Chapter 128: Me, Myself, and Two Confused Masters
Forty metal leviathans were anchored along the shore, each over a kilometer long and towering like a castle. Their hulls bore thick, heavy armor, scarred and bent from countless battles—some plates deformed by titanic blows likey delt by some terrifying abomination. Each ship bristled with armaments: heavy artillery, rapid-fire anti-air guns, mortars, rockets, missiles, and torpedoes hidden in nests. The main cannons, resembling oversized railguns, stretched the length of the vessels, making them much more imposing.
On one of those ships, two Masters of the House of Night were seated calmly on top of the mighty vessel, smoking together.
One was a beautiful man in his late twenties with golden hair, and the other was a man with beautiful indigo eyes, his dark skin highlighting his features.
"I can't believe you, Naeve... You waited until the last moment to tell me about Antarctica, and here I thought we were friends." the golden-haired man said.
"I'm sorry, Lugan... We weren't sure how many members of the House of Night would be needed for this operation and the fact that you're not an official Nightwalker made things even Messier. In fact, I convinced the elders to allow you to come, so you kind of owe me."
"Sure, I guess..."
Lugan, of course, had known about Antarctica two days ago before neave told him, as his main body had already learned about it from Master Jet.
In fact, his main body was down there, alongside Sunny. The two of them were meeting with Master Jet right now, making his perception a bit tiresome.
Controlling two bodies was not easy but he was managing, however having two different conversations at the same time was still a pain.
Lugan, despite being one of the most impressive new recruits of the House of Night, was still not an official Nightwalker.
That title required years of experience and effort to achieve. Nightwalkers were the representatives of the House of Night who excelled at guiding ships through turbulent waters. These scions allowed naval convoys to reach their destinations, playing a pivotal role in sustaining human civilization. Since shipping cargo across the water had been the mainstay of transportation since the dawn of time, no civilization could exist without efficient navigation and the Nightwalkers provided exactly that.
This was exactly why the House of Night had joined this operation, they were the ones responsible for guiding the government into Antarctica and the ones responsible for the evacuation efforts.
Lugan would play such a role alongside Naeve, and perhaps the elders would finally recognize him as a Nightwalker.
Out of boredom, Lugan pulled up his runes, specifically the ones relating to the Spirit Body.
Spirit: [Spirit Body]
Spirit Rank: Ascended
Spirit Class: Terror
Spirit Cores: [6/7]
Spirit Description: [The Spirit Seed defied the Laws of the Nightmare Spell. First, it merged irrevocably with the tyrannical Bright Lord, consuming his soul and will. Then, it gorged upon the myriad souls of a long-extinct civilization within the Crimson Spire, draining their power and leaving their weakened shadows to roam the Shadow Realm for eternal rest. And through this forbidden feast, it has undergone a cataclysmic evolution, shedding its seed form to become like its mother—a true avatar of a being greater than itself.]
Spirit Attributes: [Hunger], [Sacred], [Spirit], [Heartwood], [Phaseform]
Spirit Abilities: [Enthrall], [Harvest], [Soul Fruit], [Soul Weaver], [Bright Lord Legacy], [Awakened]
[Hunger] Attribute Description:
[As a child of Heart, its appetite for growth is insatiable. It must consume to evolve.]
Soul Shards: [4000/6000]
[Sacred] Attribute Description:
[This Spirit is of a sacred origin, possessing a connection to the domain of Heart.]
[Spirit] Attribute Description:
[This entity exists as a Spirit. Its master can project their consciousness into it, directly controlling its actions and sharing its senses across any distance.]
[Heartwood] Attribute Description:
[This Spirit Core possesses numerous sacred qualities.]
[Phaseform] Attribute Description:
[This Spirit can shift between a specter-like form and a fully physical form at will.]
[Enthrall] Ability Description:
[This Spirit can manipulate the minds of all creatures.]
[Harvest] Ability Description:
[This Spirit can absorb the souls of the fallen.]
Souls Harvested: [1000/1000]
[Soul Fruit] Ability Description:
[This Spirit can transform harvested souls into Soul Fruits.]
[Soul Weaver] Ability Description:
[This Spirit can manipulate the souls of weaker creatures.]
[Bright Lord Legacy] Ability Description:
[Having absorbed the Bright Lord, this Spirit can breathe and maneuver perfectly underwater.]
[Awakened] Ability Description:
[This Spirit has the innate abilities of a carrier of the Spell.]
His Spirit Body had grown stronger in the dangerous waters of the storm sea, as lugan was very close to forming his titan core.
Using those attributes and abilities, Lugan had gotten the title of "the Wraith" among the warriors of the House of Night thanks to his frequent usage of [Phaseform] during aquatic battles.
His ability to enthrall Nightmare Creatures made him an extremely useful of the house night , and was one of the main reasons why the elders allowed an amateur member to join the expedition to Antarctica. His other abilities helped as well, as [Soul Weaver] and [Soul Fruit] allowed him to be a healer for a very specific type of damage—soul damage. He could not heal physical injuries, but soul damage was definitely manageable.
Despite the grim situation, Lugan was glad he could come to Antarctica alongside the main body, as that meant he would be able to grow more powerful as well.
The Spirit Body not only possessed an innate connection to Heart God but also a potential to grow more powerful thanks to its ability to change and transform.
So, while Antarctica was indeed going to be hell, it was a hell he was going to reap from.
***
Master Jet led Hugo and Sunny to an armored military PTV that stood a few meters away from the crowded platform. It seemed that vehicle access to this part of the station was heavily restricted, but she paid it no attention. As her rank and status trampled some of the rules.
Naturally Hugo could do the same but he was less shameless then the government master.
Of course, he would never say that to her face...
The PTV itself was very different from the civilian models, as well as the heavier police cruiser he had ridden on occasion in the past. It was much more robust and angular, weighted down by several layers of composite armor, and entirely grounded. Even if the vehicle possessed limited levitation ability, it was perfectly capable of traversing natural terrain on its own.
As they entered the cabin, towering humanoid loader robots moved in to unload cargo from the train, piloted by servicemen who could be seen in the open cockpits. The crude exoskeleton platforms were devoid of armor and failed to reach the smoothness of motion, scale, and sophistication of their military siblings, but were more than enough to perform various labor-intensive utility tasks.
The PTV roared to life. It seemed that the distinctions from civilian models were even more pronounced below the surface. The systems propelling the vehicle forward were entirely different, producing much more noise and vibrations, but also raw power. The PTV shot forward, narrowly avoiding several barriers before reaching the primitive cement road that led to the port.
As they came closer and closer to the naval fortress, the swarm of activity boiling all around it became much clearer.
Currently, the port became a staging ground for a much greater force than it was designed to accommodate. Thousands upon thousands of government servants and soldiers were busy with frantic preparations for the approaching deployment.
Numerous recently assembled prefab buildings stood in neat squares, some meant to provide the personnel of the First Evacuation Army with a temporary place to live, some serving as storage depots, production hubs, training facilities, field hospitals, and so on.
A lot of heavy machinery was constantly moving between these squares, either transporting cargo or participating in the disassembly of various structures. Despite the impressive scope of the military camp, its makeshift and transient nature was apparent to the naked eye. The army was already busy deconstructing many of the buildings in order to move their components to the holds of the forty battleships.
Thousands of humans swarmed the camp like ants. Hugo saw a lot of non-combatant servicemen hurrying to accomplish their tasks, as well as plenty of soldiers busy with training exercises and drills. Some of them were Awakened, but most were mundane humans.
Specialist units filled the camp—engineering corps, mechanized infantry in fearsome exoskeleton suits, artillery operators, and more. Mobile war platforms, resembling giant metal cyclops ranging from six to ten meters tall, left a strong impression on whoever was seeing them for the first time. These humanoid robots and their pilots were a sight to behold.
Sunny seemed to share the same thoughts as Hugo, as he looked around with awe at the scene.
Slowly, the true scale of this deadly operation started to dawn on them...
Sunny lingered for a few moments, then asked in a slightly hoarse voice:
"...You said that there would be several such convoys?"
Master Jet nodded as she easily controlled the PTV:
"Yes. Four, for now. Two will sail from the Northern Quadrant, one from both the Eastern and the Western. Each will transport around a hundred thousand soldiers to Antarctica in the coming month. That will also include around twenty thousand Awakened, and fifty or so Masters."
She paused, and then added:
"If the mobilization goes well, we will eventually have at least sixty thousand Awakened and anywhere between a hundred and three hundred Masters participating in the evacuation efforts."
Sunny seemed to take a deep breath.
These numbers were truly vast and while the amount of mundane humans being sent to Antarctica was much more immense, it was the latter two that gave him pause. Sixty thousand might not have seemed like much, but it meant that a quarter of all Awakened in the world was going to be concentrated on one continent… and that was without even counting those who had already been based in the Southern Quadrant.
The number of Masters was even more impressive. Three hundred masters were no joke
Sunny and jet continued conversing about various related subjects such as the consequences of deploying such a large number of masters would cause and so on.
Hugo, however, wasn't listening to the conversation anymore.
His attention had been pulled elsewhere—toward the various technology surrounding them. The PTV, the exoskeletons, the war platforms, the loader robots. All of it.
He stared at the machines with a critical eye, his mind already dissecting their many flaws.
He had actually used his ascended ability, [Fusion] to partially Transform his brain into that of brainstorm.
This was an application of his ascended ability that he had learned after two months of practicing. He could now change the insides of his body into that of his aliens but he had to be careful about it, otherwise he could risk exploding his body.
Using that ability, he gazed upon the machines.
The PTVS were loud, inefficient, and relied on primitive combustion systems. The exoskeletons were clunky, lacking the fluidity of motion that Galvan technology could achieve. The war platforms were impressive in scale, but their design was wasteful—too many exposed joints, too much weight and too little optimization.
'barbaric...' he thought. 'It's all so barbaric.'
He understood, of course. Humanity had been fighting for survival for decades. They had adapted, innovated, and built what they could with limited resources in the age of the nightmare spell.
The fact that most people focused on cultivating their inner power did not help as well, as it made technology and science become stagnant...
But compared to what he had seen in the Beast Realm, compared to the Galvan technology and compared to what the Omnitrix could achieve…
It was like comparing a child's drawing to a masterpiece.
"No, no... This is all wrong.." Hugo said, startling the two Masters.
Sunny and Jet both turned to look at him.
"What is?" Sunny asked.
Hugo pointed at the technology around them, the PTV, the exoskeletons, the war platforms.
"The tech! It's so... Primitive..."
Jet looked at him with a strange expression before shrugging.
"It's the best we have."
Hugo shook his head as he activated his Omnitrix.
"Correction. It was the best you guys had before I came along. Now, tell the people here not to freak out because of what I'm about to do something very big."
He circled through his aliens, before landing on his old reliable buddy.
Upgrade.