The Launch, The Lady and The Lad

Eruchea, Year: 3040:-

"Boy, if this event isn't good, you'll have to suffer some serious consequences!"

"Ma'am, you've been stuffing your face with crêpes every day for the past week.

And even today, you were doing the exact same! Even the cafe employees were getting restless to leave!", said Harry.

"But they're just that good! The soft wrapping that just melts in my mouth with the light and fluffy cream with the perfect level of sweetness. Not to-", Mzia started saying when she was interrupted.

"Mom! Just finish eating already! No one wants the description of your food!

I'm so sorry about my mother! She's just too stubborn.", Eteri started apologising.

"Oh, why are you apologising? It's your mum who's being unreasonable!

Anyway, let's hurry up. I can't be the king and be so late to arrive at such a huge event!"

Mzia reluctantly stuffed the rest of the crêpes into her mouth and the three started rushing in their car.

The roads were pretty empty today since almost everyone had gathered up in the military district.

Aside from the essential workers like doctors and security personnel (police and military), everyone else had a day off.

They weren't exporting many goods so even the factory workers were allowed to take a break.

It was to the point that except for one or two people who were running or driving to the venue, it wouldn't seem too strange to see tumbleweeds rolling across the roads as the wind blew.

Looking at the importance of the historic event scheduled today, the fact that people could be seen on the roads could be regarded as somewhat strange instead.

The event was too great to miss out on because of just laziness.

After about half an hour more of high-speed driving and some security checks, the group reached the site of the huge crowd.

People were sitting, standing and running around in the region created for viewing.

Seeing the king arrive, several military personnel and security guards stepped forward to escort them into the VIP section.

The VIP section was a redecorated military testing bunker placed close to the large open space normally used to test explosives or other weaponry.

The place had been cleaned up and fancy-looking seats had been added to accommodate the viewers.

The blast-proof glass windows which had suffered a large number of scratches and other damage during normal tests had been replaced by new clean ones.

The majority of the country's ministers, along with Shin, Qing and Mo Loeng, were sitting inside.

Only the important ones like the Technology minister and the Defence minister etc. weren't there since they were outside performing final checks.

Seeing Harry come in, everyone else got up to bow while his three friends simply waved at him.

"So, Harry, considering what all I've learnt about this 'rocket' thing, didn't this get built way too fast with how complicated it is? It's like your researchers and scientists were just assembling the ship…", said Mo Loeng a few seconds after Harry sat down.

"Yeah. That's there.

I did do the majority of the work for them.

But before you say anything further, just hear me out.

This world is too scary and dangerous for us with the mages and the cultivators.

Those things are like walking armies compared to us. If they really wish, they can just hop over and level my country any time they feel like it.

You try to attack them and their mana or qi blocks out everything. But they can use their energy to flatten this entire place with nothing but a wet bit of tissue paper!

The only advantage we have is that they are slow, very slow when compared to us.

So, if I can save even half a second when they are not around, I'll save it. Because you even know how important even one second gets in a battle of life and death.

And as for any complaints like 'but your methods don't allow your people to develop properly', I think they'll have plenty of time to develop once I can secure a way to stand head-to-head with the other superpowers on Etheldor and find a way to defend against their attacks.

How can anyone develop if there isn't anyone around to develop?

If I let my country grow according to my citizen's natural growth speeds, I would still be living in conditions much worse than now!"

Considering how slowly the world was developing, the energy users would have had major development while the mortals would still be living in the mediaeval conditions like earlier.

Who knows, one of the major powers of this world may be a way to conquer the wastelands and would drive out/kill the people living here.

That's why, unless Harry could find ways to turn his country into a formidable power to rival that of the others, he planned on doing whatever was needed to create more technology at a faster rate.

As he had said, people can develop and grow normally once peace or something close to it has been achieved.

Mo Loeng was just about to give a counterargument when the speakers in the bunker and the surrounding area started up.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the launch of the first-ever rocket into space!

This rocket does not carry any human but it does carry a satellite!

I'm sure everyone attending already knows what a satellite is considering the extensive advertising done about today's events! That's why, unfortunately for those living under a rock all this time, I won't bother going into details only to waste time and bore the audience.", said the emcee who was responsible for hosting the event.

"However, before the launch, we do have a speech by our king"

Harry got up and walked out onto the stage where the emcee was standing.

"Good morning, my dearest of citizens! I know you all are quite excited to see the rocket go flying. But as is customary with all such big events, I do have to take some of your time before the rocket can take off.

You can maybe think of this as me stalling for time until the final checks are done on the spacecraft."

Harry began his speech. He had built his speech up by taking major inspirations from the famous ones back on Earth along with some of his own thoughts. By "major inspirations", it is naturally meant that he'd be sued for multiple copyright infringements back on Earth.

Since a handful of countries had launched rockets and several more had astronauts sent to space back on Earth, Harry had a lot of material to work with.

Once the speech was done and Harry had been booed off the stage for taking too much time, the military personnel stationed on-site began the final preparations.

Several transparent protective barriers were set up around the viewing areas and everyone too close to the rocket was cleared out.

Who knew if something would go wrong.

They had triple checked everything.

But what if the rocket exploded?

Or what if the rocket tilted on launch and went sideways?

There were also chances of other things exploding and hitting the audience. Like if the rocket launched but some of the launchpad or something similar broke off due to the heat and went flying towards the audience.

That's why they had several layers of protection along with anti-air and anti-tank type missiles pointed at the rocket.

Things go south and they could be launched instantly to destroy any rogue projectiles and minimise the damage.

Even though the "final launch" had basically been going on since two days prior. The launch crew had a list of timestamps for doing various tasks and procedures required before launch.

They had officially started off their work of performing final checks and other last moment tasks around 43 hours before the launch.

Once all this was done and Harry gave his go-ahead, the people sitting in the control centre began their final announcements before launch.

"This is the final warning.

In case anyone is within the area marked by the red tape, please quickly proceed to step outside.

The red-marked area is within the reach of the various gases and heat released during the launch of the rocket.

If anyone isn't able to leave, please try to attract the attention of the military personnel currently doing the final search for people.

Once the launch sequence commences and the lift-off occurs, the heat and gases released will render the majority of the marked area inhospitable. Anyone unfortunate enough to remain inside will not be able to survive the ordeal.

Once again, please move to the safe viewing region behind the protective shields before the launch commences."

This warning was blared through every speaker attached on-site, including the ones installed near the launch pad.

The same warning was then repeated in Chinese and Japanese (Or "Wangyu" and "Malonian"/"Maloniago" as they are called in this world) as per the official protocol set by Harry.

In the future, if anyone who didn't know their language came along, they would also understand the warnings when it is repeated in their language. But if such a habit wasn't enforced at such an early stage, someone might forget to repeat the warning, leading to the death of some or several unlucky tourists.

And such an incident would be a complete disaster for their country's foreign relations. It might even cause their collapse with other nations attacking Eruchea in retaliation.

Harry couldn't possibly let such dumbness take place on his watch.

Finally, once everyone, including the researchers and the soldiers, had retreated, the people in the control room began the automatic countdown.

By this time, the connector arms supplying external fuel had already been disconnected.

Now came the time for the famous part of the launch, aka the final thirty seconds before blast-off!

"T minus 31…

T minus 30…

T minus 29…"

The initial 20 seconds were shown on a Jumbotron-sized TV which had been put up near the audience.

This screen also showed the feed from some of the several cameras placed near the rocket/launchpad.

All of the cameras fed into the control room while some of them, which had fancy-looking shots of the rocket/launchpad, were also shown to the public.

Now, a lot of these cameras would definitely go up in flames before the rocket could even get off the ground.

The others might get destroyed sometime after that.

But all of the equipment installed was necessary. The absence of any single piece would make the researchers lose out crucial pieces of information.

Something might go wrong at the last moment. So, if they didn't have anything to record that until the last moment, no one would know why it went wrong.

A pipe could burst at the last moment, causing the rocket to explode before it even took off.

But if they didn't have any recordings of what happened, no one could possibly figure out the cause after the mess that would happen.

At 16 seconds before launch, the sound suppression pads were turned on.

And once the countdown reached 10 seconds, the main engine began turning on. (Hydrogen burnoff system)

And once this happened, the countdown started being broadcasted by the speakers.

"T minus 10…

T minus 9…

T minus 8…

T minus 7…"

The main engine finally turned on at exactly 6.6 seconds before launch.

"T minus 6…

T minus 5…

T minus 4…

T minus 3…

T minus 2…

T minus 1…

And we have lift off!", said the voice as the rocket booster was ignited and the craft flew off the ground at an extremely rapid speed.

The entire ground near the rocket was quickly flooded with a mixture of flames and equally hot gases, forming a very hot and dangerous grey cloud around the launch pad.

Within very little time, the rocket flew high in the sky, becoming barely visible to the naked eye.

The audience switched their eyes towards the big screen which now showed the footage from high-speed tracking cameras which were following the rocket's movement.

All the videos, photos and audio being recorded were also being stored. They would then be shown on the news for the next few weeks and also used during future space research.

Naturally, not all the media recorded today would be released to the public.

Only the parts released by the ESRA (Eruchean Space Research Authority) would be shown to the public while the sensitive bits would be kept under wraps, only to be seen and used by ESRA personnel.

And like any other big government project, any leaks would be dealt with severe punishments.

The public looked ultra-thrilled by the speed of the rocket. The same went for the rest of the crowd.

No matter if it was military personnel or a minister, they kept staring at the rising rocket for some time before realising what they were doing.

Once the rocket made it beyond view, most of the crowd started dispersing.

Some of them had been camping at the viewing area since a few days prior.

No one had wanted to miss out on a good seat to view the event.

However, now that the majority of the event was over, many of them started packing up and returning to their homes or workplaces.

Harry, on the other hand, stayed for a few hours more.

He had to stay until the satellite separated out and began its orbit.

By the time he left, not many people remained. Only the essential personnel belonging to ESRA or the military were around.

The general public had basically all left the venue.

Once the satellite started operations, Harry and the others also began leaving.

Now, only a few key people would remain to keep a track of the satellite's movement and condition.

The satellite launched was the first of the many that Harry planned on using to create something like God's eye from back on Earth.

The satellites would serve as spy satellites, designed to keep track of various nations and their citizens.

Harry eventually planned on making it advanced enough to read even the smallest labels all the way from orbit.

Because, hey, one could never be too cautious on Etheldor.

The various beings on the planet had their own crazy defence/offence systems, so what was wrong if Harry got something of his own?

Also, as for the rocket, Shin had put some handcrafted talismans inside to make it implode once its job was over.

The thing was too advanced to be left as space junk and they didn't have the technology to recycle rockets yet.

That's why it was decided to destroy it lest it crashes back on the planet and causes unnecessary destruction.

With the big event over, the rest of the day seemed to pass by in a flash for Harry.

The next morning came.

Being tired from the previous day, Harry planned on sleeping in late.

Unfortunately, people had other plans for him…

"Ring ring ring!!!"

Harry's work phone rang early in the morning.

Feeling annoyed since the ringing woke him up, Harry answered the call in a sleepy voice.

"Hello, this is Harry Scallon…"

"Your Majesty, we have a bit of a situation at the Military HQ…"

Hearing these words, Harry immediately shot awake.

Up until now, cases had come about things happening in all sorts of locations around the country.

However, the Eruchean military base had security measures advanced enough that nothing should be able to even roam around the area without permission.

That's why when Harry heard that something happened not only in the military district but right in the heart of the district, he wasted no time before getting dressed and rushing over.

Jeanette was still fast asleep since it was only 4 in the morning so Harry stealthily snuck out so as to not wake her up.

He did drop a message on her phone informing her about his departure.

When Harry stepped outside, he saw a military stealth helicopter already waiting on the royal helipad to pick him.

And even though he was already dressed, there was even a set of clothes inside the aircraft for Harry.

It was there in case he didn't have the time to change.

Everything had been prepared to transport Harry from the royal palace to the military HQ while creating the absolute minimum levels of noise and disturbance.

The helicopter rose up as soon as Harry strapped himself to the seat and they were off to the location of the incident.

Since no one spoke during the flight, Harry too decided to keep his mouth shut.

Unfortunately, he couldn't catch up on his sleep since it only took a handful of minutes for them to reach their destination.

Stepping out onto the military helipad, Harry was greeted by Colonel Stewart, a short and timid looking man who escorted him inside the main building.

On the way, he was handed a report on the incident that had occurred earlier.

Stepping inside the building, Harry was met by General George and they walked towards the hospital wing as Harry was given a detailed update on everything.

"Your majesty, during early morning drills we found a sudden explosion on the cameras installed in the underground shooting range.

There was also a bright flash of light that accompanied the explosion.

Unfortunately, a few soldiers were making use of the facility at the time of the accident.

However, they mostly suffered light injuries from the explosion and are currently being treated in the medical wing.

The site has suffered some amount of damage and has been sealed off to conduct a further investigation and reconstruction."

Hearing about this, Harry felt somewhat relieved since the damage done wasn't too severe.

"Anything on the cause of the explosion?

Because last I checked, there shouldn't have been any explosives present on-site that could cause such an accident."

"Yes, Your Majesty.

We did find the cause of the explosion.

The damage seems to have originated from a severely injured woman who suddenly appeared in the room.

We think that it's someone from the main continent.

Even though her injuries are pretty bad we have been able to keep her condition somewhat stable in the medical ward."

Harry's eyes widened when he heard this and his mind went on overdrive.

This was quite a revelation!

And quite possibly quite a dangerous one at that!

What if the woman has some energy imbalance and it ends up causing the energy in her body to explode?

What if she wakes up and tries to attack them?

What if her assailants follow her over?

Thoughts raced through Harry's brain as he stepped into the medical wing of the military headquarters.

Inside, he could see doctors rushing around as well as people lying on the beds.

Most were there for relatively minor things like fevers, colds, injuries they got while training, etc.

Moving towards the HDU area, he started seeing the soldiers who were involved in the explosion earlier.

Everyone there had lots and lots of bandages wrapped around them.

Some seemed to have broken a few bones as well.

One guy was even mummified with plaster.

"General, I thought you said they suffered light injuries…?", asked Harry on seeing that last guy.

"Your Majesty, most of them did suffer only light injuries.

However, the ones closer to the blast had debris thrown at them along with higher levels of heat.

A lot of the injuries aren't caused directly by the explosion but due to the soldiers landing on hard surfaces after being flung away by the force of the blast.

Fortunately, everyone is in a stable condition. The doctors say that they will be making a full recovery after around 6 months at the latest for the ones with severe injuries.", explained General George.

"That's a relief!

But aside from that, where's our explosive lady?", asked Harry a bit jokingly.

"She's being treated in the intensive care unit. Her vitals are currently stable enough for you to visit.

Doctor Lin here will guide you.", said George as he called for one of the doctors passing by.

"Right this way, Your Majesty.

But please be a bit careful with your actions. The fact that the patient's condition is stable at the moment doesn't mean that she's out of danger.

Also, she still hasn't regained consciousness.", warned doctor Lin as he ushered Harry into the ICU ward.

He was greeted by a few doctors and nurses who were monitoring the patient.

The insides of the room were filled with all sorts of machines that kept a track of the patient's vitals.

The patient in question was herself stuffed with all sorts of tubing.

Considering that she still hadn't recovered from her vegetative state, they had shifted her to a ventilator and were using all sorts of machines to keep her body's vital functions running.

Everything from ingestion to egestion and breathing was done using tubes inserted in the body.

Thankfully, the fact that she was an energy user seemed to have helped with her healing as Harry couldn't see any visible wounds or bleeding on her body.

"You know, even though I've done this stuff a lot myself, I still can't really stand the sight of a patient who's been put on the ventilator and stuff…

Their condition just looks too pitiful with all the tubing and stuff…", said Harry to a nearby doctor.

"We know, Your Majesty. But it's sometimes the only hope for patients…

At least we get a chance to save them this way…", replied the doctor.

Ventilators and the related machines were basically used for buying time for patients. So that patients could wait for the proper treatment whenever it gets available or just to extend the time doctors have to treat the patient.

It was both pretty expensive and a bit inhumane looking but sometimes, that was the only way forward.

Harry was just turning around to leave when the lady suddenly opened her eyes.

This caused everyone to cry out in surprise and caused Harry to turn towards the patient.

The lady suddenly released a lot of energy to blow away all the equipment attached to her and leapt towards Harry.

Combined with her insanely fast speed, Harry's slightly late reaction due to the sudden development caused him to collide with the lady.

During the collision, Harry felt something enter his body.

He suddenly started feeling nauseous and started blacking out very quickly.

The last thing he say before passing out was the lady falling and the doctors rushing towards him.

{A/N: Sort of a classic/good point to end the chapter with a cliffhanger… But I got like 700-ish more words worth of content left for my chapter target… So… I guess I gotta think up another ending…}

Wangxiu, Year: 3040:-

Fang Ling woke up feeling groggy. The last thing he remembered was getting hit by a truck.

"How the heck did I ever get hit by a truck of all things!? I was literally flying on my sword!", he said to himself.

Looking around, he found himself to be in an unfamiliar environment.

"Where the heck is this place? And what the F happened to my Gold Core cultivation!", exclaimed Fang Ling after doing a check on his surroundings and his body.

Fang Ling originally came from a world where cultivation had been integrated into modern-day life.

One got cultivators roaming around everywhere, in small villages, in big cities and even a lot of the famous celebrities were cultivators.

It had become the norm for supermodels to cultivate various beauty enhancing techniques.

And due to the versatility and power of cultivation, China had long surpassed the US and Russia to become the world's top nation.

Everyone wanted to cultivate back in Fang Ling's world. It gave people extreme levels of strength and allowed them to lead long and healthy lives.

When one was on the path to immortality, things like age and disease didn't hold much value. For cultivation and qi-infused healing pills could even bring people back from the dead!

Fang Ling himself was one of the greatest rising cultivation prodigies of China. He was only 25 but he had already crossed the initial three levels and reached the peak of the last stage of Qi-Refinement level of cultivation.

Even though the Qi-Refinement stage was the only first stage of cultivation, it didn't mean it was easy to cross that. Most people spent their lives and fortunes trying to reach where he was but never did.

Normally, Fang Ling also wouldn't be able to do such a feat.

But he was the "Heaven's Child". He had two spiritual roots. One "Heaven-rank" spiritual root and the other was just one level lower at the "High-rank".

And these two boosted his cultivation speeds like anything.

The better the ranking of the spiritual root, the faster the cultivation speed.

High-rank roots were considered a huge blessing.

Not only did Fang Ling have a High-rank spiritual root, but he also had a Heaven-rank one!

And through dual cultivation, he could cultivate and more than double the rate of a normal person.

This was the reason why Fang Ling was really shocked by his situation.

At his level, he could take out a normal cultivator at the initial Core-Formation level.

However, he couldn't do anything to prevent his death.

But that wasn't the main issue!

HOW THE HECK DOES ONE GET HIT BY A GOSHDARN TRUCK IN MID-AIR!!!???

Fang Ling was flying high in the sky so it made sense if he hit an aeroplane.

But instead, he got hit by probably one of the most generic-looking trucks he had seen!

How do you explain such a thing!?

Fang Ling was frantically scratching his head when he suddenly stopped and smiled.

[Welcome host.

You have been chosen to host the Dual Cultivation Status System!

With this system, you are not only able to cultivate both the cultivation techniques from your old world and this new world at the same time, but you are also able to hide and switch between both the techniques at the press of a button!

Not only that! You are also able to control what statuses you get and for however long you want!]

A Yellow coloured transparent screen filled with text floated in front of Fang Ling's eyes.

"So, does this mean that this world has some other cultivation system? Also, can I make those statuses you talk of last endlessly?"

[Yes and yes.

The host's current world is called Etheldor and it does have its own cultivation system. However, in comparison to your original world's well-developed system, this world hasn't got a proper cultivation system.

The cultivation system here causes your dantian to break when you ascend, thereby causing you to lose your chance to cultivate any further than the initial Godhood. And there are also no known methods of dantian reconstruction as of now.]

"Wow! This world is so backwards!", exclaimed Fang Ling when he heard the explanation about his new world.

"Alright, system, show me my status.", said Fang Ling.

He was quite familiar with games, isekai and wuxia novels. That's why he didn't need much time to adjust to his new setting.

[Before the host can access any other parts of the system, the host must receive the body's original memories.]

And one second after Fang Ling heard/read this, he felt a throbbing pain inside his head as lots of new memories were input into his brain.

Normally, this pain was nothing for him. But due to his new body's low cultivation and bad condition, the pain hit him like a truck.

And this sudden attack of the pain caused to pass out immediately.

{A/N: Yeah… It's a complete coincidence that it ended up the same way. I didn't really plan it out. I just reached this point and realised that not only did I hit my word target, I also reached a pretty good ending point for the chapter…}