Was faith the only solution to this problem?
The Larkinson Network was vulnerable. Ves readily believed this to be the case.
Even if he left out the insane capabilities of the Web Mistress herself, there should be plenty of other True God-level adversaries that might be able to find a way to sabotage or outright disable the Larkinson Network.
The solutions offered by the Web Mistress sounded rather general and obvious, but Ves genuinely did not consider them in the past. This eting had already been worth it for this information alone.
Yet that did not necessarily an that he liked her proposed solution to his problem.
"Faith, huh?" Ves frowned as he tried to contemplate this unpalatable solution.
Why faith?
Why must the Larkinsons resort to make-belief and superstition to protect their kinship network against external attacks?
Wasn't there a better alternative available? Ves ca here expecting one of the best ch designers to ever exist to propose a high-tech solution to him. It did not matter if the tech was expensive or unattainable through normal ans.
So long as this solution existed, Ves was sure he could develop a bootleg version of it that might not work as effectively, but at least fulfilled his most imdiate needs.
Yet a leader of the highly secularist Red Association actually encouraged Ves to resort to the power of faith!
A part of Ves felt as if the Web Mistress had not only betrayed him personally, but also everything the Red Association stood for. The chers were supposed to be the voice of reason and the bulwark against fanaticism.
Was the Web Mistress an aberration? Was she the exception among Star Designers, or was she just as crazy as the Polymath?
So far, his three etings with three different Star Designers all left him feeling as if he had co face to face with ch designers who possessed more knowledge than any other human, but beca irrevocably changed by the insights that only they understood.
This was the first ti that Ves truly understood what it looked like for other people to be cursed by knowledge.
"Faith is a subject of great controversy among humans." The Web Mistress stated the obvious as she continued to pamper the increasingly more comfortable Golden Cat. "It did not have any particularly powerful manifestations during the Age of chs, and that has caused many humans to develop an overwhelmingly negative impression of this phenonon. We do not live in that age anymore. The reason why the Age of Dawn is called this way is because exotic radiation has rewritten the rules and introduced a new beginning for many phenona that we previously dismissed."
Ves was not unfamiliar with this argunt. He used it himself at tis to excuse his own decisions and behavior.
Yet now that the Web Mistress used it against himself, he felt uncomfortable about changing his mind on a subject that only evoked disgust and vigilance in him. Ves could not bring himself to swallow her argunt so easily.
"Why are you harping so much on using the power of faith?" Ves asked. "Isn't there a better alternative?"
The Web Mistress finally let go of the Golden Cat.
"The short answer is no. You are pining for a solution that does not exist… yet. There is no secret high technology in my possession that can artificially strengthen or protect a kinship network. The Red Collective may have formation masters and other cultivation scientists that may be able to offer slight upgrades and solutions, but they cannot change the fundantal factors that make your Larkinson Network so vulnerable in the first palace."
Though the ancestral spirit surprisingly enjoyed the True God's delicate touch, she did not forget that the Star Designer could easily unravel her at any ti.
Goldie therefore decided to fly across the table and take shelter against Ves' own body.
"Nya nya nya!"
Ves picked up the frightened cat and tried to soothe her by kissing her forehead and scratching her head to make her feel safe again.
"It's okay, dear. You are safe. I would never allow you to co to harm."
Ves felt more comfortable now that Goldie's light shone so closely to him. He basked in the warm and gentle feeling of family evoked by the spiritual product.
As Ves gazed down at the Golden Cat, he tried to imagine a future where the Larkinson worshiped her as a literal cat goddess.
To be fair, a lot of Larkinsons already treated her in this fashion, but they were not too serious about it. His clansn never felt the need to organize a church or accuse others of being heretics for not bothering to engage in this silly behavior.
Yet what would happen if Ves tried his best to convert the Larkinsons into people of faith?
The entire clan would change, and not in a good way. Ves recognized that religion and belief could evoke strong devotion from humans, which in the Age of Dawn translated into serious power when produced en masse.
Yet was it worth it to distort the Larkinson Clan so extensively in exchange for greater power and security?
Ves felt conflicted about this matter. He desired the power that ca from strong belief, but he was absolutely not willing to tolerate its manifestations in his own clan!
"What do you think I should do, Goldie? Do you want to beco a god that forces her subjects to worship her in order to fuel your ability to keep them safe?"
Goldie purred as she continued to rub the side of her head against his body. "Nyaaaa~"
She did not have a strong inclination on the matter.
The Golden Cat was more than willing to let Ves decide on her behalf.
She trusted him completely because he was her creator and the founder of the Larkinson Clan.
There was nothing in her that gave her any reason to believe he would act against her best interests and the interests of his fellow Larkinsons.
This was because the two of them shared a close and intimate bond as soon as she first ca to life.
The very first spiritual bond she ford with a human was with her own progenitor. Their connection happened to be the strongest of them all due to how much Ves understood his own creation and how extensively Goldie had learned from his teachings and his example.
Strictly speaking, Aurelia was not his first child.
The Golden Cat had a stronger claim to this title.
Ves felt incredibly flattered as well as responsible for the unconditional trust she placed on the human she regarded as her father.
His eyes suddenly widened as he realized an alternative to the proposal made by the Web Mistress!
"Thank you, Goldie! I may have just found a way to save you." He whispered in her pointed ears.
"Nya?"
Ves straightened his back and faced the Web Mistress with a much more confident deanor than before!
Previously, the Web Mistress had completely taken control of the initiative. She constantly threw him off-guard by voicing one shocking idea after another.
No more.
Ves finally found a way to escape the trap that she had set for him. If the Web Mistress thought that she could pin him down and make him behave according to her own predictive models, then she clearly never had a taste of his ingenuity!
"Your Excellency." He addressed her. "You introduced the web model to and suggested that I strengthen the Larkinson Network by altering the behavior of my clansn, is that correct? Your proposal entails the institution of a religion and either force or strongly encourage the Larkinsons to worship them as literal gods, is that correct?"
The Star Designer inclined her head. "Yes. Only strong, consistent and fervent belief can produce the strong bonds you need to make every strand in the web strong enough to resist most of the possible attacks that you are concerned about."
Ves smirked and leaned forward. "I am sure you are correct about that, but what if we rely on a different dium than belief? Earlier, you ntioned that there is a force that is stronger than faith, and that is love. Every life form that is capable of exhibiting complex thoughts is able to develop emotions as well. Among these emotions, there is nothing that can motivate organisms better than the emotion of love."
His counterargunt likely surprised the Web Mistress, though she did not show it. She instead let the silence pass for a few seconds before issuing a reply.
"Love is powerful, but it is epheral. Do you know why I suggested you turn to faith rather than the ostensibly superior alternative? It is because a human's faith can easily remain strong and stable for many decades. Love is much more volatile in comparison. It has greater peaks, but rarely maintains this state for long. Love is subject to aging. Love must constantly be reinforced lest people begin to forget. Love is cruel enough that it can make two lovers hate each other for any number of possible reasons. The variables are too many to count. Constructing a kinship network with love as its source of power is… an unnecessarily risky decision."
"Hahaha!" Ves couldn't help but burst out in laughter! "Do you know what the Larkinson Clan stands for? We are no strangers to risk! Per angusta ad augusta. The very motto of our clan describes how we have risen far from our roots as a third-class family organization! We are not afraid of enduring difficulties so long as the payoff is worth it. As far as I am concerned, fortifying our kinship network with love is the most fitting strategy for our clan!"
The Web Mistress finally frowned in displeasure. "Do not make a decision that you will regret. Love is largely based on personal bilateral relationships between close relatives. It is difficult to experience love when dealing with many other people, let alone more divergent and abstract existences. More problematic than that is the lack of consistency of love. It is intense when it is experienced in a short ti interval, but always fades after it is over. Love can even flip into hatred, which can threaten to undo everything that you have built."
Ves snorted. This was an extrely disrespectful gesture to make in front of a Star Designer, but he did not care at the mont.
"Your Excellency, do you know what has sustained us and kept us together through good tis and bad tis? Love. I only realized until now that our network already embodies at least a part of the most powerful force in the universe. Kinship stands for family, and family is held together by the pure emotion of love, not by bonds based on shared genetics or family nas. Do you know what that ans? Our clan is already predisposed to leveraging the power of love to strengthen the Larkinson Network! As long as we implent a few policy changes and make more leaders aware of the importance of channeling the power of love, I am sure we can make the Larkinson Network just as strong if not stronger than if we followed your proposal!"
Although the Web Mistress still did not agree with his own version of a solution, she ultimately respected his right to make his own decisions.
"I see that you will not be swayed by my argunts. So be it. Your proposal is not entirely unfeasible. Since you approached for assistance, I shall share several solutions that you can implent in your Larkinson Network that can optimize it to better make use of love and strong affection."
The Star Designer did not pull off any tricks this ti. She genuinely passed a few E-technology designs to him that could substantially improve the functionality of the Larkinson Network. The tweaks also attuned them better to love, thereby making sure that its power did not go to waste.
It did not take long for Ves to gain a handle on the solutions. They were not too complicated and Ves easily figured them out. He did not think they contained any traps, though it went without saying that changing the Larkinson Network in a direction that was partially determined by the Web Mistress would make it easier for her to tamper it just like how Ves could manipulate his own living chs.
That just went with the territory.
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