[08:41pm]

There was absolute silence inside the heart of the Boeing C-54 Globemaster where the 6 Ascended going on a mission sat.

The Boeing C-54 Globemaster is a strategic aircraft carrier of the Freegrid Collective that’s designed to transport soldiers for strategic missions where stealth and secrecy is needed.

Leon knew that Ren Nora stole the original blueprint for this aircraft by spying into history with his Primordial Hacking ability.

At first glance, it still carried the unmistakable silhouette of the ancient Boeing C-17 Globemaster III of the Pre-Genesis Era which Leon already saw that had a high T-tail, with broad powerful wings and a cavernous fuselage built for moving entire wars in a single flight.

This upgraded version had been stretched, reinforced, and reimagined into something far beyond a normal transport aircraft.

Its hull was no longer standard alloy but a layered composite of adaptive armor, built for heavy battlefield transportation.

Embedded across its surface were modular hexagonal panel seams, self-repairing sections that were capable of redistributing damage or sealing breaches mid-flight.

Along the wings, the traditional four engines had been replaced by hybrid propulsion arrays with vector-thrust turbines fused into ion-assisted drives, allowing for near-silent cruising at high altitude.

It was also built for brutal bursts of acceleration when needed, but the most striking transformation was beneath.

The cargo bay had been hollowed into a multi-tiered deployment hangar, its interior lined with autonomous racks and magnetic launch rails.

Inside, there were compact strike drones, interceptor units, and even reconnaissance swarms all sitting in tight formation, each one linked to the aircraft’s central combat intelligence.

When deployed, the underside of the craft would open in segmented sections, releasing entire squadrons in coordinated waves like a predator shedding fragments of itself.

A few reconnaissance drones were already deployed in a sweeping formation around the transport aircraft to make sure that it remained hidden and undetected by foreign vessels.

Defensively, the aircraft carrier was no slouch either. It was a fortress.

Point-defense systems were embedded seamlessly along the fuselage, capable of tracking and neutralizing incoming threats before they ever appeared on conventional radar.

Electronic warfare suits extended its reach even further, able to jam, spoof, or outright dominate enemy systems across vast distances.

In contested airspace, this was an aircraft carrier that can survive anything.

This was one of the best piece of technology that the Freegrid Collective had to offer. It was expensive, but it did its job perfectly.

Inside it, the atmosphere is controlled and quiet.

Gone was the raw, industrial feel of old cargo transports. In its place, there were smooth surfaces, responsive interfaces, and a layered holographic command environment that adapted to whoever stood within it.

Pilots no longer just flew the craft- they interfaced with it, guiding its systems through neural links and predictive A.I assistance.

Apart from the 6 Ascended inside, the only other person in this aircraft carrier was the pilot who was a loyal E Rank NetRunner of the Freegrid Collective.

The multi-tiered deployment hangar of the carrier didn’t just carry drones though, that was where the weapons of a certain Mechanist also now sat- 5 crates.

They were arranged tightly to each other.

Inside the heart of the aircraft carrier sat the 6 Ascended going for "Operation Killing Joe", they all wore strange attire; they wore dark blue contract security uniforms.

While the rest of the world was reeling from the aftermath of "Operation Safe Corridor" and the storm that followed it, they quietly snuck out with the storm as distraction as they embarked on their own mission.

Neither of them said a word. The operation already started, and they prepared themselves mentally in their different ways.

Like usual, leaning casually on his chair, Daren fiddled and played with his dagger to clear his mind.

Talia crossed her arms and her legs with her eyes closed as she leaned back against her chair, meditating in silence and preparing herself for hostile territory and the daunting task ahead of her.

Brick sat like a statue, motionless with his eyes closed.

As for Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq, the D Rank Gene Augur sat, calmly resting his elbows on his knees as he looked at the wall of the aircraft like the secrets of the universe were inscribed on them.

No one knew what was going through his mind.

And as for Leon, with his arms crossed, he seemed to zone out and was just looking vacantly at the space in front of him but actually, he was interacting with the ChronoSystem.

DING!

~----~

[ChronoSystem Interface- Online]

Name: Leon Ardent

Race: Human (Extinct Line)

Class: Mechanist (Field Engineer)

Rank: D (Specialist)

Class Specialization: Warmachine Specialist

DP (Data Points): 7,865

[Attributes:]

STR – 446; AGI – 467; END – 675; INT – 718; WIL – 623; ADE – 644

[Derived Stats:]

ATK – 1427; DEF – 2025; SPD – 938; SYS – 2012

{HP – 38,210/38,210}

{EP – 36,530/36,530}

[Traits:]

>Adaptive Analysis (Passive): Gains 10% faster blueprint comprehension when observing unknown tech.

>Temporal Anomaly (Passive): Immune to ADE corruption; System growth uncapped.

[Racial Trait- Human:] Adaptive Cognition (Passive): +10% learning rate across all skills.

[Racial Trait- Rat DNA] Danger Premonition (Passive): You can clearly perceive danger ahead of time.

[Racial Trait- Cockroach DNA] Undying Roach: When triggered, +180% to +300% END and +60% to +120% HP regeneration depending on LUCK.

[Abilities: 10]

>Deconstruct.

>Construct.

>Nanofabrication.

>Miniaturization.

>Drone Control Matrix.

>Neural Overclock.

>Enhance.

>Command Link Network.

>Blueprint Conversion.

>Warforge.

[Blueprints:]

*F Rank: Portable Energy Cell, Modified C-5 Drone, Sword Drone, Leon’s Cloak, Flux Crystal Spear, Onyx-05 Computer, Jury-rigged bomb, QX-07 Air Gun, Titanium Spear, Titanium Longsword, Titanium Dagger, Titanium Battle Axe, Titanium Mace, Titanium Halberd, Smoke Grenade, Flashbang Grenade, Chemical Grenade, Illumination Grenade, Infrared Googles, Basic Cleaning Bot.

*E Rank: Electromagnetic Pulse Gun, ADE Nullification Shackles, Light-armored Transport Truck, Fragmentation Grenade, Incendiary Grenade, Blast Grenade, Pad Boosters, R9 Energy Shield, Bastion, .

*D Rank: Doom Rover v0.1, Vita7 Magnesium Nanite, Mosquito i7 pac 3060, Sentry-IV Autocannon Drone, Bulwark MK.II Titan Frame, Zerphyr-7 Stealth Reconnaissance UAV, AEGIS-V Modulator, T-7 Naga Vibro-Blades, NS-99 "Blackout" Signal Dampener, CH Mask.

*Modified Blueprint: VX-09 Emberfist.

[Total Number of Blueprints: 41]

...

[Unique ChronoSystem Functions:]

>Construct.

>Deconstruct.

>Chrono Replication.

>System Assimilation.

...

[Character Summon Cards:]

[Character Card: Ramirez]

[Card Ability: Symbiotic Core ×3]

>Symbiotic Core (Passive): Anytime you use this card ability, you gain the Gene Augur ability to store ADE directly in your blood for 5 hours. You can use the stored ADE anytime or keep it stored.

...

[Character Card: Jake]

[Card Ability: Jake’s Servo Reflex ×5]

>Jake’s Servo Reflex: Anytime you use this card ability, you temporarily awaken Cat DNA and the Cat Reflex racial trait for 20 minutes. You also gain the ability to use a Cyber gladiator’s Servo Reflex ability.

*Servo Reflex: When activated, your reaction time is doubled.

...

[Character Card: Lucian]

[Card Ability: Quantum Trace ×4]

>Quantum Trace: Anytime you use this card ability, you gain the Quantum Shaper ability of enhanced dream and reality control- the ability to interact with micro-particles to slightly alter motion and reality, and you also gain the ability to leave an afterimage decoy lasting 2 seconds.

~----~