The next three weeks were torture, though as much as I’d say I hated it, I did need it. I had to learn how to properly walk, run and jump with my new body. The fine control of strength also played a part. I’d say it was likened to me getting a high-performance sports car when I’m used to driving a go-kart. Jarring is quite apt as apparently, the only reason I had been able to wobble my way around was that my body knew what it was to walk just not how to do it properly.
Malice also lived up to his name as my days’ consisted of physical therapy for eight hours a day, split into four hours in the morning and four more in the middle of the day. In the middle, he disused all we needed to do and we got to finalize a strategy on base management for the system. We ended up deciding to create six extra MDF’s once the foundry and second shipyard were complete, those would be sent to earth to begin building a base within the alps which would be fully capable of producing not only any ground-based units or equipment we’d need but also its own shipyards hidden within the largest excavated caverns.
“I can’t believe I just ordered the alps to be hollowed out.” I had muttered to myself as I sat down on a chair in the briefing room.
“Not hollowed out, think more reinforced from within.” Malice had responded with a mysterious smile on his lips.
Just to spite him I ordered him to find the most scenic spot on this earths Iceland to build a little inner sanctum for myself. If I had to guess if the barely understood theories Lukas had talked about infinite dimensions or parallel universes then I’d say the dimension I was in now had simply not had human’s evolve. Well, either that or they were included in the last major extinction event by the world Wyrms.
And there was another thing hard to wrap one’s head around. The monstrous creatures that fed on the ion sea integrally woven through this galaxy’s very being. I had spent several nights tossing and during with nightmares of the things before coming to terms with the things as the others in this galaxy that knew of them must think of them. They were natural disasters on a galactic scale.
After the first two weeks of physical therapy, Malice began to teach me how to fight with my new body. Including firearms, axe, sword and spear. The melee weapons seemed more aimed at just getting a basic handle on them as well as help in moving my body.
Until the last of those days when hand to hand had me flung over his shoulder to crash down on the hard mat beneath.
“We’ve been at this for three weeks now. How is your control so poor?” He grumbled at me as he stared down at me. “Mystics are supposed to take up the simplest things rather quickly and this should be about as easy as breathing to you.” He said in a huff.
“Did I change my own body with abilities I can barely understand?” I growled back at him as I turned to lie on my stomach and stood.
Malice was quiet a moment before he spoke again. “Touché.” He simply retorted. I still hated the bastard but he did act professionally towards me in my new role now and after him helping me get used to my own body I’d grown a grudging sort of respect for him. I still doubted I’d ever really forgiven him, I didn’t think something like he’d done to me, could be, to begin with. Well, I had essentially neutered him a little when I took command and now I could command him and he had to comply. Imprinted imperial command codes for the win.
“I know I’m supposedly a mystic but I’ve not been able to use telekinesis at all since that one time no matter what I try. Was that just some fluke or something?” I asked once I was back on my feet and had gotten into a ready position. We began to unleash punches, blocks, redirections, kicks, sweeps and hooks though slow enough to talk.
“I’ve found it strange as well.” Malice said as he dodged a punch to his face. “It’s like you aren’t a natural mystic at all… or perhaps...” He stopped as he twirled to the side to dodge a stomp kick from me before smoothly turning his twirl to a sweeping kick to my legs sending me tumbling back.
“You are the first… “human” mystic in this dimension.” He finished though he looked like he didn’t want to say the word human at all.
“And what’s so special about that?” I asked grimacing a little as I rose up on my elbows to look up at him.
“Well, it is usually that the first mystic of any species is among or at the benchmark of the most powerful mystics that species will be capable of producing. Of course, the problem with that is that they have to learn how to use their abilities with no genetic memory or instinct to aid in the learning of their skills. It is a strange phenomenon that even the empire couldn’t fully explain. Most of the time it was as if the first mystic and the subsequent mystics that came thereafter leave a mark in the ion sea only accessible to the mystics of their species. It is hypothesized that the first twenty or so mystics will cement the types of skills and powers of the coming generations of mystics for their species. Thus leading to skill and power differences between mystics of differing species.” He said once more into full lecturer mode.
“During the time of the empire, there was a huge difference between Islat and Arv’iz mystics. The Islat made up much of the military and they more often than not produced very powerful physically focused mystics which more often than not became our elites or made up some parts of special operations units. On the other hand, the Arv’iz were much more inclined towards the outwards expression of their powers. Some became known as sorcerers of great renown, illusionists capable of even fooling ship sensors at times if at the peak of their power and others like elementalists capable of hurling fire, lightning and ice among other elements at their foes to name but one.
The powers you develop on your own will mark every noble chimaera to come and as you are the first mystic of the entirety of the chimaera race as a whole no matter the caste… you will influence them too if not though passing on your gifts but in the training of the firsts of each caste you oversee.” Malice said and he looked… jealous of me.
“So I gotta learn everything the hard way and you expect me to train any fluke of a mystic the cloning procedures will produce?” I asked, my voice dripping with scepticism.
“Essentially.” He said looking pleased with himself all of the sudden. “Oh, and what you think of as cloning is nothing of the sort of just printing out the same carbon copy of an individual. The sophistication of this process actually produces differing individuals with different genetic markers to produce an actual population that can produce offspring the natural way without problems. As if they’d been doing that for thousands of years.” He finished with a smirk.
I still hadn’t gotten why he had a tendency to smirk at me at times. Most likely some superiority complex or anther. “So you’re actually printing out new people every time instead of just a single one over and over again. Why not just say that then? Just call it Chimera production and be done with it.” I grumbled hoping to take a bit of the wind from his sails.
“Hmm yes, that would make more sense I suppose, put cloning is much simpler to say and is very close to the actual process so I’ll continue to use cloning.” He said and now he just looked smug.
“So anyway.” I said rolling my eyes as I got up to my feet. “Is it because its always a different type of person that you make that it allows for the occasional mystic to be made?” I asked as I began to wipe myself down with a towel. The tight yet comfortable material in the shape of long shorts and a tank top I had on as gym attire left enough of my skin exposed that some new form of heat sinking to occur. Apparently, my skin let out something like the condensation you see in winter when you breathe.
It made itself known three days into physical therapy when we had simply worked on my muscles in groups and I had worked up a sweat. Made me feel like a venting robot when I saw the effect. To Malice he had simply frowned but then after a minute he’d smirked and said something about new armour designs to use that effect from me. I still had no idea what he was on about. I was snapped out of my thoughts when he replied.
“Essentially yes. Of course, if you bring me the corpse of a mystic or even a live one we could print out any of the other types of chimaera as a mystic on command.” He said as he waved a hand and a large screen appeared in the air next to him.
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I looked at it and began to see the images of beings close to myself appear. “I take it those are the different castes of chimaera you’ve made?”
He smiled pleasantly, though in a way that seemed to convey he was glad I wasn’t a complete idiot. “Yes, the six castes. The warrior caste, which has more Islat and Murkics in them with a dash of Jirvi to tailor them better towards combat.” He pointed and it showed a much more sprinter moonlighting as a bodybuilder type build and the height was at 2.2 meters in height. Square jawed and looking every bit the warrior caste that they were to be.
“Then there is the Scholar caste, they have much more jirvi in them for the coordination they’d need as well as the Ginari for their increased brain capacity. They will be the engineers, scientists and craftsmen of the empire.” The next image of this caste was a much lankier variant, very skinny but also clearly athletic in musculature. Their heads were almost hawk-like in shape, if that was possible for a human-like head, with four eyes and standing at 2 meters in height. It was pretty uncanny valley to see the face at first but once one got over it didn’t seem so bad.
“This is the scribe caste, They are also very influenced by the Jirvi and Ginari but have a dash of Arv’iz to be easier on the eyes. Theirs will be administration, artistry and servant type duties while in the empire.” What came on screen was a creature very reminiscent of what humans thought of as elves, at least in body type. Sleek soft curves on an athletic sprinters build with slightly larger eyes and the same scale ridged ears as I now sported, only at least twenty centimetres long. They stood at 2 meters as well a tail, a thin thing that reached down to the chimaera’s calves.
“Nest is the last one which is the weaver caste, they have more Arv’iz and Jirvi in them than the others. They will be the diplomats, agents and pilots of the empire.” This one was the smallest of the bunch standing at 1.9 meters which lead me to believe that the noble class was the tallest. This one looked much like if you combined a jockeys, a fighter pilot’s and a football runner’s builds into one. It made this strangely slightly longer limb look to the chimaera. It’s face also had this feline feel to it in its shape with the male being almost lion-like with the female a more elegantly feline faced.
“I have plans to draw up two more castes which I’d designate as the knight and Mystic castes. With the first as much more elite warriors while the other would be focused on Mystics. As the name implies.” He then finished as he showed two more images that did look the part. One was built like one would think a knight should be built like while the other was slim but with corded and wiry muscles.
“So can you make any of them now?” I asked as I had gotten a little bored of just talking to Malice over the last three weeks. A good conversationalist he was not.
“I’m afraid I’m lacking in bio-mater to begin such a process.” He said with a slight shrug. “To make you I had to take your body and a few of the other dead ones around the site I took you from.” He then paused as he noted my look of incredulity. “To make a normal chimaera I’d need bio mater at the very least two and a half-human bodies worth of mater to create one. Chimaera are very complex creatures to begin with so the more complex and dense a given creature is that is used varying quantities might be needed to convert the mater into a chimaera.”
“So an empire fueled by corpses?” I asked shocked at the revelation I had been given.
“If you want to put it in such a morbid way… yes… aaand no.” He answered simply.
I let out a groan. “Great.” I rubbed my face as I walked out of the exercise area. Malice moving behind me as I made my way towards the elevators. “Scrap all of those strains immediately. I want a hand in anything that comes to my new empire and it’s primary race. I want a hand in controlling how they will look as well as the caste system if you want it so badly.” He didn’t look pleased with what I’d said to him but he held his tongue.
“How is the construction going?” I asked.
“Quite well actually. Out of the six scheduled basic shipyards, three are done with a fourth at about halfway. The foundry was completed after the first week and the finishing touches are now being made on the mining outposts.
We currently have around eight MDF’s that are currently mining for resources while we have six on construction with two more acting as ferries of resources.” Malice reported his annoyance fading away as he reported the work already done.
“And how is the system scan going?” I then asked as it had been something I’d asked him to do the day after I had woken up. Figuring we might as well get as comprehensive a scan off the system as we could while we were there.
“Ah yes, we are passing by Saturn. Mercury would be very good as a mining operation once strong enough shields become available as it has a high metal content. Venus would be a good experiment to terraforming as it is very close to the habitable zone. I skipped Earth though it did seem closer to the sun and so was Mars but it’s magnetic field was stronger so I suspect a higher metal content. Jupiter could be used to mine some gasses we might require.” Malice reported and I noted some of his recommendations for the planets in the solar system.
“But Venus isn’t in the habitable zone, not the zone proper at least so far as I know.” I said as we made our way into the elevator and it took me up to the third floor.
“That is true but its’ heavy atmosphere can be… modified to allow for specialized biological life. Though there would be fairly enclosed facilities as the pressure would be rather heavy on non-specialized biological life. I would like to point out that something like that would be in the third rank of the tech tree.” He said with a light chuckle. He’d really gotten into calling the ranked off structures to help build a solid foundation to the empire as the tech tree ranks.
“Third rank eh? I guess that’ll have to do. I’m going to take a shower and get dressed, I’ll meet you on the bridge then so we can go over the plans for the base of the Alps as well as what we need to get it all up and running.” I responded as I left the elevator as it chimed its arrival on the third floor. I suspected he’d slowed the elevator down to continue our conversation.
“I’ve taken the liberty to place your armour for your inspection on your bed. If you have any design ideas in mind after seeing then, by all means, let me know.” Malice said giving me another of his smug grins as the elevator closed and I noted it went up to the bridge.
Sighing I made my way back to my cabin and to the shower. A shower I might add that was more akin to a sauna and shower with nozzles which gave you a deep tissue massage. It was the most glorious sensation to have a shower in that I’d ever had. “Mhn~ the future's got its perks.” I almost moaned in pleasure as two nozzles shot at my shoulder blades and massaged my shoulders.
I looked down and noted that the Y shaped scar I had sported on my stomach wasn’t even there anymore. I had found it strange that some scars turned into these black spots or lines which made markings on my scaled skin while others didn’t even leave a reminder of them. I suspected these scars turned markings were all carefully chosen by Malice when recreating my body. Like leaving behind the reminders that might motivate me instead of causing me to fall into depression over the memories associated with them.
I didn’t take long as a ten-minute shower was enough and as I left the shower I noted the armour on the bed. Sleek and flush to my body as I placed it on, reminding me a little of some of the armours I’d seen in sci-fis, those with grand armies or mass-produced ones a faction in the story would use.
The helmet was faceless, simply a black glossy material in a similar shape to a smaller hawks beak in its overall appearance. Angular and fitting over my head perfectly moving over to an armoured chest with small plates running up my neck along the underlying garment of the armour. Once I had it on fully I noted that it did look a little like some sci-fi mystical warrior armour. With fabric coming down to my calves in differing streams from just to the side of the front part of my thigh all around to the end with the front having a small crotch flap that only came down two-thirds of my thighs or so.
When I turned to look at the mirror I saw two red visors like lights on the helmet which tracked my eyes, it gave the armour a rather intimidating look. The overall colour scheme of the armour was black with red and gold trim which I had to admit was tastefully arranged for a perfect blend of elegant and intimidating appearance to the armour. Added to that the fingertips forming small hooked blades about a centimetre long from the fingertip only added to the lethality that the armour seemed to radiate.
Then the ship shook and I was tossed off my feet and sent crashing down to the ground. I quickly got up and sprinted for the bridge. Once I had finally gotten to the bridge another shake made my gait unsteady as I got to a calm Malice waiting for me.
In one hand he held a staff like object just with a thicker end sort of similar to the tapering on a baseball bat only it was just the tip and comprised of only an eighth of the overall length of the staff. In the other, he held onto a hoodie connected to a sleek metal plate.
“Good your here, come, come.” He said with a smile as he handed me the staff and then proceeded to hook the hood onto my armour’s back, though I did note that the plate he placed onto my upper back right between my shoulder blades which the fabric went over as well.
“What was that? And what’s going on?” I asked once I got over his abruptness, I almost waved the staff at his head.
“That was a personal shielding device to help you combat any ranged weaponry that might come your way. It won’t work against anything in melee range nor will it stop hard kinetic blows so be careful. Oh right and wait until you can see the enemy before you twist the handle on that staff.” He said with an almost gleeful smile.
I looked at him in shock. “What is going on?!” I then screamed at him.
His lips turned into the biggest shit-eating grin I’d ever seen. “We are being boarded.” He said happily.