After defeating and capturing the rebel leader, Julian quickly settled the rest of the mission. He coordinated with Lieutenant Vilma, who was standing guard outside the settlement, to round up the remaining hundreds of rebels.
One magus level, three Rank 9 mages, 68 saint level, and 320 other rebels were captured in this mission.
With their weapons and armor taken away, the rebels were basically unable to do anything against the heavily armed and more organized Nexus soldiers. Still, the process took some time due to the sheer number of people the rebels had in their ranks.
As for the rebel leader Stildar Quartermain, the man’s four limbs were tied with a special restraint that weakened the magus’ power. On top of that, he was being watched by Thrax.
While Julian was busy rounding up the rebels and Thrax kept tabs on the rebel leader, Emery was given the task of exploring the underground cavern that the rebels used as a base along with the Minister of Science.
From their exploration, in addition to the 1000-plus sets of Solar Rifle and Armor, three hundred unfinished mechanical soldiers and thousands of canned goods were found in the underground cave.
Emery also found a room where the rebels used to enhance their fighters with their own [Spirit Serum]. Looking at the recipes stored in this place, he quickly swept his gaze over the contents and activated his skill.
[Analyze]
With his skill, Emery managed to figure out that the serum the rebels created was of low quality. Nonetheless, it was still able to effectively increase the strength of selected humans to the saint-level standard.
“It seems the Replicator is indeed capable of making such an item,” Emery commented as he recalled the things he had seen during this exploration.
“Yes, Envoy. Even I didn’t expect their supplies to be this much,” Otto said concerned. “Weapons, armor and serum; it’s truly fortunate we have stopped these rebels before they became too big…”
Not long after, Julian came bringing with him several soldiers to help make a list of all the items that had been found, which would then be packed up and shipped back to the Nexus colony. While watching the soldiers moving the crates filled with items out of the cave, Julian turned to Emery and asked the important question.
“What about the stolen item? Did you find it?”
Emery rummaged through his Spatial Space and handed Julian a storage ring that contained the Replicator machine inside. Just to be sure, the Roman took out the 2 by 2-meter machine for a final check.
“Is this our objective?” He asked the Minister of Science.
“Yes, Envoy. I have confirmed it is indeed the stolen replicator.”
“Very good then”
Emery explained he had found the Replicator in a large room where a mech suit breaks open, it was kept by the rebel with a device on his eye.
“That Burdock was one of my chief engineers. I still can’t believe he was involved in all this,” Otto said, the expression on his face showing he felt responsible for the mess that had occurred.
As he watched all the items being loaded by the Nexus soldiers onto the transport vehicle, Emery inadvertently caught a glimpse of a certain expression on Julian’s face. It was as if his mind was troubled and having a deep thought about something.
“What’s wrong?”
Julian turned his head at the question and heaved a sigh of helplessness, “Compared to those in the Magus Universe, these items are nothing but to our home, just a hundred of those rifles or armor can allow any nation to conquer the entire world.”
Hearing such words, Emery quipped. “I’m sure the Romans could have done just the same without them.”
Julian raised his eyebrow, before chuckling as he also found the notion somewhat true.
The other person standing with them who overheard the conversation couldn’t help but ask what he was most curious about. “Envoy, if I may ask, are you perhaps from a lower realm?”
“Yes, we are,” Julian replied calmly.
An astonished expression appeared on the minister’s face upon hearing that answer. A second later, the middle-aged man quickly schooled his inappropriate reaction and expressed what he felt.
“Wow, that was unexpected, really. On a real note, it’s impressive how you are so strong despite being from a lower realm.”
The minister then proceeded to share that the Nexus faction was only upgraded to the middle realm 200 years ago, a feat that was possible thanks to the advanced technologies they invented that they had contributed to the alliance.
“This miraculous machine really is the main reason why.”
Hearing such a history, both Emery and Julian couldn’t help but think about when would Earth reach the same advancement.
The two of them knew there were two ways for a planet to receive an upgrade to its realm classification. One was by the spiritual quality, meaning the status of the overall spirit strength of the planet’s inhabitants; the other was by their current standard of technological advancement.
p An example of the first path was Kaleos, who was known to be an ancient civilization of scholars who studied the secrets of the spirit realms. After many generations and eons of development, most of the inhabitants of their civilization had excellent spiritual aptitude.
As for the technology path, the best example would be the Nephilim, who had an unprecedented technology that allowed them to drain the power of the star and bestowed them a seat amongst the Grade 5 factions of the Magus Alliance.
The two examples were something of a magnitude that seemed far-fetched to be achieved by the inhabitants of Earth in a mere thousand years.
In the end, a civilization’s realm level was based on how many resources they could bring into the alliance. For the Nexus faction, it was their Solar and Replicator technology that ascended them through the stairs of rank.
About half an hour later, all the items in the underground cave had been collected, so the group returned to the surface. As he stepped out of the dimly lit cave, Emery was greeted by the sight of the first light of the rising sun.
There were hundreds of people in front of him
Soldiers chained up the rebels, while villagers who had already awakened filled out the streets of the settlement. When the thousands of villagers seemed to realize what had just happened last night, it quickly became clear to Emery that these people supported the rebels and hated the Nexus soldiers.
“Release him! Release Magus Stildar!
“Go away! We don’t want you people here!”
The situation started to get messy, because some residents of the settlement started picking up stones and throwing them at the Nexus soldiers.