The newly ascended ace pilot did not feel she could do the same to warships, though. There was just something so fundamentally different about them that caused her Command Field to reject this very notion.
Perhaps she could work on this limitation and remove it one day, but that would require her to commit to this, which she didn't feel like doing.
Her Command Field did not just improve in terms of quantity. What she cared more was the quality of her empowerment ability.
Just as she predicted, some, though not all, all of the mechs under sway had received a power-up that made them practically on par with low-tier expert mechs!
Casella already instinctively understood that her new ability had only just begun to show its potential. A quick glance told her that her resonance strength had shot up to 130 laveres.
This was enough for her to forcibly elevate just 35 mechs into temporary pseudo-expert mechs!
However, as her resonance strength grew, she looked forward to doing the same to hundreds if not thousands of Larkinson mechs in the future!
She could also increase the strength of the empowerment if she wished. This was rather difficult as she could only channel so much additional strength into weaker mechs.
Perhaps she might be able to forcibly elevate them into mid-tier or even high-tier expert mechs one day, but her resonance strength not only needed to grow a lot stronger, but she also needed to master her Commandeering ability to a finer degree.
Casella could never accomplish this in the short term. She also doubted whether it was useful to force ordinary mechs to perform so far above their normal level. The machines would probably fall apart and collapse as if they had gone through a particularly violent instance of forced resonance.
In any case, all of the new possibilities that she acquired by ascending to the rank of ace pilot sounded fantastic to a command-oriented pilot like herself, but she didn't care about them as much as she should.
That was because none of these abilities could help her bring back her brother.
One of the fundamental limitations of her Commandeering ability was that it only worked on friendlies. Whether they were Larkinsons or not, the other party had to be willing to accept her influence!
There was no way to go around this limitation. It was far too fundamental to her philosophy and command style.
Since this was the case, how could she possibly force the cooperation of an alien time sage from Messier 87 if they refused to be controlled by her willpower?
"I can't do it, but my companion spirit can! Isn't that right, Eleiha?!"
A large and powerful companion spirit emerged from her body. A winged snake covered by silvery scales majestically lit up the cockpit as she basked in her newfound power.
Just as Commander Casella ascended into a Saint, Eleiha simultaneously reached the second major cultivation rank as well!
"Sssha."
The most mysterious feature of this snake-like companion spirit was not her scales, nor her fluffy white wings.
It was her mesmering yellow eyes.
Eleiha did not previously possess such dazzling spheres a a few minutes ago. She acquired them due to Casella's strong and overwhelming desire to gain the ability to control her enemies by force during her breakthrough!
Though Eleiha's aura had grown a little more ominous due to this targeted mutation, Casella became pleased because she instinctively understood that her companion spirit successfully gained the potential to dominate the hostile and the unwilling!
"Together, we shall bring back our brother!"
"Ssssha!"