'This is ridiculous…' Artemis was walking through Marcus' Suite. It was like a manor inside the Assimilator, with all the accommodations, like a swimming pool and a Sauna. However, what got her attention was the mess…
Sure, the kitchen is spotless, considering who Erina is, but what about the rest? Well…
'With his powers, he could have easily cleaned everything, but… he doesn't because he has us!'
"Sorry for the mess, but I was busy with sapient dinosaurs, gene tailoring and more gadgets," Marcus said to the Goddess, who was almost at the wit's end.
Sure, she might been a maid for a while, but she never had to clean such a mess before… from a mountain of dirty bed sheets, which smell like… sex, to food stains and all that stuff.
Thankfully, he didn't blow up something, as she would need to clean the rubble.
'He has labour bots for that… why can't he make some cleaning bots too…'
She knew that it was from sheer principle… and it would drive her mad if not for the fact if he got those, the maids wouldn't have a reason to be around…
"It's alright. Though with how much to do, I won't have time to attend you." Artemis reasoned, which made him ponder.
"Hmm, well, I CAN enlist another maid." Marcus got an idea while saying that.
"Then do so." She agreed without a second thought.
"Sure."
Without wasting time, he ordered Belfast pulled into Golden Armoury and the creation of Biological Combat Model Belfast, a.k.a. the royal maid.
"You will get her in a day or so."
After telling that, he took Sirin and Hisako to their new quarters.
"It looks identical. I suppose I should customise my rooms in Assimilators, " the Herrscher said with a frown as she started to feel that she was living in a hotel.
"Because it is. Do you realise you can customise the walls, ceiling, and floor as it has Realitus crystals-infused flooring?" he said with a sigh.
"So that is why our bedroom looks so different!?" Erina exclaimed with surprise.
"Hmm? You had no idea beforehand?" He looked shocked.
"Umm, no? I mean, there is a customise option on the console, but I never explored it before." She summoned her console window, which was still set to a basic one.
Marcus deadpanned when he saw that.
"Well, you can change the look of your console and your assigned suite." He got behind her hand and took it before guiding her finger to press on customisation.
The chef's assistant looked at all of this with panic and horror as she realised that her Lady had been eaten by the big bad wolf!
She can see that Erina is not even embarrassed by the amount of contact. Instead, she was very happy with what she was getting!
Sirin, who was next to them, had her hands crossed. She realised another one was here for the attention.
'Well, I got rid of the maids, but these ones are different.'
The Herrscher pondered how long they would stay in this timeline. Well, since they are playing Gods in this one, it could last a while.
'In that scale, I should remind him that I brought his favourites.'
"*Ahem* Marcus, I still have your Jurassic pets in my ship."
Marcus snapped out and looked at Sirin.
"You're right. Let's go!"
As he finished explaining to Erina, who looked dissapointed for a second, she looked at the white-haired girl with small annoyance.
The pair looked at each other. Their orange-gold eyes met purple for a second, and some sparks flashed between them.
Hisako, who understood this, smoothly got herself in between.
"We should follow, Marcus, my lady." The purple-haired assistant smiled while saying that.
"...Right."
The group of four left the living quarters section of the Mothership. By all means, there are enough suites to fill an entire nation, but only a very small part are online.
~~~
"Look at that!" Marcus exclaimed as he pointed at the beast in the container.
"You can see the difference between Cretaceous and Jurassic predators just by looking at the spine. Both of them come from the same ancestor, but they split up in the Triassic. The clade to which Allosaur belongs has a lighter skeleton and teeth more similar to a shark than other therapods; they are meant to cut and eat someone while still alive and in the middle of a chase until the animal kicks the bucket and the beast can finish it off.
You can see that these predators still have considerable hands, unlike T-Rex; that's because their skulls have lesser biting force and far greater cutting force.
"... great… so what will you do with this one?" Sirin asked as she rolled her eyes at his nerding out. He was far too tame when it came to Permian and Carboniferous animals, but now he reminds her of a small child in a zoo for the first time.
"Pet it, of course!" Marcus used his interface to open the container, making the Knight handler facepalm.
Erina instinctually apologised for breaking the rules again, this time in the docks and not the train platform.
When the Allosaur emerged from the container, the beast smelled the surroundings. Eventually, it noticed the puny humans.
Instead of roaring or anything, it took a step back, turned around and started to run…
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Sirin, why is my dinosaur is afraid of us?"
"... that's..." For a second, she was confused, too, but then she remembered that this one could be the traumatised one.
"Maybe it's the one which the maids traumatised." She considered.
"...Right…"
Marcus took a step and appeared in front of the therapod. The dino pulled his 'handbrakes' as he saw the monster before him.
It took a turn and went in a different direction.
"I am impressed by his running speed. It's around 50 kilometres." The inventor nodded in happiness. At such a speed, he could use this guy as his mount and use it on the streets!
He then used his psionic powers, which made the animals float in the air. But this is when Marcus realised that the beast had given up; the dino had already experienced this. Marcus realised that his maids had traumatised the poor predator.
It was horrible…
With that in mind, the inventor appeared before the Allosaurus and pated the apex predator of the Jurassic Period.
"There- There." He patted the scally head.
Then, he used his psionic powers to 'mould' the dinosaur's mind.
After that, he placed it back in his container as the theropod was getting cold and breathless, with a lack of oxygen, and the temperature was too low for him.
"I wasn't expecting to get this specific one." Sirin was surprised at how crazy this dinosaur's luck was!
"How many did you collect?" Marcus reappeared next to her.
"Well, enough to have a healthy population." She explained to him.
"Twenty of each should leave enough gene pool for a healthy population," the Herrscher clarified as she looked at the beast being taken to the storage floors.
"I see. Are the observations complete?" He inquired about the habitats and general behaviour patterns.
"Yes, you can study Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Tarvosaurus, Megalosaurus, and Ceratosaurus… the very top ones of the bingo book arrived with me." The girl explained, her tone getting prouder of her accomplishments.
"Very impressive."
Marcus nodded with a satisfied look. His Herrscher performed perfectly.
He then took her hand.
"Come, we need to catch up." The inventor didn't ask for her reply as he took her towards the living quarters. There are many suites there. He can take his time to 'question' her!
~~~
"Hmph!"
Sirin crossed her arms as she was sitting on Marcus' lap. The girl looked away with a pouty look.
"What is it?" He asked her as he found her pouting cute.
"Nothing."
"Hmph!"
She puffed some more, but this time around, Marcus poked her cheek.
"Tell me, what is bothering my Queen?" He asked with an amused tone.
"What bothering!? Why does that girl have a ring!?" She asked him with an angry pout.
"Oh? You want to marry me?" he asked in a curious tone, making Sirin's mouth open wide and then close. She didn't expect that!
"W-Wife!? N-No w-w-way!" She pulled herself a little bit away.
"What? You just asked me about the ring, and I answered. We can start practising being a 'proper couple'." His hand squeezed her thighs.
The more he spoke, the more embarrassed she was. The guy continuously attacked her when her defence was shaken, making her flustered look get deeper and deeper.
"H-Hold it! I-I-I didn't agree to that." The girl is pulling back. She is not ready to be Ms. Goldman!
"Hmm? But you are jealous of the ring. I can't just give you a ring and be done with that. There has to be a meaning behind it." Marcus played 'dumbly' as he didn't want this game to end just yet.
"I-Is that so?" She slightly lowered her tsundere attitude.
"Then… *Hmph!* I can accept a position similar to that of Goddess Athena! I can accept being your Fiance!" She said that with a 'tough' front while fighting her embarrassment.
It was extremely cute to the Inventor, who couldn't stop smiling.
"Hehehe, sure thing." He mentally accessed the closest Assembly line, which was the wardrobe, and ordered them to make him a golden ring.
A short moment later, the ring box floated to his hand, and the Herrscher's eyes widened as she saw it. The girl immediately looked like a scaredy cat.
"W-Wait! You can't justttt." She was trying to run away, but Marcus' hold was supernatural, like steel pincers holding her in place.
"What do you mean? You want it, so you get it~" He chuckled as the ring box opened, and the ring floated out and started to spin.
Sirin looked like she had just seen her judgement day.
"I-I agreed, but you don't just do it like that!" She started to complain with raised voice.
"Then organise your thoughts properly~" He teased her, as psionic force raised her left hand and the ring slipped on her ring finger.
She slightly teared up, seeing this happen like that.
"Ugh!!!"
The girl snapped, and her other hand moved to his wrist and started to squeeze with long nails.
"Hehehe, you can't escape my hold. Now that I know what you want, we can start with our wedding arrangments~~~."
"Noooo! Hold it!!!"
Marcus continued to tease Sirin, whose heart was not ready for the next big 'thing'. It was hilarious how pure the girl is when it comes to all that stuff.
Regardless, after getting over the 'horror' of a possible wedding, the girl had a silly look on her face when she realised that she had an engagement ring.
~~~
"My lady…"
"What is it, Hisako?" Erina asked her assistant as she saw how nervous she was.
"...Marcus Goldman… how close are you two?" The girl asked the Heiress as she saw the ring on her finger… specifically on her left ring finger.
"Close?" For a second, she pondered before elaborating.
"You could say we are close. It was foolish to believe that we could expect some sort of return to normalcy, Hisako." The cherry blonde explained to the assistant.
"...But…"
"What? You assume that once we are back from this trip, we can continue like nothing happened?"
"...No, I mean…"
"No, it's impossible to escape or even try to return to how it was before. You do understand that this experience changed us beyond recognition."
"...I understand…but…" The girl tried to work in a way that prevented her from losing her head by accident.
"But what?" Erina rolled her eyes.
"For normal people, he is far too— developed?" The purple-haired girl tried to word it as nicely as possible.
"Hmm, I thought the same thing at first, but after a while, I understood that he is simply dedicated to his craft, just as we are to ours."
"...I am certain that there is more to that." Hisako showed a strained smile as she found it hard to believe.
"I have been with him for over three weeks. I know what I see." Erina slightly narrowed her eyes while saying that.
Hisako swiftly raised her hands as if she was giving up.
"If you say, Erina-sama. You know it better than I do!"
"You better. I don't want my assistant to have a misconception of what my Marcus is."
'Did she just say 'my Marcus'?' Internally, Hisako's mouth opened in disbelief.
She recalled what Sirin said about his ability to seduce females.
"I understand."
"Good. For now, let's forget about this. Show me what you learned while you were in Jurassic period with those maids."
The assistant snapped out and slightly smiled.
"You should try out Stegosaurus ribs!"
"Sounds interesting. Barbeque is something Marcus likes as well."
The smile disappeared from Hisako's lips as she started to realise that her lady was obsessed with the Inventor…
"...Yes, he would."
The girl joined her Lady. He decided to watch her over and try to mitigate the obsession levels. She needs a new hobby or something! Maybe the data banks have some manga for her to read? That could help!
~~~
Marcus stroked Sirin's back as the girl hugged him closely. The pair needed to 'catch up', so the inventor made sure his little darling Queen got all the love she needed.
After a fulfilling several hours, the pair ended up in his bed.
Since she doesn't want him to go, he decides to check what data she brought over from the Jurassic Period.
According to Aurora and Sirin, the maids transformed into strange uniforms similar to Herrscher's suits when the fight got heated.
The AI extracted the logs from the Triangle devices.
Now, Marcus is reading through the data.
'It appears the devices responded to the need for power. Jeanne wanted to face Hippolyta, and the redhead was a Minor Goddess. The leap in power was immense. Jeanne's raw power went from around mid-class right to the Ultimate in an instant.
The suits were not designed to unleash huge amounts of raw power.
Unless special apps are installed, like what I did with Sirin's suit.
But it would seem the suit's AI adapted to the requirements and released energy through the nanites, creating an equivalent to Herrscher state.
Wait…'
Marcus' eyes widened slightly. Through the nanites in the body, the suit can read memories and desires what the wielder needs!
'That means Jeanne saw Sirin's suit could do, and the other suits created their variants to counter. Since Jeanne's power needed to increase by several leagues, a Herrscher equivalent is possible.'
The inventor smiled slightly as he realised what this meant. His devices are opening doors to incredible new plateaus!
The suit-up could be equivalent to the Power Ranger dress-up, so they need mechs or versions of Zoids.
Or maybe like Shikai and Bankai from Bleach… something like that.
With a smirk, he went through the logs to find out what he wanted. He then checked where his devices were.
All of them are within the range of his Aurora Network, which is great. That means he can install the 2.0 software to improve and provide proper measuring.
But first, he used the Network to access Jeanne's device.
'Hohoho… I knew it!'
He found logs that indicate exactly what he thought. The power-up is based on specific memory. The girls knew the suit was very strong, so they tried to access it. Since they saw Sirin use it, they tried to access something similar.
So how to do? They subconsciously based a transformation based on Herrscher's suit.
'So let's make it something official.'
Marcus mentally proceeded to fill up an extension to the OS.
Not only that, but he added a sub-extension. The suit will continue to gather data, so he will create an evolution magic circle based on the data he gathered from all the trips. In other words, the suits will have hundreds of millions of years of evolution to base the power-up.
Once done, he pressed execute, and all the devices for a second turned off and rebooted. No one even noticed, as the suits don't just turn off. There are procedures to it, so a simple OS restart only lasts a couple of seconds.
"Hmph! I thought you wanted to cuddle. Why are you programming?" Sirin's pouting voice brought him from his smirking.
"I just boosted the suits."
"Hmm, fine. But are you done?"
"Yep~"
Marcus dismissed the windows as he went back to cuddling his darling Queen.
~~~
Meanwhile, the Klaxosaurians, empowered by the Nanites, rushed through the city, slaughtered all the opposition, and collected extra followers. Their strength was supernatural, enough to make people believe in the Great Observer and the God Emperor.
Just like that, in a single evening, the rebellion exploded, and the Emperor who ruled from the Palace was captured and brought before the Great Priest, who recovered his youth fight before everyone.
"You stand in the path of Great Observer. He requested us to unite the world against the great threat."
Great Priest Dalulu said in a deep voice. His voice became much more magnetic, and he could pull in people. The Emperor, who had known the Great Priest all his life, needed to do a double take as he could not believe that this man was the same old man who controlled the rites and marriage ceremonies.
"Dalulu… what happened?"
"The Great Observer descended! Showing our doomed future, he asked us to join him if we wanted to overcome it. We agreed, and he shared his power. As you can see, I regained my youth, and my power is beyond simple people!"
The Emperor was blown away as the priest spoke in a fanatical voice.
What the hell!?
Are the myths and stories about the Observers real? Is the Monolith of Knowledge real, too!?
It is said that their people became smart because the ancient villages were built around it, but this didn't last. As the fighting for its control spiralled out of control, and the area became inhospitable for living, their ancestors had to leave. Because of that, the Great Observers left them without their guidance.
But if it's true… that one of the Great Observers gave them a second chance…
"If it's true… then it's only natural my Empire will join! There is no need for mindless slaughter, Dalulu!"
"Emperor Bakalu, all heretics have to be killed. We can't have dissidents!"
The Great Priest walked over and pressed his finger on his forehead, and the images of what he saw were transferred to the Emperor.
The Ruler's eyes bulged out as he set a series of images. What he saw was their future, followed by who the Great Observers were, the golden figure that visited them, and the deal they had.
At that moment, the nanites from Dalulu spread out to Bakalu.
Slowly, the Emperor felt the power of 'Divine' appear in him.
'T-This is!?'
The Klaxosaurian was in complete disbelief as he felt this 'power' surge in his body.
"You saw it, didn't you? We have a divine mission to protect our people from the monsters from the beyond the stars."
The Emperor dumbly nodded before snapping out of his shock and becoming serious.
"You are right! We can't allow these monsters to succeed. We shall protect our people, and the future we see shall be averted! Mark my words!"
Sure enough, the Emperor, with his new-found power and the complete help of the followers of the Great Observers, was able to purge the heretics and enemies of the Royal Family.
The Emperor Bakalu's grip on his Empire was unshakable after all that.
A day of cleaning up followed after a day of fighting as the followers gathered in the main Grand Temple's Hall.
"Oh Great God, Emperor, we have gathered here to humbly ask for guidance. How should we progress after consolidating our strength?"
The Emperor and his followers were still sceptical as the Grand Priest bowed alongside the zealots. While the power was incredible, the Priest could have gained it from somewhere else.
But then a crushing presence descended, and the next second, a golden ball of energy exploded and became an armoured man with wings.
When the Emperor saw it, he collapsed on his knees, followed by his family and his followers.
It was an unbelievable sight for him.
"Begin mobilising your troops. I shall bless all your soldiers." After saying that, the being disappeared, followed by his crushing presence.
The newcomers gasped as sweat was rolling from their foreheads.
'S-So this is the God Emperor! The Greatest Observer of them all!'
The man slowly stood up, his hands continuing to shake from the realisation of what he had just met.
"You heard our God-Emperor! Send a word to mobilise! We shall bath the world in our enemy's blood!"
The man snapped out of his shock as he barked out the command.
~~~
Marcus observed the world from the observation deck. He watched the Klaxosaurians gather from small towns and villages toward a single place outside the capital city.
"I am dissapointed that I missed such a chance to see a civilisation being born," Sirin said to him as she walked over with crossed arms.
"Since when do you care about civilisations?" He asked with a joking tone.
"I may despise humanity, but this is different!" The girl huffed at him while looking away.
*Snort*
"After observing life for more than 200 million years, I can tell you with certainty that humanity and Klaxosaurians are almost identical. They have different ancestors and developed at different times, but they are nearly identical. They are a biological life, and even a self-aware one, is still driven by two factors.
Just like any life, they are driven by food and preservation through procreation."
"...you saying humanity is all about food and… sex?" She looked both disgusted and embarrassed.
"There is no need to be disgusted. I don't mind such a truth. My faction is built on the fact that I was afraid to die. Thus, my desire for ever-lasting monuments.
Even you, when I brought you over, why didn't you run away?"
For a second, Sirin was surprised at how casually he admitted his childhood trauma… but then she got annoyed when he mentioned the fact about her.
"...Isn't it obvious? You were far more dangerous than anything I had met before. How could I leave!?" She huffed with an annoying look.
"Indeed, thats life preservation, and as a woman, you decided to embrace your nature and join my faction to preserve your life and continuous existence.
It's basic biological preservation.
You can observe the intricacies of biological life far better when it's self-aware, like these Klaxosaurians.
Just look at all those layers they have to hide basic biological life needs.
You have vanity projects to worship gods, us, as they believe that we will assist in their desire to improve and protect their lives."
He scoffed at such a thing.
"Do you see familiarities between humanity and these Klaxosaurians? How 'selfish' they are?" He smirked while saying that.
That smirk made Sirin pout at him.
"I get it. There is no need to mock my 'hatred'." She rolled her eyes before reflecting on what he had just said.
"...I would prefer you didn't tell me how simple we are…" The girl sighed with resignation. Now, she sounds like a simple one-cell organism who only cares about self-preservation and procreation.
"Hah. The only difference between simple and complex is self-awareness. Do you realise that creating something self-aware is extremely difficult? I know that quite well." He shook his head while saying that. It's quite sad how Sirin doesn't understand such a thing.
"...Don't look at me like I am dumb! Okay? I understand well enough! It's that my pride doesn't allow me to accept such mundane things!" The girl looked annoyed for a second before deciding to brush the whole thing aside and instead talk about things before her.
"So what is going on?" Her gaze went down on the world below.
"This?" He motioned with his gaze.
She nodded at him.
"World domination." He said with a small smirk.
"Imagine conquering the whole planet in a medieval-like era. The amount of time we will have for technological advancement will be considerable until the date of modern ages, " he said with crossed arms.
"...and the reason for that?" She asked with a confused look.
"Alien vampires who eat souls will be invading in modern ages."
"..." Sirin looked seriously at him. She wondered if he was making this up, as enemies like that sounded as farfetched as one could get.
"What? Your world was invaded by non-living materials which want to erase humanity according to society's technological levels. Do you think soul-eating vampire-like creatures sound absurd?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"...true…" she sighed.
The pair continued to look, but mobilising like this would take days to weeks, so they used Time slips to accelerate events.
Not long over eighty thousand strong have gathered.
'Cretaceous don't have that much landmass, so these numbers are not bad, though one of the first things I should teach them is better boat-building methods. Supremacy over water is important.'
Marcus continued to watch the whole thing. He saw the Emperor sharing 'the truth' with his top vassals, and they shared it with their men, and so on. Not long after, the whole army had his nanites.
Still, he decided to 'reveal' himself at a critical time, as world conquest is hard, considering opposing factions will join together.
"I do wonder how far they will go." The Herrscher asked him in a curious tone. Part of her was amused to watch this. Her Queen complex is getting stroked, watching 'mortals' struggle and trying to impress them…
Marcus simply smiled as he realised she was amused by all of this.
"With nanites in their bodies, they could fight armies three to five times their size, and that's when they have a bad tactical advantage." He said it with crossed arms as he used time to slip into the first fight.
"...You gave them nanites? Then this is over." The girl realised this would be boring; she wanted them to struggle.
"I wouldn't be that sure. You tried world conquest yourself. You know better."
"I tried to destroy, not conquer. But I see your point. Do you know the political landscape of this society?" She asked him.
"Aurora, show us the Political map."
[Displaying borders according to the data I have gathered.]
The map appeared in front of them.
"This is only a local area!" Sirin complained to him.
"Well, yeah, do you think they have GPS or the Internet to know what is happening in other continents? Considering they are only three continent species." He shrugged at her with an amused look.
"...So then this is easy. They will conquer one continent. The other two could have different cultural values and technological advancements."
"True, but I expect some competition." He said with a small smirk.
"Competition?"
"Well, yeah. Other empires do believe in me as well." Marcus reminded her that his religion is a continent-size thing.
"You think after fighting a couple of times, they will conclude that you are helping?" The girl asked with a sceptical frown.
"No, I made Assimilator visible. It's only a matter of time before I am a global phenomenon."
'I should come with a global system to pick up 'preyers' and stuff.'
The inventor started to ponder a system. He got a couple of ideas based on a global barrier system. Considering he has a barrier around the whole planet thanks to his Assimilator, he can terraform with it. Making it pick up something like prayer and getting energy out of it is easier than other options.
"...Hah… so you are not putting all the eggs in one basket."
"Indeed. If this empire fails, there are others." He shrugged.
"And here I thought you are playing for one team."
"I am more of a sports guy overall. I don't root for one team in general but the whole sport. If one team fails, the others win, " he clarified to her.
Sirin snorted when she heard that.
"If you say so."
But then she realised how much it tells her about his personality. The guy would rather create a pantheon to believe in instead of believing in already established beliefs.
"What? You don't believe me?" He asked with a frown.
"No, I do. I am surprised you are interested in something you didn't create yourself."
"Hmm, 'interested' is a strong word. I would say I am casual when it comes to such a thing. I do turn on TV when there is World Cup finals or NBA final game." He said while stroking his chin.
"Sounds about right. So what do we do after the continent is taken over? You will help with the navy?" She asked him as her eyes were on the map of the world. There is a lot of water on this Earth.
"Yes, well, a strong navy is necessary for this type of world. I will expand on it. I already have a 'research tree' prepared for the Klaxosaurians." He nodded at her, and a bright smile appeared.
'I have this feeling that he is treating this like a video game.' The girl was slightly concerned but then shrugged it aside, not caring after her initial realisation. Like he said, if they were close to humanity, then there is no need to care.
"Right… as long as you are having your fun." She slightly smiled back.
"Don't worry about me~." He pulled her closer as he returned to look at the approaching conflict. He wanted to see how well his nanites would work.
This world is quite a great place for experiments. Social tests when exposed to 'divine' or superior beings, test runs for his nanites, cultural observations and stuff like that.
'I should observe more primitive societies.' Marcus slightly smiled as he got several ideas of what he could do in such worlds.
But first, he needs to consolidate in this world.
~~~
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