Eli stared at the clear screen floating in front of him. It hung in the air like glass, faint green light reflecting in his eyes. He did not understand it, but he knew it was tied to the orb his father had left him and to the day the pirates had attacked and destroyed everything.
He slid the shard into his pocket.
The moment his fingers left it, the screen vanished as if it had never been there.
So the shard powers it, he thought.
"My lord."
Carrow's voice pulled him back.
"We need to leave. The corpse will draw other predators. The smell alone will carry for kilometers."
Eli turned. The massive body behind them leaked dark blood into the cracked ground. Steam still rose from it in the cold air.
"What about the corpse?" Eli asked.
"We leave it," Voss said. "Standard protocol. We don't have enough men or carriers to move it whole. Beasts will follow our trail. If we cut it here, we will be attacked from all sides."
"From the next hunt on, the infantry goes with you," Eli said.
"No," Carrow said immediately. "The infantry handles Synthiss attacks, civilian safety, and pirates. Not this. It isn't their job."
Eli slowly looked around the wasteland. Broken rock. Dead ground. No plants. . Nothing alive except things that wanted to kill them.
"We are at the edge of known space," he said quietly. "We have nothing except mutant shards, beast organs, and a few mineral sites. No trade. No farms. No factories."
He met Carrow's eyes.
"We need credits."
Carrow's jaw tightened. He started to argue, then stopped.
Imperial soldiers would be paid regardless. But Voss and his unit depended on the Viscount's treasury. Without income, they would shrink year by year.
Carrow turned away. "Men, secure the area. Bring in terrain carriers. Prepare for cargo."
Voss barked orders. Soldiers moved fast, setting up lights and heavy tools. The sound of cutting blades and hydraulic saws soon filled the valley as they began dismantling the corpse piece by piece.
Hale stepped beside Eli. "That shard alone could make a shard weapon or full armor. With your enhancement, you could beat Voss in close combat."
"Maybe," Eli said. Voss had only been surprised. In full armor, he was still a walking fortress.
"Why don't we have Beast Farms like the Core worlds?" Eli asked.
"Catching beasts isn't the problem," Hale said. "Tamed ones rarely produce shards. They need special feed and suppliment made from materials that don't exist here."
"So we will always be depended on crude oil?" Eli asked. "The clouds and radiation block photon charging as well?"
Hale rubbed his chin. "There were nuclear plants in the 21st century. But radioactive material was banned after a major war."
"That was over a thousand years ago," Eli said. "Is it still banned?"
"Probably not," Hale admitted. "But we would be starting from nothing."
"If people did it before, we can do it again," Eli said. "Nuclear power is now your top priority when we return."
"Yes, my lord," Hale said, bowing his head.
Inside, he regretted speaking. Now he had been given an impossible task. But at least it meant he would not be sent to the front lines for a while. The thought eased some of his fear.
The corpse was soon cut apart. Huge slabs of flesh, bone, and crystal were loaded into armored carriers. Blood pooled on the ground, turning the dust into dark mud.
The return trip was mostly quiet. A few smaller predators attacked the convoy, drawn by the smell, but Carrow and Voss eliminated them quickly.
When they reached Helios Bastion, the cargo caused an uproar. Workers stopped what they were doing to stare. Only Viscount Wilson had ever returned with kills this large.
Now his son had done the same.
Eli slipped past the guards before anyone could approach him. He walked straight to his father's office, closed the heavy door, and locked it.
Silence filled the room.
He took out the crystal.
The moment it touched his skin, the green screen appeared again.
[External Genetic Core Detected]
Origin: Gravecoil Tyrant — Apex Deoxy Variant
Energy Density: EXTREME
Two options appeared.
➤ Integrate Crystal for Permanent GENE ARCHIVE Power Source
➤ Absorb Gene Template
Eli did not understand them, but something told him powering the system was safer. That it would enable him to learn more about this.
He touched the first option.
Nothing happened.
"Integrate," he said.
Still nothing.
Integrate, he thought.
Warmth spread from his palm through his arm and across his chest. The crystal dimmed until it became dull stone.
He waited.
No pain. No surge. No visible change.
System, he thought.
A new screen appeared.
[GENE ARCHIVE]
➤ Hybridisation
➤ Transmutation
Hybridisation was grey. Transmutation glowed bright.
Transmutation.
Three entries appeared.
➤ HumoScaleoid 1A — Species: HumoScaleoid
➤ Virex Talon — Species: Virex Avian Predator
➤ Kryostalker — Species: Cryo Adapted Ambush Organism
"HumoScaleoid 1A," Eli murmured. He remembered hearing the name before he lost consciousness on the ship.
He selected it.
Two new options appeared.
➤ Sub Consciousness Transformation
➤ Consciousness Transformation
Sub consciousness sounded dangerous.
Consciousness, he decided.
A cold shiver ran through him. Suddenly he could feel everything inside his body. Muscles tightening. Blood moving. Bones supporting his weight. Even his breathing felt louder.
He focused on his left forearm.
Warmth spread through it. The limb thickened as muscles compacted. A new joint formed in the middle with a dull internal pop. His fingers lengthened.
His nails darkened, hardened, and pushed forward into curved talons, sharp and black like polished metal.
Black scales spread across his skin, overlapping smoothly.
He dragged one talon across the steel table.
A deep scratch appeared with a harsh screech.
The limb felt natural. Strong. Controlled.
He curled his fingers, retracting the talons slightly, then made a tight fist.
After a slow breath, he slammed it down.
The impact dented the metal, then cracked it. A spiderweb of fractures spread outward before the table split down the middle.
Eli froze, staring at what he had done.
Slowly, he focused on the arm and willed it to return.
The scales softened. Bones shifted. Flesh smoothed out. The talons shrank back into normal nails.
His arm was human again.
Only the destroyed table proved otherwise.
"Father… what did you leave me?" he whispered, sweat running down his temple.