At first, everyone finds moving forward to be hard. People can't give up their current position or attitude so easily.
What to do and how to accomplish, thinking about every last one of their moves intensively. Only a few keep marching toward what they desire.
But as they move on, slowly they begin enjoying this moment of tension and countless difficulties.
What appeared hard at the beginning became something exciting to do.
The red moon's rays entered the car, illuminating Zick's face. It was a full moon today.
'The more pressure I feel, the feeling of excitement becomes more dominant. The thing doesn't seem good, but for now, all I have to focus on is to move forward.'
'Staying still in a situation, showing hesitation is of no use. I will only know what the future has on hold for me after reaching that stage.'
Yuriel who was looking into the mana core of the Xespic and the car turned to Zick.
"Sir Zick, If we implement the method used to create the mana core of this Xespic, all the golem's strength can be modified by at least 25℅." Yuriel could reproduce this mana core if given enough time. Though it was complicated, her simulation power gave her immense benefit in this matter.
"I see, well we can start experimenting and preparing after I get us a base," Zick responded while supporting his chin on the back of his hand.
Arianell, who was hearing them speak, looked up from Zick's lap: "Father did all that to get us a base?"
Surprised passed by Zick's eyes: ' Was she this smart from the beginning?'
"Yes. I had a question to ask you too. Did your mother ever mention the reason she could not pass the barrier, made of the mist of annihilation?" Zick was curious on this subject, he was unaware of the exact power held by this mist.
Arianell shook her head: "No, mother only appears sometimes in a dream and asks about how I am doing."
"I see...." Saying this, Zick thought to himself: 'Fortunately, she is not timid around me like in the beginning.'
In Zick's mind, Arianell held a lot of importance. She might even be the key for him to escape from this messed up situation again.
'I will have to nurture her as much as possible before the mist of annihilation is destroyed. She can grow stronger naturally as her body grows, and the golden dragon will also hatch within three weeks, I guess.'
There were a few things that piqued Zick's interest, like the reason why the mana concentration was so low here. But he did not have the liberty to do such a thing.
Wasting even a minute might lead to his death in the future.
Arianell just communicated with her cousin and Yuriel was already simulating in her head.
At last, The car reached its destination. Which was a huge skyscraper, it appeared noticeably majestic and longer than the other skyscrapers.
It was already midnight by that point, and many soldiers stood in rows, welcoming Zick and the others.
The pilots of the Archenst squad, including Yeolen, moved behind Zick like some retainer.
Strength reigns supreme anywhere, they were all aware of Zick's strength. Thus many looked up to him with admiration, while some followed him feeling the pressure.
The headquarter of Glazier Rex, the chairman of the said warfare organization, Celwent stood before at the grand entrance.
"Welcome, Sir! We have prepared everything you will need." The servant moved forward and bowed his head gracefully.
"Amh." Nodding his head, Zick turned to Celwent who also greeted him just after.
"Let's move inside before we speak sir dragon," Celwent revealed a smile and showed the way into the hall.
Looking at the cameraman in the distance and how the guards didn't allow anyone else to enter, Zick was able to deduce what was going on.
'He probably just wants to maintain his image. Acting all submissively before me would cause his evaluation by others to fall to rock bottom. Well, it might have already fallen to a degree though...' Zick did not find this to be surprising at all.
Sitting on the sofa, Celwent showed a pleading expression: "We would like to request just a little more time. There were just too many people involved in this matter, it would take a while to gather them."
In reality, they were all gathered, but they were still in the process of breaking their mind. Even in such an advanced civilization, it was not possible to brainwash.
This was mainly due to the soul's interference.
However, what Celwent wanted was exactly to break their mind. Presenting them normally and executing them might lead to unforeseen situations.
Celwent was cautious regarding this matter, after all his life was on the line.
Zick did not care much about this, but he still opened his mouth with intimidation-
"Tell me the exact time when they will all be gathered." Zick eyes glazed over to Celwent.
Goosebumps began rising within Celwent uncontrollably: "By...by the morning for sure!"
Zick folded his hand and looked like he entered a long session of consideration.
Opening his eyes, Zick spoke coldly: "Alright, As long as all of them are gathered, I can wait a little longer."
Celwent heaved a sigh internally upon hearing this.
"What are you doing? Lead sir and his companion to their room!" Celwent ordered the man who appeared as the caretaker of the whole building.
" Sir Dragon, please this way." The caretaker started taking Zick and the others to their room. Which was on the fifteenth floor.
Celwent did not have the intention of sticking close to Zick in the slightest. Just meeting him once had made his back covered in a cold sweat. He was starting to understand what Yeolen had gone through and the reason behind her action.
The presence around Zick was just too unbearable to withstand. The difference in their level of existence was just too vast.
The interior of the glazier Rex base was very luxurious and flashy. The craftsmanship was on another level compared to the architecture of the Eastern continent.
Many devices that Zick had not seen in a long time, such as coolers and fans entered his eyes. Overall, the place appeared well-maintained and orderly.
CLICK~
The caretaker showed Zick's room to him.
Zick and Arianell entered the room, while The caretaker continued showing Yuriel her room.
Zick had already given Yuriel a task for today, it was to gather information.
Not to be forgotten, Yuriel specialized in taking over magic defenses, similar to the Jhesker alchemy tower safety devices.
Though not all the things here might run on mana, many things needed mana to run. And Yuriel was strong enough to not even be noticed by anyone.
Zick put Arianell to sleep and began strengthening his soul using a higher form of energy.
After thinking for a long time Zick could only find one formula to stop the corruption of his soul.
It was to strengthen his soul to the level that the frenzied energy in his body can't affect it.
'But to achieve that, I will have to rise to the God rank...I have some idea, however, I am still not sure how to ascend.'
Zick had reached the demigod rank a while back, but since then he had seen no further improvement of his soul or higher form of energy.
So evidently there were some criteria to achieve the next rank. Reikel was just a few steps away from his rank, he must have been aware of this requirement.
Zick could feel that Reikel's higher form was almost identical to divinity. That was one of the main reasons Zick did not stand a chance against him from the beginning.
'And, he had used a familiar tone at the end of our meeting, it was like he knew about me for a long time.' Zick felt the number of mysteries increasing.
...
Quintech, a sub-company working for the Glazier Rex. They were the most famous Xespic manufacturer all over the republic.
Celwent sat in his private room and waited in a tense atmosphere.
Not long after, a knock could be heard on the door. Celwent hurriedly ordered the mindxec to open the door.
CLINK~
On the other side, a woman with short brown hair and sharp blue eyes could be seen. She was 21 years old and was the captain of Salamander, which was a squad comparable to Archenst.
"Has the track record of Heifer been retrieved?" Celwent asked with impatience on his face.
Heifer was the name of the Xespic used by Yeolen, it meant — darker-than-hell fire in their mythology.
"Madam told me to give this to you." The captain of Salamander, Belina, tactfully handed over a black chip, two centimeters in size to Celwent.
The fight between Zick and Heifer was recorded in this. Every Xespic has it as an inspection, in case any pilot used it illegally.
After getting the chip, Celwent contemplated before letting Beline stay. She was also an experienced pilot, so she would be able to analyze the video better than him.
Originally, Celwent was thinking of transferring the data in the chip to his brain directly, but to let Belina see it, he connected the chip to the TV on the wall.
"Start." A video began playing on the screen. As the video was recorded through the Xespic superior artificial senses, Zick's movement was a lot more clearer and visible.
Even when Zick stopped the electrocuter, all his movements were perfectly visible.
In the end, the sensory mechanism of the Xespic could not even keep up with Zick's movement.
"....Is it even worth debating if we could defeat this thing?" Belina gave her honest review to Celwent.
"You are right...It's not even worth considering. He treated our best Xespic like a plaything, sigh....." Celwent discarded any notion of fighting back with this.
Belina agreed with his decision too: "We should just hide and let this storm move away from here."
Celwent agreed to Belina's word, but he was not aware that — a surprise was waiting for him in the morning.
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