Chapter 65

+100 Strength

+100 Agility

+100 Intellect

+100 Constitution

+100 Endurance

Equip: Your Magical Damage Reduction is increased by an amount equal to half of your Physical Damage Reduction. This does not stack with any other effects.

Equip: If you receive mortal damage, negate it and become immune to any further damage for 5 minutes. (2/2) Charges. A new charge will be generated every 5 days, if not at maximum capacity.

Requires level 1.

Soulbound to Syndras Gidres.

Liasi’s Eternal Salvation can be transferred to Syndras Gidres’ descendants.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The attributes were nice, and while the magical damage reduction was a very useful effect, both of them paled in comparison to the effect that the medallion was likely named after. I knew that there were items out there that could prevent death for a short period of time, but the fact that the one Tessa owned made her immune for five minutes, with two charges, put it on a whole other level.

That wasn’t even the most insane part about it, however. The fact that it could be worn at level one and it was transferable meant that Tessa could give it to her child as soon as he or she was born, and they would be nigh invulnerable going forward. It could even be used as an aggressive tool as mana is a finite resource, but if you don’t need to worry about defending yourself, then that allows you to focus on other things.

“It’s priceless,” she said, interrupting my thoughts.

“Huh?”

“The medallion, it’s priceless,” she repeated. “I checked a lot of sites and they all gave extremely large figures or couldn’t give one at all. There have been other items discovered with similar effects, but none of them have been able to be used at level one and a lot of them have limited charges. Once those charges are used up, the item is nothing but a paperweight. You can let go now, by the way.”

“Oh, sorry,” I said letting go of it which allowed her to tuck it back inside of her blouse.

“It’s okay. The medallion also has one more effect, though it isn’t listed anywhere. Once it becomes soulbound, no one but the wearer can remove it. Even if I were to hang upside down, it would not fall off. If my hand hadn’t been touching it, you wouldn’t have even been able to lift it at all.”

“So it’s like Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, in a way. It makes sense. If you got captured and someone was able to remove it, then it wouldn’t be a very useful item,” I said as a thought came to me. “You said that your medallion is considered priceless. If an adventuring team found something like that, how much would that team need to be paid?”

“To the best of my knowledge, there have only been a few cases of that happening. Besides the one case where one adventurer killed the rest of his team to keep the item for himself, the rest are, or were, paid tens of millions of credits every year for the rest of their lives. Each.”

“Wow. I can see why it is so appealing. I guess it’s sort of a lottery in that respect, though.”

“That’s a good comparison,” she nodded. “The chance that a mythical item drops has been estimated at around one in one hundred million. You could delve into dungeons for years and still not see one. Even then, not all mythical items are equal so you could end up getting one that isn’t very good.”

“How often does that happen? An awful mythical or legendary dropping, I mean.”

“Well, none are truly awful, so never. There are some absolutely amazing mythical and legendary items, and then there are ones that are more niche. The former would probably be able to be used by anyone on your team, while the latter may or may not be useful. For instance, you could get a ring similar to Ben’s Mageband, but it might only work with Chaos spells. If none of you have Chaos spells, then it’s a largely useless item. You could spend more money and acquire a number of Chaos spells, or you could just sell it. Mythical and legendary items appear for sale so rarely that they get snapped up like that,” she finished, snapping her fingers.

Before I could ask anything else, there was a ringing sound. Reaching into her pants pocket, she removed her phone, which was called a communicator by those native to this area of space, and answered it. Rather than holding it up to her ear, she held it out in front of her and a disembodied head appeared.

“Hey, Dad, I’m here with Jonathan. What’s up?”

“Ah, good to see you, Jonathan. Nicely done last night. I’m sorry we weren’t there when you woke up, but we were away for a while and there was a lot of business to take care of now that we’re back. That’s why I’m calling, actually,” he said as his head spun back around to look at Tessa. “I found out that the Thydir brothers postponed their trip back home and I was able to reschedule some of our other meetings so we can meet with them.”

“About time!” Tessa replied. “We’ve been trying to get a meeting with them for months but they’re absolutely swamped. What changed?”

“No idea, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, as the humans say. You’ve been dealing with them so far, so I need you to meet me at our berth so we can head down to the spaceport and meet with them. The appointment is scheduled for 11:00.”

“I’ll be right there!” she said as she ended the call. “Sorry about this, I wanted to spend some time together this morning and afternoon but we’ve been trying to meet with these guys for months, as you heard me say. They’re the owners of an up-and-coming manufacturing company, specializing in mechs, fighters and other small craft. It’s been the first time in almost one hundred and fifty years that the top two companies in Dvergr space have had any competition, so we think it will be a good investment opportunity.”

“No problem, though I wasn’t aware you worked with your father. You never spoke of it back on Earth.”

“We were on a vacation of sorts, but I’m an only child so I’ve been learning about all the businesses my father owns. Unless my parents are planning on giving me a brother or sister, then I’ll need to be prepared to take over the businesses sooner or later. Anyways, as much as I’d like to talk some more, I really need to get going. I’ll see you later. Bye, Vixa!” she said as she turned and almost ran out of the room.

After she left, I headed over to the closet to find something else to wear, and once there I noticed something.

[Is that the suit of armor I wore last night?] I asked Abi.

[Unfortunately that one was damaged beyond repair when missiles went off inside of Ercan’s home. The piece of my Mana Core that I placed inside of it was intact, so I simply swapped it over to a new helmet and then went about constructing the rest of the suit.]

[What about the dimensional storage? Was that also destroyed when the suit was?]

[Nope, those are very hard to destroy. It would take an item being obliterated for that to happen. As long as a small piece remains anything within can be retrieved. I kept the helmet from your old suit and put it into my own dimensional storage. I would recommend removing it so you can take out everything that was stored. It will probably be safe for months, but the dimensional storage would eventually collapse, destroying anything left there.]

[I guess I should do that now.]

After changing into a different set of clothes, I put a hand on the closet wall and the helmet she spoke of appeared in my other hand. Once I had it, I moved over to my suit and placed my free hand on it, and quickly transferred everything into it. After making sure that everything was moved over to the new suit, I put the old helmet back in Abi’s dimensional storage so she could dispose of it.

I was just about to head out and find something to do for an hour or so, but Abi asked me to get my friends and then head down to the landing bay. Wanting to save myself a trip back to my quarters, I put on my suit and then headed down there after telling Vixa that I would be back later. Along the way, I let my friends know that we were wanted in the landing bay.

When I arrived, I saw a few hundred people standing in front of three shuttles, while three more shuttles were in the process of being built. The three of them were spread out with at least twenty meters between them, which allowed the multitude of arms that surrounded them to do their job. They mostly lifted blocks of crystal into place, but there were a number of other pre-fabricated parts that were installed as well.

I noticed that whenever a block of crystal was placed down, there would be a flash of light along the seams, and then those seams would completely disappear. When she was done, it seemed like the outer hull would be made out of one huge piece of crystal, which would probably greatly increase its strength.

I turned my attention back to the shuttles that were already completed and saw that she went with a new design entirely. I had no doubt that Oya was responsible for it, as it looked almost like a miniature version of how Abi looked now. They were also quite a bit bigger than the original Grasshoppers, as those were around eight meters long, five meters wide, and five meters tall. At my estimation, the new shuttles were around forty meters long, sixteen meters wide, and sixteen meters tall.

Though they were nearly the size of a small frigate, that wasn’t the most interesting thing about them. No, that was the five ball turrets. There were two mounted on the port and starboard side of the ships, and then one more towards the rear. All five of them would be able to provide covering fire almost three hundred sixty degrees around the ship, with the only blindspot being directly in front of the ship. It seemed like it was well suited to either provide close fire support, or act as a troop transport.

“Now that’s cool!” I heard Ben say from behind me.

I turned around expecting him to be looking at the completed ships, but he was looking at the ones currently being built. There had been quite a bit of progress even in the few short minutes I had been here, as each of the three ships had four of their ball turrets installed and everything else was being built up.

“Not as cool as those!” Mason said as he looked at the three operational ships.

“To you, perhaps, but I’m talking about the manufacturing process at work here,” Ben replied. “While hard, crystals are usually very brittle. If a piece of regular crystal the size of one of those were grown and you shot at it with your gauss pistol, it would probably shatter rather than deform like metals do. They’re very good at focusing lasers and the like, however, which is why they see widespread use.”

“Somehow the species that created Abi and those like her were able to create a living crystal that is incredibly strong and can regenerate. Now she’s gotta be creating the blocks used to create these shuttles somewhere and she is somehow able to fuse smaller crystals together, presumably without losing any of its durability. If it made the hulls weaker by doing it like this then she would probably grow the entire hull at once, rather than go block by block. It’s absolutely remarkable.”

“To each his own,” Mason said. “The original Grasshoppers were cool, but these ones look a hell of a lot more capable. The ball turrets are an interesting choice though. I’m excited to see the new and improved Grasshoppers in action.”

“You’ll get your chance soon enough,” said a voice that all of us recognized.

We turned around to see that Zaszi had walked up while we were otherwise preoccupied.

“Nicely done last night, but please, please don’t make it a habit,” she said with a smile. “You’ll save a lot of people headaches in the future.”

“I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise anything. I’m assuming you’ve already been filled in on the discussion Abi and I had?”

She nodded. “We’ll need to set aside some time to check out your new Beacon. It could change things. Anyways, I had Abi ask you down here to go over the new Grasshoppers. She would probably take you through them herself, but she’s preoccupied building the other three while also working on whatever her mystery project is. If you’ll follow me.”

There was a smaller forward hatch towards the front of the ship, but we headed around to the back where a ramp was lowered. We didn’t head inside immediately, however, because she stopped to talk about the engines and thrusters.

“Now these new Grasshoppers should be just as maneuverable as the original ones, if not more so, but the biggest difference between them is that these ones also have hyperdrive engines. They won’t be as fast or efficient as the ones Abi has, but they would be good enough to get from here to Earth within a month, give or take a few days. Each of you will likely be expected to learn how to perform maintenance on the engines, as they can only run for about four days at a time before risking damage or an overload.”

“Is that why they’re so much bigger than the other ones?” Anja asked. “They seem a little oversized if they’re meant to fit thirty people in the rear compartment.”

“Partially, but that’s not the only reason. Come on, I’ll show you.”

Upon walking up the ramp, we were greeted by a row of bench seats that ran along both walls, similar to that of the original Grasshopper. Here the two designs differed again, as Abi had incorporated the same armory system that was currently in place in her two armories. The teams assigned to each Grasshopper could simply pulse their mana at one of the stations and then quickly get suited up, or put their suits away.

The galley and the head were the only other two rooms on the first deck of three, not including the bow and aft teleporters that made it easier and faster to get around the ship. There was no mess or anything like that, but there were collapsible tables that rose out of the floor between the two benches. They could be set up or taken down within moments and is likely where those assigned to the ship would eat their meals.

The second deck was separated into two parts, those being crew quarters towards the bow, and engineering towards the stern of the ship. Surprisingly, there were only two crew quarters but each of those were capable of sleeping twenty Scyftans comfortably. It wouldn’t be as comfortable for a human, especially one the size of Mason, but it was doable.

We had made it through both crew quarters and engineering before Mason noticed that something was missing. He got Zaszi’s attention and asked, “Where are the ball turrets accessed from? Shouldn’t they be on this deck?”

She nodded. “Nice catch. They are on this deck, but they’re enclosed to help protect the occupants of the ship. They’re actually accessed through the teleporters. If you step into one and use the touch screen, it will teleport you there. All you need to do is sit down and grab the controls, and you’re good to go.”

We actually headed over to one of the teleporters next and huddled around it as she explained it in more detail. On the touch screen, there were three different schematics, showing the internals of the ship, one for each deck. Our current location was denoted by a red dot on our teleporter, but we could see that there were eleven different areas one could teleport to. One interesting thing was that the bridge was separated from the rest of the third deck, meaning that the only way in and out was by the use of a teleporter.

We headed up to the main part of the third deck and what we saw was not what I was expecting. The room we walked into was much less rustic than the previous two floors, having a number of tables, couches, and even a large screen towards the rear. I looked at Zaszi quizzically.

“The bridge, this area and the attached crew quarters are all off limits to everyone except those you allow up here and the individual team leaders assigned to this ship. You’ll find your quarters are similar to those you experienced while we were on our way to Veria, but not as spacious. Mason and Ben will be sharing a room, as will Anja and Sonja. You’ll have a room to yourself.”

“Does that mean that the ball turret up here is also off limits, or is that the exception?” Mason asked.

“It’s cut off from the rest of the deck, so yes, anyone can access it.”

“What’s the purpose of restricting this deck to the rest of the security detail?” I asked next.

“It’s just the default right now, though access to the bridge will be severely restricted and that comes from Abi herself. The thinking is that this room is where team leaders can meet, relax and discuss things in private. Think of them like officers and this as the officer’s lounge. You can allow the entire detail access if you wish, but I would only recommend doing so if we’re on a long trip through hyperspace. These ships will mostly be used for short trips, so I don’t think it’s necessary, otherwise. The leaders of each team will also have access to the bridge, as we need to be able to fly the ship around and make use of all the systems if you aren’t onboard, or are incapacitated.”

“Speaking of which, I think something key is missing. I didn’t see med chambers or an area to treat any injuries.”

“Oh, they’re here, just hidden when not in use,” she said as she walked over to a panel next to the teleporter.

She pressed a few buttons and then all of the couches and tables disappeared. A moment later, eight medical pods appeared and the screen at the end of the room turned on, displaying eight, currently empty squares.

“If there is a medical emergency then it is as easy as that to turn this deck into an infirmary. At that point, the access restrictions are removed and anyone can be brought up here for treatment. That’s if the med chambers down below are all in use, as there are twelve more on deck one, activated in the same manner. Each of these ships can act similarly to a medical ship, as needed.”

“I’m assuming the benches and everything down there disappears as well?”

She nodded. “These ships are built with versatility in mind. You’ve seen how big the area is on the first deck. It could easily be modified to carry a number of vehicles in addition to the security detail, or seats could be added and each of these ships could carry approximately three hundred people, if they were all Scyftans. It would be cramped, but it could be done in a pinch. Alright, let’s head over to the bridge.”