The Mech Touch

Ves looked surprised as he stared at Ketis.

Deep inside the Sacred Temple, the swordmaster somehow gained an epiphany that caused her to drive away much of her confusion and gain a much clearer goal to strive towards!

The changes going through her mind were so profound that it even affected her spirituality!

Ves could clearly observe these changes. Not only was Sharpie's aura changing in character, but her Divine Core also started to change shape!

The miniature version of Ketis seemed to become a little more sacred and holy. The Divine Core gained a more distinct heavenly flavor as it became surrounded by mystical clouds. Even the robes began to brighten into white.

He could even see the faint silhouettes of a halo and a pair of wings sprouting behind her back!

In the end, Sharpie did not outright transform into a heavenly angel. Ketis' epiphany only progressed her willpower to a certain extent, and she still had a lot to go before she could imitate the power of an angelic being.

However, Ves was already impressed by her transformation!

Though a part of him felt concerned that Ketis was still being affected by the Heavensword's contamination, he believed she was strong and sober enough to make her own decisions on the matter.

If she truly thought that taking inspiration from the Heavensword was the best way for her to advance her swordmaster cultivation, then that was her decision to make.

He just felt it was a bit of a pity that her recent turn towards embracing heaven had caused her original obsession to diminish. Ketis still possessed a sharp edge, but it was clearly not her sole focus anymore.

As Ketis continued to shift internal gears, she eventually opened her eyes. She grabbed hold of her sheathed Greatsword and placed the tip against the floor of the Sacred Hearth chamber.

"Thank you, Ves."

"Uh, what did I do this time?"

"If you had not inducted me into the Mech Designer System and brought me to this temple of contemplation and self-reflection, I would have continued to muddle through for at least several more years. I would have wasted all of that time while trying in vain to figure out how to become a stronger swordmaster, not knowing that my path was fundamentally flawed from the beginning."

"I take it that you intend to do something about those fundamental flaws."

"Correct." Ketis spoke with renewed purpose. "The Heavensword along with other clues has pointed a new way forward for me. I am frankly embarrassed that it has taken me this long to connect all of the dots, but at least it is not too late. The traditions of the Heavensword Association are strong… but they are also out of date. The thing about swordsmanship is that it is never supposed to be static. Just like technology, the methods and principles that underpin the art of the sword are also capable of changing and evolving. Pretty much all of the sword styles that we have inherited from the Heavensword Association were all shaped by the limitations to the past ages."

"The Age of Dawn is completely different. Many new possibilities have opened to us that were previously denied to us due to living in a low-energy environment."

"Exactly, Ves. Now that every swordsman is able to wield the power of E energy radiation, I see no reason why I along with other sword practitioners must insist on relying on our own willpower alone to fight. As much as I hate to admit it, willpower alone is far from enough to allow us to defeat the likes of god mechs, dreadnoughts and ancient phase whales. Only by admitting our weakness and becoming more proactive in doing better do we stand a chance of attaining parity with those powerhouses one day."

Ketis truly believed that she may be able to put up a good fight against those titans one day!

That was too much for Ves. He couldn't help but cast doubt on her new ambition.

"That is a bold claim. God mechs are the strongest combatants at their exalted levels. No other cultivator can match them in a direct confrontation. The most you can do is close the gap, but the difference in equipment is far too great for you to gain the upper hand against even the weakest of god mechs."

The reinvigorated swordmaster shook her head. "That is where you are wrong. First, a sword god that can fight by relying on supreme willpower can also rely on E energy radiation to wield far greater power. Second, your definition of a sword is too simple. As long as we focus on improving it and expanding it many different ways, we may eventually be able to design and forge very complex swords that are able to draw lots of power from the power sources that we have installed inside their own pocket spaces. As long as this heavenly sword is as complex and powerful as a god mech, then the disparity in equipment can be negated!"

That sounded extremely arrogant of Ketis. Ves did not really believe it was possible to accomplish this, but it was good that she regained her confidence.

It didn't matter if her goal was realistic or not. As long as she worked hard to reach an impossibly high summit, she was bound to end up at a much higher position than she was today!

"I think I get what you are saying." Ves spoke. "The swordsmanship inheritance of the Heavensword Association is too deficient according to you. It was mainly centered around willpower cultivation. You think you can update it by combining willpower cultivation with both qi cultivation and artifact cultivation."

"That is it… I think."

Ketis was clearly not entirely familiar with the terminology used by Ves.

"Qi cultivation is the most traditional approach to cultivation, which is to promote your self-evolution by absorbing E energy. It used to be reserved to the Five Scrolls Compact in the past due to the difficulty of gaining access to E energy. Now that we are all surrounded by E energy radiation, this limitation doesn't exist any longer. You can easily imitate the swordsmanship approach demonstrated by that alien swordsman that showed up during the last lightning tribulation. The difference between you and that alien swordsman is that the latter apparently never felt the need to engage in willpower cultivation. You and every other swordsman that has adopted the traditions of the Heavensword Association are different. While it is a lot harder to engage in two forms of cultivation at the same time, the results will undoubtedly be greater if you succeed in both!"

The swordmaster appreciated this explanation. It sounded much more systematic and sound in theory than her previous argument.

"What about artifact cultivation?"

"That is a form of cultivation where the practitioner derives his strength from the powerful artifact that he possesses. A normal sword won't strengthen you much, but a weapon as powerful as the Bloodsinger that you have been nurturing all of the time is different. As long as you make your sword a lot stronger, then whenever it is wielded by weaker individuals, those lucky folks will be able to quickly grow stronger by drawing from the power of their blades."

That was indeed what Ketis wanted to accomplish as well, but now that she heard this, she quickly recognized a very big problem with this approach.

"A sword that is too powerful has the potential to overwhelm its wielder." Ketis mentioned. "I certainly found it difficult to maintain my thoughts when I wielded the Heavensword in the past. I mostly managed to hold on because I was a swordmaster, but anyone weaker than that would have succumbed to the sword within a second."

"That is why artifact cultivation alone cannot produce strong swordsmen. You will only produce sword slaves in that case." Ves theorized. "The strength of the sword must always remain in proportion to the strength of its wielder. You can make the weapon a bit stronger than that, but the wielder needs to compensate by developing his willpower. One cannot go without the other."

"Each of the three forms of cultivation that you have mentioned is essential. Leaving one of them out will never result in swordsmanship that is strong enough to rival mech piloting."

"I think we have the makings of a superior approach to swordsmanship here, Ketis. Willpower cultivation, qi cultivation and artifact cultivation can all go hand-in-hand to produce a much more powerful version of swordsmaster than the ones that have shown up in the past. I think… it may be useful to distinguish it with another name. What would you like to call this evolution?"

A name instantly came to mind. Ketis could not think of any other names that could fit her new approach a lot better.

"Heavenly swordsmanship." She announced. "Let us call it like this in order to make it clear that it draws on power that is far greater than one can find within ourselves. This is my calling. No other swordmaster in the Red Ocean can create this more powerful form of swordsmanship that is perfectly adapted to the Age of Dawn. I know what I must do now. I must work to become the ancestor of heavenly swordsmanship. I must develop completely new sword styles that are much more comprehensive and advanced than before. The learning curve will be steeper, but the results will also be far greater."

Heavenly swordsmanship.

The name held so much meaning to Ketis. Ves could feel the rich associations that she had placed on it. Her basic aspiration was to invent and master a sword style that was so powerful that it could actually reproduce the raw might as well as the infinite mutability of the heavens!

If Ketis actually managed to pull off this insanely ambitious goal, then Ves predicted that she had a good chance of becoming the most powerful sword practitioner to ever exist!

As Ketis actively looked forward to mastering such might, she looked ten times more driven than before!

It was as if she had finally grown up now. Her pride, confidence, ambition and willpower had all grown a lot stronger.

Once she truly started to make progress in her ambitious new plan, her willpower cultivation was bound to grow by leaps and bounds.

It was not impossible for her to advance to sword saint as long as she was able to complete a prototype version of heavenly swordsmanship that actually worked!

"I am truly happy for you that you have clarified your goals, Ketis. You remind me of Tusa just before he managed to break through to the rank of ace pilot. Having a more specific goal in mind can do wonders to your progression. I think you have a real shot at attaining sainthood so long as you do not waver in your new goal."

"I won't change my mind." Ketis spoke with utter conviction. "I may have my own wants and needs, but I am willingly subordinating them to my new goal, because this is too important. Swordsmanship as I currently know it has become a dead end. It is too flawed and incomplete to give humans the strength they need to fend off the native aliens and other threats. Traditions are important, but we should never turn them into shackles that inhibit true progress."

"Well said!" Ves grinned and clapped. "I approve of your proactive mindset! This is exactly the kind of attitude that produces successful mech designers and so on. You should make good use of the System. You don't need to learn how to practice qi cultivation from scratch. There are many enlightenment fruits that can teach you how to manipulate E energy radiation for your own benefit. You can do that to 'upgrade' your existing sword styles. As for artifact cultivation, that is a little more complicated. If you truly want to do everything yourself, then you will need to become good at traditional blacksmithing."

"Traditional blacksmithing?"

"It's the ancient counterpart to the non-degenerated version of traditional swordsmanship. You don't need to spend too much AP to learn this craft. I can have Vulcan teach you how to forge low-level and eventually high-level artifacts."

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