Quickly, another nine months had passed, marking the passage of a full year since Noah underwent the nerve modification operation.
Feeling that his body had finally fully adapted to the level one willpower in his body, Noah began practicing the primordial Omega will power technique.
Since his Mech willpower was already at level one, he began training his energy machinist willpower.
Since it was only level one, there was no need for a chip.
One complex math problem after another appeared in Noah's mind as he calculated them one by one.
The more he calculated, the more stimulated his neurons became, constantly producing willpower.
A month later, all the willpower gathered inside Noah's brain, hovering like a puff of smoke inside his brain, compressed in on itself until it became a tiny dot.
The little dot suddenly exploded, forming a dimension of its own inside the front of Noah's brain.
This was the mental space of an energy machinist.
Unlike a Mech pilot, whose willpower was stored in a part of his body, the willpower produced by an energy machinist's brain would directly enter this mental space.
This space was also the place where the future energy machinist chip created by Nexus would be housed.
After a while, Noah opened his eyes inside this mental space.
It was currently empty and there was not a shred of willpower inside as it was all expended to create this space.
After scanning the place for a while, he opened his eyes again.
"I wonder what wonders the combination of the Eldrtch path and the energy machinist path will bring about..."
Noah suddenly thought about this topic.
The Eldrtch path also trained willpower, it's just that it relied on creating the trueself within their souls to cultivate it.
The trueself was the carrier of an individual's will and as long as it was not destroyed, one would not die even if their soul was destroyed.
The ultimate destiny of both the trueself and the energy machinist was to harmonize with a concept and become an embodiment of it.
The main difference between them was that one required Azatoth's blessing to harmonize with a concept and could do so at an early level while the other depended on one's ability to understand oneself to comprehend a concept upon reaching the maximum rank that this world allowed.
If Noah could create a trueself within his mind space that in turn managed to harmonize with a concept using the method of an energy machinist....
Noah's mind raced wildly as a slew of theories ran through his mind.
Sighing, he stopped thinking about the subject and concentrated on building up willpower again to fill his new mental space.
On the other hand...
Garen was currently in a very bad situation.
Because he reached rank five in his Mech willpower, he needed the necessary materials to create a high quality Mech.
A few days ago, he found what he needed at an auction but because a rich young man he had fallen out with was also on the site, he ended up taking the materials when he saw him bidding on them.
With no choice, Garen used three level five Mech pilots he had managed to control earlier using his distorted seed to attack the other party.
Because the son of an inherited level one Mech pilot was standing next to the other young man during the attack, the other party took it personally and told his father.
The seventh black wind general was an arrogant man who didn't care about things like reputation.
He didn't care what anyone would say if he decided to attack a young man to kill him.
Today, after learning that his son had been ambushed by Garen's men, not giving a shit about things like evidence or the fact that normally someone like Garen, who didn't come from any prominent family and was only at starting level 5, would find it impossible to order three level 5 pilots to immolate themselves to kill the people transporting the auction materials.
Having already branded Garen as the one responsible, the seventh divine wind general rushed straight to the scene to kill the guy who dared to ambush his son.
Garen, who was sitting inside his car, was currently enduring enormous pressure that began to tear his body apart.
He felt as if his entire body had sunk into a sticky swamp, as it was absolutely difficult to move. His eyes widened as he heard continuous cracking noises coming from his bones.
Traces of blood were slowly gushing from his nostrils, ears and eyes.
As the heavy pressure came closer and closer to him, Garen's vision became completely blurred. He couldn't see anything clearly and his ears filled with a brief metallic noise before going deaf as well.
"This power...?"
Beep... Beep... Beep...
A series of rushing alarm noises echoed continuously throughout the vehicle.
A sky blue humanoid Mech was flying slowly downward surrounded by blue flames.
It carried on its back a slender spear that had black flames burning faintly at its tip.
The most striking thing about this Mech was the white cloak with silver edging that hung from the left shoulder of its body. The word "wind" was written in large letters on the cape.
The Mech stretched out its large arm and tried to violently grab Garen, who was inside the car below.
"You dare!!!"
A roar was heard.
A beam of light violently struck the large blue Mech's hand and forced him to take a few steps backwards.
A low voice echoed from afar.
"Seventh! You will suffer the consequences if you dare lay a finger on him today!"
Another similar dark blue Mech slowly descended and appeared in the nearby sky. The same silver-white cloak hung from its left shoulder with the word "wind" written there in large letters.
"If I find that this person is the one who dared to ambush my son, don't blame me for humiliating you, Six" snorted the Mech with the long spear coldly. He turned and walked leisurely away before his Corps sank into empty space and disappeared without a trace.
The other Mech lowered its head and looked at Garen whose entire body was covered in blood inside the car.
"Be careful, Seventh will take immediate action at the slightest suspicion. Do not confront Remington again in the future. He has never needed proof."
He turned and slid into an empty space as well.
Only then did the terribly powerful pressure slowly disappear.
Once that terrifying pressure finally gradually disappeared, only then did Garen heal from that heavy force slowly.
Most of the muscles in his body had torn. Large cracks of varying degrees had also appeared in the bones throughout his body. In addition, most of his internal organs were bleeding.
He opened and closed his mouth trying to speak but the only thing that escaped his throat was a violent tearing pain.
"Seventh General of the Divine Wind..." He closed his eyes and engraved this name firmly in his mind.
He had no strength left to resist.
He had never encountered an enemy that could strip him of all power to resist and this also prevented him from moving.
The terribly oppressive Force of Will caused his entire body to be severely injured to the point that he was on the verge of death.
Apart from him, most of the pedestrians in the vicinity of the small town had exploded due to this sinister pressure and none of them had survived.
Using his last strength to open his status window and add a point of potential to his vitality, finally, he fell into a coma completely when he could not take it anymore.
...
Garen could feel his willpower slowly becoming clearer. Various memories and scenes replayed in his mind again.
"That's right, I was ambushed..."
The mighty Sky Blue Corps appeared in his mind.
"Divine Wind General..."
When he slowly opened his eyes, Garen could see the white ceiling.
"You're awake!" Celine's face immediately appeared in his field of vision. She looked tired, as if she hadn't rested for a long time.
"You're finally awake!" she sighed in relief. "I'll go get a doctor!"
"No need."
Garen opened his mouth and spoke.
"How long have I been unconscious?"
"Five days and five nights. Someone tried to stab you to death and I killed five or six people because of them.
You can rest well. I'm here, don't worry."
Garen nodded. His whole body was severely injured while both his willpower and physical body were on the verge of collapse.
"Don't worry, I'll be healed in no time. My body won't be much of a hindrance."
However, he was not speaking honestly. He could heal his body with his Potential Points, but he had no way to heal his Willpower. The Willpower of his Crouching Eagle Claw had suffered severe damage and nearly collapsed. Therefore, it would need at least a few years to heal.
Even if he had built his Exclusive Mech to perfection, he would no longer be able to enter and control it in its current state. In the meantime, he only had 37 Potential Points left. Therefore, although he could use these Potential Points to speed up the healing process, the speed of his healing would unintentionally reveal his greatest secret. Regardless of anything, he could neither control the Exclusive Mech nor become a Resonance Mech Pilot in the first instance.
He would have to delay this for at least a year or continue with everything in the dark.
"What plans do you have?" asked Celine after being silent for a while.
"What other plans could I have? My opponent is the Seventh Divine Wind General and I would have to face an overwhelming situation if I were to fight him with my current strength," Garen replied calmly.
"The Black Flood Party exclusively dominates the Polar Region and has the strength of the supreme lords. Forgive me, I have no way to mobilize my family to confront them directly. However, I can represent myself!" said Celine softly.
"I know and I don't blame you. This issue was not a problem that arose when I offended Remington.
The main reason is probably the fact that my teacher's cult there couldn't handle them. They simply used this minor issue as an excuse to get going."
"Your professor said the same thing. He said that the other party most likely already knows your talents.
He told you to keep your guard up because the Seventh Wind General has always been thick-skinned. He's never had any emotional baggage."
"Don't worry, I'll make him pay." Garen took a deep breath and looked at the Attribute Panel in the back of his eyes.
Thanks to General Divine Wind's contributions, his previously somewhat deficient Infernal Peacock Technique finally managed to reach Level Seven.
The severe injuries he had suffered this time had not achieved the desired effect. Instead, his Living Secret Technique had completely changed the Vitality of his body.
As he observed the new changes that had appeared throughout his Secret Technique, Garen's eyes grew colder.
Garen was aware that he had recently been oppressed by the terrifying Will Energy Field of the Divine Wind General. It caused his entire body to collapse and a large amount of internal and external bleeding.
His willpower technique, Crouching Eagle Claw, which was also an important element of his stamina, was also immediately destroyed, leaving him with only his Level Two Energy Machinist Willpower.
Despite having been a Level Five Mech Pilot power before, he had completely turned into a normal Level Two Energy Machinist. Furthermore, he could not be considered a true Energy Machinist because he did not have his own Energy Machine chip and biochemical reserve.
If someone ambushed him again, a single Force of Will attack from a Level Three Mech Pilot would be all it would take to get rid of him immediately.
The Willpower of the Energy Machinists was simply not designed for combat.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." Celine could see the anxiety on Garen's face. "You just need to get a good rest!"
"My willpower could be destroyed." Garen raised his head and looked at her with a calm look on his face.
"I believe in your talents. Besides, you're still young and will be able to get back on your feet sooner or later."
"That was easy to say, but rebuilding willpower, especially combat willpower, simply required a greater amount of time.
Special cases like these, where the base was destroyed and needed to be rebuilt, required twice as much time as normal repairs."
Both Garen and Celine understood that, although he had initially only spent two or three years studying the practices of the Crouching Eagle Claw, this period of time included the fact that he had transferred certain parts of the study of other types of Willpower beforehand.
It was important to note that Nonosiva had spent at least five or six years practicing these things beforehand. If this was doubled, he would need another ten years.
"All right, you should get a good rest. I'll go get you some more medicine." Celine got up and ran out of the sick room as if she was running away because she didn't know how to comfort him.