Chapter 6004 Efficient Growth When Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson broke through, everyone knew it. The manifestations were just too obvious. "The resonance meter is spiking! 70 laveres! 90 laveres! 100 laveres! 105 laveres! 110 laveres! 113 laveres and holding!" Although the numbers had more than doubled, Tusa's actual willpower had grown exponentially stronger! The lavere scale was not linear, but instead followed a more complicated formula for reasons that took a long time to explain to a layman. Whatever the case, the only rule that mech pilots and other people needed to know was that once a pilot was able to generate true resonance that exceeded 67 laveres, he had definitely transcended into a saint! It was not just the resonance meter that made it clear that Tusa successfully overcame the bottleneck that halted his progress for a time. The most visible manifestation that Tusa's strength had transformed on a quantitative as well as a qualitative level was the evolution of the Dark Zephyr's resonance shield! A resonance shield was often treated as the seed form of a proper domain. Now that Tusa had advanced to the second major cultivation rank, he finally gained the qualifications to form his Saint Kingdom for the first time! As one of the most powerful combat domains known to red humanity, the Saint Kingdom of a junior ace pilot was already oppressive and domineering to the vast majority of people. Ves experienced its rapidly strengthening reach and intensity the most due to his proximity to the Dark Zephyr and his high spiritual perception! A grin appeared on his face as he witnessed the emergence of the Larkinson Clan's first true ace pilot. The Larkinson Family long dreamt of spawning an ace pilot among their ranks, but it had never succeeded since the Larkinson settled down in the Bright Republic. It was only now that Ves had founded the Larkinson Clan and led his clansmen to a much greater height that he was able to create the conditions that were conducive to the emergence of ace pilots. Ves felt incredibly fulfilled that his many contributions allowed an expert pilot in his 40s to break through to ace pilot at such an exceptionally young age! As a mech designer, he loved nothing more than to see the users of his products prosper. For an expert pilot to actually overcome the difficult hurdle that blocked many of their peers for a long time was the ultimate vindication that a mech designer could obtain! Combined with the successful tests of the Dark Zephyr Mark III's many powerful features, Ves could feel that his design philosophy had made another stride forward. This was the most obvious indication that Ves had become a substantially better mech designer than before! The wildly successful outcome of the Dark Zephyr Mark III proved that Ves had truly managed to develop his living mechs to the sixth generation! Ves briefly lamented the fact that far too little time had passed before he could fully refresh all of his old living mech designs to the very recent fifth generation, but it didn't matter. He refused to hamper progress just because it did not conform to a consistent update cycle! So what if he could have milked fifth generation living mechs for at least half a decade before rolling out sixth generation living mechs? If Ves had to choose between maximizing his business interests and maximizing the progression of his design philosophy, he would always prioritize the latter! An honest mech designer should always put the interests of the mech pilots first. Ves believed he had done so in a brilliant way by designing an innovative new high-tier expert mech and stimulating Tusa by presenting him with a challenge. When Tusa had successfully managed to defeat the phasewater circulating in his body, Ves already had a hunch that his cousin was close to breaking through. This was why Ves readily accepted the offer to fight a duel. What better way to stimulate Tusa further than a hearty fight? This was also why Ves chose to employ a powerful Worclaw energy attack! He knew that only an attack of this magnitude would truly cause Tusa to become desperate to attain greater power! The fact that Tusa met all of Ves' expectations was like a dream come true. It usually took a lot more accumulation for expert pilots to break through. The more talented ones were at least twice Tusa's ace. For example, powerful heroes and champions such as Patriarch Reginald Cross fought way more and endured a lot more hardships before he managed to trigger his own second apotheosis. It was not unusual for high-tier expert pilots to break through after a century of living, but at that stage their bodies and mental acuity had already declined to an extent. Although breaking through to ace pilot was a surefire way to rejuvenate them and extend their lifespans by reshaping their bodies with their willpower, these late bloomers often exhibited less potential. Tusa did not have to worry about that. While much of the reason for his breakthrough could be attributed to getting paired with an excellent expert mech, it was undeniable that the new Saint had worked hard and proved that he deserved to advance to his impressive new rank! Ves was especially glad that Tusa managed to break through without relying on a crutch like the transcendence glow. In fact, Ves had secretly been thinking about borrowing Lufa for a moment in order to give Tusa a firm push in the right direction. He was glad that he did not. Tusa's pride and confidence in himself would have never reached their current height if he had to rely on external help to break the barrier. This way, he gained more potential and his future became brighter. Although it was way too premature to make this claim, Ves already began to regard Tusa as a potential god pilot candidate! As long as Tusa used this powerful early start as a Saint to develop his strength and grow his domain, he would be in an excellent position to step onto the road to no return! This was especially the case if he continued to pair up with the Dark Zephyr. As a mech designer, Ves did not miss out on the many changes experienced by the high-tier expert mech that he had just overhauled. In many cases, an expert pilot accumulated over multiple decades before managing to break through. Although their resonance strength stalled due to reaching the upper limit of what his rank could bear, that did not mean that all of their growth had stopped. It was only when they broke through that all of that hidden energy got unleashed! Tusa's breakthrough to ace pilot was actually weaker than other cases because he accumulated a lot less energy. This meant that the Dark Zephyr's current forced resonance state was not as exaggeratingly powerful. When factoring in the surprisingly robust and resilient first-class archemetal mech frame, the high-tier expert mech did not exhibit any signs of excessive stress or strain. Ves was confident that the Dark Zephyr was strong enough to bear the temporary explosion in power! The machine should not be fragile enough to end up in a heavily damaged state that happened in other breakthrough situations! "What a powerful growth surge." Expert mechs always received substantial boosts when their pilots evolved into halfgods. Although Tusa's weak accumulation substantially weakened this effect, the Dark Zephyr's efficiency in absorbing the excess breakthrough energies was much higher! Ves defined his design philosophy as Mutual Growth in Adversity. This meant that the growth of the mech pilot should feed back into the growth of the mech. As a mech that was explicitly designed with growth in mind, the Dark Zephyr's spiritual foundation demonstrated a much higher capacity of absorbing the energies outputted by a newly unshackled ace pilot! By channeling much of those energies into his cultivation method, the Dark Zephyr systematically attained a substantially higher yield than non-living mechs! The most visible manifestation of his rapid growth surge was the arrival of additional Ascension Runes! "Chirrup!" Trisk just so happened to receive a hefty amount of high-quality spiritual feedback from this joyous occasion. The design spirit of the Dark Zephyr eagerly assisted the living mech in the formulation of 6 new Ascension Runes! The Dark Zephyr advanced his Path of the Wind Dancer from 10 to 14 Ascension Runes. The living mech also advanced his Path of the Shadow Dancer from 4 to 6 Ascension Runes. This was a very noticeable leap in strength. When utilized by an ace pilot as opposed to an expert pilot, the effect of each individual Ascension Rune became at least an order of magnitude stronger than before! As Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson gradually came off his indescribable high, the newly promoted ace pilot fixated his gaze onto Ves. Though Ves did not feel much hostility, he sensed a much greater threat level from Tusa! There was no way that Ves could last long against the new and improved version of his cousin. Phase lord or not, Ves was not a professional combatant, and he had not invested enough time and resources into realizing his combat potential. He already found it difficult to keep up with the Dark Zephyr's insane mobility. Now that Tusa became an ace pilot, it became even more difficult to land a single blow onto the elusive living mech! Saint Tusa clearly figured this out as well, as his gaze shifted away as if the ace pilot completely dismissed the threat posed by Ves. "Weak. You're too weak. I need a better fight! Who dares to accept my challenge?!" Before Ves could respond, a squad of first-class multipurpose mechs boosted out of Diandi Base and flew straight towards the Dark Zephyr! "We are willing to test your mettle against our high technology!" Major Simon Jankowski transmitted over a communication channel. "Congratulations for breaking through, Saint Tusa. The Red Association is curious to observe how much stronger you have become, and how well your upgraded mech can amplify your combat power. Aside from targeting our cockpits, please do not hold back. We will not charge you for any damage you inflict on our machines." "That is just what I wanted to hear, major! Be careful! The power reactor of my expert mech might not be able to keep up with yours, but I don't need to rely on it to breach the defenses of your mechs. Let's have a good fight!" While the Dark Zephyr Mark III prepared to test his mettle against a dozen first-class multipurpose mechs of the Red Association, Ves quickly retreated from the site that would soon become a lot more hazardous. It was never healthy to remain close to a fight between multiple powerful mechs. Ves had no reason to stop this bout. On the contrary, he wanted this to happen just as much as anyone else. He would be able to gain a much more complete impression of Saint Tusa and the Dark Zephyr's actual combat prowess from this spar! "Who will win?" Ves could not make a definitive judgment on this. Saint Tusa clearly possessed a lot more transcendent power, but his Saint Kingdom had just formed, so he probably wouldn't be able to harness his domain field as effectively as an established ace pilot. The opposing mech pilots were all mortals, though well-trained and heavily augmented ones at that. The superior training and education of RA mech pilots should do much to reduce the skill gap. Major Simon Jankowski stood out a lot more. He was not only the leader of the mech contingent of the Bluejay Fleet, he had already broken through to expert candidate while piloting the short-lived Elemental Lord. Enough time had passed for Major Jankowksi to recover from this ordeal and develop his strength as an expert candidate. Even if that was not enough for him to keep up with Saint Tusa, Major Jankowsi and his squad mates could still count on the superiority of their own machines! The RA mech squad possessed the upper hand in terms of advanced tech and materials. They might not be archemechs, but they had all been designed according to the top-tier standards applied to first-class multipurpose mechs! This became obvious when the RA mechs not only activated their azure energy shields, but also started to link them up with each other! "Shield link technology!" Such a setup was remarkably effective when confronting light skirmishers.