I was rudely woken up this morning and ushered into the portals to head back to the academy. Lemon was really not happy, and those portals are just horrible. But we are still technically students, so it makes sense to set off from the Academy.

  “That is the vessel that shall help us carry out our plan.” Lucien says, pointing out the viewport. In the darkness of deep space hangs a small ship. It is only about two kilometers long. “She is named the Wayfarer, and will be your base of operations.”

  “Our base of operations?” Liv asks.

  “When you complete your tests.” Bellaris states, walking into the room with two helmeted people that have their visors blocked. “Yes, it will become fully yours. For now we will be managing it of course, you aren't quite ready. Now, allow me to introduce you to the other two mentors that will be teaching you. Though I believe you are already familiar with one of them.”

  Bellaris motions and they remove their helmets. “Suprise!” Shouts Tien as she leaps forward and tries to grab me. I almost make it, but she gets a hold of my hand and drags me into a hug. “I heard these fellas needed a mentor and it was the fastest I ever applied for a job in my life.”

  “That's great news! You seem to be moving up in the world lately.” I reply back despite my lungs currently being compressed into a singularity.

  “You wouldn’t believe the pay these fellas were offering, just about everyone that met the requirements applied instantly.” Tien says, then releases me and steps back.

  “I feel like I am intruding on something.” Says the other person, a really tall man with jet black hair. He has this air about him that says ‘I mean business, so don't cross me.’ But I get a faint impression that he might be a teddy bear on the inside.

  “Oh not at all, this bunch is really friendly, you’ll be fine Lee. By the way everyone, this is my ever doting husband that just couldn't bear to be without me.” Tien wraps her arm around Lee, who looks quite uncomfortable, perhaps one of those shy yet strong types.

  “Wait, since when are you married?” I ask, there is no possible way that I didn't know such an important fact.

  “Since right before I started to sponsor you. You know, it was kinda like we got married and instantly picked up a very expensive kid’s expenses.”

  I stare at her, not quite believing that she has been married all this time, or that someone would ever marry her. I look at Lee and he shrugs, “It’s true, though sometimes I doubt it as well.” Tien punches him in the shoulder for that one.

  “Well then, now that we are all acquainted, let's be on our way.” Lucien says.

  We take a quick shuttle over to the Wayfarer, the dragons having already been secured inside. Conveniently, the ship has space for ten adult dragons. So plenty even once ours grow up big and strong. Of course, the ship is still fairly small and compact, so it has come at the cost of general hangar space.

  The rest of the ship is fairly standard. Though it's less of a city, and more of a small town. There are about six hundred crew to operate the ship, and then two hundred staff and such that are there to support our squadron.

  Our quarters are larger than the ones at the academy, but smaller than the ones in the spire. But they are still quite large, I can even do a few cartwheels around my bedroom should I wish. Of course, there is a nicely sized bath that Lemon absolutely loves. The ship also comes with a communal pool, garden and massive gym. Like seriously, I think they just went down the list of training equipment and checked every single box.

  I set up my room, I ended up bringing several things. Including the flower, I feel like I should name it. Perhaps Odo would be a fitting name. Wait, do normal people name flowers? Perhaps all this aether has driven me mad. Oh well, I place Odo on the windowsill and it gets a nice view of the stars as we fly away from the Academy.

  I place the picture of my parents and my various accolades on top of my dresser, ensuring that they can also look out through the window. All said and done, I am settled in and ready to be trained until I break. After all, the monsters aren’t gonna defeat themselves.

  A day of travel passes and we arrive outside the Volea fissure. Apparently the journey is a lot faster when we don't have to make any stops. Something about just being able to fullsend it or something, at least that's what Lucien said. All of the others think he is super strange and weird, and while he is definitely a little odd, I really don’t think he is too bad.

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  I get up out of bed and stretch my arms and give Lemon a few head pats. I head into the control room and find our mentors hunched over a bunch of maps and other such plans. Moxie is sitting off to the side, watching them as they discuss our next steps forward. “So, what's happening?” I ask Moxie, not wanting to interrupt the super important discussions.

  “We head to Volea, rank up twice, then leave. They trying to figure out best way to do quickly.” She responds, and idly floats some runes around in the air.

  Tien turns towards me. “Maka, glad to see ya. We were planning on taking you guys into a hive right away. One of us will hover nearby, so please don't end up nearly killing yourself.”

  I sigh. “No promises, but I'll see what I can do. By the way, how long is it going to take for us to level?”

  Bellaris turns and answers. “Well we don't know precisely how hard we can push you, but right now it seems like it will take about a month to get your squadron to Rank 2. Then perhaps another two or so months to hit Rank 3.” She sighs deeply. “A lot slower than we would like, but we don't want to push you too hard when you are so weak. Once you are stronger we can be more comfortable really stepping on the gas.”

  “Woah, isn't that crazy fast? I thought the standard academy curriculum was to get people to rank 2 by the end of their first year. You mean to say we are going to hit rank 3 before the Mocks even?”

  “Considering you are all near level one hundred, or above in your and Violet’s case, you are already about doubly ahead of the average student.” Lee explains. “Almost every squadron ends up having to retreat about halfway into their first hive, whether it be due to losses, exhaustion, or not being strong enough. So, we are sure you will be fine.”

  “Really? Those monsters were tough, but they didn’t seem so bad.”

  The four of them burst into laughter at that. Tien pats me on the head, “Well that's good to hear, you better keep that attitude up, boyo.”

  - Several Moments Later -

  We drop down to Volea by way of a shuttle this time, though Tien did ask us if we wanted to be fired out of the cannons again. Predictably, everyone refused. It seems that there has been a bit of progress on the conquest since we were last here, which is good to see.

  [Conquest Resumed: Reclaim Volea (62%)]

  [Environment: Volcanic (Breathable, 0.1% Hum, 40°C Avg. Temp.)]

  [Remaining Hives: 18,241 (All Stabilized, 785 Claimed)]

  [Conquest Rank: 1-2]

  [Personal Conquest Reward Quota: 1,257/4,500 Monsters Slain]

  [Squad Conquest Reward Quota: 7,421/31,000 Monsters Slain]

  [Total Monsters Slain in Conquest: 321,651,216]

  [Total Casualties: 4,619]

  My boots crunch against the familiar red soil as we walk into the basecamp. A different one than last time of course. However, the air feels off as we enter. It becomes apparent why when we encounter the first person. The instant they see us – or rather our mentors – they drop whatever they are doing and sink into a deep bow until we pass by.

  Now that I think of it, we have the two strongest Dragon Guards – who just so happen to be the director and vice director of the Dragon Guard. Oh and we also have Tien and Lee who are no pushovers at Rank 12 either. It makes sense that their presence here would cause quite a stir.

  A short brown haired man appears and starts rushing towards us. He immediately sinks into a deep bow. “Director, please forgive us, we were just informed of your visit. The camp is not in near enough order.”

  Lucien waves him away. “No matter, we don't need such things. Though we will require a fairly sized operations room, presuming you have one open.”

  “Of course of course, if you will follow me I will lead you right there.”

  We are led to a large room with a bunch of monitors and a map of the entire region. Bellaris takes a look at it and her brow furrows. “It might be pushing it a bit, but I think the best thing here is if we do a grade 2 hive. There is one that has an average level of 120, which should be doable. My only concern is the complexity…”

  “Oh come on, we can handle that no problemo. It can’t be that bad, right?” Liv says, and we all nod our agreement.

  “Well, if you all are sure then. Your vehicle was delivered here as well I believe.” Bellaris says, smiling at us.

  Wasting no time, we head to the garage, and surely enough, the Pegasus is waiting for us. In all its purple glory, and wait. “It can hover now!?” I exclaim.

  “Driving was too slow, so I had it upgraded.” Violet says nonchalantly. I want to hug her, but I prefer life, so I resist.

  “This is going to be awesome.” Moxie says as we climb inside.

  It feels strange to be back inside. It is almost like we never left this planet after the last hive. We were just so addicted that we had to come back for more I guess. It feels nice, knowing we are back to slaying monsters. Though a small part of me is afraid of what is to come, the excitement far outweighs that.

  The ride will still be a few hours, so I end up taking a short nap. After all, it's important to be at 100% before any new battles.

  Good work, mortal. Continue on this path and your desire shall be realized.

  Next Chapter: Aww, They Missed Us

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