Then the human army’s expedition into the enemy territory entered a new phase. So Kudungga and Goto decided to send Meno as the leader of the expedition team since he was known to be able to discover things.
“Hah, looks like my service is still needed.” Meno who had become a middle-aged man sighed. He did not expect that he could participate in another Star Battle. But he also knew the significance of this Star Battle so he accepted the order.
He also went to the scientist team to gather all the test information as well as discoveries made by the human army in the st year.
“What brings you to our pce, Sir Meno?” one of the senior scientists greeted Meno.
“I want to gather every single information that can be obtained here. For example, is there any chance that the Undead as we cssified have some sort of a central unit? They must come from something to be able to ignite their Undead Fire…” Meno did not beat around the bush and directly stated what he needed to know.
The senior scientist gave Meno the necessary information as well as an additional device that served as a sample collector. It could be used to gather samples from the territory of the Undead.
After that, Meno gathered the men from the human army and let some of them enter the ranks of the special division.
“From heretofore, you are the one who will lead the human army as its pioneer. We will undoubtedly meet something beyond our current knowledge but we cannot falter! The only way to become successful in this division is forward! Remember that.”
That was the opening speech that Meno had said during the formation of the Pioneer Division. Their task was to be the spearhead of the human army, as well as reporting any discovery they made along the way.
After that, they went into the Undead territory with a lot of supplies as well as the protective suits and the special gas masks.
Meno led a thousand of his men from the established base around the rift to the depth of the Undead territory. Of course, behind them was the human’s army so they were not afraid. Every path they took, the human army followed suit.
They kept going until they arrived at a certain pce.
“What is this pce?” Meno had never seen such a spectacle. In front of him was a wide withered forest from the first impression. The entire tree had lost its vitality and stood there with the special energy floating around the tree. This also applied to the entire forest.
“From our special energy detection, the concentration of the special energy is twenty percent higher than the normal in the Undead territory.” One of the men reported to Meno. Meno looked at the energy detector and could see it for himself.
“We have to wait for our brothers behind us first.” Meno gave the order to halt the advance. He could not help but think about the special energy that the Undead used for their own source of energy.
In the words of the senior scientist, the special energy was like the air that humans breathe. It meant that without it, the Undead would not be able to move their body. As for their Undead Fire, it was akin to their soul, their consciousness, the center of their very being.
After seeing the human army come from behind, Meno continued the journey. Along the forest’s path that they opened up, there were numerous attacks from the Undead. They also had to stand their ground and wait until the army’s arrival to provide them with more safety.
Then they continued their journey only to discover a massive crater after they went through the forest. The crater was rge enough that the entire human army would fit right into it.
“Check the energy detector!” Meno did not know since he wore a protective suit but he felt that the concentration of the special energy had increased around the crater.
Some of the scientists who were on the field then checked the energy detector and discovered that the concentration of the special energy had reached fifty percent more than normal.
“Check if anyone has the symptom, now!” Meno ordered his men to be checked for symptoms regarding the special energy. He had to make sure that no one was hurt if he wanted to continue. He also felt that the source of the special energy of the Undead was being generated at the crater.
The check was thorough since this was reted to the safety of everyone. Fortunately, the increase in concentration did not affect the protective suit they wore. But Meno had to be extremely careful when approaching the crater.
Every few hundred steps, he would check the condition of his men. Then the human army behind them could also move after the check was done. Not only that but Meno also noticed that the assault from the Undead had increased with every step he took.
“Is this really some important pce?” Meno thought while murmuring his words.
Under the sound of the flintlocks being fired as well as the artillery, Meno and his division finally arrived at the center of the crater.
“This pce…is this…” Meno saw a beautiful scene. There were many dim lights around them. From the color, it was the same as the Undead Fire but they were much smaller. But when Meno got closer, he could see that the dim fire was actually the smaller version of the Undead Fire.
“Quickly check this pce!” Meno ordered his men and several scientists became busy. They gathered some samples from the ground as well as from the air. They also caught some of the dim fire as well. But of course, Meno had already formed a perimeter so that the scientist would not be disturbed.
-
“They finally reached the Undead Pool after a year. What a fast speed.” Dian watched what was happening and could not help but feel pleased with them. Despite the hard journey, the human managed to reach that pce.
As for what the humans would do to that pce, of course they would conduct several experiments as well as bringing back some samples to the boratory which was located on their home pnet.
Dian could also see that the Pnet Master who was also his opponent was in anguish. It was because his Undead could not prevent the human from invading their territory. Furthermore, they were defeated quite miserably.
-
“We are going to make this area exclusive to the scientific team. All we have to do is to safeguard them.” Meno said to the rest of his division.
“Understood.” His subordinates replied and spread out to give their orders. Meno also went to the scientific team to get the test information regarding the dim fire he had seen before.
Upon arriving at the designated location, he found some dim fires trapped inside a gss bottle. He also noticed that the bottle itself was a bit more transparent compared to the usual bottle that was used to store liquid.
“Have you found out what is this dim fire?” Meno asked the senior scientist.
“From our observation, they look like the embryonic form of the Undead Fire. The way they fred up and flickered is simir. But we are not certain yet so our conclusion is that this dim fire is something simir to the Undead Fire but different.” The senior scientist replied.
“Is that so? What else do you discover?”
“Well, this pce is more concentrated with the special energy from the Undead. There must be a reason for that. Furthermore, the crater's center is the one we need to pay attention to.”
“Why is that?”
The senior scientist saw that Meno was interested in the progress of the discovery on the field so he replied quickly, “It is because the army confirmed that the Undead has been risen in the area. We eliminate any undead that appears but still, this is new to us!”
“Yeah, I can see that the scientists around me are excited. So this means that this pce is where the Undead are born or something to that effect?”
“More or less. But we have something to tell you as the leader of the Pioneer Division as well as a fellow human being…”
Meno who had heard it then wore a serious face and listened to what the senior scientist said. What the senior scientist said next surprised Meno so much that he almost could not believe it.
“One of the soldiers in the human army’s rank can withstand the effect of the special energy produced in this pce.”
So far, no human could withstand the symptoms from interacting with the special energy. But now the senior scientist cimed that someone finally could.
“Where is he?” Meno asked, curiosity filled his heart.
“He is actually in this pce, being dragged here for the purpose of further observation.”
Then Meno got the location of the observation subject and walked there. When he arrived, he saw one person without any protective suit and a special gas mask standing in the middle of a clearing.
Meno could see that the air around the person was gathering around him. With him as the center, the special energy was absorbed into his body. He looked fine but his skin was white and his eyes were dark blue in color.
The same color as the Undead Fire.
The man who saw Meno then moved closer and greeted Meno with a military salute, “Sir, what can I do for you?”
“Are you fine?” Meno asked. He was initially concerned but suppressed that feeling.
“As you can see, I feel like I can run for another hundreds of kilometers. I am not kidding.”
“Is that so?” Meno did not know the details but one thing was for sure. There was some sort of condition for humans to be able to adapt to the special energy emitted by the pce they currently were. He did not know what that was but with the scientific team there, it was only a matter of time.
Meno visited the man often and saw what he was capable of. It was as if the man had inexhaustible energy inside him. The scientists who had checked on him were astonished by that fact and conducted some tests. They also collected his body sample like his skin and hair.
For the result of the sample, they could only wait. Meanwhile, the man himself felt that the current pce was suitable for him. It felt like he could utilize the special energy that many people feared.
But at the same time, he also started to lose the sensation of his sense of touch. Every time he touched things, he barely perceived the touch sensation. It felt like his skin was numb but the man thought that this was probably the effect of absorbing the special energy to his body.
He reported this to the senior scientist. He also reported that he could sustain himself with the special energy, meaning he could do without food or drink.
Of course, the senior scientist did not believe him blindly but conducted another test. This time, it was the test of endurance where the subject would not be given any food or drink. The result was that the man indeed could survive without food or drink.
The man was not surprised at this result. The man was happy that he could contribute to the human race regarding the progress of development of the special energy.
Meanwhile, Meno was tasked to eliminate the Undead that appeared in the far east of the crater. So far, the human army had exterminated every undead they had encountered. He complied and did as was ordered.
As time passed, more progress regarding the Undead Pool came out. Even Dian informed some of the scientists of the name of the pce through the Library of Consciousness. It was a far more effective method to convey information.
Of course, Dian passed the information to the consciousness inside not directly.
Year Thirty-Two of the Father God.
One more year had passed and the humans had pnned to take the entire Undead Pool to their pnet side. Of course, this caused serious problems not only for the opposite Pnet Master but also Dian.
Dian also thought about it and pnned to pced the Undead Pool on a separate space that was accessible to the human race in the case of pnet assimition. Due to the assimition st time, the diameter of the pnet had increased once again.
[Pnet Size: 4150km in diameter]
Dian looked at his front and saw the opposite Pnet Master gred at him. Dian felt this way because the Undead Fire on the socket of his eyes flickered and his gesture pointed to that fact.
“Hmm, why don’t you just surrender? Prolonging this battle is just a waste of time.” Dian said as a matter of fact.
“I won’t surrender damnit! How can your race be fine after all of the undead that was send their way!?” the opposite Pnet Master seemed like he could not accept the result.
“They are better equipped and prepared. Furthermore, they are inquisitive. While it is true that such inquisitiveness can lead to death, it also leads to improvement.” Dian replied.
The proof was that some people died due to interacting with the special energy from the Undead Pool. But some of them could live their life better due to the same special energy. Dian started to understand the condition for not getting the symptoms of the special energy.
It was affinity. Some humans had such affinity with special energy and this was innate.
“Well, the victory condition is the same anyway. Look!” Dian said while the notification windows popped out one after another. It announced the result of the Star Battle.
[The Star Battle of the first rank has concluded]
[Congratutions to the Pnet Master, winning the Star Battle]
[Settlement is in progress…]
[Settlement complete! The loser will be at the mercy and discretion of the winner]
[You have obtained 10000 energy points]
[Warning! The loser’s pnet is being assimited with the winner’s pnet. Please utilize your control as a Pnet Master so that your pnet will not fall into chaos!]
As usual, Dian controlled the rate of assimition. As such, the Cerulean Pnet experienced another great disaster. Ocean moved and the earth shook slightly. Of course, Dian kept the ruckus to the minimum while he checked the item he had obtained.
It was actually the Undead Pool that the other Pnet Master had.
Of course, Dian had informed the human army’s leaders, Kudungga and Goto regarding their victory and advised them to leave the pnet of the opponents.
The human civilization was quite shocked by such movements of the earth and the sea. But they calmed down since the effect was some buildings were shaken and nothing more. But this also served as a lesson to human civilization regarding building an anti-disaster structure.
“Please, you have already lost. There is no shame losing to Master.” At one moment, Leif appeared and said this to the ex-Pnet Master who stood still.
“What do you mean?”
“I believe that the new race that Master created will reach the highest pce within the Universe Council. Furthermore, Master is quite merciful as he did not straight up kill you when you lost.” Leif expined.
Dian was silent. Of course, he knew that such things existed. But he would rather use the former Pnet Master for his own purpose. Besides, they could be killed with just a thought from him. That was the thing that deterred them from betraying him after all.
“…”
It looked like some time was needed for this ex-Pnet Master to adapt to his new role. Dian did not mind giving him some time so Dian left him in the Pnet Master’s space.
Besides, he had acquired the Undead Pool which could generate the undead race. From the looks of it, the Undead Pool was an F-rank item. Dian knew that the Undead Pool produced what humans called special energy but as a Pnet Master, he knew exactly what that was.
“Undead Element is incompatible with the living beings of my pnet.”
Dian thought for a moment before he settled for a pce to create the special space to pce the Undead Pool.
“I can pce this within the pace, can I?” when he thought about that, Dian felt that was the most suitable choice.
He then appeared with the usual manifestation. A rge cloud was gathering as lightning struck countless times before the cloud formed a humanoid figure above the pace.
“From now on, the Undead Pool will be in another space in the pace. There will be a portal hole that connects the pce to the special space where I will pce the Undead Pool. Use it wisely.”
A loud voice reverberated through the entire heaven and earth. Goto who had seen it knew what must be done. He bowed to the humanoid figure.
“I accept the grace from Father God.”
From that moment, the Undead Pool became the property of the kingdom.
