That said, the process could still be dangerous to him depending on how far he was willing to go in exchange for power.
He was confident that he could create a weaker divine artifact without taking any risks. He just had to take as little away from his Divine Core as possible.
"Taking away a tiny shard won't fundamentally affect the health of my Divine Core." Ves said. "It is only when I go further that problems will occur. Divine Cores can restore themselves over time, but it becomes harder if it has sustained more damage and lost too much strength."
There was another point of concern that caused him to hesitate a bit more.
"A divine artifact has to be a true extension of myself." He sighed. "Sorry, Blinky. I can't use your Divine Core as a substitute. It has to be me who makes the sacrifice."
The Mission description was rather clear in that he needed to create a divine artifact based on the essence of his power and rules.
Blinky might be another part of himself, but the companion spirit still possessed slight differences that would end up imbuing a divine artifact with different properties.
"It has to come from me. There's a reason why there are three Divine Cores in the Sacred Hearth instead of two. The System still considers us as separate entities with separate Divine Cores."
It was an interesting observation that had a lot of implications. Ves didn't have the time to think it through, though.
He had no interest in jumping too deep into the Spiritual Ascension rabbit hole.
"Let's start with designing my first spiritual artifact."
Ves no longer delayed any further and proceeded to accept and start his work on his new Mission.
There was a lot of leeway as far as divine artifacts were concerned. They could be small, big, strong or weak.
Bigger divine artifacts tended to be more powerful, but also imposed greater demands.
For example, when it came to the Orven Ritual Sacrifice Altars, their maximum size was limited to the strength of the fragment of a Divine Core.
More powerful entities with more powerful Divine Cores could probably get away with obtaining a much larger divine artifact!
"As for me… I should probably lower my expectations."
Ves wasn't willing to push the limit on this. He was deeply reluctant to inflict too much damage on Divine Core. He didn't really see much benefit in creating a powerful divine artifact.
"As a mech designer, the only way for me to grow stronger is to design better mechs and progress my design philosophy."
He already understood what it took for a mech designer to become a Senior. He also had a decent idea on what he needed to do to become a Master.
However, the gap between a Master and a Star Designer was enormous. Ves could not rule out the possibility that a divine artifact might play a useful or even an essential role in the subsequent evolution of a mech designer.
If Ves settled for a perfunctory divine artifact, then it would be a lot more difficult to make any progress in the future!
Despite this possible truth, Ves wasn't too afraid of starting out small.
He thought about his mechs, his design spirits and many other products.
The one thing that all of them had in common was their capacity for growth!
"In fact, even Orven Ritual Sacrifice Altars are able to grow stronger over time, but that is usually because the orvens they are attached to have gained strength."
Ves wasn't satisfied with that. He guessed that the relation between a divine artifact and a 'god' was similar to the relationship between a mech and a mech pilot.
The stronger the mech pilot, the stronger the mech.
The stronger the mech, the stronger the mech pilot.
If this comparison held up, then a stronger divine artifact might be able to help Ves become a lot stronger over time!
In what way, Ves didn't entirely know, but it should definitely be a positive development!
"Just like how a masterwork mech has helped Patriarch Reginald Cross to overcome his bottleneck and become a Saint, a powerful divine artifact can lower the threshold of my own future breakthroughs!"
He could be wrong, but he didn't think the System would lead him astray. Since it had issued a Mission that encouraged him to create his own divine artifact, then it should definitely provide a lot of help to his development.
He just hoped that it would help him become a Star Designer as opposed to an unholy abomination.
Ves spent a bit of time to come up with a direction for his divine artifact.
He wanted to make one that was small and easy for him to carry around.
It didn't necessarily have to be strong from the start, but it had to possess a good foundation and an excellent growth framework.
It also needed to be alive and related to mechs.
His eyes suddenly lit up as he stumbled upon a fantastic idea!
"Oh, I know! Let's make a cat!"