The Mech Touch

The long and storied history of the Ouroboros unfolded like a tapestry to Ves.

The strong spiritual connection between them allowed the maker and product to exchange words, meanings, images and even heartfelt emotions with each other without any barriers in the way.

This was a magical form of exchange that was not only fast, but also highly efficient, especially when the two parties were considerably advanced as far as entities were concerned!

Best of all, it was completely impenetrable and impossible to intercept, especially at close range!

Ves did not have to worry about the Terrans or the mechers stealing any of his valuable secrets, so he did not hold back whenever he communicated back to his old creation.

As he studied the gradual development of the Ouroboros over time, he noticed that as General Axelar Streon eventually realized his mistake as he approached the peak of what an ace pilot could become.

It was not as if he understood that he had altered the character of the Ouroboros through his actions. He interfaced with it so many times that he had become highly familiar with his machine.

However, he never held onto the mindset that he had to preserve all of its character and traits as much as possible.

This was fairly normal. A mech that used to be hastily designed was not a proper machine to begin with. It contained so many technical deficiencies that the Streon Ancient Clan had to commission a lot of mech designers to upgrade it and raise its performance to a satisfactory level.

Besides, since Axelar was not the true designer of the Ouroboros, how could he understand the full intentions behind its creation?

All of these factors resulted in an attitude that the Ouroboros was a constantly evolving product.

The direction of its growth did not matter at all so long as it became stronger and more effective in the end.

Axelar even embraces the greater emphasis on destruction because that was what he and his clan obviously needed from his battle partner!

The Ouboros was not an industrial mech. It was designed and built for combat, so any changes that made it more effective at this job were beneficial as far as Axelar was concerned!

It was not until General Axelar Streon had reached his current bottleneck and gradually explored what he needed to do that he fully recognized the unfortunate consequences of his unbridled pursuit for greater destruction.

The transition from an ace pilot to a god pilot was the greatest possible series of tests for those who fought with mechs.

In order to attain the power of a god, a pilot must have no regrets and excel in many different areas.

Ves did not possess a clear understanding of what ace pilots needed to do to successfully complete the greatest possible leap of their lifetimes, but the Ouroboros provided a few clues.

Axelar had bonded so extensively with the Ouroboros that the two had become inseparable.

This meant that the state and condition played an outsized role in Axelar's evolution.

It was impossible for the Terran ace pilot to make further progress by exchanging the Ouroboros with another ace mech that possessed a much better foundation.

This meant that Axelar had no choice but to perfect his existing ace mech, but due to the design choices that Ves had made a long time ago, it became insanely difficult to satisfy this essential requirement!

"A misalignment existed between my original vision of the Ouroboros and Axelar's own interpretation of his living mech." Ves concluded. "This divergence in opinions has gone on for so many years that minor differences have accumulated into a vast gulf between ideal and reality."

When Ves initially designed the Ouroboros, he did so by occupying Axelar's body.

This caused him to entertain a few odd and unusual ideas.

One of them was that Ves designed the Ouroboros as a child between himself and Axelar!

Ves was the mother and the creator who breathed life into the hero mech.

Axelar was the father and the destroyer who fulfilled the purpose of his new battle partner.

The best possible way for the Ouroboros to preserve its original duality between creation and destruction was to grow up under the care of both of its parents.

That did not happen.

Like a child that only grew under a single parent, the Ouroboros had grown continuously for a century under the care of its father!

Meanwhile, Ves was like a deadbeat mother who completely disappeared from the scene and deprived his 'child' of the motherly care that it deserved!

It was no wonder that the Ouroboros grew up in a distorted fashion!

Ves never thought about all of this stuff at the time. He always treated the Ouroboros as a temporary product that Axelar would eventually toss aside once he had outgrown this poorly designed machine.

How could Ves had known that Axelar not only fell in love with this rickety hero mech, but also managed to advance all the way to a peak ace pilot with the help of its sole battle partner!

If Ves had known about this in advance, he would have given Axelar extensive instructions to ensure that he properly guided the growth of his chosen machine.

Not every living mech was destined to become all-powerful as they grew older. They could take the wrong turns or become victims to mistakes.

The impossible moat that blocked the subsequent evolution of the Ouroboros was undeniable proof that relying on age alone was not enough.

"What a terrible mess."

The good news was that Axelar did not remain stubborn enough to exacerbate the problem further.

He instead respected his living mech's wishes and sought to reverse the ongoing trend.

The Streons had made the right moves.

They not only contracted the services of the Grand Mender at great cost, but also requested her to infuse the Ouroboros with her extensive design applications, but not to the point of destroying everything that made it alive.

Each and every specification added another burden to the Star Designer, but General Axelar Streon gritted his teeth and pushed through because he understood it was the only way to 'save' the Ouroboros.

Ves swept his gaze from top to bottom. The World Serpent System that the Grand Mender had specifically developed for the Ouroboros had indeed done much to counteract the previous trend.

The fact that it occupied such an extensive blueprint in the mech frame meant that its regenerating properties deeply affected the character of the Ouroboros.

However, even though the Grand Mender had tried her best, she didn't exactly have what the Ouroboros needed.

Her domain was not actually based on creation, but rather restoration.

Her title signified her dedication towards facilitating the restoration of products that had already been produced.

She worked hard to make existing mechs last longer so that they preserved the lives of their pilots. This was her chosen strategy to fulfill her purpose as a mech designer.

This was why the World Serpent System and the other repair systems failed to solve the problem.

They only slowed the deterioration at most.

Ves turned his gaze towards the Apocalypse sword once again.

Axelar's love for Destroyer swords was one of the chief causes of the current imbalance.

The more Axelar grew as a pilot, the higher the tier of Destroyer weapons he was able to wield.

More powerful tiers of Destroyer weapons made it a lot easier for Axelar to vanquish over stronger opponents, so he never held back on upgrading whenever the opportunity arose.

This was normal behavior and it wouldn't have been an issue if he piloted any other mech.

Unfortunately, this approach was anything but ideal for a living mech that worked best when it was in a state of balance.

"It would have been better if Axelar settled for a plasma sword or something." Ves grumbled.

Destroyer technology was too unreasonable!

It was a form of extreme high technology that broke the rules because it could not exist without relying on the reality-defying powers of a god pilot and a Star Designer!

Mechs could still be designed and produced by mortals, but Destroyer weapons were essentially godly creations at their core!

Long-term contact and exposure to Destroyer particles meant that it became a certainty for the Ouroboros to develop a bias towards destruction!

It was too late to disassociate the two from the other. General Axelar Streon belatedly learned that his love for Destroyer swords had contributed enormously to the problem, but they had become nearly inseparable to the Ouroboros by this time!

Since Destroyer swords had become a core part of the current machine's identity, switching to a plasma sword would do more harm than good.

Besides, Axelar probably wouldn't be able to bear it either. He had wielded this powerful weapon type for so long that it had become a part of his nature as well.

"Axelar is another contributor to this problem."

If the ambitious Terran ace pilot wanted to make the ultimate leap, he needed to merge with his battle partner.

The greater the differences between the two, the harder it became to make this happen.

As a military leader who fought a lot of battles throughout his eventful career, General Axelar Streon was just as destructive as his mech, if not more.

The man hardly thought about anything else aside from fighting and winning!

It was only after he realized that he needed to form a balance as well that he sought to turn his life around.

"I see." Ves became enlightened. "So this is why Axelar embraced politics. He founded the New Terran Federation Movement with the explicit aim to produce positive changes with his power. He also jumped on the opportunity to be among the first leaders to build the Terran Alliance after the Red Ocean opened up for colonization."

These were Axelar's belated attempts to develop his long-neglected creation domain that had never received much attention in the past.

While Axelar had made substantial gains in this regard, it was a pity that his progress did not directly translate to the Ouroboros.

The most he could hope for that a part of his creation domain would rub off on ace mech through continuous exposure.

Perhaps this might have a chance of working, but it would take way too long to attain the desired result!

Axelar needed to counteract so much damage that it may take half a century or more in order to completely align himself to the Ouroboros once more!

Ves shook his head. "This will take way too long."

Both Axelar and the Ouroboros had become desperate for a golden bullet. They wanted to correct their respective mistakes and imbalances in the fastest and most effective way possible.

This completely explained why the Ouroboros regressed into an eager puppy after reuniting with its long-lost parent.

The living mech bore no resentment at being abandoned by Ves. Its congenital defects had caused it to remain stuck as a relatively simple second order living mech.

The Ouroboros might not have reacted so gently at Ves if it had been a third order living mech!

The living mech's thoughts were quite simplistic at this time. It knew that it was damaged, and it knew that its progenitor may be the only mech designer who could make it right again.

"Professor Larkinson?" A voice called down below.

Miss Alexa Streon had entered the hangar bay a few minutes ago. She had respectfully kept her silence in order to give Ves enough space, but she just received a notification that compelled her to speak.

"What is it, Alexa?"

"My grandfather has teleported to the surface after our clan concluded a preliminary agreement with the Devosans. He is on his way here. It is best for you to leave. The Devos Ancient Clan still wants to have you first, and our clan has agreed to give the injured party priority for the rest of the week."

"Hmm. Understood. I need to think anyway. This powerful mech has given me quite a few surprises."