The Mech Touch

Ever since Ves came across the concept of the neural network, he became obsessed with it. His attempts to develop a spiritual version of it for the Larkinson Clan had partially succeeded.

While the spiritual network based around the Larkinson Mandate and the Golden Cat fell short of his expectations, it still had the potential to become more.

"It's like it's constantly running on minimum power. If I want to get a good use out of it, the Golden Cat has to charge it up with spiritual energy!"

This was something the Golden Cat was definitely capable of. Wasting all of that energy on a direct, wasteful and simplistic spiritual beam attack was not very practical. Ves could achieve much better results by firing his Amastendira!

The true value of the spiritual network lay in its potential to facilitate transfers between the Larkinsons connected to it. Spiritual energy was only one possible medium.

What Ves sought was a way to transfer something different through the network! What if it was possible to pass the knowledge and skill of piloting a mech to someone else? What if the Larkinson mech could impart the piloting skill of an excellent mech pilot to a lesser mech pilot?

The combat and training potential of such a phenomenon was huge!

The moment he came up with the idea, he instantly felt as if it was meant for the Larkinson mech.

Compared to his more direct ideas, this method would have a drastic effect on his mech pilots without attracting too much attention. It was also a method that benefited the mech pilot rather than the mech.

Improving the mech was only useful for a single battle, while improving the mech pilot bestowed much longer-term benefits!

"Mech pilots are the foundation of any mech force. Their overall skill level determines the maximum prowess of mechs I can field!"

It was pointless to replace all of the current mechs fielded by the Avatars and Sentinels with second-class mechs. They could barely even make good use out of the four second-class training mechs!

The overarching reason why such an action would fail was because the skill gap was too large. While it was possible to design an excellent second-class mech with a low skill floor, it would still be neutered in many ways.

No. If Ves wanted to strengthen the Larkinson Clan, then he shouldn't prioritize the development of mechs. Instead, he should seek to prioritize the growth of mech pilots!

"Right now, Venerable Brutus is regularly tutoring the Avatars and Sentinels on how to pilot a higher class of mechs. What would it be like if I can borrow his formidable piloting skill and directly insert it in the head of another mech pilot?"

While this sounded very risky, Ves hoped to limit any potentially catastrophic outcomes by relying on the Golden Cat.

She seemed to possess an inherent and instinctual understanding of spirituality. By making her an active participant and supervisor of this skill transfer process, Ves hoped to avoid many of the pitfalls in his way!

The moment he brought this idea to Gloriana, she looked intrigued.

"I have to admit, your ideas sound outlandish, but I'm interested in them nonetheless. I'm not sure how it is possible to transfer such a thing through the divine network. Knowledge is contained within the brain. At least it is to most people. If the transfer of knowledge can only be done through the man-machine connection, then our mech's neural interface needs to be adapted in order to accommodate this data transfer."

Ves scowled. "I've been trying my best to avoid tampering with the neural interface. Messing with it would be a huge breach of trust and an enormous danger to boot! Besides, what you say might not be necessary."

He knew that spiritual entities possessed their own memories and knowledge. Qilanxo didn't need to be in her huge physical body to be able to retain all of her personality and memories. So did his mother for that matter.

Yet strong spiritual entities like his mother and Qilanxo were the exception rather than the rule. The majority of mech pilots in the Larkinson Clan did not possess spiritual potential. Of those that did, some of their potential would never be activated!

Ves wasn't sure whether it was wise to impart lots of knowledge through the spiritual medium if the recipient was too weak to accept this gift.

What Gloriana suggested was a way to solve this problem. Rather than rely on the spiritual network as the sole means of transferring skills, it was much better to rely on a neural interface as well to convey lots of data!

Ves would have to test these assumptions further at a later date. He was depending far too much on unsubstantiated guesses to underpin his latest theories!

Still, he believed he was on the mark with most of his guesses. His intuition already gave some hints that his theories weren't fantasies.

"Assuming that this skill and knowledge transfer ability requires a neural interface, then how should we adjust our mech design? Is a normal neural interface enough to enable this transfer?"

Gloriana pressed a finger against her lips as she fell into thought. "If the data is as much as I fear, then it might not be enough."

"Well, we can't tweak the neural interface. Neither of us has the right permits from the MTA to dabble in this sensitive field."

"I don't think we have to tinker with the neural interfaces ourselves. We can just grab another off-the-shelf model from the MTA's component library."

"That.. is a good idea."

Both of them logged in to the MTA's virtual portal for mech designers and browsed the components available for licensing.

As expected, the section which offered countless varieties of neural interface models were heavily restricted. Many of them weren't even available for licensing unless Ves or Gloriana met some very stringent standards!

That said, there were still enough neural interface models to satisfy the needs of a typical mech designer.

The pair sought out a specific neural interface model that excelled in data transfer, and they found a couple of high-capacity ones that came with all sorts of warnings.

"This doesn't seem like a good idea." Gloriana hesitated.

Neither of them knew why this subset of models hadn't been locked behind restrictions like all of the other neural interface models.

It was clear that this anomalous collection of components posed a considerable danger to meh pilots!

That said, Ves wasn't afraid. "From what I've learned about neural interfaces, the risks inherent in these high-capacity models are mostly relevant in extreme cases. The chances of suffering permanent brain damage is higher when the mech incurs critical damage."

"Don't you care about your mech pilots, Ves? Many of them are your fellow clan members! Each of them put their trust in your products!"

This was the Devil Tiger all over again. Ves used the same arguments he used to justify all of the illegal modifications to the tiger mech's neural interface.

"We Larkinsons aren't afraid of taking risks." He proudly stated. "Even if we cherish each other's lives, we also accept the need to brave dangers in order to protect our family!"

Gloriana blinked and looked at Ves as if he said something weird. "Okay…?"

"Look. We know far too little about this potentially useful method. We'll have to perform some experiments to figure out what we need. It might be that these risky high-capacity neural interface models are essential. It might also be that our assumptions are wrong and that the spiritual network and a regular neural interface are enough to handle the data transfer. We don't know the answer!"

His intuition said otherwise, though. It practically lit up with excitement as soon as Ves browsed the high-capacity models from the MTA. There was something about them that was very essential to the Larkinson mech!

"These neural interface models are very suspicious, though. It says here that they're developed by an internal MTA mech designer, but it doesn't mention the name nor any other details. There are lesser high-capacity models that are locked behind some hefty restrictions! Why did these models escape this treatment?"

"Maybe the MTA dropped the ball." Ves shrugged. "Even if the MTA made a mistake, it shouldn't be a severe one seeing that they still made it available for licensing."

In fact, Ves had another theory. From his past exchanges with neural interface specialists such as Old Man Terrence, the MTA tweaked the availability of neural interface models and standard from region to region. They did this to regulate the amount of high-ranking mech pilots that emerged in a star sector and to gather lots of data on the performance of abnormal models.

To assume that the MTA was strictly putting safety first in regulating the mech industry was a mistake!

Even though these abnormal high-capacity models were probably part of some scheme from the MTA, Ves still viewed them with promise. The main benefits of high-capacity models was not just their high scaling factor, but also their potential for facilitating deeper immersion!

This was something that Ves had always advocated for. He successfully implemented it in the Devil Tiger, but never dared to do so with his other mech designs. Most of the neural interface models he browsed back then weren't nearly as potent and dangerous as the ones before him! It was truly odd how the MTA loosened its reins for this particular instance!

It was also a stroke of luck for Ves. He wasn't allowed to modify the safety restrictions of existing neural interface designs to be less strict. Yet if he licensed an 'approved' neural interface model which just happened to have weaker safety restrictions baked in, then Ves Wouldn't be breaking any rules!

He couldn't resist any longer. He moved without consulting Gloriana any further and licensed one of the models as quickly as possible! By the time Ves transferred the licensing fees to the MTA from the LMC's cash reserves, Gloriana just recovered from her shock!

"Ves! I can't believe you did it! This license is dangerous!"

"I know." He spoke with a serious expression. "I made a calculated choice. First, as I've said before, we Larkinsons aren't afraid of danger. The increased risk of injury is worth it as long as the mech pilot gets enough benefits in return! The deeper connection is vital because one of the strengths of my mechs is the bond that every mech pilot is able to form with a design spirit! Second, if my guesses are right, this high capacity model will also be essential to activating the Ancestral Possession ability!"

He needed to find a more succinct way to refer to the skill and knowledge transfer. He eventually settled for calling it Ancestral Possession. Anyone who heard it would understand what it was about, and the word 'ancestral' had a double meaning in this context.

It was a pretty clever name. Ves mentally patted himself on the back for coming with this moniker!

Unfortunately, Gloriana did not share in his optimism. Usually, she went along his plans and crazy ideas as if she was his accomplice, but there were limits even to her! Experimenting with neural interfaces was taboo even in the Hexadric Hegemony!

"Urgh." She grunted in disgust. She rose from her seat and picked up Clixie. "I need a break. We should both think through this decision some more. I really prefer you drop this entire idea. Ancestral Possession sounds like a powerful ability, but it is not essential to the Larkinson mech. It isn't necessary to make all of your mech designs special! Sometimes, the only result we need is a mech that does the job!"

With those words, she left the design lab in protest of his latest decision.

Ves watched her go, confused why Gloriana kicked up such a fuss. Sure, he made a reckless decision, but it wasn't that bad! After all, the MTA still allowed it for sale, which meant it wasn't a defective product!

"What's her problem?"