Protector Charles gave a silent command to his phaseship. Immediately, under Scarlett’s shocked eyes, the ship accelerated even faster. Within just ten minutes, the three have arrived at Engulfer Bay.
As they finally got right in front of it, the seemingly average-sized corpse of the Engulfer King became bigger than either Voyager could possibly imagine. They could look into a distance as far as possible and still see land. The only thing that could put things into context was that Engulfer Bay, just by itself, was the size of a small world.
It was so big that navigating through it by foot or other conventional methods was nearly impossible. You would spend weeks, if not months or years, on the road. That was why there was a whole system of portals across the platform.
And this world was very well defended. Despite the near impossibility of an attack on this location, the Protectors nonetheless made it so that in the case of an invasion, the invaders would die quicker rather than slower. As the Protector phaseship came down from the sky, Jean could see all sorts of orbital defenses. For some of them, she could guess they were cannons of some sort. But there were a lot of other defenses she didn't recognize at all.
Lines and lines of warriors in all forms marching across the surface. Every minute, there were light beams coming down from the sky and warping Voyagers into existence. These were Voyagers just like Jean and Scarlett whose foes have been handled. Jean was brought here with a phaseship because a Protector happened to be there, but for most, the Phase Placement Beams were still the main way of travel.
The three got out of the ship, and Charles led the way across the Bay’s surface.
Before they could move further inside, a distance away, five ships jumped in. They looked like dust in front of the Engulfer’s Bay itself, but in reality, they were each the size of several planets.
They slowly found their way into a dock on the Bay. One of them passed over Jean’s head.
Jean frowned. She could sense an overwhelming threat from these ships. Just one of them could take her out without much fuss. But didn't Welch tell her that at the highest level, technology would always fall victim to individual powers?
If ships could grow as powerful as the one that just passed by, then maybe one day her Wardens and Purifiers could rise to that level as well.
Welch wasn’t here. Thankfully, Jean had a Protector right next to her who, up until now, has been in a good mood.
“That ship. Does it belong to a supplicant legion?”
Charles looked up. Unlike Jean, he could see the entire ship in an instant. In fact, his powers were constantly on scanner mode, covering everything within a certain radius. Even just looking up felt more like instinct than a necessity.
“Ah...yes. It’s an Executioner Class command ship of the Iron Garrison.”
“The Iron Garrison?”
“A supplicant legion pledged to the Protector Corps, obviously. They focus on advancing technology and using an endless wave of ships to overwhelm their enemies. They are not the fiercest, but they are one of the most plentiful. Each of their command ship holds billions, and the Iron Garrison can mount an armada of hundreds of thousands of command ship with ease. Company Commander Thorn has deployed these ships out in squads of fives to hunt down and exterminate hostile worlds.”
“Hmmm...interesting.”
The three walked for a few more steps before Charles finally got tired of wasting time here. He snapped his finger, and before the two Voyagers knew it, they were inside a chamber.
“The Assistant here will give you your rewards and direct you to your new mission briefings. I have other affairs to attend to.” Protector Charles said as he disappeared. “I wish you the best of fortunes in the battles to come.”
Jean wasn’t too surprised. A Protector had better things to do than guide two Voyagers around. In fact, Charles didn't even have to explain the things he did. As she looked around the room, a hologram projector appeared in front of the two Voyagers.
“Congratulations, Voyagers. You have completed your mission, and now, you will be rewarded. For the sake of privacy, one of you please enter this room.”
A door opened on the side.
Scarlett gave Jean a final nod before walking in. When Jean was by herself once again, the Assistant continued.
“The reward for your accomplishments is one wish. State anything you desire. As long as it is within the realm of possibilities, it will be done.”
Jean rose her eyebrows.
“Any wish? Even if I hope to revive the dead?”
“Reviving the dead is possible, depending on the exact situation. If you have a piece of the soul of the dead, I can mend it whole and construct another body to place the soul in. If the soul is completely erased, then a revival will be impossible, but I can construct an individual according to your memories and other information that exist. As of now, there has been no complaints.”
“Wow.” Jean nodded inside. Makes sense. Every Voyager that has made it to this stage were proactive ones who have shown great potential. These were Voyagers like Jean and Allen who had their own objectives and would stop at nothing to achieve them. They were somewhat weak now, but like tiny seeds, they would eventually grow into powerful underlings of the Protector Corps.
But if the Corps wanted to use them in the future, then their loyalty to the Corps was crucial. This reward was great, and it was meant to be great to solidify that loyalty.
Certain Voyagers who had regrets in life might try to revive their friends or families. Others might hope for something else like wealth. In the end, all the Voyagers would be satisfied.
Stolen novel; please report.
It just so happened Jean did have a need to be satisfied.
“I am a Reapress, and recently, I have been experiencing a block with enhancing my Power of Death. In the past, the deeper my understanding of death is, the more my powers grow. That seems to no longer be true.”
Assistant nodded.
“Understood. Scanning now…”
“Accessing data bank now…”
“Voyager Turner, your CAS is at 999. You are one step away from stepping into Tier 3.”
“Wait...Tier 3?”
“Yes. Tier 3 combatants refer to individuals with a CAS of 1,000 - 9,999. In order to formally ascend to Tier 3, the combatant must have complete control over his or her soul. Tier 2 combatants, such as you, only have access to a fraction of their souls. This is the definition in Tier 3 because this is a distinct line between different power levels. Combatants who have controlled their souls completely see their powers and their potentials amplified.”
That made sense. Jean could pile on her understanding of death all she wanted, but the foundation of her power remained the same. If a car driver only had the steering wheel, there were only so many things he could do no matter how good he was, how good his car was, or how many tricks he knew. But if he was given access to all the functions of a vehicle, then only the sky was the limit.
She could also enhance her soul, but as long as she only had a portion of her soul to work with, the growth in power would still be reduced.
“Why haven’t I heard about this earlier?”
“Past history has determined that giving the combatants information about tiers have a tendency to misdirect them.”
“But…” Jean remembered something very important. “The ships I saw outside. The ones that belong to the Iron Garrison. Are they above Tier 3? But they can’t possibly have souls too! And how do you classify weapons? And combatants whose powers don’t involve souls?”
“Powers and abilities of those types have their CAS calculated as what damage they are capable of doing. A cannon with the CAS of 1,000 is capable of doing the same damage as a newly ascended Tier 3 combatant. A shield with the CAS of 1,000 can take the same punishment as a newly ascended Tier 3 combatant.”
Jean nodded in acknowledgment.
“In that case, my wish will be to help me enter Tier 3.”
“Are you sure you want to use your privilege on this? There are a lot of possibilities to this opportunity. One Voyager asked to own an entire world, and he got that opportunity.”
“I am sure.”
“Understood.” With that word, an object solidified in front of Jean. Within seconds, that object took the form of a small, glass vail. Jean took the vail and poured its content into her mouth without a moment of hesitance.
The thing with the Protectors was that they never created combatants with a single click or a single upgrade. Sure, they gifted Voyagers with upgrade sparks and all sorts of gadgets and such, but they never did things like give a normal person the power of a god in a day. Jean understood it. The difficulty in controlling the power was one problem. The other problem? If someone who has been dirt poor his entire life suddenly inherited one billion dollars. Did you think that person would handle that wealth as well as someone who worked his way up to the top? Different context. Same idea.
But crossing the Tier 3 mark wasn’t such a leap. If Jean relied only on external aids such as potions and injections to get to a CAS of 1,000, then she would be in trouble. But she was already at 999 with her own effort. She was merely inches away from the finishing line. Whatever Assistant gave her merely gave her one final tap.
And now, she has crossed the mark.
The content in the vail never entered her stomach. It disappeared on the way down. All of a sudden, Jean felt a flow across her soul, unlocking locks she never thought she had and bringing out potentials she never thought existed.
All of a sudden, she felt complete.
What Jean didn't know was that this process was supposed to be pleasant. The moment the soul was completed was supposed to be better than all the best food and drink and sex combined. But the nature of the Power of Death meant that as long as Jean was a Reapress, she could never feel ecstasy ever again.
The moment she was over the barrier, Jean felt her powers amplifying exponentially. She has gotten a mountain of understanding of the end of the line from the hundreds of thousands she watched slaughtered. Now, that only thing holding them in place was gone.
Assistant constantly scanned over Jean’s body and projected her CAS value in front of her.
1,000...
1,020...
1,050...
1,100…
The value stopped at 1,109.
Jean has never felt so powerful before. She could feel the Power of Death coursed through her veins every second of her very existence. When facing the Aggressor, she needed a brief moment to activated 12 billion souls. Now, she could do so in an instant.
Not that it would make any difference.
Psychic blade. Wraith creation. Soul extraction.
At this point, how powerful was Jean Turner? Amon, the big, bad boss that took Jean countless planning and multiple battles to weaken before finally being defeated? His CAS was just at 1,000. This meant that if Jean went back to the Starcraft world now and fought Amon again, you know, assuming he was revived, Jean could single handedly take him down.
The void? Doesn’t matter. Fleets of void shades? Nah. The Power of Death could erase anything from existence. The volatile void energy was a child compared to the ultimate Power of Death.
But despite all this leap, Jean had her head cool. She has made a huge step forward, but she was by no means invincible. To the Protectors, to the greater scale of the Infinite Realms, she was no different with a CAS of 1,109 then she was with one of 999.
She had to lay low...and get more power!
She turned back to the Assistant, who had been observing the transformation unfold without a word.
“I am ready to carry out the missions of the Protectors。”
“Very well.”
Another door opened, one different from the one Scarlett went through. Jean walked through. This time, she came out of the portal in a room where nineteen other Voyagers in black armor were waiting.
Another Assistant AI remained in the center of the room. Seeing Jean enter, the AI turned to the others.
“All 20 Voyagers are in place. Beginning mission briefing now.”
Jean and the others watched as a hologram projection of a world’s description popped up.
“Dimension KJ02.”
“Inhabitants: Human. Combat style: Magic.”
“Average CAS: 100. Maximum detected CAS: 300.”
“The inhabitants of this world have been harboring an Aggressor. The 20 Voyagers in this room will act as a team. Your mission is to take a phaseship, travel to this world, and cleanse it. If Aggressor activities are detected, contact the Protectors.”
“Understood?”
The 20 Voyagers glanced at each other. All of them could see the coldness in each others’ unmasked eyes. All of them answered the kill order with a single word.
“Understood.”
The Voyagers quickly departed. Within minutes, they left Engulfer’s Bay on a phaseship they were given, piloted by an installed AI.
Meanwhile, not that far away from Engulfer Bay, another Voyager was on a whole different path.