Devils & Artefacts c86 (Patreon)

“So—Umm, why did you decide to return to class? I thought it would be pointless. With the technology you have, there is no need for you to attend school at all.”

A tall teen asked Marcus. The Inventor's eyes ended up on him. Solomon’s Successor recalled that he used to hang out with this teen in his previous life.

‘Victor’ was his name. No, not ‘Victor von Doom’. However, people used to troll him with that name.

It is, after all, a Slavic name, and Dr Doom was from a Slavic country.

He recalled how they used to skip music class and go to his mother’s supermarket to buy Snickers bars. Then, laze around in the most distant staircase in school.

The ground floor in that particular staircase used to be emptiest on these days when they used to have music classes. They used to abuse such convenience.

“Exactly my point. My faction is mostly automated now. Besides, the school helps me with ideas and inspiration.” Marcus showed his BMW designs.

“That’s the Most Wanted BMW.” The guys who play video games know this iconic car.

Marcus nodded and then turned the page. He showed the Transformer form of the car.

“...Holy… did you make it?” The classmate asked with a curious and excited tone.

“Yep. It goes through several forms as well.” He showed the underwater and flying modes of the car.

“That's like a car from a Bond movie!” Another one exclaimed. The teens started to gather around Marcus. The initial fear disappeared. It's the most human thing to ignore dangers when one is curious. After all, that's how humans tamed lightning and fire.

“Hnnn. Sort of. I was just testing a new alloy and energy wings.” The inventor shrugged before turning the page, and it was a Daedalus-class Airship.

“...You designed those things here in class!?”

“Yeah? I was in history class when I finally came up with the name.” He casually admitted that his history class was what caused the creation of airships, which ended the Evil God war and instilled fear in the world.

“...Cool…”

“So what are you doing now? World domination?” One joked. But Marcus pondered on the question making the rest look at the one who proposed as if he was a moron to suggest!

“Nah, not anytime soon. My mother grounded me for blowing up North Korea. Mother wasn't happy that I ended that hermit nation.” He shrugged with a sigh. He was a little bit pissed. He should have just overloaded their tech and electricity.

When his classmates heard that, they sweatdropped.

It sounds like he did something naughty and did not blow up a country. Marcus’ family was weird. They didn't realise that his mother was the one who was holding things together. If not for her, his father is somewhat similar to Marcus. He would readily accept the greater good his son tries to bring.

Well, the world should thank her for delaying Project Eden for at least four years.

“...So instead?”

“Space stuff. Terraforming Venus and Mars, building up the Moon and Saturn.” He casually mentioned those with a hand motion.

“...And you're just telling us why?” One of the girls wondered why he was just spilling beans like that!

“What do you mean why? Don't you tell your friends what you will do after school? I am doing the same.” He explained with an eye roll.

“... that's not the same!”

“It's the same. The only difference is perceptions of how you see things. I just told you what I will do in my free time after school.”

Before Marcus can say more, his assistant chipped in.

“You can't. You can't play with your ‘toys’.” Quinella casually told him how his mother grounded him from using the console.

“...Gah… I thought you were on my side!” He complained that his assistant was revealing stuff like that!

“I suppose to show a ‘clear image’ of you. And make sure everyone sees and understands it.” Quinella explained without even looking at anyone. Her eyes were on the book's content. She was looking for mistakes in this physics book.

“So, it's true. You created her?” Paul asked him. Paul was another of Marcus’ childhood friends from the past life. Though they went separate ways after turning sixteen, he went to a college while Marcus was sticking around his father’s auto shop.

He had quite an arbitrary character, even compared to Marcus, who was also arbitrary. One day they are buddies and the next day, he is pissed at Marcus for something. Even the inventor is not that crazy.

“My Master has designed every single hair on my head. My official designation is Biological Assistant Model Quinella. The method used to create me became standardised, and the rest you see Master created in the same way.” Quinella said with a haughty tone.

“...Cool! That sounded like a movie thing!” Paul nodded. The way she introduced it was so movie-like that he needed to comment.

His response made Quinella frown. He is supposed to be awed!

“Wait. Since you can create chicks—” Before another teen can comment, a girl stomped his feet.

“Ahg!? What the fuck!?”  He commented with pain as he saw the girl’s sneakers stomp his foot!

“Oh, sorry, I slipped.” She apologised with a fake, worrying tone.

“Like hell you did!”

“Hmm, I mean, yeah, I can. But the process is quite long. I need to arrange DNA, program personality, and create memories. It takes time.” As Marcus said, he took Quinella’s hand.

The assistant was confused for a second. She saw him use her finger and brushed down.

A console window popped down!

“!!!” The Assistant’s mouth widened. Did he just walk around the ban on consoles just by accessing hers!?

The rest looked at the hologram with awe. They never expect something like that to work in school! Though they have no idea he can use it anywhere in his home country of Lithuania.

“Let me see…” He went through options and showed Bismarck, which was almost ready for creation.

“This is Bismarck—the battleship. You can see that her DNA is almost complete. The issue is arranging atoms so it won't shatter, and one would need to restart. It takes time. Like paint a painting or build a custom car.” He said that while turning around and showing the console with a spinning strand.

“Anyway. In my free time, I will be making an Entertainment Dome.”

The guys were sad to learn that making chicks is a long process, so they forgot about it. Their interest quickly got diverted where Marcus wanted them.

He needs test subjects, after all.

The inventor dismissed Quinella’s console and drew something in his notebook. It was a floating orb with a pair of double escalators going up and down from it.

“It looks like a floating orb.”

“Because it is.”

*Ringing Bell*

Everyone sighed in disappointment as they went to take their seats.

Marcus, who was sitting, continued to draw.

‘Surrounded by 360 degree Realitus crystalline monitors, powered by four artificial reality engines, the next generation entertainment dome will allow another reality to touch us.’

Solomon’s successor grinned when he thought about this. This system will kill two birds at once. He shall bring Honkai to this world. Let the world experience the terror, and at the same time, it serves as a vocal point for Project Eden.

He will divert the masses’ attention from what is happening worldwide.

The inventor shall finally cave in and spread this entertainment system to the masses.

“You look happy, Goldman. Are you happy to be in physics class?” The teacher asked with a smirk. He entered the room and saw a ‘rare creature’ in his class

“Of course. I am excited about the next subject. It's quite important for my plans.” Marcus quickly adjusted to the arrival of the only male teacher in this year's curriculum.

His eyes were on the book with planets on it. This year, they are talking about the physics of the planets.

“Ha. As a fellow enthusiast of physics, how do your airships float?” The teacher wanted to ask. It was the perfect opportunity.

“Gravity. Those airships are genuine gravity wells. You can see they are blurry when you try to take pictures of them as light bends around them.” Marcus explained about the airships.

“I see. I won't get into details. We have other things to discuss.”

“I thought such a reveal would frighten people. After all, I have seen posts online that I am preparing for world domination.” Marcus pointed out something he was slightly confused about. People should be more terrified around him.

‘And they are not wrong.’ He said that part to himself.

“Personally, I don't care who I am paying my taxes. If this is what you are worried about.” The physics teacher shrugged at him.

“Then you will be pleased to hear that when I am mayor, utility bills won't exist.” Marcus swiftly advertised himself.

“Sold! I will vote for you!” The inventor has bought his physics teacher over with this deal!

The rest of the classmates looked at this with an array of emotions. Their classes are becoming weird as fuck.

After name calls, the class started. This time around, the class was about the physics of the solar system—planets rotations, speed of planet movements, and how the sun is keeping everything in place.

However, mid-class, the teacher dropped a bomb on the students. However, Marcus was quite excited about this.

“It's time for a presentation, class. You will all form into nine groups and prepare a presentation for me. I prepared nine tokens in this box. They all represent the solar system.” He brought out a box. He shook it for a second. Everyone could hear there was something in that box.

“Once you form your teams, select come over and pull out one token.”

The moment Marcus heard that, he used his psionic powers to see the box's content. He could see planet names on the tokens.

‘Saturn is mine!’

The inventor steeled himself.

“Teacher! I already have a team! Can I pull the token!?” Marcus swiftly raised his hand.

“...sure thing.” There was no surprise in the teacher’s eyes. He was expecting the best presentation from this guy.

The teen, almost with a giddy look, strolled over and pulled out a token with Saturn on it.

His girls sensed him using Psionic powers. Sirin rolled her eyes for using powers for such a petty thing.

“Saturn!” Marcus said with a smug tone.

“Excited, aren't we?” The teacher noticed his excitement.

“Of course! I will send probes and other devices to get legitimate pictures of the Gas Giant and its moons!”

The teacher’s eyes trembled when he heard that. His nerd side was manifesting.

“There's no doubt you will get the best marks. But you should level the playing field.” The physics teacher suggested. He was thinking about how to milk this situation further.

“Level? Like giving everyone the same tools to prepare for the presentation?” Marcus enquired.

“Precisely. You do have resources for such a thing?” The teacher asked him with barely hidden giddiness. To think he will be the first teacher in human history to have a presentation full of pictures and data never seen before.

“I could. But I need more time. My infrastructure is still being prepared. I would say give me a week, and I can send probes to all of the planets of our Solar System.” Marcus replied with a nod. Once again, he will kill two birds at once.

“And how fast can those probes reach those planets?”

“With my Graviton technology, distance is not that big of a difference. We could have data ready in a week after the launch.” Marcus roughly calculated. He already has an idea of how he will launch his probes. This probe mission will help him grasp and begin to ensnare the entire Solar system under his rule.

“Fantastic! Then we can prepare for the presentation in two weeks!”

The inventor nodded and suggested more to the teacher.

“I can improve the classroom as well. My robots could perform refurbishment over the night.”

His Physics teacher’s eyes widened as he proceeded to grin.

“That would be grand. But I need to speak with the principal.” he agreed, but it's not simple. He still needed to speak with the principal. After all, the classroom is public property.

“Good, then I will come with you.”

And just like that, his Physics teacher became a conspirator in Marcus’ world domination plan.

~~~~~~Main Base, Entertainment Dome~~~~~~

Ravel Phenex was transported to the main base from Axiom by the knights. It was a test of sorts to see how a continuous session of realitus could be employed while on the move.

It succeeded as the newer Realitus 2.0 can crystallise and form a solid surface. The blonde devil didn't even realise that she was transported to the main base!

“Fufufufu! It's great to be a Tsarina!” The blonde laughed loudly as one of her fingers was on her chin. She was high on power from being the Ruler of the biggest Empire on the planet!

The Phenex employed hackers from China and North Korea to cause chaos in the West while she proceeded with land grabs.

She continuously utilised similar tactics employed by the Americas with government replacements. A female could be much more ruthless when it comes to such things. Especially her goal is to rule the planet to be successful. She quickly regained Russia’s original borders.

However, this led to a NATO response, but she caused Americans to focus on the Middle East as she turned that place into a powder barrel. Americans are not entirely self-sufficient at this time, so she is targeting their fuel source. Unlike her, who has all the raw materials.

Just like that, she conquered most of East Europe.

Another move was to give Cuba those missiles they wanted.

‘Wasn't there those tsunami missiles Russians were making back in the day? Americans are so proud of their carriers, but can they swim when a tsunami slams into them?’

Ravel started the war, but she still doesn't have a trump card. She was able to sabotage nukes. But she doesn't want to use hers yet.

“Tsarina. The public is awaiting your speech!” One of her cabinet members brought her back from plotting the destruction of the American fleet.

“Very well. Then let's go.”

The blonde Phenex used the Russian Mafia to rise to complete power. Just being the president is not enough, so she used the mafia to get control. Once she got that, she killed all of them.

She used their death as an example to show how serious she was about bringing justice to the Russian people. Of course, that led to her getting crowned to the position of Tsarina, the Empress of the Russian Empire.

She played on people's greed like a proper devil.

So far, people see her as a true patriot and an incredibly talented commander.

However, she quickly learned that she was playing on an easy difficulty.

People don't question her methods past a certain point. So, it was easy for her for things to fall on her lap. Like for example, the hired hackers she had. People didn't question beyond the point of their nationality, so all the blame went on those nations with a little bit of fake proof.

But this is good. The system is teaching her how to play better next time.

These simulations are not just tests but learning experiences, too.

As she thought about it, she walked onto the balcony and looked down on the people gathered in Red Square in Moscow.

The Tsarina started to wave her hand at the gathered people who were chanting her name.

‘I know this is fake, but damn, it feels good!’.

~~~

As Ravel was laughing silly at her fantasy turning semi-reality, a pair of maids were standing outside and sighing.

Atalanta and Jeanne were leaning against the wall and sighing at how this situation had turned shit for them.

They thought this month would be a blast with little to no responsibilities with Marcus away. Atalanta and Jeanne devised a schedule for sharing the Entertainment Dome.

But then Ravel Phenex was brought over and took the whole thing!

According to Quinella, this girl has incredible potential, and Marcus has high expectations for her!

‘Knowing Master, she is good for his grand plan.’

Atalanta pondered. There is very little he cares about by this point from the regular supernatural. Devils have little to no value anymore. Thanks to all the data they have collected in the war.

“Aurora, can we expand the Entertainment Dome?” Jeanne couldn't take it anymore! She wants that Star Wars Old Republic experience! She was playing as Sith Inquisitor!

[You should send a message to Master. There is harm in trying.] The Ai suggested to the pair.

“Let me! I should have gathered enough clout from the war!” Jeanne pulled out her G-Phone and started to type to her Master.

[Jeane: Master, can we expand the Entertainment Dome!? Ravel is hogging to herself!]

She got a response in a few short seconds.

[Marcus: Sure *Thumbs Up*]

“That was—easy. Aurora! I got the green light from our esteemed Master!” The maid showed her phone with an excited look. She looked like an addict with her gaming addictions. Well, it's not simple game addiction as she is becoming an exquisite swordswoman and gets a great hang over her psionic powers, which she awakened midway.

It turns out that the particles which interfere with brainwaves stimulate the brain, causing a mutation in a similar way to Marcus’ DNA sessions.

[Rerouting Resources]

Five minutes later, a small army of Aurora Bots began expanding the corridor.

The pair of maids watched with excitement at how the base was expanding right before their eyes; They couldn't wait to return to their grind/hunt.

Parts like Crystalline glass panels, Realitus projectors, and air vents were carried into the new rooms by Aurora Bots.

“Skipping work?” Grayfia’s cold voice brought the pair back from their excitement.

“...We are off duty!” Jeanne said defensively.

“...And I have no work.” Atalanta shrugged without care.

“You can assist Artemis in teaching Tiamat how to be a proper maid.” Grayfia quickly got something for the pair to do.

“Hah? But she has no elegance or professionalism to be a proper maid!” Atalanta replied with an annoyed tone.

“I heard that! You pet lion!” The blue-haired dragoness revealed herself as she was behind Grayfia.

“Hmm? The pet dragon is here? I thought Artemis was training you.” Atalanta casually ignored the ‘taunt’. It was not even a taunt in her eyes.

“I was about to.” Artemis appeared as well. She looked annoyed with her assignment. She even needed to teach a few things to Hel. The Norse Goddess struggled initially, but now it was much easier for her.

“Since you two are lazing around, you should help train new girls. The quicker all of us are Professional, the better for your group.

You don't want us to be replaced by his creations now, right?”

Grayfia brought up a valid point. Atalanta frowned especially. She realised her spot was in danger, not by the golden lion but by this ‘Herrscher’ girl. This newcomer is hogging his attention longer than she had thought he would.

‘His new creations are keeping him infatuated longer than his Conquests.’ a straight passed through Lioness' mind.

“Fine, let's get this over with.” Atalanta almost sounded haughty in Tiamat’s eyes as her eyebrows kept on twitching! This lion girl doesn't even have half of her strength but can act like that! It's infuriating!

~~~~~~Meantime, Underworld, Newly Named Devil Continent~~~~~~

Above the ‘devil settlement’, a pair of airships were floating. One of them still had energy wings. While the wings were golden, the hull had several strokes of blue paint, signifying that it was not a regular airship.

While the other airship had no wings, it had golden graviton projectors doting through the hull. It has the number ‘02’ on the hull and a sigil of a boy carrying man-made wings in his hands. This airship is the retrofitted Icarus.

Aboard Icarus, a blonde girl with crossed arms, is surrounded by holograms catching up with what is happening in the Technocracy.

The bridge doors opened, and another devil with pale greenish-blonde hair entered. This devil was Seekvaira Agares. She had a small smile on her lips. She was relieved and, at the same time, annoyed.

“Ugh. The population has recovered to 400 devils, and we already had disputes about how we will allocate the lands Master gave us!” She complained to her cousin.

“Hmm? Isn't that pointless? This move doesn't mean anything.” Latia replied with a sigh. The blonde massages her forehead for a second. She already has Fallen to deal with, but the devils are already doing that!?

“We are about to embark on space. It's a wild opportunity for our kind! I will try to position our kin to receive lands on worlds like Mars or Venus!

For our Master, those worlds are just experiments, but for us? We can use them to expand and flourish!”

“I know! I already said that, and my father agreed. But we still need to hear how good Ravel Phenex is. Depending on her, the Phenex family could be on the rise.” Seekvaira said with a pondering tone.

Her eyes then went to the hologram windows.

“Any progress?”

“Project Trailblazer is about to begin. The command has decided on the first stage after consulting with Master.” Latia said with a serious tone as she looked away from the hologram to her cousin.

“The four original Diamond Cores, which the Space station used, will be turned into something like colonising ships of Aurora Bots.

One will go to Venus, and it will take around a day to arrive there with the assistance of the improved barrel of Ars Almadel Salomonis.”

“...A day?” Seekvaira was surprised at how quick the journey would be!

“Yes. Originally, humans used to use the rotations of planets to travel the shortest amount of time between planets. But the barrel bends space to make the journey as quick as possible.” She explained to her cousin.

“I know the details. I studied the tech. I am saying I was surprised that it's only a day, considering that there are millions of kilometres to travel.” Seekvaira said with crossed arms. Her gaze went back to the consoles.

‘To think that magnetism is so powerful. But then again, I never considered its strength in a place without atmosphere.’

“Journey to Mars will take around three days and journey to Saturn around six,” Latia said the last two destinations.

“...I thought there were four reactors?”

“Two will go to Saturn. One to the Gas Giant’s rings and the other to Titan.” The blonde clarified to her.

“Our Master truly loves his Saturn, doesn't he?” The red-eyed, pale greenish-blonde girl exclaimed with a small amount of amusement.

“It's the perfect place for enormous infrastructure. Jupiter releases enormous radiation, which can be captured and utilised to make the place habitable. Jupiter's magnetic field is so big it nearly reaches Saturn.

On top of that, the asteroid belt around Saturn will accelerate the Drydock creation, which will spread around the entire Gas Giant.

By my rough estimation, it will produce warships or other technology every few minutes in quantities of hundreds of thousands.

The Moons will act like bases and habitable areas.

It will be the supersized garage Master always wanted.” Latia used some of her speculations about Project Saturn. Or as he calls it, his ‘Temple of Time’.

“...That’s a lot like a lot. Perpetual energy is genuinely broken! to have such a massive amount of warships. He will overrun the Galaxy itself!” The Agares Heiress grimaces while saying that. It's not a pipe dream to imagine so many warships exploring the entirety of the Milky Way! And beyond!

“Indeed, and the best part, dear cousin, look at this. A ‘small’ project after part 1 is complete.” Latia pointed at one thing.

“A sub Project.”

Seekvaira walked over and looked where the blonde pointed.

“...Project Gun— he is doing it!” She started to grin silly, seeing that Gundams were coming!

“But wait! I thought he was grounded!”  Her happiness was quickly gone as if he had not ordered this. He could cancel it!

“Don’t worry. The guidelines for future warships include catapult decks and GUNDAM workshops. Since the height of the machines is around 18 to 25 metres, the rest of the spaceship has to adjust.”

“...Won’t that make them insanely big?”

“By Earth’s standards, yes. Considering he is planning to scale up everything. Assembly lines needed for Gundams will be considerably big, which means machines used for conquest will be even bigger than they are now.

The Spider walkers we saw on the battlefield will be bigger just because the factories which produce them will be bigger.” Latia recalled the machines on the frontlines. They could already crush tanks just from walking.

Now? They could be the size of skyscrapers if needed. The assembly lines could make them in parts and just assemble on the length of the future cruiser.

“True. The scale will be so big that people will have no other option but to despair.” Seekvaira commented as she knew where this was going.

“Yes. However. I don't think it will be pure genocide as we initially thought.” Latia pointed at a new entry in the timetable.

“It appears our Master still has access to the console.” The blonde joked.

“The rules of his mother are relatively easy to walk around. All he needs to do is ask one of his girls to use it.“ The Agares Heiress snorted. The rules were far too easy!

“Don’t say that. I could mention this to Marcus~ what would be his reaction? His Agares Pillar assists his mother with punishment meant for him, oh my. I can already see him pulling those Gundams away from your future Flagship~” Latia teased her.

“W-Wait! I never said that!”

Seekvaira started to panic. She grabbed Latia’s shoulders and began to shake her.

She didn't mean it like that!

~~~

Serafall sighed as she used her position to build a small hamlet for her Sitri Clan. She needed to use whatever points she generated to bring back some of her clan members who died in the initial attack.

The wealth she generated was considerable, so she could ‘download’ and insert souls into recently recreated bodies.

‘To think I will need to use my points to bring back my deceased clan members.’

She was somewhat jealous of what Seekvaira was able to pull to have the entire clan restored. Agares and Astaroth are two clans who have close to 200 members on their own. That is around half of their current population!

“I thought I earned enough of a position to get them revived for free!” The only remaining Satan said with a pout.

“It could be that you lost quite a bit of prestige when we were collecting survivors,” Roygun mentioned that event.

“...It could be the case.” The Leviathan slowly nodded to her words. Their eyes were on the hamlet. With their magic, they will quickly rebuild, and with Technocracy, utilities and food are not an issue. What is the problem is what comes next.

Recently, reborn devils have their birthing rates increased by technocracy for a while.

It won't last as the satellite network around the planet can dispense medicine to diminish the birth rates anytime they want.

As Marcus said, they are in a cage. No matter how ‘free’ this place looks.

“Well, I will be returning to the Technocracy. I shall request a position in which I could be useful.” Serafall said after staying quiet for a while.

“You think you could be the link between devils and Technocracy?” The hornet devil lady asked with a curious tone. She has no idea about the dynamics of this strange faction.

From what she has seen, everything revolves around one individual and his whims. It was like Absolute Monarchy, only on steroids.

As someone who was around for a while, Roygun was in France when such a Monarchy was around when thousands of people were following the whims of one man. But that was without technology like perpetual energy or atomic manipulation.

But here, this man created all those, and now he is doing whatever he wants. That is why she is curious about dynamics and how Serafall can make him assist their race, which is on the precipice of extinction.

“Hahaha…” Instead of replying to the ex-Sitri nervously laughed.

“Not quite. It used to be good when it was just me and Venelana. But now— well—” Her blue eyes went down and looked at the grass. It was nice to look at…

“Not as easy anymore.” Eventually, she finished what she wanted to say.

“Then I suggest assisting with his hobbies?” Roygun suggested.

“...We are already doing that. This is his hobby.” Serafall pointed out her surroundings. She meant the conquest and the experiment.

“Then, there are other hobbies which he can't do because he is busy. I am sure we can get something. Men like items, tools, and other material things. Isn't he a fan of something?” Roygun expanded on what she meant before.

“Hmm, we could visit—”

Serafall’s eyes widened. Before, she grinned like a proper devil.

“I do have money in the Swiss Bank. We can buy a company or two for him.” The twin tails Satan started to excite as she was about to dance.

“...Which one?” The horned Devil lady asked. It appears her ideas were working.

“...Sunrise. It's an anime company which makes his favourite TV series.” The older ex-Sitri clarified as she remembered Marcus listening to music and watching anime while working under the garage. She still remembered his silly smile when the suit was coming together!

“Then we shall do that. I do have regular money as well. It should be enough to buy this company.”

“Yes. And Yen is quite a weak currency. Considering I am keeping my wealth in gold.” Serafall said this part with a grin. Gold is a good wealth indicator. In a situation like they are now, if not for Marcus, her money would be used to accelerate the recovery by buying things from other races.

“Ah, Japan. Very well, then, should we be going?”

“Yes! I am all pumped up! Let's go!”

The pair proceeded to return to Salvation and fly towards Switzerland.

With no assignments in place, Serafall can use the massive airship as a personal ride.

Or even a mobile home, as that thing can sustain a population indefinitely.