Chapter 204 - Research Facility

Mari could feel her breath brush against her cheeks, trapped within the gas mask as it fogged up the visor she wore, her vision cloudy.

Before she could instinctively reach up to clear her visor, a stern hand grabbed her arm tightly. “Not until the tent is cleared,” Kyle warned.

“I can’t see a single thing in this gas mask; it’s not the right fit.”

“I didn’t bring you in here to use your normal vision.” Kyle motioned to the cocoon. “Focus on the flow, and tell me what you see. How much arcia energy is going in?”

Mari closed her eyes, controlling her breath while she focused her mind, attempting to observe the surrounding arcia energy. To her surprise, the surrounding arcia energy was completely dormant, still as dust on a long-forgotten table.

However, the flow within the cocoon was far different. “There’s no arcia energy going in from the inside, but there’s erratic releases of arcia energy inside happening all over the cocoon. I… I can’t even see the shape of the human inside anymore. The flow is chaotic and not the usual human internal energy flow.”

“What shape is the flow?”

“It looks humanoid but vastly different, and the shape is changing over time as well.”

“Is the shape increasing or decreasing?”

“Increasing? No… it’s decreasing. The flow is compacting into a denser network.”

Kyle furrowed his brows. I initially thought this was a slovesa viral weapon – one designed to transform humans into hybrids. He had fought against the weapon in the past, but the weapon did not work based on arcia energy, and it usually enlarged the hybrid rather than compacting it.

“Clear out the tent, everyone else out,” Kyle ordered the doctors, himself now unsure of what was going to come out of the cocoon anymore.  Only he and Mari remained, Mari entirely focused on repeating what she saw.”

“The arcia energy is concentrating even further. It seems to be concentrating into discrete points… the flow is being separated… the shape isn’t humanoid anymore…”

Each word Mari spoke only drove Kyle into further confusion, wondering what the hell was happening. He quickly called for Nox and Yona on an arctech radio, asking for potential guesses.

[I never heard anything of the sort. We do have a few parasitic insects that use human hosts for seeds in the Hwa Dynasty, but not anything based on arcia energy like what you’re describing.] Yona explained. [The closest I can think of is that – if it is a parasitic insect, you will have to make sure the place and your suit are airtight.]

“Done.” Kyle rechecked the makeshift seals on his exosuit and ensured Mari was also adequately protected.

However, over the next few minutes, the transformation that Mari was reporting started to become visible on the surface of the human-shaped cocoon, the exterior shell transforming into what looked like tentacles, snaking towards the tent's floor before jabbing straight down into the ground.

Mari was completely lost now, while Kyle was also out of his depth, never having seen such a transformation before. It was impossible to know all forms of alien life, even in the Galactic Era.

The cocoon slowly began to transform into an elongated shape, the tentacles taking root in the area around the tent before solidifying once more into hardened trunks. From the center of the cocoon, branches erupted, fractally splitting into more and more before it formed something akin to a coral reef, the shell pulsating.

A blech resounded through the tent, spores erupting forth from small little crevices on the trunk of the coral tree, spreading across the tent and coating everything in a light green biofilm of sorts. Another pulse of arcia burst outwards again, sending ripples that crashed into Kyle and Mari, causing Mari to be shaken out of her focused mode.

[Sir! The mineral ants are reacting!] Nox warned on the arctech radio, Kyle readying his Spear of Defiance to take down the abomination as quickly as possible.

With a sudden lurch, the coral reef lashed forward, its branches acting as limbs attempting to ensnare Kyle and Mari in a torrent of whips.

“Shit!” Mari exclaimed, summoning arcia energy at her hand before she quickly noticed her gloves beginning to smoke.

“Don’t cast arcia energy – you’ll burn off your protection!” Kyle warned, immediately attacking with the Spear of Defiance and slicing off the branches with the sharp edge. In a combo of precise moves, he struck and cleaved all the branches from their roots, yet he did not finish off the coral yet.

“Keep it alive; we need to research it better. Have the researchers and arctech designers prepare a proper facility to hold this specimen.” Kyle ordered Nox and Yona over the radio. “And get a veteran squad in, rotation duty to ensure the specimen stays docile until further notice.”

ADCON forces kicked into action, the engineers and construction crew quickly working round the clock to build a temporary holding cell with isolation first. At the same time, the relieved doctors evacuated their equipment from the quarantine tent, but not before removing every trace of the biofilm.

“What the hell was that?” Mari exclaimed to Kyle as they stepped out of the air fumigation shower.

“Hostile fauna.” Kyle nonchalantly replied, further proving his strict requirements for an airtight exosuit. He glanced at Mari, who was still fighting tooth and nail with the biofilm of spores that now coated her cleanroom suit. “You don’t have an exosuit yet…”

“Why? Do I need one? Can’t I just wear the default armor?”

“Not when you can’t even conjure arcia energy without burning off your gloves. Unless you’re telling me you can concentrate arcia energy without touch?”

Mari sighed, knowing that she had yet to advance to such a manipulation stage. Right now, she could only really control the arcia energy that was present in her body or that her body was touching. “I just… I need to feel it; it needs to be an extension of me.”

“Until you get to that point, you’ll need a custom exosuit to ensure you’re safe. We need to deploy a team down to the same cavern where these scouts tried to enter and determine how to neutralize this threat.”

Once they cleared all the biofilm, the two of them returned to the operations room, the others already gathered there and discussing countermeasures. Sasha was already busy adding decontamination and quarantine zones to the forward operating base.

“Based on the reaction of the mineral ants, we can safely judge that the detection ability of the mineral ants is not by scent. The quarantine tent was airtight and filtered, so no scent should have made it out to allow the mineral ants to sense anything.” Nox started.

“Agreed.” Ollie nodded. “We’ll need to focus our efforts on arcia energy. Sending a research team ASAP will be the best for now, but the suits need to be airtight.”

“I’ll talk to the manufacturing team for progress, and whether they can make prototypes now.”

“What about the research facility? How would you like the design done?” Yona asked, showing a basic design.

“We will encounter a lot more living creatures. Have as many holding cells as possible within the given area. Ensure the entire facility is separated from the main compound and any nearby buildings, I don’t want any infection spreads or wild monsters carving up residents. Hire as many alchemists and wildlife experts as necessary, especially locals of the Keru Forest who may have encountered this before.” Kyle explained.

“Sounds like a wildlife research facility. I can assign someone to lead the efforts.”

“You already have someone in mind?”

“Drake. He was a village leader, someone you brought over.”

Kyle had honestly completely forgotten about Drake. Pacifists tend to be forgotten quickly in his line of work. “I’m surprised that he’s still sticking around.”

“He’s been helming the potion industry, working on the Poair Leaves plantation and other seeds you brought over from the Culdao Peaks. I believe he has knowledge of the wildlife in the Keru Forest, so his skills may be able to improve our research effort and directions when encountering unknown creatures or plants.”

“…good idea, but I still want you as overall in charge.” Kyle concluded, leaving the operations room for the workshop with Nox and Ollie. I can’t have Drake holding me back with his morals, especially when I would need to conduct ‘specific’ experiments on the creatures/plants collected…

The ADCON manufacturing department was on track, already implementing Kyle’s long list of requirements for the standardized exosuits. A very basic prototype had already been created by the engineers, using Kyle’s current exosuit as a template.

“How soon can you make a few preliminary prototypes? We need at least the airtight requirement as well as the combat movement.” Kyle inquired.

“In three days’ time.” An engineer calculated quickly. “But it won’t be a perfect fit – a custom fitting would take much longer. And the slots for ingesting food have yet to be designed as well.”

“Not a problem.” Kyle only wanted the team to probe the exterior of the cavern, not planning for any long-duration stays or going too deep. If they needed to eat, they could simply just leave the cavern on foot. “What about the repair material?”

The list of requirements that Kyle had for the exosuit also included the ability to store repair material that could seal gaps on the spot where necessary.

The engineer scratched his chin, obviously unsure. “We’re still working on that. The current design draft is looking at using arctech welders to seal gaps, otherwise, all we can think of is clay. More research has to be done on unique materials that can be slathered on.”

The term ‘unique materials’ gave Kyle an idea. “Nox, tell Yona to focus the research efforts of the new facility on whether the cocoon material can be used for automatically repairing holes.”

Nox could only give him a flabbergasted look. “You want to use the viral spores within our armor suits? We’re not even immune to it ourselves!”

“Weird, I thought you would be more open to weaponizing chemical weapons.”

“Sure, but that’s because I know we can have gas mask filters. The viral spores you’re suggesting will already be next to our body!”

“Everything can be solved with time.” Kyle was utterly confident that there was a way to prevent infection or even have his soldiers be immune to it. Obviously, more research would have to be done, but if the Galactic Era had taught Kyle anything, it was that everything could be solved with science. Or a lot of force.

Nox didn’t argue anymore, relaying the order to Yona. Kyle continued his inspection of the basic prototype of the exosuit. As of now, the current draft could only fulfill the airtight requirement and the combat movements, with slightly lacking finesse in how the armor was layered or stacked. From a glance, Kyle could already tell it would be very uncomfortable.

“See to it that six wearable prototype exosuits are ready in three days’.” Kyle ordered. “I know this is a leap from the original month-long timeline we set forth, but we are in a critical situation now. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

The scouting mission was planned out as well, with Ollie and two other arctech engineers to follow two scouts into the tunnel network, with Mari slated to protect all of them. It was to be her solo mission, one in which she would prove herself capable of operating independently.

Naturally, Kyle was not going to keep his eye off her, planning to stay within range so as to be able to respond quickly to any weird scenarios. I need her to be self-sufficient, just like Sasha is. But as she is young and brash, it would take more time for trust to build.

If it were any other non-essential subordinate, Kyle would have let her go entirely on her own, but seeing as she was the only mage in his entire group, he felt it was necessary to ensure her safety at all costs. Losing her would be like losing a galactic-class capital ship, or an entire moon’s arsenal of nuclear or antimatter weapons.

At least, that was what Kyle used as the exterior reason for why he needed to protect Mari. Deep down, his subconscious heart knew the true reason.