As it turned out… learning how to master this magic the hard way was far more of a challenge than any of them were expecting. Not only Tsubaki and Dana, even Gerard wasn’t able to easily activate a basic spell with much ease. Granted, they were able to pull it off, but only after buying a new assistant device to study how the spell activated their mana.

Once they had that guideline, they were able to begin experimenting with this new binary magic. After about an hour, they were finally able to replicate the most basic of arcane blasts. This left the trio completely shocked by the difficulty of the magic. Personally, I still find my world’s magic to be amazingly complex, but it was at least something that could be understood from a low level of development.

This binary magic was quite clearly something that would only properly function if there was an advanced society backing it up. Even if people were able to stumble upon the method of firing off a basic spell, they would be like children grasping at the reflection of the moon in a pool of water. It would always seem so close, but never quite there.

In the end, Dana and Gerard reluctantly began to use their casting assistant device, although Tsubaki kept hers off. The fact that she was unable to reliably use magic did not seem to impact her in the slightest. After all, she could still use her divine power, as well as her martial talent.

Thankfully, the Heart of Combat martial style she practiced did not require mana to activate, and she was able to use it freely. The changes in ki between this world and our own were marginal at best.

Regardless, each of us acquired a shopping list from Mira, and then outfitted ourselves with some of the equipment available in the market. I could see Tsubaki constantly staring at the enchanted leather armors we purchased, as if trying to decipher their designs by sight alone. Once done with that, we made our way to the station’s shipyard and pooled our wealth to acquire a ship.

“I still can’t believe they charged so much for this…” Dana muttered as the door to the ship closed, the hiss of the airlock sealing behind us. The ship was… admittedly, not very large. It could hold the five of us without much issue, granted, but the price was almost absurd. The one ship cost more than the estimates we received for all four of our artifacts combined.

“I believe the cost has more to do with the level of construction, as opposed to its appearance.” Gerard said as he made his way over to the nearest console. He held up his new casting device, which took the form of a square tablet, and began to craft himself a new spell. “Give me a moment, and I’ll interface with the ship’s systems.”

“The best, Gerard. Really, you are.” Dana fired back with a grin, moving to grab a seat in one of the chairs along the far wall. In total there was enough seating for four passengers and two pilots. The walls and floor were clean and made of polished metal, various terminals visible at different points.

Down the hall, I could sense the presence of six bedrooms, a small kitchen, and a turret control at the back of the ship. Near the front, there was a navigation console right behind the cockpit. By no means was this a luxury vessel.

“Aha, this would explain it.” Gerard said once he had completed his spell, interfacing his own mana with the ship’s systems. “It would appear that they took our needs into consideration when they were suggesting this vessel for us. The shields are rated ‘Fragment Three’, a classification that likely indicates a resistance to attacks at the divine level, judging by its strength. Similarly, the front and rear turrets are ‘Fragment Two’ and ‘Fragment One’ respectively. There is an empty missile port that can be accessed from beneath the floorboards, though it is currently inactive. However, it is rated for ‘Fragment Five’ level missiles.”

Lifre let out a faint whistle when she heard that. “What about the hyperdrive? If they are catering to our needs, it has to have a hyperdrive, right!?”

Gerard hesitated for a moment at that. “There does appear to be a Faster-Than-Light mechanism installed. However, it is fundamentally different from the systems that we use in our worlds. All that I can determine without a better understanding of this world’s magic system is that it drains the mana of the pilot and co-pilot to activate itself. For this reason, I would suggest that the Keeper take the co-pilot seat, as his energy reserves are unlikely to run dry.”

Tsubaki pouted at the suggestion that I take a position to be used as a battery, but I was already making my way over there. “Hey, I have no idea how to fly this ship, and this’ll at least give me a way to make myself useful, right?” I asked with a small grin.

“Then, allow me to do so.” Tsubaki said, perking up as she volunteered to take my place.

“And how are you going to control your mana to link up with the ship?” Dana asked in a teasing tone, Tsubaki’s eyes going wide. She looked at her bare wrist, recalling that she had no casting assistant device.

Ultimately, she gave in, allowing me to take the co-pilot seat. To everyone’s surprise, the one that jumped into the pilot’s seat was none other than Lifre, who moved before Gerard was able to take the position himself.

“Gerard… please activate whatever auto-pilot will get us out of this station before she starts pushing buttons. And Lifre, do not push that one!” I pointed towards one button in particular, covered in a thin layer of plastic lid. “It took most of our funds to get this ship, we are not blowing it up before we even get anywhere.”

Lifre pouted her lips, fingers twitching towards the button, but she managed to stop herself. “Fiiiine. I’m still driving, though!” It didn’t seem like she was willing to compromise on that part of the ordeal.

Thankfully, there was an auto-pilot command to take us out of the station, moving us clear of any of the nearby traffic. “Does this ship come with any kind of a tutorial for how to fly it?” I asked Gerard, though it was surprisingly another party that answered.

A small, silver fairy flew up from my shoulder, taking shape out of what seemed to be nothingness. “Would you like me to begin the piloting tutorial?” She asked in a pleasant tone, causing me to blink in surprise.

“Right, Sarah likes to use fairies as guides in her games…” I nodded faintly, before pointing at Lifre. “Give her the tutorial, please.”

Rather than flying over to Lifre, the fairy completely disappeared. Instead, another one appeared above Lifre’s shoulder, looking subtly different from my own. She repeated the question, and Lifre rolled her eyes with the faintest of grins. “Yes, yes, let’s get this over with so I can start flying!”

Immediately, Lifre… vanished. The tutorial seemed to be in some instanced space, because Lifre was gone for a full ten minutes, during which time we were simply idling and waiting. Were it not for our friends list reminding us that she was still online, we’d have thought that she left the game to go play elsewhere.

When she did return, her eyes were positively sparkling. I couldn’t tell what she had been through in the tutorial, but she quickly began manipulating different buttons with practiced ease. “Locating a hyperspace port. Okay, there’s an open one nearby. I’ll move us onto the lane. Gerard! Plug in the coordinates we got to the navigation console, then display the map according to hyperspace lanes!”

Gerard arched an eyebrow, but moved over to the terminal and began to follow Lifre’s instruction. “There are designated lanes to travel in hyperspace?” Dana asked in confusion. “I suppose it’s not just an instant warp or anything like what we’re used to. But if a specific entry point is needed… does that mean it’s not just hyper-acceleration?”

“It is and it isn’t!” Lifre chuckled, the ship’s engines coming to life as she moved us further from the station. “According to the little fairy, the hyperspace network in this world was modeled after a world wide web. The stars are the different servers and domains you visit, and between them are intangible lanes like giant internet cables. These cables have openings at various points, called ports.”

“If you activate the hyperspace engine at one of the ports, your ship enters the hyperlane. This lets you sort of punch a hole halfway into the void, where space is massively condensed. The engine also provides a shield around the base, because there are monsters like void creatures that roam within hyperspace. As long as you stick to the designated lanes, they are rare, but if you try to force your way out of one without leaving hyperspace, they’re all over the place. The game calls them the remnant wrath of whatever it was that killed Acidia.” Suddenly, she turned to look at me. “Place your hands on the glass sensors of your armrest, and I can activate the hyperspace engine.”

I blinked, but leaned back and did so. “And you learned… all of this, in just ten minutes?” It seemed ridiculous for Lifre of all people to have absorbed so much technical information in such a short time. A thought clearly shared by the others, as Tsubaki, Dana, and Gerard quickly nodded their heads in agreement.

“Ten minutes?” Lifre blinked back at me, clearly confused. “Wow, they must have done some fancy kind of time compression… it felt like I was in that tutorial for hours! It was honestly kind of boring until the little fairy got past the basics, and started teaching me how to activate the weapons systems…”

“Lifre, we are not firing the weapons system without a suitable target.” Tsubaki said firmly, causing Lifre to chuckle.

“Oh, I know. That’s why I’m taking us to go find some! Gerard, patch the first path through to me.” After Lifre said that, one of the screens in front of us changed, and she began typing in a command. “Initiating hyperspace jump, activating shield.” I could feel a considerable amount of mana being pulled out of me for the initial opening of a black portal before us, but it was rather gentle afterwards.

Lifre grinned broadly as she drove the ship into the portal. “Okay, the course has been set, and I’ve told the auto-pilot to alert us if any remnants or pirates attack. Boss man, you can get up whenever you want. The ship would have synchronized with your assistant device now, so it will pull mana remotely as long as you’re in the ship.”

After she said that, I hesitantly lifted my arms, finding that my mana really was being siphoned by the device around my wrist. “So, where did you send us off to first?”

Lifre blinked, looking at the navigation data. “According to this, the first stop on our path is the black hole mining field. That’s where we needed to go to get the main material for Dana, right? How do you even mine a black hole?”

“Theoretically, it should be possible.” Gerard said, brows furrowed. “Black holes function by using extreme gravity to draw in and compress matter to its absolute limit, giving off background energy in the process. Although this gravity is so intense that not even light can escape its grasp, it would be theoretically possible for magic of sufficient stability to harvest the extremely compacted material from a black hole. However, doing so would be a risky endeavor. If too much material were to be harvested at any one time, the black hole itself could erupt, spewing forth all of the matter and energy it had absorbed in a supernova-like blast.”

Dana couldn’t help but blink at that. “Okay, that’s definitely a project that I want to add to my list later. If the material harvested from a black hole is a suitable component for a fallen artifact, does that mean that black holes are linked to the void? That’s… pretty interesting.”