[Cadet Ilemon, Your Presence Is Requested at Starport B3A @ 13:00]

  I sit up and rub the drowsiness from my eyes. I check the time, 11:23. I think I have time for a quick shower and a handful of rice balls. So, that is exactly what I do.

  Afterwards, I meet up with the others and we head for the starport together. Even Violet joins us. She is looking back to her normal self, and looks absolutely stunning. She even has her murdery aura back, I just hope it's directed towards monsters and not me.

  We board the tube. It is quite roomy, even with all five of us suited in our armor. Stephen and Liv especially are huge in their armor. They look like proper warriors. Meanwhile Violet and I are nice and lithe, built for dodging attacks rather than absorbing them. Or in Moxie’s case, hiding behind Liv and making sure we don't die a horrific death.

  “So why are we going to the starport again? I thought we were diving into some rift or something.” Liv asks.

  “For the seventh time, “ Stephen says, a bit exhaustedly, “the fissure we are diving into is located in another sector, thus we need to travel there. There is no frontline in the Prime sector. Thus, we have to travel to one far, far away.”

  “Oh, thanks Steph, always the leader you are.” Liv smiles teasingly.

  Stephen sighs. “I have told you not to call me Steph. If you continue to do so, I will write you up for insubordination.”

  “We both know that you can't actually do that. You may be the leader, but we are all technically the same rank, ya know.” Liv slaps Stephen on the back, to which he lets out another sigh.

  We arrive at the starport, and it is absolutely packed. Thousands of people are rushing every which way, packages and whatnot are flying through the air in complicated and highly organized manners. Luckily, people do make a bit of space for us as we pass through. Dragon Guards are quite highly respected, even cadets.

  After all, even without the whole dragon thing, cadets are among the best of humanity. Trained to the very limits of human ability and with achievement records to match. In any other reality, we would just be a bunch of geniuses. But, we are Dragon Guards, sworn to fight and eradicate monsters.

  We are guided onto a shuttle. It quickly departs the station and we go out into space for the first time since we first arrived.

  Liv points out the window. “I think I can see our quarters from here!” I take a glance where she is pointing, but I cannot make anything out. Perhaps she has a super high perception stat or something.

  I look out the other window. “Woah, look at that thing!” I point towards an absolutely massive ship. A riftliner. They are massive behemoths of ships, around five or so kilometers long. They are basically small cities, built to have permanent crews to serve many functions. From hauling industrial goods to even dragons and guards to the front lines. They are critical pieces of infrastructure and form the backbone of the empire’s logistics networks.

  Violet stares out the window as she sits next to me. Then she mumbles, “Rifliner Aethenen. A 4.6 kilometer long military freighter, with dragon hangars as well.” I don't think she meant for me to hear, but I did.

  I turn towards her, “That is an odd thing to know. Are you sure you aren't like some secret super nerd?”

  She looks me in the eye and scoffs. “Of course not. I only know its name because I own the damn thing. You know, the Sharpe corporation, the second largest merchant conglomerate in the universe?”

  My jaw drops. “Wait, so you are like, rich or something?”

  “Imbecile.” Is all she says, then she promptly starts ignoring me.

  Just then, a large dragon flies by the window. It is beautiful, and looks very deadly.

  Hey Maka, I’ll be that big one day, right? Ima grow up to be big and strong, just you wait! Lemon says proudly.

  I am sure you will, let's slay lots of monsters. Then maybe you can even be larger than that elder fella someday.

  We dock with the riftliner after the short journey. Well, I say short, but it was ten minutes by shuttle. Given the speeds involved, it was actually quite far. But thus is the nature of space travel.

  We land in the hangar and are cleared to leave. Liv practically teleports out, eager to see the rest of the ship. Moxie and Stephen trail behind. Before I leave, I notice that Violet hasn't gotten up. “Psst. World to Violet, time to go do things and stuff.”

  With a sigh, she stands up. Somehow she seems straighter, more noble or something. “Shut up, imbecile.” Then she pushes past me – completely unnecessarily – and walks out of the shuttle. I follow behind her.

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  The hangar is full of many other shuttles. I spot many other cadets as well as other higher-ranking Dragon Guard. I also spot a few dragons that must be juveniles, still small enough to be in gravity, but not for much longer. Our dragons are safely tucked away in their orbs, they are kinda slow so that is where they stay until they are more mobile.

  We take a few steps towards our destination, apparently we have been given a barracks on the ship. But then, we are immediately surrounded by three men in black tuxedos.

  One of them steps up to Violet and bows deeply. “Lady Sharpe, we are glad to be in your service.”

  “Of course, thank you Ferdinand. Please arrange luxury suites for us, the stardeck suites should be suitable. Oh and for our guardian as well, she should be around here somewhere.” Violet commands, which is like, super hot. It's almost like she is from a different universe with how easily she commands Ferdinand.

  “As you wish, Lady Sharpe. It shall be done posthaste.” Ferdinand says and then backs away. One of the other servants offers her a glass of some absurdly expensive alcohol, but she waves them both away and they depart.

  Moxie, Stephen, Liv and I just stare at her with our mouths agape. I guess she really is the owner of the ship. I am the first to regain my composure, something I have been needing to do quite a lot lately. “Wait, you already know who our guardian is? Where are they?” I ask.

  It is at that moment that I feel a shift in the air behind me and arms wrap around me. I am lifted up into the air in a big and very one-sided hug. “Ha, I gotcha Maka! You really need to work on your perception, what if I was an enemy?” That voice… it could only be one person.

  “Tien?!”

  Tien releases me and I quickly turn around. “Suprise, kiddo!” It is indeed, Tien. She is in her armor as usual. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen her without armor. Her red hair seems to be particularly fiery today, which is never a good sign. “Guess what! I managed to land a spot as your guardian or whatevz.”

  Liv walks up to Tien and observes her for a moment. “Maka, whoever this person is, they are so awesome!” Liv puts her hand on Tien’s rank 12 insignia without hesitation. “Woah, this time is awesome! It is like it has some sort of power inside of it.”

  I sigh. “I feel like this is going to be a very, very fun time indeed.”

  “Hey! What is that supposed to mean?” Tien and Liv both shout simultaneously.

  We proceed into the ship and head to our quarters. Liv and Tien seem to bond near instantly over something and they trail behind giggling like you would expect normal schoolgirls to.

  We get into a tube. Because apparently this ship is large enough to have an entire tube network inside. The trip is quite short and we exit out into an area that is definitely way too lavish for us.

  Stephen is the first to comment. “Are the floors made out of fucking diamonds?” Surely enough, it does appear the floors are made out of diamond. Which isn't the most expensive thing ever, but it is definitely a bit over the top. The walls seem to be made out of some sort of black marble. The entire place just screams decadence.

  Ferdinand appears and offers to show us the way to our quarters. Violet accepts, she probably can't memorize the layout of every ship she owns. I believe the Sharpe corporation owns several million, maybe even tens of millions, of them after all. They are a truly massive merchant company spanning five of the six galaxies in the Traver empire.

  The moment we reach our quarters, Violet disappears inside. As does Tien, dragging Liv along with her, probably to plan all sorts of shenanigans. Moxie and Stephen bid me farewell and then disappear into their respective rooms.

  I enter my own suite and for the umpteenth time today, my jaw drops. The first room is a massive living room. Easily the size of our entire common room back at the academy. And this one is all for me. There is a very lavish looking couch and full kitchen, with a very fancy looking nutrient dispenser. I click through some of the options and they are far fancier than I ever could have imagined. It looks like it is displaying pieces of priceless art rather than food.

  I enter the bathroom next. Though it's less of a bathroom and more like a pool. The ‘bath’ is basically the size of a small swimming pool, and it is steaming hot and very inviting. Along the wall are all sorts of bathing products that each probably cost the yearly output of a small city. The sheer wealth of this place is astounding.

  I head into the bedroom and my jaw drops even lower – having never risen from when I entered the suite. The bed is just absurdly large. It could easily fit ten people side by side and have plenty of breathing space. I brush my hand against the fabric and I nearly squeal in delight, it's like some sort of magic. I resist the temptation to just sink into the bed, which is certainly a piece of the heavens themselves.

  I check out the last room, and my jaw unhinges itself and falls to the ground with a thud.

  It is breathtaking, above is a window out to the stars. I can even see many small lights as shuttles, dragons and whatnot flit about. In the distance I see the station, looking like a small moon. Though everything is still dwarfed by the star that we are orbiting quite closely.

  There is a small oak tree in the center of the room, and a bit of lush greenery scattered about. Which, when you consider we are on a fucking spaceship, is just absurd.

  I leave the room and then I sit down for a nice meal. I choose some crazy dish. It says it is rice based, but I cannot taste or even see a single bit of rice. Maybe it's some fancy upper ‘rice’ that is different from what I am familiar with. It's way better than the rations I am supposed to be eating. I don't think they can say anything about that though, considering there is no way in hell that dispenser is going to spit out rations.

  I check my schedule, and it says I have about six hours until we begin our voyage. We have two extra stops along the way, so It will take us just over two days to reach the frontline where we will be fighting this term. It will only be my second time ever taking a dragon gate, so I cannot wait. It is going to be awesome.

  For the time being, I let lemon out of the orb. She immediately finds the bed and starts bouncing around on it like a little monkey or something. It's quite silly and I laugh quite a lot. Eventually I take off my armor and slip under the covers. Which is an experience. I can't believe this is just how the uppers live.

  Oh, and I forgot to realize that the ceiling also has a starry sky setting. Because why the fuck wouldnt it.

  I fall asleep under a nice starry sky, sitting in a bed that is far too comfortable. On a suite that is definitely way too expensive for someone like me. I don't even know if it makes sense to thank Violet. She seemed to just think something like this is normal.

  You are on a good path, mortal. Continue onwards and you may end up actualizing your desire.

  Next Chapter: A Quick Dip Into Hell

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