Alistair was proven right as he received an assortment of invitations to parties, discussions, and diplomatic talks. Fortunately, he could push most of those duties onto Nessyra, who actually enjoyed such events. Surprisingly, he and Riseth leveled up once the agreement with the Synth Alliance went through.
There were a handful of events Alistair couldn't avoid, such as Zaltom's and Sol's invitations. Zaltom's party, fortunately, turned out to be a pleasant affair. He and Riseth were mostly left alone, as most people of Neshan preferred to build their connections on the planet itself. Satari and her father, Rhymus Zekaria, the CEO of Zekaria Corp., were the only ones who took a keen interest in their plans and ventures.
Feeling right at home, Nessyra mingled effortlessly from one group to the next all night. In contrast, Alistair and Riseth seized the first opportunity to slip away without appearing rude, leaving Nessyra to her work.
Sol's gathering, however, was much more unpleasant. Alistair felt like punching half the assembly, and they chose to leave just an hour after arriving. Once she spotted him, Marilyn, still bitter over her loss, publicly vented her frustration at him. This incited some people to try to get into her good graces by harassing them. The fact that their Clan planned to leave Earth had not endeared them to most attendees either. As they made to leave, some of Sol's followers tried to intervene and apologized profusely, but the Nurturing Ward limited what they could do to stop the harassers or them from leaving. A day later, Alistair received a large bottle with Ambrosia and a letter of apology from Sol, who felt that he had failed as a host and ensured that he had taken note of the offending parties.
"At least he cares enough to apologize," Riseth commented as she inspected the bottle.
"Yeah, but there is no way we go to any more of his events," Alistair retorted.
Alistair was still seething thinking of that evening, and he noticed how Riseth seemed to be relieved at his words. She did not speak up about it, but even without their resonance, he knew what she was thinking, and he decided he wouldn't expose her to this kind of situation again if he could avoid it. He had hoped they would remain mostly under the radar and that Marilyn would have enough class to refrain from causing a scene. Instead, she had proven to be very petty. He had been a bit too optimistic as, besides Sol himself, Alistair and his clan had not made a lot of friends within Sol's faction. Once it made the round that they were planning on leaving the planet, the word traitor was thrown their way more than once.
The only one who didn't seem overly bothered by that evening was Nessyra, who called it a 'diplomatic blunder of the highest order' with glee in her voice. To her, anything, be it good or bad, was a tool to use in the next negotiation, and that particular evening would be a hammer she couldn't wait to swing at Sol and his envoys. She didn't have to wait long, as some envoys sought to talk a day before their own celebrations. Nessyra had sent them a recording where she yelled at the dignitary with a fury Alistair hadn't seen her display before.
"I have my own event to organize and don't have time to talk about that travesty that was your own celebrations. Now get the hell out!" Nessyra's voice echoed through the recording, her rage palpable.
She had sent the man packing without even hearing him out. Alistair wasn't sure what to think at first, but she laughed it off and said, "They'll be back with a better offer and somebody with more standing." When Alistair continued to probe, she reassured him that it had been an act, and while she was a bit pissed at his and Riseth's treatment, she was fine.
Before Alistair and Riseth left for the event, they took the time to recover everything from their respective study dungeons, as they did not wish to run the risk of the dungeon ending before they were able to retrieve the items they had left within. Alistair, who had almost grown used to the sight of the Heavenly Purity Ginkgo, was a bit torn as he stored it within its specialized storage device. He had already stored all the treasures and plundered the little hut, leaving the tree for last. At the same time, Nessyra also had her assistants work overtime to copy as much valuable technology from the Sub-Sections as they could before the Study Dungeon closed like the Arena Dungeon already had, much to the delight of the local fairies who aided them as much as they could. They weren't the only faction doing this, which fostered some connections that might or might not pan out once they left the trial.
Nessyra had even considered hiring some of the more helpful fairies. Nessyra quickly found some issues as they weren't great at keeping secrets, even when asked to, which made them only useful for publicly available information. However, once Nessyra had asked the fairies these questions, they were insistent on being brought along as the Sub-Sections would vanish soon, and they would need a new place to go through a wealth of information. Nessyra agreed but marked them as low-priority pickups and would likely only be brought along if their world was located close to the route the Kaiakos were going to take or after they had already found a suitable planet and were going to get the rest of the people who were too far out of the way to get on the first trip.
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When Alistair made his way to his quarters, Riseth was already there and was just about to enter his study room to get him when he appeared in their room.
"Hey, did you get everything?" Riseth inquired.
"Yeah, I even picked some of the flowers and other good-looking flora around," Alistair replied, knowing that Riseth liked some of the edelweiss-like flowers that mostly clung to the rock the Ginkgo had been placed upon.
She smiled at him as her armor transformed into a red dress. "What do you think? I browsed a bit of Earth fashion. While you guys had some really weird stuff, there were also some very nice yet simple dresses," she said, showing him a picture of a Neshan suit for males. The crimson-colored, skin-tight suit was something he would never have chosen on his own.
"You look amazing, though I don't know about that suit you picked out," he replied hesitantly.
She laughed before showing a picture of a much more casual suit, with a slightly more toned-down crimson color and a blazer with a button-up shirt rather than the skin-tight suit.
"I was wondering if I could convince you to wear something like this," Riseth said with a giggle.
"I'm still not sure you're not trying to push the boundaries with this one," Alistair replied with a smirk.
He still tried the suggested appearance as his armor's comfort array activated its glamour magic. To Riseth's slight surprise and annoyance, it actually suited him.
"As usual, I'd rather see you without clothing, but damn, I didn't think the color would suit you, but it kind of works," Riseth admitted.
"I still think I do better with my usual blue colors, but I don't mind mixing it up," Alistair replied.
She linked her arm through his, planting a kiss on his cheek as she pulled him toward the door.
"We're the hosts, so we should get there a bit early, even if Nessy insists she's got it covered," Riseth said.
"Can't wait for all these parties and social events to take a break. It's been almost nonstop since we got into the subspaces," Alistair complained.
"Making connections and establishing relationships are part of being in a position of power," Riseth said with a playful smirk. "Unless, of course, you'd prefer others making decisions over our heads instead of just behind our backs," she added with a touch of sarcasm as they teleported to the Study Dungeon's hub.
They spent the next few hours directing workers who had volunteered to help set up the event. Alistair used his telekinesis to handle much of the heavy lifting, significantly speeding up the process. Their Crafting Quarters space felt eerily empty, with most of its equipment gantries, vats, smelters, and even the conveyor belts stored for transport. The once bustling modified Automata were all gone, leaving the massive spaceship behind them as the only prominent feature.
Alistair had half-expected the craft to look somewhat patchwork, given that his brother had changed the type of armor plates halfway through construction. However, the Kaiakos had a uniform appearance, suggesting either all plates had been changed or some treatment had been applied to harmonize the look. Magical signatures of various kinds emanated from the craft, and Alistair’s knowledge wasn’t sufficient to identify them all. The ship had the tell-tale dark green sheen of adamantine, which would likely make it hard to see in space, even from up close. Its profile retained a sleek and compact design, and Alistair could make out what looked like hangar bays and circular platings he suspected were closed drone bays. He also noted the extensive weaponry attached to the ship, including eight large missile pods and a sizable rail gun along its spine, with turrets likely for point defense covering most angles of the ship. It was much more heavily armed than he had expected. James seemed to prioritize the ship's ability to defend itself first and foremost. Fortunately, magic rendered the issue of landing gears redundant, as the craft hovered under its own power without issues.
After taking flight with Riseth to check the craft over, Alistair was impressed. He also noticed many hidden guards posted on metal platforms around and above the craft. Once he landed, his brother was already waiting for them, expanding on what they had already spotted externally. He explained that there was still plenty of space to add modules and weapons to the ship. While the ship had a pretty strong shield, he wanted at least one more layer of shielding and was looking into making an enlarged flickercore to allow the ship to teleport out of attacks. However, his next priority was stealth. The adamend alloy already acted as natural camouflage but was not sufficient by itself. He was working on magic countermeasures to contain the ship's magic signature, preventing it from attracting local space fauna as soon as they jumped into a location. James was a wellspring of knowledge, enthusiastically expanding on his work without realizing he had gone off track. His enthusiasm was infectious, and Alistair couldn't help but point out things and ask about them.
"Ah, yes," James lamented, "the missile pods are rather rudimentary compared to some of the more advanced blueprints we discovered in the Sub-sections. It was an absolute pain in the ass to make them work at the ranges we would need in space, so I had to rely on what I knew worked with magitech before delving into more experimental designs."
"But let me show you the modules," he continued eagerly. "We were able to salvage the holo module from the Deonida. While somewhat outdated compared to newer models, it's incredibly enjoyable to use."
Their discussion was interrupted by Nessyra, who informed them that their first guests had arrived and requested their presence for the greeting. As they passed the metal gates to the entry room, they were greeted by an obscene number of people already waiting, most of whom Alistair suspected were shipwrights from Neshan and their partners. The assignment to work on the Kaiakos under James had become a rather popular position as time went on. Once word had gotten around, people could learn about spacecraft and magitech. The number of applicants outside of Zekaria Corps. control had been something to behold, much to the displeasure of their corporate allies. Though Nessyra had managed to smooth things over by giving their workers much better contracts and some special treatments and perks. Alistair let out a sigh as he joined Nessyra to greet the new arrivals.