The Mech Touch

5937 Competing Visions

"Andraste is too young to determine her path." The Superior Mother explained. "She needs to be at least 10 years old to find out whether she is suited to become a mech pilot. If this possibility is denied from her, then she will need additional time to choose what she wants to become instead."

"I already know what I want to do! I want to become a swordmaster!" Andraste whined.

The Superior Mother smiled at her granddaughter. "There are more ways for you to become strong than to wield a sword, especially now that we have entered the Age of Dawn."

"I don't care! I want to become a swordmaster!" The little girl repeated.

Both Ves and Cynthia knew that Andraste might actually stick to this conviction a few years later.

That did not mean they were ready to exclude every other possibility. There were still other ways for her to make good use of her gifts. She could study warfare and become a military officer if she wanted. Becoming good at swordsmanship was helpful, but there were better ways to boost her ability to command troops.

Right now, there was so much uncertainty about Yaika's future role that the companion spirit needed to keep her options open.

The best way to do that was to leave the spiritual kitten alone and allow her to continue to rely on natural cultivation.

That was not the best solution, though. Natural cultivation may be safe and automatic, but it was also slow and inefficient. The biggest problem Ves had with it was that it was not directed enough to know where it was heading towards.

The act of cultivation allowed a practitioner to take control over his or her own destiny. Ves believed it was always better to take control over the future rather than let someone dictate their lives!

This meant that for Yaika to grow more efficiently, Ves and his mother needed to choose a cultivation direction for the juvenile companion spirit.

This was where Ves and Cynthia started to disagree with each other.

"The companion spirits that you have created for your children are fascinating." The Superior Mother admitted. "It is interesting how you have implanted them with the seeds of borrowed talents. Right now, Yaika has only managed to 'unlock' her death talent. That leaves her with 5 more talents that she has yet to activate. With the right cultivation method and changes in behavior, she can steadily work towards unlocking a specific talent before increasing her comprehension in the new element."

"That does not mean it is necessarily a good idea to have Yaika work towards unlocking her life attribute." Ves frowned. "You have always fixated on the idea of putting opposites together, but not everything has to turn into a yin-yang diagram. You are burdening my daughter with way too powerful stuff. She's still a kid! She doesn't even fully understand what it means for people to die, so how can she understand both death and life at the same time?!"

His girl strongly objected to this statement!

"Uhm, I'm not stupid, papa. I do know what it means to die! Larkinsons die all the time whenever they fight."

Ves did not really believe that was the case, but he did not bother to correct her on this point.

"Mastering the power of life and death will ensure that Andraste becomes more powerful than any other cultivator." Cynthia argued. "Trust me on this, Ves. They may not sound impressive, but that is because you have outright cheated by artificially implanting the extremely rare talents related to life and death inside her companion spirit at the same time. Do you know how many cultivators would kill to possess even a fraction of Yaika's talents? Life and death are the most valuable elements that you have implanted into her, especially when they can be used in combination. She will truly be able to shine as a qi cultivator or creation cultivator."

"Qi cultivation sucks in pure combat." Ves crossed his arms. "Any high-ranking mech pilot can counter a qi cultivator of the same rank. This is an absolute fact. I seriously doubt that Andraste wants to become a mech designer or traditional blacksmith. I would support her if she chooses to become one, but until then, it is best not to force her companion spirit to tackle a challenge that is way too big."

He did not deny the attraction of being able to master the power of life and death, but he thought it was too wasteful and inefficient.

The Ouroboros had taught him that it was a lot more troublesome to cultivate two opposing elements at the same time. The rewards may be insanely lucrative, but it would take a long time and a lot of needless hardship in order to fully master and fuse two conflicting E energy attributes!

Perhaps Andraste may grow ambitious enough to tread on this difficult path, but she should only do so when she was older and more aware of the implications of her choices.

For now, he wanted her to take it easy. Her companion spirit was still young and malleable enough that she could easily change her cultivation without suffering too many repercussions for the foreseeable years.

"What do you suggest, then?" The Superior Mother frowned.

"Yaika has already embraced the death element, so that cannot be changed. The companion spirit also has a part of Qilanxo inside of her. I think it would be a good idea to unlock this talent and comprehend the nature of protection. If Andraste wants to become a soldier, then I want to make sure that she possesses the means to protect herself. I have fought in enough battles to know that it only takes a single accident for people to lose their lives. If Andraste can develop a greater ability to protect herself, then I won't have to worry about her life so much."

As a parent herself, Cynthia more than understood Ves' concerns.

"Soldiers die, Ves. If Andraste truly wants to become a fighter, then we should not coddle her too much. Death and protection do not synergize well with each other. They can even conflict with each other. Why do you want Yaika to develop a talent for protection?"

Ves adopted a complex expression. "I don't want my daughter to fight for the wrong reasons, I suppose. Perhaps I am imposing on her too much again, but it is far too easy for her to embrace the act of killing for its own sake. She should fight to protect her friends and relatives. Whenever our clan is at risk, I want my second daughter to become a guardian for our fellow Larkinsons."

"Are you asking her to become a knight mech specialist if she is suited to become a mech pilot?" Cynthia skeptically asked.

"Not necessarily, mother. Let me explain a potential vision for Yaika. I envision her to be a cat that does not specialize in the lives of others, but collects the spirits of the slain when they get loose. No matter whether Andraste is in the trenches or not, her companion spirit should be able to make herself useful by roaming around and picking up the spirits of the dead before they dissipate. The combination between death and protection should allow her to preserve the spirits once they come into her possession. After that, my daughter can deal with spirits properly."

"You cannot bring the dead back to life so easily, Ves. What I have managed to accomplish is the exception rather than the rule. It takes age, power and wisdom to define death itself."

Ves was not so sure about that. Qilanxo had managed to transcend death as well, and she was originally a giant exobeast, no, a mutated beast!

Sure, Qilanxo accumulated both age and power back then, but her 'wisdom' was rather questionable.

How she managed to overcome death while many other humans and exobeasts failed to do so was a mystery, but Ves had no reason to complain.

"I am not ambitious enough to abolish death for all of our clansmen." Ves said. "However, I think it is still useful for Yaika to develop the ability to harvest and contain the remnant spiritualities of deceased soldiers. We can put the ones derived from Larkinsons and other friendly humans into appreciative resting places. We can use the ones derived from our alien enemies as useful ingredients. Yaika can either absorb them to fuel her cultivation or hand them over to someone who can convert them into useful products."

Someone such as himself.

Cynthia pondered over the suggestion. Her expression softened.

"You want to turn Yaika into the equivalent of a priestess of the dead."

"No. Not a priestess. Maybe a… valkyrie?"

"Whatever characterization you use, it does not change the fact that this is an unusual combination. I know how to combine life and death. I have bountiful experience in doing so. I can mentor your daughter in how to best apply her companion spirit's powers."

That did not reassure Ves in the slightest!

He believed that his mother may be an expert in this area, but he did not want her to exert too much influence over Andraste's growth!

Who knew what kind of unrepentant war criminal Andraste would turn into after a few decades of taking lessons from a woman who was formerly known as 'Cultmaster Original Sin'!

"As much as I want the best for my daughter, I still think it is inappropriate to place such a heavy burden on her shoulders. Mastering the power of death and protection is much more suitable for a soldier. Death will make her more lethal, while protection will help to safeguard her life. The combination between the two E energy attributes will allow her to manipulate the battlefield in more profound ways."

The two could not agree on Yaika's best course forward. Even if the companion spirit would still be able to change to a different trajectory, spending several years on practicing the wrong method still amounted to a considerable waste!

"Instead of arguing with each other, perhaps we should let your daughter decide."

That was not the best idea, but it should break the deadlock.

"You've been listening to us talk. Which combination do you prefer the most, Andraste? Do you want to explore the mysteries of life and death and wield mind boggling powers, or do you want to get ready for the battlefield by comprehending the fusion between death and protection?"

Andraste announced her preference right away. She did not need to spend any moment of thought to contemplate her choice!

"I would rather become a valkyrie! I think you are right, papa. If I want to become a soldier, I should develop the powers that can best enhance my performance. Trying to study the combination between life and death is too… academic."

The Superior Mother frowned. "Do not look down on this combination. Mastering the power of life and death can allow you to reap the souls of enemies from a distance. It will enable you to heal yourself when injured, and consume the souls of the dead in order to replenish your energy."

"Those are extremely high-end abilities. How long will it take for Andraste to pull off these abilities?"

"Yaika is a natural talent in these elements. It should not take too long. It is difficult to estimate a more precise range."

"It should take decades at the very least." Ves threw out his own guess. "That is way too long. Yaika needs to become combat effective as soon as possible."

Andraste walked over to her father and hugged his side. "I think your idea is better, papa. I love grandma, but her ideas are too old-fashioned."

"Hahaha, well said! You're right! Your grandmother wants to revive a relic from the ancient past, but we live in different times. Many threats are on the horizon. Our clan will come under increasing threat. What we need the most are protectors, not mystics. You can change your mind later on, but I hope for now you learn a bit more about how to protect yourself and your fellow family. Does that sound okay to you, pumpkin?"

"Uhm!"

"Maaw!"

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