The Mech Touch

After laying out the most viable and attractive ideas for Gloriana's new companion spirit, Ves leaned back in his chair and waited for her to make up her mind. His wife wanted to perform a proper cost-benefit analysis on each of the options that he had given and had already started to perform calculations.

"Miaow." Clixie softly looked up at him. Her eyes looked especially big and pleading at the moment.

Ves slowly tickled her chin before rubbing the top of her furry head. "Hey, just give her some time. She can be rather… hyper-focused. You don't have to be afraid that she'll abandon you. There are things that you can do that a spiritual cat simply can't. She will continue to appreciate you once she has gotten over her fascination on her toy and finished giving birth to our daughter."

"Miaow…"

The Rubarthan Sentinel Cat didn't look convinced.

Ves petted her back in an effort to comfort her further. "I already told you that you will always be part of our family. I will never push you away, and our family is constantly expanding. Once our daughter and subsequent children grow old enough, you can always watch over them and play with them. Gloriana and I will have so many children that you will never run out of playmates."

"Miaow~"

The cat looked more reassured as she accepted his arguments. Though a cat like her was designed to remain loyal to a single companion for her entire life, taking care of children was also a part of her responsibilities.

Still, what if these kids became obsessed with their own companion spirits? Clixie could not compete against the likes of Lucky and Blinky in utility. The latter two weren't merely cats. They were helpers who could provide a lot of professional ȧssistance. That was something an organic cat such as herself could never match.

"Miaow miaow miaow."

"I told you already. I can't help you grow stronger."

"Miaaoooow…"

"I really want to, but I can't. I've been trying hard to do the same to people, but so far I have no solution to your specific problem."

Clixie grew more desperate and clung to Ves' uniform as if she was a crying baby!

"Miaow miaow!"

"Well, maybe you're right. Maybe I do have a potential solution. It's based on unsubstantiated guesses, though. I don't expect it will work, but I've been thinking about experimenting with it just to satisfy my curiosity."

"..Miaow?"

"It might be dangerous." Ves reluctantly answered. "Most likely, it won't do anything, but if it is able to influence you in some way, the effect will either be good or bad."

"Miaow miaow miaow!"

"You're that desperate, huh?"

"Miaow!"

"Well, I can respect your determination. No one wants to be in a position like yours. I'll think about it further and whip something up after I am done with Gloriana. I promise you that I will do my best to find a way to make you special."

Trying to impart spiritual potential to someone that did not possess it had always been one of his goals. As long as an individual possessed this crucial starting quality, Ves could employ various means to activate it or make use of it in some way.

However, spiritual potential was rare for a reason. In this spiritually-deficient galaxy, there were far too many life forms that lacked the strength or opportunity to become extraordinary.

Ves had never been satisfied with this. His nature as a mech designer caused him to develop the urge to solve a need that had always remained unfilled as far as he was aware of. Perhaps others might have already come up with a solution to this problem, but if that was so, no one told him. That left him with little choice but to pull up his sleeves.

After messing with so many people's heads and engaging in so much spiritual engineering, he recently came up with two possible ideas that might overcome this intractable barrier.

"If someone is lacking something, why not take it from someone else?"

The concept sounded simple. Since Clixie lacked spiritual potential, was it possible to steal someone else's spirituality and implant it in her mind?

Ves immediately shook his head when he recalled this suggestion. It sounded logical on the surface but was deeply problematic when he actually thought about the nature of spirituality.

The idea basically amounted to harvesting someone's soul before transplanting it to someone else! Ves had already messed with it in his earlier experiments and the outcomes were never pretty.

"However, that was before I gained Blinky."

It was no wonder most of his test subjects tended to suffer from exploding head syndrome!

Yet now that he gained Blinky, he was capable of performing much more precise manipulation on spiritual ingredients. He wouldn't have performed the risky operation of turning Vulcan into his incarnation if he still had to rely on himself to perform the surgery!

Theoretically, if Ves harvested the spirituality of one life form, trimmed it down so that it became as neutral as possible before subsequently implanting it in the mind of another life form, would he be able to empower someone who originally wasn't strong?

As Ves looked down at Clixie, he grew more confident in his solution.

"It's worth a try, but I still have to find a suitable substitute."

The risks were still great. Ves did not dare to subject someone as precious as Clixie to this experiment.

The safest course of action was to find two cats, one with spiritual potential and one that lacked it, and try out his experiment with them first.

The two test subjects in question had to be as similar as possible to minimize the chance of conflict and maximize the chances of success.

"If there is one thing our fleet isn't lacking, it's cats!"

If Ves needed some feline test subjects, he just needed to head over the 1st deck or the 8th deck and grab a couple of cats.

"Urgh, what am I thinking? They're family as well! I can't do that to our own cats."

Fortunately, Ves did not have much of an objection when it came to experimenting on other animals. Most cat breeds were commodities in the modern market. Ves could easily order a batch of thousand cats and receive his shipment within a few days.

Though most people objected to experimenting on animals these days, that didn't stop scientists and research institutions from continuing the practice.

Still, the more he thought about experimenting on cats, the more he felt uncomfortable.

Nyaaaaa!

Goldie suddenly materialized beside his head. She bit his arm and hissed a warning!

"Ouch! Okay, okay, I'll stop thinking about it. Are you happy now?!"

Nya!

Ves grumbled underneath her breath.

"I'll just bring over a batch of mice from the Dragon's Den instead. I know that the Larkinson Biotech Institute is breeding them by the thousands." He decided.

It would take a fair amount of time to conduct this study, though. The chances that it might yield a safe and viable solution was low as there were simply too many dangers with messing with spirituality.

A safer but less optimistic idea was to induce spiritual potential through external exposure.

He was inspired by his experiments on the Angel of Transcendence. Though he had achieved initial success in forcing those with spiritual potential to break through, his attempts didn't provide a solution to those that lacked this advantage.

"In hindsight, exposing test subjects to the full and undiluted glow of the Angel of Transcendence is a bit extreme."

The effect was certainly strong, but it was too overwhelming for most test subjects. It was a good way to force a quick transformation, but the risks were too great.

Ves had already been thinking about potential solutions that could reduce the lethality of this measure. He could make an enormous amount of progress as long as exposure to the Angel of Transcendence glow didn't result in head popping!

He already came up with a fairly simple-sounding solution.

"Instead of dumping its influence on people all at once, what if I tone it down and stretch out the exposure time?"

Ves didn't have to rely on something as strong as the Angel of Transcendence in the first place. He could craft a smaller and weaker totem and see how his test subjects reacted to a lite version of the previously intense glow.

He wasn't very optimistic about its effectiveness, though. Normal breakthroughs came about after short-lasting but intense outbursts. Mech pilots usually turned into expert candidates after experiencing life-and-death moments in battle. If the pressure wasn't high enough, the chances of breakthroughs occuring was much lower.

"Also, the initial formation of spiritual potential is likely different from normal breakthroughs. Other conditions are required to give people the hope of becoming extraordinary."

That said, Ves thought that this idea was still worth pursuing. Since he intended to bring over a batch of mice anyway, he might as well run a second experiment at the same time.

"Miaow…"

Ves smiled and squished her ears. "Hey, you don't need to feel so insecure. I'll definitely solve your problem somehow. Just wait a few months for me to obtain my initial results. We'll talk about what I can do for you. In the meantime, you might want to see whether your 'daughter' can give you a hand."

"Miaow?"

"Let me fix something up for you. This won't take too long."

Ves moved over to the workshop section of the design lab. While it wasn't as fully equipped as his own full-sized workshop, he didn't intend to make anything extravagant today.

He took some measurements on Clixie and quickly began to design a totem that the cat could easily carry. He initially thought about making a new cat collar before thinking that it should be something a bit more elaborate.

He decided to increase the size of the collar and turn it into a lovely golden ornament that had room for larger symbols.

Ves soon grabbed a bit of Breyer alloy and other materials and quickly crafted the deep metal cat collar. He paid special attention to carving the front of the collar so that it depicted the Golden Cat.

After finishing it, he wrapped it around Clixie's neck and tweaked the fit several times before he was pleased. As Ves took a step back, he admired the way the golden collar caused her to look more sophisticated.

"You look like a magnificent upper-class cat!"

"Miaow!"

There was something missing, though. There was nothing wrong with its weak but gentle glow, but its appearance lacked a bit of dimension.

"Ah. I know. It needs a jewel."

Ves was about to synthesize an ornamental luminar crystal before he suddenly halted. He just recalled that he had another jewel in his possession that might fit the theme of the totem a little better.

He pulled out an old gem from his secret pouch and recalled its description.

[Bastet's Whisper]

The echoing whisper of a feline patron can be found within this gem. Enhances the acceleration of a tiger mech by 30 percent.

"Hm. I'm not designing a tiger mech anytime soon. I might as well use it here and give Clixie a bit of good luck."

If he ever needed it again, he could always take it back.

With that thought, he retrieved the luxurious cat collar from Clixie and quickly modified it so that he was able to set this jewel on top of the carving of the Golden Cat.

The balance of the collar had changed a bit so Ves had to make a few other tweaks before he confirmed that Clixie was able to wear it without feeling any discomfort.

"Are you happy now?" Ves smiled down at the pampered cat. "This might not be the solution you need, but you can keep it even if it doesn't work. It will remind you that you're never alone."

"Miaow~" Happiness welled up from Clixie as she lovingly pressed her head against his hand.