The space seemed to warp and distort as a vibrant display of multiple colors of light tore into the surrounding area briefly before retreating, revealing the deep emerald green and obsidian black silhouette of a space jumper. Anyone witnessing this would be shocked to see the military-grade Cartapillar QS5 alone, without its usual fleet of military space jumpers.
The Cartapillar QS5 boasts a striking color scheme of deep emerald green and obsidian black. The bioluminescent nodes along its hull emit a soft, pulsating light, creating an otherworldly aura. The vessel's shape is a blend of organic curves and angular mechanical elements, giving it a menacing yet graceful appearance. The segmented body, with its articulated legs and thrusters, evokes the image of a colossal, mutated caterpillar.
The hull of the Cartapillar QS5 is an intricate lattice of bio-engineered chitin and a reinforced titanium-Zastasthium alloy. This combination provides both flexibility and durability, allowing the vessel to withstand the rigors of space travel while maintaining a lightweight structure. The chitinous segments are interspersed with bioluminescent nodes, which pulse with a soft, eerie glow, giving the ship an almost lifelike appearance.
The FTL thrusters, ingeniously integrated into the 55 makeshift legs, are a series of compact, high-efficiency quantum drives. Each leg houses a thruster, making the Cartapillar QS5 slower in standard propulsion but exceptionally fast when engaging its Faster-Than-Light capabilities. The thrusters emit a distinctive blue-green plasma trail, a signature of its advanced propulsion system.
The Cartapillar QS5 measures approximately 150 meters in length and 30 meters in diameter. Its segmented body, reminiscent of an adult caterpillar, is composed of 12 distinct sections, each housing critical systems and compartments. The vessel's elongated form allows for a streamlined profile, reducing drag and enhancing its FTL performance.
The Cartapillar QS5 is equipped with six mech holding compartments, strategically located along its midsection. These compartments are designed to house and deploy various mechanized units, ranging from maintenance drones to combat mechs. Each compartment is reinforced with energy shields and magnetic locks, ensuring the secure storage and rapid deployment of its mechanical arsenal.
In the vast expanse of government, the Cartapillar QS5 stands out as a symbol of innovation and adaptability. Its unique design and advanced technology make it a formidable presence, capable of navigating the most treacherous regions. These vessels are mostly deployed by platoons and are capable of quelling unrest in Lower Estate Districts. However, they cannot be used alone in Higher Estate Districts, as most ancient families and high-class wealthy families possess more than enough mechs. Not to mention the nobles, who have even greater numbers plus an army of cultivated high-level ability users.
The Cartapillar QS5 was given to all ten noble families by the government as a show of goodwill, symbolizing the strength and unity of their alliance.
The Cartapillar QS5 hovered 100 feet above the ground, one of it's multiple doors buzz open. A bright yellow mech leapt out, smaller than a conventional mech but taller than a standard human, at least 9 feet tall. Strangely, the mech did not activate its thrusters midway through the fall. Instead, multiple huge bolts of yellow electrical current burst forth, creating a dazzling spectacle. When the mech slammed into the ground, a massive wave of yellow electricity surged out, obliterating the already created crater from the crash.
This mech, a military-grade Resonance Mech, was capable of resonating with the user's abilities and exponentially increasing their power. The mech slowly stood up and began to stride forward. Ahead, there were six blue space jumpers, each bearing the silver emblem—a dragon coiled around a glowing white orb—The insignia of Starie group, the 8th House of Nobles. Countless massive analyzers and huge lighting systems illuminated the area, creating a stark contrast with the surrounding darkness.
Soldiers in advanced-tier blue armor with high-grade guns, doctors in red lab coats, and researchers in silver uniforms were everywhere, all bearing the same emblem on their clothes. Some were working on Rothsoths, Metallic Rothsoths, earth, and exotics. At the center, with the most researchers and doctors, the head researcher was working on a middle age man with short purple spiky hair and several facial marks, he had golden skin—a result of mixed Sihr DNA and he was cut evenly in two at the waist.
The mech's brilliant entry alerted them to its presence. The head researcher ran to the mech, smiling like a lapdog content on licking its master's foot.
The mech mask opened to reveal a handsome blonde teenager that had the looks of a model, fair skin, and blond hair that had been styled in a quiff. He had blue eyes and a charming smile.
"Young Master Taylor Cartl," the head researcher croaked.
He was a ginger-haired man, with his stubbly beard, tiny eyes and perpetually clumsy demeanor, seemed out of place. His eyes, though sharp and calculating, were often hidden behind a pair of outdated, scratched glasses. Despite his disheveled appearance, there was an undeniable aura of intelligence and resilience about him.
The emblem on his left chest was the insignia of the Starie group and the on his right chest was a tag: Ranielle Vulcath Head Researcher.
Cartl didn't spare him a glance and looked ahead while the head researcher fumbled with some sheets of paper.
"Venok Kullok, Level 5 metal manipulation ability user, died exactly 72 hours ago. Analysts said he died before his upper body was separated and fed on by some beast."
Ranielle gave Cartl a look to ask if he should continue. Cartl still had his nonchalant gaze, although he tried to hide his anger. Someone had dared to kill a member of the Starie group even after seeing the emblem.
"What about the armor?" Cartl asked, making Ranielle visibly tremble. He opened his mouth to answer, knowing his young master's personality. Being slow to answer could cause him to pay for a crime he didn't commit.
"After the chip in the advanced tier armor alerted us to his death, it was deactivated." Ranielle looked at Cartl, whose eyebrows were twitching.
"What do you mean deactivated? That's an A-rank military-grade chip. It is not something that can be deactivated or easily detected, even by high-level ability users."
"Take me to the armor," Cartl demanded.
Ranielle stared at the ground as he muttered audibly, "We couldn't find it… we believe it was taken."
Cartl clenched his fist. "Taken… Someone dared to steal armor with the emblem of the Starie group… the eighth house of nobles."
"What about the crystal? Did he kill the advanced tier winged Drake?" Cartl asked.
"We believe he killed the winged Drake. We were able to confirm that from the feed we got from the chip before it was deactivated… But the crystal was stolen too."
Cartl turned to glare at Ranielle, making him sweat buckets.
"What did you do about that?"
Ranielle trembled. "I sent the strike team to hunt for it, and they managed to kill another Advanced Tier winged Drake and successfully collect the crystal," Ranielle answered.
Cartl stared ahead at the humming analyzer and the analysts scurrying around. "Any other occurrences of interest?"Ranielle fumbled to turn the page to the next.
"The analyzers picked up a space jumper 70 hours before his death. It jumped into this planet and left 25 minutes after his death," Ranielle answered as best as he could, constantly looking at Cartl to make sure no sentence in the report provoked him.
"That means someone was here, right?" Cartl turned to look at Ranielle, who nodded affirmatively. "We managed to pick up two distinctive blood samples, which prove there were two people. The first we are certain left in the space jumper, while the second we are not so certain. We searched everywhere, but it looks like he just—"
"Perhaps he was eaten by some beast," Cartl's voice cut in.
"Yeah, right, I didn't consider that," Ranielle fumbled with the sheets of paper in his hand and flipped them down. Cartl began to walk toward the center where the researchers and analysts were working on the body, cleanly cut from the waist. Seeing this, Ranielle chased after him.
"Young Master Eli, the blood samples are anything but normal… they… are… alive. Yes, I know it sounds crazy… I sound crazy… but the blood possesses insane regenerative properties that would put high-grade nanobots to shame. It contains no nanobots and has a human foundation but is completely altered all the way to the dome." Cartl paused to stare at Ranielle with a piercing gaze that made the man's knees nearly buckle.
"Let me see then."
"Yes, Young Master Cartl." Ranielle dipped his hand into his pocket and retrieved two vials containing minuscule amounts of blood, one crimson red and the other dark red. The most similar feature was that the blood was attacking the vial continuously.
"What the—" Cartl stared dumbstruck at the unbelievable sight.
"I know, right, Young Master Cartl, the blood—"
"Shut up," Cartl cut off Ranielle. He then turned to the severed body on the platform as his eyes glowed with flowing yellow electricity. The analyzers, doctors, and researchers backed away as a huge surge of yellow electricity left his hand and smote the corpse to a crisp, exploding body parts on the frightened analysts, doctors, and researchers. The level of electricity was more than what a Level 5 was capable of and broke the platform. If it had received even an atom more of electrical charge, it would have exploded and killed all of them.
Cartl turned towards Ranielle, who was also frightened. All the people close to Cartl when he electrified the body had their hair standing upright and faces pale, even Ranielle. Cartl smiled at him and tapped his shoulder, which made him tremble even further.
"Why don't you bring the blood samples to the Starie Group Lab Headquarters? Let's run a test on it, and even if we don't find what we want, we will have the government officials assigned to us do it their way and find the owners of this blood in their system and satellites. We can't allow anyone to step on the Starie group and get away because we are the eighth noble family, isn't that right, Ranielle Vulcath?" Cartl asked, and Ranielle shook his head affirmatively so hard it almost fell off.
Cartl squinted as he stared straight ahead. Sprawling across the horizon was the most colossal chaos storm he had ever witnessed. The vast expanse was shrouded in eternal night, veiled by a massive dark mist. It was a mesmerizing spectacle, with enormous pillars of purple lightning crashing down intermittently. A bizarre force field shimmered, born from the myriad whirlwinds chaotically spiraling in every conceivable direction.
"Why is there still a chaos storm raging? Shouldn't you send the strike team to mine the exotics that have been rigorously weathered by the storm?" Cartl's asked with a stern voice.
Ranielle shivered at the sound. "Young master Cartl, we sent in some mechs, but the chaos storm is too vigorous and destroyed some of them. I think it has reached its high phase, and we will only be able to enter when it returns to mid or low."
Cartl remained quiet for some time before turning around. "Gather everyone and return to base."
"Yes, young master," Ranielle replied with a curt bow, watching as Cartl shot up to the Cartapillar QS5 in a dazzling spectacle of yellow electricity.