Menseio Station
Jonuth Kidravia’s Ship - Abi
08:22 Ship Time
September 10, 2019

The first thing I heard when I woke up was a whirring sound, clearly produced by machine of some kind. My vision was blurry when I opened my eyes, but it soon passed. I was in a medical pod, that much was certain, but it was different from the ones I had seen previously. It was distinctively crystalline, and that, along with the brilliant white ceiling above me suggested that I was back aboard Abi.

Looking down at my body, I could see a pair of mechanical arms at work. It was weird watching them work without feeling even the smallest modicum of pain, but Mason could attest to how good Scyftan painkillers are. One of the arms was bombarding my stomach with some sort of energy, while the other was poking and prodding at the flesh around a small wound about two inches in diameter. It was much smaller than it had been previously, that much was clear, based on the patch of skin that was decidedly more pink than the skin around it.

Looking around the room, I could see that there were about a dozen medical pods, including my own, but the rest of them were empty. There was no one else to be seen which made my sigh in relief. Smiling, I rested my head against the pillow and let the pod do its work.

[What are you smiling about?] Abi asked.

[Either anyone else that was hurt wasn’t hurt as badly as I was and they left here already, or no one else was hurt. Either makes me happy.]

She chuckled before taking on a more serious tone. [Then I guess I should ask just what the hell you were thinking?! I gave you the Beacon so you could use it to teleport to safety, not use it to evacuate everyone else into the pocket world attached to it. What if Ben hadn’t been fast enough to close it behind you? Everyone in there could’ve been killed!]

[But they weren’t. You don’t know what I saw. If Kiri, Yuki and I hadn’t acted in concert, then Ercan, Ben’s mom and dad and a number of other people would’ve been slain in that opening salvo. I wasn’t about to use my free ticket to safety and risk anyone else getting hurt. It took Kiri, Yuki and I working together to protect everyone, and if I wasn’t there, who knows who might’ve happened. You better get used to it, because if something like that happens again, I’m not going to be abandoning anyone.]

[Aargh! You’re just like your father and grandfather!]

[Thank you.]

[That wasn’t a compliment! They had the habit of making my job, the jobs of those tasked to protect them, much harder than it needs to be! You’re no different!]

[I’m sorry, but there are situations where I will listen to you and the people protecting me, and there will be situations where I won’t. Situations like last night’s are ones where I won’t. Sometimes I’ll need to take action and other times I will leave it to others. Last night was a situation where I couldn’t just sit back. You can be angry all you want, but if I had done what you, my mom and everyone else wanted, then a bunch of people would have died.]

There was an awkward silence before Abi told me to take the Beacon out of my inventory.

[What for?] I asked.

[Just do it!]

I did as she asked and it disappeared. A moment later, it reappeared with some minor differences. There were now two circles, one green and one red.

[You’ll no longer be able to open up the pocket world by just throwing the Beacon up into the air. Instead, you’ll need to press the green button and then throw it up. If you press the red button and throw it into the air, then a forcefield with a diameter of fifty meters will form around it, drawing power from my Mana Core and protecting everyone standing within twenty-five meters of the Beacon itself. If you press both buttons before throwing it into the air, then the pocket world will open, and the forcefield will also form, with the same fifty meter diameter.]

[If you ever get into a situation like the one last night, press both buttons and then throw the Beacon into the air. It will allow you to evacuate people into the pocket world, while also keeping you safe if you choose to remain outside of it. The shield has two modes, one of which is a regular forcefield, allowing some things in while keeping other things out, while the other is a hardshield. The only thing it will let in is light. When the hardshield is activated, there is no way to deactivate it without me doing so. Make sure that everyone is evacuated into the pocket world before you activate the hardshield as anyone that remains outside will be on their own.]

[Why weren’t the shields included when you made it?]

[Because I thought you might be different from your ancestors,] she replied, testily. [Besides the two new buttons the Beacon doesn’t look different, but on the inside much has changed. Originally there was a small part of my Mana Core surrounded by a few inches of crystal to protect it, but I had to modify it. Now, the Mana Core is about five times larger, and is encompassed by a shield generator. Surrounding both of those is a much thinner layer of crystal, which means that it isn’t as durable as before. It can easily absorb shots from energy weapons, but gauss guns will have a much easier time of it. Keep it safe.]

[I will,] I nodded, putting it away. [Speaking of safety. I want you to do some searching and find sets of Skill Gems for my friends and sisters. Tessa too, if she needs them, but I’m sure her father has her covered.]

[I can do that,] she replied, in a less annoyed tone of voice. [I’m assuming you want the same set for them that you just received?]

[Yes, but there will be some additions. Precognition, for one. I also want all of us to have all three versions of the Siphoning Skills as well, so I’ll be needing Siphoning Shot and Siphoning Bolt. The only other things I can think of is Mana Shield for everyone, and maybe Blink. Do you have anything to add?]

[A few things, but you do realize that this will cost billions of credits, right? I thought you were going to wait until we got back to Earth and you could get everything for a fraction of the price.]

[I was, until last night. I’ve known about my heritage for less than a month and there have already been two assassination attempts on me, and the vast majority of the galactic population doesn’t even know I’m alive. I think those attempts will only increase in frequency until Dhir is taken care of. And if those assassins can’t get to me, they’ll go after people I care about. The sooner each of them gets a set of Skill Gems, and you finish your mystery project, the safer they’ll be. Who attacked us, anyways?]

[It was another team that is part of The Storm Bringers,] Abi replied. [The name they go by is Infinite Chaos, and as you can imagine, they specialize in Chaos spells. They’re a lesser team according to Illia, which is why they resorted to using their ship for the attack, rather than try to fight us head on.]

[Do we know if the Hellraisers had anything to do with it? It’s a little odd that The Indomitables have been searching everywhere for members of The Storm Bringers, and then we’re here for less than a day and we bump into one.]

[I am certain that they didn’t. Illia spent some time with your mom yesterday, but the other nine members were restricted in their movement. Those restrictions were removed roughly thirty minutes ago when I gave them back their equipment so they could begin teaching their assigned Spectres.]

[You’re keeping track of them, I hope?]

[If they communicate with N’ardil or any of her people, I’ll know about it, and their inhibitors will activate the moment they come within five hundred meters of you or your sisters. I’ll increase that threshold once they leave the station with their groups.]

[Good. What’s being done with the other group. Infinite Chaos, you said?]

[Yes. I captured their ship with a tractor beam and brought it on board, but not before they destroyed most of Mr. Warvyn’s home. They tried to fight their way out of the landing bay, something they found impossible with the ship-wide inhibitor active. Now the ten of them are in the quarters that had originally been assigned to the Hellraisers. Esriro will be questioning them over the next few days before handing them over to the Pygmaean authorities. Would you like to speak to them before she hands them off?]

[No,] I replied with a brief shake of my head. [I trust her to take care of it. Back to the Skill Gems. You had some ideas?]

[Ranged skills and spells for you, Mason and Anja, and melee ones for Ben and Sonja, to start. You have a small number of ranged abilities, but none of them are particularly powerful ones. Mason only has Earth Spike which can be used at range, while Anja only has Ice Shard. You won’t always be able to fight in close, so you need abilities you can use for fighting at range. The same is also true the other way around. You, Mason and Anja all have a number of melee abilities, but neither Ben nor Sonja have a single one. Siphoning Strike will help with that, as will the other variants for you, Mason and Anja.]

[So what do you have in mind?]

[Familiars for each of you. The majority of your abilities aren’t linked to any one school of magic, but that would be an Earth Familiar for Mason, Fire Familiar for Ben, Water Familiar for Anja and Air Familiar for Sonja. All familiars work in the same way, having two effects. The first one will increase the overall damage you deal with spells in the same school of magic, while the second one causes your familiar to cast lesser damage copies of same-school spells. An example would be Ben casting Fireball; The damage of it would be increased and his familiar would cast a copy of the spell that might do a quarter of the damage.]

[I would also suggest at least one powerful Tier S Skill for each of you. Something like Stone Daggers for Mason and Glacial Shards for Anja, and then Crushing Blow for Ben and Triple Strike for Sonja. Maybe not those skills exactly, but something similar.]

[What about me?] I asked.

[That’s up to you. As I said, many of your abilities aren’t linked to the same school of magic, so you could go in any direction you wish. Arcane, Chaos, Holy, Nature, Shadow, Unholy and Water are the remaining schools of magic. It is usually a good idea to focus on one school in particular, though there are many who focus on two or three different ones. If I had to suggest a school of magic, I would say Arcane, Chaos or Shadow.]

[Why those three?]

[They’re all quite different from one another, but powerful in their own right. Arcane is the best bet if you’re looking for pure firepower, mobility and overall control of a battlefield. Shadow and Unholy are similar in that both are focused on dealing damage over time and summoning temporary monsters, but each of the two schools go about it in different ways. Shadow is about dealing damage overtime using spells and curses such as Curse of Pain which attack the soul directly, while Unholy uses diseases and poisons to attack the body instead.]

[There are situations where both Shadow and Unholy struggle to deal damage, depending on what you’re fighting, but that’s where their summons and other skills come in. You’ve already seen Ben summon Skeletal Warriors and Archers, but there are many other undead that can be summoned, such as ghouls, golems and behemoths of bone if you’re looking at Unholy summons. For Shadow summons, you’ll be dealing with many types of demons such as hellhounds, hellbats, and satyrs, to name a few.]

[Yeah… I think I’ll go with Arcane. So what did you mean when you said that it’s the best bet for mobility and control of a battlefield?]

[I figured that’s what you would choose. In terms of mobility, Arcane is far and away the best school of magic. You already know Blink, Teleport and Portal, but there is also Mass Teleport and Swap, for example. As for control, there are a large number of spells that can affect how a battle plays out. Stasis Trap can make a group of enemies a non-factor in a fight for a short time, or Mirage can be used to make your forces look larger than they are. There is Rewind and Time Warp, both of which quite literally reverse time in a localized area. Rewind can only be used on one target, while Time Warp affects everyone within a certain range. When activated, everyone who is affected will be moved to where they were ten seconds prior, and any abilities used in those ten seconds will be refreshed.]

[Imagine a group of people with Meteor Shower and a ring like Ben’s that allows a spell to be stored inside. They could all instantly cast a Meteor Shower and then have someone use Time Warp to refresh Meteor Shower and their rings. They could then move forward and cast Meteor Shower once again.]

[That sounds insanely powerful. What’s stopping an entire army from having the ability though?]

[Three things. Cost, the fact that Time Warp has a three day cooldown, and the fact that someone cannot be affected by Time Warp more than once every twenty-four hours. Time Warp can be such a powerful ability that it is more expensive than any other Skill Gem discovered thus far. I think I would be lucky to find one for around fifty billion credits. More than likely, the cost would be hundreds of billions for the skill. Whenever one pops up, the various navies around the Scutum-Centaurus Arm end up in a bidding war trying to get their hands on it. Looking through reports, it seems like the most recent one was found one hundred sixteen years ago, and it went for seventy-eight billion credits.]

[Wow. Okay, for Arcane, what spells were you thinking?]

[Arcane Familiar, Arcane Blast, Arcane Salvo, Disintegrate, Rewind and Astral Spirit. That will give you three powerful damaging spells, a utility spell, and another skill to help with mobility. When used, Astral Spirit will send an astral copy of yourself along a path in front of you, with the maximum distance increasing as the ability reaches higher ranks. While it is active, you can reactivate the ability to swap places with the astral spirit. It can open up some interesting strategies since you don’t necessarily need to swap places with your astral copy.]

[I can think of a few uses for it. So besides Disintegrate, the rest sound fairly self explanatory. It sounds powerful, but what does Disintegrate actually do?]

[You saw Savarnei and the other purple dragons use their breath weapons on the ship belonging to Infinite Chaos, right?] she asked, to which I nodded. [Disintegrate is pretty much the exact same thing. I’m not sure how different they would be in terms of the amount of damage they deal, but both are sustained beams of arcane energy. It’s a channeled ability, so you can use it for as long as you wish, but the moment you stop channeling it, it goes on a one minute cooldown.]

[But I can use Rewind to use it again immediately, right?]

[Only if you had been channeling Disintegrate for less than ten seconds before you activated Rewind. If you were channeling it for over ten seconds before activating Rewind, then you would still be channeling it when the effect of Rewind ended.]

[Oh, right. So I would be better off using it to refresh someone else’s abilities, though Ben and Sonja would be the best bets, as it stands currently. Alright, do you want to put together a list and then get started? You’ll probably want to talk to my sisters and see what kind of spells they want.]

[I put together a list as we talked, and I’ll speak with your sisters a little bit later. You’re correct that Tessa already has a set of powerful Skill Gems, so it’s just the eight of you.]

[Cool. So how much longer am I going to be in this pod? I’m starving.]

She chuckled. [Take a look.]

My head had been resting on the pillow in the pod, so I hadn’t noticed how much work the two small mechanical arms had done while we were talking. The wound was two inches in diameter when I woke up, but now the hole was almost gone.

[The beam that is focused on the wound promotes new skin growth, while the needle-like arm serves two purposes. It injects a local anesthetic into the area so you don’t feel any pain, while simultaneously excising any epithelialized skin along the edges of the wound, as necessary. The wound on your back and the damage to your internal organs needed to be taken care of first, so a bandage was placed on the wound on your stomach. It makes the beam’s job harder if a wound has already started to heal, so it is better if the wound it is working on is as fresh as possible.]

[I see,] I said, not knowing what epithelialized meant in the slightest. [So five minutes?]

She laughed again. [More like two. The pod will open automatically when it is done doing it’s work, and I’ve set some new clothes in the bathroom which is through the door to your left. You’ll be able to shower and then go on with your day. I believe you have an appointment to make with a tailor, after all.]

---

She gave me a rundown of all my injuries while I was showering, and that’s when I found out that my wound had been caused by a round from a gauss gun mounted on Infinite Chaos’ ship. She said that the round must have gone through something before striking me, as the round that hit me would have had no problem breaking through Mana Shield and passing right through me before hitting someone else.It was slowed down enough that it barely got through Mana Shield before striking me. From what Abi had heard, the projectile had broken through the skin of my stomach where it got lodged briefly, before falling harmlessly to the floor of the pocket world as I collapsed.

Once showered and dressed, I left the room containing the pod I was in and was immediately leapt upon by someone with long blond hair.

“Thank you!” she said.

I knew who it was immediately, as there would only be one woman waiting for me to leave medical. It was made even more obvious by the man who was standing behind her.

“You’re welcome, Oya.”

She let go and backed up to stand beside her father, who walked up to me. I reached out to shake his hand, but he reached out and pulled me into a hug.

“Thank you for saving my daughter. If you hadn’t moved in front of that round, then it would have shredded her heart and torn through her spine, killing her almost instantly,” he whispered.

“You’re welcome. I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.”

He stepped back and nodded. “If you need anything while you’re here, let me know. I owe you a serious debt.”

“You don’t owe me a thing, I would’ve stepped in front of that round for anyone… well, almost anyone. I would be more than happy to stand aside and let someone like Dhir take that round instead.”

He laughed. “So would I.”

“I was surprised that you were the only two people waiting,” I said as the three of us made our way to the mess.

“Oh, there were more last night,” Ercan replied. “She wouldn’t let anyone inside of medical and everyone was blocking the adjacent hall. She told everyone that they would be updated on your progress, but demanded that they vacate the area. A few people protested, but eventually went on their way. It’s hard to argue with someone who has absolute control over the ship.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, I can see how that would be a fruitless effort.”

*****

My arrival in the mess drew a lot more attention than I thought it would, particularly because of the amount of people that were eating breakfast. The dragons were to be expected, of course, as the mess is where they would be taking the majority of their meals. That there were over three dozen other Scyftans, Pygmaeans and humans present was a surprise, however, considering that there were over a hundred restaurants on the massive station.

My mom was the first to notice my arrival, and practically ran over to me and embraced me in a bone-breaking hug. After a minute she let go, and asked to see the wound. Or where it had been, now that it was fully healed.’

“That’s absolutely remarkable,” Ben’s dad, Michael, said as he, and many others huddled around me to get a look.

Most of them had seen the wound before I was taken to medical, so it was a sharp contrast between how it looked then and how it looked now.

“Those medical chambers do good work,” Mason replied. “There isn’t even a scar or anything from where the bone broke through my skin a few weeks ago.”

“I’m as good as new. Abi said to hold off on shapeshifting for the next day or two as a precaution, but after that everything should be back to normal. The only sign of my injury will be the two patches of skin that are a different shade than the rest, but that will change over the next few months,” I said. “Anyways, as nice as it is to see all of you, I’m absolutely starving.”

Everyone stepped out of the way to let me pass, though my mom put one of her arms through mine and followed me as I went to get some food.

“Abi filled me in on your little argument,” she said quietly as we walked.

“Are you going to berate me as well?”

She shook her head. “As a mother, I want to, but the part of me that is a Spectre appreciates how well you responded. Many people would’ve frozen, but you quickly reacted to protect as many people as possible. Kiri and Yuki came to me afterwards and said that they doubted they would have been able to protect everyone there had you not reacted the way you did. Just please keep in mind that while you are very strong for your level, you are not invulnerable. There will be many more attempts on your life and the attackers will be significantly stronger than you are.”

“The longer you stay alive, the harder it will be for people to come after you and the people you care about. Especially as Abi continues to grow. She will be your greatest strength given enough time, and not just because she is an incredibly advanced ship. There is a limit to how strong people can become, simply because dungeons take so long to level up. You know that Illia and her team are some of the strongest people out there. What you don’t know is that she spent hundreds of years to get to the point she is at now. She can’t advance any further, because it sometimes takes years for the most difficult dungeons to gain even one level.”

“While that limit also applies to you, it isn’t as limiting thanks to your bond with Abi. You can continue to grow stronger as she grows more and more. In a thousand years, you could be more powerful than anyone in the galaxy. Within ten thousand years, you could be untouchable. If Abi’s brothers and sisters still remain and you’re able to recover them, the same will be true for your sisters. What you need to do is help us to help you reach that point. You can do that by taking the least amount of risks.”

“And I’ll do that. If I was by myself, then I would’ve used the Beacon to escape,” I replied. “Did Abi tell you that a number of people would’ve been killed had I done what I was told? Ercan and Ben’s parents among them?”

“She didn’t but Kiri and Yuki did, that’s why I’m not as angry as I might have been. Last night’s attack made me realize that we Spectres have a lot of work to do. It’s no longer enough to have only one person per team with Precognition so I think we’ll be opening up our coffers to purchase as many Precognition Skill Gems as we can while we’re here. Your dad and I are also going to set aside some time to level up. It’s been a long, long time since either of us faced a proper challenge, the dungeons on Earth are too low level.”

“I’ve got Abi looking for some Skill Gems for my friends, sisters and I. I haven’t talked to them about it so I don’t know what skills they have, but I’m sure my sisters can use a set of Skill Gems.”

“I thought you were going to wait until we got back to Earth.”

“I was, but there has already been one attack since we’ve arrived, and the members of Infinite Chaos could have alerted N’ardil or the other teams. We’ll have to keep an eye out as long as we remain here and my friends are currently the most vulnerable if we get ambushed. There is no guarantee that the teams shadowing me will be able to protect them as well. All it would take is errant weapons fire or a spell, and one of them could be seriously injured, if not killed.”

“True. We’re already working on upping security, and Xigios and Esriro are helping with that. I think they’re in the process of recalling teams right now, and they’ll be assigned to one of the six Grasshoppers to work in conjunction with Spectres…”

“Six?” I interrupted.

She nodded. “Abi is creating three more and upgrading the other three at the same time. When she’s done, each will hold thirty people comfortably, not including anyone in the forward compartment. You’ll have your personal Grasshopper, and your sisters will share another. The other four will be split up, meaning that there would be two Grasshoppers worth of security following you around when out in public, rather than just the one.”

“That’s a lot of guards. Ninety for me and ninety for my sisters?”

“That’s right. We don’t have enough Spectres here to fulfill those duties, which is while we’ll be substituting them with members of The Indomitables for now. Once we get back to Earth, eight teams of thirty will train together and eventually form semi-permanent units. Three of those will be assigned to you, three will be assigned to your sisters, and the remaining two will be on standby, ready to react at a moment’s notice.”

“I see. Is this something you’ve been working on for a while, or a result of last night?”

“A bit of both. We had already planned on upping security, simply because our people aren’t as strong as they were when we fled from Scyftan space, comparatively speaking. In the short term we’ll need more people to protect you and your sisters, but we can re-evaluate when Dhir has been taken care of. Many, if not all of the Spectres remaining here will be over level one thousand by then. With the training they’ll be undergoing, some of those Spectres will immediately be able to take over for the existing teams, at least in the short-term.”

“And in the long-term?” I asked while we waited for the people ahead of me.

“It shouldn’t take long for the existing teams to catch up to the teams remaining here. In fact, it probably won’t even take the teams staying here more than a month to level up as much as they can. The rest of that time will be spent training with the Hellraisers. So once the existing teams are caught up, Yuki, Omar and a number of other Spectres will work together to organize your security details.”

“Sounds good. I’ve got another thing I want to do while we’re here, but I don’t know how to go about doing it.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Tich told me that the rich usually employ teams of adventurers to delve into high level dungeons and gather Skill Gems for them. I was thinking about doing the same. Obviously it wouldn’t start paying off immediately, but it could help out a lot, further down the road. I just have no idea where to start.”

“Ben and your friends surely do. They’ve had their eyes glued to their new phones all morning watching something I think you’ll find rather interesting. You should get together with them and your sisters and then work something out.”

*****

The thing my mom was referring to was something called the Galactic Dungeon Championship Series, or GDCS for short.

“So the way it works is that the GDCS spans fifteen years. Twenty of the highest-level dungeons around the Milky Way are selected before a series begins, and those twenty dungeons are closed to the public for the duration of that series. Every year, one of those dungeons is selected at random and the top ten thousand invited teams delve into that dungeon over the course of the year. The goal is to complete the dungeon in the shortest amount of time, which determines your standings. The regular season lasts ten years, after which the top one hundred teams advance to the playoffs,” Ben said, pausing briefly before continuing.

“In the playoffs, the ten dungeons that had been part of the regular season are removed from the series, and the other ten dungeons are selected instead. With less teams involved it means that the tournament is able to be sped up a lot, so the duration of stages varies. The bottom ten teams are removed after each stage, until only ten teams remain. This is where things get interesting.”

“The ten remaining teams are already considered the best of the best for getting that far, so the organizers of the GDCS put the services of those ten teams up for auction. Those services can be anything from teaching others, gathering Skill Gems, or guarding someone, but if you’re one of those ten teams, then you’re usually set for life. The bidding lasts for the entirety of the last stage, where the teams take turns going through the final dungeon three times a piece. The first one is a timed run, the second is an objective-based run, and the final one is one where restrictions are placed on teams to make it harder.”

“The time for the first run and the scores for the second and third runs determines where each team places. The top three are the winners of the tournament and they win some truly remarkable prizes. The third placed team gets to choose between fifteen Skill Gems of their choice or a custom-built ship. The second placed team gets to choose between fifty Skill Gems of their choice or a custom-built ship. And the first placed team gets both a complete set of Skill Gems and a custom-built ship.”

“A complete set? I can’t even imagine how much that would cost.”

“A hell of a lot that’s for sure, but they can definitely afford it,” Aleena said. “The GDCS is broadcasted throughout the galaxy, getting bigger and bigger every year. There is also merchandise for each of the teams, but the majority of the revenue comes before the GDCS even begins. If a planet has a dungeon of a high enough level, the ruling body of that planet can bid to have that dungeon featured in the tournament. The bids can be pretty insane, but planets usually experience significant growths in tourism, not to mention the prospect of rapidly leveling up a dungeon. That, in turn, draws more adventurers to the planet even long after the GDCS has moved on.”

“It sounds a lot like the Olympics,” I said after a sip of my coffee. “So my mom said that you four have been watching all morning. What’s going on?”

“This season of the GDCS is almost over,” Ben replied. “There are only twenty teams remaining, though eighteen of those have already gone through the current dungeon. The nineteenth team is doing their run right now and the final team will be doing their run in three days. After that there will be a one month break as the remaining ten teams transit to the final dungeon, but the bidding process will begin the moment the last team finishes and the times are tallied.”

“Well that’s some seriously good timing. If you win a bid for the services of one of those teams, how long do you retain said services?”

“Fifteen years from the end of the tournament. At that point, the contract can be renegotiated if both parties agree, otherwise they go their separate ways. After doing a bit of research, I found that the two parties end up extending the contract about half the time. In the other half, teams usually end up participating in the GDCS again,” Ben answered. “You said ‘good timing.’ What do you mean by that?”

I turned to my sisters. “This should be right up your alley. Meet with anyone you need to, but figure out which of the ten teams would be the best to bid on. I’m not sure what I would have them doing, but they should be but they need to be a well-rounded team for whatever that might be.”

“They’re all pretty well-rounded if they have gotten this far, but we’ll check them all out. You do realize that there are going to be thousands of people around the galaxy bidding for their services, right? The bidding is going to get ridiculously high.”

“I do, and the three of you know the amount of funds we have available more than I do. We’ve also got a few months to go before the tournament ends, so take your time and let me know which teams we should go after. I’ve also got Abi hunting down a set of Skill Gems for all of you, but you three need to let her know what school of magic you’d like.”

“She told us,” Lucille replied. “We were discussing it before you arrived in the mess, but we’ve got to talk to Tessa before we decide.”

“Wait, hold up. All of us?” Mason asked, gesturing to my friends and sisters.

“That’s right,” I nodded. “I was going to wait until we got back to Earth and we could get them for cheap, but I’m almost certain that there will be more attacks while we’re here. Even with all the leveling we did yesterday, the four of you are pretty vulnerable in comparison. Hopefully Abi will have found the Skill Gems she’s looking for in a few days, and that should help a lot.”

“What makes you think there will be more attacks?”

“The attackers were one of the many high-level teams that make up The Storm Bringers. Abi confirmed that the Hellraisers didn’t send out a message alerting them, so they probably recognized me when we were heading into the dungeons. Now we don’t know for sure, but it’s possible that Infinite Chaos sent off a transmission before commencing with their attack. If they did, then we can expect multiple teams converging on Veria as we speak.”

“Damn, that will really put a hamper on things,” Ben said.

“Perhaps not,” I said before relaying what my mom told me.

---

My friends had long finished their own breakfast, so I finished up mine, met with some people and then headed back to my quarters. Upon arriving, I found Tessa there waiting. We greeted each other with a kiss on the cheek, and then I pulsed mana at the door and waved her in.

The two of us were immediately assaulted by Vixa, who teleported around now that she was able to. I picked her up after seeing where she would teleport to next and gave her a quick scratch behind the ears while turning back to Tessa.

“So what brings you by?”

“I wanted to see how you were doing. Abi let us know that you were awake about an hour ago, but my father and I had a meeting this morning that neither of us could miss. I headed back here as soon as I could and was on my way to the mess when Abi said you were on your way to your quarters. I headed here instead.”

“I’m good,” I said as I walked over and handed Vixa to her before lifting up my shirt so she could see the new unblemished skin. She reflexively closed her eyes, but reopened them a moment later. “It feels a little tender now that the pain meds I was on ran out, but everything should be back to normal in a day or two.”

“It definitely looks a lot better than it did last night. It might’ve been the most gruesome injury I had ever seen. I won’t name names, but there were a few people who either threw up their dinner or fainted on the spot upon seeing your injury.”

“I bet. Abi sent me some images via Mindspeak, so I have at least some idea of how it looked before I went into surgery.”

She nodded as she walked over to the bed and set Vixa down on it before taking a seat on the edge. “Anyways, there are two other reasons that I’m here. I understand that your security teams are currently in the process of being altered, so if you wish, I can reschedule the appointment to another day. Keser is a family friend and I doubt he will have any issues meeting with you some other time.”

“Nah, I think it’ll be fine,” I replied. “It’s true that the teams are being altered, but that shouldn’t take too long. It’s the upgrades to the Grasshoppers that will take the longest, but Abi assures me that they’ll be in time for the meeting.”

“Great! Then my father and I have also heard that you are looking for a set of Skill Gems for your friends and your sisters. We would like to help with that. You don’t have any adventuring teams on the payroll yet and you’ll get absolutely robbed if you try to buy them publicly. Those of us in the highest circles trade Skill Gems between us. If you give us a list then we should be able to get all of the ones you want within a few days. With significant savings.”

“I’m actually working on rectifying that first part, but it will take a few months, I think.”

“Oh? You’re going after one of the final ten adventuring teams then?”

“Yup,” I said with a nod. “We don’t know which team or teams we’re going after, but my sisters are going to research them all over the next month or two. You know, I was wondering something that you might be able to answer. Why is it that only the top ten teams have their services auctioned off? Why not the top fifty or top one hundred?”

“It’s a tactic to promote the top teams while earning the GDCS a lot of money at the same time. You can approach any team you wish, but many of those teams would probably reject any offer you make. The prospect of being one of the top ten teams in the GDCS is much more valuable. If you’re one of those top ten teams, then you’re guaranteed to be well known around the galaxy. The top ten teams don’t have a choice, not that it’s a bad gig.”

“There is a clause written into each team’s contract when they enter the tournament, giving the organizers of the GDCS the right to auction out a team’s services for a period no longer than fifteen years. The top ten teams get a percentage of the winning bid, but the majority of it goes to the GDCS. It also makes it harder for one team to win the tournament over and over again, as they’ll only be able to participate in every second tournament.”

“What do the top ten teams get out of it, besides the top three that get some pretty nice prizes?”

“That often depends on what their new employer wants them doing. If they want them to be bodyguards, then the team often has a very nice salary, in addition to free food and lodging for the duration. If they want them to gather Skill Gems for them, then they’re usually given a ship and their salaries are often lower. To compensate, they get a percentage of the market value of items they bring back.”

“Tier S Skill Gems can, themselves, be put into additional tiers. So Precognition, for example, is a first-tier Tier S skill. If a team finds one, their employer is required to give them fifty percent of the market value, a second-tier Tier S Skill Gem would get a team forty percent of the market value, et cetera. It’s different for teams outside of the top ten, as the amount of credits they get is dependent on price charts that are made up before a team ever signs with them. A stingy employer won’t find many adventuring teams willing to gather Skill Gems for them, but a more generous one might have many teams employed.”

“So I’m guessing that the majority of the Skill Gems that I’ll be looking for are first-tier skills?”

“Definitely. Anything that is greatly sought after is considered to be first-tier. So Precognition, Jack of All Trades, Attributes and many others fall into that category. That’s not the only thing that teams get paid for though. If they happen to find an item of legendary quality or higher, then teams can get full market price for it, or keep it for themselves. If they choose the latter option, then they will owe their employer either items of equal value, or the value of the item in credits. If their contract ends before they have paid their employer back, then they are required to stay on for one year at a time until they have paid back their debt.”

“You know, I haven’t even checked to see how much legendary items cost, either here or back on Earth. How much would someone be expected to pay for a legendary? Or items of a higher quality?”

“That all depends on the item itself. Thousands of years ago people brought their items to professionals who would evaluate items based on the stats and level requirement of items. Nowadays, that can all be done online. My father purchased a Mythical rarity item long before I was born, but he gave it to me when I was a baby. I have worn it everyday since then,” she said, reaching to her neck and lifting up her necklace until it was no longer hidden under her blouse. “He would never tell me how much he paid for it, but I was always curious. I ended up going online and input the stats on it. What I read blew me away. Come here and take a look.”

She held up the medallion, allowing me to touch it. The moment I did, I was able to see everything that it did. The first few lines of stats were pretty normal, if higher than the average, but it was the final few lines that blew me away. My eyes popped open and my jaw dropped as I saw the effect that it gave her. I could easily imagine an effect like the one on Liasi’s Eternal Salvation costing billions, if not trillions of credits.