As Ves held a frank and open discussion with General Axelar Streon about the Ouroboros, the distance between the two had shrunk. This was the power of secrets. Holding secrets could alienate people from each other. Sharing secrets with other people could also bring them closer together. The latter occurred this time. Though Ves still paid a huge amount of attention to what he was willing to divulge and what he wanted to keep for himself, it was undeniable that he extended a lot of trust towards a Terran that he technically only met for the first time today. Any outsider would become gobsmacked if they saw Ves getting along with a top-ranking Terran leader shortly after they met each other. Even if the Terrans valued the benefits Ves could bring to the table, they wouldn't show so much deference for fear of weakening their bargaining position! The Devos Ancient Clan adopted a much more common approach. Time was precious, but time could also be utilized to make more observations and come up with better plans. The Devosans weren't too much in a hurry to conclude a deal with Ves right away. Axelar was different. He not only recognized an opportunity to solve the root of his living mech's problem, but also intrinsically trusted Ves right away due to their 'special' history with each other. This essentially allowed Ves and Axelar to sidestep their lack of familiarity, the gap in background and the gap in status and become friends right away! Since Ves was willing to regard his former Mastery host as a friend who was worthy of trust, he did not hold back in explaining his outline for a possible solution. "I am not sure if you understand the difficulty of altering the Ouroboros, so let me explain it to you with an analogy." He waved his hand and projected an image of a generic shuttle. "Let's say this is the initial version of the Ouroboros. This shuttle is rather basic and decent, but it doesn't do much more than transporting people from A to B. The only good point is that it is completely of my own design. That means that I possess a high understanding of how it is put together and what I need to alter in order to alter its performance in a targeted manner." General Axelar looked bemused as he floated right behind where Ves was seated. "People rarely equate my Ouroboros to an ordinary shuttle, but I can already see where you may be going with this. You are saying that once you have made and delivered the shuttle, it passed through the hands of many other designers until it has changed into a vessel that is completely different from your original layout, is that correct?" "Partially. The basic essence has been preserved, but everything around it has become unrecognizable to me. I don't own these upgrades and additions, and I don't have the slightest clue how they work," Ves began to skillfully manipulate the projected image. It started to undergo a 100-year journey of continuous upgrades and expansions. Initially, the changes were relatively small and tame. The thrusters had been replaced by larger and more powerful ones. The energy shield generator had been updated by a newer model. The contours of the shuttle became a little more streamlined. However, every half generation or so, the shuttle became subjected to a major overhaul and revision. In order to represent the jump from a standard mech to an expert mech, Ves no longer adhered to the limitations of a shuttle and directly upgraded it into an armed corvette! This was a massive transformation, and one that made little sense under ordinary circumstances. Turning a relatively modest personnel shuttle into a fully fledged starship that could traverse the stars represented an enormous leap! However, even though the construction had been changed from inside and out, it still retained the vestiges of the original shuttle. The corvette still retained the color scheme, the themes and most importantly the living traits. The projected vessel continued to evolve according to this pattern. Every year or so, the small warship gained better guns, stronger armor and other iterative upgrades. Then, the corvette suddenly transformed into a destroyer one day, skipping right past the frigate ship class! The destroyer became a light cruiser. The light cruiser became a heavy cruiser. The heavy cruiser became a battlecruiser. Now, the mighty warship that had become over 6 kilometers long only needed to undergo one more leap in order to become a fully qualified battleship. This also happened to be the most expensive and difficult overhaul by far! A battlecruiser might look big, but her ability to withstand damage was not that great. A true battleship according to the standards set by the fleeters was that she could resist almost as much damage as she could inflict! Her entire hull and structure had to consist of the hardest and toughest defensive alloys that humanity could produce. The vessel also needed to be equipped with the toughest energy shields and possess enough resistance against ECM, spatial effects and more exotic attack methods to remain impervious even when she was struck by weapons of mass destruction! It was impossible for ordinary states to construct a proper battleship. Even the Terrans and the Rubarthans would have to make major sacrifices to construct such a vessel, not that they had a chance to do so when they were subjected to the taboo against warships. This was a decent if not completely fitting way to denote the enormous difficulty of turning a peak ace mech into a machine that possessed the qualifications to become a god mech. "Do you understand now, general?" "I believe so." General Axelar furrowed his brows. "The transformation from a battlecruiser into a battleship is too much for a man who is only qualified to design a shuttle or a small starship at best. A project of this scope and magnitude is far too great for you to handle by yourself. I suppose we can involve a more qualified designer such as the Grand Mender to do the heavy lifting, but according to you, she does not have the power to solve the fundamental problem of my ship." "Soliciting the aid of a highly competent Star Designer that you can trust will definitely be necessary." Ves told the other man. "There is no one better who is qualified to design the sheer amount of highly sophisticated technical transformations needed to turn a battlecruiser into a battleship. The true challenge lies in correcting the imbalance between creation and destruction that falls outside of the scope of physical parts." "And this is where you have hit a wall." Axelar said as he crossed his arms. "Pretty much. You need a specialist in this field, just like how ETL drives and superdrives can only be worked on by certain engineers. While I have mastered enough theory to roughly figure out what we must do, 1 do not have the strength or qualifications to make these crucial changes. We can solve this problem in many ways, but the one I am thinking about right now is to bring in a specialized 'drive engineer' who should be able to address this issue in a certain manner. That entity is Gaia." As a bonafide Terran, General Axelar was quite familiar with the legends and the descriptions of this ancient myth. "Gaia is a mother goddess of humanity's distant past. She or other variations with different names are commonly depicted in old mythologies to deify Old Earth or merely the lands beneath their feet." The Terran leader said. Ves responded with a restrained smile. "1 know what you are thinking, general. What does this myth have to do with the Ouroboros or mechs in general? It is not easy for me to explain it all to you, but I can tell you that a powerful entity that bears the name Gaia may actually be of assistance to you and your machine. 1 think it is best for me to show you this in person. Do you have a set of tools around here that I can use to build something quick?" "We can give you access to a materializer." "Thanks, but I would rather work with my hands." It was not a challenge at all for Axelar to arrange the teleportation of a high-tech workbench. Ves instantly got to work. He briefly familiarized himself with the advanced tools and only used a fraction of their functions to quickly carve a piece of exotic wood into an image of Gaia. Perhaps due to how well this meeting had turned out, the positive emotions that influenced Ves caused him to work particularly well. The carved and polished wooden totem that depicted the mother goddess according to his last impression of her possessed a lot of charm. Anyone who held it would feel the strong vitality contained within the living object. Gaia's presence completely spread through the hand-sized wooden object to the point that it might be easy to fool some people into thinking that it was the actual goddess! Unfortunately, Ves did not manage to gain enough inspiration to turn it into a masterwork, but he was already happy enough that the totem managed to get close enough. When Ves returned to the entrance of the cockpit and handed over the totem, the peak ace pilot keenly sensed the unusual traits contained within this unusual object. "Many people have praised your craftsmanship, and I see it is not undeserved." Axelar commented. "Even so, your ability to tie a goddess of unsurpassed power into such a small object in a short amount of time is unprecedented. So this is Gaia?" Ves nodded. "She is the embodiment of life and Old Earth. She also has strong relations to the power of creation. If we enact a plan to restore the imbalance in your Ouroboros by relying on brute force, we need a large amount of high-quality energy that is related to the power of creation. Gaia is the best collaborator that I can think of. The issue is that she is not like the other entities that I know. We need to convince her to lend her assistance." "I see." Axelar was smart. Not only that, but Ves remained deep within the ace pilot's Saint Kingdom all of this time. This meant that he could pick up on plenty of clues that had yet to be voiced. The Terran leader understood that it would likely be difficult to gain Gaia's cooperation. This was fine. Axelar did not fear these sorts of difficulties. What he truly feared was the inability to come up with any viable solutions! So long as working with this foreign but powerful entity resulted in the desired gains, General Axelar was not afraid of making serious concessions! "How do 1 make contact with Gaia?" "Just call to her." Ves gestured to his latest handicraft. "I made this totem just to give you a convenient channel for you to communicate with her. Do keep in mind that Gaia is really powerful despite not having reached her prime condition. Don't try to play any games with her. Also, try and modulate your Saint Kingdom so that you don't make an aggressive impression." After giving Axelar a whole list of warnings of instructions, the ace pilot finally attempted to make first contact with this 'Gaia', The nascent but already powerful True God responded instantly. In one moment, the central chamber was dominated by the active Saint Kingdom projected from the Ouroboros. In the next moment, the totem flew out of Axelar's hands even as it began to glow with power. As the carved wooden object floated a dozen meters away from the open cockpit, it began to release powerful energies that reminded everyone nearby of life! Those energies did not spread uncontrollably but remained tightly contained as they slowly morphed into a feminine silhouette. The Mother of Earth had descended on this location! With a body that was seemingly made out of dirt and hair that resembled the branches of a tree, the manifestation of Gaia stared imperiously at the Terran ace pilot who requested an audience! Compared to the last time Ves made contact with his former design spirit, Gaia had acquired a bit more humanity than before. She had grown rapidly ever since the Age of Dawn had commenced! As her glowing eyes swept across Ves, General Axelar and most notably the Ouroboros, she finally spoke her first words by directly vibrating the surrounding air molecules with her precise control over her own power. "I know you, Terran. Speak."