He nodded, his expression unreadable.
Lifa looked around, they were in a forest of sorts. There were a few craters and fire was catching on the tree branches. Not far away she saw a pit. Knavnos noticed her gaze and carried her towards it.
“Witness, the cruelty of your own people” He said, not even hiding the anger within his voice.
She didn’t know why he was enraged, from previous conversation, he didn’t even care for humanity. Until she looked down.
It was a wide, deep pit. Hundreds of thousands of bodies were piled up, stacked on top of each other without care. There were also numerous silvery boxes some of which were leaking a reddish fluid. Flies and small creatures were feeding on the corpses. Many of which weren’t even whole from the beginning, on some places of the mountain, it was merely a collection of crushed bones, organs and blood.
It was the victims of Desiderius, who was often called the hero of humanity. People who became mutated and unable to live, people who simply exploded, people who lost their abilities, senses. There was no respect for the dead, nor was there when they were still alive.
She nearly fainted, if not for her experience in battle. She would have thrown up if she had food in her stomach.
Knavnos simply shook his head at the sight, then walked away, carrying Lifa with him regardless if she wanted it or not.
“We will return to my homeland, this time you can’t refuse, your life will be in danger”
She nodded, as it was the only thing she could do.
A spark of red electricity flickered in the air before them. The next instant, a fully opened Gate appeared. Unlike usual however, Lifa didn’t feel threatened by it, instead she felt calm and soothed.
“What do you mean, vanished?” Desiderius broke several panels in front of him.
-Exactly as I said, Deva, Athena and I confirmed it. As we were getting rid of the two, all power in the vicinity was cut off, satellite vision was blocked by an unknown energy pulse and our automata unit was completely obliterated. The two ‘vessels’ are gone without a trace. Forensic team was unable to find any DNA marks, it was wiped clean.
“Inform the chairman of WDA, I declare a 1st grade threat. I will mobilise every single manpower I have”
-Is it not too much for the loss of two Valkyries that were disposed of?
“Do you not understand? They have the ability to easily infiltrate the safest place on the planet and take two people back safely. From our research, it is an alternate planet which came here using wormholes and want so called vessels trained to battle that they can use for their own wars. What will happen to the planet now it has lost its use? They will destroy it”
-It is only you who always dispos-
“What did you say?”
-Nothing, Master.
Christia was saddened, there were restrictions on her thoughts and actions, which made it impossible to disobey Desiderius. As such, she couldn’t fulfill her duty of advising him to the best of her ability.
Deva appeared within the quantum realm. It was basically the dimension on which the internet works on. Data packets flowed everywhere here, it is also the place where artificial lifeforms resided. She appeared as a beautiful young lady. They both stared at Desiderius through a data stream with regret.
The quantum realm is still a mysterious world to many. It is impossible to physically interact with it, but they directly influence each other.
There were ruins, ruins everywhere, stone, metal, glass was scattered across the streets. Destroyed, some still burning turrets and tanks were all over the plaza. Thousands of humanoid Yaju stared at Lifa with interest. None of them was covered in a black exoskeleton. It seemed it was merely an armor of sorts. Their real skin was pale silver in color. They had similar anatomy to humans, just taller and more refined.
“Scram”
Under Knavnos’ glare they dispersed back to the small alleys and underground.
“Excuse the poor welcome but as I said previously, we are at war”
She nodded, not concerned about it, instead she was interested in the technology and culture of this place. Her mental state was scarred and desperately needed a distraction.
They walked towards one of the larger, undamaged buildings. It was majestic, pearly texture as if made of gems. Sculptures carved into the building with utmost precision and beauty. It was a type of castle or fortress. A combination of the two, too artistic for a fortress but also too well defended for a mere castle.
An elderly with greyish skin welcomed them.
“So this is the host for Aurofium”
Knavnos nodded.
“I didn’t expect them to be this cruel, she needs to get treated as soon as possible”
The elder studied her scars, not leaving a single spot.
“Indeed, this scale is… She is barely hanging on, even this is due to the effects of some kind of drug”
Immediately after making a decision he knocked Lifa out cold in one hit.
Lifa woke up, for the first time in what seemed forever she felt light. Rejuvenated. Her dried up skin was gone, the pain of starvation and thirst vanished, so did her bony appearance. She was also cleaned from head to toe. Only after she confirmed this was not a dream did she look around, trying to recall what happened.
“It’s best you rest a bit more”
Instantly she tried to get up, a reflexive action after being a Valkyrie who fought on a daily basis. Then she noticed a humanoid Yaju leaning on the wall to the right. It took a moment for her to realise it was Knavnos, and that Yaju were no longer enemies.
“Calm down, no one here has the guts to attack a vessel, especially the vessel of Aurofium”
Knavnos threw a book on her lap. “Read it, call me if you need anything” And promptly left.
With nothing else to do, she picked up the book, on it were many strange letters. She blinked, but then somehow she was able to understand it.
All of history in one book.
She immediately became eager to read, despite hating books. It concerned a whole different world and aligned with her current interest in the culture of Yaju.
Estimated 42,96 billion galactic years ago-
“Knavnos! What’s the difference between a year and a galactic year?”
Knavnos seemingly materialized next to her, then sighed at the question.
“There is a universal way to count time, the year, day, hour and so on on your earth is based on the movements on that planet around its fixed star. Well, seconds are the same, minutes and hours are also similar. A day is around 20 hours. A year is 420 days. If we are talking about the universal calendar, we put galactic before it, otherwise it is calculated based on the local calendar”
“Ah, ok, you can go now”
Lifa continued reading the first sentence.
-is when the birth of the universe occured. 2,4 billion galactic years after the birth, mana came to existence. 95 million galactic years after mana, the first fixed star was born. 31,431 billion galactic years after the birth of the universe was when the first life was observed. 3 million galactic years after, the first intelligent lifeform, Reggi. The Reggi were a decapod race with a collective intelligence. They lasted for 984 thousand galactic years before they were wiped out from a climate catastrophe. Reggi had reached tier 4 magic and did not enter the level of a galactic level civilization.
‘Children of the water’, Izun on the same planet. They managed to develop magic up to tier 7. First civil war, 3 galactic years and over 40 million casualties. They could leave their planet to another planet nearby, no longer a surface civilization, however it was on the level of a Fixed star civilization.
Holtur, Gaer, Omnar, Hetephs, Capor, Silf, Vorpen. A total of 7 civilizations reached the level of a Galactic civilization in a similar period of time. Each were in a different Star system.
425 million galactic years later, a total of 9,432 civilizations reached the galactic level, out of these, 942 surpassed Fixed Star civilizations and became Star System civilizations. 32 of which connected to each other. 27 opposed each other and entered what was called the Blood reaping war. 5 formed an alliance.
…
In the explored universe there are currently 4 universal civilizations, all 4 are in alliance with each other, 43 are galaxy civilizations. 5,303 Star Field civilizations, over 2 million Star System civilizations, over 684 million Fixed Star civilizations and uncounted surface civilizations.
Magic has been developed to tier 12. Technology has advanced to tier 21.
Lifa’s brain nearly broke down. It was too much. They created tiers for magic and technology, there isn’t really a requirement, just from the ‘surface civilizations’ big differences between the technology meant it went up one tier, then in higher level civilization, it went up again, and again. Just counting like that, they reached tier 21, there isn’t a tier 22, but perhaps in a few years, they might become tier 22. And based on this ranking, her own planet was on tier 7. Magic was tier 0.
No wonder Knavnos said they were a backwards race, in his eyes, their greatest weapons were as good as scrap metal.
“I see you are finished”
Lifa was already used to it, Knavnos could seemingly teleport and he randomly came by. She nodded, still trying to imagine how technology was here.
“Good, from here on, I will teach you personally about mana”
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