The Mech Touch

Chapter 6604 Rising Scores

?Chapter 6604 Rising Scores

From the moment Ketis chose to form a so-called Life Sword Pact with the Bloodsinger, it was as if everything fit into place.

All of the years she spent on nurturing an intimate emotional bond with the weapon paid off all at once.

The continuous willpower baptism had already enabled Ketis to impart a strong imprint of herself onto the weapon.

Combined with her meticulous care in maintaining and upgrading the greatsword, the Bloodsinger had long evolved past its starting point as a standard-issue CFA weapon!

As Ketis boldly treated herself as her first and only test subject for her newly conceived Life Sword Pact, the Bloodsinger began to glow and vibrate as if it was explicitly answering her offer!

The minor vibrations generated by the Bloodsinger rapidly rose in frequency, causing the weapon to produce a harmonious humming sound!

The newly bonded weapon sung to its new life partner!

Although the Bloodsinger did not undergo any physical transformation, the weapon most definitely became stronger in other ways.

When Ves observed the formation of a Life Sword Pact, he took note of several interesting observations.

First, the Bloodsinger had not actually formed a Life Sword Pact with Ketis herself, but rather her companion spirit!

Even if Ketis and Sharpie were ultimately two sides of the same coin, they still counted for two separate beings as far as pacts were concerned,

It made sense. Sharpie was the swordmaster side of Ketis. The companion spirit also spent a lot of time inhabiting the blade in order to subject it to willpower baptism. It was hard to disassociate them from each other.

Aside from this interesting development, Ves also took note of the Bloodsinger's accelerated evolution as an artifact.

One of the theories he formed on artifact cultivation was that it was only possible to practice it in the first place if the object in question was alive, at least in a very minor

sense.

It was usually enough for it to possess a spiritual foundation.

However, in order for the practitioner to benefit from this form of cultivation, the artifact needed to be powerful enough to drag the human up to its level.

That did not happen all that much in this case.

The Bloodsinger was a fine weapon, but it was never designed as an artifact. Ketis had yet to turn it into a masterwork, which could have helped a lot in this circumstance. This ultimately caused the weapon to provide much less help to Sharpie than was ideal. While the new Life Sword Pact caused Sharpie to become more complete and fulfilled, the companion spirit did not appear to have grown all that much stronger.

At most, the formation of a life Sword Pact had plugged a few flaws and caused Sharpie to strengthen her foundation as a swordmaster.

Ketis looked happy, though. She did not regret her decision to bond with her personal greatsword even though there were vastly superior arms within her reach.

If Ketis chose to form a Life Sword Pact with the Heavensword, the difference in power between the two would have been so enormous that the grand work may have been able to boost Sharpie's cultivation to a sword saint in an instant!

Yet it was exactly because the gap in power between the two was so great that Ketis prudently rejected this offer.

When a mortal attempted to form an intimate contract with a god, there was no way that the latter would be able to retain his sense of self.

The relationship would turn from a bond of equals into a slave contract due to the enormous power disparity!

The Heavensword was pretty much a god among swords. The only reason why Ketis would want to form a pact with the ancient relic weapon was if she was willing to sacrifice her future cultivation as a swordmaster in order to gain an instant boost of power.

Perhaps she might have been tempted to choose the latter if red humanity had already entered into an unstoppable decline, but that was not the case at the moment.

Ketis still possessed enough optimism for the future to bet on her long-term development.

In this regard, forming a Life Sword Pact with a personal weapon that was not too strong was most conducive to her growth prospects.

The difference in power was minimal, so Sharpie's cultivation did not explode to the point of compromising her existing foundation.

Now that Ves understood Ketis' calculations, he applauded her prudent choices. The decision to form the very first. Life Sword Pact with a weapon in modern times turned out to be quite safe.

As Ketis slowly recovered from forming her life-changing pact, she slowly opened her eyes and held the humming Bloodsinger as if she was trying to communicate with the evolving artifact.

Soon enough, the Bloodsinger turned dormant, causing it to look no different than before. Ketis gently slipped its blade into its floating scabbard.

Sharpie meanwhile continued to occupy the Bloodsinger. Not only was she continuing to baptize the weapon with her extraordinary willpower, but she was also deepening the newly forged Life Sword Pact.

Ketis was not lying when she said she ripped off the model of the Life Sword Pact from his Blood Pact.

Ves did not feel offended that she copied his homework and only changed a few details so that her own version was not exactly the same.

He felt honored. She was his student. The more she learned from him, the more he felt. validated as a teacher.

Besides, the Blood Pact was such a good invention that Ves wanted to spread its benefits to others. It was a way for weaker individuals to gain power by bonding themselves to stronger objects, whether they were Carmine mechs or other objects.

The initiative shown by Ketis also opened Ves' eyes. She had developed her Sword Pacts in a different direction than his own Blood Pacts. By making comparisons between the two, Ves gained more insights on the workings of these permanent bonds, thereby allowing him to improve his work in ways he could have never imagined by himself. Ves valued the Manual of Reformed Swordsmanship a lot more because of this reason! The other variations of the Sword Pact presented interesting research suggestions. Even if Ketis had not been able to prove their viability, the creativity she had shown when coming up with these strange ideas gave Ves a lot of inspiration.

As Ves tried to figure out if he could imitate Ketis and borrow her own ideas about the Sword Pact to increase the variety of his own Blood Pacts, the swordmaster finally spoke with contentment.

"I knew it would work. I can already tell that my new model of Reformed Swordsmanship holds genuine merit. It may not be the best way to practice swordsmanship in the Age of Dawn, but I am certain that there are no better alternatives available. I can feel it, Ves."

"Feel what?"

"I am growing stronger." Ketis grinned. "Sharpie's willpower is condensing. Now that she has bonded with the Bloodsinger, there are qualities about the latter that are beginning to bleed into the former. Before this day, Sharpie had already grown fairly strong, but she was unable to make much progress because her willpower lacked... substance, if you will. The Bloodsinger is a material artifact that can give her exactly what she needs. It reminds me of the Mech Body Merger Process. Perhaps one of the requirements for swordmasters to advance their cultivation is to promote a closer union between themselves and their blades."

That was... an interesting theory, but Sharpie's progress was not enough to serve as conclusive proof. There were so many variables interacting with each other that it was difficult to attribute a specific outcome to a specific cause.

"Does this mean that you have found your path to becoming a sword saint?"

The proud woman nodded. "I have already found it. My actions merely confirmed that it

was not a mirage. As far as my Earth score is concerned, it has already risen, but it is not yet up to the standard of a sword saint. You are right that the quality and properties of the Bloodsinger are not the best, but I have all of the time in the System Space to remedy that problem. The Workshop of Creation offers the best tools to reforge my life sword into a weapon that best reflects my growth as a mech designer as well as a reformed sword practitioner."

Ketis expressed so much confidence that Ves half-believed that she was bound to break

through for that reason alone.

Even if her trifecta theory turned out to be wrong, the belief that she was heading in the right direction may just be enough to become a saint!

Ves certainly had no reason to offer too much doubt and criticism. He did not want to burst her bubble and ruin a good thing.

Confidence was a vital quality for expert pilots to trigger their second apotheosis. Without a strong belief in their own infallibility, how could they possibly dare to break a barrier that few of their peers had ever surpassed?

The same should apply to swordmasters as well since they were also willpower

cultivators.

"Okay." Ves said. "According to your own model, you should be able to earn a high score in both the Earth and Man categories, if not now, then in the near future. That leaves the Heaven category. What do you intend to do in order to raise your score in this aspect?" Ketis deliberately raised her arm and reached behind her back so that she could unsheathe the Heavensword.

The grand work eagerly leapt into her palm and began to release a soothing white glow

from its blade.

"I am the bearer of the Heavensword. I can already channel a portion of its powers. I have also received a few lessons and hints from the blade. I have witnessed its past wielders in action. I have observed Dise's masterful manipulation of metal energy and observed her breakthrough. Do you think I can possibly fail to raise my Heaven score after gaining all of these advantages?"

The answer was obvious. There was no need for Ves to make a fool of himself.

"I will become a sword saint." Ketis stated with absolute certainty. "The only question is how soon I can attempt my breakthrough. If I am successful enough, I will be able to breakthrough while I am still inside the System Space. If not, I will most definitely be able to do it shortly after leaving it. The faster I progress, the more ready I will be to defend my family when the aliens make their final push.""

"Are you confident you will be able to fight back against the native aliens in a meaningful way after becoming a sword saint?" Ves questioned.

"Not with the Bloodsinger." Ketis readily admitted and casually swung the grand work in her hand. "My life sword still needs more time to grow. I will make use of the power of the Heavensword if it still approves of me. A good sword should not remain unused. Now that I have chosen my life sword, the threat posed by this sticky relic weapon has diminished. The only remaining issue is that I do not think I can make enough of a difference if I am still a swordmaster. I have to become a sword saint and form my own domain in order to become qualified to tap more power from the weapon and become strong enough to defeat a phase lord,"

Ves truly hoped that she was not being overconfident about her optimistic predictions.

"You will definitely make a strong statement about the strength of your reformed swordsmanship if you are able to beat a phase lord without a mech. Does this mean you have sworn off the possibility of piloting a Carmine mech?"

Ketis frowned for a moment. "I feel it is... inappropriate. I have already formed a Life

Sword Pact. Even if it isn't precisely the same as a Blood Pact, there is enough overlap that I fear that I am no longer permitted to establish one with a Carmine mech. I am okay with that. All I need to attain godhood is a good sword."