Chapter 3950 The Proof is in the Pudding
Ves was teleported back to the Spirit of Bentheim after a fruitful meeting with Jovy.
Of course, fruitful was just a relative term.
Though Jovy hadn't been able to make up his mind on a companion spirit, he at least narrowed down his choice to a handful of proposals.
This made it a lot easier for Ves to flesh them out and be more thorough in his descriptions. All of his ideas so far were purely theoretical. They did not exist in reality so there was no way for him to prove with certainty that his ideas would turn out the way he envisioned.
As Ves tried to think on what he should put into his report, he found it difficult to determine the accuracy of his own claims.
No matter how much he understood his own work, life had a way of upending his expectations.
There were so many variables at play that any of them could easily trigger a cascade of changes that led to unpredictable outcomes.
At this moment, Ves ironically wished he possessed a combination of Jovy's ability to read probabilities and the eyeball companion spirit's ability of foresight.
He would have been able to make much more accurate predictions of his work!
If Ves could think about the potency of this combination, then so could his friend.
Jovy was probably tempted to take the plunge and go for this suggestion, but his caution and prudence kept him from doing so. He had raised valid concerns that Ves could not easily refute because of lack of proof.
Ves suddenly froze.
"Wait a minute. If it is proof that I am missing, why don't I solve this problem?"
Nothing could stop him from making additional companion spirits!
He recalled that he had lots of alien test subjects at his disposal. Sure, the pakklaton prisoners were not humans nor mech designers, but they could at least give Jovy and his unseen superiors a solid impression on what a couple of versions of his companion spirits could offer!
The moment he came up with this solution, he couldn't wait to implement it right away!
He had to wait until the expeditionary fleet transitioned back into realspace before he could shuttle over to the Dragon's Den.
He barely issued a greeting to Director Ranya before he raced to the forest biome where most of the pakklatons were kept captive.
Although he looked like he was in a hurry, he had already fleshed out his experimental plan by this time.
Ves did not aim to reproduce the most accurate outcomes of how Jovy might turn out after obtaining different companion spirits.
It was impossible to do so since none of the pakklatons were humans or Journeyman Mech Designers.
What he needed to do was show that the test subjects who obtained comparable companion spirits were doing just fine!
As Ves looked through the other side of the transparent wall that enclosed the biome, Director Ranya caught up and reached his side.
"Are you in a hurry, sir?"
"You can say that. I need access to three test subjects. I will need a secure operating chamber to implement my ideas on them. Once I am done, you can bring them back to this biome. I want your staff to keep them all under careful observation. Track what they are doing and record everything they do. If you notice they are doing anything weird or abnormal, then set the recordings aside so that I can study them myself."
Ranya raised her eyebrow. "You have big plans, I see."
"I just want to verify my ideas. It is hard for me to foresee how my creations will turn out if I just imagine them in my mind. Since I now have access to a lot of test subjects, it would be a wasted opportunity if I did not make use of my assets."
"Will your experimental procedures put your test subjects at risk?"
Ves shook his head. He wanted to provide Jovy with a gift, not a bomb in his head! None of his proposed companion spirits should pose any direct threat towards their recipients.
"Don't worry, Ranya. We will treat them as humanely as possible even though these aliens aren't humans in the first place. Ketis warned us to treat them nicely, after all. What I am giving the lucky few will actually help them. They shall gain more abilities than ordinary pakklatons. That will make their lives a bit more interesting while they spend their time in this green cage."
"...If you say so, sir. Do you want us to pull out a random sample of pakklaton individuals?"
"No. I'm not conducting a randomized trial this time. Your institute must have researched the identities and capabilities of all of the different pakklatons, right?"
"We did, though I should caution you that we cannot be certain whether our records are accurate. We can only base our information on our examinations of their physical forms and what they are saying to each other."
"That is already sufficient." Ves nodded. "Please take out three pakklatons that resemble mech designers the most."
Ranya frowned. "You will need to clarify that, sir. What are the traits you are looking for, exactly?"
"Hmm, let's start with relatively young adults among the pakklaton race. Seek out the ones with engineering or designer backgrounds. I am aware that the pakklatons do not utilize mechs, but I believe that most technological alien races make use of smaller combat vehicles such as starfighters. Pick them out if there are any of them in our custody. If not, go for pakklatons that work with shuttles or other modest-sized vehicles."
"Don't you want to grab any starship engineers or designers sir? Their importance in pakklaton society is high, similar to how humanity respects mech designers."
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