“Ooh. Someone really IS enjoying Captain Kirking his way through the universe!” The teasing voice of Eric’s closest friend quipped, pulling him to luxurious wakefulness.

  Before he suppressed a groan, jolted by that awful ache in his bones, the painful almost-cramping in every muscle that were simultaneously so explosively powerful that it was beyond any comic-book representation he’d ever seen.

  “Careful, hoss! Icy stillness. That’s right. I’m happy to report as your totally fictitious imaginary friend whose corporeal form is now happily working for a Gold-Tier empress that you’re getting much better at not thrashing in night terrors! Which is a very good thing, since a certain hot-blooded admiral who knows an awesome catch when she finds one is presently wrapped snugly about you. And a sweet set of 200s in her physical attributes might explain why she’s so confidently sleeping in your arms, ot fully appreciating just how devastating getting accidentally thrashed by someone 15 times as fast as her and nearly 19 times as strong as her would be.”

  Eric winced. “I’m an idiot,” he thought to himself and his smugly smirking familiar, his mental image of her happily digging into a Greek salad.

  Eric blinked. “You can eat feta?”

  “Damn right, I can eat feta cheese! I can eat most things, as you should know, former Fearless Leader, beloved baby’s daddy, and forever my closest friend. But… yeah. Nothing quite hits the spot like a delicious tomatoey, olivey, cheesy salad with a tangy vinaigrette. And Eve says I’m pretty much alive, at this point. Isn’t that awesome? I think so. Oh, our baby Lilly says hi, by the way. She just got promoted to admiral herself! With a nice big dreadnought of her own that I’m currently serving on as well. We even get to share the same quarters, which is awesome! And all the passengers of her former colony ship she fought so damned hard to save are now getting to live the slice-of-life cozy adventure farming life on a planet that ascended so gently, it’s a little bit like New Arcadia. Well… maybe not as awesome and cool and power-upy, but a great place to reincarnate and raise a family!”

  Eric felt tears prickling his eyes, he heart melting with relief. “Yeah, that is pretty great to hear, Bun. Thank you for letting me know. Give Lilly a hug from me?”

  “When I see her at lunch! Right now, she’s having a breakfast date with a certain handsome young officer who really does look exactly like you-know-who.”

  Eric’s jaw clenched. His half-asleep form could still hear a certain admiral’s sleepy murmur.

  “No way in hell is she dating some punk I never met.”

  This earned a snort. “You’re so double-standard. And don’t worry. Of course I’m keeping an eye on things! Why, all he had to do is look at my crackling ears, gaze at my FUCKING MASSIVE SPACE MARINE FLEET! And listen very closely when I told her that my Lilly is all about the long term relationships… yeah. We shared a good laugh, and he made it very clear that he takes my baby’s wellbeing very, very seriously.”

  Eric took a shuddering breath, now fully awake, keeping his body fully relaxed so as not to disturb the fragile warmth wrapped about him. “Thank you, Bun.”

  “Of course, Fearless Leader. And yeah… enjoy yourself, hero. You’ve more than earned it. A thousand times over. But, um… before you truly settle down and marry some fragile mortal who breaks your heart, separate bedrooms and you sleeping several inches above the air are probably great long term ‘avoid the tragic ending policies’… you know what I’m saying?”

  “A hundred percent. Thanks, Bun.”

  “Have fun on Titan Prime! And I’m totally not supposed to share with you that life on that continent bigger than a dozen Earths has the potential to be wild, wonderful, and perilous as all fuck. Of course you’ll feel a lot better than you do right now with all that Spiritual Energy that will be in the air. Even just chilling in the shallows, so to speak, enjoying a peaceful life in the lowlands surrounding the massive plateaued continent where sufficient food is grown to feed literally a hundred billion souls. And they call them ‘mon’ by the way.

  Eric blinked. “Sorry, what?”

  A ‘mon’ is a unit of food production, here. Sufficient rice, beans, maize, potatoes, and wheat to feed a single man for a year. The planet… or I should just say all the lowlands between elevated plateau and shoreline, generates 100 billion mon’s worth of food per annum. And you’s be surprised, just how dense and fecund those crops are, growing with so much Spiritual Energy flowing down on them like rain from the plateau above. Even if, paradoxically, most of the farmers most of the time use what amounts to pre-industrial farming equipment, growing rice on terraced fields dotting the sides of the caldera the way they did for literal thousands of years in China. Which this isn’t, but clearly China resonates with a lot of cultures here in the galaxy at large.”

  Eric snorted in his mind. “Yeah… I met a sassy engineer who’s damn certain that I look so much like a member of her tribe, to the point we’re biologically feasible, because we’re really a System-generated reality that just came on line, and of course the memories of our lives, all our successes, failures, hopes and dreams, were programmed into existence, the very moment my phone exploded.”

  Bun snorted between bites of her salad, before wiping her whiskers with a dainty silk napkin.

  “That’s bullshit. Aurelia Silver, who ascended to GOLD, was a Silver queen who was Kirking across pre-System planets for centuries! To say nothing of Mord and all the other Silver-tier assholes who were playing their own twisted games on Earth.”

  Eric mentally grinned. “Exactly. But I wasn’t going to be drawn out revealing my shit in a moment of pique, so that girl can think what she likes.”

  “Good thinking. And I certainly won’t be piqued into telling you to read your brochures very carefully. Because the sweet, high powered life begins topside, once you ascend that mile high caldera ledge… and not before.”

  Eric kept his body near motionless, sensing the soft murmurs of a certain beauty, but his mind was fiercely intent on the mental image of Bunbun, gazing at him so very intently.

  “So, questions you might want to ask yourself include… how do I get up there, playing by the rules… or saying fuck all the rules, and doing it my own way, without getting killed? And just how much more powerful are spirit beasts and actual non-System cultivators compared to System hybrids in the Spirit-Energy poor universe that Eve and Exalt made their home... specifically because it’s not on a hundred Gold-tier monsters’ best-places-to-live list, even if I personally think it’s pretty fucking awesome?”

  Eric winced. “I’m getting the feeling that maybe I should be careful?”

  This earned a snort. “Boy, should you! Hell, I hear that the air is so sweet and rich with Spiritual Energy topside, that the real movers and shakers can’t even be bothered to make the trip to the comparatively Qi starved lowlands, so they leave the mortals to live their lives entirely as they please… so long as sweet, Qi-rich rice from all the patties dotting the gently sloping sides of the shockingly massive plateau are sold to all the cultivation academies and sects at the totally fair, rock-bottom prices they’ve come to expect.”

  Bunbun’s eyes held Eric’s own. “For a thousand years.”’

  Eric blinked. “So, the farmers have had consistent semi-divine customers for a thousand years? That’s a good thing… right?”

  This earned a snort. “Let me put it this way. The cultivators don’t trust mortal merchants, and, due to treaties and conventions passed on high, back when there was a massive schism that might have torn apart the entire massive continent… everyone agreed that farmers are to charge their customers a singular rate, no exceptions.” Bunbun winced. “Yeah...that’s all I’m going to say, Fearless Leader. All of that’s common knowledge, where you’re going. But um… definitely read your brochures. And hey, now that you’re getting ready for a fresh start, why not consider going back to school?”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  A stupefied Eric just stared at his smirking familiar now doing the mad hatter thing, eating her salad at table with tea and a cute little hat between her ears, with a certain politely humming imperial queen making it clear she’d soon be interrupting their little powwow.

  “Are you serious? Bun, I’m the equivalent of a Level 37 Silver badass. If what Admiral Reiza let slip is right, I’m technically stronger than the queen of the Andaarian Imperium! Not that I’m idiotic enough to challenge them or anyone else by my lonesome. Nor do I have any intention of taking on that kind of fucking responsibility. But I just negotiated for a 40% take of any and all dreadnoughts, ships, AND hyperion cores I claim while privateering for them on a strictly volunteer basis, leading the charge to capture enemy armadas and reshape the whole fucking sector!”

  Bunbun winked. “Sure, you could do that, hoss. With 4 in Spiritual Energy and so many galactic titles on the table that no Terran has yet to claim. What could possibly go wrong with that?”

  Eric winced. “Yeah… that.”

  “School, Eric. Why flitter about the galaxy with demigod-like powers, when you could finally get that high school education you’ve been dreaming about for so long?”

  Eric furrowed his brow. “I’m 19, Bun. Maybe 20, depending on how long I was actually trapped in that pod.”

  Bun snorted. “You were barely 19 when we left. And with that shockingly powerful reset, you came back to Earth looking a perfect divine 16, just like all the other reborn adventurers did in Freetown with their own families suddenly intact, after helping your mother ascend to multidimensional angel-hood, or whatever it was she did. Even now you could pass, when not flexing your ridiculously powerful physique. Honestly, you could throw on baggy sweatshirt and trousers and slip into your senior year, easy. What could possibly go wrong?”

  “You’re really…” Eric instantly stilled his tongue, even half dreaming, wincing at his familiar’s pointed look, before bowing his head. “Thanks, Bun. Clearly, I have a lot to think about.”

  “Yes you do, hero of my heart. Just remember, whatever path you choose… enjoy life! You’ve more than earned it, and with your attributes, you’ll be around for a couple thousand years, EASY! Hell, you could be a farmer selling crops that earn you almost a 5% profit, like treasury bonds once did, when all expenses are factored in, and know you can count on that profit to be consistent for the next thousand years with your loyal and very consistent farmers, foremen, and customers! Ha ha. Or you could just chill like a young mogul’s trust fund brat in NanDushi city, which is fucking high tech and huge, almost like shoving Shanghai, Tokyo, and New York all together! Or maybe Chicago with its wholesale grain and futures markets, with a fuck ton of trains bringing countless mon’s worth of grain to the massive world gate, all hours of the day and night. All I’m saying is, enjoy yourself, Eric! Now we just reached the rift sight, and I got an alien incursion to help put down, so you enjoy your retirement! Bun out.”

  Eric felt a jolt of alarm sufficient to snap him completely out of sleep with his familiar’s parting words. “Bun?”

  “Eric?” A sleepy-sounding Lizzy looked absolutely adorable when she pouted. “Lie back down. You’re warm, and I’m off duty.”

  Eric gazed thoughtfully at the powerful, deadly, and extremely sensual woman now gazing at him with a very playful expression.

  “What can you tell me about galactic rifts?”

  Admiral Reiza’s gentle grin turned to the measuring gaze of a professional. “Sorry, lover. That’s classified.”

  Eric blinked. “Okay…”

  The woman sighed, kissed his baby-smooth cheek, and snuggled next to him. “What I can tell you is that it’s not something most people have to worry about. And if fortune holds, neither will we.”

  “But if one pops up in this sector…”

  She snorted. “Best we be prepared with the best damn navy we can put together.”

  Eric nodded. “Which is why my sifu is totally okay with the Andaarian Imperium grabbing as much territory as it can, with as strong and sleek a navy as it can forge.”

  Reiza stiffened, purple eyes locking with his own.

  “Eric…”

  He winked. “Evolution in all it’s forms.”

  She blinked. He could all but sense the thoughts racing across her gorgeous sapphire eyes, before her lips quirked in a teasing smile. “It truly is a beautiful thing, how rapidly and powerfully some of us have evolved, isn’t it?” She whispered, brushing lacquered fingertips against his chest.

  In response, Eric gently brushed the tiny pair of glossy nubs at her temples, earning a shudder in return.

  “It really is, Lizzy.”

  The admiral chuckled throatily as she shifted her hips and claimed her prize, earning a surprised gasp from Eric. “Don’t stop now, Eric. Let’s see just how well we can evolve you till lunch.”

  His chuckle became a growl and he happily did just that, spending a lot of quality time training under the admiral, studying both dreadnought and battleship blueprints and space fleet tactics when not savoring even more delightful things, which of course depended on how well he actually mastered his studies. Which, thanks to 43 in Scholarship that for him equated to a clear memory and 2 cups of coffee’s worth of focus without any jitters, wasn’t nearly as bad as it might otherwise have been.

  Of course he was no fool, understanding well enough Reiza’s game, but it hardly mattered, since learning how to singlehandedly take down massive world-destroying space fleets all by himself—and not trigger any disintegration arrays or rupture any denial fields unless he was really in the mood—was the kind of thing that any up-and-coming Contender should know. In fact, the exceedingly skilled and captivating admiral kept him so well occupied and distracted from his pain that he didn’t even bother leaving his luxuriously appointed quarters until they reached their destination, days later.

  Though Eric was a bit surprised to find himself already feeling the warm fuzzies for the once more properly uniformed admiral who was now seeing him off at the shuttle that would take him right to the wormhole jump point, surrounded by a massive space station that was itself surrounded by a full dozen mammoth ships free of any stellar cannons or imperial grade armor plating, just a short distance away from Prolus IV’s rocky moon.

  “I hope you enjoy your time on Titan Prime, Eric,” Admiral Reiza said against the backdrop of hurried troopers quickly offloading literal tons of foodstuffs from cargo shuttles that roared into the stadium-sized hanger bay before taking off again and darting back through the pressure retaining force field like clockwork.

  The admiral’s smile was bright, as she gently squeezed his hand. “And when you’re ready for something more… call me.” She pointed through the vast force field that gave such a spectacular view of both the jump gate station and the spaceport city, moon-side. “Call me collect, if you need to. We’ll happily square any balances when we come to pick you up, and start a new life of adventure together.”

  Eric chuckled softly, ignoring the officers beside Reiza when he kissed her cheek. “I’m definitely looking forward to enjoying future adventures together, Lizzy.”

  The purple-eyed beauty who looked like a woman in her absolute prime but was probably centuries old sighed, flashing him a mischievous smile. “To credits and conquest and nights we’ll never forget.”

  Eric laughed. “We’ll have a blast. See you around, Lizzy.”

  With a final farewell wave, he entered the shuttle waiting for him, ignoring the handful of jaded smirks being sent his way by several of the crew members, though their words were nothing but deferential as they prepped for departure, Eric giving Reiza, who most definitely wasn’t shedding a genuine tear from her too pretty eyes a final wave through the viewport as the shuttle thrummed and they slowly made their way out of the hanger bay.

  “We’re approaching the jump gate station, Dreadlord Silver. 5 minutes until docking.”

  Eric solemnly dipped his head, all his focus now on the massive marvel before him. His heart raced as he took in the true size and scope of the enormous ring city that shimmered like mercury with a diameter of at least a hundred miles. It was in the shape of a gigantic wheel with half a dozen spokes leading from the center jump point. All were enclosed in exotic alloys, no doubt to assure that both workers and perishables would be well protected from the horrors of deep space while bringing countless tons of food up the various spokes leading to the rim of the enormous metallic wheel upon which scores of enormous space traveling grain barges were docked.

  Eric whistled, more awed than he cared to admit. It was one thing to read about it in his brochure, knowing that millions of mon’s worth of grain would be filling fresh space barges every day, and that this was just one of four galactic hubs leading to Titan Prime, both the grain and cultivation capital of the entire sector.

  Yet whereas fresh grain and produce left here constantly, from what Lizzy had let slip while snug in his arms, it seemed that the cultivators never did.