Life slowly began to settle into a routine for Greg. Every morning, the Archmage would teach him something new as he delved deeper and deeper into the intricacies of being a mage, planning out his next decade of training. He could ask some questions to clarify whatever he was struggling with, but most of the time was spent focusing on things Greg wouldn't get to for months or even years as the Archmage taught him the steps he'd need to take to create some of her signature spells, which… honestly started to get a little scary. The Archmage was primarily a projection mage, and a lot of her spells involved projecting things into other people. Some were more benign, like making an illusion that only that person could see or hear, but others involved things like putting thoughts in other people's heads or even little force packets that would go off if a certain trigger occurred. The more Greg learned, the more he realized this woman was utterly fucking terrifying. No wonder she wanted him as an apprentice.
Then he'd take two hours to practice his spells, or spell since he was still struggling with converting his smoke into force, before getting lunch with Tessa. Afterwards he'd spend another two hours studying his smoke with Lapodala, which… Well, it'd sort of stalled after learning about Greg's drain, but it was still good practice as Lapodala forced him to push the limits of his smoke, hoping that they'd eventually find something that would make sense of what Greg was capable of. Then he'd either have a combat lesson or face a challenge with the squad before taking some time to hangout or practice with the squad, pushing his mana investment to after everyone went to bed, since it took close to three damn hours now. Thankfully, as much as he enjoyed sleep, he still didn't need it, so he wasn't hurting because of it. Finally, he'd take an hour or two to practice or do a challenge with the ferals before getting to any miscellaneous activities he might need to deal with for the day. It was a pretty punishing schedule, but thankfully every fifth day gave him a break he could use to unwind.
Then, ten days after the aliens abducted them, the ranking awards came in. Greg had been doing well on the offensive and defensive rankings, maintaining a spot in the forties for each, but when it came to the survival rankings… Well, if there was one thing Greg excelled at, it was staying alive. He barely even had to try to reach first place on the ranking, which ended up placing him as the top ranked individual within the entire section, and that came with… benefits. First, the top ten of each ranking would receive one hundred challenge points, and the top hundred would receive fifty, so right off the bat he got an extra two hundred challenge points. Well, two hundred and six, since he also got six points for his basically nonexistent position on the development rankings. Basically the rankings halved the point reward for each magnitude of ten, so the top thousand got twenty-five points, the top ten thousand got twelve, and the rest got six, so the minimum amount of challenge points a person would receive every ten days was twenty-four.
Those were the rewards for the basic rankings, but the aliens also kept track of the people who did the best across all the rankings to create a top hundred list. This list didn't grant any challenge points, but it did grant certain privileges. First, everyone on the list was granted access to the scanning and teleportation functions of their network device, though they could only teleport within their section. Second, they were all given a building on the strip for their personal use and they could use their challenge points to buy things like crafting stations or training aids for it, which made Greg feel pretty dumb for putting all that work into their underground base. And the third and final benefit was the ability to sponsor a number of people based on your rank.
There were three levels of sponsorship, limited, partial, and full. A limited sponsorship would grant the individual a spell, two hours of instruction from one of the alien specialists, or ten hours in one of the specialized crafting suites, divided over the next ten days. A partial sponsorship granted a spell and an hour of guidance from an alien who'd already mastered it, four hours of instruction, or twenty hours in a crafting suite, and you could choose two or double up on one. A full sponsorship granted a spell with two hours of guidance, six hours of instruction, or thirty hours in a crafting suite, and you could pick three, doubling or tripling as you wished. Everyone in the top hundred had thirty-three sponsorships, except for number one, who had thirty-four. One hundred had thirty-three limited sponsorships, while ninety-nine had one partial and thirty-two limited, and so on, until number one, who had thirty-four full sponsorships.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with all these things?” Greg wondered, staring at the thirty-four full sponsorships he had to assign. He could give nine to the squad, but that still left twenty-five he had no idea what to do with! He couldn't even take one himself, because he legitimately didn't have the time or need to take advantage of it. All his spells and teaching were provided by the Archmage, and he had no need for a crafting suite. He turned to Tessa. “Should I hold a lottery or something?”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “How about you ask the Archmage? It isn't like you can do anything until after your lesson anyway.”
“True.” Greg agreed. “Should probably wait until my free day, too…”
“Or the squad can handle it.” Tessa offered. “I can think of a few people who might be worth investing in… though I'm not sure if they've already been sponsored or not, since they're probably associated with my father and Patrick managed to reach the top hundred too.”
“Yeah, but my sponsorships are better.” Greg pointed out.
Tessa sighed. “Yes, but they can only accept one, and if they already have…”
Greg paused. “So send Patrick a message to let him know to hold off?”
Tessa shook her head. “I'd rather not. It's one thing to approach people involved with my dad individually, but if we start coordinating our sponsorships with them, then we'd be telling everyone that despite the fact that we've distanced ourselves, we're still a part of their group, which would make us a target for any of their enemies, ones we may or may not be ready to face. In fact, I'd say we should limit any sponsorships we send their way to four or five max.”
Greg frowned. “That still leaves twenty to deal with.”
“It does.” Tessa muttered. “Maybe we can find some other isolationists? People who deserve sponsorships, but wouldn't normally be able to get them because they aren't a part of a larger group?”
“I could go for that.” Greg agreed. “After I see what the Archmage suggests, of course.”
“Of course.” Tessa nodded. “Speaking of, we should get going.”
*
“Congratulations on your ranking.” The Archmage announced as she arrived for Greg's lesson. “Though I'm surprised you didn't manage to reach the top ten in offense or defense as well.”
Greg scratched his head. “I- didn't really see the need for it? It seems more important to support my friends than to push to do better myself, since I'm already doing fine, particularly with me being your apprentice and all. As long as I have enough points to cover my mana pills, I'm good. Hell, I'm not sure I even have the time to spend more points… I mean, I can't even make use of the sponsorships I got!”
The Archmage raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn't you be able to do more to help your friends if you raised your rank? An extra hundred challenge points could go a long way towards supporting your friends and building your faction.”
Greg blinked. “My faction?”
“Yes, your faction.” The Archmage gave him a look. “You are building a faction, aren't you?”
“No?” Greg replied hesitantly. “Should I be?”
The Archmage frowned at him. “How do you expect to survive on your new world without a faction to support you? As powerful as you are, you cannot expect to face the challenges of taming a wild planet all on your own.”
“I mean… okay, fair, but couldn't I just join whatever faction ends up coming out on top later?” Greg asked tentatively.
“That is an option, but not an ideal one.” The Archmage replied. “There is no guarantee that the faction that eventually gains dominance will align with your goals and beliefs. Not that your involvement would guarantee that either, but it would significantly increase the likelihood of it. But to have the power and opportunity you have and simply allow others to determine your future without a fight is… negligent.”
Greg blinked. “But… politics?”
The Archmage sighed. “You do not need to personally develop the faction, and I would not suggest it in any case, as your personality is… ill suited to the task. But what you can, and should, do is give others the tools and resources they need to develop a faction you can be proud of, particularly now, when your people are still struggling to build a foundation. With the sponsorships and points at your disposal, you have the power to create the elites of the future, and it would be a shame if you wasted it.”
Greg grimaced slightly. “I guess you have a point… I'm just not sure I'm the person who should be doing it. Reading people is not my strong suit and I don't want to help someone out only for them to turn around and become an asshole on me, you know?”
The Archmage smiled slightly. “Then don't. Find someone you do trust to make those decisions. Just because you have the resources, doesn't mean you need to be the one in charge of distributing them.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Greg paused. “Then what do I do?”
The Archmage shook her head. “You earn the resources. Is that not enough? In fact, it would be counterproductive for you to focus on anything but growing your power and earning more resources, for that is what you are uniquely suited to do. Let others worry about what to actually do with it.”
“I- guess that makes sense?” Greg agreed tentatively. “So… training?”
The Archmage nodded. “Training.”
*
“The Archmage wants us to build a faction?” Tessa repeated after Greg finished telling her about his conversation with the Archmage.
“Or at least support someone else building one, yeah.” Greg confirmed. “It does seem a bit wasteful to have all these sponsorships and not do anything productive with them. Plus… Well, we are going to need a faction at some point. Particularly once we get to this new planet. Why not make sure it's one we actually like?”
“I wouldn't say helping isolationists isn't productive.” Tessa grumbled. “But you're right, being an isolationist isn't a long-term strategy.”
“So… Do we support your dad or what?” Greg asked.
Tessa sighed. “I- don't know. My dad is effective, but… he's almost too focused on being effective. He has goals, and anything that doesn't fit those goals is pushed aside and ignored. And that's important when a society is in danger, but when you're trying to build something for people to actually live in… I think it needs to be more flexible.”
Greg raised an eyebrow. “Flexible?”
“Yes, like… it isn't about telling people what to do, it's about making sure everyone can do what they need to.” Tessa elaborated. “There are certain things a government needs to do, like protecting its citizens, but beyond that, the focus should be on making sure everyone can work together, not on telling them what to do. In my opinion, at least…”
“No, that makes sense.” Greg agreed. “Particularly since I don't want to tell anyone what to do… but how do we set that up?”
Tessa frowned thoughtfully. “What if… what if we just focused on protecting people? On creating someplace for those who have no interest in the larger group conflicts to congregate? Make it clear we have no interest in fighting over resources and just focus on keeping our own people safe.”
Greg cocked his head. “So essentially what we've been doing, just with a larger group?”
Tessa blinked. “Yes?”
Greg shrugged. “Sounds good to me. How do we find these people, though?”
Tessa paused. “Have you chosen your building yet?”
“No, but I was thinking of getting one near the training complex. For convenience, you know?” Greg replied. As the top ranked out of the hundred, he had the first pick for buildings, so he wasn't worried about not getting the one he wanted.
Tessa nodded. “Good. Do it. People are going to start spending their points on training, which means they'll be walking through that area regularly, so all we'll need to do is put up some signs to draw people in.”
Greg quickly selected the largest building in the area and confirmed his choice, officially claiming their new headquarters. “Done.”
“Then… I guess I'll start getting everything set up with the others?” Tessa replied hesitantly. “It might take some work to get them all on board… particularly Victor.”
“Nah, Victor plays the contrarian, but he's pretty reasonable most of the time.” Greg assured her. “Casey on the other hand…”
“Maybe we should deal with the challenge first.” Tessa sighed.
*
“Damn it, I knew something was going to end up dragging us into politics!” Victor groaned after Greg and Tessa explained the plan, while the squad set up in their new headquarters. “Ever since Greg became the damn Archmage's apprentice, I saw it coming!” He sighed, tapping at his network device, sending Tessa a message. “Alright, I just sent you a list of all the people I've found who might be worth working with.”
Tessa blinked, looking at the list of what had to be over forty people, with brief descriptions of their natural mana and personality. “You- When did you do all this?!?”
“Oh, here and there.” Victor shrugged.
“I helped!” Tina added cheerfully.
“But- why?!?” Tessa asked.
Victor raised an eyebrow. “I just said I knew this was coming. Why wouldn't I prepare for it?”
Greg chuckled. “I told you he'd be fine.”
Tessa shook her head in disbelief as the two of them fist bumped, turning to the others. “What do the rest of you think of all this?”
“I'm just not sure I see the benefit in doing this.” Casey grumbled. “How much influence do you really think we can have? It seems like we're just going to be painting targets on our backs for no good reason.”
“We already have targets on our backs, because Greg is the top ranked individual in the entire damn section. Even if he hasn't made it public yet, people are going to figure it out at some point, particularly since we have the largest building in the busiest area of the ship.” Brittany pointed out. “There's really not much we can do to avoid it at this point. People are going to start paying attention to us, no matter what. We might as well do something with it.”
“Plus, I kinda feel like protecting people is something we should do anyway, if we can.” Carlos pointed out. “Leaving people to suffer when there's something you can do about it is almost as bad as hurting them yourself.”
Casey groaned. “Damn it, I didn't sign up for this shit!”
“None of us did.” Victor pointed out. “Except Meredith. But you don't always get to sign up for the shit you have to deal with. Sometimes you just get assigned shit detail, and that's life.”
“How did I sign up for this?!?” Meredith protested. “All I wanted was to be close to someone who can keep me safe!”
“Yeah, which gets you drawn into politics because only people with power and influence can keep you safe.” Victor retorted. “That's just how shit works.”
Meredith glared at him for a moment, before turning away with a huff. “So, what are we going to do to keep ourselves safe while we protect others?”
“Oh, I've been thinking about that!” Greg exclaimed. “So, I have access to a form that can do something with a subspace to connect areas together, so what I was thinking was that we'd keep the underground base and connect it to our headquarters here. In fact, it probably wouldn't be a terrible idea to make a few more underground bases… oh, and if I can make the portals permanent-”
“Greg, you're getting ahead of yourself.” Tessa cut him off.
Greg coughed. “Right, uh… My point is we can always run and hide if we need to. Plus we can get a bunch of defenses for this place, too.”
Meredith shook her head. “I'm not concerned about being safe here, I'm worried about being safe out there! I can't throw fire or grow claws or even disappear! What if someone targets me while I'm going about my day?!? What if someone tries to kidnap me!?!”
Greg blinked. “Wristband?” He offered, forming a thin paper band using smoke. “I can use it to keep track of you, and if you want to get my attention, all you need to do is snap it. Honestly, I probably should have handed these out a while ago… Oh, and with my new privileges, I can teleport right to you!”
“Are you planning on wandering around alone?” Brittany asked skeptically. “You can't exactly blame people for not keeping you safe if you go off on your own. Stick with the group if you want to stay safe.”
Meredith scowled. “That is what I'm trying to say! We need a system for figuring out who stays with who so we don't leave anyone vulnerable!”
Greg turned to Tessa. “Did they not hear me when I told them about the wristbands?”
“The wristband would only help after I've been attacked.” Meredith grumbled. “I want to avoid being attacked in the first place!”
“No, the wristbands mean we only need to prepare to delay anyone who threatens us, instead of preparing to fight them off.” Tessa interjected. “As long as there's at least one person in the group who is capable of warning Greg, then it's practically the same as having him there as well.”
Victor cocked his head. “So me, Carlos, you, Casey, Emily… Tina? Brittany maybe… Jennifer too? Hell, even Meredith should be able to keep herself up long enough to warn Greg! The only person who can't is Sarah, and she has the aliens watching out for her!”
Meredith scowled. “Again, I don't want to be attacked in the first place! The group is meant to deter, not just to take care of the attack afterwards!”
Victor rolled his eyes. “So what do you think we should do?”
“I think we should make sure there are always two combatants with every non-combatant.” Meredith replied simply.
“And the combatants would be?” Victor asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Greg, Tessa, Carlos, Casey, Emily, Jennifer, and you.” Meredith listed. “Brittany, Sarah, and I would be the non-combatants.”
“Hey, what about me!?!” Tina exclaimed.
“No one is going to notice you either way, so you don't matter.” Meredith waved dismissively, yelping as she was suddenly teleported a few feet up and backwards, landing hard on her ass. “I didn't mean it as an insult!” Meredith protested. “People literally won't take you into account when they see us as a group!”
“She's not wrong.” Victor agreed. “However, once you start to build a reputation… the ability to teleport people wherever you want is pretty freaking terrifying.”
Tessa sighed. “Alright, I think that will work for now. Anyone else have anything they want to address?” Everyone shook their heads. “Then let's get to work. We have a lot to set up before we can get started.”