Chapter 7118: Grandmother’s Regard The Radiant Medallion was an impressive piece of craftsmanship. Although it was not even close to matching the living traits of Marigold Larkinson, that was not the point of its existence. Ves reshaped the Flower Umbrella to function as more than just a tool. He wanted it to become an intelligent and vocal companion for his daughter. He did not expect it to become so human, but that was a happy accident as far as he was concerned. Gloriana adopted a different approach towards artificing. She was all about achieving perfection in both form and function. Her definition of perfection did not entail the kind of chaos and unpredictability that life could bring. She recognized that living creations were superior to lifeless ones, but she did not look forward to giving her creations too much autonomy. That granted them too many possibilities, of which a huge chunk led to wasteful and suboptimal outcomes. The so-called Radiant Medallion exemplified her ideal. It was clearly designed and built to contain the Radiant Particle and channel its powers in a very limited fashion that was beneficial to Aurelia. The young lady could tap directly into the Radiant Medallion to empower her various abilities, but that did not appear to be its strongest application. Aurelia could make better use of it by channeling its power into her companion spirit! Somehow, Mana was able to bear a small part of the willpower of a god pilot without immediately getting crushed by its inviolable might. Yet just because she was able to channel the power of the willpower-infused Radiant Particle did not mean that the spiritual cat was able to borrow its strength without limit. The difference in strength between the two was way too much. Mana could only maintain her supercharged state for a short time before cutting off her connection to the Radiant Particle. If she tried to keep it up any longer, parts of herself might begin to morph into a pale shadow of the Light of Sol. This was absolutely an intolerable form of contamination! In fact, Mana’s brief exposure to the willpower of the Terran god pilot had already produced traces of contamination. The good news was that the companion spirit happened to be strong at repelling impurities, so she was able to cope with her condition much better than other companion spirits. The white spiritual cat only needed to spend a bit of time on recuperation to get rid of most if not all of the sequelae. Utilizing the Radiant Particle did not come without other risks. So long as it contained the Light of Sol’s willpower, then anyone who wanted to make use of it had to be in his good books. If Mana or Aurelia possessed any trait that severely displeased the Light of Sol, then they would suffer heavy punishment if they dared to call upon the power of the Radiant Particle! On the other hand, if they happened to align closely with the god pilot’s values, then his willpower would definitely cooperate more actively, thereby leading to stronger results! In any case, the advantages far exceeded the disadvantages. Many people wished they could call upon the power of a mighty god pilot, yet had no chance of even approaching such a powerful figure. The Larkinsons on the other hand had contributed so much to the Terran Alliance that its main protector effectively acknowledged this and issued the corresponding reward! Ves ultimately saw the creation of the Radiant Medallion as a good development. This was especially when he learned that Gloriana had teamed up with his mother to create this artifact. The Oblivion Empress may sound tough most of the time, but her love for Ves and her grandchildren was undeniable. She would never assist in the creation of the Radiant Medallion if it posed an unacceptable hazard to Aurelia. After the excitement of unveiling the Radiant Medallion died down, Ves said a few words before closing the ceremony. There was no need to put up a big fuss about Aurelia opening up her other birthday presents. The other guests started to make noise again as they eagerly discussed what they had just witnessed. They did so while eating birthday cakes and other meals on the terraced exterior of the crystal pyramid. Meanwhile, Andraste and Marvaine presented their own little gifts to their big sister. Lucky, Clixie and Goldie prepared their own tokens of affection, and so did many other Larkinsons such as Saint Commander Casella Ingvar and Swordmaster Ketis Larkinson. Then there were the gifts prepared by all of the guests. They had been piling up in a storage facility on the northern continent. It would take hours for Aurelia to go through them all, so her parents decided that she could go unwrap them on another day. At this moment, Aurelia giggled as she was surrounded by the cats and her siblings. The latter eagerly admired Marigold and the Radiant Medallion, feeling envious that Aurelia had managed to obtain two high-level artifacts on a single day! "I feel so jealous." Andraste said without any hint of resentment. "Mama and papa pulled out all of the stops to keep you safe and protected. You are probably one of the strongest and well-protected 10-year old girls in the Red Ocean right now." Marvaine sat on Marigold’s lap and looked content as the humanized artifact stroked his hair. "All this stuff is so awesome. I cannot wait until I become 10 years old as well. Mama and papa will definitely prepare a pair of cool artifacts for me as well." It would be incredibly unfair if Ves and Gloriana failed to present gifts of equal value for the most important birthdays of Andraste and Marvaine. The parents had taken great care not to show any favoritism to any child, so it was practically guaranteed that the younger siblings would be getting the good stuff as well once they became old enough. Andraste and Marvaine understood that to a degree and loved their parents all the more for it. They couldn’t have asked for a better childhood! As the three children went on to eat their birthday cakes, Ves soon approached and bent down in order to plant a few kisses onto Aurelia’s head. "What is it, papa?" "I would love it if you can enjoy the rest of the day as a kid, but if you want to gain a head start in building up relations and proving your mettle as a diplomat, you can choose to accompany me as I meet with the various guests. I am definitely expecting a lot of good to come from meeting with the representatives of the Red Fleet and the Hunting Association. Would you like to come and witness the negotiations?" Aurelia did not hesitate and nodded her head. "I do. To me, taking part in these talks is just as fun as playing with my toys." "Alright, then. The first meeting starts in an hour. Be ready until then." The birthday girl seriously nodded. After notifying his eldest daughter, Ves turned around and went back to his wife. Gloriana smiled lovingly as she stared at Aurelia and her other two children. The birthday party presented a few surprises, but it had been great so far, just as she hoped. Not only were the kids having the time of their life, but Aurelia had definitely made a name for herself to the public. That came with a lot of expectations, but the mother was confident her child was up to the challenge! "So..." "So what, Ves?" "The Radiant Medallion..." "What is there to say, Ves? You have your projects, I have mine. I do not need to tell you everything I do. You do this all the time. Besides, Casella was completely okay with letting me take out the Radiant Particle from the vault. I do not think it is a good idea to use it to upgrade the Amaranto because it is tainted with the willpower of a god pilot. Saint Davia Stark already relies a bit too much on the Phase King to help her attacks pierce through enemy transphasic defenses. I do not think it would be healthy for her to build up a dependence on the Light of Sol on top of that. As ace pilots move closer to the ultimate threshold, they need to do the opposite. They need to shed much of their dependence on external help and build up confidence in their ability to smash all enemies by themselves." His wife presented a sound argument. Ves actually agreed with her, but that did not take away the fact that she had been a little too hasty in using up such a valuable strategic resource! Yet... Ves had little to complain about since she was right that Ves often did not inform her beforehand about his own crazy projects. Ultimately, Ves did not have a monopoly on the resources of the Larkinson Clan. All of that superdimensional matter and other goods had to be used for the collective good of all Larkinsons, not just Ves and those he favored. "Was it easy to gain my mother’s cooperation?" "Not at all." Gloriana smiled. "The Superior Mother actively supported my work and took on the responsibility of devising the means to keep the Radiant Particle and its attached willpower in a cooperative state. Her expertise was vital in designing the architecture of the Mentalist Crystal fragment. I did not even know you could do that with this kind of hyper material. She had truly opened up my eyes on what is possible with hyper technology." Cynthia Larkinson mastered a huge amount of highly sophisticated knowledge. Ves suspected that she knew far more than what she was supposed to when she used to be a high-ranking member of the Wood Shrine. He had little idea how she managed to gain access and master so many obscure secrets, and he was too intimidated by his mother to ask for clarification. While she occasionally leveraged her vast expertise to help Ves out, she frequently denied his requests for aid more often than not. He knew that she was doing this for his own good, but it still made him upset that she was being so stingy when she could do so much more. This was why he felt a little jealous at Gloriana for being able to call upon Cynthia’s help. Then again, the Radiant Medallion was not an ordinary high-level artifact. Gloriana made it in order to grant Aurelia additional boosts and greater power in an emergency. The Oblivion Empress cared enough about her granddaughter that she happily lent her vast skills and knowledge to the project! Ves shouldn’t have any complaints about that. If Cynthia wanted to pamper Aurelia, then that was not a bad development. "Has my mother promised to assist you in making the birthday presents for Andraste and Marvaine?" "I am not certain, Ves. We did not speak about it when we were working on the Radiant Medallion. Andraste’s birthday will come up fairly soon, so I will take the time to devise another artifact for our boisterous daughter. Once I have formed a plan, I will present it to the Superior Mother and wait for her feedback." Ves predicted that so long as the project was good enough, Cynthia should definitely be willing to lend a hand! After all, Andraste was the child that was most prone to putting herself in life-threatening situations. She had been raised with the genes and expectations of becoming a soldier, and nothing about her personality suggested that she resisted this trajectory. Andraste needed protection much more than Aurelia! 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮 The only problem was that Ves found it difficult to come up with artifacts that could give her a greater boost on the battlefield than Marigold and the Radiant Medallion. Both of them were so powerful that many people might argue that they were overkill for a girl that did not have any aspirations to become a warrior!