The Mech Touch

nt, and that turned it into a valuable resource for his current design project.
With this fragment along with what he learned from the expert pilot ’s record, Ves would be able to repurpose it into the finest human myth he had ever conceived!

Right now, Ves was at the cusp of shaping the three images and combining them together.
Comparing their relative strengths, he was afraid that Qilanxo ’s spiritual fragment would be so strong that it would outright wipe out the other two images when they approached.

”I can ’t let that happen. ”

As he shaped the fragments into a form that resembled his images but better, he tried to communicate with the fragments.

He had no luck with Venerable Fontain ’s spiritual fragment.
It seemed to be governed by a remnant of Fontain ’s will, and it somehow knew it landed in hostile territory.

Considering that Ves did not base the X-Factor of his upcoming design around the human myth, he didn ’t bother trying to beat it into submission.

Instead, he intended to let Qilanxo ’s spiritual fragment do all the heavy lifting.
The only problem was that Ves wanted it to subsume the weaker fragment without annihilating it entirely.
How could he get it to cooperate?

”Maybe I should just ask. ”

Ves concentrated even deeper and tried to commune with Qilanxo ’s spiritual fragment.
He mentally directed its attention to the other two images and tried to convey two powerful concepts.

Predation.

Assimilation.

Just those two words.
As Ves was afraid that a derivative of Qilanxo ’s consciousness wouldn ’t be able to understand the meaning of those two words, he conveyed his own understanding of them along with his messages.

The spiritual fragment flared.
It understood his intentions.
Quicker than he thought possible, it blazed across his mental space and gobbled up the image of the base model and Fontain ’s spiritual fragment!

After that, it returned to the center of his mind and began to experience several convulsions as it added on new traits!

The spikes of pain that accompanied this transformation quickly broke up Ves ’ concentration and kicked his consciousness out of his own mental space.

”Ahh! ” Ves nursed his head.
”This damn headache is getting worse. ”

He hoped that Qilanxo ’s spiritual fragment would have enough sense to incorporate the right traits from its meals.

As Ves waited for hours, the spiritual fragment eventually finished its digestion.
When Ves tentatively reentered his mental space, he did not spot too many differences.
The powerful flame that represented the fragment still carried a strong imprint of Qilanxo ’s consciousness.
Only minute portions of the base role and the human myth had been added to its existence, with the latter playing a slightly more substantial role.

Ves inwardly sighed.
”This is the best I can do for the moment. ”

That wasn ’t entirely true.
Ves suspected that he could repeat his earlier excursion and pay another visit to Venerable Fontain ’s spiritual presence within the imaginary realm.

If the damage that Ves previously inflicted was as serious as he thought, then the hole in the shell may not have been patched up yet!

Yet Ves instantly dashed that thought from his mind.
While it sounded great if he could strengthen the human myth component of his Triple Division technique, the risks far outweighed the benefits.

Venerable Fontain would certainly be on guard against intrusions now!

”I ’d be a fool to return to the scene of the crime so shortly after the first violation. ”

He learned an important lesson here.
If he wanted to obtain a stronger spiritual fragment from someone in the future, he better to it right the very first time!

As the slightly-improved spiritual fragment started to stabilize, Ves tentatively believed it was ready to be put to use in helping him design his next mech.

Ves took a deep breath and activated the design software on his terminal.

Working with an active and independent spiritual fragment that mainly carried Qilanxo ’s imprint rather than his own demanded a change in his approach.

Before he worked with spiritual fragments, Ves pretty much controlled his images as if they were puppets.
Even if they contained some spark of life, they were undeniably figments of his own imagination, so Ves exerted a very strong influence over their imaginary lives.

This time was different.
Qilanxo ’s spiritual fragment only carried a minute portion of his imprint due to assimilating the image of the base model which fully spring from his own mind.

Ves made another important observation.
Whether he could control an image or a spiritual fragment depended on the source of their imprints!

”I subconsciously program my own images to be obedient to me. ” Ves surmised.

He knew he was a bit of a control freak.
Whenever he created an image, he would always seek to keep them under his thumb.
There was no sense in conjuring up a bomb that exploded in his face.

It was different with Qilanxo ’s powerful spiritual fragment that had been slightly augmented by the assimilation of the base model and human myth.
Despite consisting of only a tiny portion of Qilanxo ’s vast spirit, it was far stronger than any spiritual strength that Ves could ever muster!

”If I can ’t control the fragment, I ’ll have to negotiate with it instead! ”

In order for Ves to make use of the augmented spiritual fragment, he needed to coax it into cooperating with his design work.

Fortunately, the powerful fragment proved cooperative to his overtures.
Qilanxo ’s good impression on Ves carried over to the spiritual fragment she freely bestowed to him.
Having the fragment ’s cooperation made his life much easier as it barely took any effort for him to get it to cooperate.

Ves realized that he might not be so lucky next time when he embarked on another design project.

Not every fragment would have a good impression of him, as Venerable Fontain ’s spiritual fragment already demonstrated.

”I ’ll have to beat them into submission or find some way to make them more pliable.
There ’s no way I can entrust a hostile entity to assist in my design work. ” He muttered.