The recruiter smelled the blood in the water. It was that pivotal instant when the fear of the unknown overwhelmed the hope for the future. The young man in front of her didn’t have perfect grades. His track record in the raider exam hadn’t been too good — half of it because of another outshining him, half of it due to bad luck. He was good but not that good, and the poor performance had sunk his confidence. He wasn’t prime raider material but he could be part of the solid core of Continue reading more chapters on NovelHub for the best experience. Every A-profile striker needed competent line-holders like him. It would be up to the guild to grow his confidence again. “It might not be the best offer you could get here,” she said softly, a kind smile conveying her concern. She was an aug, but with minimal implants, and they were non invasive. She was beautiful and more mature, a guide, someone harmless yet full of wisdom. He could definitely get a better offer, especially from larger guilds. He wouldn’t do too badly as a freelancer either, but there were already seventeen guilds that had closed applications and it was barely 11AM. He knew it. Time was not on his side. “You can always have a look around, it’s just that I can’t guarantee we won’t take someone in the meanwhile.” “I know, I know, it’s just…” “It’s really not much.” “I’m sorry. This is just the standard salary scale for someone of your profile. As I said before, our guild offers very competitive raises after only three months…” It came as an email from Kim herself, along with a personal promise to talk about it over dinner. Essentially, Kim had been unofficially placed in charge of Ito’s position which Nestra gathered was unusual. Standard practice when a department went through a shitstorm was to get a talented outsider — usually a dedicated problem solver — to clean house, then get moved after two years. The fact the finance department was a sanctum of hermetic financial knowledge was probably a factor. Sliding the imminent promotion onto Kim’s lap was another. The mayor was up for reelection soon, and though it looked like he would snatch a fourth mandate, this fiasco was best left forgotten. Along with the promotion came a reshuffling of the department. Kim had approved Nestra’s reassignment to Special Affairs under Ilar, not that she had much of a choice. Nestra being part of IA was a temporary assignment anyway. Now, Nestra was a special agent! It sounded fancy and it was. The job came with a higher salary as well as a slew of benefits including an interesting clearance. Training would be arranged very soon. In the meanwhile, Nestra had some time she intended to dedicate to raiding. There were three major resistances she hadn’t managed to develop at all yet: sensory, toxins, and cold. Sereth knew and he was looking for a cold portal, but for toxins, Nestra already knew where to go. It would be another illegal raid. The resistance situation led her to a realization, however. The Aszhii had no weakness. Most monsters could be defeated with specific strategies, or they were specifically sensitive to a type of mana. Not so for her. The only real issue she had was that she was an alien and alone, so she could always be swarmed or identified and tracked down, but otherwise the only way to defeat an Aszhii was to pile on and hope teamwork could defeat incredible martial might and a drive for excellence and constant battle. It was… a daunting prospect. As far as she could tell, Aszhii were loners and possibly eccentric as well, if Sereth was any indication. What happened if they got pissed off though, as a species? If they could create their own passages as Sereth claimed, did it mean no place was safe from an Aszhii war party? What if they found Earth worth playing with? A team of Aszhii could land and kill every A-class raider on the planet as a threat before leaving, rendering mankind bereft of its best fighters. She had to learn more about the Aszhii. Right now, the only people she cared about were all on Earth so seeing the place thrashed didn’t sound appealing at all. Helena rushed in the room with a mischievous smile. “Come to see the prisoner?” Nestra drawled in her best bandit queen voice. “Mother has come to inform you that dinner shall be ready forthwith, and that father has prepared his best Tajine.” “Oooh! And speaking of slow cooking, how was the job circus?” “We just say limp. It’s mostly for people who don’t have connections yet. Or to scare us, maybe? I don’t need to worry too much about it but it’s good to make contact with other guilds anyway. What were you doing there?” “I was a glorified bouncer. It was heaps of fun. I got to escort two guilds to the door for shitty contracts.” “Outrageous. I wish I could have seen it.” “How’s school otherwise?” “Good! I got a lot more popular since people figured out I’m an absolute beast in the portal worlds. Like no shit, I don’t have to hold back in there so what did they expect? I still can remember the team looking in awe when I dismembered our first guardian. Hah!” Nestra nodded. Helena looked better. Now that her chronic pain was managed, she’d filled out a bit too since her appetite had recovered. “I think one of my teachers kind of guessed this wasn’t my first time, but with our family, it could have been anyone bringing me as an extra for a low level raid. Anyways. We sneaky raiding more?” “Actually, Crescent is legit now so I can just legally raid a place and secretly bring you. I think it’s possible. I’m going to ask my boss. She knows who I am…” “What? Really? Are you in danger?” Helena erupted, alarmed. “Hey, she doesn’t know what I am. She thinks I’m some kind of secret gleam that uses transformation powers.” “Oh, oh good…” Helena said. Nestra could tell she had more to say, but Helena was hesitating. “So… could you tell mom and dad?” “Why not? We could raid like a family! Brother dear could even get off your ass!” “Ragnarok doesn’t know what I am, probably because she’s not aware gray demons are a thing…” Nestra moved forward to explain. It was a bit complicated. “Ragnarok hasn’t seen me without a mask. People who don’t know me haven’t seen my skin, because if they do, and if one of them has access to the Pandora database, they can figure out what I am. I’m already taking huge risks having so many people aware of my identity. The only reason knowledge about the gray demons isn’t more spread is because the thought of having a monster randomly showing up in portal worlds and thrashing the world’s best team is not just scary: we, I mean, humans can’t do shit about it. I can’t take the risk, Helena. I can’t have mom figure it out. They’re first gen. Just imagine…” “Maybe when I’m strong enough to leave the planet. I’ll tell them before I go.” “But then it will be too late! Also you’re leaving? When?” “Not any time soon you little twerp, relax. And I’ll return. I care about all of you.” Mom picked this moment to ask them why they were still out. Nestra didn’t have the heart to tell Helena that with void mana eating her, Nestra had to find a way to save her. Even if it meant sharing her precious Kero Nuts. With her boasting spree doused, the next important item on Nestra’s list was to find a new home. There wasn’t any real problem with the previous one. It was just that her lack of outrage at its partial destruction only went to show she didn’t care about the place that much, and now that she’d figured it out, it bothered her on a fundamental level. Aunt Claire owned the place. She’d left it for Nestra to use as a favor, and Nestra was so buried in her pain and resentment that she’d never really asked herself what she wanted from life. The home was a place to sleep and hide in, and her stuff was there, but it wasn’t hers. Not in the visceral way she now realized she wanted. Also, she could afford it. Crescent money plus the settlement meant she could at least get a down payment for an okay place. A call with Aunt Claire sorted everything out. “It’s alright, dearie. I needed a break anyway. Renovating that posh den will provide a nice distraction. Hell, I might keep it for myself after all. I’m getting tired of sleeping in the compound.” “Is that why you spend so much time at hotels?” Nestra asked. “Finding the presence of the others a bit stifling?” “No, I just love to have sex in a luxurious setting.” The thing was, when Nestra thought about her ideal spot, the only thing she could think of was Sereth’s place. It was weird, but it made her feel… at home. Cozy. The very tall ceiling, the open space, yet all of this secure in a single contained domain just resonated with her on a fundamental level. Luckily, she knew how to get it and not just easily, but at rock bottom prices too. The city also didn’t care where people lived so long as it was up to norms. She bought a warehouse slightly out of the way for roughly 120,000 credits. It was slightly smaller than Sereth’s own. The lack of large drone bays and the distance from major transport hubs made the place undesirable. The real estate company didn’t even bother to check her profile; they were just delighted to see that asset go. Threshold’s population was still converging into arcologies with the birth rate too low to compensate for now, so the edge of the city remained cheap. Once this was done, Nestra dished out another fifty thousand credits for renovation and security, plus a little bit more for furniture. It took two weeks to finish everything, mostly the security aspect. Threshold companies worked fast. Corpo competition meant that productivity and efficiency were pushed to the max. Nestra had a security console and a host of sensors and alarm systems on the outside. On the inside, there were no cameras for obvious reasons but there was a last defensive measure. On top of that, she got cleaning bots and a sound-activated reactive AI. The kitchen and bathroom covered the back side of the warehouse. She had her resting and storage space on the right, couches and her coffee machine on the left, and the front had workout equipment as well as an armory. Having piled on all of her belongings, Nestra decided that she needed something more: some decorations. The place lacked some life. It took her a long time browsing the internet to find something suitable: wall panels with vines growing on them. The good thing was that they barely required anything, so she could leave them for days and nothing would happen. The bad thing was that they required sunlight to survive, but that was easily fixed with special lighting. Add a few swords and her weapon lockers and there, she was done. The warehouse was vast and a little empty but that just made her feel more relaxed. It was well lit. There were vine paths crawling to the ceiling. She had her food and weapons and quite a few pillows as well. There was a TV if she didn’t want to use her visor. There was a reading alcove. All that she liked doing alone was there. Sereth was the first to be invited. She wasn’t sure why she’d picked him. Probably because she wanted an Aszhii opinion. It was obviously a strong opinion because he froze in the doorway. Nestra waited, then waited as his gaze went to the vines. He smiled wistfully. “It is nothing. Just… impressive. The vines are a very nice touch. How did you get them?” “I’ll send you a link. Is everything alright? Is there a problem with my place?” “Not at all. Very cozy, I like it. You will understand my feelings much later. If you were looking for my approval, you have it. This is a very nice den.” “I have to ask though, what is that strange robot on the pillar in the center? What a strange dome and is that… a gun?” “Oh, Gorge found it for me! It’s a decommissioned navy point defense robot.” “So I can use my visor and the external cameras to fire at intruders really quickly, either inside or outside! It can aim well and pierce through walls. It would even give a B-class pause. The theoretical range is 2km, easy, but I reckon it won’t get through more than two other warehouses before getting stopped.” “You have a naval gun in your living room?” “Well no it was performance locked for civilian use so the rate of fire is only 600 20mm tungsten rounds per minute but hey, anything it can’t pulp would probably be something I can’t stop anyway. I think I can chew through a combat walker, at least.” Seth kept quiet for a little while, which was frustrating because Nestra’s chicken soup was done and she wanted him to sit down at her table. “I wonder if all human-born Aszhii will be like you.” “That didn’t sound like a compliment. No soup for you.” Nestra entered her mind palace for the first time in a while. The main hall still looked like a castle’s reception room but it was darker in a more soothing way, with a high lunar light descending on the pedestal where her human core ought to be. It remained desperately empty. She made for the planetarium. Where once there were a few small orbs, now globes as large as she was danced an intricate waltz around the ignited sun of her true core, over the lake of her mana reserves. They’d all grown tremendously since she’d last been here, yet she still remained at the lower end of her class, or at least that is the impression she got. That was fine for now since she needed some time to get used to her progress. Her priorities lie elsewhere. The tethers between the orbs were ethereal bonds that represented her innate Aszhii abilities. She didn’t think that she had the power to add more yet. She still had momentum to teleport, precision to strike true, passe-muraille to go through walls, immovable to block blows, and danger sense. Her picks were that of a warrior and infiltrator, or maybe even an assassin though she wasn’t that. The fact it took so long to develop those tethers made her wonder exactly how much those early choices determined how an Aszhii would grow. She didn’t regret her path. It was mere curiosity. Maybe Sereth could tell her more. Nestra left that room without worry. She had just gotten to C-rank. There was no rush since she was merely discovering some of her abilities. The false cores were next, one for electricity, one for shadows. The shadow one remained atrophic despite her best efforts which wasn’t unexpected. Interestingly, the electricity core looked like a pulsating steel ball bearing scoured by sparks while the shadow core was a slightly tattered yarn ball made of a material that swallowed the light. She wondered if she would get the third soon. The final room was that of resistances, and there were a lot more now, with room for more exotic expansions at the back. Nestra’s mind showed them as shields and armor sets. Shields were for elemental mana resistance, and armor represented physical resistance. The bone and blunt damage armor was pretty elaborate in an old knight sort of way, but scale armor representing her skin was basic and the sensory armor, a helmet, remained minimal. Those would need some work. The electricity and heat shields hung on the wall like mighty slabs, one showing plasma arcs and the other glowing softly red. Interestingly, there were no radiation or mental mana shields and there would never be, according to Sereth. The reason was that radiation fed the Aszhii. Even flossing with uranium wouldn’t do anything to her. As for the mental resistance, the Aszhii mind apparently read very alien to those rare users who worked with their brains, or at least they did when the mask came down. Sereth had indicated it was almost always fatal. Nestra remembered how her Skin broke geometry every time it fed. If that could make people uncomfortable, then a deep dive in an Aszhii mind might make things considerably worse. Nestra thought it was weird. She felt perfectly normal, so why would touching her mind cause anguish? She was a very relaxed person. Sereth’s revelation hinted that humans also had mental users, yet Nestra had never heard of them. That meant they were either extraordinarily rare or government-controlled. Or controlling the government. Now that was a thought. Nah Shinran would never tolerate it. But maybe in some smaller enclaves… Nestra recentered, and her mind focused on the greenish shield dripping with violet liquid. Very clear image. This was her resistance to toxins and it was garbage, which she was going to remedy next. A part of her felt under pressure. She absolutely needed to get stronger just in case something happened, maybe not her identity revealed but Helena getting into trouble or something that would require more strength than just that of a C-class. It was bound to happen at some point. Another part remembered that she’d only be a user for a bit over three months? Fuck, time had gone by fast and she’d done so much, always feeling under pressure. Her need to grow strong quickly conflicted with her desire to explore everything, fight everything, taste everything. It was frustrating. Well, at least she could start with toxins.