Joining The Team

Heian Ciemnosc was walked to one of the relaxing fellas. There were 7 cultivators in the Second Step's peak. Only one of them was at the pinnacle of the last realm, while the others had similar or just below 1 from their leader. The Officer stopped when they were close enough and said with a smile as he looked at the group, who looked at him and Heian Ciemnosc with completely startled faces. "Hey, fellas. This is your new team member. The one to replace your fallen comrade. I hope you have fun. Get him ready before the old man arrives."

“...” - “... … …” With that, the Officer turned and left them after saying such agreeable and remembering words and allowing Heian Ciemnosc to take all those glares that said many things at once. However, because of one thing or another, the team members Heian Ciemnosc was now part of only gave him rueful looks and grumpy sensations but didn’t do anything else as they slowly stood back up from their relaxing positions and moved towards him.

“...” Heian Ciemnosc reminded wordless as the Team closed in and looked at him. Some with their arms crossed, others with tilted heads as they inspected him with sinking eyebrows, and some with non-offensive yet hostile, confused eyes. Heian Ciemnosc crossed his arms before their eyes and limited himself to stare until one of them said something without him needing to possibly make things worse. He was just a novice here and in the vast world.

“So, you’re that Heian Ciemnosc, huh?” Their leader, a Human with a tall frame, thin-short curly black hair, and brown-colored skin and eyes, said. He was to Heian Ciemnosc’s front right and stood one step closer to Heian Ciemnosc than anyone else, crossing his arms and looking at him with an inquisitive gaze. He looked at the leaving Officer’s back before returning his eyes to Heian Ciemnosc, who then answered. “It’s me, yes.”

“How come you’re here, pal?” A teammate asked. She was of regular height, oriental aesthetics, and wore clothes that would nearly doubt anyone’s naked eyesight, but she was indeed a woman and a Human. But before Heian Ciemnosc could say something, the team leader shook his head and said, stopping the tomboy. “Not nice. He might be that guy. But since when are we so prejudicial? Present yourselves first. It will be on us if anything goes wrong, even if we must introduce him to a rock. Understand?”

“Yes, sir…” The tomboy said, lowering her head with a grimace, but still complied. She stepped up, passing by the team leader, and extended her hand at Heian Ciemnosc after trotting towards him. “Ruo Wei, I’m this Team’s mommy regarding every Fighter of us, and I’m even the best in the Frigate we’ll go out with in a while. Listen to me when the time comes, got it?”

“Aye, a pleasure,” Heian Ciemnosc released his hands, noticing a glint in the team leader’s eyes as he did, and shook hands with the sweet lady before him. Ruo Wei, the tomboy, stepped backwards and said, “Don’t expect anyone here to give you lessons for free. Every time we go out to take a mission. We pay our debts. And something tells me you will be having great times in the near future.”

“...” Heian Ciemnosc was left… a little speechless, but just as the tomboy left, a young man came and extended his hand towards Heian Ciemnosc. He had smooth, orange hair. His behavior was somewhat nervous, but he did a formal greeting, even smiling politely at Heian Ciemnosc. But Heian Ciemnosc didn’t return because he was too busy scanning the young man before him. The teammate presented himself, “I’m Clanton. What a relief. It’s good knowing the girl's power won’t last much longer. Now, we can breathe freely.”

“...” Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head to the left and watched Clanton leave with that polite smile in nervous footsteps, but without risk of embarrassingly tripping. Then, Heian Ciemnosc saw a towering baby walk toward him, wearing a young face but taller than his older version because this tower looked like the team leader. Heian Ciemnosc looked at the team leader and said, shaking hands with the tall fellow.

“For a moment, I thought your parents cloned you somehow.” Heian Ciemnosc’s words gained a few light chuckles from the team leader and a shy appearance from the towering figure. The team leader took some steps forward with crossed arms and said with a smile, “They did try, I think, in a Natural way. However, they failed to keep it when the 10 year war broke out. However, they shouldered me with giving a little baby as many ingredients as possible… and part of their cultivation base before they dissipated.”

“Oh,” Heian Ciemnosc’s pale eyelids dropped slightly in thinking. He turned his darkest eyes to the younger brother, who looked saddened but well over it. Heian Ciemnosc nodded at the younger brother, who nodded back and said as he left, “I am Moy. Nice to meet you, black monster.”

Heian Ciemnosc lifted his eyebrows as if he were saying. ‘ah! Someone who acknowledges me!’ that made Moy a little excited. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t receive much time to show his charm to his fellow brothers in the boy power struggle when a blonde, beautiful face went to him and presented him with her hand to shake straightforwardly. Heian Ciemnosc blinked a few times as he turned towards her and shook her hand, then she said, “It’s a pleasure. My name is Cara. We know you’re good at Craftsmaking, but a piece of advice… don’t challenge mommy here.”

“But you can come to our hangar any time and spare us the effort whenever our Frigate needs us. We have many engineers, but not everyone is as good as us. Also, if you’re willing, you can take your shirt off, too. No one will mind, especially after training.” Cara said straight while looking deep into Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes. Even as he tilted it to the right and pouted, she followed his head and maintained eye contact without lust in them.

She was a regular-looking chick with decent body portions, a high cultivation base, and a feminine side more than anyone else from the girls Heian Ciemnosc saw while walking here. While the previous 3 were all Human, and Moy had the lowest cultivation base besides Heian Ciemnosc, Cara was a Human-Elf. If Heian Ciemnosc's senses weren't failing him now out of nowhere.

"Sure... thing," Heian Ciemnosc said, squinting his eyes and watching Cara's ravishing smile as she turned around and said as she walked back to stand behind the team leader. "Good to know! You're a really talented young man. Moy has a lot of aid and nature's intervention to reach his current cultivation at 40. But you're barely 30 and already getting there. Not bad. Now, we'll have to see you working on creations. If you wanna gain favorable points, take that shirt off any time you can."

When Cara finished her words, she smiled like a wonder again and winked at Heian Ciemnosc with her left eye, bringing him a new kind of resolution to protect his dignity in a wolf's den. Finishing looking at Cara, Heian Ciemnosc stared at the remaining females in the Team, who walked towards him immediately. One was a Human with a careful expression, brown hair, eyes, and skin. She looked a little dorky, but it was also her charm. The other was a Human-Demon, very tall and was simply charismatic. She had a ponytail and bronze skin.

"Hi, I'm Loma. Nice meeting you," the Human said, extending her hand, shaking it with Heian Ciemnosc, and returning to her spot behind the team leader's back without much expression, but polite at least. That was still the most rare thing for Heian Ciemnosc in the Crimsonbreaking Faction. The other young woman came and looked at him directly and nodded as she introduced herself, "I'm Sandra. I'm like Cara, but not as childish. I'm interested in conversing about the experiments we lonely people do in our free time. Don't tell the others, but I can put my differences aside for knowledge's sake."

"!" Heian Ciemnosc's eyes jolted, opening and closing like a blink, but showing the surprise and realization of finding a whole new world! He shook Sandra's hand enthusiastically, but how could he not? It was like he had met one of his people! Sandra's and Heian Ciemnosc's knowledge-whore eyes confirmed their inner thoughts until a clap and the team leader's voice took their attention away from each other.

Clap! "Heh, that went better than expected. Now, Sandra, if you don't mind, it's my turn. And remember, you can't have him for yourself alone or show up with him before others too much. We've already brought too much shame to our incomplete Fleet." The team leader said, making Sandra smile slightly embarrassed before turning around and walking to the others. The team leader looked at Heian Ciemnosc, inspected his face, and nodded before placing his left hand on Heian Ciemnosc's right shoulder. "My name is Beto. You can start getting familiarized in a few minutes. Get a good grip on the Team's flight formations and synchronize with them. We're going out for a space training session in 2 hours. It was supposed to be in 2 days, but the commander..."

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"Ahem," Beto looked around his team members and coughed, changing subject and slightly sweating from his forehead. He looked harshly at Heian Ciemnosc and said, "It's better, for all of us, that you do well in this training. They usually last 6-8 hours, but with how things suddenly changed... we might be here for half a day."

"I got it, just one question," Heian Ciemnosc nodded but asked after nodding his head like a good, polite, and loyal boy to the Faction. Beto looked at him and nodded, gesturing him to continue. Heian Ciemnosc looked at everyone, politely pointing at them, and asked, "Why is everyone here at least half-Human? Are we the secret special force made from half-Humans?"

"Uhh, well... now that you mention it..." Beto grasped his chin and frowned as he seemed to think about it. However, as he did, the other team members grinned slyly, and then, the team leader shrugged before responding. "Nah, we aren't. It's how things are in some Teams. Our last man was also half-Human. His other ancestry was a Titan Race, but he still couldn't beat death. I suppose."

"There's a lot of talking for this matter. What is it about? How come only 1 person's death brought so much notice to an incomplete Fleet? And from one of a Frigate's Fighter Teams?" Heian Ciemnosc asked after getting a little comfy with the Team. His teammates looked at him, and the team leader went silent, but he still answered after putting on a stern expression. "It was a death that came from a mere second of misinformation."

"However, it did not involve negligence or a mistake from our Fighters. There was a sudden enemy reinforcement using those goddamn rare teleportation talismans. They were trying to hurry and save their employers, but they were as good as dead when they finally arrived. Only our Flotilla remained out, taking our turn in looting the rest after the others wolfed it down. We responded well, but after knowing where we belonged. They went all out, thinking we were trying to silence them. One of our Fighters was overwhelmed, and our fallen comrade exploded in under 5 seconds of the enemy sighting."

"Is that it? How come commander Choliac is deeply afflicted by this?" Heian Ciemnosc asked, not sounding rude but also not overly polite. Beto sucked in the air but took some seconds before speaking again. "it wasn't just the loss of a Fighter or that we were looting and got sneak-attacked. Our incomplete Fleet was just a few tens of thousands of kilometers away, and not more than 10 minutes had passed since we started looking for scraps. For any commander, be it a Flotilla or the Fleet, having such distance is nothing, and the commander should be able to protect us. But it wasn't enough. Commander Choliac's response came nearly half a minute later... and just after our comrade's Fighter turned into a blob of fire."

"... I see," Heian Ciemnosc lowered his head, thinking about something. He then looked back up and noticed Beto stood a few meters before him with his arms crossed while the others went to different distances. Beto kept staring at him and said in a low voice, but only Heian Ciemnosc could hear. "That's it for now, newbie. You may see that now that you're in our Team, we aren't like the rest. But you are still several, far cries away from becoming one of us after your 'magical' entrance in the past. Get to work. Nobody's waiting for you, nor will they... For now."

'But that's not true, there's too many people waiting for me... And there might be more in the future. Who knows... Mn, I have to try even harder... for them.' Heian Ciemnosc thought after lowering his head... again. He then looked up and nodded at Beto before moving towards the farthest empty spot to the left, where Moy stood. Beto looked as Heian Ciemnosc walked from Cara, the person at the right end of the line she and the other 5 formed, and walked to the remaining empty spot to her right.

Step, step, step... Pushuong! Pushuong! Pushuong!

As Heian Ciemnosc walked behind his new teammates, they took their Fighters out. Only Sandra had an SC, but he also believed she had an extra Bulldog Fighter in her Covert Space bags, only dismantled and for emergencies, perhaps. Heian Ciemnosc stood on the empty spot beside Moy, who gave him a silent nod and expressionless stare before entering his Fighter. Heian Ciemnosc looked at Moy's Bulldog soar upwards for a few seconds as the others did the same and lined up in midair.

Pushuong! Heian Ciemnosc immediately took his Ornament out, boarded it, and flew it up to align with the rest of the Team. He prepared everything and used his Spirit Sense to corroborate with their Fighters' specifications, changing quite a few things and rearranging some of his Fighter's systems to match the Team's flight preferences.

"Hey, newbie! Do you even know the Team's name?" Just as Heian Ciemnosc finished preparing and waited for instructions for a couple seconds, Ruo Wei's voice sounded in their Team's channel. Heian Ciemnosc looked to his right, somewhat pointlessly, but the former felt stared at. Heian Ciemnosc faced ahead and innocently said, "All I could read was numbers. You don't have a name?"

"Exactly!" Ruo Wei shouted again before continuing. "We're thinking of a name. However, we didn't want to choose one yet. But what if we choose one, and our new teammate messes with the Team's intention? It would be fine if it was someone like our fallen buddy, but in the end, it was you. We were right to wait, no?"

"Egh... I suppose, you did right." Heian Ciemnosc said, unwilling to put more words into demeaning himself. However, he could hear Ruo Wei smiling. Then, the team leader spoke to shut them up. But also to make the situation more awkward for Heian Ciemnosc. "It was her idea to wait. We were okay to change it, but the little tomboy here said she had a premonition and made us wait. Mn, she deserves a raise."

"Thanks, boss!" Ruo Wei added, causing a few chuckles. Before Ruo Wei's smile 'sounded' harder, Beto reminded her. "Oops. I'm not the Flotilla's commander. You'll have to request it from him. I'm just the middleman. Sorry..."

"Boss... that's... ugh!" Ruo Wei's words sounded heartfelt, and Heian Ciemnosc grinned at such. However, as if Ruo Wei could hear his grin forming, she broke formation and rushed in a quick circling maneuver to float before Heian Ciemnosc's unique Fighter. "Newbie! Come, let's go! We're going on a few laps in the hangar. If you break something, you pay. If I break something, I pay! What say you?!"

"Al... alright," Heian Ciemnosc looked at the Bulldog before him and could hear Beto's sigh as he was surely facepalming and rubbing his temples for the upcoming disaster. This time, Heian Ciemnosc could see Ruo Wei grinning as she cleared her cabin's windows. Then, she looked at Ornament and commented, "Nice beauty! Mind showing her to me tomorrow? Today's too busy, and we will all be too tired to move afterwards... Hmm, not bad. It must be loaded... You will suffer replenishing it."

"Oh, sure. Wait, what do you mean? Doesn't the Faction replenish all ammunition to—" Heian Ciemnosc politely responded. They were incredibly mighty cultivators for the current him, after all. However, as he was frowning after clearing his cabin's windows and looking at the tomboy, she interrupted him and savagely grinned. "Of course they do, but... Who are you to ask for it? Would they even care- no- would they even let you inside the supply modules? Hehehe..."

"...!!" Heian Ciemnosc's pale face remained slightly frowning and pensive... before reacting and finally becoming mentally tortured. He hadn't expected the bullying to be this bad! Seeing his expression, Ruo Wei uproariously chuckled, and knowing he was after the money now more than ever, she shouted as she rushed to the side. "Let's go! What are you waiting for? Now, this is a race! Don't trash anything, and win first place! The route is our little spot, hahaha, 10 spins! Come on!"

Whoooooooosh! Heian Ciemnosc watched as Ruo Wei's Fighter streaked past him and started making little circles while going up and down as if her Fighter had gone fucking crazy! Heian Ciemnosc hurried himself, as Ruo Wei had already gone ahead of him and became the show the other 6 enjoyed. However, what Ruo Wei could only expect and didn't know without further scanning the Ornament with Heian Ciemnosc's permission was a fact in the end. It was as fast as a SC but excelled in nimbleness. Heian Ciemnosc didn't waste any time to catch up to her, and the situation became super entertaining!!

Peeeeeeeeeeew~~! Whooosh, whoosh, whooosh, whoosh...! Swishhh! Fwwuushhh! Swaaaaaa-iishhh!! Peeew~! Whoosh! Cliiiink, claaaaank...~!

Heian Ciemnosc and Ruo Wei's race started becoming heavier and more intense. Their Fighter's wings started crashing onto one another up and down, slightly rubbing their tips, and sometimes, their Fighters even slammed the other from above or the side, turning to face the other before being bashed away from their Team's spot in the hangar. When the Team least knew it, they became the Hangar's full attention. By then, 8 spins had been run, and the race became only intense plus plus.

Yet, in the end, with a last-move attempt at scaring Heian Ciemnosc, Ruo Wei catastrophically failed to force him to stop when she faked a missile-targeting on his Ornament's butt before it even passed her Bulldog Fighter.

Pew~! Whoooooosh!

'Shit!' When she noticed her attempt failing, Ruo Wei still had confidence in herself. But then, she saw Heian Ciemnosc's Ornament inclined forwards until its nose faced the hangar's floor, and then... One sound later, Heian Ciemnosc was zooming up and down before her eyes as if he was zooming in the distance but was taking crazy, astronomically impossible sudden turns and twists around their spot, rapidly taking the last few motions to complete the 10th spin, leaving Ruo Wei and an entire hanger speechless.

'That motherfucker had a smallish engine on such a small Fighter...? Wait! No!... He has such perverted control over a Fighter?!!'

...