EXO-04

Aiden looked out of the fishbowl type window of the space station. A thick shell of ice and snow had covered the planetary body beneath the space station.

While standing here in the space station, outside the atmosphere of Exo-04, he found that an awful lot of satellites surrounded the planet.

"We should go down first." Charak attracted his attention. But looking at Aiden, who was engrossed with the view outside, he asked, "What are you looking for?"

"There are too many satellites in the atmosphere," said Aiden. Even if he couldn't put a finger to it, he still felt that something was wrong with the outside view.

"Oh!" When Charak looked outside, he felt that Aiden was right. However, unlike Aiden, who didn't know the reason, he had a little understanding of the reason.

"I am not too sure, but I have heard that it was because these arrays of satellites were constantly pumping Tradecon, that the weak atmosphere of the planet has stabilized."

'Mana to stabilize the atmosphere, huh?' Aiden wasn't too sure of the reason for that. Even if he knew about it, he wasn't sure that he would have understood.

"By the way, there is something I've been waiting to ask." Charak hesitated a little while and asked, "I know you have said it before but is it really true that those who can wield mana have a better chance of absorbing the beast essence?"

'Yes, I am the best example of it.' However, Aiden didn't dare to say it loud. He stared at the star of the system as he said, "Yes, that's what they said."

"So they can cultivate mana as well?"

'Oh!' Aiden understood what Charak wanted to point out. He replied, "Apparently, they can't, but according to them, the people of North Acirema could do that."

Listening to Aiden's words, he fell into deep thought. Wasting no more time, Aiden urged, "We should go down. It's almost time."

About 40 hours have passed since they had reached Exo-04. Luke left as soon as they reached the EXO-04. Leaving Aiden and Charak in the space station that he had booked for them.

Well, after travelling through the wormhole, he felt lethargic and tired. The feeling that they named Worm-lag.

He had to wait for Charak, although he recovered quickly. Now that he had also recovered, there was no reason to wait here any longer.

They both walked towards the driving shuttle. The shuttle that had been docked to their station to take them to the ground. Two soldiers were waiting for them, too.

As the descent began, Charak spoke again, "I am posted to stronghold 09. Although I will go to some research posts from time to time, I will mostly stay in the stronghold. You already have the contact address, contact me anytime."

Aiden nodded, but he didn't say much. Believing his silence as the result of nervousness, Charak added, "Don't worry, you won't be alone. There are many around your age. You will have no problem in making a friend."

'Friend?' Aiden had no such intention, and he chose to remain silent. But Charak didn't give up, "there will be many recruits around your age, as the Federation has decreased the minimum age of joining the army to 16. I heard it was a recruitment session. So there will be more."

"16?" groaned Aiden. 'What the hell are those bastards trying to do now? Sending 16 years old teenagers to the army?'

Charak had no problem understanding his confusions and said in an inaudible voice, "you might not know about it, but there is a deficiency in the army. As the aged soldiers who came from Earth were retiring, the army has weakened a lot. So…"

As the man with white hair continued to talk about the changes in the policies of the Federation, they didn't realize that they had reached the ground.

"Oh! We are already here." Charak's expression showed that he wanted to talk more, "Well, I have got to go to the stronghold, no. 09. As a recruit, you will head to the stronghold 11 for your seasoning training, but don't worry. The training will be over in one month, and I think Luke will find a way to move you to the stronghold 11."

With continuous chatter of Charak, they left the shuttle and…

'The mana concentration is higher than Earth.' The sheer amount of mana that was entering his body overwhelmed Aiden.

'It's like I have entered the mines again.' Aiden looked around to find that he was inside one of the hangers, but that didn't dampen the effect of the sheer amount of mana present around him.

'What are you doing?' Yet the cry within his mind interrupted his overwhelming sense of satisfaction. 'If you don't stop absorbing mana, your body will burst.'

"What?" Aiden exclaimed, 'What the hell are you talking about?' Mraz words made little sense to him, but Aiden could soon feel that he wasn't wrong.

Even if he couldn't see the specks of snow forming at the end of his hair, he could still see the layer of frost that covered his hand, and it was spreading.

'But I don't know how to stop mana absorption.' And that was the truth. Aiden used the cultivation techniques of eastern belief, which were developed in such a way that the body would continue to recover mana even when the host was asleep.

'Are you an idiot or something?' Mraz scolded him in his mind, 'Just stop the mana from circulating.'

His cultivation technique has changed, and so has the mana circulation path. But it was his habit that didn't.

In the previous cultivation techniques, mana continued to circulate to replenish his body. And when his dantian had filled up, the circulation would have stopped on its own.

However, the technique that Mraz had taught him was different. As long as mana circulates through his mana space, his body continues to absorb the mana around him and continues to produce the ice mana. However, there is a limit to how much his body can store it, so…

Aiden could feel that his overwhelming sense of satisfaction had been transformed into a bloated feeling as if he had eaten too much. He could feel the blood trickling down his nose, but he didn't have time to think about it.

He was quick to sit down on the cold metal floor and concentrated. He reappeared in his mana space at the next moment.

"How could there be so much ice here?" Below his feet were three feet of thick ice, and on the top of that was a thick blanket of snow. However, in the middle of the snow, the obelisk was glowing brightly.

"What are you waiting for? Stop circulating mana." Mraz's angry yell reminded him of the problem in his hand.

"But I don't know." And, again, it was the truth. However, it angered Mraz more. His face was like as if he was saying, 'How can you not know such a simple thing?'

"Obelisk, you idiot. Stop directing your mana to the obelisk. Direct your mana back to your heart, not to your mana stone."

"Oh!" Aiden understood what he meant and did as Mraz directed him. As a result, mana stopped entering his mana space. At the next moment, the radiant obelisk had lost all its brilliance.

As soon as he realized the connection with the mana was cut off, Aiden didn't waste any time in the mana space and opened his eyes. And the next moment, a thick taste of metal assaulted the back of his throat.

He tried to swallow it back, but it was too late. He vomited a mouth full of blood on the thick snow.

He took a few moments to overcome the sense of weakness. And after a few long breaths, his body relaxed again. Although the bloated feeling didn't disappear, he still had no trouble standing up. It was only then that he realized the problem.

"Wasn't I inside the hanger? How come there's so much snow?" Aiden looked around to find that a thick layer of snow was covering about two meters around him, and there was snow on his head and shoulders as well. Nevertheless, as he stood up, he shook off the excess snow.

"You? What was that? How the hell did the snow cover you out of nowhere?" Charak asked in a shaky voice. Excitement and nervousness made a mess of his expression.

And he wasn't alone, either. There were many eyes of soldiers, recruits and many people of unknown origins, who were preying upon his secret.

"What are you talking about?" Aiden had no intention of drawing attention to him, yet… he said to Charak in a loud voice, "Don't you know that my dantian was destroyed, and I can't control mana inside my body. Can't you see I am hurt?"

"What?" Charak was a little startled by Aiden's reaction. Looking at the blood-dyed snow and the blood that was still coming out of his nose, he knew Aiden wasn't lying.

"That happens when I go to places with high mana concentration. The mana makes a mess of my body. I just didn't expect the mana concentration to be so high."

He knew Aiden used to cultivate wind mana. But he couldn't understand how the snow appeared out of thin air around Aiden. He wanted to ask but...

"I should go now. I need to rest a little and my ride will leave soon." Aiden didn't dare to wait in the middle of the hangar where the snow under his feet was quickly turning into puddles.

He was quick to take the path that led to the shuttle dock no. 11, without giving Charak a chance to say a proper goodbye.

When he reached the dock no. 11, by taking the underway, he found that the place was much more crowded than he had thought.

After the guards checked his document, blood and iris, they gave him an ID before directing him for transport No. 02. Aiden didn't have to work hard to find the giant hologram in front of every transportation.

After swapping his ID over the entrance scanner, Aiden entered the 20-seat Levi-Transporter. He took a seat at the back of the transported and sat down. It took about ten more minutes to fill up the transport. It was the last person who walked in and took the last seat beside Aiden.

"Hello, I'm Jian. It's nice to meet you."