Author’s Corner: Howdy everyone!

When I got back to my room, I immediately began cultivating. My goal was to have all of my affinities at no less than 15% by the time we reach Gerin. Given my previous speed, I did not feel like that was too much to hope for. Aside from leaving my room every now and then to either stretch my legs or grab a bite to eat, I continued cultivating almost nonstop.

A couple of weeks after we left Earth, Celeste had us all come out to the bridge, so that we could drop out of subspace. Apparently, she had found a desert planet with an atmosphere, so she wanted us to take a look to see if the flower I needed for my psychic stress relief potion would be here. When we all met on the bridge, there was not much difference between us now and how we had been when we first left.

Since Sharon and I rarely saw each other outside of meals, there had not been many chances for us to talk more and get to know each other. Though, she would often tell me about how Chrome and Jasmine were doing. Chrome’s growth rate was far beyond normal, and after a mere two weeks he looked like he had gained a full six months in his growth. No longer was he able to be held in Sharon’s arms so easily, as he had become too big and heavy. Instead, he would often follow her around while listening to music with at least one of his heads.

As for Jasmine, her growth rate proved to be much slower, and she was still Sharon’s hug pillow. Every now and then, I would see her flying around the ship, using her wings to help her run along the walls as she played with the druidess. Unlike myself, Sharon did not focus much on her cultivation and training during these two weeks. Then again, she didn’t really need to. Her fighting style focused on her animals, rather than elemental control.

Yo was… well, she was Yo. For the first week, she was content to spend her time playing basic arcade games. After that, she started to get bored and wandered around the ship, before wandering into my room. Every night, she would sneak into my bed and wrap her arms around me while I slept. It was a bit awkward, to be honest. When I asked her why she just said that my mana tasted good. At least she seems to be slowly growing up, and now had the mentality of an early teenager, with Celeste teaching her basic information. Sadly, she still insists on calling me Papa.

Yin and Yang still remained in my grove, though Yin was there mainly to comfort Yang, who was scared of flying in the ship. I would pull them out every day or two to share a meal with everyone, which they appreciated, but afterwards Yang would be eager to go back into the grove. After I spent a few days refining my elements, I made a small house for Yang in my grove, a simple stone one that offered plenty of room for her and Yin.

By now, I had gotten almost all of my affinities to 15%, with the exception of earth, fire, lightning, and light. Each time I practiced an element, I would make a seed of that element and pulled it out of my grove to train. Then, when I was done cultivating the element to 15%, I would reabsorb the seed back into my grove. Though I wasn’t able to perfectly absorb the mana, resulting in not absorbing the same amount that was used whenever I made the seed, it was still better than nothing.

When Celeste brought us out of subspace, there was that same burst of light and movement, and we were in a new star system. Though, she had slowed us down considerably before dropping out, to make sure we landed as close as possible to the planet. When we emerged, we could just barely see the yellow planet in the distance. “This planet doesn’t match one of the ones from my records, so I can’t tell you anything about it. Most likely, it will be colonized some time in the future, and its terrain shifted to be more friendly for the inhabiting species.”

“However, from the scans I took while in subspace, it meets all of the atmospheric requirements to have the burning mind flower grow on it. Unfortunately, those same requirements make it a harsh planet for either of you to move around on. The temperatures can get as high as eight hundred degrees during the day, but rapidly cools at night until it get under a hundred below zero. Either of these temperatures would prove fatal to an elf or human.”

Sharon furrowed her brow after hearing Celeste explain. “Then how do you expect us to go down and get this plant?”

“I don’t.” The Deus Ex smiled. “I’ll take the ship in and scan the surface as we do a flyover, and then if we find it, I’ll go down myself. We do have exploration suits for the both of you, and they are enchanted to resist temperatures far exceeding these, but it would still be better for me to go myself.”

I nodded my head at that. Aside from her, the only other person that could likely survive out there without special gear was Yo… and I didn’t trust Yo to pick a flower without eating it. “Alright… Let’s see if there is anything else on this planet that could prove useful.”

Incoming call from Jordan and Marion Hulett.

….

….. No seriously, what? I know those names, naturally, but them appearing now is impossible. Right? “Hello..?” As I speak up, Sharon looks towards me with a confused expression. Celeste, however, leans in and whispers into her ear.

“Ah, it worked!” I heard my dad’s voice over the call. He should still be in the game, and his name should be Dravin, not Jordan. Unless they found a way to pull them out of the game?

“What’s going on…?”

“Hmm? Ahh, sorry, explanations. Right. So, exposition time! After you left, and sent that information out, various governments used the star charts to make plans to hire an expedition in NeoLife to check out Earth. Of course, a few normal players went along as well, so that even if they all died there was a way to report back.”

“When they arrived at the ‘Cradle of Life’, the crew was both overjoyed and terrified, because nobody had ever made it back. One of the players there was a druid, and recorded the scene on a camera to relay back to Earth. The planet was barely recognizable anymore. Although the solar system confirmed that we were in the right place, the continents had shifted and shattered, becoming islands scattered across the world.”

“Unwilling to send any men in to test, the captain sent down an unmanned probe to scout the area. The first thing they found was a big city, and going by the layout we think it was Dallas, Texas at one point. However, all of the buildings were covered in blood red vines, the streets covered with monsters fighting each other. It was hard to believe, especially when a flight of dragons came in and destroyed the bunch of them, only to have them reform a few minutes later!”

“Anyways, seeing that convinced people here that sticking around might not be the best solution. We only have so many weapons that can take on dragons, and there were at least twenty of them in that one city alone. We don’t know how old those dragons were, but they could be spawned anywhere from next week to a week before the footage was taken. Man, that still sounds weird. Right now, the people in the virtualized communities are being given the chance to download into mass produced androids, and your mom and I just had our turn. Say hi, Marion.”

“Hi, Marion.” My mom’s voice came over the line, followed by a brief laugh. “Good to talk to you again, honey. We were worried that the friends list would not work after we were downloaded. After all, we no longer have anything like levels. Thankfully, we were able to call you.”

Processing, processing. Okay… long story short, the starmap came in handy, the government found out Earth became uninhabitable in the future, and now my parents are robots. Well, this has been a weird five minutes. Also, apparently the friends list is not hindered by any amount of distance, because there is no way that they are anywhere near me. “So… I take it they’re going with Operation: Abandon Ship?”

There was a chuckle from my dad as he heard that. “That’s right. Colony ships are already being created in orbit. Though, we’re not sure if it will be in time. Another dragon spawned last week, and wiped out half of the U.K. before they managed to put it down. Here in Oakland, some nasty sharks have started to grow legs and run around on the beach eating people. As part of the robot workforce, your mom and I are going to head out and help make the ships so that we can speed things along.”

“Well…” What all could be said about that? I faintly registered as Celeste left the bridge, presumably to head towards the airlocks while we flew over the planet. “Any idea where they’ll be going when they’re done?”

“No clue, they don’t let us know stuff like that. But there are a lot of ships. If nothing delays us, the first one should be ready to launch in a year, with a capacity of over a hundred million passengers. Though, there are other people that have been leaving with private ships like you did. Not everyone wants to stick around and take a chance at being monster chow.”

Thinking about something, I furrowed my brows and asked. “Any idea if Manchester was caught up in the attack on the UK?” When I said this, Sharon’s interest was piqued again, and she looked over at me with a trace of worry.

“Just a second, let me check…” There was a pause for a minute or two as he went to look up the information. “Ah, here it is… let’s see… about eighty percent of Manchester was destroyed by the dragon, and the ion cannon finished off the rest. It was a tough call, but nothing else was making a dent in it. Ultimately, they made the call to fire the cannon before the dragon could grow even stronger.”

“Ah…” I sighed, shaking my head as I heard the news. Sharon, who had been watching me for an answer, saw it on my face. Various conflicting emotions flashed across her face, but she settled on grief. Everyone that she’s ever known outside of games is now either dead or on this ship. Though, that also meant her ass of a boyfriend is dead too, and I won’t mourn his loss. “Just curious, but do you still have your abilities from the game?”

“No, we lost all that when we were downloaded. They told us that there was a possibility for robots to gain souls, and thus gain levels again, but that still wouldn’t give us our former racial powers. Though I think it’s fine being an android. It can be kind of fun, like a whole new adventure.”

“I see… Well, we’re on our way to the elven world now to help them adapt to the new changes. Don’t even know if they have classes yet, so fighting off monsters would be even harder for them.”

“Oh? Well, that sounds like its own kind of adventure. I’ll have to find out where you are when the ships are ready to leave, see if I can find one heading your way for us to meet you again. Must be pretty lonely out there all by yourself.”

“Ah… well… uhm… I’m not exactly by myself…” I said as I glanced over towards Sharon. It occurred to me that my parents never knew about the girl I brought with me offworld. Or my animal companions that have evolved into attractive women as well…

“Ohh…?” I could just hear a grin forming on my dad’s face. “Now this is interesting. Come on, son. Tell your old man all about it.”

“Huh? What was that? Sorry, you’re breaking up. Solar interference, talk to you later!” I quickly ended the call, my face starting to heat up. A few moments later, I received another message from him.

Jordan Hulett: Friends list calls don't get interfered with like that. I'll have you spill the beans next time! ;)

Gods above save me from a nosy father… Looking over to Sharon, I saw a faint blush on her face as well. “So.. Home’s all gone now, huh?” I nodded my head slightly at that. She took several deep breaths, and then let out a long sigh. “Well… I had already given up on it, anyways. Besides, I’ve got a new home now, right?” She let out a soft smile as she gestured towards the ship. “And more friends in this small ship than I had on that large planet back home.”

“Maybe your own parents will give you a call once they get their robot bodies.” I tried to console her, but she just laughed lightly.

“Not likely. Not that they wouldn’t, I just don’t see my dad giving up virtual immortality to live in a robotic body. No, he’ll stay virtualized, and either stay in NeoLife, or go with them on a digital server until a better option comes along. I could see him wanting a body like Celeste, but anything less would be worse to him than staying in a virtual prison.”

I could only raise my eyebrows in response to that. Her dad must be pretty crazy, if she’s talking about him like that. I mean, not being able to talk to your only daughter again, and the only cost being downloading into a physical body. Then again, he probably has his own reasons, too. “Just to make sure, but coming along like this wasn’t just some rebellious decision to run away from daddy, was it?” I smirked slightly as I asked that, and she puffed her cheeks out in response.

“No… It sounded like fun. How often do you get invited to go along on a real space adventure with a cool guy? Though, I could do without the harem situation, to be honest.” She teased back at me, and I suddenly felt the urge to curl up in a corner.

“...I keep saying… it’s not like I wanted that…” It’s not my fault! I’m not even that attractive! Then again, aside from Sharon, all of the women around me are with me because they were either my AI companion or my animal companion. Sharon’s the only one that actually came with me without having to be evolved from something else. I looked at the girl, and did my best not to suspect that she was secretly the evolved form of a bunny or something. That would just be the cruelest of fates.