Valterion: The Space/Arch? Mage

Location: Magicon Empire; Song Duchy; Bernil System; VS Stargazer

We take things slow while traveling to the El Hakim system as we're still good on time thanks to meeting up way earlier than we had to. Therefore, we can take the time to test a few things and ease Alex into jumping a starship without a wormhole. She's still a brand-new Senior Mage after all.

Once she's confident in making her jumps consistently, I up the stakes and have our three starships jump in formation. This starts with me casting a Group Call spell between Simon on the Andala, Alex on the Hunchback, and myself here on the Stargazer. Yeah, I had my Sara Green disguise advance her Utility core to Senior during the holidays… Staying limited at Junior with my Archmage advantages was just too annoying. Anyway, they both accept the spell and listen to what I have to say.

"Okay, so let's do this. Are you ready?"

Simon confirms quickly. "Yep, I'm ready, and my ship is too. Ready to jump on your mark."

Alex is a bit more nervous when she replies. "Uhm, sure… We can start whenever you're ready."

Perfect, with them ready, I can proceed with the next step. "Alright, Clara will send you the coordinates any moment, then we jump on my countdown. It's a very short jump in-system just to test things for now, so don't worry, Alex, you've got this!"

A minute later, everything is ready, and I start the countdown while casting the Starship Jump spell at the same time. When I reach zero, I engage the spell and the Stargazer slips out of real space to briefly enter hyperspace.

I focus heavily on my Space Sense to not lose track of the other starships. I see them enter hyperspace a split second after me.

So far, so good. Then it's already over, and we reenter real space again. I analyze again with my Space Sense, and it's as expected: Simon and I are both spot on at the coordinates Clara provided, and Alex is just a little bit off, but completely within the acceptable margin of error. It was a full success!

I recast the Group Call spell to congratulate them on a job well done and to schedule another jump, this time a little further. When this jump also works out fine, it's time to do the real thing.

I find myself once again in a Group Call with the other two Space Mages right before we're about to do a cross-system jump in formation. This time, Simon has a question, though.

"Just to clarify, we jump not into the El Hakim System but to a supply station close to it in open space and then take a wormhole from there, correct?"

I confirm, and he continues.

"But why not jump there directly? I mean, we're good in time still, but why unnecessarily waste it with a wormhole journey?"

That is what I was asking myself too, before asking Vic for clarification. In the end, the reason is quite simple, and I relay it to Simon.

"It's all a thing of logistics… The Earth Adventure is gigantic in scope and therefore will include an incredibly large number of people. People who all travel by starship, so now imagine all of them directly jumping into the El Hakim System at almost the same time."

"I smell a gigantic mess," Alex chimes in.

"Exactly, that's why the officials forbade direct jumping into the El Hakim System at least, until we're all off toward the Solar System, meaning the only way into El Hakim is through the established wormholes."

I imagine Simon nodding, and he's quick to reply. "Gotcha, that makes sense! Also, I'm ready to go whenever you two are ready."

Location: Magicon Empire; Song Duchy; Supply Station; VS Stargazer

Our coordinated jump to the supply station goes smoothly, and we immediately schedule a wormhole trip into the El Hakim System. The effects of the assembly of all Earth teams in the El Hakim System are already noticeable, as even the space around the supply station here is quite busy. At least we get priority access to the wormhole because we're actual participants.

Apparently, most of the ships here belong to various press organizations that smell a big story in the Earth Adventure. From what Tim tells me, young journalists will be allowed to come to Earth too as soon as two months have passed. Looks like they're all here already to get some early footage or something.

Clara informs me that she's already fended off fifteen interview requests over the few hours we've been here… I wonder if that's normal or if the fact that Lisa is with me somehow got out. Sure, that she's on my team is no secret, but our ships should still be unknown. At least I think so.

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Anyway, it doesn't matter, as Clara fends them all off, and our slot at the wormhole is right about now. Before I direct the Stargazer toward the giant ring in space, Tim teleports over to the Hilara within the Andala's hangar bay and prepares to fly her outside as soon as Maja opens the doors, just like Vic requested. With that, our small flotilla turns into four ships, and the three other ships follow me toward the wormhole. I make a quick announcement that we're about to enter the wormhole, then I cast the Wormhole Navigation spell, and we enter the tunnel in space.

Location: Magicon Empire; Song Duchy; El Hakim System; VS Stargazer

I'm not ready for what awaits me on the other side of the wormhole when we arrive in the El Hakim System. To put it nicely, busy is vastly understated because the word busy doesn't encompass what I'm seeing here.

I've never experienced something like this. It's probably due to the placement of the wormholes leading into the system, but as a border system, it is rather common to have them all in one place to cheap out on security personnel. Now, it makes things much harder because the space in front of all the wormholes is absolutely packed!

There are so many starships that you have to look closely to see anything besides hulls and exhausts. And the craziest part is that they are all moving away! It just doesn't stop. Each wormhole spills out ships almost every minute.

Immediately upon arriving, we also receive a flight plan that leads us slowly away from the wormholes. We're asked to make haste to clear the space for the next arriving starships. I imagine a poor soul sitting in the sole space station close to the wormholes, trying to coordinate all this, then I shake my head. It has to be an AI, probably multiple.

Anyway, despite looking absolutely chaotic, I soon notice that there is a pattern to all the movements of the starships here in the system. We're all lining up around a certain point in open space. Nothing is allowed to fly there, and we're all asked to keep our positions and wait for further instructions. Our four ships reach our assigned position within two hours and then we do what everyone else is doing too: relax while scanning the living shit out of everything around us.

I mean, why not use the opportunity to learn about our competitors? Turns out right next to the wormholes isn't the only place with heightened activity in the El Hakim System, as the Stargazer's sensors detect a bunch of gigantic freighters parked at the other side of the star system. Close to them, a ring in space is being constructed. So if I have to guess, it's where they are building the start of the wormhole bridge that will lead all the way to Earth.

It's still a little more than a day until the official starting time of the Earth Adventure, and as we're already in position, we all decide to relax one final time before all the excitement begins. Lisa is sitting with me on the bridge of my starship, and we observe what's happening outside the big window in the front.

Suddenly, Lisa points at one of the incoming ships. "That's Bernd!" She exclaims in excitement and turns to look at me. She's got a serious expression on her face. "We can't lose against him, clear?"

That has me chuckling. As if I'd want to lose against Bernd Schmidt, especially since he has my cousin Victor on his team. I mean, I have to show him that I'm the superior Valterion, right? "Don't worry, Lisa, we won't lose against them, I promise."

Her grin is back. "Good, because I'll never hear the end of it if he manages to win."

Of course, it's such a silly reason with her… Not that mine is better. The irony of it has both of us laughing heavily.

The next morning, it's time! The final ships tickled in about an hour ago and joined the formation. It now looks like a hollow sphere as the space within the elliptical plane ran out a while ago, so the arriving starships were just stacked above and below the plane.

The reason why the sphere is hollow soon becomes apparent when I detect a massive surge of Space magic appearing right in the middle of it. Something is coming through!

Seconds later, a gigantic ship appears. I'm talking VS Maxima in size, probably even larger. It is flanked by a small fleet of more normal-sized, but still large, starships. Before anyone can react, an IFF ping arrives at my console and identifies the big one as MS Custodis. MS as in Magicon Ship. That can only mean one thing!

"Incoming transmission," Clara announces over the speakers.

"Put it on the main screen and invite everyone to the bridge, please," I reply, and she does so.

The forward-facing window darkens a bit, then the Magicon Empire emblem appears in the middle. I can still see the gigantic ship in the background as the window works similarly to my holographic interface. Meanwhile, the others start arriving at the bridge. Most of them are a bit out of breath as they were hurrying here. Once every seat is taken, I throw out a few telekinetic benches for the others.

Five minutes later, a countdown starts at thirty seconds, and as soon as it's done, the emblem vanishes to be replaced by two people in full royal regalia.

Grandpa John wears a steely gaze, while Grandma Amelia smiles slightly. An off-camera voice starts speaking. "I present to you Emperor John Benson and his wife, Empress Amelia Benson!"

There is a moment of silence, then the national Anthem starts to play. I notice a few of the others standing up and putting their hand to their hearts while looking at the projection of the Royal Couple. Lisa softly kicks my shoe. I glance over and see her doing the same. I guess that's a thing, so I do the logical thing and follow along.

When the music stops, Grandpa John speaks up. "Today marks a monumental moment in our recent history, because today is the day when I will call the start to the Earth Adventure! For that, I welcome every single one of you here to the El Hakim System. You represent our bright future! You will rediscover our past right at the birthplace of humanity! Make us proud and grow to new heights during your time in the Solar System!"

There's another moment of silence. Then Grandma Amelia starts speaking too. "You've heard the Emperor, we offer you the biggest opportunity the youth in our Nation has ever had, use it! But…" She waits for another second. "Every opportunity comes with its own challenges, and therefore, please welcome the delegations from our neighbors, the Starseeker Kingdom and the Kenjin Alliance."

When she finishes speaking, two flashes of Space Magic left and right of our sphere of ships announce the arrival of two other groups of starships. Lisa looks at me with wide eyes, and I immediately receive a Communication request from her. I accept her spell, and she practically yells into my mind.

"Did you know that? Why didn't you tell me?"

I shake my head slightly and wonder how she didn't notice my own surprise. "No, not at all… That's news to me, too! But does it really change things?"

"Yes, it does! If Prince Kai is with the Starseeker delegation, we'll have a major problem. That man is a magical monster! He's just shy of reaching Archmage while barely being older than us, and rumor is that one of his cores is a real Artifact core."

Holy smokes, that does sound like a problem. My eyes go even wider, and I slowly nod at Lisa. "I see… So he's obviously part of one of their teams."

"Yeah, but we can still hope, no?" Lisa finishes with a helpless shrug, and we both look back at Grandma Amelia's projection.

The older woman just smiles, probably cackling inwardly at the revelation she just made. Grandpa John starts speaking again. "Now with that little surprise out of the bag, I can only do one more thing, and that is announcing the official start of the Earth Adventure. Good Luck and enjoy your time on Earth!"