"Sounds great," Zion answered, a flicker of surprise going through his face.

'A Lancer-Class ship?' he thought. 'He isn't lending me some simple transport ship, but an actual battleship with weapons on it.'

A ship like that would keep him a hundred times safer while traveling, compared to some simple garbage.

Zion shook his head lightly, pulling himself back into the conversation. "And… you're sure you can keep me safe from the Sovereignty, right?"

Calder chuckled and stroked his chin. "Of course. I've prepared everything so you'll just be one among dozens of mercenary ships departing for missions."

Despite Calder's reassurance, Zion felt slightly uneasy.

He knew there was no way Calder could one hundred percent guarantee his safety, as the Sovereignty was likely doing random checks on departing ships.

'And if they're given time to thoroughly check me, they can definitely match me to the scene,' he thought. 'Especially since I still don't have a valid ID.'

Before he could continue his thoughts, Calder cleared his throat.

"Is there anything else you'd like to know?" he asked. "Or should I get Evela to guide you back to your room?"

Zion considered the question for a moment, then shook his head.

"No. That'll be all," he said calmly.

Calder nodded once, satisfied. "Good. Evela will come take you back."

He pressed a few buttons on his hologram and deactivated it.

Moments later, the door slid open, revealing the same girl who'd been taking care of him standing there.

'So she's called Evela, huh,' he thought. Only now did he realize that he'd never asked her name before.

"She'll also be the one to bring you to your ship once it's ready," Calder said, standing up from his chair. "Rest up well in the meantime."

Zion nodded.

"Will do," he said, smiling as he stood up. "I'll see you in the future again then. Granted I make it out alive."

"I'm sure you will," Calder said. "I've never seen someone take three vials and not rank up his E-rank nanosuit by a level after all."

Zion raised an eyebrow, staring at Calder for a moment as they both walked to the exit.

"So you noticed," he said lightly.

Calder snorted. "Of course I did. It would be weirder if I didn't."

After bringing Zion to Evela, Calder halted and gestured for them to move.

Evela bowed slightly, then turned.

"If you'd follow me," she said, her tone practically emotionless.

A few hours later, Zion found himself strapped in a chair, hearing engines humming softly beneath him.

He sat alone in the broad cabin, behind the reinforced glass of a nearly seventy-foot-long Lancer-Class ship.

'So this is it,' he thought, letting out a deep breath. 'My first mission as a mercenary.'

[Ship is cleared for take-off,] Uriel reported calmly. [Lifting off now…]

The entire ship shook momentarily, the engines roaring to life as they slowly lifted the ship off the ground.

Zion held on to the straps, his expression calm as he stared at the city complex in front of him.

[Stabilizing ship now,] Uriel's voice came through once again. [Initializing trajectory…]

Not even two seconds later, the ship completely stopped shaking, its nose slowly tilted upwards to the sky.

Then, the boosters behind the ship shot out flames, propelling it into the air at rapid speeds.

[Five minutes until we breach the upper atmosphere.]

Hearing that, Zion exhaled slowly.

'The difficult part was over now,' he thought, closing his eyes for a moment. 'No random check. And it seems like they weren't suspicious either.'

If the Sovereignty had any suspicions about him or the ship, they would've warned him not to take off.

Zion opened his eyes again as the ship continued its steady ascent.

The city below shrank rapidly, its neon lights blurring together into one large dot. Ahead, a dark sky filled with countless distant stars waited for him.

[Entering upper atmosphere,] Uriel reported. [No anomalies detected.]

"That's good to hear," Zion murmured, loosening his grip on the straps slightly.

As the ship entered the upper atmosphere, the hum from the engines changed into a much smoother and softer noise.

[Host can unstrap now, we've started coasting towards Planet D-418.]

"Alright," he said, immediately unbuckling and pushing himself out of his chair.

A strange but familiar feeling came over him as he started walking around the ship.

'It's been a while, huh,' he thought, running his hand across the ship's walls. 'An actual proper ship without being in chains.'

It didn't take long before he reached the ship's small storage area, an area of ten by five that would suffice in case he wanted to take samples with him.

"I sure hope there's something good on Planet D-418," he mumbled, leaning on a railing. "Uriel, how long until we reach our destination?"

[It'll be eight days, Host,] Uriel responded calmly.

Zion let out a sigh, then nodded. "That's fine."

He turned away from the storage area and wandered back into the control room, his mind focused on the future.

'If I earn a decent paycheck from this, I'll advance to the next rank immediately,' he thought, sitting back down on his chair. 'Outside of my neural sync rate, both of the other stats have reached their limits now. So it's definitely about time.'

He tapped his fingers on the armrest.

'From there, I'll upgrade my Mercenary rank and do one more mission for good pay. Then, I should be able to buy a nice ship or even order a decent ship for myself.'

Though he knew it would get complicated from there on.

Zion understood he couldn't take revenge on his own against such a massive space empire. Thus, he'd need to search and trust a capable crew again. One that hated the Sovereignty just as much as him.

Letting out a sigh, Zion covered his face with his hands. 'But I can't imagine how difficult that's going to be.'

Zion let out a quiet breath and leaned back in his chair.

The seat adjusted automatically, reclining until it supported his body in a near-horizontal position.

"Uriel," he said. "I'm going to rest for a bit. Warn me if anything out of the ordinary happens."

[Understood,] the AI replied. [I will wake you immediately if any anomalies are detected.]

With that, Zion closed his eyes.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.