MPE06

Edited by: ASaltedFish

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After their meeting, Orin went with Darya to see if they could find any of their old comrades. Surprisingly, they recognized many people, and no one seemed to have retired or died from their original squad. 

When Orin and Darya's comrades saw them, they were shocked but also excited. They didn't know that Orin was alive and were worried about Darya but could not get a hold of her. It was good to see that they were both alive and well.

The only thing that they felt sad about was Orin's leg. It was gone, so it was an automatic retirement, but at least they could meet up like the good old times. Maybe Orin could rejoin the military but with the logistics team.

As for Akimitsu and Edros, they needed to stay in the control center to make sure they were going in the right direction. Not only that, if there were attacks from Ineks or space pirates, they would be able to respond immediately. 

Ellery and Aster liked to stay in their room or go to the control center to talk with Akimitsu and Edros. Currently, Ellery sat in Akimitsu's chair, looking at the map in the center of the control center. 

As he zoomed in on the border, he could see the tiny spacecraft on the map slowly moving toward MPE06, which was to the east of MPE02. They were using the universal center as their guide since they did not know how the crystal orb gave its directions. 

MPE06 was a barren wasteland covered in red sand. There were very few water sources, and most were guarded by large groups of Ineks. With only a few inches of rainfall every year, most plants could not survive the harsh climate. Only a few were able to survive, but they were inedible.

It would take a day to reach MPE06, so Akimitsu and Edros stood next to Ellery while looking at the map. 

They wanted to look at the environments of all the uninhabited planets. Some were documented, while others still needed to be explored. It would be best to go to the places that were documented first, so they at least knew the geography of the planet. 

With so many planets, it seemed daunting to know that they had to search through them to find the Beast God. 

Hopefully, it won't take too long…

*****

The next day, they arrived on MPE06, where days lasted for only 20 hours. The sun was beating down, making the temperature of the planet unbearable. All the soldiers who were going to explore MPE06 were wearing protective suits that were designed to withstand extreme weather. 

Darya and Orin stayed in the spacecraft while Ellery, Edros, and Akimitsu went with the other soldiers. 

"Let's go to a place where no one can see us," Akimitsu suggested, as not even the high-ranking members of their fleet knew of the crystal orb's existence. 

Ellery nodded. "Then let's go in that direction." He pointed to the south of the spacecraft. "I didn't see many soldiers looking in that direction. Plus, I remember seeing a forest in that direction." 

Edros thought that was a good idea and put down a beacon. It was a triangular machine that shot a light into the sky. It was to help everyone know where the spacecraft was. 

Edros and Akimitsu activated their mechas. They were giant robotic humanoids that were customized to change into the shape of the sentinel's quantum beast when needed. Sentinels, however, generally only used this feature when it was a life-or-death situation, preferring to fight in a humanoid form most of the time. 

Edros knew that Ellery would go with Akimitsu, so he went inside his mecha first. 

Akimitsu smiled at Ellery. "Can I carry you into my mecha?" 

Mechas that Sentinel's used had a seat for their guides. 

"Of course!" It would be the first time Ellery would enter Akimitsu's mecha, so he was a bit curious. 

Akimitsu picked Ellery up with ease and controlled the mecha using his terminal to extend its arm out to them. Afterward, he ran up the arm of the mecha with ease. The cockpit was already opened.

Ellery sat down behind Akimitsu while looking around. "Has any other guide been in your mecha?" 

"You are the only guide who has been in my mecha so far. Us sentinels reserve this seat for our partners." 

Ellery and Aster thought this was a very sweet thing to do.

"Ellery, be sure to put on the seat belt." 

"Done!" 

"Okay, then let's get going. Edros looks like he wants to leave us behind." 

Akimitsu started to press a bunch of buttons on a holographic screen, which allowed the mecha to move. Ellery and Aster had no idea what the controls were for a mecha, so it looked like Akimitsu was button-mashing the dashboard. 

Edros waited for Akimitsu before moving at the same pace toward the forest they saw. In the distance, they could see some soldiers fighting low-level Ineks, which wasn't a surprise to them. There were many Ineks on these uninhabited planets, but most of the time, the Ineks were low-leveled, so they generally used these types of planets to train their recruits. 

The Ineks on this planet liked to burrow underground to avoid the harsh sun, so their scales were thick and hard. Thankfully, the scales on their underbelly were soft, so they were easy to kill as long as you stabbed them there. These Ineks were the size of large wolves, so it was easy to get overwhelmed by them if they traveled in groups. 

Maybe it was because of Edros' and Akimitsu's strength, but no Ineks tried to attack them, so they arrived at the forest without battling anything. 

With no one else in sight, Akimitsu brought Ellery down from the mecha while Edros stayed in his to keep guard. 

The crystal orb was kept in a box that could only be activated through his fingerprint and iris scan. It was kept in Edros' room because it was the most secure (and private) place on the spacecraft. 

It had to be carried around in such a box because storage rings, an extremely valuable product from the neighboring galaxy, could not contain the crystal orb that was created by the Beast God. 

As for the storage ring, only the ultra-wealthy were able to have one because it was created using the energy harnessed by Sylv crystals, which was a specialty of the Adastreia galaxy. It was a miraculous device that could hold a large number of items in a "dimensional" space but required a good quality Sylv crystal once a year to keep it functioning. Thankfully, the Sylv crystal did not need to be processed for the storage ring to use it. 

Edros was the only one with a Sylv crystal mine in the Zevaria Empire, so it was normal for him to have a storage ring. Most people did not have one or even know of its existence, so it was not something people used daily. 

Unfortunately, it could not be used to hold the Beast God's orb.

Ellery took out the crystal ball, handing the box over to Akimitsu. He hadn't had the chance to observe it before, but he could feel a strange energy that seemed to draw him in, almost to the point of intoxication. 

He snapped out of his daze and took a deep breath, concentrating his spiritual energy gently into the crystal ball. 

The orb responded to his energy, hungrily absorbing what Ellery was willing to give it. After a while, it finally felt satisfied, and a bright light shot out of the orb, pointing to the north. 

After the light stabilized, its pointer, made out of light particles, was transparent, showing that they were not close to the Beast God. 

Akimitsu activated his terminal and began plotting down their coordinates and comparing them to the direction the orb was pointing it. From what he could see, even though it was facing to the north when he zoomed out on the planet, it looked like it was pointing northwest. 

There were a ton of planets in the northwest, so it was best if they decided on one before continuing to their next location. 

"Okay, we should be able to go back to the spacecraft now." Akimitsu signaled to Edros to head back. 

Putting the orb back into the box, Ellery held on to it. He didn't need to do much on this journey, but he felt a little tired because the orb needed a lot of spiritual energy to activate. 

With this in mind, Aster would need to help out, alternating between planets until they could pinpoint the Beast God's location. 

Aster didn't mind helping out. Actually, he was going to suggest that he be the one to go to the next planet. He was curious about the terrain of the different planets, maybe collecting a rock from each place they visited. 

Ellery thought it was cute, so he looked nearby for the prettiest rock before letting Akimitsu carry him into the mecha. Aster was excited and couldn't wait to add the rock Ellery picked out to his collection!