And so other three years had passed. This time, however, things had gone from good to better.

Sobek was eating from his Personal Manger, swallowing huge chunks of meat every second. For several months he had done nothing but eat, stopping only occasionally to deal with international affairs. Fortunately, the dinosaurs had become very autonomous, so he didn't need to stop too often. Only when he had finally reached the amount of skill points needed to maximize all of his abilities did he slow down. From that day on, he had continued to eat, but much more slowly.

After swallowing one last big bite, Sobek finally reached the amount of experience points needed to level up. After completing the progress he opened the main interface to observe his stats.

[Spinosaurus divinus]

Level: 60

Length: 60 m

Height: 18.6 m

Weight: 30 tons

Diet: carnivore, piscivore

Strength: 21,831,560

Agility: 19,679,998

Defense: 17,239,170

Top speed: 61 km/h

Experience points: 0/13,310,000

Skill Points: MAX REACHED

Fame Points: MAX REACHED

Bonus money: 31,780,117

"Now I am both the longest and the highest… an excellent goal". Years ago he never imagined that he would really achieve such a result. Now it was longer than giants like the argentinosaurus and taller than giants like the sauroposeidon; there was nothing in the world as big as he was.

He looked nostalgically at the skill point icon. The word 'MAX REACHED' had been flashing on it for quite some time, but Sobek still felt some sorrow to see it. After all, he'd been used to checking skill points all the time. But since he had maximized all of his abilities, the icon had frozen and the Personal Manger had stopped providing him with any. By now it only gave him experience points.

However, the positive aspects were many more. For example, he had finally maximized all of his abilities, and he loved opening the skill interface from time to time to watch his triumph.

[Skill interface]

Swim speed: 5/5

Ambush: 5/5

Rapid digestion: 5/5

Regeneration. 5/5

Deadly claws: 5/5

Fast eating: 5/5

Reinforced skin: 5/5

Powerful bite: 5/5

Linguistics: 5/5

Apnea: 5/5

Devastating Roar: 5/5

Linguistics (2): 5/5

Teleportation: 5/5

Supreme instinct: 5/5

Linguistics (3): 5/5

Parthenogenesis: 5/5

Radiation absorption: 5/5

Linguistics (4): 5/5

"I don't know why, but watching her I always explode with pride" Sobek thought satisfied, and then put away his Personal Manger; he needed to rest for a moment.

Many things had changed over the past three years. The Eden Union had grown exponentially, and now had about half of the world's nations on its side. The plan to resolve the economic crisis and unemployment had been successfully completed and the economy of all countries had recovered, favored by the single market and the absence of customs.

In the end it was discovered that the forecasts were wrong: the economic plan put in place had not solved 93% of unemployment. He had solved 96% of it.

Also, as Sobek had predicted, humans were slowly getting used to dinosaurs (or animals in general). Clearly the situation on the human continents was not as rosy as it was in the Great Republic of Beleriard, but it was far better than it had been three years earlier. It had been a tiring journey and it had taken a lot of commitment on both sides, but the climate of tolerance was able to be maintained. In this, dogs and cats had been very useful, which as Sobek had predicted had turned out to be the perfect propagandists, prompting many people to relate to even the most apparently dangerous dinosaurs. After all, what kind of cold hearted monster could say no to his dog or kitten, even when it invited him to meet a six meter tall giganotosaurus?

Three years after the first contact, surveys showed that about 45% of the Eden Union population widely appreciated coexistence with animals, 20% tolerated it, 10% were starting to open up and 'only' 25% he openly rejected them. The latter, in particular, was a declining number: up to the previous year it had been 30% and two years earlier it was 40%, demonstrating that the efforts of Sobek and the governments were bearing fruit abundantly.

Sobek didn't expect racism and fear to disappear in such a short time. Unlike the population of the Great Republic of Beleriard, who had fought side by side with the dinosaurs and thus had formed a feeling of unity with them, the peoples of the continents Laurentia and Saramir had been indoctrinated for years about the dangers of dinosaurs and many fake news were been spread over them. In fact, although the same period of time had passed, while already when Pauline had visited the Beleriard the dinosaurs roamed freely in the streets and socialized with humans, on Laurentia and Saramir the dinosaurs still kept very far away from the cities. Only a few small animals, such as birds, pterosaurs, dromeosaurids, dogs and cats approached human settlements, and with extreme caution.

But Sobek, like many other Eden Union heads of state, was confident. The numbers showed that animals were slowly being accepted by society. If there had been no hitches, within a few years that 25% of those against it would have dropped to 10%. One day the situation in every human nation would be identical to the Great Republic of Beleriard.

The number of dinosaurs on human continents had risen from 20,000 to more than 300,000. Large areas of forest, thanks to the combination of dinosaur work and human technology, had been restored. Thanks to the study of feeding troughs, human and animal scientists were able to accelerate the growth of plants, quickly restoring hectares of forest. New water resources had been discovered and unearthed, creating rivers and lakes where they had disappeared.

Furthermore, the weather was slowly returning to normal. With half of the world's nations turning to clean energy and the other half running out of fossil fuels they had left, global warming had come to a halt. As a result, the rains and monsoons had returned to wet those areas that had now become desertified, making them fertile again. Streams of water that had previously dried had filled up again and new rivers had carved their way into the parched earth. The glaciers on the mountains had begun to grow back, guaranteeing continuous and permanent water sources. The summers had grown cooler and the winters less extreme. And thanks to this, life had begun to flourish even in those places where dinosaurs and humans had not yet set to work: grass and ferns covered almost all of the continents, and although they grew much more slowly, small saplings had begun to emerge from the ground.

Sobek had also expanded the size of his pack. Thanks to [Linguistica (4)] he had been able to bring all kinds of vertebrates from him. Mammals, reptiles-mammals, amphibians, fish; all of them had become part of his huge people. And each of them was helping to improve the current situation on the planet. Amphibians cleaned up rivers, mammals and smaller reptiles dug up the soil and pulled out the garbage hidden beneath it, and the fish picked up the plastic and litter littered in the ocean and carried them to the beaches, where humans collected and carried them. to recycling plants. Everyone was helping out. And in fact, the continents slowly flourished, the plants grew back, the rivers filled with life, the glaciers refrozen and the sea returned clear and clean.

By putting a stop to pollution and rolling up its sleeves, the planet was finally returning to being healthy and alive. All the dirt and damage caused in the past was fading as animals returned to populate their old ecological niches and humans became accustomed to living in an eco-friendly way.

The world was changing, and for many the future was bright. Even in human society those three years had changed everything, and for the better.

Over the course of those three years, humans had finally established real governing bodies for the Eden Union; the Senate, the Court and the Government had taken shape. By now the heads of state hardly bothered with the affairs of the Eden Union: their representatives or their senators did it for them. And in that short period, the Senate had already enacted a series of laws that would be applied in every Eden Union nation: for example, health care and education had become completely free.

And research on feeding troughs hadn't just allowed plants to grow faster. Huge progress had been made in the pharmaceutical field. Now doctors could even cure deadly diseases like cancers and tumors. Even Asperger's disease was now treatable, albeit with a very long and yet to be perfected treatment. At that rate, no disease would be incurable within the next decade. This had clearly improved public opinion towards the dinosaurs, as it was known that it was thanks to them that similar results had been achieved.

And medicine was certainly not the only branch of science that had made progress. In particular, a great event was expected that day.

*******

"Are you nervous?"

Darius looked at Liam with amusement as he put on the spacesuit. The boy seemed to be sweating seven shirts. "You know I don't like flying" he replied.

Darius laughed and had to resist the temptation to pat him on the shoulder. "Liam, you are about to leave for the first mission to the planet Davis and you will command the scientific staff for the establishment of our first colony. We will read about you in the history books. I'd say you can bear your height phobia"

"Would you get on an experimental spaceship to be shot at tens of thousands of kilometers per hour towards a giant mass of rock lashed by colossal dust storms?" Liam asked in a trembling voice.

Darius knew Liam was speaking out of fear, but that didn't stop him from slapping him: "Hey, I designed Salvation. I know it's safe"

"But, coincidentally, you stay on the ground!"

"Well, become the Queen's Prime Minister, then tell me if you can find time for an interplanetary colonization mission!"

"Stop it, both of you" Jillian retorted, who was next to them with the spacesuit already inserted. The girl looked quite amused. "Stop teasing him, Darius, or my head of science staff might be fainting. I don't think it would be good publicity if the person who should manage the technical parameters of colonization were dragged into the Salvation unconscious"

"Fuck you" was Liam's dry reply. Jillian gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Darius meant a lot of words, but he couldn't find the right ones. Seeing his two pupils ready to embark on one of the most important missions of their time gave him a mystical feeling. Eventually he simply said, "You will be the first to set foot on the red planet. I can't say anything else except that I'm proud of you"

"You prepared us for this, Darius. And in any case, the first one who will leave their footprints up there will be me. The captain is always the first" Jillian said. "You men have already had your chance on the moon. Now it's up to women to have their moment of glory"

"Sounds fair to me" Liam said, evidently trying to think of anything other than flying.

Darius feigned offense: "Liam, your girlfriend is questioning patriarchy! She shows a little backbone and punishes her!" he said with a laugh, in a clearly ironic tone.

"Punish her? She's the one who punishes me… in every sense" Liam murmured softly.

Jillian winked at him: "Do you want to try it in zero gravity?"

"Ok, lovebirds, we're going too far" Darius stopped them not wanting to hear more. "Prepare properly, the departure is soon"

The tycoon left the room and quickly disappeared into the corridor. The two boyfriends were left alone.

"I can't believe we're going to do this" Liam said. "If they had told me years ago that I would be one of the first men to set foot on Davis..."

"Years ago we thought this was going to be an atomic disaster rescue mission. Now instead we start as pioneers. I would say that none of us could have expected this implication"

"You knew it? Well... that Darius had already chosen you as captain and appointed me as chief of the scientific staff?"

"I had my suspicions when I realized that none of the people that he introduced me were suitable for those roles, but I didn't imagine that he had chosen the two of us"

Liam kissed Jillian, happy as ever in her life. The dream of a lifetime seemed about to come true. He mentally thanked Darius Tanz, that rich tycoon who had chosen an ordinary young man like him as his protégé, seeing in him things that not even Liam knew he had. The two engaged couples inserted their helmets and headed for the launch pad.

As they went on they were joined by many other people. The Salvation crew consisted of 160 people... and some special last-minute additions, which manifested themselves in the form of a spacesuit modified to have a long tail and an almost horizontal body.

It was Blue. She would be leaving with Salvation along with everyone else. Sobek had asked that he too could get on the ship, because he felt it was right since without Blue's studies much of the mission would still be stranded, and the Eden Union governments had agreed that it would be a good message to convey to the masses to raise awareness. even more the relationship between humans and animals.

The crew soon found themselves near the launch pad. Around the spaceship, obviously at a safe distance, there was a sea of people. Many dinosaurs were also present, intent on admiring this historic moment. Blue could recognize many friendly faces, including Al and Old Li, and even Buck and Carnopo had chosen to attend. And in the distance, almost mistaken for a small hill, was Sobek, watching the scene dreamily.

"Good luck" he whispered into his mind with the mind-sharing mode of the [Contract].

Blue nodded imperceptibly. "Thank you, pack leader" she replied in the same way.

The crew boarded the Salvation. Each of them went to sit in their seats, waiting for orders from the control tower.

"Departure between 3... 2... 1..."

Salvation started the engines and shot skyward. The white trail it emanated grew higher and higher and soon it was impossible to see it.

"Optimal launch protocols. Reaching the planetary orbit. Retractable release imminent"

Through the portholes the crew could see the sky change from blue to black in a few minutes. Very soon the jolts subsided and the passengers felt the pull of gravity diminish.

"Takeoff completed successfully!"

On the ground, people burst into shouts of joy. Everyone, from the scientists in the control tower to the people watching the event from their homes, were elated. Darius found himself hugging random people in delight.

Man's desire to explore new worlds was finally becoming a reality.

Inside Salvation, Liam was setting the parameters to plot the course. "We'll be on Davis in less than 44 days" he said.

"Then let's not waste time" Jillian replied, giving the order to activate the spaceship's engines at maximum power.

None of them knew exactly what they were getting into; despite all the training and planning, the challenges that awaited them would have been unpredictable. But in the end, great strides were not achieved with prudence. And one thing everyone, from the crew to every human being across the Eden Union, knew for sure: from that day on, the world would change forever.