Chapter 1062. Outrageous Though (1/2)

After embarking on several metaphysical experiments that led to a lot of new discoveries, Ves found comfort in returning to familiar ground.

While the new techniques he developed possessed a strong connection to his design philosophy, Ves sometimes felt he was engaging in magic rather than mech design. It felt good for him to resume his identity as an engineer rather than wizard.

”I can only handle so much weird stuff at a time.”

Ves was afraid of pushing the envelope even further. So far, most of his theories panned out, but it could all come down like a house of cards if he pushed against the limits of what was possible. He still wanted to confirm whether the changes he made would actually improve the X-Factor of his upcoming design.

”More is not always better. My experiment can still backfire on me if I handle it improperly.”

Designing mechs centered him in a way that nothing else could. He embraced his old routine as he slowly developed his draft design.

The only difference was that he felt as if he hosted a second consciousness in his mind that mentally looked over his shoulder. Extending a connection to the augmented spiritual fragment and having it ride on his shoulder as he designed his mech felt as if he was emulating his previous Mastery experiences.

He found himself narrating every design decision, which slowed down his progress but also insured he was very thorough with his work. He had to be in order to justify his design choices to the spiritual fragment.

On its part, the augmented spiritual fragment provided quite a lot of suggestions. The image of the base model that it assimilated beforehand granted the image a good understanding of space knights. In fact, the fragment's knowledge was derived from Ves' own understanding of space knights!

This realization gave Ves a brilliant idea.

”If the knowledge imparted to the images are acquired from the source, why not borrow it from another mech designer?”

The Triple Division technique started with three sources and combined them into one.

Ves started with the notion of basing the image of the totem animal to an actual existing animal or exobeast. While Qilanxo was one of the most powerful exobeasts that Ves had ever encountered, the galaxy offered many wondrous forms of life. As long as he looked hard enough, he would probably be able to find another majestic exobeast to serve as his totem animal, though it likely wouldn't be as strong as Qilanxo on a spiritual level.

As for the human myth, Ves already decided upon borrowing spiritual fragments from living expert pilots. Although the ethics of his actions were rather questionable, he was willing to go through great lengths as long as he managed to empower his mech designs!

Still, the implications of his latest idea took him aback. It wasn't enough for him to steal spiritual energy from a mech pilot. Now he was already plotting to do the same to his fellow mech designers!

”They'll have to be at least Journeymen if I want to obtain anything substantial.”

While Ves did not have a complete picture on how mech designers made use of their design philosophies, he knew that if he wanted to empower the images of his base models, he needed to obtain a chunk of it somehow.

Design philosophies represented the core of a mech designer's values, beliefs, biases, design style and aspirations. It served as the nucleus of their specialty and played a key role in distinguishing their mech designs from the works of others!

Ves instinctively knew that they would suffer a substantial amount of harm if he attempted to chip away a chunk of their design philosophies. He also knew that mech designers guarded their design philosophies jealously and only imparted them to their direct disciples.

Yet the possible gains attracted him immensely. If his speculation was right, he would finally be able to complete the trifecta of making use of three empowered images, thereby upgrading the Triple Division technique to an entirely new height!

He strongly believed that empowering all of his weak and insubstantial images with distinct spiritual fragments was a viable way forward! While it was likely not the only method he could use to achieve higher grades of X-Factor, it was the only one he could come up with right now that was within his reach!

Yet… a sliver of doubt crept up in his mind. Compared to borrowing or stealing spiritual fragments to dumb exobeast and technically ilitterate expert pilots, stealing another mech designer's design philosophy sounded exceptionally risky!

”Mech designers are intimately familiar with their own design philosophies. How could they not recognize an echo of their own work when I borrow a portion of their own design philosophies?”

Ves was also afraid that making use of another mech designer's design philosophy would contaminate his mech design and muddle up the influence of his own design philosophy. He needed to be exceedingly careful and deliberate on his approach lest he screw up in the process.

While the idea sounded incredibly compelling right now, Ves resisted the urge to embark on yet another detour. The abnormal strength of Qilanxo's spiritual fragment already insured it overpowered every other fragment.

Even if Ves recklessly enacted his plans and stole some chunks of a colleague's design philosophy, the vast majority of it would likely become crushed by Qilanxo's awesome spiritual might.

”My current design project is very much centered around Qilanxo, and that's fine.”

Ves wanted to design an extreme mech design unconstrained by the prevailing trends in the mech industry.

Imparting his design with a strong bias from Qilanxo might result in unexpected surprises when a mech pilot interfaced with his mech. He looked forward to seeing what would happen when a mech pilot came under the influence of an X-Factor boosted by an abnormally powerful spiritual fragment.