Moments before Noah started going through a special evolution that would change the course of his path… Outside of the Stargate, a small spaceship could be seen breaking through the atmosphere as it made its way to the array of spaceships that Omid left behind before entering the gate. Swiftly, it descended toward the main battleship among the hovering ships.
With everyone inside the ships already dead, only the inherent AI of the ships was keeping them working and floating in mid-air.
When the small ship finally reached a certain distance from the unmanned spaceship, it stopped in its tracks and cycled into hovering mode. Soon, the small ship opened a door, the pilot now revealed to the atmosphere of the world, promptly vanished and reappeared in the interior of the main ship.
“Interesting. Only one sign of life remains. Hmm…”
She had seen the gigantic gate while she was entering through the atmosphere, and even she was astonished by the white light it emitted. This was truly a historical moment for them.
But she also understood that it was not her destiny to uncover the secrets hidden within the gate. Furthermore, at this moment it was far more important to find and secure her old friend.
Dorothy was about to continue her search to find Morgiana but…
She could see that the life star of the woman was still active in her cognition and her inherent star was shining brighter than perhaps it ever did in her life. Her destiny was about to change, something incredible was about to transpire to her friend.
However, just as Dorothy was about to step forward and enter the ship, she had to crouch down while covering her eyes with a groan.
The Brightest Star she had been following the traces of was now dimming as though it was about to meet its end. Clearly, it was a sign of imminent death for the Gate and there was nothing she could do about it.
Dorothy could feel the gear of Fate shifting radically, slipping past her cognition and the out of her ability to observe and influence.
The star would die before she could even reach it…
“Huh…?”
A voice of surprise leaked out and she realized that while absolute darkness was still encroaching on the brightest star it didn’t have any intention of killing and consuming it into its everlasting void.
Instead, the star seemed to have obtained a new lease on life and was growing far larger than it had been at a rapid speed.
Furthermore, its light still preserved its warmth despite being half covered in the absolute darkness of malevolence.
The Light and the Dark melded in a way she was too weak to completely understand… and they finally became a singular entity of duality.
Thus a Dark Star was born on this day.
“What in the…?”
This was the first time in her hundred years of life as the Witch of Stars and her position as a Seer Dorothy was able to come to the realization that she truly knew nothing about the world of stars.
In the end, all she could do now was find Morgiana and get her out of this place as soon as possible. Everything else could wait until the new Star of Destiny came out of the gate.
***
How did dust taste? The answer was admittedly, very predictable.
Dust tasted… horrible.
Well, he would not really know for sure, but that was what the Parasite Queen had transmitted to him while she devoured the remnants of Omid.
The good thing was that, while the taste was utterly horrible and much of the energy contained within Omid’s vessel had been lost in the process, the little bit of energy that he managed to procure was still very significant. He could feel that his reserves had grown by a bit and were about the level he had been before he was obliterated to pieces by the all-consuming flames unleashed by Omid.
But there was one little problem. Truly only a little,
“I am not growing anymore?”
Noah looked at himself in doubt. He still looked like a small child. He moved his hands to punch into the air. The piercing noises of wind produced by his fist flying at supersonic speeds and beyond were definitely not something that a child could have ever hoped to produce. His strength was astonishing and so was his speed and agility.
Noah couldn’t help but frown . He didn’t mind being in a child's body in the past but now that he had a chance to get away from this planet, this would be a pain.
Sadly for Noah, he had no time to focus on this matter as a translucent blue box appeared in front of him.
[Number of Survivors: 1]
[Congratulations on overcoming the challenge]
[Would you like to accept your reward?]
[Y/N?]
“What kind of person would even say no at this point?” Noah asked with a baffled expression on his face as he subconsciously pressed the yes button.
[Calculating rewards based on the previous rewards obtained]
[Previous reward: Growth type core]
[You are given a choice]
[1st reward: All materials necessary to create a medium-sized anti-army category Frame]
[2nd Reward: Blueprints necessary to create an anti-army category Frame.]
Noah stopped in his tracks and frowned visibly.
This choice was more complicated than he had anticipated it to be. While acquiring a blueprint seemed interesting, there was no telling that the materials required for the frame of the blueprint could be found anywhere as it was the blueprint of a Type-IV civilization, the only one of its kind in this galaxy.
Furthermore, he would need someone to create that Mecha for him. It would be quite complicated to find someone he could trust.
The materials meanwhile would definitely come in handy. If the Queen devoured them and analyzed them, she could perhaps recreate something similar and it could perhaps be used to have more of the said materials in the future. Furthermore, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t use Ouroboros’ initial blueprint as the base for his new frame, right?
But…
“What do you think?”
— … You are really asking me?
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The Queen was rightfully surprised by his question. Noah was a very individualistic person and most of the time, he took such decisions all alone without needing any input from anyone.
“Well…” Noah scratched his hair roughly, clearly slightly embarrassed by what he was about to say, “I can be a little bullheaded when it comes to matters regarding Ouroboros.”
Noah could only offer a bitter smile. If he had to be honest, the thought of climbing and piloting a Mecha other than Ouroboros made his skin crawl. But if his fight with Omid had taught him anything, it was that while Ouroboros may have been at the peak of mechanical engineering in his time, it was far too outdated right now.
Trying to fight the reality was useless and he certainly could not afford to keep fighting the way he did against Omid.
As much as he loathed to admit the fact, this fight had been a bit too close for his liking, and any mistake could have cost him victory. If Omid had managed to protect himself better or if he lacked even the smallest amount of energy, Noah would have been a goner.
He could not continue like this.
Noah would not let his life and his future be destined by the illusory concepts of luck and chance. He had no belief in them.
— Then… While I would love to devour the materials, I believe the blueprints are the best option for us.
“What is your reasoning?”
— You must have already understood but having the best material is useless if we don’t have a Mecha that matches the materials. Also, Ouroboros is clearly not enough for you to go on any longer. We are under-prepared for this new world and we need a powerful Mecha to match the advancement that this world has to offer.
“...”
— Mecha in this world or should I call them Knightframes? Anyway, they are unlike anything I have ever seen or imagined. Using earth terms, they seem to be more like amplifiers or towers of magic or magical wands. You have seen what we could do when we connected to the core while using circuits from a small standard frame, right? Now imagine what we could do with a better circuit and a more efficient design and materials.
“You are right.”
— Furthermore, and this is very important, once I have analyzed the circuits, even without a suitable frame… I can do what I did earlier. Obviously, the strain will be immense but the results are obvious. This will give us a great advantage in the future.
“I hate how you are making so much sense right now.”
Noah crouched down and groaned. He knew what the right choice was.
— I have a certain hypothesis and I believe you will not be disappointed by the choice. But the choice is yours in the end. What will you do?
Noah looked down and finally made his decision.
Even though Noah was infinitely interested in the materials that he could get as the reward, materials from a Type-IV civilization for a Mecha were bound to be game-changing no matter what, he still knew in his heart that the Queen’s choice was the valid one here. Even though his heart wanted the materials, his head knew that he had to take the blueprints.
Perhaps… finding a person with the expertise needed to help him create a brand new Mecha for himself would be extremely difficult. However, in the worst-case scenario… he could just search for a criminal engineer on the cusp of the death penalty to help him build one. Or… if it really came to it then he could just devour the bastard and obtain all the knowledge he had regarding building a Mecha. He would already have the blueprints so it would be more like gathering and synergizing the Mecha than building it from scratch.
This was a viable solution as the scientist he had devoured earlier had been quite useful to them, helping him in obtaining a deep understanding of the world he found himself in. However, the integration was quite slow; he had yet to decipher all of her memories and didn’t know how long it would take for him to completely read her.
“Do you think you can obtain any memories from Omid? Even though he became… like that… yeah.”
— I cannot really give a concrete answer yet. I have never eaten dust before. There are fragments of memories here and there, scattered in the micro substance, but there’s nothing much I can find other than the scattered remnants. Now, stop trying to divert the topic and make your choice already.
“Very well.” Taking a deep breath in, Noah tapped on the floating screen. Following his action, a small tablet hovered above him like an empty sketchboard. Once it lit up with power, Noah scrolled down with his hands and observed the blueprints that were inside.
He had never been much of a mechanical wizard, unlike some of his other friends among the constellations, but he still knew the bare minimum necessary to perform some urgent maintenance on Ouroboros should it face a dire problem.
That was why it didn’t take long for him to notice that the design of these new blueprints was eerily identical to his own Ouroboros, the Mecha he piloted and bonded with over the years. However, there were still some small and medium grade changes in the blueprint that gave the design its own uniqueness.
Noah scrolled down further and looked at the different blueprints for the pieces of the Mecha and how they would have to be assembled to complete this marvel of engineering. One thing he immediately noticed was that this Mecha seemed able to change dimensions based on the energy it absorbed from any valid source. It needed a special kind of metal to accomplish the absorption and Noah immediately had doubts regarding his chances of ever acquiring such a unique metal… Still, the possibilities the Mecha possessed were truly endless.
There were also new designs, attachments that he could add to the base design. A set of special wings, seemingly made out of light, could be seen among the attachments.
The prospects made him salivate just thinking about them. This was a total upgrade of the base Ouroboros. There were lesser models of the final version, as if someone had already anticipated that building the final version from the get-go would have been impossible. He could just start with building the lesser and weaker versions that were still far more streamlined and advanced than the current version of Ouroboros he had used.
This was…
“Damn…” Noah was utterly speechless. It was a rare moment for a chatterbox like him. However, it somehow became a commonplace occurrence since he entered this region.
— As I expected.
“You anticipated this?”
— I am sure you have the same suspicions as me and now… as we have this blueprint with us, they are not suspicions anymore. Just cold and hard facts, Noah. We have long since gone past the level of mere hints ever since the very first challenge. You simply refused to accept the reality that is already before you.
“...”
Noah really had nothing to say in return. The first challenge with the Noah difficulty, the mission contents that saw him explore through the ever familiar Mars base. The Ouroboros core he obtained as a reward and now this… the blueprints to make the ultimate version of his own Mecha. These can’t just be coincidences.
Obviously by some heavenly measure, Earth had become a Type-IV civilization and changed its name to the Gaia Empire during the long years he spent inside the alternate dimension. Then in some way that completely went over his head, they must have realized that he was still alive or they did all this to pay homage to him. Finally, the Empire had somehow been destroyed by an enemy he had no clue of. Countless years more passed after their destruction and he finally walked out of that dimension before getting stranded on the planet.
This made some sense, of course. Everything did make some semblance of sense. But… This would also mean that he had no more home to return to any longer. He… had no purpose.
“Heh…”
Noah let himself leak out a self-deprecating laugh. The thought of going back to his home planet had been the binding reason that sustained his progressively fragmenting mind during the long periods of his isolation and now he was slapped with repeated bouts of evidence that he would never be able to accomplish that dream.
Hell. Even if he did manage to find earth. It would not be HIS earth at all. It was…
— ...
“It’s quite funny how the planet on which I was stranded somehow became the very place that held all the answers I needed.”
Noah’s legs found themselves moving forward. Noah was not the type of person to accept the existence of luck and coincidences.
But there was a limit to what could be a coincidence. The Milky Way galaxy had around 100 billion planets at the minimum. Meanwhile, the entire universe held around 2 trillion galaxies at the minimum.
The probability of him finding himself on this planet with all those secrets was so infinitely small that it might as well have been zero. Impossible, yet he had found himself in this very place, with all the answers he sought now riddled with even more questions than when he started.
“There are still many things I need to learn.”
Why was he still worshiped or recognized as a hero even after the Empire reached the level they had?
How did they even reach thatr level in the first place?
Finally, what destroyed such a grand and all-encompassing Empire? Was it they themselves or was it a new form of enemy that completely escaped the realms of his imagination?
Noah wanted… no… needed to know the truth.
[You who have passed all challenges, it’s time for you to receive congratulations. Going forward, there will be no challenges. Only an inspection and a reminder of what it means to be part of the Empire. Do you wish to continue?]
[Y/N]
Noah did not hesitate this time around. There was nothing more to ponder. It was finally time for him to learn the truth.
At least… that was what he hoped he would learn once he accepted the invitation.
However, when he was finally transported to a new place and observed that thing in front of him.
Noah realized… he had really underestimated this whole thing a bit too much.
What he was observing now was nothing more than just an abomination.