Author’s Corner: Good evening everyone! Enjoy the chapter.

After Yin came back, she continued to escort Yang around the elven village, promising to take care of her. I wasn’t sure if the two of them were literally sisters, or just treated each other that way because they were both my animal companions, but it was nice to see that Yin wasn’t getting mad at her anymore. There’s only so much space on that small ship and in my grove, getting angry at each other doesn’t really help anyone.

Anyways, our stay in the elven village lasted a few more days before the first of the two druids managed to successfully complete all five element seeds and fused them together. When they successfully completed their grove, they were again amazed at this new aspect of their power, and wanted to fully explore it. Naturally, I first made sure that he was willing to teach the other druids, and even watched him help the second one through this final breakthrough.

Out of these two druids, neither of them had chosen the path of a Xeno-Shifter or a Colony Druid. One wanted to be a Plant Lord, while the other wanted to be something he called an Earthshaker. According to Celeste, it was a druid that specialized heavily in the earth element. Not an uncommon choice, but not exactly one that we could help with. As such, I could only direct the two of them towards whatever information Celeste had left in the elven networks.

Of course, our attack on the bosses did not stop during this time. Although we did not go up to personally witness the destruction of the other five, they were all killed over a matter of days. Apparently, Celeste had to go back and attack the spider boss’s location three more times to completely clear out all of the little pests that had hidden away. As for the dragons, they were all wiped out with one direct hit. The mountain golem didn’t fight back or resist at all, even though it took two shots to fully kill it. And for the ice wolf… well, according to Celeste, it literally melted under the orbital laser.

Once the two druids had been trained, and the bosses killed, we spent a day touring around the elven world, taking a look at their cities. The high elf cities were really quite impressive, holding large metal buildings instead of the small stone shacks of the wood elves. While we were in the city, I made sure to spread out my Mana Sense and properly study the high elves’ auras to add it to my collection. Although they physically looked very similar to wood elves, their ears were slightly shorter and their bodies a bit taller.

Before we left Gerin 6, we even met with High Queen Maeve in person. Though, this time there were guards present so she was using a business-like demeanor. The purpose of the visit was very simple, and she wanted to thank us for the help we have given to her planet and her people. She told us that, for our services thus far, we could ask any reward we wished, even a place in a royal castle. Sure enough, she was hinting that she wanted us to hook up with Talia, and seemed a bit disappointed when we declined.

Finally, before we left, she asked that we visit one last time before we left the system, to receive a reward arranged by all three High Queens. Celeste made sure that I agreed, even though she wouldn’t tell me why. Anyways, after that we left to visit the other worlds, but all we really did there was blast the bosses from orbit. Apparently, Gerin Prime had already taken out another two boss monsters by the time we got to it, using their biological weapons. The remaining monsters were all made of inorganic materials, so doing the same thing again wasn’t really an option.

Thankfully, none of the monsters were light elementals or something that could just shake off the laser. This made dealing with them just a matter of time. However, one of them was tricky, and required us to build a specialized bomb to deal with it. This was because it was buried deep underground, and would only surface when it was ready to eat. After getting the local High Queen’s approval, we(Celeste) spent a few days constructing a bomb that would not harm the planet itself, and made sure to accurately target the monster with it, sending it straight into the thing’s stomach.

Not surprisingly, this teleport took all of our remaining power, and I had to store Sharon in my grove while switching to my void elf body until I recharged the generator. We really needed to get a few upgrades here…

Oh, something I forgot to mention before. I managed to find a way to use this to power level myself! Though it’s not completely effective, I gained a few levels from doing it. After slaying some of the boss monsters who were safe to approach after death, or who managed to leave behind some of their body, I used my Soul Arts to slowly purify their aura before absorbing it into myself. It felt strange doing it this way, but after I got back to the ship I would then ‘share’ the absorbed aura with the others. This gave me a rather interesting ability.

Share Souls - Soul Arts - ★★

After absorbing excess soul energy, you are able to share it among those you choose. This is currently limited to pure soul energy.

Yup, I was now able to power level the entire group by farming bosses. I initially thought about just stopping at various planets along the way to our next destination, but Celeste shot that idea down. In order to do that, we would have to spend a little over a week at each extra planet to build an orbital laser, and then when we leave we would have to abandon it. Our current ship does not have any weapons capable of assaulting a monster from orbit.

Anyways, by the time we had taken out all of the bosses, my stats looked something like this.

NameJohn HulettRaceWood ElfTitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider SlaughtererFame20,000Level 501%ClassDruidAdvanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthanHealth310/310Health Regen0.52Mana1300/1300Mana Regen5.16Strength15Wisdom166Agility26Intelligence130Dexterity22Charisma15Vitality31Luck20Points Remaining45Earth 16%Fire 16%Wind 16%Water 16%Lightning 16%Light 16%Dark 16%Plant 16%Void 16%Metal 16%Magnetism 16%Plasma 16%

I decided to invest my points in wisdom until I hit two hundred, and then focused the rest on dexterity. After hitting two hundred wisdom, my mana regeneration shot up to nearly six per second, which made me very happy. It would take me less than four minutes to fully recover my mana, even if I used it all at once right now. Though, with how my health looked I was the very definition of a glass cannon… I’ll work on that later.

Anyways, after the round of monster exterminations, we headed back towards Gerin 6 as promised. I personally wanted to just get moving to our next destination, and avoid the trouble of a party or anything to see us off. However, Sharon and Celeste both encouraged me to go. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t really say no to them. After all, wasn’t I only a figurehead captain? Celeste is the one that actually takes care of the ship’s functions. Probably the only reason I am captain in the first place is that she is essentially programmed to help me succeed.

What I found was… surprising to say the least. When Celeste teleported all of us to the location, including Yin, Yang, Yo, and herself in our original bodies, we did not appear in a castle like I had expected. Instead, we appeared on a much larger bridge to a ship. Surrounding us were various elves, almost all of which were in a fitted uniform. The only exceptions to this were Talia and Maeve, who were in their queen’s attire.

Well… Talia’s queen dress was still the priest clothing that she received from Aria. Apparently, any time she appears in front of other people, anything she is wearing automatically is replaced by that dress. That meant she basically had no other option but to wear it all the time. She made sure to vent this to me one day while we were at Gerin Prime, talking over a friend call. Now, the Queen of the Woods has come to share my disapproval of the elven goddess of fashion…

“Surprise!” The two queens, and Celeste all said at once, while the various uniformed elves all gave a salute. I could feel my eyes twitching slightly at this scene. Please don’t tell me this means what I think this means…

“Oh, don’t worry John, the queens aren’t coming here with us. They just wanted to be here to say goodbye before you left. Besides, the look on your face right now was worth it.” Celeste replies with that same mischievous grin that I’ve seen her wear several times over the last few days. No wonder…

“Ahem…” Maeve cleared her throat, assuming her queenly persona around all of these people. “For services rendered to the entire elven race, with the approval of all High Queens, we bestow onto you this cruiser-class vessel, the Ariadne. In addition, we have granted you a crew of two hundred and fifty high elves, enough to fully operate this vessel. Lastly, you have been granted the title of Captain of the Ariadne, and savior of the elven people.”

After this, Maeve gave a warm smile towards Queen Talia, who nodded her head and continued. “As this ship and crew were of the elven worlds, it is requested that you maintain regular contact, so that their families back home can be kept apprised of the situation. For that purpose, we, Queen Talia of the Woods, have been chosen to act as your point of contact on the elven worlds.” She gave a small smile as she added one last part in. “We hope that your future travels will see you safely, Captain John of the Ariadne.”

Well, that title just sounded all sorts of strange. However, Celeste didn’t give me time to think it over. “This is actually one of their newer models of ships, but it hasn’t had much to do in a while. I helped them upgrade various features to our level, such as helping them install hologram technology and the enchanted systems. This ship’s speed is roughly ten percent faster than the Seraglio, as well, while their generator is far more efficient than the one we were using. The combat systems are still lacking, but that’s only natural for now.”

I turned towards Sharon, to see if she had anything to add about this. After all, she had also encouraged me to come to this event. However, she simply shook her head back and forth. “I just wanted to enjoy a party before we left, I didn’t know anything.”

You have been granted the title of Captain of the cruiser-class vessel, Ariadne!Due to crew size reaching the minimum requirements, you now have access to the Ship Management Window.

You gained a new title!Starship Captain

+20 Charisma. Access to Ship Management Window

You have gained a ship and the loyalty of a crew through your actions. So long as you remain a fair and just captain, they will remain faithful to your cause, whatever it may be.

Deep breaths… deep, calming breaths. “Okay.. so let me get this straight.” I first turned towards Celeste, likely the mastermind behind this whole thing. When she read that thought, she adopted an innocent smile. “I am now a captain… like an actual captain of an actual crew..?”

“Yep! Although I can interact with the ship computers, I am not required to be in full control like in the Seraglio. And don’t worry, we aren’t trashing the other ship or anything. After we transfer the clone tech over here, we’ll be leaving the Seraglio with the elves, so that they can study it.” After Celeste said that, Maeve nodded her head slightly, so I turned towards her next.

“While I must thank you for the ship, it is rather sudden… Still, I hope that I live up to the expectations.”

Maeve smiled to me, nodding her head again. “Don’t worry, Captain John. You seem to be far more noble than you believe. Many in your position, even among the elves, would have taken advantage of your position and knowledge to subjugate other races who were no longer capable of defending themselves. Instead, you chose to come to our aid, and even took the time and effort to eliminate several calamities that our people were suffering from. As a representative of the elven race, we sincerely thank you for this. You will always have a place to return to, should you choose to once again visit our worlds.”

Finally, I turned to Talia, the little queen. “....I’ll be in touch.” There really wasn’t much to say in that regard, was there? I mean, she was basically going to be calling me every so often to speak anyways.

She looked like she was getting ready to smile and say something, before she realized what I had just said, and puffed her cheeks out to pout. “Yeah…” Was she expecting some grand speech or something…?

Finally, I turned back to Celeste. “So… being captain means I have the authority to choose a vice-captain, right?” The Deus Ex nodded to me. “Alright then… I hereby appoint Celeste to be the Vice-Captain of the Ariadne. Furthermore, she will be in charge of regular operation of the ship, unless an emergency occurs. Bye bye.” With that, I turned and immediately retreated from the bridge, having absolutely no idea where I was going. I will just ignore the sudden laughs coming from behind me as I try to find my room and hide in it until forever.