A few minutes earlier, Kraynnor cast a frosty glance at the freshly captured Astrylite. This made Lophius, with his neck twisted, feel extremely uncomfortable. He didn't understand what kind of creature had captured him, but he was surprised to notice that he had a third eye, although it remained closed.
For a moment, Lophius considered the possibility that he belonged to his own race, but the color of his skin was noticeably different.
Furthermore, his height was so tall that only royalty or nobles reached such dimensions, since the maximum height for a common member of his species was two meters; surpassing that height was simply impossible.
It was as if his bones had a growth limit...
"Ask this thing how many soldiers of golden armor he has in his army, how many soldiers they have in total, and the location of all their bases," Kraynnor instructed Cognitron X-12. The reason he didn't do it himself? He loathed speaking as if he were an idiot. Since he knew little of the language of that race, his way of expressing himself was halting and he used simple words. In simple terms, communicating that way was like listening to a one-year-old trying to form sentences with barely five words.
He definitely wouldn't stoop so low as to communicate with these bastards. If he did and the other party mocked him, he would be in a bad mood for a long time!
[Alright, I'll start the interrogation. Should I use brute force if it doesn't cooperate?]
"Use whatever you deem necessary. Even if it dies in the process, it doesn't matter," declared Kraynnor as he leaned against a wall, arms crossed, watching impassively everything that was about to happen, showing not the slightest hint of mercy.
Had they shown mercy when they released those creatures to exterminate humanity? No! Had they shown it when firing plasma rays and destroying entire countries? Neither! So, there was nothing more to say...
What happened was quite straightforward: Cognitron X-12 first readjusted his neck and then posed several questions, but received no response. The difficulty in understanding it, probably due to language barriers, may have affected this outcome. Without hesitation, it pulled out several sharp weapons and proceeded to tear off the skin, veins, and tendons, even inflicting severe burns; in short, subjecting this Astrylite to extreme pain.
Finally, in a moment of vulnerability when his mind was clouded by extreme pain, they managed to extract some data about the number of soldiers in golden armor and other minor information.
In total, there were twelve soldiers in golden armor. Those with white patterns were the captains, those with pink patterns were sergeants, those with blue patterns were commanders, and red represented the Major, the leader of the entire battalion on Earth.
Kraynnor recalled the individual in Caelum, who wore white patterns, while the soldier he faced in the mining tower had pink patterns.
"The two already possessed quite terrifying power... So those who wear blue patterns should be practically unbeatable for now," he reflected, deliberately omitting the soldier in red armor, aware that there was no chance of defeating him with current technology.
Of course, Kraynnor was completely unaware of the existence of a brother and sister duo in black armor, capable of easily defeating all high-ranking officers.
Even the Major seemed like a kitten compared to the siblings.
They tried to gather more information; however, it wasn't long before he regained lucidity. Despite intensifying the torture, he staunchly refused to reveal more details.
It was as if he chose death over betraying his own kind.
Seeing that the interrogation was not progressing, Kraynnor made the decision to put an end to these aliens and begin the creation of new High Humans as he headed to the Amazon.
Thud!
Without hesitation, he advanced towards the alien and delivered a swift kick to his head, causing he to instantly lose consciousness.
Numerous androids appeared and took him to the capsule room, where everything he wore was removed. This included the armor and a small white device with a faint red light in the middle connected to his neck. The strangest thing was that it connected to the brain with cables thinner than hair.
[Observing the cables used by this race to connect this device to the brain, I have noticed that they are made of an extremely peculiar material, possibly of artificial origin. These cables seem designed to prevent the regeneration of the Astrylites, but only in the surrounding area.]
Kraynnor held the tiny device in the palm of his hand, barely the size of a baby's nail, and examined it with curiosity. It had a network of twenty extraordinarily thin cables.
"Prevents regeneration? How interesting... Did the other two captured Astrylites have something similar?" he asked with genuine curiosity, while considering the purpose that the aliens conferred to this small artifact. His intuition suggested that it could be a communication device, but he didn't rule out other intriguing possibilities.
[I haven't examined the bodies of the other two Astrylites thoroughly, so it is possible that they also have similar devices.]
Without Kraynnor needing to give the order, small robotic arms emerged inside the capsules and proceeded to examine the backs of the necks of the two Astrylites. Indeed, Cognitron X-12 discovered a similar device on the captured alien when his ship was destroyed in half.
The robotic arms examined both parts of the neck of the other Astrylite, as his head was separated from his body.
[A nearly intact device has been recovered, with only scratches on the surface. However, the cables of the device of the Astrylite with the severed head were cut by the biomass saber.]
Kraynnor received the other two devices, both white in color. Like before, when disconnected from the brain, the red light in the center disappeared. One of them had small scratches on the surface, while the other had its cables split in two. Kraynnor contemplated what to do with these devices and supposed that the quickest way to discover their function was by connecting them to his own body.
Obviously, he wouldn't do it without first ensuring that it wasn't dangerous; he didn't want to face any murky brain manipulation.
[Ding!]
Suddenly, a system notification diverted his thoughts.
[The user God Mechanic has successfully built a One-Star spaceship; ten Knowledge Points will be granted.]
"Is that all?" inquired Kraynnor, expecting something more. However, receiving no response from the system, he could only assume that creating a spaceship capable of traveling throughout the solar system wasn't a big deal in the system's eyes.
He handed the small white devices to an android to take them to his workshop. He would decide what to do with them another time.
Kraynnor turned his attention to the three genetic manipulation capsules. He was about to begin the creation of the new High Humans. The first thing he did was instruct Cognitron X-12 to extract the life essence from the heads of the Astrylites, a process that took place in the blink of an eye.
The life essence was a red gelatinous substance, carefully deposited in small glass jars.
Within this substance resided a complex network of very thin tissues.
Although the extraction process might seem simple, the regeneration of the Astrylites and the extreme delicacy of the organ meant that only someone experienced in its manipulation could extract it without damage.
Once extracted, the bodies of the living Astrylites began to convulse before slowly stopping.
They weren't dead, but they had fallen into a vegetative state.
This was because the organ was composed of highly specialized proteins and chemical compounds that interacted with the neuronal signals and metabolic processes of the alien's brain.
Once removed from the center of the brain, all other parts were disconnected, leaving it in a strange state of fragmentation. Without this organ, the electrical and chemical signals that allowed communication between the different regions of the brain were lost, causing a collapse in neural cohesion. This led to the interruption of thought, perception, and other brain functions, plunging the two Astrylites into a state of internal disconnection and cognitive deactivation.
By extracting the life essence from the severed head, his skin began to wrinkle rapidly, going from a youthful appearance to that of a hundred-year-old in a matter of seconds.
This change was not due to the extraction of the life essence, but rather to the last drop of that strange regenerative substance being exhausted in attempting to repair the damage caused by Cognitron X-12 when opening the head and skull. Previously, this substance was used to keep this alien's head in a youthful state even after death, but now it was completely devoid of any vitality.
"Now proceed to extract that regenerative substance from their bodies, take samples of DNA, stem cells, tissues, hormones, growth factors, symbiotic microorganisms, as well as blood and bodily fluids," by doing this, he would be condemning those Astrylites to death, but he didn't care in the slightest.
"[Understood, the process will take a maximum of five hours. Do you have anything else you want me to do?]" asked Cognitron X-12 in a friendly tone.
Kraynnor reflected for a moment, his hand stroking his chin before speaking solemnly: "The choice of which of the billions of humans, of whom we have genetic information, we are going to use is not as simple as choosing one at random and creating a High Human. If we carry out the procedure accurately, we could replicate not only the physical appearance but also..."
He paused, as if reflecting on the depth of his words. Then, he continued with an excited tone of voice: "The innate talent of the selected person. Given the precarious situation we're in, it would be great to have someone to rely on in urgent moments."
[Do you want me to analyze everyone and choose the top ten to have more advantages in our fight against the Astrylites?]
"That would be great!" nodded Kraynnor, satisfied, aware that reviewing each one would take too much time. In no time, Cognitron X-12 analyzed the genetic information of the billions of humans in its database, and on his HoloCraft, the data of ten humans with very prominent appearances appeared, those emitting that aura of uniqueness.
With his haptic glove in hand, he began to review what kind of talents these individuals possessed.