"Never again... absolutely never again..." I groaned as I leaned back in my seat, covering my eyes with my arm.
Two months! It had taken nonstop work for two fucking months in my sanctuary to indoctrinate all the Yautja that I had bought. Simply put, I was completely and utterly spent. The moment I was done with my task I had immediately left the sanctuary; I hadn't even taken time to get to know the new arrivals, which in hindsight was be kind of rude. However, I didn't care.
The moment I left I made my way to the lounge, hoping to escape and just relax with my friends for a bit. Thankfully they were more than willing to sit and talk once I showed up, and I mean just talk; I was far too mentally drained to do anything else at that point.
"That bad, huh?" Iris asked as she sat down next to me, her gaseous form shifting with the motion.
I looked at her, giving her the best blank look a xenomorph could possibly give. "I literally just created a planet with a perfectly working and sustainable biosphere, and shockingly, that wasn't even the hard part!" I complained while sinking deeper into my seat.
"Well damn..." Lucius said, while Iris just looked on with a somewhat stunned expression.
(Normally I would explain more; however, now I just don't have the energy.) I sighed audibly.
"Y-you probably shouldn't push yourself so much..." she said.
"Thanks for the concern, but I'll be fine." I mused while trying to smile at her reassuringly, although once again my xeno anatomy made that rather difficult.
"Brain brain, brain brain brain?" (▪︎ヮ▪︎)?
"Translation?" Lucius asked, glancing at the only person present who could understand Brain.
"Simply put, he is inquiring about your sanctuary and wondering if he may gain permission to witness it firsthand," Gringus answered in his usual posh way of speaking. "And while I must admit I am also intrigued to see it myself, I must ask..." He mused while turning his gaze toward our resident undead companion. "When are you going to get a Gift that allows you to communicate in a more common and understandable tongue?" Gringus asked, sounding annoyed. "Most of them are not that expensive, for heaven's sake; I've checked them myself, after all. Honestly, you can't continue to expect me to translate everything that spews from your barbaric mouth."
"Brain, brain brain~" (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ )
"Y-you... how dare you!" Whatever Brain had said that time caused Gringus to blush bright red in embarrassment, a fact that I didn't even know was physically possible considering that he has no skin, flesh, or bones for that matter.
Just as the two began bickering, a familiar voice reached my ears. "There they go again, I see." Turning, I saw the familiar figures of Yennora, Anna, and Basil walking over from a separate room.
"Hahahahahaha, such spirit is always a good sight!" Basil laughed heartily, his tail trailing across the ground behind him.
"Sooooo..." Anna purred as she leapt up onto the table positioned between us. "What started this little kerfuffle?"
"Brain was asking about visiting my sanctuary, and honestly I'm interested to see everyone else's as well. Maybe we can make a whole thing about it sometime in the future," I explained with a yawn as the other two mentors sat down as well.
"That could be fun, though I'll have to admit I haven't really been spending much time on my sanctuary," Iris shrugged.
"I'm cool with doing something like that too," Lucius also added while Sapphire just nodded shyly in agreement.
"How about you guys?" Lucius continued, glancing at the three new arrivals. "You mentors want to take part as well?"
"Unfortunately that won't be possible, at least not until you rank up a bit first," Yennora shook her head.
"Why?" Iris asked, confused.
"Let's just say that our sanctuaries aren't exactly safe for individuals of such low rank," Anna answered as she curled up somewhat on the table.
"Alternatives can hold grudges for a very long time, considering we're immortal and all, so you always have to be ready when all that built up spike comes a knocking." Basil grinned in amusement.
"What does that mean?" I said, tilting my head to the side in confusion, only to then realize something. "Is it possible to invade someone else's sanctuary?"
"Something like that," Yennora answered, her voice on a slightly more serious tone. "Though you probably won't have to worry about it for a while."
"I'm pretty sure I pissed off several dozen people back at the arcade. Do I have to worry about that?" Lucius muttered, sounding somewhat concerned.
"No one is going to attack you just because of... that..." She paused, seeming to reconsider her words when Anna and Basil gave her looks that basically said, "Yes, yes they fucking would."
"Anyway..." She coughed awkwardly before continuing. "You don't have to worry about all that. After all, such a thing can only happen if someone discovers your sanctuary's coordinates in the infinite expanse of the sea of anarchy that exists between realities within Chaos's territory."
"There are ways to narrow down the location; however, those methods are very expensive and even then it would still take years to actually find your specific one," Anna added, her ears twitching slightly. "Of course, you could use a special kind artifact to find a sanctuary instantly, I guess, but no one would be stupid enough to waste one of those just out of spite, after all, they are really hard to get."
"You're not exactly filling me with confidence here," the living amalgamation of playing cards said with a somewhat sour look.
"You'll be fine my small friend, hahahaha," Basil laughed, slapping Lucius on the back.
While they continued to chat, I felt anxious; after all, Lucius wasn't the only one who had technically earned someone's ire recently. (Malice was the one who killed his disciple, not me... but there is always a chance...)
(Great, something else to add to the list of things to be paranoid about.) I thought with a sigh.
Moving past all that, our conversation soon changed toward a lighter note. I was still tired out of my mind, so I mostly just sat back and listened as everyone else spoke about various things. For example, Brain was apparently planning his own expedition soon; he was planning to go to a world that Lucius had suggested, a world that I was actually familiar with: Left 4 Dead.
I was really curious as to how that would play out; I'd have to ask him about it when he got back. I didn't know what abilities Brain had, since he had never actually told me, and also because I couldn't understand him. Despite this however, I could probably guess some of them considering he's a zombie and all, or at least an undead of some kind anyway.
(That's got me thinking, I should probably start getting things ready for that...) I thought to myself.
"Something on your mind?" Iris, who had noticed my contemplation, asked curiously.
"I was just thinking that I need to start getting things ready for my next expedition," I responded with a shrug, my words getting everyone's attention.
"Oh? Care to elaborate?"
"Sure."
I had honestly been thinking about where to go next for a while now. I still had a list of worlds that I planned on visiting after all; I just needed to decide which one to go to first. I had gone to Rampage in order to get resources and creatures for my sanctuary. Additionally, it had also been a massive boon to my forces; the mutants and pathogens would be of great help in the future.
The next thing I needed was personal power. I needed to head to a world that could allow me to gain new abilities without major risk. I was not some invincible creature after all, xenomorph queens were deadly, sure, but they could still be killed by normal human weaponry relatively easily if they weren't careful. Thankfully, there was one world on my list that was safe enough for me to visit and not only had the potential to allow me to increase my own power but also the power of my followers.
"Simply put, I need to get the preparations done, but I shouldn't be long before I can head out again," I explained lazily, not exactly in the mood to go into too much detail.
Before I could say anything more, though, a certain bear appeared out of nowhere, seemingly manifesting into reality out of thin air. "You're heading out on another expedition already?"
"Pretty much," I answered back, not questioning his sudden appearance.
"You're really going on another one already?" Sapphire asked, her knees against her chest as she sat opposite me.
"Ohoh, I'm impressed!" Basil nodded approvingly, his grin growing even larger across his reptilian face. "Most little ones are reluctant to start their first expedition and are sometimes even more reluctant to start their second, but you're heading out on another one so soon, that's the kind of spirit I like to see!"
"I must say it's commendable that you are so ready to jump back into things; however, your current state is not what I would consider ideal for such things," Gringus also added while motioning to my drained appearance.
"Of course I'm going to take a day or two to take a breather and get ready first," I mused while weakly waving off the concerns. "But then I'll be off again; I've never been one to sit still for long after all."
Decker nodded at that for a moment before speaking. "Very well, I suppose I can wait until you get back then," he said, causing me to look at him with a puzzled expression.
"I was going to start your training." He clarified.
"What training?" I asked with interest.
"The training that involves you learning how to properly use your Essence of Change; however, like I just said, it can wait until you get back," he explained, causing me to let out an "ah" of understanding.
(I've got to admit I'm curious; however, it can wait I guess.) I thought to myself.
"By the way, what world are you going to?" Iris suddenly asked, bringing my attention back to her and everyone else.
"It was a game series back in my old world; I'm hoping to arrive somewhere between the first and second games," I answered, causing Lucius to perk up at the mention of the word "game."
"Oh? What was its name? I'm interested to know if it existed in my universe."
"Bioshock..."