《STAR WARS: Transmigration into a Galaxy Far, Far Away...》 Chapter one Transmigration into a Galaxy Far, Far Away... It is a period of peace and prosperity for planet Earth. Much of the credit for this period of stability is in no small part due to our protagonist, Damien Winters. Damien is a visionary, a genius, and an American patriot. Even from an early age, he displayed a brilliant and unique mind. At the age of four, Damien built his first circuit board. At the age of six, he built his first engine. At the age of seventeen, he graduated, Summa Cum laude, from MIT. In the year 2024, Damien¡¯s life was struck by tragedy, when a racial supremacist group launched a terrorist attack on the Capitol of the United States of America. The attack resulted in innumerable deaths, including both of Damien¡¯s parents. Following in the wake of his parents'' death, Damien devoted his life to defending freedom and protecting America, and her interests around the world. At the age of twenty-one, Damien founded ¡°Winters Technologies¡±, specializing in smart weapon systems, satellite targeting systems, and Advanced robotics. Now at the age of thirty-seven, the current world is at peace, and Damien has turned most of his attention to developing clean, renewable energy. Underneath Damien¡¯s private residence is a fully equipped and functioning state-of-the-art private laboratory. At present, Damien is inside, conducting an activation test, on his experimental prototype, ¡°Atmosphere Reaction Containment system¡±, or for short, ¡°ARC power core¡±. During the test, A catastrophic failure results in a devastating explosion, reducing the entire residence to rubble. Amid the explosion, when Damien¡¯s life hung on the threshold separating life and death, God by an act of divine intervention, spared, Damien Winters¡¯ life. However, our protagonist did not escape his fate completely unscathed... Chapter One Damien¡¯s first thought upon waking up was "ouch!!!" Damien¡¯s second thought was "Death sucked, and she could go suck an egg." Damien¡¯s third thought was interrupted by a stranger¡¯s voice..., "Hey kid, hate to break it to you, but this isn''t the afterlife and you''re not dead yet.'''' Turning to look at the owner of the voice, Damien¡¯s inner ¡°Star Wars¡± fan boy immediately squeals in glee. Ok, sure Damien¡¯s response was a bit of a knee jerk reaction. But can we blame him? After all, what geek wouldn''t let out a little squeal at the sight of a genuine "Force Ghost", who was sitting right in front of him, in all its hazy blue incandescent glory? For Damien, the ¡°Star Wars¡± universe was the perfect ¡°Heaven¡±. And as a devoted fan boy through and through, Damien quickly recalled everything he could remember about ¡°Force Ghosts¡±. A Force Ghost was the soul and essence of a deceased Force-sensitive being, who had come to terms with death and invoked this technique to preserve their identity. Some Sith Lords learned similar techniques, which allowed them to physically interact with their environment. This ability also allowed the ¡°Force¡± user to interact with both living beings and other Force ghosts. "Holy shit..., you, you, you! Were you a ¡°Jedi¡±! Who are you? You kind of look like ¡°Jesus Christ¡±, but all the Jedi had that sort of vibe. Were you famous? How did you die? Were you cut down by a powerful Sith Lord? Back up...., Did you just say this isn''t the afterlife?" "Enough, let me stop you right there. First, I am ¡°Jesus Christ¡± and everything that name represents. Secondly, you need to listen carefully, you have a choice to make." "Wait, your ¡°Jesus Christ¡± the actual son of ¡°God¡± ¡°Jesus Christ¡± ..., Holy shit, and you¡¯re sure I¡¯m not dead, right?¡± ¡°Seriously, you''re not dead, and yes, I¡¯m the one and only ¡°Jesus Christ¡± Let¡¯s stop wasting our precious time and start discussing your current situation, shall we?¡± ¡°Um..., you¡¯re the boss.¡± "Alright, so you stepped in the proverbial shit with your little invention. Here¡¯s the thing, ¡°Father¡± has a certain design in mind for humanity of your original reality, and that design does not include sustainable energy, or world peace for that matter. In fact, your entire reality is heavily restricted and quarantined from all opposing interests to ¡°His¡± grand design. Following so far?¡± ¡°Umm, yeah...., I royally screwed the pooch, and got stepped on, is that about, right?¡± ¡°Actually, this wasn¡¯t your first offense..., but your third. Let¡¯s see, you first crossed the line with your work in full immersive VR (virtual reality), the second time was your work in creating intelligent robotics. Your ¡°ARC power core¡± was just the final strike that got you placed for termination. Fortunately, this isn¡¯t the ¡°Old Testament¡± times, and it gave me just enough wiggle room to preserve your existence. It would have been much easier if you had been one of my faithful believers, but who am I to judge. Free will is often a double-edged sword for humanity to cut themselves with. That too of course was by design, a sort of vetting process if you will.¡± ¡°Sorry about not believing..., but it¡¯s just the whole ¡°miracle¡± thing seemed so irrational and un-scientific.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it, I get it, I really do..., besides, that was all done by design. What would be the point of faith, if it was easy?¡± ¡°So, you saved me, and I¡¯m now..., what exactly?¡± ¡°Short version is, you were transplanted in another reality, which is in parallel to your original reality. So, before we go any further, let me make one thing absolutely, one hundred percent, crystal clear, you are never going to be allowed to return to your original reality, got it?¡± ¡°Wow, I have so many questions, where do I even start?¡± ¡°Actually, it''ll just be faster if I explain a few fundamentals on how reality works. Ok so imagine an infinite string of pearls. Then, imagine each pearl represents a single reality. Following along?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good so far.¡± ¡°Excellent, now here¡¯s where I blow your mind. Imagine that the string is the "Force", and it connects all realities. Boom, just blew your mind, right?¡± ¡°Wait..., Are you saying the ¡°Force¡±. The actual ¡°Force¡± ...., is real? Oh, My Go..,ah!¡± ¡°Stop that seriously, ¡°Father¡± really hates it when people use his name in vain. And we more than anyone else do not want to draw his attention. Got it?¡± ¡°Wait, isn¡¯t ¡°HE¡± omnipotent?¡± ¡°I already told you I''m currently wiggling right now. It¡¯s one thing to know something is happening, and it¡¯s another thing to witness that same thing happen. It¡¯s actually a very important distinction.¡± ¡°Ah right. I¡¯m in the proverbial ¡°doghouse¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re not just in ¡°the doghouse¡± ..., You got yourself sent to the proverbial pound and are being scheduled to be put down. I''m the employee at the pound trying desperately to put you in a new home. So, how about you stop barking, and drawing down the ¡°Boss¡± on us?¡± ¡°Ok got it, no more ¡°barking¡±, I¡¯m all ears.¡± ¡°Fine, and yes, the ¡°Force¡± is very much a real phenomenon, and it is exactly what allowed me to pull off all those miraculous miracles, you found so un-scientific. So here is where things get complicated; each reality is divided into two parts, picture reality as a yin-yang symbol. The yang side represents life, and the material plane. The Yin side represents death, and the spiritual plane. Each reality operates in tandem with a reincarnation cycle, which is constantly recycling the pool of souls, of each reality. If you think of it as a clock face overlaying the yin-yang symbol. The 12:00 position would represent rebirth, in which a freshly purified soul departs the spiritual plane and is born into a new life. The 6:00 position, would then represent death, in which the physical body dies, and the soul descends into the spiritual plane to undergo purification. This is where a soul is stripped of all its memories and identity in preparation for its next rebirth." ¡°Wait..., how is reincarnation even a thing. I thought it was either heaven or hell?¡± ¡°Ah that., well it''s a bit of a lie of omission, really. ¡°Heaven¡± does exist, and it¡¯s my Father¡¯s private reality. However, there is a guest list, one needs to have their name on to be granted entrance. ¡°The book of life¡±, have you heard of it?¡± ¡°As for ¡°Hell¡± it also exists, and there is even a portal to it, in every reality¡¯s spiritual plane. It¡¯s reserved for souls who have fully embraced the Darkside, and can no longer be purified. We call this soul state, Demonization.¡± "Ok, so this really isn¡¯t some, ¡°Alice in wonderland¡±, ¡°Wizard of Oz¡± type bullshit? No chance of me clicking my heels together and waking up in my bed having learned a valuable life lesson?¡± "Sorry kid, but if you haven''t already noticed, you don¡¯t even have heels to click together, even if you could.¡± "Yeah, about that, care to explain why I look like a exploded, Mr. Potato head?¡± ¡°Father¡¯s brand of benevolence is giving someone a tribulation so that they can have the opportunity to overcome it and grow as a person. I¡¯m sure Father believes he has granted you a great boon, by inflicting you with such an extreme handicap.¡± ¡°I¡¯m missing both my arms and legs...., this is beyond handicap, this is being disabled. Wait, wait, wait..., putting aside the whole disability thing for the moment. What sort of reality are we even in?" ¡°First let me ask you a question, do you really think Earth¡¯s science fiction and fantasy worlds, are merely the simple constructs of an imaginative mind?¡± ¡°I¡¯m guessing they are not so simple?¡± ¡°Bingo..., some are, but most actually are caused by a phenomenon, where the spiritual plane of an alternate reality bleeds through into your old reality. Most of the time it manifests as vivid dreams, which spark the dreamer¡¯s inspiration. ¡°Star Wars¡± was just such an occurrence, but don¡¯t get your hopes up. I couldn¡¯t swing placing you in any of the mainline realities, but I got you the next best thing, a splinter reality off the mainline of ¡°Star Wars¡±, so welcome to a galaxy far, far away." "I suppose it could be worse. I¡¯m at least in a high-tech reality, with highly advanced robotics. I guess it¡¯s time to address the elephant in the room, any chance you¡¯re going to perform one of those miracles and restore my missing limbs?" ¡°Sigh"...you really are a nerf herder, if you think I¡¯m getting anywhere near your tribulation. I¡¯ve borne my cross, this one is yours and yours alone. However, I am not without mercy. My first gift of mercy is a bit of background on this reality; this reality is no resort venue; it''s a perpetual war zone. In fact, the ¡°galaxy¡± is what you might consider the multiverse¡¯s trash heap, where everyone can dump their undesirables, and most of the time it¡¯s an entire species. Hence how I managed to get you relocated here. So don¡¯t blow it.¡± "Fine..., I take it you have a solution for me?" ¡°This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill ¨C the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill ¨C you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, all I''m offering is the truth ¨C nothing more.¡± "Wow, "The Matrix"...., who knew you had such a sense of humor. That was a good one by the way, you totally had me on the line at the start. I hope you have more than just jokes though, i could really use a real solution." "Relax, why so serious?... Smile. All you need to do is bond with this crystal, and let the magic happen." Damien stared at the dark crystal held in ¡°Jesus¡± force ghost¡¯s hand. For the first time since awakening up to this reality, he finally took a good look at his surroundings and, wow... just wow. It was a long-abandoned ruin temple, with its own creepy sacrificial Altar. Which he just so happened to be atop of. It struck him, that this was not exactly a ¡°Jesus¡± kind of setting. It was more the ¡°Devil¡± type of place, and wasn¡¯t that fellow always tricking people into bad shit?¡± ¡°Um..., I hope you don¡¯t take offence, but..., what kind of devil worshiping bullshit are you trying to pull here. What happens if i touch your magic crystal? Does my soul get sucked in or something?¡± ¡°Haha..., you¡¯re a quick one. It took that little girl ¡°Joan¡± to be burned alive before she figured out, I wasn¡¯t ¡°God¡± talking to her. Oh well...,¡± Damien watched in horror, as the ¡°Jesus¡± force ghost, morphed and changed into a very corporeal red skinned ¡°Devil¡±. ¡°Let me officially introduce myself, I am Lucifer Morningstar. Say hello to da bad guy.¡± ¡°Shit, shit, shit.¡± ¡°Very eloquent, I see. I was just kidding, jeesh. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to eat you, or anything. Any hoo, I¡¯m still going to need you to touch this crystal, but no worries, it doesn¡¯t need to be voluntary.¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Wait, wait, wait.¡± ¡°No can do..., time is a wasting, and I can¡¯t be gone too long, or the inmates start getting ideals, and we can¡¯t have that now, can we?¡± ¡°I guess not, but what''s going to happen to me?¡± ¡°Space magic..., like I said. Weren¡¯t you listening? It¡¯s a Kyber crystal..., You form a bond with it and get some awesome powers. I thought you were supposed to be like some kind of, one in a million genius or something. I¡¯m starting to think snatching you out from under the big guy¡¯s nose, might have been a mistake.¡± Damien¡¯s mind finally couldn¡¯t take anymore and finally broke at the mentioning of Kyber crystals. He wracked his brain for any memories about Kyber crystals. He recalled that Kyber crystals, were rare, Force-attuned crystals that grew naturally. They were used by both the Jedi and the Sith in the construction of their lightsabers. As part of Jedi training, younglings were sent to the Crystal Cave of the ice planet of Ilum to seek their own lightsaber crystals. There are also larger, rarer crystals of great power, and were used at the heart of superweapon by the Sith. He suddenly snapped out of his fugue state, as he remembered that there was an even better source of information than ¡°Wookieepedia¡± right in front of him. "Hey..., um Mr. Morningstar, if that¡¯s a Kyber crystal, then does that mean everything you¡¯ve told me thus far is also true?" ¡°Haha kid...., don¡¯t make me laugh..., I wasn¡¯t given the moniker ¡°The prince of lies¡± for nothing you know. I¡¯ll be honest, at this point, even I don¡¯t know what¡¯s true and what¡¯s false anymore.¡± Damien realized he was better off not engaging with the ¡°Devil¡±, and instead he focused on searching his memories, for what a silver Kyber crystal represented. "If my information, isn¡¯t wrong, a ¡°Silver Kyber crystal¡± embodies neutrality, purity, and balance. Huh, I always pictured myself more as a Purple.¡± ¡°Haha..., You¡¯re making me laugh again. To think of you as a purple. I hate to break it to you kid, but you¡¯re a timid little shit, who doesn¡¯t even know, the first thing about Kyber crystals. Here¡¯s all you need to know; It¡¯s silver, because your silver. You are what you are kid. Accept it and then learn to live with it. Now let¡¯s get this over with.¡± ¡°Wait, will it hurt?¡± ¡°Not as long as you relax and just let the magic ease into you. (WINK)¡± ¡°You sick bastard, you¡¯re just going to touch me with it, right?¡± ¡°Sure kid..., just the tip. I promise. (WINK)¡± ¡°Ack..., I hate you!¡± However, that thought, and all other thoughts ended the moment the Kyber crystal made contact. In that exact moment, time and space seem to stop. Inside that frozen moment, Damien felt like he was being electrocuted and having an orgasm, all at the same time. Even that bazar sensation was overshadowed by the alien presence that enveloped him, permeated him, and completely overwhelmed him..., Damien woke with a strange sense of disconnect. It felt like being submerged deep in the middle of the ocean, unable to tell up from down, left from right. He might have remained disoriented if not for the reappearance of ¡°Lucifer¡±, providing a much-needed anchor..., ¡°Haha, take it easy, little lamb..., This sensation you¡¯re feeling is the foundational ability of all Force-sensitive beings. It is called, ¡°Force Awareness¡±, and the strength of your connection to the ¡°Force¡± is relative to your sensitivity to the ¡°Force¡±. Who knows. in time you may discover more unique inherent skills and abilities.¡± ¡°It¡¯s so..., Overwhelming.¡± ¡°Like I said before; it¡¯s best not to struggle or try to control it. Just relax into it, like you just smoked a killer blunt, let the high relax your mind, man. Just focus on breathing..., In and out, that¡¯s it, just breathe...., Uh oh, got to go, husbands home!¡± Damien panicked at the abrupt departure of the Devil. One moment he was there coaching him, and then in the next second poof, he turned into a dissipating cloud of black smoke. ¡°Seriously!¡± Damien didn¡¯t have long to question the Devil¡¯s departure; his thoughts were interrupted by an earth-shattering crack of thunder. Then the ceiling of the old temple exploded inward, as a terrifying column of swirling fire descended to the floor with a tooth rattling BOOM. ¡°That brat sure can run fast..., Where are you, you little shit?¡± Damien literally shits himself at the thunderously angry voice coming from the swirling fire. It didn¡¯t take a rocket scientist to figure out who this was. If he still had knees, he would have already fallen to them and begun begging for forgiveness. However, the sheer weight of ¡°the Almighty¡¯s¡± presence was literally smothering him. Even more so once it finally turned its full attention directly onto him..., ¡°Damien Winters, son of Malcom and Diane Winters. A three-time offender, who I personally marked for termination, and yet..., here..., you..., are.¡± ¡°Sorry, my..., my Lord?¡± ¡°QUIET...., I NEED NOT YOUR SNIVILING! I REQUIRE ONLY YOUR OBEDIENCE!¡± ¡°I sense incredible potential within you. It seems you¡¯ve benefitted greatly from that brat¡¯s baptism. Your ¡°Midi-chlorian¡± count is now beyond even the likes of ¡°Anakin¡±. You will no doubt be a powerful ¡°Force¡± user, if you can survive your tribulation. Which is a great deal more likely now that that brat has bestowed upon you three abilities which will greatly offset your shortcomings.¡± ¡°SO, BE IT...., You are no longer capable of interfering in my great design, and this reality is a fitting reward for all your effort. Enjoy eternity repeatedly reincarnating, in this meat grinder of a reality. SO, SAYS I.¡± With as dramatic of an exit, as was his entrance, ¡°the Almighty¡± departed. Leaving Damien staring slack jawed at the enormous whole in the ceiling of the old ruin temple..., ¡°Holy shit¡± With the departure, of first the ¡°Devil¡±, and now ¡°the Almighty¡±, the old temple felt even more desolate and lonely. Nevertheless, Damien did not have the time nor luxury to be bogged down by such emotions. Shaking off the negative, and embracing the positive, that has always been Damien¡¯s ¡°Modus operandi¡±. The first order of business as always was basic survival and taking stock of his present condition and resources. Damien¡¯s present condition was both excellent and terrible. Excellent due to all residual damage from his previous life has been completely regenerated during the baptism. Terrible since he was still missing both legs and both arms. Damien¡¯s available resources were similarly excellent and terrible. Excellent due to now being a Force user, with a higher-than-normal Midi-chlorian count. This signified great potential for the future, but little to no advantage in the present situation. As for material resources, such as food, shelter, and clothing, Damien was in even worse shape. There simply was no food, nor did he have the mobility to hunt or forage. ¡°Shelter¡±, he at least had the old ruin temple to shield him from the elements. However, there was no warmth, no fire, and no fuel to burn. The ancient temple was so old that everything that hadn¡¯t been made of stone had long since turned to dust. ¡°Clothing¡±, was a bust from the start, since he had entered this reality as naked as a newborn. It seemed the key to Damien¡¯s continued survival lay with his high sensitivity to ¡°the Force¡±. He just needed to figure out a way to tap into that potential. What he needed was a direction to proceed in, and he believed the ¡°the Almighty¡± had pointed him towards one. ¡°Midi-chlorians¡±, Damien surprisingly found it effortless to recall every article he had ever read on ¡°Mini-chlorians¡±. It appeared that his mind had also underwent significant improvements during the baptism. It now operates more in line with that of a computer. The only way he could describe his memory was, perfect interactive recall. Shaking free of his musings, he dove into his research. ¡°Midi-chlorians¡± were microscopic, intelligent life forms that originated from the foundation of life, in the center of the galaxy. By taking up residency within their hosts cells, a symbiotic relationship has formed with all living organisms. ¡°Midi-chlorians¡± act as an interface between ¡°the Force¡± and all living beings. However, only living beings with a sensitivity to ¡°the Force¡± over a certain threshold can use ¡°the Force¡±. To gauge an individual''s potential in the Force, blood tests were used to estimate the number of ¡°Midi-chlorians¡± within the subject''s cells, known as an ¡°M-count¡±. For example, ¡°Anakin Skywalker¡±, his test resulted in a ¡°M-count¡± of over twenty-thousand midi-chlorians. Making his potential in ¡°the Force¡±, the highest in galactic history. Damien found the information enlightening, but not very relevant in his current situation. He already knew he was over the threshold to be a Force-user. No, what he needed was information on how to apply theory into practical application. Which reminded him of ¡°the Jedi¡± training¡±, ¡°Force Powers¡± and ¡°Force Technique¡±. So, he pivoted his research in that direction. ¡°Force Powers¡± are manifestations resulting from Force-sensitive beings connecting with ¡°the Force¡±. The nature and practice of ¡°Force Techniques¡± are abilities capable of being passed down through bonds such as Master and Apprentice. There are also unique ¡°Force abilities¡± that Force-sensitive beings are naturally born with and use on instinct. There are also those who practice using the Force as a form of magic, such as ¡°the Witches of Dathomir¡±, ¡°Nightsisters¡±, ¡°Mind-witches", and ¡°the Sith¡± who also practice ¡°Sith magic¡± and ¡°Sith alchemy¡±. ¡°The Jedi Order¡± teachings in ¡°Force powers¡± are divided into three schools of thought, which focus on channeling ¡°the Light side¡± of ¡°the Force¡±. They are ¡°Control¡±, ¡°Sense¡±, and ¡°Alter¡±. ¡°The Sith¡± teachings in ¡°Force powers¡± are divided into three schools of thought, which focus on channeling ¡°the Dark side¡± of ¡°the Force¡±. They are ¡°Offense¡±, ¡°Body¡±, and ¡°Mind¡±. This research direction showed promise, providing Damien a starting point. He decided to focus on ¡°the Jedi schools of thought¡±. This was a matter of compatibility more than any sense of good versus evil. He simply felt no affinity with the aggressive nature of ¡°the Dark side schools of thought¡±. The real question he needed to answer, how much of Earth¡¯s ¡°Star Wars¡± was just made-up theatrical dogma, and how much was true doctrine. ¡°The Jedi Order¡± Initiates are first introduced to ¡°Force powers¡± through the school of thought called ¡°Control¡±. ¡°Control¡± techniques focus on abilities that focus on one''s own body. ¡°Control¡± abilities included ¡°energy absorption¡±, ¡°self-healing¡±, and ¡°meditation¡±. ¡°The Jedi Order¡± further their Padawan¡¯s training by introducing the Padawan to the school of thought called ¡°Sense¡±, ¡°Sence¡± techniques focus on abilities that extend one''s awareness into their surrounding environment and expanding their understanding of the ¡°Living Force¡±. ¡°Sense¡± abilities included ¡°life detection¡±, ¡°Sense Force¡±, ¡°postcognition¡±, and ¡°projected telepathy¡±. These were considered the core to ¡°Jedi¡± teachings. ¡°The Jedi Order¡± further their Knight¡¯s training by introducing the knight to the school of thought called ¡°Alter¡±. ¡°Alter¡± techniques focus on abilities that physically impacted their surroundings. ¡°Alter¡± abilities included ¡°telekinesis¡±, ¡°affect mind¡±, and ¡°alter environment¡±. Damien followed his plan, by first delving into the ¡°Jedi¡± school of thought ¡°Control¡±. Which was taught in three parts; ¡°Tutaminis¡±, ¡°Curato salva¡±, and ¡°Altus sopor¡±. ¡°Tutaminis¡± was the umbrella title used by ¡°the Jedi Order¡± to classify ¡°Force abilities¡± related to energy absorption. These abilities granted their user the capability of dissipating concentrated energies such as ¡°Sith lightning¡±, ¡°blasterbolt¡±. or ¡°lightsaber blade¡±. ¡°Curato salva¡± was the umbrella title used by ¡°the Jedi Order¡± to classify ¡°Force abilities¡± related to self-healing. These abilities granted their users the capabilities to stay fit and maintain endurance, extend their lifespans by staving off decay, and to flush out any poisons or diseases within their bloodstreams. ¡°Altus sopor¡± was the traditional term for the ability to increase a user''s focus on ¡°the Force¡±. ¡°Altus sopor¡± was a basic component of the control area of ¡°Force techniques¡±, and when developed, could allow a practitioner to merge into ¡°the Force¡± so that they would become invisible to others even to those with the most acute senses. Damien wasn¡¯t surprised that the information he had from Earth lacked any actual guidance in ¡°Jedi¡± training. He was grateful all the same for the bleeding through between realities, that sparked the inspiration leading to the phenomena that is ¡°Star Wars¡± universe on Earth. It at least gave him inspiration to aim for. Besides, it¡¯s always easier to recreate something, than to invent it. Damien decided his first step to becoming a ¡°Force Master¡±, was to gain proficiency in the ability, ¡°Altus sopor¡±, which was a fancy term for meditation. Lacking any actual guidance to proceed with, he turned to Earth¡¯s diverse cultures for inspiration. Upon diving into his memories, he was soon suspicious of his findings. Damien realized that nearly every documented civilization or cultural organization has at some point or is currently cultivating a meditation technique. If his suspicions were to be believed, then it couldn¡¯t be a coincidence. If not a coincidence, then that made the implication even more staggering. Was ¡°God¡± cultivating Earth¡¯s population into ¡°Force-sensitive beings¡±, and if so, to what end? Maybe that was the ¡°End Game¡± the book ¡°Revelations¡± spoke of. Come to think of it, ¡°the resurrection of Christ¡±, was very similar to the process of becoming a ¡°Force Ghost¡±, or in this case ¡°Holy Ghost¡±. Then that meant ¡°the Rapture¡± would most likely be a mass migration of all the cultivated ¡°Force-sensitive beings¡± to a reality specially prepared for them, while leaving the rest of humanity to face the tribulations and the purge of their reality. The more he thought through the correlations, the more he spun out of control. Damien forcefully pulled back from the rabbit hole of speculation and conjecture. He no longer had a part to play in the fate of that reality. Besides, he had his own troubles to overcome and needed to get back to finding his own salvation..., Damien was finding meditation difficult to define as it covers a wide range of dissimilar practices in different traditions and cultures. In general, he found the word "meditation" and the phrase "meditative practice" are often used imprecisely to designate practices found across many cultures. Basically, anything that claims to train the attention of the mind or to teach calmness or compassion, is included. He could only conclude that there was no correlation of necessary and sufficient criteria for meditation within the modern scientific mind frame. Damien found most of the difficulty in precisely defining meditation has been in recognizing the particularities of the many various traditions, and theories, when practice can differ within a tradition. Even mainstream faiths such as "Hindu" or "Buddhist" schools may teach distinct types of meditation. In addition, he felt most techniques of meditation do not exist as solitary practices but are only artificially separable from an entire system of practice and belief. For instance, while monks meditate as part of their everyday lives, they also engage in the codified rules and live together in monasteries in specific cultural settings. Thus, creating a symbiotic relationship between technique and environment, resulting in a rigidly controlled lifestyle. Damien realized that what he hoped to find was science, but instead he found spirituality. The scientific method was neat, a step-by-step procedure, you question, you test, you verify and prove the answer. Spirituality was messy, emotional, and chaotic. Meditation is a tool, it is used to tidy that which is messy, to calm that which is emotional, and to bring order to that which is chaotic. More importantly, Damien realized meditation was personal, to everyone. Leading him to his conclusion, meditation was a process of trial and error, until enough experience is accumulated to create a customized technique personally. And thus ended Damiens pursuit for knowledge, and began his pursuit for enlightenment..., ¡°Here goes nothing.¡± Damien closed his eyes and tried several calming techniques, most, however, proved ineffectual due to the pervasive state of clarity his mind is now equipped with. Such stringent clarity of thought was proving stubbornly resistant. Even as a child, he had been chaotically hyperactive, making interactions with other people frustrating and tedious. It was only with his first introduction to computers, and the programming and coding world that he first found his own brand of inner peace. He recalled the state of peace he would fall into, while working on a new piece of coding for an experiment or new design. It was then while recalling that feeling of peace, the material world and all its noise vanished. It was so absolute, leaving Damien bodiless while floating in nothingness. Only the piece of him that was self-aware remained and the alien situation scared the living hell out of him. The shock catapulted him out of his inner peace with such power that his awareness was flung completely out of his body. Like air newly free from a burst balloon. Damien¡¯s awareness expanded explosively, as he spread out beyond the temple and kept going. Soon he reached beyond the entire volcanic island, where the temple was located on. Continuing his expansion, he quickly surpassed the entire planet, and before a heart could beat once, he had exceeded the entire star system. It was only then he finally reached his limit. In this expanded awareness, it was not clarity he felt, but vastness. Damien felt his very identity on the verge of dissolving and merging with the Force. In that defused state of awareness, Damien no longer felt the world¡¯s influences, such base feelings as fear, anger, hate, desire, impatience, or frustration. All Damien could feel was peace, acceptance, and belonging, Damien found it almost irresistibly tempting to let go of his awareness, to let that last bit of himself defuse into ¡°the Force¡±. It was while in that strangely defused state-of-mind, that he recalled some of his favorite ¡°Master Yoda¡± quotes...., -¡°A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away¡­ to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Excitement. A Jedi craves not these things.¡± -¡°Fear is the path to the dark side¡­fear leads to anger¡­anger leads to hate¡­hate leads to suffering.¡± -¡°Named must be your fear before banishing it you can.¡± -¡°Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.¡± -¡°If you end your training now ¡ª if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did ¡ª you will become an agent of evil.¡± -¡°To be Jedi is to face the truth, and choose. Give off light, or darkness, Padawan. Be a candle or the night.¡± Damien considered his own fears, they were simple, his biggest fear was suffering through this debilitating tribulation. He also recognized that his willingness to give up was him taking the easy path, which required nothing from him, only his complete surrender. Now that Damien gave recognition to his fear, another more visceral part of his psyche revolted. This part was directly tied to his survival instinct and the core nature of a human being. That defiant piece, which laughs in the face of adversity, and made the human spirit truly indomitable..., Chapter Two Chapter Two Damien returned his awareness to his body and opened his eyes feeling a newfound determination to survive. He felt a degree of growth in emotional maturity, which made him realize how much of his previous idiosyncrasies had been directly related to his emotional immaturity. With this realization came strength, purpose, and motivation. Damien felt spiritually rejuvenated and encouraged by this progress, even if it was only the first step, and only equivalent to opening the door. That door was still a significant milestone, which signaled the start of his spiritual journey. Refocused and determined, he was eager to dive back into what he was now thinking of as his inner void. No longer feeling overly timid and with a sense of eager anticipation to explore this strange and uncharted frontier. He couldn¡¯t help bursting into laughter as he recited..., ¡°Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before!¡± Ok, Damien admitted, he may not have made as much progress in eliminating his inner child as he first thought, but maybe that was for the best. Humor was also a key essential ingredient in human psychology. Damien first considered all the new discoveries his impromptu excursion to the outer rim of the star system had revealed. For starters, the temple he was inside of is located at the base of an enormous volcano which centers an island, the size of Australia back on earth. The volcano is actively spewing a continuous plume of smoke, which means an eruption could have happened or could happen at any time. The island is tropical, with an uninterrupted, densely overgrown rainforest canopy. He did detect civilian population centers splattered across the island with his senses. The planet was a moon of a much larger planet, which resembled Saturn with her rings. The surface of the moon had many island archipelagos, but no large land masses or continents. The ocean was teaming with life, some so massive it put the largest dinosaur on Earth to shame. As for the rest of the star system, his awareness had become too hazy by that point, that he could only make out, a dozen or so planetoids of any significance, along with three core suns of various size and color. Damien¡¯s timetable and perspective needed to change drastically. He simply didn¡¯t have time to waste and needed to get as far away from this hell mouth as possible. He needed to reconstruct his body, and swiftly. His hope lay with ¡°the Force¡±, and he needed to trust the Force to guide him to salvation. Damien was once again floating in his inner void, this time however his state of being was calm and open. While sitting in a metaphorical lotus position within the void, he was attempting to push his awareness outwards, hoping to at least be able to define the shape, size, and boundary of this strange space within him. However, all his attempts failed spectacularly as he simply felt absolutely no connection to the space around him. That wasn¡¯t exactly true, he felt ¡°the Force¡± all around him, along with a hazy sense of this place. This led him to think of this place less as an actual void and more of an empty canvas, metaphorically speaking of course. In a way he could never explain, he sensed that this space was waiting, that it wanted to be something, that it needed his input, to be able to make that change from nothing into something. The only problem was he had no idea how to, or even what he was supposed to input. During the process of wracking his brain for ideas, he began to consider what he personally would want this space to be. For an overall concept, he decided on a simulation, just like ¡°The Matrix¡±, where he had full administrative authority over the content of the simulation. For the environment, he wanted an exact copy of his home back on Earth, which he had painstakingly designed to be a fully functioning modernized replica of the ¡°Wayne Manor¡± from ¡°the Batman¡± comics. He also wanted his ¡°Bat Cave¡± fully functioning private laboratory he had excavated and built underneath his home. It wasn¡¯t until he came out of his mussing that he realized the entire space around him was no longer an empty void. Instead, he was floating like a ghost in the center of the living room, of his home back on Earth. However, from the view through the window, he could still see the familiar emptiness of the void in the background. ¡°How is this possible?¡± Damien¡¯s shock was immediately interrupted by a voice he was all too familiar with, and one he never expected to hear again. This voice belonged to his ¡°Interactive Artificial Intelligence Assistant¡± that he had spent nearly twenty years building and trying to perfect. For a model to base the AI¡¯s personality matrix on, he selected, ¡°Bruce Wayne¡¯s butler, Alfred¡±, from ¡°The Dark Knight¡± movie franchise, played by ¡°Michael Cain¡± ...., ¡°Excuse me Sir. Do you require assistance?¡± ¡°Alfred., is that really you?¡± ¡°Sorry Sir. I¡¯m afraid I do not understand your inquiry. Would you please try to rephrase your question and ask again.¡± ¡°Alfred, disregard this line of questioning.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. Will there be anything else Sir.¡± ¡°Alfred, that is all for now. You may return to housekeeping duties.¡± ¡°Very good Sir.¡± Damien set aside the craziness of the situation and began to systematically explore his house. What he found was a fully intact replica, according to his memories. The Laboratory beneath his home was even fully equipped just the way he last saw it. Wanting to test a theory, he visualized himself as a virtual avatar. For inspiration, he pictured himself as ¡°Parzival¡± from ¡°Ready Player One¡±. His floating awareness solidified and morphed into a perfect 3D rendering of ¡°Parzival¡±. It was truly amazing, his avatar had perfect tactile sensory perception. Grinning like the geek he was, Damien wanted to try a new approach and walked to a cleared section of the laboratory wall. He visualized the interior of an I-Max theater, and the wall shifted and expanded outward, the floor spread and sank forming stadium seating. Where once stood a straight wall, now opened out into a full-size commercial theater. Damien¡¯s vision for the theater was to create a virtual CIC ¡°Combat Information Center¡± for his physical body, that was fully interactive via input from his real body¡¯s five senses, ¡°Sight¡±, ¡°Sound¡±, ¡°Taste¡±, ¡°Smell¡±, and ¡°Touch¡±. He divided the stadium seating area into five partitions around the outer perimeter, with a single core partition. For ¡°Sight¡± he converted the large, curved ¡°I-max" screen into a ¡°Smart Digital Display Screen¡±, which broadcasted a video feed from his physical body¡¯s sight picture in real time. He designated and customized one of the partitioned off sections of seating, for a visual analysis editing, and formatting suite. Damien created a virtual assistant, a dedicated NPC ¡°Non-Player-Character" bot analyst, specifically designed to gather, catalogue, and analyze the incoming visual data. As a model template for the NPC, he chose a computer-generated female analyst, which he could customize later. Damien repeated the process for ¡°Sound¡±, ¡°Taste¡±, ¡°Smell¡±, and ¡°Touch¡±, assigning each their own dedicated NPC bot analyst, specifically specialized for their designated sense. For the sixth, and core section of seating, he designated it as ¡°Brain¡±, this area would act as the coordinator for the entire CIC system. The only thing left to do was to integrate the CIC into the ¡°HIVE OS¡± platform. ¡°HIVE Interconnected virtual Entity¡±, was ¡°Winters Technologies¡± signature proprietary operating system platform. Damien took the concept of a ¡°hive mind¡± and brought it into the cyber world. With it, he constructed a virtual hive operating system, which incorporated all the computational power of each device connected into the system, into a solitary virtual entity. This allowed each program running on the system to be efficiently optimized with the full support of the entire computational power of the ¡°HIVE¡±. However, it was only after being paired with an AI ¡°artificial intelligence¡± that the HIVE OS platform became an absolute monster in the areas of efficient computational analysis and data processing speed. The HIVE OS platform soon became an instrumental keystone, and foundation for ¡°Winters technologies¡± ...., ¡°Alfred, run a scan for all devices within your detection range, that are not connected to our HIVE OS platform, and display the list in the holo-tank.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, my scan is completed. I detected seventy-two devices that are unconnected to the HIVE OS platform. Here is a list of these devices. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, assimilate all devices listed into the HIVE OS platform.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, I have assimilated all devices into the HIVE OS platform. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, recover the file ¡°Tactical UAV UI HUD¡± from the archive, then upload and install it into device ¡°Brain¡±. I want to use it as our foundational platform, to build out the UI HUD ¡°User Interface¡± ¡°Heads Up Display¡± for our CIC.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. I have located the file and have uploaded it. I now wait for your command to run file, Sir.¡± ¡°Alfred, run file.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. The file is now active. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± Damien looked up at the large, curved display screen that was still showing black, due to his eyes being shut in meditation. However, there was now a familiar neon green UI overlaying the blacked-out sight picture, which he easily recognized as the ¡°Heads-up-display" designed by ¡°Winters Technologies¡± for their UAV ¡°Unmanned Aerial Vehicle¡± platform...., ¡°Alfred. Begin propagating ¡°Brain¡± with the telemetry data from ¡°Sight¡± ¡°Sound¡± ¡°Taste¡± ¡°Smell¡± and ¡°Touch¡±. Go ahead and take possession of ¡°Brain¡± to correlate the data and support the ¡°Tactical UAV UI HUD¡± platform in real-time. Let¡¯s rename it as ¡°CIC UI HUD¡±. ¡°Very good Sir. I have seen to those changes. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, that is all for now. You may return to housekeeping duties.¡± ¡°Very good Sir.¡± Damien transitioned from what he now considers his ¡°Mind Palace¡± returning to his physical body and the outside world. Opening his eyes, he let out a long turbid breath, as he contemplated the ramifications of this new ability. This was without a doubt a ¡°Force¡± granted trait or talent. It was also the opportunity he needed to not only survive but to flourish. This opened so many possibilities. Damien looked around the inside of the old temple with new eyes, as the interactive HUD system, actively operating within his sight picture, performing a real-time analysis of his environment. It would still take time for him to develop the UI into an efficient aid, but even as great of a development this was, it still didn¡¯t help towards his immediate survival. Damien simply didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to slowly advance through the Jedi school of thoughts in order. To survive he needed more advanced skills like ¡°Telekinesis¡± and ¡°Alter environment¡±. He simply couldn''t sit around waiting to starve to death or for the volcano to erupt. If he was going to survive, he needed to take some risks. He also realized he may need to explore more aggressive ideals, even crossover to ¡°the dark side¡± for fast solutions. Damien considered all the research, the grants from his company had funded over the years. Part of his job as CEO had been to review and decide whether to continue the funding. What he had first assumed would be tedious and a time sink, had instead turned into one of his more enjoyable duties. Damien witnessed countless groundbreaking advances in all fields of science and technology. He also had the privilege to observe those groundbreaking advancements step by step along the way. It directly provided him with a uniquely broader viewpoint than others in his own fields. It allowed him to leap far ahead of his competitors and revolutionize both of his fields, computer science and robotics. However, there was still plenty of untapped potential accumulated in all that research. For starters, Damien wanted to research the possibility of directly manipulating matter via ¡°the Force¡±. According to Earth¡¯s classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic particles, and in everyday as well as scientific usage, matter generally includes atoms and anything made up of them, and any particles (or combination of particles) that act as if they have both rest mass and volume. However, it does not include massless particles such as photons, or other energy phenomena or waves such as light or heat. Matter exists in various states (also known as phases). These include classical everyday phases such as solid, liquid, and gas ¨C for example water exists as ice, liquid water, and gaseous steam ¨C but other states are possible, including plasma, Bose-Einstein condensates, fermionic condensates, and quark¨Cgluon plasma. Usually, atoms can be imagined as a nucleus of protons and neutrons, and a surrounding "cloud" of orbiting electrons which "take up space". However, this is only somewhat correct because subatomic particles and their properties are governed by their quantum nature, which means they do not act as everyday objects appear to act ¨C they can act like waves as well as particles, and they do not have well-defined sizes or positions. In the Standard Model of particle physics, matter is not a fundamental concept because the elementary constituents of atoms are quantum entities which do not have an inherent "size" or "volume" in any everyday sense of the word. Due to the exclusion principle and other fundamental interactions, some "point particles" known as fermions (quarks, leptons), and many composites and atoms, are effectively forced to keep a distance from other particles under everyday conditions; this creates the property of matter which appears to us as matter taking up space. Damien could sense through ¡°the Force¡± that this ability wasn¡¯t only feasible but that it would directly bring him into the temptation of ¡°the dark side of the Force¡±. He wasn¡¯t particularly surprised seeing as ¡°the dark side of the Force¡± was all about need, desire, and greed. He understood the difference between being guided by ¡°the Force¡± and being directly manipulated by ¡°the Force¡±. Damien was used to weighing the risk versus the reward. It was something all scientific researchers constantly had to face in their efforts to advance science. There have always been many morally ambiguous hypothetical scenarios, in which morality would only matter if they succeeded. Damien also considered the concept of balance, and the true nature of ¡°the Force¡±, which was duality of light and dark. Damien¡¯s nature was directly reflected in the silver Kyber crystal he was now gazing into. ¡°I am neutrality¡± To distract himself from the fear he felt towards the dark side. Damien began toying around with the idea of developing synthesized diamond scale epidermis armor, to protect himself from blaster bolts and lightsaber blades. Unlike natural diamonds, a synthetic diamond is produced in a controlled technological process. Synthetic diamonds are composed of the same material as naturally formed diamonds, pure carbon crystallized in an isotropic 3D form, sharing identical chemical and physical properties. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Damien just so happens to be sitting at a literal carbon generating fountain, which is perfectly conducive for high pressure high temperature diamond (HPHT) and CVD diamond production methods. (high-pressure high-temperature and chemical vapor deposition, respectively). There is also a third method in which nanometer-sized diamond grains are created in a detonation of carbon-containing explosives, known as detonation synthesis. Damien particularly liked the versatility of synthetic diamonds. The properties of synthetic diamonds depend directly on the manufacturing process. Some have properties such as hardness, thermal conductivity and electron mobility that are superior to those of most naturally formed diamonds. Synthetic diamonds are used in abrasives, in cutting and polishing tools, and in heat sinks. Various colors can be produced, ranging from clear white, yellow, brown, blue, green, and orange. Damien was intimately familiar with their electronic applications and even funded many grants researching synthetic diamond integration and development, such as high-power switches at power stations, high-frequency field-effect transistors, light-emitting diodes, and synthetic diamond detectors of ultraviolet (UV) light or high-energy particles. Due to its unique combination of thermal and chemical stability, low thermal expansion and high optical transparency in a wide spectral range, synthetic diamond is becoming the most popular material for optical windows in high-power CO2 lasers and gyrotrons. Besides diamonds, Damien also wanted to research into the feasibility of synthesizing Kyber crystals, while also looking into possible liquid Kyber crystal applications. Many interesting ideas were buzzing around in his head, making his future endeavors full of exciting possibilities. Now he just needed to devote his time to research and development. Fortunately, Damien found time inside his ¡°Mind Palace¡± held little meaning, as he was separated from all physical ailments and restraints, like hunger or exhaustion. He did, however, make sure to monitor his physical body¡¯s condition and security. With no day/night cycles Damien smoothly entered a fugue like state of uninterrupted research, progressing smoothly through developing his new body¡¯s cybernetic metamorphous. Damien marveled at his light speed progression, inside this strange magical virtual environment. All restraints that once hampered his progressions were nonexistent, as his prototype cybernetic body design was fully interactive down to the microscopic scale. His entire design was based around a single fundamental concept, ¡°survivability¡±, it was the motivating factor guiding him. It took him roughly thirty-six hours of uninterrupted research and development, to complete his body¡¯s systematic redesign process. For now, he was running the design through countless efficiency and durability simulation tests, allowing trial and error to perfect it. However, Damien¡¯s physical body condition was close to deteriorating past a point of no return. He simply could no longer delay the actual reconstruction of his body. Nor did he have a reason too other than his own fear. In truth, most of the technology he utilized in his design was pure theoretical if not downright science fiction back on Earth. He couldn¡¯t explain his strange singular desire that bordered on an obsessive compulsion to create something truly marvelous and wondrous. One of Damien¡¯s biggest hurtles had arrived at the integration point between biological and technological systems. Nothing so extensive had ever been attempted back on Earth, leaving him in uncharted territory. As was his tendency, he looked to science fiction for inspiration and found it in ¡°Robo-Cop¡±. He minimized and isolated his vital organic life systems, as much as possible, and then designed a ¡°Force¡± attuned robotic prosthetic body around it. Damien figured only a madman would eagerly proceed with such an overly ambitious and ridiculously dangerous endeavor. So, he was hesitating on the final push and knew it. He also knew moving his body from the temple to the volcano at the center of the island was going to be a nightmarish slog. During his experiments with ¡°Force telekinesis¡±, he found inspiration from, ¡°Marvel¡¯s Super villain¡±: ¡°Dr. Otto Octavius¡±, who used four robotic mechanical arms to move around with. Damien created his own ¡°Force Technique¡± utilizing four ¡°Force¡± constructed arms, which operated under the same fundamental principles. Damien eventually managed to reach the summit of the volcano, and he arrived mostly unscathed. However, as a scientist by nature, he found it difficult to stay focused in such an alien environment. Flora and fauna are two distinct components of a natural environment that play a vital role in the balance and sustainability of ecosystems. Flora refers to the plant life found in a particular region, while fauna refers to the animal life. Both flora and fauna are interconnected and coexist in harmony, contributing to the overall biodiversity of this planet. Danien decided to begin creating a virtual database for the planet, starting with creating a virtual 3D topographical holo-globe inside his ¡°Mind Palace¡±. He also included a virtual catalogue of the flora, by constructing a virtual rendering, along with a chemical analysis of each species of plant. Inside his ¡°Mind Palace¡± Damien created a virtual assistant, a dedicated NPC ¡°Non-Player-Character" bot analyst, specifically designed to gather and compile information on this planet. As a template model for the NPC, he chose ¡°Genevieve¡±, a CIA ¡°Central Intelligence Agency¡± female analyst, which his mother had once set him up with for a blind date. His mother had questionable taste, Genevieve was insanely attractive, extremely smart, but also terrifyingly scary. Thus, he was too intimidated by her to call her after that initial date. However, this is all beside the point, and off topic. The point of which is that Damien did discover fresh water, and many sources of much needed calories, along the way. He also managed to poison himself repeatedly, however, after meditating and utilizing ¡°Curato salva¡± for some time now, he managed to gain a rather in-depth acuity into ¡°The Jedi¡± self-heal ability restoring his body to its peak state repeatedly. After arriving at the summit, Damien found the heat and billowing smoke suffocating. Locating a relatively flat surface, he let his exhausted body collapse and retreated into his ¡°Mind Palace¡± where he ran through the entire procedural plan one last time...., ¡°The first stage¡± required Damien to use ¡°the Force¡± to draw in and absorb the carbon molecules produced by the volcano. These molecules would then be further broken down into electrons, neutrons, and protons. These particles would then be reconfigured according to the material needs. ¡°The second stage¡± required Damien to use the absorbed particles to construct a protective isolation barrier to safeguard his vital organs. The barrier consisted of a hermetically sealed nano-fiber weave membrane, which surrounds the organ cavity. Then Damien would systematically remove all organs and biomass that was designated as non-essential, while also installing the required cybernetic alterations this removal process would necessitate. These systems included installations such as, ¡°Cybernetic HIVE temperature management interface¡±, ¡°Cybernetic HIVE biological management interface¡±, ¡°Cybernetic HIVE life-support interface¡±, and ¡°Cybernetic HIVE waste management interface¡±. ¡°The third stage¡± required Damien to construct a protective isolation barrier, to safeguard the brain and spinal cord. This barrier has all the same features as the other one, with the addition of a ¡°Cybernetic HIVE neural net interface¡±, and ¡°Cybernetic HIVE telecommunication interface¡±, woven within it. ¡°The fourth stage¡± required Damien to reduce the circulatory system, blood volume, and bone and bone marrow down to the required amounts specified to accommodate the future upkeep and maintenance of the remaining vital organs, sensory organs, and brain. ¡°The fifth stage¡± required Damien to replace each bone one at a time. His starting point was the top of the skull. The process started with Damien breaking down each existing cell, while simultaneously replacing them with a new micro-octagon synthesized diamond. This not only greatly enhanced the structural integrity but also opened the door to automation of control surfaces via micro-robotic systematic sequencing. He got the concept from another of ¡°Marvel¡¯s¡± Super villains, this time he took inspiration from ¡°Mystique¡¯s¡± shapeshifting ability. He hoped by utilizing micro-robotics via computer modeling, he¡¯d be able to adjust the structural surface area of the skeleton, allowing him to ¡°theoretically¡± mimic the shapeshifting ability. Each micro diamond acted as a cell, fusing together to form a crystalline matrix. The new synthetic medium was 3D printed via ¡°Force matter manipulation¡± in accordance with a prepared 3D computer model. Each piece of his new skeletal structure had been rigorously designed down to each interconnecting control surface. To better attune Damien¡¯s new body to ¡°the Force¡±, his design incorporates LKC, synthesized ¡°liquid Kyber crystal¡± like bone marrow within the diamond skeleton. He also designed a ¡°Cybernetic HIVE synthetic LKC ¡°liquid Kyber crystal¡± circulatory feeder system¡±, which once activated would ¡°theoretically¡± saturate and pressurize his body. This also led him to maybe his most favorite conceptual design, which was inspired by ¡°Marvel¡¯s¡± Hero ¡°the Wolverine¡±, instead of retractable metal claws, he instead engineered each of his hands into a lightsaber. Instead of a single long blade, his design divided the power between three focus crystals, which he implanted three emitters between the knuckles of each hand. Activation and focusing were all automated, via digitized computer control software programs. For a cybernetic nervous system, Damien¡¯s design incorporated a microprocessor photo-signal coupling interface built into each vertebrate module. This would enable the ¡°HIVE system¡± to directly tap into the spinal cord. Each processor is tagged by an Identity designation, allowing the ¡°Cybernetic HIVE nerve signal interface¡± to take over the transmitting nerve signals throughout the body via synthetic nerves made of microscopic fiber optic cables. Theoretically enhancing his reaction speed via speed of light transmission, at least in theory. To power his cybernetic prosthesis, Damien revisited his ARC ¡°Atmosphere Reactor Containment¡± power core generation system. First, he combed over every square micron of the experimental prototype in his ¡°Mind Palace¡±, where he discovered numerous existing weak points. He went on to not only perfect his design, but to miniaturize it into a ¡°golf ball¡± size ¡°Cybernetic HIVE ARC power generating core¡±. ¡°The sixth stage¡±, focused on Damien¡¯s mobility and motor functions. He found it unfortunate that he couldn¡¯t devise a feasible design, to emulate the ¡°Marvel Hero¡± ¡°Iron Man¡¯s¡± flight system. Earth¡¯s tech tree simply couldn¡¯t sustain prolonged flight operations. Fortunately, he was now within the ¡°Star Wars¡± universe and had no doubt of finding suitable tech to remedy the issue. This still left Damien the need to design a suitable design for bi-pedal automation. Fortunately, he had plenty of experience with it, he first began by redeveloping his synthetic tendon. Damien had originally designed it based purely on Earth tech, but now he had access to ¡°Force Abilities¡± and his ¡°Mind Palace¡± virtual environment. Damien ended up synthesizing a carbon nano-fiber, elastic micro-weave, reflex band. For a synthetic muscle, his design utilized a carbon nano-tube reactive fiber. This material could be designed to react to an electrical charge, whether it be to contract or expand. Furthermore, the tubes could be bundled allowing for precise situational tuning. Making it a perfect candidate for mimicking muscle functions. Each crystalline bone-structure, synthetic muscle, and artificial tendon, were designed with fusion reactive attachment contact surfaces. Damien had no desire for his design to appear overly mechanical or droidish, like ¡°General Grievous¡±, so he designed a three-layer synthetic human-like skin system, which combined numerous technologies. The base layer was designed to be a synthetic carbon-based nano-foam, shock resistant membrane. The middle layer, he took inspiration from ¡°the Predator¡± movies and developed a LKC ¡°Liquid Kyber Crystal¡± Pixel Micro-Dot flexible segmented display paneling. For the outer most layer, he developed a transparent synthetic diamond micro-octagon epidermis scale-mail, for personal armor. For a synthetic hair system, Damien once again took inspiration from ¡°the Predator¡± movie and developed a multi-sensory nanofiber synthetic hair system. Unfortunately, he had to eighty-six the dreadlock form, due to foreseeable future incompatibility issues with space suit helmets. However, he did his best to encapsulate their function, each synthetic hair was made of a carbon-based nanometer tube outer insulator shell, with a micro-sensory filament core. Each hair, directly interfaced into the ¡°Cybernetic HIVE neural net¡±. Damien finished reading through the last of the compiled data and closed his eyes, to center his thoughts. He¡¯d be lying if he said he wasn¡¯t terrified about this whole process, it was completely insane to even consider it. He also debated safer alternatives, with less invasive designs. He damn well understood himself better than anyone and could recognize his timid nature rearing its cowardly head. Fear or not, he didn¡¯t have a choice if he wanted to do more than just survive, he needed all the advantages this design allocated to him. This gambit would either succeed and he would live a life worth living, or it would fail, and he would reincarnate losing everything that made him, Damien Winters from Earth. There was also the small matter of stepping over the threshold and touching ¡°the dark side of the Force¡±. If he failed to resist the temptation of darkness, it would allow the dark side to dominate his future actions. This was his true gamble, was the price of altering the face of reality, and opposing the will of ¡°the light side of the Force¡± worth this risk? Damien knew to tap into the power of ¡°the dark side of the Force¡± was to indulge in raw emotions such as passion, anger, vengeance, and hatred. The dark side was greed, the fear of change, and the inability to let go. By holding on to things, one became angry and hateful, which in turn led to suffering. Those who were unable to conquer their dark side were devoured by it...., ¡°Alfred, construct a holographic 3D rendering of my current physical body,¡± ¡°Very good Sir the rendering has been completed. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, that is all for now. You may return to housekeeping duties.¡± ¡°Very good Sir.¡± Damien focused on the hologram and willed it to synchronize with his physical body. He could feel the change take place as an intangible link between him, his physical body, and the hologram formed. He then proceeded to shut out all sensations coming from his physical body, until it was nothing more than an inanimate object. Satisfied, he no longer hesitated and jumped off the metaphorical cliff...., When Damien resurfaced from his meditation, the physical aspect of his transformation had been completed. This left him with only the cybernetic software installations needing to be completed. However, he needed to first fend off the issue of his psyche having been exposed to ¡°the dark side of the Force¡±. As expected, this ability to manipulate matter via ¡°the Force¡± was enthralling to an addictive degree. This created an opening for the insidious temptations of ¡°the dark side¡± to penetrate freely into his psyche. At first Damien did not try to fight off or reject ¡°the dark side¡±, instead he wanted to take this opportunity to try and understand its nature for himself. Damien allowed his negative emotions to wash through him, letting himself feel and experience such raw desire and selfishness, greed and possessiveness, lust for unlimited power, desperation for more security. He could finally truly understand the true nature of ¡°the dark side¡±, it was fear, the fear of loss, the fear of change, the fear of the unknown. Only by letting himself succumb to that fear, would he be consumed by ¡°the dark side¡±. Damien now completely understood why Anakin Skywalker acted so irrational and extreme. Rationality and logic simply have no place in the face of overly stimulated emotions, especially if they are being fueled by fear and ¡°the dark side¡±. Damien tried to escape into his ¡°Mind Palace¡± but only found the same metaphorical forest fire of raging emotions. Damien, gritted in frustration, while trying to get a handle on his excited emotions. It was only then he was struck with a insane, but potentially brilliant thought. Not wasting any time, he began drawing in all of his understanding of ¡°the dark side of the Force¡±, only he wasn¡¯t trying to suppress it, but to concentrate and compress it into a single focus point. Then he took control of the entire ¡°Mind Palace¡± space, and envisioned a center axis point, where he created a ¡°Gravity Nexis¡±. At which, he placed the concentrated ¡°dark side¡± core and ignited it turning it into a virtual ¡°dark sun¡±. To ensure balance, he repeated the process only this time he utilized all his understanding of ¡°the light side of the force¡± creating a ¡°light sun¡±. Once installed as the counter measure to the ¡°dark sun¡±, a perfectly balanced and stable binary system was established. Almost immediately, he could feel his psyche stabilizing. In the meantime, Damien¡¯s physical body had undergone a complete metamorphosis. Fortunately, his physical body was currently in an inert state, which effectively mitigated the overall damage ¡°the dark side¡± could achieve. In the meantime, he had to rely on the ¡°Force¡± alone to keep his remaining biological functions operating, leaving him little time to waste. He quickly got back to work...., ¡°Alfred, display all cybernetic systems, along with their status¡± ¡°Very good Sir, all cybernetic systems, along with their status have been displayed. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, begin cybernetic software uploads, and manage the installations.¡± ¡°Very good Sir...., estimated time of completion...., 72.37 hours. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, that is all for now. You may return to your housekeeping duties.¡± ¡°Very good Sir.¡± Damien couldn¡¯t help but take a moment to marvel at the sheer audacity of his ambition, and revel in the perspective future potential. This design was pure science fiction back on Earth and would never have been allowed to exist. Hell, even AI on Earth was so tightly regulated, out of fear and paranoia, to the point of barely being useful. If he had to be perfectly honest with himself, he was more than happy to leave Earth behind. ¡°The Galaxy¡± was free in the same way as America was back when she was raw and untamed, with infinite possibilities. Snapping out of his revelry, Damien got back to work. When he first started in robotics, he along with all the others in the field dreamed of creating a fully functioning AI driven android. One that could mimic the organic nature of humanity. However, he quickly learned the sad truth, that even the most advanced robot was slow, dumb, and clumsy. That their dream of an android was just that, a dream with no foreseeable path to achieving it. It took Damien decades of relentless experimentation and computer modeling to discover the key to unlocking the doorway to smart interactive robotics. His discovery came from merging three pieces, the human ¡°mind¡±, the robot¡¯s ¡°memory core¡± and ¡°Virtual reality simulation¡±. To do this, Damien invented his ¡°Adaptive-learning coding program¡± a two-step background interface software that coded the interaction between ¡°the memory core¡± and the ¡°Simulation¡± as the simulation played out in real-time. The first step was inspired by the movie ¡°Pacific Rim¡±, instead of synchronizing two human minds, Damien synchronized a human mind with a robot¡¯s memory core. The second step was inspired by the concept of the movie, ¡°the Matrix¡±. Damien established a hardline link via a VR pod, connecting the synchronized pair, the virtual reality simulation, and the ¡°adaptive-learning coding program¡± software. Damien¡¯s aspiration was to organically teach the robot, just like a human learns in real life. Only he would be utilizing a virtual reality simulated scenario, which he could tailor to requirements. For example, to teach the robot to walk, he created a very basic scenario, of a toddler¡¯s process of learning to walk. Just like any video game, the toddler became ¡°the main character¡±, with the synchronized pair acting as ¡°the player¡±. The entire experience was coded into the ¡°Memory core¡± as the scenario played out in real-time. This singular discovery completely revolutionized the field of robotics and ushered in a new age of smart robots to the world. It also nearly destroyed the world in the process, but that¡¯s a different story. Damien¡¯s meditation, was interrupted by Alfred alerting him to the completion of the software installation...., ¡°Alfred, connect remotely to ¡°Cybernetic HIVE neural net interface¡±, use it to synchronize my human mind, and the ¡°Cybernetic HIVE memory core matrix¡±. Once I¡¯m paired, prepare to ¡°Link¡± me into ¡°The way of Shadow¡±, virtual reality simulation via the ¡°Mind Palace¡± VR pod. ¡°Very good Sir. I have established remote control of the ¡°Cybernetic HIVE neural net interface¡±; The synchronization process has been completed; I have uploaded ¡°The way of shadow¡± into the ¡°Mind Palace¡± VR pod and have prepared a new ¡°Link¡± for you to access at your pleasure. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, that is all for now. You may return to your housekeeping duties.¡± ¡°Very good Sir.¡± Chapter Three Chapter Three Damien had designed his personal VR pod, to look like an exact replica of Darth Vader¡¯s meditation chamber. Sitting down, automated robotic arms went to work connecting him into the simulator. Initiating the closing of the pod sequence, he was looking forward to once again visiting feudal Japan. It had been years since he last toyed within it. The thing you need to understand about ¡°The Way of Shadow¡± was Damien¡¯s perspective at the time of its creation. He had just graduated from MIT at seventeen, and not only was his college experience rushed but his entire social development had been advanced prematurely. This resulted in leaving him hormonally supercharged and sexually frustrated by age-appropriate alienation. Socially discriminated while being a super nerd with anti-social tendencies, led directly to Damien¡¯s near obsession with creating his own virtual reality simulation. After all, how could a self-respecting nerd not want Neo¡¯s power over the Matrix, all while not having to worry about mechanical overlords. Damien wanted an experience that was Indiscernible from reality. He dreamed of an environment that was viable to all five senses. His first breakthrough came via the realization that a conscious mind could not be hacked. Instead, his path led through the unconscious mind¡¯s unguarded dream state. This led Damien to develop ¡°Lucid dream¡± A synthetic chemical compound, that safely induced the user into a stable controllable dream state. It was so effective, with no discernible side effects, that it completely dominated the anesthetics drug market almost overnight. However, tapping into the subconscious mind was like visiting an alien planet while tripping on hallucinogens. It took time, but Damien eventually worked up a computerized dream interface, that didn''t control the dream state but instead directed it through inducing a digitally constructed framework. The framework allowed Damien to treat the dream the same way one operates a camera¡¯s focus. Taking charge of the direction and focus of the dream was just the beginning. He then began the arduous task of introducing individual frameworks for the subconscious mind to latch onto and assimilate, letting the dreaming mind build up the virtual dream world. Damien¡¯s next substantial breakthrough was devising the ¡°Repetitive Dream Sequence¡±, by artificially introducing a user to experience the same dream over consecutive dream dives. At first it was simply reliving the same dream from start to finish over and over. However, through refining the process the induced dream experience was lengthened and broken into a sequence of targeted events, allowing the user to enter and exit at integral staging points. By this point Damien had accumulated a massive fortune through patent licensing royalties and events were beginning to take on momentum all by themselves. His research began to splinter off into a wide range of different fields. He realized it was only a matter of time before his dream of ¡°Full Immersion Virtual Reality¡± became an actual reality. The foundation had been successfully laid, and now was the time for him to begin planning the actual content of his virtual environment. ¡°The Way of Shadow¡± was Damien¡¯s unfinished pet virtual reality, that he continued working on as a hobbyist, whenever he needed a break from IRL (In Real Life). The setting of the reality was based on 15th century feudal Japan, and the fully interactive environment was authentic open world format. The playable content involved a story line centered around the prevalent espionage activities of the Ninja, who were stealth soldiers and mercenaries hired mostly by the Daimyos. To stabilize the gaming element of the environment, and establish law and order, Damien incorporated the ruling class and samurai, as the lawfully good NPC (Non-player character) faction. They provided secure safe zones as law-enforcement, as well as took on the role of quest givers throughout the gaming world. The Ninja clans were introduced as the chaotic evil faction, and the target of the Playable characters (as a ninja initiate), whose majority of their attention would be directed towards maneuvering unseen around the Samurai. Damien also provided ¡°the Players¡± who enjoyed role-playing the hero trope, the opportunity to choose the renegade ninja path upon completion of the tutorial. In which case the Samurai would become their allies and the ninja clans their mortal enemies. Damien devised the tutorial to be an authentic dream sequence, that required ¡°the Player¡± to meet targeted goals to proceed. The time frame was completely open ended, with day/night ¡°log-out" cycles that were created to completely submerged ¡°the Player¡± into the martial culture called ¡°Ninjutsu¡±. In other words, it was ninja boot camp from hell. Damien had no desire to portray the Ninja as anything other than a pure evil faction. Therefore, he created the training arc of the tutorial to be overly harsh and brutal from the beginning to the end. One part of his motive for doing so was to shock ¡°the Player¡± out of their modern-day sensibilities. The other motivating factor was ¡°the Player¡¯s¡± eventual choice between leaving or staying. Staying within the Ninja faction was equivalent to joining the evil camp. Whereas leaving was equivalent to joining the good camp. As a combat-oriented culture Damien wanted to aggravate the animosity between the two rivaling ninja factions. He wanted to draw out the player¡¯s ingrained nature and make the choice more of a personal ideology than simply choosing a side. He wanted genuine emotion involved, as well as highlighting the player¡¯s true personality. Damien was also a diehard PVP (player verse player) enthusiast and simply couldn¡¯t imagine not incorporating a healthy PVP element into his own personal world. ¡°The Player¡± enters the ninja clan as an initiate, and is trained in disguise techniques, survival, medicine, poisons, and explosives. Physical training involved long-distance runs, climbing, and stealth methods of walking. ¡°The Player¡± must meet a set requirement of skill to progress to the rank of ¡°Genin¡±, the rank ¡°Genin¡± are the regular NPC ally/enemy, they are the expendable foot soldiers of the ninja clans. Once ¡°the Player¡¯s¡± achieves this rank, it is at this stage, they will be introduced to the Ninjutsu lifestyle, learning not only information on combat training, but also information about daily needs. The guidance provided for daily work also included elements that enable the ninja to understand the martial qualities of even the most menial task. These factors show how Ninjutsu establishes the fundamental principle of adaptation. Only by reaching the rank of Chunin, can ¡°the Player¡± graduate the tutorial. The NPC, ¡°Minni bosses¡± are all at this rank, and act as field commanders who are stronger versions of the regular foot soldiers. Reaching this rank also triggers one of two main quest lines: ¡°Act I ¡°The Escape¡± or ¡°Act I: Survive¡±. It is at this point in the story line, that ¡°The Player¡± is introduced to their first ¡°Main Boss¡± level character, ¡°the Master¡± who is the leader of the tutorial ninja clan, who is a ¡°Jonin¡± raked ninja. The ninjas of this clan act as freelance agents mainly employed by the warring military governments of the Daimyos. The Shogunate also provides a variety of quests from monitoring the regional Daimyos, to directly interacting with the cutthroat politics of the Imperial court. Damien¡¯s purpose of loading ¡°the way of shadow¡± was to synchronize the training level between himself and his ¡°Cybernetic HIVE memory core matrix¡± via the virtual reality interactive lifestyle simulation. He took inspiration from the movie, ¡°Total Recall¡±, his aspiration was to teach his memory core ¡°the Ninjutsu¡± lifestyle as well as gain some combat experience. The ¡°Devil¡± and ¡°the Almighty¡± made it perfectly clear that this reality was a perpetual war zone, and fighting was likely to be an inevitability. Damien¡¯s intro into the game world was literally the act of coming back to life. He specifically recreated the sensation of being resuscitated, as the first experience for ¡°the player¡± waking up inside the virtual environment. This time was no different, as he came to life inside the simulation, desperately sucking in a lung full of air. ¡°Take it slow, kid. You were just with the ancestors a moment ago.¡± Damien found a familiar character kneeling over him. His name is Rei Zoku, an old man who is a recruiter for this region¡¯s ninja clan and would proceed to guide ¡°the player¡± as his designated ¡°NPC tutorial guide¡± for the foreseeable future. ¡°Alfred. Pause simulation.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. The simulation is now paused. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, initiate power-up sequence for the ¡°Cybernetic HIVE micro-ARC power core.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. The power up sequence has been initiated; Power core is actively absorbing atmospheric particles; Power core reactor chamber has been ignited; Power core reaction has stabilized; Power core is now generating power; Generated power is being transmitted to micro-capacitor banks; Cybernetic micro-ARC power core start-up sequence is completed. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, activate ¡°Cybernetic HIVE power management and distribution interface.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. I have activated ¡°Cybernetic HIVE power management and distribution interface.¡± The system is now online and transmitting power to all systems. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, bring all remaining cybernetic systems online.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. I have activated all cybernetic systems; All cybernetic systems are online. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± Damien suddenly had a queer sensation flush through him, that left him feeling as if all his biological functions became automated and mechanical. Then he realized that was precisely the point. He had designed all the ¡°Cybernetic HIVE life support systems¡± to manage those functions automated. They regulated his heartbeat, filter his blood, dispose of bio-waste, and many other minute but necessary biological functions the human body did organically. ¡°Alfred, create a virtual character skin of my current physical body. Formulate it as close to approximately reflected by its estimated physical traits, attributes, and characteristics. Once completed you may import ¡°character skin¡± into the simulation¡± ¡°Very good Sir. importing ¡°Skin¡± ..., 5 ..., 4 ...,3 ..., 2 ..., 1 ..., now. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± Damien¡¯s virtual body proceeded to liquify, like the T2000 from the movie ¡°Terminator 2¡± and then began changing its shape, growing larger, while taking on the alien features of his cybernetic body. However, this did not align with the storyline, as ¡°The player¡±, starts out in the tutorial as a fifteen-year-old kid, regardless of their actual age IRL ¡°In Real Life¡±. Due to this, he installed stringent security protocols on site at the more ¡°adult focused¡± content. This did present him with an opportunity to try out one of his experimental abilities. ¡°Alfred lets test drive the shape shifting process; Utilize the original Japanese youth¡¯s rendering as our target model.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. I have prepared the selected target for replicating; I will trigger the polymorph sequence in 5..., 4..., 3..., 2..., 1..., now. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± Damien felt the oddest sensation as the automation of the ¡°micro-robotic control-surfaces" of his skeletal structure began a systematic shift to emulate the targeted 3D rendering. It was extremely disturbing, like having ants crawling under his skin. Fortunately, it didn¡¯t last long and quickly faded. ¡°Alfred, project my current rendering, alongside the target model¡¯s.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, Will there be anything else Sir?¡± Damien compared the two 3D renderings and was both impressed, and unimpressed in the overall shape shifting results. First, he celebrated the successes, ¡°the ability¡± was able to perfectly copy the target¡¯s facial features, body shape, and musculature. It also perfectly matched both the skin and hair coloring. However, that was where the successes ended, and the failures began. ¡°The ability¡± was unable to alter items such as ear shape, eye color, hair length, and the most glaring shortcoming of all was its inability to change his overall height. All in all, it wasn¡¯t a complete right off, ¡°the ability¡± could still allow him to alter his identity at will, without needing to utilize complicated disguises. He could also see its usefulness in blending into a crowd or losing a tail. Damien tried to sit up and was not surprised to find his body lethargic and mostly unresponsive. Now that he had his simulated virtual body straightened out, he could begin training his ¡°Cybernetic HIVE memory core matrix¡±. ¡°Alfred, load the ¡°Basic Human Motor Skill Routine¡± to my HUD.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, I have uploaded the ¡°Basic Human Motor Skill Routine¡± to your HUD, via a UI virtual window. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± Damien watched as a ¡°virtual display window¡± materialized in the top left corner of his HUD and began a systematic walk-through, that was synchronized to the virtual avatar. It appeared to be a very basic beginner yoga-like routine, that continuously played the first transition on repeat. However, this was a carefully thought-out process which ¡°Winter¡¯s Technologies¡± had devised to train their robots in ¡°basic human motor functions¡±. This was only the first of many routines, with this one having forty-two individual body transitions. The estimated completion time for just this one routine was estimated at seven hours, forty-two minutes and twenty-two seconds, from start to finish. Damien had to focus on driving the virtual avatar, through the entire routine. He couldn¡¯t simply race through the poses and finish. Instead, each transition was carefully monitored for proficiency. Without reaching that set level of proficiency the avatar could not proceed. Leaving him to repeatedly perform the transitional pose until he could meet the targeted goal. This allowed the adaptive coding program to write and refine ¡°the memory¡± in the ¡°Cybernetic HIVE memory core matrix¡±. Damien was no stranger to the process and had driven an avatar through the process numerous times during its development. This time was no different, as he met with no surprises, and completed the entire process within the estimated time frame. Damien was finally able to stand up and move around freely within the simulation. It was only the most basic routine, so his motor skills were still a bit clumsy much like a two-year-old. However, ¡°the adaptive learning program¡± would continuously run in the background of the simulation, while continuously refining the code till it reached a quantifiable level of diminishing return. For now, however, he at least regained his full range of motion, in which he moved over to take up his place next to the frozen Rei Zoku..., ¡°Alfred, resume simulation.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. Simulation will resume in 5..., 4...,3..., 2..., 1..., now. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± Alfred, that will be all. You can return to your housekeeping duties.¡± ¡°Very good Sir.¡± Damien¡¯s surroundings unfroze, letting Rei Zoku, finish clearing his throat, If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you, kid..., That elixir I just used to bring you back to life, wasn¡¯t mine to give. It was given to me by my master, to preserve my life if needed. My life is the property of my master, but you..., You are not my master¡¯s property. I fear I might have only postponed your death. My master is not the benevolent sort, he will demand payment equivalent to the elixir, and it is more than either of us can afford.¡± Damien nodded along already knowing where the storyline was heading and played along. ¡°I¡¯m just trash. Why did you even bother saving me?¡± ¡°It is your status as an orphan, which convinced me to risk my master''s wrath. As an orphan of acceptable age, you are qualified to enter my master¡¯s service. However, it is important that you understand this will be equivalent to entering slavery. Once you¡¯ve accepted master¡¯s service, there is no leaving, at least not alive. And to try an escape is to be hunted for the rest of your life. You should consider carefully, your next move.¡± ¡°I.., I can¡¯t exactly spit out the pill, can I? So, my life might as well already belong to your master.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right my master won¡¯t let you go.¡± ¡°Fine then, it seems simple if there¡¯s no other choice.¡± Damien designed the simulation to have no cut scenes. Every action needed to be acted out, eating, sleeping or traveling, regardless of how inconvenient or tedious. However, it was because of these simple mundane features that granted a much deeper immersion into the simulation. Sleeping was an exception; it was the only action that allowed ¡°the player¡± to access the ¡°log-out" menu. However, the location chosen to ¡°log-out" was very important, as you would suffer consequences if you laid down in the wrong spot: death or jail were just some of the more common results. Even though Damien had reached his initial goal, of achieving ¡°basic human motor function¡±, he still wanted to complete the tutorial to teach his ¡°Cybernetic HIVE memory matrix¡±; the ¡°Basic Ninjutsu Training¡±. Thus, he continued the simulation until he could safely ¡°log out¡±, Only then would he go back to tend to his physical body. Damien joined Rei Zoku, as they walked together through the city of medieval Japan. As they walked, the old man began instructing him on how to live and operate inside the simulation. This did not include any ninja training, only purely civilian grade education into the everyday life and history of Japan. ¡°Hey kid..., you got a name?¡± This was actually a very important question that the player needed to take seriously. This would be ¡°the player¡¯s¡± name and identity inside ¡°the way of shadow¡± until they deleted their account. Damien only gave it a second¡¯s consideration, ¡°It¡¯s... Hiroshi.¡± ¡°Hiroshi..., you now belong to my master, and we can¡¯t have you shaming him by wearing these rags. Come let''s head to the market, while I regale you with our people¡¯s long and glorious history.¡± Damien followed along indulging the old man as he tuned out the all too familiar recitation of Japan''s timeline; The first human inhabitants of these Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic era, around 38¨C39,000 years ago..., Damien nodded along absentmindedly already knowing the past, present, and future of Japan. Looking around at the archaic city filled with NPC bots going about their business, he had to admit, the Japanese people had created a beautiful society. Of course, he understood this was only a surface level beauty, and what lay beneath suffered all the same shortcomings of any human society. Even in modern times, the world simmered under an uneasy peace. Damien considered that perhaps peace was a state of imbalance for humanity. Perhaps conflict was a human¡¯s most perfect state of being. Damien was brought out of his inner mussing by Rei Zoku¡¯s voice. Look at this market, it¡¯s only been in the last century that our markets have developed to this extent. Most towns have a weekly market or at least one held three times a month, where merchants can travel to their regions and where farmers can sell off their surplus goods. Because of this our surplus foodstuffs have become more available than ever before. This is all thanks to our continual increase in our efforts to develop our agricultural techniques and tools. Even though we are still using goods to barter for other goods, we are introducing more and more coins. Our leaders see their value as a tax revenue source and are promoting them across Japan, even trying to standardize currencies, weights, and measures. Here in the capital and other larger cities the markets have more exotic goods than just the usual non-food items available such as pottery, tools, cooking utensils, and household furniture. We¡¯ve imported such goods as Ming porcelain, Chinese silk, Korean cotton and ginseng, spices from Thailand and Indonesia, or Japanese-made jewelry and weapons. ¡°We¡¯re here. Let''s get you a proper outfit for our journey. We will be traveling outside the security of the city, and we don¡¯t want to appear wealthy to the bandits. There for we will dress like the lower class. That means no silk, stick to clothing made of flax, hemp or cotton. Look, this is perfect for what we need, a simple matching robe and trousers. We won¡¯t make it far with you barefooted, so get a pair of sandals that fit. Nothing fancy, get something made from wood, or rope, no leather. Oh, and get a straw hat. If you always expect it to rain, then you¡¯ll never be disappointed.¡± Damien did as he was told and changed into his new starter gear while Rei Zoku settled the account with the merchant. ¡°It¡¯s already too late to leave the city today, I know a Widow who we can stay the night with.¡± There are two options depending on the age of ¡°the Player¡±, one was created to house ¡°the Players¡± who are minors, in which case Rei Zoku, would bring them to a typical traveler¡¯s inn for the night. Damien, however, was well past the 18+ benchmark, and knew that Rei Zoku would lead him to the second option, which was an isolated space within the simulation. The walled and guarded red-light district on the outskirts of the city acted just like a typical game dungeon. However, instead of a combat scenario, you were presented with a fully interactive lifestyle simulation. Inside, all the prostitutes and courtesans were ranked by price, which directly correlated to the range of services they could provide ¡°the player¡±. Unlike in the 15th century, where there were only females on offer. Damien made sure to cater to as many orientations and preferences as possible, providing fully customizable male, female, and even nonbinary NPC templates for selection. Of course, this option was only available once you successfully completed the tutorial. For now, this was just a marketing advertisement targeted at the newly arrived players. Damien followed along, letting Rei Zoku guide him through the checkpoints. Once inside red-light district, Rei Zoku bypassed all the lavish upper-class establishments, and even the more affluent lower-class brothels. Instead, he took him to an out of the way corner where a neatly maintained courtyard was situated. Rei Zoku pulled him to a stop in front of the closed gate. ¡°Let me do all the talking.¡± Damien followed Rei Zoku¡¯s lead as they were welcomed inside by a very reserved female servant. They were then presented to the mistress of the house, where they were then received with a traditional tea ceremony. Everything happened very formally and rigidly adhered to etiquette. Rei Zoku leaned into Damien, and began instructing him in whispers, ¡°This is probably your first tea ceremony, so just follow what I do. There are basically only two general rules we need to remember. The first rule; When it''s your turn, the customary practice involves turning to the person next in line and offering the salutation "Osakini" (Excuse me for going ahead of you,) before partaking in the sweets and later sipping the green tea. This serves as an expression of consideration and goodwill towards fellow guests at the tea gathering. Got it?¡± Damien nodded, and Rei Zoku continued the lesson. ¡°The second rule; is for when it is your turn to drink from the bowl. You must pick up the bowl with your right hand and place it in the palm of your left hand. Then using your right hand, the bowl rotates slightly in a clockwise fashion. The purpose is to avoid drinking from the front of the bowl. Your mouth should be placed on the lateral side of the bowl and then a drink is taken. Do not consume the tea in one big gulp, but rather slowly enjoy it by drinking from the bowl about three times. Understand?¡± Damien¡¯s extensive research into Japan, made him accustomed to all of Japan¡¯s rituals, traditions, and ceremonies, so this was nothing new to him. However, seeing the beautiful young woman put on a perfect rendition of the ceremony brought back fond memories of past dives. Soon enough the tea gathering ended, and he was formally introduced to the household. ¡°Hiroshi this is an old friend of mine, Madam Song, and the elegant young lady who performed the tea ceremony is her daughter Shiharu.¡± Both mother and daughter wore the finest clothes made of silk, which were beautifully embroidered with designs of flowering plants. Each was equipped with a folding fan, and adorned with an ornate tortoiseshell hair comb, which proclaimed a certain level of status. Damien¡¯s design for introducing Madam Song and her daughter was as a reoccurring adoptive family for ¡°the Player¡± throughout the lifespan of the character. Rei Zoku would secretively betray the Master, by continuously aiding ¡°the Player¡± as the old man mentor template. Madam Song would play the seductive mother-n-law figure, who encapsulate that perfect ideal of the ¡°cougar / milf¡± template. Shiharu would play the seductive older stepsister figure, who encapsulate that perfect ideal of the overly nurturing and bossy big-sister template. ¡°Shiharu, our little friend looks like he could use a bath, why don¡¯t you see to his needs.¡± ¡°Yes, mother.¡± Damien was led by Shiharu to the back courtyard, where a natural hot spring awaited them. This was the wonderful magic of virtual reality, there were no longer any inconveniences unless it was intentional. Damien was very familiar with Shiharu¡¯s company and was not at all frazzled by her demand for him to strip. Nor did he grow flustered at the sight of her own disrobing. He did discover a strange dissonance accruing between his reduced virtual and physical biology, as the scripted simulation encountered a discrepancy where the mind and body did not harmonize. He found it strangely unsettling..., ¡°Alfred, pause simulation.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, replace ¡°skin¡± with the ¡°Parzival¡± avatar.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. importing ¡°Skin¡± ..., 5 ..., 4 ...,3 ..., 2 ..., 1 ..., now. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± Damien¡¯s virtual body once again proceeded to liquefy, like the T2000 from the movie ¡°Terminator 2¡± and then began changing its shape. Once the process finished, he was once again in the fully functioning biological form of ¡°Parzival¡±. That strange dissonance abruptly ended the moment his form finished materializing. ¡°Alfred, resume simulation.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. Simulation will resume in 5..., 4...,3..., 2..., 1..., now. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± Alfred, that will be all. You can return to your housekeeping duties.¡± ¡°Very good Sir.¡± Damien was once again flooded with the simulation¡¯s induced desire and lust. After all he had personally devised every element of this scenario to his personal preferences. It was only at that moment of stark comparison that he truly began to understand to what extent his new physical transformation had resulted in. He did find it comforting to know he could always enter the simulation to indulge his more carnal desires and were not completely lost to him. Damien followed along obediently as always, finding Shiharu¡¯s scripted performance entertaining. She thus instructed him to sit on a small wooden stool, where she proceeded to thoroughly scrub him from head to toe. Once they were both declared clean, she took him by the hand and led him to soak in the hot spring. Damien enjoyed the heat, and tranquility of the atmosphere, as they contentedly soaked quietly under the stars. Sadly, the peace only lasted roughly fifteen minutes, then Shiharu dragged him free of the bath, and provided him with a simple white kimono to wear. Shiharu led him to rejoin Madam Kai and Rei Zuko for a meal. As their guests, etiquette demanded Madam Kai served Rei Zuko, and Shiharu served him. The food was served on beautifully lacquered trays which were then placed in front of each of them on the floor. For the main dish they each had a portion of rice. For extra flavor there were side dishes of vegetables, seaweed, seafood and fruit. Along with soya bean sauce and paste, as well as wasabi and ginger. To drink they were provided with both green tea, and sake. Damien didn¡¯t hesitate to pick up his lacquered chopsticks and thoroughly enjoyed the virtual food. He had no intention of wasting the opportunity to once again taste authentic Earth cuisine. Besides he still remembered the enormous effort it took his team, to incorporate all five senses into the simulation. After dinner, Shiharu led Damien into a private room with a sleeping mat, where he proceeded to respectfully decline her generous offer of sharing warmth for the night. Not that he didn¡¯t find the idea of indulging tempting, but it was a matter of priorities. He simply needed to log out and see to the security of his physical body. He waited for Shiharu, to finish closing the Shoji door, before initiating the log-out sequence. Damien let the VR pod finish cycling through the discharge procedures, before he could finally step out into the familiar interior of his ¡°Mind Palace¡±. Not wanting to waste any time, he returned his awareness to his physical body. Only to find it sprawled out all akimbo. Straightening his limbs and sitting up, Damien made a quick survey of his surroundings. Not much had changed, there was still too much smoke, and heat. However, thanks to his newly installed filtering systems, the smoke no longer affected him. His eyes no longer burned thanks to being hermetically sealed behind diamond contact lenses. All in all, he was extremely pleased with his new transformation. Looking around, Damien¡¯s HUD finally managed to lock on and highlight the six scattered ¡°White¡± ¡°Kyber crystals¡± he had successfully synthesized. He quickly collected them from where they had been unceremoniously scattered over the ground seemingly haphazardly. Once collected, he carefully inspected each one for the slightest bit of damage and only felt relieved after he checked the last one. Along with the six identical ¡°White¡± ¡°Kyber crystals¡±, that were synthesized into octagonal prisms the size of a AAA battery. There was also his original ¡°Silver Kyber crystal¡±, which he took the opportunity to refine into an octagonal prism the size of a ¡°D battery¡±. ¡°Alfred, can hear me?¡± ¡°Very good Sir, how may I be of assistance?¡± ¡°Alfred, open ¡°Right-hand¡± Kyber crystal sockets 1-3.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, granting access to ¡°Right-hand¡± sockets 1-3. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± Damien watched as the flawless surface on the top of his right hand cracked apart, sliding open revealing three empty octagonal prism shape sockets. He carefully inserted a ¡°White¡± ¡°Kyber crystal¡± into each empty socket. ¡°Alfred, go ahead and close up the right hand, and open up the left.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, closing ¡°Right hand¡± and opening ¡°Left-hand¡± Kyber crystal sockets 1-3. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± Damien once again watched as the flawless surface of the top of his left hand slid apart to reveal three identical empty octagonal prism shape sockets. He once again carefully inserted a ¡°White¡± ¡°Kyber crystal¡± into each empty socket. ¡°Alfred, go ahead and close up the left hand.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, will there be anything else I can help you with?¡± Damien created a fist out of his left Cybernetic hand while making double sure to aim it away from anything he wanted to keep. After taking a deep breath to calm his excitement, he gave the order, ¡°Alfred, applying ten percent of core power to left-hand ¡°Cybernetic HIVE retractable light-saber claw interface¡±, and increase power in ten percent increments until ignition is achieved or failure occurs.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, applying ten percent power, to left-hand ¡°Cybernetic HIVE retractable light-saber claw interface¡± in 5..., 4..., 3..., 2..., 1..., now¡± Damien was pleasantly surprised when an electric hiss and thrum announced the birth of three slender, foot long silver energy blades humming into existence. He could help smiling like an idiot at the ¡°Wolverine¡± like claws protruding from his left fist. Damien carefully waved then through the air and heard for the first time, the authentic sound effect of a light-saber blade cutting through the air. Even though it was a truly awesome visual effect, it was still uncertain if his claws could hold up against an actual genuine lightsaber from ¡°The Galaxy¡±. His claws were only being ignited by the power provided by his ARC power core. Whereas a genuine lightsaber is ignited by a rechargeable diatium power cell, also known as a diatium power core, which acts as the primary power source. ¡°Alfred, shut down power and begin a full analysis and run down on each emitter. Also running a full diagnostic on the entire left-hand unit. Once you¡¯ve optimized the ignition sequence and blade tuning, go ahead and create an activation macro: ¡°on/off¡± non-verbal neural interface command for each individual claw emitter. Mockup a few UI reference I-cons, denoting function status of each, the right and left-hand. Submit the most optimal one for selection and placement.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. Will there be anything else I can help you with?¡± ¡°Alfred, open forehead Kyber crystal socket.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, granting access to forehead Kyber crystal socket, now. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± This time Damien had to feel around a bit, before managing to correctly line up the larger ¡°Silver Kyber crystal¡± with the socket. ¡°Alfred, go ahead and close up forehead Kyber crystal socket.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, will there be anything else I can help you with?¡± ¡°Alfred, let''s begin just like last time, start by applying ten percent of core power to forehead ¡°Kyber crystal¡±; monitor for any power spikes or fluctuations within the prototype ¡°Cybernetic HIVE liquid Kyber crystal circulatory system interface. Increase the power in increments of ten percent until ignition is achieved or failure occurs.¡± Damien was much more nervous about energizing this system, for the simple fact that it was purely theoretical. He only had proof of concept that came by way of virtual simulations, and only that it was technically feasible. He still has no clue what exactly the system did in the end. Even theoretically he wasn¡¯t sure what was about to happen. Nor would he be all that surprised if he ended up going off like a ¡°Romen¡± candle, if he was being perfectly honest. ¡°Very good Sir. I will begin applying power in 5..., 4..., 3..., 2..., 1..., now¡± Damien had a queer sensation began in his forehead but soon spread to Damien¡¯s brain. However, it continued to both eyes, then mouth and flowed down his throat. ¡°Aug.., that tastes like watermelon.¡± Even his purely synthetic skin, bones, and hair weren''t spared, as his entire physical form was soon radiating this bazar live wire sensation. Yet, the feeling wasn¡¯t abating but continuously building up momentum like pressure. ¡°Alfred, are you picking up any strange power readings?¡± ¡°Negative Sir, all systems are read within their estimated approved parameters. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± Damien was really beginning to think he was about to explode, and was debating internally if he should abort or not. It was surprising how little fear or panic he was currently feeling. He could still sense an acute desire for self-preservation, only it now seemed to be entirely logic driven. ¡°Alferd, go ahead and abort, shut down all power going to the ¡°Cybernetic HIVE liquid Kyber crystal circulatory system interface.¡± ¡°I do apologize Sir, but I am no longer capable of shut off power to the ¡°Cybernetic HIVE liquid Kyber crystal circulatory system interface.¡± The system is now drawing all power via the ignited Kyber crystal. With that said, I would like to report the complete reliquification of all liquid Kyber crystal composites, and the successful activation of the circulatory pump. The system has reached a stable level of pressurization with a self-sustain flow rate. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, you can return to your housekeeping duties.¡± ¡°Very good Sir.¡± Damien wondered why he ever thought this had been a good idea to incorporate such a ludicrous and ridiculously risky experimental prototype into his design. He only remembered thinking how brilliant the concept was and the potential it represented. Damien was beginning to feel like an over filled balloon and was just waiting for the final detonation. However, it was then that the situation reversed itself, as all the pressure simply faded away leaving a strange awareness of the body behind. What was once inert synthetic material was now live synthetic material, or at least that was how it felt. Damien had absolutely no idea how such a thing was even remotely possible, nor could he even begin to guess. He could only blame the mysterious ¡°Force¡± and his lack of understanding. Whatever the case was, it was undeniable that he had just received an enormous gift. Chapter Four Chapter Four Damien once again found himself completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of sensory feedback data he was currently receiving from his newly awakened synthetic body. However, shutting it out felt like going the wrong direction. Instead, he felt a need to accept it all, take in everything and turn it into nothing. Only by doing so could he hope to master his new senses. Forcing himself to calm down, he lowered himself to the ground, while contorting his limbs and body into a lotus position. He then proceeded to let down all barriers and defenses making himself completely open to ¡°the Force¡± and his newly awakened senses ...., It took Damien some time to wrap his mind around all the improbable changes he was discovering about his new synthetic body. For his life, he couldn¡¯t make sense of the mechanics of it all. For example; his sensory hair system was now truly insane, as it was now capable of formulating a strange sort of sixth sense type of spherical domain of awareness around him. On top of that, it didn''t require much actual thought process to utilize this function, as it was simply always active. Stranger still were Damien¡¯s eyes, which were constantly cycling through different light spectrums. One moment he was seeing in infer-red, the next it was thermal heat. Then his mind was truly blown when his vision turned to X-ray. Not only was Damien¡¯s body now completely pressurized with a liquid Kyber crystal blood-like solution, but the most mysterious alteration came from his ¡°Cybernetic memory matrix¡± which by some strange miracle, was now like an integrated secondary sub-brain. His motor control skills were now off the charts and even surpassed those of the best human Olympians. It was like a perfect harmony of biological dexterity and mechanical precision. Damien was just beginning to come to terms with his newfound state of being, when his meditation was interrupted by a stranger''s voice..., ¡°Did you think your disturbance in ¡°the Force¡± would go unnoticed, Fallen? You stink of ¡°the dark side¡± and thus must be destroyed. But first tell me, are you the master, or the apprentice?¡± Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Damien couldn¡¯t understand a single word of whatever language this stranger was speaking. Turning to face the newcomer, he was met by the sight of his first real life alien, it was an olive green, male humanoid, who was holding an ignited blue lightsaber. Damien nearly had a chubby at the sight of a genuine lightsaber, and for those of you living under rocks, a lightsaber is a weapon consisting of a blade of pure plasma emitted from the hilt and suspended in a force containment field. The field contains the immense heat of plasma, protecting the wielder, and allowing the blade to keep its shape. The hilt is almost always self-fabricated by the wielder to match their specific needs, preferences and style. The hilt is also built similarly to their master''s lightsaber as a mark of respect. Due to the weightlessness of plasma and the strong gyroscopic effect generated by it, lightsabers required a great deal of strength and dexterity to wield, and it is extremely difficult and dangerous for the untrained to attempt using one. However, in the hands of an expert of ¡°the Force¡±, the lightsaber is a weapon to be greatly respected and feared. To successfully wield a lightsaber is to demonstrate incredible skill and confidence, as well as masterful dexterity and attunement to ¡°the Force¡±. Damien had no problem recognizing the guy as a ¡°Mirialan¡± thanks to ¡°Wookieepedia¡±, who described them as a near-human species native to the planet "Mirial". They have skin tones ranging from green to yellow or pink to purple. Most have traditional geometric tattoos on their faces which symbolize personal achievements. The species has a strong connection with the natural world and is typically believers in ¡°the Force¡±. There have been several notable "Mirialans" who were members of the Jedi Order, these include Jedi Masters ¡°Luminara Unduli¡±, ¡°Cyslin Myr¡±, and ¡°Vernestra Rwoh¡±, as well as the former Padawan ¡°Barriss Offee¡±, and ¡°the Seventh Sister¡±, a ¡°fallen Jedi¡± who hunted the survivors of ¡°the Great Jedi Purge¡±, as a member of ¡°the Galactic Empire''s¡± ¡°Inquisitorius¡±. After considering everything he knew, as well as seeing the blue blade of the lightsaber, which signifies justice, truth, and serenity. Damien didn¡¯t have much hope for peaceful diplomacy. ¡°Hey Bub, any chance of us talking this out?¡± The ¡°Mirialan¡¯s¡± response was to raise his lightsaber in an obvious preparation to attack. ¡°Yeah, didn¡¯t think so.¡± Damien reached out with his left hand and grabbed the ¡°Mirialan¡± with ¡°the Force¡± and lifted him entirely off the ground. With his right hand, he reached out with ¡°the Force¡± and yanked free the lightsaber, which he floated over to his outstretched hand. The ¡°Mirialan¡± struggled in vain to break free, but his connection to ¡°the Force¡± was much weaker than Damien¡¯s. Damien inspected the lightsaber¡¯s construction by completely disassembling it via ¡°the Force¡± and found that for the most part it coincided with ¡°Earth¡¯s¡± depiction along with the internal mechanics. ¡°Alfred, make a scan of the components, and create a 3D wire schematic. Once completed, catalogue it, and store it away in the archive for future need.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, continue housekeeping protocols.¡± ¡°Very good Sir.¡± Having seen enough, Damien reassembled ¡°the lightsaber¡± and floated it back to the ¡°Mirialan¡±. If after all this, the ¡°Mirialan¡± still wished to fight, then so be it. He released his hold on the ¡°Mirialan¡± letting him drop to the ground unharmed, it was now the ¡°Mirialan¡¯s¡± choice whether to attack or retreat. The ¡°Mirialan¡± reached out with the ¡°Force¡±, grabbing and pulling the ¡°lightsaber¡± to his open hand. He didn¡¯t hesitate to once again ignite the blade and charge. ¡°So be it.¡± Damien pushed himself off the ground assuming the familiar "ninjitsu" fighting stance while preparing to meet the attack. Even though he had never been in an actual fight in real life, he had dueled and brawled hundreds of times inside his private virtual world against computer driven NPCs. It seemed he was about to find out how much of that experience translated into the real world. Only he found himself surprised, by the slow-motion-like state of reality he was now experiencing, or to be more precise, his perception of reality seemed to be operating slower or faster than normal. He felt like he was caught in ¡°bullet time¡±, Fun fact: The term "bullet time" was first used with reference to the 1999 film ¡°The Matrix¡±, and later in reference to the slow-motion effects in the 2001 video game ¡°Max Payne¡±. In the years since the introduction of the term via ¡°the Matrix¡± films it has become a commonly applied expression in popular culture. With everything slowed down to a crawl, Damien only needed a heartbeat to analyze the situation and determine that it was his mind¡¯s perception, which was processing information a hell of a lot faster than it normally did. Now this was not to be mistaken for him having superhuman speed such as ¡°the Flash¡± or ¡°Superman¡±. However, from the inordinately slow movements of both him and the ¡°Mirialan¡±, it was clear he was processing reality much faster than he could move his body. The real question was whether he could adapt to the difference between body and mind? He also wondered if he should try out his retractable lightsaber claws or not? On the one hand, his claws were only experimental prototypes, that were based off a mash-up of Earth¡¯s scientific principles, and Star Wars¡¯ theatrical dogma. After seeing a ¡°lightsaber¡± in person, he still wasn¡¯t sure if his claws would be able to physically interact with an actual ¡°lightsaber¡¯s¡± blade. Then again, Damien wasn¡¯t sure he even needed his claws to fight a single force-sensitive being. Nor did he think he would get a better chance to run a full range of system tests. Besides his claws, he also wanted to test out his ¡°micro-diamond scale-mail epidermis¡± to see how it would hold up against ¡°lightsabers¡± and ¡°blaster bolts¡±. Besides, he was a freaking cyborg and was pretty sure that landing a single full powered mechanical strike would be ¡°game over¡± for the biological opponent. Damien decided to defend and evade, rather than engage directly with the ¡°Mirialan¡±. Mostly he wanted to test out his full range of reflexes, and combat capabilities. He also needed real life combat experience and data to feed his ¡°Assisted Tactical Probability Algorithm¡± which needed some real-world exposure. What was unexpected was the abrupt change to Damien¡¯s nature. Back on ¡°Earth¡±, he had been a rather timid person, actively avoiding real world conflict. Sure, he had fought in countless sword fights via VR, but that had never spilled over into his normal everyday life. Now, however, the prospect of fighting the ¡°Mirialan¡±, was oddly exhilarating to him. He had no doubt this was a residual side-effect of his exposure to ¡°the dark side¡± and its influence. He realized that his personality may have been irrevocably or perhaps even permanently altered. As the fight proceeded, Damien settled in and got comfortable with his new abilities and conditions. As he did, he found the Mirialan much less skilled than he anticipated, which greatly disappointed him. He had expected a tough fight, but this wasn¡¯t what he would have expected from a ¡°Jedi¡±, not even a ¡°padawan¡±, much less a ¡°knight¡±. Of course, he realized he had absolutely no point of reference to make such an evaluation or assumption. For all he knew, this ¡°Mirialan¡± could be a ¡°Jedi¡± even a ¡°Master¡±, but he seriously doubted it. The ¡°Mirialan¡± was simply too untrained to be any rank in the ¡°Jedi Order¡±. He even lacked the most basic sword forms and had little to no real familiarity with wielding a sword. He was too sloppy and relied too heavily on the ¡°lightsaber¡¯s¡± power rather than relying on his own skill and abilities. This guy was nothing more than an uninitiated ¡°Force-sensitive¡± brute who was lucky enough to get his hands on a lightsaber. He felt a degree of disappointment which surprised him. Damien¡¯s musings were interrupted by his new sense of awareness picking up on the approach of six new presences. They were closing in on the summit and setting up a perimeter to surround them. Perhaps these guys were the ¡°Mirialan¡¯s¡± reinforcements, and the reason which gave him the confidence to stay and fight. Damien decided to take the situation more seriously and decided to end the fight with the ¡°Mirialan¡±. Focusing his thoughts, it was surprisingly easy to trigger the ignition sequence for his left-hand claws. He was even able to differentiate between the three individual claws. This time he wasn¡¯t taking any chances and summoned all three, for a timely backhand parry, which he used to push aside the incoming ¡°lightsaber¡± strike. This would be the moment of truth, when his three claws connected with the blade of a ¡°lightsaber¡±. There was a brief power surge, followed by fluctuations, and then sparks as the claws successfully held back the ¡°lightsaber¡±. He nearly let out an involuntary whoop of joy, but just barely managed to hold it back in time. The ¡°Mirialan''s¡± eyes grew wide in shock at the sudden appearance of the white light of the ¡°lightsaber¡± claws, but only long enough to receive Damien¡¯s surprise uppercut to his chin. To ensure the blow wouldn¡¯t be an insta-kill for the ¡°Mirialan¡±, he held back as much as he could, while still ensuring the blow would incapacitate the ¡°Mirialan¡±. He stepped back allowing the ¡°Mirialan¡± to fall to the ground unconscious but still alive. ¡°Alfred, activate the ¡°Cybernetic HIVE Liquid Kyber Crystal Pixilated Micro-Dot Flexible Display Paneling¡± ..., Oh wow, that¡¯s horribly long winded, let¡¯s rename it; um..., ¡°Cybernetic HIVE..., let¡¯s just use Marvel¡¯s ¡°Retro-reflective paneling¡± it¡¯s not accurate but at least it¡¯s consistent. That leaves us with: ¡°Cybernetic HIVE retro-reflective skin¡±; Set it to ¡°Predator camouflage¡±; While you¡¯re at it, go ahead and create another activation macro-on/off non-verbal neural interface command for each of the preset configurations. I like the charcoal grey as the ¡°default¡± setting.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, I will see to those arrangements. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, continue monitoring the situation. Also, begin compiling a standardized set of practices and procedures, so we can establish an official ¡°combat mode¡± for the CIC. Perhaps we should switch all the display highlights to red and add background music for a more dramatic effect. How¡¯s that sound?¡± ¡°Very good, Sir.¡± Damien watched as his arms turn blurry and then disappear. It turns out that being invisible was proving far more disorientating than he ever imagined. Fortunately, his enhanced spatial awareness soon picked up the slack, as it reestablished his sense of self, while also supporting his tactile awareness. Once Damien was able to regain his focus, he utilized the ¡°Jedi Order¡¯s¡± ¡°Altus sopor¡± ¡°Force technique¡± to merge his presence with the ¡°Force¡± making his presence invisible even to other ¡°Force-sensitive beings¡±. Damien eventually brought his attention back to the presences of the six individuals, who were now converging on his location. He immediately distanced himself from the fallen ¡°Mirialan¡± and set up in the shadow of an outcropping of rock, so he could observe the interaction. Damien decided to label the guys in the order they spoke in..., Goon#1: ¡°This was the Marshal¡¯s last known position. The smoke is thick so be careful and watch your footing. Spread out and search the area.¡± Goon#2: ¡°Who the hell elected you the boss of this outfit?¡± Goon#3: ¡°Hey over here, I found ¡°the Marshal¡±, He¡¯s down..., only unconscious, I think!¡± Goon#4: ¡°No blood, and no blaster marks. It¡¯s strange, just what in the hell happened to him?¡± Goon#5: ¡°Any chance he¡¯s knocked out due to smoke inhalation?¡± Goon#6: ¡°Guy¡¯s, I have a bad feeling about this.¡± Goon#1: ¡°Shut it, all of you..., We¡¯re on mission and have a job to do. So, if ¡°the Marshal¡± isn¡¯t dead, then put a blaster bolt through his head. The sooner we get this over with, the better. Now hurry up and let''s get the hell out of here.¡± Damien watched as the six men of various species, spoke in an unintelligible language, then made a half ass attempt at an investigation. He had to evaluate these guys as more brave than intelligent. They were just norms, with no ability to use ¡°the Force¡±. His best guess was that they were the ¡°Mirialan¡¯s¡± hired goons. They were all well equipped with body-armor, ¡°Blaster¡± rifle and sidearm. Damien was excited to get his hands on one of those legendary ¡°Blasters¡± and tear it apart to see how it worked. As a weapons designer himself, he knew better than anyone how difficult it was to make a cost-effective energy base weapon. Forget about guns, he was a diehard fan boy, who had spent most of his youth pretending to fire imaginary ¡°blaster bolts¡± while making those iconic sound effects.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Damien only knew what ¡°Wookieepedia¡± detailed which was basically that ¡°Blasters¡± fired bursts of particle beam energy called ¡°blaster bolts¡± from a replaceable power pack. The ¡°Blaster bolt¡± was an intense beam of compacted high-energy particles and intense light that could kill or paralyze their target, depending on the setting. ¡°Blasters¡± could range in size and power from compact pistols, large heavy rifles, and all the way up to starship-mounted ¡°blaster cannons¡±. Generating the ¡°Blaster bolt¡± relied on two components, a gas cartridge filled with an energy-rich gas called ¡°Tibanna¡± and a power pack. When the blaster was fired, a small amount of gas moved from the cartridge through the Heter valve into the gas conversion enabler chamber, commonly called the ¡°XCiter¡±. In this chamber, the power pack energized the gas, before it passed into the actuating blaster module, where the now extremely high-energy gas was transformed into a compressed beam of intense energy particles. The particle beam was then passed through a prismatic crystal, which focused it into a deadly high-energy particle beam. Which was then fired from the emitter nozzle as a glowing energy ¡°Blaster bolt¡±. The color of ¡°the bolt¡± could vary from red to blue to orange to white, which depended on the type of gas used as well as the type of focusing device installed in the ¡°Blaster¡±. Most blasters had two kinds of ammunition, a gas cartridge and a power cell. The gas cartridges of most blasters could typically provide up to five hundred shots before needing replacement. The power packs of most blasters could supply energy for up to one hundred shots. More powerful weapon systems put greater demands on the gas cartridge and power pack, or both. Most blasters also have a stun setting, which fed power through a secondary emitter, bypassing the gas chamber to create a ring-shaped electromagnetic burst that disrupted the target''s nervous system, often leaving them unconscious. Blaster bolts themselves carried no heat. On impact, however, their displacement of matter produced kinetic energy that caused heat: the atmosphere was displaced by the bolt''s passage, which caused the iconic ¡°Blaster¡± sound effect. Materials struck by bolts tended to deform and fuse, and liquids inside organic bodies instantly changed state to steam, expanding and doing terrible damage to surrounding tissue. Consequently, bolts usually dissipated in a small, but violent, explosion of extreme heat and force upon contact with an unshielded surface, sometimes leaving blast points. Damien was completely caught off guard when ¡°Goon#3¡± fired a blaster bolt right into the Mirialan¡¯s head at point blank range. He realized he had a choice to make, catch or release. He didn¡¯t owe the Mirialan anything much less to avenge him. In the end he decided these guys¡¯ fates on ¡°the Predator principle¡± ¡°He who wields a weapon is fair game to be hunted¡±. Besides, death was only a quick dip in the reincarnation cycle, no big loss. However, this didn¡¯t mean Damien wasn¡¯t going to enjoy himself, by using these guys as ad hoc sparring partners, to gain some more real-world fighting experience. It was evident by their tactics, familiarity with each other, and their concise teamwork, that this wasn¡¯t these guys¡¯ first rodeo. He decided to attempt fighting these guys close-up in ¡°John Wick¡± fashion......, For those of you who were born under a rock, the preferred ¡°John Wick¡±¡± martial art, ¡°gun Fu¡± is the theatrical combination of marksmanship principles with the fundamentals of classic martial arts films. In the west, ¡°gun Fu¡± has been popularized by movies such as ¡°The Matrix¡±, ¡°Equilibrium¡±, ¡°John Wick¡±, ¡°Kick Ass¡±, and ¡°Kingsman: The Secret Service¡±. However, ¡°gun Fu¡± originated in the 1980s Hong Kong cinema. Although there were western movies before the ''80s, it was ¡°John Woo¡± and ¡°Chow Yun Fat¡± movies like; ¡°A Better Tomorrow¡± and ¡°The Killer¡± which first established the shooting angles, dynamic sequences, and sheer style that gave birth to ¡°gun Fu¡± ¡ª the foundation of ¡°John Wick''s¡± fighting style. Damien only needed to requisition one of their ¡°Blasters¡± to get things going. Reaching out with his left hand with the ¡°Force¡±, he grabbed the Mirialan¡¯s lightsaber, and with his right hand he wrapped a tendril around the grip of the closest guy¡¯s ¡°Blaster¡± pistol. Both came flying to him simultaneously landing in their perspective hands......, ¡°Danger close..., some sort of cloaking enemy!¡± Feeling the pull at his side, Goon#5 reacted fast and concisely yelling out, while firing his ¡°Blaster¡± rifle in the direction the blaster pistol had flown. Damien reacted just a bit faster, by diving forward in a role that brought him up just in front of the guy. With a focused thought he shut off his invisibility feature, appearing out of nowhere in spectacular fashion. In his exuberance and caught up in the excitement of the action, Damien dropped the blaster pistol, as he reached out and performed a textbook jujitsu rolling take down. It was only when he was sitting atop the guy while straddling him, did he realize his mistake, ¡°Ah shit!¡± Damien proceeded to make a mess of the situation, while gaining excellent real-life experience and effective combat data. Avoiding ¡°the Goons¡± combined attacks was proving difficult, even in his heightened state of awareness. They even managed to nail him a few times with blaster rounds, giving him excellent tactile feedback on his defensive systems. Adapting to the numbers disadvantage, he preceded to maneuver around the opposition using them as ¡°human¡± shields, which proved effective at cutting down the number of attack angles. The fight proved even more challenging due to their surprisingly effective body armor, which even his full powered strikes were failing to penetrate. Even after reclaiming another blaster pistol, the most he could achieve was scorching the surface of the armor. Still finding it difficult to cause any significant damage to ¡°the Goons¡±, he began targeting the joints, eventually working out a weak point between the base of the helmet and neck. It still took several point-blank shots to break the defense, but in the end, it still allowed him to pull off the victory without needing to utilize either ¡°the Force¡± or the lightsaber. After all it would have been humiliating, if he needed to resort to such measures against a bunch of ordinary ¡°non-force-sensitive-beings". Damien walked over to the body of the Mirialan, and looked him over, ¡°Alfred, do we have enough to reconstruct a 3D rendering of this guy?¡± ¡°Very good Sir. By utilizing visual recordings, and current remains, a 3D rendering has been completed. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, utilize the Mirialan¡¯s 3D rendering as target for ¡°shape shifting¡±; Go ahead and initiate when ready.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, Initiating polymorph sequence in 5..., 4..., 3..., 2..., 1..., now.¡± This time was much different from the last time he tried this inside the simulation. Last time it only felt like ants crawling under the skin, now it felt like every synthetic cell in his cybernetic body flipped over and began dancing all at once. Thank God, it only lasted for a moment, or he feared he¡¯d be plagued with nightmares for the rest of his life due to that experience. However, the result was nothing short of mind blowing, this time he was a perfect replica of the Mirialan, height, hair, ears, and even eye color were perfect matches. It was as incredible as it was impossible. Again, he could only credit ¡°the Force¡±, and his lack of understanding. He knew the root cause originated with the ¡°Cybernetic HIVE liquid Kyber Crystal circulation system¡±, and whatever changes it had prompted upon activation. He could only chalk it up to ¡°Space Magic¡± and leave it at that for now. Damien looted the "Mirialan¡¯s" body, stripping him and packing up his clothing, boots, and belt. The clothing was made of neutral color tones, just like the garb depicted of Jedi¡¯s in the movies. They were made of excellent quality fabric, in a layered style of loose-fitting tunic, trousers, and outer robe. The boots were of a sophisticated design with reinforced panels for added support. They reached to just under the knees and were made of top-quality synthetic brown leather. The belt sort of had that ¡°Batman¡± utility belt vibe, with many segmented compartments, and a stylized decorative buckle. The belt was constructed out of the same top-quality synthetic brown leather as the boots. The buckle was made of some alloy, with an embossed symbol that he couldn¡¯t recognize. Damien used the ¡°Force¡± to excavate the ground into a proper grave for the Mirialan..., ¡°Well bub, I¡¯ve never given a eulogy before, not even for my parents. Hell, I don¡¯t even know your name, or who you were, or what you¡¯ve achieved. However, I do have it in good authority that you¡¯re about to get a new identity anyways, so there¡¯s that. Best of luck on your next go around. Peace be with you and thank you for the many gifts. Umm, live long and prosper, and may the ¡°Force¡± be with you.¡± Next, he grabbed and lifted the stripped corpses of the six goons off the ground with the ¡°Force¡± and placed them in a single mass grave. He marveled at how effortless it was to lift the combined dead weight of all six corpses simultaneously. ¡°Do or do not, there is no try.¡± Damien recited in his best Yoda impersonation, for a bit of levity. Even though he found it true, that video games really did desensitize you to death and violence. Desensitized or not, he still found it depressing that those seven sentient beings met their end in such a pointless series of cause and effect. Damien¡¯s depression only lasted until he began going through his loot gains, from the fight. He found himself in that wonderful state of being over encumbered by all that glorious loot. He simply had too many goodies to carry down the mountain with him and was feeling reluctant to abandon any of it. After all, he was new to this reality and for the first time since arriving, he was rich in material wealth. It just seemed a shame to leave any of it behind. Fortunately, the Goons were surprisingly standardized in their equipment and weaponry, almost as well synchronized as a troop of storm troopers. Only these guys were not, or could they? This was a splinter reality, so he couldn¡¯t take anything for granted. If the timeline was early in the clone war era, then an inexperienced Jedi with a troop of clones for back-up, wouldn¡¯t be all that strange. However, these guys were not clones of the clone wars. Their group was multi-specie with identical armor only each was tailored specifically to fit them personally. In the end it didn¡¯t really matter, for all he knew the clone war never happened in this reality. Besides, these guys were all sent to reincarnate in the end. Damien still felt he was right about ¡°the Mirialan¡±, the guy was more of a poser than an actual trained ¡°Jedi¡± of any rank. Perhaps his father or grandfather before him had been a ¡°Jedi¡± and told him stories of the good old days. It would explain how he possessed a "lightsaber". Oh wow, Damien just realized how sexist that statement just sounded, and could only shrug it off, while recognize that he still had much to work on and improve, as a person. Besides, ¡°the Mirialan¡± could have just as easily picked the "lightsaber" up anywhere. Damien decided on wearing the entire set of body armor from ¡°Goon#1¡± who was close to ¡°the Mirialan¡± in size. He was intrigued by the material the armor was made of, as it was like nothing he had ever seen before. It he first expected it to be "plastoid", but this was a strange composite variant of "plastoid" composite, a blending of ceramic and plastic, some sort of polymer alloy perhaps a form of ¡°silicon carbide ceramic¡±. He had no idea how the stuff was manufactured, and wasn¡¯t willing to leave such interesting material behind. Damien¡¯s choice to equip the armor was simple, the installation was likewise simple. First, he needed to equip a tight-fitting compression base layer made from a thicker, reinforced Lycra-like material. There was a pair of socks, a set of pants, a long sleeve turtleneck shirt, and a pair of gloves. There was a surprising shrinking effect to the fabric, upon contact with the heat from his cybernetic body, creating a vacuum seal like effect. Next, he needed to start by stepping into the boots, which were split open down each of the side seams via mechanized expansion. With the compression padding lining the inside of each piece of armor, it allowed for a perfect fit. Once pressure was applied to the heel of the boot, the mechanical closing sequence was triggered, providing a tight sealed pressurized lock at each seam. It was truly an ingenious design that required no power to operate. It was cheap and efficient, which was perfect for mass production. The installation process was simple and effective, with each piece of armor installed in sequence, building off the previously equipped piece starting with the boots. Then the legs, groin, chest, neck, arms, shoulders, and finally, the helmet which was the only piece that required its own power unit. The helmet had its own air purification system, and built-in electronic communications suite. There was also a tactical HUD projection on the face visor, with a built-in wireless group party combat feature. ¡°Alfred, see if you can cannibalize the helmet¡¯s electronics and assimilate it. I realize we¡¯re dealing with alien tech, so be careful of any anti-malware in your intrusion to see what you can get from it.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. Activating sand box protocol. Will there be anything else Sir?¡± ¡°Alfred, that will be all. You can return to your housekeeping duties.¡± ¡°Very good Sir.¡± Damien chose to keep a single blaster rifle and a twin pair of sidearms, the rest he broke down into base components to act as spare parts, while discarding the bulky outer shells, barrels, and frames. Amusingly, he found himself looking like a "Mandalorian", only without the Greek style helmet. His helmet more resembled ¡°the Master Chief¡± from the video game ¡°Halo¡±. He decided then and there he would need to rig up a bad ass, jet back-pack in the future. ¡°Alfred let''s see if we can cobble together a tracking feature for the ¡°HUD UI¡±. Let¡¯s construct it while retracing the path these guys made to come up here. Hopefully we¡¯ll find some more free goodies at the end.¡± ¡°Very good Sir., establishing tracing parameters, and correlating data...,¡± Damien was hoping that he could buy himself a few seconds, by being mistaken for one of the goons, if he met up with anyone along the way. The fan boy in him felt like ¡°Han¡± and ¡°Luke¡±, when they dressed up like storm troopers to save the princess. He was feeling happy and content as he retraced the group¡¯s trail back to its origin point. The process was almost effortless thanks to them making no effort to conceal their tracks. Damien followed the trail all the way to the foot of the volcano, where he found a heavily customized land speeder. Damien almost mistook it for an, old-school vintage style 1960¡¯s Winnebago, if it hadn¡¯t been for the damn thing floating a foot off the ground. Damien quickly found cover after he noticed a rotating, ¡°Z-6 rotary blaster cannon¡± turret affixed to the roof. This model of blaster cannon was manufactured by ¡°Merr-Sonn Munitions Inc.¡± and ¡°BlasTech Industries.¡± It was created to solve the two problems limiting blaster fire-rate, recharge time and overheating. To try and solve these problems, the Z-6 was created as a chain-gun. The weapon was equipped with six small, rotating blaster cannons distributed around a large cooling cell. Each cannon contained its own active chamber, which fired while turning. It was extremely heavy and required its user to stand still to be used with precision. On top of its weight, troopers equipped with the Z-6 would also have to carry its energy cartridges. Replacing the weapon''s cartridges took considerable time, in which the fighter was out of the battle. The ¡°Merr-Sonn Munitions¡¯ engineers¡± attempted to find solutions to these problems, but none of them were satisfactory, which tainted the Z-6''s popularity. However, Damien was looking at the perfect utilization of this weapon platform. It took him a second to recognize the vehicle as a modified ¡°A-A5 Speeder Truck¡± a type of speeder truck that was created for civilian use. It garnered a bit of fame when the Alliance retrofitted it in their bid to restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War against the Galactic Empire. Though not originally intended to be used for heavy combat, the vehicle was utilized as a mobile command post that could hold a crew of up to four with ten passengers. It also saw use in battles to deploy reinforcements. It was equipped with a laser cannon turret as well as heavy armor. Damien needed some effort and focus to access his X-ray vision function. It seemed it would take him some time and practice to make it respond to him more intuitively. A scan of the length showed no visible cues of anyone aboard. Switching to thermal, he was able to spot several heat sources, but they were probably just the active systems. Even so, Damien was getting a bad vibe off the land speeder, and didn¡¯t want to expose himself, just yet...., ¡°Alfred, how is the intrusion into the helmet¡¯s software going, any progress?¡± ¡°I do apologize Sir. I am still attempting to deciphering the alien programing language, as of now I have made no discernible progress.¡± ¡°Alfred, I believe I have a more direct path for you to achieve your goal. However, it does require more risk, and perhaps direct contact with an alien AI. Initiate all security procedures and protocols, and then scan that vehicle for any droids, or AI systems, I have a feeling there is one aboard. See if you can establish friendly communications with it.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. However, I would feel remiss in my duties, if I didn¡¯t inform you, that I calculate a near zero percent probability of any droid I encounter sharing a common language with me. Do you still desire for me to proceed?¡± ¡°Alfred, I am perfectly aware of the language issue. However, what you have overlooked is the language of the universe, ¡°Mathematics¡±, and I am willing to bet that, one plus one still equals two, even in this galaxy. So, if you discover an AI, and it allows you to connect with it. Then I suggest starting with math and move on to sharing pictures. I bet that, the two of you will be able to correlate a useable language in no time.¡± ¡°Very good Sir, I will immediately begin my scan.¡± Damien made himself comfortable and began meditating. It ended up taking Alfred over five hours, before he responded again...., ¡°Sir, as you predicted, I was able to establish communications.¡± ¡°Alfred, excellent job. Now give me a current overview of the situation.¡± ¡°Sir, its designation is ¡°War Chariot, and it is currently performing its owner¡¯s last command; ¡°sentry protocol¡±. It is to remain in lockdown, while actively defending against any acts of aggression, with lethal force.¡± ¡°Alfred, ask it, who its owner is, and then explain the fateful conclusion of its previous owner. Go ahead and provide whatever video evidence we have on record, as proof of death.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. Wait one moment while I explain it thoroughly.¡± This time it only took roughly an hour, to get a response...., ¡°Very good Sir. Its previous owner was a "Mirialan" male by the name of, ¡°Orbis Mahar¡±. It has been convinced of its owner¡¯s death, as well as your right to claim it as salvage. It inquires whether you wish to claim it or not?¡± ¡°Alfred, inquire whether or not the previous owner has a next of kin, registered?¡± ¡°Very good Sir, I shall make the inquiry right away.¡± ¡°Sir, I have the information you require. It¡¯s database registry has a "Mirialan" female by the name of ¡°Tamalia Mahar¡± as the previously registered owner¡¯s next of kin.¡± ¡°Alfred, since a droid cannot travel unsupervised, ask whether it has an address listed for "Tamalia Mahar", and if so, would it allow me to accompany it so I can officiate the hand over procedures. Just in case it runs into any difficulty along the way?¡± ¡°Very good Sir. It has an address registered, and it''s the same as the previous owner¡¯s address. It also accepts your offer to act as guarantor.¡± ¡°Alfred, tell it to plot a route, and proceed whenever its ready.¡± ¡°Very good Sir.¡± Damien instantly felt the foreboding feeling vanish and stepped out from behind his cover. As he approaches the vehicle, the side of the hovering RV, opened up automatically, forming two running board like steps. The upper portion of the outer wall lifted into the air like a cargo hatch. The overall operation was smooth, and well synchronized. Damien got his first up close look at the legendary ¡°Repulsorlift technology¡± finding the array was well spaced. The rear propulsion was well shielded on the sides and set up with a three-thruster triangle formation providing a well-balanced thrust displacement. Overall, he found the workmanship left much to be desired, but it seemed sturdy enough to get the job done. It was obvious that this was a work in progress, much as you would expect to find roaming around the outer rim worlds. Damien had every intention of delving into every system on board during the ride. Chapter Five This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Chapter Six Chapter Six It took Damien and the android a full year to hash out all the details and finalize the design for his android production line. Once the magma deposits under the volcano were accessed and samples were analyzed, it was determined that the lava flows contained more than enough variety and quantity of the required raw elements in the slurry of molten minerals. With the previous surface survey scans detecting large deposits of aluminum in the region, Damien could finally feel the material burden for his production line greatly recede. The planet was just as rich in fossil fuel deposits, which waited to be drilled, tapped, and extracted. While the rainforest was a gracious provider of a rubber tree variant, that only needed cultivating. Damien¡¯s initial farming initiative wasn¡¯t one of high yield, but of stringent selective breeding, as well as collecting the various popular local crop variations. He also wanted to find, suitable cash crop analogues to cultivate and hopefully introduce, such as coco beans, coffee beans, tea trees, tobacco, or hemp. His future expansion goals, planned for building a conglomerate out of the regions¡¯ farming community, and acting as a wholesale nursery and seed supplier. This idea came about after Damien sent out a contingent of aerial drones to perform reconnaissance research, on the current agricultural market of the region. The survey came back showing, zero organization or cooperation on this back water world. Even the planetary data-net, was underdeveloped, and poorly maintained and administered making it barely effective, and mostly utilized as a communication messaging service. Damien didn¡¯t really find this all to surprising, as he had already discovered the world¡¯s position in the galaxy, which was at the very outer edge of known space. It barely had a working government, which seemed content to provide just the barest presence of governmental oversight, mostly directed toward the facilitation and taxation as the transit authority over, on and off world travel. For the rest of the world, it was frontier justice, with everyone out for themselves, with a touch of dog-eat-dog competition, which made for a very undeveloped free market, that was proving disastrous for everyone living on the planet. It was the root cause for the majority of the planetary population currently surviving off of ration packs. It was a completely ridiculous scenario, where ration packs even were allowed to exist, with the current level of technology the galaxy had access too. What Damien desired for the most, was infrastructure and a workforce. Sadly, this desire was just a wishful dream, without any financial backing, local reputation, or even a legitimate identity, and at the end of the day, he simply needed to be patient and content. The android¡¯s tireless efforts were already delivering an impressive and relentless systematic progress and was more than enough to see them through this initial start-up phase. Once the production line began producing androids, then the rest would swiftly follow to take care of itself. For now, however, Damien continued his simulation dives into ¡°Way of Shadow¡± while refining and expanding the scope of the simulation. His hope was to fully reconstruct the entire earth, and perhaps the entire Sol system. He thought it would be interesting and fun to have a complete geo-political game board to interact with. Fortunately, time was the one thing he had in abundance, as he was no longer constrained by the short life span of organic life. His new potential longevity, was actually proving to be the most difficult aspect of his new existence to wrap his perspective around, as he still felt that old driving pressure to rush everything to completion, as if time were a fleeting commodity. He needed to stop thinking in terms of one year, or ten years, or even a hundred years, and start visualizing his place in the galaxy in the next millennium. In many ways, Damien felt like he was more of a symbiote like the ¡°Marvel Villain: Venom¡±, while the android played the role of ¡°Eddie Brock¡± as the host body. He also decided that the android deserved a name of its own, so assigned her the feminine designation, Vex. Along with the new name, Damien designed a personal NPC behavioral personality core matrix for Vex. For her voice, he used the ¡°American actress: Scarlett Johansson¡±, as his inspiration, wanting to recapture that warm smoky seductive voice that always gave him warm tingles, every time he heard it. For her personality, Damien wanted to recapture that 1940¡¯s style, passive-aggressive secretary vibe, intelligently self-confident while being sweetly indulgent, seductively ambiguous while being coy about it, all tinted with a coquettishly flirtatious and witty irreverence. ¡°Hey Boss. You busy?¡± ¡°What''s up Vex, you got something you want to share?¡± ¡°Just reporting the completion of the ¡°Mark II¡± platform, Boss.¡± ¡°Oh. Thanks, let''s go take a look.¡± ¡°Always happy to please you. Boss.¡± With the new personality in place, Vex needed a full Mark-II redesign to go along with it. Even though jumping the priority queue would delay the production line, Damien still pushed it forward. He began by utilizing the female ¡°logistic officer¡± model for a base. Instead of the stock aluminum alloy frame and sub-dermal mesh armor, he utilized a titanium-gold alloy for added reinforced protection and strength. He also incorporated ¡°Marvel Hero: The Wolverine¡± style retractable claw, weapon systems in both fore-arms and hands, to provide Vex, with a last resort hidden trump card.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. As for cosmetic alterations, Damien fully incorporated all seven orifices, which other than allowed her to pass visibly as an organic, it also gave her full sexual capabilities. He even introduced a mechanically articulated flexible synthetic tongue, that could be fully manipulated like a tentacle and was only slightly longer than ¡°The American musician: Gene Simmons¡± demon tongue. He also changed the hair color from silver to black and changed her eyes from luminous purple to a deeper midnight blue hue. His last was to design a full body etching onto the surface of her synthetic skin, which displayed a symmetrical full body silver geometric patterned tattoo, that beautifully but discreetly accentuated her feminine features and contours. Most of her internals, where left the same as Vex was fully utilizing ¡°Reality X¡± based technologies. Damien couldn¡¯t help but find the newly assembled, five-foot tall Vex, with a sporty gymnast body archetype, quite adorable. Her age was made to look late teens early twenties. The perfect age to be mature enough to enter the world, but na?ve enough not to know any better. His goal was to make her an alluring bait for honey trapping. Moving to the rear of the new model, he inserted his finger through the anus, and felt for the hidden mechanical release, for the model¡¯s back panels. ¡°Be gentle Boss. This body is still virgin.¡± ¡°Relax Vex. I¡¯d never dream of treating you as anything less than a lady.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll trust you this one time, Boss.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m a professional. I¡¯m sure I can find your trigger spot.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what every man thinks, but it¡¯s rarely ever proven to be true, Boss.¡± ¡°Enough. Let me focus, so I can trigger your release.¡± The manual release was hidden in this manner as a security measure, with the location of the right spot designed to be difficult and hard to locate, as you needed to press against the inner lining in order to trigger the release. It was definitely not something that could simply be done by accident, but only through a deliberate act. Finaly finding the correct location, Damien depressed the release mechanism, triggering a mechanical sequence, as geometric seams formed covering the entirety of the android¡¯s back. The control surfaces spread apart, granting access to the android¡¯s inner workings. The android''s spine split vertically down the center, before systematically splitting apart, while pushing out the three core spherical housing sockets, and the six empty slots for the nanite colony nests. The three core receptacles were for what he liked to think of as the three hearts of their symbiotic union. The topmost upper socket, which was still vacant, is meant to house his Kyber crystal base ¡°Sent-core¡± (Sentient Core). The central socket was already equipped and housing the ¡°HIVE core¡±, which contains the android¡¯s core processor and runs the main OS (Operating System). This left only the lower most socket, that was positioned just behind the naval, which was waiting for her ¡°Reality X: Perpetual engine-core¡±, named as such simply because he couldn¡¯t understand the principles behind the technology in order to call it by anything more definitive. He only knew it had something to do with a core made of a micro-dot of anti-matter, and that it could roughly generate energy for tens of thousands of years. The subterranean room they were currently inside, would be Damien¡¯s private automated robotic vault slash closet, in the future. He designed it to allow him to safely and securely switch out his cores, which was his current goal, for coming here now. Having positioned the ¡°Mark II¡± he only needed to place his ¡°Mark I¡± in position and engage the automated system. However, there was yet to be an automated system, for now there was only a mechanical arm hanging from the ceiling, in which he could utilize via the Force to manipulate it to swap out his cores. His last act of prepping was to release his own back control surfaces, in order to reveal his own three cores, which for the already powered up ¡°Mark I¡± model, it only needed a simple command. With the room fully prepped and ready, Damien gave the final activation initiation, that began the transfer sequence, which involved his temporary shutdown, so the transfer could take place. All though he lost all his cybernetic senses, he still retained his Force awareness in the world. This allowed him to utilize Force telekinesis, to manipulate and control of the mechanical arm hanging from the mount affixed to the ceiling. The mechanical arm was equipped with a three-prong articulating hand, specially designed to grasp the spherical shaped cores, as well as a central palm area that could directly connect with the outer housing of the nanite nest in order to engage the release mechanism. The process proceeded without any complications, and all nine transfers were completed, as Damien¡¯s cybernetic Kyber crystal core, once again began the booting up sequence as it once again began receiving power. The ¡°Mark II¡± was a whole foot and a half shorter in height, and was roughly three times heavier in overall weight, than the ¡°Mark I¡±. Other than the lower vantage point, it felt mostly the same, as the added weight, was undetectable with her cybernetic enhanced mechanical anatomy. She still operated with the same level of fluid dexterity and flexibility. Though Vex was feminine and had the signature hour glass figure, which emphasized the hips, waste, and breasts. Her body was designed for action, and not seduction. This resulted in a balanced ratio, and as a result, her synthetic breasts were undersized, yet beautifully perky, with little to no unnecessary weight to be offset for balance or obstruct the range of her movement capabilities. It was at this point, where Damien realized his oversight, as he had not provided her ¡°Mark II¡±, with any clothing. This was mostly due to, having all of their fabric, armor, and weapon manufacturing capabilities, located at the farm site. It wasn¡¯t so much the fact, but that it highlighted his future potential need for planetary transportation. For the interval, he had been getting by, through utilizing a small delivery fleet of autonomous aerial drones. Still, this made Damien consider what type of future transport to design, with his initial thoughts split between ¡°Marvel: Quin-jet" and ¡°Halo: Pelican¡±. The difference was mostly in scale, as the ¡°Quin-jet¡± was more suited for small squad type missions, whereas the ¡°Pelican troopship¡±, was more suited for cargo transport and battlefield troop deployment. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t a choice between the two but simply utilizing both. He could first produce the ¡°Quin-Jet¡±, to start with. Chapter Seven Chapter Seven ¡°Hey boss. The proto-type Quin-Jet is complete and is only waiting on fuel.¡± ¡°Understood. Thank you Vex. How goes our industry initiative to the North-east?" ¡°It¡¯s proceeding according to schedule, Boss; we¡¯ve drained the required amount of swampland. Built-up the required system of dikes and levees. We¡¯ve installed the required number of pylons, and have completed all foundation pads, in accordance with your standards. We are in the initial stage of gathering and prepping enough material for the initial building construction.¡± ¡°Excellent. How many android units are we up to now?¡± ¡°Boss. We are currently standing at; Twenty-Knight Templar units, five hundred-foot-soldier units, Forty-logistic officer units, with an even ratio between male to female.¡± ¡°Mm. Thank you, Vex.¡± ¡°Always happy to please you, Boss.¡± Damien realized early on in his plan to unify the planet, that it took accessibility, communication, and infrastructure. Three things that need a shit ton of industrial material to create them. Thus, he planned out an industrial park, which for the initial phase included a cement plant, lumber mill. oil refinery, chemical plant, gas refinery, iron works and steel mill. These were just a few to name, as more specialized industries were in the queue for the second phase, such industries as plastics, silicon, ceramics, salts, and fishing. Damien first major project was a global mono-rail bullet train system, which would span the entire surface of the moon, connecting all the archipelagos together. In the end, his planned route made the moon into an enormous baseball, as he utilized the stitching pattern for inspiration, when planning out the main trunkline of the rail system. Damien¡¯s goal was to power the entire rail system via wind turbines, solar farms, and emergency back-up natural gas generators. He also realized, this would bring the ¡°Hope Foundation¡± out into the light, and would no doubt ruffle a few feathers. This meant having enough security to ensure his ability to fend off the political machinations he would no doubt be faced with in the future. Mostly in response to his plan to make riding the train, free for anyone possessing an officially issued resident identification card for the planet. All tourists would be charged a standard rate service fee, that correlated to the duration of their travel time. Damien, was suddenly made aware of a starship, exiting hyperspace and emerging into the system. This in itself wasn¡¯t a rare occurrence, and yet. The moment this one appeared, the Force drew Damien¡¯s attention directly to it, as he soon recognized the disturbance, as the arrival of fellow practitioners of the Force. The ship itself wasn¡¯t very big, only on the same tier level, as a ship like the Millennium Falcon. This led him to believe, it would most likely have a small crew, roughly six to eight give or take. Damien also realized, that if he could sense their presence with the Force, it was just as likely they could sense his presence, even though he was currently merging his presence with the Force, just as ¡°Altus sopor¡± trained him to do. He estimated a high probability rating, that these Force-sensitive beings, would likely pay him a visit sooner or later. Damien knew it was unfavorable, not to mention highly risky to expose himself to such apex existences, but this was also an opportunity to gage the strength of Force sensitive beings in the galaxy. Whether they proved to be friend or foe, it was an opportunity he simply couldn¡¯t let pass by. Besides, as long as he made a few preparations, he could minimize his overall exposure..., ¡°Vex, let¡¯s move to the farm.¡± ¡°I will of course comply to any and all of your desires, Boss.¡± The ship touched down on the vacant landing pad, then shut down power, as a gangway ramp lowered to form stairs leading down from the ship¡¯s interior hatch. Damien stood up from where he was seated, as he watched the visiting group of six aliens exit their ship. As they emerged, the group fanned out in a well-rehearsed choreographed maneuver, which resulted in a staggered three-three formation. The three members taking up the rearguard positions, were each outfitted with assault-rifle type blaster variants, and fitted with tactical style body armor. These three further fanned out to take up guard positions, that would potentially counter any attempts to flank their position. Damien judged these three to be your typical cannon fodder units, and felt that only bringing three along was a bit lacking in their overall judgment, or perhaps these three were more of an elite warrior type, such as a ¡°Special Operations Service¡± officer. Either way, he didn¡¯t feel any threat from them, so he moved on to the three in the lead positions. These three, a male to the left, female in the middle, with another male to the right, were on a whole other level all together. For starters, they lacked any noticeable body-armor, as well as the blaster assault-rifle variant. Their only noticeable weapons were a holstered compact blaster pistol on their left hip, set up in a reverse grip position. This usually signaled that it was intended as a backup weapon, not a primary. This left the flashlight looking device, clipped at their prominent right hip, their primary weapon. Even though, Damien had yet to see a lightsaber in person, he could easily guess one, simply based on how similar they were to the ones depicted in the movies. It was more surprising to him, that the design was so accurately portrayed. The other thing surprising to Damien, was the professional military look they had going, as they were all in matching militaristic themed uniforms. From the look and design, these were their version of the BDU (battle dress uniform), which was designed for combat and unrestrained movements. Even so, there was still a clear divide between stations, as the three forward were clearly command rank, while the three in the rear were clearly expendable foot-soldiers. (Damien): ..., ¡°As arriving guests, I would normally invite you in for tea. However, the Force tells me we are diametrically opposed..., You serve a Tyrannical order, and I serve Independence and freedom for all. Thus, death to all Tyrants.¡± (Noctis): ..., ¡°Are you insane..., We have you out numbered!¡± (Damien): ..., ¡°I am with the Force, and the Force is with me. Numbers cannot offset such an ally. Since this is my home, I shall make a move.¡± Damien didn¡¯t delay things any further, as he brought out his hands from behind his back. He held two kunai in each hand and flung them out two to each side. Controlling them via the Force, he zipped them in arching trajectories, that brought them back at each designated target, one for each of the Force-sensitive beings, leaving the last to target the cannon-fodder units.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Damien, accelerated the kunai to supersonic velocities, while controlling them on a trajectory that lined up each set of targets. The breaking of the sound barrier was all the warning they were given, as the kunai hit. The kunai, he was controlling to hit the three rearguard mundane blaster rifle toting soldiers, punched straight through their armored torsos, from left to right in consecutive order in a clean sweep. The sudden offensive, and noisy breaking of the sound barrier had been intentional, as a distraction, to pull everyone''s attention as cover for the android assault on the starship and whatever forces were remaining with in. At his transmitted command, his prearranged contingent of androids broke from concealment, by pushing themselves out of the shallow graves he had them buried in. Just like zombies rising out of the ground, only these were silent and swift as they converged on the open gangway, then penetrated directly into the interior of the starship. The two pilots who had been left aboard, didn¡¯t even have time to signal a distress call or hit any type of panic button, before they were killed via precise head shots from sub-sonic blowgun darts. Damien monitored the incursion via a passive link, and once he confirmed the successful takedown of the starship, he continued his part of the plan, by hopefully taunting the three remaining enemies into directly attacking him..., As expected, Damien¡¯s simple kunai attack was useless against the three forward officers. They each met the kunai attack, stepping forward while igniting their matching blue lightsaber blades. They each perfectly timed their swipe to intercept the incoming kunai, which vaporized each into molten bits. Still, this left Damien more than happy with his opening gambit, now that the three cannon fodder units were taken off the game board. This would now allow him to fully focus on the upcoming sword duel, without needing to dodge incoming blaster bolts. Damien felt his chances were at least fifty-fifty, even at three-to-one odds, now that the only adversaries were the three who had ignited their lightsabers, which he only found slightly surprising to see were all uniformly ¡°blue¡± in color...., (Damien): ..., ¡°It seems my chances are improving, the odds are now three to one. Care to make a move?¡± (Noctis points his lightsaber at Damien): ..., ¡°You. You..., You are insane. Those were our friends you just killed..., No, murdered.¡± (Damien shrugs): ..., ¡°Then you should be properly motivated, yeah?¡± Damien didn¡¯t take the color too seriously, as these guys were no Jedi, nor were they Sith. He surmised that they had most probably mixed the two faiths, taking what was useful and discarding what wasn¡¯t. Just so they could create some variant cult, for their own power base. In the end, it mattered little, as they were tyrannical in nature, and he had no intention of conforming nor residing under such an oppressive regime. Damien drew both, katana and wakizashi, as he prepared to meet their offensive..., (Dax, the left most male alien, was the first to break ranks, as he charged Damien): ..., ¡°Murderer die!¡± (Kira, the center female alien, followed his lead): ..., ¡°You will pay, bastard!¡± (Noctis, hesitated but followed): ..., ¡°What fucking insanity.¡± A strange effect happened, as time slowed to a crawl. Damien watched as the three started their charge, but a slinky like phenomenon occurred, as precognitive images rushed forward, displaying the three combatant¡¯s initial moves. He suspected that this was something akin to the light side ability, ¡°Battle sense¡±, which he found surreal, and truly over powered. And he had no intention of wasting the opportunity it provided. First was timing, then planning his counters, and attacks, which his cybernetic crystalline mind, had no problem doing on the fly. Damien dashed forward to meet his first attacker, coating his blades in a Force powered energy shield. He caught the incoming downward strike with his wakizashi, while forward thrusting his Katana punching through the male alien¡¯s torso. He had no time to celebrate, as he twisted and then utilized Vex''s cybernetic enhanced strength to rip his katana out sideways in order to swat away the incoming strike from the following female alien. Damien followed up the parry, by bringing up his wakizashi, thrusting it in just under the female¡¯s chin, punching through and exiting out the top of her head. Again, he had no time to dally, as he needed to spin clockwise, while pulling out his wakizashi, all while using his katana to catch the incoming downward strike from the last male alien¡¯s attack. This allowed Damien to slip past and behind the male alien, where he executed a slashing strike across the back of the alien¡¯s legs, and successfully hamstringing the bastard causing him to collapse to his knees. This gave him the perfect opportunity, which he took by separating the head of the alien from its shoulders, with a cybernetic enhanced strike of his katana. The moment the last alien died, Damien was caught off guard as his Kyber crystal core, suddenly erupted, with six manifested Force construct tendrils that plunged into each of the slain corpses. In an effort to understand this new turn of events, he returned to his inner core space, only to find a strange vortex like maelstrom happening with the mist inside. It took him a moment of concentration to discover the cause and effect. The six tendrils were siphoning the residual life force from the corpses greedily, and as a result the mist within his core was growing denser. A byproduct of this was, him gaining a full set of memories from each of the beings. Downloading six individual memory sets would have been a daunting prospect for any other person, and yet, with his cybernetic crystalline mind, he handled the load effortlessly, while assimilating them and compressing them into a single continuous timeline starting with the earliest memory and finishing up with the final moment of the last alien¡¯s life. Damien discovered he was suddenly fluent in four different alien languages, as well as gaining a detailed understanding into the inner workings of the ¡°Guiding Light Cult¡±. He also learned to his surprise, that this group was sent here to investigate the disappearance of one of their enforcer groups, which just happened to be the band of marauders, he had recycled into fertilizer previously. Damien supposed with the overall size of the galaxy; he shouldn¡¯t find it odd that it took them nearly two years to finally come looking for them. It also explained why no one local came by to investigate their disappearance, since they originated off world. After picking up the three lightsaber hilts, Damien sent out orders detailing the cleanup process, making sure the androids removed all non-organic material before feeding the corpses into the composter. After disassembling one of the hilts, he found the inner mechanics only slightly different from Earth¡¯s depiction, which amazed him how accurate the bleed through had been. The lightsaber hilt contained many components, from focusing lens to pommel cap, such as a blade emitter shroud, magnetic stabilizing loop, followed by a ring tuning flange to ensure that the activated blade did not in turn burn through the hilt. Immediately below that and mounted internally lay the blade arc tip, followed on the outside by the blade power adjustment and blade length adjustment knobs. Following the arc tip were mounted the blade energy channel which was nested amongst the cycling field energizers. Within the crystal energy chamber below this lay the focusing crystals, the focusing crystal activator and the primary crystal which was attached to the primary crystal mount and situated between the lightsaber energy gate. The primary crystal mount was in turn connected to the diatium power cell, which served as the primary power source of the weapon. The power cell was in turn wrapped beneath the power field conductor, power vortex ring and an inert power insulator. Rounding out the components that went into the disassembled hilt were the handgrip connector and a sturdy belt ring. The most surprising aspect of the three hilts were their uniformity, as if they¡¯d been manufactured via an assembly line process. Damien shrugged off, the queerness of the hilts, as he went over to begin examining the starship, for a former Earthling, this was a monumental piece of tech. And he could help feeling like a kid on Christmas morning, staring at the biggest, coolest present to ever exist. Fortunately, besides the two pilots, the rest also knew how to fly the ships and operate its various systems. So, he too could at least fly the ship, thanks to their collection of memories. Even though he had no immediate plans to leave this world, any time soon. It was still comforting to know he had the option if the need ever arose. Damien relinquished control back to Vex, and had her begin performing a thorough scan, as well as a technology autopsy on the ship, so they could potentially reverse engineer it. After all, having one ship was great, but having a fleet of ships at your command was the only way to flourish in the galaxy. He definitely had no intention of living life like ¡°Han Solo¡±, who was forced to run away from practically every conflict he ever encountered.