SOS CH 55 (Patreon)

A few moments before Noah started going through a special evolution, outside of the gate, one small spaceship broke through the planet's atmosphere. It descended toward the hovering ships belonging to Omid.


With Everyone already dead, only the AI of the ships was keeping things working. When the small ship finally reached a certain distance, it stopped and entered hovering mode before opening to let out the pilot who promptly vanished in a flash of light before reappearing in the interior of the biggest ship.


“Interesting. Only one sign of life.”


She had seen the gigantic gate and she had been astonished about the white color. This was truly a historical moment.


But she also understood that it was not her destiny. Furthermore, at this moment it was more important to find her friend.


Dorothy was about to continue to search and find Morgiana.


The life star of the woman was still active in her cognition and her star was shining ever so more brightly. Something great would soon happen to her.


But just as Dorothy was about to step forward, she crouched down and covered her eyes with a groan 


The Brightest star she had been following was dimming. Clear sign of imminent death and there was nothing she could do.


Dorothy could feel the gear of Fate shifting and slipping and her despair grew as she realized there was nothing she could do.


The star would die before it could even reach it…


“Huh…?”


A voice of surprise leaked out and she realized that while Darkness was encroaching on the star…It was not killing it.


Instead, the star seemed to have obtained a new lease on life and was growing larger at rapid speed.


Furthermore, its light still preserved its warmth despite being half covered in darkness.


The light and the Darkness melded in a way she could not understand and became one.


Thus a Dark Star was born.


“What in the…?”


This was the first time in her hundred years as a witch and a seer that Dorothy realized she indeed truly knew nothing about the world of stars.


In the end, all she could do now was find Morgiana and get her out.


Everything else could wait until the new Star of Destiny came out of the gate.



***


Back to Noah, it was necessary to answer the previous question.


How did dust taste? The answer was admittedly, very predictable.


Dust tasted horrible. 


At least this is what The Queen transmitted to him while seemingly spitting as she devoured it.


The good thing was that, while the taste was horrible and much of the energy was lost, the little Noah had managed to get back was quite substantial. He could feel that his reserve had grown a little bit and was about the level he had before he was obliterated to pieces by the fire of Omid.


But there was one little problem. Truly only a little, 


“I am not growing?”


Noah looked at himself. He still looked like a small child. He moved a little and punched in the air. The whoosh produced by his fist flying at high speed was definitely not something that a child could produce. His strength was still astonishing and so was his speed.


He frowned a little. He didn’t really mind being in a child's body in the past but now that he had a chance to get out of this planet, this would definitely be a pain.


Sadly for Noah, he had no time to focus on this matter as a Blue Box appeared in front of him.


[Number of Survivors: 1]


[Challenge congratulation on winning]


[Would you like to accept your reward?]


[Y/N?]


“What kind of person would say no at this point?” Noah asked with a baffled expression as he pressed the obvious yes.


[Calculating reward based on previous one]


[Previous reward: Growth type core]


[You are given a choice]


[1st reward: All materials necessary to create a Medium-sized anti-army tye Frame]


[2nd Reward: Blueprints necessary to create an anti-army type Frame.]


Noah stopped and frowned.


This choice was more complicated than he anticipated. While a blueprint seemed interesting, there was no telling what to do if the materials in said blueprint could not be found anywhere else.


Furthermore, he would need someone to create that Mecha for him. It would be quite complicated to find someone he could trust.


The materials meanwhile would definitely come in handy. If the Queen devoured them and analyzed them, she could perhaps recreate the same and it could perhaps be used to have more of said materials. Furthermore, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t use Ouroboros’s initial blueprint as the base.


But…


“What do you think?”


—...You are asking me?


The Queen was rightfully surprised. Noah was a very individualistic person and most of the time, he took this kind of decision alone without needing any output from anyone.


“Well…” Noah scratched his hair, clearly slightly embarrassed, “I can be a little bullhead when it comes to matters regarding Ouroboros.” 


Noah gave a bitter smile. If he had to be honest. The thought of climbing and piloting a mecha other than Ouroboros makes his skin crawl. It filled him with clear disgust. But if his fight with Omid had taught him anything, it was that while Ouroboros may have been the peak of sciences in his period, it was definitely outdated.


Trying to fight the reality was useless and he certainly could not afford to keep fighting the way he did against Omid.


As much as he loathed to admit it. This fight had been very close and any mistake could have cost him victory. If Omid had managed to protect himself better or if he lacked even the smallest amount of energy, he would have been a goner.


He could not continue like this. 


Noah would not let his life and his future be destiny by simple luck. 


—Then…While I would love to devour the materials, I believe the blueprints are the best.


“What is your reasoning?”


—You must have already understood but having the best material is useless if we don’t have a mecha that matches it and Ouroboros is clearly not enough. We are under-prepared for this new world and we need a powerful Mecha to match. 


“...”


—Mecha in this world or should I call them Knight frames? They are unlike anything I have imagined. Using earth terms, they seem to be more like amplifiers or towers of magic or magical wands. You have seen what we could do when we connected to the core while using circuits from a small standard frame. Now imagine what we could do with a better circuit. 


“You are right.”


—Furthermore, this is very important. Once I have analyzed the circuits, even without a suitable frame. I can do what I did earlier. Obviously, the strain will be immense but the results are obvious. This will give us a great advantage of power.


“I hate how you are making so much sense.”


Noah crouched down and groaned. He knew the right choice. 


—I have a certain hypothesis and I believe you will not be disappointed by the choice. But the choice is yours in the end. What will you do?


Noah looked down and finally. He made his choice.