30 Powering the Ancient Artifact Gate (1/2)
A red signal continuously beeped it was switched off calmly. A silver-haired man then tapped the screen in front of him rapidly with a stoic expression plastered on his face. Although he had an unspeakable elegance with every move he made, it was blemished by the arrogance displayed on his young facial features. His skin was so white, it was slightly translucent. His forehead bore a small silver colored triangle mark, just slightly below his middle hairline. It was the mark of a high class citizen of the Empire, the 'Anthenians'.
He was feeling unhappy since someone still dared to disturb him while he was resting in his living quarters. He had explicitly sent down an order not to be disturbed. Scrunching his brow slightly, he read through the notice from the board of directors of his company, stating that a situation had occurred which needed his immediate attention. Feeling irritated, he walked towards the exit and sit inside the driver-less Maglev hover car before it automatically sped off towards the conference room.
...
”We must destroy that planet first!”
”What happens if the Empire knows about it? It's not a good way out!”
”What if we just hastened the harvesting time?”
”Who bribed the officials from the sector registry?! How much did you pay? Is it enough?!”
The young man entered the conference room silently from the side door as he observed the unsightly old men bickering with each other, unable to come up with a decision. Since the entrance was rather obscured, the others didn't notice his presence. He watched every one of the so called 'directors' as he lamented on their incompetency.
He walked in directly and finally sat at the top most seat. As every eye noticed his presence, they were silenced into servitude.
”Let the Energy Harvesting Wheel performed at its optimal parameters. Do not adjust anything to hasten its progress.I don't want the quality of the star energy ore to reduce at all. When the critical phase is finally over, notify me. I will send over a battalion from my personal army. It won't be too late to destroy any surviving indigenous life form left.” His voice was absolute, carrying a command, rather than a suggestion.
An old man with a full beard and a hard stare countered, ”Young Master Wales, I heard the first mercenary team was MIA while the second backup surveyor's team was wiped out within ten minutes. This shows that the indigenous people were quite capable. From my calculation, the Wheel needs about a year to fully absorbed the harmful rays and convert them to energy before the condensation of the Star Energy Ore will take place. Is it a good move to give them that much time? What if some survivors manage to escape? Who will be responsible for it?” In his mind, he never entertained the thoughts that the indigenous people could possibly retaliate.
The young man looked at the old prune with full of disdain, ”I will be responsible. Based on the size of the galaxy, one year is not enough for them to escape. Follow my words and be done with it. I will handle the internal parts with the Empire's administration using the power behind the Estrella Conglomerate. I will make them forget that the obscure sector even existed.” To him, only the amount and quality of energy harvested mattered.In his mind, the indigenous life forms were not even worth his time. However, little that he knew that time will prove how wrong he was in the future.
One thing was extremely clear, no one, including the 'young master', had ever suggested on helping the 'aboriginals', as they had been viewed to be less than life stock, unfitting to be seen for a second glance. They treated them as one will treat houseflies hovering over a delicious steak; annoying, yet not harmful.
...
”Bless Miss Loralyne. The right answer had always been here in our front of our own eyes.” Newton shook his head sadly when he remembered about the pitiful girl. He heard that the bright girl was seriously injured while investigating the past to help to identify the methods to use the so called 'gate'. After working together with Wentilakh for a few months researching the records, they have finally concluded that the two items needed to power up both Graycastle's 'Interstellar Gate' and Demonic Settlement's Salvation Lake were one and the same.
Previously, aided by Miss Lora's selfless sacrifice, Newton was able to notice the likeness of the Xincor mineral for one of the components needed to power up the gates. Hence, he had renewed his work on the black mineral tirelessly towards that end. Unfortunately, the amount of mineral in his hand was so scarce, the tests he conducted kept on giving ambiguous results with no significant values. The presence of Wentilakh had truly remedied the situation. Together, they had finally confirmed the usage of the illusive mineral. The properties of the Xincor mineral was 95% similar to the properties of the first compound used by the Giant race to power up their 'Gates'.
The problem was identifying the second compound. After scouring every single naturally-occurring element present, both the humans and the demons weren't able to find a compatible one. Hence, with Wentilakh's suggestion, they tried testing the synthesized Antimatter after a few months of readjustments and testing.
”This is it. Your theory was right all along, Wentilakh.” Newton was so excited at this moment. Wentilakh was also feeling extremely emotional. Although he was putting a front to his colleague, he was not 100% sure. Only when their experiment shows result then he can breathe easily. With this finding, they are one step closer towards the salvation of both races.
...
Frieda twirled her left wheat-colored pigtail while fidgeting a little. It was her first time seeing a real Demon. However, deep in her heart, she felt that the grandpa demon looked quite cute, in some sense. It's because the grandpa has cute whiskers adorning his wrinkled gray skin. The hair was white and long, which reminded her of beautiful horse mane. In a way, this grandpa must've been a really cute person when he was younger. Her eyes were bright as she mentally conjured up a few valiant pictures of the grandpa in her mind while smiling sweetly.