Rift

A few seconds later, the two reached sub-level five. The moment the doors opened, the blue glow at the center of the room caught Percy's attention.

Like in a trance, he slowly made his way to the huge ore.

"Wait! Stop right there!" yelled a voice.

Percy stopped on his tracks and turned to the middle aged man in a lab coat that called him.

"Who are you? And how did you get here?" he asked.

Percy only stayed silent which unnerved the older man.

"Doctor Orquez. This is my brother and Tabogon Base's new second-in-command, Lt. Col. Percy Ashtein. Percy, this is the head researcher, Dr. Adonis Orquez."

Percy saluted while Adonis just stared at him.

"You, how old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"So young? Are you a wielder?"

"Yes."

"Can I ask for a blood sample? And maybe even do observations once in a while?"

Percy was unsure on what to do and turned to his brother who was forcing himself not to laugh.

"I'm afraid that would be impossible Dr. Orquez." he said once he calmed down and received Percy's unspoken words. "Percy and his team have special circumstances. If you want to have a check-up on them, you will need permission from the Governor-General and the Chief of Cebu Research Center."

"Eh? So complicated."

"Well..."

"How unfortunate. And his energy levels are off the roof as well."

Percy only muttered a sorry but the head researcher seemed unsatisfied. He would have to watch out for the guy in the future. He thought about the absurd complications if one wanted something from him, they needed the Governor-General's approval and if it was medical concerns, they would need the Chief of CRC's approval.

It wasn't like he wanted it. Even with an early start with military training and an A-Rank relic like Akeras, it was impossible to reach his current level using normal means. To become the Jack-Level wielder that he was, a lot of work, both scientific and military, were made. Although, he was announced as a Level 7 wielder to the public to avoid a lot of questions.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Daniel's voice rise inside the room.

"HA?! Layers?!"

"Yes. So far, we have taken about three and each layer is getting harder and harder. But the energy is also getting stronger." Adonis explained.

Percy studied the blue orb inside the room. It was made from the same energy ore that could power up an entire battleship for three years, and the size to do that would only be as big as a regular dog. But the ore inside the room was ten, no, fifteen times bigger than him. It was probably the biggest energy ore in existence! And none of them were willing to announce it to the world.

"We suspect each layer has a different age." Adonis showed them an analysis. "Yesterday, the first layer we scraped off was aged ten years. This means, it took ten years for that layer to coat the ore and solidify. The second layer is twenty years while the third one is thirty. If we go by that pattern, each layer should be ten years older as we go deeper."

"And how many layers are there?" Percy asked.

"We're not sure yet, but we're estimating about thirty to forty more layers."

"Which means that ore is approximately more than four hundred years old?"

Energy ore. It was very useful and it was discovered by the end of the twenty-first century. Since its discovery it was mostly used by the military and was directly controlled by the government. And what made it convenient was that it can be replenished. That was why energy ore mines were important. Even if they empty out an area within the mine, it would be replenished after ten years. Nobody was really sure how they were formed, but researchers said it was a condensed form of unknown energy from the bowels of the earth that solidified. It was akin to precious gems like diamonds, rubies, etc. but more mysterious.

"We have also tested the surrounding ores and the oldest one we found dates back to two thousand years ago."

Daniel could only express his astonishment. Percy was surprised as well, but it didn't show on his face.

He studied the energy ore. Somehow, he felt something pulling him to it. Without really meaning to, he touched it. It was only a few seconds, but he could feel it. A pulse inside the ore.

All of a sudden, he couldn't retract his hand and the ore started glowing...

***

Major Rico Pestaño was on duty in the command center. Although most of the security work was made by Tierra, he did check-up the system once in a while.

Suddenly, alarms started to ring inside the base.

"Tierra! What's going on?" he asked.

The female AI immediately responded, [A disturbance in the dimensional field of Kal-anan Area has been detected.]

"Inform the colonel at once!"

Tierra was based on the system once used to detect warden rifts a long time ago. One could only marvel at the creation of such AI, which was created by Madame Ivy Ashtein, wife of Cebu Administrative Region's Governor-General.

Daniel arrived at the command center at top speed, but Percy wasn't with him.

[Colonel, reporting the appearance of two rook-rank wardens, one is air-based while the other is land-based.] informed Tierra. [Energy signature of a knight-rank is confirmed inside the rift. Size and type unconfirmed.]

This was what all countries had been afraid of; the return of the wardens. The hero may have closed the biggest rift ever recorded and defeated one queen-rank and various bishop-ranks, but it only bought them a short time. They have had simulations and trainings on how to deal at such situations, but it had been more than fifty years since the last warden attack and the people who had experience in fighting against them were either dead or old.

"Mobilize the 3rd squad to confront the land-based warden they will act as support to Captain Castillo and Captain Fuentes. Major Bautista and Major Canillo will deal with the air-based warden with 6th squad in support! Evacuate all civilians in Kal-anan Area!"

Members of the Zero Squad immediately assembled in the command center.

"Colonel! Where is our captain?" asked Cam. The absence of Zero Squad's leader made them uneasy.

"Something happened. Don't worry, if worse comes to worst, I will personally back you up."

They were suspicious, but they had no other choice but to sortie.

Daniel was worried. Somehow, his brother collapsed after the ore downstairs glowed brightly. And he had a sneaking suspicion that the glow was somehow related to the sudden reappearance of the wardens.