Alex knelt in confusion, his mind still trying to wrap around what had happened to him.
It happened so fast. He couldn't even react.
But the metallic sphere that had already become dull fell to the ground with a clanging sound, snapping him out of his trance. No more blue orb inside, it has already merged with him and created this weird battery bar mark on his inner wrist.
If not for the mark, he would've thought the incident earlier never happened.
However, he couldn't ponder it for now as he remembered that the environmental suit was damaged, and his arm was already suffering from frostbite. Tapping a button near his thumb, he activated the energy shield, a feature of the suit to protect himself from the planet's environment which is extremely cold.
Grabbing an emergency patch from a bag on the side, he sealed the torn part of the suit.
Only then he could breathe in relief again.
'Thankfully, the planet doesn't have too harsh of an environment. It could've been way worse'
Alex had years of experience fighting the Hyperion Empire's soldiers, thus he knew most of the basic functions of their combat armor, and he also knew that they relied heavily on their armor to navigate an unforgiving planet.
Unlike mages that rely on mana, most of them need their armor to go anywhere.
Swish!
Suddenly, a bleak white sizzle came out of his body which caught his attention.
"Hmm...? Mana? Did that object somehow connect my body to the Null Star?" Alex pondered out loud, his eyes couldn't hide his surprise. "But if it does, why couldn't I feel an affinity to any element?"
Many questions appeared inside his head at this moment.
It was too bizarre of a situation for comfort, Alex feels like he's not in control over anything.
Additionally, the mana he has feels a little bit different than normal.
Compared to the normal mana that feels warm and smooth, the one that emanates from his body feels the same but he could feel a tickling sensation, almost as if there are a swarm of ants swimming inside his mana.
But his thought processes were disturbed when he heard a rustling voice from the side.
Glancing at the source of the sound, Alex frowns in alert.
His assumption was swiftly confirmed as the navigation device on his wrist detected nearby movement. It wouldn't be long before a life form native to the planet emerged from the mouth of the snow-covered forest.
Alex looks around and finds a plasma pistol not far from him. A couple of them to be exact.
Plasma pistol is a standard gun for lower-ranked soldiers of the Hyperion Empire, a gun that fires super-heated plasma that has power similar to a lightning strike spell. It was then he felt an odd sensation when he grabbed the gun.
Looking over at the gun, he saw the energy capsule was drained of its energy content.
"What's this? What happened?" Alex mused in confusion.
Click!
Click!
Finding that the energy capsule was drained, he tried pulling the trigger a couple of times but nothing came out. It was then that he activated the energy shield once again, shielding himself from the environment, to check the mark he recently gained.
Sure enough, he finds one bar shimmering with a blue light.
'Did the mark absorb the energy? But why...?' Alex thought, this is not a good spot for him.
In that very instant, a low growl echoed through the frigid air, heralding the arrival of a four-legged beast. It possessed pristine spotted white furs, and its menacing fangs glistened with droplets of saliva.
[Type-1 beast detected: Black Spotted Hyena]
Not wasting a single second, Alex immediately gets back to his feet.
'Although this body could feel mana thanks to that object, it's not used to mana yet. Fighting this beast bare-handed is going to be hard without an enhancing spell' He thought in concern, the appearance of this Black Spotted Hyena worried him.
If the plasma pistol is working, then taking this beast down would be easy.
Upon emerging out of the forest, the beast sniffs the air before turning its head towards him.
Catching sight of Alex triggered its feral instinctive response, causing the beast to growled and bared its sharp fangs. It was evident that this beast was hungry, and that motivated it to instantly start rushing toward Alex with one intention in mind.
Pointing the plasma pistol forward, Alex tries to fire it a couple of times again.
'Come on! It only takes a couple of bullets to kill it!'
Pulling the trigger repeatedly, hoping for any residual energy to discharge at the beast, an unexpected sensation washed over him. It was the mana swirling within his hand that took him by surprise.
'No way, this shouldn't be happening... Can I really do that?'
Surprised at the sensation, Alex concentrated on his own mana with wide eyes.
But seeing that the Black Spotted Hyena was already nearing him, he decided to follow his instinct. In return, the mana inside of him fused into the plasma pistol before eventually a loud ringing sound blasted from its barrel.
Bang!
Thud!
Upon pulling the trigger, a plasma bullet shot forward and hits the beast right on the head.
It stunned Alex for a solid moment as he fixed on the dead beast.
[Type-1 beast killed, you have obtained 10 points!]
A robotic sound resounded inside his helmet, but he was too stunned to react.
Alex returned his attention to the plasma pistol before his eyes gradually widened in sheer disbelief, what he had done should be impossible. The energy capsule was clearly depleted, yet a shot was fired.
Suddenly, it dawned on him that the bullet was created by his very own mana!
Furthermore, upon closer inspection of the beast's carcass, its head is evidently blown open akin to a watermelon. While the plasma pistol was certainly effective against Type-1 beasts, the extent of the damage shouldn't be this strong.
"Unbelievable! Is this because of that unknown object...?" Alex gasped in disbelief.
Nobody has achieved this.
Ever since the start of the war against the Hyperion Empire, countless mage scholars have tried to achieve this through a myriad of tests to integrate mana into technology but none of them produced any result.
For thousands of years, this feat has been considered impossible by all.
Infusing mana into technology would definitely be a millennia-shattering discovery.
Just imagining that an Armnium-grade weapon, a very high-tech weapon that is capable of shooting energy arc that could cut a moon in half be infused with mana is quite horrifying to think about. Such a thing should only exist in fairy tales.
However, it was not a fairy tale for Alex. He managed to do the impossible.
But he blamed this miracle on the mark on his wrist.
As the realization of possessing a power unheard of in the entire galaxy washed over him, a malevolent smile crept across his face. His eyes gleamed with extreme malice at the prospect of confronting Migel in mind.
"My second chance..."
"I have no talent before, I am only a talentless lunatic who tries to get stronger. But now..."
"Vengeance has no expiry date. I'll patiently wait, growing stronger in the shadows, while you revel in your triumph. But mark my words, when the time comes, I shall strike when you least anticipate. Prepare yourself, dear brother, for my vengeance is inevitable..."
Swearing vengeance for what Migel did, he rubs the shimmering mark gently.
It was then that the mark's glow intensified.
Alex suddenly got engulfed in a blinding light before he was knocked unconscious, falling to the thick snowy ground once more. But turns out, he was not unconscious, his mind was pulled somewhere else instead.
Opening his eyes, he finds himself in a different place entirely.
Earlier he was surrounded by the serene snowy landscapes of Planet Sion 2T.
But now he suddenly found himself in a highly advanced facility, one that's similar to the Hyperion Empire's theme. The air was quite refreshing and filled with the incessant beeping of electronics and the constant hum of machinery.
"Where am I?" Alex uttered, standing up while inspecting the place.
He stood within a square-shaped enclosure, its glass floor emitting a greenish-blue hue. Above him, the ceiling stretched impossibly high, disappearing into an unreachable abyss. Furthermore, the room was starkly empty, save for a lone mechanical door.
As he waited, he suddenly saw something moving across the glass ground.
It seemed to be a black liquid that moved like a snake.
But upon closer inspection, he finds that this black liquid is a mass of very small tech devices, smaller than an ant, and numbering in the millions. Slithering on the ground, the black liquid heads to the door.
Climbing on the wall, the black liquid formed into letters above the mechanical door.
[Welcome, Alexander! The successor of the Nexus Orb of Nanomancy]
Upon reading the writing above the metallic door, Alex doesn't know how to feel.
It would be a lie if he was expecting to be in a situation like this. Of course, he knew that being saved from death was an impossible feat, and he was one of the chosen ones. But this is beyond his wildest expectations.
He woke in a new body, and now he was thrust into a place inside of an unknown object.
Psshh...
Out of nowhere, the metallic door emits gas before it is opened.
Alex was exposed to a hallway that was dominated by the color white with a source of the same greenish blue from the glowing glass floor, he decided to step into the hallway before the metallic door closed behind him.
Similarly, the black liquid from earlier, a swarm of nanites followed behind.
It was then that the swarm started to stack into a single entity.
Observing this process is a visual delight, the way each nanite seamlessly melds together like a flowing liquid is incredibly satisfying. Moments later, they coalesce into a humanoid figure, and before long, a woman stands before him.
A woman with a beautiful face and silver hair.
Her torso is pristine robotic white, and the rest of her is adorned with sleek futuristic armor.
"I am your assistant inside the Nanomancy Lab, you can call me Nexus, master"
The android woman, Nexus raised her eyes of crystal clear light blue, extending a slight bow with both hands gracefully positioned before her abdomen. It took Alex a moment to absorb the surreal sight, as Nexus appears to be a genuine person.
'Even a homunculus made by a puppeteer is not this realistic...' Alex praised inside his head.
Before he could question her, Nexus already turned around.
"Please follow me, master"
She instructed, her voice melodic, as she strode down the hallway, prompting Alex to follow until they reached the end. At the end of the hallway lies a circular room adorned with four distinctive massive laboratory tubes.
Each of the tubes contains different things, but Alex recognizes the content inside.
Inside each tube is a natural element that anyone would recognize, fire, wind, terra, and water. Like sentient beings, these elements danced when Alex's eyes landed on them, almost as if they were fighting for his attention.
Upon reaching this place, Nexus gestured as if she was beholding these tubes.
'Does she want me to check them out?'
Alex steps closer and takes a close look at the tubes, he is more intrigued than confused about these tubes as he needs to learn what this place is all about if it's connected to the mark he gained.
More importantly, he wanted to know the meaning behind being the successor.
Examining these enclosed elements more closely, he discovers that at the bottom of the tubes, similar sets of battery bars are present. However, each of them boasts a full complement of five radiant bars, whereas Alex only has one radiant bar.
"If master has enough energy, you could access these elements for your own"
Alex listened to this before he frowned.
He has many questions inside his mind but there's one prominent one that he wanted to know regarding what she said, "Do you mean that with enough energy, I could unlock all of these elements?"
"Yes, these elements and more" Nexus replied and gestured at another metallic door.
Upon hearing this, the frown on his face didn't cease.
Possessing multiple elements is a God-like talent, there are only a few in history and they were all powerhouses. "But I don't sense any affinity towards an element earlier, is that even possible to do?"
"It's one of the abilities of the successor. Provided you have access to advanced technological weaponry, you can effectively wield multiple elements that are unlocked" Nexus answered again, her words articulate and shocking.
Alex couldn't hide his smile anymore when he heard this.
Being put into this body appears to be more than mere happenstance, it's fate.
Nexus Orb of Nanomancy is the reason, this miraculous object not only enables the fusion of mana with technology but also bestows access to multiple elements. It also seems like there was more that it could do than only this.
"Hoo... this is getting interesting"