Ascenders Rift

Livia soon took Evan, Layla, Rick, and the others towards her lab's new location. Here, many large vehicles had all of the different components and devices from the previous lab connected through extra wires and machines inside large vessels.

Each vessel seemed no different from the size of a standard room, and as such, more than one individual could easily enter and move about while working on various tasks.

Evan nodded at this as he thought, 'A mobile lab, pretty interesting.'

"I could have sworn I saw this in a film before," Joe murmured as if recalling some movie.

Emilia giggled, saying nothing as she knew which movie he was thinking of, Rick, on the other hand, shook his head. Instead, he found Emilia's sweet little laugh to be appealing.

While Livia heard Joe's words, she didn't seem to mind it; she only focused on guiding them to the main container. Upon arriving within it, Evan and the others saw the previous Brain Scanning machine with the High Elder's brain at its core.

A few screens were currently flickering with complex information that recorded down onto different drives. While this happened, a few other scientists were moving about hastily, piling together all the information they had gathered.

Livia looked at them and made a light cough, drawing everyone's attention; they looked at her in an embarrassed manner before greeting, "We welcome back Miss Livia and our Heroes."

Livia shook her head at this and spoke, "Enough about that, hand me the rest of the data, I shall be passing it onwards."

"Right away!" One of the scientists said as she brought over a different digital clipboard.

Livia looked it over and nodded before she looked at Evan's group and spoke, "Let's discuss it over here."

Following this, Livia brought them to a simple looking room with tables and chairs. Only after everyone sat themselves down did Livia then began to speak on the topic at hand.

'In our last meeting, you had left us with the brain of that High Elder. We did our very best even during the time of the crisis and transference to this base. As such, we managed to find out a few crucial details regarding not only their whereabouts but also another interesting fact."

When the others heard this, their faces showed curiosity as Evan asked, "Oh, what kind of fact?"

Livia placed the digital clipboard onto the table and pressed a button; following this, a holographic screen popped up before everyone, showing a few pictures of fossils.

"Before you is one of the most ancient fossils to be discovered by our kind, discovered during the years of the expedition long before this world's appearance and the current events. We had always believed that this fossil was in some way related to our ancestors, but... it would seem that after our recent research, we were drastically mistaken, not only about it but the very history of our world."

When Livia spoke, Evan's and the others' faces grew serious as they keenly observed. Livia then pressed another button, causing the pictures to change the images of old century artworks of mighty-looking humans with different powers, some even being as tall a giant.

"You see, long ago in our lands, there were rumors of ancients who were born with astounding powers, each of which were titled in ancient texts as our Prime Ancestors. The last age of the prime ancestors was a few hundred million years ago. However, anything to do with their civilization was long since lost. The only hints we had about what could cause their disappearance was not a meteor, but some other planetary threat. A threat from an ancient creature that we'd term as Primal Parasites, the very biology discovered from those very same fossils."

When Evan heard this, his eyes sharpened as he stared at the screen. He spoke, "Hmm, then if I'm correct, what you are saying is that these Primal Parasites have something to do with the body shifters?"

Rick, Joe, and the others also listened on keenly as this was the most critical part of the conversation.

Livia nodded as she pressed a button, but this time, what showed were scenes of similar fossils shown in the image. However, these fossils seemed to be kept in even better condition, as if someone had personally stored them in a unique environment.

Suddenly, a sinister-looking hand moved and picked up a fossil before placing it into a pool of blood belonging to different creatures.

After an extended period, fast-forwarded by many billions of seconds, the fossils began to change as cracked apart before transforming into what seemed like the typical body shifter.

When Evan and the others saw this, their eyes widened with shock. Livia didn't need to say anything as the information explained itself.

"As you can see before you, this is an ancient memory of that High Elder, a memory of how their kind can transcend one generation of another and awaken from the particular state used to dodge perils. Do you all understand what this means?"

Evan looked at Rick and the others who nodded; Evan then looked at Livia and spoke, "Indeed, with this, a lot of things can start making sense."

'Especially that extremely dangerous generic blood corpse... I knew it was dangerous, but if my hunch is correct, and its genes and blood is from what I think it is, then it is far more powerful than I'd initially imagined,' Evan thought with extremely sharp eyes.

Rick, Emilia, Joe, and Layla also had dark looks on their faces, as they knew what the warning in their Rift Quest truly meant.

Livia nodded in satisfaction as they had already picked things up; she soon after got to the point.

"Good, then I'll get straight to the point; these Body Shifters have been alive since our Prime Ancestors' time. Those whom we've fought all along are only partially awakened Body Shifters. And if any of them were properly awaken in full. Then we'll be annihilated in the blink of an eye... we must take them out before they can acquire enough of our blood to stimulate their genes."

Evan and the others nodded at those words, before Evan spoke, "Indeed, well then, Miss Livia, we don't have much time, please do tell us what you've learned about their hideouts."

"Understood," Livia said with a nod; she pressed another button and the screen showed a few x marks on a large landmass.

Looking around it, one would see a few other marks but each of which was of dark circular color on different islands. One island was far out in the sea; the largest dark circular mark was at the center of this island.

Livia then started to point at the marks as she spoke, "Based on that High Elder's memories, we've compiled everything into one large map. These X marks are the bases we've already destroyed during the past month; there are no more bases on this mainland. However, a few bases are scattered about the oceans with the largest being that solitary island at sea. That island is likely the main base for these Body Shifters, while the others are used as secondary bases."

When Evan and the others saw this, they looked at each other before they stared at Livia.

Livia saw this look and felt that she knew what they were thinking; she hurriedly spoke, "Wait, you're not thinking of going now, are you? It's too dangerous, and who knows how many of them are out there? It's best to wait and have our militia deploy another strike unit."

Evan smiled as he saw the look of worry in Livia's eyes before he answered, "We already know of the dangers, but there's a capable way. Plus, this base is unprepared right now, and you aren't capable of separating any of your core forces. What would happen if you were to all suffer another attack?"

Livia didn't say anything after those words; she knew what Evan said was the truth. She sighed, trying to think of a way to convince them. However, Evan soon rose from his seat with Rick, Joe, Emilia, and Layla.

They started to walk towards the door before Evan stopped and spoke with his back turned, "Miss Livia, thank you for providing this information. If not, we'd really be at a loss due to the current state of affairs. I ask that you tell everyone of our decision only after we've left and do pass this message to Sir Milon once he awakens."

As Evan said this, he brought his lips to his watch and whispered something for a moment before pressing a button and took out a chip.

He flicked his finger, causing the chip to fall onto the table before Livia. Not wanting to lose it, Livia hurried to pick up the chip, but Evan and his friends were already gone once she looked up.

Livia had a bad taste in her mouth as if they were only useless people who could rely on others for help. She sighed while staring at the door and thinking, 'I hope you guys will be able to stay safe.'

Following her words, she soon got up and prepared to handle the rest of her affairs here, before the time came for her to pass on the message.