Ves had so many uses for the unclean whale flesh that were currently undergoing a thorough examination process. From the phasewater organs to the neatly cut slices of alien brain matter, he could think of so many ways to repurpose them into biomechs. Technically speaking, it was extremely difficult to shape foreign biomatter into biomechs. The biomech designer needed to possess an extensive understanding of the source of the powerful flesh in order to transform it into variations that were more suitable for their new roles. The large amount of time, manpower and resources needed to develop the Titan-5 Project to its current iteration clearly taught Ves that he needed to invest a lot in such a project! Ves didn't think it would take that long to convert all of this phase whale biomatter into useful biomechs. Compared to other biomech designers, Ves possessed a lot of advantages after his transformation. He would have to start a new biomech project in order to be certain, but he might be able to cobble together a workable phase whale-derived biomech in two years rather than two decades. That reminded him of the Blood Knight Project that he had designed when he was residing in the System Space. He was tempted to show it off to Director Ranya, but he refrained from doing so. He never invested any serious effort into learning biotechnology and biomech design, so he couldn't explain how he was able to design a complete biomech all of a sudden. Once Ves had his fill of staring at the harvested biomatter of the unclean whale, Director Ranya brought up one more topic. "Our boarding teams have already captured over a thousand individual alien pirate crew members." She reported. "They range from orvens to intelligent alien horse-like beings that are too large to fit through normal man-sized corridors. They are currently held in the derelict vessels they were captured in, but that is not a long-term solution. If we want to hold them in the Dragon's Den over the long term, then we have to prepare different biomes that can provide a comfortable living environment for every unique alien race. That will impose a significant burden to our facilities, but we can do it as long as we limit their space." This was a good question. He was sure he could put all of those captured alien pirates to good use, but the question was whether it was worthwhile for him to spend his limited time and resources on experimenting with all of those random alien species. He eventually shrugged. "I will leave this matter to your discretion, Ranya. You can make your own judgment on preserving the captives that are derived from interesting alien races. The only aliens that I want you to put aside are the orvens from the Unspoken pirate fleet. They are incredibly interesting for the advanced knowledge that they possess and their potential for greatness. Try to capture as many of them as possible. Their lower caste members are interesting enough, but I am much more interested in their higher caste members." "It will be difficult to capture any of the latter." Ranya warned. "The leaders and officers of the Unspoken will immediately try to commit suicide when it becomes clear that they have run out of options to resist. The only ones our men have managed to capture alive are those that have been taken by surprise." "Tell our men to do their best. Contact the Black Cats to ask for help with capturing high-value orvens alive. They are truly useful to me. If there are enough captives, you can go ahead and turn an entire biome into an internment camp like we did with the pakklatons." "That is a major commitment, Ves." She frowned. "I'm not sure what the point is of keeping all of those pakklatons on my ship. I am aware that the T Institute has been experimenting with the alien captives for several years, but what do you gain out of those research projects?" "You'll find out soon enough." Ves smirked. Ves wanted to stick around longer, but he had many other responsibilities on his plate. He bid farewell to Director Ranya and shuttled back to his flagship. Before he did any further work, he needed to update his loved ones on some of his recent changes. "Well, I can't postpone this forever." He sighed. The sense of vigilance from his surrounding honor guard showed that his clan was still spooked by his massive transformation. From the way the suited clansmen reacted to him as he made his way through the corridors, they all took notice of his glow. That was a problem that he needed to work on. He did not want to travel around and catch people's attention all of the time because he couldn't stop himself from acting like a spiritual beacon. There had to be better ways for him to dial down his glow effects. He just needed to invest time on experimenting with his new powers. Perhaps Helena might have a few useful tips as well. She had learned a lot of theories and techniques from their 'mother'. When stopped in front of the armored hatch that led into his grand stateroom, he hesitated for a moment. This would be the first time he properly presented himself to the people he loved the most. This was his family. Would they still accept him despite his massive changes? His mentality and perspective had gone through a major shift. He had climbed so high up the transhuman tree that it became a lot more difficult for him to sympathize with the common people. "...Then again, none of my wife and children are normal people." Humanity was no longer a strong trait in his little family. Gloriana and their three children were all designer babies that were derived from mixing together a lot of artificial genes while Ves had ascended into a higher life form. Each of them had become vastly more competent than most of their peers of their respective ages. Ves had become an even greater freak than before, but his children were practically freaks from conception. There was no reason for him to think that he had grown distant from his loved ones. No matter how much he changed, he had vowed to himself that he would never forget the intimacy he built up with his friends and family. Those contacts anchored him to reality and prevented him from drifting away too far from the standards of humanity. Once Ves regained his composure, he took a deep breath and entered his abode. His wife and children already awaited his return. Each of them still wore their thin protective suits and didn't seem to have grown too worried about their absence. Gloriana was actually in the process of tinkering and inspecting the parts of his Unending Regalia. The three children occasionally paid attention to what their mother was doing with the suit of combat armor but became a lot more engrossed in their virtual board game. "That's not fair, Aurelia!" Andraste complained as her animated purple bear dropped after getting hit by an arrow launched by her older sister's game character. "How can you attack again on the same turn? That's not in the rules!" "I told you that we are running on the latest update to the game." The black-haired girl grinned and said as her archer character approached the bear corpse and looted it of anything of value. The developer has introduced new skills that allow for follow-up attacks as long as you can satisfy the conditions. Read the rules next time!" Marvaine didn't bother to pay attention to the argument. His herd of killer cows had already been defeated in an earlier stage of the ongoing match. Instead, he entertained himself by cuddling and playing with Lucky and Clixie. "Meow~" "Miaow~" Everyone quickly stopped what they were doing once they finally noticed that Ves had returned. "Ves!" "Papa!" The three children rose to their feet and ran over to hug Ves' legs. None of them showed any hesitation despite the many obvious changes to their father. "Meow meow." "Miaow!" Lucky and Clixie greeted Ves in their own way. Their relaxed postures showed that they had no doubts that Ves was still the real deal. Gloriana had put aside her tools first before she turned around and approached her husband. She stopped a short distance away from Ves. Now that she could observe him without as many distractions as before, she became more aware of how he had changed on a physical and non-physical level. The woman ignored the physical changes for the time being and utilized her senses to see how much stronger and more evolved her husband had become. Her eyes narrowed as she began to pick up a lot of strange clues. Maow. Alexandria even popped out of her mind and flew over to Ves' as he was still in the process of attending to their children. The red companion spirit floated around Ves and began to perceive a lot more irregularities with her sharp spiritual senses. Once the Queen Cat returned to where she belonged, Gloriana had made her conclusions. "You've become a proto-god." "What?!" Ves became startled as his wife used that dreaded word. Gloriana placed her hands on her hips. "You can't hide it from me, Ves. I know you like the back of my hand and I have extensive exposure to all of your other so-called design spirits. I don't know how you have done it, but a part of you has become a lot more comparable to the likes of Helena." "...I guess you're right." "Why are you acting as if this is just another tuesday?! Don't you realize how massive this is?! You've taken a step to actual godhood, Ves! The fact that you have turned yourself into a genuine proto-god means that you have the potential to become an actual god and more some day! Perhaps you might even be able to catch up to your mother if you have been a good boy!" "Good boy! Good boy! Good boy!" Andraste chanted for no apparent reason. Ves ruffled his second daughter's hair in order to stop her from chanting those words. "You know I don't prefer that terminology, Gloriana. Please don't describe my current state with those words." He said despite describing his own state as a half-native demigod. "I can't tell you much, but I have been exposed to certain… processes… that has made me grow in many different facets. I'm sure you have noticed my glow already. That has become a thing now. I am sure that I can do more with this once I develop my new powers further, but I do not have any intention of propping up any religions by proclaiming myself as a god of humanity." His wife's eyes lit up with glee. "I have to tell the Glory Seekers and my parents all about these changes! My husband has finally begun to graduate from being a boy. The entire Hex Federation will definitely hold a celebration in order to welcome a future god of our pantheon. My mother will be so happy now that the Wodin Dynasty is directly tied to a proto-god." "Waaait! Don't be in such a hurry, Gloriana! Don't spread any misunderstandings to the Hexers. At least wait until you have heard me out. We need to proceed extremely carefully now that I have become less human than before." His wife didn't listen to him. She instead became engrossed in her own thoughts. "Wait, what about Aurelia? What about me?" Gloriana soon closed in and placed her hands on his shoulders. "TELL ME HOW YOU HAVE BECOME A PROTO-GOD!" 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖 "I can't!" "YOU CAN'T, OR YOU WON'T?!" "The walls have ears, honey! We need to be more discreet!" "You can enjoy your privacy after you have told me how you have turned into a proto-god! Do it for our children if you don't want to do it for me! You cannot leave Aurelia, Andraste and Marvaine behind! Tell me that you are not neglecting our offspring!" Ves tried to calm her down. "Hey, don't worry about that! I want them to become strong as well. It's just that this is way more difficult and dangerous than you can imagine. It will take a lot of time for me to help our children. In the meantime, I think it is best to maintain a low profile and prevent any news from leaking out. We can get in a lot of trouble if people think that I hold the secret of at least one form of human ascension." "The sooner we spread the news to the Hexers, the sooner the Wodin Dynasty will become primus inter pares in the Hex Federation!" "Have you been listening to me at all, Gloriana?!"