The Mech Touch

Ves began to perform over forty successive tests. Each time, he deployed a varying amount of Penitent Sister mech pilots. After stimulating the Superior Mother's crown, they spontaneously adopted different formations depending on their circumstances.

It turned out that the Superior Mother was able to induce six different formations, each of which corresponded to the six phases of existence.

For example, the first test exhibited the last phase of existence. The formation based around the supremacy of women was capable of unleashing a strong burst of power. Unfortunately, without the requisite strength and number of mech pilots, the woman-oriented formation was very draining.

The second test showcased the fourth phase of existence. Apparently, the formation based around the damnation that every life form had to go through was oriented around beating attrition and outlasting the enemy.

The remaining four formations each excelled in different aspects. Where they actually came from was a mystery. Ves didn't think they came from Cynthia Larkinson. She may be many things, but he was pretty sure she didn't know anything about mechs, either from a pilot or designer's perspective.

Perhaps the ancestral spirit derived these formations from all the mech pilots she came in touch with during or after her creation. Ves still recalled the many mech pilots that took part in the ritual that birthed her. Subsequently, all of the bonds the Superior Mother formed with her worshippers may have also given her insights on formation and mech combat.

"I could be wrong, though."

There was something very odd about these formations that he couldn't quite figure out yet. Commander Chancy already confirmed to Ves that it was unlikely that any Hexer outfits or military mech regiments utilized any of these formations.

When the Penitent Sisters tried to recreate the formations without activating the battle network, nothing unusual happened. The formations were decent but did not bestow any abnormal advantages.

Without any spiritual shenanigans, the formations lacked meaning.

It took a lot of trials to gain these extensive results.

Just a single mech company wasn't enough to engage with the battle network over and over again. Seeing as none of the Penitent Sisters who maintained a thick connection with the battle network suffered any maladies, Ves decided to throw all caution to the wind and connected every other Penitent Sister mech pilot to the same network!

With hundreds of test subjects to work with, Ves no longer had to wait until the participants of his tests had recovered from their mental and spiritual exhaustion. He could rotate a fresh batch of mech pilots on a continuous basis.

It only took two days for Ves to gather an ample amount of data.

Perhaps his most surprising finding was that the inclusion of just a single mech pilot with spiritual potential made a huge difference in the load-bearing capacity of the unit that was channeling a formation.

The duration of the formations doubled and in some cases tripled after the inclusion of mech pilots with spiritual potential. Whether this was because spiritual-active mech pilots redirected much of the burden to themselves or because of other factors, Ves wasn't sure. He was just glad that his latest innovation had become a lot more practical now that it was capable of lasting longer!

This wasn't all. Any spiritually-active mech pilot was not only capable of enduring more strain, but also gained greater awareness during the process!

This was an important discovery! Any mech pilot that managed to avoid getting subsumed by the Superior Mother's vast presence was able to actively nudge the formation to act in a certain manner more conducive to the battle at hand.

This effectively meant that the formation gained significantly more purpose and direction. Although the difference was rather subtle, it hinted that stronger mech pilots might be able to gain an even greater voice in the battle network!

Was this the principle behind Master Huron's asymmetrical neural networks?

It was too bad that the Penitent Sisters didn't boast a single expert candidate or expert pilot. He would have to form a new network centered around the Swordmaidens in order to explore this research direction.

In any case, through all of these successive tests, he and the Penitent Sisters slowly understood some of the rules behind the formations and how to make better use of them in battle.

When Ves met with Commander Chancy to review their conclusions, he handed her a modest list of mech pilots.

Chancy reviewed the names on the data pad. "Are these the mech pilots that are capable of extending the duration of the formations?"

Ves nodded. "They are all special and worthy of greater investment. Even if you don't do anything with them, it is still useful to spread them out among your mech companies."

"What happens if we concentrate them in a single unit?"

"Adding more will lengthen the duration of the special formations even further, but not by much. In fact, I think it's wasteful to add more than two special mech pilots in a single formation."

This was because while the additional spiritually-active mech pilots could channel much of the energy flowing through the battle network, they couldn't do much to help the remaining mech pilots withstand the Superior Mother's presence.

Maybe it would be different if Ves threw an expert candidate or expert pilot in the mix. Their strength gave them the capital to resist the powerful pressure of a strong spiritual entity, and their force of wills might interact with the battle network in a surprisingly different fashion.

Commander Chancy decided to accept Ves' recommendation. She intended to distribute the mech pilots on the list evenly across all of her mech companies. That way, their formations would all be able to last a decent amount of time.

"Do you have a name for this mysterious blessing?" She asked.

"Hmmm…"

Ves hesitated for a bit. He hadn't really thought about it yet. He was tempted to call the phenomenon a battle network, but he didn't want to reveal more than what was necessary.

If any outsiders heard this name, they would definitely conclude that Ves ripped off Master Huron's work.

While it wasn't shameful to take inspiration from other people's work, doing so without attribution or without respecting the source was deeply troublesome.

Ves did not wish to make use of the word network at all. He had always spoken vaguely about the Larkinson Network because he didn't want Master Willix and the MTA find out about all of his spiritual engineering projects.

He thought about using the word formation instead. That was more fitting. There was no way to hide the mechs adopting distinct formations, so he might as well base the name around them in order to attract outsiders away from what really mattered, which was the spiritual battle network.

"Let's call them battle formations." He decided after a couple of minutes. "These battle formations are distinct from regular formations due to the 'blessings' they can evoke."

The middle-aged Penitent Sister Commander furrowed her brows. "This is a rather underwhelming name for something so grand."

"That's the point, commander. I don't want people to know about them or be on guard against them. The battle formations are capable of conveying substantial advantages to our mech pilots, but they are not infallible. If our enemies are prepared against them, then the battle formations will only exhaust our mech pilots in vain."

Though Commander Chancy wanted to assert that the Superior Mother's formations were unbeatable, her better sense pushed through. Even she could think of ways to negate the advantages of the battle formations. For example, the most convenient method was simply to deny battle and wait until the battle formations reached the end of their durations!

"I understand. I will make sure my women will keep the details of the battle formations to themselves. Each of them have stated that it's a great privilege to become a vessel of the Superior Mother. They will not do anything that compromises the sanctity of this exalted ritual. It's just..."

"Is there anything you want, commander?"

"We have noticed that it takes your personal intervention to enable our Penitent Sisters to grow closer to the Superior Mother. While it makes sense that you are able to do so since you are her son, can you give us a means to convert more of our Sisters?"

Ves immediately shook his head. "No. Access can only be granted by me. Do you think anyone can approach the Superior Mother?"

"There are many non-mech pilots in our midst who would love to gain a closer relationship with the Superior Mother. For example, Head Designer Stameros deserves this honor for all of the work she has done in keeping our mechs running. Commodore Evern will also be delighted if you grant her the same honor, and so do many more Penitent Sisters."

He couldn't do that. Battle networks were much smaller in scope by design because of their greater effects. Battle formations were only useful for mech pilots, so letting in someone else took up a valuable slot.

Only when the living spiritual constructs that supported the network grew more powerful would some additional slots open up, but that took time.

"I am open to exceptions, but not too much." Ves compromised a bit. "Let's leave this matter aside until after we have left the Nyxian Gap. Right now, we have very little margin for error, so I don't want to complicate this matter further. Make sure to limit your suggestions to those who have earned this right."

"Will do, sir."

The relationship between Ves and most of the Penitent Sisters had warmed up ever since he hoodwinked them into thinking he was literally the Superior Mother's son. While this was factually true, Ves didn't want to emphasize it too much. He just wanted to convert these powerful mech pilots to his side so that they wouldn't abandon him when he needed them the most.

Before he left the Penitent Sisters and allowed them to explore battle formations at their own leisure, he implemented one more change.

One of the more perplexing aspects about battle formations was the emergence of impressive-looking but largely meaningless energy silhouettes.

He disliked them quite a bit. There was no substance to them all and their presence might give the Big Two as well as the Five Scrolls Compact some clues that Ves did not want to reveal.

He tried various methods to get rid of the energy projections, but none of it worked. They always showed up as long as the mech pilots engaged in battle formations.

"The two are inseparable!"

Since there was no way that Ves wanted to abandon battle formations, he decided to cover up the energy silhouettes.

It wasn't that hard to do so as long as Ves employed some technical ingenuity. He licensed some projection software from the galactic net and programmed an AI-driven software system.

The purpose of this new software was very simple. Whenever the Penitent Sister mechs engaged a battle formation, the projection modules built into the frames of the mechs automatically projected a lifelike visage of the Superior Mother over the energy silhouette.

With the help of sophisticated AIs, the projections perfectly matched the movements of the energy silhouettes!

Ves essentially covered up the spiritual phenomenon with a purely technological phenomenon!

Not only did the giant projection look a lot more impressive, but it was also useful for waging psychological warfare.

What would it be like if hundreds of different battle formations simultaneously projected giant figures at the same time? How would enemies react if all of those intimidating-looking projections charged into their lines?

"Hahaha! That will be a powerful show, especially if we combine it with glows!"

Other mech designers would probably regard it as a flamboyant quirk. After all, despite looking powerful, the projections ultimately didn't do much except affect the morale of both sides.

It was much like waving a flag, he thought.

"Hopefully, others will see it like that as well."