Published at 3rd of January 2026 9:56 am

Chapter 7358 Surpassing the Original

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Ves had no idea that the Myth Reproduction Theory could not only explain the phenomenon of phase lords, but also explain some of the mechanics behind the Kingdom of Mechs and the Red Kingdom!

Compared to the former, the latter obviously accommodated more optimized and streamlined rituals.

In fact, mech pilots and mech designers did not deliberately have to follow too many specific steps in order to reproduce past myths. They just needed to do their jobs well in order to advance.

In comparison, the growth of phase lords was much more troublesome. From getting started to increasing their phasewater concentration, they had to take many specific actions while receiving inconsistent feedback in return.

This clearly showcased how much better the human race had leveraged the Myth Reproduction Theory in the past.

It also gave ritualists hope that they could also develop well-designed rituals in the future!

While Ves could still recognize a few gaps in the proposed theory, he was already convinced by this time.

"Not everything is perfect, Professor Larkinson. One of the implications of our theory is that peak ace pilots in our dwarf galaxy face much more resistance in breaking through than if they remained in the old galaxy."

"Huh?" Ves looked surprised. "How does that work?"

"This involves more theories and data points than just the Myth Reproduction Theory. First, we believe that gods can never be imitated through following rituals alone. The gap between 'mortals' and 'the divine' are so great that conventional methods cannot bridge this enormous gap. Only by accomplishing a feat so great that it can move the galaxy or universe to do the impossible can a Star Designer or god pilot come into existence. In other words, each ascension to godhood must be profound and unique, and therefore constitutes a myth by definition."

That… sort of matched the data. The number of Master Mech Designers and ace pilots far exceeded their superior counterparts.

Many Masters and peak ace pilots who had shown plenty of talent and promise over their lifetimes ultimately failed to complete the ultimate steps.

Perhaps they may have been able to achieve smooth progress over their careers because they followed the easy trajectories established by the Kingdoms, but once they reached the end, they could only proceed forward by themselves.

"What else supports your earlier statement, doctor?"

"We also have reasons to believe that the higher concentration of E energy in the Red Ocean and other variables has created different standards when it comes to myths and rituals. During the Red War, many peak ace pilots fought heroically, yet they failed to achieve a breakthrough. In fact, many of them have reported that they do not dare to take the first step, as their intuition is warning them that they will absolutely perish if they move rashly. One of our theories attempts to explain this by stating that the more energetic and power-filled environment of the new frontier has raised the standard of a qualified myth."

"You can think of it as the difference between moving through air and moving through water." Andrea Vos broke her silence. "Both acts are similar, but the environmental differences drastically change the difficulty and requirements. You need to undertake different actions in order to get from A to B."

That was a good analogy. Ves became a lot more convinced by these assumptions. His own intuition felt an affinity for the new theories. It sounded right in his opinion.

"This is bad news for us then." Ves grimaced. "We are all hoping for the first new god pilots to emerge and relieve the pressure of the frontlines. According to your explanations, we may be forced to wait a bit longer. The threshold to a successful breakthrough is a lot higher than in the old galaxy."

Dr. Zeron Khabeel did not express too much pessimism. "The same theories may indicate that this is the case, but they also predict that anyone who is able to break through under these circumstances will gain greater rewards than the older generation of god pilots. A stronger environment breeds stronger gods."

"I hope that this is the case."

While Ves would love to explore these profound theories and implications further, he did not forget about his main responsibility.

Now that he became acquainted with the Myth Reproduction Theory, they could finally move on to more relevant business.

"I think I understand why you took the trouble to enlighten me with your theories." Ves said with interest. "We can increase the success rate of our experiments by taking advantage of the mutated voribugs. Through the laborious act of gathering resources, pooling them all into an Incubator, capturing human expert pilots and stuffing them into the mix, our enemies established a new myth with the birth of the first Ixith Goliath. If we want to develop a comparable creation that is able to generate its own form of stolen resonance, then we can perform a ritual that replicates all of these steps as closely as possible. We do not have to be too literal or accurate, but the smaller the differences, the better, am I correct?"

"Yes, but that is not the only course of action that you can take, professor." The ritualist said. "The more superior alternative is to establish a new myth that is much greater and more profound. This allows our race to reproduce devices that can generate stolen resonance under our terms instead of that of our enemies. Obviously, the difficulty of accomplishing this feat is excessively high. Creating a new myth that can not only ripple across the ethereal plane of existence, but also override the older one created by the Goliath Hive is unrealistic."

Perhaps only the Star Designers could achieve such an amazing feat in a reasonable timeframe.

Ves knew his limits.

He quickly set aside any ideas about doing the latter and focused on the former.

What mattered the most was expediency. There was no need to think about effectiveness or practicality at this early stage.

"So if I am getting you right, if we want to improve the success rate of our next attempt, we should devise a ritual that will enable us to replicate the incubation process of the original Ixith Goliath. In more concrete terms, we need to create our own version of an Incubator, feed it lots of high-quality materials, let it cook and hope that it will birth a living device that can generate stolen resonance."

"You have accurately summarized my proposal."

"Will it work?"

"That, I cannot guarantee." Dr. Zeron Khabeel honestly admitted. "A theory still remains a theory. I can present a large collection of case studies to you, but as you have mentioned before, other theories cannot be ruled out. You must ultimately use your own judgment and make your own decision on this matter. The costs of developing and enacting this ritual are significantly greater. You may end up wasting it if you are wrong or overlook an important variable."

Ves frowned in uncertainty. "I… will need to discuss it with the rest of my Larkinsons. I am mostly convinced, but this is too big of an issue for me to decide alone. Besides, maybe my wife or the others are able to provide useful input."

"If you do decide on this course of action, then please allow us to assist and cooperate." Dr. Zeron earnestly requested. "Your project will become an important case for us. Whether your ritual succeeds or not will be an important piece of data for us. We can make many useful contributions. We have already developed a small but reliable repertoire of methods and techniques that can reduce the variance and increase the reliability of your upcoming ritual."

"Hmm, we will discuss that as well. Not everyone will agree to letting people outside of our clan gain access to our research project." Ves carefully responded. "However, I think that your expertise in ritualism makes it worthwhile to let you in. It is much better to rely on a professional on a task of this magnitude."

While Ves possessed a reasonable amount of confidence in his ability to homebrew his own rituals, he ultimately did not specialize in this strange field.

It made much more sense to outsource this particular job to an actual ritualist who could rely on a systematic foundation to produce his work.

Ves moved quickly. He called for a meeting where he presented a brief version of the ritualist's theories to the other Larkinson mech designers.

Just like him, Gloriana and the others already looked convinced.

"That makes a disturbing amount of sense." One of them commented.

"Since the Red Collective have already derived results from this theory, then it is worth our consideration." Gloriana stated. "The more important question is how we can make use of what we learned. What do you propose, Ves?"

"We should try to devise a ritual that follows the steps that led to the birth of the original Ixith Goliath… within reason, of course."

Though the suggestion sounded absurd, according to the Myth Reproduction Theory, even a shabby and incomplete imitation should qualify as a valid ritual!

So long as the imprint of the original myth was strong enough, whatever ritual the Larkinsons came up with would likely activate the right trigger!

Of course, this was assuming that the theory was correct and that the Larkinsons applied it correctly.

In any case, once the Larkinsons learned that developing the right ritual may allow them to overcome the many problems that plagued the first trial, they began to work with gusto on puzzling out the ritual.

It was not easy to adapt the formation of the Incubator and simulate its function on a much smaller scale and with much greater limitations.

The current working conditions were far from ideal.

Ves felt that even if they devised the best possible ritual under the circumstances, it may still end up producing a disappointing result.

If he wanted the ritual to succeed, then he had to make it bigger and stronger somehow.

Somewhere along the way, Ves suddenly thought about the willpower choice.

Compared to the original myth, feeding the artificial version of the Incubator with a hyper material containing the stale and old spirituality of a defeated expert pilot did not align very well.

If he wanted to recreate the myth a lot closer to the actual truth, then it would be best to capture a hostile expert pilot and directly feed it into the Larkinson version of the Incubator!

"Wait!"

Why settle for an accurate imitation when there was a chance to make it bigger?

Ves suddenly recalled that the source of willpower of the Ixith Goliath came from a handful of captured expert pilots.

As powerful as they had become, these expert pilots were trivial compared to ace pilots!

What if… they attempted to usurp the original myth with one of their own creations?

Naturally, this should have been an uphill battle with very dim chances of success, but Ves did not agree with this assessment!

The difference between feeding an Incubator with an expert pilot and an ace pilot was huge!

By relying on these immense qualitative differences, Ves hoped that the Red Ocean or other higher authorities would overlook the very clear shortcomings of his experimental work and appreciate it for trying to repurpose the willpower of an ace pilot by force!

Normally, the thought of capturing an ace pilot and cruelly using his willpower as the power source of a stolen resonance generator would have come across as abhorrent.

There were many lines that decent human beings should never cross.

He would never stoop to hunting down real and earnest ace pilots.

Yet Ves still couldn't resist the urge to formulate a plan.

He just so happened to know of a group of extremist mech pilots who were willing to sacrifice their lives and betray red humanity to protect their ideals!

If there were any ace pilots among them, then they would definitely lose at least a part of the protections afforded to their class.

That meant that they had become fair game!

Using them to fuel the birth of a homebrew generator of stolen resonance was their fortune!

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