Planet Master

With the preparation done, Tritis, Dian and the others joined in to form a medium -sized group. Well, medium for a planetary exploration but so small in the scale of things in the Frontline.

“Stay alert. The Frontline is not a place where we can relax. Anything can happen.” Tritis said this to Dian and his group.

For the first time, Dian and his group had entered the Frontline.

In Dian’s perspective, the Planet Master System showed him the current situation.

[You have entered Frontline-59]

[Beware of the Outer Being!!!]

With the warning that intense, Dian knew better not to underestimate anything on this battlefield.

“Just like she said, be careful and stay sharp.” Dian added.

Tatsumi and his group nodded with a serious expression. They used a mental scan to pave the way while trying to detect the potential enemy.

Ao Guang nodded while Jeliel on the mothership escorted them. The groups were currently inside the mothership but it did not prevent them from being careful and using a mental scan that spanned hundreds of kilometers in radius.

‘So far so good. The speed of this mothership is approaching the speed of light.’ Tatsumi could feel the dilation effect as everything slowed down.

But with his mental scan active, he could quickly glean things.

Unfortunately, he did not detect any activity from the empty void. The Mothership was leaving the planet, which was the command center for the Magadan Frontline to slowly to the border of the Universe Field.

“Your Excellency Tritis, please state your destination.” Jeliel’s voice reverberated in the bridge where the groups were located.

“Hmm, we should go to that place.” Tritis apparently had an idea and opened the hologram map of the entire Magadan Frontline.

The green dot was their mothership position, while the blues were allies and the reds were the enemy, the Outer Being.

On the entire frontline, the red and the blue were in equal numbers and concentrated on the outskirts of the Frontline, almost getting out of the border of the Universe Field.

But where Tritis pointed were scattered reds, so small they almost did not affect the frontline. The bigger the dots, the stronger the entity.

“Here.” Tritis pointed to a deserted place where there was only a large number of small red dots clustered together.

“Alright. Destination set.” Jeliel then moved toward that position.

Charlene was still in the midst of understanding the technology involved, while Tatsumi sat on the floor, thinking about something.

‘We are at the frontline now.’ Tatsumi thought.

His thought was naturally heard by the entities in the Afterlife.

‘Most of it is in the void. Will you be fine, though?’ Goto asked with concern.

‘We have developed something that can be used as life support, so don’t worry. What I am worried about is the Outer Being we are going to face.' Tatsumi felt his heart beat strongly and his intuition told him that his encounter with them would change everything he knew.

‘Right. We don’t know them up and personal so exercise caution.’ Kudungga suggested.

Then an alarm was sounded and the mothership deployed the shielding as something hit the shield.

Then a tremor occurred and Tatsumi stood. He grabbed the hilt of Dragonsbane on his left waist, preparing to unsheathe it.

Ao Guang had also realized that the blade was forged using a dragon’s tooth. Furthermore, an instance of energy released by Tatsumi made him realize who he was.

‘A Dragon Slayer…this is interesting.’ Ao Guang thought as he felt the slight power of the dragon in Tatsumi.

But Dian and his group were prepared for this.

"Enemy attack. What should we do, Your Excellency?" Jeliel asked for Tritis’ opinion since she was the highest rank individual in the group.

“Let Dian and his group fight this one. My group will support them.” Tritis ordered.

“So, no assistance from me?” Jeliel asked again.

“Just in case, prepare something to help in case something unexpected or when they cannot handle the threat.” Tritis said.

“Let’s go outside. We need to test ourselves against them.” Dian said while heading to a hatch where they could come in and out.

Tatsumi’s eyes narrowed as he finally detected four entities outside. One of them gave him a sense of threat, while the other three were less of a threat but still a bit dangerous.

“So this is the formation of the Outer Being, one leader and three subordinates.” Tatsumi nodded in understanding.

“Do you want to take the leader?” Ame was beside him, releasing her Myriad Manifestation Umbrella and holding it in its umbrella form.

Tatsumi nodded. Long Wu also arrived at the hatch, ready to go out. Bore also came and was ready to act.

“I’ll take the leader and you can try the subordinates. Do you mind?” Tatsumi asked them.

Long Wu shook his head. The future was in the hands of the youth like Tatsumi, so he did not mind delegating the task of battling a strong enemy to Tatsumi. Bore also did not mind since he wanted to test his current strength against the Outer Being.

“Let’s go out!” Tatsumi opened the hatch immediately and went outside, he unsheathed his blade as he flew to the leader of the Outer Being’s group.

The leader of the Outer Being had a blackish body color with red striations along its body. Tatsumi felt that the Outer Being was strangely humanoid, just like a human, but was covered by black color, and in its eye was placed something akin to green crystals.

Then its limbs suddenly transformed into a blade as the blade-limbs met Tatsumi’s Dragonsbane. Spark flew as the two slashed at each other’s weapons.

Tatsumi felt that his hand was slightly numb while he was pushed a bit back. Then the Outer Being pressed its advantage as Tatsumi felt a deadly threat coming from it.

Tatsumi tilted his head slightly and the Outer Being thrusted its blade-limb right at the previous place where his head should be.

Tatsumi then diagonally slashed at the Outer Being, this time using the Violet Sun Blade Intent. His Karmic Eye was also activated at this moment and he could not believe what he saw. He even opened the first gate so that his output increased further to match the opponent.

‘What is this? Why is it connected to me? No, why is it connected to the human race?’ Tatsumi could read the karmic link between the Outer Being and the humanity in the Virya Star System. Although feint, it was there, looming and existing.

But Tatsumi did not care about that as the Outer Being was pushed back seven steps.

‘It is equal to an early Rank 3 transcendent.’ Tatsumi gauged and he found out that the Outer Being was almost unrivaled in the same rank, meaning Tatsumi finally could see the being that could match the human race.

But this was the scattered group of Outer Being, not their strongest or the most talented among them so Tatsumi wanted to gather more information by dissecting their fighting style as well as their characteristic.

The blade-limb of the leader had a crack in it. Then to Tatsumi’s surprise, it regenerated at an alarming rate before it recovered to its previous state.

“Regeneration…huh. This seems a bit tricky.” Tatsumi felt that even his intent in the crack of the blade-limb was slowly erased by something else. The regeneration of the Outer Being was on the caliber of being almost undying.

The more troublesome aspect was that it could erase the intent left in the injury. This was truly a case of regenerating things even to the point of erasing the ailment.

“Well, then. Shall we have a try at something I just acquired?” Tatsumi then unleased Violet Sun Blade Intent along with the newly acquired Martial Will enveloped on the blade’s edge.

Tatsumi and the leader moved at the same time and this time, the clash was affecting an area of fifty kilometers the most and even reached hundreds of kilometers in effect.

Tatsumi then let out a realization look when the injury on the blade-limb was hard to regenerate.

‘So the Martial Will is that effective.’ Tatsumi nodded. To acquire such a thing, you need a powerful mind. The second mind palace had been opened so it could store the Martial Will that Tatsumi had comprehended.

“Everyone, use Martial Will on the Outer Being. It is effective against them.” Tatsumi said to the others who fought with the subordinates.

Ame then switched to using a spear. She used her weapon intent as well as the newly acquired Martial Will on the spear’s tip to penetrate the subordinate’s head. The subordinate was caught in surprise as its head was exploded and its body tried to regenerate but the Martial Intent on the injury prevented regeneration.

“One down.” Ame shouted. She also made sure that the Outer Being was truly dead before she shouted.

Tatsumi then extrapolated the method and also used the edge of the blade to channel his Martial Will and slashed at the leader. The leader instinctively raised its remaining blade-limb and it was severed.

Then Tatsumi stepped on his toe and moved closer to the leader and thrusted his Dragonsbane while also activating the Dragon’s Blood and his Martial Will as if provoked, responding to the Dragon’s might inside the blood, amplifying the power and causing half the body of the leader's Outer Being to cease to exist, or only exist on an atomic scale. Basically, half of its upper body became atomic dust.

“Ha…that application is amazing.” Tatsumi licked his lips, clearly enjoying the sensation.

Long Wu also stabbed the subordinates Outer Being with his Martial Will which showed darkness and decay.

‘So, apparently Martial Will has the characteristic of the owner.’ Tatsumi noted this while also sheathed back Dragonsbane.

‘Furthermore, Martial Will is an effective way to damage the Outer Being. Noted.’

Jeliel on the other hand was amazed by the battle prowess of the four individuals. She did not expect that they would surpass her calculation and defeat a team of Outer Beings so quickly.

Ao Guang was impressed by the four’s conduct. But then his cloudy eyes suddenly flickered as the remnants of the Outer Being slowly turned to dust and went into the four humans.

“Get away!” Tatsumi quickly went away from the dust that came to him.

Strangely, the dust from the remnants of the Outer Being persistently chased after the four humans. Seeing that the distance narrowed, all of them unleashed their transcendent energy outside to halt the advance of the dust.

But it was futile. The dust went in and touched them.

“Ah!” Tatsumi felt that something was cramming inside his head.

Then he saw that the scenery had changed. All he could see was the ordinary household. Although it was ordinary but the devices and the buildings were full of strange characteristics that he could not understand.

This feeling was like the people from the Stone Age suddenly thrown into the Information Age era and seeing the buildings of the ordinary household of that age.

“One thing for sure is that this looks so advanced that I cannot describe it. Because there is an information gap.” Tatsumi could only say this.

“To the human in the distant future.” Suddenly, there was a voice and another human appeared in front of Tatsumi.

“What is this that you show me?” Tatsumi asked.

“This is the past.” The young man with futuristic glasses said.

“The…past? But how? I don’t understand. As far as I know, the past of the human in Cerulean Planet is the furthest away, which is the Stone Age.” Tatsumi said.

With the increase in knowledge as well as the Afterlife, Tatsumi could say for sure that the beginning of the human race on Cerulean Planet had been the Stone Age.

“Oh, you call your home planet Cerulean Planet. How curious.” The young man said.

“You don’t answer my question yet.” Tatsumi stated.

“You will understand in due time. You have defeated me after all. At least what remains of me.” The young man said with a relieved smile.

“Wait! The Outer Being I defeated, it’s you!?” Tatsumi was shocked. He could not think of anything but the Outer Being he had defeated the moment this young man said that he had been defeated.

‘But what would that mean?’ Tatsumi became confused. He felt as if he had a missing piece of a puzzle but could not complete it.

“Since you are the humans of the future, I will entrust you with everything I have. Although it is nice of you to be able to connect to the Afterlife.” The young man looked at Tatsumi as if he were the hope of the very being the young man held dear.

“Wait, wait!” Tatsumi wanted to ask but then the young man suddenly turned into a light particle, and the scenery changed as they went into Tatsumi’s glabella, entering his mindscape.

At the Frontline, Tatsumi placed his hand on his forehead while kneeling. His breath became erratic but then he let out a long breath before he opened his eyes once more.

Ao Guang and the Slayer Division had never seen something like this. Usually when an Outer Being was slain, they would be returned to their sources. But just now, they all saw that the dust, instead of returning to the source, assimilated with the four humans.

“Is everyone alright?” Tatsumi then stood up and saw that Ame, Long Wu and Charlene were in a similar condition to him. He frowned but decided to get closer to them all.

Then Ame slowly breathed out and blinked her eyes. She shook her head and saw that Tatsumi was looking at her with concern.

“Do you also experience that?” Ame asked.

“Do you mean the defeated Outer Being slowly assimilated into us and inherited everything from them?” Tatsumi asked back.

Ame nodded and Tatsumi’s expression became grim. Then the two went to Long Wu’s position and saw that he was also affected by the dust of the Outer Being.

Then he stood up and opened his eyes.

“What a strange thing.” Long Wu murmured.

“Teacher, what did you experience?” Tatsumi asked.

“Well, looking at the strange buildings and devices while a young woman explained a bit of everything that I still cannot fully understand.” Long Wu replied in a strange tone he himself was not aware of.

“Then check on Charlene. This is strange. She is not directly involved in the fight but the dust still got to her.” Tatsumi quickly walked to Charlene’s position in the rear.

Then everyone went to Charlene. She was strangely calm as she awakened on her own.

“Well, looks like only humans are experiencing this, if I guess right.” Charlene smiled at Tatsumi, as if she knew that to be the case.

Tatsumi nodded heavily.

“Jeliel, do you detect any abnormality from the four?” Tritis was concerned with them, so she asked Jeliel which could be more objective.

“Replying to Her Excellency, I have not detected any abnormality. Although my module is geared toward battle but the detection of the Outer Being should be top-notch. It is as if the remnants of the Outer Beings are being assimilated by the humans.” Jeliel gave her report.

“Assimilated, really?” Ao Guang and his Slayer Division had a look of disbelief on their faces. In their lives, they had never seen an Outer Being remnant assimilated with any living being.

But now that had occurred.

“Please don’t spread it to anyone.” Tritis decisively gave an order to Jeliel and the Slayer Division but actually gave these words to both Yuan and Gorith.

Dian on the other hand saw an announcement from the Planet Master System.

[You have slain a Soldier-class Outer Being. You have fulfilled the requirement for advancement.]

[Do you want to advance?]

Dian refused. Since he was on the Frontline, he might as well rake in some merit and achievements by slaying more Outer Beings.

[You have slain a Soldier-class Outer Being. Your requirement is overfulfilled.]

[If you do this, the reward for your advancement will increase.]

[The System is in awe of your brilliant mind for racking in more killing for overfulfilling the requirement.]

Are you saying I can do that? Well, that’s part of my plan since before coming here. But to be pointed directly by the system…should I be happy or wary? Dian thought as he felt that the system was actually encouraging him in this act.

Furthermore, he could see the four’s perspective all at once and that was strange. If this were restricted information, the System would block him from viewing it. But the System did not and instead let him see it.

Ame received the scientist’s entire memory, Tatsumi the ordinary man who became a formidable transcendent, Charlene, the engineer’s memory, while Long Wu received the entire old man’s memories.

So let me get this: the Outer Beings are former humans. Not my Cerulean Human, but another human from the past. And when there is a trace of humans nearby, their remnants would flow to the human and be assimilated with them. What does this mean? Dian thought hard but could not understand the entire picture.

Since it was the case, he remembered something. In the Legacy Database, there was a Dimension Ascension Protocol.

Did these relate to the Dimension Ascension Protocol? Dian tried to relate it to that one but he had not even viewed it personally yet.

“Please check for the signs of corruption.” Tritis said after seeing that Tabitha tried to discern something but her view was blocked. She requested Tritis to do so.

“What happened?” Dian shook his head and asked.

“I am afraid that assimilating with the remnant of the Outer Beings will cause your individual to get corrupted. That is why we need to check whether they have a sign of corruption.” Jeliel said.

Dian looked at the dispatched body of Jeliel and then looked at Tritis and Ao Guang.

“She is right. To be safe, we need to conduct a medical check-up for corruption.” Ao Guang said.

The situation became slightly tense but the four humans looked at Dian, leaving the decision to him.

“Alright. Let’s do it.” Dian said.