Compared to Percival Larkinson, Lieutenant Hector Larkinson was a lot less severe.

The Living Sentinel officer entered Ves' stateroom with a smile. He even waved at Lucky in a friendly manner.

"Hey, Lucky! What's up? Is there anything interesting up there?"

"Meow." The gem cat replied as he lay upside down with his body pressed against the ceiling.

"Be careful not to fall!"

"Meow!" Lucky arrogantly turned his head.

When the Sentinel Lieutenant sat down, he began to talk amiably with the clan patriarch.

What stood out from Hector was that he had already started a family and cared a lot about his wife and kids.

"For the sake of my family, I can't let myself be haunted by the battles I've been through." Hector spoke to Ves. "Percival can be as grumpy as he likes because he doesn't have to take care of some kids. I'm different. I have to be strong in order to give them an opportunity to grow up happy."

"That is a very admirable sentiment, lieutenant. Not every survivor of the Nyxian Gap Campaign is as ready to move on as you. Are you okay?"

The expert candidate let out a brief sigh. "It was difficult at first, but it's getting better now that we have a new commander. It's hard to move on when everyone around you keeps reliving those disastrous battles. Now that we are finally regaining our pride, I feel we'll soon be back to normal. I can continue to serve when I'm on my shifts and return to my family when I'm off-duty."

As Hector continued to answer a couple more questions, Ves gained a good sense of what he was dealing with at the moment.

What reassured him a lot was that Hector was not a problem case like Tamarin and Percival. If the latter two ever succeeded in advancing to expert pilot in their current forms, they had a very high chance of using their newfound power and influence to pursue unpalatable goals.

Ves did not sense any threat from Hector so far. Of course, there was a chance that the mech lieutenant was misrepresenting himself, but so far he came across as someone who didn't have a lot of ambition.

This was actually Hector's greatest problem.

In order for expert candidates to reach the next step, they had to push themselves. Each and every expert pilot was a driven individual before they transformed into demigods.

Ves was not aware of a case where expert candidates basically slept their way to expert pilot. Such individuals were unworthy to transcend to a higher life phase.

This was why he was concerned about Hector. As a family man, it made sense for Hector to settle for the Living Sentinels even if his piloting skill qualified him for the Avatars of Myth.

The latter may be a lot more prestigious, but demanded a lot more commitment. Avatars had to serve for days, weeks or even months at a time. They enjoyed a lot less off-days than the Sentinels.

This was largely by design. The Avatars of Myth were supposed to put the interests of Ves and the Larkinson Clan above their own interests. If the situation ever called for it, the Avatars were expected to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Was Hector someone who was willing to give up his life for the greater good? Ves seriously doubted it. Loyalty to the clan only extended so far. Even though the Sentinel expert candidate was another trueblood Larkinson, that did not mean he was a diehard idealist.

"Why did you join the Larkinson Clan?" Ves asked. He couldn't hold back his curiosity anymore. "From what it sounds like, you would have been a better fit for the Larkinson Family. Our clan can't completely guarantee the safety of your wife and kids."

Hector shrugged. "I'm aware of that, sir. To be honest, I want my family to live better than they have before. You and your clan may be engaged in various dangers, but I believe there is a purpose behind all of your decisions. No matter how bad some of your actions seem from the outside, it's undeniable that our clan has grown rapidly. Before any notions about breaking off from the Larkinson Family, I never thought that we would turn into second-raters so soon."

"This is just the start. While it sounds like a fantasy, I aim to turn us into first-raters within a century. In fact, it might not even take that long."

While the aspiration excited Hector, it did not have much of an effect.

To many people, becoming first-raters was a pipedream. The gulf between third-raters and second-raters was much easier to overcome than the gulf between second-raters and first-raters.

Many second-raters themselves had attempted to lift themselves up to the standard of the greatest humans, only to fall along the way!

Ordinarily, citizens of second-rate states had to become Master Mech Designers, ace pilots or something equivalent to those exalted ranks to become eligible to join a first-rate state.

Everybody else simply wouldn't belong to this great society within human space. The first-rate states and first-rate superstates were incredibly crowded. While their regions of space were highly-developed, it was already difficult to ensure that every first-rate citizen enjoyed the privileges they were entitled to. There was hardly any support to share the bounty of their states towards outsiders.

Therefore, it shouldn't be a surprise that Hector thought that Ves was merely talking big.

"Okay, I think I know enough. You can go now. Good luck."

"Thank you, sir. Let me just say that you have my support as long as you continue to strive for a better future for our descendants."

Ves smiled. "Understood."

He dropped his smile as soon as Hector left the compartment. He grew thoughtful as he considered how to handle this case.

So far, Lieutenant Hector Larkinson came across as a pleasant person. Though Ves didn't obtain too much information about his piloting inclinations, he knew that the man specialized in piloting space knights and other defensive mechs.

"Percival and Hector Larkinson are very different despite piloting the same kinds of mechs." Ves muttered.

No matter how Hector turned out if he ever underwent apotheosis, Ves did not sense much threat from the Living Sentinel.

The only problem was that Hector did not sound as if he was doing his best to advance to the next rank.

"He's a Sentinel." Ves shrugged. "What can I expect?"

There were at least two categories of mech pilots within the Living Sentinels.

Some possessed great ambitions or wanted to attain a specific goal. Percival Larkinson fell into this category.

The problem with these people was that they didn't measure up in some way. Perhaps they weren't diligent in their practice. Perhaps they had personality problems that made them unsuitable for the elite mech forces. Perhaps they were unwilling to commit enough time to their jobs.

People like these shouldn't be able to advance to expert candidate in the first place.

The extreme pressure of the Battle of Ulimo Citadel and the Battle against the Abyss must have pushed him over the edge. Instead of breaking, his will spontaneously grew stronger.

"What a lucky bastard."

While the most diligent, noble and skilled mech pilots tended to break through at higher rates than other mech pilots, exceptions occasionally popped up. Percival should be one of those cases.

Lieutenant Hector was different. He was not as driven as Percival, but he was a good performer prior through his breakthrough. What was notable about this was that Hector was not as diligent in training as his other colleagues.

Whereas some Sentinels regularly participated in extra practice sessions in order to become eligible to join one of the elite mech forces, other Sentinel mech pilots treated their occupations as day jobs.

Clock in, pilot mechs, clock out.

Of course, they did much more than piloting mechs, but this was how people like Lieutenant Hector approached the job.

It was rather disappointing to Ves. Still, he knew what he would be getting when he initially set up the Living Sentinels.

"The abnormality is that one of these people broke through anyway."

That was a testament of Hector's high talent. Even if he didn't work that much, he was already known as a skilled mech pilot and junior officer.

Ves bet that if Hector did not have a family, he would have become a great Avatar mech pilot!

Yet that wasn't the case, which put Ves in a difficult condition.

If he had his way, he would have wanted to transfer Lieutenant Hector to the Avatars of Myth so that the expert candidate could dig out his true potential.

"I can't do that." Ves shook his head. "To Hector, family is more important than his career."

If Hector remained at the Sentinels, he might never advance to expert pilot.

Sure, Ves could assign a fantastic mech with 100 Ves to Hector, but a machine could not do all of the work by itself.

Expert candidates had to polish their wills and remove all of their doubts and fears to become expert pilots. That took active effort.

"The issue here is that Hector clings too much to his mortality."

Expert pilots were beyond human. This also implied that they were distancing themselves from their humanity.

Every expert pilot that Ves had met had sacrificed something in order to attain more power. Some gave up more than others.

"Wait a minute. There's an exception!"

Venerable Joshua still remained remarkably like his old self. Sure, his confidence grew and he became a bit more assured of his strength. However, he did not come across as aloof and superior as the other expert pilots.

His life domain and his outlook on his piloting career had a lot to do with that. This was important because the Quint should have carried some of that over as well.

"Perhaps something good may arise when Lieutenant Hector is assigned to the Quint."

While this was an interesting idea, Ves wasn't able to implement it straight away. Currently, Venerable Joshua still piloted the masterwork mech. He needed to convince the expert pilot to make do with another mech.

"Maybe I can persuade Joshua to pilot a Transcendent Punisher for a time. The fact that it's an Ylvainan mech design shouldn't matter. In fact, Joshua can probably pilot my Hexer mechs!"

Out of all of his mech pilots, only Joshua exhibited the highest compatibility. To be able to pilot an Ylvainan mech proficiently despite his lack of belief in the Great Prophet was very remarkable.

If Prophet Ylvaine didn't have much of a problem with Joshua, then the Superior Mother shouldn't either.

Ves drafted a set of orders.

He asked Venerable Joshua if he would like to pilot some other LMC mechs for a time.

He told Commander Casella to transfer the Quint to Lieutenant Hector if the mech became available.

He also made a quick call to Calabast. He requested her to keep an eye on the problem cases that he had met. Both Tamarin and Percival Larkinson needed to be monitored, and who better to do that than the Black Cats.

Calabast's projection carefully nodded. "Performing some surveillance on these expert candidates is not an issue. What should we look out for, if I may ask?"

"Just look for any behavior that is detrimental to the Larkinson Clan."

"Do you want us to 'correct' any potentially problematic behavior?"

"Don't do anything unless you check with Major Verle or me." Ves quickly added. "Also, I want to know more about the life of Lieutenant Hector Larkinson of the Living Sentinels. He's not working hard enough and I need to know what we can do to increase his drive."

"We'll get right on it." Calabast simply accepted his orders.

He didn't need to explain anything further to Calabast. He knew that spying and possibly intervening in the lives of his expert candidates might not go over well with everyone, but he still considered this to be a necessary step.

Expert candidates were investments to Ves. He had to nurture them carefully in order to yield his desired expert pilots.