The Mech Touch

　　His staff had recently brought back the Enlightened Warrior mech that he had forcibly shut down. When the medics pulled the mech pilot out of the cockpit, she didn't look so bad at first.

　　When mech pilots interfaced deeply with a mech, any abrupt shocks and interruptions could inflict noticeable damage to their brains and minds.

　　This was actually the cause of many mech pilots being forced into retirement because they suffered so much damage that they could no longer establish a proper interfacing connection with a mech.

　　This was an awful outcome for many mech pilots. Due to just a single battle or accident, all of their hard work and effort into becoming a mech pilot became irrelevant. These pilots dedicated their entire lives to this profession. How could they possibly pick themselves up from this disaster and start a new life as a civilian?

　　"My grandpa Benjamin managed to do it, but that's mainly because he could lean on our family."

　　Since this was such a big issue, there were usually safeties in place that tried to prolong the transition so that the mech pilots wouldn't crash so hard.

　　That was not an option this time. Because the transcendence glow was so dangerous, Ves did not wish to push the button only to wait five seconds or longer until the Enlightened Warrior mech fully shut down its systems!

　　This was why he had overridden the safeties and made sure that when he pressed the button, the mech would shut everything down as soon as it received the signal!

　　"At least that went right."

　　Though Jessica Quentin's current state looked awful, Ves was quite aware that it could have been much worse. He would take a crippled mech pilot over a dead one any day!

　　He turned to Dr. Ranya. "Will she recover?"

　　"It's hard to say." She replied. "I've brought our best Lifer doctors over from the Dragon's Den to handle her case in person, but even they have limits. I can tell you now that we have not found any concerning signs that might suggest that her body was close to failing. Aside from a noticeable lack of energy and signs of elevated stress, her body is extremely healthy. In fact, she's so augmented that she could easily outlive diseases that would kill all of our bodies!"

　　"Oh." Ves said. "What about her brain?"

　　"You don't have to worry about that either, sir. Apparently, mech pilots of her pedigree undergo genetic modifications that slowly strengthen the physical resilience of her brain and central nervous system. Her neurons are much more flexible and can heal on their own. Her brain is actually partitioned into different compartments that heavily limit how much damage can be done to it. Her head even generates tiny flesh bots that crawl throughout her head in order to fix issues such as infections, internal bleeding and faulty implants."

　　"…Are you serious?"

　　Ranya gave him a serious look. "What I said is just the tip of the iceberg. Don't be fooled, Ves. Jessica Quentin might look like a human, but she is so far removed from her race that she is a substantially different organism. She's tougher than she looks, so both her brain and the rest of her body will make a full recovery."

　　"Then what about her psyche?" Ves gestured to the silly woman who kept talking about mountains turning into butterflies for no good reason. "Will she get back to normal again or will we have to face the fact that we turned one of our guest pilots into an idiot?"

　　"You mean you turned her into an idiot. Isn't this new Enlightened Warrior design your sole work? Don't push the blame on us if your plan backfires."

　　"Just tell me what your docs are saying about her mental state!"

　　Ranya threw a smirk at him. "Relax, sir. She'll recover. Although we cannot fully understand what she is going through, we can make a few reasonable projections. Other mech pilots that have ended up in similar cases usually return to normalcy anywhere between thirty minutes to six hours. I predict that Quentin here will not take too long to regain her wits given her stellar augmentations. We are already detecting the implants trying to 'reboot' her mind."

　　"I see. Is it safe to enter her room? I'd like to examine her up close if possible."

　　Ranya checked with the doctors who promptly informed her it was fine.

　　"You can go in, but don't try to interact with her or force her to wake up. It is best to give her the time she needs to pick herself up again."

　　"Understood."

　　Ves slowly stepped into the room, making sure not to make any abrupt movements that could agitate the patient.

　　When he stopped next to her recovery bed, Ves did not look at her physical state but instead used his spiritual senses to peer directly into her mind.

　　He sensed a confused mess inside her mind. Her thoughts were all jumbled up and a number of odd changes had occurred that completely upended its original state.

　　The jumbled thoughts and emotions were slowly being sorted. Although the pace was a little slow, the fact that Jessica's mind was recovering by itself provided Ves with a lot of relief.

　　What actually drew his attention was something else. Much to his surprise, Jessica Quentin's willpower and spirituality had actually undergone an evolution since he last inspected her state of mind!

　　Ves had made sure to track her spirituality before she test piloted the Enlightened Warrior.

　　When Jessica entered the Larkinson Clan as a guest pilot, she did not possess any spiritual potential, as did her peers. That changed somehow as her spirituality grew to the point she now had real potential.

　　The only problem was that this potential had not developed any further. Ves chalked it up to her lack of conviction and her comfort in her own identity as a mecher.

　　Now, she had undergone a drastic change. Though she did not break through to expert candidate, her spiritual potential had undergone a massive boost!

　　It was several times more powerful than before. Whatever explosive growth process it had gone through, it was certainly effective!

　　The only downside was that the process also inflicted great pressure on Jessica's spiritual potential. Part of the reason why the mech pilot was so out of it was because the cracks in her own spirit needed to be healed, and while that went on, Jessica remained in a daze.

　　Aside from that, what Ves also found impressive was that her willpower became a lot purer and more condensed. What he sensed from Jessica could almost rival that of expert candidates.

　　Unlike her spirituality, Jessica's willpower was in a completely good state. It was vigorous, active and much more developed than before.

　　"This change is too big."

　　The combination of these two observations caused Ves to make a shocking conclusion about what just happened.

　　Had the Enlightened Warrior almost helped Jessica advance to expert candidate?

　　"This…"

　　Ves couldn't believe it. The transformation was just too drastic. Before, Jessica was as far removed from becoming an expert candidate as anyone.

　　Though he had not developed a full theoretical framework on how ordinary mech pilots were able to advance to expert candidate, Ves guessed that it should not be a sudden process.

　　Mech pilots needed to be tested and challenged in many different situations in order to find out who they were and what they were willing to fight for. This was usually a process that could take years.

　　He never thought that a mech could accelerate this gradual accumulation process to the point where it immediately skipped all of the waiting and went directly to the climax!

　　If Ves hadn't pulled the plug on the Enlightened Warrior, would the mech have been able to help Jessica Quentin take her first step in becoming an expert pilot?

　　He shook his head. This was a dangerous thought. He made the safest choice that he could at the time of the testing session. He didn't know how close Jessica had come to having her head explode. He would rather rule out the possibility of that happening and ruin her advancement opportunity than the other way around!

　　After all, what was the point of helping Jessica become an expert candidate if her head promptly exploded right afterwards?

　　Given how much stress her rapidly-grown spirituality had endured, Ves had the suspicion that she had indeed come very close to losing her own head!

　　"This is for the best." He eventually concluded. "As long as you are alive, you'll have another chance. You don't need to evolve in a single sprint."

　　After comforting himself with that excuse, he spent the next minutes studying her condition. He took as many mental notes as he could as he opened up a new case file in his cranial implant. He even went back his memories of what had happened and tried to puzzle out the exact sequence of events that led to this result.

　　"Nghhh… what… where am I?" Jessica blearily asked as she seemingly woke up with the worst headache in years. "Why is my head spinning?"

　　Ves gently pushed her shoulder down. "Hey there. Slow down. Just sit back and relax. Don't try to get up, okay?"

　　"…Sir? What are you doing here? What… happened? Wait… I remember. I found… the mountain. My heart… was a cocoon. I almost burst free, you know. Just as I was about to fly… my mech shut down."

　　She spoke those last words with a flat tone. Her expression was not happy at the moment.

　　Ves already had an answer ready, though. He activated his comm and projected an image of her life signs at the time.

　　They did not look reassuring.

　　"Did you know how much your life signs spiked at the time? Your heart was going wild and the pressure in your head kept building up. I cannot say what would happen if we allowed this to continue, but it is definitely not what the Enlightened Warrior is supposed to do. If you hadn't augmented your physical functions so much, your body would have been in a much worse state!"

　　The woman frowned. She didn't fully know what all of the readings meant, but it was helpfully color-coded in a way that it would display a lot of red if the life signs were way out of bounds.

　　Pretty much every life sign reading had spiked into reddish territory!

　　"I.. didn't realize my body was undergoing so much stress at the time. How? How can piloting a mech produce such an intense physical reaction?"

　　Ves shrugged. "I'm not a doctor. I don't know how human bodies work. All I know is mechs, and I will definitely have to take the Enlightened Warrior mech back to my workshop in order to tweak its settings and implement more safeguards. What just happened to you must never happen again. I apologize for subjecting you to so much danger."

　　"I am well, sir. This is what test pilots are for. Although I do not feel good right now, I still remember what I had gone through. The Quint is truly an impressive piece of work. It's no wonder that two different expert pilots emerged from it. You clan is lucky to have this rude if helpful mech. If the Enlightened Warrior model can introduce your Quint to more mech pilots, then… I think that many more mech pilots may benefit from it as well."

　　"Thank you for your feedback. I will be sure to take your kind words into account when I deliberate on the future of the Enlightened Warrior design." Ves politely said.

　　After exchanging a few more words, Ves left the recovery room and thought for a moment.

　　"I've investigated the pilot. Now I need to get to the bottom of the mech."

　　It was time to find out what caused the Enlightened Warrior to exceed its original safety parameters!