?Chapter 6399 The First Yellow Jacket How could it be so easy to convince people that the Carmine System worked? No matter how much Ves explained and no matter how extensively the Red Association backed up his words, there were still far too many people who remained unconvinced that his invention worked. It was unreasonable to completely change a person's long-standing opinion and belief on a very important and controversial issue over the course of a single lecture. The topic of genetic aptitude had long embedded itself deep into the psyche of humans. From Ves' perspective, it was not just a biological property, but a totemic existence that cast a tall shadow on people's minds. Such an existence could never be defeated by mere words. In order to completely dispel the public's doubts and convince them with hard proof that the Carmine System was the real deal, a live demonstration was necessary. Right now, many people paid close attention to Jacob Abbott and whether he could successfully interface with the Yellow Jacket. As Ves stepped away, he had to keep his breath under control. His sharp senses detected a significantly greater flow of faith energy. A lot of people felt so strongly about this issue that they literally prayed for the Yellow Jacket to form a successful Blood Pact with Jacob Abbot and allow him to pilot the Carmine mech perfectly! The amount of people who held this earnest hope was so massive that the quantity of faith energy was massive. Almost no one at the Palace of Mechanical Marvels should have been able to perceive this enormous flow of faith energy aside from the Nanolord and maybe other True Gods who happened to be present. Ves once again lamented the enormous waste of faith energy. There had to be a way to effectively channel this faith energy into a mech or other object. Ves refused to believe that people hadn't figured out a way to utilize this potent energy. It may even be the secret that allowed Star Designers to create their impressive grand works. Unfortunately, Ves did not have a chance to manipulate faith energy properly until he finally became a True God himself. He could only wait for it all to flow by without having any chance of putting it to good use. By this time, Jacob Abbot had already strapped himself into his strange seat. As an Apprentice Mech Designer, the first-rater had designed his fair share of mechs, though he wasn't successful enough to sell his products to many customers. He knew quite well what a cockpit was supposed to look like and what elements it should contain. The interior of the Yellow Jacket was far from what he was used to. The Carmine mech was designed according to third-class standards, so it did not feature a lot of complexity to begin with. The subsequent efforts of the mech designers to simplify the control interfaces even further caused the cockpit to lack a lot of buttons and screens that was usually present in more standard machines. Jacob recognized that this was a very deliberate attempt to dumb down the operation of the Yellow Jacket as much as possible. The design team clearly did not hold a good opinion about the typical users of this mech, and tried to make it so that even a dummy who had not read any manuals would know how to pull off basic operations. "Mr. Abbott?" The voice of Ves sounded from a newly opened communication channel. "Please respond if you can hear this. Your voice will be broadcast to everyone." "I am strapped inside the cockpit, Professor Larkinson. What is the next step?" "Well, if you have paid attention to my earlier lecture, then you should know that as soon as you activate the Carmine mech, needles will poke through your body in order to start the shared blood circulation process. Please be reassured that the synthetic blood used by the Carmine mech is extremely compatible with a wide variety of physiques. Your body has already been tested to verify that your body will not suffer any major rejection reactions. The initial process may feel painful and uncomfortable, but you must not let that distract you from forming a Blood Pact with your new machine." "How... how do I form a Blood Pact with this mech?" Jacob questioned. "I cannot describe it. Words can never fully convey the magic of the Blood Pact. All I can say is that as long as you are sincere in bonding yourself to this mech for the rest of your life, you will instinctively take the initiative to accept the formation of the Blood Pact." When Jacob thought that he could only ever pilot a single Carmine mech in his life, he couldn't help but grow a little nervous. "You told before that Carmine mechs can be upgraded at all times. I will not have to keep this living mech at third-class, correct?" "I can completely assure you that this is possible." Ves said. "The Shield of Samar started out as a third-class standard mech, and steadily evolved into a second-class expert mech while still maintaining her original identity. If she hadn't fallen by now, she might. have been able to become a first-class ace mech." Now that Jacob received a clear answer on this subject, he had no more doubts. He did not need to receive any instructions to activate the machine. He pressed the big red button that presented itself in the middle of the forward console. Soon enough, the Yellow Jacket started to hum. Her systems methodically came online while Al programs performed routine inspections to make sure that everything was in order. Once the basic checks were complete, the cockpit suddenly tightened its grip on Jacob's body and began to inject needles into his veins from various different positions. Though Jacob expected it to happen, he still let out a squeal when he finally felt the needles poking through his cloths and directly through his skin! Then, he immediately began to experience the very weird sensation of feeling his blood getting sucked out of a few tubes while more blood entered his bloodstream from other tubes. The strangest part about this weird experience was that Jacob could not only briefly track the blood that was siphoned out of his body, but also had a very clear experience that the synethic blood that entered his body did not belong in this place! A brief sense of repulsion ran through Jacob's mind. He feared that if this process continued, his body would completely be filled with this false and foreign blood that did not feel quite goood! It was then that the Yellow Jacket reached out to Jacob. It was a completely different existence. Jacob actually didn't know what to expect from a living mech. When he tentatively made contact with the strange machine, he found that living mech was not as cold an inorganic as he expected. Even though the living mech most definitely felt inhuman, it did not harbor sense of hostility towards humans at all. This was a machine imparted with a bit of consciousness and a strong desire to fulfill its purpose of serving its destined mech pilot! Now that Jacob had interfaced with the Yellow Jacket for the first time, the living mech eagerly wanted to fulfill its purpose! As the two continued to come into contact with each other, they gained enough of an impression of their potential partners to decide whether they want to go through with forming a Blood Pact. Both sides agreed. The two had formed a sacred covenant. Even without exchanging any words or signing any contracts, both man and machine had formed an implicit but ironclad agreement. Their very spiritualities had made a mutual promise to each other! Both of them would fight alongside each other for the rest of their lives! As the Blood Pact came into existence, the shared blood that flowed through the veins of both parties seemed to gain more energy! "I... can feel it! I can feel the mech coming under my sway!" Jacob spoke in an exhilaring and uncontrollable way! "My senses are expanding! My perspective has changed! I am so much taller than before! It... it is actually starting to become too much! All of this input, all of these senses, all of these status indicators, it is too overwhelming!" Though Jacob Abbott successfully managed to form a Blood Pact, he was not a professional mech pilot. He had no idea how to handle the input he received from his new machine. Ves already anticipated this consequence. He could have chosen to restrict the Yellow Jacket's systems and shut down a lot of unessential systems in advance, but he declined to do so because it wouldn't be authentic enough. He had confidence that his work would allow the new Carmine mech pilot to quickly acclimatize to his new condition. "Calm down, Jacob. What you are perceiving is the data input comparable to what a typical third-class mech pilot receives from his machine. Do not try to process the data, but let it flow right past you. Do not take the initiative to accept it as your mind cannot handle it all at once without proper instruction. Just imagine yourself taking a few steps back. You want to distance yourself from your Carmine mech without completely relinquishing all of your awareness and control." The instructions helped to stabilize the new Carmine mech pilot. The Apprentice Mech Designer did not truly know what it was like to pilot a mech, but he heard enough descriptions to roughly understand what he needed to do to gain control. Once Jacob was able to find a way to deal with the influx of data, he was finally able to breathe a little easier. He was no longer at risk of getting overwhelmed. "I... am ready for your next instruction, professor." "Alright. Now, your Yellow Jacket is currently armed with a variety of third-class weapons, so do not worry about accidental discharges. Our defensive systems can easily block the attacks. Before you do anything with your weapon systems, let us start with the basics first. Since the Yellow Jacket is a wasp mech that is primarily designed for space combat, let us test your ability to fly and maneuver in the air. Please activate the flight system and produce enough lift to rise from the floor." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮 The Apprentice Mech Designer did not ask for more detailed instructions. He became determined to figure it out by himself. He thought about the flight system, and his living mech helped to navigate the unfamiliar control system until he was able to change the operation of the flight system. The Yellow Jacket steadily rose in the air. It did so at a slow but constant pace as if Jacob was afraid he would generate too much lift and cause the priceless Carmine mech to smack into the ceiling! "I have, I mean my mech has lifted off the floor, sir." "Alright, now I want you to navigate. Try to follow this simple route." A line projected in the air that made gentle turns and even looped around a few times. The exhibition hall offered more than enough space for the machine to maneuver. At first, the Yellow Jacket moved slowly and shakily. Jacob was not used to this at all and was not able to maintain stable control over his machine. This became evident as the Yellow Jacket either sped up too much or slowed to a crawl. It was also really bad at making turns as it always deviated from the line because it turned too sharply or did not do so strong enough! In fact, the performance of the Yellow Jacket was downright painful and embarrassing to many mech pilots! They hadn't witnessed such awful performance since their first days at the mech academy! Yet it was exactly because the performance of the Yellow Jacket was so bad that made it so convincing! For all intents and purposes, Jacob piloted his Carmine mech exactly like any other untrained mech cadet that entered into the cockpit of a mech for the first time! "It is real... it is actually real..." "I can't believe it. I still cannot believe that a norm has taken over my job!" "IT IS ALL LIES! THIS ENTIRE BROADCAST IS FAKE! WHO IS SICK ENOUGH TO GIVE ME FALSE HOPE?! THERE IS NO WAY THAT THIS IS REAL!" The previously rock solid beliefs and assumptions of a population that had been brutalized by the genetic aptitude tyranny for so long had finally begun to crumble for real!