The next morning, Ves dressed himself and wearily dragged himself to the dining room in order to eat breakfast. He dispensed with his impressive-looking but cumbersome Pride of Dusk outfit. While he could still wear it to impress her subordinates, there was little point in doing so. Perhaps it was worthy for him to earn Melody’s approval, but he needed to do so through his actions rather than his dress. As for increasing Gloriana’s attraction to him? That was completely unnecessary! His nightly discoveries already made that abundantly clear! "Good morning, Ves!" Gloriana energetically scurried up to him and embraced him in a hug before dragging him to the dining table. "I just enjoyed the loveliest dream last night, hihi! I dreamt that Melody didn’t forbid you from sleeping in the same room as me. We were cuddling together all night under the covers! We even did the thing that my mother has forbidden me from doing, hihi! You even entered my deepest part and even left a piece of you inside me! Oh, you scoundrel, you could have at least warned me, hihihi!" The more she talked, the more Ves became aghast. What kind of crazy "Ahem!" Melody interrupted her charge’s lurid fantasy. "Please act with decorum, Miss Gloriana. It is highly inappropriate to bring up such matters in front of a man." Gloriana looked grumpily at her assistant. "We’re not in public. Why must you be such a prude? This is my ship! I can’t do anything I want!" "Regardless where you are, you are still a scion of the Wodin Dynasty. As floating bots began to serve exquisite breakfast dishes to the two of them, Ves carefully observed his girlfriend. He barely paid attention to the coffee he sipped as he surreptitiously activated his spiritual vision. He tried to find a trace of his spiritual projection trapped in her. Though it was difficult for him to sense anything past her strong and radiant spirituality, he still managed to sense a minute piece of him residing in the confines of her mind! Ves believed its detachment from him turned it into something akin to a very weak spiritual fragment. Gloriana’s spirituality hadn’t attacked it or attempted to assimilate it. Instead, his fragment floated peacefully in its cage, as if she was more than content to keep it around! To be honest, Ves felt this situation was very weird. He had no idea what the long-term influence of keeping his spiritual fragment might look like. According to his current understanding of spirituality, some bleedover or familiarization might occur between the two. The more the spiritual entities remained in proximity, the more they became accustomed to each other. Now that he came close to Gloriana, Ves felt that he could reassert some control over his spiritual fragment. While he probably couldn’t do anything sophisticated due to the hindrance of the barrier of her mind, he could still command it to fall apart or self-destruct. After a bit of contemplation, he did not choose to do so. He believed that keeping a spiritual fragment of his in her mind did not hurt either of them, though it didn’t seem to do anything particular aside from one effect. Ves found that when he came close to Gloriana, he gained the ability to sense glimpses of her inner emotions! In fact, what Ves perceived were the impressions that his spiritual fragment captured and relayed to him over their weak connection! This might prove very handy. Though he felt a bit ambivalent about maintaining a constant tap in her mind, it wasn’t as if she got something in return. She continually basked in his spiritual attributes and imprint and so did his spiritual fragment. Ves predicted that this continuous exposure to each other would probably do wonders when they collaborated on a mech design project. If their design philosophies were intimately familiar with each other, then they would probably mesh together well. The chance of incompatibilities or confrontations lessened, while the chance of beneficial interactions grew likelier. They peacefully enjoyed their breakfast as Ves continued to weigh the merits. Just as he decided to leave matters before, Gloriana finally spoke up again. "Since I have a lot of time on our hands, why don’t we work together? You’re currently working on a rifleman mech design, right?" The depth of her collection of footage of him made it abundantly clear that she still tapped the Barracuda from time to time. Despite his precautions, there was no way he could hide his work completely from his own ship’s monitoring systems. "Yes." Ves admitted. "The Desolate Soldier is my solution against the sandman threat. It’s a spaceborn ballistic rifleman mech that is designed to be cheap and easy to work with, though its real charm is that it inspires duty. Other than that, I don’t think this mech falls into your comfort zone." "I already told you, Ves. No mech of yours is beneath my attention. While I won’t extend my attention to mass market mechs designed by other mech designers, you’re an exception! If I want to be the perfect partner for you, then I have to grow comfortable with your work!" She made a lot of reassurances to Ves that she wouldn’t be fussy or attempt to ruin his design project. Her desire to study his current project and help in its development was so strong and sincere that Ves eventually acquitted. "Alright. Let’s head somewhere secure. I don’t want to expose my design schematics too much while I still haven’t published it yet." "We can work in my workshop aboard this ship!" Once they finished breakfast, they moved down a couple of decks until they entered a combined workshop, lab and design studio compartment. A considerable amount of space had been devoted to outfit a small but fully-featured workshop. Ves became very impressed by the quality of the miniature lab and fabrication equipment in sight. Though hampered by their compactness, the capabilities of the Stellar Chaser’s production equipment still exceeded the parameters of the Mech Nursery’s production lines by a considerable degree! "I can fabricate a copy of any of my mechs with this equipment." He breathed in astonishment. "As long as we have the right materials on hand, I can fabricate a Desolate Soldier within days!" Gloriana pressed against his side and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I personally selected all of the production equipment here. They’re very powerful and versatile. Naturally, now that you’re here, what’s mine is yours. You can make use of my workshop anytime you want. You can even draw upon my material stores if you like. My only demand is that you involve me as much as possible when you do your work. Is that okay?" Ves nodded numbly. The amount of trust she put into him was incredible! "I agree!" Her offer was far too generous for him to refuse! If he was in her shoes, he would have never given her unfettered access to his stuff! Of course, now that he accepted her offer, he was aware that Gloriana could demand the same of him. Considering how generous she acted towards him, Ves found it very difficult to deny such a request. The two of them sat behind a bank of terminals while their followers settled in. Nitaa and a couple of trusted Glory Battalion guards stood guard while their cats perched on top of a tall 3D printer. "Meow." Lucky started liking Clixie’s head. "Miaow." Clixie playfully batted Lucky away. "Meow?" 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂 "Miaow!" As their cats wrestled with each other for some reason, Ves hesitated in showing off his Desolate Soldier. Though Ves truly believed in the soundness of his work, he was still afraid of her reaction. Having glimpsed her design seed, Ves knew that she always regarded imperfect mech designs with disgust. It was her nature to take issue with imperfect mechs, and in her eyes any mass market mech design fell under this category. A mech that catered to the masses would never fit perfectly to a specific mech pilot. Just as Ves made his decision to show off his work, Gloriana suddenly spoke up. "That reminds me, didn’t you receive that batch of ASMAS I sent?" Huh? "I did." "Do you still have it or did you use it up?" "I already incorporated it into a mech design." She grinned. "You designed a custom mech with my gift, right?" Ves shook his head. "Not exactly. I designed a single-copy mech but I didn’t dedicate it to any particular mech pilot. It’s mainly due to cost and practical constraints that I’m unable to produce more mechs." "I believe that any mech you design that requires something as remarkable as ASMAS should be something exceptional. Why don’t you show that off instead?" "I.. eh.. Are you sure? It’s a bit problematic.." Ves stammered. He already started to sweat a little. Gloriana’s face scrunched into a frown. "I thought we trusted each other. Why are you hiding your work from me? I think I deserve to see how you put my ASMAS to work!" "It’s not that! I do trust you!" He blurted out, though whether he meant it or not was another matter. "The issue is.. the mech I designed is not exactly proper." "How so, Ves?" "Not proper as in.. I can get in trouble with the MTA." He whispered. "Would they censure you if they find out about your work? It’s okay, Ves." "It’s worse than you think. The MTA will definitely hunt me down if they find out about my mech!" "I trust you, Ves." She gazed at him with a reassuring smile. "Any mech you design must have a good reason to exist. Don’t worry Ves, I’ll keep your secret." "It’s not you I’m concerned about. It’s the other people in the compartment." He gestured his arm to her guards. "That’s not a problem." She spoke. She activated her comm and activated some sort of command that activated a jammer and some other measures. "There. I’ve just activated a number of precautions. We’re enveloped by an isolating bubble right now. While Melody and my guards can still see us, they won’t be able to observe our screens and projections." Ves looked in each direction and discovered that everything distant turned into a blob. "Alright." He nodded and activated his comm. "Let me show you my Devil Tiger..." He showed off his design schematics and narrated his design choices. Gloriana studied it with wide and eager eyes. After spending months of studying the same designs, she finally became exposed to a completely new work from Ves! "It’s... wow." She uttered and grinned while clapping her hands together. "It’s a fantastic mech design! As expected of my lover! Though it would have been much more perfect if you tailored this mech to a specific customer, I understand why you couldn’t. Regardless, it is still a bold and radical mech design!" "It’s a passion project. I gave my all to design this mech." As they continued to go over the Devil Tiger design, Gloriana quickly frowned again. "These design schematics are starting to grow a little stale. Since you used up the pure ASMAS I sent, why don’t you show off your finished work?" Ves paused a bit. This... "Come on, Ves. The schematics can only tell so much, especially when it comes to your work. Show me your end product!" Gloriana pleaded to him earnestly that he couldn’t help but agree to her request. Besides, the Devil Tiger turned out to become a masterwork. He suddenly felt like showing off his design prowess! With great care, Ves inputted a code to unlock the highly sensitive footage in his comm. He began to project the Devil Tiger he produced at the end. Before he could boast to her that he crafted a masterwork mech, Gloriana suddenly let out a loud gasp. "Ves! This mech! Is this a masterwork mech?!" "Yup!" Ves answered confidently. "Did you let some masterwork fabricator produce this copy on your behalf?" "How could I? Masterwork fabricators are esteemed individuals. I could never get them to fabricate a controversial mech like the Devil Tiger!" "Then.. you created the masterwork mech completely on your own?" She stared hungrily at the projections of the finished Devil Tiger. "Yes. It’s all me. If not for the illicit nature of my mech, I would have submitted it to the MTA to request my first masterwork certificate. It’s a huge shame, but I’m confident I can reach this height again. Gloriana?" His girfriend fell silent as she continued to admire his work. Her breath grew more haggard until she outright started to pant. Her eyes grew so intense that they started to turn bloodshot. Her entire body started to vibrate and Ves began to sense something very intense building up in her mind! "Ves?" "Yes, Gloriana." "Your masterwork mech.. is perfect. It’s... as perfect as your design allows." Uh oh. Ves began to inch back. "I think you’re mistaken. My mech is—" "—PERFECT!" GLoriana outright tackled Ves, causing both of them to fall from their seats!