Ves grew a little more concerned at how much phasewater the Larkinson Clan was using up now that transphasic blast lances entered into production. The previous battle did not yield a substantial amount of this substance as the wheednar raiding fleet was not that important to the alien community. The expeditionary fleet needed to strike a much larger and better-protected target in order to earn a much greater yield of phasewater! Even then, the forces of the Golden Skull Alliance needed to secure all of the vaults and storehouses that held all of the containers filled with pure phasewater. If this did not happen quickly enough, then the vindictive aliens could easily ruin their stash out of spite! The yurzen raiden fleet that was next on the Golden Skull Alliance's hit list probably did not offer that much phasewater either, so Ves needed to look elsewhere in order to solve this escalating problem. "We need to raid a serious alien stronghold after we have concluded this operation." Ves determined. There was nothing wrong with earning sums of MTA merits and lots of decent salvage by defeating a few more alien raiding fleets, but he set out to do a lot more when he initially conceived of the Trailblazer Expedition. Ves still yearned to hunt down the Eminence of Torment. He occasionally met with Director Calabast in order to discuss the ongoing search effort. Her Black Cats had already begun to collect intelligence on the state of alien-occupied star systems just over the border of the Torald Middle Zone, but they had yet to find the key piece of information that could result in a breakthrough. In any case, Ves had to make a careful decision on how many blast lances the Spirit of Bentheim should produce in the face of dwindling phasewater supplies. Phasewater was needed for all kinds of purposes. The Design Department used up a decent quantity of phasewater. Multiple mech designers including Ves occasionally needed to use it up in order to conduct their research and advance the development of a transphasic mech design. The Larkinson Biotech Institute and the T Institute both used up small amounts of phasewater in their own research projects. While it was not necessary for all of these institutions and departments to expend so much phasewater every month, Ves understood that it was necessary in order for his clan to make faster progress. An organization with greater ambitions had to master the uses of both E energy radiation and phasewater in order to thrive in this new and much more dangerous age! It was not enough for the Larkinsons to excel in either of these areas. True greatness could only be attained if they could unlock the greater potential of these exceptional sources of power! Still, now that the phasewater reserves of the Larkinson Clan continued to drain at an unsustainable rate, Ves could no longer blindly authorize any further reckless forms of phasewater spending. He struggled to make up his mind on how many blast lances the Larkinson Clan should produce. Each of them were quite powerful, and having more of them at hand would probably hasten the defeat of alien fleets. They were especially handy to have if the expeditionary fleet ended up in a fight that was a lot tougher than the Golden Skullers were comfortable with. Once all of the high-ranking mechs became occupied, the standard mech units could only rely on a limited number of options to take down large quantities of warships without suffering too many losses in the process. Ves eventually made a decision based on various factors. "5 kilograms of phasewater should be enough to last us a while." Ves told Dulo Voiken. "That should be enough to produce 5000 transphasic blast lances or a little less if there is a bit of waste." That disappointed Dulo a bit. "5000 blast lances is a lot, but with hundreds of lancer mechs at our disposal, a thousand or so can easily be used up in a typical battle. It will not take long for the supply to run out if we keep fighting in the deep frontier." Ves sighed. "I know, but we still need to reserve a lot of phasewater for future needs. We at least need to save up a healthy reserve to produce copies of upcoming quasi-first-class mech models such as the Storm Sword and the Transcendent Punisher Mark III. Don't worry. I don't intend to allow our reserves to dwindle for too long. If our upcoming plans bear fruit, we should be able to get our hands on a lot more phasewater. We can afford to produce thousands of more transphasic blast lances. Until then, our lancer mechs should try to use their regular lances whenever possible." Dulo Voiken shook his head in disappointment. "That may be somewhat acceptable to the Transcendent Charger as it is designed to make use of regular lances to begin with, but the Redlance is expressly designed to work with transphasic blast lances. The design spirit that you foisted on it becomes useless when there is no transphasic equipment to act upon." "I know that. I think it is best for us to limit the production of the Redlance for the time being since they are so dependent on this luxurious weapon system. We can monitor their performance in real battles and increase production at a later date when it has proven its worth." Ves considered the Redlance and the associated transphasic blast lance to be useful stopgap solutions in the current situation. They were just like the transphasic hammer-wielding mechs fielded by the Boojay Family. They granted the Larkinson Clan a much faster means of wearing down the transphasic shields of alien warships. However, once the Larkinson Army began to adopt quasi-first-class transphasic mechs on a wider scale, the Redlance would probably lose a lot of relevance. That did not stop Dulo Voiken from designing an upgraded quasi-first-class variant of the Redlance with even more ridiculous performance, but that was a concern for the future. With that taken care of, Ves turned his attention back to his main preoccupation at this time. Companion spirits added a lot of strength and versatility to those who were lucky to have them at this time. The way that Ves created them caused them to function as energy-based life forms for the most part. This meant that their addition to a person's life automatically increased their spiritual development by a substantial degree! It could enable people without any notable advantages in this area to obtain spiritual potential. Those who already possessed spiritual potential could strengthen and activate this essential quality further. The introduction of exotic radiation did not diminish the value of companion spirits. It increased their worth even further as each of them were inherent natural cultivators! They were all able to absorb ambient spiritual energies and digest them in a way that furthered their growth. Companion spirits were also capable of developing special abilities that were mostly based on the talents or inclinations of their human anchors. Nitaa for example obtained a canine companion spirit with an exceptionally sensitive nose. Ves could think of many more examples where companion spirits had bettered the lives of many people, but there was one group of human professionals that had the possibility of making even greater use of them than normal. "How can expert pilots make the most out of their companion spirits? How does this addition make their lives better?" Ves had not spent enough time to study this particular relationship. "Is it possible for companion spirits to engage in willpower cultivation when they are already tied to expert pilots?" This was an important question. When he thought about Emma, he could clearly sense that any extraordinary willpower attached to her form came from Divine Irene Mox herself. This showed that even a god pilot as powerful as the Destroyer of Worlds did not need a second source of willpower in order to amplify her effective combat power! When Ves studied the footage of the Ragnarok in action, he could vaguely perceive that Emma's main role was to amplify the main attacks of the god mech. Divine Irene Mox did not appear to utilize Emma in any other capacity, but that might be because the public footage never showed off the god mech in other combat scenarios. "Whatever the case, it appears that expert pilots can already get plenty of use out of their companion spirits when attaching them to their weapon systems." Ves decided to pay a visit to an expert pilot in order to get an update on how they managed to get more use out of their companion spirits. He found Tusa first, who looked happy to show off his latest tricks. "I found Blackwing to be quite useful." He said as he jerked his head at the small blackbird companion spirit resting on his shoulder. "So far, I've managed to develop two ways in which he can help me out in battle." "Chip chip!" The little bird called. "Can you show me what you can do?" Ves asked. "Sure." Once Venerable Tusa entered the cockpit of his expert mech and deployed in space, he quickly demonstrated the two ways in which he was able to make use of Blackwing. At first, Tusa sent out Blackwing to the transphasic flight system of the Dark Zephyr. This not only imbued it with a greater concentration of shadow and wing energies, but also enabled Tusa to resonate with it to a greater degree. The result was a considerable boost to the Dark Zephyr's mobility! Compared to the expert light skirmisher's regular performance, the Dark Zephyr empowered by Blackwing not only became faster and more agile while maneuvering in space, but also became a little more elusive and harder to notice! While there was no way to make a mech without a stealth system invisible, the stronger shadows that enveloped his form made it a little less ostentatious. "Interesting." Ves muttered as he studied the data readouts of the Dark Zephyr's current display of power. Once Venerable Tusa was done with his first show, he shifted Blackwing over to one of the living expert mech's knives. "Is it possible for you to impart the power of Blackwing in both of your expert mech's weapons?" Ves asked. "No. I only have one Blackwing, and I can't split him up." Tusa replied. This caused the Dark Zephyr to become a bit uneven, but Tusa did not mind it. When the expert light skirmisher began to spin around and launch flurry after flurry of knife attacks in the middle of space, the deadly dance immediately fascinated Ves. Unlike many other Larkinson mech pilots, Venerable Tusa was one of the few who had actually obtained a cultivation inheritance before any of his peers. The Shadow Dance Dagger Style that he had learned a long time ago became even more entrancing and deadly in this new age. The Shadow Dances of the past could not come close to matching the charm of the current display! This was because Venerable Tusa actively evoked the shadow energies around him, causing the immediate environment to turn into a shadowy storm that not only helped to confuse the perception of his enemies, but also empowered all of the Dark Zephyr's knife attacks with greater power and penetration! Tusa managed to do all of this without the use of transphasic weapons or armor! In fact, the Dark Zephyr was still reflected of Ves' older design approach. The expert light skirmisher was still mainly clad with Unending alloy and wielded a pair of Unending alloy weapons. In particular, the knife that carried the presence of Blackwing looked and felt as if it could slip through tough defenses with almost as much ease as a transphasic weapon! Ves took in all of this and began to get a greater understanding on how companion spirits could enhance the performance of a mech. He identified many possible variables that could help expert pilots get more use out of their companion spirits, but Ves fixated on one in particular. "An effective cultivation method or extraordinary weapon style can make a huge difference!"