“What the fuck do you mean Green is unavaible?” I ask Red.

  The floating eyeball blinks at me before replying.

  “Entity Green will be present upon gaining a level in css.”

  “I saw him the st time I was subscious. I didn’t eveo ask him how much I leveled and where to put my damn trait points.

  “Entity Green will be present upon gaining a level in css,” he repeats.

  “Well fuck you too you ungrateful shit.”

  Red blinks, unbothered by my choice of insult.

  Shaking my head, I force myself to calm down. It’s not like I lost the levels or anything. But the attribute points would have been a det boost.

  “Red, show me my job page.”

  “Aowledged.”

  Job: [Ship Captain]

  Level: Level 18

  Job Skills: 2

  Ship Size: Frigate

  Primary Jobs Avaible: 8

  Support Jobs Avaible:5

  Maximum Job Capacity: 22

  Primary Jobs

  [First Mate] level 12: Irmgard Von Braun level 13 [Sword Officer]

  [Quartermaster] level 16: Cillian Walce level 21 [Mert]

  [Security Chief] level 10: Boriss Smirnov level 18 [Skirmisher]

  [Chief Carpenter] level 14: Emma level 31 [Rune Smith]

  [Head Chef]: N/A

  [Chief Physi] level 7: hes level 21 [Druid]

  [Artillery Chief]: N/A

  [Navigator]: N/A

  Support Jobs

  [Boatswain] level 1: Auranta level 39 [Air Mage][Gunner]: [Cook]:

  [Carpenter]:

  [Rigger]:

  [Physi Assistant]:

  Oh, nice. I leveled twi my job. No idea why, though. Maybe it’s from how I ied with the Gambino family? Doesn’t matter, I need a lot more levels going forward. Soooo, sidering Cillian is catg up. The damn guy is double dipping in [Quartermaster] and [Mert] levels by just trading and making deals. I mean, if memory serves, he was a level 19 mert a couple days ago.

  I should probably ask him what skill he got from that.

  As I tinue looking over my crew, I quickly realize that two ained skills. hes hit twenty and Emma hit thirty. Actually, Emma also passed ten in her job, so she got two skills.

  Must be from finishing the freezer. The ons will probably level her up further too.

  With one final check, I mentally close the job s.

  “I’m doake me back to the waking world.”

  “Aowledged.”

  __________________________________________________________

  Quasi opens his eyes to the vantage of someone ying atop a bookshelf. He yawns and stretches before making his way down and out of his room. As he exits, he finds a ck of light and sound. It’s the middle of the night and all seem asleep except for whoever is keeping wat the deck.

  Curious, Quasi goes down the hallway, moves up the stairs, and arrives on the deck. What he finds is Myers sitting on a throne directly to the side of the crystal ball that trols the ship.

  The old man is staring at the night sky, seemingly deep in thought. At that moment, he reminds Quasi of an old man filled with wisdom and knowledge that is thhly ed down by a strong sense of duty.

  “Myers, did you get tired of standing?” Quasi asks upon approach.

  The old ma flinch. He just casually turns his head to the cat as though he expected Quasi to arrive unannounced.

  He moves his arm from an armrest and allows Quasi to hop on top of it.

  “Not me, Cillian. He had the watch before me and asked hes to move the throne here.” Myers taps the bottom of where he is sitting to show aensive amount of padding. “I found him sleeping.”

  Quasi sighs. “Yea, might be best to restrict his alcohol before he o watch.”

  “I’d punish him instead,” Myers says. “Though restrig alay be the same thing for him.”

  “Yea…” Both cat and man sit in silence except for the soothing sound of fpping sails and the generally silent creak of wood.

  “So, do you have a problem with Ioids?” Quasi asks.

  “I do.” Myers answers.

  Quasi g the old man in surprise, “Damn, that’s a hel straight answer from you.”

  The old man shrugs. “There are few who don’t have problems with them. The ra and of itself does not to moral norms. There is a reason why patrons are required for Ioids to travel freely.”

  “Auranta seems rather normal to me. She has emotions, is, and her owhat I’d argue matches that of any other se race.”

  Myers grimaces and nods. “She does, though I believe that to be trained and not genuine. I-” He pauses for a moment before deg something. “I used to be in charge of a fleet of ships- a [Fleet Captain] if you will. During my time as one, Ioid iions have almost universally beeive. Nearly every iion I’ve had involved destroying a Hiveship that was raiding an isnd or hunting ships.”

  “Why? I thought Patroned Ioids follow ws.”

  “They do and don’t. Occasionally, non-patroned ships and eves of Ioids find their way outside of the Hivends- which is where I’m tasked with hunting them down. But, it isn’t too unon for a Patroned hive to gue when they feel that being a Patroricts their growth.”

  “That seems illogical.”

  Myers nods. “That’s where the problem arises. The Princesses, workers, and soldiers of the hives are logical thinkers who usually ck emotions, the Queens are quite the opposite. Though extremely intelligent, they are heavily dictated by emotions. If they are slighted by a patron, a Queen will bide their time before breaking patronage aing revenge even at the cost of long-term growth and safety.”

  “That holy sounds pretty human.”

  Myers chuckles. “Yes, if every human cked emotional discipline and had a potent narcissistic personality.”

  “Oh… yea, that sounds pretty bad. How do the patrons deal with all this then?”

  “With extensive trol. They greatly restrict what the Queen is allowed to do- to the point that Tinea is nothing more but a servant of the Mage Guild.”

  “Auranta doesn’t sound like she serves the Mage Guild.”

  The old man brushes his beard with his right hand in what seems like agitation. “Because I don’t believe she does. She kept her species hidden from all of us and from Memphis. I believe Tinea wishes to keep this hunt for information away from the Mage Guild.”

  Quasi stretches on the armrest before ying down again. “Any Idea why?”

  Myers shakes his head. “Nothing crete- though I imagi most likely isn’t for a morally good reason.”

  “I see.” Quasi stands back up and does o stretch. “Well, nothing to do about it now. We’ll py it by ear a appropriately. For now, try to be a bit more respectful to Auranta. I don’t think she likes her Queen very much.”

  “Ioids ot disobey their Queens. They will end you if you are found to be a threat.”

  Quasi hops off the throne. “Maybe, maybe not. My gut tells me Auranta is a bit different. Anyway, I’m gonna go find some food. I’ll see you ter.”

  “You may regret this,” Myers warns, but Quasi is already entering ihe belly of the Timbergrove.”

  _______________________________________________________________

  “DAAAADDD!!!” A young child of eight rushes to the fields of the small farm. He passes by herds of giant grazing spiders that make way for the child's passage. The child, huffing, arrives just as his father finishes colleg the silk and eggs from their .

  “Marcus, why are you yelling? You’ll aggravate the Laea.” The father admonishes. “We’ve already harvested the eggs te, I’d rather not do so again.”

  “There's a ship. A frigate.” The child points beyond the farmhouse.

  He 't see the ship on at of his home being in the way, but he see the crows.

  “They’re early,” the father grumbles as he looks at the unwound silk in his hands. “Damn it all. Marcus, take this to my ste. I’ll deal with the [Captain].”

  The man, cursing the entire way, rushes to the front of his home, only to pause when he sees the ship. The ship is a frigate, a heavily armed one sidering the ons stig out. For a moment, fear takes him. It has been decades since [Pirates] have his isnd. They’re usually far too afraid sidering how close the nearby slipstream is.

  “Good thing I still pay that insurance,” He whispers under his breath.

  The pnk of the ship falls on his small woodeheches as a tall blond woman and a short man desd. Looking at them now, his fear quickly abates, for the two don’t look like [Pirates] nor do they have the job.

  Emboldened now, the man puts on a smile as the two halfway. He extends his hand. “Names Carran. I’m the owner of this farm.”

  The woman takes his hand. “Irmgard. [First Mate].”

  The short man snorts. “Irmgard, you know it wouldn’t hurt to smile.”

  “We are not here for leisure,” the woman reprimands. “We’re here to buy goods.”

  “Bah, you’ll never get a good price with that attitude.” The short man grins to Carran. “Names Cillian, [Quartermaster] of, well, that ship. As my patriot here says so btantly, we’re here to buy goods, specifically meat. You sell meat, don’t you?”

  Carran nods. “Laea meat, milk, eggs, and silk.”

  The short man keeps grinning. “We’ll take the first three.”

  Carran nods thankfully. The first three he’s got plenty of, what with the silk only now getting harvested. “I only sell in bulk, though.”

  Cillian chuckles, “and we only pay in bulk prig. Let's head inside and see what you have to offer.”

  _____________________________________________

  “Faster,” Auranta orders.

  She watches with [Mana Sight] as Quasi punches forward. As his fist accelerates, a rune forms within his wrist. At the point that his arm is fully erected, momentum follows the deyed activation of the rune, pushing it from wrist, to palm, and then to knuckle. It reaches the boundary of the skin on Quasi’s knuckles and would normally shatter and explode, but the spell had already started activating. What should have been a fiery exploding knuckle is instead a weak and brief jet of fire.

  Quasi, fbbergasted, g Auranta for an expnation.

  “It is believed that the inability to expend mana from their body is an evolved defensive feature. There are spells designed specifically to disrupt and corrupt the internal mana of an individual. These spells, also known as curses, are nearly useless against species that ck the ability to utilize Materialization. The reason is because their body's internal mana is naturally in a state that is ao forms outside itself. A spell undergoing activation shifts into a state where it no longer matches the host's internal mana structure. At which point the body attempts to push it out,” Auranta expins.

  Quasi nods slowly.

  “Good. You’ve do once, but once isn’t enough. You have to be sis-” Auranta stops talking as Quasi begins pung rapidly, with each punch creating a perfect jet of fire simir to his first actual success.

  This tinues for minutes until Quasi pounds the singur ruh a sed oo increase the potency.

  His knuckles explode in flesh, blood, and bone.

  Seeing this, Auranta suppresses the urge to rush and help with the wound as she’d done before when a student of hers was injured. For anyone else, they’d bee a cripple without a [Healers] attention.

  Quasi frowns at the missing cracked white knuckle bone on his hand. Then he looks at Auranta.

  “pounding a rune increases the time for full activation.”

  Quasi growls in aowledgement even as the damage to his knuckles begin to heal. Using his uninjured hand. He reaches into a bucket begins ing the raw flesh of an animal very simir in structure to an ioid her Queen had previously warred with.

  By the time he is finished with the food, his fist is healed enough to tihe experimentation.

  Oozing fidence, Quasi takes a fighter's stance. He closes all of his eyes and Auranta he runes being formed at the forearm instead of the wrist. Exactly twice the previous distao his knuckles.

  “Stop! It’s not a doubled dey! It’s only slightly incre-” her warning es too te as Quasi’s hand explodes in a shower of viscera and blood.