《Star Exile: Singularity (A Scifi LitRPG series)》 Chapter 1 A blaster bolt whizzed by my head, so close that I had to close my eye as a torrid heatwave flushed over my face. I grimaced, ducking behind the alloyed bulkhead I was using as cover. Damn. A quick check of my AIAO (Artificial Intelligence Assist Overlay) connected me to the neural chip network implanted in my character¡¯s brain. My blaster pistol¡¯s charge cell was still at 65%, but I considered changing it out since I wouldn¡¯t be able to move from my position until Brandon could give me some cover fire. I constantly had to remind myself that Eternity Online wasn¡¯t real¡ªthat I was technically sleeping right now in my real life. The adrenaline I was feeling now felt as real as anything else. I craved it, and let it fuel my actions. ¡°Can I get a little help here, Brandon?¡± I growled, pressing my body as closely as I could to the bulkhead in front of me. A Barrage of enemy blaster fire that would chew through my armor surged past, blurring my vision as plasma bolts slammed into my cover with reverberating impacts. ¡°Working on it,¡± Brandon shouted from somewhere behind me, his deep voice filling the square hall around us. I still had all of my mana ready to spend on shielding the two of us, but one well-aimed blaster bolt to either of our EVA suits would make this mission a lot more difficult if we had to float through vacuum on our exit. The clock was counting down to my alarm, the one that would pull me into the responsibilities of my real life and this wasn¡¯t where we wanted to be when that went off. Shouting in the strange, slurping Virodesh language echoed out in front of us from our enemies. I couldn¡¯t understand what they were saying, but the message was probably simple enough. One quick glance from my cover told me that this freighter had a lot more goons to fight than we had expected. We had intended for this to be a typical repossession job without bloodshed: Infiltrate a Virodeshian freighter, retrieve their warp drive, and leave their ship in the void to crawl to the nearest station. Since there weren¡¯t supposed to be any actual players on board, I didn¡¯t feel bad about it in the slightest. The Virodeshians were squid-like alien creatures controlled by the AI Overlords running the Eternity Online game engine. As far as I was aware, their race wasn¡¯t playable by normal players. They were tall and slender, green, and had scaly skin and tentacles all over their bulbous faces. Of all the monsters and aliens I¡¯d seen in my first two weeks of playing Eternity Online, these were among the ugliest. Brandon made his move, emerging from whatever cover he was hiding behind and firing off his heavy shotgun. As a colossus, he stood almost two and a half meters tall and looked comical in the cramped hallways of the grimy freighter. His massive weapon thundered in the enclosed space, sending aching waves of pain splitting through my skull, leaving my ears with a lingering, numbed pain. I considered activating the helmet of my suit, but it made it harder to see and fight so I powered through the painful noise. I emerged from my cover, hoping not to take one of the massive shotgun slugs as friendly fire. Even at 25% pain threshold conversion, it wouldn¡¯t feel good to disintegrate into a cloud of blood. Just as I emerged, one of Brandon¡¯s slugs demolished the chest of one of the squid-like Virodeshians, splattering gooey green gore all over its comrades as it collapsed to the floor in a motionless heap. The alien wouldn¡¯t be getting up. Brandon¡¯s weapon used technology that was primitive compared to what was available to us in Eternity Online, but Newtonian laws dictated that a large piece of metal accelerated to nearly four times the speed of sound was going to do a lot of damage when it struck something. More enemy reinforcements arrived, rushing down the featureless metal hallway and taking up defensive positions with the others. The Virodeshian goons responded with an attack of their own, firing automatic pulse rifles and blasters at us. I concentrated, activating my Mana Shield ability and channeling it on both Brandon and myself at fourth rank. Our EVA suits, specially designed and fabricated to soak up some damage would probably have prevented most of the damage from the retaliation, as would a first or second rank Mana Shield, but I was trying to minimize our risk as much as possible. We were already in this deep enough and I had no idea what else would go wrong since our intel on this repo contract was clearly misinformed at best. At fourth rank, my spell would protect both of us for 110% of our maximum health for the duration, but it was going to eat four mana every second since I had two instances of the ability active, a large expenditure considering I only had 35 total points in my reserve. My AIAO tracked my mana bar as I waited for the opportune time to drop the shields. Enemy fire dissipated mere inches away from our bodies, evaporating as harmless mist. I took my opportunity, pulling up the targeting sight of my light blaster pistol. One of the enemy combatants was still exposed from the bulkhead it was hiding behind, firing at my mana shield with a wild spray of plasma bolts as the barrel of his blaster glowed red hot. The goons were chipping down our shields at a dangerous rate, but we didn¡¯t need much time to shift the tide of battle¡ªespecially since these seemed to be fairly low-level opponents. I lined up the compact red dot sight of my pistol with a writhing, tentacled head, squeezing the trigger firmly and feeling the weapon kick back in my hand. The blue blaster bolt turned half of a Virodeshian¡¯s head into a fine green mist, and its body collapsed. The other enemies took grim notice of the kill--or maybe my use of Strexian magic, laying off their onslaught of weapon fire and trying to take cover, but it was already too late for them to effectively pivot their strategy. I decimated more aliens with my blaster before they could hide. With their numbers dropping, Brandon and I emerged from our cover, rushing forward and killing the rest of the enemies as both instances of my Mana Shield ability were close to breaking. I stopped channeling Mana Shield, breathing heavily as I checked my reserve to see I only had 11 points of mana remaining. We had cut it a little close with our gambit. My mana would automatically regenerate by itself as soon as my reserve dropped below my maximum, and that rate of recovery would improve further if I didn¡¯t cast any spells for at least 30 seconds. In less than two minutes my mana would be completely recharged. As I improved my Mind attribute, that recharge rate would increase. With the fight finished, my AIAO displayed the summary of the encounter in accordance with the player preferences I¡¯d set. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

End of Combat Summary:
Enemies killed: 9
XP gained: 38
Net major reputation changes: N/A
Personal Estimated Cost of Combat: 4 credits (74% of 1x standard light blaster pistol charge cell.)
Skill Progression:
  • Mana Shield Level 2 + 2%
  • Light Blaster Pistols Level 3 + <1%
Overall Personal Performance Rating: S+
¡°Nice job,¡± Brandon said, walking up from his position behind me and clapping a massive, meaty hand on my shoulder. His voice sounded distant, and there was a painful ringing in my ears from the cacophony of noise. If he was discomforted by the encounter and the unholy decibels of his shotgun, he wasn¡¯t showing it. ¡°Yeah, you too,¡± I said, ejecting the mostly-depleted charge cell from my blaster and depositing it into my normal inventory with a quick mental command. I grabbed one of the fresh charge cells attached to my utility belt, clicking it into place in the grip of my blaster and flipping the weapon needlessly in my hand before sliding it home into my hip holster. It was time to clean up these bodies and make our way to the engine room to recover the property we came here for. As a colossus, Brandon had almost double my carry weight as a human, making him our designated cargo hauler in most situations. In Eternity Online, the inventory system gave players a base weight capacity and volume limit for their inventory, with ways to modify both stats. Since Brandon¡¯s EVA suit was both heavier and larger than mine, its storage module could store a lot more than mine given the simple volume/weight calculations Eternity Online used to decide if a player was over-encumbered. As we closed in on the alien corpses, the smell of rotting, half-cooked fish mixed with the sour odor of spent gunpowder was overpowering¡ªapparently the Virodeshians smelled worse on the inside than out. This time, I deployed my helmet, feeling the Nanotech materialize and seal me in. The external odors were replaced by a clean, sterile scent as the air jets in my helmet kicked into action, filtering and pumping the outside air into my suit with a sharp pressurized hiss. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s bad,¡± Brandon complained, wrinkling his nose as we trundled through the ichor-like green blood coating most of the floor to get to the bodies. ¡°So a fish smell bothers you, but you can fire a cannon without ear protection and not feel any pain?¡± I asked, surprised to see him react to something. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t hear as well as me, his race just had ears that were less sensitive to intense decibel ranges. Brandon shrugged and activated his helmet, causing it to pixelate and appear on his head. ¡°It smells bad. I¡¯m pretty sure your blaster bolts half-cooked most of these guys. Can¡¯t even market ¡®em as sushi at this point.¡± I laughed at that, checking the corpse of the single elite enemy first, not expecting to find much worth taking after seeing the massive gooey hole through his chest. ¡°Blaster bolts might cook them, but your gun liquifies them and ruins perfectly good loot.¡±

Virodeshian Goon (Elite) - Dead
Level 2 Humanoid
Allegiance: Neutral Obtainable loot listed below.

Standard Credits: 17

Virodeshian Mechanic Vest (Critical Condition) - Uncommon
Light Armor. Basic.
  • Armor: 5 0. (provides no protection while in critical condition.)
  • Overall Durability: 1/100
  • Weight: 5.00 Standard Kg.
  • Carry Capacity: +0.20 M3
Mods
  • None.
Attributes
  • Provides a 10% chance to generate additional bonus XP when performing Mechanical non-combat skills.

Unlicensed Blaster Rifle (Battered) - Common
Blaster Rifle. Crude.
  • Overall Durability: 19/100
  • Weight: 3.8 Standard Kg.
  • Range: Mid-range.
  • Damage: 5-11 plasma damage (-10% weapon damage, accuracy, and optimal range while battered.)
Mods
  • Stub Barrel: -10% damage, cooling power, and optimal range. +25% accuracy in CQB-close range.
  • Hair Trigger: +15% rate of fire. -10% accuracy and cooling power.
  • Cut-Rate Blaster Rifle Charge Cell: 65% charge remaining. Plasma Damage.
  • Iron Sights: +10% accuracy in CQB-close range. -10% accuracy in mid-long range.
Attributes
  • None.
Had Brandon¡¯s shotgun not done so much damage to the elite¡¯s mechanic vest, it would probably be worth a lot more. Now, we¡¯d probably have to scrap it for crafting components to sell to other players. With the mods and cheap build, the blaster was beyond awful for anything other than close-range spraying. The remainder of the bodies, all level one generic NPCs with semi-randomized trash-tier loot yielded a shoddy pulse rifle, a few pieces of bad armor, some charge cells, 31 standard credits, and a few blaster pistols to turn into scrap. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s finish up and get out of here, we have work in less than an hour. It¡¯s time we have another word with the captain,¡± I said. Just as I¡¯d said it, an alarm sounded in my helmet and alerts flashed across the visor of my helmet and in my AIAO. Another ship had just warped one kilometer away from the freighter and our ship, Exowurm. When I pulled up the visual feed from our ship¡¯s external cameras, I knew this was about to get a lot more complicated. Star Exile: Dark Zenith Chapter 1 Cadan wasted no time once all of us, minus Fen, were seated in Dark Eternity¡¯s conference room. ¡°My favorite group returns, but it looks like you¡¯re one short. Did you bring any souvenirs for me?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± I said, keeping my voice level. ¡°The first thing you should know is that we put the relic we found in the temple in a deadman¡¯s safe¡ªit¡¯s linked to all three of us. If any of us die, the relic is gone for good. You lucked out by not blasting Ether Rogue out of space on our approach to your hangar.¡± Good, we¡¯re getting that out in the open early, I thought. Anything we could do to protect ourselves and try to navigate this situation would be for the best. Surprisingly, the return journey from the Strexian temple had been painless. Upon completing the Architect of Ortonan¡¯s arena trials, another wormhole had opened in the sky outside of the temple, and upon calibrating it with an ancient spell tablet we found upon our exit, it brought us back to Dark Eternity¡¯s system. Cadan shrugged, but without a face or facial expression to read, the gesture carried little weight. ¡°You¡¯ll learn I have no intention of harming any of you eventually. I don¡¯t blame you for putting the relic in a safe. How could I until we¡¯ve had the opportunity to build more trust? I realize I have quite a lot to do to restore whatever has been lost with my previous involvement with Kyle and Dalthaxia. If it''s okay with you, one of my officers will join us for our meeting,¡± he said as we walked into the conference room. There was a man seated in the chair next to Cadan¡¯s. He was human, middle-aged, heavyset, and wore an expensive-looking business suit accented by a tie that was too tight around the neck. By his appearance, I doubted he took any part in the combat side of Dark Eternity¡¯s operations. He stood to greet us, fixing a smile on his rounded face. ¡°A pleasure. My name is Kavahn, I serve as Dark Eternity¡¯s resource officer and the primary liaison with Romero Mercantile on matters of finance and objective alignment. Cadan has told me quite a lot about you. I''m excited to see your other findings from the temple, it looks like you got a few new pieces of gear while you were there, too.¡± As far as I could tell, Cadan hadn''t rigged the room with a trap, and there weren''t ambushers waiting to kill us and take our loot. I wasn''t getting the feeling that we were in immediate danger, but my adrenaline was pumping and my nerves were still frayed from the close encounter we¡¯d all had with death and failure at the temple. ¡°Hello, Kavahn,¡± I replied, shaking the man¡¯s hand while the rest of my friends made their introductions. Gwen set the deadman¡¯s safe containing the Strexian relic in the middle of the table like some kind of decorative centerpiece as we took our seats. ¡°Right then, let¡¯s talk.¡± The safe was a stout metallic box with rounded corners and collapsable handholds covered in chipping yellow paint. Cadan nodded. ¡°My ideal agenda for this meeting is to inspect your item, consult with Kavahn, and make an offer. I¡¯m thrilled you were successful in completing your expedition, and even more so that you followed through and honored the terms of your contract with my guild. As I¡¯m sure you can appreciate, I hope to make the acquisition today to secure the relic and avoid its loss or the possibility that it falls into the wrong hands.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± Gwen said, still keeping her tone polite as she stood and pressed a button on top of the deadman¡¯s safe. ¡°Here¡¯s the transcription.¡± I watched Cadan and Kavahn as they parsed through the data. Cadan¡¯s featureless face hid everything, but Kavahn was much less subtle. His face changed from a look of shock to something more resembling extreme satisfaction and desire. They seemed to know more about the Coilmatter Cell than we did, and that put us at a distinct disadvantage. I gave them another minute before asking for a response. Kavahn nodded to Cadan, saying nothing. I had the feeling they were going to try to lowball us, though I had no idea how to price the relic. ¡°Well?¡± Cadan leveled his faceless gaze at Gwen from across the smooth surface of the table. ¡°What¡¯s your freedom worth to you, Gwen? What¡¯s it worth to your friends?¡± ¡°My freedom is worth everything to me, Cadan,¡± Gwen responded, keeping her voice level despite the fear she must have been feeling. Cadan nodded appreciatively, folding his celestial hands in front of them and setting them on the surface of the table with a metallic clank. ¡°As it is to me. Well, that¡¯s what we can offer on top of the substantial monetary offer Neris Romero has authorized us to make you in exchange for this relic. We can offer you freedom from your Dalthaxian conscription¡ªa way to remove your in-game binds to them despite the fact you so proudly claim your neutrality in the Eternity War.¡± ¡°Do you have an item transcription or anything to back up what you''re saying?¡± Gwen asked, sounding more defensive and cautious now. It was the thing Gwen needed most to safely continue playing her way through the Eternity War her way. Without it, she would likely have to take whatever windfall we might acquire from the Strexian relic and divest most of the funds while avoiding real-world detection from Dalthaxian authorities. Cadan nodded. ¡°Of course, see for yourself. I¡¯m guessing the AI engines generated these items for situations very much like your own. It encourages people to explore parts of the game universe that might have been untouched. Either way, these were very hard to come by, and I doubt you have heard of their existence through other channels.¡± he passed over the item transcription for us to see.

Bindbreaker Tablet
Relic. Consumable.
Upon use, the character permanently removes their allegiance to their current faction. This item removes any effects that would force a character to respawn at a set location controlled by their former faction. Bindbreaker Tablet can only be used on player characters and can only remove allegiance to player-controlled factions. The effects of this item cannot be undone. Use of this item destroys it.
Everything was legitimate, and this tablet could offer Gwen her freedom. She would be able to do change her character alignment to neutral and change her respawn point to a place of her choosing. I wasn¡¯t satisfied. ¡°I understand you haven¡¯t screwed me over yet in the real world, as far as I¡¯m aware, but now that you can get what you want and you might not need to keep me alive any longer. Maybe I''m dangerous to you because I know you''re still alive.¡± Cadan laughed, a metallic throaty sound without humor. ¡°I am the face of Dark Eternity. I want Dalthaxia to know I''m still breathing and alive. Believe me, they know their assassin screwed up. Do you think Neris Romero would have contacted you and revealed his identity if he had even the faintest suspicion that I planned on turning on you or him? No. We¡¯re putting trust in you because we want you to put trust in us. You''ve clearly shown your worth, and I hope to create a very lucrative partnership with you and your group.¡± I exchanged a glance with Gwen and Brandon, considering what Cadan was saying. We all owned a piece of this decision, and Cadan seemed to be putting all of his cards on the table for once in his life. His offer of the tablet to give Gwen her freedom sweetened the pot. ¡°What''s the offer? We know what we have is valuable.¡± My voice sounded a lot more confident than I felt, and that was good. Cadan laughed. ¡°Of course you do, and you''re right. This is what we¡¯ve been searching for. It''s one of the pieces we need to secure a sudden victory in this war. To us, it''s worth twenty million credits.¡± I had to fight against the urge for my mouth to swing open and hang like a hinged panel. I had expected a low-ball offer, and maybe that''s what this was, but it didn''t feel like it. ¡°Oh,¡± Cadan added before we could respond. ¡°Those are standard credits, not eCr.¡± On the way out of Ortonan through the voltaic rift, we had discussed what a best-case payout might look like¡ªcoming to the sum of 50 million eCr, only half of what was on the table now. Dealing with Dalthaxia wasn¡¯t an option unless we could find a way around Admiral Nsara, and unless we honored our contract with Dark Eternity''s to at least give Cadan the option to make or exceed a counteroffer, Neris Romero and Dark Eternity would be added to our list of enemies. This was our best way to minimize our risk and secure our credits. ¡°How do you propose to pay?" I asked, knowing a payment even a fraction of that sum would be flagged by Dalthaxian AI if we tried to withdraw or move it into hot accounts that had an association with the Dalthaxian Alliance. Going from eCr to standard credits would pose as much of a problem¡ªand shadier third-party solutions would either bleed us dry with fees or fail to support the withdrawals entirely. Cadan nodded, considering the question. ¡°I''m glad you asked. Since Neris Romero will be funding your payment, you need to understand that liquidity in this amount is¡­ difficult. There are a few options. If you want the payment strictly in eCr, we can pay it out over three months. If you want it in standard credits in the form of instant transfers or wire transactions, it will take three times as long, but you also risk Dalthaxia catching onto your trail if you¡¯re reckless. We are paying so much because we want to invest in a future relationship with you. This is only a fraction of what¡¯s on the table if you work with us and help us win this war.¡± ¡°You don''t need to tell us twice about the risk of Dalthaxia. We''re all too aware,¡± Gwen said bitterly before turning to the rest of us. ¡°I think we''re all good with the offer, but is everyone okay with selling if we can hammer out the terms of the deal?¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. I evaluated the question, still somewhat indecisive. Cadan hadn''t screwed us over yet, and maybe he hated Dalthaxia as much as he claimed. The relic was going to be burning a hole in our pocket until we could sell it. Brandon answered first. ¡°I''m good if the rest of you are.¡± I sighed. ¡°Cadan, I''m not eager to do business with you, but I''m not going to let my pride get in the way of a deal like this, especially since I have other people to consider.¡± ¡°Okay then. There''s no doubt that the amount in question is fair enough,¡± Gwen considered. ¡°But I think you''ll appreciate that we''ll need a substantial portion of this payout up front, delivered in eCr.¡± Cadan exchanged a glance with Kavahn who offered him an easy smile. Seemingly content, Cadan faced us again. ¡°Certainly. We can offer you thirty percent up front right now before you release the item from the safe then the rest over equal payments. The rest will be delivered in accordance with the bill of sale. You decide the split and provide your Eternity Online account links so we can transfer the credits.¡± If everything looked good, we were about to have more money than I would have earned in my entire life many times over¡ªeven after it was split four ways. Gwen would have her freedom, Brandon could get his sister out of the Dalthaxian Slums, Fen would be able to leave whatever isolated station she called home, and I would have more money than I could ever know what to do with. Gwen took a deep breath, pausing before speaking. ¡°Okay. Let''s review the contract. If we sign and your payment goes through for the first 30%, we''ll release the deadman''s safe. I want the tablet up front too. I''m not going to budge on that.¡± Cadan raised both his hands. ¡°I wouldn''t dare ask you to do otherwise. Take a look at the terms and let us know if you need some privacy to discuss anything.¡± Kavahn sent over an AIAO prompt with the information to each of us, sliding the data tablet across the table that we could use to read the contract, allocate payment details, and make the deal when we were ready. After 10 minutes of review, we signed away our treasure. Cadan slid the Bindbreaker Tablet across the table to Gwen as Kavahn initiated an eCr transfer to our accounts¡ªan even four-way split down the line on a 30% payment, Fen¡¯s portion set aside into a new account for when she could retrieve it. An AIAO flashed in my vision, alerting me that 7.5 million eCr had hit my account as an irreversible transaction. Suddenly, I found I wasn''t concerned about the insurance payout for the loss of Exowurm, even if I did miss the hell out of that ship. Gwen''s face ignited into a smile as the tablet she was holding digitized, disappearing into thin air. ¡°It worked. I''m free.¡± She immediately released the lock on the deadman''s safe, disabling the functionality. Cadan lifted the Coilmatter Cell out of the safe with reverence, examining it and confirming it matched the previous transcription we had shown him. ¡°Excellent. We¡¯re good to go. You''ll get the rest of your payment over time as agreed. I¡¯ll be in touch when I¡¯d like you to come work for me again. I understand if you¡¯d like to wait for the payments from this contract to clear in full.¡± ¡°Okay then. Thanks, Cadan,¡± I said, surprised things had gone well so far. Even if no more money came, we would be set for life. If we got the full sum of money, we¡¯d be able to become almost anything we wanted¡ªas long as we were careful to dodge Dalthaxian law inside and out of Eternity Online. ¡°One more thing, Cadan,¡± Gwen said, leveling her expression. ¡°Hmm?¡± he asked. ¡°We need to do some work on Ether Rogue. Need a new transponder that can be encoded with a new ship ID and name. We could probably use a new paint job too. The make and model isn¡¯t that common from what I¡¯ve seen. We need to be able to dock at neutral stations without drawing attention.¡± Cadan seemed to consider this. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it and cover the cost. It¡¯s an expensive job, but I have mechanics and slicers with the skill needed to get it done right. I¡¯m assuming you want this done before you depart?¡± Gwen nodded. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°All right. We¡¯ll put in the work order now. If you¡¯ll be so kind as to return to your ship while my people work, we¡¯ll have you out of here in no time.¡± I wasn¡¯t thrilled with the idea of staying at Dark Eternity¡¯s station longer, but Gwen was right. Until we could mask Ether Rogue¡¯s real identity, we¡¯d be putting ourselves at unnecessary risk of attracting Dalthaxia¡¯s attention. We said our goodbyes to Cadan, taking the empty deadman¡¯s safe and walking back to Ether Rogue with Gwen¡¯s freedom in Eternity Online, and bank accounts filled to the brim with eCr. ¡°What now?¡± Gwen asked, fixing her beautiful eyes on me as we boarded Ether Rogue. The technicians were still working on the exterior of the ship, repainting Ether Rogue a matte black. They had made quick work of the transponder switch under Gwen¡¯s supervision, and all we needed to do now was code in the new ship name. It¡¯s maintenance records, bills of sale, docking logs, and everything else had already been fabricated, telling a new story that wouldn¡¯t draw suspicion. There would be people looking out for our exact make and model, but to Dalthaxia, it would look like a simple false positive¡ªlike someone was a little too eager to cash in an information requisition bounty. I shrugged. ¡°Back to work in the real world for me, I guess. I¡¯d say our partnership is off to a great start. We¡¯ve all secured enough credits to buy better lives for ourselves, but are we really safe enough from Dalthaxia?¡± I asked, wanting to get a read on how the others were feeling. I wasn¡¯t confident, even with a literal fortune to my name. Brandon shook his head, his voice taking on a darker tone as he answered my question. ¡°None of us are safe right now. This fortune comes with great cost and danger for us all. We need to look into the possibility of buying into immunity, but we also can''t put ourselves in danger from Neris Romero during the process. This money might be enough to buy our lives if Salgon wins, but with Dalthaxia, I''m not so sure.¡± ¡°We have a lot to consider,¡± Gwen agreed. ¡°But I think we have all earned a much-needed break and celebration, even if it is short lived.¡± She couldn''t have been more right. We deserved the chance to breathe and to appreciate an outstanding victory against dangerous odds. I should have felt more triumphant at our success, but didn¡¯t. I felt hollow and tired. Fen was gone, and she had so selflessly thrown herself in front of a crossbow bolt that would have killed Gwen for sure¡ªall because she had known Gwen had the better chance of escaping Dalthaxia in death. If I was being honest with myself, I didn''t expect we would be able to reunite with Fen anytime soon, maybe ever. It was a harsh reminder that our deaths would put us in a similar situation unless we had the opportunity to change our respawn point away from somewhere Dalthaxia was stationed. Until we were physically on another station, there would be nothing we could do to save ourselves. Since Gwen was in our party, her respawn point with the Bindbreaker Tablet had automatically been set to Vrenn like ours. The first order of business would be finding somewhere safe and low-key to call home. ¡°We do deserve a chance to celebrate," Brandon commented, fixing the Metalbound''s wicked bladed to the armored composite on his right wrist. He tested out the deployment mechanism, lancing his arm forward with powerful intent. The cruel, angular obsidian blade slid forward on its spring-loaded track, clicking into place and extending nearly a meter past his arm. Despite the size, it looked surprisingly lightweight and lethal. Brandon grinned, retracting the blade and letting the ancient weapon shrink through some fusion of Strexian magic and technology. ¡°I think this suits me nicely.¡± The massive crossbow from the Shadow of Ortonan was the only piece of gear we probably wouldn''t use as a squad. Brandon was the only one who could realistically wield the weapon with anything that resembled proficiency due to its ungainly weight and size, but with the accurized slug rounds his shotgun relied on, Brandon already had surprising range capabilities on what would have been an otherwise short-ranged weapon. Fen hadn''t spoken, but it was clear she wouldn''t have wanted the weapon. ¡°A moment, Kyle?¡± Gwen asked, standing from her flight chair. Brandon grinned at me. ¡°Make it quick, lovebirds. And stay away from my crafting chair. We start work soon, Kyle, and I don''t think you¡¯ll be able to keep taking all this time off, even as a secret millionaire.¡± I shook my head at Brandon, trying to keep the smile tugging at the corners of my mouth from showing. My heart started to accelerate as I stood and followed Gwen away from Ether Rogue¡¯s flight cabin. ¡°Yeah?¡± She turned around and looked at me with concern. ¡°Thank you for everything you''ve done for me and Fen. A lot of people probably would have screwed me over by now, but you didn''t. I know you did your best to protect Fen. I think she chose this outcome to try to protect the rest of us. She knew what it could cost her.¡± I nodded. ¡°And you didn''t screw me and Brandon over either. We still have a lot of work to do to make sure we¡¯re safe in the real world, but it¡¯s looking good for us, and this money certainly helps. I¡¯m sorry about Fen, I really am. It¡¯s no one¡¯s fault, the situation was just too hard. I want you to know that I meant what I said at the temple. Brandon and I are going to do everything we can to get Fen out of this. We¡¯re with you.¡± ¡°I know you will. And I¡¯m thankful for that,¡± she said. ¡°Is it bad that I don¡¯t feel like celebrating right now?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I hope not, because I don¡¯t either. It was a hard day. We can¡¯t really celebrate when we haven¡¯t had the opportunity to make the situation right for Fen.¡± That seemed to put Gwen at ease. ¡°Brandon seems happy enough.¡± ¡°Ehh, he got a new toy from the temple¡ªI did too. But he misses Fen and I guarantee he¡¯ll work with us to help her. He¡¯s the type of friend you always want to be by your side. I don¡¯t always deserve him. About what happened earlier¡­¡± I started. She grinned, and vibrancy and happiness washed across her face, replacing the far off look she had before. ¡°No need. I know what happened, and it wasn''t a mistake.¡± She leaned in and kissed me. ¡°Brandon¡¯s crafting chair is looking very comfortable for two. It''s a big chair...¡± she mused. I grinned at her, feeling the electrifying warmth of being in her presence. ¡°I can''t argue with that, but we should probably wait.¡± I had been playing Eternity Online for longer than I ever had in one session and I needed to make it to work if I wanted to keep my job and reputation intact. As soon as the technicians were done with Ether Rogue¡¯s new paint job, we needed to leave and log out. ¡°Fair enough,¡± she agreed, kissing me again before turning back toward the flight cabin. ¡°That''s all for now, I suppose. Let¡¯s get back to the cabin and we¡¯ll schedule our play time for the next few days.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I agreed, starting back with her. Star Exile Update & Release Unfortunately, it has come time that I need to remove the vast majority of Star Exile chapters from Royal Road. In order for my book to participate in the Kindle Unlimited program which gives readers the opportunity to read my book for free, I can''t sell my book anywhere else other than Amazon and can''t have more than 10% of my book available online. Please consider supporting my writing and purchasing (or reading for free with Kindle Unlimited) the final professionally edited version of Star Exile: Singularity. However, if you cannot afford the book or it isn''t available in your country, just send me a pm with your reason why you can''t get the book and your preferred file format and I''ll send you a free copy of the book.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the final, professionally edited version of Star Exile: Singularity