Greile looked to Hevna and asked, "Anything you want to do?"

"Nothing comes immediately to mind, Master Greile," she replied. "Why don't we check the beginner quests counter?"

"Hmm, mind if I see a barber first? I know I can't change my face, but changing my hairdo might avoid some people recognizing me for a bit," he asked.

"I don't think you need to " Hevna replied, with a frown, "but if you want to, I will support you."

"I do," he responded, then hesitated for a moment before saying, "I just don't want to draw attention to us."

"That would be impossible, Master. After all, the body you designed for me is quite eye-catching, even in this outfit," Hevna responded.

"Maybe we could get you some new clothes, and have your hair dyed, and perhaps cut?"

"Clothes, and a dye job are fine, but I don't wish to have my hair cut. I quite like the current length," Hevna responded.

"Where to first,' Greile asked.

"I think a clothing shop," Hevna responded, "These clothes seem to be quite eye-catching among your people."

"We should have gotten some new ones for you already, sorry."

"It's not your fault, a lot has happened, and I quite enjoy them, but it would be nice to get some casual clothes," Hevna responded.

"I'll see what we can do when we're back in our world," Greile told her, "Erm, my world?"

"Our world is fine, Young Master," she responded, as she tapped the air a bit, evidently looking at windows. "I found a store on the map that sells apparel from your world. It seems they're associated with the guides."

"I'll take your word for it, where do we go?"

"This way," Hevna said, and vegan to lead him from the vase, and into the city. Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at a shop bybthe name of True Blue. "Here it is, Master, let's see what we can find."

The two soon stepped into the shop, and were immediately greeted, "Welcome yo True Blue, how may I help you."

"Marjorie," Greile asked.

The woman gave him a smile, and said, "Close, I'm Matilda, how's my sister doing?"

"She is doing well," Hevna responded for him. "We're here for clothing for me, something informal, this outfit is quite eye-catching."

"True, but I think the one catching eyes is not the clothing," Matilda said, grinning, "Good catch, don't let her go," she added to Greile, causing them both to blush. The woman wasn't bothered by this at all, and appraised Hevna calmly. "Hmmm, I don't have much that would fit you, but I think we can put together a few outfits for you. How are you for funds?"

"I'm fine," Greile responded, "part of the funds for the community on the island were in in-game funds, so I have a good bit of funds."

"That's good, none of my stuff will cost too much, but I wanted to make sure we wouldn't have to put it on a tab for you," she told him. "Business has been a bit tough this last month, but if you had little in the way of funds I'd help you anyway, for what you did for my sister."

Greile shook his head, "I wouldn't do that. How's everything for the rest of you?"

Matilda grimaced, "They're after my personal business," she told him after a moment, appearing reluctant to do so, "It's been a rough month, but so far I'm managing to get by. It's close, but I'll get by. Let's find those clothes for you, Hevna."

"You know me?"

The woman giggled, "Everyone knows the personal maid who made those protesters reveal their true intentions in regards to her master," she laughingly said, then grabbed a few things off the shelf, and ushered Hevna into a fitting room. Half an hour later, Hevna came out wearing a red, white, and blue tee shirt, and jeans that were neither too tight, nor too loose.

"How do I look, Ma... I mean, Greile," she said.

"You look stunning," he said, meaning it. "She adjusted it?"

"How'd you know," Hevna asked.

"It would have been very baggy if she hadn't," he told her, "Well, in all but the breasts, at least."

"Heh, so you've really got your eyes on her," Matilda asked.

"I'll admit to that," he told her, realizing she wasn't judging him. "Well, that, and I know her three sizes quite well."

The woman smirked, "So I heard. We put together a few other outfits with clothes I had in my stock in the back. It's a bit of a heftier sum than I expected, I hope you're fine with that?"

"Sure, as long as Hevna is happy, and they fit it's find by me," Greile responded.

"She said you'd say that," Matilda said. "That'll be five thousand credits, about fifty dollars worth."

Greile shook his head, then pulled out 25,000 credits, which came out in five 5,000 credit bills. "Here, twenty-five thousand," Greile told her, having seen the size of the bag Hevna was holding. "I'm assuming you have five outfits in there?"

"Yes," Hevna didn't deny.

"At the least that should be worth two hundred and fifty dollars, if not more, but I don't know the going rates here."

"I usually only charge twenty-five per outfit," she responded, "but... I wanted to thank you for helping my sister."

"Actually, if you'd like to help... Why don't you move your business to Sanlistra Island? That eould help us out, and st the same time we could help you out. We can arrange gor the move with The Guide Company, or maybe Magnus and Cordelia would help me arrange for the move."

"That sounds like a good idea " Maggie said from behind them, and made Greile jump a bit. "I heard what was happening, and talked with Cordelia, and we're willing to help you get there. I just wanted to talk to you before I found Greile, and asked for his approval, but it seems he had the same idea~."

"I, I couldn't, if I did, the others would have no one to support them," she replied.

"The others?"

"The neighbor's kids, and others I've been supporting. They lost their mother this last year. Their brother's been trying to keep them afloat, but I can't just abandon them.," She said.

"Bring them along," Greile said without hesitation, "I'll cover the moving expenses, and we can help them work out a way to put food on the table."

"You're not the only one," Magnus said, "I'll head over as soon as Captain Ahab starts making trips to the mainland again, think I could borrow Artor?"

"Yeah, so long as he agrees," Greile agreed immediately. "You gonna take the T-7000?"

"Yeah, I'll ask Judith, and Gordon, and old Misraim if they can spare any fresh vegetables for the trip," Maggie responded, "The junk food is all still good for a couple of months, don't know why the best by dates are so short when it lasts so long. Anyway, since I have your approval, I'll go talk with Artor."

"Alright, let me know what he decides. If he's willing, I'll transfer funds to him for the trip, and moving expenses," Greile responded.

"I'll let you know," with those words, Maggie stepped outside the shop, and then disappeared.

"Ugh, I didn't agree yet," Matilda told Greile.

"But, you want to," Hevna told her in a matter-of-fact manner.

"Tell them they can make a better life for themselves here, and they'll have their own land they can make their own," Greile told her. "How are you with elven style clothing?"

"I could probably come up with something," she said.

"How about period clothing?"

"Uh..."

"He means clothing for a certain time period, not that time of the month," Hevna corrected.

"Ah, yeah, that," he responded, blushing a bit.

"Oh, then if I have some photographs, or paintings, I can create close approximations of the style," she told him. "The speed at which I can produce them will vary based on the intricacy of the clothing though. Anyway, you're paid up, I'd better go see if they'll agree to come. Hevna has already added me to her acquaintances list, would you wish to do the same?"

"Sure," Greile responded, "could come in handy, or I can contact you through Hevna, it's up to you." He didn't wish to force her into anything unwillingly. Magnus didn't seem like he'd take no for an answer though, especially after hearing about the kids' situation. "Don't let Mags push you into this, but we'll certainly help in any way we can. How old."

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"Sorry?"

"The older brother, how old is he?"

"Fifteen," she responded, "We've been helping them stay out of the authorities' reach."

"He doesn't have to do it alone, we'll help too," Greile told her. "I know he probably won't trust the words of a complete stranger, but I know what it's like to be out on your own at such a young age. I'm willing to help, so they don't have to go through what I had to."

"Hmph, now I'm interested," a familiar feminine voice broke it. "We'll help out too, we can provide educational services through the pods, and help him learn one of the trades Sanlistra Island will undoubtedly need."

"Sister, how is Father?"

"He's well, and he sends his regards, Hevna," she replied. "Greile, we're sending some funds to help with the move, and any necessary legal actions. We'll also draft an agreement so we can establish a school on the island. We won't offer some fancy pants degree that has nothing to do with real life, but we will offer craft training, and apprenticeships, and practical, on hands training in the trades, and useful degrees to anyone who's willing. We'll also offer primary schooling, but it will use The Holy Bible, a moral society is the foundation of any good nation. You need to establish a provisional government, at the least."

"I'm... Working on it," he told her.

"I know, and if you pull off what you want to do, it'll be a whole new lease on life for your home country too. It's looking good already, you just need to figure out how to join everything together, and remove the pesky parts they keep using against us, without damaging the integrity of the original governmental structure," she told him.

"I already have that part figured out, it's mostly writing it well that's the troublesome part, my hand with a pen is rather unsteady, and very inartistic," Greile admitted.

She giggled, "We'll send you someone who can help," she told him, “consider him a free gift, or ally, as you prefer.”

"Sister, why not send Silphi," Hevna asked.

"Oh she was an option, wasn't she. Hmm, okay, Father says we'll send her as well. She can help Greile draft, and complete a Constitution for the new government, as her scribing, and calligraphy skills will come in handy. I think a Constitutional Monarchy might work, but a government like the original one in his home country would be good as well, although it might be designed for a bit large of a country compared to what Sanlistra would be."

"The scale isn't an issue," Greile responded, "It was designed in such a way that it can scale up for a larger area, or be scaled down for a smaller one. The most important thing is the separation of powers, and the people ultimately having the power, with the government acting as representatives."

"Father says the representatives also act as a check on the unadulterated will of the people, which is pretty fickle," she responded.

"Yeah, that and playing the different parts of the government against each other," Greile responded, "It might slow government down, but that's a good thing, since government shouldn't make hasty decisions. In a real free market economy, the speed of government isn't an issue, only when everything revolves around the government does it become a problem for government to take slow, deliberate, and carefully considered actions. In a country that revolves around the people, that will never be a problem, as well thought out laws are infinitely more appropriate, and actually address the issues. I do not want a centralized government, but small governments that actually represent the people, with a central government to bind them together, and represent each of their interests."

"So, Sena was right, you've been considering a full government, rather than a basic provisional government," Hevna responded.

"Yeah, but I didn't decide to truly put one together until just now," Greile replied, shaking his head. "We need to assemble a congress, a gathering of the people to consider this new government, and approve, or disapprove it, I don't intend to be some dictator, and I want everyone on the island's opinions, not just my own."

"You can worry about that later, for now, let's let Matilda head out to talk with those on her side. I've added you both to the other's acquaintances, so you can contact each other at any time," Hevna's sister told them. "Take care."

"Well, that just happened," Greile said, not sure what to make of it.

"Yeah, I'd better do as she said," Matilda told him, "I hope they'll agree, it's getting harder and harder to make ends meet, let alone help them as well, even with my position in the Guide Company as an advisor. The city's getting more and more dangerous too."

"We'd better get going too, let us know what you all decide," Greile told her, and he and Hevna headed out, giving one last wave as Matilda saw them off before locking the shop, and logging off.

The two made their way to a barber's, and Greile had his hair cut and modestly styled. Following this, they went to a nearby stylist's shop, where Hevna had her hair dyed a dark black, with blond highlights,. The stylist further trimmed her hair to give her bangs, with a pair of locks hanging down in the front to frame her face, and a high ponytail hanging down from the middle of the back of her head. Normally, Hevna's hair was a medium brown, but he found he also liked this hair color scheme, and the hairdo was a bit novel. The dye job was quite well done, and professionally so, such that there were almost no signs of the dying being recently applied.

The two made their way toward the quest counter for beginners once they had finished, with Hevna clinging to his arm, much to his embarrassment. She called him hubby, rather than Master, which was rather novel once more, but extremely difficult for him to act like it was a normal thing. He had agreed yo let Hevna do this after she brought up the idea, but neglected to consider the impact her addressing him as such in a real situation would have on him. Hevna seemed to enjoy his unusual reactions, but didn't take it too far. She did tease him a bit, but not enough to make him utterly uncomfortable.

The two made their way to the quest counter, and took a quest that would not take much time, it was a simple tutorial quest to learn how to pilot a gravoid, which he had neglected when Brad had him rush over to pick up his original unique unit. He couldn't help but become nostalgic after remembering that quest, and the series of events that had brought him to where he was currently. His life was much calmer back then, but he wouldn't trade his time with Hevna for all the peace and calm in the world. He had already come to be accustomed to being with this beautiful woman, and relying on her, while she also relied on him.

"A tutorial quest, hubby?"

"Yeah, we could both use it, and the rewards aren't bad," he explained.

Hevna nodded, and acquiesced, "They scale with the player's unit a bit too, I wonder what they'll give you."

"How'd your new unit end up," he asked, rather than make guesses as to what he would receive.

"I scanned in all three, my first ended up as a unique unit, the second was a custom unit, but not considered unique, both are in the rare tier. The third unit, which utilizes parts from your gravoid, ended up as a unique custom unit, and disciple tier, with the upgradable append," she told him. "What tier it can reach apparently depends on the materials I can gather for the upgrade, and the skill of the one upgrading it. It also has the growth unit modifier, and can level with me. Although such units start out weaker than other units of their tier, the general consensus among the player community is that they end up stronger in the end."

"Greile?"

Greile turned as he heard his name spoken in a familiar voice, and found Brad standing there as Adriim.

"It's good to see you " he said, "how have you been?"

"Good, there's been some trouble, but I've made it through " he responded, giving his friend a hug. "This is Hevna, my partner."

"Partner? You move quick bro, in the six months since I've seen you not only did you meet a beauty like this, but you managed to woo her," Adriim responded.

"How about you?"

Adriim gave him a look that told him things had been better, but said, "I can't complain."

"You look like things aren't going well," Greile responded out of concern.

"Yeah," Adriim responded, looking conflicted for a few before he said, "I made a mistake with my job, and angered some people. It hasn't turned out well for me. I'm... I lost my job, and the defense against the lawsuit isn't going well. I really just needed a break from the stress in real life, so I logged in, but my play time will run out in the next few days." Adriim looked aggrieved, but unsure how to express himself in the current setting.

"Come with me, we'll talk in a more private setting," Greile told his friend after he and Hevna had shared a look, and she indicated her acceptance.

"I, I guess so," Adriim responded.

Greile took his friend to the same place Axel, Cordelia, and Magnus had taken him that last time he was in Gravoid. He paid for a private room, with a basic meal beforehand. He was surprised when Adriim devoured his food like it was the most delicious thing in the world. Seeing this, Greile grew more concerned for his friend. Once the meal was over, Greile activated the systems to isolate the room, and asked Brad what was going on.

It turned out that Brad had committed an error, and stolen from his boss. He went back, and made things right, which had earned him a second chance from that boss, but it had cost him a very good relationship with his employer, and things had been rather tense since then. He had been earning back the man's trust, but then a customer accused him of stealing from them. They had him arrested, and while in jail his employer notified him that he was terminating Brad's employment. The woman went after Brad, and despite a lack of evidence, the case went to court. Brad hadn't been able to afford an attorney, and had been assigned a lawyer fresh from law school, as a public defender. The woman lawyer believed him, but she was not well-equipped to defend him against such a case, and even came across as a bit inept.

Brad had asked her about this, and she was well-trained in the offensive side of law, but was not well-trained in defense. She even advised him to find a better lawyer, but he was unable to afford doing so. She had done her best to defend him, but was not doing well. Greile grew suspicious of the situation, and checked to see if Axel was online. Thankfully, he was, and Greile contacted him.

"Hey Greile, what's up? I tried contacting you, but you were in an isolation room, and it won't let a conversation start unless someone inside the room starts it," came the response as soon as Axel picked up his call.

"Hey, can you guys check on a court case for a friend of mine? Something seems strange."

"Sure, what's the name?"

"Brad Fulton."

"That case? I'll have my guys look into it, any reason you think it's suspicious?"

Greile explained his concerns, how the attorney chosen as his public defender was inept in defense, and was not doing well with the defense despite seeming to do her best. He even brought up her advice to Brad for him to find a better trained lawyer.

"I'll have my guys look into it," Axel said in a serious tone.

"Um, can you maybe meet up with him, and get him a meal, he seems very hungry," Greile asked. "I'll send you some funds."

"Sure, I could use a bite to eat myself, but you don't have to send me any funds," Axel responded. "I'll meet him in an hour or so, got an address?"

Greile got the address from Brad, and Axel told him he'd meet up with him in an hour, since he had a few more things to finish up.

Following this, Greile went to do the tutorial quest with Hevna while Brad logged off. The quest was exceedingly easy for Greile, who had been practicing with the neural controls with his model ever since he completed his final one. It was a good thing for him that the control systems were nearly the same as the one he had been practicing with, and he quickly adjusted to it.

As he came out of the training range, Greile found Hevna doing the same, and looking pleased.

"How'd it go, hubby," she said, as she took his arm once more.

"The control system is like the one for the model, it was pretty easy to adjust to," he told her.

"Oh, how was your performance," she asked.

"A Rank overall, with SS in movement," he responded. He was pretty happy with his overall score, but was certain most of it was due to his movement score.

"Oh, I got A rank in all parameters," she replied, "but I had years worth of training before I was sent to you."

"My Drone Control and Aim weren't very good," he admitted, not really happy with those scores.

"That's understandable, and you're still doing very well if you scored so high in overall ability with no training to speak of," she told him. "You'll do fine in the future."

Greile shook his head, "I'll have to work hard, I can't just think I'll do well because my initial score is somewhat decent."

"That's why you'll do well hubby," Hevna said happily, then leaned in closer, and whispered, "and I would not be averse to being your actual wife. I know you're not thinking of these things solely for yourself, but you're considering our team, myself, and others we haven't even met yet. I would be happy to have such a man as my hubby."

Greile became flustered at her words, and didn't know what to say. Thankfully, while she did giggle, she didn't tease him further, and they returned to the quest counter to turn in the tutorial, and receive their rewards.

"What did they give you as a reward, Hubby?"

Greile took a look, and found a [Weapon Upgrade Token(Moderate)]. This was one of the three most common classes of upgrade tokens, basic, moderate, or advanced. Unlike the more powerful Myth grade token he used to upgrade his gravoid, this token would only upgrade a single aspect of the chosen weapon or weapon system at random, and that only by a moderate amount. He told her the truth of what he had received, and she nodded.

"That sounds about right," she told him, "I got a system upgrade token of the same grade."

"Wanna trade," Greile asked, not using a complete sentence.

"Are you sure? It doesn't allow you to choose what system, and the upgraded aspect is also randomized in whichever system it randomly chooses," she informed him.

"Sure," he responded, and offered her a trade.

You have received a [Systems Upgrade Token(Moderate)] in exchange for your [Weapon Upgrade Token(Moderate)].

Greile was surprised by the wording, and looked at the item's description to find that an aspect of two systems would be affected by the token, and each would receive a minor increase, with a small chance of a single increase growing to a moderate boost.

"This is too much," Greile told Hevna.

"I don't think so, I'm quite happy with my trade," she told him.

"You're sure about this?"

"Yes," Hevna responded, "Systems upgrades are a bit limited, things like radar are more likely to be upgraded, but weapons, and armor won't be affected. Your area affect ally boost should have a chance of strengthening, among other things, but if I were to keep it the best I'd be likely to get is a slight decrease in response times. That's not bad, but my unit is already designed for speed, and I'm already taxed trying to keep up with my unit's reactions as it is. That upgrade will benefit you better than me, while this one will allow me to increase my damage."

Greile considered what she said, and found her reasoning to be solid, so he couldn't really argue with her. After some more hesitation, he just accepted the fact that the item would work better for him than her. Hopefully, the bonuses would affect the area affect ability the Seraphic General had, but he wasn't convinced it would do so. He didn't intend to use it right away, despite it's apparent usefulness, and kept the token in his inventory.

The two ran a few more quests, but soon logged out of the game. It wasn't until a few days later that they logged back into the game, and Greile finally used the systems upgrade token. He had checked with everyone else, and they told him to just use the token, the only one it might help would be Sena, but the gravoid she was making used specialized engineering systems that counted as tools rather than base systems. If she were to get an energy reserves bonus it might help, but otherwise it was unlikely to help. She'd much rather see if she could get a more useful bonus, than rely on one as broad, but limited as the systems upgrades were. Greile was surprised to see that he gained a bonus to targeting systems range, and energy storage systems capacity of his unit. Surprisingly, the energy capacity increase affected all systems that were part of the base unit. This included the dagger bits, which showed a five minute increase in maximum usage time before they needed to return for recharging. This was good, as the setup before then launched dagger bits while the docking ones were coming in, and he could see how that might cause trouble. The extra five minutes would allow the outgoing set to fully launch before the incoming set needed to dock, and prevent any collisions causing delays that caused him to lose a bit.

As for the targeting range increase, his rifle wouldn't be affected, as it was already within the max scanning range of the radar. On the other hand, the dagger bits once more benefited from this systems increase, as they could target, and attack an enemy at a longer range with the upgrade. This targeting range boost also affected the AoE ability, and allowed it to affect allies at a longer, albeit slightly increased range. The bits were still the things with the biggest boost due to these bonuses, but this system was also boosted by the bonuses, albeit not directly.

Greile and Hevna did a few minor quests following the application of the token, but nothing big, mainly beginner quests that involved non-combat tasks in the city. They even went to the equivalent of an adventurers guild within gravoid, the Sojourner's Station, and signed up to perform random tasks for the NPCs of the base. These were actually automated quests, said to be made by NPCs, but Greile had it on good authority that these were not the actual people of the world, but were more like typical A.I.s that were designed to follow certain procedural scripts. In the case of these A.I.s, they never saw the players, so they would simply respond with a randomized response that fit the performance the player had displayed during the quest. There was also a set number of ways each quest could be written, in order to give some variance, and each quest could only appear once a week. This wasn't the same for standard collection quests, they were set with a single, specific quest message, and reward text, but they hadn't done any of those. These automated low tier quests gave the game a bit more of a realistic feel than other games, and got them ready for medium to high tier quests within the bases. Those quests would involve actual interaction with the NPCs,

From what he had heard, there were even such quests where the player would be cheated unless they made a complaint to Sojourner's station, in which case the player would receive an automated response correcting the amount, and informing the player that the offender had been properly fined, or otherwise punished for their improper actions. The two hadn't experienced this yet, but it was thought that this prepared players for interactions with other players, and the world's residents. That was at least what Axel, Cordelia, and Magnus had concluded after getting to know Greile's companions.

After completing those quests, Greile and Hevna spent more time outside the game than in it. The main reason for this being that Greile had realized the upcoming Christmas holiday, and was preparing for it outside the game. A few days after applying the tokens, Greile decided to hazard a trip to one of the nearby towns and villages to prepare.