Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

Moreover... he didn't like this Fos-001, his new partner.

"Even if I made it myself, it's still too much like those space police," he thought. "I hate those bulbous eyes."

Currently, there is only one student beside Teacher Fangte—Estend. Therefore, the teacher entrusted him with the important task of "guide," which does sound quite good: "Guide of Fos-001, the first light particle biological weapon of the Yapools."

Fos-001's prototype is a planetary energy with only a weak consciousness. Even though the researchers implanted some common-sense data into it, it is still a blank slate at this moment, like a little idiot.

He tells that idiot to go east, and the idiot will obediently go east; he tells that idiot to go west, and the idiot will obediently go west; he tells that idiot to go to the 7th basement level and sit with the cleaning robot, and it will lock itself in the storage cabinet there and not come out.

That sounds really good... If only the little idiot could control his brute force a little more.

"Clang! Sizzle—Dang!"

The sound of a heavy object falling made the cups on the table shake, and a few scattered pieces of metal flew towards the control panel.

"Whoosh—!" As expected, the alarm sounded on the 5th floor of the research institute.

Estend looked at the metal door that had been violently broken down and calmed himself down. "My instruction to have you stay with the cleaning robots has been rescinded! Rescinded! Don't go with them to wipe the door."

"And even if you're bored and want to do some work, hold back a little. This is the fourth door panel!"

Behind the twisted, fallen metal door was a humanoid creature clad in mechanical armor. He held a tattered piece of cloth in his hand and stared blankly at the furious "Guide" with his milky-white, warm eyes. Realizing he had done something wrong, he shrank back and stood obediently outside the door line.

"Ugh—this is killing me! My budget will be completely drained by this idiot of a lump of iron sooner or later!" Estend frantically dragged the floating screen to the communication page and skillfully pressed the maintenance department's contact code.

While rapidly typing on the communicator, Eistend said to the violent idiot, "You stay quietly in the control room and don't go anywhere! The cleaning robots are already very busy, don't disturb their beloved work!"

On the other side of the floating screen, a skilled senior technician from the repair department was on his way, carrying a box.

Fos-001 followed the guide's instructions, took a few steps forward and entered the control room, then obediently stood there.

Estend pointed to the corner of the room: "Stand there."

"Yes." Fos-001 jogged to the designated location, stood at attention, and stood even straighter than the signal pole on the top of the research institute.

Eistend felt like he'd hit a brick wall, with nowhere to vent his anger: "I'm going to complain about those things that are programmed into my mind system... What the hell have they loaded onto you? To hell with the 'guide,' spending too much time with you will turn me into an idiot!"

Fos-001 tilted its head: "Thinking system self-check found no abnormalities, please issue instructions?"

Instructions my foot.

“Shut up,” Estend took a deep breath and angrily dragged the floating screen away: “The teacher’s team is preparing the test site and should be back in the next few days. As for you… stop causing trouble and leave some money for your poor ‘guide’ to eat.”

Fos-001 knew what his guide was angry about. Yapool had instilled enough knowledge in him, at least he knew that doors shouldn't be damaged. If something was damaged, the guide would be the one to suffer. The guide would probably cling to the leg of the maintenance department's big brother and cry, then pitifully eat the teacher's handouts.

However, he was temporarily unable to control his body—

Although this body was indeed constructed from its own light particles, it was quite difficult for a former stone, which later became a ball of light, to suddenly grow arms and legs and learn to walk.

In particular, his thinking would occasionally freeze up... This gave the researchers responsible for the thinking system architecture a long-standing headache, and they eventually attributed the cause to the conflict between the faint consciousness generated by the planet's own energy and what they later infused into it. Well, that's pretty much it.

To aid in limb coordination, the equipment department researchers fitted him with mechanical armor, preventing him from tripping and falling every few steps, and also slightly suppressing his terrifying brute strength... Currently, the latter effect isn't very good. However, since Fos-001 is a light particle bioweapon, a little violence isn't a problem, according to its creator, Fang Te.

It was tough on Estend, who was assigned the role of "guide".

Fos-001 stood in the corner, but his gaze was fixed on the screen in front of Estend.

His guide was inputting something, and Fos-001's excellent eyesight allowed him to easily see the pile of data—his body data from today's gigantification test.

Height: 48 meters

(Yes, it's much shorter than the research institute building.)

Weight: 36,000 tons

(Is it too heavy or too light? Should I eat fewer energy balls?)

Age: Blank

(You don't know, and I don't know myself.)

Flight speed: To be tested

(...It must have hurt a lot when I fell.)

Running speed: Mach 1.5. Note: High test failure rate, to be retested.

(I'm sorry, I broke a lot of things when I fell.)

Speed ​​in water: Mach 1. Note: High failure rate of the test, to be retested.

(Falling underwater doesn't hurt because the mud is softer.)

Burrowing speed: To be tested

(The rocks on this planet are very hard. Should I use my head to drill into them?)

Jumping ability: 700 meters

(Your legs won't hurt if you fall from this height.)

Grip strength: 7 tons

(I've never failed this test!)

Other assessments: Extremely poor body control, requires enhanced coordination training; good grip strength; light-gathering ability needs further testing; energy retention needs further testing.

The words "to be tested" made him a little nervous. He still remembered the first time he ran, his hands and feet wouldn't obey him, causing him to roll down two hills in a row. At that time, Estend almost laughed himself to the ground while holding the testing equipment.

That was really embarrassing.

And... he's supposed to protect their spaceship, right? If he still can't control his body properly, he might end up damaging the spaceship instead. Once it's gigantic, crashing into it won't just be a matter of removing a metal door; the maintenance department might suffer a heart attack.

Wait, protect... the Yapool's spaceship?

The Yapool's spaceships glowed with a greenish light as they took off, and against the dark sky, their massive fleet was incredibly intimidating.

He had never seen the Yapool's airship force, but this scene suddenly came to mind—it seemed familiar.

A crumbling world vaguely appeared before his eyes; everything in his field of vision—mountains, buildings, creatures—was heading towards destruction. The scene was accompanied by intermittent sounds, like an old, scratched CD.

The feeling of my head being blocked is back; my thoughts, which were flowing smoothly just now, are now stuck in a traffic jam.

"Creak, creak—"

Estend turned his head in the direction of the sound and saw Fos-001 take a small step back and sit down against the wall.

"You know how to rest," he muttered before turning back to work on the data on the floating screen, ignoring the pair of milky-white eyes that flickered in and out of focus behind him.

Chapter Four Suffer

Rain pattered against the bulkhead, and Fos-001 could see extremely thick clouds through the porthole.

Immediately afterwards, the spacecraft descended, passed through the clouds, and arrived above the prepared test site.

The M17 Nebula, with star number 168415, is home to the fourth planet. Its orbital direction is opposite to that of the other planets in the same star system. Another name for it comes from the self-designation of its native inhabitants: Suffer.

"came back."

A faint voice suddenly echoed in my mind.

Fos-001 looked up abruptly, only to find himself all alone. In the distance, his guide was talking to others at the doorway.

The hatch opened, and air mixed with the smell of sulfur blew into the spacecraft.

Estend endured the unpleasant smell and walked down, waving to signal the subject of this experiment to follow.

Fos-001 was puzzled by the inexplicable feeling in his body at this moment. He came up with a relatively apt analogy after trying many different metaphors: it was like soaking in warm water.

This was something he couldn't experience at the research institute. Occasionally, the institute's mechanical maintenance workers would take the easy way out and soak him, armor and all, in the maintenance chamber. The maintenance fluid felt cold and sticky, and the smell was too strong, even more pungent than the stench on Maspag, who was locked up at the bottom of the institute.

But here, on this planet where acid rain falls from the sky and sulfur covers the ground, he experienced an unknown warmth.

"Hmm... let me check the status." Fang, who had been waiting at the test site, took the data terminal from Eistend, which was constantly updating the real-time status of Fos-001.

"light particles"

"The activity level of the test subjects increased by 5.27% compared to the research institute," Fang Te's eyes lit up. "Indeed, setting up the test site here was an excellent choice."

Since it originated in Suffer, returning here to receive training and continuously absorb free, highly compatible planetary energy might be more effective, and could also solve the problem of frequently needing to replenish light energy, thus increasing training time.

Fang Te nodded, and an extremely complicated-looking control panel rose from the ground, with knobs of all sizes distributed on it, along with buttons and indicator lights that were hard to understand. Estant craned his neck to take a look, and then stood aside on his own.

“It’s about time to begin,” Fang Te said. “Fos-001, this planet and the airspace 1 kilometers above it are your activity range. Don’t worry about us not being able to get the data. Grow up, and then… test your running speed first.”

Upon hearing this, Fos-001 crossed his arms in an X shape and raised them to his chest. Golden light particles began to emanate from the joints of his silver mechanical armor, which then detached in sections and floated in the air. A bright but not dazzling light bloomed, and the temporarily detached mechanical armor rotated along with Fos-001's enlarged body, shrinking to a proportional size. After the light disappeared, it reattached itself to Fos-001's body.

"The reorganization process after the giantification was a little slow," Fang Te said.

The head of the equipment department's testing team nodded in agreement and uploaded the video to the terminal: "We are trying to develop armor that can skip the 'temporary disengagement-reorganization' step. The main problem is the size change of the weapons. If the weapons are not carried normally, the transportation department will have to be responsible for delivering the giant weapons."

“Don’t let our own situation limit your thinking, Omarment,” Fos said. “Complex light weapons are certainly difficult, but simple, sharp melee weapons are not a problem at all. You just need to find materials that resonate well with light particles, and Fos-001 will not let us down.”

Omarment, the head of the equipment department's testing team, immediately incorporated Fos-001's feedback into the terminal. He didn't forget Estend, who was standing aside waiting for instructions, and said, "Fos-001 can run now. Don't worry about it getting damaged. We've equipped each base station with a protective shield."

Perhaps recalling the first time Fos-001 ran, Eistend looked down and almost burst out laughing. However, in this situation, he needed to be more serious. He calmed himself down before looking up and saying, "001, go as fast as you can and make a big loop before coming back."

"Yes." Fos-001 stumbled and ran away.

Along the way, the protective shields of several base stations were activated, and the white shields blocked the splashing debris and the feet that could not control their landing point.

As Fang Te watched his retreating figure, it was as if he were seeing the robot he had first tried to build when he was a child.

It has four legs, and its specialty is tripping itself. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can see the little robot tripping itself into an irregular ball and tumbling into something in a delightful way.

"Thump, thump, thump, thump!"

The ground shook.