How long have I spent inside the mech one might ask?
My answer would be, of course, I don't know, and I don't care. This was simply the coolest, to think that at the bottom of the sea floor I'd still get a decent internet connection, VR games and a lot more at the tip of my fingers. And to top it off, thanks to my body undergoing changes, i no longer required as much food as before unless I cultivated or went out of my way to move around.
"Putting that aside, they also left me quite a bit of information in here too." After another session of hardcore gaming, I minimized the game window and once again accessed the private files on the mech's hard drive.
A lot of top-secret information was on there alongside some basic knowledge, but it was all military in one way or another, but thanks to that I was capable of clarifying some things about the world's current status ...and vtubers too.
Temptation resurfaced in my mind as I resisted the need to hop back on the web to watch streams, instead I made the computer index its data and went back to reading them.
Time passed pretty quickly at the bottom of the sea, but it was faster than in a cell, that was for sure.
"This 'otherworldly' energy that I have been using for my so-called cultivation so far has been named by scientists as ...are you ready for this?"
"Mion." I said blankly whilst looking down at my shadow.
Hah, he laughed. Another thing I had realized was that even though Darkie spoke less to me, he was still there, and I could faintly sense him at times. I also realized that the arrogant voice that had spoken to me back then was also most likely his.
"But man...what were they even thinking, Mions? I got the whole Magic-ion premise, but just why..." I sighed and lightly scratched my head as I went back info diving.
"Mions are capable of becoming matter in some rare instances, it became the fourth state of matter and pushed plasma to the fifth spot since it can create plasma, huh? How interesting....it seems like this Mion also is capable of-" For a moment there I paused, videos of cat girls flashed through my mind making me cringe as I smiled bitterly, for an instant I even considered the possibility of there being a pervert in charge that chose that name. But in the end, I was powerless against it.
Putting on a numb expression I breathed in then continued my lecture, after all reading aloud and understanding information was the best way to memorize it (take notes students).
Besides, if someone was shameless enough to name it that, I could be shameless enough to repeat it. "Sigh. So the mion has the special property of seeping into matter or living organisms in large quantities at times without a reason, in the cases where it's been observed with animals.... mutants happen?"
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Closing that tab and moving onto a fresh one, I then opened a new folder and quickly glanced through it. "With the discovery of mion, more people are attempting to get into a branch of science after finishing their studies in order to develop new techs and leave a piece of their name in history...
... Many teens also aspire to be soldiers, as it appears that frequent exposition to mion also mutates the human body, leading to possible gain of superpowers.
... People registering to learn in the medicine fields are rapidly declining as it appears that in the future mion might just change the foundations of the whole world."
And finally the latest article. "Scientists found small amounts of mion crystallized inside a mutant land turtle, carrying such crystal around might lead to more chances to awaken a mutation. It had also been proven that crystals as small as a thumb may be powerful enough to power a car for up to 8 hours how crazy's that huh?." with knitted brows I kept on reading the digital articles
"What the hell man?" A cold sweat ran down my face as I looked up. "Is there really an upcoming apocalypse? If so, a hope it isn't man made because as far as I can tell, we're about to enter a new era..." As I got ready to look into another file, dozens of red and yellow alerts suddenly popped up on my screen as it forcefully quit desktop mode.
To be honest, it did look quite cool, but also made one panic a little. Placing my hands on the holographic controls that had appeared out of thin air, I then began looking around me as the cockpit offered a 360 view of the outside world, but only where the mech's head was the most detailed.
Outlined by a red line, a massive object was coming at me from the side at an astonishing speed, which made it impossible for me to dodge underwater with my current specs.
Putting what I had learned into practice, I began imagining what I wished to happen as I input controls into the machine.
The mech that had been drifting at the bottom of the sea suddenly woke up, the markings on its body giving a faint ominous aura as it spun 90 degrees to the right and crossed its forearms in the direction of the thing lashing at it, the machine's hand were twisted outwards and waited for something to get a grip on.
I could barely make out the silhouette of the tentacle as it rapidly approached. In less than two seconds, it had already struck and sent my mech backwards as I failed to grab a hold of it, clicking my tongue in annoyance I began rapidly backing away while facing the creature.
The mech's mion propellers buzzed, the ghostly shape of a spinning fan appearing behind the mech's back made out of mion particles, causing the surrounding water to appear to be boiling while I put some distance between the both of us. "What the!?-"
Before I knew it, two tentacles were now charging at me, I had no way of dodging it, so I could only make the mech emit a shockwave as they struck in order not to get suctioned onto by its large tentacles.
Panic struck as I had reacted instinctively, good thing the mech had interpreted my will not to get caught as that, but I could feel my mental strength weaken after that.
My mech and I were getting launched out of the ocean, I had forgotten for how long I had been drifting in the sea or in which direction I was heading, so I was also unaware of where I was currently.
As the mech drew an arc in the sky, I could clearly discern a mass of land not too far away, an island which looked untainted by mankind.
Putting the mech's energy reserves to good use, I activated the thrusters and propelled the machine towards the island while trying to recover my peace of mind, which I opted to do by distracting myself.
Rubbing stroking my head with one hand, I looked down at my free one, analyzing the suit I was wearing. "Seems like using the mech to its full capabilities currently is impossible for me...well, that is, if I can even keep it for that long."
A long sigh escaped my lips as I looked forward with my hands on the controls, I maneuvered the mech clumsily into a fetal position and used my remaining willpower to form a small shield beneath it from mion particles that it emitted, my vision blacking out as I felt a tremor.