Over a week has passed since the defeat of ELS. The Emperor has returned to his world, as there wasn't much for him to do in the Gundam 00 world.
Marcus inspected the carving before him. It took him longer than he had expected. He tried to copy the Cosmic Tablet from the main portal.
To his knowledge, he did everything as he recalled from the first tablet.
'There is only one way to find out.'
For a second, he was about to get into his Gundam, but then he walked to the recently built platform where his armour is stored.
He spread his hands, and robotic hands came out from the elevated platform and began to put armour pieces on him.
It took only a few minutes before he was ready to fly, but before he did, he walked to the work table and collected the limestone tablet.
"Turn on the bubble, I dont want the tablet to break thanks to the air pressure," Marcus said before he started to float.
[Already did it.]
With that said, a tunnel opened in the side of his workshop.
He flew right through it and exited the Bosphorus Strait before rising into the air and crossing over to Asia and towards the A.S.P. Headquarters.
It only took him a couple of moments, but he was already in the cavern where his special forces get trained.
The Emperor landed in front of a smaller portal and its special control pedestal.
The armoured Emperor walked over and placed the cosmic tablet in the slot.
"..."
"..."
[There is no power surge.]
"You don't say," Marcus commented as he removed the metal gauntlet and touched the stone tablet with his hand.
At that moment, he activated his code and sent a pulse of Geass energy.
The whole place trembled, and the limestone portal flicked.
"So it did react. Wonderful—"
Visions began to bombard the Emperor as he saw multiple worlds. From what he saw were a bunch of worlds similar to his own.
"...Damn…"
He pulled back and refocused.
"This system is not holding back." There was a grimace on his face.
[I doubt the original creators designed it for a single person to look for the worlds to colonise.]
"Maybe. But I have a lot of time to perfect this." Marcus frowned as he placed his hand once more and tried again.
This time around, he was ready, focusing on the world he wanted.
After 'travelling' through space and time, he found the world that had hourglass colonies in orbit.
'Gotcha'
*TREMBLE*
With a burst of light, the platform reacted, and the limestone portal turned brighter, and a pathway came to life.
"...Nice. It worked." Marcus pulled his hand away from the control pedestal and looked at the portal.
[I doubt there was any other outcome.]
"Depends, why do you think I did it in my armour?" The Emperor snorted in amusement.
[You predicted an explosion?]
"Who knows? Do you realise that this technology is almost alien to me? I am not that much into the whole spiritual mumbo jumbo." He replied as he placed his gauntlet back on his hand.
"Regardless, call Shamna."
[Calling Empress Shamna.]
Moments later, on his HUD, Marcus saw his Wife-Empress.
"I felt it. I will be there in a few minutes." The woman already knew what it was.
"Good to know that you are on top of things." The Emperor chuckled as he took a couple of steps back.
And watched the operating portal.
Unlike the one at the South Pole, a literal 3rd-generation Fusion Reactor is powering it.
So it won't run out of juice any time soon.
"You know, you should notify before you do something like this." Shamna, with her entourage, arrived at the site. The scientists scrambled to set up their gear.
They had their instruments ready a while back, but they needed a literal cosmic tablet to link up and activate the portals.
"I arrived here the moment I finished the tablet and needed to see if it's working." He said to her as his armour system was scanning the portal.
Unlike the scientists', his suit has built-in sensors. It can read resonance, electromagnetic waves and all that stuff.
So far, he sees that the portal is working properly.
"Yes, I can see that. So what now?" She looked over the computer that was showing stable readings so far.
"Building an activation method on the other side or a remote control of some sort."
"...if you can do that, it would be a game changer." She looked surprised for a second. From what she understands of this specific technology, these portals are more or less intended for one-way trips.
That's the initial design, as precursor humans were running away.
"You could… create something based on the Cosmic Tablet. That should work, no?" The blonde empress suggested, looking at him.
"That is a good idea." The Emperor smiled as he accessed the databases on his HUD and checked some of the schematics.
"Umm… Your Majesty… we have readings from other side…
But… well… it's in rock? As in underground." One of the scientists said to the Emperor.
"Is that so?" He walked over to the portal.
"What are you going to do?" Shamna looked worried for a bit.
"Test what is on the other side." As he said that, his hand moved to the portal… and sure enough…
It was solid!
"... It is underground. It's pure rock."
"Well, it should be given; look where we have built the portal." The Empress sighed, she realised that the South Pole in this situation is far better.
"Then it's a good thing I recently conquered a race of alien goo." Marcus chuckled as he contacted Legion to bring over some Alien goo.
Even a small blob will be good enough for him, as they can multiply.
"I did read the intel on those things. You literally classified some of the things they can do. If you do that, then these gooey things are very dangerous." Shamna commented as she walked over to his side.
"Besides these armours, I do need some of them in my ranks~." Her fingers brushed past the metal frame.
She can imagine all the use she could get from the armour and the goo!
The Geass Order field operatives would be so much faster, and the goo? It could assist in rebuilding the precurson civilisation's infrastructure!
"Oh? Do you have some ideas?"
"...I do remember the bread basket?" There was a glint in her eyes.
"...Amazon rainforest?" He looked at her for a bit, recalling something specific.
"Indeed, the super soil, the dark soil that rapidly accelerates the growth of the vegetation. We still haven't figured out how to make it.
If this goo, as you say, is good, then we could use its traits to mass-produce the soil and boost our food production to an enormous degree.
Twice the output from half of the field."
"Sold. You can have some of the goo." Marcus pointed his finger at her in a playful manner.
"..."
"It sounds wrong." The serious woman shook her head. It sounded wrong, but she can accept it.
The pair talked a bit more about the Armour, and he shared the schematics for his 'dawnbreaker' design—the official name of the power armour.
Before long, a shuttle landed not far from the portal, a ramp lowered from the shuttle's back, and a single humanoid Legion bot with a briefcase in its hand walked over. The briefcase had handcuffs on the bot.
"That's some protection you got." The Empress chuckled when he saw the bot with a briefcase.
"The briefcase is made from nano metal with tubes. It can literally survive orbital bombardment." He explained to her as the bot handed over the briefcase.
"It's easier to destroy it than open it."
With that said, he sent a signal to the briefcase, and with a hiss, it opened, revealing a tiara and a glass container containing a grey liquid metal.
"So that's the alien metal…"
"It's actually an organic entity as strange as it sounds." As he said that, he took his helmet and put on the tiara. The ornament began to glow as the goo left the glass container and rushed towards the portal at extreme speed.
Before long, it started to 'eat' rocks and multiply. Soon, there was enough space for them to walk into the other side. Not that they could see anything.
"Begin bringing materials to the other side; we shall build an outpost there."
As Marcus said that he walked over to the other side of the portal, he didn't want to leave the goo there. Who knows what will happen if the signal gets interrupted?
Since it was pitch dark there, he put on his helmet. The HUD and AI assist him in understanding his surroundings.
Eventually, the Emperor began to experiment. He needed to find an exit, so he sent ELS in four directions by turning them into thin pipe-like lines for speed's sake.
Since he knew where he was, in the Middle East, he knew the general location; if he went south, he would reach the Persian Gulf.
Around ten minutes later, his south probe reached the outside world.
Digging directly upwards is something he didn't do, as it would create an opening that could lead to his portal. He learned that lesson early with his Gundam 00 expedition.
This time, he won't do that.
Instead, he created a tunnel southwards towards the sea.
With ELS, it didn't take long; less than an hour later, he saw the sunlight and the sea.
[The temperature is similar, the composition of the air is similar as well, and there is a bit more pollution.]
A Graph appeared on the HUD, showing the air composition and temperature.
"Let's explore for a bit."
Marcus made the ELS return to the cave as he activated the Gravity Resonance.
The Power suit surged as he disappeared from the cave and rushed westwards to see how the world was doing.
He quickly noticed how… strange it was.
Many of the buildings remind him of his previous life. It was not even fun; it was like Deja Vu.
In Gundam 00, it looked like 'the future', but in his world, it was an alternative timeline set in the distant future, thanks to the advanced technology he was pumping out.
But this? This reality...
It was like his old world. The building aesthetics, he can tell, were basic concrete and bricks.
He felt a bit creeped out! It was like he was away for close to 30 years, and now he was back.
So strange that he felt goosebumps.
"Connect to the Internet, Legion, can you do it?" Marcus asked after taking a deep breath. He looked down at the city.
What he was looking at was his capital… it was nothing like his capital. It was not Constantinople, but just another city.
The disappointment he was feeling was surreal.
[I did, a while back. From the looks of it, we are in a different timeline once more. This world is more similar to the world where Celestial Being was operating.]
Multiple webpages appeared on the screen showing different past events.
[Somehow, they run out of fossil fuel even faster than in Celestial Being's world. This world focuses on Nuclear quite a bit.
Apart from that, there is something called Coordinators, genetically altered humans.
From what I can see. These Coordinators are lesser versions of Innovators.
However, I can highlight that this genetic technology can provide talent on demand. Unlike Innovators who boost existing talent.]
"Fascinating… if we can apply this to our Empire… well, well, I could have soldiers that are soldiers, scientists that are scientists.
Though I can see certain friction appearing, there would be a caste system." Marcus pondered for a bit as he left the city and headed towards the North American continent.
"Regardless, tell me what year we are in?" The Emperor looked down at another city.
The more he looked, the more he saw a simple 21st-century Earth from his old Earth. It was… strange.
He expected at least some sci-fi elements.
'Though'
His gaze lifted; he saw the Hourglass colonies, so he WAS in the Seed Universe.
[The calendar they use is called Cosmic Era, similar to ours, but the year is 50 of Cosmic Era.]
'...Fuck…'
He wasn't expecting that!
~~~
500 powers stones = 1 Extra Chapter
1000 Power Stones = 2 Extra Chapters
And so on, You know what to do.
~~~
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