Three Wodins and one Larkinson settled down at the lounge. To the consternation of the Hexers, Gloriana chose to sit besides Ves and compel him to wrap his arm around her. Though they often sat together like this, how could her brother and cousin feel at ease when a grubby third-rater put his paw on an exalted Hexer? Though Ves noticed their dissatisfaction, most of his attention was placed on the strange activity exhibited by Brutus’ force of will. He encountered several expert pilots over his lifetime. The most recent one besides Brutus was Venerable Ghanso, who possessed a very offense-oriented force of will. Both Ghanso and Brutus appeared to be ranged mech specialists, but they adopted different convictions. Ghanso’s force of will mostly centered around himself. His offense-oriented force of will was an expression of his belief that defeating his enemies was the best way to do his duty! His force of will mostly honed his aggression and strengthened his commitment to duty. Part of the reason why he obsessed so much about obeying authority and completing his mission was because these values formed the spiritual foundation of his force of will! In contrast, despite specializing in an offensive mech, Brutus piloted mechs for a very different purpose. His main priority was to protect his family or the people he cared about. As Ves carefully sampled the ’protective blanket’ that Brutus unconsciously formed around Gloriana, he knew that the brotherly love the expert pilot held for his sister was incredibly strong! Ves quickly realized that this kind of love and devotion surpassed most instances of affection between brothers and sisters! When any expert pilot to dedicate the essence of his will towards a cause, they formed a lifelong obsession around it. Their spirituality, their personality, their thoughts and their emotions had all gathered together to birth this force of will, and in turn the incredible might of an empowered will fed back to its originators and warped them further into its image! In essence, when expert candidates and expert pilots formed their empowered wills, the latter essentially began to hypnotize the former! When a force of will further contaminated the rest of the mind of an expert pilot, their mentality became more and more compatible with the force of will. This was a mutually-reinforcing cycle and one of the ways for expert pilots to advance and grow in strength. As long as an expert pilot dedicated himself further towards the pursuit he had chosen, he would be rewarded by increasing the foundation of his strength! 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺 Just like Pavlov’s dog, the positive feedback stimulated the expert pilot into dedicating himself further towards his conviction! What did all of this mean? Expert pilots placed a very high emphasis on sticking to their values and acting according to their principles! This made them incredibly stubborn whenever these core values and principles were involved. It was virtually impossible to change their minds on the matters that touched their hearts and wills the most! So when Ves witnessed Venerable Brutus caring so much for Gloriana that his force of will freely enveloped her like a shield, he knew that he had no choice but to overcome this hurdle! An overprotective brother was bad enough, but when this person also happened to be an expert pilot, Ves could not brush him aside like he planned to do with every other Hexer! No matter what, Ves could not avoid this test! Once Brutus opposed his relationship with Gloriana in earnest, how could Ves rest easy? Even if Brutus was just a ’boy’, he was still a Wodin and an expert pilot! His ill impression towards Ves would definitely affect the stance of the rest of the Wodin Dynasty! On the other hand, if Ves managed to gain Brutus’ approval, he would get a very powerful helper. While winning Brutus over was not as good as winning over a female Hexer, at the very least his protectiveness towards his sister could be exploited for many ends! Once Ves made these silent calculations in his mind, he suppressed any dissatisfaction towards Brutus. When his interests were at stake, what did it matter if Gloriana’s brother was less than enthused? The only complication was that Brutus’ dislike towards Ves actually affected the operation of the protective blanket. Even as Ves kept trying to make small talk, as long as Gloriana’s body continued to press against his own, her protective blanket continued to prickle him! It was as if a thousand spiritual needles were pressing against his skin! A normal human would have felt incredibly uncomfortable or even pained if they faced this manifestation of Venerable Brutus’ force of will. Fortunately, Ves was very experienced in spiritual matters and possessed a certain degree of strength in this aspect. The protective blanket may be threatening, but it mainly attacked the minds of those Brutus regarded with hostility. Ves was very confident in his mental strength. Compared to spiritual attacks he experienced in the past, this kind of pressure was not enough to shake his intentions! His continued proximity to Gloriana began to annoy Brutus further. Perhaps he wasn’t used to seeing that the pressure he exerted had failed to make a difference. "Gloriana." He spoke up, directing his attention towards his loving sister. His previous frown turned into a gentle smile now that he faced his sister. "When will you return to the Hegemony? We have all been waiting for you to go back. There is no point in continuing to meddle in the Sand War when the Komodo War will soon reach its peak. Our home state needs you! Continuing to play in this impoverished region and remaining vulnerable to Fridayman predation is highly inadvisable!" "I already told you, brother. I’m staying with Ves until we are ready to return! Right now, we are still in the middle of exploring our synergies and finding ways to strengthen our specialties! You’re not a mech designer, Brutus! You don’t know what it’s like to finally find a mech designer who can enable my passion! Let me show you what we have done in the last year." Gloriana enthusiastically activated a central projector and began to highlight all of their successful design projects, starting with the Desolate Soldier! "Don’t underestimate this work just because it’s a third-class design. Underneath its plain exterior, this mech hides a lot of strengths! Let me explain it all to you..." To his credit, Brutus sat calmly and listened to his sister in earnest. He showed faint surprise when Gloriana mentioned the Desolate Soldier’s glow, but he quickly grew disinterested. As an expert pilot of a powerful second-rate state, he had encountered plenty of mechs with strange and powerful features. The only notable part about the glows was that they seemed entirely unique! Perhaps mundane mech pilots might be more appreciative towards glows, especially if they experienced their effects in person, but expert pilots were not so easily shaken. Their strong conviction and their iron wills made them even less appreciative towards external means of influencing other people’s emotions! Gloriana did not take notice of Brutus’ dismissal towards glows. She continued to ramble on about her many collaborations with Ves. From the Adonis Colossus to the Deliverer, she poured out her passion for her recent works with no reserve! Against her boundless enthusiasm, Brutus slowly shifted his expression. As someone who loved his sister dearly, he could never dismiss all of her words. By the time her rambling finally subsided, Brutus took a deep breath and looked at her sister in the eyes. "Are you happy with this boy?" "You already know the answer to this, brother!" She emphasized her words by pressing on to Ves even deeper! The happiness that overflowed from her could not be faked! "Why him? Why not a proper Hexer?" "You know the answer to this as well. You know what I think about those other boys. Even if they’re pretty, even if their breeding is impeccable, they’re all useless to me! In fact, some of them are even hindrances if I pair up with them! I have searched half the Hegemony and failed to find a single boy who pleases me! Why did you think I visited Centerpoint in the first place?!" "And Ves here is your answer?" "Brother. Please understand that I’m not only a Hexer, but also a mech designer. I will do anything to pursue my goals in mech design! Of all of the mech designers I’ve met, none of them can possibly help me fulfill my ambitions more than Ves! Without him, my chances of attaining my goals are poor. Now that I found a compatible partner, my chances have doubled or even tripled! I am absolutely certain that the two of us can achieve the wonders I’ve already dreamt about! I won’t let alone, including you, spoil my opportunities!" Brutus looked discomfited, and so did Ranya. "Cousin.. aren’t you moving too fast?" The exobiologist questioned. "How long has it been since you met with him? A year’s time is not enough to make up your mind!" The lovesick Hexer stubbornly shook her head. "It doesn’t matter! My love for Ves is real, and so is my desire to collaborate with him! The two of us are made for each other! What does it matter if his breeding is poor? As a mech designer with as much potential as me, Ves can easily match or surpass all of the mech designers from the Hegemony! This is why I’ve already made a promise to my mother for him to prove himself. Just wait, in about two years time, he’ll blow your minds with what he can accomplish with me at his side!" Both Ranya and Brutus were already aware that Gloriana’s desire to be with Ves was more than a casual attachment, but now that Ves was back, she expressed her obsession in full! Her ferocity astounded her brother and her cousin! In the face of such a strong attachment, Brutus could no longer dismiss his sister’s fascination towards Ves as a momentary crush. He knew his sister well enough that she was always serious when she became this committed. He decided to change his tack. "Sister, cousin, could you please leave me alone with Ves? I want to have a private talk with him. Please give us a moment to ourselves." Gloriana glanced suspiciously at her brother. "You aren’t going to scare him away from me, are you?" "I only intend to talk." "Okay." She said simply. "Come on, Ranya. Let’s give the boys some space." She quickly left with Ranya but not before pecking Ves on the cheek. "Brutus can be kind of scary on the outside, but he’s a big softie inside!" She whispered in his ear! "Do your best to make nice with him! It would break my heart if the two of you can’t get along!" With that, the two women left the lounge, leaving Ves to face the expert pilot alone. Of course, just because they were the only ones left did not mean their talks were private. The monitoring system doubtlessly kept a very close on them while recording all of their words. Both of them knew that. THe reason why Brutus insisted on talking to Ves alone was because he wanted to speak frankly without encountering an instant pushback from her sister. "So.." Ves trailed. "What is it you want to talk to me about?" Brutus crossed his arms. "I don’t know how you managed to do it, but you completely put my sister under your spell." "I think you are mischaracterization her affection towards me. I didn’t seduce her! She seduced me!" Ves retorted. "I never actively pursued a relationship with her from the start. Gloriana insisted on staying together with me, and eventually we learned we got along very well. We are made for each other!" This only caused the expert pilot to narrow his eyes. "Just because my sister fancies you does not mean the two of you are soulmates!" It was clear that Brutus still disapproved of Ves!