41 Secret Battle

Although Aons are known by many of the smaller civilizations as the rulers of the universe but they are only the dominant power in the known universe, also called Aonverse. This is due to the unique structural makeup of the universe and the various laws at work. These laws are not yet fully understood by any civilization even Aons are researching about these with huge investment, to further their strength.

The problem faced by them during expansion is that there are certain dead zones haphazardly located at the fringe of Aonverse as one moves away from the center. They are not located in a uniform manner as some are nearer others far but they completely envelop the Aonverse. There is no reasonable explanation for the presence of these dead zones and many believe they are due to the collapse of the universe and what lies beyond that is a big mystery. These dead zones stretch and go on for a long distance with nothing in sight and some dead zones are even dangerous due to their unstable nature.

Aons construct bases in such regions so that they can use them as relay points to explore further into the unknown. MBN is one such base which is used to launch expeditions into these dead zones. Many expeditions have entered the dead zones but they have still neither crossed it nor produced any meaningful results.

The main problem is the lack of a power source capable of sustaining the expedition force as the dead zones are devoid of resources and is a desolate vacuum. Smaller expedition probes failed to bring any results as they are floating aimlessly after exhausting their fuel.

So when they found a huge planetoid with large reserves of pyrine the upper level of Aons are excited as it might lead them to find a way to create fuel in the dead zone. It is just a speculation that the planetoid can produce pyrine in a self-sustaining manner so they are moving in a cautious manner and not attacked the planetoid.

The Aons still don't know much about this new species of lifeform and their preliminary analysis on the dead body of the alien scout shows no promising results. They have to continue their research further so that they can get a better understanding of what they are dealing with.

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Meanwhile, the leaders of the Swarm are in a meeting to decide on their future course of action. They were able to learn from their connection to scout about the capabilities of their invaders and decided not to invade the Aons. As Aons mind is located at a secure place any attempt by them would be immediately known by Aons. They had the chance to infiltrate the researchers who were conducting the experiment on the scout as the scout also contained spores which could invade and take control of the organic lifeform but was abandoned due to the risk.

The swarm was also doing their own research on Aons scouters and about the Aon technology at the same time. They were able to deceive the researchers by letting them only see part of the memories of the captured scout. Aons are still not aware of the high-level members of the swarm.

The swarm ruler is the planet itself or rather the huge network of flesh which is spread across the whole planet. The members of the swarm are born in this flesh network. To give an analogy the planet can be imagined as the body and the swarm its immune system and food gathering system. The swarm itself does not know about their ruler and their actions are ingrained into them from birth to protect the planet and hunt for food. Even the high-level members of the swarm who are intelligent still protect the planet and stay on it as it is needed for their continuation, to produce the next generation.

It is now a race between the swarm and Aons to first find the other side weakness and exploit it.

If Aons know that the planetoid came from across a dead zone then it would become their top priority.

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This was an ancient city, on the streets were huge chunks of carved up rocks everywhere, the people of the streets looked peculiar, different heights, different races. Most of them, however, were dressed in simple basic clothes, and on all their shoulders was a little virtual assistant.

bzzz!

A man suddenly appeared amidst everyone on the street, it was Alyx. He was also wearing the same default clothes, on his shoulder sat a little virtual assistant the size of a fist, the AI Ax, he too was wearing the same clothing. He looked adorable, like a little version of some actor on Earth.

"We are back on the first level, this area is a bit more organized than the last." Alyx thought that the first level is chaotic and unorganized from his last trip but he was surprised seeing the present scene. Alyx failed many times in his experiment to create an animal from Earth and decided to relax a bit on the first level of Paradise.

Alyx stood in the streets, looking at the traffic as it passed by him and reminiscing about the past.

"Of course." Ax's voice resounded in Alyx, "We are currently on MB Grey which is in a much-advanced sector of the Aonverse and is closer to the HQ." Upon Ax's suggestion, he went to the first level of another Planet in Paradise as the first level on MBN was not a relaxing environment.

The civilizations in these sectors are highly developed and have divided MBG into their own turfs and developed them as the real world by incorporating their culture. As MBN is newly formed and the civilizations on MBN are relatively young they did not have enough capital to take up such operations.

"Closer to HQ? Isn't HQ a secretive place and always on the move." Alyx blinked his eyes.

"The HQ that I'm referring to is the official HQ which is known to all civilizations and not the hidden HQ. All of those sectors closer to the official HQ are more developed as they have been around for a long time. When entering into the Paradise, people will appear on a planet in Paradise based on their proximity to an Aon station and their distance to HQ." Ax explained.

Alyx understood the reasoning, as long as civilization has enough time it could develop at a rapid pace once it comes in contact with Aons. Second level customers can easily move between different planets in paradise so Alyx visited MBG upon Ax's suggestions. He could have gone directly to HQ but it would have cost him a large amount.