Ves found it interesting that the upper ranks of red humanity already held disputes over the future evolution of their race. Given how fractured and disunited any large population of humans tended to be, he had no confidence that the Red Two and the first-rate colonial superstates would ever agree on a single evolutionary development strategy! He understood more than most people that the Red MTA would never give up on any means to increase the rate of breakthroughs of mech pilots and mech designers. The Mech Trade Association in the Milky Way managed to rise up and become a dominant power with the emergence of many Star Designers and god pilots. Not that the Red Association found itself cut off from its mother organization and beset by formidable enemies from multiple directions, the mechers needed to produce as many high-ranking mech pilots and mech designers as possible to regain their superiority! The other three powers knew that as well, and preferred not to give the Association so much room for development. For example, the Red Fleet's stance was probably the opposite of that of the Red Association. The fleeters showed clear distrust towards metaphysics and any other phenomenon that they could not clearly control with universal and fundamental sciences. They much preferred to minimize their dependence on a relatively small group of extraordinary individuals and put all of their trust in warships. Ves supposed that the Terrans and the Rubarthans fell between these two extreme positions, with either of them clearly favoring one stance or another. It did not seem likely that the Terrans and the fleeters would ever team up, though. They had too many contradictions and differences to have any reason to join forces. The dispute over the direction of red humanity's genetic development was just one of the many fault lines that plagued their civilization after the Great Severing. There were many more issues that caused all four top powers to either disagree with each other or reluctantly back each other's positions. This was why Ves ultimately did not show too much concern about the future of red humanity. The Red Two and the first-rate colonial superstates might have a lot of reasons to tear up their relations with each other, but that would only make it cheaper for their external enemies to defeat them in detail. So long as the indigenous alien races of the Red Ocean and beyond all lumped humans as enemies to be exterminated, there was no other choice! After all, the mechers, fleeters, Terrans and Rubarthans all shared much more in common with each other than the indigenous aliens that sought to exterminate anyone who wasn't native to their own dwarf galaxy! "This is all going to turn into a big mess." Ves muttered to himself. His thoughts continued to linger over this topic as he returned to his duties and set up his new design projects. Due to the sheer amount of projects he accepted at this time, his work became a lot more cumbersome all of a sudden. Fortunately, most of his projects were collaborations, so he only had to set the overall direction before dividing a lot of work to his fellow mech designers. Although Ves still had to do the heavy lifting in the mech designs he had a personal stake in, namely the Elephant Project and the Blood Star Mark II Project, he resorted to an option that not many of his peers could replicate. He multi-tasked. As he sat behind his desk terminal that currently showed the draft design of the Elephant Project, he lifted up his left leg and 'unsocketed' his foot and ankle. Please read at ! He then placed his detached lower leg in front of the desk terminal adjacent to his own. The miniature brain integrated in his CyLeg proceeded to transmit commands to the work equipment so that it projected another design interface and loaded the design of the current iteration of the Blood Star Project! Ves showed no restraint as he approached his work in this usual manner. He had already made sure to lock the door to his own design lab and spare other people from wondering how his leg had turned into a fully competent mech designer all of a sudden! Even then, his own honor guards who silently kept watch over him and his surroundings did not realize that he could allocate a third iteration of himself to his design work! Separated by a distance of over 50 million light-years, a certain cyborg cat perched onto a different desk and used her paws as well as transmitted commands to deftly navigate a different design suite. The beginnings of the Transcendent Punisher Mark III soon appeared in front of the silvery cat. "Veronica!" A ghostly lady materialized next to the terminal. "Would you like to come and play with me again?" "Myaow. Not now, sister. I am too busy at the moment. I have a job, you know." "Boring-" Helena rolled her eyes. "Don't disturb me when I am working. I can get a lot more stuff done if I am in my groove. I will have time to play with you later, okay?" "It's a promise!" Ves did not experience any further disturbances as he split up his attention into several different threads. Although he wasn't able to pool them together and focus on evaluating a single project from multiple angles, he found out that he was able to get a lot more work done if he designed several mechs concurrently! As his main body and mind grew a little tired after spending hours on researching the possible high-end parts he should add to the design of the Elephant Project, he signed off from his desk terminal but left his detached leg behind. It was not a big problem for his cyborg leg to continue to work for several days. Ves merely opened a nearby drawer and affixed an ordinary mechanical leg onto the socket of his shortened left leg. He hadn't been able to create an artificial limb that matched the transmission of sensory data and the fineness of control of his CyLeg. Getting struck by lightning and sublimating himself somehow produced profound transformations that had elevated his entire being to a higher state, but also made himself further removed from a normal material being. It raised a lot of existential questions about what exactly he was turning into. Would he still fit with any branch of humanity by the time he reached his end state? "Well, as long as I consider myself a human in my heart, it shouldn't matter if I evolve into a monstrous freak with a dozen tentacles sticking out of my body." Ves recognized the merits of the general Terran standpoint. The best way for all humans to remain grounded and united in a single broader group was to remind themselves that they were kindred to the people who came from Old Earth. It used to be a lot easier for people like Ves who never even came close to the Sol System to recognize his lineage from the original humans who stepped out of their home planets. Please read at ! An innumerable amount of generations existed between himself and the people who optimistically left for the stars at the time. Even the people who emigrated to the Red Ocean could still imagine an invisible connection that led all the way back to humanity's birthplace. This was because the greater beyonder gate still gave the pioneers and colonists an opportunity to travel back to the Milky Way and navigate all the way to the Sol System. None of this was valid anymore. The forced displacement of the Red Ocean no longer gave any red human the option to make a pilgrimage to the origin of the human race. Perhaps not many red humans realized how badly this might affect their psyche and their image of themselves due to all of the other drastic changes that had occurred, but Ves had a strong hunch that it would become a much bigger deal in the future. Although the Terrans most certainly had selfish motives in mind, their constant emphasis on tracing back humanity's roots to Old Earth was an excellent way for people to anchor themselves to a strong common identity. "Perhaps... the mission that Gaia imposed on the Aduc Family might not be so irrelevant after all." Ves guessed with a frown. He continued to remain distracted by his thoughts as he returned to his grand stateroom and enjoyed dinner with his family. The recent refitting of the Spirit of Bentheim had also included a massive upgrade of his immediate family's personal chambers. The security and luxury of his grand stateroom was incomparable to how it had been in the past! Ves even suspected the Survivalists also took measures to increase the defenses of his grand stateroom when they applied their secret upgrades to his flagship. As Ves sat on a couch and held his oldest daughter on his lap while they both watched a soap drama. Nobody could count how many years this show had been broadcasted. Ves found it rather amusing that two different versions of the soap came about due to the Great Severing. The entertainment network in the Red Ocean had chosen to create the next season with Al personalities posing as the current cast. At the same time its mother network in the Milky Way continued on with the original set of actors! This was hardly a unique example. This phenomenon happened a lot in many other industries! As Ves and his daughter continued to cuddle each other while they watched the show, Aurelia even let Mana out to play. "Mew-!" The white Persian cat no longer looked as small as before, but she still had a few years to go before she reached an adult cat form. Mana still looked cute and adorable, though. "Mrow!" Blinky emerged from Ves' head and pounced on his 'daughter' before proceeding to lick Mana's pristine white fur. "Mew! Mew!" "Ewww! I don't need a bath, papa! Stop licking!" "Hehe, I will keep licking you anytime I want as long as you are my little girl!" "Mew mew mew!" Mana became so annoyed at her father's pampering that her form suddenly began to glow and accumulate energy. "What?" "Mrow?" A bright flash of light and repulsive energy exploded from Mana's form! "MROW!" Mana managed to throw off his father from her body with the help of this new little trick! As Blinky stabilized his spinning form in the air, the purple Star Cat looked confused at how his little kitten managed to throw him off with such ease. "Mrow?" "Mew!" Mana's cute tail rapidly wagged as she had managed to prove herself superior this time! Ves meanwhile looked a bit astonished at his daughter and her companion spirit. "That power... did not just come from Mana." He said. "You somehow managed to leverage the ambient spiritual energy around us and use all of that extra power to push my companion spirit away." "Uhm." Aurelia's braided black locks shook as she confirmed his guess. Ves furrowed his brows. "That shouldn't be an easy trick to pull off. It can even be dangerous if you don't exert enough control over the environment. How did you do it? Did you learn it from someone?" "Mew!" "I figured it out all by myself." His daughter proudly stated. "Ever since the Age of Dawn has begun, Mana and I have begun to absorb exotic radiation. The more I take it into myself, the more familiar it becomes. One day, I found out that I could exert slight control over the energy around Mana. Look, papa!" Mana eagerly demonstrated her new capabilities by hovering in the air before starting to concentrate. Her form glowed brighter as the young companion spirit began to attune herself to the environment. The ambient spiritual energy in a few meters around Mana's intangible form began to stir and move in a slow vortex! Ves' jaw almost turned slack at the sight. Somehow, Mana managed to resonate with the surrounding ambient spiritual energy in a way that caused her to blend in the environment as if they were one and the same! "Mew-"