Ves came close to realizing his latest idea.
He had completely assembled the Victrix, but had yet to pair it with the Minerva.
Gloriana and the other mech designers had to put in a lot more work in order to assemble the upgraded mech.
The process of disassembling numerous parts before slotting in archemetal components was a long and delicate process.
It was also necessary in order to preserve the Minerva's life.
Naturally, Ves did not stand by and cheer everyone on. He pulled up his sleeves and pitched in as well.
Despite the disruptions caused by his impulsive decisions, Ves was glad to see that the rest of the upgrade process went according to plan more or less.
Gloriana had done an excellent job at fabricating the most complicated archemetal components.
Alexa Streon and Beatrice Hendrix clearly lacked expertise in this field, and it showed as their output was visibly worse in quality and refinement.
His wife was not really happy with that, but it was not worthwhile to redo all of the fabrication work in person. It would take way too much time and consume a lot of expensive resources.
She had little choice but to turn up her nose and accept this suboptimal outcome. She could only console herself that the work completed by the other mech designers did not consist of core components. Their relatively minor imperfections should only have a minimal effect on the overall performance of the Minerva Mark II.
Gloriana could still hold in her temper so long as the Minerva retained her masterwork quality.
As the upgrade process began to reach the latest stage, the new ace command mech already started to exude a lot of power and majesty.
Saint Commander Casella Ingvar already adored her new machine. Her yearning had grown with each passing day, but it was only on the final one that she truly desired to pilot the ace mech that would accompany her throughout all of her struggles of the coming decade.
"You have outdone yourself, sir." Casella emotionally spoke as she looked up at the impressive ace mech that had already acquired a modernized version of her iconic silver, green and gold coating. "I have yet to enter the cockpit, but I can already feel my Command Field buzzing with anticipation. Compared to the Mark I, the Mark II makes me feel as if I can finally liberate my domain field. I cannot wait to find out how far my Command Field extends."
"If you're lucky, it may be able to envelop an entire moon." Ves responded with a smile. "It would be even better if you can unfold it across an entire planet, though I am not sure how well you can control your forces when they are spread across an entire globe."
"Ahem." Gloriana interrupted the pair as she was in the process of putting the finishing touches on the impressive mech frame. "The Minerva Mark II is not yet complete. You still need to complete one more step, Ves."
"I am aware. I was just waiting for the Minerva to reach this stage." Ves said with a smile.
"Will you finally explain to us why you insisted on transforming the Mentalist Crystal?" She asked. "That bird spirit looks dangerous. Why are you thinking about merging it with the Minerva? Is it even possible to do it without causing great harm to the spiritual foundation of our mech? What if the damage you cause exceeds the benefits gained from your stunt?"
Her questions raised valid concerns. As Ves began to make the preparations for the next step, he thought over how he should describe his plan.
"I have always thought that there is more to Mentalist Crystals than what is obvious on the surface." Ves told his wife. "They are one of the few hyper materials that is directly spawned in the brains of particularly clever exobeasts. This has always led me to believe that a cleansed Mentalist Crystal is an incomplete product. It simply cannot reach its full potential without attaching it to a compatible spirit. The creation of the Feathered Steelwing Bird has strengthened the crystal. Just take a look at the Victrix."
At this time, the Victrix had yet to turn into a living fey, but the spur was already beginning to show signs of life.
The echo that had come to life already caused the Victrix to exude a strong mental influence.
Ves only had to stay close to it and feel his mind beginning to accelerate. It was quite a fascinating effect. He expected the Victrix to provide a powerful boost to the Saint Commander.
As Gloriana studied the Victrix with her own senses, she failed to detect anything special.
"I do not see what difference it makes to inhabit the fey with a beast spirit."
"You are not looking closely enough. Well, I don't blame you because the Mentalist Crystal is not visible anymore. Have you noticed that when the Feathered Steelwing Bird came to life, the Mentalist Crystal no longer became as dull as before?"
"What are you implying, Ves?"
"Where do Mentalist Crystals come from?" He asked.
"The brains of powerful and intelligence exobeasts." Gloriana supplied the standard answer.
"That is true, but how do these crystals grow?"
"..."
"Let me share with you my own theory, Gloriana. I cannot explain the selection, but I suspect that once the prototype of the crystal has emerged, it will continue to grow in size and potency over time. I am not sure what kind of matter is needed to create the physical structure of the crystal, but it is unlikely that the mutated beast can directly convert his brain matter into a crystal. Whatever the case may be, the point I am trying to make is that I think that the Mentalist Crystal integrated into the Victrix is no longer static anymore. It used to be an object that is similar to an unchanging carcass. Now that I have breathed life into it, the crystal has gained the possibility of growing and evolving once again."
She widened her eyes. "That… is a bold theory! Do you have any proof to back up your assertions? I can think of many groups that will be interested in acquiring a Mentalist Crystal that can actually grow stronger and larger."
"Not quite." Ves disappointingly shook his head. "I have only observed very minute differences, but these signs can be attributed to other reasons. Just trust me on this matter. I have a strong feeling that the Mentalist Crystal embedded into the Victrix will be able to grow into a formidable piece of technology. However, if we want to ensure that Casella and the Minerva are able to retain strong control over it, we have to turn the Victrix into a proper living fey as well as an Ultimate Module."
Gloriana narrowed her eyes. She knew that this would not be simple.
"How?"
"There are several ways I can choose from, but I would like to keep both spirits alive and able to cooperate with each other." He said. "I will attempt to forcibly merge them together. This will probably be a painful process, but it will be necessary to retain the qualities of the Victrix while simultaneously serving the Minerva."
"The 'Feathered Steelwing Bird' will resist. It is in the nature of an exobeast to struggle to survive."
"I know. This is why I need the assistance of the Saint Commander." Ves said before turning to address the ace pilot. "Casella, I need your help. My wife is correct that the avian spirit will resist what I am planning to do. I need you to summon Eleiha and use her power to subdue the Feathered Steelwing Bird. The latter is not only newborn, but very weak and underdeveloped. It should be a breeze for your companion spirit to dominate the creature and bring it to heel."
Casella had been paying attention to the avian spirit before and did not think she would encounter any hindrance.
Eleiha will easily be able to dominate a spirit of this caliber."
"Then let us prepare."
They did just that. After a bit of a delay, the silver winged snake began to dive into the Victrix and impose its dominance onto the Feathered Steelwing Bird!
Just as expected, the latter was unable to put up a resistance. Eleiha crushed it due to multiple reasons, but channeling Casella's willpower proved too much!
This became very important when Ves operated on the Minerva's vast and strong spiritual foundation.
After employing his usual methods to create a subordinate spirit, he did not wait for his efforts to settle.
He immediately proceeded to merge the Feathered Steelwing Bird with the new subordinate spirit!
This naturally produced a lot of pain between the two. Ves prioritized expedience over comfort. He really could not do much about the excessive pain.
Fortunately, the Minerva was an incredibly resilient ace mech. She was able to endure the punishment and work to promote the fusion.