Pov Mirian's (?????):

The trip took 1 day longer than expected, when we were leaving the first tunnel we came across one of the Colossus level Monsters and we were attacked.

The monstrosity seemed to be made of countless rocks and was the size of a moon, its body moved rigidly and was incredibly fast, it used the rocks that make up its body to fire meteors towards us or form more direct attacks by forming arms, tentacles or blades using the pile of rocks that make up its colossal body.

Thanks to the vehicle's sensors I was able to perceive magical energies leaking from his body, they were from the earth and space elements, my assumption is that he uses the space element to move since it makes no sense how he moves in a place without gravity.

Its surface appeared to be reinforced and had no apparent weak points, which wouldn't make sense to look for anyway since we didn't have weapons on this vehicle, it also wasn't necessary apparently.

Nara proved to be competent as a pilot much more than I expected, a new pair of arms formed behind her as well as a second head whose face was composed of only 6 eyes, they were made of materialized magical energy, one of the main focuses of our research since the first days and the one that was the third to show results, even my prostheses have some functions that use this technology.

I look at her acting calmly and with extreme speed evenly without slowing down, the most surprising thing was to see the increasing number of holographic screens appearing around her and the various eyes in her second head moving individually.

It was impossible to understand the gains she was making looking out the window, so I looked at my monitors to see how she was piloting with extreme precision, altering speed, direction, shield focus, and maneuverability to avoid the monster, all while planning the route to cause damage as much delay as possible to our great pursuer.

It took us hours to escape this big insistent thing, then it took us 1 day and a few more to reach the second Space Hoop, this one hidden in a lifeless and desert world, it was just a big rocky sphere with no signs of ever having had any kind of civilization.

The vehicle enters the world's atmosphere and falls directly into an abyss full of countless tunnels, after 1 hour moving in this labyrinth of precipices we enter a tunnel that we travel for another 5 hours before reaching the Space Hoop.

As soon as we cross the trip it takes 2 more days, I noticed since we arrived in that dead world a tiredness in Nara after the deactivation of her 2 arms and second head with 6 false eyes, it seems that this mode of operation has great weight on her body.

But now that we're in the Tunnel she can leave it on auto mode as she only needs to follow a straight line, at least from our point of view it's a straight line.

I spent that day talking to her to find out in more detail about the base of operations that I am responsible for, I also tried to ask about the employees and how they have adapted, it seems that 79% of the employees have already gone through some improvement procedure, whether minor or greater degree.

The last day in the tunnel I spent training, I avoided using my prostheses as much as possible during that 1 year so as not to be exposed, apart from some tricky situations where the use of my full capacity was necessary, I did well during that year.

Now I have to make sure I haven't gotten rusty, I start testing both my arms and then my legs, my artificial eye was one of the few things I could use without being noticed, so I concentrated on more physical training aimed mainly at the combat.

When we left the space tunnel it was only a few hours' drive to the base, as soon as we arrived I saw the world below, a gas giant full of poison and the nest of a race with which we managed to reach a non-interference agreement.

We move to one of the 5 Moons, the only one with a blue color and the other 3 are purple and 1 is silver.

As soon as we get close to the Moon, several sensors in the surroundings connect with the vehicle for verification, but I know that we are being watched since before that, all the Moons have surveillance teams as well as some asteroids that we passed on the way, there are also the long range sensors that should have been finished by now.

"Take care of the landing, I'll get some things from my room." (I)

"Yes, Mistress Miriam." (Nara) As I looked at Nara, her performance was exemplary, much of what she did was only possible due to her prosthetics, but this was only used to perfection due to the individual's own talent.

"[Welcome back Madam Miriam and Pilot First Class Nara.]"

"Requesting landing route and permission to access hangar." (Nara)

"[Permission granted, follow the route we're sending you and use the personal access password.]"

"Understood." (Nara)

I noticed how she was already working on the landing while still communicating with people at the base, her mind seems to be more analytical and multitasking than usual, maybe it can scratch her under my direct leadership, but let's see how the others progressed during this one 1 year.

Thinking how exemplary this young Pilot was, to say the least, I headed to my room, gathered the storage crystals she'd brought, and changed into my formal robes.

I hate formal dress, but an orderly hierarchy needs this kind of banal stuff, it helps keep things in order and prevents some idiot from trying to stop me just for not recognizing me, like I said before, I don't want to have to punch anyone today.

I feel the vehicle vibrate, it feels like we've just landed as I put on my silver uniform with the gold accents and look into the mirror.

"I hate the color gold, I swear she chose that color for my uniform on purpose." (I)

I eyeball the hat and pull it off my head before throwing it in the corner of the room.

"I may have to wear that outfit, but I'm not wearing that damn hat." (I)

I leave the room and head straight for the exit where Nara was waiting for me, her arms combined in just 1 slightly strong pair.

I nod and she opens the doors, what followed was a lot of formal bummer for the troops to feel good about a superior arriving, but an inevitability of the hierarchy to give importance to my position in everyone's mind, as if that kind of thing were needed nowadays.

I got it over with as quickly as I could and went to my office where I met leaders from different sectors.

I didn't say anything about the progress of the mission to them, that kind of thing would just be a concern for them that they should stay focused on their responsibilities, what everyone needs to know are the results and transparency is something necessary for everyone to continue to have hope in the future see our slow but steady advance.

After the meeting with those in the base's high command, I went to the room behind my office, a room connected to the long range communicator, I activate it after checking the time, and a transparent silhouette forms using holograms, its appearance could hardly be recognized, but Aura being transmitted was hers and there were no mistakes for that.

"I'm glad the comms were actually able to reach the central base, good to see you Astrid." (I)

"[I'm not at headquarters, I'm going to your base.]" (Astrid)

"YOU WHAT!?" (I)

"[If we're going to take the next step of Project Alpha, then it's time to call it by its real name.]" (Astrid)

"I don't like that name, Project Alpha works for me." (I)

"[After everything we've been through the meaning of that name matters, it will give hope to everyone.]" (Astrid)

"Or it will destroy what little hope we've fought to keep." (I)

"[You may understand combat but don't understand how to lead, believe me when I say that the name of our world will better reveal the importance of this mission to everyone.]" (Astrid)

"You're too confident to say that, you haven't even heard my report." (I)

"[I know you, Miriam.]" (Astrid)

"[For you to suddenly decide to come back like that means that the Alpha phase was positive.]" (Astrid)

"..." (I)

Sometimes I hate how much she can predict what I'm going to do, she's always been like that, always having two meanings to everything she does, that damn Genie.

I spend the next hour telling her everything I've seen in that world over the past year, it's just superficial information fixing more details only on certain things that demand greater importance.

After that, I answered some of your questions as best I could before moving on to the last event that showed how much of that world I still didn't know and what made me take the initiative to close the initial phase of our project to move on to the next step.

I told her everything from the precautions with the quest to the full explanations we received when we were teleported to the Elves' quest location.

What followed were things that even I wasn't sure of, some of the people who went there with me were known and had recording devices that I implanted in items I gave them, after retrieving some of these items, listening to what other people they saw that day and I realized that day myself, I couldn't hide my surprise at the things I didn't understand.

"[The Saint of Death was also there as well as another unknown Saint?]" (Astrid)

"Yes." (I)

"[We have already seen 2 World Trees, one of them completely destroyed and the other being protected by Elves in another world, but I did not imagine that its importance was so great for the world, it works as a mechanism of Harmonization, balancing and a connection point of the energy flow of the world, very interesting.]" (Astrid)

"[You said there was someone who healed something like that?]" (Astrid)

"I don't know if healing is the correct term, but we can put it that way for now and yes, it was a Vampire boy." (I)

"[You said that many of the abnormal individuals were around that Vampire?]" (Astrid)

"Correct, the Saint of Death also hinted that she should be careful of my actions." (I)

"[The Special Individual was also linked to him?]" (Astrid)

"Yes, it seems to be her daughter, her name is Nicole." (I)

"[...]" (Astrid)

"[Alright, start preparations, we are officially starting the Beta phase of the Zenith Project.]" (Astrid)

"Yes." (I)