His mood significantly improved after he formulated his principles of life. Not only did they match with the principles of his design philosophy, but they also merged with it! By becoming a newly-merged aspect of his expanding ideology, Ves had taken one step closer to advancing to Senior!

"Becoming a Senior isn't all about designing mechs." He reiterated the lessons he learned from talking to various high-ranking mech designers. "It's about achieving the impossible, taking one step at a time."

His recent insights prompted him to look at the Kinslayer in a new light.

As the hunting team steadily followed Zeigra's tracks, Ves constantly kept an eye on the Kinslayer. He continually kept up a projection of its telemetry in his view, and specifically monitored the fluctuations of Lady Miralix's neural connection to her mech.

Even if he didn't understand the majority of what was being measured and what it meant if some lines went up or down, he still gained a general sense of what took place.

One of the regrets he held about the Kinslayer was that he hadn't managed to replace her neural interface. Just like every other mech in civilized space, the tiger mech utilized a standard neural interface model published by the MTA.

From the telemetry he received so far, Ves observed that the neural interface model leaned somewhere in the middle. It was neither too dangerous or too limited. The neural interface was simply a bog-standard piece of equipment that provided no advantages or disadvantages.

"Boring." Ves flatly declared.

Even so, Ves saw some signs that Lady Miralix had begun to deepen her relationship with the Kinslayer.

This was especially so once he extended his spiritual senses towards the tiger mech when Lady Miralix actively piloted it. Even if she wasn't aware that a spiritual existence occupied the mech, her fondness for her mech increased after every piloting session.

"The Kinslayer is maturing. Don't you think so, Lucky?"

"Meow!"

The cat held in his grasp turned his gaze away from the tiger mech in view. A giant mech in the form of a cat was still inferior to his own existence!

Nonetheless, Ves sensed that Vescas was rapidly starting to mature. Its frequent bonding sessions with Lady Miralix helped enormously.

Vescas already exhibited some affection towards Miralix as her mind had been the birthing chamber of its existence. The spiritual product subsequently grew smarter and more sophisticated due to its ability to access Miralix's mind and the knowledge stored within.

Observing this interaction from the side revealed something important to Ves. The newborn spiritual product's development drew heavily from its environment!

This meant that Lady Miralix unwittingly indoctrinated the rapidly-maturing Vescas with her own values, principles, beliefs and biases!

Though Vescas retained a lot of instincts, beliefs and knowledge from both the Dragon Cat and Ves, these were merely inherited from its 'parents'. Now that Lady Miralix became its only other caretaker, the spiritual product began to take on her beliefs and view its inherited values from the perspective of a noble hunter!

Ves didn't know what to make of this phenomenon. On one hand, if mech pilots raised newly-born spiritual products, their compatibility continually improved and might possibly reach a monstrous height over time!

On the other hand, the spiritual products also diverged from the values and principles instilled into them by him. How much would Vescas even hold on to aspects of Ves and the Dragon Cat?

"It feels like I'm giving my newborn baby for adoption to someone else. The baby might share my DNA, but her upbringing reflected that of an entirely different person!"

Despite the mixed feelings this brought to Ves, he did not oppose this novel development. In fact, the promise of high compatibility reminded him of his third Mastery experience.

Back then, he witnessed Venerable Eloise Pelican maintain a very tight relationship with her space knight. The bond between them was so tight that Venerable Pelican and her mech managed to achieve the legendary state of complete resonance!

Though this remarkable condition only came about after Qilanxo's spiritual fragment gave them a firm push, complete resonance could have never taken place if Venerable Pelican did not trust her mech to such a high degree!

"There's value in this phenomenon!"

Ves saw great value in this kind of development in custom mechs!

With mechs designed to accommodate a specific mech pilot, compatibility mattered more than anything. Having a design spirit that gently familiarized and grew alongside the mech pilot was extremely beneficial to the performance of the custom mech!

Ves expected much greater synergies to arise out of mechs like the Kinslayer if they continued to be used!

Previously, Ves deduced that Lady Miralix only saw her Kinslayer as a one-use mech made solely for the purpose of taking down a Crown Cat.

Now… the deepening affection she shared with the Kinslayer made Ves suspect that she was starting to change her mind.

He couldn't help but smile when he observed this change. His work propagated his principles! He had already converted another mech pilot into adopting his insistence that mechs ought to be valued as living companions rather than disposable commodities!

He sighed. "If only every mech can start off with an impressionable mind."

Sadly, Ves did not see any way this could be viable for his mass-market mechs. Both the military and private outfits saw mechs as their possessions instead of the possessions of mech pilots.

This was an important distinction. Despite the fact that mech forces mostly assigned mech pilots to specific mechs, they might be shuffled around one day.

If a specific mech developed to the point of adoring only a single mech pilot, what if a mech officer chose to put a different person in the cockpit?

"The results won't be pretty." Ves grimaced as he imagined several unpleasant scenarios.

Mech pilots died, retired and transferred all the time. Even the Avatars of Myth routinely rotated their assignments as some mech pilots earned the right to enjoy some leave so they could spend some time with their families!

Since it would be an awful waste to leave their mechs unattended, Melkor or another officer would just assign another mech pilot to use the unoccupied mech.

For this reason, Ves decided to avoid replicating this phenomenon when he designed a commercial mech.

"Besides, what will happen if it is being raised by thousands of parents at the same time?"

If Ves released a new mech model with a newborn spiritual product as its design spirit, then thousands of customers would collectively shape its perspective as it matured!

He could hardly imagine the horror that all of this chaos might result!

For this reason, Ves resolved to put mature spiritual entities in charge of his commercial mech models.

"Their flexibility and adaptability will be much less, but it's essential to retain their universality."

A mech that turned useless upon the death or departure of its main mech pilot was an awful product to most outfits. Unlike custom mechs, ordinary mechs had to offer consistent and reliable performance as long as any skilled mech pilot entered their cockpits.

As Ves continued to muse about the various implications of his recent innovations, the hunting trip continued to creep closer to Zeigra.

The powerful Crown Cat never made a habit of hiding its presence. It rarely hid its tracks as it was already the most powerful creature in the hunting zone.

Zeigra feared nothing! Any cat or mech that wanted to challenge the king of the forest was welcome to try!

"We're getting close." Lady Miralix announced with a serious expression.

The noblewoman and her closest confidantes gathered in a cramped conference room in one of the legged transports. Ves observed the map projected above the center table. It depicted the surrounding terrain and outlined the tracks they observed.

The line representing the tracks led forward until they neared a small lake.

A hunting consultant started to brief everyone on what they discovered.

"The lake up ahead is one of the most desirable water sources for the beasts in the hunting zone. It's laced with a high concentration of desirable minerals to the huge cats. Even a Crown Cat like Zeigra likes to linger around the lake. Right now, we are reasonably certain we can find our target in the vicinity, though pinning down his exact location can't be done without approaching the site."

Everyone present knew that the critical first round of battle loomed close!

"Forgive me for asking, but is Zeigra nocturnal?" Ves asked.

"We don't know."

Huh?

"To be more precise, we haven't been able to discern a pattern from the information we've obtained about Zeigra." Lady Miralix explained. "The organic products produced by the labs show a high amount of variance. Right now, we can't make any assumptions about Zeigra's sleeping patterns."

This meant that they had no idea whether Zeigra was at his most alert state when it was day, night, dusk or dawn!

"When will we launch our attack, then?"

The noble switched the projection to depict a simulation of an attack launched in broad daylight!

"Since it is not viable for us to scout and observe Zeigra without revealing our presence, we will commence our attack in a timing that best suits our hunting team. My hunters and I are still accustomed to a normal sleeping pattern. This means we are most alert and primed for combat in the late morning, which is the best time for us to confront the Crown Cat!"

Lady Miralix and a number of hunters proceeded to explain the plans they made for the first round of attack.

The projection demonstrated various scenarios that might happen. The Felixia Catstrikers had to be prepared for every eventuality.

What if Zeigra wasn't alone and enjoyed the company of another huge cat?

What if the Crown Cat sniffed out their presence long ago and quietly slinked away?

What if Zeigra turned out to be stronger than anticipated and pressed the Catstrikers back?

What if Zeigra avoided the mechs and instead launched an ambush towards the vulnerable legged transports?

Emphasizing good preparation, Lady Miralix demanded a ready answer to all of these questions and more.

The leadership and competence she exhibited soothed everyone's nerves. She possessed a good foundation to take charge in her future roles in the Sentinel Kingdom's military.

"As you all know, the first round is critical. Even if we don't encounter any surprises, Zeigra may still be able to overpower our mechs through sheer brute force."

No one wanted to see this happen, especially not during the first round of combat when Zeigra fought at his peak!

"If worse comes to worst, my Kinslayer and I will step in to push Zeigra into retreat!"

"No!"

"That's too reckless!"

"Your mech won't be able to hold when it matters the most!"

"SILENCE!"

The woman strongly pressed everyone into shutting their mouths. She glared at everyone who expressed their doubts.

"I know what you are afraid of, but that was when we still had our old mechs! It's different now! Remember that we have a new guest among us! We are in the company of a mech designer who is famed for creating miracles and has an abundant amount of experience in repairing mechs in the field!"

Everyone turned their attention to Ves, making him feel very uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"Mr. Larkinson here will make sure that any deterioration my mech might suffer will doubtlessly be remedied for future confrontations! Isn't that right?"

Ves offered a nervous smile. "I appreciate your compliments, but the spare parts, supplies and equipment you've brought can only do so much. I can probably patch or jury-rig some minor damage, but if Zeigra rips off an entire limb from the Kinslayer, repairing such heavy damage is beyond my capabilities!"

"I'll make sure my Kinslayer won't be pushed to that point." She grinned back. "You can rest at ease, Mr. Larkinson. Everything is under control."

If there was one thing the Laternas excelled at, it was in maintaining control!

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