Now that things were clear, or at least as clear as they could be, the two started to swiftly travel through the icy tundra of the dark side of the planet. Noah decided to follow Morgiana for now and act depending on the situation.

In essence, nothing really changed, they were still traveling to the bright side of the planet as scheduled. However, it could also be said that… everything had changed now, after learning the crucial piece of information from Morgiana.

Noah, who had been pretty nonchalant all along, had a clear objective and reason to move his body.

Becoming a planet owner seemed to be pretty interesting, all things considered, after all.

"Why are you running carrying such a large bag with you?"

"’Cause I am hungry."

Noah was holding a large sack filled with frozen food as he ran behind Morgiana, still keeping pace with her. He would sometimes take a piece of frozen food out of said large sack and munch on it like jerky.

Whenever Noah killed monsters, after cleaning them up, he would bring them to the bright side of the planet to dry them out in the sun and then back to the dark side to instantly freeze them and preserve them for the future.

This was his only way of making long-lasting rations that he would use to replenish his energy and sustain his life on this desolate planet. As for the hides, he would use them to cover up everything.

"Speaking of food and all, why don't you try covering yourself with the furs of the animals you hunt for food? Wouldn't that be much more comfortable than your current condition?"

She asked with a stiff tone while giving him a weird look. In the history of most races, using the fur of animals they killed was always one of the first steps toward civilization.

It would have been one thing if Noah was still a complete savage with not much understanding of the way of the world but she could see that he was anything but a savage.

In fact, in retrospection, he had been a bit too calm ever since meeting her. She honestly wouldn't have been surprised if he tried to kill her while thinking she was some kind of demon or devil, or some being that would invoke fear or the uncertainty of the unknown.

This was how things usually went when one came in contact with life on another planet for the very first time.

"Well… Why wear clothes when I don't even need them?"

Noah laughed and his face gave a carefree appearance, but the simple truth of the matter was that he indeed did not have any need for clothes or anything to cover himself.

When he first landed on this planet he did try to keep himself clothed and even dabbled his hand into making them himself.

But as time passed and his body gradually changed, becoming smaller and smaller, he realized that it was nothing but a waste of time.

The act of wearing clothes existed for two reasons. Perhaps three if you went further into the psychology of wearing clothes.

One — To protect oneself against the danger of the elements; something that he had no need for.

Two — To show oneself to others. Sadly the only entities on this planet were the monsters roaming around that were constantly trying to kill and eat him.

Three — For mating purposes or to impress people one was interested in, and in this world, his only mate was the five fingers of his trusty old right hand and even that went stale. He had been now fully celibate for so long that he’d lost count.

Once I go back to any civilization, the second thing I should do after eating a true cooked meal is to find a girl ASAP.

He discarded the moderately dirty thoughts brewing in his mind and focused his energy on running, ignoring even Morgiana.

'He is fast.'

By now, Morgiana was numb to most surprises that this little boy was showing her.

It came as no surprise to her that he was able to keep up with her.

She simply couldn't understand how this was possible in the current atmosphere. There was no pure concentration of Dark Matter leaking into the atmosphere and there was nothing else that could bring such growth to this little child.

Is it the flesh of those monsters that he is consuming?

If that were the case here, this would be another very important resource of this planet. She could already imagine the breeding farm that could be created to bring this vision to reality and for this— all she had to do was survive.

***

After nearly 30 minutes of running at full speed without any pause whatsoever, Morgiana began to notice the light far ahead in her retina.

Finally!!

The light, even at this distance, seemed to be blinding to her as it filled the entire space of the plane. Having a solar system with three suns would usually make a planet have this sort of radiance.

The surroundings had been progressively changing throughout their run, going from a cold tundra to a relatively dead and dreary but slightly cool place that didn’t feel worse than the bearable winter of some planets.

Now the surroundings were becoming warmer and already, Morgiana could feel the circulation of her energy accelerate ever so slightly with each step she took.

Djinns were beings made out of fire and obviously, cold places were not suitable for them in the least. This wouldn't have mattered to her if she had wielded the white flames of the White Flame Qabila. Unfortunately—

"We are arriving at our destination."

"Good."

Morgiana did not dwell on her negative feelings. Her helmet slowly moved away, revealing her tanned face now moderately healed up.

"Hah…"

She sighed with a sense of relief. Feeling the slight ray of sunlight on her tanned skin seemed to bring her alive as if she were a fish that was finally going back to the sea, to the home that belonged to her.

The markings all over her body pulsed feebly and the dim crimson-red light started to come alive with the onset of the first sunlight that she felt on this planet.

"Let's go!"

Her speed started to increase progressively, not only because of the return of her physical ability but also because her suit could pull more Dark Matter from her body and align many of the functions that had been offline due to the lack of energy.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

[Combat Support: Online]

[Analysis Mechanisms: Online]

[Augmented Reality: Fully Activated]

The world around her seemed to change as information flashed in her head from the AI that was attached to her suit.

Information, name, speculation, deduction. The AI was seemingly doing a partial reactivation of all the features while making sure to keep the most important features active at all times.

She was happy and knew that things were now on the right track.

Now, all she needed to do was to fully charge up, get back to her ship, and then start running away from this planet as soon as possible.

Thinking along those lines, her actions became swifter as she ran even faster than before.

— And finally, whoosh~! As if she had managed to pierce through a veil; the darkness vanished and gave place to what could only be called a place of heaven when compared to the rest of the planet.

A ground littered with patches of flowers, herbs and trees and comfortable weather that was neither too hot nor too cold.

A feeling of finally leaving the ice-cold hell that seemed to bring nothing but death was permeating every cell of her body.

Morgiana nearly moaned out loud. She had to give her all to not simply discard her armor suit and run naked to embrace the power of the sun as much as possible.

This would be quite hilarious after how she berated and mocked Noah, but now wasn't the time to play the role of the exhibitionist.

"Very well then. Now we—"

Boom!!!

Morgiana's eyes opened wide as she looked up at the sky, where the sound of the explosion resounded in all directions.

This was why she was able to observe the event.

Stars were falling down, or rather, new spaceships were entering the atmosphere of the planet.

This was it.

The Forty Thieves had arrived.

***

Noah was not a stranger to the sight of spacecraft entering the atmosphere of a world. Earth had been quite developed during his time, after all.

But even so, seeing this small armada of spaceships was still something that made his eyes shine with an ecstatic light.

Guns, swords and robots were men's romance. At least that was so for him; he was old-fashioned like that.

Morgiana had no time to share his feelings of wonder and delight. Just a few seconds ago, she had been happy about finally finding the sun. Now, she was not even given the time to enjoy it properly before having to feel stressed out of her wits once again.

"Will they find us immediately?"

"No. They do not have planet-wide scanning equipment. Planet-wide scans are usually top-level military-grade secrets after all. Only the ruling parties of a planet or entire solar systems possess those secrets. However, they know that I am wounded and also that I need the light of the sun to recuperate from my injuries. In the most likely scenario, the main group will go on to secure my ship while a smaller group will be dispatched to search for me or the opposite may also occur. It will be one of the two."

She spoke as she continued running swiftly, the amount of light still wasn't enough for her to make a full recovery soon. She needed a place that was hotter than the moderate climate they were currently experiencing. Currently, her mind was cold as she calculated her every step. The more cornered she was, the calmer she became because she could not afford to falter.

"Noah. You still have the option to hide and flee or even surrender to the Forty Thieves. You can speak the standard language too. It would be easier to pass for someone who was stranded in this place than being labeled as an Aboriginal. In fact, with your skills, you might even be recruited on their crew."

Morgiana was not exaggerating right now. The power Noah had shown her without being able to even use Dark Matter was staggering, to say the least. The Forty Thieves were merciless bastards but they would not say no to new blood. Even so when the said new blood was so promising in nature.

"What will you do if I choose that option?"

"I will kill you. I will give my all to kill you or fail and die. The Forty Thieves were once a sign of revolution. But now they are nothing but filthy bastards that deserve to die for their sins."

There was a certain vehemence and heat in her voice and eyes that made it clear this was not just about business. It was personal.

"Is that so?"

Noah smiled. He liked the conviction of this woman. It was something worth respecting.

This was why—

"Sorry. But… You are far too weak."

Morgiana blinked. That was all she did when—

A powerful shock spread through her body. She was punched so hard that she was more than ten meters away from her original position before she realized what had happened.

[Warning!! Critical damage received!]

A metallic taste rose in her throat and disbelief colored her face. The chest part of her armor was broken apart from just that heavy impact.

Looking up, she could see that Noah's arm was similarly broken and twisted, but unlike her armor, his arm was already showing signs of healing and recuperating.

"Haha. You? Killing me? Not even in a million years."

Morgiana seethed, the sweet smile on this childish face was looking extremely detestable at the moment.

Combat mode!

[Combat Mode: Activ—]

Boom!

"Argh!!"

Another punch shook her to the very core, this time landing square on her face.

Blood flowed alongside a tooth. The punch shook her vision and rattled her brain inside her skull.

"I have been observing you. It seems like you can send mental commands to your armor. But you see, there is a certain latency time between the order and the execution."

'What the hell is he even talking about!??'

Even as her consciousness slowly darkened, she couldn't help but scream in frustration in the depths of her mind.

There was a latency time between the order and the execution. But that latency time between a mental order and the execution was rarely above a single second.

Sadly, Morgiana was not able to voice her complaint as her chin was punched once more, she saw stars then her vision went pure white.

In the end, she completely blacked out.

Looking at the sprawled Morgiana, Noah chuckled a little and waved his hands.

They were both completely broken. Some of ihs bones had even torn out of his flesh and were now hanging out for the world to witness. However, Noah was completely nonchalant about this grotesque display.

He could still feel the pain. In fact, because of his enhanced senses, the pain he felt was increased tenfold.

But he was used to it by now.

"Good. I was wondering how close her biology was to a standard human. It would have been quite a bit awkward If she didn't black out even after all that."

He placed his right hand over his neck and cracked it a little, letting out a sigh of relief. Before working on his fingers and rearranging them.

Crack!!

He winced a little as he straightened each of his fingers, the horrible display continuing for a few seconds until everything was fixed and the healing process began in earnest.

As distasteful and painful as it was, this was sometimes necessary. There was nothing worse than waking up with an arm in the wrong direction and needing to break the arm once again and let the healing process start anew.

— You have been quite decisive, haven’t you? So… what’s the plan?

Noah took one of the fur patches used to store his food and after shaking it a little, he tied it around his waist.

"I am going to negotiate with our guests."

He couldn't exactly go with his junk flying in the wind now, could he?

— What about all your earlier antics?

"Teasing her was fun. Her look of embarrassment as she tried to ignore the ridiculousness of the situation was priceless."

He laughed out loud and started eating even more from the food sack that he had been carrying around all this time. He was ravenous in consuming every piece of frozen meat.

He was going to need as much energy as possible for what he was about to do.

Once he was one-quarter full, Noah burped quietly and lifted Morgiana on his shoulder.

"I already tested it a few moments ago when she crashed, but the response rate of her armor is tied to her consciousness. Furthermore, when she takes excessive damage, the AI focuses on healing before anything else."

He scratched his face, his eyes moving as he analyzed all the information he had been slowly gathering.

From the very moment Morgiana landed, he had observed her as a potential enemy and the information he gathered, while not completely reliable, was more than enough for him to come to a logical conclusion.

— So, what do we do now?

The voice asked once again. But the answer was more than evident.

"It's time to hunt."

He was Noah.

The Serpent Bearer.

Fleeing while being chased by enemies would never be his first course of action.