The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1836

Chapter 1836 Conflicting Will

What enabled mech pilots to advance to expert candidates?

What enabled expert candidates to advance to expert pilots?

Ves used to believe it was simple. A mech pilot with spiritual potential, meaning that he possessed more than a significant amount of spiritual energy, developed his strength by undergoing a gradual mental evolution.

As long as a mech pilot found a reason to fight for and devoted his entire will towards this concept, they would eventually grow strong enough to pierce through a veil and become an extraordinary individual!

Yet the story was not as simple as Ves initially thought.

The thin veil that separated an ordinary mech pilot from the realm of expert candidate was a lot thicker than Ves thought.

The same applied to the barrier between expert candidate and expert pilot.

Ves was not a mech pilot. His evolution as a mech designer was not very relevant in this instance. Both mech pilots and mech designers developed in different ways.

The growth trajectory of mech designers didn't include an equivalent to expert candidates. Ves only possessed a rudimentary understanding of this phase. He always figured that it was only a matter of time for candidates to advance to expert pilot.

He wasn't wrong. Not completely.

The chances that an expert candidate broke through to expert pilot was a lot higher than an ordinary mech pilot jumping to expert candidate.

Yet that chance was not equivalent to a guarantee. Later on, Ves learned that plenty of expert candidates failed to make the most important step for whatever reason.

Ves saw that both Jannzi and Tusa had progressed a lot as expert candidates. They polished their rudimentary force of wills into a strong and pure reflection of their fighting spirit.

Yet as exceptional as they appeared to his spiritual senses, he somehow sensed that they lacked a key ingredient that allowed them to break through their bottleneck.

What was it? Were they lacking in stimulation? Was there some sort of flaw in their mental wills? Was their spiritual potential insufficient to support them in their final step?

It made sense if someone like Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson took his time to undergo apotheosis. The man reached expert candidate at a fairly young age and rapidly improved his skills through sheer talent and hard work.

Yet that wasn't enough.

Ves purposefully dubbed the extraordinary by this specific term because they were beyond the ordinary. The implication was that advancing to an extraordinary state required someone to already be exceptional!

It sounded like a chicken and egg problem. For an expert candidate to become an expert pilot, the person in question already needed to replicate the performance of an expert pilot to an extent!

How could that be possible? An expert candidate was called this way because they only possessed the potential of an expert pilot, and not the corresponding power.

"Perhaps the only way to square the circle is through immense external stimuli."

The way Jannzi Larkinson advanced during a non-life-threatening mech exhibition was a very rare exception. Most mech pilots didn't turn into expert candidates by participating in a show. Most mech pilots also didn't enjoy the surreptitious assistance of a Sacred God like Qilanxo.

No. The key was external stimuli. To be more specific, the most 'reliable' method to encourage mech pilots to push themselves beyond their limits was through subjecting them through life-and-death battles!

The more desperate the situation, the greater their need to reach beyond their limits!

This was exactly how an expert candidate like Captain Foster broke through after being persecuted by a super force of Flagrant Vandals!

Not only did the Vandals inadvertently push Relia Foster into a corner, but also gave her the time to hone her force of will into a razor-sharp blade that was deadly enough to propel her to expert pilot!

"Maybe that is what Jannzi and Tusa truly need." Ves muttered. "Keeping them off the battlefield will only result in stagnation."

Mech pilots existed to fight. If they couldn't perform their primary function, why did they need to advance?

Expert pilots only emerged when mech pilots realized their inadequacy and threw their entire weight behind chasing after strength!

Only by wholeheartedly pursuing the strength to increase their chances of survival and bring them closer to achieving their goals would they become worthy enough to shed their mortal shackles!

Ves therefore believed that he should find some way to push Jannzi and Tusa into action sometime in the future. If they failed to make any progress while they were drilling with Larkinsons, then obviously something had to change.

As for Silent William, Ves immediately experienced a headache whenever he thought about him. The mute mech pilot and exile from the Vicious Mountain Star Sector had gained a lot of spiritual potency since Ves 'operated????? on his spirituality.

Yet the Urbesh clansman remained ordinary as any other mech pilot. His spiritual potential may have ballooned, but it was still largely untapped.

Despite experiencing months of harrowing battles against the sandmen, none of the stimuli caused William Urbesh to form a coherent force of will.

What was the problem? What was taking him so long?

In order to solve this conundrum once and for all, Ves ordered William to report to the lab. Once there, Ves drugged the mech pilot and placed his unconscious body in an enclosed lab.

Since William was by all accounts silent and unresponsive to others, Ves didn't even bother asking questions to him. He would just keep his mouth shut anyway.

"So what are you going to do with him?" Gloriana asked as she stood in the observer's room while holding her cat.

"Miaow."

Clixie wasn't interested in the proceedings. All she cared about was getting pampered by her owner.

"Meow."

Nyaaaa!

Lucky on the other hand was tugging and playing with the Golden Cat. The two had been spending a lot of time together, which wasn't surprising considering Ves lugged the Larkinson Mandate wherever he went.