The Martial Unity

As the five pathwalkers journeyed through Pinky, the exotic sites that were spread across the entire region were unlike anything they had ever seen before. It was difficult for words alone to convey just how almost fictional the entire planet felt. The stark blue sky never changed in color due to the fact that it was blue because of the star, which hung in the sky with a highly bright blue shine, not because of the scattering of blue light, as it was the case in Gaia.

This created a sky that was sharply blue, almost as if it had been so. In contrast sharply with the red world around them. The presence of floating macrobes in the sky, the iron forest which resembled the receptors of a cell, made them feel like they were existences as small as viruses walking on the surface of a giant cell, almost. It was an almost jarring perspective of reality.

STEP

Ria glanced up knowingly. ”We’ve arrived at the base of the mountains. We should take a brief break here and refill our oxygen before resuming.”

Before them was the towering view of a looming mountain that dominated their field of vision. The mountains seemed to have minimal presence of macrobe settlements, making them feel more secure.

”I can set up the oxygen sequestering plant, but it could draw attention to how out of place something green would be in this world,” Siliscia murmured with a concerned tone, her gaze shifting around them in a wary manner.

”We can camp in one of the caves here. I’ll keep an eye out for any danger,” Ria remarked, pointing to a system of caves that seemed to be spread across the base of the mountain.

WHOOSH

They shot towards it with a single step, less averse to using more of their physical power since they had managed to distance themselves from the most populated settlements and colonies of macrobes.

It wasn’t long before they sat down, relaxing in the makeshift tents that they had prepared.

”Ahhhh!” Runark relaxed as he fell upon an inflatable mattress, tucking his head under his hands. ”That’s good. I gotta be honest with you, if I hadn’t stepped up my stamina game in the manifold, I would be tired right now.”

It wasn’t comfortable to sleep with their helmets on, but they had no choice. Thankfully, the exosuits were designed with some ergonomic features to make them long-term palatable.

”Stamina will be very important to us in all of these operations,” Ria remarked, chewing a nutrition pill, before making an ugly expression. ”I forgot how gross these tasted. Eating food from the Royal Kitchen at the Vargard Palace made me spoiled again.”

Sternon’s translucent face glinted with regret. ”I wish I had not eaten from the Royal kitchen because the nutrition paste I was accustomed to eating most of my life now tastes especially disgusting. I can’t wait to go back to the Kandrian Empire.”

”We’re not going back any time soon,” Ria reminded him with a pointed expression. ”Once the mining industry and basically all of human civilization start investigating us, they will use every method in the book to track us, including space traffic correlation investigations. If we go back to the Kandrian Empire every single time, we will undoubtedly get discovered.”

Highly sophisticated state adversaries could monitor traffic in and out of most trade hubs across human civilization. Even if the Stellarch’s stealth meant that it wouldn’t be detected, there was still other associated activity with the spacedock where the spaceship was stored that could be traced, which was owned by a shell company that the company manager Neera had formed entirely separately, owned by Ria.

It would be a direct trace.

It wasn’t easy to maintain anonymity and privacy in a world as dense as Gaian Civilization, but it was much easier to do so in the frontier where humanity was less developed.

”More importantly.” Ria turned towards Siliscia. ”The coast is clear. Set up the oxygen-sequestering flora here.”

Siliscia nodded as she knelt, pressing her palm against the ground before closing her eyes. Elven technology had grown radically more portable and transmittable in the Era of Expansion as elves mastered the art of rapid-growth flora even in highly extreme alien environments on exoplanets or even the vacuum of outer space that could be stored in the form of a single seed or, in Siliscia’s case, sprouting vines that dug into the ground.

Ria’s powerful senses could sense just how quickly it transformed into a tree. It sucked in moisture, which was known to be present in Planet Pinky thanks to the oxidation of hydrogen, leading to high water content, along with other compounds, including iron, which it smoothly integrated into its biology by relying on genetic modules that involved high iron presence.

Rapidly, a tree bloomed with iron leaves. Ria could feel the flow of air through the tree as it rapidly absorbed gases from the atmosphere, creating a powerful current.

”And…” Siliscia pressed a tap-like structure into the trunk of the tree before opening it and allowing clean water to flow. ”We can save up on water. The filtration systems are perfect, so you don’t need to worry about getting poisoned.”

”You’re a lifesaver,” Ria heaved a sigh as she poured the water into her hydration system, drinking it through a straw in her helmet.

Then she paused, her expression growing serious.

”What’s the matter?” Misha asked with a raised eyebrow.

”…There’s a fleet of macrobes sweeping across this entire area,” she spoke with a grim tone, getting up. ”They’re meticulously scanning every single corner. As if…”

Her eyes sharpened.

”As if they’re looking for us.”

She turned towards Siliscia. ”We need a stealth canopy, now!”

Siliscia’s expression grew severe as she pressed her hands to the ground. Within a minute, branches and vines emerged from the ground in a circle around them, covered in a myriad of big leaves that formed a thick canopy.

Then, it turned invisible, hiding their presence from the outside world.

Ten minutes later,

A series of macrobes emerged in front of the cave, entering it.