The mission to Sorousoros took even less effort on my part than the previous one. With the addition of the Voltar keeping entire sub-fleets of Kinetice crippled alongside the Caralain, the armada sustained barely any losses. It even went quicker than the previous two Sanctuary planet missions, since among the ships in the Rainbow Mage’s possession docked on the Voltar was evidently an extremely fast, though still fairly well armed one which reached the surface of Sorousoros very quickly. Tralle complained openly that he hadn’t had nearly enough time to get AP from Kinetice kills, but shut up when it was pointed out that if he really wanted to complain, he ought to direct said complaint at the Rainbow Mage.
He redoubled his efforts in liberation missions en route from Sorousoros to Grius, trying to bank as much AP as possible. I was more than happy to let him, preferring to redouble my own efforts at training for the 8th Floor, which Team Justice was slated to enter shortly after that mission.
As for the war, now that two more Sanctuaries had been restored, soon to be followed by a third, the AFL was starting to lose its grip. No matter how much they denied their part in the fall of the safe zones, the fact that the Federation were the ones restoring them lost them a lot of popularity. The unveiling of the Caralain and the formation of such a massive armada as well had even the AFL’s zealots backing up, though subtly. It was all but stated that once the armada was finished with the Sanctuaries, they were next.
By the time the mission to Grius was three days away, I had exhausted all preparations I could think of save for long-term projects. Even in those, I had successfully Unlimited Explosive Fireball and had decided to start on Flame Javelin. Apparently Bruzigan hadn’t exhausted preparations though, seeing as he’d called the entire team together.
At least, that’s what I thought. When I joined the linked virtual space, though, it turned out he had something very different in mind.
Bruzigan greeted me at the doors of a virtual mansion. “Welcome! You’re the first to get here, come on and enjoy yourself Lheticus!”
“Begging your pardon boss...what is this?”
“We’ve been working and training and liberating and things almost every moment we’ve had in Area 1 since the Liberation Fleets were formed. And you’re not the only one nervous about the 8th Floor coming up—even for a team like us, the Extreme mission on that Floor is no easy task.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
So, I’ve decided we should take the next few days, until it’s time to fight at Grius, to enjoy ourselves. This isn’t a party exactly, I just made it a place where we can relax and have fun.”
As I shrugged and went inside, he said, in his best approximation of a wry tone, “gaming center is on the 3rd floor.”
The others arrived shortly after me. There was more than gaming for me to do—I was among those who made heavy use of the hot tub, for one. Even though virtual sensations weren’t even close to the real ones, it was still nice. I also gleaned a lot about my teammates’ hobbies and interests that I’d never known before. Ri’legh evidently loved trashy romance novels, since he’d read nearly as many as video games I’d played in my life, judging by the copy of his collection that Bruzigan had ported to the mansion, that Ri’legh had been happy to show me.
Anna had enjoyed growing plants back before she’d had her own run-in with the Rainbow Mage. She did things like growing and arranging flowers, but she also studied things like magic herbs, as a hobby that she was considering turning into her 3rd Profession now that she, like me, had unlocked a 4th slot with Racial Evolution. She couldn’t really practice as such here, but it was clearly why Bruzigan had included an elaborate, vibrant garden in the virtual setting.
Bruzigan himself was the biggest surprise, turning out to be an avid lover of strategy-oriented board games. This extended to both the simple and heavily abstract kinds, like chess—which I was more than happy to introduce him to—and ones that were much more elaborate in both mechanics and setting. In the case of chess, though, he mentioned after I’d explained the rules and started a game with him that a great many cultures the Tower had taken in had made very similar games, in some cases differing only cosmetically. He did admit though that he’d only personally heard of one other such game that included the en passant rule. So, yay Earth on that one, I guess.
Arvallei, on the other hand, didn’t really have a hobby. However, he did turn out to have a love of luxuries that even Anna didn’t match. As for joining the gaming club, well, the prehensile feathers at the end of his wings served well enough for virtually any every day things that humans and humanoids did with their hands, but he simply wasn’t bothered to learn to use a game controller.
By the time we left to complete final prep for the next battle, I was feeling more refreshed than I had in ages. In fact, this massive rest session helped me realize some things about what I wanted for my future in the Tower.
Now all I had to do was ensure I actually had a future.