Liom Chen

A group of nine cultivators are currently positioned at the hangar of one massive ship. Their task is to investigate the deaths of all crew members of the ship.

Half of them are serving as guards and three busy controlling drones as they check for any signs of abnormalities and threat and two of the nine are real doctors and of the six bodies they have already examined, both of them came up with the same conclusion. All cultivators died of Severe Psychic Dao Exposure.

“This is Scout 2. Captain Mtello, you won’t believe it but six of the bodies we’ve already checked all died in Severe Psychic Dao Exposure. Should we keep checking?”

“This is Scout 1. Same here, Captain. There are explosions in the power generators but there is no sign of battle.

“Scout 3 reporting. Our doctor here is requesting we bring in a few sample corpses for full scale examination.”

Captain Mtello silently looked at the images sent by his scouts. For a normal person to die of Severe Psychic Dao Exposure, it takes at least an hour of exposure of at least 1ST Phase Dao from an Ascendant level space beast. In Layman’s term, that’s at least 1000 bombardment of shockwaves from Matured Sentient Beast. The first two waves is enough to cripple someone’s cultivation and feel an excruciating pain but one should still be able to survive it.

But that is for normal cultivators. Right now, they are looking at three ships of a notorious group of pirates called Trojans. Unlike regular thugs, 2 of their Captain are Peak Ascendants and their ships are equipped with Class S cannons which means a few of their crew members are 1ST Phase Dao. And that is not even including their ship’s ability to shield them from these life threatening energy ripples.

To say that they died of Severe Psychic Dao Exposure will be question of his ship’s abilities.

“All scouts retreat for now and carry a few samples. I’ll dedicate hanger 5 to quarantine your examinations. Get me a reliable report as soon as you can.” Captain Mtello instructed then stepped outside of the control room. He needed to talk to the Captain of La Flaga Battleship and see if can get better answers.

The first time they met, it was them who needed help to ensure the elimination of a Matured space beast and today their positions are reversed. They were about to proceed to another mission but on the last minute, they have been task to answer a distress signal sent out by a Class S ship which entered Valmoor Galaxy not too long ago.

The distress signal was generic and did not specify the danger level but if this was sent out even by a regular cadet, it should have been a 5 Star mission that even he is not qualified to take.

Two hours ago when they arrived at the scene and upon seeing the Pirate ships, he was about to retreat and broadcast a reconnaissance but seeing the conditions of the Pirate ships, he immediately decided to engage only to find out later that everyone is dead, except for the Captain of the allied ship, a newly promoted Captain who knew nothing about being captain.

*Tish

Captain Mtello arrived at room where Clay is being detained and opened the door.

“I hope my arrangement is not making you uncomfortable, Lieutenant.”

Clay’s train of thought was disrupted when Captain Mtello entered the room and called him a Lieutenant. “At least tell me why I’m being demoted.” Clay asked the two and a half meter High Elven who sat before him.

“A.I. Doll is the heart of any Federation ship and even with the slightest of protection, it can still survive. Your A.I. Doll had been running in default and while it does have some level of defense mechanisms, since its settings were not specified to respond during circumstances of vulnerability, it self-detonated which erased every record regarding the ship. This action is construed that you want to hide something. There are extenuating circumstances where the heart must be destroyed but given your situation, I highly doubt so.”

Clay was surprised and while it may sound unfair, he can only blame his ignorance. It’s not like he had any training whatsoever. “Can a Lieutenant still own a ship?”

“If you mean Federation ships, unfortunately no. Eliminating these level of Pirate ships should have had earned you 4 Star promotion but the destruction of the Doll ruins it all. Nothing you can do to acquit yourself with their suspicion unless you have a backing of a Master. Quite honestly, you’d be lucky if someone takes you in as a crew member and the worse is that, whenever you use your Merits moving forward, it will become a challenge. Do you have any more questions?”

“Yes I do. Do you know how much Merits will I get for eliminating these bandits?”

“Eliminating one of the most wanted on the list can get you a maximum of 100 thousand Merits. Rewards or loots on the hand can be exchanged for more Merits if 100 thousand is not enough.”

Clay can already foresee how troublesome his life is going to be but it is the least of his concerns as long as his questions are answered. “Tell me captain, are rewards transferable?” Clay smiled hinting Mtello.

Mtello looked at Clay’s insinuating smile then responded, “I’m not good at dealing with people who tantalize someone with sweet honey and take it back later.”

“Tell me what I need to do to express my consent.”

“How about you tell me what your conditions are first and if I do not see any problems, my Doll can draft a contract and she can bear witness to our transaction as well.”

“A.I. Doll of Captain Mtello, please respond if you can hear me.”Clay’s countenance became serious.

(Yes I can hear you, former captain of La Flaga.)

“I, Lieutenant Clay Endremilas hereby authorize and express my informed consent that all rewards gained from the elimination of Trojan Pirates will all be transferred to Captain Mtello. Should there be any issues arising from this agreement, all decisions must be resolved in Captain Mtello’s favor.”

(Your statement has been sealed, Lieutenant Clay.)

“And here I thought you’re just a naïve and ignorant human. You’re even dumber than I thought.” Captain Mtello controlled his desire to jump and celebrate. “Why don’t you tell me what your conditions are but let remind you though, I may declined them all.”

“I was originally headed to LPE4-2782R Planet located within Gar Wahger Federation of Valmoor Galaxy. I hope it is not too much if this ship becomes my private ride.”

“Since I am feeling generous, I agree to your first condition.” Mtello respond as he crossed his arms.

“You said that I can no longer pilot a Federation but not civilian spacecrafts. Can you build me one?”

“Mmmhhhhh. I’m sorry my friend. It is not something I can agree with. Unless there is a good reason why, then please convince me.”

Clay already expected Mtello’s answer. “As an Ascendant, I don’t plan on confining myself to a planet and since using my points will become difficult moving forward, I would rather handle the problem of going from point A to B. Who knows, I may establish my own mining company to obtain Heaven Qi like the rest of scavengers around. And I almost forgot,” Clay pause and took out at least 23 spatial rings then placed them before Mtello then continued, “These are the storage rings of the 9 Ascendants who were primarily responsible for destroying my ship. The strongest of them is Rank 7. Too bad, I had to burn their bodies.”

“I can give you the lowest type of a civilian ship. I’ll improve its engine so it can run on Heaven Qi. Mmmhhhhh My back is hurting and reminding me to go back to me being the captain.”

Seeing that Mtello is not taking him seriously, Clay decided to release a portion of his aura and imbued it with his Dao then bore hole on the table. “As for my final request, I wonder if Captain Mtello has or can help me obtain any non-confidential information about Flame Emperor Rimar and Liom of Ukacha. Both of them are part A’U planet’s history.”

Mtello was about to stand up and leave but he forgot that the person before him is the sole survivor of this incident. For a moment, he got carried away after obtaining the rewards but when Clay revealed a portion of his power, although it was brief, he got chills having felt an unfathomable and terrifying strength just now. One wrong move and if Clay is an enemy, his entire ship may become a big mausoleum. He was too rash he should have had thought it over. The information Clay is asking will already cost him half of the computed rewards.

“Information about Rimar is only available from the Federation Masters. As for Liom Chen of Ukacha, I can tell what I’ve read but if you need the original report, it will take at least a month.”

“I hope Captain has the time to tell them to now.”

“Well, according to what I’ve read, Liom Chen was originally from the Upper World belonging to a super galaxy called Ukacha Empire and 35 million years ago, a demonic mage emerged from the heart of the galaxy. Liom was only a third rate disciple so the information he gathered were limited but accordingly, cultivators from the Immortal World descended to eliminate the demon and one of the Immortals is called Lord Lao of Naya Temple.

The demon was insanely strong leading to some of the immortals to explode themselves tearing the fabric of space which triggered the collapse the black hole keeping the galaxy intact. Chain explosion took place and thus the galaxy of a once powerful empire became an unstable void in space which to this day has not stabilized. Currently, that place is believed to be a shortcut to the 3rd dimensional subspace.

Then millions of years later, he reincarnated with his memories intact into one of the experimental planets of Navarum which we all know is called A’U planet. He figured the way to exit the planet and joined the ranks of outstanding cadets and in less than 10 thousand years, he comprehended the 2ND Phase of Dao and reached the Peak of Ascendance. Only fool would not notice his talent so during that time’s Galactic Alignment, Immortal Azure Sky Soul Sect took him in and brought him to the Upper World.

It is unclear what happened next and coincidence or not, when planet A’U was under attack, he descended and to protect the planet, he took Rimar’s inheritance and transferred it within a well guarded planet of Immortal Azure Sky Soul Sect.

Information about what happened next are all confidential but there are rumors of him searching for a god. And lastly, those Sleepers responsible for A’U attack is believed to be related to this demon. If you’re not satisfied with this information, we’ll have to wait for a month for the transcripts.”

*Exhale

“No, I don’t have any more request and thank you again Captain for your time.” Clay sighed after listening to Mtello’s story.