"Master, master, wait a minute." Boo halted and returned to the secret realm.
After a quick scan on the explosives called 'Ragnarorks', Boo drove the ghost ship out of the secret realm.
"What did you do?"
"Their database is practically empty. So I took a quick sample of the materials. Maybe we can analyze the composition and find something."
"Alright." He nodded.
*** *** ***
Varian was back at the asteroids once again. The fields were still full of the green plants sporting large mouths, but some spots were empty.
"Be alert on your way. This is very important." The manager of the field instructed the field members who nodded and instructed the drones to grab the packed level 6 plants from the warehouse.
In a few minutes, a space shuttle was loaded and took off. Varian took a deep breath in the ghost ship and followed them.
Contrary to expectations, the space shuttle didn't go for the higher field. Instead, it entered a secret realm.
"Are they growing the Sequoias in the secret realms?" Varian tapped his chin and mused.
When the drones unloaded the boxes of Sequoias from the ship to another warehouse, he knew he was wrong.
The ghost ship also circled around the entire secret realm, and failed to any Sequoia fields.
"Are they just storing these things?" Varian looked down at the warehouses and wondered.
These level 6 Sequoia plants were supposed to reach another region and be nurtured to level 7.
"Master, I found their schedule. They'll be picked up after an hour." Boo hacked through the secret realm and informed.
"I see." Varian crossed his arms and waited.
Thirty minutes later, a group of men and women in white lab coats entered the warehouse.
Taking out a transparent liquid in test tubes, they started injecting every Sequoia plant stored in the glass containers.
The plants slumped, like they were asleep. Then, the group took out a silver colored liquid and gave every Sequoia a shot.
The plants thrashed against the containers and tried to escape, but in the end, they succumbed to the shots and shook violently.
Their auras fluctuated violently and their level 6 auras plummeted. Peak level 5, high level 5, mid level 5 and low level 5.
"What the?!" Varian gaped at the scene, frozen in shock.
The Sequoias' aura was still fluctuating, but after thirty minutes, they calmed down.
Then, they were loaded into a space shuttle and exited the secret realm.
'Is this really what I think it is…? Then why are they doing this?'
Varian deduced some answers, but they only birthed more questions. So, he put them aside and simply followed the space shuttle.
The space shuttle reached one of the asteroid planting field. Then an announcement was made.
"We got new goods. These plants have improved from level 4 and reached level 5. Now, let's do our best and raised them to level 6 in a day."
Varian didn't understand their intent, but as ghost ship circled around the asteroid, he realized there were a few stealthy drones observing the asteroid.
"They belong to Athena agents, master." Boo answered.
"Fuck! Fuck!" Varian covered his face and swore.
He went to the same asteroids and each of them got these new goods and made the same announcements.
Varian was almost sure of his guess, but he decided to wait for a few hours.
Then it began.
Under his incredulous gaze, the plants were all fed with aura crystals, just like he first saw them.
All of their auras rose, from low level 5 to high level and only a few of them, reached level 6.
Then these level 6s were taken into warehouses.
An announcement was made that they were prepared to be taken to the 'higher field'.
Varian felt his body freeze as the realization dawned on him.
'They fooled us. They fooled everyone. No…that can't be. Maybe it's only with these few?' He didn't want to believe it.
After all these preparations and preparing for a war, how could he believe it's all for nothing?
Sequoias were the prime reason for this situation, how could be they be fake?
But regardless of what he wanted to believe, Varian had a method to verify the truth.
He focused on the power deep within him. It wasn't harnessed nor controlled, but Varian could draw a sliver of its prowess.
Bringing that power out, he focused his gaze on the Sequoia plants on the field.
[Sequoia Plant. Low Level 5 (Level is suppressed)]
[Sequoia Plant. Low Level 5 (Level is suppressed)]
"What…no, this can't be." Varian shook his head violently and continued scanning every plant in the field.
[Sequoia Plant. Low Level 6 (Level is not suppressed)]
[Sequoia Plant. Low level 6. (Level is not suppressed)]
When he reached the final plant, he was utterly silent.
Then, he covered his mouth and started laughing like a madman. "Hahahaha! Yes! Yes!"
"Master, I've found a few storages under the field. They hold aura crystals. According to my analysis, the aura crystals aren't taken by the plant." Boo's reported only fanned the flames.
"Hahaha! Yes Boo! We did it!" Varian pumped his fist into the air with a bright face.
His excitement was through the roof. His heart was pounding so hard that it could've broken out of his chest.
Varian didn't mind. He was too happy to care.
"Master…what's happening?" Boo asked in confusion.
Varian took a deep breath and suppressed the euphoria. He needed to verify it completely.
"Boo, go to every asteroid field we know. Now."
And after a few hours of constant level checking, Varian slumped in his throne and kept laughing like a madman.
Every asteroid field showed the same results! That's it!
His actions, however, worried a certain ghost.
{Miss Sarah, Master had gone crazy. I believe only you can kick, I mean, drill some sense back into him. I'll pick you up.
Little cute ghost Boo.}
Boo was about to send the message when Varian's laughter stopped.
His eyes were red, his face was bright and he looked like a man dying out of happiness.
Varian rubbed his cheeks. "Ouch. I laughed too much."
Boo was surprised. "M-Master, are you sane?"
"Huh? I am always sane." He shot a glance at Boo.
"R-Right."
"Why do I feel like you almost did something bad?" Varian narrowed his eyes.
"N-No! Also, why were you laughing, master?"
"Boo, we found a big, big secret." Varian said with a big, big smile.. "The Sequoia army is a lie."