Re-Awakened: I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner

[LOCATION: Ares Fleet Formation - Guest Quarters Section]

[LOCAL TIME: 21:33 Fleet Standard]

[AMBIENT TEMPERATURE: 24°C | Thermal Systems: Night Cycle]

Noah sat cross-legged on his bed while Sophie occupied the room's single chair, both of them sharing a meal from the ship's galley. The conversation had drifted into comfortable territory—academy stories, old memories, the kind of reminiscing that happened when people had quiet moments between crises.

"I still can't believe Kelvin tried to reprogram the training dummies to flirt with cadets," Sophie said, shaking her head with amusement. "What was he thinking?"

"He wasn't thinking, that was the problem," Noah replied, grinning at the memory. "He figured if he could make combat training more 'emotionally engaging,' people would perform better. The instructors found him in the maintenance bay at three in the morning, trying to install personality subroutines into military equipment."

"And they caught him because?"

"One of the dummies started complimenting a cadet's hair during a sparring match. She got so flustered she walked straight into a wall." Noah laughed, remembering the chaos that had followed. "The student was fine, but the dummy kept asking if she was okay and offering to buy her dinner."

Sophie giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. "I can't picture Kelvin being that subtle about anything."

"Subtle? The dummy started reciting poetry during weapons training. Bad poetry. Kelvin had programmed it with what he called 'romantic combat encouragement.'" Noah shook his head. "The whole thing was a disaster, but somehow he convinced the disciplinary board it was a legitimate training innovation."

"How did he manage that?"

"He submitted a forty-page technical proposal about psychological motivation in combat scenarios, complete with charts and statistical projections. The board was so impressed by the paperwork they gave him extra credit instead of punishment. Hell, Miss Brooks till date has no idea what to do when it comes to kelv,"

"That's so Kelvin," Sophie said fondly. "Turn a prank into a research project and somehow come out ahead."

"The best part was that he genuinely believed it would work. He spent weeks studying romantic literature to create the personality algorithms, taking notes on dialogue from old movies, interviewing upperclassmen about what they found attractive in conversation partners."

Sophie's expression grew thoughtful. "Wait, you said upperclassmen. I was year three when you and Kelvin were year one. Did he ever interview me?"

Noah paused, fork halfway to his mouth, as he considered the timeline. "Actually, yeah. He had this whole survey he was passing around, asking about communication preferences and emotional responses to different types of interaction. You probably filled it out without realizing what it was for."

"I remember that survey! He said it was for a psychology project about interpersonal dynamics. I spent like an hour answering questions about what kind of compliments I found meaningful versus patronizing."

"And he used your answers to program combat dummies."

Sophie stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. "My God, that means every time those things started flirting with people, they were using my responses as reference material. I helped create the most romantically awkward military equipment in EDF history."

"You should be proud. Your input contributed to some truly memorable training sessions."

They continued eating in comfortable silence for several minutes, both lost in memories of simpler times when their biggest concerns involved academy regulations and training scores. But Noah's relaxation was interrupted by a sudden sensation—not physical, but something deeper, like an itch in his consciousness that demanded attention.

His posture straightened abruptly, fork clattering against his plate as his attention shifted to something Sophie couldn't perceive.

"Noah?" she asked, noticing his change in demeanor. "What's wrong?"

"Bruce," Noah said simply, standing up and moving toward the center of the room. "He's trying to reach me. Something's happened."

Without further explanation, Noah closed his eyes and activated his abilities.

"Domain," he said clearly.

Purple energy erupted around his form, reality folding as he disappeared from the room. Sophie was left staring at the empty space where he'd been, her half-finished meal forgotten as concern replaced their earlier levity.

Noah materialized in his pocket dimension to find Bruce standing in the middle of the green fields, his expression was one that carried the weight of significant discoveries and equally significant problems.

"You broke him?" Noah asked without preamble.

"I broke him," Bruce confirmed. "But Noah, what I found..." He shook his head. "We need to gather everyone. This is bigger than we thought, and more complicated."

Noah didn't waste time with questions. He activated his transport ability, purple energy wrapping around both men as they returned to the ship's reality.

"Sophie, gather everyone in the main briefing room," Noah said the moment they materialized. "Emergency meeting. Bruce has intelligence."

Sophie was already moving toward the door, their earlier conversation forgotten in the face of operational necessity. Within minutes, the ship's internal communication system was carrying her message to every team member and relevant Ares personnel.

---

The briefing room filled quickly as people responded to the summons with military efficiency. King Aurelius arrived with several of his senior wives, their expressions showing they understood the gravity of whatever Bruce had discovered.

Lucas and Lucy took positions near the front, while Diana and Uncle Dom flanked the sides of the room. Kelvin appeared with his face in full serious mode, ready to process whatever technical information might emerge.

Lyra slipped in quietly, taking a seat near the back where she could observe without drawing attention to herself.

Lieutenant Commander Theron activated the room's recording systems and security protocols, ensuring their discussion would remain private while being properly documented.

"Bruce," Noah said once everyone was seated. "Report."

Bruce moved to the front of the room, his posture showing the exhaustion that came from hours of intensive telepathic work. "I successfully extracted the intelligence from our prisoner. The good news is that he possessed detailed information about communication protocols, operational structures, and most importantly, the location of the Eighth's primary facility."

"And the bad news?" Lucas asked, though his tone suggested he was bracing for complications.

"The bad news is that the location isn't a straightforward coordinate system or planetary designation. The Eighth has protected this information through a riddle that requires interpretation to decode the actual position."

King Aurelius leaned forward with interest. "What kind of riddle? Military cipher, mathematical puzzle, linguistic encryption?"

"Historical and astronomical," Bruce replied. "The prisoner's mind contained the exact phrasing, but translating it into actionable intelligence requires knowledge of ancient Earth mythology combined with stellar cartography."

He looked around the room at the assembled faces. "I need something to write this down. The phrasing is precise, and getting even small details wrong could lead us to completely incorrect conclusions."

Kelvin's mechanical arms extended a holographic display interface while Noah provided a physical tablet. Bruce took both, using the hologram for the group while making notes on the tablet as backup.

"This is exactly what was in his mind," Bruce said, beginning to write. "No translation, no interpretation, just the raw information as it was stored."

He wrote carefully, occasionally pausing to ensure accuracy:

When the Archer's bow points toward the Bull's crimson eye,

And the Twins dance beneath the Maiden's light,

Where Pi divides the ancient serpent's coil,

Three degrees north of the Eagle's flight,

The lord's domain lies hidden from all sight.

The room fell silent as everyone stared at the riddle, minds already working through potential meanings and connections.

"Well," Uncle Dom said finally, "that's thoroughly cryptic."

"Astronomical references," Lucy observed immediately. "Archer, Bull, Twins, Maiden, Eagle—those could be constellation designations."

"Sagittarius, Taurus, Gemini, Virgo, and Aquila," Kelvin said without hesitation. "But the problem is stellar positioning. Those constellations appear at different times and locations depending on your viewing position in space."

King Aurelius gestured toward his senior advisors. "My astronomical specialists should be consulted immediately. We have star charts dating back centuries, including Earth's historical astronomical records."

Diana was studying the riddle with tactical focus. "The reference to 'crimson eye' suggests a specific star, not just the constellation. Taurus contains Aldebaran, which is red-orange in coloration. Could be what they mean by the bull's crimson eye."

"That makes sense," Noah said. "But what about 'the Archer's bow points toward'? Sagittarius is pointing somewhere specific relative to Aldebaran's position?"

Lucas frowned as he worked through the implications. "The complexity suggests this isn't just about finding coordinates. They're describing a specific moment in time when these astronomical conditions align properly."

"Pi divides the ancient serpent's coil," Sophie read aloud. "Pi as in the mathematical constant? And which serpent—there are multiple serpent constellations."

"Hydra is the most prominent," Lyra offered from her position near the back. "The longest constellation in the sky. If you're dividing it by pi, you might be looking for a specific segment."

Uncle Dom was nodding thoughtfully. "The mathematical reference suggests precision calculation rather than approximate positioning. Someone familiar with both mythology and advanced mathematics constructed this."

"The question," Theron said practically, "is whether this describes a location in space or a location on a planetary surface relative to stellar positions."

"Could be either," Kelvin admitted, his mechanical arms interfacing with the ship's computational systems. "If it's space-based, we're looking for coordinates defined by constellation relationships. If it's planetary, we're looking for a surface location identified through astronomical observation."

Queen Lyanna stepped forward with her own observations. "The phrasing feels ritualistic, like something designed to be memorized rather than written down. That suggests this riddle has been passed through multiple generations of the Eighth's organization."

"Which means," Queen Sera added, "there might be historical precedents we can research. If this riddle is old enough, there could be records of similar astronomical events."

The discussion continued for over an hour as various team members and Ares specialists offered theories, cross-referenced historical data, and attempted to decode the riddle's meaning. Noah watched the process with fascination, noting how different minds approached the problem from different angles.

Lucas focused on military applications, trying to understand why the Eighth would choose such an elaborate encoding system. Lucy approached it from a political perspective, considering what the location might reveal about the Eighth's strategic priorities. Diana analyzed it tactically, looking for operational patterns that might suggest defensive preparations.

King Aurelius brought in his best astronomical advisors, who spread star charts across the briefing room's main table and began calculating constellation positions for various time periods and observation points.

Uncle Dom approached the riddle as an intellectual puzzle, cross-referencing mythological traditions from multiple Earth cultures to ensure they weren't missing alternative interpretations of the symbolic references.

But as the hours passed and the discussion grew more complex, people began departing to pursue specialized research in their areas of expertise. King Aurelius left to consult with his historical archives. Bruce retired to process the telepathic extraction more thoroughly, looking for additional clues that might have been missed initially.

Diana, Sophie, and Lucas departed to review tactical implications of various potential locations, while Uncle Dom went to research mythological precedents in the ship's database systems.

Eventually, only Noah, Kelvin, and Lyra remained in the briefing room, the star charts and reference materials spread around them like evidence of an unsolved crime.

"This is going to require computational modeling," Kelvin said, his mechanical arms interfacing with multiple systems simultaneously. "We need to calculate stellar positions for different time periods and observation points, then cross-reference them with the riddle's requirements."

"I can help with the historical research," Lyra offered. "Cross-reference mythological sources with astronomical records, make sure we're not missing cultural context that might change our interpretation."

Noah studied the riddle again, his mind working through possibilities. "What if we're overthinking this? The Eighth operates from somewhere, presumably a location that's been stable for generations. That suggests a planetary base rather than a mobile space platform."

"Good point," Kelvin agreed. "If we assume planetary location, then the astronomical references are describing observational conditions from that planet's surface."

Lyra nodded, moving closer to the star charts. "And if the riddle is as old as we suspect, it might describe Earth's night sky from a specific location and time period."

"Earth?" Noah looked up from his notes. "You think the Eighth's primary base is on Earth?"

"Think about it," Lyra said, her voice carrying conviction. "Earth is the original human homeworld, the place where the seven families first awakened their abilities. If there was an eighth family that was exiled, they might have remained on Earth rather than joining the expansion into space."

Kelvin's mechanical arms were already pulling up Earth's astronomical charts, his computational abilities calculating stellar positions for various historical periods. "That actually makes sense. The riddle would describe a specific location on Earth identified through constellation observations."

"Plus," Lyra continued, "Earth's population is large enough to hide a secret organization, and the planet's political complexity would provide cover for the Eighth's operations."

Noah felt a growing sense that they were approaching the correct interpretation. "Can we model Earth's night sky for the conditions described in the riddle?"

"Already working on it," Kelvin replied, his mechanical arms interfacing with astronomical databases while holographic displays showed constellation positions. "This is going to take some time—we need to calculate when Sagittarius points toward Aldebaran, when Gemini is positioned beneath Virgo, and where on Earth these conditions would be visible simultaneously."

For the next several hours, Kelvin worked through complex calculations while Lyra researched historical and mythological contexts. Noah found himself functioning as coordinator, helping to integrate different pieces of information as they emerged.

The breakthrough came near dawn, ship time. By then, only kelvin and Lyra were left as Noah had also returned to his quarters to do additional thinking on his own.

Kelvin's mechanical arms suddenly froze in their calculations, his eyes widening as the computational results aligned into a coherent pattern.

"I've got it," he said, his voice carrying excitement and certainty. "The riddle describes a location on Earth's surface, observed during specific astronomical conditions that occur approximately every twenty-six years."

He activated the main holographic display, showing a three-dimensional model of Earth with overlaid astronomical data. "When you calculate the constellation positions, account for Earth's axial precession, and apply the pi calculation to Hydra's position, you get coordinates that point to..."

His voice trailed off as the final calculation completed, revealing a location that made everything suddenly make sense.

But before he could announce the discovery, something happened, something really strangs.

Lyra's eyes changed.

The transformation was subtle at first—a darkening that might have been attributed to fatigue or concentration. But within seconds, her irises turned completely black, matching the same darkness they'd witnessed in the shadow operatives who had committed mass suicide.

Kelvin was still focused on his calculations when shadow tendrils erupted from the floor around his position. Dark energy wrapped around his arms, his torso, his throat, binding him to his chair with strength that made his mechanical limbs strain uselessly against the restraint.

Without speaking, Lyra reached out and grabbed Kelvin's face with both hands, forcing eye contact despite his struggles against the shadow bindings. The darkness in her gaze seemed to flow like liquid, pouring across the space between them until it reached Kelvin's eyes.

Kelvin watched in horror as his expression changed, awareness and personality draining from his features as the same black darkness spread across his vision. Within seconds, Kelvin's struggles ceased, his body going limp in the shadow restraints as his eyes matched Lyra's perfectly.

The briefing room fell silent except for the hum of electronic systems and the distant sounds of the ship's normal operations.

The riddle had been solved.

But their real problems were just beginning.