It Started With Devils & Artefacts

P.S don't forget to flood that faker's fic for more chapters

~~~

Marcus, with his girls, walked over to the edge of the hangar bay and looked down to the swampy forest below. 

"...What weird trees," Sirin commented with a curious tone. She had never seen anything like these trees before.

They had no branches; only at the top did they split into several.

"Not only that, but it looks like they have scales instead of bark." The white-haired girl said with even more confusion. These things remind her of alien movies and how they show weird stuff in them. 

These producers don't need to go far. Just recreate what you find in fossils. 

"Yeah, those scaly trees dominate here; we will see more later. If I remember correctly, they died out during the ice age between the Carboniferous and Permian. It means climate change will kill these strangest ones, and familiar trees to ours will replace their place."

Marcus said to her as he placed the triangle Diamond Heart engine on his chest. The moment he did, the item reacted and released black material which encased his body. The heart released several more layers before nanite sand placed the armour on him.

The helmet style was the Mandalorian one since there was no need to create another style; he already had an established one. 

As the Inventor opened his eyes, he saw the HUD powering up.

The top left corner had GPS; the left bottom had the status of the Butterfly effect bar, the state of armour, the number of nanites he has, and the state of Diamond Heart Engine. At this moment, he is using a basic 0.01%. 

The 0.01% is enough for everything. Hell, Marcus doubts he will ever use 0.02% in this trip unless he wants to play baseball with a meteorite, which will wipe out the dinosaurs.

That's because the Diamond Core Heart system is so powerful. It was created to eliminate the concept of strength or energy needs. 

It abuses the concept of resonance and synchronisation; instead of doubling, almost all of the power outputs are constantly squared. 

It does technically have a limit that can be increased by space and time displacement, which is built into the heart of the Diamond Heart Engine. 

In other words, if he needs maximum power in less than a second, all the suit's excess energy is stored through time, which can be accessed instantaneously. That means he can go from 0.1% to 100% in less than a flash.

"Hmm, what you are looking at is a Lepidodendron. They grow up to around 40 metres tall," Marcus said to her as he used his built-in HUD and the database to access info about the tree.

Instead of saying anything, the girls used their triangle devices and placed them on their chests. Seconds later, they were all encased in suits. 

"I assume we will be collecting tree samples?" Sirin asked him as she saw that all the trees have some value and a Butterfly effect rating, too.

"We will collect leaves, as all of these trees become coal, which nations use to power their industries," Marcus said as he looked at the scale trees and aura they display through the HUD.

"I see…"

"Aurora, once we leave, I want you to get into position and release drones and observation satellites for communication and weather data collection."

[Understood, beginning preparations.]

After giving all clear, Marcus proceeded to jump and then free fall. 

As he did that, the right corner of his HUD, which was empty, began to fill in. He can see oxygen levels around him, as well as temperature and the sun's radiation levels.

'So it is 12 degrees Celsius, and humidity is more than twice our Earth's… the oxygen levels are higher by 10%.'

Though he grimaced as he saw the intensity of the sun's rays, the sun was quite ruthless by this point. 

"We can forget about sunbathing. Though, I doubt we will get skin cancer." Marcus joked as he saw the stats.

Instead of landing in the swamps, he grabbed the scaly tree's trunks and stopped falling. 

While his girls simply floated down to his level.

"Yes. The temperature is not that high, but humidity is absurd; it would be difficult for a human to cool down their body in this place." Quinella said as she checked the stats.

She wants to compare these findings with the fossil findings.

But, the issue is that the fossil findings are not that specific. They have rough estimations for tens of millions of years apart.

"I am more concerned if there is any solid ground. All I see is wetlands." Sirin, with a grimace, said to them. There is no way she will walk through all of those swamps! Even if her suit is damage-proof, and she hides behind layers of protection!

It doesn't help that her new suit is built to experience the world around her. In other words, she does not feel any of those protective layers in the first place.

"Relax, use your scanners." 

As Marcus said that, he pointed his right hand at the swamps, and a hologram beam generated a pulse. Sure enough, they got data.

The swamp in the area was barely touching their knee levels.

It was full of wildlife, like strange small lizards-like creatures and some crabs-like creatures.

The inventor grinned as he jumped into the water, walked over, and grabbed one of the lizard-like creatures.

As strange as it was, the animal had no fear of him whatsoever.

"Aren't you an interesting creature?" Marcus commented as he inspected the creature. It was a greenish creature with a primitive tail, reminding him of a tadpole.

One of Marcus Suit's fingers slightly changed and became a needle with a simple poke. He took in some blood, and the nanites swiftly analysed this animal's blood. 

Soon enough, he saw the DNA sample.

This was the first time in his life that he was looking at a very, very primitive lifeform.

[Sir, what you are looking at is an ancestor of lizards, crocodilians, snakes… that means it is the ancestor of synapsids.]

[In other words, this is the ancestor of our ancestors]

Aurora swiftly showed several windows to him as she compared this sample with the ones in the database…

 "..yeah…" The inventor's eyes got spacey for a second. He was holding his…very…very…very distant ancestor.

Though…

Marcus now realises an issue; he won't know for sure unless he goes a couple of million years into the future to see it branch out.

'Dang…I need a solution to rapid travel between years…'

As he pondered on this issue, the lizard in his hands started struggling as if something was wrong.

[Sir, it appears the proto-lizard is suffocating]

"Oh…"

He swiftly placed it in water. The Inventor realised that the proto-lizard needed water to sustain itself.

Some sort of gill or other organ exists for breathing.

"Did you find any data on this animal?"

[Currently, none. The Carboniferous is a very ancient era. We know more about the plants than animals]

"Hoh…" Marcus stroked his chin and opened the database. Aurora was right. There are barely any known animals. Apart from a few bigger ones, a single big dragonfly, a spider that is not a spider and a scorpion as big as his arm.

In other words, they will find some amphibians here.

"Great. Then I propose we spread out and look for things to add to our database." The inventor dismissed the window and looked at the girls floating above the swamp.

"Fine, then I will look for plants!"

Sirin flew away to record more plants.

Quinella snorted, seeing the big bad angel of death afraid of swamps.

"Very well. Then I will fill up the blank pages of the evolution tree." The assistant said to her creator.

"And we will explore the Oceans."

The pair of Ship girls rushed towards the massive super ocean.

"Very well, then I shall look for pets~~~"

Marcus rose into the air and proceeded to look around. 

His HUD is going through different visions of spectrums; he also uses brainwaves to look for animals with high brain activity.

~~~

Since he arrived in the late Carboniferous, oxygen levels have been rising, and the amount of CO2 is dropping, which means temperatures are falling. A record amount of rainfall is also dropping ocean levels.

That means that they are approaching the Ice Age, but that is millions of years in the making. He is interested in recording such progress in detail. But to do that, he needs a setup that records everything for him in detail.

For a while, he stopped and didn't look for amphibians crawling in this place. Instead, he pondered how to record millions of years in a span of days.

'I could create some sort of anchor… attach my ship to it and slip out from time?'

He started taking notes using his thoughts. The HUD could easily read and record his thoughts like a notebook.

However, he swiftly found something fascinating.

"That's a big eel." Marcus could make out what he was looking at.

[According to data. This could be Anthracosaurus. A Fish pseudo Reptile.]

"Hmm, this is quite difficult. If this is true, then that little guy I had before was not my ancestor." The Inventor sighed as if in a pickle.

[Since we are in late the Carboniferous there should be Amniotes on the swamp floor or the bushes.]

'Amniotes… hmm, those are the link between early fish-like creatures leaving the ocean and developing actual limbs with muscles and the later reptiles which split into Synapsids and Sauropsids.'

At that moment, Marcus had an idea for his first pet. He will get two 'lizards', the ancestors of mammals and the ancestors of Sauropods.

"You are right. I will get those two. We are around that era anyway." 

As he said, he descended into the swamp where a three-metre-long eel-like fish was lurking.

The moment he did that, the animal moved.

"Hoh… Since I made some noise you are coming my way?"

As he commented, the creature surfaced. It was quite similar to an eel but it was not one, not even close.

The animal looked quite confused as he couldn't see what it was.

After all, it can't smell or see that Marcus was even a living creature in the first place.

"Well, well, it appears the suits work perfectly. From what I can see, you utilise sound and, most likely, some built-in sensors like vibrations or even specific vision. Maybe heat? I mean, your kin has around 20 million to evolve." As Marcus said that, he motioned with his hand, and the eel creature rose into the air with the help of Marcus' psionic powers.

The eel-like creature struggled as it tried to return to water.

"I do wonder if you are part of a family that becomes snakes in the future." He said that as he walked over, one of his fingers morphed into a needle. He was going to analyse the DNA.

With a poke, he got some blood, but this was when the animal released a noise similar to a hiss.

"Hmmm…"

Marcus grabbed its head and opened it. What he saw was an array of sharp teeth, similar to sharks.

"What did you get?" The Inventor asked his AI.

[Similar composition to the previous one. No doubt they had the same ancestor.]

"So. the same fish which crawled from the ocean."

[Correct, but this one Clade Tetrapodomophia]

"Hmm, so from the mid group between half fishes and tetrapod."

[Yes]

"Let me scan its bone structure. I want you to compare with whatever we have."

As Marcus said that, he activated a holographic scan which scanned every single piece of the animal.

[It's as you have said, sir, it is an animal from the Anthracosauridae family]

He sighed upon hearing that.

"That's the thing about this. We have no idea if it is an actual Anthracosaurus or some subspecies. There are not that many fossil remains, to be sure."

After saying that, he dropped the half-fish creature, which looks like an eel but is not an eel.

[Sir you won't be collecting one of these? It's proof that fishes left the oceans and developed limbs but then discarded them and started living in swamp-like areas like these.]

"Maybe. I am not big on these fishes or bugs of this era. We are here to more or less figure out if our gear works. Besides, I wanted to make my girls scream from seeing big bugs, but that plan was a burst."

After saying that, he rose into the air and looked around.

"But damn… it's green in all directions. I guess the fact that every single piece of land is inhabited by rainforests is true."

Wondering if it was truly the case, Marcus grinned as she decided to test it out. He rushed in a single direction and started to fly at rapid speed. He activated the map function to allow better navigation through the unfamiliar world.

To his pleasant surprise, satellites and drones have already been deployed, and proper mapping of Carboniferous Earth has already begun.

The Inventor swiftly flew to the South Pole, where he saw glaciers.

"Hmm, that's not bad. They are quite big, but these will only increase for another 20+ million years."

He flew over and landed on the ice.

His eyes went to the temperature. It appeared to be just below -20 Celsius. He expected more, but he still didn't know the seasons and proper rotations. 

"We do need to figure out if this place has seasons."

[Considering how big is the moon and that its dominated by rainforest. This place could have different concepts of seasons altogether.]

'In other words, we need to spend some time…'

Marcus realised that he needed to return to his ship and start creating something that could assist in skipping time just to document quicker, as he would be wasting time here… in millions of years…

"Indeed. I am returning to Confiscator. Tell girls that I will reward them if they get me Ancestors of mammals and dinosaurs."

[Relaying the message]

With a nod, Marcus looked at the most absurd scene in front of him.

Behind him were ice sheets, but in front of him was an actual tropical forest.

'This is something else…' 

After thinking to himself, he rose into the air before flying away.

~~~~~~At Same Time~~~~~~

"What should we do!?" Erina was almost in panic mode as she realised that she might have burst whatever chance she had to win Marcus completely over!

Not to mention, he brought her over to Super Ancient Times! All that she sees in this place will become coal, which humans will use in the distant future.

It is mind-boggling just trying to comprehend the sheer time gap. Not that she thinks much about it, as, at the moment, she needs to think about what to do…

"Then let's not go to the land… Doesn't this period have a bunch of primitive Sharks?" Hisako said to her.

"R-Right!" The cherry-blonde swiftly recovered as she clenched her fist.

"We should make something out of these sharks!"

But then she swiftly realised the issue. She has no idea if they are even edible…

They could have some strange bacteria or something…

"Does it matter?" Artemis with Athena walked over.

"Bacteria can be killed by heat. What is most important is taste. That is why you are here, Erina." Athena said with crossed arms.

"Since we kind of messed up by not going with him, we will assist you in getting some proto-sharks." The Goddess of Wisdom said while pushing her glasses up.

"Okay, as long as I get one, I can start experimenting." The chef girl didn't sound confident enough, but she had enough experience in working with fish to understand enough what is what and how it should taste like.

"Good. Artemis, you will help me with this." The brown-haired Goddess said to her half-sister.

"Alright."

"Come with me, Erina. We shall explore the Super Ocean." 

"..." The girl stiffly nodded. Even though she knows magic and can lead armies after extensive training, exploring the Super Ancient Ocean of Carboniferous Earth is not something she is brave enough for.

"Relax, you are with two Goddesses." Athena patted her shoulder.

"Besides, the suits Marcus created will keep you secure no matter what." 

"...I know- I know. But the unknown depths of these oceans, combined with unknown species, make me stay on the edge." Erina explained while her assistant nodded. However, the pair were eager to taste fish from 320 million years ago!

"I see, but you should always think positively."

"...Still…"

"How about this~" Athena leaned forward and whispered to her.

"Marcus won't allow anything to happen to you~" 

The chef girl's cheeks slightly turned red as she calmed down.

"Indeed. He will protect you two~ No sea monster could potentially do anything with him around. That suit will keep you safe." Athena said that while taking her hand and showing the triangle device.

"...O-Okay, I get it." The chef girl looked at the triangle-shaped Diamond Heart Engine. She was more afraid of what she was holding than the unknown of the ocean.

To think that he will give something like this to her.

"Good, then let's go."

The group of four went to the hangar bay, where they saw other maids already having some fish and aquatic animals spread out on a big table.

Leading them were Atalanta and Hippolyta. 

"Wow! Amazing!" Erina and Hisako swiftly walked over and inspected the catches from a distance.

They saw coil-shaped shells with octopus-like creatures which should be Ammonites, then small fishes with slight armour-like plating on their front bodies. 

And, of course, the strange-looking fishes, which look like a mix between a classic shark and a fish. Their fins are big…

"...Aren't those Ammonites? I do wonder how they taste." Hisako said with a curious tone. Considering that they have shells, they might be similar to snails and clamps. Those taste not bad if they are prepared properly.

"Yes." 

"...By the way, where is Grayfia?" 

Athena noticed that some of the maids were missing. The one who answered was Jeanne.

"She took Hel and Tiamat to look for a lizard with a sail-shaped back. I assume she was talking about Dimetrodon." Jeanne said with a thoughtful look.

"Hmm, from my studies, we are too early for them. But their ancestors should be around." Athena has extensively studied over a month about ancient epochs and periods.

However, she was caught by surprise when he said that they would be arriving in the Carboniferous instead of the Triassic. But then she recalled that Marcus said he wanted to see the Permian-Triassic extinction event.

'Not that it will be easy. That even lasted for over a million years. At least that is what fossils in Siberia say.' 

"However, they could find Edaphosaurus." 

The moment she said that everyone checked the database, they saw a lizard with a sail on its back. But this one was a Herbivore. Its fossil dates were between 318 and 271 million years.

"Damn… if they find this one, they could get quite a bit of points!"

The maids got restless.

But then someone landed in the hangar bay.

Their gaze looked to the side. They saw an armoured girl holding some crab-like creature.

"I got it!!" the helmet retracted. It was Atalanta.

"I got the trilobite!" 

When they heard it, the maid swiftly dashed to the side and brought a big aquarium.

The lioness walked over and dropped the water arthropod into the water.

The brownish creature swiftly ended at the bottom, where it burrowed into prepared sand.

[Congratulations, Atalanta, You have finished the mission prepared by Supreme Commander.]

"Hnn. Do I get forty points for this?" The Lion Maid asked the AI as she looked at the prehistoric animal.

[Once the scans are completed, yes.]

"Good."

She then watched as a magnetic crane collected the big aquarium, lifted it, and stored it in a specially prepared container.

'What I am worried about is that these won't be enough to keep animals content. Unless he is planning to put them into some special hibernation sleep.'

While the huntress has never interacted with these animals before, keeping them in small places like these means asking for trouble, considering they are planning to capture huge creatures like actual dinosaurs in the not-so-distant future.

Just as she was thinking about this, Marcus returned from his trip. Instead of removing the suit, he only retracted the helmet.

She immediately walked over to him.

"Master, can I speak with you?" 

"Hmm? Sure." 

As he said that, he looked at the side, where he saw a table full of sea animals. He saw Erina, Athena, and Artemis talking about doing something.

Other maids were preparing to dive as well. 

The pair walked to the elevator, which took them to his floor.

Once there, they walked to his workshop. 

Atalanta started talking the moment he sat down on his chair.

"I have dived into the ocean and saw quite a few big animals. What I am concerned about is that our vessel… is too small." 

She said with a sigh.

"Unless you improve those containers, the animals will become restless with their small containers."

Marcus smiled when he heard that.

"I can hear quite a bit of care in your voice." He slightly teased his pet.

"That is obvious, is it not? I care for them and for us. I don't want the Jurassic Park experience." She grimaced as she said that.

The inventor's smile disappeared as he got serious.

"I know. I am already prepared. The month of travelling allowed me to think about this quite a bit." He said with a sigh.

As he summoned the main control hologram.

After skimming through several windows he ordered his construction nanites to begin working on the outpost and the shipyard.

"I will be expanding Confiscator to become a mothership."

He swiftly summoned the blueprint of the ship and proceeded to add several new parts to the ship.

He drew a ring. The Confiscator will be in the middle of the ring. Apart from that, there will be four extra vessels attached to the ring from the outside.

These vessels, from the looks of it, are legitimate vehicles with thrusters.

However, this was not all, as she saw that the Confiscator would have an entire extra floor added to the bottom and even an extra graviton thruster.

"...I thought that wouldn't it be better if you just added space magic to the containers. This way, you won't need to expand the vessel." Atalanta told him what she was thinking. By all means, in her opinion, the whole ship is already big as it is.

"And where will the power come from?" He asked her.

"Two of three reactors already power the travelling method itself. The last remaining reactor powers the ship itself. While we are in green with the creation and consumption ratio, if I am to utilise space magic on the containers, there will be an issue, considering there are around 120 containers I want to fill up."

Atalanta then pointed at a glowing triangle on her chest.

"Isn't this supposed to have enough power to power the entire space civilisation several times over?" The lioness said with a frown.

"You do realise that Confiscator is already considered a relic compared to Diamond Heart Engine?"

"...Right… it's only a month since the retrofits. Without them, it's only around three months old." The Lion maid sarcastically replied.

"Ha, it appears my cat is getting her spirit back."

She rolled her eyes when she heard that.

"No, I simply don't care anymore. My world is too crazy to care." Atalanta said with a sigh.

"Doubtful, since you care about the animals we are about to collect and the ship." He didn't buy what she was saying.

"More like you got your courage back~ as it has been a while since I made you into a maid~."

"...Maybe…" She didn't deny or agree.

"Regardless, we will be upgrading the vessel before we will be travelling to the Carboniferous and Permian extinction event. I do want to see what the actual ice age looks like."

"...I thought our Earth was in an Ice Age."

"Technically, yes, but I am talking about a Real one, not some half-baked one. Temperatures have to drop quite a bit to cause animals to die." He explained to her.

"I understand." She then turned around and walked to the door. She was about to leave, but then she remembered that she won the first 'mission'.

"That reminds me, I got your trilobite."

"...Nice, I will check it out after setting a few things into motion."

"As you wish. In the meantime, I will return to my regular duties."

"Do so." 

With a nod, the lion girl left his workshop. The next moment, his AI spoke.

[Sir, should I begin Project 'Kang'?]

Aurora asked her creator.

Marcus looked at the hologram of a spinning Earth. The continents were from his time.

With hand motion, he went through the setting and changed the continents into the Late Carboniferous Period.

"You may begin. We already tested proper time travel and saw how Time looks outside Time. By all means, we can begin claiming time itself." He said with a small smile he should thank that reporter by giving him an idea of making a Jurassic Park.

What some people don't understand is that the park and the dinosaurs from that place date back at least three to four periods.

To have something like that park, you have to have access to those periods.

To have that, you need time travel, but just travelling back and forth is quite…taxing. So, to make it less taxing, you need to build infrastructure… an empire!

That is what Project Kang is. First, he will build outposts through the periods, then actual base outside time just like Kang did.

With such infrastructure, he will be able to build his own park and much more.

Like an extra army which he can deploy at any time at any place. One could say that this is one of his safety belts if his empire falls at his home reality.

One should never have enough protection.

~~~

Meanwhile, outside Confiscator, grey sand started to leave the vessel.

Swiftly, some distance away, the sand began to take shape…

It looked like a Graviton-style Diamond Core Heart. Swiftly, the old-style reactor was built before coming online, and cables with other things were created. Not long after that, graviton projectors were finished, and the next second, a makeshift platform was floating in the air.

With the platform in place, the grey sand rapidly started to expand in all directions.

This Grey Sand was the next generation Assembly Line. The construction nanites. These little buggers are connected through a special interface, and their power is a simple M.T.M system.

The more they work, the more power they have, and the more power they have, the more they can build.

An endless cycle of creation.

Swiftly, the platform became drydocks in which Confiscator docked soon after.

The girls swiftly realised that something just happened. From the hangar bay opened doors, they can see a grey structure. The metal looked similar to Sacred Gear metal.

"What is going on?" Jeanne asked with confusion.

"The ship docked in dry docks. Master is intending to upgrade the ship." Le Fay said after checking the logs.

"That was quick. When did the docks get built?" Hisako asked her as she looked away from the fish.

"Just now."

"...That's quick…"

"Soon, it will be a legitimate outpost and not just a shipyard." As Le Fay said, she sent an enquiry if they could build a filtration device to lower the amount of Oxygen there is in the outpost.

She does want to breathe the air of this ancient world.

"Great. Does this mean we will be able to explore this outpost? Living in the ship is becoming stale." Erina said as she was preparing to cut the fish. The chef girl remembered that she didn't need her knife anymore. Her suit can do all that for her.

"It won't be that different, you know?" The witch sighed.

"Hmm. I wouldn't mind exploring the tropical forest if I were in some sort of machine. That way, I would know that there is a large distance between me and the bug." The cherry blonde said with a sigh as her suit created a knife, and she opened up the proto-shark's gut.

"Hmm, can you scan it for me?"

[Use your free hand to scan the carcass] Aurora said to Erina.

The chef girl stopped for a second and used her free hand. She pointed the palm of her hand. Hologram beams bombarded the carcass. The scan results popped on a hologram window.

"Ugh…"

The girl was surprised to see an array of unfamiliar bacteria in this animal.

"What now?"

[I suggest I do more scans on the bacteria.]

"Yes, that would be for the best," Erina said with a strained look.

[For now, just cook the fish to kill all of the bacteria.]

Even if it was a good suggestion, the girl isn't that sure yet.

[You can scan again after you cook]

Her eyes immediately perk up as she agrees to do that!

"Alright! I will do that!" 

The girl swiftly proceeded to continue to cut the proto-shark. The shark was quite strange as its lower lip was like a spear while it had fins similar to the fish of an actual shark. 

Because of its strange characteristics, the chef girls think that this animal will taste more like fish than a shark.

"Ohh… it has such thick bones…" 

Sure enough, the girl became quite mesmerised by what she found. To think that fish would have such heavy bones!

The girl soon enough knew the feeling of what it means to be a 'researcher'.

~~~

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