Chapter 7364: Sacrificial Sources Whether they actually needed her intervention remained unclear. As the remains of the Incubator either got absorbed by the experimental device or faded into pieces, everyone held their breaths. The experimental device slowly began to change its shape. It turned from a wobbly sphere into a slightly more humanoid form. Gloriana frowned at this display. "I have a bad feeling about this..." "Sir!" Alexa Streon suddenly called! "Look at the resonance meter! Our experimental device... is beginning to move the needle!" Ves immediately looked at the relevant section of his workstation and indeed saw the resonance meter beginning to pick up readings. This was a significant event. Though the experimental device had yet to produce stolen resonance that was strong enough to declare this trial a success, their latest work clearly possessed the potential to accomplish this historic feat! However, the various complications concerned him. While the experimental device had yet to channel any form of willpower in an effective manner, it had vaguely fallen under the control of a single dominant entity, one that still saw itself as human. That became obvious as the smart metal continued to adopt the shape of a proud human in uniform. Ves already recognized the identity of the projected individual. His heart grew heavier as he saw the smart metal beginning to shape the specific contours of a strong-willed champion’s face. That expression conveyed a clear sense of strength but also frustration. "That is...!" Gloriana recognized that face. Though it had been years since the Larkinsons last had dealings with this contentious individual, Venerable Ghanso Larkinson had long been relegated to infamy within their clan! The existence of Ghanso Larkinson served as the archetypal example of a traitor. Despite his trueblood origins, he had sided with the enemies of the clan. Not only that, he entered the battlefield and fought directly against his fellow Larkinsons! His misguided crusade had eventually ended in failure. Ves had managed to harvest a portion of his cousin’s spirituality, though it had soon disappeared in the vault. If not for this occasion, Ves might never think about Ghanso’s remnant spirituality. Its condition was extremely shabby from the beginning, and it had hardly recovered over the years. Yet every resource had its use. After a long time of dormancy, the Larkinsons finally had a need for Ghanso’s last breath of life. Ves had thought carefully about utilizing this particular resource. The clan preserved the spirituality of several defeated high-ranking mech pilots. All of them came from the enemies that once stood on the opposite side of the battlefield. Honor demanded that these former heroes and champions received a dignified rest. It also aligned with the norms and values of the mech community, who revered powerful mech pilots above all others. Ves did not choose to let the remnant of Venerable Ghanso rest. Though he fully acknowledged that the fractured spirituality of his traitorous cousin constituted a life of sorts, that did not stop the mech designer from deliberately utilizing it for an arcane experiment. Perhaps Ves might hesitate when it came to the spirituality of a friend and comrade like Saint Tusa or Venerable Joshua, but he harbored no affection towards the only Larkinson mech pilot who directly sought to harm and kill his fellow family members. Ghanso had attempted the unforgivable, so did not deserve respect as far as Ves was concerned. Of course, that was just an excuse that he told others. To be honest, Ves still felt that the mech community had a point about respecting the remains of high-ranking mech pilots, but he knew damn well that this rule was not always absolute. If the MTA did not secretly shy away from harvesting the brains of deceased ace pilots in order to use them as the key ingredients of high-grade life-prolonging treatment, then he would have respected this rule. Yet the fact that the mechers themselves took advantage of the heroes they propped up indicated that the respected Association had never been as honorable and upright as it appeared on the surface. The Polymath encapsulated the spirit of the MTA rather well. Just like her, many of the mechers were obsessed with knowledge and possessed a willingness to break the rules in order to advance their high-minded goals. Their intentions may be noble, but many of them believed that the ends justified the means. Of course, not all of the mechers could be characterized in this way, but Ves believed that there were enough of them to define the leadership of the MTA and most importantly the RA. This was why Ves became convinced that he could get away with using Ghanso’s fractured spirituality as the key ingredient of his experimental project. In any case, the stolen spirituality had to come from somewhere. There were only two possible ways that Ves could think of to acquire this necessary prerequisite to creating a stolen resonance generator. The first was to harvest the spirituality and extraordinary willpower of a deceased high-ranking mech pilot. This was where the Ixith Goliath derived its stolen resonance. After its defeat and capture, the researchers who gained access to the Goliath in stasis had spent many hours scanning and examining the crippled monster. Yet no matter how deep they looked, they found no material trace of the Rubarthan expert pilots that had the misfortune of falling in the hands of the mutated voribugs. The Ixith Goliath had completely broken down their expert mechs and presumably assimilated the fragile bodies of their pilots. It was an awful way to die, and the worst part about it was that parts of their souls still remained captive inside the Mentalist Crystal that gifted the Ixith Goliath with so much stolen resonance! Ves had ’faithfully’ tried to emulate this method by utilizing the spiritual remains of Venerable Ghanso Larkinson. Though the condition of this fractured spirit was noticeably worse, it shouldn’t matter too much as long as it retained at least a bit of extraordinary willpower. He could have made a different choice. There were numerous research teams trying to become the first to develop an actual working stolen resonance generator. It was impossible for each of them to have the spiritual remains of a dead expert pilot or ace pilot at their disposal! A scandal would definitely erupt if they boldly tried to kill an expert pilot for the express purpose of making their experiment succeed! Ves had heard from others that these research teams resorted to a different method to fulfill the most essential condition. They actually harvested the spirituality of the friendly expert pilots they had on hand at the time! This was easy for the Rubarthans, but not so for the mechers, fleeters, Cybers and other groups! The latter had no choice but to pay an astonishing prize to their hosts in order to harvest very small amounts of spirituality from the Rubarthan expert pilots. This was not as effective as it sounded. Ves did not possess a full understanding of high-ranking mech pilots and extraordinary willpower, but he knew that the latter could not be divided into neat little pieces and used for different purposes. Willpower originated from the thoughts and emotions of particularly notable individuals. It could not exist by itself unless their originator successfully traversed the path to godhood to the end! Therefore, outside of rare cases where god pilots felt generous enough to bestow others a small piece of their divine willpower, everyone else had little choice but to demand a costly sacrifice from expert pilots or ace pilots. Though the other groups did not share the details with the Larkinsons, Ves could already deduce that the Rubarthan expert pilots had suffered severe and possibly even permanent damage to their psyches in order to pass on the seeds of their extraordinary willpower. Ves could not think of any other alternatives that could give his competitors the core resource necessary to develop their own stolen willpower generators. Unless the Rubarthan expert pilots in question resorted to extraordinary means to mend the very serious gaps in their own spirituality, they would always live on as mentally crippled individuals. Their mentalities became incomplete, which meant that losing a portion of their memories was just the start. The more serious consequence was the loss of part of their cognitive functions. Ves seriously questioned whether these expert pilots would still be able to retain their current resonance strength, let alone grow stronger over time. Although this problematic trade may be the more acceptable alternative to harvesting the souls of deceased expert pilots, it was not much better as far as Ves was concerned! Either way, the creation of a stolen resonance generator inevitably arose due to the sacrifice of a willpower cultivator. The community of mech pilots still had valid reasons for concerns towards the emergence of this experimental tech. Even Ves could not formulate an acceptable policy on how the Larkinson Clan should derive the core ingredients of their own stolen willpower generators. For a short time, the Larkinsons might be able to get away with the use of the remnant spiritualities of enemies slain so long ago that hardly anyone in the Red Ocean knew about them, let alone heard their names. Yet once the Larkinsons exhausted their vault of this precious resource, what next? Ves was not ready to answer this question, and believed that this was no different for his fellow Larkinsons. The good news was that Ves no longer held any responsibility for this decision. Unless the Red Collective issued a joint directive on this controversial matter, the matriarch of the Larkinson Clan would be the one to determine the policy. Of course, no matter what Casella Ingvar eventually decided, she had not yet issued any verdict, which meant that Ves was free to use Ghanso’s fractured spirituality for his latest experiment! The good news was that this particular ingredient had contributed to the success of the experiment. When Ves glanced at the resonance meter, he could see that the experimental device was slowly beginning to generate a small but stable degree of stolen resonance. Even if the sensors only measured 0.000027 laveres worth of activity, this was still much greater than 0! "The experimental device... is beginning to stabilize." Alexa Streon spoke with a voice that expressed a measure of her awe. It... is working, if only barely." What she did not say was that the experimental device had apparently taken a life of its own. As the remnant spirituality of Venerable Ghanso increasingly exerted control over its new vessel, the smart metal facsimile of the expert pilot ’gazed’ directly at the observation chamber where Ves and the other researcher currently resided. [#$&#&&$@@&...] The experimental device opened up a communication channel and transmitted electronic garbage. Though no one could understand its words, Ves could definitely tell that whatever message the experimental device conveyed was not friendly in the slightest! Seeing that the Larkinsons did not issue a response, Ghanso’s expression conveyed fury! "We are detecting a sudden willpower spike!" The resonance meter readings suddenly peaked at 0.27 laveres before a sudden accident occurred! The experimental device reformed into a spiked tentacle before driving its sharp tip straight at the observation window! The force of this strike was so sudden that hardly anyone was able to react in time! Multiple mech designers shrieked, raised their arms or stepped away! None of their panicked reactions made any difference. Before the smart metal spike could drive its tip through the observation window, multiple layers of azure energy shields had already surged to full strength. The power of this physical blow fell far from the threshold of overcoming the resistance of just one of those energy shields, let alone several of them in quick succession. Ves smirked at the sight. Even with the enhancement of a minute amount of stolen resonance, the nanomachines never had a chance of breaking out of its cage. [#$&#$&@#!] The communication channel continued to convey aggressive but unintelligible noises, but Ves paid no mind to the remnant spirituality’s indignant feelings. All he cared about was the outcome of this trial. "I think this qualifies as a success." He grinned.