Darkness.

  A deep void with specs of light passing me by like disturbed sand flowing in water.

  Unseen figures dance of morph in the impenetrable darkness, hiding from the light. Teasing their forms before vanishing once again.

  I look at my body. It's elongated limbs stretching even more as the black consumes me. My legs extending further and further down, slowly becoming less visible like deep water.

  I feel nothing. I hear nothing. I smell nothing.

  My sight blurs as I look around rapidly. Searching for something. Anything. The lights are decreasing in number. The things beyond becoming bolder and bolder as they get closer.

  Slowly all lights are gone except one. A tiny spec the size of a sand grain floats in an uneven line directly in front of me.

  It stops a few inches from my chest. Then it worms it's way into my skin.

  I see nothing.

  Then my body cracks like glass, light burning brighter and brighter within.

  The new light exposes a form holding onto me. Something mimicking my own human body.

  It's body made of void as it's head stares into my eyes.

  I looked into the void, and the void looked back.

  It smiled.

  ...

  I woke up groggily, slowly sitting up like Dracula from his coffin. My body all clammy. 'What a weird dream.'

  I stretch out my limbs slowly until they reach their limits and start shaking with an intake of air. Then I release the build up with a mighty scream.

  "Why are you screaming?" Jerald asked while sounding annoyed.

  "It's a human thing, don't worry about it." Screaming while stretching feels great! Jerald just can't understand it.

  I roll out of bed feeling refreshed, rolling my shoulders. As I walked around the lights turned on slowly. The brightness going slow for my comfort.

  "How long was I out?" I asked Jerald.

  "13 hours. Is that normal?" Jerald helpfully responded.

  "Not really, but it happens sometimes." I say while putting my onesie back on fully.

  I started walking around the room, finally exploring it. I hadn't done much when I first arrived to the room, but now I had energy to do so in earnest. The room oozed advanced luxury, with it's weird alien modern art. Which is oddly similar to ours. 'Guess this proves anyone could just throw paint at a canvas and call it "art".'

  The doors were hard to see as they perfectly meshed with the wall. They opened automatically as they sensed anything near them, so I was just walking along the walls looking for doors. There was the hallway I came from, an empty closet of some kind, a rather large bathroom, and some kind of tub. Using my superior thought process's I could tell it was likely a hot tub or jacuzzi. Probably. What else could a random separate tub from the bathroom be in a luxury room?

  I made my way into the bathroom and started exploring it. Everything was still a bit too big for me to use comfortably. The toilet, or whatever the weird bowl chair was for, was way too big for me to sit on. It makes me thankful that I seem to not need to release waste anymore. There was something that had to be a shower, and also another tub. There's only so many ways sanitization can develop.

  There was a weird cubicle space in the bathroom. Just an empty square with a door leading inside. Looking within, there seemed to be tiny nozzles on all sides of the walls. I chose not to use it.

  What was bothering me was the salty stench coming from my clothes, so I started looking around for a washing machine. I stopped after a few seconds because that was stupid of me. This is a luxury suite, so of course there'd be a laundry room for the staff to clean my clothes for me. So instead of a washing machine, I started looking for some kind of basket or chute.

  "Jerald, do you know how to tell the staff to do my laundry?"

  "You weren't listening to your guide were you? He told you that you can use the verbal command to summon someone. Just say: Calling room service." Jerald said while annoyed. Like usual.

  "Thank you. Calling room service." I said just a bit louder than normal.

  "You don't have to speak louder for it to hear you. You could whisper it while under the bed and it would hear you."

  "Noted." I said while removing my clothes and putting on a bathrobe way too big for me.

  I had my clothes and space suit in a folded pile when someone rand some kind of bell.

  "Room service?" A voice that was neither male nor female, at least from what I could tell, asked through some kind of intercom.

  "Yes, please come inside and collect my dirty clothes so they can be washed." I said while trying to sound fancy. I was probably failing.

  The door opened and something with 3 legs waddled inside. It was very tall. Or maybe I was just short. It had 2 arms with 3 elbow joints, and it had these little hands with 4 fingers. It had a cylinder for a head. Like an almost perfect cylinder. It had a near perfect right angle at the top where it turned into a flat surface. It also had no eyes or mouth.

  It was nicely dressed. I assume it was. It had something like gold in it's clothes, since it was yellow and shiny. The alien didn't even react to seeing my real body.

  "You needed your clothing cleaned, Young Master?" It asked while it looked at me. Well the cylinder twisted to me. There was still no mouth where the voice came from.

  "Yes, that would be wonderful. They smell of the ocean and wilderness from my journey. I will be bathing myself. Will they be ready when I get out?" I asked while trying to look like I knew what I was doing.

  "They will. I will place them in your room when they are done. Will that be all?" It asked in that same genderless voice as it lifted all of my gear.

  "Indeed. Thank you." I said and it gave a small bow before scuttling away.

  I watched it leave, then went back into the bathroom.

  "What a weird creature." I mumbled while deciding if I wanted a bath or shower.

  "It probably thought the same of you." Jerald said, sounding amused.

  I nodded at that and decided that a bath would work. Luxury is all about tubs and all that.

  ...

  It took me like an hour of actually trying to get the bath to work.

  I also couldn't fill it all the way since when I sat in it my head barely went above the sides. It was big enough that I could swim in it if I wanted, but I held myself back.

  Then there was the soap. So many different soaps. Some were for slimy beings, some for scales, some for fur, some for more abstract things. It was absurd. If you could think of it, there was soap here to clean it.

  I eventually settled on soap for fur. I didn't want to dig through all the bottles to find one that might work for my skin.

  I spent a while just laying in the hot water, relaxing. Then the same staff member from before came into the room.

  "I have placed your..." They went quiet for some reason, then came inside the bathroom in a rush.

  "WHA-" I started but got cut off.

  "Are you okay? The liquid you are in is set to a very high temperature." It asked seeming confused for a moment.

  "I'm fine! Jeez, it's not like the water is boiling." I gave them a flat look.

  "That is not water. If it were, it would have evaporated. Turned into steam." It said with a possible quizzical look.

  "Oh. I'm perfectly fine. What is it then?" I asked, not really believing them. I waved an arm out of the liquid, showing my unblemished skin.

  "It is a liquid designed specifically for bathing all forms of life. Capable of withstanding both sides of extreme temperature. It is called Kufka." It said, sounding like it has calmed down but not leaving for some reason.

  "Alright? Well as you can see I am perfectly fine, so... Can you leave?" I shoo them away.

  "My apologies, Young Master. I had assumed you were in danger when you were not. I will take my leave." It said then left.

  'My body is pretty tough now...' I had turned the dial all the way up since I wanted it hot and I felt like I could take a bit more, but I had no idea it would be so hot. I sat there in the Kufka for a bit longer but the interruption ruined the mood. I crawled out of the not water, fiddled with the bath so it would drain, and dried off with my robes since I couldn't be bothered to find a towel.

  I smelled like some kind of plant. I couldn't place it but it was pleasant. My clothes also smelled much better, but I still couldn't place the scent. I put everything back on, including my space suit. It made me feel safer for some reason. More comfortable.

  I twisted my helmet into place and looked at the large screen. The entertainment corner was a very typical and bland place. Fancy, but it had no personality.

  I fiddled with buttons until I got it to turn on, and immediately I was hit with alien porn. I didn't even know what the hell I was looking at for several seconds. They were saying something about globules or some other weird terms. I started pressing more buttons until it switched to something like space news. Jerald was laughing his ass off at me.

  2 aliens, one that looked like a sphere of light with a tie and the other looking like a coral reef, spoke about some kind of game. Probably sports. I had learned the common language when I interacted with the space limo captain. Well he and the other guy spoke it first and I picked it up.

  I decidedly chose not to sit directly in front of the tv, in fear of sitting where someone had... too much of a good time. I shuddered at the memory. It was very disturbing.

  I sighed and focused on the screen, trying to pass the time.

  ...

  --------- Bivolas ---------

  I am in charge of the Human while it is on board the Fraga.

  I attend to it's needs and wants. In other words, babysitting duty.

  I had thought that the creature would need constant coddling or someone to act like a play mate since it was so young, but it was oddly mature.

  It was also sturdy. The Dark Lord Azurath took baths with the Kafka set to 5 times the boiling point of water. It hadn't even noticed.

  I was still embarrassed by my overreaction. The Human was perfectly fine in extreme temperatures. It had proved that when it did the same thing but 5 times the freezing point of water.

  The Human had been at both sides of the max extremes the tub could handle, and it wasn't even bothered. A strange creature indeed.

  It hasn't left it's room the entire time. Choosing to remain confined in it's space. Some of the crew is thankful that it chooses to do so. They still think it of a child.

  Not I. The Human species must mature quite fast for it to be so advanced at only level 4. What kind of species makes a space suit for their infants? Human.

  Despite the oddity, everything was going well. Too well.

  There was small things. Small lucky things. Way too many small lucky instances.

  Things predicted to break down on this journey somehow becoming fully functional. Pirates known to travel our path suddenly being caught just before we arrive to the sector.

  It was like the universe itself was guiding our ship. It was weird.

  I was making my way to feed the Human, so I tried to stop thinking about the strange luck.

  --------- Greg ---------

  Boring.

  It was so, so boring.

  It might have been a luxury hotel room, but it still sucked the life out of me.

  It had been 4 days, and there was only a few hours left until we arrived.

  I was currently trying to play some kind of game console that was in the room but the controller did not fit in my hands. The game itself made no sense but I had nothing better to do. I think it was a shooter? The alien colors and shapes made it difficult to even tell what was happening.

  I had gotten better at it though, I think. The score went up as I played and figured some things out but it still made no sense.

  The food I ordered arrived so I turned the game off and sat at a table yet again too tall for me to comfortably use. Bivolas didn't leave right away like usual though.

  "What is it Bivolas?" I asked the three legged alien while setting my helmet down next to my plate.

  "Beings below a certain level have a luck stat, correct? I was wondering what yours was." It answered with a slight bow of it's cylinder head.

  "Wait, the luck stat isn't permanent?" I asked, shocked.

  "It goes away at level 10. You don't have to answer, I was merely curious." Bivolas responded.

  That sucked! I didn't want to lose my main stat!

  "Does it retain the number and you just can't increase it anymore? Because I don't want to lose mine." I asked, some hope in my voice.

  "I do not know."

  "Well... I'll just choose to hope it sticks around. My current luck stat is... 315?" I say, using the number with the modifier.

  "...pardon?" Bivolas seemed shocked.

  "Yeah, it's currently 315. It'll be higher later." I decide to use some of my gaslighting skills.

  "So you are the origin of the strange luck we have encountered..." Bivolas muttered.

  "What was that?"

  "Nothing. Do not fret about it. Thank you for telling me." Bivolas said then left.

  "You really shouldn't be telling others about your stats." Jerald spoke into my mind.

  "Why? What are they going to do, turn me into a living lucky charm?"

  "Possibly." Jerald said flatly.

  'Well damn. I better shut my dumb ass up next time.' I chastised myself but I wasn't worried about it. I had good luck and I could nuke a whole planet easily. So it's not like I could be threatened by anything. 'Unless they went straight for my core.' I'd have to be careful about attacks near my heart.

  I started eating my fancy meal of weird meat and unknown veggies. It was good but I had no idea what any of it was. Not like it mattered since it was pretty good anyway.

  ...

  We finally landed at my destination.

  There wasn't a window in the room but there was a camera feed option on the TV.

  I watched in awe as an absolutely massive station came into view. It had to be bigger than The Ring by several magnitudes.

  It had an odd shape. It was made of an uncountable amount of cubes and rectangles, but when you looked at it from afar it looked almost spherical. It had spires, or towers sticking out of the top, bottom, and 8 equally spaced around it's equator.

  It was beautiful with it's several lights and holographic advertisements. I had no idea what any of the products I saw even did. Some looked like chairs or some kind of 4th dimensional shape brought into reality. It kind of hurt to look at.

  Once we finally landed, I was escorted off the ship by Bivolas and the captain. They were the same species, but I still didn't know what they were called. I was told once but I forgot and I was too embarrassed to ask again. Though I could have just asked Jerald. Fuck I'm dumb.

  "Thanks for the ride. It was superbly comfortable." I said while trying to sound posh.

  "It was no problem. Thank you for choosing us as your chariot through the stars. We-" The captain started going on and on about some kind of speech but I tuned it out.

  I was expertly nodding my head along like I was listening, then when he was done he went back on board. Bivolas bowed and left as well, following the captain. I was once again left alone to my own devices. What could possibly go wrong?

  ...

  I was gawking at everything I saw like some country pumpkin. I suppose I was technically. My home didn't have any of this stuff. I'm glad no one could tell I was staring at them or looking around like an idiot because of my visor. Or they could tell but they didn't care about a level 4 infant wandering around. Which is more worrying now that I think about it.

  The place was MASSIVE. The hallway was the size of a 8 lane highway, and the height of a skyscraper. Walkways lined the walls with varying shops and stops. The bottom was designated to walkers while flying vehicles hovered 70 feet above us. Transporting various things and people. It might as well have been a city. I guess it was.

  "Are you lost, small one?" A feminine voice asked from behind me.

  I turned around and saw what must be a space mall cop. I assume from the voice that it's probably a female of it's species. She was wearing a white and blue suit of armor that looked more like casual clothes. A bipedal humanoid with 6 arms that ended with 6 fingered hands was crouching down while talking to me. Her head had 2 eyes, no nose, a tiny little mouth, 3 antennae and no chin at all. She looked to made completely out of a purple slime, and nearly transparent. I could see her organs and bones through her skin, but the censorship made her insides look like glitter.

  Despite what could pass as a horrifying scene, I was relieved that someone seemed to care about a supposed infant wandering around alone.

  "No. Well maybe. Probably. Yes." I didn't want her help but as I thought about it, I would be better off with a local to guide me.

  "Uh... where are you going?" She seemed shocked to how I spoke. Likely expecting me to speak like a toddler or something.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "I need to make a large purchase of autonomous construction drones. Along with a few other things. I would greatly appreciate a guide in this place." I said while accidentally slipping into my posh accent.

  "Um, okay, uh... I guess I can guide you...?" She seemed to be greatly puzzled by the situation, which I secretly reveled in.

  I nodded, having already told her what I wanted so I decided to act like an arrogant rich kid. When she didn't start walking and we stared at each other for a moment, I snapped my fingers and it startled her.

  "Right, you need payment! Of course. I am sorry, I had forgotten. You will receive payment for each stop." I said while willing 10,000 Shop Points to her.

  "No, no I'm sorry that's no-" She snapped her mouth shut as she saw what I tried to send her.

  "Follow me~." She said, sounding happy while she accepted the amount.

  I silently chuckled to myself like an evil little shit. Solving my problems with money is fun.

  "You likely know my name already, but I do not know yours. I would like to be able to address you properly if needed." I said after following her for a moment.

  "Sorry! I forgot that those below level 5 don't have the ability to see names and levels." She wiggled in what could pass for embarrassment.

  "I am Sill!" She said with a nod, her eyes looking back at me. It was very gross, being able to see all the bits beneath her slime.

  "Well met Sill. You already know my name but since it's bothersome to use the whole thing just call me Azurath or Az." I might as well use the name, no matter how terrible it sounds.

  We walked for a while and it became clear she was walking slower than she normally would thanks to me being much smaller.

  "Jerald, if I used my Telekinesis to float would that freak people out?" I whispered inside my helmet.

  "As long as you don't use too much Energy it won't leak out. I think if you keep it below 30ish points I should be able to hide it." Jerald said, the Brooklyn accent throwing me off every time I hear it.

  "Sill, I'm going to float so we can move faster." I say and without waiting for a response float off the ground, limiting my power output to 20 points. Just to be safe.

  "Huh?" Sill asked while staring at me.

  I was worried she had felt some of the Energy but then she looked away.

  "Okay, that works I guess." She muttered and picked up the speed slowly. Looking back every now and then to make sure I was following.

  We were moving much faster now, but the stares I got from random people increased. Though because I was following the space mall cop they went on with their lives.

  After a few minutes of her walking normally and I floating behind her, we made it to the first stop. A store all about autonomous robotics.

  "I'll remain out here while you shop." Sill said while standing next to the shops door.

  "You remind me of Keji." I said off handily and floated inside.

  Sill looked at me while cocking her head in confusion but I ignored her as I looked around inside. I wasn't the only one doing some shopping. The place was something like an apple store with how they had little drones on display. There was about 5 other customers, maybe more but I wasn't going to count them all.

  I floated around so I could see the display tables easily while observing the little machines. Some were to scale, while others were miniature versions of larger drones with plaques of text describing it's true size and capabilities. The drones had all kinds of designs and uses. From mining asteroids, to working on space ships. Be it repairing, scrapping, or even constructing one from scratch.

  There was also a massive vat in the middle of the show room with some kind of black and silver liquid in it. When I got to it's plaque, it said that it wasn't a liquid at all. It was trillions and trillions of self replicating nano machines. They were something new and apparently capable of anything and everything. Only 240k Shop Points per liter.

  I scoffed at the price, then realized that if the swarm is self replicating then you could easily get more once you have them. So it should really be much more expensive. There must be some massive downside to using them.

  "This isn't a place for you to play in- I'll take you to my manager right away." Some annoying fly decided to bother me so I swatted it with 10,000 points.

  In only a few moments I was sitting in some comfortable waiting room. It was the typical kind. 2 couches facing each other and a table in between them. A fancy looking screen was built into the wall and the coffee table was made out of glass. I was just a bit small for the room.

  "Thank you for waiting. How may I help you?" A chubby looking alien with pale green skin walked in.

  He was wearing a suit of some sort. Similar to a sleezy car dealer but futuristic. Still sleezy, but it did look nice at least. The creature had a large round head with hair on it surprisingly. It looked pretty damn close to human. Well the closest yet. He still had 3 eyes, a large nose like an elephants, and a mouth with blunt teeth. When he sat in the other couch, he fit it perfectly.

  "My parents want me to go out and build my own estate. It would seem I stayed in the nest too long." I started with a lie I had been working over in my mind.

  "I find machines to be fascinating, so I would rather have them than organic workers. I need the best autonomous drones you have for the project. Perhaps I can tell you what I plan on building and you can provide suggestions for what would be best?" I asked, already feeling tired from the boring talks ahead.

  "That makes sense. By all means, please speak your specifications and we can search our database for the drones just for you!" He said sounding very happy, and the table in the middle of the room starting glowing.

  A hologram appeared in the air between us, displaying a list of 3d drones and what they do.

  "I need a luxurious living quarters, but that's a minor thing. What I really need is a lab, a mining operation, my own custom space ship capable of FTL, communications, and a factory." I was talking mostly out of my ass. Listing things I wanted.

  "A bit of everything then? Hmmm, well how about-" He started his long and tedious speech about the various drones he had to offer and I listened.

  ...

  An eternity later and I had made a purchase of several drone types. I spent roughly 36 million Shop Points on 40 drones, and 5 gallons of the nano machine goo. The idea of having nano machines more appealing than I could resist.

  I got 10 drones capable of lab work, 10 mining drones, and 20 construction/factory drones. Each drone was around 800k points, but they are capable of pretty much anything related to their field. The drones are extremely modular so the shape they end up taking is affected by what you slap onto it. They can't think but they can follow orders and adapt somewhat to situations. Though not well, but they could! The nano goo is something of a jack of all trades kind of drone. It's super slow, but it can do almost anything. The most popular use for it so far is repair work on other drones. As they can slip inside the machine and fix it easily.

  The nano machine goo will consume itself to do it's tasks, but if you wanted to you could set it up so it consumes other resources first. Unfortunately, they can't just make anything from something else. They need something that has the atomic makeup of the thing they are trying to fix or create.

  "So, where do you plan on setting up? Maybe we could make a partnership?" The sleezy drone salesman asked with a massive smile on his face.

  "I haven't decided yet. Preferably somewhere with lots of monsters and less people. My species is a solitary kind, but we enjoy hunting." I said, keeping up the masterful gaslighting.

  "I see, well you can contact me at any time~! Have a nice day!" He said while handing me a business card and waving goodbye as I floated out of the store.

  The workers had just finished placing the massive collection of metal boxes in front of the store. A total of 45 boxes. 40 of them were the same size at around 7 feet by 7 feet by 7 feet. A perfect square. Each box was filled to the brim with various pieces for each drone depending on it's specialty, all perfectly lined up in it's foam protection. The last five are large metal rectangles that each contain a gallon of the nano goo. These boxes were 2 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet squares and thick on the inside. The tubes the goo came in were 3 inches in diameter and about 8 inches long. They sat in the box while surrounded by perfect fitting foam.

  "... I may have over done it." I said while staring at the pile of boxes.

  "I could call in some of the stations workers to carry it for you?" Sill asked with a smile.

  "That would be great. Tell them that whoever comes here the fastest get's 10,000 Shop Points while others get 4k." I said while throwing another 5k at Sill.

  It felt good to throw money around like it didn't matter. It really didn't with the number I had. Sill smiled while she made some calls and I kept staring at the pile while thinking about what I wanted next. I need a way to tell how fast I'm going and where I'm going, so getting a proper HUD installed directly into my helmet would be cool.

  It didn't take long until I saw some people actually sprinting toward us as they rounded a corner. People moved out of their way, startled by the sprinting mob. They were like Sill in that they were slime people but they all had different colors. Instead of wearing her white and blue futuristic mall cop armor, they were wearing brown and grey overalls. They were full on racing toward our location, some even trying to trip up the others ahead of them.

  "Is that too many for this or too little?" I asked Sill, amused by the display.

  "I called for a number a little over what you would need for these boxes, since I assumed you would do more shopping." Sill replied, also amused by the racing members of her race.

  "YEEESSSS!" The one in the lead roared as he tripped and skidded toward me.

  "NOOOO! FUCK!" was the general response from the crowd.

  "Do they not pay you enough here?" I asked while smirking behind my visor.

  Sill bent down and helped the winner up while I sent him his prize money.

  "It's enough to get by, but everything is expensive in space. So saving up something extra is tough." He said while practically beaming down at me.

  "Well today is your groups lucky day. I tip very well." I said and willed each worker present 5k Shop Points, throwing a little extra for the entertainment.

  There was a total of 16 workers who showed up, and they all seemed perfectly fine despite sprinting here. The winner of the race did something with some device on one of his left arms, and a gargantuan platform came racing through the air, easily taking up half of the 'road'. It lowered down slowly to the ground with orange and red lights flashing at it's border. Once it landed, the group immediately began working. Lifting the boxes like they were nothing and putting them onto the platform.

  "So, where to next boss?" Sill asked.

  "I need someone to modify my helmet. I want to have the visor display a HUD with various features like a speedometer, a digital map, communications, etcetera." While the helmet had some stuff in it already, it was made for human tech. So it couldn't interact with the alien stuff around us.

  "I know of a place where you can have something like that done. My friend owns the place and does good work." The winner said while walking back to us, his coworkers still stacking the boxes.

  "Lead the way. Also, I can't see name tags yet. Could you tell me yours?" I asked, feeling like this is going to happen a lot today.

  "Ah! Sorry, I'm Rihg." Rihg said while offering one of his hands, and I shook it. My hand was tiny when compared to his.

  "Well met. Now let's get going." I nodded toward him and he started walking while we followed.

  ...

  Rihg's friend was a god damn genius. I don't know how they had done it, but they had. The guy only had my helmet for 5 minutes before it was done. His name was Yuiark, and he got all the features I wanted and more put into it. He even got the speedometer to be miles instead of whatever the universal is. I gave him a massive tip of 50k, even though he only charged 2,000 for the job. I'd have to spend hours learning what my helmet could do now.

  "What's next boss man?" Rihg asked while Sill sat on a bench looking a little tired.

  "I need to find a suitable location to setup my estate, and a ship to transport this stuff. How much does a cargo ship cost to buy?" I asked and the entire crowd of workers gathered around me gawked at me.

  "To... buy? Not rent?" Sill asked.

  "Yes? Is that odd?" Even with my absurd spending spree, I still had a little over 1 billion.

  "Well, yeah? To get one that could basically pilot itself since I doubt you could fly one, you would need to spend 600 million at least." Sill said.

  "And that's a small ship too, it would just barely be able to carry this cargo of yours. Even if you got a bigger one with crew, it would still cost around that much." Rihg spoke up next.

  I rubbed my chin. Well, I rubbed my helmets chin but the gesture stands. 'I could afford it... Do I really need all of this money if I'm going to setup far away from everything else?' I thought about it, then made my decision.

  "I'll buy a ship. One of those auto piloted ones like you said. Lead the way to a trusted dealer." I said while nodding.

  I got some looks of surprise but they agreed and we made our way to the next destination.

  "What kind of place do you want to set up? And where?" Rihg asked while we walked.

  "Well, I want it to be far from others since I'm going to build a private estate. Preferably near monsters and Dungeons, so I might look for one of those abandoned planets covered in monsters." I said, floating at their eye level.

  "That'll be hard to do. Abandoned planets are hard to find and also the jurisdiction of the Guilds. Do you plan on joining one?" Sill asked while Rihg nodded along, agreeing with her statement.

  "A Guild..? Is that some kind of organization that uses the planets for resource gathering?" The premise sounded like the cliche adventurer guilds in those typical isekai tropes, and I think that pissed supervisor said something about them when he was scolding me.

  In other words, exactly the kind of thing I should join. Especially if they have access to those planets.

  "Somewhat. The main goal on paper is that they keep the monster population down so they don't escape from the planet and cause issues for the others not dominated by monsters in the same solar system. Though they do use the higher tier planet as a farm for rare resources the high Mana density creates." Rihg answered my question.

  "Hmmm, I suppose I will have to. Let's get a ship first, then I can worry about Guilds later." I said and we continued.

  ...

  I was in another waiting room similar to the first one I was in, but it was much nicer than last time.

  The table was displaying various ships fitting my description, and they were expensive as fuck.

  700 million... 649 million... 802 million.... 1 billion and 300 million... 3 billion...

  I sighed as I looked at the absurd numbers.

  "I can afford some of these. Can I get a better summary of what they can do?" I asked while frowning in my helmet.

  "They all do the same thing. Just with different sizes. They all have crew quarters, FTL, a minimum of 200 feet by 200 feet by 150 feet cargo, and semi full auto pilot." The bat thing alien said. It's weird nose twitching.

  The alien looked like a very wrinkly bat mixed with a mole rat. The eyes were itty bitty but so were it's ears. The fingers were way too long and made me uncomfortable to look at them.

  "Are they new or used?" I asked while looking through the list again.

  "We only deal in new ships." It responded and I had to resist scowling at the gross nasally voice it had.

  I really did not like the alien in front of me. It took way too much effort to even talk to him and he was kind of an asshole. I wasted too much time already getting into this room so I wasn't leaving without a ship.

  "Alright, fine. I can choose between the 649, 700, and 802. What about them can you tell me?" I asked, trying to get some more info on them.

  "Well the first one you brought up is the Vraxon-12. Developed by the Giggian Corporation. Second is the Fenthis-17. Developed by Hyumber. Third is the Rylith-8, also developed by the Hyumber."

  "That's it? What about the fuel rates? How fast it can go?" I asked, exasperated by the lack of info.

  "You don't know much about ships, do you? With these kind of ships, the only fuel you have to worry about is how much Mana it can siphon out of the void. Speed is another thing you wouldn't have to worry about. It can go FTL so the only thing you can measure would be how fast it can get from one speed to another. Which is pretty much the same across the board." It told me while crossing it's arms.

  "Ah. So the only difference is size then?" I asked, feeling like the dumb one for some reason.

  "Yes." It responded flatly.

  I tried not to sigh as I looked at the 3 holographic displays. The Vraxon-12 was oval shaped with some bits and bobs sticking out of it, but it remained smooth. The Fenthis-17 was almost perfectly spherical. It was weird to look at. The Rylith-8 looked too much like a penis so I dropped it from the selection immediately.

  As I stared between the 2, I thought about what I could do to modify them. Because I was going to eventually, but I also needed something that would work as a great starting base. 'Fuck it, we're going spherical.'

  "I'll take the Fenthis-17." I made my decision.

  "Great! What kind of plan do you wish to use with us?" The bat thing asked, seemingly happy to be done with this as much as I was.

  "I'm paying full price." I said bluntly and willed the transfer of 700 million Shop Points.

  That shut him right up. Get fucked asshole. 'But I'm so poor now though...' I lamented my loss as I looked at my 368 million SP.

  ...

  We were making our way to my new ship.

  The massive floating platform and workers following along as we walked in silence.

  "So... A Fenthis-17 huh." Rihg said as we walked, trying to break the silence.

  "Indeed. I figured it would make a good first ship." I said, feeling lukewarm about the purchase.

  "A good first ship. Is that so?" Sill asked while trying not to laugh.

  "Is it not? It has plenty of storage and it even pilots itself." I asked while frowning.

  "It's a giant ball! You bought a ball!" Sill snickered at me while I glowered.

  "It's. A. Spherical shape. It is not a ball." I said defensively.

  Sill just laughed harder as we entered the hanger area. There was a lot of various ships lined up. All things I saw the holographic version of. Then we saw it. My new ship. Sill collapsed as she laughed at it. Rihg was trying really hard not to laugh at it as we looked up at the giant... ball.

  'God damn it.' I sighed once again as Jerald started laughing in my mind too. The Fenthis-17 looked like a death star from star wars. Except it was smaller and didn't have a massive laser. So it looked dumb with it's tiny little legs.

  "If you don't stop laughing I'm not paying you any more." I said flatly and Sill rose up so fast it was a flash of purple slime.

  She stood there completely serious. Like she hadn't been making fun of my space ship. Rihg also wisely shut up. Jerald kept laughing though. I tried to ignore the laughing system and pressed the button on the comically large key fob I received when I bought it, a ramp lowering down from it's underside.

  "Load it all up." I ordered and they got to work.

  Sill was just looking around, making sure no one got any ideas about my goodies. At first it really seemed like I was going to be able to get this stuff done with no hiccups at all. Then some prick showed up.

  "Hey, The Dark Lord Azurath! You're lucky kid. The White-Dwarf Guild is recruiting you. Now come with us and sign up." The annoying better than thou voice ordered.

  He sounded like a typical villain so I didn't bother to turn around to even look at him. I mentally crossed out the White-Dwarf Guild as a potential group to join. If they recruited like this then I didn't want to join.

  "No." I said, then went on ignoring him.

  I didn't even hear what he was yelling about as I perfectly tuned him out. We were gathering a crowd now though, since a grown ass man was yelling at some kid about joining his Guild. He was screaming and hollering about something but I kept ignoring him. Though the next thing he said made me turn to look at him.

  "Beat his ass!" The voice's owner was a tall and lanky thing with 2 arms and 2 legs. Ugly though since it seemed to be made out of peeling scales. 2 hateful yellow eyes stared me down as his goonies made their way around toward me.

  ...

  --------- Gill ---------

  I just wanted a damn break.

  I work as an Monster Planet Stomper, or a MPS. I go to planets overrun with monsters, and I stomp them down. Simple.

  I was currently on this hunk of metal since a friend had requested me to find this level 4 kid capable of nuking an entire planet to recruit him. Something about the thing being the savior of our Guild or whatever.

  I didn't want to interact with some toddler capable of destroying planets! That's fucking scary! I had been, against my will, shown the video of the thing obliterating a planet that had wronged him. I didn't want to piss him off.

  I was here as a favor that I owed to the Guild leader so here I was. Looking for this thing. I'd been looking all day, and just when I was about to leave for the bar, some idiot yelled it's name.

  "Hey, The Dark Lord Azurath! You're lucky kid. The White-Dwarf Guild is recruiting you. Now come with us and sign up." I recognized that voice.

  It belonged to an asshole named Derth. Some upstart Guild master desecrating his predecessors work by sullying his Guilds name. I rushed over there in flash. Appearing in the gathering crowd, I saw the level 4 Human floating while ignoring the shit Derth was spewing. Smart kid. Instead of rushing in to save him and ask for him to join us instead, I watched.

  Derth kept getting ignored, then got so pissed he actually ordered his minions to attack him. Derth always was an idiot, so it's not surprising he'd stoop to this level. Except the level 4 could easily handle some goons at level 70. I could too, since I was level 218, but the Human was a rule breaker. I doubted that Derth had watched the video.

  "Fuck off." The Dark Lord Azurath waved his hand slowly and the 2 goobers went flying through the air.

  The cannon fodder decided that they didn't want to get back up so they just stayed there while staring at the little demon. Everyone was. For the briefest moment there was a feeling of absolute horror forcefully instilled into me, then it simply vanished an instant later. There had been no Mana, no sign of any magic being used. It was as if the universe simply bended to his will.

  "I doubt you could give me what I want. I don't need money, or items. I need a place to build my estate." The Human responded flatly.

  "We could easily give you land! Just sign with us!" Derth was fuming, but kept demanding the kid join him.

  "I don't need just any land you worm. I'm going to settle in orbit above an abandoned world. So I could hunt monsters and Dungeons all I wish." As the Human spoke these words I finally, truly, realized why the Guild master wanted him. Christinia always had a knack for making prophecies.

  "What?! No one is going to just give you a resource like th-" I cut Derth off.

  "We will. We have claim to an AP with the average level of 700. We'll let you do whatever you want with it as long as you join us, the Mektra Guild." I smirked at Derth, and I noticed how the Human seemed to take interest.

  Well it was looking in my direction and I couldn't tell what it was thinking from how it floated without moving at all. Freaky.

  "You can't even use that planet! Besides, your guild is tiny! You only have 6 memb-" I was worried the Human wouldn't pick us, but then it cut Derth off.

  "Alright, I'll sign up with the Mektra Guild. Now fuck off." The Human spoke like it was interacting with an insect.

  Derth was pissed, then did something dumb. Like usual.

  "I'll pay anyone 600,000 Shop Points if they beat this kid!" Derth yelled while pointing at The Dark Lord Azurath.

  Everyone eyed Derth like he was crazy. No one moved as they kept watching the spectacle. Derth was breathing hard and getting angrier.

  "700,000! 800,000! 900-" Derth was increasing the amount every few seconds of silence, then the Human said something that made everyone pause into a dead silence.

  "50 million Shop Points to the first person to punch him in the face." The Human said it so casually that no one could even react.

  I didn't give anyone else the chance to even register what he said, and sent myself across the space. Landing a sickening crack of a punch against Derth's face. Derth was level 134, a completely respectable level, but not high enough to stop me nor to get back up. Derth laid there on the metal, knocked the fuck out.

  It was the easiest money I had ever made, and I smiled widely as I accepted the transfer of 50 million points.

  --------- Greg ---------

  I was upset at the amount I spent for that punch but it felt good to out bid a hit on my opponent by such a large margin.

  It was barely worth it.

  The Mektra Guild recruiter practically skipped over to me, happy as can be. He looked like a grey. Tall, thin, big round head with large black eyes and no nose. He wore heavily used armor and it didn't look very advanced. Like medieval armor made into a space suit. The colors mismatched from obvious patch work. He was taller than everyone else here, at least 30 feet. The guy was huge.

  "Nice to have you on board!" He said while offering a hand.

  I took it and gave it a shake with my tiny hand, only able to wrap it around 2 of his 5 fingered hand. I didn't like feeling so small. I smiled as I accepted the notification to join his Guild and pulled up the information.

  "The level is higher than you said?" I asked with a whisper. while looking at the almost human name of the owner.

  "It is. The level keeps increasing because we can't properly contain it. We need your help in keeping it under control, while also hopefully getting some resources out of it." He answered back in a whisper.

  "I can try. I want unlimited building privileges on and off world. I also don't want to have to talk to others much." I said after we pulled back.

  "So you just want to be left alone so you could do whatever you want? Because if so then deal. Just nothing illegal." The grey said with a large smile.

  "Certainly. I don't know your name." I said but it's not like I knew the laws, and I also had to ask for his name. Again.

  "I am Gill." Gill responded while looking at my ship and it's cargo.

  "Are you the VP or just a random member?" I asked while I also turned to look at the workers loading my cargo.

  "Oh, no, I'm just a member. Christinia may be the founder and owner but we're more like a mercenary group. People hire us to kill monsters when they don't want to or can't deal with them. We're called Monster Planet Stompers, or MPS. We got lucky and found an AP with rich resources and no owner. So we claimed it and made a guild." Gill said while still smiling like he won the lottery.

  "What? Is MPS your profession or your mercenary band?" I asked a little confused.

  "It's our job, yeah. I had voted for naming the Guild MPS but Mektra won out." He sounded almost disappointed.

  "So can I go straight to the planet or is there some kind of procedure we need to do? I really want to get started on my estate. I turn Level 5 tomorrow, so I'm trying to get skills suited to it's construction." I say with some truth.

  "Oh? Well happy birthday! Congratulations!" Gill said will patting my shoulder.

  "It's not my birthday, but thanks." I say, trying not to feel too happy about it.

  "Oh? You're leveling up in less than a year? Nice! You got real talent!" Gill seemed to be genuinely impressed.

  "Thanks." Now I just felt bad.

  We stood in silence while watching the work finish up.

  "You never answered my question." I reminded him of my question.

  "Oh, right! Sorry. Yeah you can go straight there. Your system window should be able to connect directly into the ships interface and you can set the course like that. I actually need a ride so could I get one?" Gill asked while looking around.

  "Yeah, sure. I don't mind." I say while not thinking about it too hard.

  "Well where's the captain? I gotta pay for my board." Gill said while looking around still.

  "What?" I ask while staring at him. He didn't know. I smiled as I waited for him to find out.

  "The captain of the ship? Of the big ball in front of us?" He looked confused.

  "I own the ship Gill. I bought it not even 2 hours ago." I tell him flatly. He called it a ball too.

  It's spherical damnit.