The mechoes had found a porthole the size of a soccer ball. The Intellectum boiled unnaturally a short distance from the thick, probably armored glass. Without hesitation, Alex fell to his knees and tried to cut through the opening in the tank with his prana knife.
“Wow,” Alex muttered, turning the hilt over in his hand.
Only a slight scratch had formed on the strange metal from the impact. He hit the porthole glass, which shattered into small shards. It smelled pungent, like acid.
Alex exhaled deeply as a monotonous statement reflected onto his optic nerves.
.
New level obtained
New level obtained
New level obtained
Attention, player Phoenix! Your respiratory system has been upgraded
New level obtained
New level obtained
New level obtained
Attention, player Phoenix! Your respiratory system has been upgraded
New level obtained
New level obtained
New level obtained
Attention, player Phoenix! Your body has been upgraded
.
Wow. Every breath of Intellectum vapor leads to improvements in my lungs, and my whole body.
He glanced briefly at the mechoes, which opened their subspace storages and threw their watches and other mechanisms into the tank with the Intellectum.
It’s the right decision. Fifty-two, fifty-three…
He continued to count and threw his watch into the tank as well. Jokeiro had calculated all the events in advance.
What if this priceless tank won’t suffer from the annihilation of the spaceship?
Ticktock interrupted his remonstrations. Phoenix, we must depart! We must help the mechoes in the new world.
Alex waved his hand. “Go! Good luck taking care of the newborns.”
The mechoes dipped in acknowledgement and dove into the tank with the Intellectum.
I must try it too, Alex thought, continuing his monotonous count.
He undressed while clinging to the hole. He risked lowering his left hand into the Intellectum. The sensation struck him by its oddness. It was not unlike plunging his hand into boiling water, yet it was pleasant instead of painful.
He then placed his right hand into the liquid. The system alerts came continuously, resembling a broken record spinning at high speed.
Alex Phoenix smiled, pleased with the message about the break of the seventh Great Curse.
It’s a pity I can’t put my head in the hole… If only I could dip my genital organ in the Intellectum… What wonderful children could probably be created…
When dipping his legs in the Intellectum, understanding came much faster. He tried to move his hands, confirming his assumptions. Alex frantically rinsed all the artifacts he had created in the magic liquid, then filled his flask with Intellectum as well.
I’m a fool.
He doused his head with the Intellectum from his flask, again and again, dancing in the puddle that formed at his feet.
He had no sooner dipped the golden pen of the Italian company Aurora into the Intellectum when Master Jokeiro called, “Time is running out! Head for the Dark Radiance!”
The visual coordinates of the command cabin of the Dark Radiance had already been displayed, so Alex teleported to the very center of the cabin. He didn’t even have time to rejoice when wide ribbons curled around him, turning him to the correct position. Somehow, he managed to read the system stats:
.
Captain Phoenix Power Chair
Full merger, Captain — Dark Radiance + 2 000
Combat piloting + 1 500
Extreme piloting + 1 250
Hyper jumping + 1 250
Health + 1 250
Intelligence + 1 000
Memory + 1 000
Overload balancers + 1 000
.
“What an amazing ship!” Alex whispered while getting seated.
Gods! This is the most comfortable chair in the universe.
He saw and felt everything at once – the countdown, the open hangar, the operation of the engines, the trajectory of movement, and the speed to be achieved.
He felt the entire surface of the ship as if it were his own skin, and the roaring engines seemed to become his heart. Space, with its billions of stars, became his native and the most sought-after home.
Yeah… I hope it won’t cause an addiction, a thought slipped through his mind.
Alex activated the shipboard communicator. “Attention! Captain Phoenix speaking, Ice Vigor clanmates, join the battle group and prepare for acceleration. We are leaving.”
Alex turned on the main engine, breaking flight protocols, and the high-speed spaceship began to move. Emergency lighting, alarm bells, and fire extinguishing system all activated. The Dark Radiance engines had done irreparable damage to the entire Reaper piloting structure.
“Explosion imminent!” he said into the intercom.
The spaceship burst from the hangar like a cork from a champagne bottle— noisily covered with fire foam, and accompanied by the crew’s friendly shouts.
“Medical service, full alert! Hold on, people! Activate your first-aid kits!” Alex sped up, banking into a steep turn, aiming to hide behind the moon.
Come on, come on!
Risking overload, he pushed the ship’s speed up to maximum, exhaling in relief when they slid behind the moon.
“We did it,” Alex stated, braking smoothly as the ship achieved orbit. He didn’t sense the bang, only a flash followed by a muffled explosion.
The former Reaper’s AI, Iss, levitated nearby. “The Reaper has been destroyed.”
Alex shrugged. “Wait five minutes, then move to the Earth’s orbit at low speed.”
The AI continued to summarize the report, duplicating its words with the data, displaying it as a hologram in front of Alex.
.
Dark Radiance spaceship
All systems work in normal mode — 100 %
Dead slow ahead for the Earth’s orbit
Travel time — 1 hour 45 minutes
Crew:
Captain Phoenix — access right 100%, health — normal
Flash, head of the SIS — access right 80%, health — normal
Passengers:
Twenty Homo-54s (invited by Captain Phoenix), access right — 10%
Of whom:
Seventeen — mild and moderate cases (treatment is in process, duration — 1 hour)
Three — stable-heavy cases (intensive treatment is in process, duration
