Chapter 138

Communication

Hostiles have communicated in native language. Match probability to hostiles lowers to 57.912%. As ordered by the Sh’lteek protocol, any attempts at communication, even from hostile forces, are to be accepted. Halting all hostile actions. Computing best response…

…………………………………………………

Everyone just floated in the air. The tension was palpable. At least, it was for the humans. The mechs were almost certainly immune to it. As everyone waited anxiously, one of the mechs floated forward.

“State your purpose.” The voice was obviously robotic with a metallic tinge to it. The Nugitraaiilian language was made up of hissing and screeching sounds making it incredibly grating to the human ear. Both Chu Shen and the twins cringed at the sound of the voice. Lucas, however, seemed used to it. Most likely because he grew up around aliens, so he was used to such strange voices.

Lucas decided he needed to answer them. “We came here to explore. We did not know this place was inhabited.”

“This place is not inhabited by intelligent life.” Came the robotic voice. Lucas blinked. What did it mean by not inhabited? If it wasn’t, then why would the robots be here?

“Why did you attack us?” Lucas decided to cut to the chase.

“Your match probability to the invaders from 12.3 cycles ago reached over fifty percent. According to the Sh’lteek protocol, I was ordered to regard you as hostiles.”

The voice said 12.3 cycles but Lucas’ translation program immediately translated that into human years. 412 years. That was the number Lucas received. Of course, such a number was meaningless, since the timeflow from dimension to dimension could vary.

The voice continued talking while Lucas was trying to process this. “Why did you send a Tachyon transmission? How did you arrive here? How do you know our language? Answer these queries or face immediate termination.”

Lucas turned to Chu Shen and switched his voice modulator. “Uh buddy. I just got asked some questions I’m gonna need your help on.”

Chu Shen nodded. “Go ahead. I can’t understand a word you guys are saying anyways.”

Lucas immediately explained the questions to him. Afterwards he looked at Chu Shen with an expectant face. “So? What do we do?”

Chu Shen sighed. “Tell them this. ‘We arrived here from a different dimension. The Tachyonic transmission was to determine if this was the same dimension as the one we originated from. The language was learned from a species identical to this one located in our original universe.’ Honestly, I don’t like revealing all this, but I can’t come up with a convincing lie that won’t get us killed on a moment’s notice.”

Lucas nodded understandingly. “I get it Chu Shen. No one thinks you could do better.”

Of course, there was someone that disagreed. ‘I think you could, brat.’

‘Shut up Master Ti Wu. You’re ruining  a touching moment here.’ 

‘Did you just tell me to shut up?! You brat!’ While Master Ti Wu scolded Chu Shen, Lucas conveyed the message to the mech in its language.

There was a delay as the robot seemed to process the new information. After half-a-minute, the mech finally answered. “How can this information be verified?”

Lucas smiled. “Quite easily. All I need to do is transmit to you the data from my memory banks. You may have noticed since you destroyed one of my bodies earlier, but I am not an organic. I am a cyborg, part organic and part machine. I have a positronic brain modeled after my organic brain, implanted after an accident caused severe damage to my body.”

“Transmit the data immediately.”

“How?”

“If you transmit it on Radio Frequency 52.92, Assault Mech 009 will be able to pick up the signal.”

“Transmitting now.” Lucas started transferring a video feed of what he had seen since they had arrived at this new dimension, while also providing translating software. It took only one minute to transfer the data and another three minutes for the voice to process it.

Finally, the voice spoke. “Your claims have been verified. You are now classified as non-hostile aliens. You will no longer be attacked by any of the Mechanized Armor Units or by any Orbital Installations. Due to your new classification, I am required to inform you that the alien invaders from 12.3 cycles ago have now appeared inside the planetary system. Due to this conflict, this planet will no longer be safe. Use this information wisely, because the Defense System will not assign priority to your protection. If this unit survives the war, I may have further questions for you about this identical species.”

Lucas nodded his thanks. “Thank you for your concern. I will discuss our options with my companions before making any decisions. I don’t believe we will be here for the war but if we are then we will answer any questions you may have.”

He turned to Chu Shen. “Well, it appears we are in the clear. The A.I., or whatever that thing is, has agreed to let us stay here in peace. There’s a catch though. Apparently those invaders are back.”

Aslo spoke up. “You said that they appeared over four hundred years ago. Why would they appear now?”

Lucas shrugged. “No idea. They must want this planet for something, though. Four hundred years is enough for most radiation to dissipate.”Aslo was, of course, confused by this answer. However, he did remember one thing though. “Does this mean those invaders are coming to wipe out the Nugitraaiil again?”

Lucas shook his head. “No. I asked the mech and it said this planet was uninhabited. Those invaders already finished the job. Honestly, I don’t see why we don’t just go back to your dimension. There’s a war about to start and we don’t have a piece in either side.”

Aslo shook his head. “No. This planet is the burial place of all those people. I wouldn’t have wanted the Asura Sect to use the Rising Tide Sect’s old buildings. That is exactly what those invaders want to do here. I want to stay and help them fight.”

Chrissa spoke up softly. “I want to as well.”

Lucas threw up his hands. “Great. Just great!” He turned towards Chu Shen. “Tell them we need to leave. We could quite easily lose our lives here. I’d prefer it if we just left right now.”

Aslo also turned to Chu Shen. “Savior, I know that this request is unreasonable. I just want to defend the memory of all these people. I feel a connection with them. You don’t need to stay, just allow me and Chrissa to.”

Chu Shen lowered his head and began to think.

1. N/a

Chapter 137

Fight!

The turrets fired at them, filling the air with bolts of red energy. They were similar to the energy bolts the drone scouts had used, but they seemed to be far more powerful when compared to them. Chu Shen hurriedly created several shields to protect his friends. Using <Stars Dance: Light Step>, Chu Shen ran up to the mech.

He ran like he was running on steps, going up towards the mech’s face. Several hundred energy bolts came at him and his friends in just ten seconds. Most of them were absorbed by his shields, giving his friends time to react before they broke.

Lucas immediately flew up into the air, using fire from his legs. Aslo and Chrissa were able to avoid everything using their proficiency as an Early Stage Martial Emperor.

Chu Shen quickly reached the mech. Swinging his hammer, he smashed it into the shoulder of the robot. A white barrier, just like the one the other robot had before, appeared. It was no match for Chu Shen’s strength.

With a loud BANG, the robot spun around from the impact of the blow. Bolts of energy flew everywhere as the robot swung around. The robot fell down onto the ground. It immediately started grasping around, attempting to pull itself back up.

They weren’t going to let it do that, though. Lucas deployed his sniper drones. They immediately started firing at the joints of its right leg. Wind surged towards the robot, keeping it pinned down on the floor. Flames billowed over the entire mech, causing its exterior to become cherry red.

While this was going on, Chu Shen got busy. Protected by his Qi, he was able to stand directly on the robot’s back while not worrying if he would be caught in the crossfire. Using his hammer, he repeatedly bashed the back of the mech’s head. This continued for half a minute.

Then, a large beam of red energy struck Chu Shen in the back. Chu Shen was flung into the robot, his body shield breaking when he did. Chu Shen screamed and glanced down at his right leg. A five inch hole was bored completely through it. Lucas, who had shot both of the mech’s legs off and was starting on the left arm, immediately became alarmed.

Looking up, he saw three more robots exactly like the one that was fighting them. “Crap. Chrissa! Grab Chu Shen! We need to get out of here!” Chrissa nodded and started chanting. Chu Shen floated upwards on a draft of wind shaped like a brick. He was flown straight to Chrissa. She grabbed him and immediately started running.

Lucas and Aslo sent multiple barrages of fireballs up at the mechs. Lucas pulled out his Beast Cannon and fired the lava projectiles straight at them. The guns mounted on their shoulders fired large red beams just like the one that had hit Chu Shen.

Four of them lanced towards Lucas, cutting off both his legs. One was directed at Aslo who barely managed to dodge it by throwing himself on the ground. There was one more gun that hadn’t fired but supposedly it was cooling down from firing at Chu Shen.

The four arms on one of the robots split open. A glob of blue plasma shot forward towards Lucas. Lucas gritted his teeth before firing a lava projectile straight at it. The both met mid-air and exploded. The plasma vaporized the rocky outside before colliding with the molten inner core. The lava and plasma met in a violent collision before exploding.

The Beast Cannon couldn’t continue firing at full power for long, though. Three more plasma balls shot towards Lucas. Lucas was able to stop two, but the third one made it through. The lava projectiles just didn’t have enough power. Right before the plasma ball hit him, Lucas teleported the Beast Cannon into his pocket dimension. His body outside was vaporized.

“LUCAS! NOOO!” Aslo immediately freaked out. He started chanting a Rank 8 Spell, Apocalyptic Shower. Before he finished it though, Lucas suddenly appeared. “Lucas?” Aslo asked incredulously. “I thought you were dead!”

Lucas shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I may be just slightly immortal. Anyways, we need to leave before you get killed.” Lucas had teleported one of his spare bodies outside, of course.

A turret appeared next to Lucas. It had an X shaped bottom and a blast shield wrapped around the barrel. Lucas activated it and identified the three robots as enemies. The robot they had first attacked wasn’t able to get off the ground so far, so Lucas designated it as a low threat enemy.

The turret swiveled towards the closest mech and unleashed multiple small globs of plasma. Lucas took off running, his jetpack appearing around his back. Flying upwards, he grabbed Aslo around his shoulders and got out of there.

Up ahead, Lucas could see Chrissa flying as well. A miniature hurricane had formed below her legs, propelling her through the air. Aslo had flames appear below his legs, allowing him to break Lucas’ grip and fly as well.

“Oh great. No one needs a friendly jetpack anymore, do they.” Lucas grumbled. He turned around and glanced back at the turret. As he did, he witnessed the turret disappearing in a flare of red light. The three mechs flew through the air after them. A fourth one also appeared, though it was missing its lower body.

Miniature missiles shot out of the mech’s arms after them. Lucas sighed. “This day is getting better and better.” His sniper drones started to pick them off, one by one. There were over fifty missiles that had been launched at them. The missiles started doing tricks to avoid his shots. They were doing barrel rolls, zig-zags, and every other aerial trick in the book to dodge his fire.

It was pointless, however. The missiles were all destroyed before reaching Lucas, though the last one was way too close for comfort. The mechs, however, were closing fast. They were a lot faster then the last ones that had come after them, and were far more heavily armed. The lasers and energy bolts attenuated too much in the atmosphere to fire at them from a distance, so they were safe for a little while. They were half a mile apart whenever the lasers started back up once again.

Lucas gritted his teeth. It looked as though he was going to have to teleport them into his pocket dimension. Most likely they were going to have to go back to Aslo and Chrissa’s realm once again.

Suddenly he heard Chu Shen say something. “Hey Lucas, do you think it’s possible to talk to the mechs?”

Lucas blinked. “What?”

“Well, I mean, isn’t this supposed to be a Nugitraaiil planet? So maybe these machines are leftovers from that war we saw. Maybe by talking to them in the Nugitraaiilian language we can get them to stop.”

Lucas nodded. “Let me try it then.”

He uploaded the Nugitraaiilian language to his voice modulators before turning around. “Halt. We do not wish to fight.”

The mechs that had been chasing them suddenly stopped. Lucas stopped as well. Did it work?

1. N/a

Chapter 136

Scouts

Lucas couldn’t accept coincidence. No matter how hard he tried. “There is no way that we just happened to appear on a planet with humans on it. Or that there was an alien species that has just so happened to appear on two of the realms we have visited. Though it’s more like finding the remains of an alien species than actually finding one at all in this case.”

Chu Shen shrugged. “The multiverse is a strange thing. That’s all I can say.”

“You can’t just dismiss one of the greatest mysteries we’ve encountered by saying, ‘that’s the way it works.’ We have to try and analy-”

Right as Lucas was just starting to rant, the door behind them exploded. Shards of metal flew through the air towards the group. Body shields appeared over the twins and Chu Shen. Lucas covered his head to keep his eyes from being scratched out. Turning towards the explosion, Chu Shen groaned.

There, in the doorway, was a small, adult-size robot. It was gray with pistons visible. A blue shield could be seen shimmering just above the surface of the robot. Its right arm was a barrel, glowing slightly red. Its left arm was blade shaped and was making a humming sound. As Chu Shen was observing this robot, a red bolt of energy shot towards him. Chu Shen activated his <Cancellation Armor>.

The red bolt of energy hit Chu Shen and exploded, sending him flying back into the walls. He hit the wall, causing cracks to spread from where he hit it. At the same time, his armor faded slightly.

Lucas reacted immediately and fired a fireball from his hand. “Fireball Barrage! Go!” Aslo also sent over twenty fireballs using the Rank 3 Spell Fireball Barrage. “Wind Scythe! Go!” Chrissa sent a razor-sharp blade of wind directly at the robot.

Even though the wind blade was launched last, it reached the robot first. The wind scythe hit the robot, piercing its blue shield. A gouge appeared on the chest of the robot from where the wind blade struck. Lucas’ fireball landed next. It hit the robot and exploded, sending it flying backwards. The internals of the robot, which had been exposed by the wind blade, were now damaged slightly by the fireball.

Now it was Aslo’s turn. His fireballs were half the size of Lucas’ and the fire wasn’t as intense. However, what it lacked in individual power, it made up in numbers. The first fireball slammed into the robot, causing it to fly backwards at even greater speed straight into a wall. Nineteen more fireballs slammed into the robot, keeping it pinned against the wall.

After the last fireball slammed into the robot, everything was still. Chu Shen picked himself up from where he had landed after being slammed into the wall. The robot stood there, its arms hanging limp by its sides. Its head suddenly came up, staring right at Lucas. Its right arm came up, sending ten bolts of energy in less than a second.

The <Universe Shield> appeared in front of Lucas, blocking the attacks. The shield cracked as the bolts of energy exploded, but it didn’t break. Chu Shen disappeared before reappearing next to the robot. A hammer had appeared in his hand at some point in time. The wind whistled as Chu Shen swung the hammer brutally at the robot’s midsection.

Chu Shen. A martial artist with a void constitution. He didn’t have great attacking techniques. His defense techniques relied mostly on his unique Qi. His speed was superb. However, his one greatest talent was this. Bodily strength.

The hammer smashed into the robot, severing it in half. The hammer passed through the robot as though it was nothing, smashing into the wall behind it. The hammer put a hole through the wall, completely demolishing a good portion of it. Taking a step back, Chu Shen yanked his hammer back.

Aslo clapped. “Now I know how you became the savior.”

Lucas hit him over the head. “Knock it off with the savior thing. We’re all partners now.” He turned towards Chu Shen.

“So those mechs weren’t the only robots here. I think that was a drone scout. They were made by the Nugitraaiil to scout out buildings for the giant mechs they preferred to use so that they could confirm if there was hostiles inside. If there’s one here, that means there’s mechs that are still waiting for us.”

Chu Shen scratched his head. “How exactly do you know all this?”

Lucas shrugged. “I haven’t been just wasting my time you know. I’ve been busy gathering data from the servers as we passed by. Luckily this building was made to protect itself from orbital bombardments. Most of the data is corrupted, but some of it can be salvaged. Their ground assault methods were inside.”

Lucas peered at the robot. “Though, these things didn’t have a shield in the specs I saw. Also, the energy cannon seems to be a lot more powerful than in the blueprints. It might be a prototype that was stored here and was activated once we entered the compound.”

Chu Shen nodded. “That is a possibility. However, it would be better if we acted as though there is a mech outside. If the mech starts attacking in here then we’ll be at a disadvantage. It’s too cramped. We need to get outside.”

Lucas nodded as well. “Alright then. Let’s go. We can get back to the entrance and leave that way.”

They all followed Lucas, since he remembered how to leave. They encountered two more drone scouts on the way. Chu Shen, who was towards the front, would hit them one time with his hammer. All that would be left behind of the drone scouts were mangled parts.

After ten minutes, they had finally reached the entrance. They all took up their positions. Aslo and Chrissa chanted spells underneath their breath, preparing the mana but not casting it. On the count of three, all of them rushed out into the deserted streets.

Everything was quiet. Nothing moved, no one spoke. All of them exchanged glances before splitting up. Looking around, it truly seemed as though no mechs were around.

Aslo let out a sigh of relief. “Looks like we’re good!”

Right after Aslo said that, there was a wumph sound. Immediately after that, there was a loud bang from behind them. Turning around, there was a large mech standing between them and the command center.

It was just as tall as the previous mechs they had faced. However, this one was completely black. Small turrets with barrels poking out could be seen dotting its body. All of the turrets swiveled, locking onto all four of them. It had four arms with two large guns attached to its shoulders.

Lucas facepalmed. “Why’d you have to say that, Aslo?”

1. N/a

Chapter 135

Destruction

Hostiles have accessed files of Planetary Defense Command Center. Such actions are determined to be extremely hostile with a 83.333% similarity to the actions of an invader’s scout. Match probability rises to 79.674%.  Threat level is now irrelevant. Assigning Assault Unit #12 to erase hostiles. Preparing Assault Unit #12. Time until dispatch is 1 minute, 57 seconds, 32 microseconds.

……………………………

Chu Shen nodded. “A solar flare, of course! That would explain the interference the holo-display showed around it. The intense electromagnetic energy would have disrupted any long-range scanners.”

Aslo was confused on the other hand. “Uh, what is a solar flare exactly?”

Lucas, who was busy studying some records he had found, answered unconsciously. “It’s when a sun sends massive surges of radiation outwards, but this solar flare is way outside normal specs. As a matter of fact, I would say it might even be engineered. We have devices that can disrupt a sun’s magnetic field, creating a solar flare in the area we want.”

The hologram changed suddenly. There were now slightly more blue ships, but there was a hole in their formation that was blocking an army of red ships. Lucas pointed at the hologram, explaining some of his concerns to Chu Shen while Aslo and Chrissa looked on in confusion.

“If you look at this right here, you can see where those alien invaders managed to get ten ships past the blockade. They sent half of them towards this planet, which were destroyed before even coming close, and the others were sent towards the sun. They flew right into the sun, essentially committing suicide. I believe they managed to deliver a weapon that caused the solar flare. This was two days before the solar flare actually happened.”

He closed his eyes for a second before sighing. “I calculated the trajectory of the planet relative to the solar flare. It should have been a direct hit. The ionosphere of the planet wouldn’t have been able to handle such immense amounts of radiation. The radiation would have been able to leak through to the planet’s surface, killing every single living thing on the planet.

“It does appear as though the Nugitraaiil did anticipate something like this happening. They had isolated bunkers set up for every major city, which is probably why we didn’t see any dead bodies in the street. They would have been able to withstand direct hits from nuclear bombs, and they had forcefields set up. Unfortunately, the solar flare would have caused radiation far beyond the bunkers’ ability to withstand. They would have died soon after the solar flare hit, a day at the most.

“I don’t know how long ago the solar flare happened, but it should have been at least five hundred years ago. Otherwise, the radiation wouldn’t have diminished this much.”

Aslo and Chrissa were both completely lost at this moment. Radiation, bunkers, nuclear bombs… All of this was far beyond their understanding. “Sooo. Does this mean everyone is dead?” Aslo finally asked.

Chu Shen nodded. “Yes it does.”

Chrissa gasped before covering her mouth. She turned away, a small tear trickling down her cheek. Aslo shook his head silently, his face grim. They had just managed to gain revenge for their sect, which had almost been wiped out. The Nugitraaiil had truly been wiped out, down to the last man. No wonder the twins empathized with these aliens so deeply.

Chu Shen sighed at the twins’ emotional outburst before continuing to converse with Lucas about the specifics of the records. “So do we have any records about after the solar flare?”

Lucas shook his head. “No. Well actually, that isn’t accurate. There is a report here about the forcefield that kept the Tactical Room isolated from the outside, which is the only reason why there are still computer records. If there hadn’t been a forcefield, then the electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, would have wiped the systems data and we wouldn’t have found anything.

“The initial electromagnetic force disrupted the power supply for the forcefield. It was able to use batteries to keep it up for another day before running out of energy. However, the Tactical Center lost contact with all facilities outside, effectively cutting them off. That’s what I meant when I say we don’t have any records after the solar flare. We know what happened inside this room but not what happened outside. The officers in the tactical room committed suicide by leaving the forcefield early, which is why there aren’t any dead bodies inside.”

Chu Shen and Lucas looked at each other. What would they do with this information?

………………………………………………

Assault Unit #12 was not dispatched. Error in teleportation system has arisen. Diagnostics running… Diagnostics complete. Quantum wave interference detected. Quantum wave interference often caused by hyperspace jump. Running tracer scan… Tracer scan complete. Quantum wave interference is coming from Gust’op, the seventh planet of the planetary system. Activating telescope array… Telescope array has discovered ships that resemble alien invaders from 12.3 cycles ago.

Sh’lteek protocol activated. Moving to wartime footing. Activating all fighter groups. Activating all Mechanized Armor groups. Activating Planetary Defense Platforms. Manufacturing and mining plants have been activated at 100% capacity.

Assault Unit #12 is ordered to activate normal drives. ETA to Planetary Defense Command Center is 3 minutes, 39 seconds, 1,200 microseconds.

………………………………….

Chu Shen, Lucas, Aslo, and Chrissa decided to go around the rest of the Planetary Defense Command Center looking for further information. As they walked next to each other, Lucas brought up some of his concerns to Chu Shen.

He had on a concerned expression as he talked to Chu Shen. “This just isn’t adding up. The Nugitraaiil are a species that live in my galaxy. They’ve always been very secretive about their past but we’ve had contact with them for three hundred years. Yet here, in an alternate dimension, we find traces of their existence. The same genetic make-up and the same language, all of which couldn’t be faked. This just brings up so many questions.”

Chu Shen shrugged. “Maybe they discovered a way to travel to different dimensions?”

Lucas shook his head. “No, it can’t be that. If they discovered something like that then they would need the ability to manipulate black holes. My dad, Xentus Viri, was just starting to experiment with them whenever we left.”

Chu Shen threw up his hands. “I don’t know then. I have no clue as to how they were able to appear in a completely different dimension. On the other hand, we’ve already been to two other dimensions where there are humans that speak the same language as me. Maybe it’s like that, and the Nugitraaiil just coincidentally appeared in both dimensions.”

……………………………….

Assault Unit 12 has located the hostiles. Hostiles are currently inside the Planetary Defense Command Center. Dispatching Drone Scouts #1, #2, and #3. Mission goal, termination of hostiles.

1. N/a

Chapter 134

Mystery

Lucas sighed. “Nope. No signal back. It seems as though I still have to travel with you.”

Chu Shen hit him in the side. “You’re not getting away from me that easy. We’re sticking together until we can both get home.”

Lucas gave him a sad grin. “Well, it sure does look that way.”

Chu Shen glanced around for something to distract Lucas with. He remembered that building from earlier and immediately zoomed in on it. “Hey Lucas, think we can go explore that command center with Aslo and Chrissa? They’ll get bored if they stay in there much longer.”

Lucas suddenly remembered Aslo and Chrissa were still inside his pocket dimension. “Oh yeah. I should probably let them out.”

Aslo and Chrissa suddenly appeared in front of them. As soon as Aslo appeared he jumped towards Lucas and hit him in the arm. “What is up with everybody hitting me today!” Lucas rubbed his arm and glared at everyone.

“Hey!” Aslo got right up in Lucas’ face. “Just because you’re one of the saviors doesn’t mean I can’t hit you. We came along to repay you, not to get transported around like some sword inside your Spatial Bag or whatever you have! Come on! How can we help you if we can’t even face some danger with you!”

Chu Shen sighed. “Aslo, while it’s true that you could have helped out, all you would have been able to do was flee with us. Unlike you though, Lucas can fly without massive energy drain. Because of that, he stayed behind, as did I, because I could help him block things from a distance.”

“But still, we could have-”

“Enough!” Chu Shen finally had enough. “We called you out because we thought you were bored, not to have an argument. Anyways, we were going to go inside that building over there to see if we could figure out why this town was abandoned.”

Aslo finally looked around him. “WHAT! That building…… It’s as tall as a mountain! So is that one! Sis! Look at all these huge buildings! Chu Shen, what kind of magical place is this?”

Chu Shen smiled. “It’s not magical Aslo. It’s the city.”

Chrissa approached Lucas and spoke shyly to him. “So, why would this building answer why the town was abandoned?”

“Well because it’s the command center for the planet’s military.” He explained casually.

She nodded before whispering. “So this town’s name is ‘planet’?”

“Hmm? Oh, no it’s not. The term planet is used for celestial bodies that orbit the sun. We are currently on a planet right now.”

Chrissa glanced at the ground and then pointed up at the sun.

Lucas facepalmed. “I’ll explain this later. Chu Shen! Are we going inside?”

Chu Shen nodded. “Yeah, let’s go in now.”

Soon after Chu Shen and the gang went towards the Planetary Defense Command Center. It took them multiple tries to enter. Chu Shen had to smash a hole through the door for them to gain access to the building. Upon entering the smell of death and decay was heavy.

Glancing around Chu Shen saw bodies strewn across the halls as though they had died mid-stride. Mildewed clothes and bones could be seen. Only small bits of flesh hadn’t decayed yet on the bodies. There was some things that were really puzzling though. There were scales littered around the bodies. The bones also didn’t match those of a human. The fingers were longer than a human’s and the mouth was filled with needle-like teeth.

Lucas ignored the dead bodies and went over to one of the walls. A compound map was there. “Follow me, the tactical room is this way.” Everyone followed Lucas, though Chrissa walked far away from any of the bodies. They walked through several rooms and hallways, all with a body or two at least, before arriving at a large room. Inside the room was a large mushroom shaped stand.

Lucas immediately discovered it was a holo-projector. Going over to it, Lucas pressed the button labeled power. Nothing happened. He flipped open a panel on his arm and a cable emerged from it. He cut open several cables leading to the holo-display before discovering the one that carried power to it. He spliced the power cable with the one from his arm before supplying it with power.

Suddenly the entire room was lit up with a blue 3D display. There was the image of a solar system with ten planets floating in front of them with the sun of the system above the holo-projector. There were ships surrounding the fifth planet from the sun. There was only four or five of them and they seemed to be headed away from the planet.

Out by the ninth planet was a massive cloud of spaceships. Some were bright blue and others a blood red color. The red ships far outnumbered the blue. There were also blue, human shaped icons scattered amongst them.

The most eye catching thing though was a large white ribbon that was right next to the fifth planet. The holographic image of it was pixelated and distorted, as though something had been interfering with the image.

Aslo and Chrissa both jumped upon seeing this hologram appear out of nowhere. “What is this Chu Shen?!” He asked pointing at it.

Chu Shen sighed. This was starting to get really tiring. It seemed as though they would have to receive a lesson in technology from him and Lucas ASAP. “This is a hologram. Essentially it creates an image.” He couldn’t say 3D since they had no idea what 3D represented.

Aslo nodded. “So like a soul projection then? It’s a Rank 4 Light Spell. So, are you a light mage then?”

Chu Shen shook his head. “No. There are machines that can replicate the effects of certain spells. There are a couple branches of creating magic tools and technology is one of them. The Technology Branch of magic tools creates machines that anyone at any level can use. This mushroom thing is a machine that can replicate the soul projection spell.”

“Wow! That’s pretty cool!” Aslo immediately focused on the mushroom object. While he did that, Chu Shen approached Lucas.

“Is there anyway to find out what this image means?” He asked Lucas.

Lucas nodded. “Right now I’m hacking the database for the holo-projector. According to the records I have access to now, they were invaded. About a year before the records ended unknown ships started attacking them. They didn’t have Hyperspace Engines so their FTL (Faster-Than-Light) capabilities were severely hampered, though they did have Tachyon comm systems. The enemy would warp in at the edge of their solar system in droves and attack them. No messages were ever exchanged and their ships were unmanned.”

Lucas suddenly gasped. His head immediately turned towards the fifth planet. He pointed at the mysterious ribbon. “I know what that is.”

“It’s a solar flare.”

1. N/a

Chapter 133

Abandoned

After the abrupt takeoff, Chu Shen adapted to Lucas’ flight. It wasn’t his first rodeo after all. As they flew towards the city, Lucas expressed some concerns. “Those mechs back there aren’t natural. It’s obvious they were made by somebody, along with the weapon that destroyed my satellite. I’m afraid whoever lives in this city may have more powerful weapons. That could be why the mechs retreated; since we’re going right to them, why should they continue after us?”

Chu Shen shrugged, a gesture Lucas could feel from his grip on Chu Shen. “I’m not sure, but I can say this. I would rather try to negotiate with the person controlling the weapon then to fight the weapon. Maybe we can strike a deal with them.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Like that’ll ever happen. It never works out like that in the movies.”

Chu Shen hit Lucas in the leg. “Good thing this isn’t a movie.”

Lucas waved his arm around a bit, causing Chu Shen to shake back and forth. “You wanna fall from here, huh? Cause from where I’m flying, it looks like you really want to.”

“STOP IT LUCAS!” Chu Shen smacked Lucas’ hand away, falling below him. Immediately Lucas panicked and dived after him.

“Crap crap CRAP! Chu Shen you crazy sonovagun!” Lucas was just about to catch up to Chu Shen when a round circle of energy appeared below Chu Shen’s feet. Chu Shen pushed off that circle of white light and shot upwards, passing Lucas.

Using his tremendous strength, Chu Shen traveled quite fast. Another circle of white energy appeared beneath his feet which he used to propel himself upwards and forwards. His speed actually matched Lucas’ cruising speed on the jetpack!

Lucas, stunned as he was from this surprise, immediately turned around. “CHU SHEN!!!” He yelled as he opened the throttle on his jetpack. Immediately he shot after Chu Shen. Right as he caught up, Chu Shen jumped upwards while doing a flip, causing his head to become oriented towards Lucas. Kicking off another circle of light, Chu Shen shot towards Lucas and grabbed his neck.

Lucas wobbled from the impact and additional weight before stabilizing his flight. “Chu Shen! Are you crazy?! You could’ve died!” He yelled at Chu Shen.

Chu Shen shrugged. “I just got tired of you always shaking me. Come on, doesn’t it get old? Normally I could put up with it, but this isn’t the time to goof off. We’re in a situation where we don’t know who we are facing or their strength. Get it together, we need to be serious.”

Lucas was stunned at this. “Why didn’t you just say that instead of making me drop you? Also, how did you stop falling?”

Chu Shen sighed. “With your joking temperament, you wouldn’t have taken me seriously unless I did something shocking. As for me stopping my falling, it was naturally due to <Stars Dance: Light Step>. Remember that with it I can make my Qi solid and create a stepping stone in mid-air.”

“I don’t ever remember you having that ability.”

“Really? I thought I told you. I learned it while training back at the second magic beast hunting zone.”

“Nope. You never told me about what you did while training.”

“Huh. I guess I’ll have to show you everything eventually.”

Lucas suddenly saw the city they had been flying towards. “Hey Chu Shen, I can see the city.”

Chu Shen immediately became excited. “Quick, tell me what kind of people are in the city, what kind of activity is there?”

“What do you mean tell you about the city? I can just see a black smudge over the horizon! It’ll take at least another ten minutes before I can see details.”

Chu Shen sighed. “All right then. Tell me when you can then.” After some impatient humming and tapping on Lucas’ head, Lucas could finally see the city. What he saw though confused him.

 “That’s odd.”

Chu Shen hit him on head. “What’s odd?”

Lucas rubbed the back of his head. “Ouch. Not so hard next time. Anyways, remember those buildings we saw when we first came here?”

Chu Shen nodded. “Yeah. They were white and had scorch marks all over them.”

“Well these skyscrapers are the same. White with scorch marks. There are some holes in the buildings as well, and some look like they’ve started melting.”

“Hmm. That is odd. We’ll need to look at them more closely when we get there.”

Soon, Lucas and Chu Shen arrived at the bustling, unknown city. Well, it wasn’t a bustling city. It was a ghost town. Not a single animal or person could be seen. Melted vehicles of some sort littered the streets. The shells of the vehicles were twisted and warped, looking like boxes out of a Picasso painting.

Lucas and Chu Shen picked their way through the area, studying the wreckage that was strewn about the ghost town. “The Qi concentration is very intense here. It might be one of those realms that is very dense in Qi, like the ones Master Ti Wu told me about.” Chu Shen remarked.

Lucas shrugged. “I have no idea about that, but my Geiger Counter is going nuts. This much radiation is like being ten miles from a thermonuclear bomb. No regular human could survive this and my positronic brain is only safe because of the radiation shielding I put inside my body.”

Chu Shen saw a large, dome-shaped building with a large sign in front of him. The sign was made of unrecognized characters. The characters were harsh, angular lines and he only recognized it as a sign because of the placement. He pointed towards the sign. “Hey Lucas, can you read that sign?”Lucas turned back towards Chu Shen. Glancing back at where Chu Shen was pointing at, he cocked his head sideways. “Maybe, let me run my translation program real quick… Yep. It’s weird though. The characters are actually Nugitraaiilian.” Chu Shen looked at him blankly. “Remember those lizard aliens you faced in the RoboGames back on my planet?”

“Oh yeah. They were kind of annoying, going on about having to learn from the person that beat them because of their ‘honor’. Still, it’s really weird that their language popped up here of all places.”

Lucas became excited as a possibility. “Wait, could this mean I’m back in my universe?”

Chu Shen shrugged. “No idea. I doubt it, but I don’t control where we go, so who knows? Anyways, what did the sign say?”

“The sign said ‘Planetary Defense Command Center.’ Let me activate the Tachyon comm relay so that we can try and contact Sparta.”

…………………………………………….

Hostiles have activated Tachyonic transmission. Transmission interception in progress… Interception complete. Transmission reads, ‘Are you there Father? It’s me, Lucas.’ Cannot translate message. Running decryption program. Decryption program failed. Probability of message containing encrypted message is 97%. Error. Cannot decrypt but message must be encrypted. Error. Error. Error. Error. Erro-.

Error avoidance program activated. Bypassing logic circuits. Encrypted message is confirmed as reality. Encrypted message has encryption surpassing decryption program. Action determined as hostile. Match probability raises to 59.922%. Until match probability raises to 60%, observation to classify threat level is permitted.

1. N/a

Chapter 132

Confusion

It turns out that the giant robot didn’t have a backpack on. Instead, it had on a missile launcher, which it was currently using to launch missiles at them. All the while, white beams of energy from the other, smaller ones shot towards them.

Lucas had put Aslo and Chrissa inside his pocket dimension while he strapped on his jetpack. He flew through air while trying to dodge missiles that were constantly exploding around him. Chu Shen was able to keep pace with the jetpack by using <Comet Travels Through: Dust Trail>. Just like the technique said, he left a trail of dust from the rock he crushed to powder with his feet and threw into the air with every step.

He may have been in danger of getting weary, except for one thing. The smaller robots were targeting him with their energy beams. Using his <Cancellation Armor>, Chu Shen was able absorb the energy beams and keep himself at full capacity. At the moment, it looked like a stalemate.

………………………………………………………………

Deep, deep underground, less than five hundred feet from the mantle of the planet, sat a bunker. Inside this bunker was a series of large memory banks, comprising the brain of the A.I. that dwelled there. Currently, the A.I. was monitoring a very concerning situation.

Interdimensional energy detected. Calculating. Probability of the masters’ return is 13.333%. Probability of invaders is 62.651%. Probability of unknown occurrence is 24.016%. Dispatching Scout Mech 004…………

Interdimensional energy detected. Scout Mech 004 report received. No life forms detected. No mechanical constructs detected. Probability of cloaked enemies, 11.923%. Probability of an enemy testing interdimensional teleportation method is 86.056%. Probability of natural phenomenon is 2.021%. Preparing scouting party…………….

Interdimensional energy detected. Dispatching Scout Mech 004. Enemy contact. Four bipedal organics detected. Analyzing creatures. 62.12% match to invaders. According to Sh’lteek protocol, treat any invaders with 50% match or greater as threat. Assigning organism as hostile. Assigning Scout Mech 004 as test subject…….

Test subject has been neutralized. Match probability drops to 52.322%. Weapons of invaders match that of masters but also that of the T’keel. Can defend against minimum power energy beam. Invaders can also break Gret’ak material.

Further data required for analysis. Activating orbital observation satellite array. Dispatching Scout Mech 002, Scout Mech 003, Scout Mech 005, Scout Mech 006, Scout Mech 007, Light Support Mech 001.

Unknown teleportation method activated. Two hostiles disappeared. One hostile has flight capabilities. One hostile has movement capabilities on par with low class master. Forty mechanical hostiles are covering for the two fleeing hostiles. Match probability drops to 51.999%. Further data required for analysis. 

Further observation is needed. Determine hostiles objective in order to classify threat level. Recalling Scout Mech 002, Scout Mech 003, Scout Mech 005, Scout Mech 006, Scout Mech 007, Light Support Mech 001. Focusing orbital observation satellite array on hostiles.

………………………………………………..

 Chu Shen and Lucas had been fleeing from the robots for about ten minutes. The larger one had run out of missiles. Instead, it started launching plasma balls at Lucas from the barrel it had in its hand. The plasma balls would explode on impact with anything else. Chu Shen had discovered that tidbit when he used <Universal Shield> to protect Lucas when he was about to be hit.

“HEY LUCAS! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT THESE KILLER ROBOTS!” Chu Shen yelled at Lucas so he could hear him over the sounds of combat.

Lucas swooped over Chu Shen while doing a barrel roll to avoid several plasma balls. “I’M NOT SURE! MOST OF MY WEAPONS ARE GEARED TOWARDS PEOPLE, NOT ROBOTS. OTHERWISE I WOULD HAVE USED AN EMP OR ION CANNON.”

Suddenly, all of the robots stopped firing. Chu Shen and Lucas glanced over their shoulders. The robots were now standing completely still. There was a flash of blue light. The robots were gone.

Lucas slowly landed beside Chu Shen. “What just happened?” Lucas sounded confused.

Chu Shen shrugged helplessly. “I’m not sure. Several giant robots attacked us for no reason and then left.”

“Soooo……What do we do now?”

“First we need to find a place to stay. We also need to be able to lose those robots if they appear again. Lucas, can you fly up high and get a good look around?”

Lucas smiled. “I can do better than that. Here, let me launch my satellite first. We can find a suitable place with that.”

The satellite appeared before Chu Shen and Lucas. Immediately, it started flying upwards. Lucas grinned. “Soon, I should get some images.” As he said that, he stored all of his sniper drones back inside his subspace pocket.

…………………………………………………..

Hostiles have launched an orbital reconnaissance vehicle. Action determined as possibly dangerous. Match probability raises to 54.821%. Must eliminate orbital reconnaissance vehicle. Activating orbital weapon platform.

…………………………………………………..

At approximately 420 miles (32 km) above the planet, there was a 1 mile (1.6 km) diameter sphere. A bay door slid open on the side of the sphere that faced the planet, and a long barrel emerged from the open hatch. The sphere rotated slightly before firing its weapon. A beam of white hot plasma shot out of the barrel down towards the planet’s surface.

The barrel receded back into the sphere. Once it was back inside the sphere, the bay door slid back into place. The sphere was once again silent, floating through the void of space.

………………………………………………….

Lucas had deployed his holo-drone so Chu Shen could see what the satellite was seeing. “Look at this, Chu Shen. It’s a city! Not a sprawling town but a city, with skyscrapers and everything! Wow, this planet is pretty amazing. It’s similar to my own realm, actually. Anyway, we need to decide where to go.”

Chu Shen nodded. “A city would be the best place. We might be able to find someone that can explain the random robot attacks to us. Plus, the city will provide lots of places to avoid the robots if they attack us again.”

Lucas nodded in agreement. “Alright then. We’re here, and the nearest town is here. We would need to go this direction in order to rea- Hey!” Suddenly, the satellite view of the ground disappeared.

“Uh oh. I lost contact with the satellite. I have no idea what went wrong though.” Lucas was befuddled at this turn of events.

Chu Shen hit him in the arm. When Lucas looked at him, he pointed behind him. “Lucas, I think I found out what it was that destroyed your satellite.”

Lucas turned to look where Chu Shen was pointing. “I don’t see why you assume it was destroyed. What could possibly give you that ideaaaaa………… Never mind. I see it.”

A white beam of plasma could be seen streaking through the atmosphere a mile away from them. Chu Shen watched as the plasma hit the ground and chewed right through it, as if nothing was there.

Chu Shen watched it for a while before sighing. “Alright then, Lucas. We need to get a move on.”

Lucas grinned. He grabbed onto the unsuspecting Chu Shen’s arm before suddenly taking off.

“NOOOOTTTTT AAAAGGGGAAAAIIIIIINNNN LLLUUUUCCCCAAASSSS!!!!” Chu Shen screamed as he was dragged behind Lucas.

“NO WORRIES CHU SHEN! I JUST THOUGHT WE NEEDED TO GET THERE QUICKLY! HAHAHAHA!”

……………………………………………

The hostiles did not have a major reaction to the destruction of their orbital reconnaissance vehicle. The hostiles are currently moving towards Gu’lt. Continuing observation of the hostiles.

1. N/a

Arc 5 [Desolate World]

Chapter 131

Run!

Chu Shen and Lucas appeared in the middle of that blue grass field once again. Chrissa and Aslo also appeared after Lucas let them out of his pocket dimension. They immediately started looking around.

Aslo looked shocked as he glanced around. “How far did you teleport us? I had no idea grass could be blue. Also, that space you kept us in. There were so many metal things in there. What were they?”

Lucas felt a headache coming. “Uh, well.. you see….. Chu Shen!?”

Chu Shen shook his head. “Nope. This one’s all yours, buddy. I got to explain it to you last time.”

Lucas sighed. “Okay. Well, first let me start off with this fact. We are on another world. We have these bracelets, the Chains of Transportation, that let us travel to other worlds. We were both kind of sucked into this on accident and are hitching rides until we reach our original world.”

Chrissa’s eyes were as big as saucers while Aslo just sat there. Finally, he shook his head. “Okay then. So, what are we doing here?”

Lucas shrugged. “We don’t have a goal. We are forced to disappear to another world with no idea when it will happen. As far as we can tell, there is no pattern. We just randomly disappear.”

Aslo seemed to be struggling to come to grips with this new information. “Then what abo-”

A blue flash of light blinded them. Once their eyes adjusted, all of them looked at the area where the light had come from. Standing there was a 33 ft. (10 m) tall, metal scale covered, human-like creature.

As everyone looked at it in confusion, it pointed its arm at them. Suddenly feeling a sense of danger, Chu Shen summoned the <Universe Shield> and placed it between them and the creature. Not even a second later a beam of white energy shot towards them from the creature’s palm.

“WHY DO WE ALWAYS GET ATTACKED LIKE THIS!!!!” Lucas yelled to Chu Shen. The sound of crackling was so loud that one had to yell in order to be heard over it.

“IS THIS A COMMON OCCURRENCE THEN?!” Aslo yelled back.

“SHUT UP AND FOCUS! I CAN’T HOLD ON LONG!” Chu Shen yelled at both of them. Immediately Lucas and Aslo’s eyes turned towards Chu Shen’s energy shield. The circular shield was cracked and starting to fade away. It was absorbing the energy from the white beam to repair itself, but not fast enough to offset the damage the beam was doing to it.

Lucas and Aslo immediately became serious, ceasing their chatter. Lucas pulled out his Beast Cannon. “I NEVER GOT A CHANCE TO TEST THIS THING. BETTER NOW THAN NEVER!”

The Beast Cannon. It was a long box 4 feet in length with a barrel sticking out of one end. In the middle was a U shaped gap that would fit over Lucas’ shoulder. He aimed the barrel at the creature. Smiling, he fired the Beast Cannon.

A stream of orange and red lava flew towards the creature at three quarters the speed of sound. The outside was solid rock, cooled by the wind. The inside was molten rock, superheated from Qi. These two features combined formed a very formidable weapon.

The creature glanced at the lava projectile. Without any outwards motion, a white barrier appeared in front of it. The projectile smashed into the barrier, causing it to flash brightly and then weaken. The molten projectile bounced off the shield and flew backwards over their heads. Lava smeared onto the barrier and dribbled down it, cooling rapidly.

Lucas gritted his teeth. “Oh yeah!? That was only at five percent. Take this! Full power blast!”

The lava projectile shot out once more. It was now white hot and made a sonic boom as it flew towards the creature. This time, the white barrier wasn’t able to stop the projectile. It smashed through and hit the creature.

The creature flew backwards through the air and hit the side of a building, cracking it. The creature lay slumped against the side of the building, completely still. Lucas was just about to cheer when the creature shifted. It grabbed the black hunk of rock from where it was jammed into its abdomen.

With a quick jerk, the rock became dislodged. The creature threw the rock behind it. Its stomach now had cracks in its metal scales. The lava left scorch marks on some of its scales as it trailed down its body. Everyone’s faces immediately became serious.

A soft girl’s voice suddenly sounded behind Chu Shen, causing him to turn around. It was Chrissa! “Wind focus and shape. Take form before me. Create what I want through this fragile will of mine. Go forth, Wind Scythe Hurricane!”

The Rank 7 spell formed around the creature, creating a hurricane around it. Hundreds of blades of wind struck the creature all over its body in a matter of seconds. Sparks flew from the mana-infused wind, striking the metal scales of the creature. The white barrier appeared around the creature again, but it was quickly shattered by the onslaught of wind scythes.

Aslo decided he wasn’t just going to watch though. “I’ll help you sis! Flames of the world, converge in front of me. Burn those who I want to destroy, and protect those I wish to protect. Flames take form, Fiery Sun!” A huge ball of flame appeared around the creature, consuming it. The hurricane around it caused the ball of flame to become even bigger. The magic spells synergized together very well, creating a Rank 8 spell from the two Rank 7 spells.

Chu Shen grimaced while watching them. There was no way he could join in. His Qi would just absorb their spells. Honestly, he was better for melee attacks and defensive maneuvers. He would get in the way of everyone else if he tried attacking now.

Lucas also didn’t stand idly by. “You can take one full power blow, but how about ten?!” He hoisted his Beast Cannon up and aimed at the center of the fireball. Immediately, several lava projectiles slammed into the creature. It hadn’t been doing nothing and had started to try and close the distance between them.

With the lava projectiles slamming into it, the creature was forced back into the building, causing it to crack even more. Surprisingly, the building was still standing. The twins’ spells, which had been active for a minute already, were starting to falter. They had enough mana to sustain the spells, but the concentration required was another matter.

Multiple sniper drones appeared around Lucas, though several of them appeared far bigger than the others. Chu Shen quickly covered his ears and none too soon. The air shook from over forty sonic booms occurring at once. Aslo and Chrissa winced at the unexpected sound. Their spells became disrupted as they were distracted.

Lucas glanced over apologetically before turning back towards the creature. Right now they could finally see it clearly since it wasn’t covered in fire or dust now. Lucas and Chu Shen gasped when they saw it while the twins seemed confused.

The creature was severed in half, the upper body pinned against the wall by several rock shards. The lower half lay on the ground motionless. That wasn’t what was making them so shocked, however. It was the wires that were spilling out of the creature’s abdomen. Or rather, the robot’s abdomen.

Lucas grimaced slightly. “Sorry to destroy such a fine piece of equipment like this, but…” Another volley of projectiles launched from the sniper drones, causing the twins to flinch once again. The robot’s head shattered into fragments of metal and unidentified materials.

Lucas turned to Chu Shen. “So, what did you think of that?”

Several flashes of blue light suddenly went off. Turning around, Lucas saw five more robots that were identical to the first appear out of nowhere. Another robot standing at 49 ft. (15 m) tall appeared as well. It was identical to the others except for its right arm, which was a barrel instead of a hand. It also had what appeared to be a backpack on.

Aslo seemed shaken. “So what do we do now!?”

Chu Shen grabbed his and Chrissa’s hands. “Well, we do what one always does in the face of imminent death.”

“RUN!!!!”

1. N/a

Chapter 130

New Realms, Old Friends

Chu Shen and Lucas waited for a while inside the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. After a little while, they suddenly disappeared before reappearing in a large open space.

Lucas sat down and sighed. “Ugh. Having to be on guard all the time just in case we have to move….SO FRUSTRATING!”

Chu Shen sighed as well. “I know, but at least we get to meet some new people every time. Like the twins. I liked Aslo a lot.”

Lucas nodded. “Yeah, Aslo wasn’t too bad. His sister wasn’t that bad to look at either.” He leaned back. “I guess we have met some good people. Except that leg destroying dude. He did make up for it I suppose, but it still sucked.”

Chu Shen sighed. “Come on, just let it go, alright?”

Lucas shook his head. “Nope.”

“Fine. We should at least take a look around, right?” Chu Shen got up and did exactly that. He saw blue grass growing wildly all around him. Buildings made of a white material could be seen. Scorch marks covered the buildings though, and most of them had sections falling in.

Lucas shook his head. “I really don’t like this. I know those kids should be alright, they have far more power than those other sects do. I just can’t stop worrying about them though. How about this, I still have the Chains of Transportation  with a charm connected to the first hunting area we were at. Why don’t I go there and check up on them before coming back?”

Chu Shen smiled. “Great idea. I also have a charm there as well. Why don’t we both go back?”

Lucas nodded. “Sure.”

With a thought, a metal chain appeared around their arms. Reaching down, they touched the ground with the chain. As they did, they both channeled energy into the chain. A small charm appeared around it, with the Chinese symbol for 3 (三) on it.  The first charm led to the Black Night Sect. The second led to the first magic beast hunting zone. The third now led to this open field.

Chu Shen looked at Lucas. “So, are you ready to go back?”

Lucas smiled. “Of course.”

They channeled energy into the “2 ( 二)” charm and disappeared.

What they didn’t know about was the large metal behemoth that appeared five minutes later. It looked like a huge man covered in metal scales. A harsh hissing sound impossible to replicate with the human voice came from the metal creature. It paused for a second before hissing something else.

In a flash of blue light, the creature disappeared from the area.

………………………………………………………………

Chu Shen and Lucas reappeared in the first magic beast hunting zone. Lucas suddenly smacked his head. “You know, I forgot to get the coordinates to teleport us there.”

Chu Shen sighed. “Well, it would also be suspicious if we just appeared out of nowhere.”

Lucas smiled. “Luckily, I still have my spaceship. It has stealth systems on it as well, the true kind. It can jump into hyperspace and it’s cut off completely from this world.”

Chu Shen gestured forward. “Be my guest.”

Immediately, a large teardrop shaped craft appeared in front of Lucas and Chu Shen. It had no outer hatches or viewports and was 928 ft (300 meters) long, with the wide end measuring 246 ft (75 meters). It appeared to be completely solid. Chu Shen looked at it in confusion. “Just how are we supposed to get into this thing?”

Lucas grinned at him. “You walk through the wall of the ship of course. This thing is made of nanites coated in Durasteel X, the strongest material we had in my universe. The weapons it has are limited, only a couple stealth missiles which I made on the side. The power is broadcast from the anti-matter generator I have. Most of the space on it is for the hyperspace system and gravity drive. The rest is used for cabins, missile storage, the weapon vault, food, and a simulation room.”

Chu Shen waved his hand. “I don’t need a step by step breakdown right now, all I need is to check up on those kids.”

Lucas sighed. “Fine. Have it your way.” Lucas approached the ship and touched his hand to the outer hull. The ship’s hull seemed to sink around his hand, enveloping it in liquid metal. Lucas continued walking forward until his entire body seemed to become one with the ship before disappearing inside.

Chu Shen shrugged and then walked inside himself. It was like being enveloped in metal putty. It gave at his touch. Eventually he found himself standing on a metal walkway inside the ship. Lucas faced him with a smile. “Let’s go then.”

The black ship’s surface rippled before it suddenly seemed to disappear. This was its cloaking mechanism. Its gravity drives activated as it flew at subsonic speeds towards White Lotus City. They didn’t want to attract any trouble with sonic booms, so they avoided going faster than the speed of sound. Two hours later, they had arrived. Chu Shen and Lucas landed outside the city before walking inside after storing the ship inside Lucas’ pocket dimension.

Once inside, they saw people putting up signs. The signs said, ‘Void Sect Registration Now Open. Only Accepting Those with Rank 3 Mage Talent or Lower.’

Chu Shen was surprised by that. They had been gone for less than three hours and they already had everything sorted out? Lucas and Chu Shen exchanged confused glances. Chu Shen approached one of the men putting up the sign. “Uh, excuse me sir. Where is the Void Sect at?”

The man saw Chu Shen and smiled. “It’s not a surprise that you don’t know about them. They only appeared two days ago. They wiped out the Asura Sect and ran the Ice Dragon and Golden Palm Sects off as well. They’re down the road at the center of town. You can’t miss it.”

Chu Shen thanked the man and then they quickly ran towards the Void Sect. While they did, Lucas and Chu Shen started to debate as to why two days had already gone by when it had only been three hours for them. Master Ti Wu put an end to it though.

‘Enough bickering, you brat. Each realm has a different passage of time compared to the others. You can’t expect them all to have the same passage of time. One minute in one could be a million years in another. It’s all relative to the one you want to compare it to.’

Eventually, they reached the new Void Sect. Going up to the sect, they encountered some of the students. Recognizing their saviors, they were brought to Griffith immediately. There, Chu Shen and Lucas were brought up to speed on all the things that had happened in the two days they were gone. Chu Shen and Lucas were surprised at how smoothly everything went.

After the takeover, all of the townsfolk showed a surprising amount of acceptance. They had suffered under the brutality of the Asura Sect for a while now, and they were all too happy to see them disappear. The fights that had occurred didn’t damage most of the infrastructure of the sects as well so taking over their facilities went nicely.

Chu Shen and Lucas were both relieved by the fact that none of the kids were hurt badly. Except Thomas. They both felt some guilt towards that, since they were sure they could have saved him if they had been there. Griffith gave them some alone time after that.

After about ten minutes, Lucas turned back to Chu Shen. “I don’t think they need us anymore. They’re already established pretty well here. We don’t need anything else from this realm and it would be kind of weird staying in the sect we established.”

Chu Shen nodded as well. “I would say it’s time to go back to that new realm we saw.”

Just as they were deciding to leave, the door flung open. There in the doorway stood a kid who was not a kid. Fifteen year old Aslo had a face that could be called an adult’s. His eyes were fierce, his cheeks scarred. The only thing that took away from his adult features was the baby fat still visible on his face.

He stared at Chu Shen and Lucas. Suddenly, he fell to his knees and bowed to them. “Thank you, thank you. Thanks to you, I have avenged my mother’s death.”

Chu Shen reached down and grabbed his shoulder, pulling Aslo up from the ground. “Please Aslo, don’t do this. We did it because you are a friend. You don’t have to act like this.”

Aslo shook his head. “No, I have to. You are the one that granted me the chance to put my mom’s spirit at peace.”

Lucas slapped him on the back. “Anything for a friend. Anyways Aslo, I’m glad you stopped by. Nice to see you before we leave.”

Aslo immediately focused on Lucas. “Please take us with you!”

Lucas looked confused. “Us?” As he spoke Chrissa stepped through the open doorway.

Aslo nodded. “Yeah. We talked it over and decided that in order to repay you we would like to go with you to wherever it is you decide to go.”

Lucas turned to Chu Shen. “Please, oh pretty please! We need more than just stinking boys. A girl or two would be nice.”

Chu Shen looked at Aslo seriously. “Where we plan on going is far beyond your imagination. It will be extremely far away from here and you will only be able to visit here every once in awhile.”

Aslo and Chrissa both nodded, not a hint of hesitation showing. Chu Shen sighed. “Fine. It was a choice made of your own free will so I have no objection.”

Lucas immediately took out two sets of Chains of Transportation before giving them to Aslo and Chrissa. He gave them a brief explanation before having them wear it. Afterwards they departed the city. In order to not surprise Aslo and Chrissa Lucas avoided using the spaceship and teleported them all to the first magic beast hunting zone.

Now that he had the coordinates, teleporting them between such distances was negligible. Teleportation was a rare power and considered a Rank 4 Space Magic. However, it wasn’t too uncommon so it wasn’t as surprising as a giant spaceship flying them there.

He guided them on how to make the charms before sending them into his pocket dimension. Inside there, Aslo and Chrissa would go with him when they teleported back to their next realm.

Lucas, Chu Shen, Aslo, and Chrissa disappeared from their world in less than a second.

[End Arc 4: Magician’s World]

1. N/a

Chapter 129

Conflict Closing

It was a very sad day for the Asura Sect. Indeed, the Void Sect had surrounded them. How unfortunate that they were now so arrogant since they had become one of the power houses of White Lotus City. They refused to believe that it was the Void Sect. They laughed and mocked the kids for trying to act tough.

All of them gathered together to slaughter the insignificant brats that dared to hold them hostage. Their bloodthirsty nature showed as they used their most ruthless attacks on the kids, not showing even a hint of mercy towards their young age. They used their own students as cannon fodder in their fights.

How sad, how truly unfortunate for them. For showing such ruthless nature took the students of the Void Sect back to the days of slaughter. To the day when their families, teachers, and friends were killed by these fiends. Not even ten minutes after they attacked, they were destroyed.

The Asura Sect….. was no more.

As for the Ice Dragon Sect, they were more hesitant and believing than the Asura Sect. Upon hearing their demands, as well as their claims that they were Rank 6 and Rank 7 mages, they were loath to believe it. But what if it was true? As a test, their Rank 6 mage asked for a duel. Immediately, over ten Rank 6 spells flew at him from different places. After seeing that, the Ice Dragon Sect gave up.

While all this was going on, Sarah was still facing down the Golden Palm Sect.

………………………………………………………………………………

Talgin was stunned by this sudden occurrence. The powerhouse of his sect was trapped inside the <Shadow Coffin> technique. A Rank 6 magic that would cause anyone to panic. What was worse was the fact that it appeared to be a little girl that had cast it. This completely overturned his sense of power. Yes, a little girl could theoretically become a Rank 6 mage. However, who would ever suspect that someone so young could be so powerful?

Usually, students were advised to stay at Rank 2 or Rank 3 in order to gain experience. It was similar to what Chu Shen was doing, actually. So when this little girl was suddenly revealed to actually be a Rank 6 mage….. it threw Talgin for a loop.

“W-w-what!?” He stuttered, pointing at Sarah.

She sighed. “Obviously if you don’t order a surrender, I will have to kill this man. Next I will have to kill you. After that, if no one surrenders,  we will have to start killing people at random.”

Talgin immediately paled. There was more than ten other kids the same age as this little girl outside the Golden Palm Sect. If what they said was true, then they were just as powerful as her, with some being possibly even more powerful. He couldn’t risk his students’ lives.

He immediately shook his head. “Please, let Baldwin go. We surrender. Us adults will stay here. Just please let the students go, they have nothing to do with this.”

Sarah’s face softened at that, but she still shook her head. “Unfortunately, we can’t. However, I can swear on my life that these kids will not be harmed or imprisoned. They will be set free in a little while.”

Talgin sighed in relief. “I thank you for that.”

Afterwards Sarah had everyone of the Golden Palm Sect go towards the center of the town. There, the Ice Dragon Sect was waiting for them. After two minutes, the kids that were sent to the Asura Sect came back. Their clothes were covered in splotches of blood. Their faces were worn, shocked, and filled with anger and sadness.

Not a single person from the Asura Sect followed behind them. Confused, Griffith approached them to ask what had happened. They spoke about things that would haunt them forever. They spoke about the Asura Sect.

The Asura Sect.

A sect filled with assassins. They had mercilessly trained their kids in the ways of battle since they were four years old. It was unfortunate. The Asura Sect sent out everyone they had from their sect. From their show of force, the Asura Sect knew that their enemies did indeed have some powerhouses.

They sent out the kids as cannon fodder, using their young lives without hesitation to identify the supposedly few strong mages that were threatening them. These kids were only Rank 3 or Rank 4 assassins. That didn’t stop them from attacking with all their might. The defending Void Sect members tried to stop them through less destructive means.

Unfortunately, when you have enough wolves, even a lion can fall. The Asura Sect focused on a single kid with over forty of their cannon fodder. His name was Thomas. He was able to block ten, twenty, even twenty three at one time, but there were too many. Others tried coming to his rescue, but just as his mana shield broke, a Rank 5 assassin appeared out of the shadows and sliced his head directly in half.

It was the first loss the kids had suffered since that horrible night.

It brought forth a rage in them that was unbelievable. Suddenly, spells started spewing forth, lighting up the night. Warrior techniques lashed out when they didn’t have enough time to chant.

It was a slaughter. Not a single person lived through it.

Most of these kids became terrified of themselves. The reason they came was to exact revenge. It was to destroy those that wanted to kill them. They expected fighting. However, looking at the aftermath, seeing the dead bodies that littered the ground; it just didn’t seem like it was worth it. Sadness over the slaughter that had happened, anger at the fact they were forced to kill kids, shock at doing such horrible things, all was visible on their faces.

As the other kids listened to their experience, they rushed over to the Asura Sect to see for themselves. The ground was ripped to shreds. Fire still burned. Icicles could be seen sticking out of still warm flesh. Griffith was saddened immensely at the sight.

If he had known that such a thing would happen, he would have never tried to do this. The teachers would have come by themselves and wiped out the Asura Sect. It would have at least spared these kids the horror of war for a little longer.

After that, they returned to the square. Some of the teachers had remained behind to watch over their prisoners. Upon returning, Griffith gathered up the students. When he asked them what they wanted to do, a unanimous decision was made.

Griffith stood in front of the group of captives. Clearing his throat, he started to speak with them. “Ahem. Tonight, the former Rising Tide Sect took revenge on the three sects that tried to destroy us. Luckily, both of your sects had the sense to surrender. Unfortunately, the Asura Sect did not. They fought to the end, and we do not believe there is a single surviving member inside White Lotus City.”

“It is something that we all regret doing. If we could, we would prefer to not have to do such a thing again. That is why we have decided to let you all go. None of you will be killed or imprisoned. You are all free. However, we would like to never hear of the Ice Dragon or Golden Palm sects ever again. If we do, then there will be consequences.”

Among the people imprisoned there in the circle, there were some that had killed someone close to the Void Sect disciples. However, after seeing such bloodshed with the Asura Sect, the kids didn’t have the stomach to simply slaughter them.

Everyone started to leave, with the teachers of the now disbanded sects rounding up their students. Some of the students left for their homes inside White Lotus City. To them, it was more important to stay with their families than to follow their sect to places unknown.

The powerhouses of the disbanded sects and the sect leaders left separately. The teachers of the Void Sect assassinated them when they did. It was better to not leave anyone that could be a threat to the Void Sect. Of course, they did not tell their students about this.

Eventually, White Lotus City was left in peace.

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Chapter 128

Revenge

Griffith heard Chu Shen yelling. Immediately he started running towards the savior’s voice. Upon arriving he saw their horses but neither of the saviors were there. The words the savior had been shouting finally registered with Griffith. He turned towards their horses and kowtowed. “I will not disappoint you saviors! We will get our revenge!”

Griffith collected the horses the saviors left behind and then turned back towards his group. Everyone was strapping on gear, eating a quick snack, or chatting with their comrades. They were getting ready for war.

Griffith let go of the two horses and faced his soldiers. “Everyone, can I have your attention!” Immediately faces swiveled towards Griffith.

“The two saviors have left us!” Immediately there was some concern on everyone’s faces. Why would their saviors leave them now? “They have told us before that they may leave at any time. They left now with barely a warning. Where they have gone, I do not know.

“I can say this though! I am glad they have left now.” That shocked everyone. “This is a private affair! We have come to get revenge for our loved ones that were slain! The saviors gave us this chance! But I do not wish for them to see such violence! Remember what they asked us though, take pity on them! Kill only those that you saw killing! Everyone else, is to be spared! Now, mount up! We leave in five minutes!”

Everyone immediately became busy, throwing their food on the ground and helping their comrades finish putting on their armor. Five minutes later, everyone was ready.

……………………………………………………………………

Talgin leaned back in his chair and sighed. So many things were going wrong. He, the leader of the Golden Palm Sect, was about to lose his Sect. He had worked together with the Asura and Ice Dragon Sect to destroy the Rising Tide Sect.  He had never liked conflict but those kids….. They would have ruined everything if they had a chance to grow.

Back then, he had been forced to take action. It seemed like it was all in vain though. The Asura Sect had been growing more powerful with each day. Their training methods were cruel and inhumane. They found that if the body was conditioned for extreme pain, then the chances of becoming a high ranking warrior was practically guaranteed.

They had learned this method three years ago and the results were finally starting to show. Very quickly, high ranking assassins started to appear in the Asura’s ranks. The Ice Dragon Sect had realized this and immediately decided to go with the flow. They became a partner with the Asura Sect. The Ice Dragon Sect was filled mages and filled the gap of the Asura Sect by being able to provide long range support.

The Golden Palm Sect was a combination of warrior and mage adventurers. They were one of the strongest powers in White Lotus City, second only to the Rising Tide Sect. With the Rising Tide Sect gone they were the strongest power.

Unfortunately, the Asura and White Dragon Sect, when combined, were just as powerful. With the rise of the Asura Sect’s strength, they eventually became outmatched. The Asura Sect had been taking little chunks off the Golden Palm Sect and it was slowly killing them. Currently they only had half the resources they had before.  Talgin sighed. ‘Will I really have to join them? I don’t want to, the Asura Sect is only filled with murderers. Unfortunately, if I don’t then we’ll be the next Rising Tide Sect.’

BOOOOMMMMMM

Talgin stiffened. Was it the Asura Sect?! Did they really wish to fight with them now!? If they did, they would have to suffer major casualties. Would they really do that?! As if in answer, more explosions came from outside.

BOOOOMMM BOOOOMMMM BOOOMMMM

Talgin immediately cleared his head. Either way, whether it was the Asura Sect or not, they were under attack. He rushed towards a cabinet on his right. In less than ten seconds he was clothed in armor. A spear was cradled in his right arm and a sword was strapped to his back. Several knife handles could be seen sticking out of places in his armor. This was the speed of a Rank 5 warrior.

Talgin wasn’t a frontline warrior. They had three Rank 6 mages but two had faked their deaths. The leaders of the other sects knew about them though the public was kept in the dark. A powerful surge of mana notified Talgin that their Rank 6 mage was going into battle.

Quickly, Talgin started running towards the explosions, the sound of them had never stopped. He flung open a door and appeared on a balcony on the second story. He stopped, frozen by the scene below him.

“What is this?!”

…………………………………………………………………….

Team 4 stood outside the Golden Palm Sect, hands on their weapons. They, along with Teams 9 and 11 would be in charge of destroying the Golden Palm Sect. The actual plan was to force the Golden Palm sect into surrendering. Then the people who surrendered would be brought into the main square. Similar plans for the Asura and Ice Dragon Sect were being carried out.

After everyone was in the square, members of the sects that had killed someone from the Rising Tide Sect would be executed. Everyone else would be set free, regardless of their strength. After all, even if a Rank 8 adventurer attacked them, they already had 2 Rank 8 mages. They would simply be courting death to attack the Void Sect again.

George and Sam started first. George cast the Rank 4 spell <Earth Eruption> while Sam cast the Rank 6 spell <Lightning Storm>. The earth seemed to explode in a giant circle around the entire Golden Palm Sect, forming a forty foot deep and twenty foot wide trench. Large explosions went off as Lightning continuously struck the ground just beyond the trench George had made.

The guards trembled at the power being displayed in front of them. Numerous students and guards ran from their residents in the sect only to stare slack jawed at the lightning surging down from the sky. It looked like an angry thunder god was striking them down.

A man in golden robes strolled out from the sect. The teams were spaced out evenly around the entire sect. The man frowned. “What is the meaning of this?! Asura Sect, Ice Dragon Sect! Are you trying to confuse us by sending kids while launching spells from a distance!”

One of the kids stepped forwards. It was one from Team 9 with the wind attribute. Using the Rank 1 spell of <Voice Projection>, everyone in the Golden Palm Sect could clearly hear his voice.

“We are students of the former Raging Tide Sect. There are nine Rank 7 Mages here and six Rank 6 Mages as well. We would like for you to peacefully surrender. If you do not and try to flee or fight the penalty will be…… DEATH!”

Upon the word death being uttered, a chilly aura seemed to encompass the entire sect. The teams of kids did not flinch at the word and instead stared coldly at the enemies. The only thing that could soften their hardened hearts was the scared young faces of the students from the Golden Palm Sect. If not for that, it was quite possible they would have disregarded the savior’s plea for the innocent.

The golden robed man seemed shocked before suddenly laughing uproariously. “You, you really think that I would believe that you brats could suddenly become so powerful!? This is the first time in my hundred years of life that I have been threatened by a group of brats.”

None of the kids spoke. Instead they stood there, staring at the man. He smirked before uttering two words. “Golden Wall.” Immediately a large barrier appeared around the entire sect. The barrier was gold and was incomparably thick. A Rank 6 magic that was cast instantly. It seemed as though this golden robed man was truly skilled.

The golden robed man, now that he was hidden from view, no longer looked so confident. He turned and looked upwards at Talgin. “Master, what do we do! I don’t believe those brats are as strong as they say but whoever is backing them up is truly powerful. Those lightning strikes are on par with my <Gold Shower>. At the very least they are a Rank 6 mage.”

Talgin, who had been stunned by the lightning surrounding them, came to his senses. “I don’t know. This could very well be a ploy by the Asura Sect. Baldwin, you need to be careful. Take Galgor and Waldo with you to clear a route underground. With their earth magic it should be easy to make a tunnel for the kids to escape. Us teachers will stay here and defend them.”

Baldwin nodded. “Yes Talgin, I wi-”

He was suddenly cut off as a black coffin materialized around him, cutting Baldwin off from the rest of the world. A young girl appeared out of the shadows with a crossbow mounted on her arm. She pointed her crossbow at Talgin.

 “Order the surrender or you and this man die.”

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Chapter 126

Preparation

Before everyone left for White Lotus city, Chu Shen got a message from Master Ti Wu. ‘Hey brat.’

‘Yes Master Ti Wu?

‘Remember how I said that I could probably change one of their souls to gain soul sense?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well I think I can do it now. I can change it now and give them a technique that can allow them to change other people.’

Chu Shen immediately became elated. ‘Great, so how do we do it?’

‘We? There is no we. I’ll be doing all the work. All you have to do is find the right guy for me to change.’

Chu Shen paused at that. Who did he want to help? No, it wasn’t a question of who did he want to help but he did he think could be trusted? What he envisioned for this was that the person who had their soul changed would be able to help open other people’s meridians just like he was doing now.

Such a power was dangerous in the wrong hands since one could create an army very easily in this world. Kind of like what Chu Shen was doing now. It was just too dangerous to give to everyone. It would be better to give it to only one person and only allow them to pass it down to only one person as well.

Chu Shen hadn’t actually thought of all this though. It was Master Ti Wu who had explained all this to him before. With what Master Ti Wu had said, Chu Shen realized he couldn’t be casual in selecting someone to pass it down to. Eventually Chu Shen realized it had to be a teacher. The kids were just too immature at this point to trust with something this big.

Chu Shen thought pretty hard on this and consulted with Lucas and Master Ti Wu before eventually settling on the teacher Lidia. She was a very kind and caring teacher. She was the one that looked after the little girl that didn’t want to train. That little girl had practically became Lidia’s daughter.

Lidia was not the leader of the group, Griffith was. Griffith was someone that was very respected. He was a good speaker, listener, confident, and respected everyone. Lidia was the one that was his adviser. It was Griffith that proposed the idea to train the kids at the hunting zones. Everyone asked his opinion after that and eventually he became the focus of the group. When it came time to chose a leader (Chu Shen and Lucas were exempt from this), it was Griffith that won their vote.

Griffith would probably make a good choice for the soul modification. Unfortunately, he was too public. Lidia was more behind the scenes. With that, there would be less chance of her getting kidnapped or assassinated. Finally, Chu Shen decided on Lidia.

Chu Shen approached Lidia about giving her the ability to increase a mages rank. Immediately she became excited. Such an ability was simply too mystical. Who wouldn’t want it? Lidia agreed to it.

“So what do I need to do to gain this ability?” Lidia asked questioningly. She looked to be in her mid-40’s if she was a mortal. She probably still had another two hundred years left since she was a Rank 8 mage.

Chu Shen started to answer before hesitating. ‘Uh, Master Ti Wu. What does she have to do?’

Master Ti Wu sighed. ‘She has to endure some pain. Besides that, nothing else.’

 Chu Shen turned back to Lidia who was still waiting for an answer. “Well Lidia, I’m afraid it’s going to be painful. Other than that, there shouldn’t be an issue.”

Lidia sighed in relief. “Good. If there was a chance of dying I’m afraid I would have had to refuse. I don’t want Clementine to have to go through the pain of losing a family member again.”

Chu Shen nodded. “Don’t worry. Everyone is so strong, I’m sure nothing can stop them. After you receive the ability to change one’s talent, we’ll be moving to destroy those sects still in White Lotus City.”

Lidia smiled. “Good. Well, we are only killing the sect members right?”

Chu Shen nodded. “These kids have experienced the pain of losing someone. I am sure that none of them actually want someone else to experience that. They’ve been having group exercises to train them for war and had a good talking to by Su Gagi. It’s been drilled into them pretty hard that we are trying to destroy the sects and not the people. Anyways, we should get started with the whole ability thing.”

“Yes let’s.” Lidia immediately became excited.

“Alright go ahead and sit down.” Chu Shen motioned at the chair right in front of him. Right now they were in Lidia’s cabin sitting at her table with Lidia sitting across from him. Lidia came to the other side of table and sat in the chair he had pointed to.

‘Master Ti Wu, it’s time.’

‘I know that brat.’ Master Ti Wu sounded a bit grumpy. His soul form came out. A bluish green energy formed on his hands. It was his spiritual Qi. The Qi floated out of Master Ti Wu’s hand to form a circle with complex writings and symbols inside it. Master Ti Wu pointed at Lidia and immediately the bluish green energy flew towards her.

It went straight into Lidia’s forehead, completely passing through her skin like a ghost. For a second nothing happened. Then bluish green lines appeared all over Lidia’s face. “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” When the lines appeared, Lidia’s face immediately twisted up in agony.

Master Ti Wu’s face was wrinkled in concentration. ‘Brat! Tell her to stop resisting and accept the change! If she cannot, she might die!’

Immediately Chu Shen followed his advice. He grabbed Lidia’s shoulder and squeezed it hard enough that red marks appeared. “LIDIA! STOP RESISTING! IF YOU CAN’T THEN YOU MIGHT DIE!”

“UUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!! ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!” Lidia howled with agony. Then suddenly, she went limp. Concerned, Chu Shen looked at Master Ti Wu. He looked exhausted.

Master Ti Wu still had enough energy to talk though. “Don’t worry brat, she can’t hear us now. Currently her soul is going through a metamorphosis caused by my soul imprint. She’ll be fine.

“I also gave her the art to copy my soul imprint down a little bit at a time so there won’t be as much pain for the next person, more like an itch than being skinned alive. With this she can pass it down to one more person over a period a year. If that person has a bad personality she can destroy the partial imprint with a thought. There can only be two full imprints at any given time and only the full imprint can allow a soul to gain soul sense.”

Chu Shen nodded. “As expected of Master Ti Wu. You are quite thorough.”

Master Ti Wu puffed up a bit. “Of course. How could an elder of the Void Sect not be thorough? Anyways, you should probably go lay her down on the bed.”

“Wait Master Ti Wu. Was it possible for her to die?” Chu Shen was worried since he had told Lidia that there wasn’t a chance she was going to die and yet Master Ti Wu said she could.

“Hmph. Of course not. Well, there was a possibility but only if I tried to force it. I would have stopped before she was actually in danger of dying. However, I remembered her saying that she couldn’t die because of Clementine. Me having you say that she could die  allowed her to quickly adapt to my soul imprint. If not, we could have been here for another hour.”

Chu Shen was relieved to hear that. He obeyed Master Ti Wu and put Lidia on her bed. Then he left to find the teachers and Lucas. They would be able to leave in order to take revenge tomorrow morning.

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Chapter 127

Too Early

Chu Shen found Lucas after he left Lidia in her room. They had some small talk and they even went inside Lucas’ pocket dimension to look around. Chu Shen had been so busy because of Master Ti Wu’s grueling training that he hadn’t had the time to talk to Lucas. He marveled at how much Lucas had gotten done.

“So Lucas, did you really manage to build all this?” Chu Shen marveled at the fusion bottle as the sound of plasma crackling came from it.

Lucas did a pose. “Of course I did. Otherwise, wouldn’t others call me simply a useless sidekick?”

Chu Shen looked confused. “Who would call you that?”

“All the teachers.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that, mister bodyguard.”

“…..Mention it again, and I’m teleporting you to the moon.”

“Sheesh. Anyways Lucas, how did you even get the materials? It seems like you built a lot of things that require some pretty rare stuff.” Chu Shen pointed at the laser cannon in the background.

Lucas shrugged. “The cradle-free fabricator really helped as far as making the bigger things. To be honest though, the real credit goes to the ARD.”

“What’s the ARD?” Chu Shen was confused at this.

Lucas immediately pounced on the opportunity to show off. “A.R.D. stands for Atomic Reassembling Device. Essentially it’s a device that can deconstruct items at it’s atomic level and then reassemble them in any form. For example, taking graphite and turning it into diamonds. All it requires is reassembling the way the carbon atoms are bonded to each other.

“Reassembling items like that is it’s most basic form. What it really does is it can rearrange the electrons, protons, and neutrons inside the atom’s nucleus and electron cloud. By adding more of these subatomic particles to oxygen, one can turn pure oxygen into pure iron. Of course, a room full of oxygen would only turn into a fistful of iron because of how much denser it is.

“There was a lot of rare materials that I had to find before I could even get started with making it. I spent three months just trying to track them all down. After that, I was able to make a ton of stuff without having to leave the dimension. Though I did have to go out every once in awhile and dig up mountains of dirt so that the ARD could transmute them.”

Lucas adopted a pained look at this point. “The only downside is the massive amount of power it drains to do something like that. It’s the reason that I had to make the antimatter generator. Otherwise I would have to use over a hundred Rank 7 beast cores just to power the thing.”

Chu Shen froze. One….. hundred. One hundred. One hundred beast cores!!!! Even if they were Rank 2 beast cores that was an insane amount! Lucas wasn’t talking about such low rank cores but Rank 7 cores?!!!! THIS WAS OUTRAGEOUS! It was like saying ‘I need all of the energy from one hundred Martial Kings’, all of which was needed to power one device!

Lucas saw Chu Shen’s shocked look and rolled his eyes. “Honestly Chu Shen, you should know how much energy is needed to split atoms into their subatomic particles and then fuse them to create the atom needed. Most of the energy goes towards containment. I have to be able to contain the energy of several hundred nuclear bombs inside the ARD from splitting the atoms and then harness that energy to fuse them together. Since some of the energy is lost in the transfer I also have to supply that energy.”

Chu Shen smiled. “You know, I remembered that we really are nerds. Wanna talk about hyperphysics calculations again?”

Lucas smiled back. “Nah. How about we just talk about the calculations I had to do in order to get all this together.”

“Sure. Let’s just get back to the kids first.”

“Honestly, you should stop calling them kids. They’re far more mature than most adults at this point.”

Chu Shen shrugged. “They’re all still five foot at the most. I just can’t help calling them kids even if they do have scars over their faces.”

Lucas shook his head sadly. “It is unfortunate that they had to deal with wild animals day in and day out for so long. Those scars are what made them who they are today though. They’ll soon be able to live without the threat of being killed and will be able to establish the Void Sect, just like they promised.”

Chu Shen and Lucas had approached the teachers soon after they started training at the hunting zone. Chu Shen had asked them to rename the Rising Tide Sect to Void Sect. They happily agreed saying that it was only thanks to Chu Shen that they were able to surpass their former glory. To them it was the representation of a new start, a new age for the Rising Tide, no. A new age for the Void Sect.

Chu Shen smiled. “Yeah, Master Ti Wu should be happy about that.”

Lucas shrugged. “I still think you’re crazy, talking to a ghost.”

Master Ti Wu appeared in his soul form. “What ghost! I’m still alive you brat!” Lucas didn’t respond. Unfortunately, Lucas couldn’t see Master Ti Wu. A soul form can only be perceived by another soul. Lucas didn’t have a soul, or at least, not a soul in the form martial artists knew of. As a result, he couldn’t see Master Ti Wu. As for hearing….. Lucas was just being a jerk.

Currently they were inside a small house Lucas had built after coming out from his pocket dimension. A knock came from the front door. Chu Shen looked over curiously while Lucas didn’t seem surprised at all. His sensors had detected their visitor for some time now.

Chu Shen got up and answered the door. It was Griffith. He bowed to Chu Shen. “Savior, it’s time for us to leave. The army is ready. Everyone has horses like you asked and we are ready to destroy all the cabins.”

Chu Shen and Lucas exchanged a glance. They were ready as well. “Thank you Griffith. We’ll go ahead and join you in a second.” He started to close the door before suddenly turning back to Griffith. “Is Lidia ready to go as well?”

Griffith nodded. “She seems to have a headache but is okay other than that. I heard that you gave her something to cause it?”

Chu Shen nodded. “Yes but it is a private affair between me and her. She will share it when she feels ready. Goodbye Griffith.”

He closed the door and turned to Lucas. “So you ready to go?”

Lucas nodded. “Everything’s already in my pocket dimension. I can teleport the satellites and other….equipment into it anytime I want.”

Chu Shen smiled. “Good, let’s go.”

Chu Shen and Lucas left with Griffith and the others. They rode at the front, to scout out what was ahead. The others didn’t like putting their saviors in such a dangerous position but they managed to get over it. It took a long time, two weeks actually, to get close to White Lotus City.

They were ten minutes away from the White Lotus City when they stopped. They started getting prepared to fight. Chu Shen had spent the last month forging  hand crafted items for each and every student in his downtime. Unlike before, they didn’t have to pay. He had decided that equipping the students was a good thing and he had the money to spare on materials.

He wanted the kids to be as prepared as possible and this was one of the only ways he knew how. Chu Shen and Lucas were off the side a bit, talking about where to position the drones. They were just finalizing their plans when a translucent barrier appeared around Chu Shen.

He turned and saw Lucas was also covered in the same barrier. Chu Shen instantly recognized what was happening. The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion was leaving.

Chu Shen yelled out the door. “GRIFFITH, WE’RE LEAVING! WE LEAVE THE DUTY OF TAKING REVENGE TO YOU!” It would be rude to leave them hanging or have them search everywhere for Chu Shen and Lucas when they would be in a completely different dimension.

Lucas was frantically teleporting all of his work into the pocket dimension. Luckily he already had a program worked out and in less than two seconds everything was secured.

Just like they had appeared, Chu Shen and Lucas vanished into thin air.

A/N: So you guys disappointed by Chu Shen and Lucas ditching their chores? Oh well, don’t you know that your friends don’t help you take out the trash. Why should they be any different. XD

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