150 A Lesson Ended

The image faded and a cluster of Humanoid figures appeared on it. It depicted the growth of a person, from a baby to an old person who was hunched over. "Since a person's Spiritual Self never stops developing and growing stronger until you die, that naturally means that older people have a natural edge over younger people for their whole lives. That doesn't mean that younger people can't outstrip their elders if they put in enough effort or are gifted in controlling their Spiritual Self."

The list of ages faded and the worlds came back up, "But, as you get older and you start to do more technical jobs and start developing technical skill, your Spiritual Self begins to shift to the Mechanical Technique side. This is inevitable for everyone and every single person develops a base amount of Mechanical Technique just to survive. You gain it just by messing with a communicator like I am doing now."

The two lists separated to the far sides of the Holodisplay as Serius said, "However, it is impossible to mingle them beyond a certain point. Scientists and experts have theorized that a person could become skilled with both, but would never be able to rise to an expert with either if they did so. This is because it takes longer and longer, along with more and more effort to advance in each rank than the previous. Humans simply don't have enough time in their lives to do so and the other races that live longer than Humans are too lazy or just don't care enough."

The words vanished from the Holodisplay as Altair ate the last of her meal. She then grabbed her drink and started to sip its fruity taste into her mouth to wash the taste of her meal away. Her stomach felt content for the first time in a week.

The Holodisplay then showed the same Mecha from the first time it showed one and he said, "Mecha, unlike most devices in the Empire, are not powered by a person's Spiritual Self."

Altair felt her heart pound with excitement when she heard that. Her eyes widened slightly as she an eagerness came over her. 'Doesn't that mean I can learn how to use a Mecha? Perhaps, if I ask I can start to learn quick enough to be able to get a feel for how they work before it all ends!'

Serius went on, unaware of her excitement, "Each Mecha has a core within them. That core serves as the Mecha's primary power source. It's also extremely flammable and, when damaged, detonates like a balloon to catastrophic effect, killing the pilot 100% of the time, but that's beside the point."

A blue orb formed in the middle of the Mecha on the screen. All of the parallel lines were connected to it. The orb would pulse occasionally, which caused a bright blue bead to flow through each of the lines immediately after.

"The key thing here is that, quite simply, a person needs a certain level of Spiritual Self so they can reinforce their body to survive the power of a Mecha. Just by moving around within a small Mecha at a running pace on the ground generates 15 G's of force on the human body. Without a reinforced frame on yourself, you will die within an hour or two of just piloting it."

Altair didn't know what "G's" were, but she understood that a stronger body meant you could use a Mecha. This was good knowledge for her. She could manage something similar with her Mana so there wasn't a problem for her.

"Now, so long as you remained linked to the Mecha with your Spiritual Self, like you would with a translation machine, you will feel a certain amount of pain when the Mecha becomes damaged. This is because your Spiritual Self allows you greater control over the Mechas movements and Mechas have been designed to incorporate that into all functions. Some even have it place locks upon their Mecha to only allow them access. As a result, unless you connect to a Mecha with your Spiritual Self you cannot control it no matter how many of the buttons you push."

Altair felt her mood deflate instantly at his last sentence. Her shoulders drooped and her motivation plummeted. Her dream dashed upon the rocks before she could even attempt to hold.

Serius noticed her change and asked, "What's with that look? Are you not good at connecting to things?"

Altair smiled self mockingly as she looked at the tray before her. "You could say that," she said in reply.

Serius scoffed, "Starter, Amateur, and Basic Mecha don't have that function. They were designed to have the pilot focus on the standard control aspect how a Mecha moves and operates. Once you reach the Common tier is when you need to start connecting to them, so you don't have to worry about that. Besides, Common tier is years away for you."

Some hope flowed into Altair and she nodded mutely in her seat. She still had a chance, but Altair felt there was still something he hadn't told her yet.

Serius then went on, "You have plenty of time for you to figure out how to control your Spiritual Self before you get there. What I've told you is the most basic of the basic on this subject. You'll learn a lot more from lessons as you grow up."

He stood up from his chair and the Battle Cruiser jerked briefly, causing the chair that Altair was in to slide away from the table. All of the other chairs remained in place, including the one that Serius had just stood up from. He laughed at her a couple of times before he said, "Come on, we've arrived at where you'll be staying for now."

He then started to walk towards the door as Altair pushed herself off the chair and lifted her shirt again to chase after him. She had many questions on her mind concerning Mecha, but she had to push them aside for the time being. She couldn't stop herself from yawning loudly as she reached the door with Serius.

It was only when she reached the door that she realized she wasn't given the chance to ask any questions at all. She was too busy eating and, by the time she had finished, she had forgotten all the questions she had in the moment. She frowned at her performance. She was usually far more attentive towards her studies at the Marnithok mansion.

Serius led Altair out of the room and back to the first hangar. It took a while to get there and the Battle Cruiser jerked a few more times, causing Altair to stumble inelegantly every time. The movements were completely random and she had no way of predicting them. However, Serius managed to walk on just fine every time and she couldn't help but wonder what the trick was.

She even stumbled into an overly burly man who was walking past them at one point. The man had to stop as she used his leg to balance herself. His expression was neutral when she did that and she felt a tinge of embarrassment when he looked down on her.

By the time they arrived at the hangar, Marissa was there while she was holding her head with one hand with her lips in a tight line. She was clearly either depressed or annoyed by something that happened when Altair wasn't around.

Serius approached her and asked, "What's the word?"

Marissa looked at him before she cast a lingering glance at Altair. She then spoke with a heavy sigh, "Not good." She then turned her attention to Altair and asked, "Have you had your vaccines yet?"

Altair tilted her head in confusion. She had no idea what a vaccine was.

Marissa clarified upon seeing her confusion, "Have you gotten injections? You should have had about eighteen by now, given your age, administered by doctors." Altair shook her head, which prompted another sigh from Marissa. She then said, "Alright, well I'll arrange for you to have them while you sleep so you won't have to worry about it." She turned away and added, "They're things that help prevent you from getting sick."

She walked over to the bike and Serius followed after her. Altair yawned once more and felt tears slightly form on her eyes from it, while chasing after them.

Serius sat in the front of the bike while Marissa lifted Altair onto the spot before her. The bike listed and the floor opened below them. The bike then descended quickly towards a small building below them.

As they approached, the building revealed its true size. It was no less impressive in terms of decoration than the Marnithok mansion, however it was also a third of the size easily. It had a large garden with two massive ponds. From as far up as they were, no single person could be seen.

However, Altair's heart thumped in her chest as she felt an oppressive force pulling at her towards the building. When she looked down, her gaze was drawn to the pond and her heart thumped loudly in her chest while a feeling of longing came over her like a crushing wave. It swallowed up all of her other feelings and quickly consumed her thoughts as she stared wide-eyed at the pond below.

To her eyes, the pond glowed a bright green color. She could see it clearly and it caused her to swallow hard at the sight of it. The oppressive force grew stronger and stronger the closer they got to it and Altair instantly know what it was.

'How could there be so much there?!' It was Manamium. Altair could see the thick aura of Mana around it. Even in stories from her world, she had never heard of such a thing. But it was before her now, and at the place she would be living at for a while. She felt excited at being so close to such a monstrously huge amount of Manamium.