5027 Look Who's Back! Benjamin Larkinson was back! To the utter surprise of the Larkinson Clan, the grandfather of the patriarch had made a surprising comeback! Although most clansmen did not possess much of a familiarity with this figure, the trueblood Larkinsons all knew Benjamin a lot better. Benjamin was one of the most prominent Larkinsons of the old family! Not only did he serve with honor in the military before he had been forced to retire, but he continued to serve the Larkinson Family as an elder and a leader. If that wasn't enough, he produced a number of remarkable direct descendants. Ark Larkinson was his proudest son. Nothing further needed to be said about Ves. Many old men wished they accomplished as much as Benjamin! Nobody expected for this old Larkinson hero to regain his ability to pilot a mech. He had been bedridden for months. People like that did not simply rise up and return to the cockpit all of a sudden! What was even more odd to the Larkinsons was how Benjamin was able to pilot a mech in the first place. His brain injured state was a matter of public record. If Benjamin retained the ability to pilot a mech, he wouldn't have hung up his cape and spent all of his days watching over the children and the grandchildren of his fellow Larkinsons! It was difficult to explain how Benjamin Larkinson suddenly regained his vitality and the ability to pilot a mech. Ves decided to issue a brief statement about how he made a lot of concessions to the MTA in order to pay for an experimental treatment program for his grandfather. The story might not hold up to people who possessed a lot of knowledge of the actual situation, but there weren't too many of them to begin with. Ves knew he could count on the trueblood Larkinsons to avoid kicking up a fuss. After all, these people respected Benjamin Larkinson the most! Each of them had more reasons to be happy about the elder's return to power! Ves still had to deal with the other aftermath of his successful attempt to restore his grandfather's health. For example, he had to deal with a rather annoyed MTA security expert that Master Vayro Goldstein assigned to his flagship! "Your actions and decisions are making it much more difficult to maintain the secrecy of your Carmine System and its implications." Specialist Amanda Colchester neatly explained to Ves in a secure office. "My mission is to assist you with minimizing any leaks and exposure of sensitive information, but I cannot effectively do so if you actively undermine our priorities." Ves stood his ground on this matter. "I never really agreed with this in the first place, you know. It was Master Goldstein who imposed all of this on me. Look, I get it. I understand the importance of keeping the full capabilities of the Carmine System under wraps. That does not mean I am going to stop the only possible means for me to save my grandfather's life!" "Patriarch Larkinson, I am not objecting to the actions that you have taken to restore your grandfather's ability to pilot a mech, but it is not wise for you to reveal this in public, let alone allow him to pilot his new mech in the open! There are proven records about his infirmity. It is highly improbable that any medical treatments have regenerated his brain just enough to interface with a mech once again. Your fellow Larkinsons may not have any reason to question what has happened, but the same cannot be said for outside groups. It will become more and more difficult to hide the true scope of your work over time." "It doesn't matter." Ves defiantly crossed his arms. "The rules have changed. We have transitioned to a new age where exotic radiation has created many new possibilities. It should be easy to spin a narrative where a happy accident involving E energy radiation has restored the piloting capabilities of an old and disabled man. Exotic radiation can make a lot of amazing stuff happen. The news about Benjamin Larkinson's return to form is just one of the many events that characterize the Age of Dawn." Amanda Colchester grew frustrated. "I will need to consult with my superiors about this, but I am requesting you to prevent your grandfather and his special mech from deploying in the open for the foreseeable time. Our shipbuilders have constructed a secure barracks and testing compartment in the Spirit of Bentheim for the sole purpose of upholding the secrecy of any research related to your invention." "I WILL NOT CONFINE MY GRANDFATHER IN A PRISON!" Ves burst out! "His continued life is dependent on his ability to fight and serve as a mech pilot. Locking him up in those secret compartments will only cause him to regress and lose the lifespan that he has just regained. If Master Goldstein doesn't like it, then he can say so himself, but I will not compromise when it comes to the life of my family!" Ves knew it was not entirely conducive to his relationship with Master Goldstein and the Survivalists to defy them in such an open manner, but he hoped that they would let it slide on account of his value. After all, red humanity was no longer in a comfortable position. Cut off from the Milky Way and left with only a fraction of human civilization's total military might, the Survivalists must be working frantically to ensure the continuation of their isolated civilization! Besides, the value and the importance of the Carmine System had changed now that red humanity entered the Age of Dawn. The effects of exotic radiation became increasingly more obvious over time. Though it undoubtedly produced negative effects, its benefits to mech pilots and mech designers had also become more prominent! All of these changes were enough to occupy much of the Red MTA's attention! In any case, Ves did not immediately receive a reprimand from Master Goldstein or any other mecher, so he knew that he had managed to get away with his latest stunt. Emma had fortunately used her brief presence in the workshop to disable all of the hidden spying methods that the mechers had left behind during the extensive refitting of the Spirit of Bentheim. Their methods were both clever and advanced, but they had no chance of escaping the notice of one of the most powerful god pilots in the Red Ocean! Thinking about Emma put Ves into a complex mood. He was happy that he managed to make contact with Irene again, but he did not want their reunion to happen so soon and in a way that caused him to owe a favor to the god pilot. Though the Destroyer of Worlds had yet to properly engage with him after their first meeting in 'centuries', Ves knew that she would definitely confront him once she completed her important missions and retreated from enemy lines! He eventually shrugged. "I'll worry about this later. My grandfather is back!" Many Larkinsons congratulated Benjamin on his miraculous recovery, though many of them also expressed their doubts about his ability to fight effectively. "I am alright, my son." Benjamin said as he briefly explained his improved condition to General Ark Larkinson. "Mech piloting is not a physically demanding activity to begin with. Fitness is a bonus but not a requirement to pilot a mech. My concentration, reaction time and ability to process data are much better than that of a normal mech pilot." Ark remained skeptical. "I cannot understand what Ves has done for you, but it is madness to assume that you can return to your peak condition. You have aged too much. Not only have you fallen out of practice for over half a century, but you do not know anything about advanced second-class mechs. You will require an extensive period of retraining to adapt to our current tech and contemporary combat methods." "That is fine. These are not insurmountable problems. I can spare enough time and effort to get up to standard again." Benjamin replied. "My grandson has already informed me that it will take around a year for him and his team to rework my Blood Star into a proper high-tier expert mech." The Blood Star was the final name for the completed Dawn Star Project. Ves was initially in favor of retaining the code name, but Benjamin felt that it was not a suitable name. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖 He was no longer the Brighter expert pilot of old. He regained his life and his ability to pilot a mech by relying on the power of blood. Each time he 'interfaced' with his new mech, Benjamin could not avoid the necessity of merging his own blood circulation with his life-saving machine! The Blood Pact permanently marked Benjamin's life. It was only fitting to call his living mech the Blood Star. In any case, Benjamin's restoration continued to the delight of the Larkinsons around him. His previously deteriorating state had given him a much greater appreciation of the pleasures of life, so he became a lot more active than before! Naturally, he spent a lot more time with his great-grandchildren. No longer did he have to meet them while he was confined to a bed or a chair overlooking a garden. He could join Ves and his immediate family at the dinner table. He also volunteered to take over the work of a nanny and keep the children company. "Hihihihi!" Marvaine gurgled as he sat on his great-grandfather's lap. "Did papa truly cry after his pants slipped off his waist?" "He did. You didn't expect your father to be so clumsy when he was at that age, right?" Benjamin said with a grin. Ves groaned when he heard this embarrassing story. "Can you stop it please? How am I supposed to maintain their respect when you keep ruining my image?" "Love is stronger than that. Your children need to know that you are still fallible underneath your guise." Although Ves found it rather annoying that his grandfather interjected himself so much in his personal life, he still loved him all the same. In the days after Benjamin restored his willpower, Ves conducted a series of tests and examinations to get a better understanding of how much had changed. He made a number of notable discoveries. For one, Benjamin's resonance strength was not static. It continued to grow as he became more comfortable with his new condition. ·?θm Despite the fact that the Blood Star did not integrate any resonating exotics, Benjamin was able to exert a surprising amount of combat power by relying on prime resonance! Even if the Blood Star did not have the ability to compete against a proper expert mech, it could readily beat any standard mech in battle! Ves identified three major variables that granted his grandfather the ability to hold his own on the battlefield. The combination between a third order living mech, M87's exotic radiation, and a functional Blood Pact resulted in fantastic synergies that partially made up for the absence of traditional resonating materials! Ves grew incredibly fascinated by the results and the possibilities that they implied. He already had a good understanding of the potential of prime resonance back in the old galaxy. Prime resonance had the capacity to introduce a lot of new and useful abilities to expert pilots, but it lacked the raw power to compete against true resonance in a direct confrontation! This relegated prime resonance to an auxiliary feature that was useful but not not essential to his expert mechs. "The rules have changed!" The increase in ambient spiritual energy powered up every spiritual phenomena! While it was true that true resonance manifestations had undoubtedly grown stronger in the new environment, prime resonance was a lot more sensitive towards differences in E energy radiation! What this meant that as long as his mechs came closer to M87 one day, prime resonance had the potential to surpass true resonance in power!