The Mech Touch

He was probably one of the rare individuals that still maintained an intact real-time communication channel with the Milky Way!

Despite the enormous distance that separated humanity\'s home galaxy from its lost satellite galaxy, the bond between Ves and Veronica transcended mortal limitations!

Ves and Veronica might appear like two separate individuals who were completely different from each other, but they were actually the \'same\' person.

The rules governing avatars were a bit confusing and illogical to Ves. He could not fathom why he and his cyborg cat avatar could still maintain their connection under the circumstances.

Fortunately, Veronica happened to be in the presence of a highly knowledgeable spiritual sorcerer, one that had just resurrected from the dead to boot!

"Oh, Ves." The goddess-like matron sighed as she took hold of the cyborg cat and stroked the feline\'s metallic back. "I am so sorry for what has happened to your human side. I deeply want to be there with you. As it is, there is not much I can do to protect you. I may have gained the power of an immortal goddess and stolen a part of the authority of the Water Scroll, but even I cannot bridge a divide that is 50 million light-years wide."

Helena weakly smiled. "I ley. You should look on the bright side, Ves. At least the Five Scrolls Compact cannot threaten you anymore. If the Big Two are unable to return the greater beyonder gates to working condition, then no one in the Milky Way can relocate to the Red Ocean and back. This is much more beneficial for you than for other humans."

Veronica cheered up a bit. "I guess you\'re right, but we Red Oceaners have greater threats to contend with now. We have lost the protective umbrella of our main civilization, which means that we have become heavily outnumbered and probably outgunned in a completely alien environment. The native aliens of the Red Ocean are already bad enough. The ones from M87 are undoubtedly worse! The supergiant galaxy is much more energetic and possesses a much greater quantity and concentration of valuable resources! Tills kind of environment tends to breed much stronger alien races!"

The advanced civilizations of the Milky Way possessed a dominant advantage over the less developed civilizations of the Red Ocean.

That was good news for the humans who came from the former and bad news for the aliens who originate from the latter.

However, the scheme hatched by the phase whales had turned much of this reality on its head!

Tlie displaced humans had completely lost access to their foundation in the Milky Way.

Perhaps the Isolated Big Two along with enterprising human pioneers maintained enough superiority to conquer the Red Ocean, but what then?

Humanity also needed to guard against the alien civilizations that had most certainly thrived under the much richer conditions of Messier 87!

Helena summed up humanity\'s predicament in the lost Red Ocean nicely.

"To the aliens of Messier 87, there are no differences between the humans and the locals of the Red Ocean. As far as they are concerned, humans are Just as indigenous to the dwarf galaxy as the others!"

Veronica made an exceptionally ugly face when she heard that. It was quite a massive drop in confidence to realize that her human side went from being a part of the superior race to a member of an inferior race!

No wonder so many people in the Red Ocean went mad!

Ves was different. He had no time to entertain his darkest thoughts. As the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan, he had a responsibility to lead his fellow Larklnsons through this massive crisis!

He quickly identified his active connection with Veronica as a key asset and advantage.

Even if Ves could do nothing else with this bond, the ability to instantly exchange information across the galaxies was a massive advantage in itself!

As Veronica thought about her current situation, her electronic green eyes suddenly focused on the translucent form of a certain design spirit.

"Helena."

"Yes, Veronica?"

"Where are you present, exactly?"

The design spirit looked confused. "Please clarify your question. What do you hope to hear?"

The cyborg cat slipped out of her mother\'s grasp and flew closer to Helena. The cat seemed to sniff in the air as she Inspected the Daughter of Death from all sides.

"What are you doing?"

"Is this your \'real\' body, Helena?"

"No." Cynthia Larkinson supplied the answer. "This is a manifestation. The Nyxlan Gap can make it so that your sister is able to embody this form to a much greater extent than elsewhere, but her true self is located in a more abstract location."

Veronica nodded her feline head. "That is what I suspected as well. Let me ask you another question, then. Are you still tied to the living mechs in the Red Ocean? The Hex Federation fields millions of Valkyrie mechs. Can you still feel them, sister?"

Helena briefly explored those connections and nodded. "I do, Ves. I can feel the incredible distance between me and those mechs, but strangely enough I do not have the impression that it makes any real difference."

"What about you, mother? Is your avatar present here in the Nyxlan Gap or did she get displaced to the Red Ocean as well?"

The resurrected woman responded with an unnaturally charming smile. "My return to life has strengthened my connection and control over the Superior Mother, so I have an excellent understanding of her state. Much of her is anchored to the people of the Hex Federation. She moves where the Hexers move. She is still tied to the mechs that you have Imposed upon her, so you do not need to be afraid that your toys have weakened."

The cyborg cat rubbed her paw against her chin in thought. "What happened to the Superior Mother makes sense, but what is up with you, sister? How can you mostly remain here but still maintain a strong connection to living mechs that are 50 million light-years away?"

"Do you not recognize your mistake, my son?" Cynthia asked. "You are applying mortal logic to gods. Helena may still have a long Journey ahead of her before she comes into her true power, but she has already Inherited a number of my traits."

Ves paused. It turned out that the reason why Helena operated differently was because of the advantages bestowed by her mommy!

Helena preened in pride. "Did you hear that, Ves? I am special! I\'m already more of a god than any of those other \'design spirits\'."

"This doesn\'t quite make sense." Veronica muttered. "The distance is too far away. You can\'t just handwave that problem away."

Ves disagreed with his mother and his eldest sister.

He was convinced that there was something special going on with those bonds, and it might not be due to Helena\'s special qualities.

He was currently lacking too much data, however.

For now, he was happy that his sister could still play a useful role in the Red Ocean.

The cyborg cat turned to the resurrected woman. "Mother, can you explain why our avatars can maintain strong connections with our principal selves?"

"As I have said, gods work differently from mortals. It is not my problem if you are unable to embrace this truth due to your secularist upbringing. Perhaps it is better to equate these bonds to the principle of quantum entanglement."

"Wouldn\'t they have snapped along with the connections maintained by all of humanity\'s intergalactic quantum communication nodes?"

Cynthia chuckled. "The bond between self and avatar is greater than that. As long as you are strong enough, you and your avatar can be located on the opposite sides of this universe and still remain connected to each other. This may even be true if you managed to enter a different universe!"

"What!?"

That was ludicrous!

"Perhaps you are under the mistaken impression that avatars can easily be made without making an excessive sacrifice." Cynthia said. "What you have been able to do on a wider scale is nothing short of revolutionary from my perspective. Creating a real avatar demands sacrifice. That has always been the rule."

"Oh. So... there shouldn\'t be any problem? My human self won\'t suddenly lose contact with this cat avatar, right?"

"There are still dangers that can sever the bond between the two of you." Cynthia warned. "It is best not to tempt fate. Both your cat avatar and your human self complete each other."

"Which means...?"

"If the two of you ever become Isolated, both of you will end up Incomplete. This is not ideal."

"I see."

Ves could already speculate what might happen. He would end up in a state similar to his mother before her first death.

He chatted a bit more with his mother. Though she possessed a lot of annoying preconceived ideas that reminded him a lot of Gloriana\'s nonsense, she was still the resident expert on spiritual engineering.

"Ves." Helena spoke up. "I am wondering whether your System is still working as well as before. Can you still smuggle goods from one galaxy to another?"

"I\'ve been wondering about that, actually." Veronica replied. "Let me check."

An awkward moment ensued as the cyborg cat remained frozen in the air.

"...Brother? Is everything alright?"

The cyborg cat\'s feline expression turned increasingly more alarmed!

"I can\'t do it. I can\'t do it anymore."

"What is the matter?"

"I can\'t enter the System Space anymore!" The female cat shrieked! "I need to conduct a test on the other side. Please wait a moment."

Veronica quickly looked a bit more reassured.

"Are you still able to access your System in the Red Ocean?"

"Yeah. That\'s a huge relief. Don\'t get me wrong. I am not addicted to the Mech Designer System. I am sure I\'ll be fine without it. I just don\'t want to lose access to all of its handy functions. I am going to need all of the boosts I can get in a dwarf galaxy that has just become a lot more dangerous."

"It makes sense." Their mother remarked as she studied Veronica closely. "Your System is greatly damaged and weakened. While it should still retain strong abilities, it is also crippled in other aspects. It is currently bonded to your main and original human body, so it can only be accessed within a limited distance around it. The displacement of the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy has clearly put this avatar of yours well out of the interaction range of your System Space."

Veronica felt Incredibly bummed at this time. Less than a day had passed since his arrival and delivery of the primordial human skeleton, and already his incredibly lucrative \'smuggling channel\' had become Invalid!

"Those goddamn phase whales!" The angry cyborg cat cursed! "Couldn\'t they have waited a few more days or a few more decades before they pulled off their master plan?! Why did they get so spooked by humanity for them to flip the table before humanity has managed to make any serious inroads in their galaxy? They could have at least put up a greater fight before they directly chose to activate their doomsday option!"

Ves at least wanted to ship over a few hundred tons of Unending alloy before the phase whales invalidated this exploit!

Helena flew closer and tried to console the cat. "We are alright, brother. We only had to make use of it once. Our mother has already made good use of your gift. Your cat avatar is still here, at least."

Cynthia also chimed in. "This is not a permanent limitation. As long as you restore your System, it will eventually regain more of its original power and majesty. The distance between the Milky Way and the displaced Red Ocean should no longer be as insurmountable as before to an artifact of this strength."

Veronica\'s eyes lit up again. "I guess you\'re right. It will be damn hard to find the rare materials needed to complete its remaining Supply Missions, but once I do... I hope I can open an Instant and low-cost Intergalactlc trade channel once again!"