The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3578

Chapter 3578 Test Pilot Aftermath

"The mountain… I almost… the mountain almost burst out of its cocoon and turned into a butterfly. I… would have been able to flap my wings…"

Ves looked stony as he listened to the incoherent babble of Jessica Quentin.

His staff had recently brought back the Enlightened Warrior mech that he had forcibly shut down. When the medics pulled the mech pilot out of the cockpit, she didn't look so bad at first.

When mech pilots interfaced deeply with a mech, any abrupt shocks and interruptions could inflict noticeable damage to their brains and minds.

This was actually the cause of many mech pilots being forced into retirement because they suffered so much damage that they could no longer establish a proper interfacing connection with a mech.

This was an awful outcome for many mech pilots. Due to just a single battle or accident, all of their hard work and effort into becoming a mech pilot became irrelevant. These pilots dedicated their entire lives to this profession. How could they possibly pick themselves up from this disaster and start a new life as a civilian?

"My grandpa Benjamin managed to do it, but that's mainly because he could lean on our family."

Since this was such a big issue, there were usually safeties in place that tried to prolong the transition so that the mech pilots wouldn't crash so hard.

That was not an option this time. Because the transcendence glow was so dangerous, Ves did not wish to push the button only to wait five seconds or longer until the Enlightened Warrior mech fully shut down its systems!

This was why he had overridden the safeties and made sure that when he pressed the button, the mech would shut everything down as soon as it received the signal!

"At least that went right."

Though Jessica Quentin's current state looked awful, Ves was quite aware that it could have been much worse. He would take a crippled mech pilot over a dead one any day!

He turned to Dr. Ranya. "Will she recover?"

"It's hard to say." She replied. "I've brought our best Lifer doctors over from the Dragon's Den to handle her case in person, but even they have limits. I can tell you now that we have not found any concerning signs that might suggest that her body was close to failing. Aside from a noticeable lack of energy and signs of elevated stress, her body is extremely healthy. In fact, she's so augmented that she could easily outlive diseases that would kill all of our bodies!"

"Oh." Ves said. "What about her brain?"

"You don't have to worry about that either, sir. Apparently, mech pilots of her pedigree undergo genetic modifications that slowly strengthen the physical resilience of her brain and central nervous system. Her neurons are much more flexible and can heal on their own. Her brain is actually partitioned into different compartments that heavily limit how much damage can be done to it. Her head even generates tiny flesh bots that crawl throughout her head in order to fix issues such as infections, internal bleeding and faulty implants."

"...Are you serious?"

Ranya gave him a serious look. "What I said is just the tip of the iceberg. Don't be fooled, Ves. Jessica Quentin might look like a human, but she is so far removed from her race that she is a substantially different organism. She's tougher than she looks, so both her brain and the rest of her body will make a full recovery."

"Then what about her psyche?" Ves gestured to the silly woman who kept talking about mountains turning into butterflies for no good reason. "Will she get back to normal again or will we have to face the fact that we turned one of our guest pilots into an idiot?"

"You mean you turned her into an idiot. Isn't this new Enlightened Warrior design your sole work? Don't push the blame on us if your plan backfires."

"Just tell me what your docs are saying about her mental state!"

Ranya threw a smirk at him. "Relax, sir. She'll recover. Although we cannot fully understand what she is going through, we can make a few reasonable projections. Other mech pilots that have ended up in similar cases usually return to normalcy anywhere between thirty minutes to six hours. I predict that Quentin here will not take too long to regain her wits given her stellar augmentations. We are already detecting the implants trying to 'reboot' her mind."

"I see. Is it safe to enter her room? I'd like to examine her up close if possible."

Ranya checked with the doctors who promptly informed her it was fine.

"You can go in, but don't try to interact with her or force her to wake up. It is best to give her the time she needs to pick herself up again."

"Understood."

Ves slowly stepped into the room, making sure not to make any abrupt movements that could agitate the patient.

When he stopped next to her recovery bed, Ves did not look at her physical state but instead used his spiritual senses to peer directly into her mind.

He sensed a confused mess inside her mind. Her thoughts were all jumbled up and a number of odd changes had occurred that completely upended its original state.

The jumbled thoughts and emotions were slowly being sorted. Although the pace was a little slow, the fact that Jessica's mind was recovering by itself provided Ves with a lot of relief.

What actually drew his attention was something else. Much to his surprise, Jessica Quentin's willpower and spirituality had actually undergone an evolution since he last inspected her state of mind!

Ves had made sure to track her spirituality before she test piloted the Enlightened Warrior.

When Jessica entered the Larkinson Clan as a guest pilot, she did not possess any spiritual potential, as did her peers. That changed somehow as her spirituality grew to the point she now had real potential.

The only problem was that this potential had not developed any further. Ves chalked it up to her lack of conviction and her comfort in her own identity as a mecher.

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