"ICI hook me in."[ORDER CONFIRMED, BIOSIGNATURE CONFIRMED. ESTABLIs.h.i.+NG CONNECTION TO TACTICAL NET, FORMING HIGH BANDWIDTH DATA BRIDGE… CONNECTION ESTABLISHED, TACTICAL INTERFACE ONLINE, 5 MS SIGNAL DELAY.]
Early morning after Dax had re-established contact with the cursed sword Crimson, the qiton decided to lay the groundwork in his plans at striking back at the people who had attacked him.
"Show me the results from the ma.s.s spec scan of that strange slime I found."
[ORDER CONFIRMED, DOWNLOADING Ma.s.s SPECTROMETER AND STRUCTURAL SCAN… COMPLETE.]
At Dax"s order, his vision became black before he was shown a complete scan of the goo that had helped the 3 winged angel Melisha survive being nuked.
"Hmm… As I guessed it"s some kind of organic substance. ICI please run a search of any matching biosamples collected in this biosphere so far."
[SEARCHING, STANDBY… 129 PARTIAL MATCHES FOUND.]
"Wait, 129 partial matches? That can"t be right…"
Looking at the matches Dax quickly found a possible explanation which made him frown deeply.
"Unless it"s some kind of artificial construct... a.s.suming that to be the case, ICI try to map and overlay all the known partial matches using a DNA grafting technique."
[ORDER CONFIRMED. COMMENCING SIMULATION, ALLOCATING RESOURCES FOR SIMULATION… COMPLETE, ODER UNDERWAY ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETION: 4 HOURS, 39 MINUTES.]
"Over 4 hours?... d.a.m.n, what I wouldn"t give to have Mu here right now…"
Cursing the fact that he didn"t have an expert at his side, Dax came to terms with the fact that he had to wait a few hours to have his hypothesis proven right or wrong.
(In case they really did fuse over 100 species they must have had access to a lot of bioma.s.s, that means the animals, fungus and fauna must be located somewhere near them.)
"... Okay, in the meantime show me where the 129 partial matches are commonly found."
a.s.suming his hunch was correct, Dax went ahead as he started to narrow in on the people how made the slime.
[PROCESSING…]
"And paint it all on a map please."
[CONFIRMED.]
Working his uplink to capacity Dax took a moment to check the real world, opening his eyes he looked a bit at the sunrise before quickly stretching and going back to meditating. As he closed his eyes once more Dax returned to a map of the planet.
"Hmm… So it was not anyone on this continent."
While there were multiple hotspots where several of the 129 different matches were located, a few were still missing.
"Show me the Empire… There we are."
While there were no hotspots in the Empire which spanned most of the continent to the east, all the different species was confirmed to call that continent home.
"We need more intel, but they keep shooting down my drones and the satellites can"t really peek into buildings… ICI show me contained mana hotspots within the Empire that are confirmed not to be population centres."
[PROCESSING… COMPLETE, RENDING DATA.]
"5… 10… 14 in total. ICI mark the areas as targets of interest."
[ORDER CONFIRMED, 14 NEW POTENTIAL STRATEGIC TARGETS ADDED.]
With everything he could do done for the moment, Dax decided to start his day.
"Oh, you are awake~ Good morning."
As Dax opened his eyes once more, he was greeted by Solaris which sat right in front of him looking at his face almost point blank.
"Good morning Solaris… What exactly are you doing?"
"... Sometimes I wonder that myself."
After a brief delay, the archangel seemed to realize what she was doing and her face started heating up as she broke eye contact and backed off.
"Well, no matter what you were doing I am glad you"re here. What do you know about the Eastern Empire?"
Ignoring the fact that Solaris was acting lovestruck (or at least in heat) Dax quickly changed the subject, something which the fl.u.s.tered angel appreciated.
"The Empire?... It"s most likely the strongest power in this world, it"s a gathering of about 50 minor kingdoms and counties that span most of the continent to the east. They are all united under a single emperor."
"... How the h.e.l.l haven"t that fallen apart yet?"
"The emperor is supported by an alliance of archangel sanctuaries."
"Ah, so the emperor is a puppet for the angels?"
"That"s how it usually is, but I heard that the newest emperor has formed a more cooperative relations.h.i.+p with the sanctuaries. How he managed that is a hotly debated question in my sanctuary, although I have an idea how."
"Because of the Starfall?"
"Exactly. What landed over there anyway?"
Remembering that Dax was the cause of the Starfall Solaris took the moment to sate her curiosity.
"The propulsion, power plant, FTL drive and serval storage segments of the s.h.i.+p I commanded."
"FTL drive? What"s that?"
Hearing an unknown expression among therms she generally understood, Solaris put on a questioning expression.
"A faster than light drive, it"s what every craft uses to traverse the vast distances between planets and stars."
"... What?"
Seeing that Solaris" expression only turned more confused when he tried to explain, Dax breathed a deep sigh.
"You know what? Forget it. What it is isn"t important, what matters is that it"s something that can"t be manufactured anywhere in this star system so losing it would amount to getting stranded here, for at least 5000 years, something I would like to avoid as I still have a war to win."
"I see… So that"s why you want to know more about the Empire."
Being reminded that Dax was eventually going to leave her behind, the archangel"s expression turned lonely as she turned around and was about to leave, making Dax reach out and grasp her arm.
"What?"
"... You wanna come with me?"
"... I don"t know."
Allowing Solaris to leave Dax sat in place as he taught about what had just happened.
"..... s.h.i.+t."
---
"Let"s get this over with, Iris is the prototype implant working correctly?"
"We think so."
"It should work without issue."
"But we are still wondering where you got this material in the first place."
With the cursed sword once more on his side (somewhat) Dax turned his attention to another thing that had been disadvantaging him since he arrived in this world: Magic. Using a prototype neural interface the qiton interfaced with a special kind of tissue that could control and gather mana, which he had salvaged from a certain 3 winged angel. Sitting in the middle of an open laboratory, multiple cables were attached to Dax"s spine which all fed into an isolated gla.s.s chamber which housed the prototype system that was no more than a long and thin white rod with countless sensors attached to it.
"The less you know about that, the better. Solaris, Lilly I count on the two of you in case the mana runs out of control."
"... Sure."
"Ka ka ka! You can leave it to me!"
While Solaris was still slightly down because of the conversation her and Dax had had in the morning, she was still motivated to keep the qiton safe, after all, they were family. Lilly, on the other hand, was completely motivated by self interest as this was a chance to show her cool side to Dax and she had confidently put on a smug smile while her golden eyes glowed with brilliance.
"ICI will act as the secondary fail safe in case it goes completely out of control."
[DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]
(And keep an eye on Solaris please.)
(ORDER UNDERSTOOD.)
"Here goes nothing… ICI initiate prototype neural interface please."
[INITIATING NEURAL INTERFACE, COMMENCING PROTOTYPE MANA TYPE WEAPONRY TEST #0195.]
Narrowing his eyes as his expression turned blank, Dax focused fully on controlling the prototype.
"Okay, I"m going to start gently…"
After about a minute of concentrated focus, Dax"s effort slowly materialized as something started to happen inside the chamber. It was slow at first, but gradually the temperature rose about 20 centimetres above the prototype while mana slowly gathered.
"Is that?..."
"It looks like it is. Congratulations Dax."
Being extremely mana sensitive, both Solaris and Lilly saw the earliest signs of an offensive spell being formed inside the chamber and after a few more seconds a small flame formed.
[EXPERIMENT SUCCESSFUL, ENTERING POST EVALUATION MODE… NOW PROCESSING 4.5 PETABYTES OF DATA, ETC: 12 HOURS.]
"So was that it? I was expecting something grander, like a gigantic spell formation or an ascension spell."
"Small steps, I"ll leave anything that can result in a bright fireball to ICI and simulations. In a few day"s time, I should be able to start making runic formations."
"Is that so?... Well good luck with that, I"m going to get something to drink."
Disappointed that she didn"t get to act cool in front of Dax, Lilly put on a pout and was about to leave when Lux entered the laboratory with Alice and stopped her.
"What?"
"You"re going to want to stay for a few more moments."
"... Why?"
Seeing Lux"s bright smile Lilly got a bad premonition.
"Because you"re going to severely regret it otherwise, Solaris too."
Achieving her goal of getting both Solaris and Lilly to stay, Lux went ahead with her plan, immediately closing the range to Dax and making sure he didn"t move.
"... Okay, what the f.u.c.k is going on?"
Being pinned in place by Lux Dax found himself unable to move as his subordinate had somehow infiltrated his ICI substructure and overwritten most of his ability to move.
"Alice has something to tell you and you being you I"m making sure that you stay put and listen seriously~"
Feeling Lux"s nails digging into his shoulders Dax breathed a deep sigh. He could just overpower her, but something told him that he needed to stay put.
"Do we also need to stay?"
"We want to take a nap."
"Go ahead Iris, this does not relate to you. Have a nice nap~"
"Mmm, we will."
As Iris left the laboratory it quieted down a lot, but in exchange, it was filled with some sort of pressure Dax couldn"t quite put his finger on. Alice, Solaris and Lilly all had a brief but tense staring contest, after which Alice walked up to Dax as she tried to formulate her words.
"I-I"m sorry for all this, it"s all because I asked Lux for advice."
While trying to avoid eye contact Alice fiddled with her white hair that showed signs of its original brown chestnut colour at the roots.
"It seems like the leftover nanomachines that are still left in my body is causing it to change, or that is at least what Lux told me."
"Yeah that"s the theory I worked out as well, don"t worry, I"ll remove the last traces in an up-"
"No that"s not what I meant by that…"
The second Dax suggested that he would remove the remaining nanomachines that were primarily in her bloodstream, Alice protested before trailing off at the end, making Dax confused.
"Why would you not want to ch-"
"Give her a few seconds~"
But alas he was cut short by Lux which dug her nails even deeper into his shoulders.
"... I"ve asked Lux to make me stronger and she agreed."
"So you"ve taken a disciple?"
"Let. Her. Finish~"
Speaking out once more Dax was punished again while Lux"s voice seemed colder than the qiton had ever heard.
"It"s because I want to become stronger, to keep up with you and Terra… Truth is that I really like you."
"Why? AW!"
Making the mistake of answering before thinking, Dax was wracked over the head by Lux who took a hold of his one ear after as she placed her head on his shoulder and quietly whispered.
"You are truly insufferable when it comes this these things… Next time you misspeak I will rip off your ear~"
Feeling a chill down his back Dax realized truly how p.i.s.sed off Lux was at him, there was no mistake that he would lose a lot of his body if he kept speaking before thinking. Deciding therefore to do his utmost, Dax focused his attention on Alice and Alice alone as he finally noticed how much she was blus.h.i.+ng.
"I don"t know when it happened but the feelings of admiration I held towards you turned into romantic feelings, but at the same time, I realized the vast difference between us. You don"t have to respond now, but seeing as I have plenty of compet.i.tion I want to at least know about my feelings. When the day comes that I can stand next to you as an equal I want you to seriously consider my feelings."
"... Sure, I"ll do my utmost.... Wait "plenty of compet.i.tion"? Isn"t it just Lilly?"
"Eh? You haven"t realized?"
All seemed to be going well for Dax, that is until he asked a question he shouldn"t have, making the room eerily quiet as Lux"s grip on him tightened.
"... Wait a second…"
Putting two and two together Dax realized that Alice must have been talking about people that were currently in the room. Since Lilly and now Alice now had declared their romantic interest and Lux was obviously not interested in him Dax turned his attention towards the last person in the room which hadn"t spoken in some time.
"W-what? Is there something on my face?"
(How did I not see that before now…)
Looking at Solaris even Dax could see what Alice had meant, even a blind person or someone as emotionally dense as himself could see it. The proud(?) archangel was grinning like an idiot as her face was flushed entirely red while all 6 of her wings fluttered with such speed that she might lift off the ground.
"... I"m sorry for my adoptive dad, he"s a lost cause…"
"I already realized that."
""Yeah, me too.""
"Wait, isn"t this a problem?"
With Lux"s steel grip finally loosening up Dax got up on his feet and stretched as he realized a problem.
"What?"
"The fact that there are 3 of you, I"m only a single person."
"Ka ka ka! Why exactly is that a problem? We"re all fine with that."
As Lilly let Dax in on something he was not aware was possible, the qiton felt his mind blank out.
"Fine with it, you mean?-"
"We do! I-I talked with Solaris and Lilly about this yesterday."
With Alice taking over for Lilly and explaining, Dax only turned more confused.
"But that"s not how any of this works!"
"""Is it not?"""
"N-"
Right as Dax was about to reputable the 3 girls in front of him, the qiton felt Lux"s hand being placed in his shoulder as she whispered into his ear with a truly cold and emotionless voice.
"They all got my permission~ Break any one of their hearts and I will kill you."
"... Yes ma"am, I understand."