Chapter 7233: Rosa Orfan’s Obession

What did it take for mech pilots to break past their limitations?

Nobody could tell the exact parameters. The answer was most certainly deep and multi-faceted. Perhaps it was futile to even explain it with limited human words.

Mech pilots therefore came up with their own answers. None of them sounded perfectly satisfying, but they did the job, more or less.

Some of them claimed that they needed to possess greater guts and courage than 99.9999 percent of their peers in order to trigger their breakthroughs.

Others believed that they needed to excel in terms of skills in order to have a shot of becoming high-ranking mech pilots.

A big group believed that conviction and fighting for the right cause without reservation was the decisive factor.

There was another large group that believed that none of this mattered unless their mechs were better than anyone else’s.

Of course, there were also plenty of mech pilots who recognized and understood the importance of all of these criteria.

They recognized that transcending their mortality as mech pilots was an uphill battle that could only be won by a distressingly small group of exemplars who ticked most if not all of the boxes.

The bar was set so high that it was unimaginable for anyone normal to even have a chance.

Perhaps that was the point. Expert pilots were so exceptional in so many areas that only the most extreme and dedicated among the class of mech pilots successfully proved their worth.

Then what about ace pilots?

As the rank that existed between expert pilots and god pilots, the standards of becoming a saint were even more demanding.

This was already enough reasons for many mech pilots to despair. Just becoming an expert pilot was a difficult and demanding endeavor.

Since the Age of Mechs, an endless amount of potentates strove to break past their limits and ascend with the help of their machines.

Yet almost every one of them failed.

Success cases were so rare that they were deemed outliers more than anything.

People like Avatar Commander Melkor Larkinson worked so hard over the years, yet he had never caught up to the likes of his other trueblood cousins such as Venerable Jannzi Larkinson or Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson.

To pilots like him, meeting the conditions to become an expert candidate was already enough to feel like they have satisfied their life’s purpose.

It was even more unimaginable for them to achieve sainthood.

Just the very words used to describe ace pilots was enough to understand that only the best and most exemplary among expert pilots had a chance of triggering a second apotheosis.

No expert pilot assumed that becoming an ace pilot was a breeze.

Just because they proved to be best among purely mortal mech pilots did not mean they were entitled to achieve sainthood.

To become a saint was to rank in the top 1 percent or 0.1 percent of all expert pilots.

This was already an insanely tall order because expert pilots were already excellent by definition.

Even if they were not that remarkable as standard mech pilots or expert candidates, the changes wrought by apotheosis never failed to turn mortals into demigods who were worthy to be called this way.

Each expert pilot had transcended the boundaries of the physical universe and gained a small amount of dominion over the divine.

Compared to actual saints, expert pilots were like children who only got to pretend to be a god.

The difference in capabilities between the two was too vast.

It was enough to make most expert pilots that they were not even close to reaching the pinnacle of what they could possibly attain.

Expert pilots were more like upjumped mortals while ace pilots started to grasp the shadow of divinity.

The power of a god was too much to wield by mere mortal humans.

Therefore, Venerable Rosa Orfan had always been fairly clear that she could not rest on her laurels.

Any pride she held for becoming an expert pilot had long disappeared as she continued to struggle with her bottleneck.

To be honest, she recognized that she was not entirely normal with her obsession.

Most expert pilots spent a lot more decades building up their skills and proving their worthiness in battle. They fought alongside other soldiers and participated in conflicts that mattered to their state and the people they protected.

Mech pilots generally understood that engaging in all of these activities brought expert pilots closer and closer to triggering their next apotheosis.

This was how expert pilots normally achieved sainthood. They approached it like a marathon and focused on making consistent gains over a longer period of time.

Patriarch Reginald Cross of the Cross Clan was considered to be an excellent example as he had struggled until he was almost ready to celebrate his 80th birthday before he finally achieved his sainthood!

It seemed ridiculous for Venerable Rosa Orfan to feel disappointed in herself for not being able to do the same thing despite the fact that she was a full generation younger.

The difference was that Rosa knew that her circumstances were much better than normal.

Unlike the vast majority of mech pilots, she happened to be a part of the Larkinson Clan.

The clan offered excellent conditions that were much more conducive to breakthroughs.

For example, the frequency of combat was much higher. The Larkinsons already fought plenty of battles where the survival of their clan or fleet hinged on a decisive engagement.

Living mechs offered better breakthrough conditions than normal. Mech pilots had no way to explain why this was the case, but they pretty much knew that they were lucky to pilot third order living mechs that were intelligent and caring beyond any other machines they used.

Combined with a highly supportive and understanding mech designer and patriarch, those who caught his attention and earned his favor had benefited greatly from his custom works.

The Riot Mark II may be an outdated low-tier expert mech, but it already offered good enough conditions for Venerable Rosa Orfan to ascend into sainthood.

Then why did she fail?

Mech pilots who belonged to the same generation as her such as Venerable Dise managed to make the jump while piloting the equally outdated First Sword Mark II.

The limitations did not appear to have fazed Dise in the slightest. Instead, she took it as another challenge and reveled in her attempts to overcome the physical limitations of her rapidly aging machine!

Rosa had always considered herself to be an equal to Dise.

Sure, they were very different mech pilots with very different backgrounds, but in terms of pure piloting, they belonged to the same generation and shared very similar conditions now that they had both become champions of the Larkinson Clan.

Yet whereas Dise had already taken step closer to earning her godhood and began to pilot the first full superdimensional ace mech, Rosa had remained stuck without any sign of budging.

Her desperation even caused the Riot Mark II to suffer a crippling injury and put herself out of commission for a time, making it even harder to replicate Dise’s feat!

While Rosa could barely accept the fact that she was bested by a member of the same generation or slightly older such as Dise or Davia Stark, she was not as willing to accept she was inferior to the members of the younger generations.

She did not know how, but while enjoying the same luxurious conditions in the Larkinson Clan, youngsters such as Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson, Casella Ingvar and Isobel Kotin all managed to undergo their second apotheosis.

Their youth combined with the very short amount of time they spent as ace pilot candidates apparently did not hinder them too much.

While a kid like Tusa could at least attribute much of his breakthrough to piloting the amazing Dark Zephyr Mark III for the first time, what about the likes of Casella and Isobel?

They were still piloting the slightly more modern but still quite weak and outdated Mark I versions of their respective expert mechs!

Their conditions were almost as bad as that as Venerable Dise, but they did not let this inconvenient variable stand in their way of developing their own Saint Kingdoms.

That was what truly put Rosa Orfan in a bad mood.

Being bested by younger and less experienced mech pilots made her feel as if she was simply not good enough.

No matter how much she tried to celebrate her own accomplishment, she felt like a fool whenever she thought about those younger ace pilots.

“You are pathetic, you know that, Rosa? Age is not as important as courage and conviction. There are ace pilots who broke through at an even younger age than Tusa, but also late bloomers who only managed to earn their sainthood in their second century of life.”

“I know, Dise. I just can’t help it. I cannot stop myself from comparing my qualifications to that of others.”

The powerful and unshakeable form of Venerable Dise stepped forward in an unrecognizable starry landscape.

She continued to step forward on an invisible platform until she stopped right in front of Rosa.

The postures of the two couldn’t be more different.

The actual ace pilot’s spine remained straight while her eyes conveyed her formidable amount of willpower.

Just a single glance was enough for Rosa to feel suppressed!

Her intuition told her that she was in the presence of a higher and much more superior life form.

Rosa felt as if she was a fraud in front of her close friend.

Dise had successfully taken the next step like an indomitable swordswoman while Rosa stumbled like a drunken pig.

She lowered her head.

Her shame grew when she still considered herself to be a friend of Dise.

Just like how demigods no longer interacted with mortals all that much, saints had become so transcendently powerful that it was beyond awkward for them to continue to interact with the former on a frequent basis.

There was a natural hierarchy between the two. Both of them possessed excellent intuitions, so they were quite clear of the vast gulf in strength between their groups.

As much as Rosa hated it, there was no way to sustain the same relationship across a major gap in rank.

The only exception may be the Saint Commander, but that was mostly because Casella had become the Larkinson Matriarch, thereby forcing her to interact with mortals in order to lead the clan.

Other than that, ace pilots tended to spend time in their own circle. If they had to talk to their lessers, then there was always a sense of hierarchy.

Saint Dise crossed her arms as she continued to gaze at Rosa with her judgemental gaze.

The force of her Saint Kingdom and her conviction made it clear that she despised weakness in herself and others.

“I have told you before that your obsession with comparing yourself to others will be your doom.” The ace pilot stated. “Age is not as important as you think. So what if younger pilots such as Tusa and Isobel managed to become my peers? They deserve it. They worked hard and performed well on the battlefield. Their skills are excellent and their convictions are sincere enough. More importantly, they are not prone to feeling inferior to anyone. Only you are engaged in constant comparisons with your betters. Do you know what this says about you, Rosa?”

“No.”

“Your behavior indicates that you are affected by a deep sense of insecurity. You fundamentally lack confidence in yourself. Just because you are not the first ace pilot of the Larkinson Clan, you immediately assume that you are trash. You have tried hard to get rid of this assumption, but your lack of progress has made that impossible, for you directly equate your worth to your rank. Since when has becoming an expert pilot shameful? You are still a hero and champion to the Larkinsons.”

“It doesn’t matter!” Rosa cried out! “I am no hero! fraud! The main reason I got here is because I freeloaded off the Larkinsons! I admit it, okay! My strength did not have much to do with how I managed to become a high-tier expert pilot in a matter of years. It is because the Larkinsons supplied me with a living expert mech and let me ingest all of those general cultivation elixirs!”

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