Did Ves have a way of empowering Venerable Irene Mox? He certainly did. He was both a mech designer and a spiritual engineer. Even if his clan didn't exist and even if none of his design spirits had assumed their roles in this time period, he still had several ways to even the odds and give the Quillims a fighting chance to win the crucial battle! He just needed to think carefully on what he was willing to expose. The debacle centered around the Vulcan Empire had taught him a painful lesson on how even the smallest and more careless actions might produce massive repercussions in the far future! Ves quickly went over his possible options. "There is not much point in upgrading the Iron Hedgehog's design and turning it into a living mech. The people here won't let an expert pilot mess around and there isn't much time for me to implement too many changes anyway." Irene needed an immediate boost in battle power. Changing her Iron Hedgehog would do the opposite as she needed at least a few days to understand its altered parameters and work them into her fixed routines. The Quillims couldn't afford to wait that long! This was why Ves turned to human transformation. He happened to know a thing or two about that, but he had never augmented a pilot as strong as Venerable Irene Mox. Any operation he performed on Irene would have massive and irreversible consequences to the woman who would eventually become known as the Destroyer of Worlds. His efforts could easily cause her head to burst like a balloon if he made a mistake! However, Ves quickly set all of these fears aside. He would normally never contemplate such a foolish and reckless act. Yet because Divine Irene Mox was doing well 2 centuries from now, Ves was 100 percent sure that whatever crazy experiments he pulled off during this Mastery experience, the outcomes turned into a smashing success in the end! Ves briefly became excited at the reminder his future knowledge functioned as a cheat answer. His concerns about hurting or impairing Irene to the extent that she was no longer able to fight as effectively in this battle became moot. This was because if his measures failed, Irene was unlikely to survive this battle and live long enough to acquire the title of the Destroyer of Worlds! Now, all he needed to do was convince Venerable Irene Mox that it was in her best interest to accept a drastic, life-altering augmentation from talking purple ghost cat. …Maybe he needed to put a bit more effort in his attempt. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂 Blinky quietly showed up again. The cat's appearance inside the cockpit pulled Irene out of her intense study session. "I appreciate all you have done, cat, but you are interrupting my work. If you cannot contribute anything useful, then please stay out of my way." "Don't be so quick to dismiss what I have to offer, mrow. You should at least hear me out before you reject what I wish to propose. I cannot guarantee it will have a great effect at the start, but I can assure you that it will strengthen you in ways you can never imagine, especially later on when you have time to grow into your power." The closeness between Ves and Irene caused the latter to take his words seriously, at least for the time being. "Explain." Blinky smiled while swishing his tail. "I am able to perform a secret method that can bestow new powers to individuals. Have you ever wanted to learn where I came from, Irene? Well, here is your answer. I am a product of this method." That caused Irene to raise her eyebrows! "You… originally came from another human? That… explains much. No wonder you are so good with technology. You were sourced from a mech designer." "Mrow, what a clever girl! You deserve a prize! Would you like to acquire a helpful cat like myself?" "How does getting a cat help me fight the Bontues?" "I cannot tell you that." Blinky seriously responded. "Every cat is different, and each of them have different ways of empowering their progenitors. I cannot foresee the outcome, but I believe it will undoubtedly provide you with a lot of help in the coming battle, but only if you are able to endure the pain and other side effects." He was making a lot of demands, but he conveyed so much confidence and sincerity that Irene felt attracted by the strange cat's promises. Blinky had been nothing but helpful since he appeared. While his agenda, his origin and his reasons for assisting her were completely unclear, she intuitively sensed that the cat remained on her side. At the very least, Blinky was not her adversary. Whether he could be trusted was another matter. Could she believe in his claims? Was Blinky proficient enough in this secret method to pull it off without any serious problems? Would the consequences of accepting this augmentation give her enough time to recover sufficiently enough to fight in the upcoming battle? So many questions and doubts plagued her mind before her strong force of will decisively swept them away! This was no time for doubts and procrastination. She had studied the data and intelligence reports and understood that the Quillims had a tough battle ahead of them. Her Iron Hedgehog was not enough to overcome the dramatic numerical disadvantage. Defeating the Bontue vanguard troops that were advancing on New Kreon at this moment mattered above anything else! Only by stopping these enemies would she be able to give her comrades on the ground a realistic chance of evacuating from this doomed star system! "Very well." Irene said as she forcibly pressed down her discomfort. "Do what you must. I shall do whatever I can to cooperate." Blinky smiled with satisfaction. "You won't regret it, though probably not at first. What I am about to do next will hurt you a lot. This is because to create a cat comparable to myself, I need to cut a piece of your 'soul' and breathe life into it so that I can shape it into a cat. Don't worry. While the cat will gain intelligence, your new companion will still be tied to you. It will be like having a second personality." Irene had so many questions that she didn't know where to begin. "This 'companion'... is supposed to make me stronger?" "Yes, but as I have told you before, I cannot completely say how. I will have to 'operate' on you before I have a better idea. I can promise you that I will do my best to empower you in the short term. Your willpower shall be the medium in which you can enhance the might of your cat. Countless enemies shall tremble in the terror of your companion's power!" Though he exaggerated his boasts, Irene nonetheless felt attracted by the visions evoked by his words. What she needed the most was power. Without enough strength, she had no way of fulfilling all of her goals! "Do it." She said. "I suppose I need to relax and let you rummage inside my head again?" "Yup. This is going to hurt a lot, and every part of you will want to push me back and protect your inner self. Don't give in to your instincts. The process is damaging, but it is an essential step to your transformation. Endure the pain. Stick to your resolve. A brand-new future awaits you so long as you are able to pass this test." Irene had overcome numerous challenges in her life. She did not want to suffer defeat at this junction! It was a bit difficult for her to relax her mind and open it up to Blinky, especially when she also had to muster her strength to restrain any instinctual defensive reactions. Once Blinky dove into her head and started to cut into her willpower-infused spirituality, a remarkably feminine scream escaped from her throat! "Bear with it, Irene! You are stronger than this! I will do my best to expedite the following steps, but you must hold yourself back!" "Ngggnnn!" Ves could not afford to pay too much attention to Irene's condition. He had to work quickly and try his best to form a new companion spirit for an existing expert pilot. It was fortunate that he already formed a plan to provide all of his Larkinson expert pilots with their own companion spirits. It was much harder to pull this off with demigods than with normal people because the former were much harder to alter! Their force of will was not only highly repulsive towards outside manipulation, but also consisted of some of the toughest ingredients he had to work with. Even with Blinky's excellent ability to break down and digest spiritual energy, the companion spirit struggled to overpower Venerable Irene's incredible tenacity! Once Blinky reluctantly managed to separate enough of Irene's force of will to form a new living spiritual construct, the cat instantly began to shred the ingredient and infuse it with spirituality originating from Ves. Though Ves felt regretful that he wasn't able to contribute additional ingredients to the creation process, Venerable Irene's potent spirit and willpower already provided a sufficient base! Ves felt more and more deflated as Blinky channeled his life-attributed spiritual energy into Irene's companion spirit. The woman stopped screaming in pain. The worst was over, though she still needed to do her best to restrain her willpower from producing a violent response. "We are making good progress. Keep holding on. I am doing my best to finish this quickly." Blinky skillfully infused the ingredients with the spark of life while simultaneously shaping the companion spirit into a cat. Though he could have given Irene the choice to determine the appearance of her own companion spirit, Ves thought that it would only distract her and make this situation needlessly complex. It was much simpler to just give her a spiritual cat. As Blinky continued to shape the companion spirit, the cat that took shape began to resemble a tabby cat. What was special about her appearance was that her fur started to pulse with varying tints of orange ripples. It was as if the cat had become a personification of the exploding shells that Venerable Irene liked to launch at her opponents! The cat's striking visual appearance fell in line with Irene's domain and spiritual attributes. She excelled at raining down destruction on her opponents and constantly put in a lot of effort into making her attacks more accurate and deadly. Once Blinky quickly created a rather sloppy but functional companion spirit, the new creation soon settled into Irene's damaged force of will. Since the companion spirit was originally a part of Irene and hardly contained any foreign ingredients aside from Ves' spiritual energy, her return did not evoke any rejection. The 'return' of her separated self also healed much of her intangible wounds and relieved her pain. Irene Mox widened her eyes as soon as she formed a strong and instant connection to the newborn spiritual cat! "This… this is similar to piloting a mech!" The experience was considerably different in that the 'mech' was much smaller and possessed her own autonomous consciousness. Still, the similarities were sufficient enough for Irene to quickly get accustomed to the novelty of obtaining her own companion spirit. Though her force of will still needed to undergo a lot of healing, the damage was not as bad as Ves and Irene feared. Soon enough, a splashy spiritual tabby cat tentatively emerged from the expert pilot's head. …Miew… "So cute!" Blinky quickly appeared next to the explosion-themed cat! He licked the newborn cat's intangible fur, causing the latter to cry out in protest! Irene looked weary and befuddled as she beheld her new 'pet'. She still didn't entirely understand what had happened and what she obtained. "This…" "She needs a name." Blinky told her. "What do you want to call her? Just say the first name that comes to mind." "Emma." "Uhm… maybe you should take your time."