The Mech Touch

A part of him even wanted Calabast to succeed in tracing his mother ’s background.
At the very least, she would probably share her findings.

They discussed some other matters before Calabast left.
She failed to persuade him to rush his design project, so she didn ’t want to stick around any longer.
The sooner she left, the sooner Ves went back to work.

As Calabast left, Ves didn ’t immediately return to work.
Instead, he went back to the ground floor of the guest compound and visited a side building that he had never gone to before.

He entered a small Ylvainan chapel and sat down at one of the pews.

Anyone who was observing Ves right now would think that he had gone mad or converted to the faith.
Why would he visit a place of worship?

Ves didn ’t care what other people thought.
He merely wanted to find somewhere quiet to center his thoughts.
He also wanted to communicate with Ylvaine ’s spiritual fragment, and what better place to do so than a chapel dedicated to his faith?

”Do you know why the living prophet stole my prototype? ” He mentally asked.

The fragment pulsed in contentment as it appreciated the chapel.

”Is the living prophet aware of your existence? ”

The fragment didn ’t respond.

”Is the living prophet capable of predicting the future? ”

This time, the fragment pulsed.
Ves tried to process the feeling the fragment wanted to convey, but couldn ’t figure it out.
The pulse was too ambiguous!

”Can I even get any clear answer out of you?! ”

The fragment pulsed again.
This time, it responded with disapproval, as if Ves was overstepping his boundaries!

He became frustrated at the spiritual fragment ’s lack of cooperation.
It used to be relatively simple when Ves initially refined it, but as time went by, it grew more intelligent.

It was like a bot evolved into a sentient AI! The transformation happened gradually, but proceeded continuously without any signs of stopping!

Ves didn ’t even know what was happening anymore.
He might have been too reckless with refining such a powerful spiritual fragment.
Right now, the strength of Ylvaine ’s spiritual fragment was identical to that of a seasoned expert pilot!

Both expert pilots and Journeyman Mech Designers were special compared to the rest of humanity.
The main reason for that was that both developed their spirituality to the point where they surpassed a certain threshold and transformed into a higher state!

There was something remarkable about this higher state of spirituality.
Whether it was expert pilots, Journeyman Mech Designers or spiritual fragments, each entity with spirituality that exceeded this threshold had become something extraordinary.

Ves thought that Qilanxo ’s spiritual fragment was smart because its strength vastly exceeded anything he witnessed before.
He assumed that Ylvaine ’s spiritual fragment wouldn ’t be able to grow this smart because it originally consisted of a tiny remnant of Ylvaine ’s spirituality.

Now, he wasn ’t so sure anymore.

”Are you..
Prophet Ylvaine come to life? ” He mentally asked.

He didn ’t know what possessed him to ask such a ridiculous question.
The dead were dead.
They shouldn ’t be able to come back to life, let alone rebuild themselves from a tiny spiritual piece of themselves!

Well, his mother was kind of weird, but that didn ’t count!

The spiritual fragment didn ’t respond with a pulse.
Instead, it emanated an aura that was several times stronger than its last exertion! The aura radiated a strong and unflinching faith in its beliefs!

What this meant, Ves didn ’t know.
Did the fragment consider itself as a reincarnation of the prophet or was it merely telling him in its own way that it didn ’t care?

Whatever the case, getting any solid answers from the fragment seemed hopeless.
It had become just as cryptic as the actual prophet back when he was alive!

”What do you think about my mech design, then? Are you satisfied with what I ’ve developed so far? ”

This time, the fragment pulsed in plain approval.
It liked the design very much.

This response didn ’t surprise Ves as the spiritual fragment had a lot of say in how the Transcendent Messenger took shape.

”Don ’t you feel pissed that a genetic impostor of yours has stolen my prototype? ”

The fragment answered with another ambiguous pulse.
It was being deliberately mysterious again for some reason.

”Really.
Aren ’t you afraid the so-called living prophet will tarnish your name with my mech? ”

This didn ’t elicit any response from the fragment.
Either it didn ’t understand the implications, or it didn ’t want to comment on what was happening.

Ves was already familiar with the silent treatment.
The System almost never answered his inquiries.

He understood why the System kept its mouth shut.
There was no reason for it to entertain Ves and satisfy his curiosity.
As long as Ves furthered the System ’s agenda, it could sit back and relax.

What disturbed Ves a bit was that Ylvaine ’s spiritual fragment had grown sophisticated enough to adopt the reasoning.
The fragment turned from a passive spiritual entity into something smart enough to develop its own agenda!

Ves regretted hosting the spiritual fragment in his mind.
He should have fabricated a miniature mech or some other totem to serve as its temporary home.
At least then it wouldn ’t snoop so much in his mind and learn some of his traits.

He knew very well that someone with his personality was very hard to deal with! Just like him, the spiritual fragment was probably looking out for itself!

”Don ’t learn from me. ” He belatedly told the fragment.
”I ’m not a believer.
You should stick to your own values. ”

He didn ’t know whether his words had any effect or not.
Hopefully, he would soon be able to complete his design, whereby he could finally get rid of the spiritual fragment from his mind!

”Soon, you won ’t be my problem anymore! ”

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