Transcendent Gene
Chapter 122: Deployment [8]

Chapter 122: Deployment [8]

Hoverpacks.

Jetpacks existed in the current era. Parachutes did too.

However, if the goal was to get to the ground as quietly and efficiently as possible, hoverpacks were the best option.

Their functionality was exactly as stated. They created a field of neutral gravity around the user and completely halted momentum, allowing them to float in the air.

When used from the surface, they were like limited jetpacks as they were used in essentially the same ways.

But when it came to jumping out of a plane, hoverpacks were the only device that could stop one’s momentum seconds before they touched the ground without harming them.

The physics behind its functionality was impossible to grasp unless one had several degrees in the subject matter. For normal people, all that mattered was the fact that it worked.

And for Gio, all that mattered was the fact that he could experience this feeling for a bit longer.

He jumped out of the plane without hesitation once he saw the other team members moving. The earpieces they wore would still perfectly convey their voices even as they fell, so he didn’t have to worry about getting confused.

It was his first time.

Whether it was jumping out of a plane or falling through the sky like this, it was his first time.

Gio’s experiences with both flying and falling were very different in the crimson environment he used to grow in the past.

Novel human experiences were the things he missed most.

He was never good at expressing himself or trying new things. Gio during his life before the tower was a sad and lonely man.

He didn’t do much besides work. He didn’t build up relationships outside the ones he already had. Most of the time, the people who ended up as his friends and family were the ones who stuck around despite his efforts to push them away.

So Gio didn’t know how it felt to fall through the sky. To say that he’d only experienced "fun" a handful of times wouldn’t be a lie at all.

Gio laughed loudly, allowing his voice to be drowned out by the winds. His face felt like it was going to fly off, but the sharp gusts didn’t feel as sharp as they should have.

They touched his skin like the wind outside an open car window. He could feel their power, but it felt good against his body.

The view was beautiful as well. The cloud layer was dense today, leading to quite a majestic scene where his body pushed through the condensation and came out the other side.

That part did hurt, though.

It wasn’t much different from belly-flopping into a pool. Gio felt like he got slapped in the face for a second before his attention was diverted by a voice in his ear.

"Gio, are you doing okay?"

Everyone else had done this plenty of times, so there wasn’t a need to check on them.

Allowing Gio to jump on his own was a risk in and of itself, but since they’d taken it already, it was also their responsibility to make sure nothing went wrong.

Raymond spoke for everyone as the team’s Captain.

"I’m fine!" Gio yelled, trying to hear his own voice over the wind.

"Just tell me where to land! I can do the rest!"

Hoverpacks were extremely easy to handle. Activating them was only a matter of pushing a button, and controlling direction, pitch, and yaw was like playing a game.

The intuitive controls were made so there wasn’t a learning curve in active battle environments. Gio was quite literally the target audience for these easy controls.

"Let me look at your position," Raymond responded, his voice much calmer than Gio’s.

There were a few seconds of silence before word came through again.

"Your trajectory is pretty far out. You don’t have to worry about landing close to the camp. Your altitude meter is working, right?"

"Yeah!"

"When you see the number hit 1000, activate your pack. You should be high enough at that point to maneuver yourself to a good landing spot."

It took over a minute for them to get anywhere near that point. There was more than enough time for Raymond to walk him through the steps before the altitude meter showed that he’d reached a thousand feet from the ground.

As he was told, Gio activated his hoverpack. Immediately, he felt his body go weightless.

A small wave of force was sent up into the sky above him as the gravity field that now surrounded his body took care of his excess momentum, and in the next moment, Gio was floating in the sky.

"Huu..."

He took a deep breath as the roaring winds suddenly died down to what was, in comparison, a gentle breeze.

It was nighttime, allowing them to blend into the absolute darkness of the desert as they fell.

The only light for hundreds of kilometers on end originated from the camp they were aiming for.

’Landing is the easiest part.’

He only had to press a button in the shape of a down arrow for the hoverpack to facilitate his descent.

As Raymond said, he was quite far from the camp, at least a kilometer or two away. He didn’t need to adjust his position much.

His feet touched the sand with a soft sound. The hoverpack on his back was immediately discarded and buried under the sand.

"I’ve landed."

He sent his words through the comms, and they were followed by many more.

"Landed."

"Me too."

"I think everyone’s on the ground now. Captain?"

"Right. There weren’t any obvious infiltration points we could see from the sky, so we have to find them before anything else. Everyone remembers their positions?"

"Confirmed."

"Aye aye, Captain."

"Shut up, Jax."

Gio allows the team’s voices to become background noise in his ears as he walked closer to the camp. They would be digested even if he didn’t actively listen to them.

’More importantly, I don’t really have a role in this mission, do I?’

They told him to wait for further orders, but if he was this far away, none of those orders would matter.

’I should get a little closer, but...’

"Gio, be careful. There’s a patrol group headed your way."

His eyes widened in surprise. He looked around, trying to find them, but there wasn’t anything noticeable in his line of sight.

"They’re far out right now but approaching quickly. It looks like they’re tracking our landing sites."

They were able to pick up on movements so subtle? It was a little hard to imagine, but Gio wasn’t going to doubt Raymond’s words.

"There’s nowhere to run," Gio responded seriously.

"I’ll hide under the sand for now. It should be cold enough at night."

"It’ll be cold enough, but breathing..."

"I can take care of that."

"...Copy."

Raymond didn’t ask more questions, so Gio didn’t give him more answers. The moment he saw his enemies, they would be able to see him as well.

Gio dug into the sand, bringing forth Hekat’s power and forcefully separating its outer layers.

The sand flooded back into the empty space almost instantly, but Gio was already inside. He laid on his back with his eyes facing the sky.

"Huuu..."

He took a deep breath. The white light on his hands disappeared, and all of a sudden, the sand he displaced rushed back into its original position.

Gio was almost crushed under the pressure of its weight, but he didn’t hide without any plans.

’I shouldn’t use Hekat.’

Hekat’s energy still presented itself as the energy of a Sequence, so it could be distinctly tied to human activity if it was sensed.

However, Aether was only used by beasts. Even if there was a trail, they’d think nothing of it.

"Huu..."

Gio took a light breath, confirming it was possible for him to do so. There were two small holes in the sand. The first was above his face, preventing suffocation. The second led to the surface and allowed him to breathe.

They were both being maintained purely by a residual trace of Hekat’s power hidden within the Aether radiating from his body.

And they were also his lifelines.

Small vibrations crept up from Gio’s feet to his neck, getting closer and closer.

It had only been some seconds since Gio submerged himself, but they were already on his position.

If he acted just a moment later...