《Astralis Lumen [Permanent Hiatus]》 Chapter I: Challenge Accepted Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. so good telling me I¡¯m doing it wrong.¡± He huffed and started doing the challenge again. did end up competing you¡¯d run home crying after less than a week.¡± Chapter II: Galactic Academy A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Chapter III: Introductions This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. them? They¡¯re so edgy they¡¯re name even has ¡®dark¡¯ in it. I¡¯d rather join Spinaker¡¯s Circus.¡± Chapter IV: Setup Well. That looks more bizarre than I thought it would. Fiona confirmed the changes and moved on to the part of character creation she had most prepared for.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. In here, I¡¯m Ra. The thought still felt weird to Fiona but before she could consider it too deeply a loud knock caused her to poke her head through the curtain curiously. Chapter V: Head of the Empire ¡°Who are you?¡± Ra could only blink in surprise. ¡°Tyrell Forrest. Your escort.¡± A notification box popped up in front of Ra asking for confirmation of her character completion. She almost selected yes before remembering she was still dressed in her school uniform. A few moments later, a girl with sky blue hair and eyes stepped out of the fitting room. She was average height for a young teen with a vaguely athletic build. Opting for comfort and function, she wore a knee length ivory colored coat over a form fitting dark purple long sleeved shirt and black yoga pants. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m ready now.¡± The curtain shimmered after Ra stepped through becoming just another part of the wall. She was standing in a small lobby area like that of a hotel with a pair of sliding glass doors across from a manned desk and what appeared to be elevators on the far side. ¡°Come with me.¡± Tyrell led her to the desk where a thoroughly bored looking young man suddenly perked up as they approached. ¡°Dozing off on the job again, Greg?¡± The young man behind the desk grinned guiltily. ¡°Nobody comes through so I¡¯m sitting here for hours doing nothing.¡± He tapped away at a computer for a moment. ¡°You¡¯re Ra?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Will you need a certificate?¡± ¡°Yes, and a registration card.¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°I can do you one better.¡± Greg initiated a command and a printer behind the desk spat out something the size of small post card. He handed the card to Ra. ¡°You can¡¯t lose it. Just grab it out of nothing.¡± Intrigued, Ra didn¡¯t accept the card from Greg and instead pulled it of thin air. When she wanted it to be a certificate, it was a certificate. When she wanted it to be a registration card, it was a registration card. ¡°That¡¯s cool. Thank you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nice to finally be able to do my job.¡± Greg smiled happily and tilted his chair back. ¡°The certificate gives you the authority to command your empire and the registration card is for traveling, buying things, and entering events.¡± Of course, these were things Ra already knew. But she still gave him a slight bow of gratitude. ¡°Tyrell will fill you in if there¡¯s anything else you need to know. That¡¯s all I can do for you.¡± *** A sleek transport vehicle awaited Ra just outside the building. The first place she had Tyrell take her was the headquarters. The headquarters were a squat metal complex outside on a cliff overlooking the capital city. Despite the amazing view, Ra couldn¡¯t help but feel the building was dreary and dull. ¡°This is just the default. You can always have it remodeled or even moved.¡± It was if he sensed her unasked question. Then again, as an npc he could very well have been programmed with that capability. An armed guard awaited them at the entrance. He greeted them as they approached with a dramatic salute. ¡°I see you brought the...¡± he trailed off rubbing his chin as if trying to remember something. A notification appeared in front of Ra prompting her to state her title. ¡°Commander.¡± ¡°Right, Commander. How silly of me to forget. I¡¯ll let the other participants know you¡¯ve arrived.¡± ¡°Participants?¡± asked Ra curiously but the guard was currently barking into some sort of communicator and didn¡¯t hear her. These npcs really were too lifelike. Chapter VI: Laying Foundations All the people in the room rose stood at attention as Ra enter. ¡°At ease,¡± she commanded. The seven people situated around the rectangular table sat down again. A large man with a thick beard and mustache at the other end of the table nodded towards Tyrell. ¡°Thank you for bringing the Commander. You may return to your other duties.¡± Tyrell bowed before retreating from the room. Ra took the only seat available, the one reserved for her at the head of the table. ¡°Let¡¯s get down to business then, shall we?¡± It was the big man across the table again. ¡°Yes, let¡¯s,¡± she agreed. ¡°I am Ra. You may address me as Commander, Commander Ra, Ra, whatever you like. You are my advisors?¡± ¡°Not quite although you can most certainly ask us for advice.¡± This time it was an expensively dressed man to her left. ¡°We are in charge of the various parts of your empire,¡± he continued pompously. ¡°I am Sir Mordred Banks, the person in charge of the money.¡± One by one the others introduced themselves. Sir Mordred Banks sat on Ra¡¯s left so they continued in clockwise order around the table. Next was Stettman in charge of research, a tall man with large eyeglasses and thick curly brown hair. He didn¡¯t bother stating his first name. After him came Arya Lye in charge of foreign policy. Across the table the man with the thick beard and mustache introduced himself as Ruben Thatch, in charge of the fleet. On Ra¡¯s right sat Eileen Ho, Franz Schmidt, and Karen Meyer in charge of intelligence, exploration, and domestic affairs respectively. After introductions, Ra immediately set down to business. First she had to establish her domain¡¯s aesthetic and culture. To Mordred and Karen she granted the title of Minister. To Stettman, Arya, Eileen, and Franz she gave the title of Director. To Thatch she gave the title of Master of the Fleet. Some players liked to have very structured social hierarchies, but Ra didn¡¯t care about any of that so she just set it as simple as possible. Instead she focused on building a straightforward chain of command for the military. With what she considered to be the secondary details out of the way, Ra could finally concentrate on what she had actually wanted to finish before heading out for a late dinner. -|-Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°I¡¯m telling you, we should be reviewing the budget.¡± Mordred clapped the back of his hand into the palm of the other as the group followed Franz. ¡°We have money. We should be using it. We need a way to make more.¡± He must be referring to the starting funds. ¡°All in good time,¡± replied Ra. ¡°We¡¯ll take care of that next.¡± They finally arrived in the map room. A gigantic cavernous space dominated a large holographic projector that covered almost the entire floor in the middle of the room. ¡°Show us the galaxy!¡± Franz shouted. A fantastically huge diagram of the galaxy burst into life filling the room with light again after the room plunged momentarily into blinding darkness. ¡°Woah.¡± Ra had seen the scene depicted in videos she sometimes watched on her computer, but it simply failed to capture the awe inspired by the real thing. Well, real in a virtual sense. Mentally she started jotting down notes. The galaxy was surprisingly flat, a loose spiral with a gleaming band across its center and two dense spiral arms. ¡°What sector are we in?¡± ¡°Ummm...¡± Franz scratched at his chin thoughtfully. ¡°Forget it. Mike!¡± ¡°On it boss!¡± The galaxy rotated so that they were looking straight at the disk from above. An overlay of gray lines cut up the stars into grid like sections. These sections were the sectors. According to standard map scaling these would be further divided into regions and then individual systems. To Ra¡¯s surprise, a section that seemed to be empty void was highlighted in purple. At first she thought it was a mistake until they zoomed in on the sector. The sector wasn¡¯t empty, merely too dim to show up on the galactic scale. Faint points of light showed a smattering of lonely systems and clusters. The region in the very center of the sector was the brightest dominated by a large dust cloud. As they watched, a system near the center of the region became highlighted. ¡°Is there anyone else in this region?¡± ¡°No, we¡¯re the only ones here.¡± Thank you rng. A small smile graced Ra¡¯s face. She could play her favorite style and probably get away with it. -|- ¡°We aren¡¯t building research facilities?¡± Stettman peered at Ra¡¯s budget with agitation. ¡°But if we don¡¯t start now, we¡¯ll inevitably fall behind!¡± He wrung his hands. ¡°Progress is king! Every learned person knows that.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± Stettman froze for a moment before banging his fist on the table. ¡°Then why aren¡¯t we building any! Imagine all the things we could be improving!¡± ¡°All in good time.¡± Ra turned to Karen. ¡°I¡¯m trusting you to make sure this gets done as soon as possible. Make sure you collaborate with Mordred and Franz.¡± Karen sighed. ¡°Everything is so spelled out all I have to do is issue the orders.¡± Mordred gave a satisfied nod. ¡°I think the Commander is quite wise to heed my advice.¡± It¡¯s because of my plan, not because of your advice. Ra didn¡¯t voice the thought aloud of course but instead cast a glance toward Franz who bowed. ¡°It will be done.¡± Chapter VII: Ras Building Plan If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Chapter VIII: A Brief Interlude The dining hall was uncommonly full for the time of evening. To her surprise Amy, Lauren, and Sophie were sitting in their usual spot, plates empty or forgotten as they argued back and forth. ¡°The sleeper wakes!¡± Amy greeted Fiona as she sat down next to them. ¡°You weren¡¯t waiting for me were you?¡± ¡°Of course not! We were just talking about how we were going to meet up in game.¡± Fiona stopped halfway through a bite. ¡°I thought we were just going to meet at the Hub.¡± The Hub was the name for the large impregnable npc establishment at the center of every galaxy that served as an eternal neutral meeting point. ¡°We can¡¯t do that until our nations empires have developed warp technology.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s the problem with that? It¡¯ll be done within the next three days.¡± ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯s three days from now! And then we still have to find our way there. What are we going to do in the meantime?¡± ¡°Do some quests on your home world?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°There are dungeons there right? If you get strong enough you might be able solo one and get the loot from it. We¡¯ll be able to do dungeons when we meet up at least.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Did I say something stupid?¡± ¡°Why aren¡¯t we already doing this?¡± demanded Amy. ¡°I suggested it earlier, but you were too busy moaning about the travel situation...¡± replied Sophie. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°...and ranting about the developers...¡± added Lauren. ¡°...and then we started arguing about whether personal shields were a worthwhile investment.¡± ¡°...Right.¡± -|- The room frothed with barely contained excitement. Like everyone else in the room, Fiona waited impatiently for classes to end so that she could get back to the thing they all cared about more than anything else right now, getting back into the game. Time dragged on¡­ and on¡­ and on. Fiona stifled a huge yawn and Mr. Mann immediately called on her. Ever since she started habitually falling asleep in class, he always called on her if she showed any signs of drowsiness even though she had long since stopped sleeping through class since he told her not to. ¡°List all of the ways to earn asters.¡± ¡°Structures, trading, sacking trade routes and bases, taxes, and recycling scrap.¡± Fiona rattled them all off in breath. ¡°That¡¯s all of them?¡± ¡°That¡¯s all of them.¡± For a second she thought she might have missed one as he looked at her expectantly. Then he turned away and she went back to being bored. Fiona suddenly perked up. What was she doing? Just because she was in class didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t work on the game. Fiona reached into her bag and pulled out two more notebooks. One was her old one filled with writing. The other was a new one she bought at the bookstore. With careful strokes, Fiona copied over her old formulas. Her old notebook was falling apart and so she decided to create a new reference book for just her formulas. Since she was planning on using this one for a while, she wrote neatly instead of her usual careless scrawl. Once she finished, she put away her old notebook and pulled out another new one. With her formula book off to one side, Fiona began printing line after line of new notes. Amy glanced over, wondering what Fiona was so diligently doing. ¡°Woah! Your hand writing is super neat.¡± Fiona threw her old notebook to Amy who opened it curiously and recoiled. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°My normal handwriting.¡± Fiona smiled wryly at Amy¡¯s incredulous expression. ¡°If I write this neatly for too long my wrist starts to hurt.¡± Chapter IX: Switching Gears Ra crept along shrouded by the dense undergrowth. In the shadows, she suddenly straightened. She pressed her body against the trunk of a birch tree and slowed her breathing. About a hundred feet away stood a heavy four legged mammal with a thick red and orange hide. The beast lumbered monotonously past.. Ra didn¡¯t even twitch. After it had gone away, she exhaled with relief. It was much too high a level for her to try and fight. Then again all the wildlife in these parts could probably kill her with one hit. But she wasn¡¯t here to hunt, she was here for a quest probably meant for someone twice her level. The goal was to retrieve an item hidden in the forest and return it to the quest giver. She¡¯d already died several times and had to restart each time, but the reward would make it totally worth it. ¡°The reports are in.¡± Franz¡¯s voice issued from the communicator. ¡°I¡¯ll meet you in the map room.¡± Ra ended up heading straight for headquarters instead of turning in her quest. She been expecting only Franz but Eileen, Ruben, and Arya were also there. ¡°I¡¯m telling you! The commander is going to leave us at their mercy. We have no fleet and our weapons are practically sticks and stones!¡± ¡°That¡¯s enough Ruben.¡± Arya raised her hands placatingly. ¡°I¡¯m sure its because she plans on taking a diplomatic approach.¡± Franz and Eileen were completely ignoring their colleagues¡¯ conversation instead immersed in observing the newly explored regions. ¡°Ah, Commander.¡± Mordred appeared at Ra¡¯s shoulder having just arrived. ¡°You¡¯re here too?¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°To see what economic opportunities lie in our future. I also promised Stettman I¡¯d bring him a listing of all the systems we¡¯ve explored.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Franz and Eileen noticed the pair¡¯s arrival and came over. ¡°So what¡¯s the situation?¡± asked Ra. ¡°The region has been thoroughly explored,¡± replied Franz promptly. ¡°Small number of worlds made it easy. We¡¯ve discovered only a single wormhole. Not sure where it leads yet.¡± Wormholes were essential for travel. The only way to travel from one region to another quickly was via wormhole, or later, space tunnels. ¡°We have detected signs of other civilizations from the region north of us,¡± continued Eileen. ¡°But we can¡¯t get more detail without scouting the region ourselves.¡± ¡°You remember what I told you, right?¡± ¡°Map the galaxy as inconspicuously as possible and notify you of possible contact.¡± ¡°Very good. Recall the scouts, I¡¯ll let you know when it¡¯s time to start again.¡± The pair bowed once before returning to their duties. Ra turned to leave. ¡°Where are you going?¡± asked Mordred curiously. ¡°I have other matters to attend to. It¡¯s almost time for phase two of the plan.¡± Mordred rubbed his hands together in anticipation. ¡°I can¡¯t wait.¡± *** A very delighted old man gratefully accepted the leather bound book Ra handed him.¡±I can¡¯t believe you managed to find my grandson¡¯s journal in that giant forest. He¡¯s certainly got the gumption of an adventurer but he keeps dropping his stuff...¡± The old man trailed off for moment. ¡°Anyways I believe I owe you a reward. It¡¯s not much, but please, accept this.¡± He handed her an ornamental dagger. It¡¯s combat stats were practically nonexistent but Ra cared more about the experience she gained. Another level. Better stats. New skills. Money. These were the things she was trying to gain while she waited for Stettman¡¯s notice that basic warp technology was online. Chapter X: Phase Two Phase One was preliminary scouting. Identifying the types and spread of stars and planets across the region was the key to phase two which was¡­ Expansion. Building a new settlement was no easy matter. To build a settlement required a colony ship, expensive in its own right, and colonists drawn from an existing settlement. The best worlds usually required levels of terraforming tech. Ra had deeply considered starting with basic terraforming tech as her civilization boost, but ultimately decided that it was too much of a risk. Perhaps there wouldn¡¯t be many planets for her to colonize that required terraforming. Or maybe it would be too risky to expand enough to make the terraforming tech worth it. Either way, she couldn¡¯t afford the dead weight if it didn¡¯t work out. Some players built up their home world, only expanding when they ran out space. Others expanded right away. Ra was the latter. Since each world could build only one structure at a time, this method would maximize the benefits of her building construction speed boost. Ra spend her starting capital entirely on economic structures. After all, one had to be able to afford buildings to build them. Only after her income outpaced her rate of spending did she begin interweaving the infrastructure needed for ship production and technology research, methodically working her way towards colony ships. It took two days for before the first colony ships launched, all headed for agricultural worlds, the ones best suited for rapid population growth. All except for one. The odd one out headed for a small, rocky, inhospitable world, with only a single redeeming factor: it was rich in heavy metals. Heavy metals that would be essential for warp drive technology.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. The meta starting planet had some amount of heavy metals, enough to satisfy the average civilization before developing better, easier to produce warp drives. But despite racing to warp technology, Ra had no plans to continue developing her tech in the short term. Instead, the heavy metals would serve as the catalyst to rapid exploration, powering new fleets of scout craft as she focused on settling her entire region as quickly as possible. Her entire region. An absurd goal by almost every measure. But a goal that Ra wanted to undertake for no other reason than she felt like it. Her instructions were clear enough that she had confidence her npc underlings could complete the project without her intervention. In the meantime, she had other things to worry about. -|- Ra stood on top of a rock at the side of a lake, coat whipping the wind. The small pistol in her left hand gleamed as she aimed towards the flock of dog sized birds and fired a shot. None of the birds were hit, but that wasn¡¯t the purpose of her shot. The birds dropped from the sky like rocks, plummeting towards her with intent to kill. Ra turned to the side allowing the first bird to blast past her. As the next ones followed she began to jump among the many small rocks poking up through the surface of the lake. This was part of the two step practice routine she did every morning before classes. First she would start with target practice. Then she antagonize the birds to practice her awareness and dodging. These were character skills, but rather personal skills, control skills. A bird surprised Ra and she took a heavy blow to her gut. She backwards into the water with a loud splash and emerged spluttering. I still can¡¯t react she lamented as she fled back to the safety of the town. Authors Update: Revision Announcement Howdy y''all. (The, uh, five people that actually bothered to read this.) Unfortunately real life has been a pain and my work schedule leaves much to be desired in terms of spare time. I am disatisfied with how the story is going so far and will be doing a full rewrite of the original 10 chapters over the coming week.Stolen story; please report. Thankfully my work schedule is finally easing up so after I get the rewrites done I''ll be able to commit to a chapter every other week, (alternating with another project I have still in the works). As always, I hope you''re having a marvelous day. Cheers! SlowAsLightning