5399 Soulbound
The fabrication run started under similar conditions as before.
"Maow!"
Alexandria appeared and formed a design network. The minds of Gloriana, Ves and Benjamin temporarily became connected to each other, causing each of them to be able to understand the others on a more intimate level.
Though a part of Ves found it a little awkward to become so intimately close with his grandfather all of a sudden, it was not a big deal.
The effectiveness of the design network largely relied on trust. Ves could hardly think of any people he trusted more. Benjamin was definitely a lot more trustworthy than his own mother!
Once the design network took shape, Ves and Blinky moved next.
Ves unveiled his glow and supercharged it with the help of Blinky's impressive ability to supply a lot of life-attributed energy.
He then proceeded to reach out to Vulcan, who partially possessed Ves' body yet again!
It was only at that point that the Miracle Couple had entered the best state that they could attain under their own power!
Though a part of Ves wanted to try and see if he could fabricate a strong enough mech without resorting to these tricks, he did not want to take the risk when it came to this important project.
The outcome of this fabrication run directly affected his grandfather's life and future!
Ves needed to take this project as seriously as possible and focus on delivering the best possible product.
He also sought to take advantage of the current circumstances to verify a few theories related to the Carmine System.
Work began right away.
Ves and Gloriana immediately began to operate the superfabs and other instruments in order to fabricate the new parts.
Alexa proceeded to disassemble the old Blood Star even further in order to prep it for a gradual replacement process.
The need to keep the Blood Star 'alive' imposed a considerable burden to the mech designers, but this was not the first time they worked around this limitation.
Venerable Benjamin in the meantime sat back and watched the younger generation at work.
Just like Ark, Benjamin came in touch with all kinds of amazing and complicated technical knowledge about his expert mech.
He was admittedly not as smart or learned as his proudest son, so Benjamin did not obsess too much over trying to understand the complicated science behind his mech.
It was enough for him to know that his grandson had done the very best he could to turn his expert mech into a suitable combat platform.
Ves and Gloriana initially did not encounter too many issues when they engaged in their work.
Unlike the Lionheart, the Blood Star Mark II was primarily designed as an offensive space knight.
Any mech that was designed with thick armor and a larger mech frame was inherently easier to design and construct. The fault tolerance of such a mech was considerably greater and there were not as many sensitive components that could produce additional complications.
There were only two different elements that the mech designers needed to be careful about.
First, the Carmine System needed to remain healthy, undamaged and connected to the mech frame.
Second, the shoulder-mounted hardpoints imposed additional requirements onto the product.
Neither of these issues were insurmountable.
Ves paid constant attention to the state of the recently upgraded Carmine System. As long as it exhibited any abnormal activity, he would receive an alert and be able to respond if necessary.
His wife mainly chose to deal with the other delicate internal systems. This included the additional energy transmission lines and other structural elements related to the shoulder-mounted weapon systems.
As they worked, Ves did not try to focus entirely on the work in front of him. He let a part of his thoughts wander in an attempt to find further inspiration.
The last fabrication run taught Ves that it was not necessary to rely on serendipity and random factors to obtain inspiration.
There were multiple ways for a mech designer to raise his mood and stoke his passion.
Ves speculated that one of the tricks that mech designers could employ to improve the quality of their output was to think about ideas that could make them excited!
There were many possible subjects that Ves could choose from that were related to the Blood Star Mark II.
For example, he could think about how the second generation Carmine System might improve the Blood Pact.
It was too difficult for Ves to make a prediction about this. Even if he formed a possible answer, there was little he could do to apply it to his current work.
What truly interested Ves at this time was the effect of his active Living Workshop on the Blood Star Mark II.
All of the new parts that were meant to replace the old ones became imbued with life.
Combined with the fact that Ves intended to turn the Blood Star Mark II into a powerful prime mech, the upgrade machine was bound to become a lot more alive than before!
This was a substantial leap. How would all of these changes and improvements affect the transformed living mech?
Would there be a mismatch between the Carmine System and all of the replacement parts?
While Ves tried to come up with answers to these interesting questions, he also made sure to keep an eye on the overall state of the current condition of the living mech.
Given how the cyborg mech had already undergone a period of growth while it had formed a permanent Blood Pact with Benjamin, Ves could not treat the machine as a collection of discreet but interconnected parts.
Instead, Ves began to see the original Blood Star as an upsized version of a human body.
Ves had the illusion that he was not trying to upgrade an old mech into a better form.
He felt as if he was operating on a genuine organic body. Every 'organ' he removed inflicted extensive damage to the rest of the organism. If he did not hurry up and compensate for all of the removed flesh and organs, the Blood Star might actually die!
Although the actual situation did not possess this dynamic, Ves couldn't help but hurry up a bit and try to prevent his grandfather's mech from suffering too many ills.
"Be patient, Blood Star. It will only be a few days. We will make sure that you will gain the power that you were always meant to wield."
From the perspective of Ves, the Blood Star was never meant to be brought to life in this fashion.
It was the equivalent of a baby that was born way too prematurely!
The reason why Ves had no choice in the matter was because he did not have much time to design a Carmine mech for his grandfather who was dying at the time.
If Ves had followed the normal design process and spent up to a year to design a proper expert mech, the only way he would have been able to interact with Benjamin was by visiting his grave!
Although Ves was not proud at his rush job, he possessed a lot of gratitude towards this humble Carmine mech.
While it may be lacking in power, sophistication and refinement, it was the mech that literally gave his grandfather a second chance at life!
When Ves thought about how his grandfather had lived his life before he formed a Blood Pact, he always found it tragic that Benjamin had lost his original passion and drive.
As a service provider, Ves felt an undeniable obligation to fulfill Benjamin's needs. Successfully doing so by supplying him with the original Blood Star was a lot more satisfying than selling millions of ordinary mechs!
The original Blood Star had saved Benjamin's life.
The next version of this Carmine mech would revive his career as a high-ranking mech pilot!
This was the only way for his grandfather to safeguard his life over the long term. So long as he managed to attain the breakthrough that he did not dare to dream about, he would be able to strengthen his body further and fight against the ravages that time left on his aging physique!
"C'mon, Blood Star. Let us work together and preserve my grandfather's vitality as much as possible."
The precarious state of his grandfather was a persistent cause for concern for Ves.
It was one of the reasons why Ves had yet to bestow a companion spirit to his grandfather. The older man's willpower had only recovered relatively recently. Who knew how much all of that progress would get lost if his spirit got operated by Blinky.
Time was running out, though. Ves did not have the strength to bestow a companion spirit to an ace pilot.
If Ves wanted to grant his grandfather the same advantages as other Larkinson expert pilots, he would have to take action while Benjamin was still a high-tier expert pilot.
It would be too late to augment his strength further once he broke through!
As Ves continued to think about the various ailments of his grandfather, he began to place more hopes on the Blood Star Mark II.
The deep integration between pilot and living mech had produced many wondrous effects that benefited them both, but most particularly Venerable Benjamin.
How extensively would the mutual exchange of blood and the magical Blood Pact be able to strengthen Benjamin even further?
The second generation Blood Pact was a modest attempt to promote these beneficial interactions, but it did not go far enough if Ves was being honest.
There had to be a lot more ways for the Blood Star Mark II to boost Benjamin's health and other aspects!
Ves just hadn't discovered and implemented them yet. While he did not have any ideas in mind, what about Vulcan?
As a design spirit who had gotten started in a more traditional form of creation cultivation, Vulcan was not unfamiliar with the concepts of bonds between user and product.
In ancient times, it was possible for artifact cultivators to form a bond between their souls and the 'souls' of high-level artifacts.
What was interesting was that it was usually possible for a cultivator to form a soul bond by dripping a drop of blood onto the artifact in question!
As long as all of the conditions were met, the artifact cultivator would become permanently bound with a weapon or another object that possessed an artifact spirit!
The benefits of these soul bonds were myriad.
The cultivator would be able to control the artifact a lot more proficiently.
The artifact would become inoperable when used by other people.
The cultivator would be able to communicate with and observe the surroundings of the artifact if the two had been separated.
Of course, soulbounds also came with downsides.
The two parties could restrict each other's growth if any of them failed to improve as quickly.
If the artifact broke or the soul bond got severed for any reason, then the artifact cultivator in question would suffer severe damage!
The stronger the artifact, the greater the harm!
The sequelae of breaking a stronger and deeper soul bond were also more severe.
The most optimistic outcome was for the cultivator to suffer serious damage to the soul.
The worst outcome was for the artifact cultivator to die outright.
When Ves briefly examined the strong and intimate Blood Pact between his grandfather and the Blood Star, it did not seem likely that this was a fairly shallow and weak bond.
The Blood Pact in its most primitive form already possessed the properties of a fairly deep and intimate soul bond!
Though the benefits of an active bond were undoubtedly greater, Ves could not get rid of the heavy consequences if anything ever happened.
Though Ves was not happy with this, he already accepted this danger as a necessary price to bestow greater power to his grandfather.
What mattered now was what Ves could do with this additional insight. Was there a way for him to upgrade the Blood Pact further based on Vulcan's knowledge?
