Chapter 6055 The Struggles of Faith The Zeal was by far the most heavily armed mech out of the standard mechs assigned to the mission. The heavy artillery mech also happened to be the greatest liability of the strike force. There was no hope of escape once the Zeal lost the transphasic lifter platform that granted him limited flight capabilities. His enormous mass combined with Reticula Corein V's heavier than usual gravity turned every attempt at gaining altitude into a herculean struggle. In fact, Task Force Solus could have prepared additional measures if it was willing to delay the start of the mission. Ketis could have designed a larger and more powerful lifter platform. She could have fabricated a spare one that could help the Zeal escape if his original platform became inoperable. The Larkinson Clan also had the ability to order and ship in a much better designed lifter platform developed by a reputable third party company. Ketis declined to do so because she felt it was better to give Taon additional pressure. The relatively flawed performance of the lifter platform was partially by design. The task force commander made a risky decision to turn this element into an additional source of stress. She was confident that Taon wouldn't break from this kind of pressure, but even she could not guarantee whether the platform would stay in one piece during the encounter against the Emperor Tree. If the Zeal was left behind or if Taon failed to evacuate from the battlefield, then she would have to take responsibility for these losses! Losing either or both would be a serious setback to the Larkinson Clan. The Eye of Ylvaine did not have many expert candidates, and Taon was by far the closest to actually becoming the first expert pilot of this special mech legion. The Ylvainan mech pilots were far more accurate and effective when piloting heavy artillery mechs and lancer mechs than any other mech pilots, whether they were Larkinsons or outsiders. In fact, it was not an exaggeration to claim that they were by far the most effective second-class mech pilots at their respective jobs! Paired with excellent living mechs that were all tied to the Great Prophet, the mech pilots of the Eye of Ylvaine had long built a reputation for their ludicrously high hit rates and their ability to nail shots that practically no other mech pilot could achieve. Unfortunately, everything had a price. The more the Ylvainan mech pilots relied on outside guidance to artificially land their powerful shots, the less they trained and honed their own native ability to predict targets and adjust the aim of their weapons. The ugly truth of the matter was that they became so addicted to Ylvaine's help that they lacked the willpower to rely on themselves to achieve the same sort of performance. Taon Melin was one of the few Ylvainans that slightly broke this pattern. His imminent breakthrough was of great strategic importance to the Larkinson Clan. As long as Taon managed to break through, he would prove through his own deeds that an Ylvainan still had the qualifications to become equals to the likes of Venerable Jannzi, Commander Casella Ingvar and Venerable Zimro Belson. More importantly than that, Taon would be able to teach the rest of his fellow Ylvainain mech pilots how they needed to adjust their mentality and train in specific ways to increase their chances of following in his footsteps! Therefore, the breakthrough of a mech pilot as significant as Taon was far more important than the advancement of practically any other Larkinson mech pilot at the moment. Who cared about a mediocre mech pilot like Commander Melkor Larkinson when Taon could potentially train a dozen Transcendent Punisher pilots into following his footsteps? The Larkinson Clan would be happy if all of them managed to survive and grow quickly enough to advance to ace pilots in a couple of decades. The deterrence a group of ace heavy artillery mech specialists could exert was insane! Only certain True Gods would have the courage to attack them head-on, and even that was bound to turn into a tragic battle! This was why many people in the Larkinson Clan held high expectations for Taon. Venerable Joshua was no exception to this rule. In order to make sure that Taon had adopted the right mindset to maximize his breakthrough chances, Joshua continued to chat with the Ylvainan expert candidate. "If my floater platform perishes, do not bother to save my mech. The Zeal will be a lost cause by then. As much as it hurts to lose the masterwork mech that our patriarch has designed and made with great care… I cannot allow my weakness to put you all in greater danger." Venerable Joshua grimaced at the thought. "Do not think too much about what will happen if you falter. The more you think about doom scenarios, the likelier they will come true. It is enough to form a plan on what you should do when your heavy mech loses his traversal device. After that, you should think about success instead and what you are willing to risk in order to attain it. One of the poorly hidden secrets to expert pilots is that we are optimists. We not only think about victory, but we possess the confidence to make it happen. If you are not thinking about winning most of the time, then you will not have the will and courage to boldly step forward when your moment has come." "How do you know when the right moment has come, Joshua?" "You just know." Joshua softly whispered back. "It is an indescribable feeling that you only get to experience when you have been pushed to the brink. At that time, your heart will tell you that you need to commit despite the consequences of failure. Apotheosis will come closer within your reach than ever, but you will need to overcome your fear and face the possibility of dying with confidence. While you may be able to save your life if you take a step back, you may lose the opportunity of a lifetime as a consequence." Not every expert pilot managed to break through under such extreme circumstances. There were those who lucked out by breaking through outside of life-and-death situations. It was just that these sorts of extreme circumstances had a much higher chance of producing the most desired result. Alas, people only paid attention to the success stories. Very few people bothered to look up all of the cases where the mech pilots failed and died in the process. Neither Joshua nor Taon were naive enough to be ignorant of this fact. They just chose to avoid it because thinking about failure would put them in a negative mood spiral, thereby ruining the probability of a potential breakthrough. "Have you thought about what you will do if you successfully become an expert pilot?" Joshua asked. "Our clan has recently received a whole batch of expert pilots after the Battle of Torment, but nobody knows whether they'll stand out and become the next big heroes. What about you? What do you intend to do once you have become a name that every Larkinson knows and respects?" Taon hesitated for a moment before he decided to share the ideas he held in his mind for a long time. "I think… I want to play a greater part in spreading the faith of Ylvaine. The other Larkinsons haven't been able to do a good job at it. I don't blame them. Director Samandra Avikon was not originally an Ylvainan, and she is too busy with running the Creation Association to care about her former responsibilities. We do not have any other higher ups that are willing to go out of their way to spread our faith. I can change that. As an expert pilot and the only one to emerge from the Eye of Ylvaine, I can sway a lot more people. Venerable Dise and Commander Casella have already shown me what can be done." "That is a noble goal, I guess. It will work out as long as it is what you really want. How exactly do you want to spread your faith, though? Not many clansmen are willing to convert. Many of them are secularists and have no intention of embracing any faiths. The few newcomers who are already believers usually stick to their own faiths. I really do not see how you can make Ylvaine popular in the clan." "It has to be done." Taon spoke. "The clan is growing quickly, and so must our faith. The Eye of Ylvaine needs more mech pilots who are sincerely devoted to the Great Prophet if we want to continue to be of service to the rest of the Larkinsons. I do not mean to sound selfish, but we should be the only ones to assume the responsibility of piloting the clan's heavy artillery mechs." That was a rather extreme and controversial mindset. There had been increasing talk about the need to diversify and allow another mech legion to pilot a different style of heavy artillery mechs. After all, what if anything went wrong with Ylvaine one day? What if the Eye of Ylvaine became unavailable for whatever reason? This was why the Larkinson Army seriously thought about issuing a request to the Larkinson Clan to design an alternate heavy artillery mech. Certain mech legions such as the Battle Criers and the Penitent Sisters were really enthusiastic about adding powerful ranged mechs to their mech rosters! Taon was certainly not oblivious to this sort of talk, but he refused to believe that the Larkinson Clan would be better served by letting anyone other than Ylvainans discharge this important responsibility. If other Larkinsons began to pilot heavy artillery mechs without needing to obtain guidance from above, how could Ylvaine possibly maintain a strong enough foundation in the clan? Taon needed to do everything possible to make sure that the Ylvainan Faith maintained a solid and unshakable presence among the Larkinsons! "Not everyone will be happy to see the Ylvainan Faith spread its wings." Joshua said in a more concerned voice. "I have read a number of texts and talked to numerous Ylvainans. I have also piloted the original Transcendent Punisher and other Ylvainan mechs. You guys have strange beliefs, the biggest among them is the prophecy that claims that a time will come where every human and alien will come together and transcend into immortal god-like beings. I do not think I need to remind you how much that will get you in trouble with most humans." Taon actually smirked. "Was Ylvaine wrong, Joshua? Look around you and taste the E energy radiation that is gradually making us all stronger, both human and alien. The prophecy already came true, in a sense. It just happened in a different galaxy than we assumed, in a manner that the rest of us never anticipated and over a time frame that is much larger than we imagined." "That is… a stretch. You are forcing the prophecy to fit the Age of Dawn when they are not quite the same." The Ylvainan mech pilot couldn't help but be more asserted when he talked back. "Just face it, Joshua. Ylvaine was right on this. He is right on everything else as well. He has made far more prophecies than you can imagine, and I have been blessed with glimpses of a part of them. If you think this future is already astounding enough, then wait until more great and terrible prophesied events will take place. As the blessed worshiper of Ylvaine, it is my sacred duty to help the Larkinson Clan and any individual who respects his tenets to navigate the trying times ahead!" Venerable Joshua grew speechless. Though he was happy that the Ylvainan managed to increase his drive, it was anything but certain whether Taon would see any of his ambitions coming true. The Ylvainan Faith was far too sympathetic towards the ideals of the infamous Cosmopolitan Movement to gain much traction among most humans. The reasons why many newcomers but most particularly the first-class ones rejected the offer to convert to the Ylvainan Faith was because they did not want to form any associations with the cosmopolitans!