After the first day, Saint Stark continued to agree to undergo another extreme training session the next day. She did not have enough downtime to study the footage of the completed bouts extensively. Her head became filled with ideas, yet due to wringing out her extraordinary willpower to her bottom limit after every session, she required a lot of sleep in order to recover and regain her strength for the next lengthy bout of practice! 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎 It was tiring. It was stressful. It was… satisfying. The progress she made every day was astonishing. Although the Stewards Siamesia never once gave the Amaranto a chance to fire a shot with her Instrument of Vengeance, Stark was rapidly improving her ability to duel against threats up close! She built up an entire foundation on the first day.. She refined her new resonance-empowered abilities on the second day. She further polished and perfected her bayonet fighting skills on the third day. She made great strides on improving her intuition and enhancing the maneuverability of the Amaranto. All the while, her resonance strength grew by leaps and bounds. She started off at 114 laveres, but reached 133 laveres by the end of the day! This was a huge leap in strength! Saint Davia Stark made the greatest progress in the first day, with each passing day making less and less gains. She grew disappointed when the growth of her resonance strength was approaching a plateau. Was her potential that poor? Had she become too satisfied with her growth in strength that she thought there was no need for her to grow stronger anymore? "There is nothing to be worried about." Jerivern Chevor reassured the junior ace pilot. "The reason why you grew so quickly at first is because you had a lot of untapped potential. You only broke through rather recently, but already received an ace mech rather quickly. You are still in a rapid growth stage, but it is not obvious because your willpower does not grow automatically. You need to exercise it and push yourself to your raised limits. Only when you activate your new potential are you able to ’cash in’ your elevated strength. The reason why your growth is slowing down is because there is no ’reserve’ left. You are still improving, but at a much slower rate." "I see." Stark grew reassured. The explanation made sense. Besides, she knew in her heart that she still had a lot more room for growth. "For several days, we have insisted on training your ability to defend against threats at closer ranges." Alo spoke. "This crash course on self-defense has yielded great improvements. While it is too much to expect you to become an adequate fighter when you are being threatened at point-blank range, you are no longer a floating target dummy as before. We are especially satisfied with how much your intuition and your reaction speed has improved. Anticipation and speed are your most important weapons to defend against sudden attacks. Your penchant for fighting from the rear has caused your scores in these areas to atrophy for too long. Now, they are much closer to standard than before." That meant that there was still a lot of room for improvement. Saint Stark agreed with the statement that a few days of intensive sparring was not enough to reach a standard that would enable her to survive most ambushes against hostile ace mechs or phase lords. However, it was a start. Stark could steadily engage in her own form of practice from here on out. Her progress wouldn’t be as quick without the cooperation of another ace pilot, but she could manage by herself. If not for the fact that the MSTS persistently had problems with accurately simulating the performance of ace mechs affected by ridiculously strong levels of true resonance, Stark and her living mech would have been able to gain a lot of practice in virtual training! "I have to admit that learning how to fend off enemies up close has become… a gratifying experience." Saint Stark admitted. "There were many moments where I felt frustrated, disappointed and angry. What the two of you have subjected me to is truly a form of torture. However, I am clearly able to tell that it is for my own good. Fighting against you has improved me almost as much as a fight against a phase lord. Just because I do not like your method doesn’t affect my understanding of their necessity." Both Alo and Jeri Chevor smiled. "We are always happy to help. We deliberately rile you up and make you feel suffocated because we have found that ace pilots are able to realize their potential faster when they are uncomfortable. The more their mood deteriorates, the more they are focused on improving their performance. That is exactly what happened to you. Your skills have grown remarkably quickly and you have also strained your creativity to develop new ways to empower your ace mech with your Saint Kingdom." There was no reason for Saint Stark to hold a grudge against the Stewards Siamesia. The Rubarthan saints employed orthodox methods to produce quick results, and they succeeded. Stark’s expression dropped when she thought about the necessity of such a rough training method. "I fear that I may have to put my new skills and abilities into practice sooner than later. What are the native aliens up to these days? I have already heard that they have started to assault the fifth defensive band." "That is correct, Davia. The aliens are amassing their phasefighters and warships in many strategic star systems. They have yet to attack in great numbers, but they have already commenced a few determined assaults in the Middle and Lower Zones." "What about the Upper Zones such as the one we are in right now?" "The native aliens are taking their time." Alo said. "Their warships have already begun to arrive in greater numbers in this star system, and they have already begun to spread out in order to scout the terrain and engage in skirmishes against mech patrols. Only one greater phase lord has emerged in the Kayana System so far, but there will definitely be more. The Red Cabal knows that they must bring more in order to resist my methods. We cannot predict when the other phase lords will arrive, and how soon they will besiege Kayana VIII-E." There were three developed satellites of significant strategic importance. One of the larger moons that orbited the gas giant known as Kayana VIII-E would be the first stage of this lengthy battle for control. Saint Stark thought about the complicated fight that would ensue at first. Kayana VIII captured plenty of moons. Each of them orbited the gas giant at different heights, angles and speeds. This created a complex space combat environment where both enemies and allies could hide behind moons or slingshot themselves around to surprise their enemies. What muddled up the battlefield even further were gravity and exotics. Gas giants always produced weird environments where multiple forces of gravity intertwined with each other. There were also rich deposits of high-grade exotics and as well as hyper materials on the moons and in the gas giant itself. All of this produced energetic reactions, which could produce a myriad of uncontrolled effects. Mixing them up made the environment even more unstable. All of these variables produced additional problems for Saint Stark. There were clearly more opportunities for the enemies to sneak their forces close and attack ranged mechs such as the Amaranto Mark III at closer ranges. Perhaps this was one of the other driving reasons why the Stewards Siamesia insisted that the Amaranto Mark III was ready to hold her ground if she was ever ambushed at close range. "Do you think I should continue to polish and strengthen my ability to fight at close range?" Saint Stark sincerely asked. "If I continue to invest in this training, I think I can actually become even better. If you let me borrow a plasma sword or if I request a custom melee weapon from the Larkinson Clan, I may be able to take many would-be slayers by surprise by briefly matching their efforts at close range. As you have already said, my sniping abilities are already good." "Hmmm." Both Alo and Jeri looked skeptical. Jeri Chevor ultimately shook her head. "If you began your career by piloting a multipurpose mech and only later chose to specialize in piloting ranged mechs, then an argument could be made about going back to your roots. Your record indicates that this is not the case. You have never spent any serious attention on attending more than the minimum required courses on melee combat. You lack the heart for melee combat. Do not think that your current optimism is an indicator that you have discovered a new talent. It is much harder to make incremental improvements from this point onwards." "Do not let your training in the last 5 days forget who you are." Alo warned Stark. "You are a markswoman. Your ace mech is specialized in shooting. Now that you are done with your self-defense training, I think you will gain a fresh perspective on ranged combat. You should be able to translate some of the lessons that you have learned about fighting at close range to fighting at longer ranges." He was right. Saint Stark had already begun to think about the possibilities. "Do you have any specific advice on what I should pay attention to when training my ranged combat capabilities?" She earnestly asked. "Your fury is your strength." Jeri said. "We have noticed that anger is the primary emotion that is fueling your drive and stimulating your willpower. You can try to experiment with that to develop a new combat ability that allows you to project your power more effectively at distance." Stark could already think up an idea or two. "I will try my best to develop a working ability in the following days. I hope that the native aliens won’t decide to attack too soon. I need enough time to develop a complete ability. It is rather fun to work out how my Saint Kingdom can produce the outcomes I desire." "Do not fret if you fail. We will ensure you can still make an adequate contribution. That is one of our missions." The female twin said. "When the first pitched battle breaks out in this star system, would you like to stay in the rear as you have always done in the Larkinson Clan, or would you prefer to shadow my ace mech as we roam around the battlefield?" Stay tuned with freewebnovel "What do I need to pay attention to if I choose one or the other?" "If you choose your established approach, then we will not be able to stay by your side and protect your Amaranto. The mechs in front need our assistance more. Our ace mechs will have to coordinate with each other from a distance. My Lamia Kailamassu will block the advance of the enemy phase lords while your Amaranto will snipe them from a safe position in the rear." "That will leave me vulnerable to teleporting phase lords and such." Stark immediately analyzed. "I may have to bet my life on my new skills and abilities." "Yes, but you will not be without support." Alo explained. "There will be numerous expert mechs, first-class multipurpose mechs as well as a strong array of fixed defenses providing extensive protection. They may not be able to hold back greater threats by themselves, but they can buy time and hinder any surprise attackers." "You can also choose to fight by our side in the field." Jeri explained the alternative. "This will expose you to many additional risks. However, so long as you remain in the range of our Saint Kingdoms, we can always extend our formidable protection and other forms of support to your Amaranto. You may have to put your new melee capabilities to use more often, but you will also enjoy a far greater advantage than if you fight at a distance from our Lamia Kailamassu." "What do you prefer, Davia?" This was a difficult choice…