The Martial Unity

While Pioneer III dealt with an assault from strange octopus-like aliens, Pioneer V found itself in the depths of the Sirius system. They found themselves before a planet unlike anything they had ever seen. ”What…” Admiral Soehok’s voice was one of stunned surprise. ”What is that…?”

There was a stunned silence in the command room of Pioneer V. Each and every single official, analyst, and crew member was shocked and frozen as they gazed at the giant screen at the front end of the command room.

It featured the live view of a distant planet within the Sirius system.

A planet that was clad with an extraordinarily colorful surface. It resembled the animals of poison in nature that often had extremely flashy colors. The beasts and monsters of nature knew to avoid them, lest they wanted to die. ”What is that?” Admiral Soehok’s tone grew more stunned. ”Where did it come from?!”

Her shock didn’t come from the fact that the planet was colorful.

No.

Her shock came from the fact that the space telescopes of the Panamic Space Organization that had collected data on the Sirius system had revealed that there were no planets in the star system.

The Pioneer V was prepared for a star system with no planets.

And yet, they had found a planet that not only defied their understanding of the star system but also defied their understanding of reality. How could a space telescope be so wrong about the absence of a planet within the Sirius system? How could they miss the presence of not just any planet, but a planet that was as large and as prominent as the one before them?

Their data was able to detect it quite well now that they were within the same star systems as the planet. But then it didn’t add up. Why didn’t their space telescopes detect it?

”Admiral, preliminary scans of the planet have revealed the presence of esoteric matter across the entire planet,” an analyst urgently spoke with a low voice, breaking the silence in the command room. ”This is no ordinary planet. It bears resemblance to the Panama Continent of Gaia, but across the entire planet.”

That was even more shocking. From what they understood of Gaia, the esoteric matter present within it was supposed to be of alien origin, but the Emperor of Water had apparently destroyed the alien presence within their world.

Then what kind of world were they looking at with this strange planet?

”Madam, what do we do? Our omni-ship expected a star system without any planets, and our resources were organized with that in mind. We don’t have the equipment to set up terrestrial bases or observatories.”

Admiral Soehok broke out of her stunned reverie as her eyes narrowed. ”What has the PMO headquarters said?”

”They are currently processing the data and are trying to figure out why our telescopes have detected the planet despite its clearly very noticeable existence,” the deputy admiral added. ”They have not issued any overriding orders yet.”

It meant that they were trusted to act at their discretion as pioneers of a new star system in the interstellar neighborhood of Sol. That was almost worse, in some ways.

Admiral Soehok narrowed her eyes as her expression grew serious. ”…Commence a survey. Gather information. As much information as we possibly can.”

The deputy admiral at her side nodded. ”Yes, ma’am. We will get right to it.”

Pioneer V remained on high alert the entire time. Defenses and security were raised to the very limit as preparations for surveillance were made. Secondary surveillance operations were put on hold until the situation could be grasped and fully comprehended.

The atmosphere aboard the omni-ship was tense. Even as preparations were made, every single person was on high alert, very tense about the shocking anomaly they had run into. Just like with Serun Planera I, spacecraft with Martial Sages were deployed to the planet, dropping them from space towards the esoteric world.

WHOOSH

They fell from the shuttle, plummeting straight towards the planet at increasingly higher speeds.

Sage Ceeran couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable even as he rapidly accelerated towards the planet. He had been among the Martial Sages to volunteer for the missions to space as a way to expand his boundaries. To be exposed to greater experiences beyond the more saturated environment of Gaia.

He was among the many Martial Sages who felt like the number of Martial Sages in the Panama Continent was excessive, even if he understood why Rui had made the decision to expand those numbers greatly. They needed the power to keep the Evolutionary Army in check, to expand Panama’s base of power. To secure Gaia.

And yet, it made individual Martial Sages invisibly irrelevant. The value of Martial Sages had reduced greatly ever since their numbers increased organically, but in the past six years, the explosion in their numbers had made it untenable to live within Gaia and experience the kind of reputation and respect that Martial Sages used to have.

To think that there used to be a day when the Kandrian Empire only had sixteen Martial Sages. Now, there were more Martial Sages than there had been Martial Masters back then. However, as he plummeted towards the esoteric planet, he couldn’t help but feel more and more uncertain.

WHOOSH!

They tore through the atmosphere of the esoteric planet, composed of a strange mist that made it slightly opaque from outer space. The friction made the descent turbulent even as the Martial Sages reached terminal velocity, activating their breathing techniques to slowly break their fall with a gradual skywalk.

They could do so much easier if they activated their Martial Minds and Martial Souls, but the protocols were not to activate those unless they really needed to, for the price of the Realms complicated matters greatly.

WHOOSH…

They gently slowed down shortly before reaching the surface of the planet, pedaling lightly before hitting the ground.

THUD!

Their impacts were heavy, causing dust, ordinary, and esoteric to lift up from the surface of the planet.

They had arrived.