Chapter 340 |
"Then, Mother Goddess, how can I obtain the essence of that world soul? And what kind of impact will depriving a planet of its soul's essence have on that planet's environment?" Josh cast aside the thought of drawing essence from Azeroth's star soul and asked Tiamut.
As soon as Josh finished speaking, a golden light burst forth from the lava in front of him.
That golden light quickly gathered before him into a flower bud.
As the bud bloomed, what appeared before Josh was a golden seed!
"This is the Seed of the Celestials that I condensed using my own essence. Normally, if it is planted on a planet with potential, it can grow into a true celestial after millions of years of development! But if it is planted on a planet that already has a soul, it can devour the soul's essence and then grow into a new celestial embryo at an extraordinary rate... As long as you harvest it the moment it forms, it will not develop consciousness. At that point, I will help you integrate it into your body. Once fully absorbed, you will become a true Celestial."
Tiamut's voice continued to echo in Josh's consciousness.
"But just as you guessed, once the planet's soul is stripped away, although the planet may not show serious problems immediately, over time it will gradually lose all its self-repairing and cycling functions, eventually degenerating into an ordinary planet, no longer suitable for sustaining life. Moreover, during the growth of the Seed of the Celestial, the planet's soul will surely launch a full-scale counterattack. You must find a way to protect it!"
"I understand." Josh nodded solemnly as he looked at the Seed of the Celestial before him and then stored it in the system space.
"Alright, after all, I am not yet fully matured. Condensing this Seed of the Celestial has consumed too much of my essence. I need to rest!" After Josh put away the seed, Tiamut issued a farewell message, her tone full of exhaustion.
Back on the surface, Josh summoned the Tauren brothers, Shininghoof.
"Chief!" After arriving, the Shininghoof brothers saluted Josh respectfully.
"Later, I want you two to return to Pandora and carry out a task for me," Josh said.
"Your orders, please!" The Shininghoof brothers didn't ask what the task was. Their loyalty was reliable enough; otherwise, Josh would not have entrusted such an important mission to them.
Josh couldn't travel to other planes via the dimensional trader himself, so he could only entrust this to someone trustworthy, capable, and without ambition.
And the Shininghoof brothers were perfect for this task in every way.
The reliability of Tauren has always been high.
"Find the sacred tree of the Na'vi, Eywa, plant this seed beneath it, and protect it with the troops I assign you. Eliminate anything that dares approach it. Then, when it grows, matures, and at the moment of its ripening, harvest it and place it in this box...As for how you’ll know it's ripe, you’ll feel it when the time comes!" Josh placed the vibranium box containing the Seed of the Celestial in front of the Shininghoof brothers and gave his instructions.
"We will complete the mission, even if it costs our lives!" Sensing the profound aura of the seed inside the vibranium box, the Shininghoof brothers understood the importance of the task. Their expressions became solemn as they received the box and responded seriously.
"Very good. Next, I’ll coordinate with Quaritch to send you over!" Josh nodded and then, while the two offered no resistance, absorbed them into the system space.
"Hahahahaha, Jake, I wonder how you're feeling now? I bet you're heartbroken and in despair, right? But it’s okay, you'll be joining them soon!"
In the sky, Quaritch rode on the back of an enormous pterosaur, chasing a fleeing blue figure riding a direhorse below.
That blue figure was none other than Jake Sully, who had now fully become a Na'vi.
Because creatures from Azeroth caused violent reactions among Pandora's fauna, although Quaritch wasn't afraid, it was still a hassle. So, he had returned all of them to Josh and only kept genetically modified dinosaurs that were unrelated to Azeroth.
Thus, Quaritch’s current mount was a pterosaur.
But even with only dinosaurs left, these genetically enhanced beasts still easily overpowered Pandora's native fauna.
Especially when paired with robots, the combat power they displayed in the jungle made even the native Na'vi despair.
So even without deploying weapons of mass destruction, Quaritch took only one day to fully locate Jake Sully and his Na'vi tribe.
And the moment Jake’s location was confirmed, Quaritch, who was obsessed with this traitor, personally led the charge against him.
The outcome was obvious.
The Na'vi had no physical advantage against Quaritch’s mechanical army. The presence of the dinosaur troops also nullified their home-field advantage.
Let alone the overwhelming technological gap between them, wider than the Mariana Trench.
One major reason the early RDA security forces lost was due to Pandora’s magnetic field disrupting their electronic targeting systems. Human soldiers were forced to use manual sights, and their slower reflexes led to heavy losses against the agile Na'vi.
But now Quaritch’s fleet used technology from Josh based on the Star Wars universe.
The Star Wars civilization had long adapted to unusual magnetic fields and had dedicated technology to counter them.
Plus, the robots’ reaction speed completely overwhelmed the Na'vi.
So that chaotic melee from the first RDA–Na'vi war never happened this time.
The moment the two sides clashed, the Na'vi vanguard was annihilated.
Jake Sully’s beloved Neytiri, due to their past enmity, became Quaritch’s first target and was instantly sniped by him with a blast energy gun!
Jake had no time to grieve—he could only flee on his direhorse… and even then, it was only because Quaritch had ordered him captured alive.
Thus began this cruel cat-and-mouse game—Quaritch was just toying with Jake.
Jake had no way to fight back. He tried shooting—Quaritch shot his weapon away. He used his not-so-skilled bow—Quaritch caught the arrow barehanded.
The direhorse was no match in size or speed for the enhanced pterosaur but just when Jake had lost all hope, he suddenly realized Quaritch had vanished from behind him.
He finally breathed a sigh of relief, though sorrow welled up inside him.
His lover, friends, subordinates—every warrior of the Na'vi tribe—were all dead.
But he quickly pulled himself together. He had to return to the tribe and lead the remaining people to escape.
He’d wanted to convince Neytiri and the tribe to relocate the night before.
But despite being the clan leader and a revered Toruk Makto among the Na'vi, he was still, at the end of the day, an outsider.
As long as it didn’t touch on the Na'vi's bottom line, no one questioned his leadership. But fleeing and abandoning Eywa, the sacred mother tree, was clearly such a violation—
Even though they had witnessed the terrifying power of the enemy fleet and the near-invincibility of robotic soldiers during the beast horde rampage.
Led by Neytiri, daughter of the former chief and Jake's beloved, the tribe rejected his proposal outright.
That led to the hopeless battle earlier… No, that wasn’t a battle—it was a slaughter!
A massacre easier than humans crushing ants.
Thinking of this, Jake didn’t hesitate—he urged the direhorse toward the sacred tree Eywa, the tribe’s homeland.
Meanwhile, Quaritch was communicating with Josh.
The only person who could make Quaritch abandon his game of tormenting Jake was Josh.
“…Aren’t you afraid I’ll grow greedy and keep the fruit of the Celestial Seed for myself?” Quaritch asked after hearing Josh's instructions.
Because the trade device couldn't conceal the specific nature of trade items—unless the user didn’t understand what they were dealing with—there was no way to smuggle such things.
And clearly, Quaritch was not someone who couldn’t grasp the significance of the item.
So there was no way to hide the Celestial Seed from him.
But as for whether Quaritch would dare to keep the fruit for himself—Josh truly wasn’t worried.
Because…
"You might as well try...You are just an ordinary enhanced human. The immense power of the Celestial Seed is simply beyond the reach of a life form at your level. Don’t even mention merging with the Celestial Fruit; the result will only be you being devoured in return. Moreover, once the fruit matures, it cannot be stored. After a certain amount of time, it will develop a complete self-awareness and become a true god. This is not like the Pandora planetary consciousness, which, apart from inciting some animals, can do nothing else and is just a false god...By then, if you and all humans are somewhat lucky, you might become its servants; if unlucky...hehe!" Josh explained with a sneer.
Hearing Josh's words, Quaritch fell silent.
He naturally understood that Josh's words were somewhat exaggerated, but could he take that gamble?
He simply couldn’t afford to.
"I understand. I will do my utmost to ensure it bears fruit!" After some thought, Quaritch nodded solemnly.
Being content is one of his principles he has lived by during decades in the military.
Therefore, when RDA occupied Pandora before, he did not abuse his high rank to act recklessly on Pandora, but instead cooperated closely with the civilian administrator Parker.
And now, he had already received so much from Josh, so much that he felt as if he were living in a dream.
Moreover, the price Josh offered this time was truly shocking—he promised that as long as the Celestial Fruit could be delivered intact into his hands, all the fleets previously leased to Quaritch would be given to him.
Facing such a terrifying price, Quaritch dared not entertain any ulterior motives—Josh was only able to reveal the entire matter to him because Josh could afford to take the risk.
After closing the communication, Quaritch took a deep breath and released the Shininghoof Brothers that Josh had just transferred to him from the system warehouse.
"Didn’t expect to meet again so soon, masters!" Quaritch greeted the Shininghoof Brothers.
"Next, we’ll be counting on General Quaritch!" The Shininghoof Brothers nodded in return.
"Let’s depart immediately. We just defeated the main force of the Na’vi. Their homeland now has almost no resistance. We can fully take advantage of the situation to plant the seed. At the same time, I will order the main fleet to relocate, establishing a base centered around the Na’vi mother tree. Even if another uprising like before occurs, it will definitely be unable to shake the seed’s existence!" After some small talk, Quaritch said confidently.
Though the number of troops around him now wasn’t very large, the ones Josh had just transferred were not only the Shininghoof Brothers but also many proto-dragons, naga, elven mages, and numerous other magical corps—since this time they aimed to directly eliminate Pandora’s planetary consciousness, there was no need to worry about uprisings.
The Shininghoof Brothers exchanged a glance and nodded.
Then Quaritch released many proto-dragons. As the Shaman’s elder brother, Koruno Shininghoof rode one.
As the Druid’s younger brother, the other transformed directly into a storm raven.
Then this terrifying combined force of technology, biology, and magic marched straight toward the mother tree Enya’s location.
Because the Shininghoof Brothers were waiting for the first appearance of the otherworldly visitor bearing the essence of Azeroth’s aura in this world, Pandora’s planetary consciousness immediately sensed it.
Instantly, just like before, the beast tide uprising swept across all of Pandora. Countless animals surged toward the Na’vi mother tree Eywa.
At this time, the Na’vi still had no idea about the outside situation and were instead embroiled in a fierce internal conflict…
Because Jack was the only one who survived to return to the tribe, unable to prove what actually happened on the battlefield, and wanted to lead all Na’vi to abandon the homeland and migrate, he was immediately questioned by the rest of the Na’vi.
Na’vi are also people, and they have feelings similar to humans.
Faced with Jack, an outsider, distrust was their true feeling.
It was only because Jack’s previous actions had brought them benefits and help, and because he became a Toruk Makto, that he had earned enough trust.
But now that all of Jack’s loyal warriors have fallen in battle and he no longer brings benefits or help to the Na’vi, even threatening their interests,
That suspicion has arisen again!