5621 Arachne 01
Ves may have made a lot of gains during his eventful trip, but his wife harvested a lot of gains as well!
As both of them settled down in their living room while they occasionally entertained their rambunctious children, Gloriana avidly described the exceptional qualities of her fantastic new cranial implant.
Words alone could not do her new implant justice. In order to demonstrate her new gains more directly, she projected a design suite and began to design the next iteration of the Dark Zephyr expert mech.
Compared to her previous self, Gloriana's design efficiency had reached a whole new level.
Tedious processes that previously took minutes to complete suddenly got done in a matter of seconds.
More difficult junctions where a mech designer needed to make use of a combination of ingenuity and a lot of puzzling no longer hindered Gloriana as much as before. Her comprehensive implant set functioned as a miniature supercomputer that was so perfectly synchronized to her brain that she was able to utilize various new tools to come up with the right solutions much faster than before!
Many tricky problems related to mech designs could never be solved by applying preset formulas.
They could only be resolved by engaging in a lot of trial and error.
The new Arachne 01 implant set consisted of multiple different modules that were embedded across her brain as well as her spinal cord.
By spreading them all out as opposed to concentrating them in a single place, the network of interconnected implants not only produced a much deeper fusion rate, but also activated more of Gloriana's nerves than before!
All of this led to an enormous boost in brain power that allowed her to notice and gather a lot more clues from every trial. Furthermore, Gloriana was also able to analyze and process the data much faster and more comprehensively than before, allowing her to narrow down the most optimal implementations in a fraction of the time.
"My implant is especially designed to help me interface with external processing banks." Gloriana boasted. "Let me show you how much of a difference that can make."
When she started to establish a connection to Diandi Base's AI core, she was able to offload a lot of heavy duty calculation and simulation work to nearby processing banks.
Although her new Arachne 01 implant set was not able to form a deep connection with all of those external sources of processing power, the integration was noticeably more optimized than what Ves could achieve with his mutated Archimedes Rubai bioimplant.
Compared to an old CEA bioimplant that had evolved in weird directions due to being affected by two instances of lightning tribulation, the Arachne 01 had the benefit of being meticulously designed to fulfill the core needs of Gloriana as a mech designer.
The implant set was not burdened by any redundant features or unnecessary clutter. The implant developers working for the Red Association had designed many cranial implants that specifically catered to the needs of first-class mech designers in the past. They already possessed a robust and extensive set of solutions that had been optimized over multiple generations.
Yet that was not enough to make the Arachne 01 special.
In the Age of Dawn, hyper technology had become the latest trend. Every industry experienced an upheaval as a lot of existing tech suddenly became outdated due to their lack of utilization of E energy.
The mech industry already managed to figure out a lot of clever and practical solutions. Other industries did not fall behind either. There were many clever and inventive scientists and developers who discovered simple methods to increase the performance of cranial implants or add new functions to them that could not be accomplished in the past.
The Arachne 01 was unique among all of the other cranial implants developed in the past because it was the first experimental product to specifically boost the performance of a companion spirit!
It was like arming Alexandria with a metaphorical set of equipment. The Arachne 01 did not improve her cultivation or intrinsic qualities, but it simply amplified all of the companion spirit's mental-related powers.
Considering that Alexandria's only major power was the ability to form a design network where multiple like-minded people could connect their minds to each other, this happened to be a perfect combination!
Of course, the fact that the pieces of Mentalist Crystal also had a definitely nurturing and amplifying effect on Gloriana's mind also happened to be a useful benefit.
"You cannot imagine what it is like to think while I am permanently under the influence of this new hyper material." Gloriana spoke as her head seemed to be surrounded by a near-invisible white halo. "Mech designers such as you and I rely so much on thinking to design our mechs. I cannot entirely explain how the E energy attracted by the Mentalist Crystal works, but the effects are so all-encompassing that it is as if I am under the effect of a second cranial implant."
The more she described the properties of this wonderful new hyper material, the more Ves developed a lot of greed towards Mentalist Crystals.
He had never heard of such an amazing treasure!
During his vacation on the surface of Ocanon VI, Ves had learned that when mutated beasts rapidly emerged and evolved due to unknown circumstances, the organic tissue that made up their bodies evolved into many different organic hyper materials.
It was as if they were all transforming into increasingly more powerful hyper biomechs.
Once a hunting team managed to fell such a powerful beast, they could harvest a lot of unique and colorful organic tissue that they could subsequently sell for a fortune to various biotech companies.
Though Ves had acquainted himself with a number of remarkable mutated beasts and the special organs that could be harvested from them, he had not encountered anything comparable to a so-called Mentalist Crystal up to this point.
Gloriana did not look surprised at that. "Mentalist Crystals only appear in the brains of mutated beasts that strongly seek to become smarter. This is rare as the competitive pressure in many untamed planets force exobeasts into improving their hard combat power. From what the mechers have told me, Mentalist Crystals have only been found sporadically among existing apex predators that do not feel threatened by the local fauna. Instead, they have become acquainted with humans and understood that it is their intelligence that makes them much more dangerous. As long as the pressure is strong enough, a lucky apex predator may develop a powerful mutation that is primarily oriented to improving their mental power."
That sounded weird, but plausible. Ves could not imagine how such a creature could emerge in a place like Ocanon VI. The hunting preserve produced so many mutated beasts that no existing apex predator would be able to relax!
It was extremely doubtful whether the planet that he had visited recently could produce a single mutated beast who developed a powerful yearning to improve its brainpower.
"What sort of abilities do these creatures possess?" Ves curiously asked.
"I have only heard descriptions. There are so few of them that it is difficult to make generalizations. In general, they not only become intelligent enough to rival a human scientist, but may also develop additional 'superpowers'. This can range from telekinesis to even more esoteric abilities such as telepathy and even divination! The last one has never been confirmed, though."
These purported set of abilities were much more bizarre than the abilities of other mutated beasts!
At least monsters such as the Azure Tornado Dragon mostly leveraged the power of well-known E energy attributes. They were much easier to figure out compared to a bizarre mutated beast that had somehow evolved into a brainiac.
"When I was in the care of the mechers, they even shared a theory that the original phase whales may have emerged through this fashion. It explains why a race of whales can become so smart and proficient in biotechnology when there are so few factors that promote the development of a complete civilization."
Ves could see how this theory may be right, but it was not his business to prove its validity.
"Let's get back to how the Mentalist Crystal boosts your functions." He said. "Can you bring out Alexandria and connect me to her design network for a moment? I want to experience the differences myself."
"Certainly."
"Maaaow."
A noticeably prouder and more vivid red companion spirit emerged from Gloriana's mind.
The cat soon proceeded to form a small design network that brought Ves and Gloriana a lot closer to each other.
He immediately felt the differences. Almost every aspect about the design network received a boost. It felt a lot more robust than before. The bandwidth had increased, allowing participants to transfer a lot more data to the minds of other people.
Alexandria had become a lot better at managing the network. She was able to help people filter out unnecessary thoughts. She was also able to channel a greater proportion of a person's emotions to other minds.
Though Ves was not able to appreciate the improvement in Alexandria's design network to the fullest at the moment, he looked forward to experiencing how much better it had become in the near future!
"The augmentation only truly comes into effect when my design network connects dozens of different minds together." Gloriana proudly explained as her companion spirit stopped her activity and pulled back. "This is why the phrase 'mech project leader' is added to its full name. I specifically requested an implant that can not only improve my individual design abilities, but also help me manage my subordinates better whenever I employ a design network. It is my companion spirit's greatest strength, and I believe it has much greater room for development."
"That is not a bad idea." Ves admitted.
Both Alexandria and Blinky possessed the ability to form design networks, but it was just a side benefit to the latter.
Blinky's main strengths rested in his Blinkyverse and his energy manipulation capabilities. His cultivation should primarily focus on these areas in order to deepen his specialization and make him much more useful in his existing roles. There was simply no time for the Star Cat to evolve his design network any further.
It was completely different for Alexandria. The Queen Cat did not really have any other abilities aside from her own version of a design network, but that left her free to specialize in her sole gimmick and elevate it to a much greater level in time!
"Is there anything else to the Arachne 01 that makes it special?" Ves asked.
"There is. As I have mentioned earlier, it does not consist of a single implant, but multiple smaller ones spread across my brain and spine. The core implants are buried deep within the center of my brain, but there are many more peripheral ones that are situated close to the exterior of my body. The peripheral implant modules can be selectively removed and replaced by upgraded models through simpler procedures. In short, I can continue to upgrade my implant set more easily in the future."
This was a much more advanced and high-tech implementation of a cranial implant. Ves had never even heard of it, which meant that it was either an innovative new approach or a product that was solely reserved for the people who ranked at the top!
Gloriana most certainly benefited enormously from receiving such an advanced implant set.
However, it was also clear that this experimental new product probably entailed a lot of risks.
This was probably the first cranial implant set that not only integrated pieces of Mentalist Crystal, but also sought to augment a companion spirit!
A lot could have gone wrong. The fact that Gloriana managed to return from Vulit in a healthy state did not mean that this was an assured outcome.
The implant developers essentially treated Gloriana as their test subject!
They just dazzled her with a lot of new and expensive technologies to divert her attention away from the considerable risks.
The fact that they genuinely wanted her to improve as much as possible helped to secure her cooperation.
Out of all of the mech designers of the Larkinson Clan, there was no one who wanted to catch up and surpass Ves more than his wife!
