] She responded in a resigned tone. [We shall take this step by step. Speed is the greatest priority, but I must retain all of the advantages of a god pilot when I reach the fourth rank. Do you believe that this is possible, Cynthia?]

The Superior Mother still looked awfully troubled. "The odds are stacked against you. It is impossible for you to grow this quickly by adhering to orthodox cultivation approaches. You will have to make use of shortcuts, but each will come at a price. What we will have to do is to select the right combination of shortcuts that will impose a heavy but not unbearable burden to you. It will be difficult and you may deviate from the 'correct' trajectory if you follow such a plan. However, if you are willing to bear the risks, then it may just be possible for you to become a God King within the next half century."

Irene smiled after she heard that. [This is the answer that I seek.]

Ves was not so sure about this, though. His experiences with his mother taught him that her proposed cultivation methods were never that simple. They were always filled with traps and unexpected complications!

"How can you possibly compress thousands of years of intensive cultivation in just 50 years or less?" He asked in a puzzled tone.

The Superior Mother grinned back at him. "The answer is simple. Instead of letting Irene work hard to grow her strength step-by-step, we can devise a method that allows her to absorb the strength of her victims. As long as she slays enough alien beings, she can rely on the accumulation of quantity to force a qualitative transformation!"

"What!?"

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