5007 Rising Spirits "So how are you feeling, Jannzi?" "I feel upset and angry." The expert pilot dourly spoke. "The native aliens have subjected our entire clan to entirely new existential threats. I truly wish that you have never brought us to the Red Ocean. We wouldn't have to worry about getting wiped out by the much more powerful alien civilizations of Messier 87." Ves did not bother to question the argument that M87 was filled with powerful alien civilizations. The probability of that happening was too low! Life always found a way. If countless different intelligent alien species could emerge in the Milky Way and the Red Ocean, then they were undoubtedly capable of rising up in a much larger galaxy that contained a lot more stars! Even if Messier 87 was somehow far too environmentally hostile to accommodate life, it had over 50 satellite galaxies orbiting around its position! Each of these dwarf galaxies had a lot of potential to produce powerful alien civilizations. The probability that any of them had developed their technology to the point where they could traverse to other galaxies was great regardless of whether they had access to phasewater! In any case, it was better to assume the worst. Messier 87 should not be devoid of life, and each new powerful alien civilization posed an enormous threat to the humans stranded in this foreign cosmic neighborhood! "1 am not inquiring about your personal opinions." Ves said. "M87's background radiation is affecting everyone and everything in different ways. I need to understand whether the changed conditions have affected your combat effectiveness in any way. Can you present your companion spirit for a moment?" Oh. Sure.1 Yawl! A small lizard-like companion spirit dove out of Jannzi's head. Ves remembered that he made Callisto by combining Qilanxo's spiritual energy with Jannzi's strong force of will. The result was a lizard that possessed exceptionally protective traits! The addition of Callisto granted Jannzi additional options when it came to empowering the defenses of her new expert mech! "Let's see "Well?" "Everything is okay for now." Ves smiled and waved Callisto back. "Every companion spirit that I have examined is becoming increasingly more comfortable in this new environment. Yours is no different. The fact that it is so infused with your extraordinary willpower hasn't changed this equation. Now I need to examine you directly. Stay still and let me peer into your head." Jannzi restrained the urge to punch Ves in the face as he looked straight inside her head. "Can you hurry up, Ves?! I feel more violated the longer this goes on! What are you looking for, anyway?!" "Fascinating. I expected for your force of will to do better in this environment, but this is an unexpected surprise!" "What are you talking about?" Ves finally withdrew as he completed his observations. He looked at her with a speculative expression. "What is the main difference between an expert pilot and an ace pilot?" "The latter is able to produce a Saint Kingdom, especially when resonating with a compatible ace mech." Jannzi immediately replied. "That's correct. Is it possible for expert pilots to produce anything similar to a Saint Kingdom?" The female Larkinson looked a lot more uncertain this time. "I don't think so, but... I have heard that particularly powerful high-tier expert pilots can produce a much more rudimentary version of a domain field. You will have to ask Uncle Ark. He should know better." "I plan to meet with him eventually, but the point that I want to make is that all of the rules have changed. I think this one may have been affected as well.” That caused Jannzi to look shocked. "Are you suggesting that I can produce a Saint Kingdom as an expert pilot?!" "Whoa there, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I am only talking about a future possibility. You are still a relatively young mid-tier expert pilot, so I am not sure whether your willpower can grow to that point. You are just starting to get exposed to M87's cosmic energies, so we will have to wait and see whether you and your new expert space knight can fight like a weaker ace mech." "I see." "Let me check your new battle partner. Your living mech has undoubtedly been affected by M87 as well. I already have a decent idea on what I will stumble upon." The two moved closer to the expert mech that had been the cause for his early and timely breakthrough to Senior Mech Designer. Ves felt a lot more grateful towards the Dullahan Project. If he hadn't worked on her and integrated her with the Carmine System, he would have probably remained a Journeyman at this time. In these rapidly changing times, it had become a lot more important than ever for Ves to grasp greater strength! A new galaxy translated into many new opportunities. Those with greater means would undoubtedly be able to be able to capture a lot more advantages than weaker individuals! His current observation was meant to confirm whether his work as a mech designer became positively affected by M87. From what he could see after inspecting the expert mech's spiritual foundation, the recently created third order living mech was definitely flourishing at the moment! As a 'newborn' living mech, the Dullahan Project was a lot more malleable. She was absorbing certain kinds of ambient spiritual energies at a relatively impressive rate! Ves had little doubt that if the concentration of ambient spiritual energies became a lot higher, the expert mech would feast even more! This was impressive for a third order living mech that had already reached a certain degree of maturity! "Is my mech doing alright?" "She is doing even better than you, in fact. She is quickly growing into a powerhouse." Ves happily responded. "She will do even better once I design and integrate a couple of Ascension Paths into her spiritual foundation." "Pardon?" "Oh, that's for later. I don't have enough time right now. Anyway, I am done here. I need to inspect a bunch of other mechs. By the way, have you come up with a name for your new expert mech? Enough time has passed for you to make up your mind." Venerable Jannzi nodded. "That is correct. I will let her announce her name." The expert space knight briefly activated! It powered on its systems just enough to declare her desired name! "BASTION." The powerful living mech quickly shut down afterwards. "Hmmm... good choice. Bastion it is. I think it will do nicely." A few minutes later, Ves left the hangar bay and visited numerous other expert mechs and expert pilots. "Hey, Tusa. Let me take a closer look at you and the Dark Zephyr." "Hello Commander Casella. Has it become easier for you to Commandeer others?" "Joshua! How is my favorite expert pilot doing today!? Let me see how well you can resonate with the Everchanger." All of his examinations showed nothing that contradicted his earlier observations. Every expert pilot and accompanying companion spirit was doing better than ever! Every powerful living mech was growing at a faster rate! Although the older living mechs such as the Dark Zephyr and the Everchanger were not growing as fast as the Bastion, they responded similarly to all of the other spiritual entities when subjected to more favorable environmental circumstances! All of the design spirits were showing signs that they were about to enter into a period of accelerated growth! After a more thorough examination, it turned out that the more deprived design spirits such as Ylvaine benefited a lot more from M87 than the other design spirits! The Great Prophet was no longer starving like a skinny beggar! Even without access to a lot of spiritual feedback, the religious design spirit would probably be able to sustain his own existence once the concentration of ambient spiritual energies grew high enough! "This is good." Ves also suspected that the glows of all of his mechs were about to become a lot stronger as well, but not enough time had passed to confirm this particular guess. In order to verify his next theories, he briefly met with a handful of promising mech pilots. "Lanie." Ves greeted the young woman in a piloting suit. "I don't know if you have noticed, but have you felt that it has become... easier for you to break through to expert candidate?" The brown-haired mech champion furrowed her brows. "I haven't, but now that you have mentioned it, I am actually feeling considerably better than I should. Our entire dwarf galaxy has just teleported far away from the Milky Way. That is more than enough reason for me to feel bad. Why isn't this the case?" Ves moved closer and patted her on the shoulder. "Your emotions reflect your true condition. You may think that what has happened is awful to all of us, but the part of you that is a mech pilot has a completely different outlook towards M87.1 believe that your willpower is currently celebrating the change of environment!" "That... that's wrong!" "Don't feel ashamed, Lanie. It's not your fault the phase whales teleported us over to the Virgo Cluster. We're about to face a lot of new threats in the future, so 1 need you to become stronger." "I... understand, sir." When Ves met with Commander Taon Melin, it appeared that even expert candidates benefited from proximity to M87! The Ylvainan expert candidate felt ambivalent towards this change. "I do not know how I feel about this." He said. "I have spent more time as an expert candidate than most of my peers. If I end up breaking through solely because the Red Ocean is orbiting a new galaxy, I am uncertain if I am as deserving as the ones who broke through under much tougher conditions." Ves happened to share the same concerns. This was not a new dilemma to him. He already had to contend with it after he came up with the transcendence glow. If M87 continued to exert a greater effect on all mech pilots, then what was happening was comparable to exposing each of them to a weaker but persistent version of the transcendence glow! Ves couldn't imagine what would happen if he activated the transcendence glow in a highly spiritually saturated environment! "There is no difference between you and the others if you break through." Ves tried to reassure Taon. "The clan needs more powerful defenders. I look forward to the day when you can finally step up and contribute more materially to the fight. I have lots of fantastic ideas for your future expert mech. Our clan will require the power of artillery more than ever." Hopefully, that was enough to correct Taon's mindset. Once he said goodbye to the legion commander, he briefly checked his schedule. He wanted to visit the Quint next. As the oldest third-order living mech that was still alive to this day, he suspected that this living antique might be able to derive a lot more benefits than most younger machines! A sudden call interrupted his current plan. "VES! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!" Gloriana shrieked through the communication channel. YOU NEED TO SHUTTLE OVER TO THE BASE WHERE THE 77TH WARBORN RIGHT AWAY!" "Huh? What is the matter, honey?" "It's the C-Man! Do you remember that Venerable Vincent Ricklin's expert mech is the first design that incorporates my god body solution? Well, it is starting to become increasingly effective! If this pattern persists, it will be able to transform into a masterwork mech by itself within two or three years!" "What?!" Ves already concluded that all of his spiritual engineer ing works benefited hugely from exposure to M87, but he hadn't properly considered the benefits for other mech designers. If Gloriana's design applications flourished under this new environment as well, then that would massively increase the value of her work! She might even receive enough stimulation to set off her breakthrough to Senior Mech Designer!