13 Uncomfortable Ally

Sera looked at the man who opened the Hatch. He was built like an ox, and almost had the features of one too. He was pale like a sickly European aristocrat, but had features similar to an african. Big eyes, wide lips, wide nose, prominent cheekbones, protruding forehead and hair so thick and curly, you can balance a wooden bat on the top. He is built like a two fifty pound rugby player with an entire body made of muscle mass. The kind that is extra tall, extra wide, with one bash, they will mow the opposite team into anime style flying. 

On top of this, he had ocean blue eyes, the hair is platinum blonde. It is not that white men with such features do not exist. After all, there are still people who do grow to those proportions. Only, they won't have this kind of facial features. Till now, Sera has been thinking like she had transmigrated into a game. She had the same kind of lightness towards her own life too. That is why she was able to hold on to Gigantea till it was drained of life.

In life, you have these moments of sudden enlightenment. Looking at this man whose features could only be obtained with ten generations of regressed genes from two opposing races, she had enlightenment. 

She realized ' Ah ! This is real. I am not in a game, I am not in a transmigrated world, I am in another parallel universe. '. 

' This is a real world where if I die, it's the end. ' 

" I come in peace. " She said, a bit intimidated. 

However, the man did not speak. Instead, he just stared at her keenly. 

After a moment, he pressed a button on his mecha, still half standing from the hatch. 

A minute passed in silence. 

' Thud ' ' thud ' ' thud ' ! 

First she heard footsteps. Then, a slender blue green mecha came up from behind the hill. 

As the mecha beard, it turned it's head to look at the man, then, faced Sera. Soon, the hatch was opened. It was a woman, again, the same african features, caucasian colors. Only, this woman would have been a stunner no matter what her race is with her long limbs, oval face. She had green eyes, strawberry blonde hair. Even this woman was extraordinarily tall. 

The man gestured at the woman roughly. 

" Hello, I am Swetlana Cryonis. He is Kefir Yamada. " the women introduced themselves easily. 

If it were an ordinary person with an ordinary system, this would not have been any problem at all. However what she has is an SSS level support system. It has a needlessly wide amount of knowledge on too many affairs. Just from their introduction, she knows they come from a cold planet marked with a red flag in the universe, on top of that, these two belonged to the army of Dark Knight, Swetlana was considered a genius engineer, while Kefir was an assault soldier, a failed candidate from the super soldier program. 

[ Apprehend immediately. ] 

Mission from the transformer system showed up. 

' Do I have a legal obligation to ? ' Sera asked about the matter, as a passing thought. The knowledge arrived before her system could even answer. 

The answer is no. Sure, she needs to be a good citizen, but she's not in a position to pick and choose. 

" Sera Dustwood. I have established a camp here. I see you have been stranded here for a long while. Would you like to join my camp ? it is definitely more secure than the location you have found. " Sera offered. 

" For free ? " The woman asked, with a slight frown. 

" I need some help on one of the building projects. I would very much appreciate the resources you bring with yourself. " Sera said. 

The woman looked at her disdain. 

" You got quite the nerve, asking for the stuff we collected with all our strength just like that. " she scoffed at Sera. 

" Wow… That is some shitty strength, if that is all you managed to collect. " Sera mused. 

The woman bristled at her words. 

The man closed the hatch, stood up in his mecha threateningly. 

" That's not the attitude to ask for help. " The woman snapped at her. 

" Well, I tried polity. Well, I am just giving you some cash for doing some skilled labor. I can totally accomplish this on my own, only it takes time. Are you both going to waste away like this in the middle of nowhere ? I am giving you an opportunity to get out. To take it or not is your choice. " Sera said. 

" Fine. I'll bite. But remember this, Sera Dustwood. If it did not turn out to be all that you promised, I can make sure you die a miserable death. " The woman threatened her once more. 

However, Sera knew. It's an empty threat. 

The resource they are most lacking on this planet is water. You can't drill through the rock layer, so the only way to truly get water is through monster blood, plants etc. the only people who come to this planet are students and adventurers. The student mecha's are too weak to go to the monster area where resources are abundant. If you want an adventurer's mecha, you have to go to Gigantea's territory, which is not easy. 

Between ensuring survival, collecting these many mecha's is already a testament to skill of these two. 

Sera led them silently to the plateau established as her base. Swetlana fell in silence as she looked at the land. 

There was something that Sera did not know. The water in this area is so high in mineral content, it calcifies any living being over time. Over time, such as days, it kills programmable nanobots. It's not just that, but that the water itself has such high salinity content, that only the extremely sturdy invasive hyacinth grows here. 

Yet, she was able to grow a tree to this height. Swetlana does not need to look twice to know she has energy transfer ability. Now that she has one on Sera, she calmed down. 

Wood is just the material to build this base with, but Swetlana had no way of procuring wood in the quantities needed to build a base. 

Swetlana reached into the secret compartment of her mecha. 

" Here. " She offered to sera. 

" What is this ? " Sera asked, taking the package. 

" A tribute. " Swetlana said nonchalantly. 

" Oh ! So you are going to work for me ? " Sera asked jubilantly. 

" Not yet. If you pass the last test. " Swetlana answered, her tone a lot better than when they initially met. 

Sera opened the box. 

" Seeds ? " She said in surprise. 

[ Pigface fruit seeds. ] 

[ This plant is a succulent used for ground covers. It likes salinity. Modified version of the plant had been used to collect industrial materials. ] 

" Grow them. If you successfully grow these, I will not only help you, but I will also work for you if need be. " She said, looking at Sera eagerly. 

" I… " Sera was about to ask how I can grow them ? 

She had miscalculated. She assumed the duo never came to this area, due to the monster barrier that existed between these two regions. What if that's not the case ? What if they already scouted this place, deemed it useless ? 'Energy transfer ' was a far more famous term in the past than present, so, Swetlana must have guessed her ability. 

She has no choice but to give in now. 

Using her mecha as a seeder, she put the seeds in a half circle shape, then held the world tree seed that she stored energy in, and started propagating the plants. 

Within minutes, the green plants took over all the land they could see. On Cryonis, where they have little to feed on, these plants only grew up to the ankles of people. Here, with abundance of water and minerals, they grew four feet tall. The fruits which were but the size of an inch have become the size of a watermelon. On top of that, the fruit size grew ten times more compared to their shorter counterparts. 

These fruits, when dried, can directly be used as ore.

Yes, they are inedible. 

Swetlana looked at this grand scene with a growing smile. 

" So, what help do you need ? " She asked Sera. 

Sera led her to the two gigantic transmitters she retrieved. 

" You know how to modify them, don't you ? " she asked. 

Swetlana nodded her head. Inside, she was reeling. ' Swetlana and Kefir, even with their ultimate firepower, were only able to clear only part of the scene. Yet, this young girl, with zero experience was able to retrieve those transmitters ? 

..

.

Now she remembered. She once asked the energy transfer soldier - ' Can you also kill people like that ? ' 

He just smiled enigmatically in answer. 

That smile loomed over her, till she became terrified like an ant in front of an elephant. 

… 

..

.

That smile … 

Swetlana looked at the back of Sera, who moved with utter confidence paying no attention at all to two elite soldiers of Dark Knight's army who could gut her throat before she could so much as twitch her finger. 

Can you kill people ? 

" Like ants ! " the wind whispered in her ears as she backed away from the imaginary soldier.