The Necromedes was both huge and fascinating. As expected, it was bigger on the inside, but aside from the outer layers where the docking bay had been, the interior was wide and open, like a floating city. There was even a sky, presumably made through enchantments.

Rather than being all dark and depressing, the interior felt like we were standing on a mountain peak, cold, chill air wrapping around us. Killian looked pretty proud to show everything off. "We tend to use the flagship for VIP transport when possible. The favors and payments we extract are always useful, and unlike most clans, the Zayne's have no stable location to defend. We're spacefaring, so don't need to worry about being attacked so easily. It's a win win."

"I still say it's not the same." Disagreed Zeke. "Something about having real, hard dirt under your feet is just...different. Fake it as well as you want, but I'll take planetary living any day of the week."

Killian shrugged. "Yeah, but you're a snobby artist. I still can't believe you took my family's soul stitching skill and turned it into arts and crafts. My ghost binding talent is so much more useful, which is obvious since you still haven't hit A-rank with your ridiculous clown faces."

"Empty shells." Sneered Zeke. "They keep their stats but lose their ability. What's the difference between that and using golems? Sure you can have way more of them, but an army of generic ghosts can't compete with my ability to use more than a dozen different abilities."

This sounded like an old argument, so I jumped in, cutting them off before they could get sucked in. "So your whole family lives in space?"

Killian refocused on me. "Oh sure. My son Blake is around here somewhere. And my wife Cara. My whole branch is on this ship." That didn't fit with what I knew of branches, and my confusion seemed to be easily visible, even behind my mask, because he laughed an elaborated. "S-rankers start branches of god factions, or their own clans, but S-ranked clans with only one S-ranker can benefit from branches as well. In those cases A-rankers are allowed to branch off."

"Forgive me for saying so, but you don't...seem like an A-ranker." I'd half expected him to be a hundred feet tall and breath fire, considering what A-rankers were capable of.

He just chuckled. "I consider that a compliment. Only weaklings and incompetents flex their power unconsciously. Restraint is an important component to success. I'm sure you've long since realized that Zeke doesn't let out most of his strength when he's around you. It would be massively inconvenient to smash everyone you meet into gibbering paste just by your sheer presence."

We chatted for a while as we walked, learning more about the Zayne family and the Necromedes itself, until we finally came to a wide open area with a massive white stone building. Killian stopped. "This is our training hall. Lots of cutting edge equipment in there. Some high Impact exercise gear for training, targets for practicing dangerous abilities, and even sparring golems that can be set to variable levels or both combat skill and raw power."

Zeke sniffed. "It's a bit low tech, but it's not like we can't make do." He kept his haughty expression for a second, then winked. "Kidding, thanks for the help." His eyes drifted to me. "This is already as close to overt help as I can give you on this. Technically speaking I just happened to ask a friend for a ride to ensure our safety, his allowing you to use his training hall is a coincidence. That said, I won't be able to do anything to help directly."

"It's fine." I said with a chuckle. "I'm grateful you managed to find us a place to improve. We've probably got a lot more points coming in the next few months, and having somewhere to acclimate and work on our combat abilities will be important if we want to do well at the trials. Speaking of which, what ARE the trials? Like do you have any hints you can give on passing them?" I glanced at Killain. "Either of you?"

They shook their heads, our host answering for both of them. "Nope. They actually change, so we can't give specifics, really. Not to mention the trials don't take place on the physical plane. The Ruined Soul Temple is a spiritual space, and almost all of the memories you make there get left behind when you emerge. I've been myself, and so has Zeke, but we only have a vague understanding of what's there."

I cursed. "Damn, well thanks for telling me what you could at least. How about the timeframe? How long do we have on here? Zeke said we're taking the long way."

"Yup. Lady Valsara, the fae who contracted us for the pickup of her daughter Annalise, is also planning to do some training before arriving at the temple." He winked at me. "We get paid more this way, so I don't mind. It'll be about three months. If I were you I'd use it on soul tempering. Having a higher soul will give you a huge advantage in the temple. The better your soul the higher your starting point, even if we forgot most of it that much is easy to remember."

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Abel grinned at that. His soul was at the peak of yellow, having been boosted a full grade on rank up just like the rest of ours, and having already reached the peak of orange in G-rank. Training the soul past one full rank ahead (Master Candidate status) required special resources and techniques, or places like the Ruined Soul Temple. Hearing that he'd have an advantage in the trials had to be pleasant for him.

Of course, I was betting there would be plenty of other Master Candidates showing up to this if that was the case, and probably even monsters whose souls had advanced to a level close to the two grade higher limit. Since the Ruined Soul Temple trials gave prizes, some of those clan heirs who had trained on their family's own inheritance would probably make an appearance to try to sweep the rewards.

The thought of fighting more people like Abel was...kind of exciting. And I had three full months of training against Abel himself to hone those skills. My mentor had beaten me before, but that had been a while ago. And I'd come damned close to winning. I'd advanced quite a bit since then in terms of combat fundamentals.

I felt Callie start next to me and glanced over to check on her. She looked pretty intense, glancing around wide eyed as if she had no idea where she was, but I could tell from the bond that she was excited. Apparently she'd had some success with whatever comprehension of her Path she was working on. I wanted to ask about it, but now definitely wasn't the time.

So we followed Killian, enjoying the tour and listening to his stories for an hour or two, until finally the A-ranker was called away for some business or something and left us to head to the dining hall to grab something to eat. It had been most of the day since my last meal, so I for one was pretty damned hungry.

Sitting down at a table, we all ordered food from one of the waiters they apparently had on staff here full time, and then I gave my girlfriend a curious glance. She shook her head, giving me a quick 'later' gesture, and then asked me to fill her in on what she'd missed during her downtime.

"Huh. This place is pretty cool." She said in wonder, glancing around the dining hall to try to see something interesting. Of course, we were in a building so she didn't see anything but tables and food, but for my girlfriend, the latter would always be the most important thing in the room. "Also those steaks smell AMAZING." She grinned at me. "Honey..."

"No." I said flatly. "You got an eighteen ounce ribeye and like four sides. I'm not sharing.

"But I'm so HUNGRY." She moaned, letting her head slump to the table dramatically. "I used so much energy on my epiphany, I need sustenance."

I glanced at her suspiciously, then over to Zeke. "Is that actually a thing? Do epiphanies make you hungry?"

"I'm pretty sure BREATHING makes her hungry." He said wryly. "But I guess it's possible soul strain from working on a potential Path would drain stamina? Theoretically? Seems like a stretch, but you might as well just give up on your steak and order another one."

I rolled my eyes with a sigh, nodding my head and eliciting a squeal of delight from Callie, who threw herself on me in a crushing hug. I smiled under my mask where no one could see, closing my eyes and enjoying the warmth of us all being together. In the background, Cass, who been unusually quiet from her spot riding on Randall, started to chatter excitedly to Jessie, who laughed as she entertained the smaller girl.

Selka was haranguing my cousin, asking her rapid fire questions since she had only been allowed to join up with us at the last minute. I thought Nat's guardian being so worried was sweet, but my cousin mostly just seemed annoyed. Benny was sitting next to me, and as the food arrived and I gave mine to Callie and ordered more, he rolled his eyes and cut half a steak and dropped it on my plate.

"Thanks." I said with a solemn nod, which he returned. I wasn't just talking about the food, and he knew it. Benny had been there through the whole dungeon mess, often relegated to the back line, and he'd come through for us every time it mattered. He'd been patient and helpful if slightly annoying, ready to do anything he could to turn things around.

Jessie and Callie were both mostly taken care of in terms of growth, and that left Benny to help out. I owed him, not just for being there during this but for my whole life, and I was going to pay it back ten fold. Three months of stats was enough to explosively boost his abilities, and since I should be getting some rollover renown from the godslaying (if not as much as Callie would) I could dedicate most of my wishes to that.

Some of them would go to improving my own power, of course, but Benny had some great attacks to pay with, and I knew I'd be using them consistently in training, so that was a win win. A hand closed around mine, Callie grasping my fingers and giving them a light squeeze as she speared a steak with a fork and started chomping into it from one side, much to my amusement.

I felt a surge of warmth from her through the bond, and I returned it wholeheartedly as I looked around. Family. I was going to look for my mom, meet my sister, and eventually get answers from my dad. I was going to change the way kids grew up in the family, and make my name ring through the whole universe. I was going to do that for family. Not just my parents or relatives, but this family, the one I'd made.

I'd taken a step with this whole dungeon episode, a step out onto the wider stage. People would be hearing my name, would know who I was. I'd officially joined the wider universe, even if, based on what Zeke said, I was competing with enough ridiculous shit that I wasn't likely to stand out at first. It was still progress, still a story that other people would tell. I'd written the first chapter of my legend, of OUR legend, and I couldn't wait to write the next.