Ves eagerly toured the detention cells that held his potential test subjects.

The pirates were all locked within secure, reinforced spaces. In their current settings, the cell walls were all opaque, allowing Ves to observe the defeated criminals without alerting them to his presence.

There was no need for him to interact with them on an individual basis. The Black Cats had already uncovered their history and place within the Crona Lords. They even sniffed out the moles and informants within the ranks of slaves!

All of these people were malignant tumors to human civilization. Getting rid of them would make the galaxy a better place, and Ves was glad to enforce justice on behalf of the Big Two in this instance!

He was such a righteous galactic citizen! The Big Two should thank him for getting rid of humanity's trash!

"What are you so proud of?" Calabast irritatingly slapped his suited arm. "Just because pirates aren't entitled to human rights doesn't mean that it is right to treat them as objects. I know it's a tall order to ask for you to behave decently, but please consider whatever you are planning to do. I am aware of the.. sordid experiments you performed on the indigenous population of Aeon Corona VII. Do you really want to return to those dark days?"

Ves looked absolutely unperturbed. "Everything I do has a purpose. Back then, our survival and success literally hinged on the outcome of those experiments. While I admit that the need is not as great this time, I believe we should grasp every acceptable opportunity to strengthen ourselves. The Nyxian Gap is even more dangerous than the frontier due to the brazenness and elevated development of the local organizations. With superweapons like the Omega Lasers proliferating among the Nyxian pirates, It's more important than ever to give my clansmen a greater chance to survive the battles to come."

"Ves.. all the rationalization in the galaxy doesn't change the fact that some lines just aren't meant to be crossed. While I am not a diehard supporter of the Big Two, I appreciate the calm and order they introduced in the galaxy after the destruction unleashed during the Age of Conquest. Do you know what originally caused humanity to descend into beasts?"

"The admirals and the people in charge engaged in reckless genetic modification that reduced their inhibitions and turned their emotions volatile."

"That's a major contributor, but not the only reason." She said. "Back then, a strong authority such as the MTA and CFA didn't exist. Power was concentrated in the rulers of great star nations. The Terran Confederation and New Rubarth Empire both believed they were the masters of the galaxy and that everyone else had to obey their whims. The smaller star nations adopted similar philosophies."

"What are you talking about?"

"Humans back then developed an arrogant, superior disposition. They also possessed much less restraint in using their powerful warships to raze entire cities and continents. The culture and society at the time was one that worshipped power and without limit. With so many people trying to fulfill their ambitions, they became more extreme as they tried to outdo each other. Because everyone was doing it, it not only became acceptable to commit certain acts we consider crimes against humanity, it even became encouraged! The Age of Conquest would have ended with a lot less mass destruction if this was not the case."

This was why acts such as human slavery became prohibited in modern times. No matter how much the slave owners tried to rationalize or justify slavery with religious scripture or economic benefits, the fact of the matter was that those individuals or their surdinates had to whip, punish, brainwash fellow human beings.

Many slave owners and the people who weren't even involved in it successfully lied to themselves that slaves weren't even human!

How could humanity progress and evolve to a higher level if it still acted in a morally hypocritical fashion?

In her experience, the true nature of people could often be determined by seeing how bad they treated those they despised the most!

How humans treated others at their worst was often the baseline of their true nature. If Ves retained no humanity at all towards those he considered pirates, how much stock could she put on him when he acted normally?

It was too bad that Ves did not share her thoughts!

"We don't live in that age anymore, Calabast."

"That's because greater authorities have come into power to forcibly curb these runaway acts. The path to degeneracy is a slippery slope. You only have to take a few steps before you have descended too deep. Unlike in the Age of Conquest, the current environment doesn't tolerate behavior such as yours. I don't want you to rile up the Big Two to the point where they brand you an outlaw. Not only will that invalidate my investment in your development, you'll also drag in your downfall!"

Ves turned at her and smirked. "There won't be any problems, Calabast. Your concerns are wildly overblown. I ordered your Black Cats to gather proof that the captives here are irredeemable pirates to avoid the outcome you are talking about. The Big Two won't have an issue with my actions. Instead, they'll likely reward me! The Crona Lords have dabbled with so many taboo weapons that these pirates are bound to suffer!"

"You're not getting my point." Calabast sighed again. "It's not what you are doing today that concerns me. It's what you will do afterwards. Slippery slope, remember?"

"Well, it's fortunate that I have people like you pull me up before I fall too far. Just don't do it now. It's too early. I haven't harvested the benefits of sliding down the slippery slope yet. It'll be fun!"

Calabast grabbed onto his arm in order to halt his steps!

"THIS IS NOT A GAME, VES! The Big Two may have set some rules that incentivizes people to hunt down pirates and enforce the taboos that ensure the continuation of stability in the current age, but their intentions towards people like you are not benign! The MTA and CFA mainly want to foster a society where piracy and use of massive weapons are discouraged as much as possible."

This was an understandable goal in the lens of institutional isomorphism. The Big Two wanted impose a strong break from the past, and the easiest way to do that was to transform the culture and institutions that people took cues from. It was much harder for the Big Two to enforce their rules by themselves, so it was important to foster a society that already suppressed undesirable acts!

The Big Two succeeded in this objective. These days, humanity largely regulated itself without requiring the intervention of greater authorities. From this perspective, Ves hunting down pirates with the sanction of the Big Two could be considered an extension of this phenomenon!

Even if Ves recognized that he could be regarded as the Big Two's tool, so what?

Ves stood to gain unimaginable benefits from his various acts! With the twin allure of merits and research results, there was no way Ves was stopping this shuttle ride just as it undocked from an orbital space station. He wanted to descend all the way down the surface and reach his destination before he was willing to call it a day!

Whether the surface of the planet looked like an idyllic paradise or a burning hell wasn't in his consideration at the moment.

He resumed walking, and Calabast had no choice but to keep up with his pace.

"Look, I understand what you're saying. I really do. However, let's leave the fate of humanity and the continuation of the existing order to the Big Two. We're too small and inconsequential to worry about all of that stuff."

"You.. I can't believe you.."

Ves raised his finger. "I'm going through with my experiments regardless of what you think. Before you nag any further, at least wait until I have achieved my desired result. I can promise you that the outcome will justify everything I do to the pirates!"

As a mech designer, he acquired the belief that almost anything could be justified as long as he designed the right mech. This had proven to be the case when he elicited controversy but resolved them by designing mechs that quickly converted his naysayers.

The Transcendent Messenger design helped him turn the Ylvainans to his side. The Desolate Soldier design silenced most of the critics who accused him of brainwashing his customers.

Now, Ves intended to invent something that was just as beneficial to the Larkinson Clan, if not more!

He suddenly halted. He recognized a familiar face in one of the cells. His smirk grew wider as he spotted Peter Seterin squeezed in a cell with seven other compatriots.

Acting on his neural commands, his implant matched Peter's face to his entry in the list of prisoners and marked out his name.

"I don't need to experiment with all of the prisoners." He said. "Only a small number of them are worth my time. Let me go over all of them so that we can proceed to the next step."

It took some time for him to walk past every holding cell and spiritually inspect each individual pirate.

He did not want to miss anyone who possessed spiritual potential.

Despite the amount of prisoners the Larkinsons had taken, the pirates with spiritual potential were quite low. Through his tedious, hours-long search, he only managed to identify a couple of dozen.

This was a disappointing, if not entirely unexpected result. To mech pilots, those with spiritual potential tended to perform better in their cadet days and gained better opportunities in the legal job market. Why should any mech pilot with a promising career go pirate?

The same was true for norms, though to a much lesser degree. It was not necessarily the case that normal individuals with spiritual potential were superior to their duller counterparts.

In many cases, spiritual potential played absolutely no role in their careers or daily lives!

It was just that the emergence of spiritual potential often tended to happen among more remarkable individuals.

All of this meant that scumbags that tended to go pirate consisted of low-quality humans whose chances of developing spiritual potential was several times lower than the average.

Even on a spiritual level, pirates were inferior.

"Ugh. Too few." Ves shook his head. "I guess I'll have to capture more pirates to make up for the shortfall."

Ves ordered the wardens to separate the pirates he had marked out and put them into separate cells. In the meantime, Ves entered an interrogation room with Calabast and waited for the arrival of his first test subject.

He turned to his annoying minder. "Your presence here is not required."

"I'm not going anywhere. I want to see with my own eyes what motivates you to perform human experimentation. At the very least, I can assist with wiping out your tracks."

She deployed various instruments such as jammers and other anti-surveillance gadgets in order to secure the entire room. Ves didn't need her intervention, but it saved him from deploying his own jammer.

Once a guard dragged Peter Seterin in the room, he strapped the prisoner onto his chair before leaving.

Peter looked nervously at Ves and Calabast. "Can.. can I plead my case? I know I did wrong, but I didn't mean it! I didn't know what came over me back then!"

Ves ignored the former base engineer's ramblings. From the moment that Peter entered the room, he turned into a test subject.

He concentrated his mind and began to extend his considerable spiritual strength towards Peter's mind. Though the man held spiritual potential, it was weak and dormant, which meant it hardly offered any defense against his intrusions!

"What is that?! Why do I feel so strange?! Did you drug me or something?"

As Peter jerked against his restraints, Ves decided to perform a quick and simple experiment. He forcibly tried to take hold of a portion of Peter's spiritual potential and mold it into a special shape before infusing it with one of Peter's spiritual attributes.

Surprisingly, every step of the way, Ves encountered notable resistance! Breaching Peter's mind was easy. Manipulating his spirituality without causing unanticipated changes was quite challenging!

Once he completed his crude and forceful manipulation, Ves drew back and stared at Peter.

The man already stopped trying to fight against his restraints. Instead, the base engineer's demeanor changed on a subtle but fundamental level.

"What have you done, Ves?" Calabast asked with a measure of shock in her tone.

To her, the shift was impossible! It was as if the prisoner switched to a different personality!

Ves continued to observe his test subject. He grew a bit discomfited when Peter locked eyes against his own. While being stared at in the eyes was not necessarily a big deal, Ves did not like the kind of look his test subject directed at himself!

"You.." Peter began to huff. "I.. I can't resist!"

The prisoner suddenly raised his waist as far as his restraints allowed! Both Ves and Calabast managed to spot something notable.

That was not a codpiece!

Peter quickly became increasingly more unhinged!

"Your skin is so soft! Let me lick it! I can't live without getting a taste!"

Ves grew grim. "..."

"Is this what your experiment is supposed to achieve?" Calabast carefully asked. "I must say that this is a novel way to interrogate a prisoner."

Ves resisted the urge to summon the Amastendira in order to blast his test subject's skull!