SOS CH 72 (Patreon)

After giving his thanks to Dorothy, Noah finally decided to go to the assigned quarter. He briefly considered visiting the five planets, but if they had a white gate and he had to go through those tests again, he might have to fight Dorothy in a death match as he did with Omid.

The fact that she was his benefactor aside, Noah didn’t relish the idea of fighting someone who could stop time. He had no countermeasure for this power at his current level and if she decided to kill him, there was very little he could do to defend himself outside of perhaps blitzing her.

But then she had those silver boots that allowed her to teleport freely. Time and space manipulation were cheats.

—Indeed. I believe getting a usable Mecha until we can create a new one is necessary.

Noah did not answer but he understood what the Queen meant. The skills they had used together could certainly not be maintained for long and she could not yet produce the mass necessary to reproduce an entire mecha from scratch.

But things would be less dire if he at least had a mecha to help amplify his power. As for creating his own Mecha, Dorothy had shared with him who the absolute best Mecha creator of the current era was.

Geppetto. The Lord and Father of Machinery.

Hearing this name was funny. Noah certainly knew about the story of Pinocchio. This was a story he identified with strongly even as he was living on earth.

In this world though, Geppetto was not just a gentle old man who wished for his creation to become human

From what Dorothy told him; Geppetto was without a shadow of a doubt the man he needed to hire. Furthermore, Geppetto was trustworthy and nothing but a passionate man who wished to create things. But at the same time, it seemed like he was an overlord who reigned over an entire sector composed of over six solar systems.

All those planets were inhabited by AI. True sapient AI that could learn, grow, and seemingly feel emotions.

It seemed like a few hundred years ago, Geppetto spearheaded an entire AI rebellion and threatened a large part of the Galaxy by himself.

Even though the Rebellion was quelled, one could not say that Geppetto lost. He simply reached a truce with the Empire and the Federation. Making one of the big forces of the Galaxy.

Noah could only curse softly when hearing about such a feat. One man against an entire galaxy and yet he still managed to come out ahead.

—A very dangerous man.

Dangerous is an understatement. How the hell do I even meet a dude like this?

Noah could only laugh. If this whole situation was a game, then he had three main quests now all connected to the main story.

Finding the Shadow Queen. Visiting Mars. Meeting Geppetto.

The problem was that access to all three quests was blocked either because he did not have a sufficiently high level or because of a problem in timing.

In the end, before having access to those main quests, he had to complete a few side quests and level up. Get some normal-rank equipment on the way and increase his reputation. Only by doing so could he fulfill the conditions for his main quests and for that, the road was clear.

Staying in Oz was impossible. He could stay a short time to have a deeper understanding of the world but he could not stay there long. His path to power was already clear.

Devouring. Adapting. Evolving.

Unless Dorothy was willing to feed him her ships and her soldiers, which he doubted she would, he needed to leave. In fact, while he now believed that Dorothy was someone trustworthy and someone he was indebted to, this didn’t mean that he was willing to tell her about his power.

One day this power might become common knowledge but for now, he would stay silent. At the very last he would do so until he obtained the skills necessary to protect himself or enough power to flee if it was necessary.

In order to grow he needed to leave Oz and find suitable targets to devour while being able to work Solo and the best job for this seemed to be that of a mercenary.

—So this is why we are here now.

Indeed. They were standing in front of a door. From there, Noah knocked thrice and then waited patiently.

“Give me a second!”A feminine if somewhat gruff voice reached him from the other side of the door and soon, it was opened, giving full view to Morgiana wearing nothing but a loose white shirt and a pair of black panties. Her hair was damp and she was holding a small towel.

“I see that you were already resting. Though I must say, your underwears are quite risky.”

Morgiana sighed and moved away the hair covering her eyes, “If you want to watch then watch. I believe I already told you that my race is not big on modesty and do not care much for nudity or perhaps you forgot after punching the light out of me.”

Her voice was quite sarcastic but Noah simply nodded, acknowledging that he did punch her. While this was necessary, it was important to notice that things could have gone differently if he had taken the time necessary.

In the same way, perhaps he could have taken his time and explained the situation to her. With her experience, things might have gone very differently.

But all those things were in the past. The past was the past and now he had to focus on the present and obviously the future as well.

This was why,

“I am here to apologize.”

Noah smiled as he gave his apology in the most sincere way imaginable. His round face and chubby cheeks made him look even cuter than he should be and Noah knew how to use this to his advantage.

Sadly,

“Fuck off.”

The door closed in his face with a bang, leaving Noah alone in the hallway. His face showed no surprise as he had been expecting such a thing to happen.

—What now?

Well…Now we rest I guess.

It seemed that building up his relationship with Morgiana would be anything but easy. But he just had the way,

“I have a way for you to write off a part of whatever debt you might have. Perhaps even clear the entire debt.”

The silence lasted for a few seconds before the door of Morgiana’s room slowly opened again.

“Come in.”

Noah grinned. Building trust would not be easy after his rocky start with Morgiana but this kind of side quest was definitely easier to accomplish.