Once the novelty and the excitement of the creation of the Blinkyverse died down, Ves returned to his ordinary routine but with many changes. Knowledge could change a person. A lot of knowledge could transform a person. Ves had turned from an ignorant savage into an adept in the field of cultivation science, and that showed in many ways! From the persistent energy vortex that accompanied him wherever he traveled, to the invisible changes in his attitudes and demeanor, every Larkinson who knew him well could instinctively detect that he had undergone a substantial evolution! "What is it that you are working on, exactly?" Gloriana suspiciously asked during another day of breakfast. "There is an air of activity and restlessness around you. My companion spirit can sense that Blinky has grown a lot stronger all of a sudden. What is the matter with you today?" "Yeah, what happened, papa?" Marvaine asked as he shoved another spoonful of nutrient-dense porridge into his adorable mouth. Ves smiled while reaching out to rub his son's head. "I have made major breakthroughs in my spiritual engineering work. I am not ready to share my full results with everyone. I need a few months in order to apply what I have recently learned and discovered. I can tell you that each of your lives will undergo massive changes." Though his wife looked frustrated at this lacking response, Ves did not want to talk too openly about cultivation. He did not entirely understand the Red Two's attitude towards this subject. Any talk relating to 'psionic power' had long been treated as a taboo. What now? Red humanity no longer resided in a galaxy that was devoid of the so-called power of heaven. The Red Association and the Red Fleet had already let the cat out of the bag by dressing up the existence of spiritual energy as 'E energy radiation'. Would they be willing to go a step further and expose humanity's secret but incredibly relevant tradition of cultivation? Ves inwardly shook his head. It was impossible for the mechers and the fleeters to give any acknowledgement to their former masters! The existence of the Five Scrolls Compact needed to remain buried in order to preserve the continued hegemony of the Red Two! As Ves finished his breakfast, he started to consider his busy schedule for the next month. He had a lot of work on his plate. Not only did he have to spend a lot of hours on progressing his various design projects, but he also had to develop a lot of new cultivation methods for different recipients. His children, his clansmen, his companion spirits and his design spirits all possessed different properties and could not practice the exact same cultivation method. Ves had to develop several cultivation methods in order to meet the needs of each major category. In the case of people he cared about the most such as his three children, he wanted to formulate customized cultivation methods for each of them to ensure they developed a lot faster than their peers! Only his children deserved to practice the best methods! If not for the fact that the Imaginary Universe Method required the presence of a devouring organ as well as powerful starting ingredients, Ves would have encouraged his children's companion spirits to practice it as well! After all, why stop with one internal universe when his family could grow several more at the same time? It might even be possible to connect them all together and form a shared multiverse! This was all fantasy, of course. Cultivation could make a lot of different dreams come true, but the requirements to realize the more outlandish stuff were too much for him to bear. Once it was time for his children to start their respective tutoring sessions, Gloriana walked up to Ves in concern. "Don't try to act mysterious. Tell me what is happening." She softly demanded. "I can tell you are keeping a huge secret from me again." Ves sighed and placed his arms on both of her shoulders. "I would love to share my work with you, but there is little point in notifying you when I don't have much to show at the moment. Give me a month and I will be able to give you a proper heads up by presenting you with actual results. Don't be in a hurry to complete the Bloodripper Project and the Greenaxe Project. I will try my best to apply my latest gains to those two expert mech projects." That caused Gloriana to frown deeper. "I will trust you... for now. I expect you to be a lot more forthcoming when you finally feel ready to share your latest breakthrough." "Heh, prepare for your mind to be blown. All of our lives and all of our mechs are about to take off once I have verified my latest conjectures." The tension between them eased as they began to talk about other subjects. They began to talk about the challenges of securing proper first-class schooling for their children in a post-Great Severing society. Many virtual schools had become inaccessible or defunct, leading to a considerable increase in demand to the remaining educational institutions in the Red Ocean. "The Yorul-Tavik Clan is primarily based in the Omter Republic in the Milky Way." Gloriana reminded Ves. "Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik has lost access to much of his backing. He only has what little his clan has transferred to him after he lost his first fleet and got rescued by us. I have already investigated him and learned that he only has a diminished group of retainers by his side." "Where are you going with this, Gloriana?" "I do not think that Lord Pearian can do much for us in his current state." She explained her thoughts. "The man still has enough of a foundation in the Red Ocean to live comfortably in an Upper Zone, but I doubt he has enough clout left to get our children into appropriate first-class schools." Ves looked skeptical. "I'm not sure about that. It depends on how much funding the Yorul-Tavik Clan has transferred to his local account. Finance has become incredibly messy due to the sudden nature of the Great Severing. Even if Lord Pearian has lost a lot of power, he is still a fairly powerful and well-connected first-rater. We may be able to enter into new and more equitable forms of cooperation with him. Even if he has a lot of money, it is not easy for him to acquire a fleet, a powerful mech force and profit-generating industries from scratch." He saw a lot of promise in renewed cooperation. The Larkinson Clan and Lord Pearian both had what each other needed. Ves just needed to order the Black Cats to investigate this potential business partner a bit further. "Well, whatever you have planned for Lord Pearian, our children still need better schooling. Can't you use your new connections with the Terrans to enroll them into virtual schools based in the Terran Alliance?" "I can, but... let's make sure that the Eden Institute still wants me." Ves cautiously replied. "The next semester is starting soon. Once I have proven my teaching ability and earned my place in this university, I might be able to ask a few favors from the school administration." "Then you better make sure you do a good job." "We still have other options, honey. It might not necessarily be a good idea to educate all of our children in the Terran style." The conference organized by the Survivalist Faction was scheduled to start soon as well. Ves had heard little from his contacts, but he could clearly guess that its importance had become a lot greater than before! He still needed to hurry up and complete a few new works in order to show off his latest and most promising innovations! As long as he proved his value in this new age and attracted enough support, it should be easy for him to ask a few favors from his Survivalist buddies. Once Ves assuaged his wife's concerns, they split up and started their respective work. Gloriana had already completed a lot of preliminary work on Ark's new high-tier expert mech. The Jupiter Project was meant to become one the strongest if not strongest powerhouse mech of the Larkinson Clan in the years to come! Unless his grandfather Benjamin caught up and surpassed his own son, it appeared likely that General Ark Larkinson would become the first formally recognized ace pilot of the clan. The significance of this project was great. Gloriana did not just approach it as an opportunity to design a high-tier expert mech, but also treated it as the prototypical form of a future ace mech! The demanding mech designer found it important that the Jupiter Project already came with a configuration that should not require an extensive redesign in order to upgrade it into an ace mech. She took clear inspiration from the Mars and how Benedict Cortez approached this high-priority design project at the time. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢 Much of the effective combat power of a high-level mech was derived from its tech and parts. Gloriana put a lot of effort into contacting powerful development companies in an effort to secure ace mech-grade parts and systems. She managed to obtain much of what she needed already by signing several new contracts with companies based in both the Hex Federation and the Colonial Federation of Davute. The costs were not light! The Jupiter Project was still stuck in an early stage, but the ambitious woman had already committed to spending more money, resources and phasewater than what the Cross Clan had invested in the development of the Mars! Fortunately, the recent victory against the wheednar raiding fleet already covered a lot of costs, so Ves did not mind the extravagant spending at all. He even wished that his wife would spend more because that ultimately translated into a more powerful mech for Uncle Ark! "Ark isn't the only close relative that needs a new high-tier expert mech, though." Ves reminded himself. As Veronica and his cyborg foot continued to work on various mech designs including finishing up the Eye Project, Ves himself tried to figure out how to incorporate cultivation methods in his new mechs. An important focus was the two machines that currently integrated his Carmine System. He already checked up on Venerable Jannzi and the Bastion and confirmed they were doing pretty okay even without any formal cultivation methods. In fact, the Bastion had become infected by the recent craze to figure out how to absorb ambient spiritual energy and use that to her advantage, but she had made limited progress for the time being. Ves found it rather funny to observe all of his third order living mechs fumbling to form their own rudimentary domains and figuring out how to best combine that with their pilot's true resonance. They all acted like children from his perspective. They lacked the extensive knowledge and inheritances that Ves recently acquired. While his living mechs were still struggling to form a basic cultivation method, Ves could already whip up a more advanced version in a matter of hours! Of course, Ves wasn't satisfied with that. He had greater ambitions in mind, but he still needed to do a little more research to figure out whether he could realize his envisioned cultivation model. "Grandfather." "Ves!" Benjamin called just as he exited from the cockpit of the Blood Star after completing another training session. "You don't need to check up on me that often. I've recovered a bit more since your last inspection. I think the new air is doing a lot of good to me. I feel as if I am 20 years younger!" Ves felt reassured that his grandfather wasn't backsliding, but he did not come to check up on Benjamin's condition today. He directed his spiritual senses towards the active and vigorous Blood Pact between his grandfather and his bonded mech. He saw a lot of room for improvement. "Can I ask you a question, grandpa?" "Sure. Always." "How much do you love your new mech?"