The Mech Touch

5986 Ritual in Shadow

The time to begin the upgrade process drew closer.

Gloriana knelt and prayed in front of an altar of the Superior Mother as usual. No one took the initiative to join her. In fact, her pious display attracted a lot of puzzlement from the newcomers.

In the months they spent under her management, Gloriana had never exposed any obvious Hexer traits. Sure, she still possessed a lot of eccentricities, but she never said anything that was clearly related to hexism.

That made it harder to believe that someone as smart and ambitious as Gloriana could also be a woman of faith.

Everyone who was more familiar with her knew better. They automatically ignored her actions and just waited for her to be done with her private ritual.

Rather than staring at his wife's attempt to obtain more psychological comfort for himself, Ves preferred to focus on a ritual that promised to create a more material effect on the upcoming upgrade run.

The most recent transformation of the Dominion of Man had taught Ves a lot about the power of ceremonies and rituals. They were far from subtle and could be used to produce powerful outcomes if used correctly!

Though Ves did not have access to millions of people or a powerful Fire Elemental, he possessed his own bag of tricks.

Tusa had already arrived at the ritual site. The expert pilot looked a little bemused when he saw the black altar, the carvings made out of shadow hypers and a particularly conspicuous bowl.

"Am I supposed to fill this up with my blood?"

"How did you guess?"

"The decor pretty much screamed it already. Please tell me that you are not joking."

Ves smiled. "I am not. Haven't you learned who my mother used to be? Rituals can change reality, and blood has many extraordinary properties. Combining the two will produce a stronger effect than usual."

"How many people will be involved?"

"Not much this time. In fact, I am trying out something new. The first goal of this ritual is to increase the probability of transforming him into a masterwork mech. To do that, I will try to imbue the materials used to make the archetech components with life energy. The second goal is to increase the Dark Zephyr's affinity with the shadow element. I have gained a lot of inspiration recently that may facilitate this process. This experiment should hopefully produce the result I want in exchange for a price."

"And what is the price that you are referring to, Ves? Don't tell me that I need to chop off my left hand or make the same commitment as Jannzi."

Ves shook his head. "Nothing of the sort. Don't worry. I know you value your freedom, and I don't need you to harm yourself. Just a vial's worth of your fresh, juicy and willpower-

infused blood should be enough for our purposes. I will bear the biggest price. It will not be small, but I think it will be worth it in the end."

His cousin felt relieved. "Thank you, Ves."

Before long, Gloriana, Adrien, Ariana and Alexa all gathered around the ritual site.

Ves first turned to Alexa. "You will be my deputy and substitute while I am gone. Are you up for teaching my classes according to the lesson plans?"

She nodded. "I have already become proficient enough in designing living mechs to teach classes about it. My fabrication skills are not even close to good as yours, but I have learned enough from you and Gloriana to exceed the vast majority of Journeymen, so I can still take care of this matter for the time being. As for Frontier Wisdom, it is better to give the word to wise and highly experienced guest lecturers. Their unique perspectives will add much-needed diversity to the lesson content."

"That is good."

They talked a bit more before Alexa departed from the workshop. As much as she wanted to witness the entire run, her responsibilities had multiplied for the remainder of the week.

Ves turned towards his wife. "Alexandria can deploy her design network now. Leave Tusa and I out of it until we have completed the ritual."

His wife wordlessly nodded.

"Maow."

The Queen Cat proudly made her appearance before binding Gloriana, Ariana and Adrien in a design network.

The pair of recently recruited Journeymen had already experienced this several times before, but the experience was still novel to them. There was nothing else like it. Alexandria had to limit the transmission of thoughts and emotions to prevent Adrien and Ariana from getting distracted to the point of losing their focus on their work tasks.

"Mrow mrow."

Blinky appeared next. The Star Cat appeared more powerful than before. The most recent tribulation storm had strengthened his Blinkyverse, which subsequently caused the star system reflected in his fur to grow more complete.

As Ves approached the altar, the light levels of the mech workshop began to dim.

A large amount of shadows appeared. Each of them grew deeper due to the fact that a lot of ambient light sources had shut down entirely.

Only a handful of directional lighting sources remained active, and their luminosities had dropped to the point where the entire workshop began to resemble an ominous cult temple!

The inactive Dark Zephyr hardly remained visible to baseline humans at this point. The machine was entirely engulfed in shadow, and so were most of the production machines.

Ves picked up the empty bowl in one hand while holding a small knife in his other hand.

For whatever reason, he looked as if he blended in remarkably well in the shadows!

Ves indeed felt a lot more comfortable in his own skin now that the mech workshop had lost a lot of light. His Spirituality became more active and he felt that if he mastered the right technique, he could convert the surrounding shadows into his own eyes and ears!

That was not all. Blinky cautiously opened his mouth and began to release shadow energy.

The darkness engulfing the mech workshop seemed to grow thicker and more substantial.

None of the attending mech designers looked afraid, but they did not feel comfortable either.

Since every Larkinson Journeyman received their own companion spirits, they could more easily sense the flow of E energy in the vicinity. They knew that Ves must have a good reason to engage in this strange behavior.

Ves began to hold a speech.

"For many years, the Dark Zephyr has served as a partner to Venerable Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson. Together, mech and mech pilot have fought to defend the Larkinson Clan and fight against humanity's common enemies."

The shadow energy around the ritual site grew thicker. Not only that, but it began to get absorbed by the altar and the bowl, both of which were made with shadow hypers.

"The Dark Zephyr is the first expert mech designed and built for the Larkinson Clan. Though he is the smallest and arguably the least advanced expert mech of the series, he has never allowed his shortcomings to limit his deeds and accomplishments."

Tusa couldn't help but swell with pride when he heard that. He had indeed worked together with the Dark Zephyr to constantly push their limits and seek more effective ways to overcome their opponents.

The ability to perform the Leap of True Freedom had been their greatest success so far! Years of hard work and persistent effort without receiving any positive feedback for such a long time had finally paid off in spades.

Tusa took a lot of pride in the fact that he was one of the few high-ranking mech pilots that possessed the capacity to bypass transphasic energy shields entirely.

Yet the ability to move anywhere he wanted no longer satisfied him anymore.

"Yet as much as Tusa and the Dark Zephyr try to exceed their enemies, there are limits to how far they can go. This is not their fault. The lack of upgrades to the expert mech has long held them back. This ends now. From the start of this day, we shall work day and night to transform the Dark Zephyr into a high-tier expert mech that has the makings of an ace mech. No longer shall Tusa be held back by a partner that has been showing his age."

As the altar and bowl began to get saturated with shadow energy, Ves finally moved to use his knife.

He approached his wife.

"Gloriana, do you vow to do whatever it takes to turn the Dark Zephyr into a mech that is fully worthy of his battle partner?"

"I do."

"Then seal this promise by shedding your blood."

Though his wife looked more bemused than anything, she obediently extended her arm and temporarily deactivated her personal shield generator.

Ves made a careful incision on her forearm with his knife.

As Gloriana's clear red blood began to drip into the shadowy bowl, everyone looked fascinated or horrified.

This was starting to look a bit creepy!

Ves did not pay attention to this. He waited for a dozen more seconds before he moved away from his wife.

Gloriana's smart clothing already moved to seal the cut and regenerate the damaged skin cells.

After staring at the bowl that was no longer completely empty anymore, Ves approached Adrien Marceau and Ariana Roux while demanding the same vow.

The two Journeymen's involvement in this upgrade process was not significant, but Ves did not let go of the opportunity to pull them into the ritual.

More blood spilled into the shadowy bowl. Due to the high concentration of shadow energy, the mixed blood already started to get affected to a degree.

Ves approached Tusa next.

"Venerable Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson. As the first and only battle partner of the Dark Zephyr, will you do your best to prove yourself worthy of commanding the power of your living mech, and continue to fight together with honor and dignity?"

His cousin slowly nodded. "I will do my best to continue to partner up with the Dark Zephyr. I shall always try to fight with honor and dignity if the circumstances allow for it. I shall always hold the Larkinson Clan dear in my heart, and I will not ignore the plight of humanity."

Tusa's blood soon spilled into the bowl. His blood was among the most important of all. Ever since he grew into a high-tier expert pilot, his biological tissue already started to contain more overt extraordinary properties!

The addition of Tusa's blood seemed to excite the shadow energy. Though Tusa's affinity to shadow was not strong, Blackwing's relation to this element was much more intimate!

Since Blackwing was a split personality of Tusa, this effectively meant that Tusa's blood already possessed a special connection with the shadow element.

Though the bowl still felt extremely light and weak to Ves, he somehow gained the illusion that it had gained a bit more metaphorical weight.

Ves smiled as he approached the altar and set down the bowl. The higher quantity and concentration of shadow energy began to interact more vigorously with the mixed blood.

He held out his own palm. His control over his own body had reached a level where there was no need for him to cut himself. A cut spontaneously formed!

Blood that was redder and more powerful than any other began to fall into the bowl.

The shadow energy became a lot more active as a result! It was as if a nest of snakes had just come across a plump little mouse!

"Since each of you have made a commitment, I, Ves Larkinson, promise to take care of the Dark Zephyr and imbue him with the power of shadow. The darkness shall be his ally, and the shadows shall become his weapon as well as his savior. I vow to improve the Dark Zephyr's ability to synergize with Venerable Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson and give them the opportunity to ascend to godhood together! Let my blood seal my promise!"

After he spilled enough blood, Ves forced his wound to close.

Just as everyone thought this ritual had come to a close, Ves surprised his audience by picking up the bowl and approaching Tusa yet again.

The expert pilot began to have a bad feeling about this. His intuition already told him that it was best not to get too close to the bowl.

"What… do you want me to do, Ves?"

"Drink."

"Are you crazy? That is not healthy! Drinking the blood of other humans is supposed to be unhealthy, but drinking the blood of a phase lord is suicide!"

"Drink." Ves repeated as an ominous grin appeared on his face. "Do you think it is easy to ascend to godhood? Very few mech pilots make it to the end. If you do not have enough courage to risk your life, you may as well give up on your dream. Trust me on this Tusa. Drink this bowl and accept our combined blood."

"I… I will end up in the infirmary after this. That phasewater blood of yours will tear open my throat and stomach and cause a lot of internal bleeding. I have read the stories on the galactic net!"

Ves had read those reports as well.

"That won't happen, Tusa. It is true that my blood is dangerous, but… it doesn't have to be. Trust in your strength. Make use of the willpower that you have strengthened and refined over the years. As long as your will is strong enough, I am confident that you can tame this blood! Will you drink or not? You may refuse if you think this is nonsense."

Tusa gave Ves an intense stare. A wave of pressure started to emanate from his body as his willpower became agitated by this challenge.

"Fine!"

Before he could second-guess his decision, he grabbed the bowl and poured the dangerous blood into his mouth in a single motion!

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