The Mech Touch

An important decision had been made.

After Cynthia Larkinson proposed a radical new demonic cultivation approach, the Destroyer of Worlds became swayed by the promise of gaining a massive amount of power in a relatively short time frame.

Ves became incredibly impressed by his mother's proposal. Even though he had become a little more familiar with cultivation science, he knew he was still far from reaching her level of knowledge and wisdom. He would have never been able to come up with such a brilliant and effective cultivation approach if he had to work by himself. Just the requirement of having to work with faith energy already stumped him as its properties were in a different league.

From what he could surmise so far, the new cultivation method was primarily made up of three components.

The deity cultivation component sought to convert all of the native aliens in the Red Ocean into worshipers of the so-called Goddess of Destruction. No matter whether they were willing or not, Irene's capacity for widespread destruction was so great that she could easily intimidate the entire dwarf galaxy!

The demonic cultivation component was a new mode of harvesting energy that his mother had never explicitly explained to him in the past. It utilized special means to forcibly take energy from large amounts of subjects that may or may not be entirely willing to agree to these transactions.

There was a fuzzy line between normal predation which was part of the natural cycle and demonic cultivation which did not conform to the established rules. Only the latter would cause people to incur negative repercussions.

"Who exactly decides what falls into the category of demonic cultivation?" Ves asked his mother.

"The heavenly authorities." Cynthia responded. "Each of them are different, and the rules they set can always change over time. However, a general rule of thumb is that the pattern set by the most powerful cultivators under the heavenly authorities generally sets the standard. Here in the Red Ocean, the ancient phase whales that have lurked in the dwarf galaxy for many ages are relatively passive and docile. While they cannot be regarded as benign, they disapprove of widespread slaughter and destruction, if only because that makes it harder to generate more phasewater."

This did not bode well for the Destroyer of Worlds. The dwarf galaxy itself would work against her every step of the way.

"There is alway a price to be paid for defying the heavens." Cynthia seriously warned Irene. "Once you start to take serious action, the Red Ocean will work against you, or more specifically the Ragnarok which will become a machine that will become an icon of death and calamity. You will encounter unstable space pockets and other hazards during space travel. Your luck will drop. Powerful native aliens will develop increasingly effective ways to threaten you. These are the means that a galaxy can use to defend itself against any dangerous existence that endangers its overall health."

Destroying a few planets here and there was nothing to a heavenly authority.

Destroying a hundred or so planets started to become worrisome.

Destroying more than a thousand planets, especially life bearing ones, would definitely affect the balance of the Red Ocean!

Nobody knew where the local heavenly authority crossed the line, but sooner or later the Destroyer of Worlds would become a hated True God if she chose to commit to this strategy.

Yet out of all of the aspects of Irene's new cultivation method, there was one component in particular that attracted the most attention from Ves.

It was the artifact cultivation component.

In order for Irene to preserve her full strength and advantages as a god pilot, her god mech needed to be worked on by mech designers, just like before.

Ves felt incredibly tempted by the prospect of being able to work on one of the most powerful mechs created by man. The Ragnarok was definitely among the god mechs that possessed the greatest capacity to inflict area damage among its own kind!

Even though he knew the chance was slim, he still had to issue his request.

"Can... can I assist in applying upgrades and modifications to the Ragnarok?"

Both Cynthia and Irene immediately shook their heads in disapproval.

[You are not qualified, Ves.] Irene declared. [I look forward to seeing your work when you have become older, but your current state is too weak.]

"She is right, son. You will need to reach the second major cultivation rank and develop your strength before you can reluctantly work on the peripheral aspects of her god mech. It is better to wait until you have become a Star Designer before you can wholeheartedly work on the Ragnarok, especially once it has accrued a large amount of resentment."

Ves looked disappointed when he heard that. It could take decades if not centuries before he could reach the third major cultivation rank. That was far too late for him to intervene in the more immediate crisis that would unfold roughly half a century later.

It sounded as if Ves had no chance to work on the Ragnarok in the foreseeable future. It would be up to the existing Star Designers to ensure that the god mech properly adapted to its new role and circumstances.

[I think your living mech concept can help the Ragnarok in ways that could not be done before.] Irene spoke through her artificial voice generator. [The best way you can contribute to the strengthening of my god mech is to work hard as a Senior Mech Designer. The sooner you realize your design philosophy, the sooner your innovative design solutions become available to the mech industry as a whole. Star Designers will gain the ability to learn and employ your design philosophy through the Red Kingdom by that time.]

That... was certainly a way for Ves to apply his design solutions to the powerful Ragnarok.

Ves felt regretful that he still wouldn't be able to lay his hands on the god mech and tinker with its design in person, but he knew in his heart that a newly-advanced Master Mech Designer still wasn't qualified to work a grand work of this caliber.

It was better if he entrusted this important duty to the much more capable Star Designers.

"I understand. I have always been working hard to advance to the rank of Master Mech Designer. I can't make any promises, but I am reasonably sure I can realize my design philosophy within the next half century."

The Polymath managed to reach the rank of Master Mech Designer a lot sooner than that, but Ves did not want to blindly pursue speed. This was why he could not guarantee he could realize his design philosophy in time to upgrade the Ragnarok.

He believed it would be fine, though. The Ragnarok was already 'alive', so it was not as if his contributions could revolutionize the powerful god mech. The Star Designers who had overcome a lot of difficult challenges were no slouches either.

"There is one area where you can help Irene, but it does not directly relate to mech design." Cynthia spoke to her son.

Ves already had a bad feeling about this. "What is it, mother?"

"You should help the Cult of Destruction spread its faith among the alien population groups. You have a special talent for converting believers and increasing their piety. This is helpful to both pre-divinity and post-divinity entities. The best way for you to facilitate the operations of the cult is to produce a large amount of totems that are related to Irene. If these totems can radiate a small proportion of her powerful aura, then that can multiply the spread of belief in the Goddess of Destruction by as much as 10 times."

He knew it. Ves had already demonstrated similar capabilities in the past. While he found this entire business distasteful, he knew it was necessary for the Cult of Destruction to take root in native alien society as extensively as possible.

"Okay. I will do it." He said. "I can't make a totem based on a god pilot or a god mech though. I need to access Irene's power in order to produce a valid totem, but her power is far too strong for me to control. However..."

Ves squeezed Emma that had been laying her half-substantial body on his lap. The big cat softly purred as she comfortably rested her head onto his chest.

Both Cynthia and Irene understood his intention.

"It should work." His mother thoughtfully said. "Irene, the Ragnarok and Emma are both separate and the same. Perhaps I should refine the demonic cultivation method further in order to produce a duality between the god mech and the companion spirit. The former will become a vessel of negativity while the latter can act as a beacon of salvation."

She would have to study Irene in depth and perform a lot of mystical calculations in order to determine whether this idea was viable.

No matter what, Ves should have a much easier chance of creating a suitable totem by working through Emma.

After the Destroyer of Worlds advanced to god pilot, her main self had become the sole wellspring of all of her god-like willpower.

Emma had reverted to a pure living spiritual construct. The absence of strong willpower in her being meant that she no longer possessed a quality that was strongly exclusionary towards outside influences.

Ves should be able to borrow her spiritual energy and use it for all kinds of purposes without incurring any obstruction or backlash.

"Can I receive another spiritual fragment from Emma?" He asked Irene. "I used to harvest one from her during our first meeting. That has enabled you to come to my rescue during the Survivalist conference. It is a pity that I have used it up, so I need a new one to do my work."

[You shall have it. You have my permission to use my power to defend yourself in my absence.]

Though the Destroyer of Worlds wanted to protect Ves, it was unreasonable for a key figure such as herself to remain away from her duties. She needed to return to the Rubarthan Pact and the frontlines of the Red Wars as quickly as possible in order to keep the aggressive aliens at bay.

"Miew..."

Emma looked visibly pained as Irene utilized her willpower to carve out a large and potent spiritual fragment from her flank.

The willpower fluctuations had become so strong during this interval that Ves winced from the pain.

The Superior Mother's energy manifestation almost disappeared as well, showing how difficult it was for the Destroyer of Worlds to hold back her destructive power for so long!

When Irene presented the large and almost burning spiritual fragment to Ves, he became astonished by how much larger and powerful it was compared to any other fragment that he obtained in the past.

This was by far the most powerful spiritual fragment that he had come across in his life so far!

As the spiritual fragment of an actual True God, the quality and quantity of this exceedingly valuable ingredient were indescribable.

Ves spontaneously had a thought when he came across this fragment. He thought about a couple of mech designs that he had recently completed. He just needed to process them before they were ready to enter production.

That still left a bit of room for him to make a couple of last-minute changes.

"Irene, can I ask you a favor? Can I use Emma as a design spirit for a handful of my heavy artillery mech designs?"

There was no need for Ves to provide additional clarification as Irene already studied his work well enough to know what a design spirit represented.

The Superior Mother was a powerful example of one such entity!

[I do not mind.] Irene said after a few seconds. [I have no objections to borrowing Emma's power, but I do not know how this will affect your mechs and the pilots who make use of them once I begin to engage in demonic cultivation. You should be careful not to let the repercussions of my actions bleed into your products.]

"Thankyou, Irene! I have always wanted to do this, but I never dared to make this request to you before we met in person!"

This was fantastic news!

The Fey Fianna was already shaping up to be a commercial bestseller, but once Ves employed Emma as the design spirits of his next two completed mech designs, the Transcendent Punisher Mark III and the Supremo Project may be able to surpass his drone mech line!

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