The Mech Touch

When Ves applied the new model to different champions, he could figure out their strengths and weaknesses in a much more structural manner than before.

He was not exactly uncovering new information by applying the Heaven Earth Man Trifecta. He was merely reorganizing existing data so that he could form clearer and more accurate conclusions.

Ves and Ketis decided to have a little fun by applying her new theoretical model onto familiar mech pilots.

Even though Ketis originally devised her model to serve as the central paradigm of reformed swordsmanship, there were enough parallels between sword practitioners and mech pilots that the same principles still applied for the most part.

"Let's start with your husband." Ves said. "You spend the most time with him, so you must have a clear idea of his shortcomings."

Ketis nodded. "Now that I am looking at his situation with a more informed perspective, I am no longer surprised why he has failed to break through despite making multiple attempts to do so. He doesn't score well in any of the three categories. His Earth score is fairly low for obvious reasons. The Everchanger fit him well when he was a low to mid-tier expert pilot, but times have changed. It is outdated and hasn't kept up with his accelerated growth. The sooner it has undergone an upgrade, the better."

Ves nodded in agreement. "Gloriana and I will tackle this project after we are done with the Minerva Mark II Project, the Riot Mark III Project and the Promethea Mark II Project." The swordmaster frowned. She clearly thought that was way too long. Then she realized that nothing much would change if he got his hands on an upgraded mech a few months or years earlier.

"That may be for the best." She sighed. "The other pilots have a greater need for upgraded machines than my husband. He... needs more tempering. He scores the lowest in the Man category out of all of the high-tier expert pilots in our roster. Part of it is because he is younger and less experienced than Saint Dise, but being fairly young hasn't stopped the likes of Saint Tusa and Saint Isobel from breaking through."

"Resonance strength isn't everything" Ves concluded. "It is a numerical scale that measures the growth of extraordinary willpower in a quantitative sense. The numbers don't say anything about how it has shaped in a qualitative manner."

Ketis nodded in agreement. "The cold hard truth is that Joshua hasn't done enough to temper himself. Other expert pilots eagerly take the initiative to challenge themselves and make new attainments. Dise has been working non-stop on this ever since she became an expert candidate. She never does the minimum. She always tries to go above and beyond what is expected of her duty in order to temper her willpower further. Tusa has not worked as hard, but he also had the benefit of receiving the Dark Zephyr Mark

III, so he was able to rely on sufficiently high scores in Heaven, Earth and Man to get past the threshold. As for Joshua... he is too comfortable in his current place." "What do you mean by that?"

"I have a feeling that Joshua might not be taking his responsibilities seriously enough." Ketis said after a moment of thought. "He is not slacking off. He is training every day and he is participating in all of the battles of importance. It is just... he isn't doing too much beyond that. He is not setting any difficult challenges for himself. He doesn't try to get too close to phase lords. To me, his attitude towards his work is too... ordinary. He cares more about completing his shift so that he can go home and spend time with Kirian and Mayra"

"Are you suggesting that Joshua is failing to temper his willpower because he cares too much about his children?"

The female mech designer shook her head. "Not necessarily. Tusa is a father to children as well, but he comes across as a pilot who treats his career as the center of his life. There should be a way to balance between the two. Joshua isn't able to neglect or set aside his children as easily as Tusa. The latter has been traveling from warzone to warzone, leaving the responsibility of raising Doria and Giovanni to Ranya Wodin-Larkinson. He may not be the ideal father, but he is most definitely a qualified

Saint."

Parenthood was a huge burden to people. It was also a source of great fulfillment.

"So being a father is not necessarily bad for expert pilots, but it presents another challenge to them." Ves analyzed. "Saint Tusa did not let his parenthood interfere too much with his career, but Venerable Joshua is clearly not able to do that. While he is probably a good parent, that doesn't necessarily make for a great champion."

This was one way to interpret this situation. Ves wanted to argue that parenthood did not affect one's career in a negative manner, but that was clearly not the case. Many professionals had to balance out their work with their personal lives. Very few of them managed to find an ideal middle ground that allowed them to be content as parents as well as breadwinners.

Ketis realized this as well. "As a mother, I do not want our children to grow up while their father is away weeks or months at a time. There is only so much that correspondence through physical projections can substitute for personal attendance. However, the mech designer and swordmaster in me tells me that Joshua needs to be more decisive about pursuing greatness. He not only needs to think more about himself, but he should also leave the expeditionary fleet for a time. The clan offers too much warmth and support for him. This strengthens his reasons to fight, but it also makes his life too comfortable." Ves thought about Joshua's situation and believed that Ketis was correct.

"If that is the case, then I think the best choice he can make is to leave the expeditionary fleet and fight in a different star system. As long as he stays away for half

A year, he will not only leave his comfort zone, but he will also be able to focus most of his attention on his own development. He will suffer great hardships and he won't have as much backup at his disposal, but this is exactly what expert pilots need to promote their evolution."

It was quite surprising how a fresh take on an old problem led to a much more sensible proposal.

The Heaven Earth Man Trifecta was already paying off in spades.

"I do not expect Joshua to be able to temper his willpower as much as Saint Dise." Ketis remarked. "What I do expect is that he puts a serious effort into raising up his weakest aspect so that it doesn't sink his chances of triggering a breakthrough. He has a much better chance of becoming a saint by relying on the strength of his Heaven and Earth

Scores."

Joshua would most definitely score better in the Earth category in a year or two. The only downside was that he had little control over this variable. It was the job of mech designers to provide him with a better expert mech.

As for the Heaven score, Ketis possessed a pretty clear overview of his development in this area.

"Just like many other expert pilots, Joshua has only dabbled with E energy attributes so far." Ketis said. "He is most familiar with the life attribute for obvious reasons, but that is not the extent of his grasp on the power of Heaven. The nature of his Everchanger means that he is able to produce useful results with many different attributes. He has become familiar with manipulating the power of light, death, space, duty and more with the help of their associated design spirits. While he doesn't excel in any of them, it is impressive to realize that he has been able to develop so many varied solutions. This is one of his best traits as an expert pilot."

That indeed sounded like a remarkable advantage of Joshua. most definitely expanded his versatility and helped him respond a little better in almost every situation. However, his failed attempt to defeat the Teenage Swordswoman showed that this approach had its limitations.

"Versatility can be a source of strength." Ves stated. "It can also be a source of weakness. The Everchanger is inherently designed to promote this development, but... it is hard to imagine how Joshua can possibly develop a domain that can encompass his familiarity in so many different attributes that don't seem to share much in common with each other. According to our current theories as well as the examples that we have witnessed so far, the Saint Kingdoms of ace pilots almost always have a single overpowering theme. They are never made up of many different elements mashed together."

This suggested that Joshua may be working himself towards a dead end when it came to his development in the Heaven category.

This concern weighed heavily on Ketis. The woman grew silent for a longer time in order to consider Ves' analysis.

"You may be right. Ketis eventually said. "The problem is that Joshua has committed too much on his current path to stop. He cannot bring himself to abandon his pursuit of other E energy attributes when they offer so much to him. They are also key to developing his cooperation with other design spirits."

"Then the solution is obvious, Ketis. He needs to organize his relationships with all of those E energy attributes by placing them under a unifying umbrella."

"That is what I have come up with as well, but... what can he possibly use to reconcile his

Many interests?"

"It has to tie into his remarkable affinity towards the life element." Ves decisively answered. "Perhaps symbiosis. That makes the most sense. It is what he has been doing ever since he piloted his first living mech all the way in the Bright Republic." Ketis gave Ves a measuring stare. "I think you are overestimating Joshua's intellectual capacity to comprehend a concept as abstract and complicated as symbiosis. Your suggestion is still good, but... I fear that my husband will not be able to comprehend it as easily as more straightforward attributes such as fire and water.

"Well, he has to, because what else is he going to do? You know his situation better than

I. Does he really have another way out? Last time I checked, he almost killed himself by believing he can bring out the power of life by comprehending the power of death... by experiencing it in person."

"Don't mention that to me. The swordmaster scowled.

This incident was one of Joshua's biggest shames. It was certainly not an event that Ketis

Wanted to recall!

Ves smiled at Ketis. "I think you are underestimating Joshua's capacity to comprehend the concept of symbiosis. As I have mentioned before, he has been practising it for his entire piloting career in one way or another. He understands more about living mechs from a piloting perspective than anyone else. I think he is made for this. He just has to find a way to recognize and unlock this hidden strength, just as Dise suddenly mastered the power of the metal element after she made her own realization."

Ketis did not think that Joshua would be able to acquire so much strength by making a discovery about himself, but she was willing to give it a try.

Personally, she believed that it was much more probable that Joshua needed to work

Hard to reform his own approach towards power and make sense of his disorganized affinities towards so many E energy attributes.

She was at least able to provide concrete directions to Joshua. That was much better

Than groping around in the dark.

Ketis already felt grateful for herself for investing so much time on reforming her

Swordsmanship.

If she was able to pass on her structured analysis and recommendations to Venerable

Joshua, then he may be able to break through the instant he received the Everchanger

Mark III!

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!