亚洲综合中美

‘Is that what remains of the famed GateSix?’ wondered Staxius who took a long stare. People around were curious by the famed Company.

“It’s a shame that GateSix turned out this way,” whispers came from the next booth, “-the leader has turned to a life of drinking. His last project was supposed to revolutionize the world of aerial combat. What remains is nothing but a shell and an incomplete diagram. The theory behind how he wishes the engine to be built hasn’t even been created yet. What a fall from grace,” they said without heed. Each time the words flew to the man’s ear, he’d look up with a look of despair fueled by anger, then stare back down.

“Master Shadow,” in came Diaz with the rest, “-I see that you’ve found GateSix,” they stood in line and watched.

“What remains of it,” interjected Courtney.

‘There is no way this man is the leader of GateSix,’ the more he thought, the more it grew to be impossible. ‘There must be something he’s hiding, else, why would inventors show up without an invention. Tis not a mockery, the world of knowledge is profound and unbound by emotions, what matters is wit.’

“Boss, we should check the other inventions out,” voiced Yves.

.....

“You do it,” sharply, “-Yves, I’m giving you around 500,000 gold to spend. Find whatever weapons, the vehicle you’d like; strike a deal, and get the items. I’ll figure something out with GateSix.”

“Are you sure?” perplexed, he stepped back with the breathing erratic, “-that amount of money is ungodly.”

“Courtney, take care of him,” smiled Shadow, “-go have fun browsing the weapons.”

“Come on, Diaz,” holding his collar, Courtney led both to browse around Dragoon.

‘Carton boxes, empty bottles, and a drunkard. The has something to do with this riddle,’ walked into the booth; the eyes closed. ‘Strange pattern,’ uneven lines of mana flowed through the booth. In the center was were it disrupted into a dome shape, almost as if a protection spell. Continuing to investigate, a laser pointer was spotted on the floor next to the drunkard. ‘What does it all mean?’ stood facing the , the mind worked.

“Glare the abyss long enough and it will stare back,” said the drunk with a hiccup.

‘Glare the abyss,’ paused, ‘-should it not be stare, why did he use glare. Glare as in stare or glare as in light?’ A , carton boxes, a drunk man, and a laser pointer. ‘A drunk knows he has a home but doesn’t know the way back,’ a quote from a philosophical book he read long ago. ‘The boxes represent the disorder of the man’s thought, the constant peering at the table through the bottle is an example of looking at the world through a small window. You know not the real truth.’ Facing the man, ‘-the laser, what does it do,’ clicked, it pointed a blueish light opposed to red. ‘Staring the world through a bottle, it gets distorted, to find the truth, one must step out of prejudice and think outside the box.’ Returning the pointer to where it belonged, Staxius stepped outside and went further away.

‘The further you are, the clearer the picture becomes,’ several meters past what a normal human could see, ‘-simple yet effective,’ he laughed. Those who walked gave a few side-glances. “Convergence of Mana,” he returned to the booth, “-localized on a single spot, the mana in the air can serve as a portal to many uses. The most prominent being the gathering of strength, the methodology used by Witches to summon Elemental Spirits. The laser pointer is the inductor as it has energy, the catalyst must be the empty bottles.’ Pressed, the laser bounced and headed towards the ceiling where a balloon exploded dropping papers saying congratulations. ‘That’s the research,’ the head shook, ‘-GateSix was experimenting on how to gather Mana from the atmosphere. The Divergence of Mana, a concept I’ve written as a plausible hypothesis. Looks like someone else had the same idea.’

“Who would have thought,” spoke the lab-coat wearing man, “-I had set the room so that’d any who had a small inclination to Alchemy and mana would figure out what our last project was. Never did I think that someone already knew about the Convergence of Mana.”

“As a mere hypothesis,” they faced one another, “-was the riddle really about forcing a man to look from the different point of view. I fail to see how anyone would have figured to take the laser and point towards the table; even if it happened – would you have handed over the research?”

“Tis was primitive,” sighed the man, “-and this is way too hot,” pulling back the hair, long-short curly hair burst forth. Round glasses, the mildly pimpled forehead of which her complexion was light brown. Sharp nose, grey eyes, and a perpetual look of fatigue. “I’m Rhee, lead researcher for GateSix, well was,” she scratched her head, “-nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you,” he held out a handshake, “-I’m Shadow of Phantom,” a friendly smile. “Back to the subject at hand, was Convergence of Mana the only thing you had in store for Dragoon?”

“I’m afraid yes,” she turned and walked further inside, “-since the company went under, our papers, equipment, and prototypes were stolen without remorse. GateSix lost everything apart from this little discovery – we had so much in store for the future, sadly, it ended. I do apologize for not having anything else to offer.”

“The look on thine face,” voiced strongly, she turned to see what was the matter, “-what is the plan going forward, are you going to stop pursuing knowledge?”

“Of course not, no legit scientist would stop,” she sighed, “-no money means no research and without anything to offer, GateSix might as well be a sci-fi storyteller.”

“What about starting over?”

“Not a problem, give us 200,000 Gold and we’ll have everything back,” she laughed, “-that amount of money is hard to come by even for us. We only had around 50,000 to develop the Antis-2.”

“How about 500,000 Gold,” he voiced in a whisper, “-in the condition that GateSix becomes the property of Phantom. All you make, all you find, will be under my control; weapons, research on magic or the next step in Mana Convergence,” *Snap,* a blue light from the table flew over to his hand. “There’s Mana Dispersal as well, I don’t have to say how important it is. You know the worth already,” he paused with arms crossed.

“Mana Dispersal,” she stepped back, “-that was what I thought after seeing the point of convergence being inconsistent. Who are you actually?” she asked, “-there but a few crazy people out in the world. Those who experiment with the very law of nature; are you one of them?”

“You say that as if you’re innocent,” the forehead crinkled, “-and I noticed that you didn’t flinch when I said half a million gold.”

“You’re joking, aren’t you?”

“I’m afraid not,” he smiled, “-I’ll buy you and your researchers for half a million gold. All that money will be yours to control, I’ll throw in an additional 100,000 Gold for any changes you wish to make.” Shaken, it took a few minutes for the lady to process the information.

“What is the end goal?” something fishy must have lived underneath for none would have offered such an amount, tis was what she thought.

“To gather minds all over the world and create a group of intellect who will put the Cobalt unit to shame,” a confident gaze, “-join me as Phantom starts to spread its hands around the globe. The monopolization of arms, profit in war,” he smiled.

“No way am I going to give up the chance in being part of the group who takes those pompous bastards down. Shadow, GateSix agrees to join Phantom under one condition.”

“What is it?”

“The condition is that you allow my researchers and I to bring along our families. I’ve two small kids, the husband ran away.”

“Is that so,” taking out a contract, “-I’ll accept your condition. Sign here, here, and here,” with a smile, the lady accepted.

“Welcome to Phantom. Do ask the researchers to make way to the Airport for we’re taking off later tonight. You’ll be staying in Hidros, your kids will have good places to study for it will be in the capital of Rosespire. With the amount of money I’m about to spend, you should find a comfortable house.”

“A-a-are you serious?” her bafflement increased, “-now, you telling me to leave without preparations?”

“Listen,” the voice grew deep, “-GateSix belongs to Phantom, the contract is signed. I’m not forcing you into labor for my gain – this deal benefits thee more than I. Rosespire is a good place to start over.”

“I didn’t mean anything; it was too sudden that’s all.”

“Can I count on you to be ready for take-off?”

“Give me five hours and we’ll be ready.”

“Then it’s a deal, I’ll see you at the airport,” exchanging phone numbers, GateSix closed their booth to vanish into nothingness.

‘We’ve just spent 1.1 million on a single trip,’ he facepalmed, ‘-let’s hope the investments will be fruitful in the future. I’ve got the Alchemist Sect and GateSix under my wing; we should be set to start researching weapons. I wonder what kind of products will emerge from such a fusion of minds.’ Walking up and down the hall, many of the inventions were weapons, mostly guns that were far lower quality than Antis-2. A serious gap in knowhow.

Heavy and powerful land vehicles, small replicas of tanks who have yet to make their appearance in war. Guns meant nothing to their armor; the same idea with differing versions. The major weapons manufacturers were proud of their work. Each cost around 60,000 Gold depending on the model. No sign of the Cobalt unit’s weapon division yet. In the distance, Yves could be seen jumping around as a kid.

At the sea section, ships – small models all spread in a row. Not many people were interested in said means of transport. A particular model caught his eye. A ship that promised to carry tanks as well as fighter-planes across the sea. The idea seemed enticing, though the scientists in charge were less than competent. They presented the idea with no way nor technology to make it happen.

Lastly came the air section, small airships ranged. Beautiful and deadly, all used rotors as engines. All except one, made by the Cobalt unit. The first engine to use fuel and magic; the output was twice the rate of any normal craft. Impressed, he stood and stared as the inventors explained it further. The intricacies were complex, most of the information bounced off the buyer’s heads. In that respect, Staxius understood what they said – the use of heavy words to confuse and bore the buyer. The inventors were putting on a show. What really counted was how powerful it was; a plane fitted with the engine, displayed on the screen, showcased its prowess.

‘The Cobalt unit is powerful, what they hold is years off what the current world has. That engine is scary, put on a new model of plane, it could out fly and take out the other fighter planes. If war is to break out, the holder of said plane will most definitely be the victor,’ grinning, he turned and joined back with the trio. Yves had gone on a spending spree; the man ordered a few fighter jets and a few tanks. 30,000 Gold remained off half a million.

Next came the auction; the place where special vehicles would be sold. Limited in the same way as the Xerxes series cars or Knightfall, a chance at grasping what many wanted.