Koll watches the players disappear for the system update.

For the other NPCs, the mass disappearance is alarming. But, Koll sends out a message explaining that the Immortals will return soon.

With the confirmation from their leader, business returns to normal.

In the unseen shadows of the galaxy, unfathomable forces begin to move.

It is impossible to know which faction moved first. But, worlds are burnt to cinders, and stars are snuffed out.

The sudden violence spells doom for many human and alien civilizations. Only the great galactic powers can absorb the devastation. And, even then, many such powers can only dread their impending doom.

When the players return to the game, alarm begins to spread across the forums. The systems of many players had been wiped out, forcing respawn systems away.

The Ruun players of the Astera faction were exempt from the devastation that was moving across the galaxy.

The asteroid belt they call home has no star or planet to incite the hatred of the warring factions. And, so continues to operate without issue.

That isn't to say that every world tied to their teleportation array was exempt from the devastation. A number of the nodes had been severed permanently.

Juniper station remains intact for now. But, Koll knows that its security is limited. The Alabaster system the station resides in will be a conflagration point inevitably. And, the station won't survive the expansion.

For now, Koll needs to accelerate the growth of his Astera Station so that he can absorb the many refugees that this era will see.

Koll summons Winter Storm.

"Yes, Koll?" the player asks upon entering Koll's chamber.

"I need you to redouble your efforts in procuring resources for the station. I'm going to purchase 5 more freighters from Juniper Station. Go there and fill the ships with as many resources as you can. I'll give you more capital. Bring them back with haste."

The player is confused for a moment before hastily saying, "I will."

Koll dismisses the player and thinks. Juniper Station is his greatest resource right now. But, Koll can't be certain that it will last as long as it had in his past life.

For as much as Koll had changed the course of history for the Ruun players, he hadn't had any meaningful effect on galactic history. And, the elementals are galactic in their scope. So, things should progress much the same as they had.

The true trial of the expansion isn't fighting the elementals. It will be controlling the refugee crisis and fighting the increasingly desperate citizens of the galaxy.

Koll will do what he can in both regards. He already has worlds in his teleportation array that he knows won't make it. It's better to begin the evacuations as soon as possible. But, his resources are insufficient.

Koll calls up Gol D.

"Koll," the warlord greets him. "What's up?"

"I have several planets I want you to set up a presence on. I'm sending you the list now."

Gol D reviews the information and raises an eyebrow.

"Is this related to the worlds disappearing?"

Koll nods, "Prepare the Immortals to act as peacekeepers. There will be a lot of desperate people before long. This isn't a wartime operation."

Gol D nods, "I'll begin distributing the soldiers."

"Thanks."

He had prepared before the expansion as much as he could. But, now that the moment is here, he feels inadequate.

Koll goes in search of Jake Snow and oversees his artificer research with satisfaction. The boy is developing very well. And, is largely dependent on the blueprints Koll provides. So, Koll isn't as involved in his development as he'd been in the early stages.

Upon returning to his chamber, Koll meets Wu Lan standing by his door.

She is startled as he approaches from behind.

"God, Koll. Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry. I was just returning."

Wu Lan sighs, "So, I assume you know all about what's going on."

Koll shrugs, "More or less."

"I don't get it," she confesses. "Why are worlds disappearing and stars blinking out of existence?"

Koll takes a deep breath, "Galactic-level elemental war."

Her face is blank.

"What?"

"Powerful elementals are waging war on each other with powers beyond the galaxy grade."

"Damn," she lets out a breath. "What do we do if they have that kind of power?"

Koll shrugs, "Try to survive."

She smiles, "I mean, what do you do?"

Koll smirks, "Try to take advantage."

"You know," she says. "Some might mistake you for a villain the way your mind works."

"Hey, my Immortal slaves... I mean Immortal Braves constantly ask for me to exploit them. Is it my fault that I'm just that charismatic?"

"Charismatic? I don't think that's your defining trait."

Koll clutches his heart in mock pain.

"What about you?" he asks. "What will you do?"

She thinks uncertainly.

"Gol D's sending Immortals to do peacekeeping. I'll take up the quest."

Koll nods, "Good luck."

"You too. Good luck."

Koll is left alone and enters his chamber to study his class change manual.

Weeks pass quickly.

The worlds Koll had sent the Immortals to are falling into chaos. Their systems growing violent with trespassing elementals picking fights on worlds and stars in the systems.

Koll's efforts to expand the facilities of Astera Station are advancing rapidly. Winter Storm's arrival with 5 full freighters and a caravan of cargo ships bolsters efforts considerably.

The original pirate stronghold could have held a couple hundred thousand at most.

Now, the station can easily support a million people. But, compared to the populations of the worlds threatened by war, a million is a tiny drop in the bucket.

Koll makes sure that Winter Storm's caravan has every credit it needs and is in perpetual motion.

Things are going well. But, the balance is crumbling.

Already, refugees are spilling over into the space dock. The citizens of the local group had gotten word of Astera Station's safety and reclusive status. Refugees are boarding transports with the station as their destination.

Resources are holding and plenty of worlds tied to the array are safe. Food and water are more abundant than habitation space.

Koll plans for a population of 10 million by the end of the month.

It is an absurd number. But, he doesn't have any choice but to push his engineers to the extreme.

Credits flow like water. They come in from rents and commissions. The mercenary work brings in the lion's share of his income. Gol D can be said to be earning his position as a mercenary commander.

Over the past month, Koll has completed his class advancement and begins learning bioengineering.

With his experience as an artificer, he is able to create a lab that suits his needs.

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His early work revolves around the study of blood and the refinement of certain biomarkers related to traits. He even makes an injection that boosts the recipient's strength and stamina for a short duration.

The injection will have a debuff that triggers once the buff has expired. The debuff isn't permanent. But, can be debilitating for its duration.

The gene editor can be said to be a failure. But, is a step towards success.

Despite everything that is going on, Koll has a lot of time on his hands. He has tens of thousands of NPCs performing a plethora of tasks at all hours.

He has hundreds of thousands of players ready to jump if he makes a quest for them to jump. And, the player business' he'd invested in are reaping rewards every day.

But still, Koll feels uncertain of the future.

Dancing Dagger seeks him out on several occasions. The player seemed confident in Koll's abilities and shares his envy of said abilities.

The young man is more fragile than he'd been in the early days of their adventures and seems more interested in talking with Koll than in questing or killing monsters.

With little to do but observe the situation, Koll focuses on his crafting.

Like that, another month passes.

Against all logic, Koll's engineers mass-produce habitation modules and expand the array of hollowed-out asteroids to balloon the population to 10 million.

The refugees coming by ship don't stop and the first exodus from compromised worlds immediately consumes the habitation space.

But, the migrants aren't just mouths. They became employees in the great expansion process.

They pay rent and work for the cause of ensuring other refugees' safety.

The humanitarian crisis becomes a great opportunity.

Everyone agrees that more needs to be done.

Koll can't keep track of it all. He simply nods his head during the briefings and skims through the reports.

He had a vague idea of accomplishing all this when he built his armada to conquer Tortuga. But, now that it is happening, all he can do is let himself be carried away by the current.

And, so more months pass as tens of millions more refugees come seeking shelter.

The players are at their wit's end on the compromised worlds. Wars are being waged on the planets as desperate people lash out.

The first world that is destroyed gives the players a new experience. A defeat that the human mind can barely comprehend.

Fortunately, the players were tied to Astera Station. So, when their lives were snuffed out, they returned to life on the station.

But, a not insignificant number of the mercenaries are done with peacekeeping. Players complained of PTSD from watching those they thought they were protecting being culled en masse.

Koll can't blame the players and recruits those who won't play peacekeeper anymore into guarding the caravans that leave the station daily for Juniper Station.

But, even Juniper is growing increasingly at risk. Its population hops ship and flees to Astera.

The relocation of resources becomes an issue for the administrators of Juniper Station who decide that staying is too risky. With few better options, the administration seeks to merge with Astera.

The fleeing leadership cannibalizes key structures of the Juniper Station and ships them to Astera for use in the constant construction.

Koll welcomes the administration personnel with open arms and the construction blossoms in ways he could never have hoped.

The hundred million mark is met without fanfare. Too many more need shelter and the crews are busy creating a superstructure that even Juniper Station can't compare with.

Koll and Dancing Dagger are busy talking one day.

"It's pretty ridiculous, Koll. You're building a world in the middle of an asteroid field."

Koll nods, "I'm well aware of how ridiculous the situation has become."

"Did you know," Dancing Dagger asks. "Or more specifically, when did you know?"

"Well, I knew things would escalate to where they are since the beginning. I just didn't know if I would make it this far."

The blonde man laughs, "The Holy Daughter of the Red Sect called you out years ago. She knew something strange was in you. Your connection to fate. It's not a demon. But, I can't help but say it's probably more dangerous than any demon in the galaxy."

Koll shrugs, "I'm just me. What was summoned by the Red Sect's initiation was just me, Koll Luna."

The player scoffs, "Then, tell me. Who is Koll Luna that he knows the future and masters classes like its child play?"

Koll sighs, "Do you want to know?"

Dancing Dagger nods.

"Promise you won't tell anyone."

"I won't," the player promises.

"Okay," Koll says. "The Red Sect initiation summoned my consciousness from the future."

If Koll expected Dancing Dagger to be baffled, he is disappointed.

"So, you're from the future."

Koll observes the man but sees no change in his demeanor.

"Here I was expecting something surprising."

Dancing Dagger is underwhelmed.

"You don't believe me?" Koll asks.

"No, I believe you. I just thought your secret was something else."

"Like me having been a player in my past life before being summoned into the past as an NPC?"

Dancing Dagger has a strange look in his eyes.

"Wait... What?"

Koll confides in his friend, "I was a human on Earth. I played Cosmos up to its sixth expansion only to start over as an NPC acolyte of the Red Sect."

Dancing Dagger seems unable to comprehend Koll's words.

"You wanted to know," Koll says with a petulant tone.

It takes the player some time to process his words.

"So, you..."

"Yep."

"... know who wins the Superbowl for the next 6 to 7 years?"

Koll scowls. "Like I care about football."

Dancing Dagger thinks for a moment, "A lot of us have wondered why the game never patched you out. You always seemed to break the balance. Do you think the system itself is responsible for trapping you like this?"

Koll nods, "I can't think of any other answer. But, I don't know how time travel came into the mix."

"Well," Dancing Dagger muses. "The system runs on a quantum computer. Aren't wormholes through time possible in the quantum realm? Perhaps it couldn't transmit your body into the past. But, it could theoretically create a doorway into the past where it transferred your consciousness from the full-dive system into a digital body inside the game?"

Koll thinks, "That kind of makes sense. I just don't get why it would do that."

Dancing Dagger shrugs, "Maybe it thought you were a competent player and could change the course of events in the game."

Koll feels a headache coming on.

"I need to think about things. I'll see you later."

Dancing Dagger pats him on the shoulder, "I'm here for you."

Koll nods and walks off in search of his bed.

Time passes steadily. And, more worlds fall to ruin. The most Astera can do is absorb as many lives as it can before the fall.

Gol D's forces are at their limits as the local factions fight for their chance at escape.

The players start to question the NPC status of the desperate people. It's one thing to watch an NPC die. But, to watch them die by the millions. To see the desperation on their faces and see them step on each other to escape a sinking ship.

Even the callous players can't help but question their reality.

Reports from across the galaxy share the movements of the interstellar and galactic civilizations.

The Unity Triumvirate is in a desperate place with the refugee crisis. As a Tier 3 civilization, it has many systems to protect. And, civil war is threatening to erupt as the factions of their civilization fall into categories of winners and losers.

In Koll's previous timeline, the Triumvarate fell to internal strife and the encroachment of hostile elementals. Even the high-level galactic civilization couldn't overcome the crisis and dissolved.

The galaxy-grade civilizations that Koll hadn't encountered yet will fight to some effect against the elementals. But, their involvement in the war will irritate the primordial forces and draw their ire.

Koll thinks that the good old days of hunting gophers and scamming players were far preferable to the constant string of crises. They can't even fight back against the ancient enemies.

As far as Koll is concerned, his ships would be as tissue paper were he to try to attack any of the elemental factions.

The one thing that can be said for this expansion is that it was a boon to his Astera Station. By the end of it, he'd fill the asteroid belt with hundreds of millions of NPCs. All of whom will be desperate to prove their utility to the growing feudal lord.

"Gol D," Koll says into the comms.

The barbarian answers, "What's up?"

"The station needs more peace officers. Pull back forces on the planets listed below. Commision them to patrol Astera. I've listed salaries for the Immortals based on class and attribute level."

Gol D nods on the screen, "Good. The players are nearing their limits in the world. It's a shame to give up on these planets. But, it will do a world of good for our people's mental health."

Koll nods. The planets he'd listed were days from catastrophe. And, Astera just couldn't absorb all the refugees. The hard choice to abandon the civilians had to be made.

It didn't serve anyone to have the players die with the planets.

Koll, the despot that he is becoming, can't save anyone. And, he needs more troops to keep the peace at the station.

Just because they came for safety doesn't mean the refugees didn't bring crime and acts of terrorism with them.

Refugees from fallen worlds resent that more wasn't done to save their people. It doesn't matter that Astera had done everything in its ability.

Koll monitors the relocation of Juniper Station facilities. The habitation structures of the fallen station boosts Astera's population capacity by millions in short order. Why make new homes when you can import them?

The caravans of wayward space gypsies come constantly and have to enter the waitlist and stay on their vessels. Fortunately, food is abundant, the teleportation array has many safe worlds that supplied fresh produce daily.

The difficulty in these worlds is the limit of refugees they would accept. It was a political nightmare trying to convince the locals to accept mass immigration. Koll had given up on it shortly after the crises began.

Koll sighs and rubs his face in exhaustion. He doesn't even have much of a workload. He just has to make sure everyone is working in the right direction.

The alarm on his chamber door sounds.

Koll gets up and moves to the door.

A fairy looks at him from the other side.

"Hey," she says.

"Hi."

"Can I come in?"

Koll moves aside and Wu Lan enters.

"You look a mess," she says as she walks over to his couch and sits down.

"Thanks," he says sardonically.

"Oh, don't be like that. I'm just concerned."

Koll sits down across from her.

"Eh, I'm just trying to keep everything from unraveling."

Wu Lan looks pensive. "Is there anything we can do? About the elementals."

Koll sighs, "Not unless we want to put targets on our backs. We don't have weapons or ships that can even touch them. The best thing to do is hide in the corner while the grown-ups fight."

The brown-haired young woman looks at him for a moment.

"I've never seen you so powerless."

Koll shrugs, "I'm just a small-time actor in the galaxy. I'm more powerless than I let on."

She slides across the couch until her face is just in front of his.

Alarm and uncertainty registers on his face because of the sudden proximity of her pretty face.

She looks into his eyes intently.

Koll feels his heart beating fast.

"Don't sell yourself short, Koll. You're the most capable person I've ever met. You'll survive this and be stronger for it."

Koll shrugs uncomfortably.

He watches as Wu Lan looks at him with a confidence he doesn't know if he merits.

She smiles and slides back across the couch, putting some distance between them.

"You know," she says. "That guy my parents wanted me to date. I'm not."

Koll feels his stomach turn in knots.

"Why not?"

She shrugs, "He just wasn't that interesting."

Koll feels an unfamiliar anticipation welling up within him.

"So, interesting is what you desire in a boyfriend?"

She shrugs, "Among other things.

"What about you, Koll? What do you want in a girlfriend?"

Koll scratches his cheek, "I'm not exactly experienced in that field."

"What?" she asks in mock surprise. "The workaholic, Koll Luna, doesn't have time for dating? I'm shocked. Just shocked."

"Oh, shut up," he groans.

Wu Lan giggles before looking at him softly.

"I wish I could live in Cosmos like you do, Koll."

He nods, "It's not easy being an Immortal."

She shakes her head, "Being an Immortal is great. It's all the time I'm not an Immortal. Things just seem simpler in here."

"Koll..."

She hesitates for a moment before sliding back to his side.

The fairy looks up into his eyes, there's a sense of intimacy he's not used to.

She leans into him and their lips touch. Then their tounges.

Koll breathes deeply and smells her light scent.

Their kiss lingers, neither too passionate nor lacking.

Koll looks at Wu Lan with wonder while she turns a bright shade of crimson.

Silently, she stands up and looks at him for a moment before hastily walking to the door and disappearing.

Koll is left thinking of how soft her lips were.