"What happened to you?" Bruce exclaimed, forcing the entire group to look at Khan.
Khan was wearing an aloof expression, and his clothes were a bit messy, but they were nothing compared to the state of his hair. He didn't cut it during the past month, and the passage through the short-distance teleport had made it stand up.
"That's what happens when you don't protect your hair with mana," The tall guide explained.
"I was afraid that my element could cause issues," Khan revealed while trying and failing to put down his hair.
"These important machines are obviously resistant to your element," Luke stated, making sure not to say the word "chaos" in front of the guide. "I thought you knew."
"It's better to be safe," Khan replied while messing up his hair even more in the hope it could solve something. It didn't.
Khan knew that his element wouldn't affect the short-distance teleports, but he had no explanation for the color of his energy. People would think that he was casting spells, so he sacrificed his hair and masked his behavior with reasonable concern.
Martha and Monica were at their limit. Monica had covered her mouth through a casual gesture to suppress her laugh, but Martha directly snickered. Khan's appearance was too funny to remain serious.
"I look as good as ever," Khan claimed before darting forward to follow the guide, uncaring of the suppressed laughs of the two women.
'So, this is the second asteroid,' Khan thought as he tried to find differences in the environment. 'The symphony of the mana is slightly different, but I wouldn't have noticed the change if I didn't know that I crossed a teleport.'
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Crossing the bright door had been oddly uneventful. Regular teleports always applied some pressure on Khan's senses, but that didn't happen there. He had taken a simple step forward, and the world changed.
The short-distance teleport had led to another hangar-like building where people moved quickly. Outside it, a dome similar to the one seen in the first asteroid unfolded in the group's eyes. A vast street stretched from their position until the central pillar, and a city grew under all of that.
The general internal layout of the asteroids was always almost identical since the domes shared the same technology. The only noticeable changes happened in the cities, the other platforms below them, and the overall vendors.
Khan didn't notice any significant difference on the main street of the second asteroid. Various shops owned mainly by Orlats filled the sides of the path, and the general noise was also the same. There were fewer people, but not enough to hint at a change in the environment.
"You look disappointed," Martha said while the guide led everyone toward the nearest elevator.
"And you finally smiled," Khan responded. "Is it about yesterday?"
"You aren't at the center of my world," Martha scoffed before wearing her serious expression. "It's just my first real mission after Istrone. I know I'm ready, but still."
"Hey," Khan called while placing a hand on her head, "You'll be fine. Also, I'm here. I'll jump in if you freeze."
Martha nodded and decided to enjoy how Khan caressed her hair for a few seconds. Yet, she eventually noticed that her companions were shooting glances at the two of them, so she hit Khan's side with her elbow and proceeded to reach the teleport.
Khan smiled and shook his head as he followed her. Luckily for him, Luke and the others respected Martha's past enough to hold back jokes, but he still noticed how Monica was glaring at him.
'Don't tell me that she likes me for real,' Khan sighed in his mind. 'Why do I always get myself in these situations?'
The first distinct change in the environment became clear when the elevator started to go down. The second asteroid had a large share of humans, and the architecture of the city in "Lower level 1" showed that.
Many tall skyscrapers made out of dark metal separated by large obscured windows filled a large part of the city. The overall platform where the various structures grew also appeared smaller than the one on the first asteroid.
Moreover, a few larger buildings became impossible to miss during the elevator's descent. They didn't look like houses or blocks of flats. They resembled some of Reebfell's shops, the ones that required some post-production activities to happen directly in the city.
Khan held back from asking questions in the presence of the guide, and his companions did the same. The group kept themselves busy with casual conversation as a ride picked them up from the elevator and brought them deep into the city.
"You can stop here," Luke eventually exclaimed while tapping on the metal barrier that separated the driver's seat from the rest of the car.
The driver parked the car next to the sidewalk, and the group jumped off it. Still, when the tall guide tried to follow them, Luke raised a hand to stop him. "We'll be on our own from now on."
The tall guide was slightly startled, but he remained polite in his answer. "Sure, sir. Feel free to contact me when you need something."
Luke waited for the car to disappear before inspecting his surroundings while comparing them to the images on his phone. After a few seconds, his eyes lit up, and he began to lead the group across the sidewalks.
"The industrial area begins there," Luke explained while pointing at a series of large buildings stretching in the distance. "My family has multiple activities there. Voices will inevitably spread once we reach our actual destination, but it doesn't hurt to buy us some time. We might gain a whole day if we are lucky."
Luke was talking about eventual spies and similar problems. It became clear that his mission involved only one of his family's activities and his careful approach aimed at leaving the interested parties without answers as long as possible.
"Won't the industrial area have spies?" Amanda asked.
"You'll see soon enough," Luke stated, and the explanation arrived once the group arrived at the borders of the industrial areas.
The vast buildings prevented the presence of many streets. The whole industrial area only had a few of them, which made it easy for guards to control the access.
Khan saw humans wearing military uniforms standing in front of the closest entrance to the industrial area, and he noticed that the same happened in the next one.
"The Orlats are too messy," Luke explained. "The Nele have their own businesses on the third asteroid. The Bise don't like to have other species around, and the Tors are too secretive to risk revealing their arts. Only the humans and the Fuveall occupy this industrial area."
Luke was revealing information that even the special reports that Khan had studied contained. It seemed that the industrial area was unique even among Milia 222's environment, and the presence of the Fuveall there made a lot of sense.
'I have only managed to catch glimpses of the Fuveall since my arrival,' Khan thought as Luke approached the guards and showed them something on his phone. 'I hope to see them properly today.'
The guards performed military salutes as soon as they looked at the screen. Luke's group could enter the industrial area without meeting any hindrance, but the scenery appeared strangely silent from the streets. There was simply no one there.
"Is everyone inside?" One of the first-level warriors in the group asked.
"This area handles the production of many valuable items," Luke revealed. "The shifts are long and hard, and the workers inside don't have much freedom in the city due to privacy reasons. Still, these areas are immense inside. They are like small districts."
"Do the workers live here?" Martha asked.
"Yes, most of them, at least," Luke continued. "It is my understanding that the various leaders of the factories leave every once in a while. Yet, I'm only repeating my father's words. I've never actually been inside."
"Are you finally going to show us why our families are paying so much for this partnership?" Monica teased through her elegant manners, but she didn't hold back from glancing at Khan.
'Did she just do me a favor?' Khan gasped without showing any reaction on the outside.
Khan was holding back many questions out of fear of barging into the classified territory. Those factories involved wealthy families, and Khan wouldn't feel surprised to learn that the noble families were also a part of it.
Learning secrets came at a cost, which could be steep depending on the parties involved. Khan was curious, but he refrained from asking directly. Yet, Monica took care of that issue for him.
"I must," Luke laughed. "You need to know about it to be part of the mission."
Luke had to use his phone to find the appointed building. The group had to walk for a while to reach it, and Khan saw his wish fulfilled when they were about to approach the tall entrance to a structure.
A tall figure stood at the end of the street, many meters away from Khan's position. However, the pale-blue light reflected by the alloys on its body made him sure that he had found a Fuveall.
The Fuveall were humanoid, generally taller than humans, and very muscular. Their faces were almost human, except for shorter noses and ample foreheads. Their hair was usually dark, and their skin was blue-grey, but their eyes could carry odd colors like golden and red.
Nevertheless, the Fuveall's most striking quality came from the modification that they applied to their bodies. They were a species heavily oriented toward technology, and, according to what Khan had read, they were the only ones who could fuse bionic implants and mana perfectly.
The Fuveall in the distance was a two-meter-tall woman whose right arm appeared completely bionic. She had silver metal plates going from the base of her shoulder to the tip of her fingers, and the implants didn't hinder her movements at all as she brought her cigarette to her mouth.
Khan cursed himself for being so far away. He wanted to sense the mana coming out of the Fuveall's bionic arm, but his duties came first. The building's entrance opened when Luke put his phone before a scanner.
The metal door opened outward but remained half-closed. Only a one-meter-wide gap had appeared and forced the group to enter the building one by one.
Khan was the last to enter since he wanted to inspect the Fuveall a bit longer, but the thoughts about the alien vanished when he saw the building's insides. A storm of noises and mana also assaulted his senses as workers moved left and right to handle their different tasks.
The group had entered into something similar to a central hall divided into two areas. The left zone had a huge cauldron that hovered above a blue flame, while the right had a giant container filled with an azure liquid.
A track with multiple mechanical arms ran above the cauldron, and the robotic arms attached to it completed different functions. They either carried, picked up, or dropped materials into the item while making sure not to make anything splash.
Meanwhile, many consoles with specialists wearing white medical coats encircled the cauldron to check on the process. None of those men and women turned when Luke and the others entered. They appeared wholly focused on their job.
As for the giant, cylindrical container, everyone could understand its purpose. The item had a massive amount of synthetic mana in its insides, and the tubes connected to its base spread to the walls to enter them and expand somewhere in the structure.
Khan saw consoles and specialists around the container too. It was clear that the building was producing something, but he couldn't understand what from that quick inspection.
"It's time to remind you that everything you see here is classified, even for the Global Army," Luke declared. "This is a private business, and parts of it are secret. I need them to remain like this."
Luke didn't mention anyone, but Khan and Martha knew that those words were for them. They were the only ones in the group without any share of the factory. They were the only ones who wouldn't suffer in the case of a leak.
"Good, let's go," Luke eventually announced as he stepped forward and followed the instructions on his phone to reach the destination.
The group crossed both cauldron and container to arrive in a corridor that seemed to lead to the next area. However, they never discovered what lay ahead.
Luke activated a function on his phone that made it radiate a yellow light from the screen. He then inspected the corridor's walls with that glow until he found a mark that the naked eye and even Khan's senses couldn't notice.
Part of the wall opened when Luke pressed on the mark. A new elevator unfolded in the group's vision, and they didn't hesitate to jump on it.
"The lower levels after the first mostly have shady businesses," Luke revealed as the elevator began to descend through the metal passage. "They are like undercities where the soldiers prefer not to go. They are probably like the Slums, but with mana and aliens."
Khan's eyes lit up in curiosity. He wanted to see those undercities, but the elevator turned out to lead somewhere far different. When its doors opened, Khan and the others could see more workers, consoles, and peculiar machines.
"Let's get straight to the point," Luke ordered before leading the group toward a specific area of the underground structure.
The new area featured workers that used a special spray to cover with synthetic mana specific tissues. Khan counted more than twenty stands, and they all had different materials.
A short man separated from the console when he noticed Luke's group to approach them. The soldier was bald and slightly overweight, but his face was beyond excited.
"Master Luke, Master Luke," The man called as he reached the group. "You have arrived. I'm sure you won't be disappointed."
"Do you have a prototype ready?" Luke quickly asked.
"Of course," The man announced. "We left it in a reinforced room just like you asked."
"Can we break it?" Luke questioned.
"Obviously," The man replied. "We already have the formula. Recreating it isn't an issue, but I must warn you. It won't be easy to break it."
"I'm counting on that," Luke laughed before letting the man lead everyone in a separate room that was almost entirely empty. Only a table with a human-sized chunk of what seemed leather standing on it occupied the area.
"You can leave now," Luke exclaimed, and the man left the room.
When the door closed, Luke pointed at the piece of leather hanging from two metal arms and glanced at Bruce. The latter already knew what Luke wanted, so he stepped forward until the table entered his range.
Bruce stretched his hand as his mana moved toward his palm. Five lumps of fire came out of his fingers before shooting forward and turning into fiery projectiles.
To everyone's surprise, the bullets hit the chunk of leather but left no trace of their passage. They didn't even burn anything. They just slammed on the item and dispersed when their fuel ran out.
'It blocked the spell of a first-level mage,' Khan stated in his mind. 'Interesting.'
"This is a reinforced fabric," Luke explained. "My family will perfect it, turn it into uniforms, and sell them to the Global Army. This plan is failproof."
"How can you be so sure of that?" A first-level warrior among the group asked.
"Because Istrone happened," Luke declared. "Because the families will invest into something capable of protecting their descendants. Ladies and Gentlemen, we are standing before a monopoly that has yet to join the market."
'Reinforced uniforms,' Khan thought as he tried to understand how something like that could be illegal.
The others felt excited to learn that news, but Luke made everyone focus on him again with his next line. "Some of these prototypes have gone missing in the last period.. There is a spy inside the factory, and we need to find it."
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