Saiyan stowaways on the Ark

"...Probably."

Hammer stared speechlessly at Mibo 7, which was only as tall as his calves, and walked into Mel's personal studio, which was already messy from the entrance.

Avoiding the cables and clutter scattered around, Tomart entered the room and saw a gray-haired girl in an orange coat standing with her back to them in front of an experimental platform.

She didn't have the horns or second pair of ears common to most Terrans; instead, she had a short, thick, gray tail trailing behind her, swaying along with four mechanical arms fixed to her back.

At this moment, she was wearing welding goggles and sitting on a "chair" made up of two mechanical arms supporting her on the ground. In front of her was an unidentified launching device with a structure resembling a fixed machine gun.

The nozzle of the launcher was facing a neat test bench, on which was placed the combat suit worn by the mannequin.

"Mel?"

Himer approached from behind and called out her name.

"Ah, Hermer, there are goggles over there. If you want to look, put them on. If you don't want to, turn around and don't look. I'll tell you when to turn around."

However, Mel, who was conducting the experiment, had no intention of stopping to discuss things with Himer. Instead, she used her idle robotic arm to point in a direction, warning them of the damage caused by the strong light.

"Is she testing the hardness of her armor?"

Thomas took the goggles from Himer and asked a question.

"To be precise, I wanted to use a laser emitter to cut a small piece off from it."

But it was Mel himself who answered him.

Based on what she said, neither Mel nor the Rhodes Island researchers managed to cut off the fragments for research during this period.

"Be careful of the light. This is the same type as Magellan's drone attack module, only with a stronger output and beam effect. If you want to see it, you must wear goggles."

Mel gave the instructions again, then pressed the switch in his hand.

Even through industrial-grade anti-glare goggles, one could see that the emitter's nozzles were gathering enough light to dim the entire space.

The focused beam of light, after a brief burst of intense flashes from the nozzle, landed on the edge of the combat suit's shoulder armor.

The smoke rising from the laser's trajectory and landing point is produced by the instantaneous burning of impurities in the air, and the temperature at the landing point is sufficient to melt most known high-strength materials—if not, then there isn't enough time.

—Then, until the Originium power supply system of the laser cutting device issued an overload alarm, the area of ​​the combat suit that was irradiated did not change much in appearance.

Its strength is exceptional and it cannot be penetrated.

"Incredible! Even the temperature sensing device inside the mannequin hasn't changed. It can't even conduct high temperatures through? What kind of material is this... Right."

This wasn't the first time she had failed an experiment after getting the combat suit, so at this moment, Mel could only express a helpless regret and an even stronger desire for knowledge.

After she finished her reflections, she turned to Hermer, who had been there for quite some time, and asked:

"What's the matter? Who came to see me?"

“It’s me. I hope you can help me make something.” Tomat stood by the test bench, looking at his combat suit being used as experimental material, and said to Mel, “Speaking of which, if we can’t obtain the fragments, we can’t do a good job of researching it, right?”

"Of course, if we can obtain small samples to study the cross-sectional structure, the research may proceed much more smoothly."

Mel didn't know that the owner of the combat suit was Tomat, but he wouldn't specifically stop him from getting close to the important experimental subjects.

After all, it's unlikely to cause any damage.

After hearing what Mel said, Tomat raised his right hand, making a chop motion, and aimed it at a part of the shoulder armor.

Gather energy—swipe down—

The blade-shaped aura that instantly covered the palm caused the part that was cut to dissolve instantly.

The entire process was so short that there wasn't even enough time for anyone present to breathe.

Thomas held the fragment from the edge of the shoulder armor and handed it to Mel, asking:

"If it's not small enough, I can make it smaller."

[Main Text] A Guide to Wandering in Rhodes Island: Chapter Forty-Five - Slice Research

Whether in Frieza's army, on Vegeta, or on any planet that serves as a mission destination, Thomas's potential for advancement is always limited under restrictive conditions.

In this environment where combat talent and total Qi determine everything, Tomat is clearly at a great disadvantage when facing opponents of the same or even higher level.

Therefore, he always had to prepare some techniques for "subordinates to overthrow superiors".

For example, concealing one's aura so that the opponent can only see a small portion of one's combat strength in the detector, thus lowering their guard and causing the opponent to misjudge one's strength.

For example, increasing burst damage allows him to launch surprise attacks and inflict unexpected damage on opponents stronger than himself.

In addition to the above two points, strive to hone cutting techniques that can break through defenses and cause damage across levels—compressing air into a disc shape for throwing, or attaching it to the arm as a melee weapon.

Thomas even used these techniques to kill higher-ranking warriors who wanted to harm him, despite being a lower-ranking warrior.

In a legion where combat power is paramount, no one doubted that Tomat was responsible, but these were just incidents and not something he could boast about.

Although Tomat's combat power has been greatly reduced, he still retains most of his skills. He can still easily cut through combat suits that cannot cause damage if the combat power reaction is below 1000 with his air blade.

"You said you're the owner of this armor..." Mel held the edge of the shoulder armor, about the size of a fingernail with a smooth cross-section, in her palm, examining it intently. Then, she suddenly realized what she was doing and exclaimed excitedly, "How did you do that!?"

"What? How did you do that?"

Thomas, who had already revealed his identity to Mel, was still looking at his sleeve, making sure that the air blade hadn't damaged his clothes when it was formed, since he wasn't good at needlework.

"Of course, it's armor that even an industrial-grade beam cutter couldn't cut, something you severed with your bare hands." Thomas's question to Mel was answered by Himer, who had also witnessed the entire scene, "That fleeting glint of light, was it Originium Arts?"

“There’s a ‘tiny’ difference, but let’s just pretend it is.” Tomat shook his hand, then said to Mel, “Never mind, now you don’t need to rush to cut it off, can you listen to what I have to say?”

Despite having many questions she wanted to ask, Mel nodded, placed the fragment in her hand on another Mipo that was still on standby at her feet, and had it transport it to another room in the research lab. Then, she stood up from the chair made of robotic arms and, while introducing herself to Thomas, whom she was meeting for the first time, asked:

"Hello, I'm Mel, a technician at Rhine Labs and the operator of the Rutla Works. What can I do for you?"

With Himer's explanation, Mel showed great interest in the "gravity training room" that Tomat mentioned. This was because Mel herself often liked to expand her laboratory and build places with various functions to meet the needs of experiments. However, her behavior of expanding or even changing the structure of Rhodes Island's basic buildings without authorization was always stopped by a group of people.

Now she seems to have a legitimate opportunity to renovate the house.

"Gravity chamber? That's quite interesting. I've heard of Originium Arts that allows you to freely increase or decrease weight. You could apply that technology to buildings... So, what about a renovation permit?"

It's clear that Mel is eager to get started, but after being warned multiple times, she has developed a habit of taking things step by step on Rhodes Island.

She wasn't worried that the project would delay her research on armor materials, since she had a sufficiently flexible robotic arm and the Mipo Legion as backup. Completing the tasks of several workshops by herself was a piece of cake for Mel.

"...Not yet? Then go ask the professor."

When Mel learned that Tomat had not yet received formal permission, she suggested that he approach the Doctor instead of Kal'tsit—because the Doctor was easier to talk to.

"Furthermore, Dr. Kal'tsit is probably conducting a medical research conference right now, so it's inconvenient for her to make the approval." At the same time, in order to help Tommat lead the way, Himer, who did not go to the medical area with Saria, also helped to explain, "Since everything has been agreed upon, I will go to Dr. Kal'tsit's place first, and Mr. Tommat should go see the Doctor."

"By the way, it's been a pleasure working with you."

Himer, who was the first to leave, left a message and immediately headed to the medical area where medical research would be conducted.

If Mel is very interested in armor, then what interests her is the monster corpses mentioned at the meeting.

This was something she, as a medical researcher, found hard to refuse, especially since it was closely related to Oripathy.

Then, Thomas no longer hindered Mel from analyzing the structure of the combat suit—Mel would, of course, ask him how much he knew about the combat suit, but Thomas, as a soldier rather than a legion technician, was completely unable to answer.

After leaving the studio, Thomas headed towards the doctor's personal office.

6:00 PM, Rhode Island Medical Area, Biological Sample Observation Room.

Although even medical personnel usually wear uniforms with many personalized designs, in this situation, everyone wore sterilized pure white protective gowns.

Separated by a thick glass wall, the charred corpse on the operating table, illuminated by the operating lights, was one of the monsters killed by Tomat.

A group of experienced medical staff surrounded the operating table on the other side of the wall, with all kinds of surgical tools readily available.

"You see, even after more than forty-eight hours, some areas inside it still remain active."

The charred area was cut open, and the necrotic internal organs were removed, but the exposed deep tissues were still twitching slightly.

Even if it is a stress response, the prerequisite is that "there is still activity".

Nearly three days had passed since it was killed.

“Generally speaking, each part of the body has its own function. Even if most of the body’s functions are not destroyed, damage to individual functions can lead to the death of the entire body. But now, more than 90% of its body is necrotic, while the rest are still functioning normally.”

"The totipotency of cells...every cell and every tissue can play a 'whole' function."

The medical team members, including Kal'tsit, discussed the findings of the initial procedures without being disturbed by anyone.

"Send a slice of this active tissue to the observation room to study its physiological structure."

The pulsating muscle tissue was cut off with a scalpel, placed in a sterile refrigerated container, and taken away from this place to where it was meant to go.

"If anything happens, call us. Although the nearest warfarin clinic should be on duty at the blood bank next door, please be careful."

[Main Text] A Guide to Wandering in Rhodes Island: Chapter Forty-Six - The Doctor

Medical personnel are not necessarily incapable of fighting. In fact, a significant number of medical personnel on Rhodes Island are skilled enough to serve as field medics on the battlefield while simultaneously defeating the enemy.

Therefore, for safety reasons, the medical staff in the biological sample observation room have relatively strong combat capabilities.

Because they are dealing with ancient creatures whose information is mostly unknown, it is not surprising that any unexpected events could happen in the process.

Only after confirming that everything is alright will they proceed with the next step of their research.

Nothing unusual happened during the dissection, so they could continue their research with peace of mind and transfer a small portion of the samples to another location for analysis.

For example, the observation room of another medical staff member who seemed to have little combat capability.

However, the person in charge of this medical observation room, although not a combat expert, also holds a high academic position in Rhodes Island's medical field.

After all, it's not appropriate to transfer capable doctors to general practitioners for analysis, as it's not suitable to do so.

"Dr. Liz, I have brought the experimental materials."

"Thank you for your hard work... Leave the rest to me."

The white-haired woman, whose head was adorned with a birdcage and bluebird decorations, had a beautiful face, pale skin, and long, flowing hair that reached her waist, making it hard to believe she was a Sarkaz.

The snow-white robes, in people's eyes, did not look like the attire of a doctor, but rather like the clothing of a saint, solemn and exuding compassion.

She smiled and greeted the person who brought the materials, and with the help of another Sarkaz woman dressed in a black robe, whose attire was completely opposite to hers, she accepted the container containing the slices.

"Dr. Kal'tsit said that we should wear protective masks during research, as the odor emitted by this creature is said to cause infected people to instinctively repel it."

The medical observation room for only two people was much tidier than Mel's personal studio.

The brand-new equipment and the well-organized documents all demonstrate that the two people in charge here are doing their best to fulfill their duties as doctors.