One could wonder what was the cause for such people to react in that way. It was not everyday where one could find scared old men and women. Especially not ones you could term as powerful. But that alone was enough to to prove the gravity of the situation.
Maybe if not for their age, they would be shedding tears. The man who had tried to put the cube into the core tech was the first to stand up. He was the one who was going to suffer more than the rest.
"Hope for me to survive," the old man said and stepped into the portal. The rest seeing that he had given up and made up his mind, they too had no need for staying here. It was better to go and accept punishment.
They all stepped into the portal and as they were fading, the cube glowed and it started emitting a brilliant white light. The five tried to stop the teleportation but they failed. This was supposed to be a one use portal.
This was to mean they could not come back here. They watched with a weight on their chest lifted as red light glowed from the cube. That was all they saw before the portal crumbled.
They appeared at their destination five seconds later and they were regretting their rashness. Had they waited just for a second, they would have witnessed it. The reason they could not go back was because from their destination, it had taken over 100 years to build the portal.
This portal crossed twelve galaxies which were more than trillion light years away from earth. The only way for them to come back directly was by building a portal but as stated it took 100 years. That was not to mention the resources that were poured into the portal.
Even if they confirmed that he was alive, they were going to pay for the 100 years resources wasted only for them to come back empty handed. They appeared in a hall but they instantly fell on their knees.
The other way was to go the old fashioned way. This involved them going from planet to planet until they reached the planet closest to the portal that led to the next galaxy. At the least, it was going to take ten years. These five were going to have to face the wrath of their sender.
***
Back at the Base.
The cube first glowed with a white light for few seconds. Then it was followed by red, blue, gold, green and the black which lit at intervals of one second. The light started growing even brighter that one could not even realize the colours of the walls.
The lights suddenly exploded paving way outside the base. Icebergs did not stand a chance the same way the sturdy walls had not. The light was sky piercing and everyone in the range of around 50 kilometers could have seen it.
The lights glowed for few minutes before they died down. It was not that they died down but it was that they concentrated their brilliance inside the room. The six faces started opening up forming a cross sign.
At the face glowing green which had been the bottom face appeared a new light. This light appeared to be orange. Glowing on the opposite side. This light then grew up to the size of three meters and half a meter wide.
The orange light started channelling all light from the other faces. After one minute, the faces of the cube appeared to be grey in colour. The orange light had absorbed all of it. The orange light then started cracking and crackling.
The pillar then burst out with a golden light. The light was blinding but as it faded, one could see the dark outline of a human body approximately 6'. As the golden light disappeared, the first feature that was discernible were the blue eyes.
If the eyes were blue before, this time they were a piercing blue. Blue lightning danced inside them and as the eyes got clear, a careful look and one could see that there were faint glows with all the other five colours were dancing deep inside his eyes.
The glow could only be termed as beautiful but one could guess the danger in beauty. He seemed to be staring blandly in the air. His hair appeared to have gained a more refined black and it felt like it was glowing. Also, one could note that his hair had grown longer and was resting behind his neck. Some fell forward almost covering the eyes and some sideways.
Even his eyelashes and eyebrows had grown slightly longer. One could say that his face had become more perfect than it was. Whatever it was that had happened changed him. His jaws were chiseled and his face had started losing the boyish looks he had before.
It was only then that one could realize that he was naked without even a loin cloth. Tracing his chest, one could see that his chest had broadened. His biceps had increased in size with a few millimeters and so had his triceps.
If one could see the internal structures of his body, they would be shocked. After he had received the system at first, his blood had changed to a blue but now it was mixture of the six colours. His blood flowed like the stream of energy had flowed.
Also, if his inniards were strong, now they were stronger. But there was a limit that they could strengthen him. This was because there were very many steps he required to get the full potential of what he had acquired.
One looking from afar could think that it was a robot for they could not see the rising and falling of his diaphragm or chest. Even on close inspection, one could not feel his heartbeat.
It took a whole minute before his eyes darted from right to left. A sigh escaped him and he breathed in a big breath and a worried smile appeared on his face. He had thought that he had died but whatever happened he did not care too much as long as he was back alive.
After realizing where he was, he suddenly felt the force supporting him by suspending his disappear. He did not even think of even activating Halo Steps as he fell on the cracked ground on his back.
He quickly stood up and rubbed his back all places he could reach. He decided to check whether he still had his system. He transferred his thoughts the same way he usually had.
"Hello, are you there..."
Male Female> Marx had not expected such but he quickly got over it. "Restore to default," he did not want any changes. He was okay with the female voice he was used to. Male Female> Marx felt a headache but he gave up on fighting it. "Female," he did not hesitate. This system is called Entropy seeker. User registsred... User 999... User 1... User Marx *** Downloading past information... Please wait... Might take a few seconds... Strength- 3.0 Speed- 3.5 Agility- 1.9 Reaction- 2.1 Stamina- 2.5 Coordination- 2.0 Intelligence-5.1 Rescanning user stats... Exponential growth on stats detected... Rescanning... Speed- 5.0 Agility- 3.0 Reaction- 3.4 Stamina- 5.1 Coordination- 4.0 Intelligence- 6.1 User Marx's skills... Rescanning for changes... Exponential growth detected... Rescanning now... Fist Torpedoes- Infinite use. 3x powerful. Laser Kicks- Limited. 10. Recharges after one minute rest. Viscous Palms- Infinite use. Night Vision- Infinite use. Back Thrust- Limited . 10. Recharges after one minute rest. Feet Thrust- limited, one minute, Recharges after two minutes rest. Flame Hurtle- Unlimited. Obtained the core tech successful. Reward: Core Tech ability assimilated into the system. Core Tech rewards user for successfully merging. Reward: Cuts off the monitoring bugs placed on the system. User can do as he pleases without fear of being monitored. System is now a separate entity from its Origin. Marx chuckled. Terms and Conditions... He never read those. He felt better now that he had learned that he could no longer be monitored. Even if he had been glad that there were higher existences looking him up, he still felt uncomfortable. He was also the happiest man at the moment. His stats had increased and so had his skills. Also he had accomplished the first Life Mission. Now that the mission was complete, he could go back home but he had some debts to settle. He stretched but one could see the disappointed look when his back did not crack. He took a step forward forgetting that that he was like a newborn. Nude. It was when he felt the broken rocks piercing his feet that he remembered thet he was... He thought of where to get clothes but suddenly a familiar screen appeared before him. This was the screen that had guided him to his disintegration. The screen only had a few words on it. Marx wanted to know more but the screen turned to a blue vapour and disappeared. He was going to learn from the system what was going on then. He had a mischievous smile on his face. How long haf he waited for all his stats to reach 2? It felt like it was since forever. "Activate suit," he said loudly not hiding his excitement. Marx could feel the excitement in the system's voice. It was then he just realized how much he was holding the system back. This just made him want to grow stronger to activate it full potential though he knew that it had infinite potential. He felt his feet suddenly embraced by a warm feeling. He looked down and he saw black soles forming on his feet. Right above the sole was a blue glow. As the glow climbed to his ankle, millitary boots had formed on his feet up to the ankles...