Kim and Mara had some conditions attached to joining us. First, we would register together as an official adventuring team with the Adventure Society. The ‘we’ included Olivia and Nkwe, although Nkwe was left off the official documents as he was very distinctive and would draw unwanted attention. There were already a lot of teams with Freedom in their name, so we became the Hunters Freedom, as a nod to both Olivia and my Essences and Nkwe's main focus. Kim was going to use it as her merchant focus as she would sell the goods from our hunts. And the goods from Olivia’s Harvesting Skill, my Reaping Magic and her own Collecting Benefits Aura. I think three harvesting and looting powers in one group tipped the balance for her.

  Secondly, Kim wanted us to enter into an agreement to form a Trading House. This was different from the partnership agreement she had looked at before. It was a formal Trading House, with us as its founding members. Trading houses often had offices in many cities and could be set up in the Society's trading halls, and not just the Adventure Society, but the Magic Society, Alchemist Association and others.

  She had big plans, and I think her thinking was that if she survived this, it would form the foundation of her new trading house, both in goods and in reputation—our new trading house. I am a founding member. I think the looting powers had rather a large influence on her decision, as we are all signed up for this. She is mistaken if she thinks she will have the backing of the Church of Death. Ceo is the god of Merchants, and we will not be treading into his territory.

  Their third request was a bit different, and it obviously came from both of them. They wanted to send Knot a last “Fuck you” message. To do that, I had to spend a lot of the day doing alchemy and not the alchemy I planned to do. I had to pop out to the Magic Society and send and receive some messages and to the Adventure Society to organise some things and then back to alchemy.

  Kim and Mara went for a walk in the streets, taking our watchers away long enough for me to get the Dimensional Crate with all their equipment to the Adventure Society ready for our portal tomorrow. Kai guided them past a nondescript house on an ordinary street. They were stirring the pot or baiting the hook or whatever they called it. I just call it poking the monster.

  We stayed the night at the Adventure Society because we were catching the first portal to Vitesse the next day. The Adventure Society building was up the hill from the lake. The upstairs lounge had a view of the lake and part of the harbour. We couldn't see my shed or where the Freedom was moored on my dock, though, as several buildings obscured the view. Bat and Night Kai were down there keeping an eye on things.

  I was working on some new armour pieces and working with some wood from Ardisia. I was still convinced I should be able to add her essence to the resin armour, but it was not working. Both moons were high, and Mara lifted her head, and Kai saw movement at the same time.

  Two people with Water Essence climbed onto the Freedom from the lake. Mara and I were looking over the roofs of the buildings between the Freedom and us when there was a massive flash of light, followed a second or so later by the sound of a massive explosion.

  I winced, “I didn’t think I made it that strong. That probably cracked the stone pier.”

  “I thought you said a bronze ranker would survive it?” Mara said.

  “It was only bronze rank, but I think I miscalculated something. Maybe too much Potent Quintessence?”

  “You should have let me look over it,” Kim said.

  “I was pushed for time. When is our portal?”

  “Two hours,” Mara said, “I don’t think the harbourmaster is going to be happy about that.”

  “Oops. Although technically, it would not have exploded if it had not been illegally boarded,” I said.

  “I am not sure how far technicalities will get us. It feels funny not sensing the ship anymore.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “You’re the Captain, so your ship exploding is your responsibility,” I said. “Good luck.” I sat down, at my portable alchemy set and got back to work.

  Mara looked at Kim, “The ship was part of the Hunters Freedom Trading House, and Kim is the lead trader.”

  “Oh no. Captain’s the boss on board,” Kim said.

  The discussion was interrupted by Olivia's loud snore as she slept against Nkwe. The Kais soon returned, and we moved down to the Assembly yards. Nobody accosted us with questions. The traffic scheduled for Vitesse was lining up to the limit of the Gold Ranker who was on duty today. I pushed the Dimensional crate through the portal on the manual trolly we hired.

  The Vitesse Adventure Society was several times larger and busier than Stillwater. Nkwe turned heads wherever he went. I think only Olivia used to enter towns, and Nkwe stayed in the wilds. That seemed lonely. I know Sabourtooth tigers were solitary in nature, but only having Olivia for the last several years seemed sad.

  Hopefully, we as a team can change that now.

  “How will Kekie treat you and Nkwe now?” I asked Olivia last night. “Will they try to separate you?”

  “We will always be outcasts, but now Nkwe knows his own mind, there will be no separation. The window for that has passed. That is not to say there won’t be assassination attempts.”

  Coming back out into the open with Nkwe is a huge risk for her. The false identity worked while Nkwe stayed out of sight. Here, we were in one of the busiest Adventure Society buildings on the planet, with Nkwe in plain sight. He was definitely a sight worth looking at, and most people would never see a fully grown Sabourtooth Tiger, even if he was only in the bronze rank.

  “If you would all come with me for a moment?” a voice asked, and a silver-rank official appeared in front of us. “My name is Powell Leigh, and I am part of the newly formed Builders Response Team.” We followed him to a warded room with a gold ranker.

  “Thank you for following,” Powell said, “We are checking all members as a number have been found with the Builders Star Seed affecting them. Those of you going directly against the builder cult get priority.”

  “What is a Star Seed?” Kim asked.

  “It is something the Great Astral beings give their followers and allows them to interact in the world more directly than they otherwise could. Senior Director Asplyn will conduct the inspection, which requires momentarily suppressing your aura,” Powell explained.

  I got the impression this was not something that could be refused, and we gave permission. It seemed like my soul was exposed for a moment, and Asplyn inspected me. “They are all clear,” Asplyn told Powell and left the room.

  “Is this something we need to be wary of,” Kim asked, seeking information.

  “No, a Star Seed needs to be accepted willingly into your soul, so you can not be forced. You will probably come against those with star seeds, and their powers will be different and enhanced. They won’t let you take them alive,” Powell explained. “There will probably be one or two of them leading each group.”

  “What else could we be facing?” Kim asked. She was going to be instrumental in planning our approaches. With her Knowledge and Magic essences, I was also planning to teach her the Astral Magic Rituals we would be testing each gate with.

  “The Builder cult can take an essence user and increase their power but change them into a slave, stripping their essence abilities and incorporating constructed parts, which makes them stronger but much less versatile and a drone in their minds,” Powell said. “These were the constructs that were fought in the astral space you are assigned. They killed many iron and bronze rank members and had no regard for their own lives.” He looked at us. “Their secret is now out, and we are working to counter it, but this has been in planning for years. We are well behind in this fight for our world and make no mistake, that is what is at stake here. We are working to have backup teams for you to call on, but we can’t just drop our current responsibilities, either. There is an overdue monster surge coming, and they are always more difficult.”

  “Is the other team available?” I asked.

  “Yes. The Tempest Triad will meet you at Marshalling Yard 26 in three hours. Their leader, Zavis, will have the full briefing.”

  “Thank you,” I said to Powell and then looked at the others. “We have two and a half hours to get what we need from the merchants. I will meet you at Marshalling Yard 26 then.”

  “Nkwe will go direct to avoid too much attention,” Olivia said. “Do we have a way to get him out of the Boko city without being seen? It is too close to Kekie for rumour not to spread.”

  Mara replied, “He can fly out in the hold of the Freedom.” She looked at Kim, “Let’s get those stones.”

  We dispersed, and most of us went to the trade hall. We would need a lot to survive for months in hostile astral space and probably combat Builder Cultists.