Things were not going the way Remian expected.
“This is your home?” Xiao Yan marveled as she looked around her.
“Uh… no. It’s not.” Remian grimaced.
Only when it was too late did Remian realize his mistake.
‘Home’ referred to the homeworld of the guy who made the formation, not Remian’s homeworld. This was… this was…
“I had been wondering where the Black Ruins Civilization disappeared to. Now I know.” Remian mused.
Indeed the truth was just too obvious to miss. They (still in the pod) were in a large black hall built in the exact style of those ruins. Unlike the ruins, this was filled with light and there were people visible through a long glass window above. One in particular was looking at them, a rather annoyed looking guy who kept staring at Remian with a frown, waiting expectantly, but not saying a word or making any move for the time being.
Cautiously, Remian opened the Pod and stepped out.
A voice came out over s
“Mister Remian, right?” A man in a black-and-gold formal suit-mixed-with-armor offered a weird kind of gesture with one hand. “Uh… yeah.” Remian didn’t know what that gesture meant. Was it some sort of salute? “Huh.” The man looked him over, then glanced about the room. It was reasonably comfortable for a holding cell, plain black walls, with a bed, a small table, chair, and two stalls in the corner for washing and biological excrement, though they held both familiar-looking equipment and strange items Remian couldn’t identify. The cell even had controls for light and ventilation. In the end, while bare, it wasn’t altogether torturous. “They seem to treat you well.” “They seem to think I’m one of your people.” Remian grimaced and admitted. “I’m not.” “No, you’re definitely not. According to our scans and database, you’re not registered to any interstellar faction we know.” The man cleared his throat. “In fact, your genetics indicate a very low level of technology, and there are tra
They tested it out. Ten times acceleration. One hundred times acceleration. Two hundred times acceleration! Three hundred times acceleration!! Four…“Stop! Stop! That’s too much!” Remian’s head was spinning and he felt like the whole world was tilting.Three hundred times. That was his limit. Even the Corpoman let out a low whistle. “That level of Psionic Power… if I didn’t know better, I’d suspect you were a Human Ascendant, or a Revanan. But that’s impossible. You’d have been registered long ago if you were either one.”“What’s an Ascendant?” Remian asked, holding his head.“A member of the Human Ascendancy. Like me. The Ascendancy consists of the Io Republic, the Blue Star Conglomerate and the Orion Empire. Members of any of our factions are called ‘Ascendants’. Not to boast, but we’re almost the most powerful human factions in the galaxy
Xiao Yan, it should be noted, did not have as high an acceleration rate as Remian. She, too, had been in the Red Mists and had some practice with Psionic communication plus she had also eaten Psiorin Infused foods. Her own Psionic abilities were actually far above average, but even she couldn’t manage something as crazy as three hundred times acceleration.Since there was no requirement for her to serve out a ten year sentence, merely having to accompany Remian during his twelve-day period, she actually didn’t need to use an acceleration at all. Just for the sake of having more time to learn, though, she opted for it and thus learned at 100x acceleration, at least for the first few minutes (5-6 hours in accelerated time).By then, Remian was starting to dabble in other subjects. A little bit of metallurgy, a little of science, a bit of mechanical engineering…He was exploring subjects, not mastering them. He wanted to see what he could make us
As night fell, Tang Yin needed to take a break. “Just a few more hours. Just a bit more.” He said, as they sat down for dinner that night. “It was ‘just a few hours’ from the very start!” Mindy gritted her teeth, trying her best to put up with the pain from her leg. At least she still had both legs, though one had been badly injured. Wulfgar had flat out lost both of his in the battle against the Tier 5. Mindy had cauterized the remaining stumps, but he still looked to be in extremely bad condition and might not survive the night. They could try to bring him back… but the mission was too important. The Rift had to be sealed, no matter the cost. Even if it meant locking Remian out. “Hurry back, Remian!” Mindy whispered into the night. “Hurry back!” *** But Remian was too caught up in studying to hurry anywhere. He was dabbling into architecture now and learning about structural support, stress and tension. Afterw
As the week passed, Xiao Yan graduated from Grade 3 Formations with flying colors. Remian qualified as a Class 6 Psionic on top of studying everything else he was interested in, especially Biotech. He even relented and dabbled a bit in magic and mana control. After a short converation with Xiao Yan who came to visit, he also took some time to study formations and arrays that she spoke about. Then he dove into runes and inscriptions. Then he even tried to study Chaos Magic, but the many differing theories and schools on that were too confusing and he soon gave up. “I’m nowhere near ready for that!” By the time two weeks were up and Remian’s sentence was fully served, Xiao Yan was about ready to take the tests for Grade 4 formations, and Remian himself was halfway to Class 7 as a Psionic. As the Sentence was coming to an end, the Conglomerate Judge called the Corpoman privately. “Is it wise, sir? This man paid us only 20,000 Black, and we paid him salvage fees of 9,500 Black. This is
“Are you sure we’re not on my world?” Xiao Yan asked, suspiciously. “Yes, I’m pretty sure.” Remian said, pointing. “Your world doesn’t have airships from the Deutero company.” “But it looks the same.” Xiao Yan said, with some disappointment. “People are still people, and dirt is still dirt.” With a short laugh, Remian turned toward the nearby town. “Come on. I’ll get in contact with my family first, and then bring you around to see other kinds of people and places.” *** At that time, Mindy, George and the others were having a bad day. As the sky turned red and the sun began to set upon the day and the sons of man alike, the weary defenders of Dragon Lake heard once more the horns of war. With earth-shaking roars, the colossal titans they battled stood tall, casting long shadows upon the land. Nine Tier-8 Emperor-class Spectres surrounded by the countless forces of their kind. On their own side, the Emperors and Great Dragons ha
Thankfully, Deutero banks were far more available than his friends and family. Within minutes of reaching the local branch, Remian was able to access his account. “F-fifty three million lir?!” Remian gaped. “Is that a lot?” Xiao Yan asked dubiously. “If you’re low on cash, I still have a few herbs we might be able to sell…” “It’s a lot! It’s a huge lot more than I expected!” Remian cut in hastily. “I knew I was getting income from the Industrial Zone and Mindy’s shipyards and everything but it’s way more than I thought…” How long had he been gone? About a month? Something like that? That was actually Tim’s fault more than Mindy’s, but let’s not tell Remian his rise in income was primarily the responsibility of Fal’Herim’s Underground King. Especially do not tell him that Tim’s factories had all but stolen Arnold’s Light Frame designs and were mass-producing them using them, and selling them to select customers in Fal’Herim at exaggerat
Word spread very quickly. “Remian’s back!” one guy exclaimed. “Remian’s back? Aww, blast it. I thought I finally had a chance with Phoebe…” Another moped. “In your dreams!” “Who’s Remian?” a confused newcomer asked. “Remian is back!” the shout rang out through the camp. “Awoo!” An enthusiastic wolfcat joined the hue and cry, just for the heck of it. Phoebe dashed out of the medical tent, a syringe still in her hand. She tugged off her facemask. “He’s back?!” Seeing her unmasked face, somebody tripped over flat and even ground, landing almost facefirst into a pile of Wild poop. “Ugaah!” “Ow!” Someone else walked into a pillar, knocking an innocent tent down. “UWOO!!!” Somebody else stepped on a bear’s tail. There was a brief moment as startled man and angry bear looked deep into each others eyes and then the man ran around screaming as he was chased by the bear for the next three minutes. *** Mindy barged in at that point. She didn’t mean to barge in, really. She actually wa