After the spectacle ended, the investigation had begun.

Something completely new and unprecedented took place. After aligning themselves to the Superior Mother, the test subjects managed to get in sync with the Superior Mother and each other. What happened next confounded Ves and those who observed the proceedings.

After adopting a certain pattern, a strange insubstantial apparition of the Superior Mother superimposed itself over the formation. This silhouette acted as if it was alive and moved according to the actions of the mechs that made up the formation.

"Or is it the other way around?" Ves frowned and wondered.

He wondered who was in control in the brief interval of time when the odd phenomenon ran its course. Had some part of the Superior Mother directed the mechs to attack according to her will? Or had the collective of Penitent Sister mech pilots pooled their minds together into some kind of gestalt will that provided unified direction?

He had so many questions that he didn't know where to begin!

After studying the data recorded in the logs and finding nothing of use, he knew that the phenomenon that took place was largely spiritual in nature. The mechs did not play a major role other than serving as tools.

Ves wondered whether the battle network would perform more impressively if he connected living mechs to it. That was something to consider for later. First, he needed to get to the bottom of the first successful trial.

"It's quite strange." He frowned. "The Superior Mother expended a substantial amount of energy, but where did it go?"

He did notice that the offensive might and the momentum of the mechs had increased. That was a real gain and something that could really make a difference during critical moments.

The problem was that Ves didn't think it was worth it! From an efficiency standpoint, the yield was so abominably bad that Gloriana would literally tear her hair out if she knew how much energy the battle network actually wasted!

"Is it truly wasted, though?"

He couldn't really tell so far. He only witnessed the battle network becoming active once and at a very healthy distance. For the subsequent trials, he needed to observe from a closer vantage point in order to glean more details on where most of the energy disappeared.

One potential destination was the insubstantial energy silhouette that had spontaneously emerged after all of the affected mechs released some sort of radiance. While their glows resembled the visual resonance phenomena unleashed by expert mechs, they were different in nature.

At the very least, the energy silhouettes for a lack of better description were not infused by any will.

This wasn't a big surprise. The Penitent Sister mech pilots taking part in the experiment were all spiritually weak like most normal people. That was good, because Ves mostly sought a way to empower the majority of his mech pilots who weren't as gifted in spirituality.

The entire point of centering the battle network around the Superior Mother was to draw the energy needed to boost mech pilots from a potent source.

While he managed to accomplish this goal, he has not sufficiently accounted for what happened next. It was not as if he had much choice as he was truly clueless on how to transform the energy into something useful. He left that up to the Superior Mother and her new crown, but evidently they weren't as competent as he hoped.

"It's like going through all that trouble developing an exquisite expert mech only to let a dummy like Vincent pilot it. All of that work and effort is wasted!"

All of this resulted in a short burst of power that was only marginally useful in the larger scheme of things. No matter how impressive the formation and the energy silhouette looked, it was mostly smoke and mirrors.

Once the exhausted test subjects returned their mechs to the Surly Cockatrice, Ves instructed the Penitent Sisters to set the women aside and perform extensive checkups on their conditions.

They were largely fine. Their exhaustion was largely mental in nature. There was nothing wrong with their bodies aside from getting overexcited.

When Ves met with the test subjects in a debriefing room, he briefly interviewed them on an individual basis.

He placed the idol of the Superior Mother on the table, causing his interviewees to become a lot more earnest and respectable.

There was no way these fanatics would attempt to lie or withhold any information in the presence of such an obvious icon!

"What did you feel during this period of time?" Ves asked as he projected a recording of the time just before the mechs moved into an odd formation.

"I'm not sure." The Penitent Sister mech pilot honestly answered. "I wasn't quite aware of myself. My memories of that time are a little fuzzy. I don't know why I instructed my mech to move into a formation that I have never learned. I guess.. the Superior Mother may have told me to do this, but not with words. It just.. comes to me. 

She became enchanted as she shifted her gaze to idol. Pure awe and worship filled her eyes.

Ves stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers. "Hey! Don't get lost on me yet! You can do whatever you want when you are released, but until then please answer my questions."

He asked a raft of other questions. He asked what she thought about the formation, where the strange radiant glow came from, how her mech was able to exert power beyond its technical specs and why the phenomenon suddenly cut off after a single pass.

"I think I remember.." She said as she watched the footage of the formation suddenly breaking apart and the energy silhouette disappearing shortly afterwards. "I think the strain got to me and my Sisters. We came closer than ever to the Superior Mother, but she's simply too strong. I.. always imagined that a Supreme was strong, but feeling it up close like this is something else! I truly cannot describe how little I felt in front of her majesty."

Ves heard the same answers from the other test pilots. Each of them had come close to the Superior Mother somehow but couldn't withstand the strain of staying in her presence.

After the round of interviews ended, Ves went over what he heard and tried to extract as many clues, insights and patterns as possible.

"It's rather simple." He whispered to himself. "The mech pilots are unable to harness so much power. It's similar to my previous experiment."

Back when he enhanced the spiritual foundations of his Bright Warriors, he discovered that weaker mech pilots were simply unable to bear the strain.

In his enthusiasm in increasing the bandwidth of the individual connections of the battle network, he overlooked the fact that the recipients might not be able to bear so much power!

Ves palmed his face. "I made a mistake."

Despite this oversight, he was very satisfied with how the first iteration of the battle network turned out. The initial test may have failed to showcase the practical application of his new invention, but he glimpsed a lot of potential behind it. As long as he worked out the flaws, the battle networks he intended to introduce would definitely make a difference in the upcoming battle!

There were several areas that Ves thought he should work on to refine the battle network concept.

First, he needed to uncover why the energy conversion was so inefficient. Where was all of it going?

Second, he had to figure out what was up with the energy silhouette. Was it being directed by the Superior Mother's consciousness?

Third, he had to increase the load-bearing capacity of the affected mech pilots when an active battle network brought them closer to the source of power.

Ves went to work immediately on these issues.

The last one was the easiest for him to address.

"If ten mech pilots can't bear the load, what if there are forty mech pilots? If normal mech pilots aren't strong enough, what if there are stronger mech pilots in the mix?"

The energy channeled by the battle network was substantial. The Superior Mother was also a rapidly-growing spiritual energy who was quickly nearing Qilanxo in strength.

Ves had high expectations for the ancestral spirit's future growth. This was because unlike other design spirits, the Superior Mother actively attracted the worship of hundreds, if not thousands of Hexer expert pilots!

Though the Superior Mother only absorbed a tiny amount of high-quality spiritual feedback, if every expert pilot in the service of the Hex Army took part, then the quantity was definitely considerable!

Normal people normally wouldn't be threatened if they came in close proximity to such a powerful spiritual entity, but it was different this time. The battle network forged a direct connection between a mech pilot and the Superior Mother. This bypassed much of the usual defenses that ordinarily protected the former.

"This is troublesome, but not insurmountable."

The first test only involved ten mech pilots. If he expanded the number of participants to a full mech company, he hypothesized that the strain on them would be diluted to an extent.

He began to organize a second test. This time, he expanded the battle network by connecting it to the remaining thirty mech pilots of the Third Spaceborn Mech Company of the Penitent Sisters.

Some of them happened to possess spiritual potential. Ves set these handful of mech pilots aside in order to control for this variable. He didn't want to involve them too early.

"Commence the second test!"

They repeated the first trial on a larger scale this time. Three mech companies of Avatars mustered forward to spar and induce a sense of crisis onto the Penitent Sisters.

After praying earnestly to the Superior Mother while they tried to keep their mechs together, more than thirty-five Penitent Sisters simultaneously began to adopt a formation.

"This formation is different from the one before!" Commander Chancy remarked. "It's more defensive in nature!"

The battle network had become active! With the Superior Mother's grown radiating power, her energy flowed through the connections. A familiar energy silhouette came into being but largely did nothing except look impressive.

Ves studied it for a small moment before focusing on the mechs. The formation they adopted this time vaguely resembled multilayered diamond-like hexahedrons. The mechs on the outside exhibited measurably greater defenses. Their energy consumption also lessened beyond what they should be! It was as if the formation had turned into a castle!

After a certain period of time, the mechs on the outer periphery rotated with the mechs inside the diamond. This caused the pressure on some of the mechs to decrease while letting more rested machines hold the line.

All the while, the energy silhouette of the Superior Mother seemingly adopted an inward, reactive posture. Even as the Bright Warrior mechs accidentally flew through her insubstantial body, the silhouette did not make any moves to attack as before. 

Commande Chancy studied the positions and the rotations that were periodically taking place. "This is an attrition-oriented formation. Have you noticed that this time it is lasting longer?"

"I have."

Right now, Ves couldn't tell whether this was due to the added mech pilots or because the nature of the formation was different.

Regardless, he noticed that the formation still wasted a lot of energy. The difference it made was not negligible, but it was not enough to satisfy his expectations for the battle network.

After roughly thirteen minutes, the formation fizzled out. Some of the Penitent Sisters finally reached the end of their mental endurance and were unable to keep their thoughts aligned with the Superior Mother and their fellow comrades.

"Alright, the test has come to an end!"

The second test proceeded differently from the first. Ves felt a bit annoyed that the battle network induced the mech pilots to adopt a different formation this time. The effects were different, which meant he couldn't make direct comparisons!

"Goddammnit, do I need to run this experiment again and again? How many formations do you have, mother?"