[Extraterrestrial Mission]
Mission Title: Rise of Alien Civilization (Part One)
Mission Category: Progressive
Mission Details: [Build an Alien Village]
This mission shall be completed when the inhabitants of the pre-village reach at least 333 population.
Mission Duration: 55 days (Ongoing)
Mission Success Reward: Anon Pillar, Vibration Level +10, Anon Serum +3
Mission Failure Penalty: Progression Quests Dormancy +1 Year (unable to accept any progressive quests).
It had been three days since Grey and Princess Quintella raided the Goblin Village that was located thanks to the surveillance capability of Anon Oriken Core, which was yet to be built into a legitimate alien spacecraft.
Settling down in this ruined village after burning it down to the ground, and after fixing it with some efforts to look neat, Grey browsed the Progressive Extraterrestrial Mission, leaving him to ponder.
"Krishnaya, do I need to make a territorial declaration before something or someone can be counted as a part of my village?"
Knowing what her Master was referring to, Krishnaya said,
[Master, you can declare any piece of land as the village's location of origin. However, it is recommended to complete the required number of population before settling down.]
[Either way, since the acceptance of the progressive mission, the duration will remain counting down.]
"I don't want to make it complicated, but I am curious how can someone be considered as a populace of my village?" Grey wondered. After all, he could abduct or hold captive hundreds of intelligent, albeit weak, monsters. However, the question remains if it would be counted as being part of the population of his to-be-founded territory.
Ding!
He was then alerted by the Extraterrestrial System.
[Pre-Village Population: 3/333]
[Someone or something will be counted as part of the pre-village population if (1) it is subjugated through your own and your comrade's means, (2) if it possesses a certain level of intelligence or (3) if it has undergone DNA Modification.]
"That clears my doubt. Basically, anyone that could talk even with irrational and erratic behavior." His gaze then landed on two brown sacks near the bonfire, where the pieces of bones of the undead Goblin Chief were helplessly stored.
A few seconds later, Grey's eyes then looked for Princess Quintella, who was some distance away from him, tirelessly swinging her blade as her body was filled with buckets of sweat.
"Princess, you can just answer from there. Anyway. I have something to ask." He paused for a moment. Taking a deep breath, he then continued, "The weaker the monsters, the closer we are to a nation's borders, right?"
"Yes, Mister. In the same way, it means that the deeper we are within the Dark Lands, the stronger monsters there are to be encountered. Well, the Demon Lords' respective territories can be found in the Dark Lands' depths.
"By the way, if we are going to build a village, I recommend it to be near at least a neutral nation's fortified borders." Princess Quintella then stopped her physical training before opening her own modified Extraterrestrial System.
[Opening the virtual map.]
After looking at the virtual map filled with newly created icons as identifiers, specifically their current location, she then added,
"Uh, based on our current location, we are near the northern borders of the Earthfolks' nation. Hm, these two races are known for being neutral, especially the Dwarves who just want to forge masterpieces of equipment throughout their entire lives."
Noticing the seemingly dejected tone coming out from Princess Quintella's mouth, Grey asked in wonder, "Why? Is there a problem with these Earthfolks?"
Earthfolks—the general term for the two races who loved nature. These races were the Dwarves and Elves, whose lives were tied to the natural world. The former loved the earth and fire, while the latter treated the green nature as one.
It could be said that the Elves were the radical haters of the Dark Lands, where the vitality of nature was nonexistent.
"It's negligible, Mister. Dwarves are neutral while Elves are meticulous. What I mean... If ever we make contact with them intentionally, we need to at least satisfy their needs." Princess Quintella then looked at him, trying to convey what she meant.
Receiving her gaze, Grey came to an understanding.
"So we need equipment materials like ores or precious metals to form a connection with at least a Dwarf. How about Elves then?" Grey asked as he remained seated on a wooden chair previously used by this village's Goblin Chief.
"Not necessarily ores or metals..." Princess Quintella, who stopped her training, approached him before she retrieved something from her Spatial Storage.
It was a diamond-shaped black crystal—Ori Shard, the essence of weak monsters that could be acquired upon slaying them.
"This will suffice, Mister."
"I see. I guess we need to hunt more then. But first!" Grey raised his body before stretching his arms. He then smirked which painted his excitement. "We need to establish our Alien Village."
Knowing the contents of his mission, Princess Quintella gazed at him with her questioning crimson eyes.
Grey just smiled before saying, "I've come up with a plan to speed this up. Let's go to the nearest lake from here."
After that, the two vanished, leaving one sack of bones while the other pile was brought with him—all to prevent the Goblin Chief from reassembling itself as an undead creature.
***
During those three days since they cleaned up the Goblin Village, the [Flying Disc Core], which could also be called the [Anon Oriken Core], continued with its crucial task to survey and navigate the portion of the Dark Lands, causing for the virtual map to be updated minute by minute.
This provided Grey and Princess Quintella a sense of security, seeing that no intelligent races were in the area a few kilometers across.
What's more, Krishnaya, or the sentient Extraterrestrial System eventually finished assorting the pile of information retrieved from the dead holy warriors on the battlefield near Lake Shadine.
However, the series of acquired information caused Grey a sense of dread, realizing that this new unfamiliar world was more complicated than he had initially thought.
Moving on, Grey and Princess Quintella arrived at another lake with contaminated waters, where presumably the source of water that the previous Goblin Undeads desperately ran into to put out the fire destroying their homes.
After a few minutes, as they settled down in front of this lake, Grey released the fishing rod in his grasp.
Seeing this, Princess Quintella curiously asked, "What are we here for, Mister? You said you want to establish a village, but I don't see any relevance in your current actions."
"Sigh. You are still a brat, after all." Grey didn't spare her a glance, causing the little girl to puff her cheeks.
"Technically, I am, Mister." Princess Quintella's voice was cold.
"Hey, take it easy." Grey had chills, prompting him to explain what could be considered a part of the village's population.
Hearing this, Princess Quintella's crimson eyes gleamed in delight.
"Woah! M–Mister! Let me help you then!"
At that moment, Princess Quintella scanned the area. She then said to Grey, "Mister! We will be wasting our time with fishing! Let's get those black crabs climbing the rocks!"
Grey paused upon hearing her brilliant suggestion before a smile broke through his lips as he retrieved the fishing rod.
"Heh. Haha! Alien crabs, here we go!"
***
Clack. Clack. Clack!
Another sack was filled with black crabs, whose physical appearance resembled that of obsidian with scar-like spots. Their pincers lightly echoed within the opaque weaved cage.
Grey then asked Krishnaya for its information.
Ding!
[Crab of Dim Waters]
Alien Archive Description: [Aquatic inhabitants of Lake Stonia, known to be one of the comfort places of Stone Dragon Hestonia before it disappeared from the sight of the world for reasons unknown.]
"Stone Dragon?" Grey muttered, which Princess Quintella heard.
She, too, then scanned its information, which was provided through Pseudo-Archive.
"Woah. I didn't know this one. All I know is that Dragons already disappeared from this world, but this place being its comfort place..." She felt strangely elated, arriving at a seemingly historical place.
This prompted her to ask, "Mister, how does the system know this information? I've been curious since then during my academic training..."
If there was one thing that Grey had yet to disclose to this little Princess... It was the criminal ability of Alien Archive to passively collect information just by him being in the presence of someone—either dead or alive.
In other words, among the platoons of dead holy warriors on the battlefield that Princess Quintella joined, someone was lying there who knew that this place was one of the comfort places that had been visited by Stone Dragon Hestonia, which even Princess Quintella did not know about.
"I'll explain later. But first, we need to collect more of these, a few hundred perhaps." Grey looked and patted her head.
"O–okay, Mister!"
***
After an unknown amount of time had passed, as both of them returned to the Goblin Village, Grey modified the DNAs of the black crabs with stone-like shells and dark pincers under the curiosity-filled crimson eyes of Princess Quintella.
[DNA Modification successful!]
[The subject with low-level intelligence will undergo the process of Monster Evolution.]
[DNA Modification successful!]
[Several Nanobots entered the body of the CS#33.]
[CS#33 has been formally added as part of the pre-village population!]
[Pre-Village Population: 36/333]
The gene editing at the magical level continued.
Grey and Princess Quintella's gaze had subtle excitement painted on them and after some time...
Ding!
[You have completed the required number of population to establish the Alien Village!]
[Would you like to declare this place as your Alien Village?]
After some consideration, which included their strategic location, Grey inwardly responded,
'Yes. Let's begin with the first development!'
Ding!
[You have completed the Progressive Extraterrestrial Mission: Rise of Alien Civilization (Part One)!]
[You have received the Anon Pillar.]
[Your Vibration Level increases (+10).]
[You have received the Anon Serum (+3)]
After that, Grey and Princess Quintella went back to the perimeters of Lake Stonia. Without hesitation, the former then released the modified black crabs back into the lake.
He then muttered,
"You are a part of my village now wherever you go, my little aquatic alien crabs.
"With that said, if I can have eyes in the air, then all of you will become my eyes underwater."