The Mech Touch

Ves hadn't really kept track of what Gaia was doing these days.

It couldn't be helped. Gaia was not one for small talk and she rarely had contact with the Larkinson Clan. Not even the other design spirits managed to strike a friendship with the powerful entity.

Though Ves had never really communicated with Gaia in depth, he had developed a pretty good idea how she had been doing all of this time.

From the moment of her birth, Gaia had spent a huge amount of time to absorb the massive influx of energy from her potent relationships with Old Earth and the huge amount of worshipers that revered the origin of the human race.

Her rapid growth forced Gaia to remain dormant most of the time in order to adapt, transform and master the rapid influx of power!

It was not until she had crossed an important threshold later on that Gaia surpassed a critical junction and became an actual True God!

Though Ves felt awfully ambivalent about it, Gaia was probably his most strongest creation to this date.

After all, Ves essentially created a True God from scratch!

Gaia was an accident of various coincidences and unique circumstances. It was unclear how much power she absorbed over the short years of her existence. It also remained unclear how much she became affected by the pollution from recklessly absorbing a titanic amount of spiritual feedback derived from an immense amount of people.

The Red Ocean's abrupt displacement to Messier Sy's galactic neighborhood had actually been a blessing in disguise for Gaia.

If the rapidly grown True God continued to remain in close proximity to the Milky Way and Old Earth, then she would have continued to get affected by a huge amount of external factors.

Would she still be able to retain her current personality under this onslaught, or would she get completely subsumed by all of the messy Terran thoughts?

All Ves knew was that Gaia should have been able to gain a huge amount of relief after getting displaced to this new environment.

She was not only able to catch her metaphorical breath and properly consolidate her growth, but she also became disconnected from an old planet that carried so much weight and history that it threatened to dominate her instead of the other way around!

The much lower population of humans in the Red Ocean combined with gaining access to a lot of relatively harmless and neutral E energy radiation allowed Gaia to strengthen herself without incurring as much sequelae as before!

This was a gamechanger to Gaia. Ves guessed that she had taken advantage of the much more favorable circumstances to stabilize her condition and gain much-needed cohesion.

This was why her ability to communicate had improved much better than before.

Unfortunately, Gaia was still stuck with the price of her incredibly fast rise to power.

His period talks with Cynthia along with learning from other sources had given Ves a better insight on the nature of True Gods.

The most important information was related to the huge differences between True Gods.

Their cultivation methods and their journeys all played a huge role in how they ended up after they became a post-divinity entity.

Out of all of the True Gods that Ves knew of, Gaia's foundation was by far the worst!

Her rapid promotion was both a blessing and a curse. Though it put her head and shoulders above other design spirits such as Qilanxo and Lufa, her foundation had never been as solid as theirs.

If the foundations of the other design spirits resembled that of a low but rock solid bunker that could easily support a lot of weight from above, Gaia's foundation resembled that of a rickety wooden tower that had already been stressed to the limit!

A single heavy blow from another True God would probably be enough to shatter Gaia's fragile foundation.

What was worse was that Gaia's ability to grow further had also been severely compromised.

Ves found it rather ironic that a True God that embodied the power of life actually possessed the worst life state out of all of her kind!

This was an extremely crucial deduction for Ves. It suggested to him that Gaia was not all-powerful to the point where she no longer had to care about the whims of humans. She possessed strong wants and needs that were probably difficult to fulfill.

So long as this was the case, then Gaia should be open to negotiation.

Perhaps this was why Gaia appeared so readily when called by General Axelar Streon.

Even though it must have been uncomfortable for her to extend her presence deep inside the domain field of a powerful ace pilot, she still took the initiative to present herself in a more approachable fashion!

Ves made a lot of guesses in his mind, but he did not dare to act too presumptuously. His familiarity with Gaia was too poor. What if she was mentally unstable? What if she was far too prone to anger?

It was better for General Axelar Streon to take the lead.

Despite the fact that he was primarily a mech pilot, Axelar had met with plenty of foreign and powerful dignitaries in the past.

The man clearly sensed the strength of the opposing entity, so he assumed a proper posture and made a short but respectful bow.

"Well met. I am Axelar of the Streon Ancient Clan. Professor Ves Larkinson here has stated that you may be able to assist us in helping the Ouroboros unlock its full potential. Do you understand what is wrong with my mech and do you know how you can remedy its shortcomings?"

Axelar's words and attitude made it clear that he wanted to address Gaia as a stranger who he considered to be his equal. He did not act subservient to her, but he did not try to lord himself over him either. He dispensed with much of the human formality and rituals because they were likely to produce greater misunderstandings.

In short, he believed the best way to address this strange entity was to be polite but direct.

Gaia had already swept the Ouroboros with her own senses before she spoke with a voice that was fairly soft but possessed a vast undercurrent.

"I understand what you seek. This mech is different. What you ask of me is possible, but not ideal. Your living machine has organically grown to this point. This is its truest state. To deviate from it is to reject the course of nature. If you insist on restoring a balance that has already been lost, then you can choose from gentle means or forceful means. Trying to inject the power of creation that does not belong to you or your machine is a disservice to you both. It can restore a balance on the surface, but as long as the root remains the same, it will never be able to persist. You will not be able to gain what you seek."

General Axelar frowned. He could understand the meaning of her words well enough, but he lacked the expertise to understand the situation well enough.

Ves was different in this regard. "I understand. General, it seems that my proposed solution likely won't yield the desired result. We can borrow Gaia's strength, but if we directly try to integrate it into the Ouroboros, then we will only be addressing the symptoms, not the causes. Balance is not just about forming an equal amount of creation and destruction. What is also important is that the two forces maintain a stable equilibrium. If the second condition cannot be met, then the Ouroboros will go out of whack almost immediately."

"Thank you for your explanation, professor. I can see now why that may be the case. Can Gaia assist us in another capacity, or do we need to solve the problem by ourselves?"

"That is not necessarily the case." Ves shook his head. "Gaia has just mentioned that we can employ gentler means to attain the same result. She has already given us a direction on how to do so. We can't borrow her power to restore the balance directly, but we can leverage her help to strengthen your living mech's own capabilities in this regard. The most practical solution is to strengthen the creation aspect of the Ouroboros."

That was a logical answer, but if it was that easy to do so, then Axelar and the Streon Ancient Clan would have done this a long time ago! Not even the help of the Grand Mender herself had been enough to balance out the ace hero mech's propensity towards destruction!

Ves began to consider various ideas. He could designate Gaia as the design spirit of the Ouroboros, but that was far from enough.

If he wanted the Ouroboros to get serious about engaging its creation aspect, then it needed to incorporate parts, modules and mech systems that actively did so! Ves would have to design or at least get involved in the process in person in order to make this happen!

"This is too difficult for me." Ves admitted to Axelar. "I am not qualified to materially work on a mech as sophisticated as the Ouroboros. The World Serpent System is unlike any armor system that I have ever seen up close, and the Genesis Rifle will likely blow up and destroy this entire space station if I remove the wrong component."

General Axelar frowned. "Is it not possible for you to collaborate with the Grand Mender?"

"The disparity of strength between the two of us is too great." Ves replied while shaking his head. "Even if the Grand Mender restrains her power to the utmost, I still won't be able to impart as much of myself onto my work as I wish. That is pretty clear given how much her design philosophy occupies the current iteration of the Ouroboros. Perhaps I will have a better chance if I advance to Master Mech Designer, but that will take way too long."

It seemed as if they had become stuck. While Axelar was happy to hear that there were possible solutions, none of them were easy or practical.

Gaia chose to speak at this time.

"There is no need to resort to these measures to restore the balance that you yearn so much for. Your mech is stunted but also filled with strength. It already has most of the nutrients that are necessary to undergo a metamorphosis."

That caused Ves to look at the True God with suspicion. An entity as powerful as her did not communicate without aim.

"Do you have any suggestions?"

The floating manifestation smiled.

"Creation and destruction are already present in nature. Linking your Ouroboros to this process may give it the blueprint necessary to restore its own balance."

"And I suppose you already have a choice in mind?"

Gaia's presence intensified. "I propose a transaction. I must bond rayself to a planet that can represent the planet Earth in this galaxy. The requirements for this planet are strict. Assist in the search for this planet. Once it has been identified, you must destroy its inhuman ecosystem before terraforming it into a replica of humanity's cradle. Involving your mech in this entire process will grant it the enlightenment it needs to form its own balance."

That... was an esoteric proposal. Both Ves and Axelar understood the logic of it, but it sounded so strange and convoluted that neither of them could determine whether it could actually work.

Still, it sounded like a realistic enough solution that it may be worthwhile for them to pursue.

"Let me get this straight." Ves said. "In order for the Ouroboros to return to a proper balance, you want it to actively get involved in the terraforming of an alien planet. It sounds rather... simple."

General Axelar looked increasingly more hopeful as he thought about this proposal.

"No. It makes sense. Think of the name and symbolism of your old work. Its name represents the cycle of life and death. To destroy an alien planet so that we can create a human planet is what the Ouroboros should do! The order should not matter so long as we put equal weight on both activities. I can think of no better way to deepen our comprehension and connection to the forces of creation and destruction!"