Once the irrelevant people left, Ves remained in the System Space with Alexa.
The young Journeyman Mech Designer looked quite eager to start their collaboration work.
She had dreamed about realizing her proposal for numerous days, yet did not dare to place too much hope that she could successfully persuade the others in backing her idea.
After all, she herself knew how her plan hinged too much on a number of crucial assumptions.
If reality did not match the conditions demanded by her proposal, her hope of killing all of the deathborn with a single move would definitely perish!
Even now, Alexa still did not know whether she had done the Larkinsons and other related people a huge favor.
The alternatives were too frightening to consider.
"Hey." Ves softly said as he raised his arm and pressed it onto her shoulder. "Relax. You are not alone in this. The rest of us have seen enough promise in your proposal to back it above our own plans. Even if you end up getting it wrong, we won't blame you for it. We all bear responsibility over our own actions."
Alexa remained silent for a few seconds before she responded with a brittle smile. "I… apologize. I should not have shown so much weakness to you. I am not as accustomed to bearing so much responsibility all at once. I will be fine. I only require another minute to regain my posure."
He could tell through multiple ways that his direct disciple still remained shaken in mind and spirit.
She had been relatively fine when she initially presented her idea, but that was when she still considered it a longshot.
The fact that Ves and the others decided to rally around her proposal so quickly and with so little arguing took her by surprise!
Even if she understood the logical sequence that led to this result, her emotions still needed to catch up to the present.
"There is no need to hide your true self before me." He said. "You are family. You are my student. We have an obligation to protect you and help you. It will be a terrible day if other Larkinsons seek to take advantage of your weakness. You can trust me, Alexa. Even if you doubt every other Larkinson, you never have to raise your guard in my presence alone."
Alexa shook her head. "Thank you, Ves, but I do not need your reassurances. I am no immature child who is lacking in fort. As I have said, I am merely unaccustomed to bearing so much responsibility. That will definitely change over time."
Ves inwardly shrugged. He truly wanted to remind her that she had no need to put on a brave face in front of himself, but he silenced his own words. She would just deny it all over again.
They had much better things to do with their limited time.
"Let's get back to the matter at hand. Let me transcribe the contents of the Last Defiance Manual into a digital file before transmitting it to you. I will make sure to add my extensive understanding and interpretation as well in order to make it faster and easier to digest the reading material. Much of what I understand and master is relatively neutral and unbiased, so you don't have to be afraid that I will make too many mistakes."
That had been a boon from the enlightenment fruit. Ves needed all of this additional understanding in order to bee proficient in applying the Last Defiance Technique.
Much of these clever tricks and methods hadn't been formally documented in the Last Defiance Manual.
This was fairly normal. The tome contained the core explanations and methods, but it did not do its utmost to coddle its readers.
If it did, then the text would have bee at least 10 times more bloated!
At some point, the creator of powerful and unique techniques no longer wished to spell out each and every step that their successors had to master in order to bee their inheritors.
The ability to successfully practice and perform the relevant techniques served as a test on whether the individuals were qualified to make use of this precious heritage.
Those that faltered or even managed to kill themselves due to various shortings clearly deserved what they got for overestimating their abilities!
Ves had a very strong feeling that the creator of the Last Defiance Manual ascribed to this style of inheritance transmission.
Therefore, Ves tried his best to write down each and every idea in order to make the resulting document as plete and thorough as possible.
The thick explanations might not necessarily guarantee success, but it should hopefully cut down on the accident rate!
Alexa began to skim through the many pages of convoluted text with great interest.
She slowly began to frown as she began to encounter many obscure theories and references that did not have anything in mon with modern science and sensibilities.
"It will not be easy for me to gain a basic but qualified grasp of the theory behind the Last Defiance Technique. I estimate that I will need at least 2 days of focused study before I can gain enough confidence to realize my plan."
"Very well. I will go ahead and build up the initial framework for the poisoned fruit." He said.
The two spoke for a few more minutes before they split up in order to tackle their respective assignments.
Ves still possessed a very fresh and strong perspective on the Last Defiance Manual.
Before the knowledge and insights truly settled into his mind, he intended to take advantage of his current mental state and let his creativity run wild.
Ves sat down besides his personal worktable and drummed his fingers against the surface.
The Last Defiance Technique was never designed with the purpose that Ves and his fellow Larkinsons had in mind.
There was no straightforward way to convert the principles and methods of the Last Defiance Manual into a readily usable design for a poisoned fruit.
He needed to take bits and pieces from this desperation technique and somehow use them as the puzzle pieces of a new design.
"This is a big endeavor."
He clearly could not plete such a considerable undertaking in a single step. He needed to make this process more manageable by focusing on the key principles and processes first.
As long as he figured out the core steps, he could build the remainder around this framework.
He identified two important variables.
"Life energy. Power."
He lifted his finger and began to draw two projected bubbles in the air. Each of them represented one of the aforementioned variables.
He proceeded to draw a single arrow from one bubble to the other.
"The conversion of life energy into power is already covered by the Last Defiance Technique. The only challenge is to develop a seed that can enable a deathborn to perform this technique autonomously."
There was no way a deathborn could execute this technique by itself. The most essential theory needed to activate the most rudimentary version of the Last Defiance Technique was not heavy, but it was not something a feral being could learn without spending time and effort!
Ves would essentially have to develop a bootleg version of an enlightenment fruit in order to let the deathborn instinctively learn the technique upon swallowing the bait!
Yet doing so was probably a dead end, because there was no way to know for certain whether the deathborn would be able or willing to act upon what they have learned.
They were so irrational that they might not possess the necessary focus and intent.
If they happened to be rational for whatever reason, then they may be able to recognize the trap inherent in the technique.
This was especially a concern for the higher-ranking deathborn!
Not only did they possess actual intelligence, they were also capable of imposing their control over many more deathborn!
This was one of the major shortings of Alexa's proposal.
This was why he intended to address this issue by designing a spiritual seed that performed a variation of the Last Defiance Technique by itself.
"I can use my design flame as inspiration."
It came to mind that the design seed or design flame of a high-ranking mech designer actually possessed a similar function!
They held way more features than that, but Ves could not deny the convenience that they offered to many mech designers.
Design seeds enabled Journeyman Mech Designers to infuse extraordinary elements into their works without needing to perform any plicated or convoluted cultivation techniques.
Mech designers seem to be able to create wondrous designs and works without putting any conscious thought on this aspect!
This was one of the most basic 'abilities' bestowed by this humble design seed!
As a mech designer progressed, the design seed slowly evolved into more advanced forms.
At Ves' current stage, it had already transformed into a small but relatively capable design flame.
Once he realized his design philosophy, it would truly metamorphose into a blazing sun!
He had already encountered plenty of Master Mech Designers. Even if he did not dare to probe them too closely, he could never ignore their bright and powerful spiritual radiance!
Naturally, these bright spiritual stars possessed far more expansive features and functions than their initial forms!
Ves did not bother to think any further about the high-level manifestations of a mech designer's essence.
What he was truly interested in was to reproduce the most basic and rudimentary version of a design seed.
It did not need to be anywhere close as capable of a real design seed. It just had to possess the bare essentials, just enough to get the job done.
"This will not be easy. I don't even know how to create a design seed to begin with. How can I possibly figure this out on my own?"
Ves let out a tired breath. He certainly had his work cut out for him. He still had plenty of hours to figure out this initial problem.
If he still failed to e up with any ideas, then he might have to wait for Alexa to be done with her studies.
A fresh perspective may be needed to overe this important hurdle.
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