The good news is that Taiwo has probably been pretty fair with me based on what Valtir and I end up negotiating. My Inventory size was a serious surprise to Valtir and it was completely full of high Level Loot and Monster parts. From about halfway through until the end he seemed to alternate between worry about having enough Credits available and excitement about the profits in his future from cleaning me out. One thing’s for sure, I’m flush with Credits and unclear what I should spend them on. There’s no point spending Credits on any of my Ascended Class Skills since if I do for any of them I won’t be able to Evolve it. Not a concern for everyone else in the Universe who can Evolve three at the very maximum, but for me increasing a Skill with Credits actually reduces my potential power rather than growing it.

  I’ve checked out a lot of options for equipment and weapons, but unsurprisingly nothing really matches what I already have with my Ascended Class Skills and abilities. I thought about grenades, but what can possibly beat the way Resonant Strike or Tempest Siphon can hammer huge numbers of opponents? My main score is a powerful jetpack that works by drawing on my own Mana instead of a Mana battery. It still suffers from my technology penalty, but it’s top of the line so even the reduced performance is very, very good. Maybe I’ll never use it, but I have Credits to burn. Maybe I can find some worthwhile investments on Earth or spend it establishing a foothold on a new world.

  I zoom around the skies of Calgary testing it out at dusk. Flying vehicles and people aren’t unusual now so nobody takes a pot shot, and as a human most of the automated MIS Hub defenses are set to ignore me. After I’m satisfied that the jetpack really does stay charged by taking a trickle of my Mana, I land in the street outside of Carter’s house. I stretch my Perception out and find that Tatiana is home, but not alone. I feel a slight sting, but only a slight one; there’s been nothing promised between us and I am constantly leaving her behind.

  Nobody’s home at Carter’s house except, maybe surprisingly, Logan. I walk up to the door and don’t have to wait long after a knock. He pulls the door open and looks almost eye to eye with me which is a bit of a shock. I know I’ve been gone for over six months, but he looks a lot older. He also looks peeved.

  ‘Wow,” I comment, and gesture at my head height across to him with a grin. He screws up his face, obviously not in the mood. Typical teenager stuff? I don’t have a lot of experience.

  “They kicked me out,” he says with a lot of accusation.

  “Huh?”

  “They kicked me out of the Academy. Said to ask you why.”

  “Ah… yeah. Well, Tenebris maybe isn’t as good of a partner as we thought he was,” I reply. This seems like a minor issue, but I didn’t really think about what other impacts it might have if I distanced myself from Tenebris.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks. We’re still standing in the doorway and I can see that’s where we’re going to be until it’s sorted. I consider for a moment what to say because he’s still young, but then I remember what he’s been doing and what he’s seen.

  “I made a deal with Tenebris to remove Hvitserkur from Earth in exchange for the South Island of New Zealand. All my Settlements. What I didn’t know, but just found out, is that whatever deal the two of them made, or however it went down, Hvitserkur ended up on another planet much less able to defend itself even than Earth. By the time I found out, he had already slain and subjugated billions. I don’t feel good about it, Logan. I don’t feel good about the way it ended up. But I’ve fixed it, to a certain extent. I killed Hvitserkur and my next step is to go back and scour that planet to clean up my mess.”

  “You killed that thing? The one that killed Jon?” he asks.

  “Yeah,” I answer, and wait for whatever’s coming next. There’s a bit of a pause.

  “Why are you here?” he asks. “I was pissed at you, but it’s still good to see you after so long. If you tell me you’re taking me with you, then I might even get over the Academy thing.”

  “You’d want to come with me?” I ask. “It’s usually not that safe.”

  “I just looked at your Level, Uncle Bronwic, and you killed a Level 500 Monster. I can feel the pressure of just being near you. I think I’ll be ok, Unc. Plus… I’ve been advancing pretty fast myself.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “That you have, kiddo.”

  Logan Cadimus, Defender of Calgary, Academy Champion, Exterminator

  (Level 10 Kinetic Manipulator) (Enhanced Legendary)

  [Human]

  HP: 4400/4400

  MP: 6600/6600

  Conditions: Accelerated Metabolism, Lightning Reflex, Untouched, Speed Force, Kinetic Absorption, Force Amplification, Inertial Negation, Echo Strike

  “Let’s just check with your folks, yeah?” I ask him, and he shrugs in response.

  “I don’t really ask their permission about stuff any more, Uncle Bronwic. Dad even joins some of the Adventurer Parties I organize as one of the participants. Mom is Mom of course, but we can let them know if you want.”

  He touches behind his ear and raises his eyebrow at me while giving me a lopsided grin.

  “Hey Mom, Uncle Bronwic’s going to take me all around the Universe doing stuff. Probably exploring new planets and fighting crazy Monsters. Cool?”

  A pause as I shake my head. Then he resumes.

  “Yeah, I’ll check in every couple days. Yes, I’ll tell him he better not fuck this up. See ya Mom. Love you!”

  He makes eye contact again and I can see takes great pleasure the next bit.

  “Don’t fuck it up, Unc.”

  “You still got the armor?” I ask, ignoring it.

  “Of course! Still boosts me quite a bit. It’s been awesome.”

  “We’re going to give it back,” I declare. “I have no idea what kind of tracking or tech is in that thing. For all I know it could go into lockdown mode and fly you somewhere against your will or force you into a situation you can’t get out of. A suicide run.”

  I can see him start to protest, but he knows me and can see in my face I’m not going to bend on it. Probably if I was his Dad he’d refuse, but in the end I’m still Uncle Bronwic - for a while, at least. So instead, he pulls it out of his Inventory and hands it to me. I stash it in my Inventory and consider using Dimensional Step to get into the Vault of Tenebris to give it back, but immediately realize how stupid that idea is on a bunch of levels.

  “It’s not all bad news,” I tell Logan. “I’ve got a new Shop to deal with and an astronomical Credit balance, so we should be able to sort you out with something, hopefully just as good.”

  “Seriously?” he asks with interest.

  “Seriously, mate. There’s no way I’m fucking this up. Remember?”

  It takes us a few hours to find another set of power armor that’s worthy of Logan’s Legendary Class. His new armor is black with glowing gold trim and doesn’t have any disguises or tricks; it simply wraps him in a ridiculously strong, self-healing suit of raw, crackling power that’s amplified by Logan’s Class to an intimidating degree. I have to admit I’m slightly jealous.

  Satisfied, I open a Portal to Jeff. Logan Inventories his helmet but doesn’t Inventory his armor, possibly because it’s badass and possibly because you never know what you’ll walk into with Jeff. I could use Dimensional Step, but I feel it’s much more polite to give people with highly attuned danger senses and powerful Skills a bit of warning, when I can. It’s night time and Jeff is asleep.

  “Feels weird to do this,” comments Logan as he looks through the Portal.

  “So far, remarkably, I’ve not really done this at a time that’s super embarrassing for me or the person on the other side. You’d have thought just by sheer chance it would have happened.”

  “Did you just jinx yourself?” he asks.

  “Probably,” I agree and consider for a moment, then close the Portal. “I don’t want to wake him.”

  “Want to show me what we’re up against? These Rock Trolls?”

  “Yeah. I’m not sure what to do with them, though.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, if they just got put there and were driven to do things according to Hvitserkur’s orders, is it right to kill them all?”

  “If you’ve killed Hvitserkur then you’ll probably have your answer. If they continue on the same path, you eliminate them. If they change, you move them if that’s possible or if not maybe we try to figure something out.”

  “That’s pretty good advice, kiddo. And I like that you said ‘we’ would try to figure something out.”

  “I need something more challenging to hunt, Uncle Bronwic. I’m not progressing as fast as I was when I was at the Academy; the stuff in Calgary and the surroundings isn’t high enough Level and everything is way more under control. I could join a Strike Force, but too much of that is waiting around until something big happens and seasoned Adventurers don’t really want to train or fight with a kid. At least, that’s what they all tell me.”

  “Fuck ‘em,” I say and ruffle Logan’s light brown hair. “Let’s go see what kind of party this is, and if we want to invite Jeff.”