The blare of a base-wide alarm ripped through the dormitory, causing the sleeping soldier to instinctively snap to attention before he could even process what was happening.
Once on his feet, it took him only ten seconds to beco fully alert. He snatched his earpiece from the table and rushed out of the room, fitting it into his ear as he joined the scramble of soldiers heading toward their designated zones.
“What is the situation?” Ismail asked his military-assigned AI buddy, picking up his pace as he finally left the dormitory and started rushing across the field to the building adjacent to it.
{It has been detected that fleets from the Conclave are on their way to attack the Solar System and are currently capturing our people on space stations and holding them hostage,} his AI buddy, whom he had nad Tars, answered. It projected a few images to back up what it was saying, and by the ti it finished explaining, they had already reached a very inconspicuous building whose door opened the mont he arrived, revealing an elevator waiting for him. A few people, who had arrived seconds earlier, were already inside.
He imdiately boarded, but the door only closed. The elevator didn’t move as it waited for the remaining individuals. After five more people ca and boarded, the elevator finally moved, beginning its descent underground.
Throughout this period, no one spoke. They were either wondering what their part in this war would be, going through the generic information that had been made available to them, or just preparing themselves for what was about to co. Although it had yet to happen in real life, it was sothing they had practiced countless tis in VR.
{Your missions have been assigned. The briefing is to take place once the initial preparations are done. You will be heading out in two hours in conjunction with another operation,} all of them received the sa announcent through their personal AIs.
When the screen showing their depth reached a kiloter, the elevator finally ca to a stop and opened its doors automatically, revealing a very thin corridor. This caused everyone in the elevator to tense for a mont, but the feeling passed quickly as they imdiately started walking out of the elevator in groups of two without needing to be instructed.
The mont the first group took three steps out of the elevator, the second group followed, and the sa happened until all of them had walked out. The mont that happened, they all felt a strange internal shift before losing consciousness.
When he opened their eyes, he found himself alone, fully subrged inside a liquid without any breathing equipnt or an escape route. But he didn’t panic, as it was sothing he was used to. Even now, he was already breathing the liquid, a perfluorocarbon fluid mixed with liquid mana that felt like a gentle massage or the feeling of being inside a womb. Though breathing liquid would normally be painful and feel like you are constantly drowning, that sensation was currently being suppressed by the implants in his body, making it feel as normal as breathing air.
But he only enjoyed the comforting, womb-like feeling for a mont before returning to continuing his task. He knew that from losing consciousness to waking up, nearly half an hour had passed, but their preparation process was not yet done.
“Let’s start the process,” he sent the order ntally, incapable of speaking. The mont the order was given, the walls of the container he was subrged in closed in, revealing their biological nature as they imdiately enveloped him, causing him to tense for a mont, knowing what was coming.
“ARGHHHH,” he scread, or at least attempted to, as he felt a suction on his spine before wormlike biological masses, thinner than hair, entered his spine and started connecting to his body’s nervous system. His senses went into haywire as his brain attempted to filter the new information being transmitted through the newly connected nerves. At the sa ti, the implants in his brain also beca active, causing his screaming attempt to cease as the biological container fully hugged him.
...............
[System initializing...]
Nerve ending connection check... 100%
Mana capacity... 100%
Mana generator... Active.
Machine body sync... 20%... 50%... 72%... 97%... 100%
Biological imprint verification...
—Wielder DNA match: Confird.
—Neural resonance: Stable.
—Mana lattice alignnt: Synced.
Mana core... Online.
—Mana flow channels: Clear.
—Runic conduits: Online.
.
.
.
.
.
Final sync:
—Wielder consciousness interface... Engaged.
—Magic-to-mass scaling... Stable.
—Command override: Authorized.
[Boot sequence complete.]
The massive, hundred-ter-tall humanoid cha opened its eyes. Visual data filtered through, and it finally saw its surroundings: chanical arms and a female technician in protective headgear standing on a bridge at its eye level. She waved at him. “How many fingers am I holding up?” she asked, moving her hand behind her back to hide it from the cha.
“Three,” the cha answered, having seen through her trick using a combination of different sensors, mana vision, and by accessing the visuals from nearby electronic devices, just to be sure.
She brought her hand out from behind her back to show the three fingers she was holding before giving him a thumbs-up. “You are cleared. Please head to Stargate Seven to receive your mission debriefing as you await deploynt.”
“Understood,” Ismail said through the cha. He raised his hand in a salute before opening his palm. A magic circle imdiately appeared on it, and the cha’s body began to float in the direction of Stargate Seven.
They were the new generation of chas, each one bespoke to its pilot. They were masterpieces born from assimilating knowledge from the Symtra, Erythians, Zelvora, and Galvinith. Each cha combined chanical and biological material made from the pilot’s own DNA, with liquid mana acting as blood. This allowed magic to be used on a cha’s scale through a symbiotic body that, when connected, beca one with the pilot, raising the scale of the abilities the awakened pilots could use. Their ti to shine had finally arrived, and soon, they would be ready to wreak havoc.
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