The Mech Touch

"That… sounds hard to believe." Saint Tusa slowly said after Ves shared a vague retelling of a meeting with Imon's 'soul'. "I mean, you have made so many outlandish and groundbreaking claims. A special relic, the power of death, violating fundamental taboos…"

"It is true, though." The spiritual manifestation of Ves spoke inside the cockpit of the dormant Minerva. "Everything I have said is truthful from my perspective. Sure, my understanding of reality is anything but perfect, but I have been nothing but frank to the two of you. Believe me or not, I have eventually managed to preserve a semblance of Imon Ingvar."

"..."

"..."

The two ace pilots struggled to accept what Ves had done. He made so many outlandish claims that it sounded as if he had been practicing an obscure form of voodoo magic instead of anything related to rational science and technology.

Even though Tusa and Casella knew enough about Ves that he possessed a certain heritage in the more mystical arts, what he had claimed to do went far beyond the usual hocus pocus!

It was difficult for people who grew up in a society of mostly rational technology to accept that Ves had suspended the process of death for another person.

Seeing that the two ace pilots still couldn't accept his claims even after he had given them a sincere retelling of what had happened, Ves decided it was time for action instead of words.

He raised his hands and activated a new function bestowed by the Mech Designer System.

A small and faint illusionary ghost appeared. A faint white corona of power surrounded the insubstantial figure.

The ghost resembled Imon in his piloting suit.

Both Tusa and Casella grew shocked as they immediately recognized the identity of the ghost!

"Is this… a Chosen Envoy?!" Tusa softly gasped. "He feels like Imon alright, but why… is he so weak, and why does it look like there is nothing left in his head?"

Casella couldn't find any words to say. Her mind began to roil. A tumble of emotions racked her insides as she grew both happy at seeing Imon again, but also sad and angry at how extensively he had been reduced to such a pathetically weak state.

"Are you there, Imon? Do you… you still remember us?" Tusa cautiously asked.

The dull-looking ghost still remained unresponsive. Perhaps the only special aspect about him was that he was accompanied by a companion spirit, but his second personality had not only regressed in size, but also lost a lot of definition, which showed that the spirit had suffered even greater decay!

It was clear that just because Ves managed to claw Imon back from the dead, that didn't mean he was able to restore the expert pilot back to his peak!

"I am sorry." Ves said. "This is the first time I did something like this. This is new to me as well. I don't make the rules, and I don't have control over the processes. As far as I am able to ascertain, the transformation of a dead individual into a Chosen Envoy can't solve everything. Venerable Imon was in a very weak state when we finally formed a contract. While I managed to get to him fairly early, the problem is that he is quite weak in the greater scheme of things. A high-tier expert pilot with a companion spirit of equal strength is only able to persist for a handful of minutes after his death. This is really short, and many parts about him have already crumbled away at the start. It is impossible for anyone to fully recover from their death. Even if they come back to life somehow, they have to supplement the missing parts with substitutes."

Neither Tusa nor Casella comprehended any of this soul business, but they understood that even if Imon had become a Chosen Envoy, so little of him had been retained that it was questionable whether he even remembered his sister!

"Does that mean… he can never recover?" Casella fearfully asked.

"I didn't say that." Ves said. "It depends on your definition of the word 'recovery'. Can you restore him to his exact previous state when he was alive? No. Can you rebuild his spirituality and memories in his current existential state so that he is roughly similar to his old self? That is a more realistic endeavor. You can refer to what has happened to Venerable Jannzi's expert mech. Her Shield of Samar died, but I managed to rebirth the living mech by using her remnants to create the Bastion. The latter is not the former, but they are similar enough to each other that Jannzi is satisfied. You can think of it as a process of reincarnation if you want. When you start a new life, you have to give up parts of yourself. Imon…has lost much of himself, but his void can be refilled."

The explanation struck Casella rather hard. She felt as if she had been scammed. Ves told her that he had a way to preserve Imon and maybe bring him back to life again.

Yet the reality was that Ves only rescued a faint semblance of her brother. Even if he was able to return to a complete person again, the new stuff that filled the void in his soul simply couldn't match the original stuff that defined Imon as a person.

To put it differently, Casella recognized that Imon the Chosen Envoy only resembled her brother on the surface. That did not mean he was still her brother in truth.

It was as if Ves was a necromancer who only reanimated Imon's corpse as opposed to resurrecting him in full!

"Casella…" The spiritual manifestation of Ves said. "Nothing is impossible. I know it looks rather bad, but I think that Imon will slowly recover and grow stronger while he remains my Chosen Envoy. That doesn't necessarily mean he will become recognizable to you again. At least, I cannot do anything about his permanent pledge of loyalty to me. However, there is always a chance to make everything right again. Do you know how you can make this happen?"P

"How…"

"Power." Ves grinned at her. "Power can make everything right. As long as you become a god pilot or even stronger, you will gain the strength to impose your own will on reality. You can also build your own power base like I have done. That will allow you to gain access to other people's talents and abilities. They can do a lot of stuff that you cannot accomplish yourself."

As an ace pilot, Casella already understood this fundamental truth. She broke through out of a desire to resurrect her brother, though she originally envisioned that she would have to turn back time itself in order to rescue her Imon from oblivion!

Now that she thought about it, the current situation was a bit more optimistic than she originally assumed, but not good enough to give her a strong sense of satisfaction.

She recognized that Ves had done what he could to preserve a piece of Imon, but that a lot more had to be done in order to fulfill her greatest ambition.

Her breakthrough was still necessary. Her power boost and mutation of her companion spirit were not in vain. She agreed with Ves that the best way to bring her brother back from the dead was to become a lot more powerful and gather the specialists by her side that could liberate Imon from his contract and bind his freed soul to a mortal body!

Both Ves and Tusa sensed the resurgence of Casella's will.

Now that she had gained a bit of hope, she became a lot more determined embarking on the long and winding journey to resurrect her brother!

No matter how many ancient phase whales she had fight and no matter how many distant galaxies she had to reach, she would scour the furthest reaches of the cosmos if that was what it took to return Imon to a true state of life!

She would never allow him to be separated from her ever again!

Her eyes burned with fighting intent as she regained her confidence of the future!

The Saint Commander eventually made a short bow towards Ves. "Thank you, sir. I am… truly grateful for preserving even this much of my brother. I… will need time to think and formulate a new plan for myself. I will be ready to resume my duties in a week or so, barring any issues with my Minerva."

Ves smiled. It looked like he succeeded in stabilizing Casella. Though he did not deliberately set out to do this, he also ensured that she would remain in his service and not think about defecting to other organizations anytime soon.

He keenly understood the attraction of an ace commander, especially one with abilities demonstrated by Casella. Just the ability to temporarily 'upgrade' a small group of ordinary mechs into pseudo-expert mechs was enough to make a lot of people mad with desire!

In the following days and weeks, Casella would get flooded with insanely attractive recruitment offers.

Even if Ves believed in the loyalty and integrity of a long-time member of the Larkinson Clan, everyone could be bought. Principles were hardly unbreakable, and high-ranking mech pilots received a lot of room to break their old contracts and agreements when their explosive increase in strength led to too much disaffection.

If the Red Association started to make huge concessions such as becoming the governor of central star node and receiving personal tutoring from a god pilot, then Ves did not have anything to match those insane offers!

This was one of the reasons why Ves chose to reveal his first Chosen Envoy to Casella.

Imon had effectively become a hostage that could guarantee the Saint Commander's loyalty and compliance.

She might not like this highly imperfect state of affairs, but this was the reality she had to work with. The alternative was much worse.

"The Arvest Lima System can remain in humanity's hands without your assistance." Tusa reassured the recently ascended ace pilot. "The heavy blow that we have inflicted with your timely breakthrough has set the orven assault fleets back by a lot. They won't stop their attacks, but they will probably adopt a more restrained posture for a time."

Ves also spoke a few words of advice of his own. "You're a different mech commander now. You have gained a lot of power and choice. You need to figure out where you want to go from here. It is better if you formulate a systematic plan from the start than to meander forward while making ad-hoc decisions on the spot. Think about what I have said earlier. The sooner you figure out what you want out of your future ace mech, the better. Whether you want to invest heavily in your Commandeering ability, your Enfeoffment ability or both, my wife and I will do our utmost to accommodate your chosen combat approach."

That reminded Casella of an important issue.

"Sir."

"Yes, Casella?"

"Do you intend to upgrade my Minerva to a first-class ace command mech?"

"Yes. I have already announced that to you all. Upon becoming a saint, you have gained the qualifications to participate in the battles that truly matter. The Red War is fought on three separate fronts if you will. Each of them matter, but the importance of one of them is much greater than the others. It is only in the Upper Zones where your improved Command Field can serve the greatest use. Compared to empowering second-class mechs, the impact of doing the same for first-class multipurpose mechs is drastically greater!"

Even if the amplification effect on first-class mechs was not as drastic as Ves anticipated, it was still worth it for Casella to work with these powerful mechs!

Both sides had pushed their high technology to such great heights that it had become extremely difficult for them to raise their limits further.

This was why ace commanders were so incredibly desired by the major powers. They could easily take charge of a large amount of mechs and multiply their combat power by a ridiculous extent 'for free'!

Casella's Command Field was frankly wasted on the expeditionary fleet. Ves did not want her to linger in the kiddie pool anymore. She had outgrown this limited arena.

However, Casella's expression made it clear that she was not willing to let go of her attachment to the troops that she had commanded and fought alongside for many years…

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