Chapter 7365: Ves the Hypocrite Due to the nature of the experiment, Ves, Dr. Khabeel and others accounted for many possible accidents. The use of Venerable Ghanso Larkinson’s remnant spirituality evoked a lot of contentious discussions among the Larkinson mech designers. Multiple of them harbored a lot of misgivings about the use of this resource. Some of them thought that it was simply wrong to use the dead remains of an expert pilot, even if it came from an infamous traitor to the Larkinsons. Others believed that the use of an involuntary willpower source would cause the experiment to backfire. If there was anything coherent and intelligent left of Venerable Ghanso, then he would never contribute his strength to an endeavor meant to help the Larkinson Clan rise! "He is livelier than I expected." Gloriana remarked after they finally concluded the second trial. At this moment, the experimental device had become inert again. There was no reason to allow Venerable Ghanso’s spiritual remnant to repeatedly lash out and damage precious components. Fortunately, the experimental device had multiple redundant shutdown features. The simplest way to stop the experimental device was to cut off the power system. Ves only had to transmit a single command before the stolen willpower generator froze. Only a very low amount of energy coursed through its structure. It was barely enough to keep the most essential functions of the central willpower chamber and the sentient inorganic components, but not much more. Aside from that, Ves also activated hardware-level contingencies that forcibly blocked any movements. The various measures successfully reined in the unruly device, but it also suppressed whatever was responsible for generating stolen resonance. Ves glanced at the resonance meter. "Nothing." He sighed. That had lots of implications, but for now, they needed to make sure they managed to control the situation. The mech designers and other researchers quietly worked to perform checks, contain the experimental device and confirm that nothing dangerous had somehow snuck out of containment. Reality slowly began to sink in as they wrapped up their second trial. "We did it." Gloriana said. "Yup." "It feels... unreal." "Why?" "This is too easy." She said with a frown. "I feel as if we do not deserve this accomplishment. Only one major complication occurred, and it was one that we had easily foreseen. Outside the hostility displayed by the willpower source, nothing particularly problematic occurred, and that makes me feel uncomfortable. I feel as if we do not deserve to claim credit for this invention." Ves smiled in understanding. "I understand what you are talking about. To be honest, I kind of feel the same way. The biggest reason why we were able to produce a successful result was because we collaborated with the Ritualist Department. Without their expertise, we probably needed to conduct at least several more trials before we managed to narrow down the correct way forward. We managed to save a lot of time by relying on the expertly crafted rituals." The ritualists in the control room looked prouder after he mentioned their invaluable contribution. However, Gloriana did not see this as an entirely positive development. "I cannot deny that their work has allowed us to fulfill our goal sooner than the other research teams, but there is still so much that we have failed to understand. Shortcuts are convenient, but they are handwaving several problems away. We are not being subjected to the pressure of trying to understand the underlying issues and painstakingly devising proper solutions to them. Perhaps the true reason why I do not feel much satisfaction from our work is that we cannot reproduce this result without the use of rituals that I still do not understand." Dr. Zeron Khabeel understood the female mech designer’s discomfort, but he disagreed with her views on ritualism. "Rituals may carry an undesirable label, but it is not as unscientific as you believe. We have already lectured you on the basic theories and mechanics behind our work. All we are doing is manipulating an aspect of our universe that had previously been closed off from much of our society. Just because strange cultists abused rituals for their own purposes in the past is no reason for human civilization to ignore their possibilities. To ignore the potential of rituals is as foolish as disregarding the value of phasewater or superdimensional matter. Their power already exists in the fabric of our reality." Gloriana still did not look at ease. "Just because we can does not mean we should. From the moment we become dependent on the convenience of shortcuts, we will no longer be in control of our own technology. I am afraid we are starting a trend where we will no longer understand how our creations work. We need to establish stricter rules when it comes to substituting proper problem-solving for rituals. At the very least, we need to be much more restrained in using them. They should be our last resort, not our first." She made a few good points. Ves ordinarily would have agreed with her, but having fought against the enemies of red humanity in person, he knew that such a lofty sentiment had little place in their current society. "If we do not make use of them, then our enemies will." The ritualist emphasized. "The mutated voribugs have already proven themselves capable of creating their own myths. The native alien races on the other hand are predominantly religious and have spent many ages deepening their imprints in the Red Ocean. They may even be ahead of our own race when it comes to exploiting the power of rituals on a large scale." "I have to agree with him." Ves voiced his support for the Ritualist Department. "Just because rituals are uncomfortable and difficult to understand does not mean we should ignore the latest tool in our toolbox. Red humanity does not have the luxury to pick and choose its own salvation. Only when we have gained a position of superiority in the Red Ocean can we think about solving our problems the right way rather than the expedient way." "For what it is worth, the Ritualist Department is not ignorant of the danger of relying on rituals to skip essential processes." Dr. Zeron Khabeel said in a conciliatory tone. "We are still debating on how we need to withhold our work in order to prevent your fears from coming true. Many of us are scientists and engineers ourselves. We have not turned our backs on our past professions. The Ritualist Department is very much in favor of finding an acceptable equilibrium between the rigor of conventional technology and the convenience of modern rituals." That sounded nice, but Ves was sure that not every ritualist ascribed to a balanced approach. There were probably ritualists who advocated for no restraints within their department. Their voice might not be strong enough to dictate policy, but that might change in the future. Ves quietly reminded himself to pay attention to the Ritualist Department. It definitely had the potential to cause a lot of trouble in the coming years. Perhaps it might not go rogue all at once like the Phase Lord Department, but it may turn into a breeding ground for extremists who had no qualms about sacrificing other humans in order to power their deranged rituals. His expression suddenly sank. He belatedly recognized that most recent works all involved human sacrifice in one fashion or another. Although he wanted to deny it, he could not refute the fact that extraordinary works like the Riot Mark III and the experimental device derived much of their awesome power through the sacrifice of other human beings. In this regard, Ves had no right to judge the ritualists for crossing ethical boundaries! As Ves thought how he may have become a bigger problem than the members of the Ritualist Department, he tried to figure out when he had crossed the line. Was it from the moment he first dabbled with Demoncasting? From the moment the Mech Designer System presented the option to him, he felt compelled to embrace its forbidden possibilities. He allowed himself to get manipulated by the illusion of choice. Though the System presented a handful of highly enticing upgrade tracks at the time, Ves did not believe that it was ignorant of his decision-making process. In situations like these, Ves almost always selected the most exciting option rather than the most effective option! From the moment he locked in this upgrade track, his descent into darkness truly took off at that point. While Ves acquired an affinity for the darkness element at an earlier date, he believed he had done a good job of combining it with his existing works. He mainly focused on the concepts that resonated with him the most such as struggle and adversity. That sounded like a decent position. How did he transition into sacrificing actual human lives just to power up his creations? The answer was simple. He did not go from point A to point B overnight. He took baby steps. He made a gradual transition. As long as the process was dragged out over several months or years, Ves wouldn’t be able to sense that his judgment had become impaired until it was too late. In other words, he was the frog that got boiled in a pot. It was too late to realize that he had gone too far. From the moment he conspired with Helena to harvest the souls of human beings and torment them to the point where they devolved into demons, he had already engaged in an unforgivable act. Though Ves lamented his fall, he had no intention of going back. The Survivalist in him believed that red humanity needed his tainted works. Creations such as the Bitter Scimitar and the Riot Mark III may not be ’innocent’, but no one could deny their effectiveness, especially when compared to more ordinary equivalents! After Ves confronted his own darkness, he was no longer in the mood to be hypocritical towards the ritualists. "Let us get back to work." He suggested instead. "We still need to analyze the data and supplement our theoretical frameworks. We may not be able to plug all of the gaps, but we should at least gather enough clues to point out areas of improvement. A stolen willpower generator that can only generate an output of 0.27 laveres is practically useless." That was not entirely true. Distorting reality at this magnitude was already enough to turn impossibilities into reality. However, the limited degree of reality distortion put a hard limit on what could be done. True resonance only truly started to reach game-changing levels when it reached 1 lavere. That was partially what the scale was based upon. As the various mech designers and researchers studied the abundant amount of data, the Larkinsons already received a lot of messages of congratulations as well as additional inquiries. The latter ranged from exchanges to offers for further collaboration. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂 Ves was not in the mood to engage in them, and neither was his wife. "Our focus should not remain on stolen resonance technology." Gloriana softly declared. "This may have been an interesting diversion, but the reality is that it is too impractical to be used on mechs. We are mech designers. We have certainly broadened our horizons and learned many lessons. We should use what we learned to design mechs that can fight better alongside other units that make use of this emerging tech. If red humanity can deploy warships that are just as resilient as the Ixith Goliath, then our mechs no longer have to withstand as much damage on an open battlefield. The two can compliment each other better. Let the fleeters and the others invest their vast manpower and resources into this new field. They are much better equipped for this task than our clan. With our connections and our contributions so far, we have already earned the qualifications to leech from their efforts." Her message did not sound particularly noble, but she was right. The Larkinsons only gained an advantage this time because the research specimen had yet to be delivered to the Yernstall Central Star Node. Once proper research institutions got their hands on the captured Ixith Goliath, the big players would definitely be able to advance their understanding of stolen resonance technology by leaps and bounds! Rather than try to compete directly against these bigshots, the Larkinsons should obediently stay in their lane. At most, the clan might set up a dedicated research unit that was focused on developing a very narrow application of stolen resonance that most aligned with the Larkinsons, but that was the best they could do for the time being.