Marcus looked at his image reflected by the mirror. The second session was done. And his body has gained some permanent muscles.
The whole jumpy thing was back. But, according to Quinella, it will be shorter than the last time. As the adaptability of his body has increased.
Unlike the previous season, this one improved his overall performance.
Yet, his assistant had a frown on her beautiful face.
"What's on your mind? You look distressed." Marcus asked her as he looked at his image turning slightly aside. He noticed he was just a little bit taller.
[Nothing. It's that there was a 3.1% miscalculation on my part.] She said with a sigh.
"You mean, I again, earned too much?" Marcus said with an amused look as he turned towards her.
[Yes. I thought with the latest patch I will have below 1% miscalculation. But, once again genetics elude me.] She massage her temples with a frustrated look.
"While we know more about genetics than any other nation in the world. Life is still the most complex thing we researched so far.
In truth just studying this alone, our other technologies advanced rapidly because we spend so many resources on this.
Just processing facilities went through its 3 expansion. Increasing your processing power by another 50%, that in turn made other studies like weaponry manufacturing look like children playing in the sandbox."
Marcus said that with a shrug. Which is the truth. Just rerouting some of the resources from genetic research to any other branch of studying… Aurora quite rapidly solves any 'riddles' I face.
That just shows how uncovering everything about life is extremely complex. One of the reasons why Marcus is building DNA from scratch instead of modifying it on someone else is because it can lead to many unforeseen results. Even then the one he is doing can lead to that as well.
[I know. But, it's not enough for me. As your ultimate creation. The bar I set for myself is the highest of them all.] She said that with an extremely serious face.
"I see. In the end, you only need more data. The next session is a week away. So, you have plenty of time to figure out things." The teen inventor said to his artificial intelligence.
[Indeed. Then I shall return to analysing it.] The Quinella figure dissolved into polygons. Leaving only Marcus and the blonde girlfriend of his who was watching the Interaction between her Master and the silver-haired woman.
"The changes are much more visible this time." Seeing that the coast is clear the blond can move in.
"You are taller, muscles more refined, shoulders are broader. And yet, three more sessions are waiting for you." Latia said as she inspected him from different angles walking around and checking from different sides.
"Hmm. This was the first proper upgrade. The last session was nothing more than fixing inherited issues." Marcus said with a casual shrug. He grabbed a shirt and put it on, then followed by a lab coat.
"Still impressive for first upgrade. Your magic signature went over into Ultimate class. Not many devils can achieve that through their whole lives." Latia said with a proud tone.
Marcus wanted to say that they don't even train their magic. Even he does that! But, then again he decided not to say anything and instead just to pull her into a hug.
"Mmhh~~~ even hugging is better. Yes, this is very good." The blonde said with a knowing look. It was quite obvious she wanted something but that will have to wait.
His devil ladies always are scheming, even Venelana who stay away from him for the simple reason that she wants her sanity intact as much as possible.
Even she is trying someway to scheme which is amusing on its own to him.
"I know right? Now, that this session is over. Let me show you a part of base no one else saw apart from me and Quinella." Marcus gently pulled the girl towards the exit.
"Oh? Let's go then. I feel quite honoured that I am the first one to see it." Latia quickly adjusted as they started walking.
~~~
Latia's eyes widened as she realised what she saw…
'An army… a Satan forsaken army! So, it is happening…' The blonde thought with shell shocked look as she saw rows and rows of soldiers dressed in dull grey and blue armours. All of them were dressed in futuristic armours and rifles.
What else made her quite a bit horrified that they all emitted a level of high-class being.
Not only that but they had high disciple, from the way they moved in this wide-open area. Going through drills of several sorts of training rounds.
'This is nothing like Devil army or Fallen army. They don't have such disciple. Working in tight formation? Most devils will laugh right in the face after hearing that.'
"Great isn't it? I finished their designs just a couple of days ago. Quinella is still going through the DNA make-up." Marcus quite proudly said that.
Latia slightly sweatdropped. And nodded at him. Well, she is afraid for her race. Not that she will show it on her face.
"I see… may I know the reason why you made a professional army in the first place?" She asked him curiously.
Marcus wrapped his hands around her from behind while looking at the several hundred S.P.B.A. Soldiers doing their thing below them.
"I won't be collecting things myself alone in future. Thus my army. The first one to taste its power is the Vampire faction which has the Sephiroth Graal." Marcus said with quite a casual tone.
It send chills to Latia who realised that her boyfriend doesn't think much about the enemies he will make.
'Then again Vampires don't have allies. They are isolationist even worse than Shinto Pantheon.' The blonde thought about the supernatural faction in Transylvania.
She doesn't have much on them to begin with… that just says how much they isolated from the rest of the world.
But, how then Marcus knows about Sephiroth Graal!?
"I see… I do... hope... you are not planning to send them to Underworld?" She asked with some nervousness.
"Don't be silly. I have my pillars, you are here for a reason and that's why I am hiding my existence as Solomon's successor. Besides, all of you will be sad that I am destroying your home. Worst case scenario I will occupy it and install some sort of government which will be loyal to me."
Latia sighed with relief. Thankfully he is not planning all-out genocide.
"I don't want to brag but my government will be better. After all, I would introduce all my inventions to my subjects. Even fix that low birthrate issues."
His girlfriend eyes widened for a second. Should they do a coup d'état? It's quite possible. But for that to work, they would need quite a bit of preparation.
But, then she realised that her boyfriend is messing with her!!! There is not that much to gain for him if he takes over the devil faction!
From her understanding of him, only some materialistic things will hold some interest. Like Sacred Gears or artefacts… It's not something her species are known to have. They have their unique magic. But, most of it is already known to him and for the rest, he can summon with his Solomon Circle and bind those devils with Ars Goetia.
In other words. She can sigh in relief and same time pout that he was messing with her like that!
"That's a lie! And you know it! You don't even want to rule anything! I saw how you checked all the reports I brough. You skimmed through them. And only checked the people education." Latia said with an angry pout.
"I did invest some time in reading it because it was your hard work. And I made sure they had appropriate education to work in my shops." He said with an obvious tone.
"But, I already did it!" She said with a small stomp. Latia already did all that! Marcus already told her to accept people with appropriate education! There was no need for him to check!
"I know. There was nothing else for me to look in those files." He said with another bored shrug.
The beauty just groaned from annoyance. Doesn't he care about their experiences and such!? What kind of bonuses these people will bring to the company as a whole!?
"Grrr… My point is that you don't care. And you wouldn't want to invade the underworld for sake of ruling. My bet is you would do what your predecessor did. Solomon ruled quite a small kingdom it was enough for him. You are doing about the same with your birth country. You would as they say 'flex' on them and then return to your country." She explained how he would do in his situation. And she would be right… if he didn't have an army…which is slightly unsettling...
Nonetheless, after realising all this she relaxed quite a bit.
Marcus just hugged her more. Yep, she is smart and she quite accurately described what he would do. That's why she is cute!
~~~~~~Kouh~~~~~~
Rias was sitting in her chair deep in thought. She was thinking about how she was lucky with her Pawn situation. She got a Longinus User!
All of her 8 pawns were used to reincarnate him. She was over the moon with this gain. The redhead thought she can rub one to Sona with this.
But…
"So, it was Issei Hyoudou? Never thought about him being the Red Heavenly Emperor." Sona said with a casual shrug as she fixed her glasses.
It was not the reaction Rias expected.
"You knew?"
"About Red Dragon Emperor being in Kuoh? Yes, I was. I was looking for him for quite a bit of time. It never crossed my mind that it was this pervert." Sona said with an eye roll. She never bothered to scan the brown-haired pervert with Diamond Core Heart properly.
She only had a casual scan on him when he entered the academy grounds for the first time.
The younger Sitri was quite baffled that there is someone with such a low level of magic can even exist on Earth.
"...How did you even know there was a Longinus gear user in Kuoh?" The Gremory Heiress asked with a baffled look.
But, then she realised that most likely Serafall told her. Meaning that Marcus Goldman knows…
"Honestly...I am thankful that you took him off my hand. I don't want a walking bomb anywhere near me."
"What do mean by that?" Rias asked with wide eyes.
"Listen. While the Sacred Gears are amazing and everything. They are artefacts created over 4000 years ago some are fresher than others. Like the Boosted Gear or Divine Dividing. But, they are still items bound to people souls.
According to research done by our employer, Sacred Gears would regularly go through maintenance in Heaven. But, for the past 2000 years, nothing of this sort has been done. Meaning that no maintenance has been done to them. While they don't just break like that. There are cache to be cleared after each circle. The gears like Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing collect samples from previous users and store them inside the gear.
The Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing through overflow of cache developed Juggernaut Drive. This developed because the hold over the dragon energy inside the gear became much looser." Sona explained smoothly. She became quite fascinated about the gears because she has one herself and in general it sounds quite fascinating.
"I see… so… that what happened…" Rias massaged her brows from frustration.
"Hmm?"
"Ddraig himself quite panicked when he realised that all his hard work on the gear was gone."
"What do you mean?"
"Marcus Goldman most likely kidnapped Issei and scanned the Gear." Rias with a straight face said that.
That's sounded insane… but, then the Sitri Heiress remembered who are they talking about.
"...Most likely true… I faced the Scale Mail version of Red Dragon Emperor in one of the simulations." Sona said with quite a smug tone. Her relationship with Marcus is much better than Rias. The redhead didn't even see him since the installation of Diamond Heart Core.
Serafall confirmed that. So, Sona knows that she is way above in this little competition they both doing.
"What!? He can emulate it? Or he recreated? Even Ddraig confirmed that Issei can't access Balance Breaker anymore!" Rias with an annoyed look said that.
"Heh… most likely you need to talk to our employer so that he could alter the gear so that Balance Breaker can be achieved.
After all the original Sacred Gears were built the way that Balance Breaker should not exist in the first place. It's a bug in the system which pushes the gear to do what it should not. As you can imagine it will have long term consequences."
"Like the Juggernaut Drive. I get it." The Gremory Heiress said with a sigh.
"Nonetheless, I would have preferred if it didn't go through maintenance. The Balance Breaker would have helped me quite a bit against Riser."
"Rias do you even hear yourself? Do you think that pervert could achieve Balance Breaker before your fated duel against Riser? It takes years to train to even react to that threshold needed to achieve Balance Breaker. The gear needs to reach a critical point to 'evolve' I have read files on that."
Rias pouted angrily hearing how Sona has access to stuff she has not!
"Uhhh… this is not fair Sona! I have been working my butt off for the past several months! I still have not any help from our employer!"
The Sitri Heiress deadpanned for a moment.
"That because it took me over a year and half to get noticed by him." The black-haired devil girl rolled her eyes while saying that.
Rias instantly looked downtrodden, she had only been trying seriously for the past couple of months. Waking up early, training magic, training Power of Destruction, running mock fights, even physical training…
For someone who never tried training this hard before it was quite difficult. Especially since she is a devil and devils grows strong with age…
She doesn't even need to train to be strong in the first place. But, then her father decided to saddle her with marriage on her eighteen birthday.
"True… anyway, thanks for your help. Now I know what happened to Issei's gear. Ddraig was devastated that he lost centuries of work to get something from the gear."
Sona nodded at her. Internally she was thankful that brown-haired pervert won't going to be a big issue to them. She experienced herself how dangerous Scale Mail can be in the right hands.
~~~~~~Eastern Baltic Coast~~~~~~
"Mistress… the magic saturation in that direction… it's off the charts." Atalanta said to her Goddess, after returning from one of her scouting mission.
"Hmm… towards Lithuania…he is Eastern European… wise choice to hide in such small country…" The Goddess of Hunt crossed her arms. Thinking for a moment.
"We can assume that high magic concentration is monitored by him meaning that he most likely has barriers some sort spread through whole nation." The Goddess started saying her theory.
"This means that the moment we enter his lands he will know that we are there," Atalanta said with an understanding look.
"Indeed. I doubt he will reveal himself to us just like that. This means we will need to find him either way." Artemis said with a thinking look. She is trying to think similarly to how that annoying brat does.
"It's not a big nation. Nothing compared to Siberian or Canadian wilderness." Atalanta said with quite a confident look.
"True. Don't forget we are tracking a human not an animal so we will be going through towns." The Goddess of hunt said with some annoyance.
"Last time I checked this nation barely has any population."
"That means they will be cautious of a group of females dressed like hunters." The Silver-haired Goddess said pointed that out.
And Atalanta could only frown. This means that they will be taking quite a bit of time with this as well. Even if the nation is small…
"Let's go!" Artemis said quite eagerly.
'FINALLY! Some clues! You brat! I can't believe it took me nearly half a year to find anything about you! Now that I know from where you come from I will find you eventually!'
The Silver-haired Goddess of Hunt has no doubt it's where that inventor brat is hiding. This country has no supernatural presence no big significance to any Pantheon.
And no one ever reported about a large amount of saturated magic before in this area. Meaning that it's very recent.
All the points point to this brat. Now she is getting excited to get her revenge!
~~~~~~~Marcus~~~~~~
The space centre is finished. Well, it's just a launching pad with the biggest Assembly Line ever built. One could say my production speed of things just went up by multiple times.
Now, technically I can build space stations or my airships…
That's right the first thing this place will make will be my flagship the Confiscator.
And not the space station I was planning…
"So, where are we going? Another place has been finished?" Serafall asked giddily as we were walking towards the train platform at my home place.
The blonde next to me is looking very curiously this is the first time I am bringing her to use one of the trains. It's either coincidence or just weird timing but she never used it before. For the simple reason that she leaves home before I leave and comes back when I am already at home.
Meaning never had change to use.
"Yep. My Space centre is finished. Well, more like a launching pad and the largest assembly line to date." I clarified to her.
"...how big are we talking about? The one you have at home is enormous already." Serafall asked with a gulp.
"My total production of things went up by 300% after it was done. Latia how is the land acquisition is going along?" I asked the blonde next to my left.
"You build your house in national reserve… the processing facility in a forest which we already acquired, the launching pad is in quite a remote area which was quite easy to get. The portion of railway which you want to build outside, I acquired some of the land. But quite a bit is owned by people. Not to mention the coastline… you can't buy any of that. Your nation only has 39 kilometres of sea access and you decided to build the docks right on the national reserve... again…" Latia gave her report with an eye roll.
"We can always get people to move out. Offer money, if they don't want to move offer money again, with hypnosis to persuade. And the docks… I going to build them underground then." I said with a casual shrug.
"You...truly want your railway that much?" Latia asked me with quite a bit of disbelief.
"I do. It helps me relax and think of things in those short journeys I take." I explained to her as we arrived at the train platform.
Moments later the white/soft bronze coloured maglev train arrived. Right on time. Well, since it controlled my Aurora the train was prepared right around the time I decided to go to the new area.
The doors moments later slide open with a hiss. The train's interior looked quite similar to commercial ones used by regular people. The difference was. It's extremely cutting edge personally made it so. Holograms are all over it.
If this was a public one when one can assume these holograms would advertise products and other things.
For now, I use them for decorations…
[This is the base. The train is bound for the Space Centre. The next stop is the Space Centre.]
Both girls looked at me after hearing the announcement done by the robotic version of Aurora. Well, I did use her prototype voice for this.
"What? I am sticking with the roles. All the trains have the announcement system." I said with an eye roll.
"... You are the only one who is using it. I don't see the reason why you need to go that far for this." Latia said with a sigh.
"For now. Yes only me. But, soon enough it will be my army or you girls. We will see…" As I said that they eye-rolled at me.
Well, once I disable the teleportation trick we gonna see then…
Once we got comfortable the train started to move. Well, it took some time for the pair to realise that the train moved.
"So-tan told me that Rias got that Hyoudou brat as a Pawn. It took them a year and a half to find him. I don't know if I should be impressed or disappointed that it took them so long." Serafall mentioned something to me which I have completely forgotten.
"Hmm? Well, that took some time." I brushed my finger and a window screen appeared in front of me. I quickly accessed the Diamond Core Hearts menu and went to the one installed in Kuoh.
I did a quick overview, the system is up to date. With several hacking attempts, which is amusing on its own. Some 'smart' devils tried to hack the console.
Without any success. After all, it's controlled by a sadistic A.I. Quinella terrified the shit out of them when she sealed their magic. After that, the hacking stopped. To a certain extend…
Some lunatics tried either way. Still though Sona took care of these retarded people. Once again it showed to me how some people are truly stupid in this place.
After checking the system I went over the logs and found how Rias got her Pawn. It was quite straightforward.
"And this is how you abandon your humanity… Rias only needed to smile and mention that he can get his harem. And so Issei Hyoudou became a devil…" I shown to them the recording Diamond Heart Core did.
A small chat between Rias and Hyoudou. The brown-haired kid all the time had a perverted smile on his face.
The Gremory Heiress quite easily persuaded him to join.
"Why would Rias want this pervert. One could see how he undresses her with his eyes. Is he that valuable?" Latia said with a distasteful frown.
With casual hand motion, I showed her the Sacred Gear he has.
"The Red Dragon Emperor… I see… but how valuable he is now with your existence here? I mean to have someone this...perverted and barely restrained looking…"
Whoa, Latia is not holding back. Is she that distasteful towards perverts? No wonder I know nothing of her. Most likely she barely made it into the books as it is…
"Nothing much by this point. It only has Boost and Transfer. The Balance Breaker and Juggernaut Drive disappeared after maintenance was done." Serafall said from my other side.
"Then it's quite average gear at best. Not worthy enough to experience the perverted gaze like that!" Latia said with a frown.
"Rias is exhibitionist, you can assume she likes being stared at her like that," I said with a shrug.
"Eh? She is? I didn't know that!" The black-haired devil on my right said that.
"Yep. So, most likely she likes being gazed at her like that."
The blonde shivered hearing that.
"I see… I guess…she has her taste and I have mine." She snuggle at me while saying that.
"Well. At least now I am getting more valuable data from her. Her progress as well as her peerage progress is much more fascinating to obverse."
"But, you don't observe it! Only now did you do it!" Serafall said with a pout.
"And it's more than enough. Quinella gives me a summary of what Gremory and Sitri did over the period. It's more than enough." I explained to the pouting girl. Showing her the summary windows.
It's quite simply statistics… with some things being pointed out.
"You know… having the hard work done in numbers like this doest quite put the amount of effort they put." She still argued. With another hand swipe, I showed her another statistic which is effort level…
"You have an answer to everything don't you?" She pouted more at me.
"If I don't, I am sure my A.I. has it or is working on it. It's like having an army of researchers working with me all the time." I said that with a smile and she just huffed back. Not realising that it's pointless for her to argue about this. Assuming she wants to goat me to get some more stuff for Sona. As the girl has been working quite hard. I mean truly hard for the past several weeks. If she is trying this hard she will develop her Balance Breaker soon enough and with it, she will enter into the realms of Early Ultimate Class being.
[Next station is the Space Centre. The train terminates here.] Hearing the announcement, I closed the holographic window and got ready to move.
The pair followed after me. Moments later the train doors opened and we exited into an identical-looking station. With the difference being a much larger corridor is there which lead out of the station.
This is for a single purpose that a large amount of beings could walk from the train to the platform. Then again I could use the space abilities I am synthesising from Caliburn.
The problem with that however is that Caliburn power works with motion not stationary. Quite easily solvable to separate those but, it opens another can of worms.
I could use Teleportation. But, again if one uses it alot it can be traced back. So, until the proper method is invented I can use my train network which is a fast method of transportation. And I am not thinking about excuses here…
Simple facts…
A very short walk through the corridor we arrived at an extremely wide-open area. If one could look at the ceiling they could barely see it. As it's around 300 metres away.
Only a portion of the ceiling can open.
"This is quite a big area! Are you going to build space ships here!?" Serafall jokingly asked me.
"Space stations and Airships and yes eventually space ships if need be. But by that point, they can be assembled in space." I explained with a very casual tone.
Sera's blue eyes widened to a comical level.
"You… I was only joking… I thought you were joking back then when you showed your plan. I thought it going to take you years to reach this point." She said while shaking her head.
"Joking? Don't be silly. Why would I joke about something I can build?" Her words were quite amusing to me. Why would I joke? Space is quite a fascinating place to explore. The possibilities are endless to explore and build from it.
"Anyway some work already started. Quinella already is working on Ars Almadel Solomonis." I motioned for them to follow me.
The place one can imagine is like an very empty hangar with lots of lights on the walls. Those are Realitus Holographic projectors. The walls can move and arrange depending on the project this place is working on.
At the moment the labour bots are working the heart of my space station.
"That… sounds quite ominous…" Serafall said with a gulp.
"You don't name things after Solomon… unless it's something big, I can imagine…" Latia said with a slightly sweaty forehead.
"You are right. Because it going to be around 370 metres long space station. Half of it will be the Rail system." I motioned with my hand and a holographic window appeared showing the design for the space station.
[All Purpose Space Observation Station]
[A.P.S.O.S 'Ars Almadel Solomonis']
When they saw the image they paled. Assuming because it looks like a massive space gun.
"It's a massive space gun… you planning bombarding any nuisance out of the way with this?" Latia said with wide eyes as she realised that I will do that. And yes, I will erase anything of my way instead of sending my army to deal with it.
After all, they exist to collect loot for me not fight wars…
"Part of it, yes, it's all-purpose after all. Meaning it can send drones, scale mails down to Earth and continue to upgrade itself with the latest innovation.
Though it is still some time away until it's ready. At the moment they are working on the heart of it. The station will have four Diamond Core Hearts.
Four Assembly lines, two hangar bays for drones and Scale mails or space variation of Starscream models, human habitable areas, observation deck, and of course the main Rail gun.
The main gun itself will have a revolver function which allows to shoot different variations of load. From P.O.D to Healing abilities, and of course, if people piss me off the ICBM version of it. Bringing a country to stone age. With mere word… maybe with mere thought in future…
Anyway, In future, it will have docking abilities for the space ships. Most likely it will be much bigger in future. As the new airship which are in the planning stages are going to be around 250 metres. So the station needs to be around a kilometre long." I said that with a thoughtful look, thinking about the models for space exploration. Well, I have not thought about it, yet.
"By the way girls. Did you know that there is no magic in space?" I asked the pair who are looking extra pale after seeing Ars Almadel Solomonis. Well, it was supposed to be awe-inspiring. So, I will let this one slide.