Note: This prologue will be a little long, but if you want to know the back story before the transmigration, then I suggest you to read it. Me, the author recommend you to read it, conversely, if you want to know the MC bit by bit and like the feeling of mystery, then by all means skip this prologue.
You will not miss anything by skipping this chapter.
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Clank! Clank!
Bang! Bang!
Hax slammed the refined alloy with his hammer. Each time he did, the alloy became more compressed and hardened. Dozens of floating bots fluttered around him. They brought various tools, and did their task as programmed. Their work made loud noises as sparks came out of their tools.
He wanted to take his time with this project, but the war at the frontier forced him to haste. He could have told a few million of his students to build this star-class battleship, but he didn't.
Dozens of reasons influenced his decision, but the most important one was their competence. No one but he could finish this continent-sized spaceship in pristine quality.
And quality matters for the first impression. Hax wanted the empire to strike hard at the enemy and who was better at the job than a battleship?
The imperial army would hug this baby with a grin on their face.
Hax smiled when he thought of that. This was not the best ship his hand could build, but it was the fastest. The aliens had used unknown stealth technology and had sabotaged countless fortress at the border. It was his duty to make them pay.
When he finished hammering the haul section, he called a few floating bots to lift him. The battleship was mostly done, only a few sections were left, but the manufacturing bots could finish them.
All he could do now was do some tweaks here and there to increase its performance.
The aliens prioritized speed and stealth so he needed to upgrade the sensor of the ship first. Its projectile cannons should be replaced with lasers to defeat high-mobility vessels.
He considered installing Nova Burst missiles but thought better of it. The wave would disrupt the universal communication node and all means of communication would turn dark.
Sensors and lasers were all it needed.
Hax called for more bots and commanded them to bring some parts. First, he built the sensor. The battleship usually used standard mass, and radio waves sensors, but the aliens were quite smart to defeat them.
He put some thought to counter this technology. Eventually, he decided to make a new sensor. Instead of detecting mass and radio waves, the sensor would detect consciousness through the spiritual dimension.
It was a new field of science and was considered pseudoscience before he made the technology to prove its worth. In essence, this field proved the existence of souls and the dimension where they resided.
He assembled the parts the bot brought and programmed them to access the spiritual dimension.
As he finished his work, a man walked under the battleship and called him. "Star Forger, sir. I apologize for my untimely arrival, but I must relay this message as quickly as I can."
Hax waved his hand and the bots lifted the man towards him. The man wore the standard military uniform of black with a golden line that ran down from the chest.
"Your apology is not what I need, Commander. Lift your feet and get out of my forge."
"I know you do not like anyone inside your star forge, my lord. But this message is of the utmost importance."
Hax frowned. "From who is this message come from?"
The commander bowed. "This message came from the emperor himself, my lord."
Hax clicked his tongue. "The new emperor you mean? That brat only has the throne for a decade and he thinks he could order me around? I have lived for two hundred thousand years. I've seen the rise and fall of humanity. and this child wants to command me!?"
"This is not a command, my lord. It is a message."
"You can play words with your subordinates, Commander. But not me. I know what the throne can do to a young man like him."
"Very well, my lord. Then, to finish my task. I shall relay the message."
"Be done with it."
"Yes, my lord. The emperor suggests you take a vacation in S-A-13 for a few thousand years. He also said that you can learn a few things there."
"S-A-13? The empire is at war and he wants to send me exile to a far-flung universe?"
"He simply wants you to take a break, my lord."
"Take a break my ass. I will break his neck when I see him."
"Please refrain from insulting the emperor, my lord. I'm afraid he could hear us."
"Let him listen. That boy wants me to infiltrate another universe while the empire is at war with three different universes. His ambition is too big."
"Master!"
Three men ran towards the battleship and commanded a few bots to take them to him.
"Master! I heard the emperor sends you away."
And who were these guys? Hax couldn't remember but he was sure the three of them were his students. And why do all these men look ugly?
"What's your name again?"
"Master," the man blinked. "How could you forget. My name is Gundo and you have picked me as your primary disciple."
"I have a lot of primaries disciple." Hax waved his hand.
"But Master. You only have three."
"..."
"I don't care. Now tell me why are you forcing your way inside my star forge. Don't forget that I could open the hatch and let the star burn your body into dust."
"Master," Gundo said. "The three of us would like to accompany you in your journey."
Hax raised his eyebrow. Bringing some assistant didn't sound so bad. At least he had some hands to do the grunt work.
"Alright, the three of you can come." Hax turned to the commander. "Now, run back to your emperor and tell him that I would enjoy this vacation of mine. Also, tell him not to destroy the empire while I'm gone."
The commander bowed. "Yes, my lord."
"The three of you follow me."
Hax commanded the bots to take them to the spiritual teleportation chamber. He wanted to call the device as matter and consciousness warp device or MCWD for short but lots of people complained about it.
Spiritual teleportation did not sound accurate for the device. It did not transfer the soul and leave the body behind, but it teleported everything to the atomic level.
Calling it a spiritual teleportation device left a bad taste in his mouth.
The four of them arrived in front of the chamber. Tall black gates slid open with a creak and crack.
It had been a while since he went inside.
When they entered, Hax send a mental command with his mind to activate the teleportation altar.
A round stage surrounded by pillars glowed with blue lines running around their structures.
These blue lines were the energy that dwelled in the spiritual dimension or as some people called it—the dimension of the soul.
"Can we reach S-A-13 with this device, Master?"
"We can. But the neutron star that provides its energy would dry death."
A panel came out of the floor in front of the altar. It showed a few parameters such as selected coordinates, stability, and energy.
It had been a while so he took his time.
Hax tweaked some things to increase its stability and set the coordinates.
"Step on the altar. Let me remind you that what we are using is spiritual teleportation, so make sure you condense your thought on one thing unless you want some accident to happen."
"Yes, Master."
Hax warned them some more about the possibilities that could happen if they neglect his advice. Ripping their bodies apart was just one of them.
The four of them stepped on the altar. When they were ready, Hax activate the device, and a thick blue beam struck them from below.
His vision was filled with surging lights of blue. A few seconds later, he was inside the spiritual dimension.
The spiritual dimension was like the sea. Everything was a stream of water going forward. They look very bright and yet also very transparent. And beyond these transparent stream were the other universes. He could go to these universe with a snap of his finger.
But it was very dangerous to have distracting thoughts in this dimension. It wasn't enough to hurt Hax anymore since he had trained how to stay in the dimension, but the students were in dire situation.
Like a jellyfish floating in the current of the ocean, Hax opened his eyes and looked around. The three students also floated beside him. They looked left and right with marvel and curiosity.
"Is that an alien soul?" One of them asked.
"Wait, there's a city down there."
Hax slapped them. "Quiet down. Focus your thoughts or I will destroy you before the dimension does."
The three of them shut their mouth and meditated. Hax did not need to do that. Ever since he found about this spiritual science, he had trained his soul and mind with various techniques to explore more possibilities.
The spiritual dimension was not safe. That was his conclusion after going back and forth in this dimension. Aliens with natural strength in spirituality could eat him alive in this place.
He glanced left and right wary of any spiritual predator that might want to eat him. Nothing happened after a few hours, but suddenly a glowing orb of red came out of the surging current.
Hax pushed the three students aside and stared at the orb. No soul could enter or exit the current, for this red soul to do so must be quite a feat. But that also meant that it was strong. Strong enough to fight him.
"What do you want?" Hax asked.
"Your life!"
The orb blasted with a fiery energy that struck his soul. His head felt burning but he was used to heat. After millenniums of forging beside the stars, his body and soul were used to solar radiation. Fire was nothing for him.
"You are weaker than me," Hax said.
"Am I?"
That voice. So familiar. So close. Yet so distance.
The orb morphed into a human with a red and golden robe while a crown sat on his head.
"Emperor!" Hax scowled. "For you to enter the spiritual dimension to meet me. You must have something important to say. Particularly something of which no else should be informed of."
"It seems other than forging war armament, that brain of yours is also filled with sarcasm." The emperor said, sneering.
"When you have trillions of men play words around you, you can't help to take some of their traits."
"Is that why you isolate yourself in that star forge of yours?" The emperor chuckled. "It doesn't matter. You will die here."
"Kill me? Did the aliens operate your brain?"
What had gone through your head child!
"Your existence is a nuisance to my goal, Star Forger. Only your death can help me reach my ambition, but don't worry your millennium of service will not be forgotten."
"You will bring the rest of humanity down with you, boy. Are you sure about your decision?" Hax changed the way he adressed the man.
The emperor grinned. "I'm very sure, uncle. You have taught me well. But the young must surpass the old."
Hax sighed. He knew the previous emperor made a mistake by creating a million descendant and let them fight for the throne. Look at what he'd done. Look at what they become!
Nevertheless, he must never show weakness. Even to his own kin.
"Prove it then."
Hax struck his enemy by manipulating the spiritual energy around him to build battleships and mechs and he commanded them to attack the emperor.
This wasn't the material world where he needed metals and other resources. All he needed was his spiritual energy and mind.
The ghostlike, transparent, bluish weapons of war fired missiles and laser beams towards the emperor. It was like a theater of war. With mech relentlessly rushing towards the emperor with their blades.
The emperor was pushed back a couple of times by the attack. The coordination between the battleships and the mech was perfect to the minute detail such as when to fire and when to slip through to strike.
This situation made the emperor expend a lot of spiritual energy to defend himself.
Hax frowned.
A thin layer of red enveloped the emperor as lasers and missiles exploded in front of his face.
"Give up, boy. Come back to me when you are two hundred thousand years old."
The emperor roared. "I will not back down. You will die in this realm and never see the light of the universe!"
Why is he so agitated. His mind must be unstable. Was the spiritual realm affected his soul? Can't be. He had created a spiritual construct to protect his mind when he was still a child.
The emperor grew in size and waved his hand. Immediately, rolling waves of flames surged towards the arrays of battleship and mechs.
It crashed onto them, crushing and burning them into dust.
This technique. It wasn't created by humans… How could he learn of it.
"You have guts to hide this technique from me, boy."
The emperor laughed. "Only in this way can I defeat you, uncle."
Hax sneered. "I'm not that weak. Don't let me remind you what I can do. I'm the one and only Star Forger. Humanity rises and conquers countless galaxies with my mech and ships."
"That era has come to an end, uncle. A new age has come. This is the age of spirituality. Your mech and ship stand no chance against the power to kill consciousness from light-years away."
"So you have unveiled its power!"
"Yes, uncle. When we discover it, we decided that from this day we will start to rely on this power."
Liar! You didn't discover it. It was impossible to discover such a fine technique. Something must had helped him.
"And stop using mech and battleship? You can not do that. My war machines are the foundation of humanity. If you remove them, countless rebellions and coups will arise from every corner of our universe."
The emperor smiled. "That is no longer your concern, uncle. You will die today and the age of spirituality will begin. Stop resisting, uncle. Let your blood be the price of our ascension."
Hax gritted his teeth in anger. "Ascension? You made a deal with an alien race?"
"Not aliens, but gods."
So it was them! Darn! The cycle repeated itself again!
"Fool! They will devour our race. Making a deal with them is the thing we have avoided for millenniums. You foolish of a child!"
"Goodbye, uncle."
"Hmph, I'm not going down without a fight."
"But you will go down regardless."
The emperor enlarged again. His spiritual body turned into a nebula size man with a dark and red aura.
He waved his hand and countless spears of blood and darkness shot towards his war machines.
The three students that floated beside him had long been devoured by the attack. He could not protect them as he almost couldn't protect himself.
Hax clenched his fist. At this rate, his spiritual war machines would all be destroyed. The spear attack was like a rain of meteors. Crashing down towards his battleship and mech, making them explode like fireworks.
He needed to stop this!
Hax sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. He focused his mind on one thing—Warmachine. His spirituality might be weaker than the emperor, but his knowledge as a star forger gave him a tiny advantage.
Using this knowledge in the spiritual realm had a lot of limitations because it rely on imagination. The imagination of a soul was limited to how strong its spirituality was, so a strong soul could create anything in this realm.
But what was stronger than imagination was facts and reality. Theories and assumptions always work inside our minds, but reality sometimes proved otherwise.
This was where his practical knowledge came in. With countless experiences under his belt, he could combine knowledge, experience, and imagination to create a machine to defeat all.
A machine to defeat all. A mech.
That was right. The machine that could potentially defeat anything was a mech. A battleship could destroy anything in its path with its explosive firepower, but the versatility, mobility, and small size of a mech allowed them to dodge and approach a battleship.
The ship's fate was set in stone when that happened.
Therefore what he needed to create was a mech. A mech so powerful it could destroy a galaxy on a whim. So quick it could travel from one universe to another.
Godly mech.
God? Hax couldn't believe himself. Some aliens could control nature with the back of their hands and survive at the core of a star, but calling them a god was way too much.
A god should be all-knowing and all-powerful.
A mech that acted as a god. An avatar of the god. That was what his machine was.
With this realization, Hax built a mech that transcended reality and imagination. An imposing image came forth.
Standing at the same height as the emperor, the huge hulking humanoid steel floated with great power radiated out of its armor.
"Is this your last effort, uncle?" The emperor laughed. "I must say that I am fairly disappointed. The great star forger that has brought humanity to its current height only amounted to this much. Seeing your weakness convince me that my decision is correct, uncle."
"Nothing is set in stone, boy."
"Your life is set in stone, uncle."
The emperor grasped an empty space and clenched his fist.
Boom!
His whole soul trembled and shook. It was like countless supernovas exploded within his soul. And with widened eyes, Hax realized his spiritual energy leaked out and threatened to dry his existence.
How could that kid become this powerful. That kid who would be surprised and jumped around when Hax came and gave him a killer drone. The kid who would shoot lasers and destroyed planets with him when he was a child. Ah… He was so fragile back then. So soft. So valuable.
You are still valuable. But you've changed.
"What did you do?"
"Thank you for your service, uncle."
Hax gritted his teeth. He could not stop the spirituality from leaking out. He must find a way.
But there was no way about it, he had to split his soul and retain as much knowledge to survive on the other side.
Hax entered another meditation state. This time he formed a knife with his energy and cut his consciousness in half. One of them had its energy constantly leaking out of his spiritual body.
When he entered S-A-13 his original body and mind would turn weak. So weak in fact his brain would explode if he retain his current memory and knowledge.
Now he needed to program this consciousness to help him. He must be careful in the programming to prevent the influx of knowledge to destroy his new mind.
With careful and precise augmentation the programming soon took shape. This consciousness would act as a separate brain and insert the right amount of knowledge as long as the requirement was met.
It would take a long time to recover to his peak state, but it was the only way for him to survive.
Now with that done, he needed to take care of the boy. He stared at the emperor and commanded his mech to strike.
The nebula-sized mech, despite its size, moved with speed he did not dare to imagine. The both of them crashed into each other. The impact shook the spiritual universe with unprecedented power. They used every weapon in their arsenals that devastate the spiritual realm.
The devastation pushed his cut-off soul from its place and pushed him into the current.
"I will return, boy. And when I do, I will destroy the aliens that you called gods."
After that I will fix you child. I will fix the soul they have broken.
Then everything turned dark.