Jean opened her eyes.
Amon...Kerrigan...Viper.
Anyone else would’ve been heartbroken by what Jean just went through, but Jean’s eyes remained ice cold. She didn't feel sad. She simply couldn’t. Her brain literally didn't have the ability to process emotions.
“You’re awake.”
Jean turned around and found a man. He was in a completely white armor. Something like a blaster was on his back. Jean could see a sword strapped to his belt, along with a pistol. Jean couldn’t sense any threat from the man.
Either he was too weak or too powerful.
“A shy one, huh?” The man smiled warmly as he realized Jean was looking at him in silence. “Let me introduce myself first. I am Corporal Welch of the Fifth Legion of the Protector Corps.”
“Jean Turner.” Jean replied, carefully putting on a mask by looking confused. “What happened? Where am I?”
“Well, that is why I am here.” Welch replied. Jean looked around and found she and Welch were in a white room. “You are in the City of the Voyagers.”
“What…”
“Let me explain from the beginning.” Welch waved his hand, and a pair of chairs on the side flew over. The chairs gently landed in front of Jean and Welch. Jean’s eyes slightly widened as she sat down. That was telekinesis, but Jean didn't sense it when Welch used it. Just that placed Welch’s power at a significant level.
“At the beginning, it was an age of chaos and death. Our kind was just an insignificant race among the Infinite Realms. We were at war with many intruders from other worlds, intruders that we couldn’t defeat by ourselves. We lost many people. That was when the Grand Protector came in. She led us to victory against our enemies and saved our kind more times than anyone can count. In the end, we won, but at a heavy cost.”
Welch waved his hands again, and a table appeared out of nowhere between Jean and him.
“Any drink?”
“Water will be fine.”
Welch waved in two bottles of water. He took a drank from one of them before continuing.
“To make sure that death and destruction would not happen again, the Grand Protector created the Protector Corps. Based on the Core Realm, we were tasked with securing peace throughout the Infinite Realms.”
Jean listened carefully, but deep down inside, she took the story with a grain of salt. She had no way of checking most of the story, but she did know being forced to complete a mission, with the alternative being death, was hardly peace.
“But our kind is limited. There are one thousand legions of us. Each legion contains one million Protectors.”
“Wow.” Jean’s mouth hung open in amazement. Keep the acting going…
“Wow indeed, but it’s not enough. As of this moment, there has been 3 billion dimensions. Each dimension has from a single planet to millions of planets. New dimensions are discovered every moment. Oh, look at that.”
Welch wiped his fingers across the space in front of him, and a hologram projection popped into the open. Welch quickly scrolled through the pictures.
“This one looks cozy. I might take a vacation there some time. Oh wait, where was I?”
“Your people are shorthanded.” Jean reminded.
“Yes. We were short-handed. At some point, someone suggested to the Grand Protector to create an army of manmade combatants, but the Grand Protector deemed they were unreliable. Anyways, this is where you come in.”
“Me?”
“Yes. You are a member of the Voyager Corps. The Voyager Corps is chosen from the inhabitants of the Infinite Realms. You have been given the great honor to join in with our cause.”
Something tells Jean most Voyagers wouldn’t think being thrown into a completely foreign universe and sent to kill someone as an honor, but she kept her mouth shut about it.
“It is an honor indeed.” She replied.
“You are called Voyagers because you will take trips throughout the dimensions, either enhancing your own power or completing missions given to you.” Welch smiled. “The world you just went through, it’s part of your recruit mission. Oh, I almost forget. I’m really getting old.” He wiped his hand again. This time, a bag appeared in his hand. He tossed the bag to Jean.
As soon as Jean caught the bag, she could sense what was inside.
1,000 gold coins. A bolded symbol of “P” was on the top.
“What is this…”
“Your reward for completing your recruit mission. These coins are the currency of the Protectors and the Voyagers. You can buy anything with them...with enough of them, of course.”
“Thank you.” Jean smiled and put the bag inside her watch. “You were talking about the recruit mission…”
“Yes. In a recruit mission, you’re given the knowledge of the original history of the world. Don’t get me wrong. It’s still challenging, but compared to most of your future missions, it is easy. Recruit missions are designed to jump-start your power scale. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope you got a lot out of the mission.”
“Sort of.” Jean shrugged.
“Well, I sure hope so. If you screwed up your first world, you won’t make it past your second one, which will make this conversation very pointless.” Welch continued. “As I said, that are other types of missions. Namely, trial missions and objective missions.”
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“What’s the difference…”
“Trial missions are designed to enhance your abilities while objective missions are for the greater good of the Infinite Realms. You won’t have any knowledge about who you’re facing in either type, but as long as you can make it out, the reward will make you a really happy girl. Also, you get gold coins after every successful mission. The exact amount is based on the difficulty of the missions.”
“Bravo.” Jean’s smile never disappeared. “I can’t wait.”
“Wait until you see the outside.” Welch stood up and waved the door open. “Follow me. I’ll show you.”
Welch walked out first. Jean followed carefully. The entire time, she played the role of a nice, obedient recruit. That was who she is. She can be the most friendly person to talk to when she needs to be.
Going outside, Jean found herself facing a large, wide street. Men and women in all sorts of gears were walking across. Some looked like they came out of a sci-fi movie. Others looked like wizards and witches. Jean could sense a feeling of threat from some of them. Others, not so much. A few men and women in white armor, Protectors, were among the pedestrians as well. The Voyagers kept a distance from the Protectors. The street was covered by guardrails on the side.
“The City of the Voyagers is made up of three parts. The first is the Housing Area. This way.” Welch led Jean down one of the side streets. Jean was walking on the side when she decided to glance over the guardrail.
She saw...nothing. It was a strange feeling. The other side of the rail wasn’t black or dark or anything. It was just...empty.
“Careful. I wouldn’t want to fall down there if I were you.” Welch casually commented.
“What...what is that?”
“The City of the Voyagers exist in a manmade dimension. Some laws of physics don’t work around here. If you fall down there, you’ll be lost in the Infinite Dimensions. Not gonna be a pretty sight.”
“Then I’d make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Clever girl. Here we are.”
The two stopped in front of a line of houses. Even Jean couldn’t see the other end of the street. “Which one is mine?”
“Uh. Let me check.” Welch tapped something on his wrist. Jean realized he had a watch as well. “Ok. House 7891. There is a portal over here. It can bring you to any house you want. Of course, if you want to go to a house that doesn’t belong to you, you’ll have to have the permission of that house’s owner.”
Jean nodded and stepped into the portal. A series of numbers appeared in front of her. “7891.” She said loudly, and the next second she was standing in front of a normal looking house.
“You can alternate your house based on your will.”
Jean turned around and found Welch standing right in front of her.
“There’s another portal?”
“Oh yeah! Well, I came here on foot, anyways. It was a fun walk.” The white armored Protector replied. Not a single drop of sweat could be seen on him. “Try it!”
Jean closed her eyes and imagined something before walking into the house. As soon as he entered, her mouth hung open in shock.
The house looked moderate from the outside, but from the inside, it was a castle that literally extended off to the horizon without end. It was as tall as it was long. Jean couldn’t even see the ceiling.
She just made a wish for a castle as large as possible, and now she’s got this.
“What the…”
“Every house is actually a pocket dimension. From the outside, it’s all nice and innocent, but you can build a universe in here if you want. Of course, you can’t take anything inside the pocket dimension out. It’s some other law of physics I don’t want to know about. I think it’s fun and all, but it’s more for show.”
“That’s impressive…” Even the Protoss Empire, at the height of its technology, couldn’t develop something as sophisticated as pocket dimensions, but the Protectors were using them as houses. Even a new recruit like her could get one...this is really scary, in a sense.
“It’s nothing.” Welch shrugged. “You’ll have more time enjoying it later, but for now, come with me. There are two more places I want to show you. Follow me.”
The two teleported out of the house and went back onto the road. They proceeded down the road for a couple of minutes before reaching two doors. Each had a sign in front. Other Voyagers were walking through the doors and disappearing.
Great. More portals.
One of the signs read “Market”. The other read “Arena”.
“Which one do you want to go first?”
Jean tapped her lips. “The arena sounds fun.”
“Then we’re going to the Market. Just kidding. Let’s go to the Arena.”
The two walked through the Arena portal and found themselves in a giant dome. Welch dragged Jean to a control panel.
“There are a couple of things you can do in the arena. First of all, the Simulation Room. That one’s my favorite. Basically, your conscious gets put into a simulated environment where you can fight against anyone you want with any weapon you want without having to worry about being injured or wasting resources. It can also be quite fun if you want it to be. Nothing is better than simulated sex.”
“Sounds...awesome.” Jean gave out a shy smile. “Is it expensive?”
“Nope. The entire arena is completely free. Well, you’re not getting back the time, but...I digress.”
“What else?”
“The Challenger Tower. There is an almost infinite number of tower levels. You can conquer a level after beating the simulated Boss at that level. Conquering a level can give you certain rewards, including gold coins, rare material, and even gadgets. It’s also free, so you can go through a level as many times as you want, but only the first time gets you the reward. Because it’s also in a simulated environment, you don’t have to worry about losing your gadgets or getting injured.”
“Brilliant. I can’t wait to get into a good fight.”
“Oh, I almost forgot. You should probably get your CAS tested.”
“CAS?”
“Combat Ability Statistic. Basically how powerful you are. Just tap the correct key on the control panel and your CAS at the moment will be automatically evaluated. It will take whatever gadget on you into consideration. Keep in mind the things in your watch will not be included unless you equip them on you.”
Jean’s eyes slightly widened as her mind raced. The level of technology needed to accurately estimate the combat ability of someone and transform that into a number is just shocking. Compared to these Protectors, the races in the Starcraft universe were like children. Then again, she shouldn’t be surprised. This was a race capable of traveling through different dimensions.
She tapped a few keys, and immediately a number appeared in her mind.
A CAS of 259.
“How high is it? Well, I shouldn’t be asking, but I’m just curious. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“Oh it’s fine. I’ve got a 259.”
Jean told the truth. As far as she knew, the Protectors were like gods. They were even mightier than Kerrigan in her Xel’naga form. Lying wouldn’t do her any good. Plus, if the Protectors wanted her dead, they could do it easily. She couldn’t even run.
“259? Wow...that’s quite high for a recruit.” Welch rose his eyebrows. “Most of the recruits I have seen are around 100. Congrats. You are much more likely to live through the missions than most of your peers.”
Jean smiled warmly before suddenly speaking.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what is your CAS?”
She watched Welch’s face closely, looking for any sign of him being insulted.
Welch wasn’t insulted. In fact, he seemed amused.
“Multiply your CAS by 4 and then by 1,000, and you’ll get close to my CAS.”
259 * 4 * 1000.
Approximately one million.