The Mech Touch

The mood in the central chamber was no longer as heavy as before.

Now that the 'truth' had come out, much of the tension between the two sides had evaporated.

Ves no longer felt burdened by the need to keep this secret. The Streons finally obtained the resolution that they had been seeking since the creation of the Ouroboros.

The consequence of all of this was that the two parties instantly grew a lot closer. An important barrier had fallen.

Neither Ves nor Axelar were strangers to each other. They had already met a century ago. This made it so that the current meeting took on the air of a reunion rather than an introduction.

At this time, Ves had floated up so that he could casually sit down on the edge of the open ramp that led into the cockpit of the Ouroboros.

Lucky meanwhile gave in to his curiosity and flew around the exterior of the impressive ace mech.

The World Serpent System featured an extensive amount of fast-regenerating armor plating that was much more impressive than Rorach's Bone.

Lucky had never encountered such an amazing exotic alloy. If not for the fact that the Ouroboros was a living mech that already belonged to a top figure, the gem cat might not have been able to resist the urge to take a bite!

"Meow... meow..."

Gavin meanwhile hooked up with Benny and started to exchange stories and such. The who occupied the same positions in life, so it was easy for them to become familiar with each other.

Though Ves looked as if he needed a lot of time to process what had happened, he was actually studying the Ouroboros at a much closer proximity.

This was a precious opportunity for him to study a living mech of this caliber when it was being actively piloted.

Ves event sent out Blinky so that his companion spirit could examine the highly evolved spiritual design of the Ouroboros in greater detail!

While the living mech had become too perform for Blinky to get too close, it was not a problem for the Star Cat to make detailed observations at a healthy distance.

General Axelar did not mind all of the snooping. As far as he was concerned, Ves was merely studying his own work.

As Ves continually examined the state and operation of this deep and profound living mech, he turned his head and looked up at the floating general.

"I would have thought you would have asked how I managed to end up controlling your body in a completely different time period."

General Axelar smirked back at Ves. "Anyone would be curious to know the answer. We have formed many different guesses on how you managed to do it, but... this is not important to us. You have given us the answer that mattered the most to myself and the Ouroboros. I do not know what sort of forgotten alien technology or forbidden occult method you have employed to temporarily occupy my body, but it does not matter."

Ves found that difficult to believe. "Really?"

"There are many wonders in the cosmos. Trust me. I have witnessed stranger and more impossible feats throughout my career. As one of the martial leaders of the Terran Alliance as well as the much larger Greater Terran United Confederation, I have been privy to many secrets, far more than a man of your station can know. What you have been able to do is amazing alright, but I assume that you cannot displace yourself in time on an unrestricted basis. It would have been better for everyone if you could travel just a single decade back in the past and warn our society about the Great Severing, but since you have not done so, your manipulation of time must be subject to great restrictions."

That...was an interesting suggestion. Could Ves do it? Could he travel back in time and warn important people about the Great Severing?

Perhaps he could, but if his revelations were so destructive that it could destroy the timeline to the present day, then Ves might not be able to make this happen!

There had to be restrictions to this kind of stuff. He had a feeling that the Mech Designer System already did most of the work of preventing Ves from screwing up the entire timeline.

If Ves insisted on pushing the boundaries and played with forces that he shouldn't be able to control, then the System might employ other safeguards to preserve the correct future.

Perhaps he should put this assumption to the test. It wouldn't take too long before the Time Gate became accessible once again.

"I cannot even pretend to know how it works." Ves admitted to the older man. "I don't think red humanity should look back into the past for solutions. It is better to solve our problems by working towards a better future."

"Well said! Those are my thoughts as well, professor. There is no need for us to fixate on the past and measures on how to get there. As a soldier, I would much rather put my trust in more dependable tools and war weapons. My duty is to defend my ancient clan and superstate by eliminating any opposition with the help of my Ouroboros."

This was the attitude that an ace pilot should have. Instead of constantly looking for cheats or shortcuts, a true champion should fearlessly confront his adversaries!

Anyway, Ves could feel Axelar sincerity on this issue. The ace pilot genuinely did not care to pry into this greater secret.

The Terran leader could sense Ves' apprehension easily enough. It was not his purpose to discomfit the only mech designer who understood his ace mech's most important property.

Axelar's true goal was to solve all of the obstacles that prevented him from undergoing the greatest apotheosis of his life!

Compared to talking about strange and esoteric stuff like time travel, the only subject that truly interested a pilot like him was the improvement of his long-time machine!

"Have you seen enough?" Axelar asked.

Ves hesitated for a moment. "There is a lot of extremely advanced high technology stuffed in this mech frame. Each of them have a different impact on your living mech, including the aspects that affect its personality and growth trajectory."

"What is your point, professor?"

"My ability to control the variables that make up the Ouroboros is... limited. For example, let's talk about its craftsmanship. The Grand Mender has done an excellent job at elevating its quality to that of an upper-level masterwork mech. It is difficult to improve it any further, but it is trivially easy for me to regress its quality. 1 can make minor changes without too much trouble, but if I want to make a more serious attempt at solving the root of your ace mech's problems, then I need to be more hands on. This carries too many risks. As a Senior Mech Designer, I am not fully qualified to work on mechs this powerful."

That was not what General Axelar wanted to hear. The ace pilot frowned as he crossed his arms.

"The Grand Mender told me a similar story. She can do much to turn my Ouroboros into a resilient ace mech, but if I want to help it reach a higher state of existence, she is unable to solve the imbalance between creation and destruction."

Ves found it good that General Axelar possessed a clear and sober understanding of the flawed state of his machine.

The more Axelar recognized this problem, the more important it became to gain the cooperation of Ves!

"Do you want to hear a brief breakdown of my current thoughts?"

"Feel free to share your opinion, professor."

"Well, I don't think I need to go over all of your mistakes. You were ignorant to the property and the needs of your living mech back then. The consequence of all of this is that the Ouroboros has truly lost its balance. I have been able to see that you have been trying to compensate for this. The World Serpent System is admittedly an excellent addition, but it is far from enough to solve the true root of the problem."

"Why is it not enough?"

"By itself, the World Serpent System is the wrong medicine for your Ouroboros." Ves explained. "It stands for the wrong kind of creation. What it really needs is a reinforcement based on the power of life or creation. The armor system... doesn't entirely fit into this picture."

"Then what should we have done instead, professor?"

"Attain balance in a more direct manner. I coated the Ouroboros where one side is black and the other side is black. It represents the duality of my work and the synergies of both sides working together. A more thematic solution is to design two separate armor systems, one based on regeneration and one based on counterattacks or whatever. You can apply them on the left and right sides to match the dichotomy between creation and destruction."

General Axelar didn't know what to say. "Even I am aware that this is technologically different to develop, especially for an ace mech as strong as mine. Do you have a more practical solution? I have a hunch that you are not without other options."

Ves slowly nodded. "If I can tamper with the intangible design of your Ouroboros, it is possible for me to reform and reset certain stuff that can help your living machine return to a semblance of its old balance. The issue is that I probably don't have the strength to enact these changes. Due to its age and constant exposure to your feedback, your living mech's less tangible aspects have grown far too strong for me to control. I might not be able to get close enough. Even if I do, I may not be able to exert myself to implement the changes that I could have applied with ease on my younger living mechs."

The pilot rubbed his suited palm against the side of his cockpit. The Ouroboros was listening as well. The living mech was just as desperate for a solution if not more!

"What do you need to do to put you in a better position to repair my Ouroboros?"

Ves smiled a bit. He had an entire week to think over the dire state of his old work. He did not spend all of that time in vain.

"There are three possible answers that I can think of. The most direct one is for me to break through to Master Mech Designer. I am not sure if I will become strong enough to work on your Ouroboros, but it will at least put me in a better position."

Axelar immediately shook his head. "Rejected. The time it takes for you to realize your design philosophy can probably be measured in decades."

"The second answer is to weaken your Ouroboros. If you are willing to throw away decades worth of growth and accumulation, I can excise many of the intangible aspects that bias your machine toward destruction. If done well enough, it will bring your machine back into balance, but it may also revert your living mech to a weaker and earlier state."

"Also unacceptable. These years of growth represent the records and memories of our service over the years. My Ouroboros will become unrecognizable if I allow you to lobotomize it. I would rather leave it stuck in its current state than to lose my friend."

Ves was gratified to hear that Axelar truly loved his living mech.

"The third solution should be more palatable to your ears, but the difficulty of making it happen is not low. Since my strength is not enough, I can make use of an external variable to force the Ouroboros to accept my changes. This is extremely dangerous as I won't be able to exert a high degree of control over the process. However, as long as it works, I will effectively be able to apply much greater power. This should be more than enough to reform the Ouroboros."

"Hmmm. This is the best suggestion that I have heard." Axelar spoke in thought. "It is clear that success and failure hinges on this external variable. Do you need to borrow the power of the Grand Mender?"

"Not exactly. The truth is that I will likely have to borrow the power of a different entity."

"Who?"

"Have you heard of the existence known as Gaia?"

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