The idea of 'creating' complicated spiritual constructs and products via growth rather than fabrication and assembly was perhaps the most radical and innovative idea he came up with! Its potential was enormous as it allowed him to sidestep the more traditional development path of spiritual engineering!
Certainly, what Ves imagined as 'traditional' spiritual engineering was incredibly powerful and versatile. Though the requirements were very difficult to meet, once someone became a master at spiritual engineering, they could produce any spiritual product imaginable with complete understanding how it worked because they understood and controlled every single detail.
This was what Ves yearned to achieve himself. As a mech designer, he always pursued this aspiration, and with the help of the Skills bought from the System, he had become very proficient in the finer details of mech design.
He hoped to approach spiritual engineering with the same degree of precision, control and understanding. Unfortunately, his lack of heritage, tutoring and learning resources left him as blind as a bat. Unless he was willing to invest thousands of years to reinvent several million different wheels, he would never be able to attain the level required to reproduce the Grand Dynamo he obtained from the System!
"Mech designers don't pop up out of nowhere. They are trained and educated by well-run educational institutions. They are mentored and tutored by the Seniors and Masters of their profession. If nothing else, then someone can always become a mech designer through self-study and e-learning if they have a few books and learning apps at their disposal."
The tragedy of Ves was that he lacked even the latter. His deadbeat mother didn't even give him a single booklet!
For this reason, when faced with a sophisticated spiritual design, Ves could either pass it over to someone who knew what to do with it, or use his own ingenuity to solve the problem in a creative fashion.
The proper course of action was to leave it to an expert. Yet if Ves forcefully woke up the Superior Mother, he feared he might interrupt some sort of delicate growth phase.
The damage might not be serious, but Ves did not want to risk kneecapping the ancestral spirit's fantastic potential. She had the potential of attracting the worship of trillions of Hexers. With the Superior Mother's connection to Cynthia, this might be a way for his mother to stop leeching his spiritual energy and sustain herself on a more independent basis.
"The construct itself also requires a lot of energy to shape into being. Does my mother have to pay for that?"
There were certain special components in the spiritual construct design that looked very special. Even by themselves, Ves was unable to create something so high in quality, precision and complexity. Just like fabricating high-performance physical parts, anyone who attempted to make these special spiritual components would have to pay a hefty price.
Therefore, unless it was truly necessary, Ves did not want to upset this vital arrangement!
This led him to his second solution. Though he hadn't tested it at all, Ves was very confident in his theories and projections. According to his existing understanding of spirituality, implementing a growth-based production method should be viable.
Even if Ves was very fuzzy on the mechanics, his earlier experiments in spiritual engineering taught him that this was not a crippling downside.
As long as he was willing to surrender control to the whims of nature, fortune and other external factors, he would roughly be able to get what he wanted.
Of course, that didn't mean he didn't have to expend any effort at all. Just like the peculiar biomech designers, he needed to develop a different methodology of production.
"That's okay."
Different from traditional spiritual engineering, Ves possessed a significantly greater talent and foundation in the production of 'living' entities. His life domain not only enhanced his intuition in this area, but also smoothed over a lot of difficult procedures.
Someone without a life domain would make a lot more mistakes because their spiritual energy did not offer any assistance in the growth process.
In short, this production method suited him perfectly!
He immediately began to outline the method needed to accomplish this ambitious goal. He pooled all of his knowledge that was relevant and applied his judgement, logic and intuition to put together a blueprint of his new spiritual production method.
He needed to take two broad requirements into account.
First was what he called the 'initial seed'. Like a real plant seed, this was the starting state of a complete spiritual product. The seed not only contained the design of its end state, but also contained all of the essential spiritual ingredients that were necessary to kickstart the growth process.
"Every seed needs access to good soil or other favorable conditions to grow into a healthy and vigorous plant."
This was the second requirement. The incubation conditions encompassed every positive and negative variable that could influence the growth of the initial seed. These external circumstances not only provided the necessary spiritual nutrients, but also directed the growth process!
Ves paid a lot of attention to the latter because that was his only safeguard to get the product he wanted. While it was impossible to guarantee exact precision, as long as the end product did not exceed the boundaries he set, he would be happy with what he obtained.
As Ves slowly built an elaborate plan, he found out that as long as it worked according to his design, he could indeed skip a lot of difficult steps.
"Just let the growth process take care of everything."
Even so, a couple of thorny aspects still remained.
First, he wasn't sure he was able to obtain all of the specific spiritual attributes needed to make some of the special spiritual components.
Ves could only throw up his hands at this difficult request. "Well, the growth process will just have to work with what's available. If it can't obtain the required spiritual attribute, then it can always substitute it with another attribute."
Certainly, a steel sword was a lot more effective at cutting bodies than a wooden sword. However, they were both swords and they were both capable of harming people, and that ought to be enough.
"Ketis might disagree, but she's not here!"
This was not the time for perfection. With just a couple of days to go before the Larkinsons confronted the Allidus Alliance, Ves had to set this process up quickly, forgoing the usual need for rigor.
Still, Ves remained confident.
To make sure this production method was not a figment of his imagination, he tested it out on a smaller scale. He designed a slightly obtuse and difficult spiritual construct and began to fulfill the two requirements.
He formed the initial seed with some of his spare spiritual energy and blended in a spiritual image that contained the design and visualization of his desired end product.
He then prepared the incubation conditions. He used a P-stone as the incubating chamber and began to insert some loose spiritual energy from himself, Goldie and some other sources.
Ves then threw in the initial seed and took a step back.
He observed what happened carefully.
"It's starting. The initial seed is following its programming."
When the initial seed recognized its favorable conditions, it immediately began to absorb the nutrients and grow out of its shell.
Ves smiled wider and wider when he recognized that the seed largely followed his programming. The growing spiritual construct began to grow taller and develop some branches.
He chose a spiritual tree as his first product with this new method because it offered him an easy way to judge how its formation differed from the design he specified.
"Hmm, there's indeed some variability."
He observed a lot of variance in how its branches and leaves matured. When the spiritual tree he had grown reached its programmed end state, the final result ultimately deviated from his design by as much as fifteen percent!
Ves smiled. "To be honest, that is a lot better than I anticipated."
If the deviation reached as far as fifty percent, then it was impossible to ensure the end product would be able to fulfill the same role as the original.
He pulled the just-matured spiritual tree from the P-stone and stuffed it into the so-called Prosperity Tree that was drooping so bad that it looked as if it was on the verge of death!
The shape of the spiritual tree roughly corresponded with the structure of the physical Prosperity Tree. This was because he used the latter as the basis of the design of the former!
"C'mon, revitalize already!"
The tree only looked a bit more revitalized than before, but Ves did not feel disappointed. He knew that trees were slow to change. The reason why he was happy was because the physical Prosperity Tree seamlessly accepted the artificial spiritual product he had grown from a seed.
If the tree was truly doomed, it wouldn't have done this! The fact that the spiritual tree settled in nicely signified that his scheme to revitalize the physical tree might actually work!
Ves laughed. "Hahahaha! Take that, you stupid tree! You want to die? Not on my watch! I'll pump you up with life no matter how much doom you want to portend!"
While he disdained superstition, he couldn't help but remained bothered by his Prosperity Tree's malaise. His grandfather claimed that its state directly reflected his fortune, but Ves couldn't believe in this nonsense.
Even so, he still felt disturbed when his tree was doing awful.
Instead of letting the tree increase his doubts, Ves preferred to take matters in his own hands!
The success of this little experiment provided the critical proof he needed to bet all of his chips in his plan to produce his mother's work through this new method.
Even if the scale and complexity weren't comparable at all, Ves still had faith that it had the potential to work!
He spent the rest of the day setting his plan in motion. He requested, begged or coerced his various design spirits to pass over their spiritual fragments and formed a large and complex initial seed by combining them together.
The initial seed was already a living spiritual product in itself, but Ves deliberately kept it in a preliminary state.
During the creation of the seed, Ves made sure to imprint his mother's design as much as possible. He also sacrificed a few drops of life-prolonging treatment serum to pack the seed with a lot of necessary nutrients.
Still, the seed could only accommodate so much nutrients and still retain its nature as a growing entity rather than a mature entity. Perhaps Ves might be able to raise this limit as he became more proficient with this method, but for now he could only do so much.
He turned his attention to setting up the incubation conditions. He stuffed the seed into a P-stone and began to gather some additional spiritual energy to provide the seed with fertile 'soil'.
Ves soon encountered a very significant problem.
"I don't have enough nutrients!"
His mother's design not only depicted a complex spiritual machine, but a very strong and demanding one as well!
He couldn't keep milking himself and his design spirits for spiritual energy. Ves needed a lot more.
He grabbed the vial of precious high-grade life-prolonging treatment serum from his pocket and studied his contents. He already used up quite a number of drops to fuel some of his potent endeavors. While he still possessed plenty of drops, he was very reluctant to use up so much serum for a single purpose.
Due to their universal compatibility and high energy density, it was best to use a single drop or a few drops at a time.
Did he have access to another abundant energy that could provide the initial seed with all of the spiritual energy required to fuel its entire growth?
A few ideas came to mind…
Chapter 2387: Dark Clouds
When Ves figured out some suitable energy sources to sustain the growth process, he did not immediately implement the entire plan.
He had a feeling that once he completed his mother's spiritual construct, something drastic would happen.
He didn't know whether his mother intended him to create it before the battle or during the battle. If it was some kind of means to allow the Oblivion Hand to reach his position, then it was best to make it straight away.
However, if it was some kind of superweapon that could disable the Gravada Knarlax in an instant, then Ves was better off holding off its completion until the pirate warship finally came within engagement range.
Considering all of the possibilities, Ves opted to make the safest choice and hold off until battle commenced.
Until then, Ves only started the growth process but did not feed the huge amount of energy needed to complete the growth.
This was good, because it took a fair amount of time for the seed to bloom and grow into something more sophisticated.
After the growing product used up all of the available spiritual energy within reach, its evolution stalled. As long as Ves periodically fed it with a modest amount, he was able to keep the incomplete product in a healthy and stable condition.
This allowed Ves to keep it on standby until he was ready to resume the growth process. Until then, Ves put the P-stone in his B-stone lockbox before passing the square object to Nitaa for safekeeping.
"Watch over it carefully. Don't let anyone touch the box or the stone that's inside." Ves seriously commanded his bodyguard.
"I will make sure it will stay secure." His tall bodyguard stoically replied.
Ves looked at her second-hand Fridayman gear and figured he might as well build a customized Unending combat armor suit to increase his security and reward Nitaa for her loyalty.
He had already used up most of the B-stone that comprised Grand Protector Roshaw's bed frame. What scraps he had left was not enough to cover Nitaa's entire body.
"I'll just have to build a suit without this protection, then."
While that meant she would have to forgo protection against spiritual threats, she would still be extremely formidable against material opponents.
A day quickly went by. While Task Force Predator had begun to enter into its highest state of alert, Ves had squirred himself away in his mech workshop to frantically produce a few pieces of exceptional gear for himself and Nitaa.
He not only built her a brand-new suit of heavy combat armor, he also fashioned a few strengthened gadgets for himself and his bodyguard. For example, he stripped the external structure of her heavy assault rifle and covered it with both Unending alloy and Breyer alloy.
The same went for other gear such as his jammer and Nitaa's foldable sword. He used small pieces of Unending alloy as the principal material before covering up its unevenness with a smooth layer of Breyer alloy.
During this time, Ves continually received status reports from Calabast, Major Verle and other important figures in the fleet. He was peripherally aware of the final preparations made by the various mech forces. He also gained enough information to keep track of the movements of the pirate scouts.
Over time, the pirate scouts acted bolder. They attempted to move closer in order to gain accurate and detailed scans and observation data on the condition of the task force.
The Larkinsons had to prevent this at all costs. Every hour, hundreds of Larkinson and Penitent Sister mechs sortied into space in order to beat back the brazen pirate scout mechs.
The patrols managed to take down dozens of carelessly-piloted pirate light mechs, but the damage inflicted on the pirates was trivial. There were many more scouts that were still determined enough to sneak closer!
On the day when Ves had just upgraded the last pieces of personal gear, the announcement that he had been waiting for had finally arrived.
The forward scouts dispatched by their own side finally detected huge energy emissions in the distance. The energy signatures were barely perceptible, but they were growing stronger at a strong but steady rate.
Several Larkinsons had very little doubt that the signatures belonged to the infamous Gravada Knarlax and her escorts.
The battle that Ves and the Larkinsons Clan were most afraid of was finally dawning upon them. In around twelve to twenty-four hours, Task Force Predator would have no choice but to fight against the overwhelming might of the Allidus Alliance!
Ves and Major Verle convened one final command meeting. Every important commander and officer personally shuttled over to the Scarlet Rose and met up in the conference room.
While it would have been more convenient to hold this meeting by remote, Ves did not want to give the pirate scouts any chance of eavesdropping on the transmissions.
Everyone who entered the conference room looked grim but ready. It was as if they were all staring at their impending deaths. Even if they knew that there was a large chance that some or all of them wouldn't make it at the end of the day, they still retained their fighting spirit.
Warships or not, the Larkinson Clan would not go down without a fight!
Ves threw a look at Major Verle, who promptly commenced the final meeting.
"Hello, everyone. We have all worked extensively to put the final pieces in place. I won't reiterate them all because we are all extensively familiar with these elements. Right now, this meeting is about analyzing the enemy disposition. Our forward scouts have just returned a large amount of fuzzy long-ranged scanning data. While our analysts are still trying to process this data, we can already answer some questions. First, the largest energy signature indeed matches what we expect of a 800-meter heavy cruiser. The Gravada Knarlax or another comparable warship is definitely a part of the enemy punitive fleet."
Everyone's expressions darkened a bit, but not too much. They already expected this outcome, though many hoped the intelligence was wrong. Battling a pirate fleet centered around a heavy cruiser was much different from battling one without such a powerful ship!
Dark clouds seemed to cast over everyone's heads. Though their morale had sunk a bit, there was no way to avoid this blow.
"The sensor data we've obtained has also allowed us to confirm other observations. While there is a small chance the pirates are deliberately trying to mislead us, for now we are confident in our judgement. According to our analysts, the Gravada Knarlax is accompanied by 4 destroyers, 2 frigates and an unknown number of carriers."
"How about their mechs?" Commander Orfan asked. "I heard that the enemy armada forcefully tried to recruit every pirate in their way. How much cannon fodder do we have to go through?"
"8,000 mechs."
Several Larkinsons uttered shocking gasps.
"That's impossible."
The Larkinson Clan's mech troops could only field around 860 mechs at a time. That was how many healthy or lightly-injured mech pilots they retained after the costly Battle of Ulimo Citadel.
The Penitent Sisters were only able to field 200 second-class mechs after suffering badly in the final phases of that very same battle. While Ves expected much from the Hexers due to the quality of their mechs and the new battle network he created for them, they could not shoulder the entire weight of the battle.
Even if the 200 Penitent Sisters confronted the 8000 pirate mechs without any other enemies, it was hard to say who would win!
Each Penitent Sister mech would have to take out 40 pirate mechs to even the score. This was a tall order even if second-class mechs possessed a crushing advantage.
"If we look at the mechs alone, our Larkinson and Penitent Sister mechs are outnumbered by eight-to-one." Commander Melkor stated. "With our strength, it should be doable to defeat such a large force, but the coming battle isn't centered around the mechs."
Major Verle nodded. "The Gravada Knarlax and her escorts will dictate how the battle will unfold. There are many other factors that can complicate the battlefield. For example, we will definitely put our newly-produced superweapons to use, and I can imagine the pirates might be thinking the same. We also have to take.. more esoteric considerations into account. A repeat of the dark sphere might throw everything into chaos."
"We know what is possible now. We won't be caught flat-footed this time." Ves interjected. "While I can't go into the details, we have already prepared our own plans to complicate the battlefield. However, take into account that our measure is likely a double-edged sword. While we have implemented some precautions that should hopefully lessen the burden against us, we can't guarantee anything further."
A lot of commanders and officers expressed confusion at what he said, but he really couldn't afford to say anything more. It was enough to give them a heads-up on what to expect.
The meeting proceeded tensely. Major Verle outlined the probable enemy fleet disposition and began to call up a couple of simulated battles to give everyone an idea how the battle might proceed.
Many of the scenarios ended in an utter defeat for the Larkinson Clan. No matter what their side did, the pirates simply threw a mob of 8,000 pirates in their direction while letting their warships crush the vulnerable Larkinson and Penitent Sister carriers!
If any of the Larkinson mechs came closer, the enormous amount of secondary weapon batteries affixed to the Gravada Knarlax would surely chew them to pieces!
The only scenarios where the Larkinsons achieved a painful victory was when a lot of factors were in their favor.
"We still have a realistic chance of winning the upcoming battle." Major Verle attempted to boost everyone's confidence or at least stave off the onset of despair. "Leaving aside unknown and unpredictable factors, just our mechs and ships alone can still pressure the pirates to the point where they expose vulnerabilities. As long as at least a couple of converted Penitent Sister combat carriers manage to ram the Gravada Knarlax, our follow-up attacks may be able to take the pirate flagship down. If all of our expert candidates manage to advance to expert pilots at once, then the momentum of the battle will briefly but crucially swing in our favor."
Not everyone believed that the latter would happen. Ves hadn't actually gone around to advertising the wonderful effect his spiritually-enhanced mechs had on his expert candidates. He didn't want them to inadvertently blab that sensitive detail in an area that was monitored by the MTA.
While Ves knew it was hard to explain four simultaneous breakthroughs, he still possessed confidence in being able to Devil Tongue his way out of this predicament!
The discussion continued, but no one gained much useful information. Major Verle merely repeated some key messages in order to make sure that everyone was on the same page. The next battle would certainly push everyone to their limits. This made it harder to enact elaborate plans, especially if anomalies dropped over the entire battlefield.
In these kinds of situations, it was important to make sure that every commander and sub-commander knew their role and place on the battlefield.
Ves wanted them to be able to operate independently without waiting for orders from a superior they couldn't get ahold of. If this was not the case, one of the measures he planned to employ risked doing a lot of damage to his own troops!
"You should hold a final speech when we are close to moving into engagement range." Major Verle turned to Ves. "Each of us are here for several reasons. Some of us fight for ourselves. Some fight for the betterment of their children. Others are fighting for you and the ideals you espouse. No matter what, we are all bound and united by the same clan. As our patriarch, we need your voice to remind us what we are fighting for. Can you do that, sir?"
Ves smirked. "Consider it done."