Knowing that the shadow was their commander, the knights flinched and instantly got into formation before reporting, “Co-Commander, we didn’t manage to discover the signs of the kid. Should we continue the search?”
Hearing what the knights were reporting, Commander Johanson’s eyes suddenly became frosty while an aura of bloodlust pervaded the area.
“No need… I just found the corpse of Knight Robert’s group.”
““WHATT?”” A shock and disbelief look couldn't be hidden from the knights’ facial expression as that statement reached their ears.
‘Impossible! they were all a 2nd Rank Warrior and was trained as a Knight Apprentice, also Robert himself was at the peak of the Rank.’ They could feel cold sweats started dripping down on their backs.
“Just follow me.” Commander Johanson turned his back before going somewhere in the depth of the forest. The other knights could only follow him subserviently in the back.
Not long after, they reached a place that couldn't be forgotten in their life. Their comrades, which they had shared quite a deep bond with, died horribly.
“What kind of monster has done this?” One of the knights couldn’t help but blurt out in shock.
Seeing that the other knights were also confused and bewildered, Commander Johanson replied unperturbed by the sight of this.
“It wasn’t caused by a monster, somebody had done this, possibly a Magus as the way they got killed wasn’t caused by a sharp weapon.”
Just then, someone pointed at two corpses of knights that were split in two.
“Commander, how come those two were cut so clean? It’s impossible to cut them like that unless the doer is very strong or using a Magic Tool.”
“Those two were an exception, even I myself ain’t capable to cut a knight clean like that." A flash of cold light was emitted from the Commander’s eyes.
‘An official knight like Commander Johanson cannot do that? What kind of being we are dealing with?’ Every one of the knights started having goosebumps upon thinking this.
“WHOSE BASTARD HAS DONE THIS?” Knight Erick’s eyes went bloodshot as he gazed at his close comrade’s one-handed corpse.
“I’ll KILL him!!!” He then punched a tree at the side and made it toppled.
“Calm your emotion, Knight Erick!” Commander Johanson glared at him before finding that he calmed down and continued, “No matter what, that child would have died anyway if she were to encounter a Magus.”
‘She could only blame her unique constitution for being too rare, as there aren't many Magus that able to hold themselves upon seeing it.'
One of the reasons why he believed it was caused by a Magus because there wasn't any trace left behind in the surrounding, making the assumption convincible.
Commander Johanson then walked to the front before ordering, “Forget the girl, although we didn’t manage to bring her back with us, there’s still one more objective we’re here!”
““it’s... to find the falling star.””
As that statement escaped from all the knight's mouth, all of them trembled and a sound of gulping could be heard here and there.
“Commander, is it true that a precious magical resource could be found from a falling star?”
The Commander nodded before explaining, “Not only a magical resource, if we were lucky, we might even find a Magic Equipment.”
‘Magic Equipment!’ Every knight here flinched in disbelief; cold sweat started emerging on their hand before a greedy look formed on their eyes.
“Let’s go.”
Subsequently, Commander Johanson took out some kind of a colonial watch before walking into a random direction, as if knowing the location of the falling star like the back of his hand. The knights followed him subserviently in a formation that was leaving no blind spot.
***
My eyes stared at the landscape projection of the hologram which had been free of tracks leading to the ship. I had set up some precautions in case they still managed to find the remaining trace. Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything to the knights’ corpses since the drones weren't equipped to deal with it.
“Now that it’s done, I think it’s about time to continue the project that I left behind.” As I muttered to myself, I left the control room and went to the storage room.
Inside, the two devices that I left enter my eyesight. The MFS was still running and still producing iron, although the amount produced only amounted to a peanut-sized. I moved toward the Super Charger at the side before taking out the Technology Cube and the Golden Star Dust from the dimensional storage.
I think the Golden Star Dust should be put in here and the Technology Cube on top of the pedestal.
After putting the Technology Cube, I waited for half a minute, but nothing seemed to happen. The tapping sound of my shoe kept appearing as a frown emerged on my forehead.
“Nothing? Did I just got deceived? Fuck this device!”
Just then, a sudden rhyming sound pervaded the room. The Technology Cube was shaking around as the energy from the Golden Star Dust was being inserted. A while later, a line carving emerged on it and light came out from the gap. As the cube expanded, something akin to a red crystal ball could be seen at the core of the cube.
Figured, that’s how to do it. So, this is what activating a Technology Cube looks like, huh… Just then, the Technology Cube stopped shaking and stayed silent in place.
Is that it? The Technology Cube is empty? Did I just have endangered myself from the pirate for this empty cube? All of this amounted to nothing!
Suddenly from the red crystal ball, a projection of a hologram came out. My eyes and mouth couldn't help but flinch in complications upon seeing the content of the hologram.
“This roller coaster of emotion does makes me pissed off… but this wasn’t just a normal Technology Cube, this is… something even greater.”
What was on the hologram wasn’t one kind of cutting-edge technology that I had predicted, but an entire collection of the Human Race’s technology. Military, medical, daily life technology, and many others existed in this cube. Even the Stone Age technology to make a fire and stone axe was present there.
Finally, I accepted the fact that the sight was true after closing my eyes multiple times and began to ponder deeply, what kind of fool would place the entirety of Human technology on this cube? If it just about a simple technology from the Stone Age to pre-Singularity Age which happens before the 2050s, everybody had those. Guess, that’s fine since it still benefits me.
Afterward, I rummaged the content of the cube and realized that the technology in there didn’t include the newest cutting-edge technology. Still, it included a technology that has already been widely used and still quite new.
Well, there’s no such thing as a free meal in this world. How could such a good fortune just fall into me? But even this much would be a golden goose if used wisely. After all, knowledge is power.
When I was still astonished by the content of the cube, ATA suddenly cut my reverie as she frostily reported, [“Host, Lillie seems to have difficulty with using the room’s equipment.”]
“Hmm? I’ll come there now."
Simultaneously, I stored the already powered Technology Cube back into my dimensional storage before going out to Lillie’s room. As I reached her room, I noticed that the wall was creaking. I scratched my cheek as a wry smile formed on my mouth.
This… I should have explained it to her earlier.
Without further ado, I got into the room and saw Lillie trembling in the corner of the room. Knowing it was me that get into the room, Lillie gazed at me with her pitiful look while stuttering, “V-Victor, help me….”
Confused by Lillie’s sudden requested for help, a pack of dire wolves suddenly appeared. It then stood above a cliff before howling as the bright crescent moon illuminated them. Ahh… it’s a hologram movie, no wonder she was so scared.
Although my spaceship was old, hologram movies had been invented centuries ago, so it was normal to be installed in a personal room like this. I approached a small device near a hologram before turning it off; Therefore, making the scene of the night full of dire wolves vanished in an instant as if it had been a hallucination.
“Done, I’ve taken care of those creatures.”
"Really?" Lillie raised her head a little and tried to peek around, realizing that it was back to normal, a smile formed on her face before she clung to me, “Thank you for saving me again.”
Wha… This girl always surprises me for some reason.
My arms were raised to the air, uncertain of what I should do. The sound of frosty ATA abruptly butted in and destroyed my train of thought, [“Reporting! A group of 16 knights were approaching the direction of the ship!”]
“What! How?”
