Ves grew incredibly concerned at what happened today. While he was glad that Vulcan finally obtained a comprehensive cultivation method that should allow him to unlock his full potential, he was less pleased with a number of its implications. When Cynthia originally explained deity cultivation to him, she described it as an inherently unequal means of gaining power and longevity. A lot of cultivators that posed themselves as gods ruthlessly exploited and extracted every possible resource out of their believers. When one party was much more powerful than the other, the former usually got free reign to do anything he wanted! Without any effective form of resistance, the ordinary folk could do little aside from hoping that their supposed god would be merciful enough to let them live a decent life. Ves had expressed a lot of contempt towards deity cultivators at the time. These were beings that gained strength from the suffering and sacrifices of the weak. It took a cruel and selfish heart for them to treat their fellow people as cattle to be butchered as well. He never expected that he, or at least an incarnation of his, would be put into the exact same position. Sure, his mother may have hoodwinked Vulcan into cultivating the Metal God Method without fully understanding all of the repercussions of this decision, but that did not change the fact that he had become a potentially exploitative deity cultivator himself! A part of Ves felt upset that the inadequacies of the Heart of Steel would give Vulcan little choice but to let his subjects become exposed to the machinations of the Iron Resonant Crucifix Crown. Another part of Ves actually felt relieved that his mother had been ingenious enough to implement such an amazingly promising defense mechanism! When it came down to it, Ves did not want Vulcan to get manipulated by the crown. Allowing this dangerous artifact to warp the cognition of a bunch of dwarves that he didn't really care about was ultimately better than letting it corrupt Vulcan outright! Ves tried to soothe his guilty conscience by making excuses for himself. "It's not as bad as it sounds." He thought after a few minutes. "A bunch of weaklings can hardly do any damage. I would be concerned if it is allowed to whisper in the ear of another Star Designer, but this obviously won't happen." There was another factor that eased his concerns. "More people can spread the burden." A greater quantity of worshipers could dilute the intensity of any attack. Any strike that was fatal to Vulcan could be diverted into so many willing subjects that hardly anyone got harmed in the end. Of course, this meant that it became imperative for Vulcan to spread his faith as much as possible. The more followers he gained, the greater his defensive buffer! The opposite was also true. If enemies purposefully targeted the dwarves and anyone else who believed in Vulcan, his incarnation would quickly be deprived of a lot of layers of protection! It was in Vulcan's best interest to protect the dwarves and any other worshipers from powerful enemies who sought to undermine his basis of power. In other words, Vulcan and worshipers had entered into a mutually dependent relationship with each other. From the moment Vulcan engaged in a proper form of deity cultivation that amounted to more than passively collecting spiritual feedback, he had assumed actual responsibility over the dwarves. Vulcan had to become the God of Dwarves in truth. He needed to make sure he kept watch over the dwarves and respond to any threat that targeted their lives or faith! The shepherd could not afford to lose all of his sheep! Perhaps this was one of the goals that Cynthia tried to accomplish. She knew about his reluctance towards deity cultivation and created this relationship in order to force him to embrace this approach. It worked. Now that the deed had been done, Vulcan had little choice but to persist with the Metal God Method and see it through the end. Only when he reached the 7th stage would he be able to bear the crown by himself. "Besides, who says that this relationship needs to remain one-sided for the most part?" His design philosophy was Mutual Growth for a reason. It represented his original aspiration and his ideal. He would not be a good mech designer if he let his incarnation stray into the wrong path. As far as he saw it, there was still plenty of room for change. Currently, Vulcan gained a huge advantage over his worshipers by turning the latter into his human shields. The best way to compensate the dwarves for their 'service' was for Vulcan to grant them benefits in return! So long as Vulcan helped out the dwarves enough to bring their relationship back into balance, neither side should have any further reason to feel exploited. "A fair and equal transaction is better in the long run." Neither Ves nor Vulcan could ever treat the dwarves as their slaves. These hardy people deserved a lot of respect and appreciation for the help that they could provide. If Vulcan was destined to become a god, then Ves would make damn sure that he became a stellar example of a proper deity! In no way should Vulcan ever be allowed to become a stereotypically evil god who usually got defeated by a band of brave adventurers or whatever! Ves ultimately felt a lot better about himself. The weight on his heart had disappeared once he resolved to keep his incarnation on the right path. "I am not my mother." He affirmed to himself. He had already spent enough time among his mother to determine that she was not a product of a modern human society. She possessed norms and values that were not that typical in different states. Her perspective on cultivation, power, hierarchy and the Big Two showed that much of her cognition had been shaped by a society outside of conventional human society in the Milky Way. No matter what society she used to belong to, she had her values, and Ves had his own values. Even if he inherited a part of her talents and so on, Ves always considered himself to be a member of a modern human society. There were times where strayed from this belief, but he needed to stand fast in front of his mother and resist all of her attempts to drag him into her world! "I should tell her to stop making decisions on my behalf next time I talk to her." He muttered. "She needs to stop screwing me around." Ves no longer spent any further thought on this issue and went back to monitoring Vulcan's condition. The design spirit had become engrossed in comprehending the Metal God Method. It was not acceptable for Vulcan to blindly cultivate it when Cynthia could have buried other nasty traps within its dense and complicated instructions. The problem was that his mother's work was so advanced and esoteric that only a cultivation master who possessed nearly equal understanding as her could fully break it down! This meant that unless Ves managed to capture a powerful Compact sorcerer, he could forget about deciphering the entire Metal God Method! Ves had already made this determination, which was why Vulcan continued to practice the first chapter despite all of his misgivings. He wasn't sure how long it would take to complete the first stage, but he estimated that it should only take a few weeks due to the low demands. The second stage was where the Metal God Method truly came online. Once the Heart of Steel completed its conversion, it was time for Vulcan to engage in creation cultivation by descending into the bodies of a few devout artisans. "Wait a second." Ves straightened his back as realization struck his mind. "Can I possess my own body?!" The notion sounded absurd on the surface, but he saw no reason why it shouldn't work. What mattered was that Vulcan got hands-on by borrowing a willing body to craft his desired products. Who said that the body couldn't belong to Ves? His eyes suddenly lit up! This was a great idea! If Ves ever wanted to create a special trinket that was different from a mech, Vulcan could just descend on his body and use his workshop to do his work! "So long as Vulcan is at the helm, it will be his work for the most part!" Another advantage to doing this was that Ves and Vulcan could impart both of their advantages to their products. It was as if Ves was collaborating with another part of himself! There were just enough differences between Ves and Vulcan to make this weird form of self-collaboration fruitful. Their domains were different from each other which meant that they could add features to a product that their other selves could not replicate by themselves. The potential to create exquisite products was great! Ves knew he could test it out as soon as Vulcan hit the 2nd stage of the Metal God Method! "I can make an excellent set of handbags for my wife!" If he did a good enough job, then his gifts might convince Gloriana to stop her search for a 5 million MTA credit handbag. It was brilliant! "Of course, I can't forget about all of the other artisans either." Though Ves hadn't paid too much attention to the Creation Association as of late, Vulcan had kept much better track of this growing religious organization. Under the leadership of Director Samandra Avikon, the Creation Association had founded more and more branches in many different middle zones as well as lower zones. Ves believed that it would only be a matter of time before the Creation Association set foot in the upper zones! More and more craftsmen of many different industries had come to appreciate Vulcan for various different reasons. The fact that the Creation Association sold various types of totems that could actively inspire craftsmen after receiving fair remuneration had done much to promote its popularity! This was the sort of transactional and equitable relationship that Ves wanted to preserve. Vulcan might not be generous enough to give away his help for free, but he would never steal from his own worshipers! In any case, Vulcan needed to make use of all of those craftsmen in order to further his cultivation. Even if Vulcan could borrow Ves' body to engage in creation cultivation, the opportunity cost of doing so was too great. Ves had better things to do with his time than to let his own incarnation pilot his body like a miniature biomech! His workload was already huge. It made little sense to give up his time for Vulcan when the latter could easily borrow the body of another willing person. In any case, Vulcan should do fine for now. The Metal God Method was ultimately better than the Heart of Steel Mantra, so he should continue to cultivate it with an appropriate level of caution. "This reminds me that I still need to make a bunch of cultivation methods for my kids." Ves recalled. He originally planned to compose a basic draft before showing it to his mother. Recent events prompted him to scrap the latter step. Even if his comprehension of cultivation science was a lot more shallow, Ves possessed enough confidence that he could devise simple cultivation methods that should still be sound enough to work. There was nothing wrong with adhering to simplicity. His children were all young so it was not as if they needed a huge power boost right away. They might not even be able to control themselves if they grew too rapidly when they were young! "I can't let them follow the footsteps of their grandmother!" Ves could not allow his children to inherit whatever caused Cynthia to lose her grip on herself. Control and stability were paramount. Ves wanted his children to remain just as sane and sober just like their father!