Giant Oaf

֍ 28th June 2008 ֍

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"Rock… I think we've found it."

"Conduct a full analysis and send the report directly to Sir Carter."

"Affirmative, Bik."

Two Androids communicated with each other after reaching the underground cavern below the compacted layer of Antarctica ice.

They were part of a large team sent from the Spatial Ark Star World to find the location of the gate leading to Earth's counterpart world.

Bik sent through its report to Carter as it left the underground cavern with Rock while creating a safe passage to the gate from the outside.

Another team in the underground caverns also discovered items of various significance.

Deposits of minerals and natural resources were found everywhere by the team, but besides taking some samples, the Androids started to erect an underground structure to safeguard the special items.

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Just as the Antarctica team started to secure the hidden and unexplored region of the continent, Esmond and his team were discovering all sorts of things pertaining to a race scattered across the stars.

Over the course of 14 days since the Third Necthea Conference, Esmond, and his Ark Alliance found all sorts of broken and damaged technological equipment that wasn't far away from turning into scrap.

According to the assessment of the half-broken equipment found by the scouting teams, Clan Uz'Triyon was behind their creation, much like the establishment of their planetary colony.

Uz'Triyon Clansmen tried their best to turn the planet into their new home through terraforming, but before they could witness the fruits of their labour, the Clansmen disappeared as the nearest star sent the planet into chaos because of strong solar winds.

Over the course of 14 days, the scouting teams found nothing to suggest the Uz'Triyon Clan escaped the planet, leading Esmond to believe the people died out as a result of the solar winds.

Esmond asked the scouts to keep searching for any traces of the Uz'Triyon Clan, but so far nothing was discovered besides relics and lost technology.

Elders of the Great Warring Clans from the Space Ark came to visit the lost colony of their people, hoping to erect a monument to the Uz'Triyon and their efforts for the planet.

They also requested to lead the re-colonisation efforts of the planet they came to name as named Tryeous in the honour of the Uz'Triyon Clan.

Layla, her cousin Alania and many other members of the growing Atlaesus Group joined the three Great Warring Clans with their efforts to rebuild the planet.

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"Alania!!

Even though I let you ride Brutus, don't you dare treat them as toys!!" Layla was furious to see her cousin playing tug of war with a beastly Direwolf.

Reaching a height of 3 metres, Brutus had more than enough strength to treat any person as a ragdoll, but Alania boosted strength through her Bloodline ability made them the perfect opponents for one another.

Layla worried Alania would be hurt by the ever-growing Brutus who typically levelled up several times a week, but ever since the Atlaesus Empire made the move to the Space Ark, she made the most of her time in Elemental Dungeons.

Whenever Alania had the chance to be around Brutus, she always found herself battling the Direwolf, yet she never won.

Not even when she exerted all of her strength, only to find herself crashing through the forest trees from one brutal kick to the chest.

Layla however believed Alania was always treating Brutus like a toy, not know that it was the other way around.

Brutus rather enjoyed tormenting Alania because she always came back to fight, with her strength improving each time.

A small part of Brutus found it amusing enough to inform his other Direwolf siblings and tamed beasts of his Master, Esmond.

They advised Brutus to intensify the training regiment, leading to the particular situation where Layla raced to intervene before either of them were harmed while out scouting.

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"Didn't either of you hear what the hell I just said?!

NO. MORE. FIGHTING!!!"

"Tch… fine."

"… Awoo." Brutus and Alania separated from one another, even though they wanted to keep fighting.

"Hahaha!

That's a wrap folks.

The fight is over and unfortunately… its ended in no-contest…

Sorry everyone, but the bank wins!"

"Dammit!

I lost my damn credits for the week!"

"Hahaha… for the week.

I fucking lost everything for the month!!

… My wife is going to kill me."

"Ooo… yeah shit, my bad Captain.

Let's pray Commander Rikton doesn't hear of your bad luck."

Several members of the three Clans were standing to the side of the battle between Alania and Brutus.

Everyone seemed to gamble away their credits, yet that was the least of their worries after Layla caught wind of their hidden games.

"Captain Rikton, I hope you know better than to waste away your credits, especially during a mission!

Should I call your wife and tell her about your losses or will you sort out the unit and its poor behaviour.

I might just cover your losses before your wife learns about it."

"We'll go back to patrolling immediately, Lady Layla."

Captain Rikton dragged away his unit members before he lost out on any chance to earn back his losses.

"*Sigh* Just once…

Just once… I would like to go out of the Space Ark without needing to baby sit either of your asses!!" Layla shouted at Brutus and Alania, who tried to hide behind the others to save themselves from the brunt of the yelling.

"Layla, leave them to their vices.

Their bored and wanting an outlet for their bottled-up energy.

At least Tryeous is large enough for them to not crash into anything or anyone." Quailiyah said after walking over to the open meadow with Rian following closely behind.

"I WANT TO GO BAC- Ouch!"

"Shut up Rian.

You need some rest from that damn game."

"Says the person with a Mech Legion in the tens of thousands…" Rian whimpered as he clutched his waist after being attacked by his dear cousin.

"… If your done here, then let's move on.

Sphinx reported some anomalies with the caves around 100 metres away." Kristoff rechecked the information provided to him by the Ancient A.I he discovered with Stellar Wars.

The code was brought outside of the game and set up to manage the Syndicate business matters in the real world.

Kristoff chose the name Sphinx because the Ancient A.I wielded strength and capabilities he'd yet to discover.

Sphinx also acted as Kristoff's personal Virtual Profile Intelligence, providing real time information and data whenever needed.

This included the discovery of an anomaly from a cave that first appeared to be sealed through a cave in.

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The group tightly followed Kristoff with the Direwolves leading the way so the group remained safe and sound from any beast or creature they might come across randomly.

The three Great Warring Clans also sent along warriors to keep the group protected but just in case, they also were accompanied by PD-01 Androids.

Most of them remained hidden, but a few standing nearby the group as it travelled through the heavily jungle flora.

As the group reached the entrance of the cave, Kristoff was about to ask the Androids to clear up the rocks, but to his surprise, the Uh'Strod Clansmen started ripping away the monstrous stones in a heartbeat.

Just as their honourable name, the Great Warring Clan, Uh'Strod clansmen maintained their elite battle prowess by training as much as they could in their spare time.

With the addition of the Elemental Dungeons, Stovi, and Astelan, the Great Warring Clans had plenty of methods to develop their strength.

Elyh of the Uh'Strod Clan found himself at the forefront of leading the armed forces of the group, when he much preferred to fight than command.

Watching over the Clansmen from Uh'Strod, Us'Theraei, and Ug'Drittic, Elyh felt annoyed there wasn't much for him to do.

Yet it wasn't long before Elyh and the other Clansmen sensed impending danger creeping up on them.

"Impending danger!!

Everyone, move into formation." Elyh's voice reached the ears of every member in the group with the Direwolves taking on defensive stance around the group members.

They didn't need to wait long before the thundering sounds of a monster stampede made its way closer to their position.

The Androids moved to block the path of the stampede from nearing the group, while Elyh prepared his clansmen to battle with their sharpened weapons.

Quailiyah and the others mostly equipped their firearms with the barrel of the gun pointed down for now, whereas Kristoff deployed a series of smaller drones equipped with a wide array of weaponry with an endless ammunition depot connected through the Spatial Ark Star World.

A small Spatial Stone the size of a fingernail was added to the drones to link the machines to the Spatial Ark Star World.

Isabelle created a dozen more Spatial Core Mainframe Intelligence Spirits to help ease her workload, even after her own existence evolved into a Celestial A.I Ego.

They helped print the specific coding to link the fingernail Spatial Stones through to warehouses full of various ammunition since the firing rate of the drones was faster than most people expected.

Weaving through the dense flora of the nearby jungle, Sphinx used infrared camera imaging built into the drones and the satellites above to lock onto the incoming beast stampede.

Kristoff decided to use the drones to clear away most of the incoming danger with the rest being managed by the numerous warriors around.

Some of the members within the Atlaesus Group were unsettled by the nature of the situation however there were plenty of them who wanted to fight with their bare hands.

Quailiyah, Claudette, Zaro, Rian, and Geneviève organised themselves to prepare for battle, since each of them wanted to exploit the hidden strength of their Bloodline that they learned to improve through the Space Ark.

Each of them possessed the Atlaesus Bloodline but they had gained Mutant Bloodlines through their parents marrying members of other prominent Houses.

Zaro gained leadership qualities that could aid in battle to help organise his forces within a heartbeat, but the mutant aspect meant his gained a boost in his own strength based on the number of people he enhanced through the Bloodline Ability.

However, it worked best through an amplifier, a person with even greater strength than Zaro and the warriors combined.

As such, Zaro performed greatly with Esmond around since he could piggyback off his younger cousin's immense power.

In this case though, Zaro chose Quailiyah as his amplifier.

Her Bloodline gave her the basic Atlaesus trait of leadership, but through the mutant aspect, Quailiyah gained a berserker ability that boosted her attribute stats much like the Xrian Cells after metamorphosis.

The leadership trait helped remove the toxic aspects of the berserker power gifted to her.

Rian's Bloodline Ability empowered him through his family and friends, since they attacked as the source to unlock his truth strength.

Geneviève's ability enhanced her body to become as strong as titanium and light as a feather, giving her the destructive abilities of a war machine on steroids.

Claudette's ability allowed her to connect with electrical circuits to gain a comprehensive edge in battle that couldn't be replicated by others.

Much like Esmond's own skill to connect with hardware through his Primordial Cell Nanotech, Claudette could use her Mutant Bloodline in a similar manner.

The five of them acted together and quickly form an indestructible battle network linked through their Mutant Bloodline Abilities.

After Kristoff stopped the first wave of attacks pouring down on the stampede, he shouted to Elyh in the hopes the clansmen were all ready for battle.

"Elyh!

The stampede is about to reach us!

Make sure everyone is ready.

I'll cover your team from the sky throughout the battle."

"Very well.

But if you screw up just once, the drinks will be on your tab, Kris."

"Focus on the battle, you giant oaf!"