At least they were making progress. My appearance didn’t attract any attention. These scientists would lose themselves when they got interested in something.

I took a grand tour, noticed that the planes and bombers brought over by the two big corp people were getting dissembled. Many people were gathered there, seemingly working on modifying their parts.

Well… They were working fast and in such diligence, making me feel a little optimistic about the end results.

I hoped they’d have ready weapons to use when the fifth quest would arrive. Using our human weapons would bring a nice surprise to the enemies without doubt.

My next stop was at old Gan’s place. That old man said many great things, however he had to show me what he was made out of.

“Lord… You are here to check on us or something?”

Just as I kept looking for him, a sudden appearance of a chariot came from my back with such a familiar voice.

It was the voice of old Gan!

“Oh, you spotted me,” I stopped and turned to him to find that he was standing far away from me, yet using some sort of a skill or an item to speak to me as if he was standing nearby.

“Don’t be surprised, you’re not the only one with that horn, hahaha!” he laughed and I got how he did it.

So it was an item then.

“How are things at your end?” I flew directly towards his far away chariot while asking, “have you managed to upgrade the weapons I gave to you?”

“It’s not an easy task,” he shrugged, while pointing towards the ground, “we are already halfway through, might need around one or two more weeks to get things done.”

“Two weeks? Not bad,” I nodded, “do you lack anything? Need anything?”

“No lord, we got what we need, but if we are going to mass produce the weapons, I might need more materials.”

“Send me a list… Ah, come here and add me as a friend to do it.”

“Sure,” he came and despite his old age, this dude was very agile. He just jumped and showed a fierce side of him.

“So you aren’t just a brilliant mind, you can fight!” I said with shining eyes, and he smiled as if this was part of his life he didn’t want to mention.

“Inventing new toys is more fun, lord.”

“I agree.”

“Ah, there is another question. These weapons are mainly good against air enemies. Do you need to add anything extra?”

“Like… What?”

“Like anti ground ammunition or the ability to attack water foes.”

“Well… I still don’t know our enemies, so…”

“I can make it all happen… But I have to give it to lord, you are quite heavily preparing for an enemy you don’t know of yet.”

From his tone and eyes, I got that he was suspecting I did have an enemy, and was doing everything in my might to prepare for it.

“If you want to say something, say it directly.”

“Then I’ll be rude,” his face changed and got coated with a series mask, “who is it? Who is this scary enemy that makes lord this scared?”

“I’m not scared!”

“Let’s say you are trying to prepare for the worst then,” he paused, “I know lord isn’t simple. You got me, got many out of the mighty Toranks. Toranks are cute and kind, but they are The Toranks after all. How come having them by your side didn’t help at all? Is this enemy… A bit stronger than them?”

“I told you to speak directly…” I looked directly in his eyes, and he didn’t even blink.

“Are they… Hescos perhaps?”

“You have a dangerous mind indeed,” I paused for an entire minute before breaking out in laughter, “I can see now why you decided to make such a career shift.”

“Damn!” just all the strong front he put changed when I said my words and confirmed his doubts. “Dammit! Lord… This…”

“What? I know they are strong…”

“No lord, they aren’t just strong. They… Is lord aware that their suits, these mechas, are working on alien tech?”

“Alien tech? How…”

“Lord, the core of their technology doesn’t belong to our universe! Tens of thousands of years ago they were nothing! Just a weak race, no more stronger than yours. And now? They are the overlord of the universe! Lord! You can’t go directly at them, or else you won’t just fight a single race, but a group of others, scary and armed with things we don’t know.”

“This…” What he said made me instantly terrified for a few minutes before I managed to grasp a better hold over myself.

“I will deal with them and win,” I said in a fierce way, “I won’t let them have their own way!”

“Well… Without getting to know how their suits work, we won’t be able to do anything! Their mechas can fly, work under water, and even have such an invincible layer of shield that can sustain any of system provided attacks.”

“What are you speaking about?!! The Toranks, they managed to compete and conquer them. How come they did it then?”

“They have to use cultivation,” old Gan said, such bad news, “they dealt with them as you deal with alien races.”

“This… How so?!!!”

“I already said, they got such tech from out of here,” he shrugged, “in brief, dealing with them won’t be this easy and all of this…” he pointed at the world around, “won’t be enough!”

“Then… What do you need?” I knew that he was saying all this for a reason. Or else, why would he say such things to me?

He wasn’t trying to scare the sh*t out of me, right?

“When I was with the Toranks, I tried to get my hands on one suit. But I couldn’t. Can you try? Ask for one? Only one will do!”

“What do you plan to do with it?” I didn’t try to bring the great news over to him. I had to see first what passion was driving this old man.