Aya stretched and slipped out from under her blanket. She briefly enjoyed the cool air brushing against her bare skin, and then she began to pray. It occurred to her that in the past, Mistress would have to make her do the morning prayers. However, it was so much easier to just do them when the light came on. If she was quick, she even had a little time for some morning magic practice. Not only was it easier, but in hindsight, she had much to be thankful about as well. Goddess Rumina had given her a second chance at life. In fact she was having a hard time understanding her past reluctance.

As she finished her prayers, she glanced at her status.

 She was level nineteen. Just one more level and she would be able to evolve. What was even more annoying, was that when she looked at the detailed version she only needed ten more experience points to level up. Just ten, that was beyond frustrating. They had been visiting the cat dungeon a lot lately, but Mistress would not let her proceed to the third floor until she had evolved. She was looking forward to evolving as well. Young Aya had never gotten to do it in her last life. Part of that had to do with the fact that she had been in tier two in her last life, not tier one like she is now. Reaching tier two was something she was really looking forward to, and it sucked that yesterday’s run didn’t have just one more encounter. Just one, that was all she needed. As for the still being disfavored, that annoyed her, but she was working on it. She had made good progress on earning favor, and her new habit of praying like Mistress wanted her to, had helped.

She was a bit startled when the door opened and Mistress walked in. Apparently, she had gotten lost in thought. It also meant that she didn’t have time for her morning practice ritual. Not that it mattered, she really wanted to get out and level up. Then again the dungeon would not be the only way to get those last ten points, but it would certainly be the fastest.

Her Mistress approached the bed, and in moments she was in her mistress’s lap. As she began to suckle Mistress Reina went over the plans for the day. “I know you were probably looking forward to another dungeon run today, but plans have changed. I received a letter from Reia, remember her?”

She blushed. Aya did remember. It was rather hard for her to forget. Reia was the vampire she had enslaved in her last life as Flamewind. Aya rather regretted that now. If she could go back and stop herself from enslaving Reia she would. Aya broke contact for a moment and nodded, not sure what to say.

“Glad you do. I sent her a letter the other day and told her about you. It seems she wants to meet you.” As Aya heard that, a part of her got worried. She had not exactly been kind to Reia. “Apparently she has something she wants to talk to you about.”

Already, Aya was working out how to apologize to the vampire in question. Something she had thought about before, but she had thought she would have more time. Now that deadline was looming all too close. It seemed that they were going to be leaving White Rock, and she was so close to evolving too.

Reia shifted her weight slightly as she ruffled through her bag for the keys. Mira had sent her out on an errand, well technically it was a quest, but neither her nor Mira wanted to call it that. A school in a neighboring town was doing an event and needed a Blade Mistress to fill one of the demonstration slots. The young students were getting to the point that they could select their starting class, and the school wanted them to see what their classes might lead to. Blade Mistress was a female-only evolution of the warrior class. Unlike most warrior classes, it actually used magic, but unlike spell blades, that magic was used only for physical enhancement. The class focused heavily on speed and dexterity allowing for some truly impressive swordplay.

That request had been fun, and certainly different from what they had been doing. She had already stopped by the guild and turned it in. The gold earned was actually rather high for a no-risk quest, but then again it was hard to find adventurers willing to participate in events like that, and her class was kind of rare. The guild on the other hand had been a bit busy today, although the why was kind of obvious. The dungeon had changed, she noticed when she entered the town that it now looked like a demonic castle. Not that it mattered much to her, her party didn’t really do dungeon runs. Mira was too afraid to risk the dungeon.

Finally, she found her keys and pulled them out of the bag. She slipped the key into the lock and turned it. The door swung open, and she found the main room was dark. A quick look around revealed the house was empty. It seemed they left early this morning, and didn’t wait for her. 

She figured she might as well wait for them, and settled into one of the chairs at the table. Her mind then drifted to her recent correspondences with Reina, her aunt. Reia had been quite surprised when Reina had sent her a letter, but after reading it they had started to exchange letters frequently. As such, she had learned the fate of her former master. In some ways, she felt kind of sorry for Flamewind, well Aya now. Not that he didn’t deserve that. Naturally, she had responded and told Reina all about Mira and her pets. Mira had her own issues too, but she didn’t think she would need something as drastic as Aya got. Mira’s main issue was that she let her racial possessiveness control her. Other than that, she really enjoyed her time with Mira. Mira was so cute, that Reia could not help but want to play with her and spoil her.

Her thoughts were broken, when she heard a ding from her bag. Sighing, she reached into her bag and pulled out a red stone. This was called a mail stone, and it was a rather special magical item made with Vampiric magic. The stone was used for exchanging letters, a letter was pushed into the stone, and it would immediately be transferred to a stone belonging to the intended recipient. If the target didn’t have a stone, the letter would be rejected and would have to be sent in a different fashion. 

She activated the stone and pulled out a freshly written letter. With a quick glance, she noticed that it was from Reina. Likely a response to the invitation she had sent last night. Something she had not told Mira about and wasn’t planning to either. It was going to be a surprise. Little did she realize that Mira wasn’t the only one about to receive a surprise.

He closed the latest report from the front. Predictably it was another glorious defeat for the Union. Honestly it was embarrassing how often their forces were met with defeat. The Union was far larger than the Empire, and naturally had a larger fleet. Not that their advantages meant much. The Empire had a few advantages that were hard to beat. 

He thought back to the analysis of a destroyer they had captured a few months back. It had certainly been informative. The Imperial ships had a few advantages over Union vessels. The most important of which was power generation. That advantage allowed them to mount more powerful weapons, shields, armor, and engines than Union ships. An advantage that was further compounded by the Empire’s ‘magic’.

That was something they understood poorly. Very poorly, and they could not exactly defend against something they did not understand. Replicating imperial technology? They could do that. Develop a better defense against Imperial plasma weapons? They could do that. Stop the Soleans from reading their minds? That, they could not do. Something they really needed a counter for too. That was the Empire’s single greatest advantage. As it was very hard to fight an opponent that knew your every move before you made it. 

They had tried using automated warships after they found that out, and things had not gone well. Apparently, the Soleans could easily outthink Union AIs. It had not made much of a difference, if any. 

He glanced at the screen, and noted a new report. This one was written by that unit sent through that gate. He read over it, and his mood improved a little. At least there was some good news. The planet whose address they had been given was not very advanced, but they apparently did know of magic. One of the team, Xatali seemed to have a talent for it, and was learning quite well. Although the team leader had expressed some concern over the twins, Ilix and Marix. Apparently, the two of them may have converted to one of the local religions. What was worse, the goddess they apparently chose was some kind of sex goddess. He understood very quickly why Senxali was concerned.

As for their Xeno cultures specialist, Xici was apparently in heaven. The local town, thanks to something called a dungeon, was a major trade route. The culture was also very different, and he was trying to learn everything he could about the locals. A culture that was made more interesting thanks to something called ‘the system.’ Apparently, the world in question was governed by game-like rules. He tried not to think about how that was possible.

He closed the report and started to type out a response. While the suspected religious conversion was surprising, and concerning he felt they could not afford to pull the team. They needed to learn what they could about magic, and fast. Otherwise, they would be forced to surrender to the Empire. His response was written in moments and sent out. To be sent through the gate at the next scheduled contact.

Xatali watched Zemoria leave with her cursed ball. She felt little relief about that, however. The dragon thankfully had other plans for today, but she was expected as soon as she finished her early morning lessons to report to her new master for...lessons.

As the dragon turned a corner and disappeared, she pushed herself to her feet. She had been given a lifeline, and Xatali figured there was no harm in trying it. If she had to humiliate herself to get her freedom back, she would. Pledging herself to a Solean Elder didn’t sound that bad. Whatever happened she doubted it would be worse than Zemoria’s plans for her. She had no desire to be a nature mage.

With that in mind, she started walking towards the temple grounds. She had a shrine to find, and a prayer to make. Xatali wasn’t really looking forward to meeting Arlie again, but the sooner she got this over with the better. It would give her less time to dwell on the impending meeting. A meeting she knew would not be easy. Afterall Arlie was the whole reason she ended up in that ball in the first place. Even if her problem with Zemoria was largely her own fault. Unfortunately, the only one who could help her was Arlie, and lying wasn’t going to help her convince Arlie to help. She was going to have to tell her everything.