Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 176: Party Members

Ijal was located about as far from the galactic center as possible. On an outside edge of one of the spiral arms. It revolved around twin suns just inside the habitable perimeter that was most suitable to sustain life. About three-quarters the size of Talahm the gravity enjoyed a corresponding decrease. It would make a noticeable difference in my strength and speed, without the need for leveling or training. I had spent years increasing my strength and endurance on Talahm, so should feel a noticeable difference.

The planet was orbiting closer to the Sun than I was used too, or rather Suns. It was a binary system with twin Suns, both smaller than the Sun Talahm orbited. It meant the year would be shorter, 25-day long months for a standard year of 300 days, as opposed to Talahm's 28-day month and a standard year of 336 days.

Interestingly enough, Talahm never needed an adjustment to the Solar calendar. The presence of Danu and Beleros working in concert meant that the small deviations in orbital time were adjusted by Divine will. Ijal, once claimed, would enjoy that same benefit.

Transportation to the planet's surface was an ordeal, requiring multiple portals, time spent waiting for an available time slot, and tedious requirements by differing worlds and Pantheons that required we answer the same tedious questions time after time. King Teigh's decision to create a visitor Visa system removed the chaos and logjam that could completely destroy scheduled portal openings.

Thirty teleports were required, each hop making connecting teleport pads available so that we could travel from Talahm to the planet closest to Ijal. Because there was no portal established on Ijal, the last hop was the most dangerous. Planets required extensive mathematical calculations and magical scrying before an attempt can be made to visit them. At least until a portal was constructed, and linked as a waypoint within the portal network.

Magic Scrying had allowed the planet to be explored somewhat. Enough to know the type of indigenous plants and animals that were native, at least until System integration with Talahm began adjusting and terraforming the planet. Only one scouting group and a small research party had made use of a scry to lock in on a position that had been deemed stable and safe enough to brave a long-range portal.

These trips without the safety of teleportation pads required perfect alignment and a confluence of inter-spatial ley-lines for success. The techniques for end-stage travel on newly discovered planets were well-practiced and refined. There were people that leveled skills, Portal specialists, that had the same reach as a pad crafted and enchanted with Silinium.

The portal specialist made periodic trips back and forth between Delmon, the closest planet to Ijal that was linked to the portal network. These specialists made the occasional trip to replenish supplies, collect specimens, and ferry people. Few people were willing to travel to a virgin world, scouts could make an amazing amount of money finding rare and valuable treasures, herbs, and ores, but they had the highest mortality rate of any individual.

The ring grandfather had gifted me was going to allow re-supply to happen much easier. That is if it worked as he hoped. We still hadn't tested the shared space between planets. Grandfather had thought it best to wait until I arrived on Ijal to maintain secrecy. The chances of being detected using the Rings function were so small as to tend toward impossible, but when Gods and Goddesses were involved, the impossible happened.

The people that had been selected to 'adventure' with me, a phrase Grandfather coined for our expedition, those that had also not Ascended or received full functionality and access to System included Sieph and Bob. Princess Wynne had been generous with her choice. A minor House member had volunteered, a Knocker named Sieph. Her sacrifice was more a gesture of punishment and spite than altruism. Grandfather worked hard to break down the barriers of racial division and bigotry, but some trappings of power remained no matter his efforts.

A House and the actions they took and made toward a House member remained sacrosanct. Even Grandfather had not dared to wage war against that institution. Sieph's family was becoming too powerful, and the girl had managed to embarrass the House with her competence and dedication. She was more talented even without Ascending and reaching her majority, than the heir. Something that placed her in danger.

Princess Wynne had negotiated her admission to our party by outlining how dangerous the unknown was, and the high mortality rate for people scouting unexplored planets. It was blood-thirsty, but Sidhe had used these methods to control House members almost from the moment the first House was formed.

Sieph's potential to become a tinkerer on a par with Duchess Wynne was only that, potential. She hadn't unlocked System integration so her affinities to metal existed but didn't have the depth and connection that an Ascended Knocker could expect. Her knowledge was more theoretic than practical. She had been practicing and honing the physical skills required to become a great tinkerer, memorizing runic script, learning to etch and form enchantments.

Like my powers with Shadow, she had an innate ability to control magnetism and could use that ability with metal as a weapon. That ability to synergize and control magnetism was why her House acted against her.

Grandfather had allowed me to select one person to include in the team make-up. But I'd had to defer. The pool of choices I could draw on, those people I knew personally was rather limited. I'd been so isolated growing up, my parentage a cause for concern, that I'd spent little time with people my own age. My interactions had been mostly with trainers, teachers, and staff.

I did seek and gain permission to include a Cu-sith, but the choice here was also limited. I could communicate with any of my brothers and sisters, those that were born from the same litter. We'd grown up together, Grandfather refusing to treat their existence as an embarrassment, they had been my only 'playmates' growing up.

Beag had been the smallest of the litter, small did not mean weak. Cu-sith gave live births, but any issues with viability were reabsorbed by the mother's body before birth took place. Even the smallest Cu-sith born had the same chances for survival as the rest of the pack. I think Beag and I had formed a tighter bond than my other brothers and sisters because of the differences between us and the rest of the pack.

Grandfather allowed the addition of Beag to the party, believing we might develop a synergistic fighting technique. If we could learn to use shadow and fight as a Cu-sith pack did, it would be a powerful partnership.

For the third person, Queen Uie was convinced that a Slaugh would be helpful, even before he gained Night-flyer status. He was born with the ability to fly, and an arsenal of natural weapons that was fearsome, without System assistance.

Our entire team was an experiment in System adaption and functionality. The only thing we were certain of was that we would remain Sidhe after the adaption. The System did not allow race changes when initializing a new world that was being claimed by one of the Pantheons.

The Egyptians sent a scion of Pharaoh. Thutmose, a son of a minor concubine. System integration for the Egyptians used caste instead of Rankings. Ascension would determine your caste, and you were forever locked within that sub-strata of society. You could become powerful. But no servant would ever level up enough to become Pharaoh.

Because of this, leveling was a more linear progression. You leveled from one to the highest level you could attain performing your duties to gain experience. Farming monsters and dungeon delves were techniques reserved for soldiers, nobles, priests, and government officials.

Thutmose was named and anointed after one of the greatest Pharaohs, a man that mastered military strategy and was believed to have never lost a battle. Like his ancestor, Thutmose's training encompassed all aspects of fighting, he had mastered both Mace and Bow before ascending.

The Egyptians selection was conditional, they refused to send a son of Egypt that hadn't ascended, this planet wasn't theirs to claim and they would not allow a scion of their Pantheon to influence the direction System evolution would employ once we conquered a dungeon and claimed a core.

This bias was actually a benefit to Talahm, there might be deviations between the System rule sets of both planets, but with no other Pantheon introducing random variables, the small input from scouts and researchers should minimize those deviations. That all the scouts, researchers, and any other person that was on the planet would leave once we arrived was one of the time-tested methods the Senate had proven to be substantive in guiding the new System paradigm.