Chapter 129: Beast Planets (2)
Chapter 127
.....
Hearing Kai’s question, Sony spun around to face the screen board.
He picked up a stylus and wrote two distinct phrases in bold lettering:
"Artificial Gateways and Natural Gates."
"Let’s make this a bit easier to understand," Sony muttered.
He dropped the pen and yawned slightly, scratching his ssy hair as he organized his thoughts.
"So, the gate you and the other class entered—the one you had to contain so it wouldn’t escalate into a gate break—was a Natural Gate.
To this day, we still don’t fully comprehend what causes these phenona to manifest; we simply know that they do.
Those are natural occurrences triggered by the environnt. They often connect to unclaid or entirely unexplored planets. Consequently, these gates are inherently dangerous unless they are of a lower classification, like the tier-one gate you all experienced."
He paused for a mont, scanning the lecture hall to see if the students were actually paying attention.
They were.
Even Trisha, who usually maintained a facade of cold nonchalance, appeared visibly intrigued.
"... These natural gates are typically temporary. If they aren’t cleared with sufficient speed, the instability can result in a catastrophic gate break. Once the boss-class beast inside is neutralized, these natural gates collapse entirely."
— Why does that happen? A student called out.
"Because the gate bosses function as the anchors," Sony explained.
"Without their specific energy signature, the gateway cannot maintain its tether to our world. Once they fall, access to that specific planet vanishes along with them."
"And what about the artificial gates?" Trisha spoke up for the first ti during the session.
The sound of her voice stunned Sony for a brief second, but he quickly forced himself to regain his composure and continue the lesson.
"There is a highly advanced piece of machinery that the Blue family developed and, for various political reasons, distributed among the other Big Four Legacies.
This technology is capable of locking onto specific extra-dinsional signals—specifically engineered to track beast planets.
Once a signal is locked, a gate is forced open. While the tier of the planet remains unknown until initial exploration, these gates are considered permanent assets.
Since the machinery remains tethered to the planet’s coordinates, a unique code simply needs to be inputted to re-establish the link at any ti."
Sony paused to take a deep breath before turning back to the board to write a single word in the center.
’Anchor.’
"Just as a boss beast serves as a biological anchor for natural gates, this machinery acts as the technological anchor for the nurous beast planets we’ve mapped.
After a successful conquest, regardless of whether the original planet boss is dead or alive, the machinery registers a unique frequency. This allows us to create a stable gateway whenever we need to harvest resources."
’Damn. Even without innate abilities, the Blue family mbers are surely monsters in their own right.
What kind of genius does it take to invent sothing like that? No wonder they sit at the top of the world right now,’ Ray mused, his gaze fixed on Sony as the lecture continued.
"... Regarding these planets, Aspirants are usually deployed to the lower-tier worlds once in a while for field exercises or resource collection.
But don’t worry; the Corps won’t deploy you to a world that is guaranteed to kill you. Since most of these locations are technically explored, you will only be sent to low-tier environnts."
Ray didn’t miss the subtle nuance in Sony’s explanation.
’Technically explored. Which implies that so of them haven’t been fully mapped out yet.’
A hand went up, followed by a pointed question.
— I heard once that the boss-class beasts are the ones who birth the lesser beasts in a world. If that’s true and the military takes down the boss of a conquered planet, how do more beasts spawn so their cores can be harvested?
"That is an excellent question, and one which I have no logical answer for," Sony replied with a silent, wry chuckle.
"You see, there are countless things in this universe that simply don’t make sense yet. All we know for certain is that, for so inexplicable reason, new beasts are birthed even after a conquest. Sotis they are of the sa species, and sotis they are entirely different."
— aning?
"... aning that if a world was initially populated by Advanced-ranked beasts and a King-ranked boss, the new generation of beasts will always be of that sa rank or lower.
It is exceptionally rare—once in a blood moon—for beasts to spawn at a higher rank than the original inhabitants. So, unless your luck is absolutely abysmal, you are relatively safe within a conquered planet’s ecosystem."
The Aspirants were honestly learning a lot—an imnse amount of information that simply wasn’t made available to the general public.
The reason they were being told all of this right now was likely due to their status as Aspirants.
Whether they eventually chose to join the Iron Corps, the Vanguard Order, or a different influential faction, they would inevitably encounter the realities currently being described to them.
Hence, they gripped their pens tighter, eager to absorb everything they could.
Sony continued the lecture regardless of their stunned expressions.
"There are three classifications you should keep in mind. They are: Fully Conquered, Partially Conquered, and Restricted."
— Huh?!
The Aspirants all lifted their eyebrows in unison.
"Yes. Those are the different designations for a planet. There are so that are fully conquered, aning they are relatively safe for human habitation.
In fact, permanent shelters are established on these worlds. These shelters are filled with civilians, which is what makes these types of planets feel secure. However, a partially conquered planet..."
"... Is not totally explored, and unprecedented dangers could still be lurking in the shadows," Van chid in instantly, running a restless finger through his hair.
Sony stared at him for a deliberate mont before nodding.
"Correct. Though there are shelters on these planets, they aren’t nearly as nurous. It’s a landscape that is half-safe and half-deadly."
"While restricted planets are totally dangerous and completely off-limits?" Chloe asked, her voice small but clear.
Sony gave a short, sharp nod with a thin smile on his face.
"Exactly. That’s why one needs the authority of high-ranking military personnel to access an artificial gate. Only trusted officers hold the encrypted codes to these worlds."
Kai’s hand shot up next.
"Uhm, quick one. Who are the people that actually go out and explore these planets in the first place?"
"Simple. The Vanguard Order," Sony replied bluntly, causing nearly all the Aspirants to furrow their brows in surprise.
Staring at them, he lifted his own eyebrow as if they were being slow.
"What? You thought their duties were limited solely to taking down the Aberrants? The Aberrants don’t attack every single day, so the Order helps where they see fit.
That’s why you rarely see a free Vanguard Order mber; they are perpetually busy. That’s also why their pay grade is on the imnsely high side," Sony muttered that last sentence mostly to himself with a quiet click of his tongue.
Of course, Ray—with his supernatural hearing—picked the sentence up easily.
He rubbed his temples, a small, knowing smile tugging at his lips.
’I guess I’m about to choose the right career path.’
"One more thing," Sony said, lifting his head to scan the room.
"These beast planets possess an entirely different ecosystem and tiline compared to Alcatraz. For example, ti could move incredibly fast on so worlds; others could be trapped in perpetual night with rarely any daylight, while so might be unimaginably cold.
These environnts are unpredictable, so it’s always advisable to be totally prepared. Whether it’s a planet locked on by an artificial anchor or a natural gateway, they are all different from the norms. Be careful whenever you encounter one."
With only one minute remaining before the session ended, Van voiced one last question.
"Uh... you ntioned sothing earlier about the Blue family being the ones who created the majority of the tech we use. Does that an there are technologies created by other factions that we utilize?"
Sony nodded.
"Yes. A minority of our equipnt is developed by a leading independent technology faction. In fact, the leader of that very faction is scheduled to visit the Aspirant Corps next week."
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