"I greet the master..." Sven bowed before Ashton, "I hope your journey has been fruitful."


    "Can''t say it wasn''t." Ashton smiled seeing his trusty summons after so long, "I can see you have been training as well."


    Before leaving for Euphoria, Ashton had to leave Sven, Celeste and Gokung behind as Drac wanted Ashton to focus on his development, rather than his summons. Ashton was a bit sceptical at the start, but now that he had seen their growth, he knew he made the right decision. All three of them were strong... stronger than before.


    Celeste appeared to be more docile as well. The fact she didn''t race up to Ashton the moment she saw him spoke volumes. Maybe he should take tips from Drac on how to keep her that way.


    As for Gokung, she still gave into her animalistic nature once in a while, that''s why she still had her cor around her neck.


    And Sven, he was just as courteous as before, despite he had grown the most out of the lot. But his strength had gone way above what Ashton had imagined. Sven had officially reached grade E and would breakthrough that limit soon.


    However, there was a stronger summon they were yet to meet. Without wasting any moment, Ashton called forth As. The moment he stepped foot into the training room, Ashton noticed the visible change in Sven''s expression.


    He was no longer the strongest in the group and it wasn''t a pleasant feeling at all. For a long time, he had been the closest to his master, but now his position was in danger thanks to a being who was much superior to him.


    "Boys, beasts and hoe, I would like you to meet, As." Ashton said while pointing at the behemoth standing behind, "Formerly he was a Xyran, now an undead monstrosity. I hope you will get along with each other and not give me unnecessary troubles."


    ? Before Ashton could say or do anything, As and Sven lunged toward each other and a fight erupted out of nowhere. Sven used his shadow de to relentlessly attack a weaponless As. But even then, he wasn''t having any sess.


    No matter how hard he tried, Sven could notnd a single effective blow on the behemoth. After a couple of seconds, Aspletely gave up on defending himself as Sven''s attacks were not having much effect on him either way.


    In fact, As was basically ying with Sven, while thetter tried his best to deal some damage to the behemoth. The fight was slowly getting serious and as a result, the training area was suffering minor damage after every blow they exchanged.


    "Reinforcing the room to amodate the duelists." The ship''s nameless AI announced.


    The next moment, the room had changed considerably. The ceramic floor was instantly reced by metal. The same went for the walls and the ceiling as well.


    Ashton allowed the duel to go on. It was a good opportunity to see how much Sven had grown from thest time he saw him. It took a while, but Sven finally realised he wouldn''t win the fight if he kept charging headfirst at As.


    As simply had too much HP and defence. Taking him down wasn''t going to be an easy job to do. Watching him struggle, Celeste and Gokung decided to join in, but Ashton raised his hand to stop them. There was no need for anyone to interfere in their matter.


    "Let them duke it out."


    That''s all he said as he kept observing them from the sidelines. Ashton knew who was going to win, and in some capacity, Sven did as well. So far, As hadn''t even been fighting back. He was simply toying with Sven.


    "Oi fatass, fight seriously or I''ll be the one kicking your ass next." Ashton yelled at him, "I don''t have time to sit around here forever."


    Ashton''s words almost made As jump out of his skin. Offending Ashton was thest thing on his mind, so he got serious. The next time Sven swung his sword at him, As did not block the strike and instead snatched it away and plunged it into Sven''s chest.


    It didn''t destroy thetter, but that move was enough for As to show his supremacy. Sven epted his defeat gracefully and that was it. A new hierarchy had been established amongst his summons. The duel ended at the correct time, because a momentter, an announcement was made.


    "We are about to arrive at the destination. Please report to themand centre at once." The AI emotionlessly mumbled.


    "Finally..." Ashton stretched his muscles before heading out of the room, "All of you, get inside."


    ***


    Half an hourter...


    "The ce is quite lively..." Ashton mumbled.


    He was gazing out of the cup of the ship as they closed in on a space station. It was safe to say Ashton was amazed as it was his first time seeing anything like that. The space station was shaped like a tower with hundreds of ships flying around it.


    The size of the tower made even thergest of ships feel like insects flying around a watermelon, which awed him even more. It looked both intimidating and mysterious at the same time. For the first time, Ashton was excited about something, even though he hid it really well.


    [Seriously? The Xyrans created a literal out of nothing and this rustbucket is the thing that excites you the most?]


    ''Yeah, because the was created by Xyrans. If this wonder was created by them, then I wouldn''t be as excited as I am now.''


    [You''re shameless.]


    ''Yeah, and you''re the epitome of greatness aren''t you? You''re so great you don''t even need a body to ruin someone''s day.''


    The moment their ships were cleared for ess, Ashton could hear voices of allnguages and ents mixed with the robotic voices of the AIs. It was a weird symphony of some sort that made Ashton feel as if he was in some kind of a market.


    Well, his guess wasn''t too off of the mark. The space station, simply known as ''The Kernel'', offered more services than Euphoria or any other mid-level civilization had to offer.


    "The kernel is a ce where everything and anything was possible as long as you have the money and clearance to ess them." Lycaon informed Ashton, "Since youck both, you won''t have ess to a lot of things. But that''s why we''re here. To make sure you know what you need to."


    "First of all, let me tell you... your level, skills or anything about you doesn''t matter here." Frank chimed in, "The only thing they care about is your Mercenary rank. The higher your rank, the higher level jobs you can get from the association. As you progress, more perks will unlock and you''ll be able to ess other floors of the Kernel Tower."


    "Got it." Ashton nodded, "If you don''t mind me asking, what ranks are you three?"


    "We... kind of got our licences revoked the moment he turned into pirates." Frank scratched his chin in embarrassment, "I believe the saying, ''you can''t have your cake and eat it too'', is true."


    "That being said," Drac finally broke the silence, "Since none of us can apany you and Anna down there, I asked Verina and Irina to guide you. Don''t worry, they won''t stick around you for long, they have their own missions to handle."


    Ashton stared at them for a couple of seconds before the doors opened up and they stepped out of the ship. Once outside, Anna and Ashton were apanied by the twins who had already ventured inside the Kernel, while they were busy on Euphoria.


    In his absence, the twins had already got themselves registered as mercs and did a couple of missions. They weren''t the ones who told Ashton about it, but his summons who had apanied thedies to these missions while Drac trained them.


    Although he had gotten entry to the tower, they still needed to go through a mandatory security check. The check itself was not a problem but the queue was too darn big. While they were waiting for their turns, Ashton noticed a few aliens heading into the tower without waiting for any security checks.


    Verina noticed his gaze and whispered in his ear, "They are high-ranking mercenaries. As such, they don''t need to go through security checks like us. Also, they have a dedicated port for themselves where they can park their ships anytime they want without clearance."


    "I see... These are the perks Lycaon was talking about?"


    "Some of them." Verina nodded before handing him a weird-looking ck card, "By the way, this is a sort of transaction card. It has 10,000 yenos in it. As for yenos, they are one of the three universally epted forms of currency. Granddad told me to give it to you."


    "Looks like I''ll have to thank your old man for this," Ashton graciously epted the money and after security check headed inside the tower.


    Ashton knew the ce was supposed to be big, but it was downright gargantuan from the inside. It was easily the biggest artificial structure he had ever seen in his life.


    "Wow..." Anna mumbled.


    "I know right?" Irina replied, "Either way, important things first. Follow me please."


    They took an elevator and dropped to the lowest floor they could. That was where the mercenary association was located. Ashton was surprised to see theck of living beings around the ce. Only robots could be seen everywhere.


    One such robot immediately rushed towards Verina the moment she whistled. It was a tiny ball-shaped robot that appeared to have not received regr maintenance. One of his hands didn''t function at all, while his eyes were flickering like a brokenmp.


    "How can I be of your service-"


    No sooner did he spoke than another robot appeared chasing away the one from before.


    "My apologies for such... weird reception." The robot sighed, "My name is Ena-117, how may I be of assistance tonight?"