Controlling the dwarven prisoners aboard the Blinding Banshee was easy.
There was no chance for them to pull off an escape when they had nothing but their bodies to resist their captivity, but just to be sure, they had all been fitted with mechanical limb locks.
These devices looked like dumbed-down versions of exoskeleton suits and they were deliberately made to be as modest and low tech as possible. After all, it was much easier to prevent improper tampering when the programming of the devices was simple!
Despite their lack of complexity, the mechanical limb locks were strong enough to force every dwarf to move their limbs according to whoever held the controls.
Dozens of cell barriers dropped at once. Though the captive dwarves briefly had the illusion that they were free for the first time in a month, their mechanical limb locks forced them to march out and move down a corridor without any deviation!
Their mouths were not restrained though, so plenty of them began to speak as they were being moved.
“…I… kill… me…”
“Thank you for answering my prayers, Vulcan!”
“Captain Akkora! You’re alive! Wait, why are you here?”
“WE’RE FREE! WE’RE FREE! WE’RE FREE!”
“You fool! We’re all going to die! The tall folk are cruel and vicious people. Did you think they would extend any mercy to dwarves like us? Not even Vulcan can save us anymore!”
None of the dwarves knew what was going on, but many of them already suspected that their departure from their cells might not be a good change.
Still, no matter what they thought or spoke, they could do nothing but march forward according to the instructions of the mechanical devices that had taken control over their limbs. Their resistance was futile and their pleas for help resulted in nothing!
Ves and Calabast watched on as the closed holding chambers were being filled with dwarf after dwarf. The mechanical limb locks precisely positioned them into evenly-spaced columns before keeping them in place.
The lack of clues and eerie actions unnerved a lot of prisoners. They sought comfort in their fellow dwarves as they finally had an opportunity to interact with other people. Many of them exhibited strong emotions as they cried, laughed, talked or remained patient for what was about to come.
“It’s time.” Ves said as he took a remote control device from Calabast. “No matter what happens, don’t disturb me when I am conducting my experiments.”
“I’ll do my job while you do yours.” The woman stated.
Though she still had a lot to say, she possessed enough self-control to keep her mouth shut. Ves kept his secrets close to his chest and would likely respond adversely if she insisted on getting to the bottom of his experiments.
It didn’t matter. Ves trusted her enough to witness and guard over his experiments. Even if Calabast lacked the expertise to figure out what he was doing, she could still glean enough clues from what was about to happen.
Ves slowly moved down to the deck as he approached the experimental stage that he prepared. He stood behind a control station and began to inspect all of the settings before he was satisfied that every device was working as intended.
He briefly skimmed over the outline of his first experiment one last time in order to make sure he remembered every important detail. It was nothing special actually as he conducted similar experiments in the past.
The only actual difference was that his test subjects came from different stock!
“Now that I have a batch of tough and well-trained soldiers, let’s see whether they will be able to succeed where their predecessors have failed.” Ves grinned.
He manipulated the remote control and brought forward his first test subject. The fellow he chose to begin this session was the same defiant dwarven security officer who specialized in handling explosives!
When the mechanical limb lock forced him to march out of the waiting waiting chamber and walk over to the experimental area, the dwarven captive glared at the only tall folk in sight. His shackles even began to rattle as he exerted as much strength as possible to resist his forced motions!
“It’s you!” The dwarf angrily boomed! “You’re the Tall Folk who dares blaspheme Vulcan! Let me out so that I can punch your face until your mother can’t recognize anymore!”
Ves became more pleased at the spirit shown by his test subject. The feistier they became, the higher the chance of success!
To that end, he deliberately chose to expose his appearance to his captives so that they had a target to stimulate their emotions!
The anger and unwillingness radiating from the dwarven security officer tasted as sweet as wine to Ves.
In order to push his first test subject’s buttons even more, he drew out a hammer that instantly attracted the dwarf’s attention.
“That hammer… that hammer! LET GO OF THAT HAMMER! IT DOESN’T BELONG TO YOU! RETURN IT TO VULCAN OR RISK HIS WRATH!”
“Hehehe.” Ves chuckled as he casually spun the hammer in his hand as if it was a toy. “This hammer is mine, little dwarf. Your imaginary god can’t do anything to me and so can’t you. If you truly want to rip this item from my grasp, then you need to become strong enough to break through your shackles! That will never happen, of course. Dwarves like you are stupid, pathetic brutes who only exist to slave away in mines.”
That was one of the worst things to say to a Vulcanite!
“YOU BLASPHEMER! TALL FOLK LIKE YOU MUST DIE! GET ME OUT OF THESE LOCKS SO THAT I CAN @#$*&(@#&$—”
Ves ignored the dwarf’s outburst as he activated a command that commenced his first test.
The mechanical locks forced the dwarven prisoner to march forward until he crossed a clearly marked line.
A large vertical container was placed a short distance away. It was large enough to accommodate a mech but didn’t seem special in any way.
Yet as soon as the dwarf was forced to come closer, a powerful external pressure immediately began to manipulate his emotions.
His insults abruptly cut off as many of his emotions became dampened. Even his anger at the tall folk dialed down a bit, though the dwarven prisoner did his best to resist this strange influence.
Only certain emotions escaped this effect. His desire to free himself and return to the Vulcan Empire became stronger, and so did his desire to gain strength!
“I need… to become… stronger! Ahhhh!”
The glow that affected the dwarf amplified these emotions and desires to such an extent that they quickly exerted a growing amount of pressure on his mind!
Meanwhile, Ves was over the moon when he tracked the performance of the dwarven prisoner.
“Yes, that’s it. That’s what I’m looking for. You’re already lasting longer than my previous best test subject!”
The pirates and other prisoners that Ves had previously experimented on never lasted to this extent. He became fully confident that the quality of the individuals subjected to this experiment was a crucial variable to its success!
“Hahaha! I just knew I was on the right track this time! The stronger the test subject, the greater the likelihood that they will survive!”
The dwarven security officer finally couldn’t endure the pressure any longer. His entire body exploded in a mist of red! If not for the energy screens containing the spread of expanding biomatter, the blood, flesh and other biomatter would have contaminated an even larger area!
Soon enough, a couple of cleaning bots flew over to clean up the mess with remarkable efficiency.
Despite this bloody outcome, Ves remained pleased as ever!
He already expected the dwarf to blow up. The individual wasn’t particularly exceptional aside from his strong will so Ves chose for him to go first in order to obtain some initial results.
He had made some progress, at least! The dwarven soldier already lasted 23 seconds longer than the previous best performer. This was such a substantial improvement that Ves could smell he was close to a breakthrough!
“I still have plenty more defiant dwarves.” Ves muttered as he tried his best to rein in his enthusiasm. Accomplishing this much progress was already good news but it was not the ultimate prize that he was trying to obtain.
He only has a limited amount of chances to achieve true success!
“Let’s continue!”
Ves continued to use up his strong-willed test subjects without mercy. Bodies after bodies blew apart as the Aspect of Transcendence continued to test their mettle.
Each time the dwarves marched forth, Ves tried to prod them by insulting their people and showing off a hammer that looked as if it rightfully belonged to the dwarves!
It worked every time! The more religious and fanatical believers of the Dwarven God Cult were especially easy to provoke!
The only reason why he blocked the view to the Aspect of Transcendence was because he didn’t want to break the minds of his test subjects. The Aspect of Transcendence looks so large and impressive that just looking at it might lead to unpredictable results.
A good researcher controlled the experimental environment as much as possible.
Dwarf after dwarf continued to march towards their moment of death or transcendence.
So far, only the former took place, but Ves did not lose hope. He had controlled order so that the norms among the defiant dwarves went first. They were comparably weaker and less promising than the other strong-willed dwarves so their chances of success were also the lowest.
Still, as the fatalities began to rise, he began to wince.
He had another experiment in mind where he had an excellent use of dwarves like these. Seeing their bodies explode over and over caused him to lament the increasing amount of losses he incurred.
Test subjects were also assets!
“Still, as long as one of them is able to pull through, I will be able to earn a huge profit!”
Ves was essentially gambling at this moment. If he lost all of his high-quality stock without any success, then his chances of meeting his target in his subsequent experiment would likely drop!
“C’mon… you can do it, dwarves.”
In the end, he used up all of the defiant dwarven support personnel who did not possess any spiritual potential. Though each of them exhibited a lot of emotions, they failed to transform their lives.
“Well, I can’t say I did not see this coming.” Ves sighed.
He brought forward his next batch of test subjects.
These ones weren’t mech pilots either, but they different from the last batch by possessing spiritual potential.
If they were mech designers or traditional swordsmen, they had an opportunity to break through to Journeyman or swordmaster. However, as far as he knew, none of these dwarves belonged to those known extraordinary professions.
Ves wasn’t sure what to expect for that reason, but he was willing to see what happened.
“Let’s go.”
He only had 13 of these rare test subjects, so he paid a lot more attention to their mental states.
“Don’t you want to kill me and take away this hammer?” Ves taunted at a prisoner. “Then do your best to grow strong enough! If not, I will trample upon your fellow Vulcanites and make sure to rob each and every one of them of their undeserved freedom!”
“YOU FILTHY TALL FOLK! I WILL KILL YOU IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO!”
“Hehehe…”
After sufficiently stimulating the test subjects, Ves subjected them to the Aspect of Transcendence’s tender mercies.
Initially, the outcome of these attempts was little different from before. The only noteworthy change was that the dwarves with spiritual potential lasted up to 30 seconds longer on average. This was a massive jump that signified that the mental resilience and tolerance of the latest batch was much stronger!
A growing sense of anticipation built up as Ves continued to bring other dwarves forward.
Eventually, the sixth angry dwarven prisoner managed to keep his body together for 87 seconds, which was an unprecedented duration!
It was at this time that Ves sensed a spiritual explosion taking place in the dwarven individual’s mind.
The test subject’s spiritual potential was experiencing a miraculous growth!
“YES! He’s breaking through! I knew this would happen! I finally have solid proof of my theory!”
A great moment had come to Ves! His experiment had finally succeeded!
