For a few short seconds that seemed to have lasted an eternity, the two stared at each other, frozen. It wasn’t because Michael was unfamiliar with how a woman’s naked body looked. It was just the natural reaction of his healthy young body.
That, coupled with Victoria’s beauty, locked him into a daze, having a battle between his mind and body, which was interrupted by the sword’s laughter.
Quickly he turned around, acting like he hadn’t seen anything. While in truth he had seen pretty much everything.
Thankfully a window appeared before him, helping him ignore his situation for a few moments.
[Quest Save General Victoria: Completed!]
[Distributing Reward]
[Reward: Epic cybernetic, 100 Skill Points]
The 100 Skill Points were immediately added to his reserves. Like before, since he was in no danger currently, he decided to save them for any emergencies.
A second later a neon chip appeared in his hands. Without further ado, he put it on his neural link.
[New technique comprehended: Perfect Vision]
[Rank: Epic]
[Level: 1]
[Description: A passive ability. Enhances your vision greatly, making it rival those of a higher realm than you. No detail would be missed by your eyesight.]
This was without a doubt the perfect technique Michael could have gained. With the combination of Berserker and Dash, he was going so fast that he was having trouble seeing where he was going. With time this would have become a real problem, forcing him to limit his speed.
’Not to mention that it’s a passive ability. It’s indeed worthy of being categorized as an Epic rank.’
Perhaps being influenced by the perverted nature of his soul weapon, Michael wondered how much more he would have seen if he took a peek at Victoria with his new and improved vision.
’Looking once could be forgiven. A second time, not so much. Better not push my luck.’ He figured.
After a few seconds Victoria’s voice called out behind him.
"You can turn around now."
Michael did so. To his surprise her suit was whole again. Apparently it had the function of restoring itself after a certain period of time. All Victoria had to do was use her spirit energy to activate it.
"I—it’s good that the Elite alien fell. We can go back now." Michael said with an awkward smile, unsure how to act.
Victoria simply nodded before turning back. Despite her best efforts to appear calm, her cheeks were still pink out of embarrassment.
’Look, the woman is feeling awkward! Reassure her that you enjoyed the view. That might help the situation!’ The sword remarked in Michael’s head. Causing him to sigh.
Ava watched the scene in silence. Thanks to her short height, the slime acid’s shots had missed her, only hitting Victoria.
"For some reason I am not happy about that." She mumbled quietly.
Before they exited the area, all of them took a bite out of the defeated alien, increasing their attributes.
While in Victoria and Ava’s case, their upgrades would be random, and they would only see the results at a terminal when they were examined fully. Michael’s system informed him that he had gained 30 Skill Points for a total of 130 Skill Points.
In silence the trio exited the geyser. From time to time Ava would stare at Victoria’s blossoms before looking at her own flat chest. Seemingly examining something in great detail.
’She is so beyond me, it’s not even competition. Why is nature so unfair?!’ She sighed in regret.
After clearing her throat, Victoria borrowed Ava’s communicating device before contacting Bryce.
"Victoria?! Thank God you are alright. I was beginning to get restless, not to mention this guy Oliver doesn’t stop asking about you. It’s starting to get on my nerves."
She smiled slightly. "I had little choice in the matter. My communication device broke, and I had to get rid of an Elite tier alien. I couldn’t have left it on its own."
"ELITE?!" Bryce was so shocked that he stopped stroking his overgrown beard. "And you tell me that you defeated it alone?"
After shaking her head, she pointed towards Ava and Michael.
"I had help from my juniors. Without them I would have probably been overwhelmed."
The old man’s eyes narrowed when he saw Ava and especially Michael. ’The young one survived an Elite encounter? I will have to get more details from Victoria later, but whatever the case, that is unheard of. It seems my eyes didn’t deceive me.’
"Since we are exhausted, we would go to the base to rest. In 12 hours I should be in top condition to go out and fight again." With that, Victoria deactivated the projection and handed back the device to Ava.
"Lady Victoria, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you in such a rush to get rid of the portals? There are many other bases that have the same goal as us. It will get done sooner or later. I don’t see the point in rushing."
Victoria was quiet for a few moments, thinking if it was okay to share the information. In the end, she decided to do so.
"Around 24 hours ago I received a message that in 7 days’ time portals would open all around Triton and alien spaceships would arrive, signaling a massive alien invasion. The only reason we found the hidden portals at the surface of Triton was because of that anonymous message. So I believe that it won’t be unreasonable to consider the latter part of the message also true."
Ava’s expression darkened at the mention of alien spaceships. If they were to attack at the same time as portals activated all around the moon, it would be fair to say that most would die.
Unknown to the two women, the one that had sent the message was next to them.
Once Ava called for a squad to pick them up, they continued to walk forward while observing the horizon, anticipating their arrival.
After ten minutes the sound of a call came from Michael’s communication device, causing him to stop.
’Now that I think about it, this is the first time someone has contacted me. Who could it be?’ He wondered, his eyes stopping at the name Scarlett.
A half minute passed in which Michael remained frozen, staring at the name, seemingly in a daze.
"Are you not going to pick that up?" Victoria raised an eyebrow, looking at him.
But Michael wasn’t able to hear her, his mind going wild as countless painful memories resurfaced from his subconscious. Memories that he had tried to bury as deep as he could.
Eventually his lips pursed, mumbling.
"...Sister?"