Author’s Corner: We are rapidly approaching the end of the arc! As such, there is not much time for those that still wish to participate in Operation:Fundraiser. With that said, I hope everyone enjoys the chapter!

After I parted with Sharon, I went back to the temple with some of the gold. In my spare time, I would sometimes practice making gold and silver coins of my own from my grove, though in small numbers. Still, only about half of them were close enough to the system specifics that they counted as valid money.

Once I got there, I looked up the options for livestock. Normal cows would definitely not work, because of the rapid increase in numbers of Sharon’s animals. Thus, I had to customize the options for them to grow and reproduce rapidly. While a normal heifer would only cost one gold from the market, the modified cows cost one hundred. And then the bulls, they actually cost five hundred each.

“I really hope she can teach them how to cultivate the animals properly.” I shook my head and ended up buying a total of fifty cattle. Among them, five were bulls while the rest were heifers.

After confirming the purchase, seven thousand gold disappeared from my inventory, and light started shining down all around me. Oh crap, this isn’t going to be good. Within moments, the temple was filled to the brim with a herd of cattle, drawing the surprise of several crew members.

“Sorry, sorry, will get this cleared right up…” Wish there was an option to deliver straight to the grove or something. Anyways, I went through one by one and sent them all to my grove. It would be up to Sharon to teach them how to raise them, as they were still her animals. Though, to play it safe, I put one heifer and one bull on the second planet in my second solar system. This way, I would be able to ensure that one herd would survive no matter what. Of course, I also covered that second planet with grass for them to eat.

Once their numbers start growing… maybe I’ll be able to start my experiments, even. Mad scientist mode is just waiting to come out! I blame a certain mad god and fox loli for me having a mad scientist mode. Totally their fault.

Anyways, like this the days continued to pass by, until we were just about to enter Qu’Lopti space. As a precaution, I had everyone go to their battle stations and prepare for combat. These people are ‘destined’ to be wiped out within a few short years, so there should be some indicator what is going on. Maybe a monster invasion, maybe a meteor, maybe even a giant volcano exploding or something.

“Exitting FTL in five, four, three, two…” A moment later, and we were back in normal space, a large blue planet in front of us. Orbiting the planet were two moons, one roughly the size of Earth’s moon, while the other was further away and smaller. “We have arrived at the coordinates.”

“Scans show no hostile activity in the vicinity. Redirecting to the planet. No boss monster signature detected. Wait… there’s hardly any monsters at all?” The scanning officer seemed surprised at that, so I furrowed my brow in thought.

“Scan for all life signs and display the result.” I waited for a moment before a screen appeared at the front of the bridge, showing the planet full of life signs. “Seriously..? It’s almost like everything is normal…” I shook my head, tapping the comms. “Stand down. Looks like a fight isn’t happening.”

Afterwards, I looked to the crew on the bridge. “Put us in orbit around the planet, and run a full scan. I want to know their technology levels and the state of affairs on the surface. Celeste, if they have a communications network, I want you to tap into it and learn the language. We need to be able to communicate if we expect to help them.”

There were various nods from the crew as the ship slowly moved into orbit around the planet. Thankfully, it seemed that they did have a network for Celeste to access, but… “John, you’re going to want to take a look at this.” The Deus Ex spoke up in a serious tone, before displaying an image in front of me that made me do a double take.

In the image, there were a pair of aliens, presumably the Qu’Lopti. However, what surprised me was their appearance. Both of them were roughly four feet tall, with the male being slightly taller. Their skins were completely blue, and in the middle of their foreheads were black gems. Thankfully, unlike the Ha’vosh, the females had two bulges on their chest to indicate breasts, so it was easy to tell the genders apart.

“Celeste… is this?”

“That’s right, John. These are the Qu’Lopti as recorded in their network.”

“But…” I thought back to the blue skinned god of madness. “Well.. I guess we know why he wanted us to save these people now.” I couldn’t help but let out a long sigh. So Malthan was a Qu’Lopti, then? Now I really didn’t know what was going on. “Standard procedure. Find one that dies, preferably in a secluded area, and transport the body to the medbay.”

After saying that, I got up from the captain’s chair and left the bridge. They would alert me when the scans finished. In the meantime, I had a loli that needed cuddles. Or well, I had one that certainly wanted them.

Roughly an hour later, the complete scan results were in, and I was called back to the bridge to look over the information. Since there wasn’t any danger, this time Tokemi even came with me. Naturally, that meant Sharon came too.

“What are the results?” I looked to the crew and asked after arriving at the bridge.

“Pulling them up on screen now. The technology of this world does not seem particularly advanced in most aspects. However, in terms of communication, and entertainment they are roughly on par with Earth.” It didn’t surprise me that the scanning officer this time knew the humans’ tech levels, since it was one of the extra crew I picked up from the refugees.

“They seem to have a focus on holographic technology. The scans picked up image of several holographic weapons, though none of them appeared lethal. Most likely, they are toys. However, there was something more important.” The officer pushed a few buttons and a scene began playing out on the screen.

This was a battle between five of the Qu’Lopti and what looked like a giant snake. Well, giant by normal standards. It wasn’t a boss monster or anything, but it was at least fifteen meters long. And given that it was breathing fire, it was almost certainly a monster. Are they going to die or something? How is this that important?

However, my question was answered soon, when the Qu’Lopti began speaking out long chants in a language I couldn’t understand. Suddenly, glowing circles appeared around four of the five combatants, while the fifth stepped forward and clenched its hands with a shout. The fire erupting from the snake stopped in midair, before slowly extinguishing itself.

Next, the attacks from the other four finished and were launched. Coils of rock sprang out from the ground, wrapping around the snake to hold it in place. Shards of ice formed in the air and stabbed at its body. What surprised me the most, though, was when two of the Qu’Lopti combined their power to summon a twenty foot tall golem which appeared to be made of iron. This golem grabbed the bound snake and easily tore it in half.

“Did… was that… How did they learn magic on their own? Are there any signs that someone has been here before us?” This last question was directed at Celeste, who shook her head. Meanwhile, a certain fox girl in my lap was staring with wide, excited eyes at the scene.

“I’m still learning their language. Part of it bears semblance to some runes, but so far I can find no instance of another race visiting this world. However, there are references to temples being constructed, and various other parts of the new system. How they managed to learn it on their own.. I’m still not sure.”

I nodded my head slightly, before turning my attention back to the scan results. “Is there anything else? Did you find the Seeds on the planet or anything?” That seemed to be the only possible way that a planet could learn all of this without outside interference.

“No, sir. No Seeds detected.” Well, there goes that thought. What the hell, seriously! If it was that easy for races to learn magic and stuff on their own, we wouldn’t be here in the first place!

Malthan… You got some ‘splainin to do.

I’m not sure what you mean?

These guys obviously don’t need our help adjusting to the new system! If anything, they could teach us about it!

Ah… well, that’s true. But I didn’t really say that was the reason they needed your help, did I?

Well… no… but what else is there? At this rate, they could leave their own solar system within a few years.

Well… you’ll understand soon enough.

And like that, I was given a disappointing answer by the god of madness… Well, not really sure why I expected him to be more helpful. It’s not like these were his people or anything!

“Celeste, what’s the progress on learning the language?”

Celeste furrowed her brows at the sudden question. “In terms of the written aspect, I have almost finished. However, for the verbal component I will likely need at least a full day. They have a rather comprehensive language.”

I nodded, leaving that to Celeste. Not like we could really help her out here. If we tried doing this work ourselves, it would take weeks at the very least. “Let us know when you’re done. Is there progress on finding a Qu’Lopti to bring aboard?” I asked, but the scanning officer shook his head. “Alright, keep looking.”

I sighed, and picked Tokemi up off my lap so that we could leave the bridge again. We weren’t going to be needed here for a little while. As such, we went to walk around the ship. On the way, we met Yo, who was walking along and talking with Kismet.

“Sis~” Tokemi ran forward and jumped into Yo’s arms, while the slime girl grinned excitedly. These two really seemed to hit it off, though maybe Tokemi just liked hugging the squishy slime.

“Hey, Mimi~.” Yo smiled as she said her nickname for Tokemi. “What’s up?”

“We got to the place with all the strange named people. They’re about my size! Do you think they’d be friends? Wait, wait, first! They are so cool! They were using all kinds of neat things! Daddy called it magic! Is that what I’ll be able to do once I learn magic?”

Yo chuckled lightly, nodding her head and petting Tokemi’s ear. “I’m sure you’ll be able to do it too, Mimi. Mimi is amazing, after all!” Saying so, she lightly tossed Tokemi up into the air, causing the smaller girl to squeal happily. Although she wouldn’t let other people handle her like that, except for me, she loved it when Yo tossed her up like that, because she always landed with a comfortable bounce against the slime girl.

Watching the two of them, I couldn’t help but grin happily. Turning to face Kismet, I nodded my head. “How’ve you been.”

He smiled as he answer. “Pretty good, sir. Just hanging out with Yo. I hear that the people of this world can use magic?”

“That’s right… We’re not sure how, but they definitely seem capable of it.” I nodded again, answering the question.

“Cool… I’ll have to see what all they can do. Maybe I can learn something from them.” He smiled a bit wider at that, though not in the same battle-hungry sense that Yo likely would be if their positions were reversed.

“Yeah… we should be able to make first contact tomorrow. After that… we’ll see how things go.”