The Mech Touch

"I want to stay with papa." Marvaine said. "If papa can withstand this danger, then so can I!"

"A qualified leader must not show timidity." Aurelia finally voiced her opinion.

It took a lot of arguing, but Ves finally managed to get his wife to agree to bring his children close enough to allow them to experience the brutality of combat at a closer distance.

Of course, they would still remain well in the rear where the aliens shouldn't be able to attack their positions. Ves may be crazy, but he wasn't stupid.

What was important was that Ves wanted his children to stay close to him as he served as the center of a mobile command post.

It just so happened that his Unending Regalia possessed the most powerful communication system.

Even without a dedicated command and communication backpack module, the high-quality miniaturized communication modules built into his combat armor exceeded the specifications of comparable communication systems in the possession of dedicated communication operatives.

It was due to this strong advantage that General Verle and Major Durant decided to stick close to Ves and make use of his communication systems.

Once everyone completed their preparations, the majority of the trapped humans started to move in the direction of the upper floors.

A few hundred civilians chose to stay behind. Major Durant had also allocated a number of armored and unarmored guards to protect them against any aliens that somehow circled around and sought to destroy this vulnerable group.

The rest marched onwards and steadily moved towards the floors occupied by the pescan race.

A lot of people held mixed feelings about this. They would have decided to stay behind like the rest of the risk averse civilians if not for the encouragement from the Larkinsons.

Although the Larkinson Clan had a reputation for being foolhardy and reckless, it also had an unquestionable record of success and victory.

Many Davutans had enough faith in the Larkinsons that they chose to follow these daring people. In any case, out of all of the people among them, only the Larkinsons possessed an abundant amount of experience in dealing with alien threats!

As Ves accompanied the command group that was still busy with analyzing new data and adjusting the battle plan, he also entered into a brief discussion with Ketis about her role in the upcoming fight.

"Are you sure you are up to the task of attacking the enemy's rear?" Ves asked with notable concern. "As a swordmaster, your role in this upcoming fight is comparable to that of an expert mech. You can do a lot of good by raising our morale as you demonstrate your combat prowess and lead our forces from the front."

Ketis shook her head as she continually wiped the blade of her borrowed sword with a polishing cloth. "That is not how Swordmaidens prefer to fight. We can do much more damage with our swords if we attack our opponents from an angle they are not prepared to defend against. I would much rather join up with Lucky and disrupt the pescans from the rear. Besides, I don't have to worry about accidentally getting shot in the back over there. If I take part in the frontal assault, then the combination of a relatively confining tunnel and hundreds of infantry soldiers will make it far too likely that I will get caught in the crossfire."

"...Maybe you have a point."

"Besides, I am not needed at the front. You have plenty of other ways to raise morale, and your honor guards are already strong enough by themselves. This will be your show, Ves. Let me have mine."

She may be one of the bravest members of the Larkinson Clan, but even she did not fancy getting caught in the middle of a firefight. Her concerns were exacerbated by her decision to opt out of borrowing a suit of combat armor from the honor guards.

If she had said yes to this offer, then she would probably be a lot less reticent about jumping into the middle of all of the chaos!

"Fine." Ves said. "I will trust you to do what is best for yourself and for the rest of us. Don't feel too pressured about having to destroy all of the opposition you come across. It is already good enough that you are able to sabotage the pescan's defenses and other installations. Make sure to coordinate with Lucky."

"Meow…"

The cat did not look enthused about receiving another dangerous combat assignment. Lucky knew better than to refuse, though. This was why he reluctantly jumped out of Andraste's arms and started to hover behind Ketis' shoulders.

The swordmaster's lips bloomed into an eager and bloodthirsty smile. "It is great you have my back once again, Lucky. It will be just like old times. It has been too many years since we last slayed a monster together. I still remember the time when we fought against a cultist monstrosity."

"Meow meow meow!"

Lucky recalled that battle as well. He had managed to munch through a lot of Unending alloy at the time!

Andraste, who had always looked up to Ketis, dashed forward and started to beg for stories.

"Tell me what happened! Who did you fight? How many enemies did you kill? What did Lucky do, exactly?"

Ves chuckled as Andraste badgered Ketis into retelling this battle that had taken place a long time ago. Back then, the clan still utilized third-class mechs, and expert mechs remained a distant luxury at the time.

The Nyxian Gap Campaign may have been one of the bloodiest periods for the clan, but it also fueled its early rise and made it possible for the Golden Skull Alliance to earn enough MTA merits to obtain passage to the Red Ocean!

As they continued to move forward, Ves began to occupy himself with charging David's skull with different variations of spiritual energy.

He continued to contact his design spirits and persuaded them to inject more and more portions of their spiritual energy into the skull of a primordial human.

A lot of people including Gloriana found it disturbing that Ves was openly 'playing' with a glowing skull.

It made him look like a pirate warlord who was just about to throw the lives of his men away in order to plunder the final remaining heritage of the previous rulers of this planet!

Ves did not care about their opinions. He was above their concerns. He knew that as long as he maintained a strong and confident posture, the others would continue to follow his lead.

After all, out of everyone stuck in this prison facility, only Ves looked as if he knew what he was doing!

"Papa?" Aurelia walked up to his side as she held Clixie in her arms. "What is that? It feels so funny."

Her father grinned indulgently at her. He even waved the skull closer to his girl so that she could get a good look and feel of the spiritually charged object.

"I can't tell you much about it, but right now it has become a vessel of my power. I can do a lot of neat tricks with it, but the premise is that I have enough energy on hand to support my actions. Nothing comes for free. Since there is enough time, I am using it to inject as much energy into it as possible. That way, I can slowly expend it like a battery and produce many different effects as a result."

His firstborn daughter was approaching her teenage years. Though her spirituality was still relatively weak, it had already started to show signs of rapid growth, just as puberty was ready to accelerate the growth of her body.

Her sensitivity towards spiritual energy was not low. Aurelia almost couldn't resist sending out Mana so that her companion spirit could investigate the magical skull up close, but she restrained herself from revealing this capability in public.

"Can I touch it, papa?"

"I'm not sure." Ves hesitated. "It can be dangerous. I am also sure that your mother doesn't approve of you touching random human skulls."

Fortunately for him, Gloriana was currently focusing her attention on Marvaine. He was much younger than the other children and didn't fully understand all of the implications of what was taking place. There was a limit to his rapid mental development.

Aurelia didn't give up, though. She widened her eyes and started to act much cuter than before!

"Can I hold it, please?"

"...Oh, alright. Be careful with it, though. It is rather heavy and big for a child of your size. Don't drop it. I don't want to add a dent in the skullcap."

He was exaggerating, of course. The bone composition of a primordial human was comparable to that of organic mech armor!

"Miaow~"

Aurelia whispered to Clixie for a moment before she put down the furry cat.

Clixie didn't mind this and easily kept pace as she also developed a lot of curiosity towards the skull that contained the spiritual energies of a dozen or so design spirits!

As Ves cautiously passed David's skull into his little girl's hands, he paid close attention whether any unanticipated reactions would occur.

Fortunately, his daughter did not receive any physical or spiritual harm. It was like touching a P-stone. As long as the vessel properly contained all of the spiritual energy, nobody around it would get affected.

"Ohhhh…"

Aurelia was able to experience the special and distinct qualities of the skull in a much more direct fashion!

Mana became more active as well. The tiny persian kitten began to exude a small glow that largely resembled that of Lufa. This helped to shield the girl against her exposure to so many different attributed energies.

This was also one of the reasons why Ves was confident his daughter could hold the skull without any problems.

"What do you feel, Aurelia?"

"This skull… is so powerful." She said with awe in her voice. "It is… so warm."

Ves narrowed his eyes when he heard this. Her reactions sounded a little bit odd.

"Do you feel it is warm like it is a part of our family?"

She tentatively nodded. "It is like meeting distant kin. Is this our ancestor, papa?"

He didn't know how to respond to that. "This is an ancient relic that I recently excavated. Nothing more."

"It is so old…"

Ves fell in thought as he noticed Aurelia's inexplicable closeness to the skull.

There had to be a clear reason why his daughter responded this way.

He already had a theory in mind. After thinking back on Aurelia's early life and how extensively Ves had supported her growth with spiritual shenanigans such as giving her a companion spirit seed, he suddenly realized that she actually resembled primordial humans a lot more than other people!

Even though Ves clearly felt that Aurelia did not match the properties of an authentic primordial human, the differences shouldn't be too great. Her impressive physical, mental and spiritual development exceeded his original estimates, so much so that it was hard to see any resemblances between her and baseline humans!

While Ves began to consider whether he had inadvertently turned his offspring into primordial humans, Aurelia continued to grow fascinated by the glowing skull. The girl just couldn't get enough of this macabre but endlessly fascinating ancient relic!

Clixie also felt it was special. The cat felt tempted enough to jump at the skull and tap it with her front paws.

"Clixie! Behave!"

"Miaow miaow!"

"You're not a dog, Clixie! You don't need to chew on this bone."

"Miaaaow."

What nobody noticed was that the jewel attached to her neck glinted in multiple colors. It remained unclear whether it did more than that as the aura and the glow of colors exuding from the skull had an obscuring effect.