With a sharp hiss, the entire hull of the Wandering 14 rebounded as the ship superimposed itself back into ordinary space.

Leaving the warp placed it at a single point in the emptiness of cold, dark space, a shining blue star the primary source of lighting.

“Brr.” I shook my hands after taking them off the controls.

The shuddering left them and my waist on the pilot seat a little numb, as warp travel usually did.

Phew.

Other than that, I was fine; the ship diagnostics found no problems with its systems, either.

Using the window polar filters to tone down the sunlight, I checked on my navigation our current position in the Universe.

In the context of the Nexus star map,

Looks like that went well.

I was still in the vicinity of the Frontier, above one of the planets of the Malia system:

Our destination world and the home of the Magna – Kamag.

“There we go.”

A voice sounded in the transmission system, from the only other participant in the channel: The Observant 06.

“You okay there, Luda?” I asked the ship’s pilot.

“Yep, no problems here.” She answered. “How about you?”

“All clear as well.” I said.

While this was my second time traveling to this star system, the scenery was nevertheless unfamiliar to me.

Against the all-too-similar backdrop of stars and the intense shine of the blue sun, a planet wrapped in endless stretches of rough, textured rock occupied the most of our view. The crusty landforms were a dull shade of brown, in contrast to the lighter beige that dyed Kamag’s soil.

Like the surface of Nillon or even Udepra (though not so for Chao), there were patches of yellowish-green and swathes of blue all over the planet, corresponding to what should be the forests and oceans of this world.

I inspected my equipment and ship once again, seeing if anything was out of place. Other than the blinking lights from the washing machine cleaning my suit, nothing was particularly off in the interior space of my ship.

“KC?”

“Ah.”

Luda’s words snapped me out of my thoughts.

I was made aware that both our ships were hovering still in space, relative to the planet.

“Anything wrong?” She continued.

“Nothing in particular.” I replied. “Just nervous about all this, I guess.”

“Mm.” She affirmed. “So, where to?”

The two of us had reached our destination; all that’s left now is to find somewhere to land.

“Let me look the planet up. It should be—”

Before I could finish, an external connection request came into my ship.

“Oh.”

From her voice, it looks like she received the same thing too.

I looked at the request ID for the call.

[The Appointed Division for Reception and Admittance to the Magna Worlds]

This must be it.

Accepting the call,

“This is the Division for Reception and Admittance to the Magna Worlds.”

A voice with the slightest bit of static answered.

“Do you intend to land on Kamag as your next destination?”

After a moment,

“Yes, I am.” I told them.

Also,

“The person in the other ship is with me.”

“…Yes, we have been made aware of the situation.”

Returning to the topic,

“Our screening has revealed that none of your associated identification matches our records concerning those who are appointed by the Gatekeepers.”

They continued.

“From this, we can understand that you have not undergone the Foundation Trials for entry to the cities of Kamag. Is this correct, or do you have another claim to make?”

I thought back to what I did so far in Day 1 and today.

The whole thing with Guinness wouldn’t be considered as a trial, and showing them the Ovation would just cause unnecessary misunderstanding.

Therefore,

“Yes, that is correct.”

I stated.

“I’m here for that very purpose; to take the Trials.”

“…Eager, I can tell.”

They affirmed.

“Many Humans as young as yours flock to us to measure themselves against our practices, traveler. The tenacity of your people is something to hold in high regard, if little else.”

The person on the other side of the call fell silent, and I can hear the beeping and clicking of electronic systems in the background.

Before too long,

“We shall direct you to a Trial outpost, traveler, just as we did those before you.”

They advised.

“The outpost’s name is Deusrust, and you will find it past the city limits of Arbosienn, by the Arid Cisterns of the Niel Continent.”

“…I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.”

Several names came out at once, and I couldn’t catch all of it.

“You will land in Deusrust, a settlement outside the city of Arbosienn.”

They repeated the location for me.

“Ah, right.” I nodded. “Deusrust, by Arbosienn. Thanks.”

“May the Starlight watch over you.”

The voice disconnected after saying those last words.

“Whew.” I let out a sigh.

Dealing with etiquette-heavy stuff has never been my strong suit.

“You done, KC?”

The Observant 06 softly hummed as it flew to my right, and Luda’s voice reached me through the transmission channel.

“Yeah.” I answered, rubbing a palm on my face.

“I’ll set the navigation for Deusrust.”

I accepted Luda’s offer to lead the way.

After a few seconds,

“Oh, it’s not that far, just a bit towards the sun, really.”

She sent the location in our one-on-one chat, and I compared the area it marked against a world map of Kamag I retrieved from the network.

From the looks of this, the sun should be rising in an hour or so over there.

“Got it, Luda.” I replied. “Thanks.”

As soon as we were ready, the two of us flew side-by-side towards the planet, heading directly for where Deusrust was.

From outer space, it was difficult to tell where either Deusrust or Arbosienn was from among the rest of the barren rock covering the entire region.

Trust the nav, I guess.

The planet took up most of our view as we approached it, and atmospheric winds gusted against our ships as we breached the planet’s dry, clear atmosphere.

After we passed the lowest layer of clouds, the plain scenery of a temperate, lifeless flatland appeared before us. Apart from boulders which parted with the steeper of the hills to settle with their own piles of rock for company, there were not many sights that caught my attention.

At least, that was what I thought.

Just as my fingers reached for the automatic guidance command on the console,

“Look over there, KC!”

Luda called.

“By the hills!”

“Hm?” I stopped midway of standing up from the pilot seat.

I sat back down and grabbed onto the ship controls again.

Luda’s ship was blocking the view, so I dipped the Wandering 14’s altitude a little to see what she was talking about. Taking a closer look at the mounds far off in the direction of the dawn, I squinted my eyes trying to make anything out.

On one side of a hill,

“…What is that?”

A huge, spherical shell made out of some form of metal laid collapsed, almost the size of the hill itself.

From that point on, my eyes began to notice other, smaller things around the barren plains: Metal parts, ranging from those no larger than our own bodies to the gargantuan, geometrically regular ones, scattered all over the landscape, all of them in ruins.

And then, something moved just outside the corner of my eye.

Jerking my head back in that direction, the faintest forms of what looked like a pack of quadruped creatures reached my sight, trotting through the rocky expanse for the shortest moment before the terrain blocked them from view.

“…!” I gasped.

Those lifeforms were mechanical as well.

“Did you see that, Luda?”

“See what?” She asked.

“Whatever those creatures were…”

I trailed off.

“Never mind, I can’t see them anymore. Hopefully we can see them again after we land.”

“Alright.” She answered, saying nothing more.

Apart from the metal wrecks spread throughout the flatlands, there was little else to see on this side of the planet.

Turning on the autopilot for the ship, I left the cockpit to do some cleaning up on my crew quarters.

The weapon systems in the middle room were gathering dust, so I wiped them down with a dry cloth as well.

We’ll probably only use this in the wild, like Thohiri last time…

While rearranging the storage boxes on a shelf, I contemplated over whether I should invest in upgrades for the Wandering 14’s weapons or not.

I should make a note of it. If it’s possible, I would like to work on everything, but what should be first on the list?

A) Strengthen the cannons.
B) Improve the lasers.
C) Boost the er capacity instead.

---

By the time the ship alerted me to our arrival to Deusrust, I had already finished the few menial chores I planned to do.

From the view through the cockpit window, Deusrust seemed to be a satellite town of sorts, located outside the perimeter of the much larger city that was Arbosienn. Behind the intricately-constructed towers that made up the latter’s heights, strange concentric peaks of a mountain range peeked through.

“Looks like we’ll be landing in a clearing, KC.”

Luda told me through the transmission channel as I took in the view.

Moving my gaze to the town, I looked around and found the space she mentioned about. With a few ships lined up inside a fenced area, the landing zone was similar to the one on Mavacena.

“We’ll set our landing after the Observant 06, Wandering.”

I voiced a command to my ship systems.

“You can land first, Luda.”

“Sure.”

She initiated her ship’s landing protocol first, while my spaceship flew in wide circles around the town.

In the meantime, I stood up and walked away from the controls, bringing out the chat window.

Where was the friends list… Ah, there it is.

I thought about using either of the chat groups to contact them, but I figured that a call would be better.

C, D, E… Here we go.

I pressed on the name of a member and rang her up.

It didn’t take long for my call to be answered, and two faces appeared on the window, peering towards the camera.

“Evening, Eunseo, Xiao.”

I greeted the two women on the other side of the call.

“Oh, KC!”

“Evening~”

I sat on the bed in the crew quarters as they returned their own.

“Is Meiqi not with you?”

“She’s shopping around for upgrades to her Burst Arms.”

Chengxiao replied, explaining that getting your hands any decent technology on the planet needs quite a bit of formality to go through.

“The two of us are just taking it easy in a café nearby, waiting for her.”

Eunseo added.

“You can join us if you have time to spare.”

“Appreciate the invite,”

I shrugged,

“I’d love to hang out with you, but I still have the Foundation Trials to take, remember?”

“Oh, right!” She smacked the side of her head exaggeratedly.

“Can you make it in time, KC? It’s already this late in the day.”

Xiao asked me.

“I don’t know,” I mulled, “Probably not.”

“Hmm.”

Pondering something over, she lowered her gaze.

“I think we’ll be able to meet you after this.” She suggested.

“Luda unnie is with you, isn’t she? Where are you?”

“Deusrust. It’s outside Arbosienn.”

I told them the name of the town and the city nearby.

“Arbosienn…”

Xiao brought out her own window and searched the network for our location.

Eunseo brought the call window between the two of them, but the other girl was too busy looking up the place.

“…!”

“…”

We messed around for the few seconds Xiao was busy: Eunseo sent a wink through the camera, and I gave her a hand heart in return, complete with a deadpan expression.

She clutched her chest as if hit by whatever it was that I fired, then stretched her arm out towards the window trying to reach for me. Her eyes were tight shut, but the corners of gave away the fact that she was totally enjoying this.

Son Juyeon, the woman you are today, I sighed internally.

“…Deusrust, here it is.”

Breaking up our miming skit, Chengxiao spoke up.

“It’s not too far from here, KC.” She began. “We should be able to see each other before the end of the day.”

“Alright, Xiao. I’ll tell Luda about it.” I thanked her.

“See you two soon!” Eunseo waved at me before ending the call.

Returning my attention to the surroundings, I found that the Wandering 14 was already in the middle of its landing process, approaching a landing spot within the clearing to the side of the town.

Rather than a town, it’s more like a village, really.

Three seconds passed, then,

*BOOM*

The impact of the landing jostled the entire hull of the ship.

“Here we go.”

Straightening the fabric of my clothes, I approached the exit hatch and opened it up.

Feeling the early morning air brushing against my face,

“Welcome to Deusrust.”

I said to myself.

---

Looks like there weren’t any greeting notifications for Kamag settlements, else I would’ve gotten them already.

Setting my foot on the ground of the clearing, I thought about the Magna’s more conservative attitude to technology.

Does it have something to do with their mechanical nature, I wonder?

In the distance, a metal arch marked the exit and entry point to the landing zone.

“Hmm?”

I didn’t see any sort of immigration booth or stall around. In their place, several sensors and panels were installed on the arch itself, which had a junkyard-industrial element of design to it.

“Over here!”

It was difficult trying to make anyone out in the low lighting around the place, but Luda’s voice gave her position away. I saw her waving in my direction, outside the exit.

“It’s automated, so you just go through and follow the instructions.”

She explained.

“Got it.” I signaled the ‘OK’ sign to her.

Going over and walking through the arch,

“…!”

A series of beeps sounded as a few laser lights scanned my whole body. Somehow or rather, I could tell that they accessed my inventory storage space as well. The red lights on the arch turned green soon after the scans stopped, and I was allowed to leave.

I joined back up with Luda as soon as the checks completed.

“There aren’t many people around, are there?”

I said.

Are the Trials held in the break of dawn? Is that why the Division sent us here, where people are still sleeping sound at their homes?

“How do we know where to go?”

“Just follow the signs, KC.”

She pointed to a dirtied signboard by the street we were walking to. Despite the darkness of the early morning, the lamps illuminating the board made it relatively easy to see what it said.

As expected, I was able to understand the sign despite being unfamiliar with the written language. There were directions to various places like landmarks and clinics, but occupying the largest space on the worn yellow sign were the words ‘Trial Hall’.

“Outposts like these must have been made to receive trial takers, don’t you think so?”

Luda turned to me.

“It sure looks like it.” I nodded.

“Then the building should be easy to find, too.”

“Yeah, you’re right: Let’s go.”

Following the directions displayed by the sign, we made our way into the town area and looked around for the hall. A few more signs helped show us the way, and,

“That should be the Trial Hall, right…?”

I asked.

“Unless someone’s gone to great lengths to trick us, it should be.”

Luda responded.

The hall itself was distinct enough for us to find it among the other buildings. Slotting itself neatly in between a bank and a clinic, the building an aesthetic that was different from anything else we’ve seen in Deusrust. With archaic, traditional architectural elements bizarrely made in pickets of dark wood and reddish-brown metal, the hall was like a temple of iron in the middle of the town.

Inside the open-air interior, we could see the movement and activity of people, as well as the low chatters they made.

“Let’s find someone to talk to inside.”

“Yeah.”

Luda took the lead walking towards the entrance, while I trailed behind her.

[Deusrust Preliminary Trial Hall]

Etched onto the panel on the wide porch were those words, bold and deeply carved. I craned my head up to take a closer look at the panel as we went inside, and each character displayed the raw form of handmade craftsmanship, rather than the emotionlessness of precise, machined lettering.

*CREAK*

The raised wooden planks made a low noise as we stepped inside, just loud enough for us to be conscious of without disrupting the conversation around us.

The inside of the hall looked halfway between a dojo and a fantasy RPG guild. The atmosphere was much calmer and more orderly, without the boisterous atmosphere of somewhere like a tavern.

Apart from a counter to the back of the main hall, and a couple of tables to the side, the rest of the room was empty space.

“Just one counter, huh.”

Around ten people were already in the hall when we came in, and four or so were queuing up at the single counter that was manned.

“Hopefully it’s the right line to sign up for the Trials.”

Luda puffed up her cheeks by habit.

“We’ve got nowhere else to go.”

Overhearing our conversation,

“The Foundation Trials?” The person in front turned to us.

“Yep.” I answered.

“Yeah, this is the one.” He advised.

For a person with silver marks over the length of his barely-covered body, his expression was warm and friendly.

“Thanks.” Luda replied.

Leaning towards me, “Looks like we’ll have to wait for our turn.”

Yeah, I nodded.

As we stayed in the queue for the counter, I took the chance to have a better look around the hall.

We’re probably the only Humans in this place right now.

A few people with animal features, a person with aquamarine, transparent skin; not to mention the entity made out of slithering vines, resting by the wall without making much noise.

My eyes scanned the entire area, curious.

Then,

“Huh.”

They landed on a cloaked, bareboned robot sat by one of the tables to the side.

A Magna? …No, I don’t think so.

The structure of the torso part was different.

I could see them bring their head closer to a piece of paper on the table in front of them, tilting it occasionally.

*flap*

After what seemed like an eternity of deliberation, they held the paper, which seemed to be a kind of form, up between their hands, making an exasperated gesture.

“It looks like they’re having trouble filling in the form.” Luda whispered.

“Yeah.” I pondered.

We observed the mechanical lifeform struggling for a while.

Hmm.

Turning to her,

“Sorry about this, Luda.”

I said.

“But can you take the line for a bit? I want to take a look at what they’re dealing with.”

Raising her eyebrows,

“Sure.”

Before I could leave, she added:

Take a photo of the form as well, before they fill it up. I want to see what we have to write before we reach the counter.”

“Will do.”

Leaving Luda at the line, I went over to the struggling robot and called out to them.

“Hey.”

They continued peering over the form, ignoring my greeting.

I thought of repeating my greeting louder, but elected to take the seat right next to them instead.

“Hi.”

I lowered my face to make contact with their eye, a singular sensor set in the middle of their elongated head, reflecting a dark red colour.

“…Oh, morning.”

The sensor released a flash of red light in surprise, seeing my face come into its view so suddenly.

Straightening the creases on the cloak that covered their body,

“What is it?”

They asked, a slight weariness present in their synthesized voice.

“Well,”

I motioned my head at the form on the table, a little crumpled from their previous scuffle.

“Me and my friend were queuing up at the counter, when we saw you stress over the form in your hand.”

I scratched my temple with a finger to indicate my curiosity.

“I was wondering if it’s something we should be worried about as well.”

A rim of metal inside the mechanical lifeform’s eye rotated as it stared at me. Then,

“Right.”

They beckoned me over and pointed to the form.

“Help me with this.”

---

Nodding in response, I shifted my seat closer to them and had them bring the form between us.

Name, age, race, place of origin…

Other than an agreement to commit to and uphold a set of moral values, the details needed by the form weren’t too complicated.

“Are any of the fields difficult for you to fill in?” I asked.

The lifeform stared at me and replied.

“All of them, Human; I cannot understand what any of these words mean.”

I tilted my head in response.

“Do you mean the language? Or the writing system?”

“I understand Frontier Standard and can read their script just fine.”

They sighed.

“But these terms are all unfamiliar to me.”

“Hmm.”

I had a closer look at the paper.

Because of the game’s system, I was able to understand the words written on the form without any help. At least, I haven’t found anything I couldn’t read that wasn’t itself worn out or incomplete.

From what the robot said, this language was Frontier Standard. From what I know, the Frontier would not allow its common language to morph and distort itself over time without their regulation, for fear of miscommunication between the races.

They could recognize the writing and understand the language itself,

I pondered.

Just that the words were unfamiliar to them.

I thought up of something, but chose my next words carefully.

“Please don’t take this wrongly, um,”

The lifeform’s eye flickered.

“My name is Memphis.”

“Right, Memphis.”

I repeated.

“Is there something wrong with, well… your memory banks? Or the part of your brain that stores your memories, something like that.”

“My memories? Why would you think that?” They inquired.

“Well, do you know what the words ‘name’ and ‘age’ mean?” I returned a question of my own.

“Yes, I do: What you call yourself, and how long you have lived.”

With a nod, I pointed to the first two fields written on the form.

“These words spell out ‘name’ and ‘age’ respectively.” I explained.

“…!!”

The robot froze as they tried to process what I told them. Realization came over their expression, and,

*BAM*

Both their hands slammed on the table as what looked like frustration appeared on their otherwise featureless face.

“Damn it!!”

I recoiled from their voice, but my mind was distracted by something else.

How in the world did I learn how to know what robots feel? All the movies and games, probably.

“…You’re right.”

Calming themselves down, Memphis muttered.

“My memories of certain written words were blocked off for some reason, until you said that.”

Going over the form again,

“I recognize all these terms now.”

They thanked me.

“Sure, just let me have the paper for a bit.” I replied.

“Why?”

“Just a few pictures, if that’s okay.”

“Right,”

Memphis pulled away from the table.

“Go ahead.”

Snapping a few shots from the camera window, I thanked them and left to go back to the queue.

“It’s going to be a while before I get completely used to this body.”

My ears perked at the words they said to themselves.

Another story hook.

The slightest chill went down my spine.

---

“Seems like it went well over there? Seeing how relieved they are now.”

As I approached her, Luda raised her eyebrows at me.

“Yeah.”

I affirmed her guess.

“Turned out to be a language thing, apparently.”

“I see.”

By the time I got back, it was already the silver-marked person’s turn at the counter; we were up next.

“The form won’t be that difficult to fill in.”

I brought out a window and showed her the picture of the paper Memphis held.

Peering closer to the holographic screen, Luda made out the text printed on the slip.

“For the personal details, we’ll just use the ones from real life.”

She suggested.

“Sure.” I agreed. The form didn’t have a field for date of birth, so it should be fine where several things are concerned.

The two of us waited until the person in front finished his business at the counter, then stepped forward to talk with the person stationed behind it.

“Greetings, travelers.”

The mechanical lifeform raised their floating octahedral head to look at us, a sphere within the shape seeming to act as the eye.

This is definitely a Magna.

From the few Magna individuals I’ve known, I learned to tell them apart from other robotic races.

“Morning.”

I returned her greeting, as did Luda behind me.

“We’d like to sign up for the Foundation Trials?”

Her head spun gently as she answered.

“Very well. Do you have a commendation from a Magna Pilgrim?”

“Magna Pilgrim?”

I turned to Luda, who also shook her head.

“…I don’t think so; neither of us do.”

“That is fine.”

The person behind the counter moved along.

“Are you fine with the verbal registration process, or do you need a form?”

Verbal registration, huh.

“What do you think, Luda?” I asked her.

“I think the form is better, KC. We don’t want to accidentally give the wrong answer from other people pressuring us.” She answered.

“Alright.” I agreed.

“Then we’ll have the forms instead.” I told the Magna.

“Understood.”

She fiddled with a machine below the counter, and an enclosed space revealed itself on the table space. Inside the secret compartment was a stack of the same form we saw before.

Ensuring that only two pieces were taken,

“Here you go, travelers.”

The Magna gave the papers to us.

“Just leave the completed forms to my left when you’re done; you don’t have to queue again.”

She advised.

“Thank you.” I made a slight bow to her, out of habit.

As we left the counter, we passed by Memphis, who had just completed their form and were now going to hand it in.

That was quick.

Hopefully they won’t come into other problems in the future; losing the ability to remember your words can be pretty scary, as I found out earlier.

Approaching the side of the hall, we picked one table to sit on, and got to work writing down the details in our forms.

“Do you have another pen, Luda?”

I lurched over to her.

“There’s one in the all-purpose tool, KC.” She replied.

On the other side of the table, Luda let out a giggle when she saw my reaction.

“I know, I was surprised too the first time I found out.”

“Wow.”

Digging into my inventory, I selected the tool and found that she was right; an ink pen was inside the handle.

“That’s convenient.”

My remark was rather lukewarm. Seeing as our inventory space also functioned as a crafting and forging workshop, I guess this ended up being plain in comparison.

I pulled it out and began writing on the form as well.

Is there an autofill module for written documents, I wonder?

We spent the next minute or so focused on the papers in front of us, basking in the silence in the Trial Hall, broken only by the quiet chattering of the two or three animal-like people.

The footsteps of someone entering the building completely passed by our attention, and,

“…Hmm?”

A pale hand laid itself on Luda’s shoulder.

---

The two of us simultaneously turned to look at the person that walked up behind Luda.

In a hardy, light blue coat that covered the majority of her body, a woman stared at us with a relieved expression.

“…Y,” She stuttered. “You two are Humans, right…?”

“Yes, we are…?” I belatedly answered.

“Thank goodness…!”

She let out a quiet sigh, but an expression of warm relief clearly bloomed over her face. The jet black of her long hair and eyelashes contrasted heavily against her snow-white, almost frosted over, skin, giving her an appearance of someone born and raised in the middle of a perpetual snow storm.

A notification came on my system a few seconds later; a message from Luda.

Stealthily opening the chat window under the table and peeking at it,

Luda: She said ‘human’, KC.

Luda: Not ‘player’.

Got it, I nodded back. Better not let my guard down.

The person stood there looking at us, fidgeting her thumbs.

“Uh,”

Feeling the awkward silence between us,

“Is there something you need?”

I asked her.

“No, I mean, um,” She shrank back.

What was she afraid of?

I thought.

She was the one who called out to us.

Luda and I exchanged looks, coming to a mutual understanding that we had no idea what this girl was thinking about.

“Why don’t you have a seat, first?”

Luda took action next, gesturing towards the stool on her right.

“Ah, thank you.”

Timidly accepting her offer, the woman moved over to take the chair, and—

*THUD*

The sound of her body plopping down onto the seat was loud enough to be heard around the hall.

“Aaa…”

She rubbed her hips, her eyes tightly shut from the pain.

“You okay?”

Luda looked over to see if she was alright.

“Y-Yes, I’m fine…” She answered.

On the other side of the table, I just sat there, confused.

How did that even happen?

I realized that my pen on the form had stopped moving. I tried to continue filling it in, but,

“…If you don’t mind me asking,”

The girl began to speak, once again.

“Where are you two from?”

“Um…” I hesitated.

“I’m from Saturn.” Luda took the lead and answered first.

“Mars for me.”

Seeing that she elected to use her first spawn point as the answer instead of ‘Earth’, I played along and mentioned mine.

“A terrestrial and a gas-gianter… I see.”

She brushed some dirt off her thick coat and snuggled against it to warm herself up, but I didn’t miss the slightest flash of disappointment that passed behind her eyes.

Seeing that none of us was particularly hostile to her,

“…My name is Jung Jin-ah… but you can call me Jina. What’s yours?”

The person introduced herself.

“I’m Luda.”

Luda’s answer was polite, yet curt.

“Just call me KC.” I followed, before trying to explain to her that we were occupied at the current moment.

“You know, we’re a bit busy with this at the moment, why don’t—”

Before I could finish, however, another person appeared to my left.

“Thank you for your help, by the way; perhaps I was too cold, before.”

It was Memphis, who glanced towards the two women beside me.

“Are you two his friends? My name is Memphis, by the way; an Ilyid.”

“No, Luda’s my friend,” I explained. “But the one behind her is—”

“Wow, an Ilyid…!? Really!?”

Jina, who had been quiet with us thus far, yelled loud enough to make me flinch.

*BANG*

The stool her body pushed back when she suddenly stood up toppled, and fell onto the wooden floor.

As everything in the hall went silent, the girl realized what she did and covered with both her hands.

“Please be considerate of the Hall and the people inside it, traveler.”

The Magna behind the counter advised.

“Respect all that you meet in this world, even that chair.”

“Right, I’m sorry…” Jina hung her head down.

As things quieted down, she propped the chair back up and sat down next to Luda, while Memphis settled in beside me.

“To reiterate,”

The mechanical lifeform began,

“Yes, I’m an Ilyid. I hail from the Vinii System’s Garfo-Trinb, though unfortunately I travel without a companion.”

Luda and I nodded in passing, concentrating on completing our forms instead.

“What’s yours, Human?”

They gestured to the woman in the coat.

“From your extrasolar garment, you should not be from around here either.”

“Um, this isn’t… an extrasolar coat, technically speaking.”

Jina muttered as she introduced herself.

“…I’m Jina, a daughter born to a mining family on Fetu.”

“Fetu?”

Memphis repeated the name, indicating that they were unfamiliar with the place. Neither Luda and I were, too, seeing that both of us instinctively turned to her.

“…It’s a dwarf planet on the Kuiper belt, far away from the habitable zone of the Solar system.”

She explained.

“The Kelvin coat I’m wearing helps me brave the cold, though it takes to warmer places too.”

I see, Memphis nodded.

“Your upbringing must have been hard.” They comforted her.

“I-It’s nothing.”

Jina waved both her hands.

“We… make do with what we get.”

…

While the two people chatted on about their adventure, I finished filling in the form, and Luda completed hers soon after.

“…What do you think, KC?”

Jina glanced in my direction as soon as I was able to pay attention to their conversation.

“…I’m sorry?” My eyes widened.

“Memphis and I were talking about which terrain is harder to traverse, a swamp or a desert. Memphis insists that the desert is more difficult, when anyone can see that the bogs are more troublesome!”

Um, who are you again?

Compared to her a few minutes ago, this chattering Jina felt like another person entirely, any trace of her shyness already gone and replaced with animated enthusiasm.

“Running out of essentials in the middle of nowhere is a grave threat, Jina, especially for your biological water-dependent bodies.”

The robot argued.

“But that’s survival, not traversal! I’m not talking about going there unprepared, you know…!”

The expression she had was uncertain, yet adamant, showing that she had no intention of losing the argument.

Either way, their discussion left no space for me to respond. The back-and-forth exchange was starting to get on our nerves as well.

“Rather than that,” Irritated, Luda spoke up. “Why don’t we—”

*STEP STEP STEP*

Multiple footsteps resounded throughout the Trial Hall, interrupting the conversation.

“Just how many new people are we going to meet today…?”

I groaned as I turned to the entrance, preparing to deal with whatever distraction that came next.

“Oh?”

My eyebrows raised in surprise.

Three people let out heavy breaths as they stood in the centre of the hall, looking around.

All of them wore spacesuits on that were similar to ours: Yellowish-brown, black and red, and green and red.

The first one locked eyes with me, and—

“KC!”

She called out.

Hearing her voice, I responded by reflex.

“…Eunseo!”

---

In order of description, the three people were Eunseo, Meiqi and Chengxiao, respectively.

“Oh!”

Luda also stood up from her seat when she saw them.

“What are you doing here, girls?”

…Right, I was supposed to tell her those three were coming.

“Luda unnie!” Xiao noticed her and said. “We’ve come to meet you!”

I followed after Luda as we left the table and went over to the three of them, not forgetting to store the forms in our inventory.

As soon as we joined up,

*squish*

Eunseo wrapped her arms around Luda and gave her a tight squeeze of a hug, swaying side to side.

“I missed you!” She exclaimed.

“We see each other all the time in real life, Eunseo.”

Barely managing to catch a breath, Luda replied.

“Still, it’s nice to finally meet you three in game.”

“Evening, Luda unnie.” Xiao greeted.

“Well, it should be morning here, right?” Meiqi followed. “Morning, you two.”

“It was late at night in Torfalmein, so we were only a few hours away.” Eunseo explained.

“You didn’t need to rush, you know.” I sighed. Flashing a relieved smile, “How have you been?”

“Same old, same old, you know.”

She grinned.

“Apart from the fact that these two here have been pulling me apart with the things they’ve been doing.”

Pointing to Chengxiao and Meiqi, Eunseo explained that they had quickly found a reason to stay in Kamag after passing the Foundation Trials: Meiqi wanted to deck out her Burst Arms with Magna technology, while Xiao wanted to get some training of her own with a martial arts mentor.

“Meiqi aside,”

I glanced over to Xiao.

“Won’t the training be too long for the time we’re allowed to play?”

“The temples have introductory classes for visitors and disciples who haven’t decided what to specialize in, KC.”

She smiled.

“It’s one of the highlights of their tourism industry!”

The Magna have a tourism industry…?

I pursed my lips.

On second thought, why wouldn’t they? It’s honest money and lets outsiders appreciate their traditions properly.

Everyone in the planet’s major cities should have passed the Trials to get in, anyway.

As we continued to talk with each other, I stole a glance back at the table we were before. Jina had a nervous expression, while Memphis simply nodded their head.

“And I’m a simple person, Luda unnie: I go where the pretty sights are.”

Eunseo stated.

“Heh,” I responded. “Of course you do.”

Meiqi let out a laugh.

“I’m talking about the scenery, KC!” Eunseo retorted.

“You remember the huge landforms on Nillon? Sadus is just like that, except that the entire planet is covered in ruins too!”

“Sadus? The planet next to this one?” I asked.

“Yep, Sadus was the home planet of an ancestral race of the Magna, who left Kamag to build an entire empire there.”

She explained.

“An ancient, powerful civilization older than the Frontier itself… Doesn’t that excite you?”

“The way you said it does make me a little curious.” I nodded.

“Me too.” Luda added. I could see a bit of sparkle behind both of their eyes.

“But I’m stuck here on Kamag, to accompany Chengxiao and Meiqi.” Eunseo sighed.

“You don’t have to stay with us, Eunseo. You know that, right?”

Xiao responded, tilting her head.

“Granted, you’ll have to take another, separate Trial to set foot on Sadus anyway.” Meiqi added.

“Speaking of Trials,”

I grasped the change in topic, and beckoned the two people at the table over.

In response, Jina slowly scurried over to us, while Memphis trotted behind.

“Oh?” Eunseo noticed them approach us and turned to me. “Did you make some friends, KC?”

“Sort of.” I shrugged.

“Hello.” Chengxiao called out to them.

“Hi…” Jina responded. “I’m Jina… You are Human too, right?”

“Greetings, I’m Memphis; pleased to make your acquaintance.” Memphis followed.

“Nice to meet you, call me Eunseo.”

“I’m Chengxiao. Yep, we’re humans, Jina.”

“My name is Meiqi, a pleasure for us, too.”

The ’98 line introduced themselves in return.

“These three are people I know, you two.” I added.

Turning to Eunseo,

“They also just finished the Foundation Trials yesterday, so I’m wondering if you can tell us about what to expect.”

Ah, I see how it is, Eunseo leered at me.

“We can’t really say a lot, ourselves.”

Meiqi began.

“The Trials differ depending on where you take them and the Gatekeeper that will host your group.”

Gatekeepers! I heard that term from the Division before.

“What is common between them, however, is the fact that the entire group will take the Trial together, and most of them will be cooperative.” Xiao added.

“Our Trial was an obstacle course, where we had to jump across wooden poles high above the ground without movement assistance.”

Meiqi continued.

“Eunseo struggled with the final part for a bit, but fortunately she made it through.” She giggled.

“I wasn’t in the right mind, okay!?”

Eunseo cried out.

“It’s not my fault I’m not as good in those things as you two!”

“There, there.” Chengxiao rubbed her head as she consoled her. “We love you for who you are.”

“Uuu…”

Ignoring her whining,

“So it’s going to be taken in a group, huh? Good to know.”

I looked at the two people who were the only non-player characters among us.

Maybe getting to know them was a good idea after all.

“So it would make sense for us to go together as a group.” Memphis pondered.

“…Good idea!” Jina nodded excitedly. “…Why don’t we band together, KC, Luda?”

“Ah, okay.” Luda answered, a strange expression on her face.

Jina had a Korean name, but she didn’t use any honorifics with us.

Maybe the culture had shifted from real life in this far future, space-age setting.

“I wonder when the first Trial will start.”

Chengxiao mentioned.

“It should be around the same time the sun rises, I heard.”

“All we need to do is wait, then—”

Before I could finish the sentence, a notification came up on the system.

[Day 2: 30 Minutes Remaining]

“Thirty minutes left?” Eunseo’s eyes widened.

“Time really flies, doesn’t it?” Chengxiao added.

“Wait, then KC and Luda unnie…?” Meiqi turned to look at us.

…Oh.

I had already expected this, but seeing it made my heart heavy all the same.

“…Looks like we were too late, KC.” Luda smiled bitterly.

All five of us received the same message, telling us that the second session was ending soon.

---

“Too late?” Jina asked. “…What do you mean?”

“Well, something came up.” I answered.

The members looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

“There’s no way we can make it, right?” Luda asked Eunseo.

“I don’t think so, unnie.”

She shook her head.

“Our own Trial took us around two hours to finish.”

“Also…”

Xiao secretly motioned to the two non-player characters,

“I don’t think we should log out in their presence.”

“Good idea.” Meiqi said. She leaned towards the two of us and whispered. “We’ll see you at the landing zone, you two.”

Sure, I nodded.

Settled on our next plan of action, the three ’98 liners waved to Jina and Memphis, before walking out of the Trial Hall.

“What’s happening?” The Human asked.

“I’m sorry, Jina, Memphis; go on without us.”

I apologized to them.

“It would be nice to complete the Trials with you, but we’ll just have meet up in Arbosienn after.”

“You,”

She grasped the meaning behind my words.

“You’re leaving…?”

“Yeah.” Luda nodded. “Sorry about this, you two.”

Jina wanted to say more, but Memphis held a hand in front of her.

“It must be an important affair, to involve all of you.”

They reassured us.

“Don’t worry about us, KC, Luda; go.”

“Thanks, Memphis. I appreciate it.”

Making a bowing motion to them, I hurried out of the Trial Hall, followed by Luda.

The early morning air of Deusrust brushed against our skin as we made our way through the still-sleeping town, heading for the landing zone where our ships were.

“I feel sorry for them, KC. Even though they were a bit annoying back then.”

“Me too, but the time limit doesn’t wait for anyone, does it?”

Luda and I shared our thoughts as we approached the clearing outside the town, where several ships were parked.

As we got ourselves scanned at the automated sensors by the arch, I looked back at the town.

In contrast to the organic, utopian architecture of Arbosienn’s buildings, Deusrust looked positively like a dump of a town.

It must have sprawled out from a settlement designed to hold Trials for newcomers.

The impression I got was that Kamag had little intention to deal with visitors who have not passed their test, so other races had to come in and take their place in these areas.

After we finished, we walked over to our parked ships.

Under the gradually brightening sky were about a dozen or so spacecrafts, stationed in their designated spaces.

“Oh.”

Three of them, lined up one after the other next to ours, looked familiar.

“We can’t connect our ships here, KC, but this should be good enough.”

Xiao’s voice reached us from one of them.

Looks like Eunseo still hasn’t bought herself a new ship, after all.

The Virtuous 08, the Harmonious 09, the Indomitable 10; they were all here.

Chengxiao waved at us from the window of her ship, inviting us abroad.

Her Harmonious 09 was the only ship I know so far to have a design similar to mine, so I could get up on the wing and go through the hatch she opened without difficulty.

“Up we go, unnie.”

With Xiao’s help, Luda raised herself and entered the ship as well.

“Thanks, Chengxiao.”

“How did it go?”

Already sitting around on her bed were Eunseo and Meiqi, who welcomed us in.

“It went okay.”

I shrugged.

“Jina was sad to see us leave, but what’s done is done.”

“We should make it up to her. What do you think?”

Xiao suggested, closing the hatch behind her.

“I didn’t want to seem to friendly to her.” Luda pondered. “But she was happy to see us.”

“Me too.” I pursed my lips. “Jina must have been lonely, to get attached so quickly.”

“Huh.” Eunseo raised her eyebrows. “How about Memphis, then?”

“They seemed to be on the serious side, but at least they understood the urgency of the situation.” I answered. “…I think I can trust them.”

“Well, that’s that.” Meiqi sighed. “Can’t help that we’re out of time.”

With little else to do, we sat down on the floor and huddled around each other. The four members occupied the crew quarters, while I took the space next door, in the weaponry room.

We spent the next few minutes recounting our adventures today.

I told them about the busking and challenge incident on Mavacena with Dawon, as well as the whole hunting thing in Nadeum’s oceans with Luda. She helped recount our fight against the Cortispire and Crowncelp, as well as the story of how the Everest Bracer became the Fahrenheit’s Ovation.

“Shaen and Magna?”

Chengxiao’s jaw dropped.

“No wonder it’s so powerful, KC.”

“I can show it to you, if you like.”

Before their expecting eyes, I pulled the shield out and showed them, although now I knew not to carelessly activate its effects.

In return, they told us about how they were chased out of a Kamag city because they ignored the Trial requirements, finding someone who knew about Gilbert in an outpost. Their story went all the way to the entire war on Designation 8NE, which they caught themselves up in in the search for Gilbert.

After giving him Guinness’s core, they made their way back here and took part in the wooden pole trial, the success of which granted them access into the towering city of Torfalmein.

“The rest of the story should be familiar to you.”

Eunseo puckered her lips.

“KC called us, and we flew all the way here to meet you.”

“I see.” I understood their explanation. “Speaking of which…”

Before I could talk about Meiqi’s Burst Arms,

[Day 2: 10 Minutes Remaining]

The notification arrived.

At the same time,

“Oh?”

Xiao turned to the cockpit of her ship. By the pilot seat, the console’s lights blinked.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“…Someone’s outside.”

She lowered her voice.

Seeing the alert from the Harmonious 09, Xiao switched something out in her hand.

…!

My heart tensed up, recognizing it as her Wave Slicer.

“Who is it…?” I looked through the cockpit window. Wandering aimlessly through the clearing was a figure, the sky still too dim to show their features clearly.

“Huh.”

Behind them, another figure trailed. From their actions, I could see that they had no intention to hide themselves.

Two of them…?

“Don’t tell me…!”

I turned around and chased after Xiao, who was just about to leave the ship.

“Do you know who they are?”

In the crew quarters, Luda asked me what I saw.

“I have a good guess.”

Stepping over the hatch, I joined back up with Chengxiao as she approached the two figures.

“Chengxiao…!”

Before I could call out to her, the figure in front of us did.

“I thought so.”

Xiao let out a sigh.

“Why did you follow us all the way out here, Jina?”

---

Behind her, I could see Memphis take off their hood, revealing their metal-clad head and their single red eye.

“She insisted on looking for you, KC.”

The mechanical lifeform apologized.

“Had something to say.”

Don’t worry about it, I waved my hands at them.

“So,”

In front of me, Xiao crossed her arms.

“Care to explain why you’re here?” She stated.

Ooh, an angry Xiao, I stepped back. This is rare to see.

Met with her glare, Jina trembled where she stood. However,

…!

The girl bit her lip and strengthened her resolve.

“…I’m really sorry for following you all the way here; really!”

She began.

“I, I just wanted to tell you this before you leave…!”

“…”

Both of us stayed silent, letting her continue.

“…W,”

Her lips quivered.

“…We’ll be waiting for when you come back, okay!?”

Huh?

I couldn’t help letting a blank expression show on my face, confused.

Chengxiao also looked stumped; none of us expected that to be the big declaration.

“Um.” I responded.

“You’re the first group of Humans I’ve ever met, ever since I left the Solar System…!”

She continued to let her heart pour out, her cheeks reddening from the surge in emotion.

“I don’t want to part ways so soon! Not when I’ve finally met people like me…”

Jina’s words trailed off as she lowered her face, close to tears. Seeing her fall silent, Memphis took over her and continued.

“Not many people are attending the first of the Trials this morning… and neither of us are in a hurry to complete them.”

Staring at us,

“I too would like to complete the Foundation Trials with you, if it’s possible.”

A few seconds passed between the four of us in silence.

“Haah…”

This time, I was the one who sighed.

Chengxiao and the others turned their attention on me.

“I told you,”

I began.

“The three of them have already completed the Trials before, so they won’t be joining us.”

Only Luda and I haven’t, I reminded them.

“Still…!” Jina raised her head.

“You’ll be waiting for us anyway, won’t you?”

I raised an eyebrow at her.

The Human nodded exaggeratedly, and the Ilyid followed suit with one of their own.

“Fine.”

I conceded.

“I’ll do it with you two when we get back, okay?”

Seeing Jina’s face light up, my expression relaxed.

“You’re making such a big deal of what’s probably just a small test, Jina.”

Xiao smiled in response, as Memphis went up to the thrilled woman and patted her back.

What a handful, I thought.

“Good for you, Jina!” A voice cheered behind us.

“Oh?”

“Everyone…!”

On the wing of the Harmonious 09, Eunseo’s face could be seen popping out of the open hatch. Luda and Meiqi were peering through the exit as well.

“You’ll do it with us too, right, Luda?”

I grimaced at her, assuming that she’s heard most of the conversation already.

Whatever works, she shrugged.

“Anyway,”

I looked at the time on the system.

“Don’t be surprised if we, you know, disappear into thin air.”

“Huh?” Jina responded.

“…It’s a thing for all of us.”

I tried to put it the best way I could. Xiao and the other girls also showed pitying expressions, indicating that what I said wasn’t a joke.

“…Ah, I understand.”

Jina nodded, seeming to have grasped something; her face wore a similarly helpless expression as she answered.

“Forced teleportation, right?”

Huh?

Chengxiao and I exchanged glances with each other.

“…My parents had to deal with the same thing for years.”

She explained.

“The mining company they worked for teleported them to work at the exact time, down to the second.”

“I see.” I answered her. “Yeah, sort of.”

So teleportation was a thing in this game, too.

“I hope you can resolve everything on your side soon.”

The Human smiled.

“I’ll be waiting here with Memphis for when you come back!”

“We’ll be going around in the wilderness out of Deusrust in the meantime.”

The Ilyid added.

“Hunting, gathering, what have you.”

“Got it.” I responded. “Stay safe, you two!”

“Don’t get in trouble!” Chengxiao added.

Waving them goodbye, we climbed back up on the Harmonious 09’s wing and went back into the hatch, together with the other members.

“…Now that was something.”

Eunseo spoke, as soon as I closed the exit behind me.

“I didn’t expect her to be so persistent.”

“Yeah,”

I sighed.

“And it’s not like we can ghost them on Day 3, either; they’ll see our ships fly away if we decide to ditch them.”

“I guess realistic NPCs have their own drawbacks after all.” Luda conjectured.

As much as we immersed ourselves in the ‘reality’ of Hyperspace Frontier, all of us knew that the game wouldn’t impact our actual lives in any significant way.

Throw some characters into that, however, whose very lives depend on the world of the game, and things get complicated very quickly. I’ve yet to come across an NPC death in my playthrough, but there’s not a lot of grounds to believe that they had more than one life.

[Day 2: 5 Minutes Remaining]

“Anyways, we’ll be logging out soon, won’t we?”

Meiqi stated. Stretching her body,

“That was a great session. See you all in the real world, everyone.”

“Yep.” Eunseo nodded. “Good game, people.”

“Good game.”

“GGs.”

“That was fun.”

We congratulated, each other; or consoled, depending on how you look at it.

As the timer counted down, the five of us idled around in Chengxiao’s ship, waiting for the logout to initiate.

Everyone should have progressed along in HF nicely,

I thought, recalling the epic scale of the adventure the ’98 line had today.

If even Dawon in her Artistice route could manage to get a Path, I’m sure the rest are doing well too.

I belatedly realized that I wasn’t as active in the group chat today, too busy with my own adventure to find out about the girls’.

Oh well,

I sighed, looking at the members that were with me.

Before long, the world around us fragmented once again—

We can always catch up outside the game.

—and a white light obscured my vision.

---

[Day 2, End of Session]

When I came to, the login screen for Hyperspace Frontier floated once again in front of me, accompanied by the final chorus of WJSN’s You, You, You.

…As expected, the input for logging in was greyed out.

I released the lock for the capsule I was in and got up to leave, taking it slow so as not to lose my balance.

Familiarizing myself with my real-life body, I walked out of the room and returned to the control room.

4:30 PM.

They really are efficient with the time.

Some of the girls were already there with their managers, nodding to me as I joined back up with Sejin.

“How was it, KC?” He grinned.

“Insane,” I shook my head. “The way the system encouraged us to emotionally invest in your NPCs is so subtle that it was downright creepy.”

“Working as intended, I say!”

He roared in laughter.

“You realize that HF is that kind of game, right?”

“Hum?” I doubted his words.

“The player stats, I thought that gave it away…?” He hinted.

Wait a minute.

I had wondered why most of the traditional RPG stats were absent from this game: Stats, player level, guild, and so on.

Prestige, Title, Path…

“I was today years old when I did, Sejin.” I admitted.

“Being caught up in the game itself distracted you the whole time, then.” The lead developer shrugged.

Before I could respond to his remark,

“What are you two talking about, Mr Sejin?”

One of the members approached us.

“O-Oh, Luda, we’re just discussing the game system, that’s all!”

Sejin recoiled from her, flustered.

“Heh.”

With a sly grin.

“This guy biases you, you know.”

I revealed Sejin’s secret to her.

“…KC!!”

“Really…?”

“Not my fault you haven’t told her yet~” I made a dumb face towards him.

Seeing such strong expressions from the two of them would have made my day, if the session hadn’t done so already.

“Anyways, I have to be with the team to collect playtime data, we’ll talk again soon.”

Sejin excused himself.

“I’m not done with you yet, KC…!”

He shot me a look as he left, and I couldn’t contain my laughter any longer.

Anyways, Luda turned to me.

“Jina was Korean, wasn’t she?” She asked.

Ahem, clearing my voice,

“With that name, absolutely.”

I nodded.

“If it were not for her… unique, skin colour, I wouldn’t be surprised if I met her around the city.”

“Yeah.” She agreed. “We should be careful not to expose ourselves.”

“Hmm? Why’s that?”

“It doesn’t look like she’s fond of Earthlings, does it?”

“…Ah, that.” I understood what she meant.

Being born on such a minor dwarf planet, it was sensible for Luda to think that she held some kind of contempt against major celestial body citizens.

Her remark back then hinted at it, as well.

“Got it.” I concurred.

A few seconds later, a few more members entered the room.

Seola, Soobin… Oh, Xiao and the others, too.

I approached Chengxiao, who was talking with Meiqi.

“Where’s Eunseo?” I asked.

“…Elsewhere.” She answered, giving me a certain look.

Ah. Moving on,

“You shouldn’t be worried about the Trials so much, KC.”

Meiqi advised.

“It looks more towards your inner peace and willpower, something along that line.”

“Ooh.” I raised my eyebrows.

“The whole thing with Jina will be interesting to see, though.” Chengxiao giggled. “Good luck, KC!”

The last few members appeared, and Xiao and Meiqi left me to group back up with them.

Among them, I made eye contact with Bona and Yeoreum.

Making a gesture of holding up my palm at them.

All good?

Both of them returned the OK sign.

Nice, I showed them a thumbs-up.

I went back towards the room and waited for Sejin to come back.

A few moments later, he and some of his team members returned to the control room.

When everyone was ready, Exy led the greeting again.

“Would You Like, we are WJSN! You’ve worked hard, everyone!”

Everyone in the control room clapped in applause.

“We’ve collected tons of good feedback today.”

Sejin began, after things have calmed down.

“Some of them were even out of our expectations!”

“Really!?” Everyone responded excitedly.

“You may have expected this, but players have infinite lives in Hyperspace Frontier; granted, every death penalizes you with half of your Prestige points.”

He explained, his words received with genuine shock from the girls.

However, it was his next declaration that shook the entire room.

“The fact that none of you have died even once so far is amazing!”

He declared, and everyone cheered.

No one? Really!?

I was impressed as well. Even with, say, Dayoung’s Immaculate Recall, staying alive was a challenge in the game.

Hell, I myself came close to death several times today, alone!

“A few words, please.” With a dramatic voice, Sejin invited the girls to speak.

“I didn’t realize that everyone had played the game so diligently today, myself.”

Exy took the lead.

“Looks like us WJSN members are good at taking care of ourselves in space, just like our group name!”

“Yeoreum, Yeonjung and I were involved in such a high-tension chase scene that appeared in the middle of an otherwise easy mission.”

Dayoung added.

“It was only due to our teamwork, between ourselves as well as with Niania and U’tu, that we managed to pull through.”

“And us, too.” Bona followed.

“The mysterious beast that lay dormant beneath the Mika-Klene Forest Ruins was too much for our team to handle. If not for Xuanyi’s thorough preparation, we would have fallen then and there.”

“Hehe, you can count on me.”

Xuanyi proudly nodded.

“You all performed wonderfully, girls.”

Sejin concluded.

“It’s unfortunate, but our next session will be the last one before the game releases.”

Aww…! Everyone protested at his statement.

“I would love for you to continue playing the game, but we have to make it fair for other players as well, don’t we?”

He explained the need for balance within the playerbase, proportional to the effort each player makes to earn their keep.

“Speaking of balance,”

In the middle of the speech, Sejin’s eyes visibly hardened as he took on a serious expression.

“What is it…?”

Seola shrank back a little, being at the receiving end of his gaze.

After what looked like a moment of contemplation, his eyes relaxed, and he let out a sigh.

“Seeing as this is a playtest session, we’ll let you keep the Soarer, Ms Seola.”

He stated.

“But we’ll remove any possibility for starter ships to contain ancient drives, so new players will have to look for them themselves.”

“…Ah.”

Seola seemed to grasp what he meant.

“Okay.” She nodded.

“Apart from that planned change, that will be all for today, girls. Good work, once again!”

“Thanks for having us today, Mr Sejin!”

All the WJSN members applauded once more.

---

As everyone got ready to leave, I made my way over to Seola, who was talking about something with Soobin.

“What was that about, Seola?”

I asked her.

“Seola unnie’s ship?”

Soobin answered on her behalf.

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“It’s, how do you say this…” Soobin began.

“My ship has a consciousness, KC.”

Seola stated without holding back.

“…A consciousness?”

My eyes widened in surprise.

“As in, it’s living?”

“We’re leaving, girls!”

A manager called the members to leave for their next schedule, and there was little time left for us to talk.

“Tell you what.”

Soobin suggested.

“Where are you in the game?”

“Kamag, Malia system.” I responded.

“Kamag…” Her eyes wandered elsewhere for a moment.

“Got it, we’ll see you there on Day 3.”

“What?”

Almost everyone was out of the building already.

“We’ll show you in the next session!”

Seola said, hurrying to get on their car along with Soobin.

“Sure!” I responded.

Behind the tinted windows of the vehicle, Seola nodded back.

*VROOM*

And just like that, they were gone.

“I’ll see you next time too, KC.”

By the entrance of their company’s building, Sejin called out.

“Can’t really spare the time to go out with the guys this close to launch, after all.”

“Typical Sejin,” I shrugged. “Always chasing after his dream.”

He gave me a wry look.

“Anyways, glad to know the mainframe isn’t acting up today.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Was there something wrong with the system?

“Nah, just talking to myself.” Sejin waved me off.

“Okay, then.”

I didn’t press him to say anything further. Knowing about stuff under the hood might spoil the game for me, after all.

Seeing him off as he returned back to the building, I headed to the nearest station and took the subway home.

Throughout the commute, my mind was all over the place.

Hyperspace Frontier, the Foundation Trials, Jina and Memphis, Seola’s ship…

As I reached my place, I shook off my thoughts. There’s still a lot of work to do IRL, after all.

Next time, then.

 

Intermission

 

A certain day, between the second and the third session.

“Sigh…”

Even this late into the promotional cycle, the competition among Ujungs were still tough. Despite buying dozens more of their new album, I was dropped from the WJSN fansign today.

Divine retribution for making fun of Sejin, I guess.

The day I planned to spend meeting them was now free, with nothing in particular to do.

Going out around the city felt like a waste, too, seeing as my disposable income was running low.

Ever since the morning, I’ve been lazing around in my own room, tossing and turning about on the bed while scrolling through the feed.

“Fansite previews aren’t out yet…”

All I saw from Twitter were pics from their previous schedule. Starship still hasn’t said anything about being involved in Hyperspace Frontier, but from Sejin’s words, I’m hopeful for an official collaboration.

“Oh?”

An article from a VR games portal was retweeted onto my timeline.

“HF news…!”

Splash art of alien races adorned the cover picture for the article.

Putting away the phone, I stood up from the bed and headed over to turn on my PC, making use of the larger screen.

Accessing the link, I clicked through the source and directed myself to the game’s official website.

[www.hyperspace-frontier.com]

Below the ‘Coming Soon’ logo over the same neon cityscape background from the login screen,

“The various alien races of the Frontier…”

On the characters’ section of website were art and model previews of the four major races, but some other minor ones were included as well.

Below each of them was a short description of the particular race, just a sentence or two.

“PR or not, it’s worth committing this to memory,”

I muttered to myself.

“Might come in handy for next time.”

Let’s see, I began going through the first one.

• Human
  A hardy, persistent race that excels at adapting to new situations, if little else. The Space Age has brought them across the entire Frontier, and beyond.

A little self-depreciating, but alright.

“And beyond.” I repeated the last two words.

I’ve already heard from Bona and Eunseo, as well as the developer team, that the Frontier isn’t the only playable area in the game.

Up next; the only race I haven’t gotten to know yet among the four.

• Gray
  A scientifically-endowed race, possessing one of the strongest technological advancements throughout the whole universe. Despite their appearance, they practice a strong code of ethics in their methodology, due to the subject of their study.

“Like Luda said.” I pursed my lips. “Advanced tech.”

Still, code of ethics? What exactly is it that they’re studying?

The Gray individuals I met weren’t from the research field, so I don’t think they’d be too familiar with it either.

The third one is…

• Shaen
  A collective term for two similar yet opposite races; lava and cryo elementals that formerly ruled their home planets as gods. Despite their might, they have readily accepted the offer to cooperate with the other three races of the Frontier.

It seems like the developers are keeping the whole young civilized race aspect a spoiler.

From this description, anyone would think that the Shaen are crazy difficult to deal with.

But Tim and Carthena were cool… Hell, even that living legend Khibu wasn’t that intimidating.

Some players would get into trouble for misunderstanding them, though; I hope that doesn’t happen too often.

And finally,

• Magna
  A long-living race of mechanical lifeforms, honing a lifelong mantra of discipline, virtue, and purpose. The workings of their architecture and technology eludes the understanding of all other than themselves.

Not a lot of information here as well.

What Eunseo and the rest told me over the chat on Day 2, and even what the Skyward’s Return plaque listed, painted a much better picture about them than this description.

I guess that’s because we’re already playing the game, after all.

“Discipline, virtue, purpose.”

I whispered.

“Robot monks, basically.”

My eyes moved over to the section detailing the minor races.

Seeing the character models,

This is…!

What I found was more of a surprise than I expected.

---

The term ‘minor race’ was defined as any of the alien outside the major four of the Frontier, listed in the game.

Usually, this is because their origin system lies outside the four systems, but the definition also includes races which have lost their homeland, driven close to extinction, forgotten about their legacy, and so on.

Vixacer, Mulkuku, Wudtrim, and Kardwa; none of the four names listed here sound familiar to me.

However, looking at the character models for the Vixacer,

…This is, what was her name again? That girl.

The lead singer for the band we met on Mavacena…!

“Moto… Dowmoto…”

I repeated any name I could think of.

“Maishi! That’s it!” I finally remembered.

Pari Dowmoto was the name of the other guy, the leader of Sunderland, or whatever that band’s name was. Maishi was the one that was with him.

The pure black eyes and the reddish skin was unmistakable; Maishi was definitely a Vixacer.

Let’s see,

Vixacer – A minor race of compound-eyed people, hailing from a system outside the Frontier. Their eyes can observe an incredible range of physical fields and waves.

…Wow.

With abilities like those, I couldn’t help but wonder how Maishi ended up being a vocalist for the band.

Did something happen to her eyes? It can’t be, she saw us just fine.

I guess it must be her career choice, then. The race doesn’t define the individual, after all.

I scrolled down and read the next one.

Mulkuku – A hooded minor race hailing from outside the Frontier. In their home planet, they coexist with a diverse ecosystem of ectoplasmic life.

The design for the Mulkuku was reminiscent of the members of a cult order, with hooded clothing that covered their whole bodies and concealed their faces, except for a few dots for eyes which shone through.

The equipment they carried on their backs, however,

…That explains why the Rake had a spirit inside it.

Their designs had the same crooked shape and purple glow as the Spined Rake I got on Day 2.

“Even the daily login bonuses had backgrounds to them…”

I released the breath I found myself holding.

How about the next one…?

Browsing the final two, I found out that they were introduced as a pair, rather than separately. As for the reason behind that,

Wudtrim – A gnome-like minor race which possesses a symbiotic relationship with the Kardwa. They are known for their mystical living artifacts, which they craft from Kardwa wood.

Kardwa – A minor race of sentient large trees, which rely on the Wudtrims to nurture their healthy and safe growth in return for providing them shelter and food.

A symbiotic pair of lifeforms.

Upon closer inspection, I realized that I was, again, familiar with these two races. Despite having not once met a Wudtrim or Kardwa in my current playthrough,

Dawon’s Steadfast 07.

That eccentric looking ship was made from a wooden material that was very similar to that of the Kardwa.

Sure, there were all sorts of alloys and reinforced compounds that made up of the critical areas, but the bulk of her spaceship was made out of the same wood as I could see now on the Kardwa’s character models.

No wonder she had no intention on trading that ship in.

My thoughts went to Seola’s ship, too; she said that it ‘had a consciousness’, after we logged out last time.

“Looks like living technology isn’t all that rare in this game.”

I let out a sigh.

I mean, the Spined Rake was technically living, and I had it before the Everest Bracer was even made.

“Whatever responsibility Uzzu said I must shoulder with the Ovation must be something else.”

I pondered.

“Looks like I’ll just have to find out what that is for myself.”