This was how things were at the moment. It was the same throughout the Blackboard Region, Polar Region, Maria Region, and other surrounding regions where everything related to Inherited Level was under strict control; even Red-eyed Medero could not obtain a Level Six Training Method to reach Level Six despite having served the academy for such a long period of time. Moreover, for huge influential households like the one Celine was from, or elites, there would only be a single digit number of pilots with Inherited Level training methods and Mechs. If Celine herself did not reach the top three in her entire clan, she could only attain Level Five at most.
If that was the case for such rich and powerful individuals, what of Garen himself?
Regarding Inheritance, the teacher would need to make a careful selection and scrutinize each generation. The level of aptitude and will required were extremely high and not everyone could easily meet these conditions.
After learning of these circumstances, Garen immediately set his sights on the Forbidden Core. This could be the only opportunity for him to acquire an Inherited Level training method.
Standing underneath the cold shower, Garen started to recall the Level One content of the Forbidden Training Method.
“…Inherited training methods vastly differ from ordinary training methods whereby the human fuses with the Mech to eventually replace oneself with foreign objects, while the original self would huddle up in the inner core of the Mech, achieving the state of a body within a body. At that level, the original self would exist as the core of life, reaching the theoretical limit of a human lifespan. Every kind of exhaustion and damage will be borne by the Mech’s body. At the same time, foreign objects can be used to recuperate and evolve the Mech’s body whereby their essence would be extracted to feed the original core, prolonging and evolving the levels of limitations of human life. This is one of the basic concepts in the early journey of Inheriting.”
Garen had read this numerous times but was still deeply shaken as he read it again. This kind of means equaled to constructing a truly mighty outer shell with life in it.
“According to the Yin-yang theory and the ways of the Secret Techniques, the source of life, also known as the innate vitality of the body, are fixed since birth, not just in human beings but in all kinds of living things. It cannot regenerate and can only be exhausted. Growth and development will expend innate vitality, while injuries and illness will result in the depletion of vitality for recovery; facing enormous stimulation will also exhaust vitality.”
“Life is like a brand new candle; birth is when the candle is lit while death is when it burns out. This is the essence of life,” Garen contemplated on the matter.
“No wonder some people view life as a journey. The candle is given by parents, by this universe. The parents, coming together under an appropriate circumstance influenced by the universe, will produce offspring and give us flesh. Our flesh results in thinking, which will then evolve into a will that influences the body. There are pros and cons to this type of influence. When the self is not influenced by distracting thoughts and desires will all miscellaneous cravings be altered and meld together for the purpose of feeding back into the innate vitality. Only then can one walk upon the path of evolution. Using the whole of self as a motivation for evolving…”
Combining the universal view and life view of the ways of the Secret Techniques, Ancient Endor, and other philosophies during Earth times, Garen formed his own kind of philosophical theory.
The function of philosophy was to point out a direction and to see the future clearly.
With the merging of the Inherited Mech theory from this world, Garen was able to visualize a whole new path before him.
“Right… If growing causes the exhaustion of innate vitality, why not construct a brand new body since the original body solely acts as a bearing tool? By cutting down exhaustion, growth and development, aging, and illness, it would certainly be possible to achieve a non-deteriorating life pattern under the protection of the mech’s body. In this case, it would most likely prolong one’s lifespan,” Garen nodded and continued reading attentively.
“Perhaps there are still many other schools of thought. Even so, the fundamental direction is as such: living things themselves have adaptability. This kind of adaptability is known as evolving or devolving. Changes occur in response to the environment and the genes of generations upon generations are modified to better integrate into the life pattern of the natural universe. This is inherent. It is an inherent trait for us to blend in with the natural universe as one. Every person of remarkable talent can learn to reflect on the law of nature and universe to quicken this process. Our learning ability can speed up our inherent adaptability, although this kind of adapting will cause the loss of life.”
“Why do living things have such adaptability?”
This question appeared next.
Garen was able to grasp some ideas. He had known about all these things previously but they were not put together like this and had never elicited such a strong emotion in him.
“Because the instinct to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages is incongruous with nature, there will always be friction and resistance.”
“For example, the tree that grows out of the forested area will easily be blown down by the wind, or the animal that eats only a single type of plant will die off when that particular type of plant goes extinct due to natural causes.”
“In human society, if we do not integrate into it, we will be viewed as strange species, be discriminated against and face prejudices. The friction with the outside world will also increase.”
“If the tender skin does not grow thick when it is constantly being blown at by the wind, chilblains will start to develop. If the strength of resisting heat does not increase when constantly being in a high-temperature environment, one will be scalded every day. There are many more similar principles…”
The notes of the training method kept going deeper, and Garen continuously deepened the engraving of the imprint in both of his legs in accordance with the content of the Forbidden Training Method.
“In order to reduce all kinds of friction with the outer world and to prevent the energy of life from depleting, previous wise men have racked their brains and figured out a whole new path, which is the Mech.”
“One will still be affected and have to suffer from the universe and light radiation as long as the person exists in this universe. Although many of the beams are beneficial at the same time, many forerunners have exchanged precious experience and knowledge on how to sift out the beneficial parts and reject the depleting parts. The Mech, as the mechanism of choice, emerged as the times demanded. Combat is actually just one of its additional functions.”
Garen nodded in understanding. This kind of pathway’s concept was way different from the direction of Secret Techniques. The Secret Technique’s concept was to exhaust all of the innate vitality in the shortest amount of time to upgrade oneself. When one reached the level of unending tapping, one would be able to transmigrate and revive even though the body had rotted. What differed was the switching of a bodily shell.
Both differed in their essence.
The Secret Technique was about enhancing the enduring essence of the body and integrating the imprint of the will of life into it.
On the other hand, the Mech used a foreign object as a protective shell to protect the body so that it could endure and prolong its development.
Put simply, that was what it meant.
The focus of Secret Techniques was on afterlife while for the Mech, it was the present life. They were somewhat similar to the philosophies of Buddhism and Taoism on Earth.
Garen’s mind became clearer as he comprehended this. By corroborating the strength systems of countless worlds with one another, he began to see clearly the path he was to take.
“By utilizing the strength of technology, the mech acts as an outer body to strengthen the original body and feed back into the body, thus achieving an indestructible state and maximum lifespan. Building on this foundation, the toxins and impurities of the body will be filtered out repeatedly while unused functions would be eliminated, leaving purely the source of life and reverting the human body to its primitive state. The substitution of the Mech as the body will turn into a brand new life…”
As Garen looked over the text repeatedly, the current situation he was in dawned on him. He wondered whether the Forbidden Core had come from such beginnings and if it possible that the Forbidden Core was, in fact, the pilot of the Forbidden Mech itself. After all, it was highly unlikely that a body would contain a second consciousness. Yet, the universe was so big that nothing was to be surprised at, even in such circumstances.
Garen put aside his suspicion.
Recalling the situation of Blackboard Academy, he suddenly realized that no one in the whole of the academy had ever made it known that they were Level Six, not even the instructors and professors. Even for those instructors who had made it to Level Six and left a legacy behind, they only stayed in the inner courtyard all year round and no one had ever seen their faces before. As for the big three professors, nobody had an idea of what their statuses were, as not a single person had ever seen them in combat nor had their Mechs ever appeared before anyone.
At this moment, Garen felt his legs getting slightly numb as the engraving of the imprint was half done. The basic level was completed gradually without much complication under his abundant Willpower.
He continued to read on.
“Exploiting all favorable resources by non-stop absorption of foreign objects to strengthen oneself. The pathway of the Mech is essentially the path of exploiting.”
“When at Level Six, there will be a sense of resonance between the human and the Mech to attain the state of fusing into a single entity, while the Mech will also gain the ability of self-healing.”
“Upon reaching Level Seven, the Mech will tentatively begin to fuse with the human body and parts of the body organs will start to degenerate. Some pilots will remain in the Mech so that their nerves will connect with the Mech naturally, whereas in some cases, the Mech will become an enclosed armor that covers the surface area of the human being’s skin. Not only that, it can condense and disintegrate to fuse into the pilot’s heart. The pilot may look like an ordinary person, but in reality, his combatting capability is equal to that of a large-size mech.”
“At Level Eight…” it stopped abruptly just like that.
Garen knew that this was the doing of the Forbidden Core. Nevertheless, through the philosophy views that he had read, he now roughly knew the direction he was heading towards.
It was nothing more than the fusion of the body to become the source of life by constructing a new body using foreign objects. This was a step-by-step interchange process just like how a silkworm secreted silk to build its cocoon before emerging as a moth. This conformed to the natural ways of evolution.
“Each unique Inherited Mech demands various specific materials to construct the Mech’s outer body. However, they all require a common material, which is Worma Crystal. Originating from the Well of Black Abyss, the Worma Crystal is a type of powerful ore which contains a high purity level of life energy. It does not just replenish the source of life but also is a scarce material that is essential for evolving to a higher level. That is the reason why the Mother Planet Federation and the Galatic Alliance are at war with the Finite people. Generations of powerful Inherited Level pilots engaged in a life-and-death battle with the Finite people’s Inherited pilots in order to take possession of large tracts in the Well of Black Abyss. Amidst the great amount of slaughtering and death, the life energy that dissipated was absorbed by the Well of Black Abyss to produce new Worma Crystal. This is the truth of the warfare. Everyone fought tacitly with the purpose of killing the opponent to obtain more resources for growth and evolvement. Pillaging, plundering and pillaging again! This is the essence of Mech. At the heart of it, it is to make use of the Well of Black Abyss to produce other sources of life, evolving oneself and head towards the way of eternity…”
Whir!!
A sound rang in Garen’s mind. Forbidden Training Method Level One had finally been attained. Two white ray prints appeared faintly on both of his knees before disappearing quickly.