SOS CH 8 (Patreon)

The walk amidst the desolated planet was both long and silent, filled with a dreary and solemn mood. Both Morgiana and Noah were in a weird situation where they actually more or less needed each other’s help.

But at the same time, they both distrusted or rather were wary of each other as they walked through the treacherous roads of desolation and loneliness of the world they were in.

This made the interaction and overall dynamic between the traveling duo quite awkward as neither of them was really stupid enough to believe that the other person did not notice what was going on.

At the moment, Morgiana had put on her armor again and was now following behind Noah.

Meanwhile, she had given instructions to the IA embedded into her armor to keep a map of the terrain that they were crossing and keep a general overview of the geography of the planet as they passed through the treacherous plains.

This information might become handy for her later. Especially if she needed to hide or had to launch a sneak attack of some kind on her enemies.

Her power could help her fight the cold that was constantly trying to freeze her to death but it would be stupid to waste energy for such a thing in the current situation she was in.

'If only I had my Mecha.'

She sighed but did not dwell too much on the details. One should always make do with the means they had at hand.

Even though she didn't have her trusty ship with her and was wounded to a dangerous degree, as long as she absorbed some energy from the sun she should be able to fight back long enough for her to escape and defend herself.

This was all there was to it.

Her goal wasn't winning in her current situation. It was to survive until she was rescued.

Noah, meanwhile, was as silent as her as he digested all the information he had received from the girl he had saved.

Space Alliance, Intergalactic Empires, Interstellar Travels, Hyperspace, and so many little yet significant things he had never heard before in his life.

The girl was a treasure trove of knowledge as she made him aware of the vast universe that was beyond the tiny Earth she inhabited.

Through all of this, he was able to understand that Earth was lucky to even have survived at all throughout the Billions of years of its existence.

Noah thought for a moment and simply shook his head to dismiss the thoughts.

While Luck certainly played an important role in the survival of his planet, mentioning it would be a disservice and insult to all those who had died at the hands of the fucking parasites that tried to devour his home planet.

— ....

'Feeling guilty? Heh~'

— ....

Once again he received no answer but Noah didn't particularly care about that in the tiniest bit.

He was simply reassessing the situation at hand here.

If her words were to be believed, Morgiana was a mercenary, a space mercenary. A rather experienced one too with a personal feud against those so-called Forty Thieves.

The current operation was one that had not been carefully planned but this spontaneous situation was also why the Thieves had taken the bait.

'Space, huh.'

Noah felt wistful as he murmured to himself.

His memories were slightly blurry after all this time. Time was really a merciless entity after all, but he still remembered the joy and exhilaration he felt when he first broke through the atmosphere and entered space for the very first time in his life.

Back then Earth had already grown to be pretty powerful entity that controlled some resources on nearly all the planets in their solar systems.

They had even managed to create bases on Mars and the Moon.

If the Parasite's invasion did not happen, perhaps they would have started conquering the entirety of solar system as well and jump beyond Type 1 in one go.

But back then, in their hubris, Humans really thought they were the jewel of space, the only intelligent race alive in the entirety of the vast universe.

Reality had proven them sorely wrong.

Now though, he was learning that all the huge achievements of Earth were practically nothing before the vast civilizations throughout space.

Worse — Because of how hurried they were they never truly managed to become a Type 1 civilization in the truest sense and as such never managed to get the protection of the Parlement.

'Fuck.'

The Galactic Parlement or whatever this was, seemed to be composed of countless races from countless planets and this was just one taking in one galaxy— The Milky Way.

Noah had to fight the urge to laugh at the sheer absurdity that was presented before him by the extraterrestrial girl.

The universe was huge and filled with endless life.

This was exhilarating.

This was frightening.

'Virgo would have been jubilant if she was here right now.'

He thought quietly about his friends and teammates— people he cherished more than anyone else in his life back on Earth.

Minerva.

Her face was now blurry in his mind. He could not remember her voice any longer. Her image was slowly vanishing from her mind, forgotten for all eternity.

But— he would never forget her existence, nor the meaning she held in his heart. The same was true for all his companions from the institute.

Minerva was a lover of wonder. The one with the most inquisitive mind among all of them.

'Ah…'

He looked down and stopped thinking about her, a person from the distant past.

Thinking about them hurt him even more than being eaten alive by a monster while asleep.

The past was the past after all. Now he had to make a plan about whether he would prevail and grow or fail and die like them.

Their current destination was the part of the planet that was covered by the sun.

This was a part filled with heat, completely opposite to the side that was plunged into eternal darkness and eternal frost.

As for him, he needed to eat something right now to get up his energy levels. Going on another fight without filling up his reserve would be dangerous even for him.

Morgiana seemed to be a trustworthy person from what he had gathered. But he would not let his safety depend on some gamble.

This would be the stupidest thing to do while surviving out in the wild.

'Are you sure you can bring it back once you get enough energy?'

— Yes. But we need far more than you ever managed to absorb until now.

The energy Noah needed was frighteningly high and the beasts on this planet were only enough for his survival not enough for him to summon ‘that’ thing from that eerie ‘place’.

“Remind me again. What is the type of energy you use?”

“Ah…”

Morgiana nodded her head and began explaining about her situation, “It’s Dark Matter. It’s kinda hard to explain, but basically, it is a story of a long, long time ago. A Super Empire that had reached the level of a Type IV Civilization and finally managed to open the way for Dark Matter usage for the rest of the multiverse.”

“Then?”

“There is no then…”

“Huh?”

“There aren't many records about them. It’s a forgotten era from eons ago. I guess some higher-ups might know more about them but it is not something that I am privy to. Anyway, long story short, the Empire just… vanished from the face of the universe and it’s from the remains of this empire that we managed to learn the usage of Dark Matter in the current Era.”

She lifted her hand and a small flame appeared above her hands.

“The Dark dimension surrounds all of us and comprises 95% of the universe. We call it the place where one can directly observe the Dark Sea, the other side of the universe if you will.”

“Hum… This seems more like magic than technology to me though…”

Noah was intrigued by the power that Morgiana was showing her. He approached her and looked at the flame with keen eyes, trying to scrutinize it from all over.

The existence of this fire made no logical sense in the place where they currently were. It should have been completely extinguished by the chilling cold and the terrifying blizzard that surrounded them from all sides.

Yet. Here it was. Dimly shining but still burning hot as ever. Bravely fighting against the nature surrounding them from all sides.

Morgiana closed her grip and the fire vanished like it never existed, her breath was a little more hurried but she got a hold of herself pretty soon so it could be said that she was alright.

“Magic or technology. It’s hard to say. In the end, All we know is that nowadays. Dark Matter is entirely part of our everyday life. It’s thanks to it that Hyper Dive became safer and faster compared to the obsolete Warp Drive Technology that allowed FTL movements.”

Noah listened to her in absolute silence, not choosing to utter a word.

He was someone very prideful and he believed that he was better than anyone else. But despite his pride and arrogance, he knew one fundamental truth about reality.

Those who know nothing should shut up and listen to those who did and broaden their horizons. Babbling on when you knew nothing would just be counter-productive and a recipe for disaster and humiliation of the likes that he was not willing to face.

When Morgiana stopped her explanation, he asked her in a voice filled with wonder and curiosity, “So… This fire, is anyone able to conjure it?”

She shook her head in denial before explaining, “In Theory, yes, anyone should be able to do it. As long as you are able to use Dark Matter effectively, there is honestly little you cannot do or accomplish. Some people say that this is the path to true omnipotence and I believe in them. But it isn’t as easy as it seems.”

He could not see her face through the mask but he could feel that she was smiling right now, a thing that mildly annoyed him.

“In my case, for example, I am a Djinn. We are creatures born innately through Fire. Fire is our Essence and while we are not immune to it, it can hardly harm us or control us.”

Morgiana was doing her best to explain things to him, detail by detail, and Noah nodded in understanding.

It was not very hard to understand what she was trying to convey with her words.

Most humans were born with two legs and two feet. Theoretically speaking, they could all run, all jump, all fight.

But obviously, there would be some level of differences between them.

In the same way, most animals were born with four limbs. But an elephant could not run as fast as a cheetah.

“The way one uses energy depends on themselves.”

“It’s a lot more complicated than that but yeah, basically speaking, you can see it as a program. Hum. You might not know what computers are…”

Noah’s lips twitched in annoyance when he heard her words. Being taken as some kind of barbarian was becoming tiring already.

— Stop swinging your junk in the air then, idiot.

‘Give me clothes and I will.’

He sighed and looked down. Since he would soon enter society again, it seemed like he would have to give up on some of the habits he had learned and took on while staying on this desolate planet.

Then again, if he could go back to Earth. He could simply join a group of naturists and travel around with his junk out in the air.

Thinking of Earth, a sudden question came to his lips. He hesitated a little but in the end, he swallowed back the question.

He could ask the question later.

As to whether it was out of fear and apprehension he refused to ask the question, only Noah himself knew.

Though now, there was something else he was curious about. Something that was far more intriguing than the question that he had in his heart, and far less intimidating as well.

“Sooo. If you are a Djinn… Can you grant wishes?”

Morgiana could only look at him like he was looking at a buffoon, speechless as one could ever be…