A group of Graviton-powered gunships descended next to a cave system.
Upon landing, the side doors slid open and released an array of armoured knights, who proceeded to spread out and explore the area.
Instead of their usual weapons, they had tools to scan and gather data.
As this was happening, Marcus, alongside Erina, used their built-in scanners to look for any tissues as they wanted to gather data on the sapient Dinosaurs.
It was not that hard to find, as several minutes into this, they found out that these dinosaurs are quite vicious and occasionally spar among themselves…
Sometimes to the point of death.
"These bones." The inventor commented as he inspected a pile of bones in a hole.
"At least they know how to dispose of their dead family members." Erina tried to look at the positive and tried to play down the anxiety she was feeling.
She did recall that ancient humans were no different, either. Fighting for mating rights is nothing new, regardless of species.
"Yes. Well, they at least dug a hole." Marcus joined the 'joke' Erina was telling.
His suit scanned the DNA sequences he got from several sources by this point.
"It appears that reproductive qualities are still okay, but the indirect exposure to special energy doesn't impact it. Instead, it stimulates evolution. I would say that it affects the driving force.
The ones who grow in size grow bigger, and the ones who are smart grow smarter." He concluded after inspecting the DNA.
Marcus then looked at the commanding knight.
"I want you guys to get samples. Since we are here, get me a Carnotaurus, Giganotosaurus, Tarbosaurus, and T-Rex.
Apart from getting the samples, I want scans of their sizes. According to what I have here, they should be bigger by at least 5% to 10%."
"Understood, sir. We shall begin the collection."
The knights saluted as they sent a word to the bases around the world.
"Aren't those the predators…" Erina heard of those animals before—especially the infamous T-Rex.
"They are, and I want them." He smirked as he placed the bone back, stood up, and looked at her.
"You can't leave the Cretaceous without the grand prize of apex Dinosaurs. This period had them at their biggest ever, and if this energy is the real deal according to the current scans, then they are even bigger." Marcus said with an excited tone as if he was getting giddy about getting the grand prize. These animals were his goal all along!
"I see." There was not much she could say to him. Part of her understands the excitement. Considering they were in distant past realities anyway.
After exploring the caves and collecting samples and primitive tools for his collection, the pair returned to the core piece of Assimilator.
They waited for the animals' arrival.
Not that they needed it for long. While the predators are dangerous for regular people, they are nothing against hyper-advanced Graviton-powered UFOs…
The moment they got the word, the pair descended to the lower levels, where the train brought the animals from their collection points.
"Here it comes!" Marcus rubbed his hands as he waited for the anti-gravity train to stop at the platform and the mechanic's hands to pull out the carriage, which had the beast stored.
"So which one is it?" Erina asked him, recalling him asking for four predators.
Marcus looked at the manager of the train platform.
"This one is from the South American continent."
"Let me guess… Giganotosaurus?." The inventor asked, knowing what kind of animal it could be, and the manager nodded at his guess.
"Never heard of this one." Erina had a questioning look.
"It's an apex predator from the South American Continent. The continent which had biggest land animals in recorded history."
After saying that, he looked back at the manager.
"Release the animal."
"..."
"..."
"I want to see it." He said with a small smile.
"Sir… it's against the standard protocol to release it in a non-controlled environment, " the platform manager said in a nervous tone.
"True, but I am the one who will be making it 'manageable'." Marcus smiled as he moved forward.
"...Since…" The man stopped mid-sentence as he sighed, knowing that it was pointless to try to persuade it otherwise.
"Release the Giganotosaurus. I want to see the biggest land predator to date!"
The moment he said that the container started to open, and a brownish-grey dinosaur with sharp claws, serrated teeth, an iconic long tail and small arms walked out from the container.
Erina looked at it with wide eyes, realising she was staring at a huge land predator.
'This thing could swallow people whole!' Some sweat appeared on her forehead.
Part of her was giddy to see a real dinosaur from so close, and an even bigger part of her was terrified of this animal.
'With my current strength, I should be able to defend myself…right? RIGHT!? With my time powers, I could easily undo the animal's life!'
Erina thought to herself, as the bloodlust she was feeling from the beast was making her fear rise in her gut. The suit she was wearing was not protecting her from the intent radiating from the Giganotosaurus.
She could change that, but the girl still had not figured out all the kinks of the miracle device she was wearing.
"Relax, Erina. Just observe for now." Marcus reassured her as he could sense her feeling threatened by the biggest land predator to date.
The inventor looked at the beast's eyes and sent an intent via his Psionic powers.
The animal's eyes ended up on the punny person.
The tall twenty-foot monstrosity roared at Marcus. Usually, something this small for Giganotosaurus is not worth wasting energy on, so it roared again and tried to make him run away, but the inventor didn't budge at all.
Marcus lifted his hand and made a motion to come at him.
The predator stopped wasting time and lunged at the inventor, trying to swallow him whole.
But all such an action did was hold the beast in place. Marcus was holding the large theropod by its teeth.
The animal tried to bite him even harder, but all it could do was break its teeth.
Such an action made Marcus slip inside the Giganotosaurus' mouth.
"Oh my, now the question is, can you pick me up?" the black-haired inventor commented as he was inside the predator's mouth.
A layer of psionic energy keeps the smell and saliva away from him.
There is no need to use his suit in this situation. Well, the suit is always in use, but at the moment, only the basic functions are on.
The theropod tried to move, but nothing worked. Eventually, after some struggle, the biggest land predator decided it was not worth it, so it stopped trying and instead moved its head up and decided to explore.
"Well, it appears reality and the movie logic are two different things."
Marcus used his power to remove whatever saliva was around the psionic layer he had cast before.
"Huh…" Erina finally got over her primal fear of a big predator.
"We are too small of a prey for these animals. I could goad it to try to eat me, but I am too small for it to care beyond a casual try." The inventor explained to her before floating over to Giganotosaurus' side and placing his hand on its head.
The peanut-sized brain was swiftly overwhelmed by Marcus' sheer power.
The inventor is well aware that animals like these are controlled purely by their instincts. So, he simply suppressed them and overwrote them to obey him through psionic suggestions.
This is the best he can do for now. Later, he will develop specific means of control, maybe a control centre or something for his pets and war beasts.
'Maybe controlled evolution? Like how it happened to the canines…'
'No canines are domesticated. I should go with felines who evolved next to humans.'
As he pondered, the Giganotosaurus stopped in its tracks and looked at Marcus.
"There-there. Good boy." The Inventor smiled as he patted the scaly head of the apex predator of the Cretaceous Period.
The beast was breathing in and out, and soon enough, Marcus realised that… his pet was struggling.
"Oh shit."
He swiftly commanded it to return to its container as the oxygen levels in the Assimilator were lower than outside!
The large predator returned to his container before the doors sealed behind it.
"Do a medical scan on him. I think I got too excited." Marcus commented as he rubbed the back of his head.
"We will."
"Phew, I almost killed my pet there." The inventor placed his hand on his chest as if he was nervous for a second.
"Can't you just resurrect him?" Erina's eyes rolled at his 'nervous acting'.
"I know, but it's the feeling behind it. Do you know how owners get sad when their dogs die? It's the same thing." He clarified his feelings about the current situation.
"Righ…" Erina deadpanned at him. She was more afraid of that animal than seeing it as a future pet.
"Oh, and beginning constructing gene-altering sequences, I want to know how we can alter my pets for home usage."
"Understood, sir. With how much data we have, it should not be an issue." The platform manager saluted his superior while replying.
"Home usage?" Erina's eyebrows perked up when she listened to that! What is he planning to use them for!? She heard the idea to use them for riot police. Not that she has any idea how it will work, but it sounds absurd!
"Yeah. Like a house guard dog? Do you know those signs they use for yards? 'Caution, angry dog?' Imagine something like 'Caution, angry dinosaur'. Imagine idiots ignore that and enter my yard, and the first thing they see is a Giganotosaurus?" Marcus chuckled at the idea of doing that! Hell! HE WILL do that! Because it's cool!
"...You…"
Ultimately, she didn't finish her sentence; she simply sighed while massaging her forehead. She finally realised that her boyfriend was a small boy inside the body of a genius… maybe that is why he achieved all that in the first place.
"...Me…" He ended up walking to her and hugging her as he made a comfy chair for himself to sit in and wait for the other three pets.
He can't wait for Tarbosaurus and T-Rex, two apex predators of Asia and North America.
"So we are going to wait for the other three to arrive?" Erina asked him, as she had already gotten used to the routine of ending up on his lap regardless of place or the strangeness of the situation.
~~~~~~Meanwhile, Jurassic Period, a Reality Away~~~~~~
In the lush prehistoric forests of Peak Jurassic Period Earth, maids of Technocracy are exploring the land for animals worth their attention.
Without Marcus' presence, the maids are much more relaxed, to the point that they are playing along with Atalanta's request to turn off technological assistance. If they are going to capture these dinosaurs, it will be with their pure talent…nothing else.
'Haaa, this is barely anything worth a couple hundred… We should check another continent.' The Saintess complained to herself until her eyes perked up as she saw something skulking around and looking for prey.
"Look! Look!" Jeanne pointed at a dinosaur in the distance.
Out of instinct, Atalanta grabbed the Saint and pulled her down. They did not need to hide when they could become invisible with a mere thought.
"Considering its size and those two eye protectors, it should be Allosaurus." The lioness said with a small frown. This beast is the Apex predator of Jurassic!
"Allosaurus?"
The Warrior Queen and Jeanne looked at each other before summoning the bingo book.
"Wha!?"
The first one to exclaim is Jeanne, as her eyes bulged out.
"His worth is 400 thousand! Third, the most wanted animal in the book! Just bellow Mosasaurus and T-Rex!"
"!!!"
"!!!"
"!!!"
The other maids looked at each other. Greed rose in their eyes.
'Oh…'
Atalanta realised that this was bad.
"I am capturing it!"
Le Fay rose into the air as blue circles of magic surrounded her.
"Hell no! I will be the one who will bring it to my husband!" Hyppolita rose as well.
Jeanne followed suit as she summoned her twin guns.
"Enough! There are thousands of allosaurus in the world! There is no need to fight among ourselves." Artemis got in the middle of the pair.
"Goddess, you can't be serious… we need to capture the biggest one! This is the third one most wanted by our Master. Can you imagine how happy he will be once he knows that we got the biggest specimen the world has ever produced?" Le Fay switched to diplomacy since she was facing a goddess.
The witch's words affected the Goddess, as their Master is a weak spot, just like for everyone else.
"Ha! You can talk all you want, but I am capturing it first!" Hyppolita ignored the conversation and lunged at Theropod predator.
The dinosaur roared at the incoming target, but at the last second, at Hyppolita's back, a beam slammed, making her slam into Allosaurus.
The Jurassic Apex predator, alongside the Warrior Queen, ended up slamming into a tree.
The animal ended up releasing pained roars as the force was considerable.
"You!" The red-haired beauty swiftly moved away from the theropod animal and looked at Jeanne, who just shot her!
"I said, I am taking it first!"
Greed is consuming the girl as those 400 thousand are enough to get something akin to a miracle inside the Technocracy.
"You wish! Let's fight then!" Hippolyta summoned her spear.
The pair lunged at each other while Atalanta looked at this with disbelief.
'They are seriously fighting over a single Allosaurus?' The lion maid had some sweat on her forehead from the sheer disbelief she was seeing before her.
But then, a smirking Le Fay flew over and passed the fighting pair, then went over and used her magic to capture the beast that tried to sneak away.
The one who is the most confused from all of this is the land predator…
"I need to measure it first…" Atalanta decided that she would join this as well… at least to measure the animal first before looking for a bigger one.
So she shot several arrows at Le Fay.
"Atalanta? You too?" Artemis, who was the second most confused individual (Allosaur being the first), asked the lioness.
"I need to learn the size of it!" she rushed at Le Fay, who thought Artemis wanted the dinosaur.
As chaos erupted at the forest side high above, a white-haired girl was floating and looking at the action with disbelief.
'I can't believe they are fighting among themselves.'
Sirin was confused as she summoned the bingo book and sorted it by time periods.
'Stegosaurus looks like quite a high value.'
She saw another high Jurassic period entry.
'Let them fight over Allosaurus. I will collect the other entries.'
The girl smirked as she saw another high-level entry, the Megalosaurus, alongside Torvosaurus. These two requested to get a pack with 100,000 per dinosaur.
Just by capturing a pack of each, she could have between 600,000 and 800,000 points combined for two specific packs!
Such capture would double the single Allosaurus value.
Considering Allosaurus, Marcus is only paying once.
"What are they doing?" Erina's assistant, Hisako, floated over to Sirin's side.
"Fighting over Allosaurus." The Herrscher said with a mocking undertone.
"...Fighting? We are at the peak of Jurassic; there should be an abundance of Predators, " the chef girl commented.
"You tell them. They realised that getting one of the top 3 requests would make them extremely rich." The white-haired girl brushed her hair while continuing to look down on them.
"Huh…"
For a second, Hisako looked at the bingo book and the 'marketplace'. She quickly realised that 400 thousand would allow one to get even peak Sacred Gears like one of the Heavenly Dragon Gears.
'That is an impressive amount of points.'
"Regardless, you will be coming with me." Sirin grabbed her shoulder.
"You will be making snacks for me. If you do that, I will tell Marcus that you were a great help to me." The Herrscher smirked while saying that.
"..."
"...Sure…"
"Wonderful. Now let's go to get a Stegosaurus. I wonder if we could get barbeque ribs from them~."
For a second, Hisako imagined that famous dinosaur magically turning into barbeque ribs.
"...I wonder as well."
~~~~~~Back to Marcus~~~~~~
"Hmm…"
The inventor looked at the monolith. It was black with a hole at the top. The hole stimulates brain activities in a certain way, especially during a full moon or a full eclipse. Now, the only thing they need to do is place it.
"I feel something from it, and it's only a design," Erina said to Marcus as she stood next to him.
"That's because certain shapes impact the brain. Have you ever seen what sound looks like?" He asked her with a smirk.
"...Sound…looks like?"
"Yep, take a flat surface, put some sand on it, and let a sound flow through it. The sand will move and create a shape."
"Oh…"
"This is similar; the shape takes in the planet's gravity waves and lets it flow through the monolith, and it would release a specific wave pattern that will impact anyone who looks at it," Marcus told her how it works.
"Considering how close the moon is, the effect could be considerable." He said while rubbing his chin.
"I see, that is interesting. I never thought shapes could do that." She said with a surprised tone.
"You will see." He smirked before mentally confirming the shape before loading it into the main barrel of the central piece of the Assimilator.
The barrel rotated, and Marcus checked the map and highlighted where the sapient Raptors were.
"Fire."
The barrel glowed, and the construct accelerated through graviton magic circles and shot at the selected location.
"Now, let's wait for a bit." He looked at his handy work while wrapping his hand around Erina's waist.
"Let's relax for now."
"...alright." She slowly nodded her head.
"I am thinking of experimenting on one of the ceratops." She said to him as she pondered on the horned dinosaurs.
"Oh? Tell me what you think. Because these animals remind me of modern-day cows…"
"I was thinking of the same thing. Imagine using a new type of meat, similar to chicken, to unite the world."
When Marcus heard that, he chuckled. He remembered the Simpsons episode in which Homer was a prophet and united the world with chicken.
"What's that funny?" She asked with rosy cheeks. Did she say something funny?
"Nothing, I am imagining you a priestess who is spreading peace through Triceratops meat." He chuckled as he pulled her towards the lifts at the back of the Command Centre.
"You're just imagining me in a toga…" Her eyes rolled, as she already knew he liked her dress in questionable clothes.
"Part of it, yes. Considering the Greek Patheon is part of my family."
He smirked while saying that.
"..."
~~~
After placing the Monolith, Marcus spent time tinkering with the Dino gene to make his dinosaurs adaptable to changes in oxygen and temperature.
He ensured they had mana to act as an energy source when there was a lack of oxygen or temperature. This way, they could live longer, and a secondary effect is rapid adaptation to these changes.
To ensure this worked and that there was minimal change, he added more power to the nuclei, which would release the energy needed to make this work. The beast would simply need to consume more calories.
These changes didn't take much time, leaving him free rather quickly. But there were issues with that as there was nothing else to do.
So he went and worked on some of his other projects, such as continuing to design Raiden Mei, Bronya, Bismark, Belfast, and the rest.
Midway through, he recalled that he now had a T-Rex, so he could start designing his Riot Police force!
'Oh hell, yeah!'
With extra excitement in his eyes, he went to work!
After a quick T-Rex scan, he started to draw chest piece protectors, leg armours, and claws, which improved with Power of Destruction. Lastly, he began to design the back cannon.
This time around, he made sure to make the armour as cool as possible; after all, his Police have to look great!
Once that was done, he switched to other units. One of them is 'Search & Destroy,' which are going to be raptor packs.
Naturally, he wanted to make Velociraptors, but a quick check later revealed that the raptors shown on TV screens are fake and based on Deinonychus.
But even then, they are not that big. Instead, he checked the Atrociraptors… same as well… the movies lied to him… again! Those were as big as the ones they showed in the Dominion movie.
Instead, he checked the Utahraptor, and when he saw that one, there was a glint in his eyes!
'I do need to design and improve the visors and helmets. Built-in HUD is one thing, but they need extra protection.'
Marcus rubbed his chin as he proceeded to check the data he had.
"Ugh… this won't work." He said while exclaiming loudly.
"What won't work?" Erina asked as she was doing her thing, testing an array of spices on the Triceraptors' meat.
"I need an actual Utahraptor to design my hunters." He said while scratching the back of his head.
He summoned a command console with a thought.
"To all handlers, bring me a Utahraptor pack. I need a complete genome."
"Understood, sir."
All of the active saucers dropped whatever they were doing and proceeded to look for the raptors.
"...I don't even want to know what you ordered," Erina said after listening to what he just did.
"Then don't. You can see it on live TV after we return to our times." He smirked as he looked back at her.
'That reminds me: I can use Allosaurus as an anti-terrorist unit. Their jaws and claws are good for cutting, and they are quicker than T-Rexes.
Hmm, I wonder how Atalanta is doing with collecting them for me.'
Marcus pondered how his hunting hungry lion maid was doing.
~~~~~~Meanwhile, Back in Jurassic Period~~~~~~
Arrows made from green energy slammed into dark blue magic circles, creating a massive explosion which shook the whole land.
Atalanta frowned, seeing her time arrows do nothing to Le Fay's magic circles.
"You are not the only one who can wield time, you know." The pale blonde witch smirked as she summoned more circles and released elements at the huntress.
The lion maid shot another salvo of arrows to cancel the circles before slipping out of time and appearing next to Le Fay, who instantly tried to make some distance.
Atalanta's left fist went for the circle that tried blocking her way.
"You need more than basic magic to keep me down, little girl." The Lioness' fist shattered the circle before she threw a couple of green knives.
At that moment, a wall of nanites blocked the knives.
"..."
"..."
"I thought we were not using the suit's abilities?" Atalanta asked as her frown grew in severity.
"Tehehe, it was instinctual?" Le Fay tried to play it down.
"...Right…"
The huntress narrowed her eyes as her suit's triangle piece started to glow, and nanites spread through her whole body, merging with her bow and becoming several times more intimidating.
"Besides, those two have already been using the suit's abilities." Atalanta motioned with her chin at the side.
~~~
Golden beams slammed into crimson ones, followed by golden energy bullets that were intercepted by a red spear made from energy.
The collision caused an array of explosions, which caused the trees to become unrooted and fly alongside a variety of dinosaurs that were running away from the area.
On one side was a girl dressed in Greek armour with glowing crimson hair. It looked like particles of light getting emitted from her long hair.
An aura of light surrounded her. She looked like a Greek War Goddess, which she was, but this aura made her appearance more natural to a Goddess.
On the other side was a blonde girl with golden glowing hair with similar particles to the Greek Goddess. She had two guns in both hands and several holy swords floating behind her. This was Jeanne.
The pair didn't even notice how their appearance changed and how their powers grew, becoming much stronger.
Such a thing happened because of the suits they were wearing. The built-in Quantum Computer powered by a Diamond Heart Engine and the constant nanite support allows them to constantly fight at 100% without the worry of getting injured.
The pair didn't even realise that they were causing quite a disturbance…
"You should just give up. I may be a minor goddess, but you stand no chance against me." Hippolyta took a stance, and a bloody crimson aura surged from her, becoming a pillar of flames, growing in size, and becoming a huge avatar of a Greek Warrior holding a spear.
The warrior stood in a stance, ready to throw the spear like a javelin.
"We shall see! I do have enough energy!" Honestly, Jeanne had no idea what she was even doing. But she can't lose the chance to get that Allosaurus.
By this point, she is guided by adrenaline, which is linked to her suit.
Golden holy aura surged from her as well, transforming into a large pyre of golden light morphing into an cyber angel, same size as the Greek warrior.
Instead of a spear, it had two hand cannons as long as rifles.
Hippolyta's eyes widened as she saw something absurd.
'How can she do that!?'
Well, questions for later: she needs to get that dinosaur for her husband!
As the avatar of war threw the spear, Jeanne's cyber angel lifted the guns, which morphed into a single large cannon and shot at the incoming spear.
The impact of those two caused an enormous explosion.
~~~
"Hmm… did the earth shake? An Earthquake?" Hisako asked as she looked at the dinner table. The cutlery on the table was shaking!
"No… look at the Butterfly bar." Sirin, who was watching the roasting Stegosaur ribs, turned to face in a direction. She saw the bar grow on her HUD's left bottom corner.
"...W-What the!? Is it us!?" Hisako panicked as she saw the bar grow!
"No, you can see where this is happening." The Herrscher accessed the global map on her HUD. There is a huge blob of red on it.
"The bar switched to global percentage." She said with a contemplating look.
"Wait… they are still fighting!?" The chef girl exclaimed with disbelief.
"Hours have passed already!"
Erina's assistant's eyes trembled. They had already collected three high-ranked dinosaurs, and by this point, they were doing extra side missions for fewer points—BUT those brownie points from Marcus later on!
Still, quite a bit of time has passed!
"We all have these." Sirin pointed at her triangle device.
"It's an Arcane technology; the amount of energy it can produce is enough to level the entire solar system. The key factor is that the suits are self-aware and possess Quantum Computers, with the nanites as the extension to utilise said power."
"...Why would…Marcus creates such dangerous devices?"
Hisako always wanted to ask that, but she never had her chance. What she was hearing was nothing new; after all, she was in the meeting where she got hers.
"Well, it's not that dangerous, per se. An atomic plant is dangerous, too, but humans use it to generate their energy needs." Sirin shrugged at her.
"The question is how much they pushed their needs for suits to generate that much power." The Herrscher smirked as she got an idea.
She waved her hand, causing time to freeze in the area. She doesn't want the meat to overcook or get stolen.
"Let's go. I have an idea, " the white-haired girl said with a sinister smile, similar to that of a villain who had a wicked idea.
"O-Okay." The chef girl slowly nodded as she followed after Sirin. The pair flew towards where the fighting was happening.
"Aurora, who has the highest authority in this place?" The Herrscher asked the AI.
[That would be you.]
The girl mentally did her counting. At this moment, she is the only Marcus creation in the whole Jurassic, meaning that her authority is the highest. The rest of the girls are simple maids who flaunt Marcus' power however they want.
"...Good~" Her smile grew several times as she found a way to make a true power move and get ALL prize money!
Hisako looked at Sirin with some worry. Was she planning some sort of coup?
A few moments later, they crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived on the continent that would become North America in the distant future. The place was a mess, full of craters, and forests were on fire. The sky was clouded from all the carnage.
"Aurora, lock down all of the Diamond Heart Engines except for mine and Hisako."
[Very well.]
At that moment, all of the maids who were fighting among themselves dropped to the ground as the suit powered down, leaving only essential protection from the climate.
"What?"
"..."
"What is going on?"
"Ouch!!!"
"Oooof!!!"
Jeanne and Hippolyta dropped hundreds of meters down. Thankfully, the suit absorbed the fall.
Seeing that it worked, Sirin placed her hand on her lips as she giggled, seeing that she had all the cards in this game!
"Well-Well! It appears I will be getting all of the points this time around." the Herrscher landed on the ground. She was followed by nervous-looking Hisako. The girl realised that one maybe should not have that much power… considering how evil-ish Sirin sounded.
"...Sirin!? What happened?" Le Fay asked as she stood up.
"I suggest you don't do that." The white-haired girl motioned, and her subspace lances manifested around the area. Behind her, a bunch of gunships were descending from the central piece of the Assimilator.
"You girls broke the standard protocol, 'forcing' me to assume the command."
"!!!"
"!!!"
"!!!"
Atalanta and Artemis looked at each other in realisation. They had unknowingly gotten a leader they never wanted by allowing this girl to come with them!
~~~
For More advanced chapters (+11 chapters, 55k words) my pat: pat reon.com/DragonsFics