As a former Paragon, Volkodav could gauge the strength of a creature due to their presence alone. ‘Unlike the Magus of Human Imperium, the creature of this world has significantly weaker radiation, but the intensity matches a rank 2 Lord.’ He inspected the reptilian, winged creature.
The beast’s massive frame bore two pairs of leathery, stone-like wings, each spanning over twenty meters. Its body stretched well beyond a hundred meters in length, dwarfing even the escort vessels that once accompanied Mizuki’s former battleship form.
Its thick, gray scales weren’t like those of a lizard but rather an interlocking armor of rock-hard ptes that shifted seamlessly with its movements. With every motion, grains of bck dust and sediment crumbled from its body, dispersing into the air like an ominous, dark smog. Yet, the most startling aspect of the creature was its speed—despite its sheer bulk, it moved with an uncanny swiftness.
Its awkward gait and uneven wing beats suggested that flight was beyond its capabilities, likely hindered by the sheer weight of the sediment yering its pted scales, forming an additional shell of armor. If the creature were to remain motionless, Volkodav had little doubt it could blend into the ndscape, appearing no different from a small, unassuming hill.
‘No way, is that one of the apex lifeforms in this universe—the Dragon race?’
Volkodav halted mid-motion, his spectral form wavering as his gaze locked onto the distant, reptilian creature attempting to submerge itself in the va ke. Its resembnce to the dragons of myth and legend was undeniable.
Back in the Homeworld, the Human Imperium had encountered countless hostile alien species, but none were as problematic as the Dragon race. Among the myriad beings that roamed the universe, dragons stood at the very pinnacle of the food chain—apex predators in every sense.
Historical records spoke of a time before the space age when humanity had sin a stray astral dragon. According to those ancient folktales, the battle had cost thousands of cultivators of equal rank, and the colteral damage had reached tens of millions of mortal lives. The mere existence of such creatures was enough to shake the foundations of entire civilizations.
Now, witnessing one firsthand, Volkodav felt a shiver run through his very essence. Yet, he didn’t allow himself to be paralyzed by awe—his primary mission took precedence.
‘Better to be safe than sorry,’ he mused, instincts kicking in. ‘If I remember correctly, a Dragon Lord’s eyes can perceive 256 spectra of light, it can hear the passage of time itself, and even see through deception.’
His spectral form flickered as he trailed behind the retreating undead, thoughts racing. ‘Master still holds a massive advantage in cultivation realms and possesses two sets of Mars-pattern military artifacts. The dragon shouldn't pose a threat to him... but just in case—’
Before the distance and environmental interference severed his connection, Volkodav swiftly reyed a message to Mizuki.
…
The present time.
“... therefore, we don't need to alter our pn from the ground up. We can just use what Ayumi has pnned and go from there. If we're successful, we might be able to optimize our development speed without expending unnecessary effort.” Mizuki eborated on the three AI units.
< But Your Excellency, this way you will exhaust your powers faster! > Gurren voiced her concern.
“That is true, but we can adjust the reward system to incentivize soul harvesting. That way, the early investment will pay off in the long run.”
< As expected, human ingenuity is much better than our static artificial intelligence. > Kasumi commented.
“No,” He denied with a wry smile. “It wasn’t my idea. I had the opportunity to visit Shakuras’ vessel before we departed from Holy Terra, it was a system that Her Majesty implemented in her fgship since her phyctery houses the greatest concentration of undead cohort in the Imperium.”
< Very well. Let’s proceed as pnned. > Ayumi urged.
Mizuki hummed in acknowledgment, then snapped his fingers, drawing the gray dwarves' attention. “Would you believe me if I told you I can cure you all?”
“Yes.” Vorrath, the de facto representative of the gray dwarves, spoke with unwavering conviction. His people’s eyes gleamed with desperate hope, the mere possibility of salvation rekindling something long buried within them.
“What do we have to do to get one for ourselves?” a triple-amputee dwarf asked, his tone filled with longing as he gazed at the intricate metal prosthetics that seemed capable of interfacing with the nervous system.
Mizuki’s smile was almost tantalizing. “I’ll need time to set up the system. In the meantime, I’ll be working with the lightcrystal. Be patient—I need to decipher your written nguage first.”
The dwarves that could freely walk around supported the disabled while everyone was told to hold on for some time. They were using the tower as temporary refuge while Mizuki brought the orbital pod to a secluded corner hidden from pin sight.
The wraiths have returned with a newly harvested batch of souls, and with it, new intel regarding the outside world. As of now, Mizuki’s technology failed to get a reading on them, so in his eyes, the 20 kilometers circumference around the gray dwarf’s vilge is a dead zone, empty of dangerous beast. However, according to the wraiths, the area round is completely filled with creatures. Most are ferocious or strong enough to stand on their own like the rock dragon that Volkodav found, but there are also lifeforms that even the wraiths failed to detect.
It is only a matter of time before a bunch of them get a glimpse of the gray dwarf’s vilge and pounce on them. After all, they are not in a position to resist attacks from wild beasts, but Mizuki needs to prioritize integrating his AT-Field with the lightcrystal. During that time, distraction will significantly slow down his progress. In addition, he estimates that, during the acclimation process, he will need to alter his truesoul to match with this world’s frequency, resulting in a further decrease in his cultivation base.
Since his AT-Field depends on his cultivation base, the weakening of his AT-Field means his technology will fail further. He couldn’t get an accurate reading yet, but his hypothesis indicates that, should he fall into a rank 2 Lord, his AT-Field might not be able to normalize the dimensional ws sufficiently to the point that his crystal processors would turn into scrap metal.
No crystal processor meant no pce to run the AI Support Units, or even the power armor and the other military artifacts.
Therefore, the most logical option is to rely on his undead cohort.
Mizuki tapped the orbital pod’s surface in a rhythmic beat, a secret code that relies on subtle vibration frequency as a password.
During the descent, he had brought several military weapons, a battleship mainframe core, and several redundant mortal shells.
Should his cultivation base fall to a Lord, nano-tech might not work anymore, so some of these items are in danger of becoming scrap metal.
< Will this be a permanent farewell, Your Excellency? > Ayumi picked up the clues of his action.
AT-Field is the special ability of an Armored Soul Tribe, so there’s no undead under Mizuki’s cohort that could repce him. Otherwise, the Human Imperium wouldn’t rely on his kin for Faster-Than-Light travel.
Mizuki’s hands, which were inspecting one of the three redundant mortal shells, paused, his mechanical eyes gleaming in a hint of sorrow when she mentioned separation as there’s no way for someone else to create Ayumi’s artificial intelligence model in the future.
“Shakuras has taught me a few things, so I want to try everything I can to save you from true death.” Mizuki chose one of the mortal shells.
Unlike the one he’s currently wearing that is filled to the brim with machinery, it was a purely analog puppet. It was gears and strings that provided locomotion, with no electricity or core reactor pced within its internal organ. The rank 2 mortal shell only has a gray stone deep within its chest cavity. Despite this, the craftsmanship was still beyond the civilization of this world.
After all, it was forged in Crimson Mars, therefore a Mars-pattern artifact.
Ensuring nothing is wrong with the mortal shell, Mizuki summoned the [Scattered Chapter of Lemegeton].
Before his death, Mizuki had not been a Magus specializing in souls, so activating complex Soul Arts required him to rely on the spectral grimoire passed down by Shakuras, who had, in turn, received it from Grimsong Specter—the progenitor of all undead within the Human Imperium.
As the dark grimoire materializes, it opens the door to his Soul Phyctery, summoning one of the most powerful undead in his Harrowed Cohort.
“Master of the dark arts, former member of the Illusory Butterfly Sect… I am in dire need of your assistance.” Mizuki whispered. “Please use this mortal shell as your vessel while you’re in realspace.”
The spectral grimoire produces liquid ectopsmic matter that slithered towards the mortal shell’s chest cavity, slowly enveloping the gray stone inside.
Soul Phyctery is an extremely rare artifact due to the cost of creating one, even in the Sepulchral fleet, there are only as many as Soul Phyctery as there are Armored Soul Tribes. Nevertheless, there are some efforts to create a cheaper alternative to imitate the effect of the Soul Phyctery, resulting in mass-produced alti-life containers referred to as Soul Gems.
Truesouls stored in Soul Gems still experience some type of decay unlike in Soul Phyctery where they can sleep in perpetuity, but compared to existing ‘naked’ in realspace, the decay rate within soul gems are extremely slow, therefore a viable alternative in some cases.
When the mortal shell’s soul gem is fully occupied by the liquid ectopsmic soul, strange energies spread from its core to every corner of its artificial limbs. The mechanical doll stood up like a puppet being controlled by a novice marionette as it tilted his head, trying to understand the situation. With a mechanical motion of grasping the air to familiarize with his new vessel, it tried to control the pneumatic sound system which functions like a vocal cord in a human body.
“Xuangu Wenren, is ready to serve.” The undead spoke in an eerie, mechanical voice that is painful to hear.
“Master Xuangu Wenren, with a lich of your caliber, I am at ease.” Mizuki offered a fist-and-palm salute.
The lich replied with his own salute, “We are all, compatriots of, the Human Imperium. What is, you require from us?”
Mizuki sent a telepathic message as a reply, expining the situation to the lich almost instantly.
“Very well.” Xuangu Wenren nodded. “I need, Captain Varkov’s ten soldiers, Spymaster Volkodav’s two wraiths, and I will need, the Onmyōji to work with me.”
Mizuki pondered for a few seconds before granting all his requests. The Scattered Chapter of Lemegeton quickly siphons the truesouls of his Harrowed Cohort inside his Soul Phyctery towards Xuangu Wenren’s soul gem.
The influx of new souls will put a burden on the soul gem, but Xuangu Wenren is a master of soul arts and necromancy, he is more than capable to create a soul art on the fly using the resources at hand that ‘heals’ the soul gem. As he was also given a handful thousands of sealed nyctor truesouls, he has more than enough resources to work on his task.
“Onmyōji-san, as this is an emergency, please work with Master Xuangu Wenren.” Mizuki pleaded.
Receiving a positive fluctuation from Xuangu Wenren’s soul gem, Mizuki felt at ease.
“Your Excellency, do not ask.” Xuangu Wenren voiced what’s on his mind. “Please, command us.”
Mizuki reveals a wry smile, “I can’t do that, both of you had a rge impact on me, before and after my death.” A sudden bout of nostalgia hits him, “With three out of my nine prime cohorts having left my phyctery, I am feeling a little bit lonely.”
“I will, secure a mortal shell, for them.”
“No need, I want to secure a sustainable source of souls first before waking them all up. Which is why I need to integrate my AT-Field as soon as possible.”
“Understood. I will conjure, a temporary vessel, for the Onmyōji.”
