Ten days later.

Jean and Sara were breathing heavily. For ten full days, eighteen hours a day, they were fighting and training in every way possible, whether it was with blades, with rifles, or with hand to hand combat.

Jean was improving quickly in all fronts. In order to maximize the chance of victory, lurkers were smart. They were designed to be smart. Whether it was due to their lack of emotions or some other alteration, their brains were much more advanced than normal people. This meant they could think much quicker and learn new things faster compared to normal people. This helped Jean to master hacking and battle tactics in the starcraft world, and now it was helping her in learning how to fight. Ten days ago she was getting absolutely demolished by Sara. Now…

Sara kicked Jean in the chest and pushed her back. Using the opportunity as Jean was catching herself from falling, Sara leaped toward her target.

But as soon as she was in the air, Sara noticed a small smirk on Jean’s face. Rolling on the ground to stable herself in a second, the blonde wiped her hand on her watch, and a rifle appeared on her right hand. Already shifted to focused shot, Jean fired at the brunette, who was currently in the air and about to land on where the blonde was. The white bolt speeded toward the brunette, who was in midair and couldn’t really dodge. Quietly nodding at Jean’s trap, Sara had no choice but to put her blade between her and the shot. The shot hit the blade and, instead of being canceled out like a standard shot, exploded. The explosion pushed Sara back toward the direction she was jumping from.

Her body in the air with her head facing down, Sara managed to literally turn her body so she could land on her legs. Female flexibility was used to its full extent. Another reason lurkers were female. But as soon as her legs made contact with the ground and just before she could even look, Sara felt a burning sensation on her neck. She knew it was the signal of her defeat. Just like she thought, Jean’s blade was next to her neck. If this was a real battle she would be dead already. Sara held her hands up, yielding, and the blonde grinned slightly and pulled the weapon back.

“Nice combo. I was defeated as soon as I was in the air.” Defeated, Sara had no hard feeling. Instead, she merely went through what happened calmly and patiently. The two had been doing this for quite a while. Hundreds of duels have happened during these ten days, and even with their acts on both girls have gone past the point where they felt happy or sad about the result. “Nice prediction by the way.” She said encouragingly, like a mother who was satisfied by the A+ her daughter got.

Jean smiled proudly. After firing the shot and even before Sara was hit, she was already predicting where Sara would be landing. When Sara was busy making sure she wouldn’t land on her head, Jean was already moving forward. The moment Sara landed, Jean’s weapon was already on the brunette. The combo gave Sara no time at all to fight back.

“What’s next?” She asked before looking at a timer on the wall and realized it had been ten days already. “Oh. Time really flies when you’re having fun.” She glanced at Sara with a questioning look. “I can keep paying for this room, you know. I have more than enough crystals.” She acted like a rich kid who didn’t value the money she was given.

Sara shook her head. “There is very little that I can teach you. At this point you will need experience to get better. Real experience of life between life and death and enemies that really want to kill you, not experience fighting with someone who wouldn’t really hurt you.”

“Ah well.” Jean shrugged as she collected her things. “I have twenty more days until my next mission. Anywhere you suggest me to go to?” She smirked. “Anymore advice from the experienced?”

“Yes. I think you should buy some weapons.”

Jean rose her eyebrows and gestured for the voyager blade on her belt.

“Well, here’s the thing. Voyager gadgets are good, but they are way too good for certain circumstances. For example,” Sara explained as she tapped a thing on her watch and disappeared. Jean did a similar thing. The two appeared in Sara’s room, where they continued their conversation. “as I was saying, there are circumstances that voyager blades are too special. In worlds like Star Wars maybe it can be considered normal, but if you light the blade in Lord of the Rings...The natives are not fools. They will consider you as a foreigner and therefore untrustworthy. If that happens, it will be very difficult to stick to the original history.”

“So?” Jean glanced at the activated Butler on her watch and continued acting. She could technically turn the AI off, but if someone was watching her through her AI they would be suspicious. Normal voyagers wouldn’t turn off an AI as helpful as the Butler was.

Sara sat down on a yoga mat. A small disturbed look was on her face. “It has never been proven, but there is a legend.” She looked up and Jean, who had quieted down and had sat next to Sara. “It is said that the more a voyager changes the original path of a dimension, the more likely the voyager will not be able to return.”

“Huh?” This was the more covert way of saying ‘Explain’.

“I don’t know if it is true, but it is a popular theory in the Hub. Also, someone who has completed six missions warned me about that himself. Considering he told me that after sleeping with me, he should be telling the truth.”

“Are you serious?” Jean frowned deeply. “What can possibly happen?”

“Like I said, it’s just a legend and no one have solid proof, but you should be careful not to use weapons that is just way too special or do things that completely changes the original history. Bad things might happen. Don’t risk it.” Sara continued. She didn’t want Jean to get hurt. After all, they were supposed to be in love after what happened ten days ago. That was a bit quick in terms of romance, but voyagers were not exactly normal either, so...

“Ok ok I get it. Don’t bring a gun to a sword fight.”

“Don’t bring a laser to a sword fight. In most cases a gun is fine, unless guns are not invented, in which it will not be fine...Point is, be careful.” Sara stumbled slightly, but there was no doubt she was serious.

“I see. Anyways, see you later.” Jean nodded and kissed Sara on the cheek before leaving her room.

It took Jean 7 red crystals to buy five swords, three pistols, one automatic rifle, one bow and forty arrows, a crossbow, twenty grenades, and a one meter tall shield. These things were relatively cheap because anyone with a mission in the right time period could get these.

Eyeing the 984 red crystals left in her watch, Jean tapped the Butler.

“Any suggestions?”

“You can absorb them. You don’t have any established power structure, but your body itself can still absorb red crystals. You can only absorb them one at a time and you must take a while to fully process the energy, but twenty days will still allow you to absorb around 400 red crystals. Crystals will improve all aspects of your body, including strength, speed, cellular regeneration, cellular strength, and so on. It is possible to not have a power structure and still be very powerful.” If you have enough crystals.

When Jean first arrived in her room, she accidentally absorbed a red crystal in front of the Butler. Luckily she hadn’t shown any sign of her power in front of the AI, so the Butler thought Jean was straight up absorbing the energy in the red crystal into her body. It was possible and countless have done the same thing before her. Taking red crystals in directly was less efficient and less powerful than using them to improve a certain power, but not everyone was lucky enough to get a power structure. So a large amount of voyagers were forced to choose the slow but steady path. They represented the average voyagers. Voyager blades and voyager rifles paired up with a relatively superior body. Stronger than most people they would encounter but would get slaughtered by the rare ones that were actually good.

“I see.” Of course, Jean didn’t know all that. Still, she was happy there was a way she could absorb the red crystals without attracting unwanted attention. She just needed to take it slowly and carefully.

Tucking 400 crystals away, Jean continued to shop around the Merchandise Division. She had no intention of keeping them. She had no idea what the next mission would be, and storing red crystals instead of turning them into power meant she might be killed with the riches wasted.

As she walked, an item caught her attention.

“Energy shield generator. Powered by red crystals. Generates a force field that can stop any incoming ranged attack, whether it is energy or projectile. It does nothing against melee attack and enemy bodies, which means maybe a bullet or a rocket can’t get through the force field, but an enemy himself might.” The shopkeeper explained, trying to convince Jean as he pointed at a small black box.

Jean was interested. “How powerful is it?”

“Theoretical speaking, as long as power source holds, it can stop anything.” The man boasted.

“Well, it is worth 50 red crystals, which means it is not invincible.” Jean pointed at the price tag and revealed the man’s lie without any mercy.

The man smiled, slightly enbarassed as his lie/reduced truth was exposed. “That’s why I said theoretically. Anything strong enough can break through the shield and fry the device itself before you can change the battery. Still…”

“I’ll take it.” Jean had enough plasma shield generators in her watch to arm an army, but as the normal recruit she was trying her heart out to portray she would need something that could save her life in a dire situation without busting her cover.

Giving the man 50 crystals, Jean tossed the expensive device into her watch after putting a red crystal inside. Hopefully she would never need to use it.

The next hour of shopping brought Jean three more items: A psychic paper that could change based on what Jean wanted him or her to think. 30 red crystals. An EMP that could disable any electronic device within a one mile radius. 50 red crystals. And, most importantly...

“Disposable Allspark. Capable of transforming any vehicle into a transformer totally loyal to the owner of the device. Can only work once. 300 red crystals.“

Jean didn’t hesitate to purchase this item. No one said girls couldn’t be interested in cars.

The next twenty days went by without much event. Apart from the several times she called Sara and what they did after that, and the multiple times she spent on using the recreational items she bought, Jean spent her time absorbing the red crystals. The Butler thought she was enhancing her body, but Jean was actually improving her xel’naga power.

Twenty days later, when she received news of her new mission, Jean was ready.