The Mech Touch

The God Kingdom Building Theory first circulated among ace pilots at around the 250th year of the Age of Mechs.

It claimed that ace pilots aspiring to tread upon the road of no return could slightly increase the success rate of their ascension processes by doing additional preparation work.

One of them was to bridge the gap between their Saint Kingdoms and their possible God Kingdoms as much as possible.

It was the difference between doing one's homework over many days as opposed to trying to rush it to completion on the night before the submission deadline!

In their desire to produce more god pilots, a bunch of Star Designers from the Mech Trade Association conducted an extensive study on the differences between peak ace pilots and relatively junior god pilots.

By comparing the two groups and contrasting their properties against each other, the Star Designers were able to discover a lot of interesting data that they had not noticed before.

The many differences between Saint Kingdoms and God Kingdoms stood out the most.

The domain field was one of the defining characteristics of high-ranking mech pilots. Any improvement in this aspect could potentially result in drastic improvements down the line.

The God Kingdom Building Theory was a typical product from a group of Star Designers. It presented a clean and logical theory about how ace pilots needed to develop their Saint Kingdoms.

It was a pity that not enough successful breakthroughs occurred to deliver conclusive proof that the theory had a positive effect on the success rate.

Although the Messenger of Silence decided to follow the theory, he did so with open eyes.

"..."

Saint Dostoevsky essentially warned Tusa that it didn't actually matter if the theory was right or wrong.

Ace pilots no longer abided by logic anymore. The root of their strength centered around their willpower. The development of this attribute was more important than everything else.

If following a theory that they thought made sense and felt good about caused their resonance strength to grow faster and smoother than before, then they were clearly doing something good!

The implication here was that it didn't really matter what crazy theories ace pilots decided to pursue. As long as they thought it worked, then that was enough to make it worthwhile.

When it came to high-ranking mech pilots, the placebo effect was often stronger than the actual effects!

Belief always trumped logic and the laws of physics!

"There are multiple theories like this that claim to increase our chances of breaking through to god pilot?" Saint Tusa asked. "What are they, if I may ask?"

"..."

The Messenger of Silence briefly mentioned a few through his Saint Kingdom.

There was the Deification Theory that claimed that peak ace pilots could transcend to godhood much easier if they had a large body of worshipers that already regarded them as literal gods in human form.

There was the Worthy God Theory that claimed that peak ace pilots must challenge a god-like entity in a serious fight and either win or survive long enough to prove that they possessed the courage and worth of a god pilot.

That was not all. Ace pilots already circulated whackier and more dangerous theories among themselves. The Messenger of Silence only decided to share them to Saint Tusa to warn him against the madness espoused by gurus who claimed without merit that they knew better.

One such crazy idea was a full-blown conspiracy theory called the Secret Resource Theory. It claimed that the Kingdom of Mechs — and by extension the Red Kingdom — secretly manipulated the success rate of breakthroughs of individual pilots.

The theory's main claim was that it took a very precious and unique resource to produce a successful god pilot.

This unique resource could only be found among ace pilots, but the problem was that even ace pilots could only accumulate 1 to 3 percent of the total amount needed to guarantee a successful ascension.

There was almost no way they could successfully break through with such a huge disparity!

The success rate was far too low!

So how could this fundamental resource scarcity problem be solved?

The answer was that the Kingdom of Mechs secretly robbed unwitting ace pilots of this unique resource and redistributed it to a small selection of 'approved' saints.

Once these saints unknowingly gained all of the required resources needed to break through, they were able to transcend to godhood much easier than others!

Their success rate might not have reached 100 percent, but it should have at least risen to 70 percent or higher!

Suffice to say, the MTA and every Star Designer vehemently denied that there was any truth to the conspiratorial Secret Resource Theory!

Nobody had ever managed to provide convincing proof of the existence and relevance of this unique resource.

Saint Tusa shook his head as he thought about this nefarious idea. "I don't think the MTA and RA are as bad as this conspiracy theory claims. They have always been good to ace pilots like ourselves."

Saint Dostoevsky did not comment on that remark and instead proceeded to share one more dubious theory.

Particularly desperate peak ace pilots that had waited too long to attempt their breakthroughs tended to sink their chances of surviving the road to no return.

Once they reached this state, there was almost no way they could dig themselves out of their holes.

However, a dangerous theory had spread that claimed that there was still hope in the midst of their despair.

The so-called Highlander Theory was a controversial and dangerous idea. Its central claim was that a peak ace pilot had a high chance of successfully breaking through if they dueled another peer to death.

The two must engage in a fair ritualistic competition and fight each other with the intent to kill. Outside interference was absolutely not allowed as that would taint the sanctity of the duel.

As long as the winner 'beheads' the loser, the former would proceed to 'absorb the energies' of the latter, which combined with the fulfillment gained from overcoming a powerful opponent would force an instant breakthrough on the spot!

"Why is it called the Highlander Theory?" Tusa puzzlingly asked.

The Messenger of Silence wordlessly shrugged.

Whatever the case, Tusa personally thought this theory sounded absolutely crazy. Perhaps it was because of the way that his mentor had presented it to him, but the Larkinson ace pilot really could not imagine any saint believing that they had to kill each other in order to break through.

"Did ace pilots actually believe so much in this Highlander Theory that they dueled each other to the death?"

"..."

"Did it work?"

"..."

"I see."

No matter the theory, a successful breakthrough could never be attributed to any single cause or reason. There were so many variables at play that it was impossible to isolate one deciding factor as the decisive reason for a success case.

This was why the Messenger of Silence cautioned Tusa not to overcomplicate this matter. It was best just to pick any theory he liked as long as it was harmless enough.

No matter whether it worked or not, at least he was being proactive enough. Action was always better than inaction when it came to high-raking mech pilots.

His mentor encapsulated this thought with a succinct phrase.

Confidence over theory.

Ace pilots were not Master Mech Designers. They did not need to study a lot of textbooks, calculate their solutions to a failure rate of 0.00034 percent or construct highly convoluted theories that explained their powers.

All they needed was confidence in themselves. Their willpower was rooted in their confidence. The more they believed in themselves, the stronger they became. No god pilot ever emerged from ace pilots that still doubted themselves to the point where they needed to use nebulous theories as crutches.

The Messenger of Silence outlined his approach based on the God Kingdom Building Theory a bit further.

Saint Tusa nodded in full agreement with his mentor. Ultimately, he needed to use the blueprint of the God Kingdom Building Theory as one of the many tools to pave his way to his ultimate destination.

Time passed by. The two ace pilots began to partake in a few exotic and expensive dishes made predominantly from processed seafood harvested from the oceans of New Cartagena VII-F.

The Messenger of Silence outlined his approach based on the God Kingdom Building Theory a bit further.

The overall goal was to construct the prototype of his possible future God Kingdom by forming and filling up several different territories that comprised a single cohesive system.

It was not necessary to build artistic conceptions that were literally framed as capital cities, agricultural provinces, industrial regions, commercial zones and etc. An ace pilot just had to create a harmonious collection of images that could form the core of a god pilot's most fundamental power base.

Saint Dostoevsky's central image was his overwhelming desire for silence and serenity. This was his base. He built all of his other artistic conceptions on top of his fundamental need for stillness.

When Tusa learned a bit more about how his mentor visualized his expanding Saint Kingdom, the Larkinson ace pilot tried to imagine how he should build his own underdeveloped domain.

It started with a base which corresponded to his greatest desire or ambition. His newly developed Free Flight ability already occupied this role. All of his other abilities as an ace pilot had to be tethered to his fundamental desire to fly free in order to build up a sensible prototype of his possible God Kingdom.

The story was a bit more complicated for him, though. He was different from his mentor because he also possessed a companion spirit!

Blackwing's domain was centered around the concept of shadow rather than the concept of freedom.

This presented Tusa with an extra set of options that he could use to expand his range of solutions and gain additional specializations that he could not attain through his normal domain!

To use the analogy of the God Kingdom Building Theory, Blackwing's domain could essentially be treated as a distant colony that could provide additional help and resources from an exotic location!

Of course, this also meant that Saint Tusa had to do a lot more work in order to gain the most out of Blackwing's domain. He needed to spend additional time figuring out new abilities and strong images that he could relate to that were based on the shadow element.

As the banquet gradually transitioned into the 'drink liberal amounts of alcohol phase', both the Messenger of Silence and Tusa began to drink a traditional warm drink consisting of honey mixed with spices and jam of all ingredients.

Saint Dostoevsky had no more lessons to convey to the guest pilot for today. He had already fulfilled his responsibilities by imparting a lot of useful lessons and tips.

At this point, Tusa needed to apply the lessons he learned and start with building up his own system. It did not necessarily have to be based on the God Kingdom Building Theory. Anything was fine so long as he derived additional confidence from his solution.

"The defeat we inflicted on the juregs has stalled their plans to conquer this star system." Lieutenant Daria remarked. "That will create a lull in this campaign where you have at least 2 weeks to practice your piloting skills, experiment with your powers and develop new abilities. This should be enough time for you to substantially improve your performance in the next major battle."

Tusa responded with a strained smile. "That is true. I am certain that I will do better next time. I am still too new to my newly upgraded ace mech. What I am concerned about is that our enemies will also be making use of all of this time to prepare for another bout against my Dark Zephyr. They won't be caught by surprise anymore. They know who I am and what I can do. I will try my best to create more openings for my mentor, but it will be much harder to do so next time."

"Then you will just have to improve faster than our jureg adversaries."

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