After my sightseeing Liliana managed to move my ass into a shuttle so we could enter the giant space station. I was still struck by the shear size of the thing and spent the majority of the trip staring out the window completely missing that miss sasquatch rejoined us as well as two elf looking creatures that didn't utter a word. It wasn't until I actually stepped foot on the metal hull of the starfish station that I had the brain capacity to say anything.

  "I'm not in Kansas anything am I?"

  "He speaks. Thought we'd broken you back there." The small sheep woman ughed while carrying what I could only describe as a mini-gun almost the same size as her.

  Still not the weirdest thing I've seen today.

  "Come we need to get you settled and the fastest way to do that is to get your first guard. Once you have one you are allowed to wonder but be warned. An Acolyte is not allowed to go anywhere without at least one guard at all times." Liliana warned holding herself with all the poise of a military leader.

  Liliana and myself were currently bunched in the middle of a personal bubble that consisted of Selevana the shadow women in front with Felou the sheep girl besides her, the sasquatch who's name I didn't catch in the rear and the two elves one on each side.

  "Do Acolytes get attacked often?" I asked as we headed down corridors one by one, with everyone we encountered giving us a wide birth.

  "Yes and no. Something you will learn about with time but for now just know that the easiest way to remove an acolyte from power is to kill them before they fully understand what they can do." Liliana replied.

  Charming. Power puts a target on your back, not too different from my home pnet.

  "Any recommendations you can give me about guards? Am I just allocated one or do I get to choose?"

  To my surprise the elf guard to my left responded to my question with a gruff voice that was definitely male. I totally didn't think he was a girl at first gnce I swear.

  "There are three main things you want to look out for. Every guard is trained for a minimum of two years before they can even qualify for a guard role and even then the requirements are steep. The first thing is their mutation. Once someone has completed the requirements to become a guard they are doused with a controlled amount of pure mana. This grants them a mutation that is mostly positive that can be improved by the acolyte they bond too. This means that most candidates that are in a position to become your guard are better than anyone who has just trained."

  I so wanted to ask what all their mutations were but he continued without pause.

  "Second, you need to make sure your team is well rounded. Simply put having three medics is pointless if you don't have the firepower to stop your opposition."

  Little bit of strategy is needed. I'm good with that, spending hours online does develop some form of strategic pnning.

  "And third." The male elf finally turned to look at me as we entered a comically rge room filled with creatures of all sizes running drills while instructors hurtled insults. "You'll always have one of them with you at all times, even when you think you should have some privacy. This mainly represents females as even if they want to bed a man for a night a guard must be with them either participating of just watching."

  "Don't tell him that. I still want a round with him before he realizes he's prime meat." Felou compined throwing a wink over her shoulder at me.

  I almost stumbled but Liliana managed to catch my arm.

  "Humans have a one to one ratio in male to female births I believe. Most species do not share that trait being around one to four in females favor if their lucky. It is something you will have to get use to." The pnt woman crified without giving me a chance to respond before a shout echoed through the room.

  "MAGE ON DECK!"

  That started a mad scramble as everyone stopped what they were doing, some even stopping mid obstacle course to line up in front of our little group. I did notice that the majority of them were female just like Liliana said but I was unprepared for how much attention was aimed in my direction even with Lilianas guards blocking most of their view.

  Once it felt like the entire room was silent Liliana stepped forward to address the potential guards with confidence befitting someone who'd done this many times. The sasquatch and shadow women both fell into step beside her as the elves stayed with me.

  "Human." Again the male elf got my attention. "This is a big choice make no mistake. You are new to the retionships between different species so I will tell you this. Whoever you pick first will have a resounding effect on he rest of your team and your future family both from what they are and how they treat other species. If I may be so bold do not pick a male of any species to be part of your guards. Most are incredibly possessive and it tends to drive a wedge between the entire group."

  I gave him a nod to signal I understood before the other elf nudged into my shoulder and indicated towards where a rge portion of the potential guards were lining up in a row starting from Liliana.

  "These are the top twenty of this css. Pick your first guard." The dryad almost demanded.

  No pressure at all right? Not like my entire future was riding on this. Well I did choose to follow a literal pnt woman into space because she promised I could use magic so in the grand scheme of things this wasn't too big of a choice.

  Just keep telling yourself that John.

  As I made a move both the elves mirrored each other to my left and right it was kind of creepy but another thing I'm going to have to get use to i guess.

  The twenty potential guards were of all shapes and sizes from more of the sasquatch species to a mouse-like girl that only came up to my waist. Each one had a small hologram in front of them depicting their name, race, favorite weapon and a short description of their mutation.

  None of the options were male so I didn't need to heed the elf's warning there but I had no idea what I should pick.

  Taking a breath and closing my eyes after I'd walked past all my options I was about to pick a random number and just go with that option when my mana battery lurched in my chest like it was trying to pull me somewhere. The elves noticed my surprise but didn't make a move to do anything so I mentally followed the direction it was showing me.

  It was an interesting feeling following mana yet oddly natural at the same time. Kind of like a string that was tied to my very bones. Halfway down the collection of guards it stopped pulling only leaving a faint thread that connected with one of the women.

  Seems my mana battery had made the decision for me. Not that I was going to argue with this metaphorical organ as the woman it had picked out was stunningly beautiful.

  Deep blue hair left to flow down her shoulders slightly ruffled from working out revealed rge knife-like ears and twin horns of a mud brown that curved away from her head before pointing towards the ceiling. Simir blue mirrored her eyes as her slitted pupils followed my gaze to a scar running from her left cheek to behind her left ear.

  The military fatigues she wore hid her figure but not the fact her hips tapered off into a single long tail of a snake with faded white scales below her belly and matching blue around the sides and back. Scales also covered her arms up to her shoulders but didn't seem like they would hinder her movement at all.

  A mia.

  And here we thought they were a fantasy race not aliens.

  Name: Sapphire

  Species: Lamia

  Favorite weapon: Anti matter rifle mark 5

  Mutation: Resilient scales

  Notes: Accuracy scores within top 1%.

  Disciplinary marks: 1

  So she's needed to be disciplined. I checked the girls on either side and neither had one so I'm guessing it's not a common thing. Still not going to change my mind or my mana's at this point.

  "Well then Sapphire think you can be my guard?"

  I'll be honest I didn't know what I was supposed to say and clearly everyone else thought the same as I got off looks from all the other potential guards. Luckily Liliana teleported beside me after I said it.

  She also managed to bring sasquatch with her but at this point that doesn't seem hard for her at all.

  "Not my first pick." The dryad muttered as she browsed the mias information before straightening up. "Guard Sapphire as of fifteen minutes from now you will be the sole guard of Acolyte Doe. Use this time to gather your personal effects from your bunk and a load out from the armory. Information about his new accomodations will be sent to you shortly so choose carefully. Dismissed!"

  Sapphire nodded before diving to the ground and slithering much faster than I expected out the door we just came through. Snake got it.

  Without another word the bubble of Lilianas guards formed around us.

  "Time to go." The woman in question said already moving out of the training room. From behind the yelling of the instructors resumed like we hadn't been there at all.

  Once we were through the door and back into the hallway this time heading in a different direction I decided to speak up. "Did I make a good decision?"

  No one responded for a bit of time before sasquatch behind me piped in with her gravely voice. "Lamia like men a lot. For a species she's a good first pick, but her weapon being a long range one is quite limiting and you should have asked about her disciplinary mark before you made your decision. Never seen her mutation before so you'll have to ask her yourself."

  "For someone of a primitive pnet with no knowledge it wasn't a bad pick. There have been plenty of mages that picked guards no one else would have and have become successful however the same can be said for the reverse. Here in the Acolytes Rest you will be given a rge degree of freedom as you will learn once you start attending csses. There's lots of reasons for this and I don't have time to go though even half of them right now." Liliana continued a purple light leaving her hand and impacting my shield.

  She let out a smile. "I have a feeling however that you are going to be a fast learner."

  Right the teachers can attack the students with weak spells, almost forgot about that.

  "Anything you can tell me now?" I asked Liliana but did slightly aim it at the others as well.

  "Don't die." The elf that hadn't spoken yet pitched in. She was definitely a she although her chest gave that away more than her voice. "And don't make your guards job harder than it needs to be."

  Got it. Although that still begs the question why I need a personal guard at all. Especially if like Liliana I get multiple and they create this person bubble at all times.

  Before I could voice these questions I was brought to a door in what looked like the motel part of the ship. Every fiveish meter's had another door with very little to tell them apart.

  "This will be your accomodations for the duration of your training. Decorate it as you see fit but outside of this door you are to be accompanied at all times by at least one of your own guards." Liliana made sure to stress the st part as she handed me a card that unlocked the door. Reminded me of some fancy hotels.

  "You sure we can't stay for a bit Liliana? I'm sure we could all use a thank you for bringing him here." Felou asked her gun to the side as she pyfully pulled down one side of her top with her free hand.

  Selevana spped the offending sheep girl before I could get a good peak while the rest of the group rolled their eyes collectively.

  "Ignore her." Liliana grumbled giving me a slight push into the now open door. "You will have ample opportunities ter for that type of thing. And for what it's worth, good luck although I have a feeling you won't need it."

  Cryptic. And like it was her favorite pass time Liliana shut the door before I could ask any questions. Great, now what?

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