The Mech Touch

The odd occurrences he witnessed so far led him to develop a theory about spirituality.

It existed in different phases.

For now, he tentatively identified a 'weak' phase and a 'strong' phase.

The weak phase consisted of spirituality belonging to entities below the extraordinary threshold.

The strong phase consisted of spirituality from spiritually-powerful entities such as Ves, Qilanxo and every other high-ranking mech pilot and mech designer.

Both of them existed alongside each other but hardly affected each other directly.

\"Is this a form of protection for weaker existences?\"

Spiritual entities with negligible amounts of spiritual energy were so weak that they'd be crushed in an instant if a monstrously powerful entity like Qilanxo strolled along.

In fact, human space would have been ruled by high-ranking mech pilots and mech designers by now if this was the case! Against the tyranny of strong spirituality, ordinary people stood no chance!

\"The MTA would have beaten the CFA long ago if that happened!\"

After all, as far as Ves knew, the CFA didn't actively develop spirituality or psionic power as they regarded it. The MTA, which poured a huge amount of effort into nurturing and developing psionic power, possessed an absolute advantage in this aspect!

Still, a scenario like this hadn't taken place, which meant that weak spirituality inherently enjoyed protection against strong spirituality.

Right now, this condition posed a lot of hindrances to his plan, but not to the point of making it impossible.

Dumping the Dragon Cat's spiritual remnant into Lady Miralix's mind hadn't yielded any dramatic effects.

Yet as Ves studied the changes closely, he saw that the thoughts and emotions of Lady Miralix distorted even further around the spiritual remnant.

Ves believed that this was a favorable development.

\"Even as they are being warped, they're also starting to adjust!\"

It was like dropping a heating element into a glass of water. While the water didn't turn into wine or anything, it did began to grow warmer.

Something similar was taking place around both his own spiritual projection and around the Dragon Cat's spiritual remnant.

The thought energy swirling in the mind of Lady Miralix started to familiarize and grow a little more comfortable with the alien emanations of the intruders.

What did this mean? It meant that as long as this process continued for a while, Lady Miralix wouldn't feel uneasy if she piloted a mech that incorporated the spiritual remnant as its design spirit!

\"This is an important observation!\"

The new phenomenon he witnessed compelled him to name the process and add it into his growing handbook of spirituality.

He decided to call it spiritual alignment.

In truth, he first wanted to call it spiritual contamination, but that implied the process was harmful.

Then, he came up with spiritual indoctrination, but again the phrase implied that Ves was doing something malicious to Lady Miralix.

\"I have good intentions!\"

In order to make him feel better about what he was doing, he eventually came up with a sufficiently neutral and accurate description.

He settled for calling the ongoing process as spiritual alignment because he believed that Lady Miralix's weak spirituality was indirectly becoming more aligned to both his own and the Dragon Cat's spiritual remnant.

What results this phenomenon might yield, Ves had no idea. He was doing so many new things that he hardly became sure of anything.

\"Well, since I'm already this deep, I should at least complete my experiment.\"

With regards to the incomplete and fractured spiritual remnant, he decided to restore it by reconstructing it in a smaller, more condensed fragment.

To put it simply, he gave up on trying to turn the remnant back into its former state. Instead, he decided to make the most efficient use of his salvage by shrinking it and refining it into a more coherent fragment.

Of course, even if he did so, the remnant still lacked the spark of life.

\"The biggest problem with my plan is that I don't have another source!\"

If he obtained another spiritual fragment, it might be possible for him to blend the two or use one of them as raw material to fix the other one.

However, since he lacked a spiritual fragment, he could only turn to the only available source within reach.

Himself!

Of course, as he was aware of the many downsides of expending his spiritual energy, he did not intend to exhaust a piece of his Spirituality.

\"Fortunately, I've accumulated a small reservoir!\"

Earlier, Ves obtained the box that stored his P-stone from Nitaa. Right now, he grabbed hold of it and opened the box.

The dull, grey space rock glowed slightly in his senses. Since he obtained it, he made a habit out of injecting portions of his excess spiritual energy into the P-stone.

At this time, the P-stone accumulated a modest but respectable amount of spare spiritual energy.

\"Drawing from this reservoir won't affect my strength!\"

He stopped dawdling around and began to extract the excess spiritual energy from the P-stone.

Considering the relative strength of the spiritual remnant, he only drew out a small portion. If it turned out that he needed more, he could always go back and scoop up another portion.

\"Still, this is probably enough to act as the glue for the transformation I have in mind.\"

He siphoned the excess spiritual energy into Lady Miralix's mind and brought it close to the spiritual remnant.

As expected, the two didn't react with each other, as they consisted of vastly different attributes. A mech designer and a cat-like lizard exobeast didn't necessarily go together, after all.

\"Since a reaction isn't taking place, I'll have to be more proactive!\"

What Ves did next was the equivalent of breaking apart a mech! He put his spiritual might to use by smashing the Dragon Cat's spiritual remnant.

Considering that it was already in a rather poor and broken state, it only took a moderate amount of effort to break it up!

However, a problem quickly started to emerge!

With the spiritual remnant broken up into multiple smaller remnants, their overall integrity started to degrade more rapidly! Some of the byproducts even started shifting to a weaker phase and interact much more strongly with Lady Miralix's mind!

\"Damn, I have to be fast!\"

Ves couldn't afford to think or plan! He just had to trust his judgement and the assumptions he had made and go into action!

What he did next was completely new territory to him. Facing a completely unfamiliar process, Ves defaulted to his mech designer's instincts.

\"Something that is broken can be put back anew!\"

He began to treat the broken and incomplete pieces of the Dragon Cat's spiritual remnant as salvaged parts. Just like how a mech designer working for a salvage operation tried to cobble together a functioning mech out of existing parts, Ves tried to do the same.

Of course, the lack of 'raw materials' meant he wouldn't be able to restore the spiritual remnant to its former glory. He could only cobble together a lesser spiritual fragment which condensed and concentrated what the remnant hadn't lost into what Ves hoped would be a new living spiritual entity.

It was similar to what he did before when he refined Prophet Ylvaine's spiritual fragment.

As he continued to piece together the Dragon Cat's spiritual parts, he didn't feel as if he created a new form of life.

\"As expected.\" He muttered. \"Once the spark is gone, it can't be restored.\"

The spark of life was an intrinsic property of spiritual entities. Without it, spiritual energy was merely a resource. Only when it was infused with the spark of life did it possess an active consciousness and awareness of its own existence!

Having anticipated this problem, Ves didn't panic. Instead, he directed his excess spiritual energy into the shifting cloud that represented his work in progress.

The two types of spiritual energies didn't merge with each other, but Ves wasn't discouraged. He simply continued to apply his excess spiritual energy in the gaps of the reforming spiritual fragment.

\"Just like how mechs are made of different materials, energy can coexist as well!\"

As long as they didn't repel or detest each other, they could exist alongside each other!

Of course, what Ves sought was something more than placing the two types of energy side by side. He wanted to form a mutually-beneficial bond between the two divergent energies!

The Dragon Cat's spiritual energy served as the 'mech'. It provided the base and the platform of the forming spiritual fragment.

His excess spiritual energy served as the 'mech pilot'. It added the vital spark of life and everything that ensued from the presence of life!

Combined, Ves hoped he could form a connection and establish a form of symbiosis!

The idea was completely radical and came out of nowhere! However, as the ongoing restoration process continued, Ves had a sense that it might actually succeed!

The spiritual abomination that he attempted to create would be an entirely new spiritual existence! In a very warped perspective, Ves even had the illusion that he was creating a new child!

An offspring between the Dragon Cat and himself!

The resulting spiritual entity represented neither an exobeast or a human. It represented aspects of both, blended in a spiritual equivalent of a frankenstein mech!

\"Hahahahaha! More! I want more!\"

The spiritual restoration process gradually formed something new, all within the space of someone else's mind!

This was an important detail! By performing this process in the mind of Lady Miralix, he was in essence treating the mental space as his mech workshop!

Bits and pieces of her mind continued to curve around the spiritual abomination that continued to transform into a stabler and more potent form.

All of this took place in Lady Miralix's mind! This meant that as soon as the process finished, she'd already be familiar with the new spiritual entity and vice versa!

An uncertain amount of time began to pass as Ves fully invested his attention to directing and shaping the transformation process. Frankly, he had no idea what he was doing, but as he continued to push and prod his excess spiritual energy around, it began to 'react' when it attached to certain places.

The integration process slowly proceeded as Ves found more and more configurations that worked through sheer trial and error.

When Ves felt he put the final piece of the puzzle in its place, a very profound step in the process took place.

The bond was being formed!

A radiant strength welled from the abomination. Ves lost connection to his excess spiritual energy as it began to integrate with the Dragon Cat's remnant spiritual energy on a deeper level.

Along with this rise in strength came fluctuations that Ves had tried to create from the start!

\"It's.. it's alive!\"

An immense sense of pride and satisfaction welled from his mind as he witnessed the birth of a new spiritual entity!

Formed by combining a salvaged spiritual remnant with his own excess spiritual energy, the resulting spiritual fragment was a completely new and unique existence!

Part mech designer, part exobeast and formed within the chamber of Lady Miralix's mind, Ves expected this new spiritual fragment to be exceptionally suitable when put to use in a mech like the Kinslayer!

\"I did it! I created something new! Out of so little, I managed to create something wondrous! Hahahahaha!\"

As Ves burst out in laughter while spouting nonsensical statements, Lucky and Nitaa looked at him as if he completely went out of control!

What the hell was he dreaming about?!

Ves paid no mind to how his observers regarded him right now! He exulted in the success of his latest spiritual innovations! He fully indulged in the many possibilities that the path of life had to offer!

Spiritual invasion, spiritual alignment and spiritual restoration was only the start of what this promising direction had to offer!

As he proudly observed his newborn spiritual fragment make sense of its new existence, Ves realized a very pivotal insight.

The path of life was all about creation!

\"Life from death! The creation of something new from the remains of something old! That is the circle of life!\"