The Phoenix shuddered, dodging blaster fire from the Germinal warship."Can we outrun them?" Maya asked, her eyes locked onto the viewscreen.Arianna's fingers flew across the controls. "Not forever."Drake's jaw clenched. "We need a plan."Elara's gaze turned thoughtful. "I know a hidden route through the Nebula of Erebus."Drake's eyes narrowed. "Is it safe?"Elara nodded. "Safer than facing the Germinal head-on."The Phoenix veered into the nebula, its engines straining.The Germinal warship followed, its sensors struggling to penetrate the dense gas."We're losing them," Arianna said, her voice laced with relief.But Drake's instincts screamed warning. "Don't celebrate yet."Suddenly, the nebula erupted with energy blasts."What's happening?" Maya shouted.Elara's eyes widened. "The nebula's unstable. It's going to collapse."The Phoenix careened through the chaos, narrowly avoiding destruction.As they emerged from the nebula, the Germinal warship reappeared."Victor's not giving

Drake plunged his knife into the Devourer's core, but it was like striking a mountain. The blade shattered, sending Drake flying across the room.The Devourer's laughter boomed. "You dare challenge me?"Arianna's voice came through the comms. "Frequency amplified! We're disrupting its energy!"Elara's eyes locked onto the Devourer. "It's working! Keep going, Arianna!"The Devourer stumbled, its power faltering. Drake took advantage of the opening."Let's end this!" Drake shouted, charging forward.The Phoenix's crew joined the fray, unleashing a fierce assault. The Devourer's defenses crumbled under the onslaught.Kael's voice, barely audible, whispered through the comms. "Drake...stop...the...Devourer..."Drake's eyes narrowed. "Kael? You're still alive?"Kael's voice grew stronger. "Use...the...Code...Drake..."Elara's eyes widened. "The Eternity Code! We can use it against the Devourer!"Arianna's fingers flew across the console. "I'm uploading the Code's data!"The Devourer's eyes

“Test subject number 24. The subject lasted for two minutes and forty-five seconds after the administration of Valkyrie. Time of death: 4:22AM.”'I should be the only one at home. Who's talking?'Drake opened his eyes, only to be blinded by light. The familiar hatch of his VR capsule was no longer there, instead he was facing a white ceiling. The walls that surrounded him were also white and reminiscent of cold, hard metal. They felt like something straight out out of science fiction. The room resembled an intensive care unit, and Drake lay atop a cold metal table, barrel-chested and wired to all sorts of machines. His back was freezing.Drake noticed there was a group of people in white coats surrounding him, and they were looking at him as though they had seen a ghost.'I thought I just accepted a leveling request? Where am I?'«Ding!Alpha Link System initialized. Host selected; Drake Michaelson of East View New Jersey. Welcome.»«Ding!Alpha Link System activated. Transferring unp

Drake's heart sank. Brainwashing was a common method of subordination, and while in the game, a brainwashed character would simply become an ally of the faction, it was completely different now! Losing his sense of self was the worst case scenario.'No way!'The good news was that memory altering technology available on the planet was still under-developed, so the organization's method were very primitive; they made use of sensory stimuli to re-calibrate the subject. A character with at least ten points in intelligence would be immune to the effects of the brainwash.Valkyrie had already given Drake a +1 boost to the growth of potential of Endurance. Growth potential was an innate star that affected the growth rate of the affected stat. Different races had differing starting potentials in each stat, and in the entire world of Galaxy, humans generally had a mediocre growth rate. They did, however, boast the highest intelligence potential. As they also possessed the lowest Health, this

It was a few hours after the chaos in the pack house that Jeanne became enraged and walked away to clear her mind when she noticed a body in the thorn garden. "Who the hell is that?! " She mouthed, getting down from where she was to take a closer look at the body, when the two men who tortured Jasmine purposefully walked past her with fake stories running from their mouths. “ She is so shameless, How can an ordinary breeder try to steal from another breeder, it's disgusting” The tall one with the name, Matt said with a surprised tone. "I am wondering where she went to hide, such a shameless girl." Jeanne listened to everything they said before calling them back. "What exactly are you talking about?, "Who is this breeder?" Asking, hoping it was Jasmine, was Jeanne's thought. With a mouthful that called attention to himself and others, the tall man was about to respond when he looked sideways and noticed Jasmine's body in the thorn garden. "What an asshole that new