It had been the right decision to hang on to the Elegant Rage for a while!
Ves managed to harvest a lot of useful gains from the Elegant Rage. The most crucial insight that he managed to obtain from his examinations of this mutated ch was the discovery that strong cognition could replace cultivation thods!
It made sense after a bit of thinking. If active cultivation was like trying to self-hypnotize oneself, possessing a very strong mindset was a superior alternative to such a clumsy and artificial thod!
This was probably one of the underlying pillars of willpower cultivation. Both swordmasters and high-ranking ch pilots grew stronger not by engaging in any mysterious voodoo, but by developing an extraordinary mindset that was utterly focused and single-minded.
The stronger the ego of the willpower cultivator, the greater his or her ability to distort psychoreactive energies, thereby forcing reality to bend to their unbreakable will!
This explained what made the Elegant Rage so different from other third order living chs, even those that managed to ride along the breakthroughs of their pilots.
Compared to other expert pilots, Venerable Lanie Larkinson's breakthrough was especially desperate and traumatic. In her dying state, her ntality beca extrely unbalanced and probably fixated really hard on thoughts related to revenge, payback, retribution and etcetera.
Lanie beca overwheld by her unrestrained negative thoughts and emotions!
During the Age of chs, an expert pilot that had completely lost her composure and set aside all of her honor and nobility would never be able to earn the blessing of the Kingdom of chs.
The current iteration of the Red Kingdom was different!
The breakthrough did nothing to dispel Lanie's negative obsessions. Instead, the process of apotheosis strengthened them, causing them to beco extraordinarily more powerful!
Contaminated by the strong aura, presence and wood energy exuded by the Emperor Tree, Venerable Lanie's extraordinary power further mutated by acquiring a wood-based the.
This was the reason why her willpower manifested in the shape of thorns.
As the ch that ford an active man-machine connection with Lanie at the ti of her traumatic breakthrough, it made sense for the Elegant Rage to freeload off her battle partner's dramatic explosion in strength.
If Lanie was a conventional expert pilot, then her ch would probably absorb a bunch of positive or neutral energies.
This transford the living ch's cognition and not only caused them to develop a closer bond with their high-ranking pilots, but also increase their compatibility with the latter's E energy attributes.
Now that Ves thought about it, these acquired qualities should also be present among old machines that had been with their partners for a long ti such as the Dark Zephyr, the Bastion and the C-Man.
However, these special living chs did not demonstrate noticeably strong capabilities because it was harder to notice the differences produced by their strong cognitions.
For example, the Dark Zephyr's alignnt with Tusa's ideas probably made the living ch faster and more evasive, but how could Ves possibly asure this when the machine was already loaded with a powerful flight system and other parts that boosted his mobility?
There was no way to tell whether the Dark Zephyr Mark III produced a certain increase in acceleration or maneuverability because of a specific reason. It could be due to his superior tech, the true resonance amplification from being piloted by Saint Tusa, a favorable E energy environnt or the living ch's own strong cognition!
So even if the effect of acquired cognition played a role in strengthening the performance of a third order living ch, who could truly tell?
The Dark Zephyr and all of his other established third order living chs all possessed a high trust in their progenitor and diligently practiced the Greater Larkinson tal Guardian Mantra without further question.
At most, they made minor changes to their practice in order to shift a bit of focus towards other E energy attributes, but it was unquestionable that the tal elent remained a core feature of this mantra.
It wouldn't have included the word 'tal' in its na if this was not the case!
Ves recalled that he originally created the Lesser and Greater Larkinson tal Guardian Mantra by using another cultivation thod as a base template.
The Atr Guardian Mantra that Ves managed to learn by ingesting an enlightennt fruit not only possessed a strong defensive focus, but could also be adapted for living chs as the System processed the thod to make it more universal.
The latter was an incredibly important hidden benefit. Ves could gain far more from the Tree of Possibilities than by using his capital and influence to collect ancient cultivation records from various different parties.
Even if he managed to obtain a bunch of copies of surviving cultivation manuals, they were usually written in obscure foreign languages that were difficult to interpret.
The conditions of practicing them were also a lot harsher, as many of them had been tailored for primordial humans or people with very rare and specific talents.
One of the greatest advantages of the enlightennt fruits provided by the Tree of Possibilities was to render all of these prerequisites irrelevant and allow the recipients to instantly get started with the corresponding thods!
How was this possible?
Ves had no clue. This was way too advanced and high-level to him. Perhaps he might be able to replicate this effect when he reached the sa height as the creator of the tal Scroll, but that was too far away from his current self.
He focused on the more imdiate implications.
The speed of practicing was fairly slow, and it imposed greater demands on the physique than the spirit. Nonetheless, the talent threshold was also lower as a response. Ves gained the distinct impression that the mantra was specifically composed to train a bunch of elite bodyguards.
Was the Atr Guardian Mantra the best possible template that Ves could utilize in order to develop a cultivation thod for his living chs?
The Atr Guardian Mantra was quite a good cultivation thod. The sanitized version bestowed by the enlightennt fruit was fairly pure and did not possess any major traps or pitfalls.
The speed of practicing was fairly slow, and it imposed greater demands on the physique than the spirit. Nonetheless, the talent threshold was also lower as a response. Ves gained the distinct impression that the mantra was specifically composed to train a bunch of elite bodyguards.
Was the Atr Guardian Mantra the best possible template that Ves could utilize in order to develop a cultivation thod for his living chs?
No.
For example, the Amaranto definitely got much less out of the Greater Larkinson tal Guardian Mantra than other living chs.
The expert ch's strong focus on extre firepower not only caused her to conflict with the central concepts of the tal Guardian Mantra, but also wasted much of her ti and energy on strengthening the least important aspect of her ch fra.
So what if her armor system and internal structure beca a little tougher and more resistant towards damage?
The Amaranto was never supposed to get attacked by enemies in the first place!
What was worse about letting the expert marksman ch practice the Greater Larkinson tal Guardian Mantra was that it could produce a conflict in cognition.
The tal Guardian Mantra could not get away from the fact that it possessed a strong defensive focus.
In order for the Amaranto to grow stronger, she constantly needed to focus on offensive ideas.
Therefore, practicing the tal Guardian Mantra not only caused the Amaranto to make less progress in strengthening her strongest properties, but also risked the possibility of brainwashing her into becoming a more defense-oriented ch!
"That is a disaster!"
Perhaps the shift towards defense might actually be useful if Gloriana managed to get her hands on a lot of Solarium that she could use to enhance the Amaranto's defenses, but Ves absolutely disagreed with this change in focus.
"The Amaranto and many other living chs need to stop trying to beco a guardian and focus on pursuing a different idea."
Ves should have thought a lot more about these inherent conflicts. His busy schedule and the constant ergence of exciting side projects had caused him to neglect the issue of ch cultivation.
He needed to correct that. Every ch needed to be able to grow completely according to their own inherent inclinations. This was difficult to accomplish with only a single template as a starting point.
Ves grew increasingly more dissatisfied with the Larkinson tal Guardian Mantra. It served its purpose at the ti of its creation, but several years had passed.
He managed to learn much more about cultivation science, E-technology and hyper technology.
He observed a lot of new phenona and harvested a huge amount of insights.
According to his current standards, the Larkinson tal Guardian Mantra had beco an outdated piece of trash!
While it was better than nothing, Ves was definitely capable of producing more superior alternatives nowadays, especially after he discovered what made the Elegant Rage special.
The fact that the thorn-covered ch was able to grow faster and more harmoniously by doing nothing was a strong indictnt of the Greater Larkinson tal Guardian Mantra!
As Ves began to think about changing the cultivation strategy of his living chs, he first tried to think about whether it would be possible to permanently alter the cognitions of his products in a controlled fashion.
There might be a chance.
Unlike humans, chs were manufactured objects. Ves could exert a lot more control over the properties of the latter.
The reason why humans needed to depend on active cultivation thods was because they were unable to change themselves by relying on their inherent characteristics. Only by distorting their own cognitions through self-hypnosis would they be able to transcend their barriers and beco stronger.
chs were akin to artifacts. Their designers were able to specify their roles, their forms and even their underlying spiritual foundations to align with a very specific vision.
Ves suddenly understood why high-level artifacts needed to possess a mind of their own. It was because relying on hyper materials and runes to bestow extraordinary properties on objects was not enough to make them powerful.
Only when they were governed by strong and very single-minded spirits would they be able to surpass the boundaries of their physical limitations and increase the power of E energy reactions!
A powerful enough mind and spirit was able to transform an average sword into a god-killing artifact!
Ves began to reevaluate a lot of assumptions about his living chs.
His latest insights caused him to suspect that he had been going astray.
Third order living chs were wonderful existences. They most definitely managed to surpass the ordinary and gained traits that helped ch pilots in many ways.
From being able to grow and develop Ascension Runes to being able to cooperate more closely with their ch pilots, third order living chs undoubtedly proved their usefulness many tis over.
However, developing true sapience was a double-edged sword.
Every living ch learned from their ch pilots. The cognition of the forr took after the cognition of the latter.
This made it a lot easier for living chs to get along with their ch pilots, but it also caused the machines to develop far more complicated thoughts and emotions than they should.
This was not necessarily a good developnt.
Ves made an important realization. While living chs were capable of acquiring so of the strengths of their ch pilots, they were also capable of inheriting the weaknesses of the latter!
Humans possessed many failings. Their scattered minds, their complex and contradictory thinking and their volatile emotions all produced a lot of chaos in their heads. This was why most of them were inherently unable to grow more powerful by themselves.
When living chs grew stronger through constant exposure to their ch pilots, their personalities beca less single-minded and started to exhibit a lot of complex human characteristics.
The Quint was an extre example of the effect of human contamination on living chs!
Multiple ch pilots interfaced with the Quint, causing the very old custom Bright Warrior ch to develop a very complex and deviant personality.
Such a living ch would probably struggle to grow stronger due to the high degree of pollution in his spiritual foundation!
The situation was better for living expert chs. Their powerful pilots had all managed to develop strong willpower. Each demigod harbored strong obsessions and fixations that reduced their distractions and prevented them from deviating from their true natures.
Even so, expert pilots still retained a lot of their humanity, so it was inevitable that their living expert chs beca afflicted by various complicated ideas.
"All of this is detrintal to their long-term growth and developnt." Ves frowned. "I think I understand now why the likes of Patriarch Reginald Cross and Venerable Taon lin killed their own living chs…"
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