What was willpower?

There were a lot of official definitions of this term, but few of them described the concept that matched his current understanding of this term.

Willpower was intent. Willpower stood for the willingness to endure hardships. Willpower kept warriors aloft in battle.

To Ves, willpower took on even more meaning after personally witnessing expert candidates and expert pilots in battle. Even without seeing them in action, those with strong will such as Venerable Brutus and Venerable Jannzi already distorted the reality around them with their latent will alone!

Yet what these amazing individuals accomplished was not purely a product of willpower. Expert pilots only emerged after they unconsciously developed their spiritual power by merging it with their strong wills.

For some reason, no other people except strong-willed mech pilots were able to accomplish this odd and very rare feat. Due to these strict conditions, the amount of expert pilots in any given state was actually quite low. It was no surprise that the MTA imposed many rules favorable to high-ranked mech pilots in order to preserve their lives outside of mech combat.

He turned his attention back to James. This religious bastard did not even bother to hide his paternal expression. Even though the Living Prophet smiled politely as he awaited an answer, to Ves the clone looked incredibly smug!

Ves wanted to punch this smug look off the bastard's face!

Sadly, Ves had to abide by the decorum that was expected of a clan leader. James hadn't done anything that merited a good whack.

As the only person who possessed actual knowledge and insight on the mysterious phenomenon known as spirituality, James played a vital role in the clan. Several times now, the self-proclaimed reborn prophet had provided essential wisdom and insight.

How could Ves possibly do something as shortsighted as spoiling his relationship with the former cult leader?

Emotionally, Ves wanted to beat James up.

Rationally, he wanted to retain the man as a spiritual consultant and advisor.

Emotion and reason warred within Ves, but eventually the latter achieved a decisive victory.

Enough time had passed for Ves to reorganize his thoughts and form an answer in his own words.

"Willpower is a form of power that comes from the mind. To ordinary people, it is a quality that allows them to persevere temporary difficulties to achieve a greater payoff. To expert pilots, it is one of their strongest traits and allows them to fully leverage the other powers."

"That is a good interpretation." James nodded in satisfaction. "The power of thought and the power of will are highly similar. Which one do you think is stronger?"

Ves frowned. He felt as if there was a trap behind those words. Even so, he decided to answer according to his own understanding.

"The power of will can achieve great feats when it is blended with the power of thought, but on its own it is largely formless. Just like our other thoughts and emotions, it can only affect our behavior."

"That is only what you think. Tell me, Ves. Have you ever seen an ace pilot? Have you ever had the fortune to meet a god pilot?"

Ves sneered. "I don't think you have ever seen those people either."

The current James was just a designer baby grown from the Prophet's genes. The past James was the founder of a cult in an age where mechs and mech pilots hadn't been invented yet. How could this smug bastard ever come in touch with a god pilot under these circumstances?

Despite the acid remark, James showed no irritation. His charming smile remained as radiant as ever.

"Willpower existed before the Age of Mechs, Ves. Back then, certain humans and aliens have already made use of the power of thought and the power of will. It is only after the emergence of mechs that the latter has become more ubiquitous."

"What is your point and what does this have to do with the battle networks I'm trying to develop?" Ves impatiently asked.

The prophet held up a hand. "Patience, please. Understanding the power of will is essential to your future endeavors. Now, think about it. Mech designers such as you mainly advance by developing the power of thought. I am sure you have met with a number of Master Mech Designers. What do you sense when you meet them in person?"

"Power. Pure power." Ves spoke as he recalled the times when he met with both Master Olson and Master Willix. "It is as if they evolved their thoughts to such a high degree that it has solidified into a physical substance. I have sensed something similar from other comparable entities such as Qilanxo."

"She is a magnificent being, if a bit uncultured. Nonetheless, she is not only powerful, but also well-versed in the application of her power. That is quite admirable for a god of her age." James complimented the sacred god. "However, you have made one mistake. Powerful mech pilots are not comparable to the likes of Qilanxo."

"Huh?"

"Expert pilots are defined by their will. The stronger their will, the greater their ability to exercise their unique abilities in combat. Without a sufficiently strong will, it doesn't matter how much they have cultivated the power of thought."

While Ves could buy that, he wondered where the role of spirituality came in. After all, the force of will that expert pilots used to resonate with their mechs was a product of both willpower and spiritual energy!

"If that is the case, why don't mech pilots rely on pure willpower and leave the power of thought alone?" He asked.

James smiled wider. "Ah, that is the great secret. Fortunately for you, I believe you are qualified to know this. Let me put it this way. When you are young, can you study a lot of books and develop into a competent mech designer all by yourselves?"

"No. Not realistically. Unless I have the enhancements that I have now, I wouldn't have been able to get where I am today if I did not benefit from structural teaching and guidance from the professors at the Rittersberg University of Technology."

Even though it was a fairly low-ranked academic institution for raising mech designers, Ves truly benefited a lot from learning there. Even if few of its graduates went on to become successful entrepreneurs, many of his former classmates were still able to land very good jobs at the military, the government or the design departments of various mech companies.

"It is the same when it comes to the power of will." James stated. "Earlier, you remarked that the power of will is formless and unable to achieve anything powerful on its own. You aren't wrong, but that is only when it is in its weaker stages. As long as you develop it further, the power of will becomes more and more amazing. At the end…"

"At the end?"

The Living Prophet teasingly smiled at Ves. "You get god pilots."

"What?!" Ves almost stood from his chair. "Are you saying that god pilots are able to contend against battleships with just their will and mech alone? What about the power of thought?!"

"Ah, god pilots have no need for it anymore." James dismissively waved his hand.

This was a huge revelation to Ves! The difference between high-ranking mech pilots and high-ranking mech designers turned out to be bigger than he thought!

He composed himself. "Explain to me how mech pilots develop themselves. What happens after they advance to expert pilots?"

"What I said before is already all the information you need to answer your own question, Ves. Someone like you is unable to become a mech designer without going through structure learning or personal guidance. The same goes for willpower. It is weak in its earlier stages and cannot bring many advantages to mech pilots. That is why they must meld it with the power of thought."

Ves felt as if he came in contact with a profound truth. If James wasn't spinning nonsense to him, then this was probably one of the biggest secrets behind high-ranking mech pilots!

"The combination is more powerful than the separate components, right? I always thought that this combined force is the main reason why expert pilots and such are so powerful. Am I wrong?"

"No. Your information is just incomplete. While it is correct when you limit your sights to expert pilots, it is a different story for ace pilots and god pilots. Expert pilots must use the power of thought to nurture their will. At this stage in their development, their will alone is stronger than normal people, but not impressive enough to achieve anything drastic in battle. That is why they must use the power of thought as a carrier."

"What about ace pilots?"

"Ah, when an expert pilot is able to surpass a threshold in the development of their will, they enter a new realm. The power of will begins to take on a greater proportion while the power of thought becomes more and more unimportant. Once the will of an ace pilot has reached a certain level of maturity, the power of thought becomes a shackle rather than a growth vessel."

This! Ves couldn't even get a grip on all of the implications of these revelations! He never realized that ace pilots progressed in this manner!

"What happens after that?" He huskily asked.

He wanted to know the truth!

"The student must surpass the teacher. When the power of thought is no longer able to provide any further help, the ace pilot must continue to develop will to the point that they are able break their power of thought and shatter the final barrier that prevents them from reigning supreme by will alone!"

"That sounds insane! The power of thought is intrinsic to every sentient lifeform! Without it, there is no life!"

Even the weakest humans or sentient animal possessed a tiny mote of spirituality. This single quality distinguished them from non-sentient life forms that weren't truly aware of themselves such as AIs and clones!

"It does sound implausible when you assume the power of thought is indispensable to life." James agreed. "This is why god pilots are so amazing. Their wills are so unfathomably strong that they are able to substitute the power of thought in their minds! They are living wills incarnate and have become entirely different! They cannot be called human anymore. It is not a mistake to call them gods."

"Is this.. What the Ylvainan Faith claims will happen to everyone in the future?"

"Oh no." James shook his head. "There are multiple paths to power. The cultivation of willpower is just one of them. You and I are following different paths. It doesn't matter that we are different from mech pilots. As they say, all roads lead to Rubarth. Just like how there are different professions, there are also different kinds of gods."

Ves paused for a while. He had to process what he heard.

If James was right, then the force of will gained by expert pilots was only a transitional product. It was temporary. The goal of forming a force of will was to prop up the immature willpower with spiritual energy. As these mech pilots advanced to higher ranks, they constantly needed to grow and transform their wills by using spiritual energy as a crutch.

It was only at the end when senior ace pilots reached their limits that they were ready to break their crutch! They had to shatter one of the key powers that made them alive and sustain their lives entirely by their superior will alone!

To Ves, this sounded as absurd as an unarmed human trying to fight a mech! It was impossible unless the human modified his body extensively to the point of becoming a deadly monster!

So much could go wrong through this arduous process. How could spirituality that was supposedly essential to all life be so easy to discard?

By far, most humans who tried to fight a mech with their bare hands would unquestionably die!

Only those who were freakish enough to develop their wills to insane heights were able to achieve this impossibility!

"No wonder why there are so few god pilots in the galaxy." Ves dazedly muttered. "With such an insanely difficult hurdle at the end, they are truly worthy of their titles!"