Now a ragtag group of 4, Wolik continued to lead Hynnia, Pym, and Pasu through the streets of the town, pa.s.sing by a large gra.s.sy hill as Pasu decides to ask. “What is this town called, by the way?”

Wolik raises a finger at that. “The name changes every few years or so, some odd thing where the current Mayor is the town’s current name, so currently it’s called Hyab. The mayor is actually a rather decent person, if a little eccentric, and WAY too loyal to the Ceterians.”

“I take it Ceterians aren’t always looked up to?” Pasu asks as Pym was walking a bit too close to him.

“Not usually, especially not now given the split in their ranks. Ceterians may be all high and mighty in prowess and genes, but they’re just glorified n.o.bles. Sure they’re good people… Most times, but most other times they either ignore you or expect you to pay insane amounts for their produce.”

“Well, what exactly do they make?”

“Weapons that use the void itself as ammo.”

“...How…”

“They managed to make rifles with the void that actually have miniature void machines in the barrels, which once fired, hit the target, and disappear with that chunk of flesh it pierced.”

“...Dear G.o.d…”

“Yeah, thing is though, that takes a lot of power to make, so they’re not normally making that many of them unless the time is desperate.”

“So in other words they’re sitting on a goldmine waiting for the very lazy miners.”

“Pretty much.”

Pasu facepalms at this fact, while Pym looks up at him. “There’s also the fact Ceterians keep to themselves most times, and normally do not enjoy anything hostile or warlike… Outside of those that get banished from the city.”

“Really?” Pasu looks at her. “But what about the issue that if those guys turned, they will eventually too?”

“True, it’s possible for every single one, and every one does turn to such eventually, but that’s one of the prices for their immortality.”

Pasu immediately falls over and faceplants into the ground, screaming in the dirt.

Wolik groans and yanks Pasu up to his feet as Pasu yells out. “THEY’RE FREAKING IMMORTAL?! HOW THE h.e.l.l DOES THAT WORK?!”

Pym glances at him. “That does not eliminate the fact anyone can kill them like any human being, they just don’t exactly age. Once you’re bestowed the genes, your aging freezes at that point of time. It’s actually very rare to find a child with the genes implanted in them. The children born under Ceterians have a kind of aging process, where every three years their body ages a year forward, so upon reaching 60, a naturally genetic Ceterian would reach 20, and by then their body ceases to age from there. However if you were to kill them in any normal fas.h.i.+on, say a knife to the heart or a bullet to the brain, they would die like anyone else, immortality or no.”

“So their only thing making them overpowered as f.u.c.k is their aging, otherwise they’re just average people?”

“Maybe a bit more superior in genetics and such, able to produce with anyone, but yeah, nothing too special.”

“Did I REALLY need to hear about production from a child?”

“Looks can be deceiving.”

“...No way, don’t tell me, you’re a Ceterian?”

Everyone stops dead in their tracks, Hynnia having a look saying clear as day ‘How the h.e.l.l did he figure that out?!’ Wilok had a surprised and now cautious look, while Pym simply had wide eyes.

Pym eventually clears her throat. “No comment.”

“No way! You are!”

“That doesn’t automatically mean I am one. I am just… Similar…”

“How so?” Pasu asks.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Hynnia clears her throat. “Since we’re on this topic, I had the same a.s.sumption of her being a Ceterian, however out of the 14 years I’ve known her, she’s never changed in appearance…”

Pasu stumbles, but catches himself from panic mode. “You mean she’s older than she looks?! I thought she would be, like, 33 or 36 given what she said about Ceterian children…”

Pym immediately yells out. “ENOUGH!” Immediately ceasing everyone’s talking as she turns to everyone. “I am not a Ceterian, and now you two are simply speculating about me, so stop it! Now how about we get that equipment before we step over that boundary line!”

Wolik nods, same as Hynnia, while Pasu was hiding behind Hynnia. Hynnia glances back at him. “Is she that terrifying to you?”

Pym asks in a sinister tone. “Have You ceased from being terrified of me?”

Hynnia begins sweating rapidly as she waves her arms defensively. “Oh nononono, it’s nothing like that, you’re still very scary, Miss Py-” Instantly Pym’s foot hits Hynnia in the face, knocking her to the ground as Pasu screams in terror and dives behind a nearby barrel.

“Now, shall we go?” Pym asks in a sweet tone out of nowhere, while Hynnia was on the ground with a bruise and spinning eyes.

“Sure.” Wolik nods as he looks behind the barrel. “We’re here, Pasu.”

Pasu peaks his head out, and realizes that they were currently outside of a large white building with a extremely large metal oval in the center of the entire facility. “What’s with the design?”

“That’s the system used to creating extremely large objects, like frigates and battles.h.i.+ps.”

“So this is where they make their fleet?”

“Correct.”

“Huh, cool.” Pasu nods as he follows Wolik inside, Pym behind them with Hynnia over her shoulder. Pasu sees some of the highly advanced tech, and mumbles to himself as he walks by them. “This stuff is WAY beyond a genius of earth’s league… How the h.e.l.l do you tell what these things say?” He pokes a k.n.o.b, causing a couple switches to light up. “Huh?” He decides to flip a couple, causing the large red b.u.t.ton to glow. “...s.h.i.+ny or No s.h.i.+ny?” He presses the b.u.t.ton, and instantly gets blasted by a cloud of black dust, immediately coughing violently as he waves the dust out of his face. “The h.e.l.l?”

A scientist jogs over. “Hey, back off, that’s the coffee machine!”

“...THE h.e.l.l?! I WAS JUST BLASTED BY COFFEE GROUNDS?!”

“Yeah, that’s right. Now I have to refill this thing. How the h.e.l.l did you even manage to aim it?!”

“The h.e.l.l should I know?! I saw s.h.i.+nies and touched them!”

“...Someone get this idiot out of here… Please.”

Wolik grabs Pasu’s arm and drags him away. “I expected a smarter scenario than that…”

“When I’m in front of something more advanced than I know, and I mean WAY more, I tend to act like a complete moron.”

“Good to know, now stay.” Pasu stops. “Sit.” Pasu drops onto his a.s.s. “...Roll over.”

Pasu looks at him. “That’s too far.”

“Fair enough.” Pasu heads to the nearby shop, while Pym was currently looking through the book… Said book she was having levitate in front of her as her eyes glowed a deep purple. As for Hynnia, she was taking a look at all the foods and drinks, before soon looting the table of all things bread-related, even the bread that was formerly holding sandwiches together as she began to eat all the bread she collected.

“Of all the things to be addicted to…” Pasu mumbles to himself. “People here are weird…”

He looks to Pym, who was nibbling on a cookie, while a parrot sat on her shoulder as it repeated while holding another cookie to her. “Polly want another cookie?” And like that, Pym takes it in a trans.

“...So she has a thing for that? Gotcha.” Pasu looks up ahead, and gains a blank expression upon seeing an actual centaur looking through some clipboards of papers. She had long red hair, a red tail, an overly large chest, and currently wore a labcoat that looked too tight. “And we got a well endowed woman here…” Pasu mutters.

The centaur notices him and comes over, having pale white skin and pink irises as she stops in front of him. “You don’t look familiar, are you a traveler?”

“Of a sort…” Pasu admits.

“In that case, welcome to Void-Tech Outpost Zeta. We specialize in alien-like gear here, but we always create the lower tech weapons out of precaution of people with low income. Are you waiting for something?”

“A 22LR Bolt Action, and a Bowie Knife, if I remember correctly…”

“Ah, something simple then? I take it you’re not skilled in guns yet?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“22LRs are only sold to trainees in gun combat, so it’s always a.s.sumed.”

“Good to know.” Pasu looks to the side, and spots Wolik coming over with the rifle and knife.

“Here we go.” He stops in front of the two and nods to the Centaur. “Doctor Nadia.”

She nods. “Wolik, showing another around?”

“Eeyup, the usual.”

“Good to know, fill him in on everything?”

“The important stuff so far, yeah.”

“Then not much, as you don’t usually say all the important things in one go.”

“But of course.” He gives a mock bow.

“Oh go shove it down your throat.” She looks at Pasu. “Be careful, Wolik here is a bit of a troublemaker.”

Pasu gives a blank look. “Yeah, I’m learning that as we go.” She nods and leaves.

Hynnia steps over with a loaf of potato bread. “Where to now?” She asks after swallowing.

Pym steps over with a basket of cookies. “I have a suggestion on where to go.”

“Oh yeah?” Wolik asks.

“The Golden Armorer is well known for making armors for beginning adventurers, everyone new always goes there for leather, iron, or steel. They also tend to make armors from the other realities.”

Pasu instantly raises a fist. “My dream is here! Finally I can become a Thunderfist!”

“A what?” Hynnia asks with a confused look.

“They’re a group of elite soldiers, who fight for their Supreme Commander! They have prototype power armor that, while not actual power armor, is very defensible and can be worn in vacuum!”

“So a steel plate s.p.a.ce suit then.” Wolik says with a grunt.

Pasu simply shrugs. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Ayayay…” Hynnia facepalms.

Pym gives a small smile. “I’d like to see you try to move around in something like that.”

Pasu has tears in his eyes now. “You guys are so mean!”

Wolik waves his hand. “Alright, that’s enough, we’d best get going now. So come on.” The other three nod as they leave.

...Meanwhile, At the Ceterian Palace…

A man, wearing a suit made of black silk, white fur, and golden outlining, gripped the railing of his balcony from his bedchamber as he gazed out among the ma.s.sive city below. The palace itself could reach up to the tip of the clouds and still keep going, but those were mainly built for advanced facilities. The man, who had a large, thick white beard rubbed his chin as his balding white hair looked to be nearly all gone out of pure stress over aging.

As the man poundered something, another man, a lizard person with spikes petruding the back of his head making up his hair and eyebrows, while having black scales, and three scars across the left eye steps into the room, clearing his throat as he folds his hands behind his back. “The Council is waiting for us, Emperor Malen.”

The man in the royal clothing, now known as the Emperor himself, Jolsing Malen, turns to the old lizard. “Very well. Any news on the event earlier?”

“It’s as we suspected, the Blade of the Dark Light is calling out it’s new owner, we have a new Seraph Wielder to hunt for.”

The man nods, humming softly to himself. “The next wielder of the 0 Star… I pray we find them before the banished ones do.”

“You believe the war is inevitable then?”

“Now that the next wielder has arrived, it’s only a matter of time. All we can do is hope we reach the one before the enemy does.”

“And if the next wielder is a weakling?”

“Then our next stage is to train them.”

The lizard sighs. “I wish I had your optimism.”

The man chuckles. “It’s not optimism, Di-Meen. It’s hope, hope for the better end.”

“I’ll tell the other Councillors.” The lizard, now known ad Di-Meen, bows his head and leaves the chamber.

Malen looks back to the horizon. “I only pray my hopes are answered…”

...To Be Continued...