“Mister Remian, right?” A man in a black-and-gold formal suit-mixed-with-armor offered a weird kind of gesture with one hand. “Uh… yeah.” Remian didn’t know what that gesture meant. Was it some sort of salute? “Huh.” The man looked him over, then glanced about the room. It was reasonably comfortable for a holding cell, plain black walls, with a bed, a small table, chair, and two stalls in the corner for washing and biological excrement, though they held both familiar-looking equipment and strange items Remian couldn’t identify. The cell even had controls for light and ventilation. In the end, while bare, it wasn’t altogether torturous. “They seem to treat you well.” “They seem to think I’m one of your people.” Remian grimaced and admitted. “I’m not.” “No, you’re definitely not. According to our scans and database, you’re not registered to any interstellar faction we know.” The man cleared his throat. “In fact, your genetics indicate a very low level of technology, and there are tra

Xiao Yan, it should be noted, did not have as high an acceleration rate as Remian. She, too, had been in the Red Mists and had some practice with Psionic communication plus she had also eaten Psiorin Infused foods. Her own Psionic abilities were actually far above average, but even she couldn’t manage something as crazy as three hundred times acceleration.Since there was no requirement for her to serve out a ten year sentence, merely having to accompany Remian during his twelve-day period, she actually didn’t need to use an acceleration at all. Just for the sake of having more time to learn, though, she opted for it and thus learned at 100x acceleration, at least for the first few minutes (5-6 hours in accelerated time).By then, Remian was starting to dabble in other subjects. A little bit of metallurgy, a little of science, a bit of mechanical engineering…He was exploring subjects, not mastering them. He wanted to see what he could make us

As the week passed, Xiao Yan graduated from Grade 3 Formations with flying colors. Remian qualified as a Class 6 Psionic on top of studying everything else he was interested in, especially Biotech. He even relented and dabbled a bit in magic and mana control. After a short converation with Xiao Yan who came to visit, he also took some time to study formations and arrays that she spoke about. Then he dove into runes and inscriptions. Then he even tried to study Chaos Magic, but the many differing theories and schools on that were too confusing and he soon gave up. “I’m nowhere near ready for that!” By the time two weeks were up and Remian’s sentence was fully served, Xiao Yan was about ready to take the tests for Grade 4 formations, and Remian himself was halfway to Class 7 as a Psionic. As the Sentence was coming to an end, the Conglomerate Judge called the Corpoman privately. “Is it wise, sir? This man paid us only 20,000 Black, and we paid him salvage fees of 9,500 Black. This is

Thankfully, Deutero banks were far more available than his friends and family. Within minutes of reaching the local branch, Remian was able to access his account. “F-fifty three million lir?!” Remian gaped. “Is that a lot?” Xiao Yan asked dubiously. “If you’re low on cash, I still have a few herbs we might be able to sell…” “It’s a lot! It’s a huge lot more than I expected!” Remian cut in hastily. “I knew I was getting income from the Industrial Zone and Mindy’s shipyards and everything but it’s way more than I thought…” How long had he been gone? About a month? Something like that? That was actually Tim’s fault more than Mindy’s, but let’s not tell Remian his rise in income was primarily the responsibility of Fal’Herim’s Underground King. Especially do not tell him that Tim’s factories had all but stolen Arnold’s Light Frame designs and were mass-producing them using them, and selling them to select customers in Fal’Herim at exaggerat

Upon hearing that he was coming from the Dragon Empire, Remian’s parents both gave him shopping lists. “School supplies?” Remian blinked. “You want me to bring books and stationery from the Dragon Empire?” “Yes, we’re almost at the point of scribbling on leaves here.” Lisa Vin’s voice came back patiently over the communications crystal. “School, huh.” Remian thought for a bit. “Dad, Mom, there’s some stuff I’d like everyone to learn. I think we should make some changes to the school and the learning systems.” “Great. Let’s have a meeting when you get back.” Damien Vin’s voice replied. “Just hurry back, all right? I don’t think your Mom or Phoebe can stand to wait much longer.” Phoebe, it seems, had become a lot closer to his parents while he was away. With a rueful half-smile, Remian finally ended the call and put down the communications crystal. His hand had been holding it so long, it felt numb. Then, looking at the crystal, Remian s