The Mech Touch

Since companion spirits were born from the spiritualities of humans, their initial states were proportionate to the strength of their principals.

It went without saying that normal people had no possibility of gaining powerful spiritualities right away.

They were much weaker than his three children when they were still growing in their mother's wombs.

In order to give them the possibility of growing their own companion spirits, Ves had to turn himself into a spiritual surgeon again and perform a few exceedingly delicate operations.

He had always theorized that he could do this in the past, but he never had much confidence that he could pull it off without causing his patient's head to explode.

Much of that changed due to his fairly recent gains. His sublimation and his increased understanding of spiritual manipulation opened up many new possibilities that were previously unattainable.

Nowadays, as long as Blinky took his time and worked extremely carefully, he was able to implant a tiny companion spirit seed inside the miniscule spirits of ordinary individuals.

After Ves had finally gotten around to rewarding Melkor for his loyal service by turning him into his first subject, he succeeded in transforming his cousin's life, if only to a small extent!

Melkor's spiritual potential had never been developed in any meaningful way despite exposing himself to a lot of living mechs over the years.

This heavily limited the initial strength of the companion spirit that Ves could make for Melkor.

"It's like adding a plant to a garden." Ves explained to a nervous-looking Melkor as the legion commander lay on an operating table. "Many houses feature gardens of varying sizes. The back garden of my Royal Mansion can accommodate a large and towering tree without problem. A tiny room aboard a starship can only fit a single flower in a humble plant pot. Do you understand the difference?"

Melkor tentatively nodded. "I believe so. The expert pilots who have been showing off their powerful new companion spirits are all blessed with humongous gardens. Mine on the other hand is closer to a plant pot that you can place in the corner of a desk."

"Just so. The reason why I am explaining this to you is to stop you from holding any unrealistic expectations about receiving an immediate power-up. If this is a game, then a powerful expert pilot such as Uncle Ark is able to obtain a companion spirit that immediately starts out at level 70 or something. Your companion on the other hand has no choice but to begin at the lowest possible starting point at level 0."

Melkor made an ugly face. "Level 0? Why not level 1? You can at least put more effort into softening the blow, Ves."

The mech designer shrugged his shoulders. "I can't help it. The truth cannot be denied. You are so weak and pathetic that I can only start you off with the weakest boon."

Though this was the first time he performed this procedure on an individual this weak, Blinky skillfully completed the operation without any serious complications.

Melkor eventually managed to get away from it with an awful headache and the sensation that a seed had been planted in his head.

"Ugh…" The man pressed against his visor. "You weren't kidding about the pain, Ves. Is there any way I can relieve this with medicine?"

"I'm afraid not. Only sleep can help you escape the pain. Your spirit has undergone a huge change, which is why you feel as if the insides of your head are splitting apart. Only time can heal these wounds. I suggest you take it easy and delegate more tasks to your subordinates."

"So how long will it take for this 'seed' to blood into a fancy companion spirit like your cat?"

Ves threw up his shoulders. "I really don't know. As I have said, this is the first time I did this to a weaker human like you. A level 0 companion spirit seed has to start from scratch and slowly grow as you go about your life. You can theoretically speed up its development by living a more active life and participating in battles. I estimate that it will take at least several years for your seed to metamorphose into a kitten or something."

"That hardly sounds impressive."

"Well, it's not as if your companion spirit can leap from level 0 to level 10 all of a sudden. At level 1, your companion spirit will become as strong as the ones my children had when they had just been born. You need to nurture your young spirit over many years. You can't really speed it up outside of unusual circumstances. Just think of it as raising an extra child."

"Will my companion spirit always remain behind the others?" The Avatar Commander asked.

"Nothing is absolute, Melkor. If you do anything amazing in the future, then I am sure your companion spirit will jump in strength. Undergoing apotheosis is a surefire way to power up your buddy. Levels do not denote your ceiling. Every companion spirit possesses limitless potential. Just because yours starts at level 0 doesn't mean that it always has to stay behind Noah all of the time. If Uncle Ark somehow stagnates in his career, you can exceed him as long as you are able to sustain your own growth."

"There is zero chance of that ever happening."

Ves chuckled. "Never say never. There is always a chance, though honestly speaking Ark is so much better than you in every way that he has to suffer a huge accident in order to give you a chance to overtake him. Outside of that, don't bother comparing yourself to him. You should grow at your own pace. Maybe it will take a century for your companion spirit to maybe grow as strong as Noah in his current state."

It was not pleasant to hear that Melkor would have to wait many years for his companion spirit to become strong enough to serve a meaningful purpose.

After all, Ves had Blinky while the Larkinson expert pilots received all kinds of powerful new companion spirits.

Their Uncle Ark obtained the most outrageous power boost of them all! His Noah could unleash a roar that was so powerful that it could boost the morale of his Warborn mech pilots while shaking the hearts of any enemies in his way!

Alas, Melkor could do nothing about this vast power gap. He spent enough time in the Larkinson Clan to know that there was a vast gulf in talent and endowments between himself and other people.

He had long recognized his own mediocrity and did not really yearn to excel anymore. He only wished to stabilize his position and perform his existing duties in a competent manner.

The Larkinson Clan's recruiting standards had reached a ridiculously high standard these days. Any second-rater that entered the fold could think much faster and memorize a lot more knowledge than him. They were transhuman monsters in their own right and easily took over the positions held by many old-timers who were originally humble citizens of ordinary third-rate states.

To be honest, Melkor felt that his time might be up as well in the near future. Even if he was able to catch up by converting all of the Larkinson merits he earned over the years into more advanced augmentations, he was already old enough for his foundation to be set.

As Ves continued to instruct Melkor on what he needed to pay attention to now that he had become a companion spirit carrier, he emphasized how much of a privilege he received.

"Don't think that it is easy or common for me to provide this service to you." Ves told Melkor. "I am only granting a bunch of companion spirits at this time in order to reward all of the people who stuck with me in my time of need. After this, I don't intend to extend this service so casually anymore. Other clansmen will have to pay a large amount of Larkinson merits in order to convince me to take action in person. I am a busy mech designer, so I can't be bothered with doing this every day."

Melkor nodded in understanding. Ves was the patriarch and the head designer of the Larkinson Clan. It was beneath him to toil like this day in and day out. Designing newer and better mechs was much more important than bestowing ordinary clansmen a fancy new cat.

"Is there a way you can delegate or automate this process?"

"In fact, the T Institute has already made a few advancements in this area." Ves grinned. "I can't tell you when our mass production solution is done, but I will make sure all of our clansmen will enjoy the fruits of our labor first."

"I hope that day will come soon."

Once Ves succeeded in his initial attempt with Melkor, he planted a bunch of companion spirit seeds into the heads of other clansmen that lacked spiritual potential.

Even though Blinky quickly managed to accrue a lot of experience by performing the same operation on repeat, the process still remained finicky and dangerous.

Neither Ves nor Blinky could afford to get distracted, or else they might cause so much damage to a person's tiny spirit that it would become irreparably damaged!

Ves couldn't wait until the T Institute finally managed to cultivate viable companion spirit trees!

By that time, Ves could skip the cumbersome operation and simply give a person a special fruit.

The Larkinson Clan did not change in any noticeable way after leaders such as Minister Shederin Purnesse and loyal subordinates such as Gavin Neumann received their own companion spirit seeds.

Their new gifts were completely dormant and inert as they had yet to take on an active and animated form.

As such, once the recipients got over their awful headaches, they soon went back to work and performed their duties as normal.

If there was any difference, then their opinion and gratitude towards Ves had grown a bit stronger.

In any case, Ves had long thrown off these concerns as he busied himself with his mech designs.

After spending almost a week on refamiliarizing themselves with the Superpublished design of the Dullahan Project, the time had finally come to begin the much-anticipated fabrication run.

Every mech designer involved in the project gathered in the most important workshop of the Genesis Lab.

Not only that, Venerable Jannzi Larkinson and her immediate family had come as well.

Her boring-looking husband Adenau Purnesse-Larkinson along with her boisterous son Mercer Larkinson briefly accompanied her to wish her luck.

Once Jannzi settled her husband and son, she turned around and approached Ves.

"I hope you can deliver on your promises and give me an expert mech that bears a strong relation to my old Sammie." She told the mech designer. "I won't be able to accept any other expert mech no matter how much elaborate tech you put into it. To me, the identity and the personality of my partner machine is much more important than its specs. I would rather go back to piloting a standard third-class mech if that is the only way I can reconnect with my lost friend."

Ves smiled at his current client. "I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the time we are done. We have all worked so hard on the Dullahan Project. There is no way we will allow ourselves to screw up when we are close to the finish line."

He did not mind her tone nor her doubts. The more Jannzi acted this way, the more Ves became optimistic about his recently renamed Carmine System.

The Blood Pact that he envisioned in his imagination was not a static concept. It was a malleable relationship that could grow incredibly strong so long as the conditions were right.

Ves could think of no other mech pilot that was more suitable to inaugurate the Carmine System than Jannzi!