"After the invasion into our beloved universe, the attackers severed the connection between us and the universe. Information about the tool was that it could separate sentience of an object from the object itself, essentially hijacking the thought process of the object.
You can imagine the amount of energy needed to power such a device. That, coupled with the power to maintain the separation in play puts a massive strain on their energy sources.
However, these hail from a more powerful and older universe. There is little else I am allowed to tell you about them, but you will understand everything.
Okay, where were we? Right, the attackers severing our connection with the universe. At first, we thought it was game over, but on further investigation, we discovered that there was a loophole to this tool. That, my friend, is where we come in.
The loophole is simple. The consciousness has to be reborn in the universe again. If they survive until they are powerful enough to claim the power of the universe, then there will be nothing standing in their way, the tools and effort would be useless."
"I imagine getting something like that done is not that hard, if you are who you claim to be," Barda said.
"It is not as easy as you might imagine. The enemy knows of this weakness, so they have deployed massive movements to ensure that any born with such potential shall be destroyed.
They have their means of identifying special children. After more than a million trials over the millennia, it was time to come up with a different strategy."
"That's where I come in?" Barda asked, guessing the progress of the story.
"Not so fast kid. There were several measures put in place to protect the child and guide the child through the journey.
There was extensive planning on the side of the AI and preparation. I do not know your mission in the world that you are in now but I know that your existence up to where you are now has been completely justified for more than 500 years just so you can come.
I know this because the same happened to me, and the four others I've told you about. You are like them, a spawn of the universe's consciousness.
Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to gain enough power without attracting the attention of the invaders, gain back control over our universe, and send the enemies running.
"You've said a lot of things, but all that is not proof," Barda said.
"The good thing about being a guide is that I do not need to prove anything to you. I simply point the way, give you a few pointers and my work is done. You should know, I would love to see you succeed, we all would."
"You do realize that you are not giving me a lot to work with. Who are the invaders, why have they come, how do I gain control over the universe?"
"There will be other guides along the way, I am just the first. I can only tell you this much. Believe me, I wish I could tell you more, but this is all for your good.
After doing this so many times, the AI has learned a lot. Trust that these measures have been put for your sake, to optimize chances of success. Giving you any information other than what you have now is detrimental to you.
Oh, almost forgot, you should know this too. As long as your mission is in play and you are not a guide, you are physically incapable of repeating this information. Your AI will work against you if it detects even a chance that you are about to divulge this information.
Perhaps that is the best way to understand and believe me. Ask your AI," Rowan concluded.
[Information cannot be verified. 1.234130000000000075e-41% possibility.]
"Cannot be verified, and I am not liking the odds there," Barda informed Rowan.
"Well, I cannot help you there. I have one more thing to give to you, and then I am done," Rowan added.
***
"Sir, let me do it," the young man went before Manga and pleaded. He wanted to be the one to go out there. "With my power, I can face the bugs without fear for a few minutes."
"What is your power?" Manga asked. He'd seen the man's performance before, and he didn't quite understand how he had done it.
"I am a spatial mage sir. This means I have control over the space element. I can form a barrier around me, prevent any attack from coming at me as I run."
"How will you know where he is?"
"Sir, with the amount of mana he is manipulating, he is like wildfire at night, unmistakable. I just need to shoot down the guns at the source of the mana."
They were finally within range of the Gatlin guns on the ship's hull, which would be fired from the helm. To do that, one had to get out from below deck and face the bugs that were so heavily concentrated.
Even with the armor, it would be suicide. This was no longer a task for a warrior, but a mage. Manga had to agree to it.
He may have made it sound easy, but he knew it would be anything but. He was just a student mage, barely able to master his element. Based on the power demonstrated but the enemy, he had to be at the Practitioner level.
However, each element had its merits and demerits. The enemy was using a composite of the fire and shadow elements. His was spatial, an element that is known for defense.
He clawed his way until he got to the helm and finally, the big guns. Juma was not prepared for the loud noise that came from the guns.
The gun was phenomenal. With the capability of firing 12,000 rounds per minute, one short burst already fired over a hundred rounds, instantly shredding the mage.
Suddenly, the massive cloud of bugs fizzled up just like that. Juma breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"What the...?" Looking across the field, Lady Arnea was shocked. As she had been blindly guiding the ship towards the source of the mana, she did not consider where they were going until now.
Looking at where Juma had shot at, she was shocked to see thousands, no, millions of soldiers advancing. At the front were various war machinery. This was it, Gumina was finally taking action.
"Didn't the report say they would be approaching Hull city first?" Commander Manga muttered to himself, causing the others to look at him curiously.
As the commander, he had received word of a pending invasion, and now seeing the people move in, he understood that the intelligence received had been wrong. Didn't those damn spies know their job?
However, now was not the time for that, since the attack was imminent, he had to prepare his people. Only, he was miles away from the city and right in the enemy's crossfire. A massive fireball came at them, no doubt from one of the mages at the front.
"Everybody get down below!" The commander shouted. Unfortunately, the ship was sitting duck. They couldn't get out of the way in time and all they could do was get ready. Getting below deck would offer the best protection.
The next moment, they found themselves hurtling through the air. Part of the capsule had been burned up. Despite the fire resistance, the fireball was overly hot, knocking the ship off the air and sending it tumbling.
The capsule was not so broken that it completely disintegrated, but the impact and the force send the ship tumbling. Manga and his people were tossed about in the ship until it got down.
After an unknown about of time, Manga came to. His head was banging and he had a mild concussion. There were several bruises and wounds on his body.
Thing is, he found himself lying on something warm and soft. The next moment, soft hands threw him off before he knew what was happening. Looking up, he saw Lady Arnea struggling to tuck her bosom back in the armor.