Chapter 209 - Genetic Revelations

Two weeks later…

The new base in the now-cleared cavern was far different than what anybody could envision. With the carcass of the rock worm towering over them, it served as a humble reminder of just how dangerous the dungeon could be. Any naïve ADCON soldier or scout who was about to venture past the gates would be greeted with a wide open worm maw, its rows of sharp metal teeth glistening for all to see.

Despite the intimidation, the base was shaping up to be a proper town on its own, far better than the original prison or slave camp design Sasha had in mind. Kyle overruled many of the decisions, using his knowledge of illegal trading posts buried in the moons of forgotten star systems to facilitate better comfort and services for the soldiers and potentially mercenary hunters that would enter through here.

While it was still in its nascent form, every service one could think about was already being set up for the exploitation of the dungeon – supply stores, repair workshops, surveyors, researchers, and so on. Even if everything of value was extracted from the dungeon, Kyle knew he still could squeeze money out of it. After all, there was hardly a domesticated Galactic Era ruins behind, just like his cavern.

But before attracting tourists, he would have to clear the remaining trials and dismantle any dungeon traps summarily. Instead of rushing headlong into the fray, he took it slow, the scouts moving ahead first to scout once more.

Already, there was a sizeable amount of benefits accumulated ever since Operation Piledriver began. Research into the biofilm had been progressing steadily with time, while the tiny cores of the rock spiders were being collected and smelted, separating them into valuable metals that could be then alloyed into the existing exosuit armor.

For the exploration of the rest of the dungeon, Kyle decided to go with a decentralized approach, creating a sort of competitive mentality between the ADCON soldiers. With the number of small tunnels, crevices, and hidden biomes, it was impossible to establish an administrative team to handle each and every squad all over the dungeon.

Furthermore, controlling the soldiers centrally would lead to diminishing outputs: soldiers paid by the hour would drag any given missions longer to earn more money, potentially slowing down the rate of exploration as well.

Kyle, Nox, and Yona already had the solution to this, taking a leaf out of the Adventurer’s Guild. a method of commissions was established, along with a bonus cash reward as well as supply upgrades upon commission completion. Furthermore, with each completed commission, scouts, soldiers, and engineers would earn ranks within the commission reward system, allowing them more amenities and better weapons, armor, and so on.

Naturally, Kyle ensured that he retained a core group of soldiers and engineers to do the commissions no one wanted to do – acting similarly to a public service of sorts. Such commissions included expanding the forward operating base, installing arcia radio repeaters, or setting up simple signage to make further exploration easier. These were the low-hanging fruit that any ambitious squad would refuse to take, especially if they wanted to climb the ranks higher.

Over the weeks, the commission system was a success, with the ADCON soldiers spreading out through the dungeon like ants in a terrarium, checking every nook and cranny. Within days, the research facility was already brimming with all sorts of excavated rocks, flora, and fauna to investigate, a plethora of research material for the newly established research center to work on.

Lifeforms like the one Mari fought, as well as other coral cocoons, were captured as well, allowing Drake and Kyle to perform even more testing on multiple specimens to learn more about the environment underneath.

Not much progress has been made in the neutralization of the biofilm. Its mechanisms were clear for all to see, and have been readily documented over the last month. Yet Kyle was slowly beginning to be frustrated with the lack of results.

In Kyle’s heart, he knew that performing human trials on prisoners and other captured enemies who still languished in his prisons would be the best way forward. However, he could already envision that Drake would do everything in his power to make sure such a trial wouldn’t happen.

Theoretically, Kyle could force Drake to perform the human trial, but the heart of a pacifist was hard to turn. Furthermore, Drake has proved to be an invaluable resource for understanding lifeforms and organisms; his knowledge and instincts are a boon to the entire research facility. Losing him would mean progress lost over time.

Before attempting to bypass Drake, Kyle sent a sample of the biofilm and a husk of the coral cocoon over to the Culdao Peaks, shipping it by hovercraft right to the Oracle Chambers.

“Perform a scan on this, and show me everything. Genetic sequence, markers, chemical composition, and so on.” Kyle ordered Orisa, placing the dead coral cocoon in the center of the room.

The results were immediately shown on the screen, Orisa’s robotic helper arms quickly taking samples and blasting them with radiation, creating a spectrogram. Furthermore, the nanoscope allowed Kyle to view the cells of the coral cocoon directly, the sight immediately bringing a frown to his face.

“Orisa, read out the license number shown in the cell.”

[Affirmative. The number is XCX-289391-4580]

Kyle’s expression darkened. This is a genetically engineered lifeform – and it was done by a Galactic Era company. He was no stranger to the company, having ordered a few specially-made lifeforms himself to breed and produce lethal toxins.

The license number was a clearly recognizable Galactic Era code, one issued by the Galactic Era council for all and any genetically engineered lifeform. The last four digits at the end of the code signified the year in which the lifeform was registered with the unified database kept at Ancient Jupiter.

Kyle stayed silent for a moment, leaning against the monitor in front of him, which continued to show information on a rolling display. The chemical composition was revealed in front of him, some of the organic compounds clearly synthetic and not naturally occurring, even on Ancient Earth.

A theory began to spring up in his mind, prompting him to leave the Oracle Chamber and pluck a few leaves from the native trees around, getting Orisa to scan them again once more.

Again, a license number was clearly visible in the cells, though Kyle was not too surprised – the seed storage in the Oracle Chambers was clearly pre-made by humans. What truly surprised him was that the company was not the same manufacturer.

To any uninformed Galactic Era citizen, this would not be surprising, but Kyle was intimately aware of how the terraforming process was usually done from his past life experience. Each terraforming company was a behemoth on its own, having enough power to rival states with the sheer amount of workforce, ships, and security fleets they had, wealth immeasurable.

Yet for all their size, terraforming companies are stringent on which lifeforms and processes they would use to populate the planet. Any discrepancies or misalignments in the handling of the ecosystem would result in a ruined world instead of a thriving planet. Having two major companies work jointly on a terraforming process was an anomaly, something that many star nations would refuse to run the risk of.

On top of the risk, the cost of creating a joint venture between two such companies would be even more costly andtime-consumingg compared to hiring one. Either the terraforming company was highly ambitious, or the purchaser of the terraforming project had more money than sense.

Unless the objective was not to terraform the planet properly… Kyle couldn’t wrap his head around it, trying to think of potential scenarios in which such an option would be chosen.

Before he could consider his options any further, the avatar of Orisa materialized before him. [Sir, your request for tailors has been completed. Keith has completed his selection and is requesting you to come down for measurements.]

“Has the tailor been vetted?”

[Affirmative. All measurements and fittings will be done in purview within the hypermall. The tailor has already done the requisite measurements for the other vipers.]

“Good. Any updates from Baron Cain?”

[Negative. The last known message was that the coronation ceremony cannot be stalled any longer.]

“That’s fine. We held it out for long enough.” Kyle shrugged. “I’ll head to Raktor now – time to make an entrance.”

***

Deep underground, in the Wardens’ base at an undisclosed location, the scrapping of metallic plates dragged across the floor, the tiles somehow resistant to the scratches and sparks that erupted with each footstep, the hulking behemoth of the Archivist stomping through the cramped hallway, his body more machine than man.

The door at the end of the hallway swung open for him, revealing the same council room as before, though there was only one clan leader there waiting for him – Matriarch Yue, with Kitana standing next to him.

The sight of the Archivist’s gleaming red eyes and massive mechanical weapons mounted on his shoulders invoked a gripping sense of dread within Kitana, prompting her to bow immediately, her usual arrogant demeanor long forgotten.

[I believe my orders were absolute – no one in the company is to clear any dungeons, trials or events - not even the secret realms.] The Archivist spoke with a seemingly calm voice, his voice mechanical and guttural as it filled the empty air of the dark council room.

Kitana shuddered from the booming voice, but her ‘Mother’ was undeterred, her bow curt and simple at best. “We were not the ones who cleared the dungeon.”

[Is the Keru Forest dungeon not under your control?]

“It is the same rogue user as before – he is beginning to assault the dungeon.”

[With how many users?]

“Just one. He has cleared the Trial of Persistence in a mere four hours. No other users were detected in the vicinity.”

[Impossible. That trial should take more than three days to clear if he’s alone. Where’s the footage?]

“In accordance with your previous orders, we have cut off all possible forms of data that could be traced or that could be exposed. We’ve had encrypted one-way video streams hacked before, so we’ve cut that off as well.”

[Understood. Have all surface employees been recalled?]

“Yes, sir. I’ve recalled all successors as well.” Matriarch Yue motioned to Kitana.

[Yours?]

“Yes, sir.”

Kitana steeled her heart as the gruesome face of the Archivist leaned over, scanning her intently. She could see the manufactured skin plastered over his mechanical jaws and face that was starting to thin, the bare black anodized metal behind peeking out from beneath, the soft whirring of gears, hissing sensors and actuators that made his fabricated muscles twitched.

His eyes glared into her soul, the soulless optical lens darting back and forth in what felt like an eternity. Kitana held her gaze as long as possible, not wanting to show any form of weakness in front of both her ‘Mother’ and the Archivist. Any such flinching would be tantamount to losing the successor position. Not after I’ve come this far!

[Impressive. You have really outdone yourself with this combination. Well done, Matriarch Yue.] The Archivist finally relented, but not before grabbing Kitana’s hand into his larger mechanical grip, rolling text appearing in his eyes. [Levelling progress is quite the feat for less than a year.]

“I thank you for your praise.”

[What is the purpose in bringing her for this meeting, however?] The Archivist glared again, this time with the full intent of killing off Kitana. His gaze was emotionless, as though Kitana was merely a weed to be pruned with haste.

“Interestingly enough, Kitana here is acquaintances with the rogue user in question. She could serve as our observer for the meantime, replacing any data flow that may be intercepted.”

[A tantalizing proposition. But no. We are but months away from completing my project – only then will any surface activity be permitted.]

“If the rogue user is a rebel agent, we would be allowing the enemy a foothold into New Nedrasa with no resistance whatsoever.”

A booming chortle came out crackling from the Archivist’s vocal speakers. [You jest! The dungeon cannot be cleared alone by a single user, even if he could clear the Trial of Persistence that quickly!]

“We may very well be underestimating the ‘user.’ If he has received official training from the rebels, he would be able to clear the dungeon slowly but surely.”

[Then the solution is simple. Do we still have command controls for the dungeon? Last I recalled we lowered the dungeon’s difficulty for novice users to train our successors better.]

“We do, but it is a one-way encrypted packet through our relays.”

[It is worth the risk. Increase the dungeon’s difficulty to its maximum. That should be enough to kill this ‘rogue’ use. And if it doesn’t, then he’ll serve as a good warmup for me.]