67 Unexpected Enemy (1/2)
Ed created an underground basement for the blood farm. It was dark and gloomy like a dungeon. He locked each person he had taken from the Commerce and Supply department into individual iron cages. They were completely chained down and unable to move. Tubes were hooked up to them for both collecting blood regularly and for feeding them.
”I'll leave the blood slaves to you.” Ed smiled. ”I'll send more in the future. Especially once we start gathering prisoners of war. The blood farm will remain secret. On the surface, you'll act as a kind nurse that helps anyone that needs it. The soldiers and other members I send here will be completely unaware of what's going on beneath the surface. So, make sure the secret doesn't get exposed.”
”Mm.” Mary nodded, her face slightly pale.
Ed happily whistled a tune as he walked away, his hands in his jacket pockets. 'Everything should be all caught up for now. Time to play with the manullium.'
He returned to base and gathered the 100 ingots of manullium. They were to be locked in his underground lab until further notice. He picked up one of the purple ingots and lightly tossed it into the air. It slowly floated back into his hand as if it was a feather.
'Such an odd material. I wonder how it got into the mountains. Was it there before mana came into existence and no one knew about it? Or did it appear afterwards somehow?' He placed the ingot down while shaking his head. The origin of the material wasn't important to his current agenda.
'Let's begin.' He pulled out a notebook and pen, jotting down words as he experimented.
Experiment 001 – I tested whether the purified manullium ingots would interfere with my mana or not. Unsurprisingly, they didn't. I had expected this, as Terra had been able to use her powers even when wearing a collar made from manullium. Unfortunately, this means I can't use my current supplies to further improve my mana control. I'll need to gather raw ore in the future for that purpose.
Experiment 002 – The ingots are currently impractical. I need a way to divide them up. I attempted the process with a vibro-knife, but all I got were a lot of sparks. The material is ridiculously strong.
Experiment 009 – I've sprinkled an ingot with all seven types of mana-powders. The powders instantly activated as a result. The good news is that none of the ingot is used up upon coming in contact with the mana-powders. The bad news is that I still need a way to cut or mold the ingots. My powers don't work for this.
Experiment 037 – The answer to cutting and reforming the ingots was shockingly simple. Simply melt it with ordinary flames that have no trace of mana within them. I tried this on a whim using an ordinary fire and it worked. I've created a furnace for my future work.
Experiment 038 – It only takes a very small piece of manullium to trigger mana-powder. This means that my current supply is enough to arm thousands of soldiers. Through the use of a simple triggering mechanism, I can allow soldiers to have strength similar to my own metal limbs. The only downside is the lack of fine control. I can easily adjust the strength of my flames by limiting my mana output. However, manullium will activate the mana-batteries at full strength. I'll need to create weaker batteries or come up with a new control method.
Experiment 112 – I've spent dozens of experiments attempting to create a new control method and have finally succeeded. I call them segmented mana-batteries. I've divided the single large mana-battery into 10 smaller mana-batteries. Then, I use a thin bar of manullium to slide over the batteries. This allows outputting anywhere between 1/10th of the power to full power.
Experiment 139 – Using myself as the test subject, I've managed to create an ideal control method for humans to use the limbs. I simply connected the manullium bar to muscles. After a bit of practice, activating the batteries at different output levels should be as easy as breathing.
Experiment 147 – I accidently burned myself when my muscles twitched. If I was an ordinary human, then that would have killed me. I've made further improvements to the muscles so that they can only be controlled via active thought. I've also added a safety mechanism on the outside of the arm.
Experiment 169 – I had World Walker test teleporting with the manullium. He succeeded with very small amounts. This is good news for the upcoming war. He'll still be able to transport our strongest troops into key support positions.
Experiment 192 – I was curious if manullium-powder would be useful for anything. It took me a lot of effort to scrape a tiny trace of powder from an ingot. I wasted dozens of the strongest tools I could find. I finally succeeded after breaking nine diamond-tipped drilling tools in a row. The reward for my efforts? Nothing. Manullium-powder seemingly has no special uses. I don't know why I expected otherwise.
Experiment 200 – I humored the idea of turning my entire skeleton into manullium. I got about as far as my pinky finger before aborting the idea and replacing my pinky finger with a normal one. Manullium naturally interferes with my mana-paths. The blockage of the path was extremely painful. My head throbbed with unbearable pain as my mana-core swelled from the blockage. I thought I might even die for a second. It appears that I'll have to keep the mana-infused humans I plan on creating separate from those that gain artificial limbs, or else the manullium in the limbs will interfere with their mana.
Ed left the lab while yawning. It had only taken him a couple days to run through 200 experiments. He was efficient if nothing else. Tomorrow, he would be ready to begin creating his first batch of super soldiers. All of them would be given limbs similar to his own, capable of wide-spread destruction through fire. 'It's probably about time for me to upgrade my own limbs as well. I've been using this model for a long time. I think I'll upgrade my own limbs after I finish with the new soldiers.'
...
Night. Ed slipped into his peaceful dreams. A vast white space appeared in front of his eyes. He instinctively reached out with his arm but couldn't feel the surroundings. Not even a trace of wind seemed to exist in this empty void.
”Kekeke.” A mysterious shadow appeared. ”We meet again, Edward. I didn't think I'd be meeting with you again any time soon.”
”Oh?” Ed rose an eyebrow. ”I'm quite surprised myself. I didn't think I'd see you again until either right before the upcoming war or after it ended.”
”So, you are going to war?” The shadow grinned as it slowly spun circles around his body.
”Don't act like you didn't already know.” He scoffed. ”It's hardly a secret. You should even know the dates and everything.”
”True.” The shadow nodded. ”However, I am not here about that today. A little bird told me that you broke into a manullium mine and made off with quite a big treasure.”
”Right.” He agreed. ”I suppose someone from that mining base told you about it? So, what do you want?”
”The manullium, naturally.” The shadow replied. ”There's no such thing as too much manullium. Even I have a hard time gathering it in large quantities. I am willing to trade for it. You still wanted a cultivation technique, right? I think that would make for a more than fair deal in your favor.”
”Forget it.” Ed frowned. ”It's not for sale. It's an essential resource needed for my future plans.”
”Kekeke. Don't be so quick to reject!” The shadow wrapped around his body. ”I have so much information to sell. How about the best mechs of Sinless? I also have the shaman techniques of Africa. There are plenty of other secrets I know from around the world. Have you ever been to the Bermuda Triangle? Let's make a trade!”
”The answer is no.” He declined again, his arms crossed across his chest.
”Tsk!” The shadow untwisted itself from around him. ”Are you sure about this, boy? Do you really wish to make an enemy of Nexus? I could simply crush you and take the manullium for myself. Your little playgroup is nothing to me.”
”Threatening me when you don't get your way?” He grinned. ”Come make an enemy of me then. I'll burn your shadow to hell and scare you back into your little gopher hole! Do you think I fear a coward that hides behind a shadow?! A coward that doesn't even meet with others face to face?! Attack me if you want to, but I guarantee you'll regret it.” He glared menacingly at the shadow, ready to tear it limb from limb should the need arise.
”A pity.” The shadow sighed. ”You had your chance. I can't be blamed for what I'm about to do.”
Suddenly, a loud siren could be heard. Ed's head throbbed in pain as the white space began to shatter. His eyes shot open, staring at the dark ceiling of his own room. Warning sirens went off throughout the base.
He quickly got up and looked out the window into the streets. A group of unfamiliar espers was attacking the base! 'No, wait. I recognize one of them... Mordy?!'