Chapter 6553 Sunsetting Unending Alloy The incident centered around the Heavensword came to an end. From the perspective of most people, the outcome turned out to be massively in favor of the Larkinson and red humanity as a whole! The most immediate gain was the ascension of a new ace pilot. Nobody doubted that Dise Larkinson earned her sainthood. While she may have broken through outside of a real battlefield, she had demonstrated heroism, competence, ability, perseverance and many more admirable traits. Her breakthrough strengthened red humanity even further by adding an ace pilot that could put up a fight against the alien phase leaders. Even if the current batch of ace pilots and god pilots appeared to be able to cope with the current amount of enemy phase lords in the frontlines, the native aliens could still field many more. It was therefore important to raise as many ace pilots as possible in the ensuing years in order to keep up with the expected increase in phase lords as well as phase whales that might get deployed in the Red War. Dise was an especially useful gain as she was a consummate duelist. She was completely unlike ace pilots that were far more suited to defeating massed enemy cannon fodder such as Saint Commander Casella. As a swordsman mech specialist, Disc excelled at confronting and defeating enemy champion units! Even if she was not able to win her bout, she could still attempt to drag her opponent into a stalemate. She was accustomed to fighting by herself and did not need any support to take care of herself on the battlefield. Although she possessed clear shortcomings, others could easily solve the issues that she would struggle with, such as wiping out huge swarms of dispersed enemy small craft. What red humanity was short of the most was singular powerful champions that could defeat enemy phase leaders by themselves. Saint Dise was therefore the most valuable and desirable variation of ace pilot in the Red War! The Larkinson Clan had gained an insane advantage due to her breakthrough. At this point, the Larkinsons needed to begin with designing a proper ace mech for her so that she could start with hunting down lesser phase lords right away. The only mech designer that Saint Dise trusted to lead this difficult and ambitious project was the other major beneficiary of the recent incident. Swordmaster Ketis had entered the spotlight yet again. While she was no stranger to the attention of the public, the news that she had 'won' the approval of an ancient grand work that had regained a semblance of its enormous power was already making the rounds! Numerous publications took the scant facts that they have managed to obtain through remote observation and interviewing rabid Heavensworders and began to spin all kinds of narratives. As Ketis, now accompanied by a certain sword that refused to part from her body, returned to the Spirit of Bentheim, she stood outside of the entrance of a medical chamber where Dise was currently undergoing a complete examination. While she felt genuinely happy that her fellow Swordmaiden managed to reach a higher state of life, she also grew incredibly more annoyed after skimming through the headlines that were circulating on the galactic net. The newly established Cultivation News Network. [SAVED BY HEAVEN: SWORDMASTER HAS GAINED POSSESSION OF AN ANCIENT SWORD THAT IS EQUIVALENT TO A GOD MECH IN POWER] "Well, as expected of a news network that is directly owned and operated by the Red Collective. At least the collies have managed to remain mostly factual, but why are they suggesting that the Heavensword is literally as powerful as a god mech? This is a completely incorrect characterization of a grand work!" The Terran Telegraph. [A SHOCKING INHERITANCE FROM ANCIENT HUMAN HISTORY! A YOUNG MECH DESIGNER AND SWORDMASTER HAS SUCCESSFULLY EARNED THE APPROVAL OF THE HEAVENSWORD, A SENTIENT SWORD THAT IS OLDER THAN MODERN HUMAN CIVILIZATION! WHAT FORGOTTEN SECRETS HAS KETIS LARKINSON GAINED? WILL SHE LEAD RED HUMANITY TO A FUTURE WHERE EVERY HUMAN CAN FIGHT MECHS WITH SWORDS ALONE?] "Pff, you Terrans are so obsessed with legacies and inheritances that this is all you can focus on. Isn't it too presumptuous for you to assume that just because the Heavensword is really old, it can magically uplift everyone into swordmasters and sword saints?" The Rubarth Daily. [THE LARKINSON CLAN'S SWORD GODDESS: KETIS LARKINSON WIELDS THE HEAVENSWORD, ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL RELICS THAT ORIGINATES FROM THE MILKY WAY, IN THE HANDS OF THE SWORD GODDESS, THE HEAVENSWORD SHALL PIERCE THE PHASE LEADERS AND LEAD RED HUMANITY TO VICTORY!] "Why do they keep calling me a Sword Goddess?! I am not even close to becoming at sword goddess yet, and if I did, I would never accept such a generic and meaningless title! Also, don't think I have overlooked what you are trying to do. You Rubarthans are still too eager to tie the Larkinson Clan to your superstate due to past family ties." As Ketis continued to browse the news on the galactic net, she became more and more upset that journalists and commentators were making wild and unsubstantiated claims. about her and the Heavensword. She needed to set the record straight! She could not do so straight away. She needed to address the aftermath of the incident and spend a little time on figuring out what the Heavensword was willing to offer Ketis now that it had forcibly inserted itself into her life. Since the annoying weapon insisted on accompanying her so much, she might as well take advantage of it by seeing if she could exploit the artifact to her advantage. Only then would she be ready to release a thorough press statement that would hopefully cut down on all of the ridiculous rumor mongering. After a bit more waiting, the doctors finally gave Ketis permission to enter the recovery room where her friend was resting. "Is she okay?" "Saint Dise is in good health. Her body has become exhausted because it has spontaneously undergone a transformation that has perfected her genes and optimized her physique. She is also mentally weary and will soon require extensive periods of rest to gradually recover. All of these are normal phenomena that have happened to many individuals that have become ace pilots in the past. The only significant deviation is that she is livelier and more able to remain focused than the average. We believe this to be a side effect of possessing a companion spirit. Other than that, we have not discovered any concerning health problems that may lead to problems over time." "That is good to hear. Thank you for your care." When Ketis stepped inside the bright recovery room, she could already feel the dormant domain settling around the patient lying on the bed. Ketis' own aura reacted to it, but did not come to blows with it. The two Swordmaidens knew each other so well that their respective auras felt comfortable in each other's presence. Although Dise's domain had evolved and become a lot harder and less compromising than before, it mainly reserved its hostility to the ace pilot's true enemies. Her domain only became a little more alarmed when it clearly felt the presence of the Heavensword. Fortunately, placing the ostentatious grand work into its scabbard did much to hide its transcendent quality and its threatening energy emissions, so Dise did not enter into a panic. That did not mean that she had overlooked its presence. The woman on the bed had halted her greeting from the moment she spotted the hilt poking out from Ketis' back. It looked completely out of place on the swordmaster's Larkinson uniform. The ace pilot's expression grew a little tenser, but not too much seeing that Ketis had apparently tolerated its presence. "Dise." "Ketis." When the younger Swordmaiden stopped beside the bed of the older Swordmaiden, she could see that Dise's dark skin almost appeared to glow after it had mysteriously become smoother and more perfect. "It looks like your advancement has given you a free cosmetic makeover." Ketis lightheartedly said. "I know that ace pilots begin to look increasingly more handsome in that uncanny inhuman manner, but your transformation is more noticeable than usual." Dise shrugged as she continued to lie on her bed. "I have no control over that. I think that the differences are easier to detect for me because there was more material to work with. I never cared too much about looking good in front of other people." "How are you feeling now that you have broken through?" Ketis asked next. "The doctors told me you will make a full recovery, but what do you think?" "I feel... as if I am finally ready to step up and take on greater responsibilities." Dise said with evident relief on her expression. "Before this day, I constantly felt burdened by the lack of progress. I knew that I was ready somehow, but my inability to figure out why I remained stuck had been gnawing at my mind. It is such a relief to finally become stronger again. You can think of it like visiting the toilet after holding yourself back for an entire day. You cannot imagine how liberated I feel right now." Her analogy may sound crude, but it certainly got the point across. After a bit more chatter, Ketis soon brought up the topic of Dise's ace mech. "I have already been working on the preparations of the First Sword Mark III Project, so it will not take as much time to complete it as before." The mech designer began. "I initially started it with a high-tier expert pilot in mind, but since the project is still in the early phases, I can easily convert my work so far to an ace mech without throwing away too much progress. Unless your requirements have changed, I will design an almost pure ace swordsman mech for you. The new design will not include any true ranged armaments and it will not include any unnecessary auxiliary modules either. The only additional gimmick that I plan to add are optional sword fey that you will be able to control by remote. The First Sword will still remain a machine that is completely focused on enabling you to kill with swords." Dise listened to Ketis and nodded in satisfaction. "That sounds acceptable to me. I trust you to upgrade the First Sword to the best of your ability. My demands are largely the same, but I have one additional request. I want you to make sure that the First Sword holds enough hyper materials that work well with the metal element. Back when I just broke through, I was able to infuse my machine with lots of metal energy. It makes sense for me to do so since my mech is not only entirely made out of metal alloys, but much of her armor system also consists of Unending alloy. I am not a mech designer, but I think I might be able to reinforce my mech even better if you replace the Unending alloy with a hyper material that can contain even more metal energy." "Don't worry, Dise. I have already added that to the revised plan for the First Sword Mark III Project. I will also make sure that the Decapitator will be upgraded with metal hypers to ensure you can channel as much of your intent to kill and destroy through its blade. Unending alloy has served you well all of these years, but it is time to sunset your dependence on it. Unending alloy is a universal hyper that is kind of like a jack of all trades but a master of none. Now that you have discovered the full extent of your domain, there is no need to make use of a generalized solution when a specialized solution can strengthen you so much more." The ace pilot liked what she heard. She had already felt powerful enough when she relied on forced resonance to execute the strongest sword technique to date. She couldn't wait to see how much more powerful her First Sword would become when it was fully designed and optimized to channel metal energy!