Tutorial's End

The Comprehensive and Concise Guide to Ranking by Chezly Falthrick

A Summary of Rankings and Their Associated Milestones

Fate's plaything dances unconcerned, uncontrolled, yet following a path foreordained. Every sentient thought conceived of experience and expectation: malleable and easily shaped.

Naomi

Hangar Bay T1, The Phoenix's Nest, Shee, Orbit

Bustling, hustling, and shouting was an apt summary of the hangar bay. Beings scrambled about pulling enchanted carts with their many-tons of weight swiftly along lanes which had formed without demarcation. Most of the motion was a head or two below Naomi's eye-line as she observed while staying out of the way. Goblins represented most of the rushing workers, though there were other races scattered about as well. The goblins just tended to be the most common due to their group being responsible for trading - a group which had changed significantly from Naomi's time as a psuedo-prisoner.

Skooth still lead the traders, but her crew's composition had changed as some of them disembarked at Motrendi. Unfortunately, no one new joined. Mostly due to the fact that most beings already had some form of contract and had no ability to simply up and join a ship without approval from their contract holder. When Naomi had asked her officers, they'd explained that most of them had been assigned to their roles on the ship originally by their various factions, orders, and guilds. The ship's captain, and whatever unknown entity had backed him, had negotiated with the different organizations for labor.

Surprisingly, none of the original officers were certain as to the captain's backing and only knew they had been assigned the position and had slowly found themselves more loyal to the yellow-skinned goblin over the years as he proved himself a capable leader. None of them cared too much that they were technically smugglers, delivering goods which hadn't been sanctioned by whatever ruling body controlled their destination. After all, the biggest difference was which paperwork was filled out - and a few dedicated crew members were responsible for those. It hardly mattered to the majority of them.

"Captain Prism!" Skooth chirped cheerfully as she sprinted from the hangar bay's large open door, to Naomi's position near a wall. She waited calmly for the goblin to approach. Had it been anyone else, she might have been concerned that there was a problem, given the haste with which Skooth made it to her. It wasn't anyone else, though, it was the ever-excitable master tradeswoman.

Naomi waited until the last moment as the green blur barreled forward. As the goblin reached about a meter's distance from her, Naomi took a calm step to her left. Skooth flew past, open arms catching nothing but air.

It had become something of a tradition between the excitable goblin and less excitable human for one to try and trackle-hug, while the other avoided being born to the ground by the first's momentum. Sometimes Naomi stole Skooth's momentum with her mana, reinforced herself with stability she'd taken and stored elsewhere, or otherwise resisted the force of the speedy tackle. This time, she avoided the indignity with the simple expedient of getting out of the way.

Unfortunately, Skooth adapted too. At the very last second, she leapt sideways through the air. Grunting, Naomi felt the air forced from her lungs as her waist was impacted and clung to by two small but shockingly strong arms. As she hit the ground, Naomi's mana near-automatically drained the momentum allowing her to land without bruising her butt.

"Skooth, we talked about this. It's very unprofessional to tackle your boss."

"I'm sorry! I just get so excited when I see you!" Huge amber eyes stared up at Naomi eagerly. She had no idea why Skooth had taken to acting like this. She'd never encouraged it, and she'd never been like this before she and Jonah became joint-captains of the ship.

Carefully extracting herself, Naomi stood and helped the little trader up at the same time. "Why does seeing me make you excited?"

"Because you're so cool, of course!? Do you know how many people own their own ship!? And not, like, on behalf of their contract holder?! Like none! You're a legend!"

"Doesn't that mean System is, too? Why don't you tackle him?" As she brushed her black dress off, Naomi noted the small pink star sitting over her left breast had grown from a speck to a pinprick. The observation sent a quick wave of blue through her soul.

Entire body bobbing, Skooth agreed, "He is! He's scary, though."

The statement caused Naomi's thoughts to go blank entirely. Once it'd been fully processed, she asked, "System is scarier than me?"

The body-bobbing intensified. Arms loosely wiggled, ears flopping about, "Yeah!! He always knows everything that's going on! It's so FREAKY!"

Shaking her head, Naomi turned her attention back to the ongoing transit ship's loading and changed the subject. "Are the other shuttles ready?"

"They're called lil' hoppers." The goblin reminded her of her nickname for the small ships designed to bridge the gap between orbit and planet. The ship's manual, which Naomi had read several times since finding it, clearly labeled them 'transit shuttles' or 'cargo ships', depending on which of the two variants was being discussed. Skooth and her people called all of the them 'lil' hoppers' and insisted everyone else do the same for some reason. Sometimes the goblin tradeswoman reminded her of Willow, though less intense. She planned to introduce the two to see what kind of nonsense they got up to.

Feeling her lips pulled upward slightly, Naomi enjoyed the moment. The next, the smile faded as she remembered her friend's last message. Apparently her 'master' had decided he wanted to make a faction, for some reason. Willow had sent a reply asking for more details, but as far as Naomi had heard he hadn't deigned to reply.

After being informed of the sudden and entirely unexpected development, Naomi and Jonah had both spent some time chatting with the crew and learning as much as they could about the infamous Madrick Lark. There were plenty of stories about him, most of them regarding his time as a legend and god. As a legend, Madrick had been a warmongering terror. Where he went, blood followed. As a god, he'd been a tyrant. Following him meant being absolutely subservient, or going for respawn.

He had been part of a guild, founded and co-lead by his friend Baāleth Varshine. Much later, Cheru Waneslen also joined as a leader of the guild.

Baāleth had been a staunch ally and friend. The two were inseparable, with Baāleth being the anvil to Madrick's hammer. They both reveled in battle and carnage, though in their own ways. Baāleth's approach to war was to hunker down and become a terrifying and immovable object, while Madrick's was to act as a whirlwind of unstoppable steel and fury. Their most famous, and most used, tactic was for Baāleth to position himself in one spot while Madrick made his way behind their enemy. Madrick would then strike, most often forcing their opposition to fall back until they reached Baāleth's position, where they would face an unstoppable force from one side and an immovable object from the other. Inevitably, their enemies would be crushed between them.

After the two had ascended to godhood, Cheru joined the duo. Cheru and Madrick had been a well known couple, with her constantly tempting foolish beings into pursuing her, just for Madrick to destroy them in a fit of jealousy. From an outside perspective it was clear the woman had been playing with Madrick rather than truly investing in a relationship with him. At least, that's what the stories said.

The main thing every story agreed on was that not one of the trio had ever shown the slightest interest in politics, administration or otherwise mundane activities. They were universally understood to be "make what I say happen" kind of leaders, rather than concerning themselves with the minutia.

All of this research resulted in a very obvious conclusion. The idea of Madrick and Willow forming a faction was ridiculous. Neither of them would have the patience or attention to the little things to manage any kind of organization, much less drive them toward some kind of common goal. Naomi could see Willow gathering a large following who would do as she wished, but in the larger scheme, an official organization was simply not in the card.

Unless, that is, they had people who could and would help them with those pieces. Which is where Naomi and Jonah came in. Although the overall concept of factions and the standard organizations found throughout the world left bile crawling around her mouth, she thought it might be possible to take advantage of the situation to advance her ultimate goal.

Unlike Willow, and as far as she knew Madrick, her path was not one she could walk in isolation. She wasn't sure about Jonah, as so far he'd been happy to assist her without mentioning any larger goal or plan. They'd need to discuss that sooner than later. Understanding one's path required having a larger goal, one which would span many lifetimes to achieve. That insight had been critical for her, bolstering and reinforcing her budding star of determination.

Glancing down at the pink dot of light gently glowing on her dress, Naomi was quite pleased at the progress she'd made in nurturing said star.

Jonah

Hangar Bay Concourse P, The Phoenix's Nest, Shee, Orbit

Overseeing thousands of beings as they shuffled through the concourse, Jonah kept a sharp eye out for any troublemakers or thieves. Sash'hai stood beside him, shifting from foot to foot as she too kept her eyes open for problems. The elf was significantly less capable in this particular role, unsurprising considering she was the officer's personal chef, but he needed eyes and she'd volunteered when he'd asked their inner circle for help.

Feeling the aura of bright joy and optimism the elf girl's ability let her passively emit, Jonah corrected his assessment. While she wasn't quite suited to look for and solve problems, her very presence would help avoid them. It was difficult to be subtle or deceitful around the exuberant girl.

Hajjo stood on the other end of the hallway, the massive war-troll looming over everyone as he glared down intimidatingly. Generally, Hajjo could be found in a room they'd assigned to him and converted to a tailor's shop, as he'd taken up the craft after being given the option after the coup. Originally, the troll had planned to leave the ship.

When Naomi had performed his exit interview, she'd learned he was only leaving because he wanted to get into the fashion industry. When she offered to setup a workshop and pay him the same as any other crew member, he wasn't sure. She'd then pressed, pointing out that he could sell of his wares directly through the goblin traders, rather than having to set up and manage a shop, sell to a retailer, or otherwise manage distribution. That had lit a light bulb for the large gray wart-covered man and he'd quickly agreed to the offer.

Jonah was constantly surprised by how good Naomi had become at working with and organizing people. He wouldn't call her inspiring, but she was a very efficient leader, and the way she used her mana made her second to none when it came to reading people. Oddly, Jonah found it almost comforting to know she used the ability on himself. It made communicating easier, and he knew he didn't have to worry about her misunderstanding him. At first, he'd worried that she might be manipulating him into being happy about it, then realized the fact he was able to worry about it pretty much proved she wasn't. After all, if Naomi wanted to control him then it wasn't in her best interest to let him worry about the possibility.

Shaking his head, Jonah sent a quick message through the party chat to Hajjo, "All good on your end, big guy? No one trying to steal any ship property or anything?"

"Not that I've seen, sir."

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"Great! Thanks for helping out with this. I know you don't like playing bouncer much."

Looking up, the troll met Jonah's eyes with his own too-watery, too-small ones, and grinned. "It's fine. It gives me a good opportunity to showcase my new line of intimidation-ware!"

Jonah just sent a feeling of agreement and appreciation through the channel. The troll absolutely looked intimidating, even more than usual. His current outfit was somewhere between vampire-hunter and mad-max. Seemingly odd cuts and layered materials combined with a sleek and purposeful overall design. It was weird, disconcerting, and super off-putting. It was absolutely intimidating, especially on the massive man. Beyond that, it was also excellent armor. Jonah himself had assisted in testing its defensive capabilities, shooting various models of orc-made laser guns at the prototype. It'd taken almost a dozen shots in the same area to actually pierce the material. Truly impressive.

Several hours later, the sun was beginning to set over the side of Shee the Phoenix's nest was position over. Jonah sent Willow a quick message, annoyed at the pop-up notifying him of the EB being drawn from his account.

He got an immediate reply, letting him know she was waiting near the designated shuttle landing pads outside of Vesheen. She also mentioned she'd brought Slyth with her. She'd mentioned him a couple times before, but in true Willow fashion, hadn't really explained who he was or how they'd met. He'd just kind of popped up in the stories she sent him at some point.

Another couple hours passed in an exciting blur as Jonah experienced atmospheric entry for the first time. It was terrifying. The sheer speed which they traveled at was enough to make him queasy, but the ball of fire which their shuttle had become was significantly more concerning. Even so, the journey was mostly comfortable as the temperature didn't rise more than a single degree and the sense of motion was little more than a smooth car ride.

When he mentioned the surprising lack of affect the entry had on the transit's interior Naomi had explained they were heavily enchanted to ensure a comfortable ride for passengers and, often more importantly, were safe for any goods that were being transported.

That had lead to a conversation about why there was a market for interstellar transport when portals and teleportation stations were abundant. As it turned out, most instant-travel services charged based on mass transmitted alongside the initial time-slot booking. There was a certain point where paying for someone to shuttle cargo across space became cheaper, with the savings becoming more and more dramatic based on overall mass.

It'd seemed odd to Jonah at first, considering the ship had both a limited capacity and should have some kind of weight limit. That's when Koog, a hobgoblin who happened to be a senior engineer, entered the conversation. He explained the ship was able to carry significantly more than Jonah had assumed due to the cargo bays having varying degrees of spacial expansion enchantments built in. The mass-storage compartment only took up about half a cubic kilometer of real space, but could contain nearly ten cubic kilometers worth of material. There were also a few priority cargo 'slots' which somehow stored any amount of matter in a single cubic meter of space. Those were reserved for truly massive individual items.

The conversation was fascinating and piqued Jonah's interest in enchanting. He'd been as curious about it before as anyone might have been, but ultimately it had felt like too much to try and learn about that along with everything else he had to get up to speed with. After realizing the kind of insane feats could be accomplished with the right enchantments, though, he wasn't so sure.

Maybe I'll invest some xp toward an enchanting skill tree. He was considering as a soft 'ding' alerted the transit's passengers that their landing was imminent. Shaking himself from the quiet introspection he'd fallen into for the last while, Jonah turned his attention to his ever-active RTS View. At this point, he'd improved his mana regeneration to the point he could sustain the ability permanently, though that had been the extent of his progress xp-wise for quite a while. Accumulating it was difficult without having enemies to fight or other significant challenges the that his quest system could reward him for overcoming.

He'd tried to make the mechanic more generous, but it had simply broken the mechanic to do so and he'd grudgingly returned it to how it had been. That quest system was one of the few hold-overs from the previous 'game' system that he hadn't been able to improve yet.

"Thunk." The unassuming noise and very slight jostle were the only indications that they'd landed, until an automated message chimed up, "Planet-side transit achieved. Passengers, please be advised: you may safely leave the transit shuttle at this time. DING."

Everyone quickly began standing, stretching and getting themselves ready to leave. The process was reminiscent of deboarding an airplane on Earth, with the notable difference that everyone was able to stand comfortably. Even Hajjo, who had decided to join most of Jonah and Naomi's inner circle on the planet's surface, could stand comfortably. Jonah assumed there were additional spacial manipulation enchantments responsible for that, as his head was only a half dozen centimeters from touching the ceiling.

The other notable difference from an airplane made itself known as the walls on either side of the shuttle shimmered and faded away, leaving everyone a clear and easy way to exit the transport. Small ramps connected the seating platform to the landing pad below, sloped comfortably to allow even the couple Mvalos, slime like beings, traveling with them to easily disembark.

Walking side-by-side with Naomi, Jonah steered them toward where he'd already found Willow with his overhead view as they landed. He was surprised to see the girl he could only really remember as being caked in dirt, mud, blood, and sweat standing - relatively - tall and clean in a beautiful sleeveless dress.

Her soft brown hair had grown further since he'd last seen her, he suppressed thoughts about the last time he'd seen her decapitated and dead, it fell a little past her shoulders now as it hung partially unbound. She'd pulled her hair back from her face on either side and bound the unruly bits from falling into her face behind her head, creating a clumsy crown-like boundary between hair and head.

Jonah couldn't help but swallow as he saw the sparkling golden dress decorated with ribbons and various fanciful bangles of bright blue similar in color to her eyes. The garment's make was strange, being almost shockingly scant on top but flaring in a thick nest of fabric by the time it ended near her thighs. The tight bodice preserving her modesty, mostly, clung tightly and was connected to the skirts with a thin strip in the center which grew into a reverse V by the time it met the skirt's upper edge.

"Pick your mouth up." Naomi commanded as she passed him. She hadn't sped up, he'd just stopped moving without realizing it. He'd already seen her from above and had thought he'd braced himself sufficiently, apparently not.

Geez, there are plenty of beautiful people on the ship all the time. Get hold of yourself! Considering she'd made her stance on their relationship clear, Jonah did his best to console himself that he was simply admiring a beautiful person. Nothing else.

Willow's eyes, which had been slowly scanning the crowd, snapped onto them as Naomi spoke, as if she had managed to hear them from tens of meters away. A bright smile lit her face and she began hopping slightly as she waved expansively.

She stopped and turned to speak to someone, then pointed toward them and continued for a moment, before resuming her energetic greeting. Jonah couldn't help but smile as she continued to wave, and even increased the speed and intensity of her movements, the entirety of their approach.

As they got closer, Jonah noticed a small pink creature copying Willow's actions with - if it was possible - even more energy and intensity. Curious, he zoomed in with his RTS View, observing the little pink woman closer up. He'd read about Piper in Willow's messages, of course, but she was quite interesting to see in person. She seemed like a hodgepodge of human features with wings slapped on. Had she been colored like a person, or even had every single detail of one, she'd have been extremely uncanny. The very simple way her form and features were constructed somehow achieved a cute cartoon-like look instead.

"You made it!!" Willow hopped over the rail separating the very small crowd of people and the landing pad. She ignored, or maybe didn't notice, the protests of several beings as she did. A few of them wore uniforms which gave the impression they were security.

Naomi reached Willow first, stopping in front of her in that dignified way she'd learned while working toward Jemer's downfall. Her back was straight, eyes steady, left hand gently cupping her right without actually clasping it. Willow looked her up and down appraisingly, her eye's crinkling further and further as her lips spread into a smile that almost looked painful.

"You look so good in black! And the cut of your dress! But WHOA, the way you move around now! You're like…" Willow reached up and cupped both of her hands by hear cheeks, "…a queen! Should I curtsey? Call you majesty?"

Jonah's heart soared as he saw a small smile creep across Naomi's face at the barrage of compliments. Then her eyes passed Naomi and met Jonah's. Her eyebrows shot up and her smile changed into an 'O.' Taking Naomi by the shoulders, she spun her around and leaned, as best she could, arm draped over the taller girl's shoulders.

Her other hand pointed at Jonah as she turned her face to Naomi, "Is that REALLY Kent?!"

Jonah face-palmed and groaned. "She's forgotten my name again."

Snickering, Willow let go of Naomi and stepped forward to wrap Jonah in a quick hug. She didn't linger, stepping back after a moment. A friendly gesture, probably like she'd give to family, nothing more. Stupid hormones, duh. What were you expecting!?

Grinning at her, he tried to copy her raised eyebrows expression and looked her up and down, "You clean up good." He stated lamely.

"Oh? You think?" She twirled, her many-layered skirt flaring out around her. She stopped after a single turn, "You too, though I don't think sci-fi janitor is quite your look. We'll find you something cuter later. But you've clearly been active! You lost that little bit of baby fat and look like you toned up!" So saying, she reached out to poke at his cheeks.

"Now you REALLY look like Clark Kent. That sharp jaw, those piercing green eyes, you been beating off the girls on that ship of yours with a stick, or what?"

Laughing softly, Jonah rubbed the back of his neck, "Uh, not exactly…"

"He doesn't notice when they flirt with him." Naomi supplied, entirely ignoring the glare he shot at her for the betrayal.

Willow nodded thoughtfully, "We'll work on that. Assuming you want a girlfriend, of course…"

"How about we uh… Get off the platform? Naomi and I need to make sure the arrangements we made for the crew are ready." Jonah swiftly changed the subject.

"Right, right…. OH! You guys gotta meet Slyth!" She swiftly snatched each of their wrists and unnecessarily dragged them the two or so meters back to the rail. Jonah realized she was somehow still significantly stronger than he was. He hadn't put a ton of xp into strength, but he should have more than someone who had been reset to zero just recently, right?

Letting them go, Willow waved to the tall silver-gray man who was leaning against the rail watching them. Soft golden eyes took them all in underneath a mop of black hair. His face was well lined with laugh lines and forehead creases, though he still looked extremely young. Like a bulldog puppy. When he smiled and held his hand out for Naomi, who had been pulled forward by Willow's implacable grip, Jonah noticed sharp wolf-like canines poking out. The man, Slyth, Jonah supposed, was wearing a blue vest and simple denim pants, both beaten up and having seen better days. The vest was hung open, revealing a carved marble-like lean physique. He wore a ring on his left thumb and another on his middle right finger.

He introduced himself to Naomi with a simple, "Hi, I'm Slyth, it's a pleasure to meet you." in a gentle baritone which rolled and resonated pleasantly. Having been introduced to Naomi, Willow pulled Jonah forward and pressed him forward, "And this is Jonah!" She turned to look at him with a challenge in her eyes, "See? I remember names!"

The pink woman on her shoulder said something too softly for Jonah to hear and Willow scowled, "I remember my friend's names."

"Nice to meet you, Jonah." Slyth offered his hand, which Jonah took. As they shook hands, Jonah saw sharp black claws in place of fingernails, which Slyth was careful to keep from scraping against his skin.

"You too, Willow's told us a bit about you, but you know how scattered her stories can be. I can't wait to get to know you." Jonah's words came out a bit stilted, but mostly normal, he thought.

Naomi sent through the chat channel, "Stop being weird." Okay, so not so normal.

Slyth didn't seem to notice, as he just nodded and let go of his hand. "Do you two have somewhere to stay yet? Willow didn't think we should book you rooms as Shandy's Cups, where we've been staying."

Slyth's eyebrows drew down a bit and he spoke a bit quieter, "Not that we could have afforded four rooms…"

"Pft, don't be such a downer! We've done fine, haven't had to spend even a single day sleeping on the streets!"

"Yet!" A clear, childish, flute-like voice interrupted from Willow's direction. Clearly Piper.

"We'll just sell you off if it comes to it." Willow told her lightly.

"NOOOOO! I'm too cute! Do you know what they'd do to me?!" The pink fairy leapt from Willow's shoulder and hovered in the air, thin wings that Jonah hadn't even noticed before rapidly flickering as they kept her airborne. "Do you?! Cuz I don't. I really wanna know. What do big scary people do to cute little fairies when they're abandoned by their mothers?"

"I'm not your mother. And they're probably put you in a jar and tell you they don't believe in you."

"WHAT?! That's so cruel?! Why?!"

A gentle huff drew Jonah's attention and he found Slyth watching Willow and Piper arguing with a soft smile, "They're always like this. I think Willow made her argumentative on purpose so she had someone to bully."

"Couldn't bully you?" Jonah asked before he fully thought through his reply.

Slyth laughed out loud, a real laugh this time, "Sometimes. Not like that, though. I think she teases everyone she likes, a little at least."

Nodding along, Jonah agreed, "I think our very first conversation involved her making fun of me."

"Really? She usually seems to be pretty nice to people she's just met." Slyth shrugged, "Though I haven't known her long enough to be sure…"

"He just gives off that 'please tease me!' vibe." Willow joined in, proving she'd been listening even while arguing with her… Familiar? What does Piper count as? She said she was some kind of reward from the rift that she had to figure out how to use, right?

"Alright, Willow, the security guards are looking like they want us to leave and like Jonah said, we have things to take care of before we can settle down. How about we meet up somewhere later to catch up?"

"Sure! Slyth and I have to deliver something anyway. Gotta pay the bills, ya'know? Where do you wanna meet? The place we're staying, Shandy's Cups has really good fish and chips! Well, they call it 'strips and crunch' but it's the same thing." Willow stepped back, two groups forming again as she took her place to Slyth's left.

"Oh! Almost forgot." Jonah quickly sent a party invite to Willow, then, grudgingly, sent one to Slyth as well.

"Jonaaaaah I forgot how cool your abilities are!" Willow gushed as she popped up on his party list. She turned to Slyth and quickly explained, "Jonah can make this party thing that lets us all talk to each other from anywhere, without paying the stupid UICI cost! Also, it's not text but actual telepathy. It's super cool! Make sure to accept the invite, it's so much better than the stupid UICI." As she explained Willow danced from one foot to the other, as eager to be moving and doing things as ever.

Slyth's name popped up on the party screen as he nodded his agreement and sent a smile Jonah's way, "Thank you for the invite."

"Yeah, no problem…" Jonah sighed as he turned to Naomi, "Let's get the Phoenix Nest stuff done quickly, fish and chips sound good."

"Wait!" Willow demanded, causing both Naomi and Jonah to turn to her questioningly, only to be yanked into a three way hug. "I missed you guys!"

So saying, she let them go and stepped back, "Okay, now you can go! Also, I hope you guys have some ideas of what we can tell Madrick about his stupid faction idea, cuz I sure don't. Other than 'heck no!'"

She grinned and waved as she reached out and grabbed Slyth's hand, pulling him behind herself as she switched gears, "I bet we can make four more deliveries before…" Her voice trailed off as they slipped into the crowd and dissipated.

Naomi nudged his left shoulder with her right, "Let's go."

"Right, right…." As they made their way toward the building marked 'ARRIVALS', Jonah asked Naomi, "Did you forget what a whirlwind interacting with her was, too?"

"Nope. I've been excitedly waiting for it."