493. Home

This fic is over, you can read it in advance on -patreon.com/misterimmortal.

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Happy 21st Century indeed. For the first time, no one had any idea what the future was going to look like. So much had changed so fast, the level at which the technology was changing was unpredictable. The computers, the communication technology, the cars, engines and everything was changing each year. The companies were in full competitive mode, spending more and more money on research and development.

Nearly the entire world had their faces plastered on the television to watch the Mars landing. It only took humanity 31 years to achieve this feat. A modern technological marvel had been created.

Magnus' whole family was invited by various media channels to give interviews, but only a few agreed, for example, there was Adam, who was the lead developer of the engine so he gave some insights on the mission. Then there was Aurelia, as she was a celebrity, she was more available to the channels, still, she only gave a five-minute interview, telling how proud she was of her brothers.

Grace, too, gave a similar recording of how proud she was. Elizabeth, however, went to the BBC News channel and gave a full one hour interview, it was full of stories about Magnus and how proud she was of him as her grandson and also as the King leading the nation's soul.

At this point, there was nobody left who could say they were anti-monarchy. 100 per cent of the people in the entire United Kingdom loved their king and the royal family.

But, this was just the start. Magnus had the cancer drug under development, if he can make it, he will possibly be seen as a god or something.

...

Back on Mars, Magnus called the whole crew out of the shuttle and also unloaded the Mars Vehicle.

Their job was to find precious minerals. But, first of all, they got onto Mars rover and travelled to the site, which was predecided to be excavated. Ragnar, however, didn't come with them. Instead, he took a broom to do his own personal test with magical means.

Magnus honestly didn't have any plans for Mars. His main targets were asteroids beyond Mars as they would bring precious metals for further development. He was doing it just so that the future human civilization could benefit from it. He had no idea for how long he would live, and he knew the day he died, a lot of hyenas that he had tamed would once again start poking their heads up.

The speed at which human civilization is progressing will once again slow down. But he will try to make sure he leaves behind enough backups.

"Woosh* Ragnar returned on his broom. "I have found a few things deeper inside the ground, I don't know what minerals they are but it will need some research. Besides that, Magnesium, Aluminium, Titanium, Iron, and Chromium are relatively common in them. In addition, lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, niobium, molybdenum, lanthanum, europium, tungsten, and gold have been found in trace amounts.

"I also believe that water used to flow on the surface of Mars a long time ago, sadly, the planet can't maintain it as it's too cold. However, the orbiter probes we send from Destiny One have reported that there might be frozen water on the poles." He reported.

Magnus nodded and briefed, "As I suspected, this planet is the most likely place for Earth version two to exist, but for that, we need to develop some way to make it habitable once again. The main problem is the atmosphere, it's too thin. And if we want to terraform it we need more carbon dioxide than humans have released in our entire existence. Making this place habitable is a daunting task that might not be possible in my life.

"But, maybe in a hundred years, with the use of wizards and muggle technology, we probably can. For now, we will only be creating a mining colony here."

"Got it, boss," The other two wizards got to work quickly in setting up a temporary base for others to portkey in and also send other important materials.

...

Two people were to always stay on the Destiny One craft in orbit. The rest of the 8 astronauts worked their best. After checking the soil integrity, Magnus and the other four wizards started to use magic to dig the soil and create a big 30 metres wide and 10-meter deep square ditch. After that, they put the living units in there.

The units contained the pressurising and depressurising entrance, then the living room/kitchen/dining, then there were three rooms with four bunk beds each. One big lab room, a toilet complex. A room for exercise. Then deep under it was the power room that contained all the Solid State Batteries version 6 that held power from the solar panels on the surface.

Dust storms on Mars can last from two weeks to one or two months. These batteries had enough capacity to hold power for 4 months in them. Heck, the storms on Mars go at a max of 60 mph. There were special weighted suits that could allow them to work even in that condition.

...

Ragnar collected all the soil samples he wanted. Magnus helped him by apparating all around the planet as this was an easy task. He also set up portkeys in various mineral-rich locations, one at the pole as well from where they collected ice samples.

After their three month excursion and experiments, it was time to head back, completing their mission that lasted 9 months. But, Destiny two spacecraft was also being created and once made, at all times there will be humans present on Mars.

"Brace for acceleration," the pilot warned.

*WOOSH*

In an instant, the spacecraft gained maximum speed and zoomed towards Earth's moon.

"Haha, look at you, giggling like a little girl," Magnus joked with Ragnar.

"Of course, I can't wait to do tests on the unknown materials I found. Maybe it's some sort of an unknown element, I can probably name it after myself and make it a bigger headache for kids to learn the periodic table. Ragnium sounds pretty nice." Ragnar mumbled.

"Sure, if that's what you want, you can have it. But make sure you first sanitise all the material, we don't want a zombie apocalypse on Earth now," Magnus japed.

Ragnar scoffed, "Who needs a zombie apocalypse when we already have a planet full of retards."

A crew member came to them at that, "Sir, we are receiving communication from Earth, they are hoping that you can address Earth,"

Magnus got up to go to the communication room. "Sure,"

He took a seat, and the camera started to record. For now, they were at a distance that created a 1-minute delay in communication. It was manageable though. "Hello, Earth. This is Magnus. Alive and well. The mission went better than we ever expected. We were able to establish a base on Mars where the future astronauts can comfortably live in. We have also tested the soil of Mars from various locations.

"Ice exists on the poles, but the planet is uninhabitable for now. Maybe we can nuke the poles and melt the water to increase carbon dioxide and increase the atmospheric pressure. But only time will tell what we do.

"I am feeling a bit homesick at the moment, can't wait to breathe under the open sky once again. One thing I would like to add before I end my message is that, before I used to take Earth for granted, it took me to go to space to truly appreciate and cherish our home, for it's truly like our mother. It nourishes us, feeds us and lets us breathe. And I, as a good son, vowed to respect my mother and take care of her as now I'm a grown-up.

"By next year, space flights will become commercially available for anyone who wants to see Earth from space, I hope then many more will feel the same as I do. Thank you, see you soon."

He clicked the red switch to end the recording and sent it to Earth in one go.

...

On Earth, Magnus was always at war with dark forces that lay in darkness, in secret, trying to bring him down and spread chaos. But, the time when Magnus decided to go out of Earth to assure humanity's future, darkness took an offensive.

It was subtle, nobody felt it spread, it was slower than a snail, for they knew the danger of poking their head too high would bring the dragon's wrath. Their aim was not to bring down Magnus, nor did they aim to fight him. For them, control over the planet was the final acceptable result.

But that road eventually leads to standing up against the current uncrowned king of Earth.

[You can see Mars Lander Vehicle on Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]

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Special thanks to *DougErNuts* *Oluwatimileyin Olayemi* *BirdRant* *Franklin Walley* *Brennan Tubbs*