The Lost Super-Hero

Chapter 9.2 - Down Under (2)

He continued to search until he found something that caught his attention. It was a giant orb floating in the middle of a vast and empty room. It was pulsating with energy. Nolen felt a sense of familiarity when he saw it. He approached cautiously and then realized what it was. It was one of the relics of an old civilization. It was a machine that supplied the ruins with magic similar to a reactor, but instead of energy, it produced magic energy.

Nolen remembered from the ancient texts he translated that they used this device to harvest the mana from the atmosphere. It must be the power source of the magnetic field. The colossal relic looked sturdy, even if it had been here for thousands of years.

"Romy, begin scanning the relic. Let's see what it is and if we can use it. Also, check if the guardian of this place is still active and deactivate it." Nolen said with a slight excitement in his voice.

Romy flew around the object in her Crystal Drone form and started scanning it. A few minutes later, she returned to Nolen.

"Scans have been completed, and it appears to be the energy source we were searching for. Based on what we have gathered, it is safe to absorb its energy. Fortunately, I also discovered the guardian, but we were lucky not to trigger it. I was able to deactivate it safely."

"What happens to the object after we absorb the energy?" Nolen asks.

"It's supposed to become inactive again until it accumulates enough mana. According to the archive, this relic was the city's power source. However, since the city no longer exists and nothing works here except for the knowledge crystal we obtained earlier, the relic has been accumulating energy and bleeding its surplus energy. Hence, the gravity field that we felt was from that."

"All right, let's try it," Nolen says with anticipation.

Nolen approached the device and reached out to touch it. He felt a tingling sensation in his hand as he touched it.

He felt his body get energized and get some of its strength back.

"I'm going to use the power of this thing and bring a few systems back online. Hopefully, it will help me a bit," Romy explains.

Nolen then grabs the relic and starts absorbing its energy for Romy. He feels his strength and stamina increase bit by bit as well. It also helps him regain some strength.

After successfully restoring the communication network, Romy established communication with the Spear of Andromeda, a Bastion Class exploration spaceship that brought Nolen to Earth. The vessel was linked to Romy, and when it was discovered that Nolen was being taken somewhere, the spacecraft followed them through the space rift that the hero summoning had created as best as possible.

"I have good news, and I have bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" Romy asks.

"Good news first. I’m hoping to hear something positive for once," Nolen said as he walked towards the structure's exit.

"I have some news to share with you. I could contact my main body, the spaceship, as it followed us through the space rift created by the hero's summoning. The good news is that it caught up with us, but the bad news is that it used all its energy to do so and sustained significant damage. Although the space rift did not affect us, possibly due to the magic of the hero summoning, it did affect the ship, which only has a few critical systems that are still operational. Unfortunately, most systems on my main body were also affected, so repairing and restoring power will take some time. It uses some of its remaining power to maintain orbit above us."

"Well, better than nothing, I guess?" Nolen asked.

"Just be glad it's intact. If Andromeda, my main body, is still intact, I can fix it and maybe find a way back home," Romy explained.

Romy then exited Nolen's body and created three duplicates.

"All right, let's get to work; all I have for now is my ability to create duplicate drones. 3 is my limit; once I get more power back, I will start repairing the different systems on Andromeda."

“You can do that since that's all we can do now.”

Nolan and Romy journeyed back to the outside with the help of the three drones Romy created. The drones searched the corridors, allowing them to move faster. Nothing was left of the ruins, so their trip back was uneventful.

Nolan collected various materials like skin, fur, and meat from the creatures he fought while exploring the cave. Apart from golems, other weaker creatures made the ruins their home over time. Eventually, he reached a point where he couldn't carry any more items. Fortunately, Romy could repair one of the transporters on her main body, partially bringing it online while fixing her systems.

The teleportation device only functions within a specific scanning range and cannot transport anything complex, like living organisms. Additionally, due to its limited power source, it can only be used a few times a day. Despite this, the device was successfully used to transport harvested materials, allowing Nolen to keep only what he needed for immediate use.

As they exited the caves, Romy contacted Andromeda and used the power they gained from the relic to power Andromeda's systems for a few minutes. They did a quick scan of their area.

"I have good news and bad news again," Romy said as they continued to walk toward the surface.

"Give me the good news first."

"Ok, let me show you the instead," Romy said as she continued her scanning and teleported a few items from the cave to the backpack.

"I was able to scan the area and found a large deposit of metal from a volcanic area just a few kilometers away from our current location. The bad news is I cannot find anything resembling a city or even a town for miles."

"I will keep that in mind. What are you scanning for now?" Nolen asked.

I am attempting to locate a safe route to the deposit. Due to my damage and low power, I hesitate to teleport any living things until all systems are operational.

"Understood, just ensure we don't face anything too big to handle."

"Don't worry. I am scanning the area, and we can see any monsters lurking nearby."

"Do you have enough power to scan the deposit?"

"It is hard to say, but I believe I can get a quick scan," Romy mentioned and started to prepare for the scan.

"Okay, I will start scanning now."

Romy was scanning the deposit when she realized they weren't alone. She found something. A few miles away from Nolan was a fight.

She did give it a quick look and marked it on the map.

"I have marked the copper deposit and our route, but I found something more interesting. A fight occurs between a humanoid-like creature and a wing-lizard-type creature."

"Interesting, let's head there and look, shall we? Nolen looked at the area Romy mentioned.