Ayna approached the carcass of the Ghadape Alpha and activated the loot function.

  Would you like to loot [Ghadape Alpha]?

  Reading the prompt from the system, she accepted, and the dead creature made a fizzing sound as its body began to dissolve as if melted by a strong acid.

  A heavy smoke emerged as the body of the Ghadape Alpha vanished, as if it had never existed at all.

  “Now that was something”, she voiced under her breath as she found it differed from the game.

  Though she supposed it was miraculous enough that she acquired game mechanics from what seemed to be a vivid real Universe.

  She received a prompt from the system and read the screen that awaited her.

  [Ghadape Alpha Fur] has been added to your inventory.

  [Primal Strength Gene Solution] has been added to your inventory.

  [33 credits] has been added to your inventory.

  Credits? Ghadape Alpha Fur? Primal Strength Gene Solution?

  The credits were self-explanatory; though the amount was relatively small, they provided her with an additional means of income.

  Ghadape Alpha Fur was a crafting material; like all crafting materials, it was stackable and sold for a reasonable price from vendors.

  Nonetheless, the Primal Strength Gene Solution was by far the most valuable item. It was a scarce drop, too; she hit the jackpot acquiring it.

  There was a reason the Corps that ran Tanus cultivated such a teeming wildlife and allowed vast lands to remain, because creatures like Ghadape had valuable genes that could be extracted from the carcass by Pharmacists, forming Gene Solutions that provided miraculous, beneficial effects such as permanent enhancements in attributes, the acquisition of a valuable trait or a potent temporary effect such as healing.

  These Gene Solutions were valuable and profitable to the point where they were worth more than forming a complete industrial world.

  Not to mention that Tanus lacked rich mineral deposits, making the action redundant; the Corps makes a fortune from pharmaceutical corporations, leaving the Wildlife largely unchecked.

  Though the Corps remained safely secured, their advanced technological Dystopian Cities were never the ones in danger; it was the outskirts and frontier Towns that were ravaged by creatures such as the Ghadapes.

  Either way, she decided to inspect the Primal Strength Gene Solution.

  Primal Strength Gene Solution

  Extracted from a Ghadape Alpha, once consumed, your strength attribute will be enhanced by one permanently.

  Grade: E

  Rarity: Uncommon

  The effect was not outlandish, yet the attribute enhancement was permanent, and such solutions can be consumed more than once, though there were saturation limits and other factors, such as grade.

  Ayna could see no reason to delay consuming it and chugged it down straight away, restoring the empty bottle in her inventory.

  Her body and muscles suddenly felt warm and hot, and a tingling sensation ran through her as her muscles twitched.

  Primal Strength Gene Solution absorbed.

  + 1 Strength.

  The sensation quickly vanished, yet she felt a slight noticeable increase in her strength.

  Enhancing attributes felt incredible; even a slight improvement saved her a valuable attribute point.

  Ayna then decided to quickly run around and loot the rest of the Ghadape Brutes.

  She knew the probability of acquiring another gene solution was practically nothing; it was clearly a rate drop from the Alpha, yet she would need the credits real soon.

  Would you like to loot [Ghadape Brute]?

  The prompt appeared seventeen times as she looted the remaining Ghadapes, resulting in the same dissolvation of their bodies.

  [Ghadape Fur] x17 has been added to your inventory.

  [77 credits] has been added to your inventory.

  The rewards, though not as valuable as the Ghadape Alpha, were still something.

  And at that point, Stormflash followed her in exiting the escape pod and looked at her with a perplexed look.

  “I was utilising my new Esper Ability to practice control.” Ayna reasoned that she had already concluded that the bodies' dissolution resembled the ability she had acquired from Viper; therefore, it seemed a suitable excuse to utilise.

  Stormflash raised his eyebrow sceptically, yet did not press further, saying, “We are not far from the travel paths; perhaps we could find transport.”

  Despite having both the infrastructure and technology for far more efficient and safer transport methods, the corporation's stranglehold on these avenues and harsh tariffs often forced those to travel through far riskier routes.

  “Let us depart then,” Ayna said, seeing no further reason to remain.

  Whilst doing that, she swiftly toggled through her subclass advancement.

  Unlike her main class, the advancement of a Soldier was well known, therefore making it straightforward for her.

  The options were Commando, Agent and Operative.

  Commando was a direct advancement from Soldier, focusing on weapon and armour mastery and providing enhancements to brute strength, durability and close combat.

  The Agent took a different path, focusing on agility and endurance, and introduced long-range weapon skills and abilities suited to stealth and espionage.

  On the other hand, Operative was a mix of both advancement options and was one that suited Ayna the most, as her Esper Abilities made her versatile. She preferred an overall increase in her physical attributes.

  Upon toggling to the prompt for her advancement, she was presented with the suspected options.

  Lvl 20 [Soldier (Novice)] advancement requirements met.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  You may choose one of the following three advancements: Commando, Agent, or Operative.

  No unique advancement option this time?

  Ayna was not really surprised, it was already fortunate and more valuable to get one for her main class.

  Ayna had already decided that Operative was the advancement she wanted and had chosen it decisively.

  Congratulations, you have advanced in sub-class!

  You are now an [Operative (Apprentice) Lvl 21]

  STR +5 DEX +5 CONS +5 END +5

  You have acquired new class skills:

  Deception.

  Steady Aim.

  Piercing Shot.

  Your current subclass skills [MAX] have advanced:

  Athletics > Superior Athletics

  Weapons Proficiency> Adept Weapons Proficiency

  The advancement ended swiftly; she felt the raw surge of attributes throughout her body, a pleasurable sensation washing over her.

  Enhancing a subclass was not as significant as improving a main class, especially being a Super, since improving her grade was far more noteworthy, yet the attribute increment was still tremendous.

  Another notification soon occurred; her excess experience was enough to level her new advanced subclass right away.

  Stored experience toward the sub-class is distributed.

  [Operative (Apprentice)] has levelled up.

  Lvl 21 > 22

  Strength +1, Dexterity +1, Endurance +1. Constitution +1.

  You have received 1 attribute point.

  The gap between a subclass and the main in terms of attribute points only distanced as she grew, though she was satisfied receiving an equal distribution between her physical attributes.

  Now, the advancement of her subclass has been dealt with, and her mind could now focus back on trailing behind Stormflash.

  The bright, fiery vegetation seemed to pose no obstacle to the powerful C grade. She followed Stormflash as he utilised his high-ranked energy manipulation carefreely, the dense forestation parting ways for the Super.

  “So, what is the plan?” Ayna said, chirping up for the first time in a while.

  Though it was a matter of minutes at most, her subclass still diverted her attention for a moment.

  “I planned our route for the Mega-City, Genecies. Reaching that place will give you a different perspective on Tanus altogether. Most areas of the planet, such as this one, are farms for the Corps to harvest materials.” Stormflash said calmly.

  Ayna listened with interest, taking in the vibrant forest and its life. She could not picture a technological, futuristic City, though she supposed the Corps found it the most efficient means to harvest Gene Solutions.

  At that point, she toggled through her interface to open the map.

  Similar to the game, a screen appeared showing a map, completed with a location listing.

  Sector: Fierist Forest

  Like Intergalactic Glory, the map was mostly obscured. The only section unveiled was the one she had already explored.

  She could zoom in and out of the map, allowing her to zoom in on her location and the Fierist Forest, and even zoom out to the World Map to view the landmasses of Tanus, where this was not even the limit, since she could then zoom out even further to the Galaxy Map.

  The Intergalactic Glory map was practically endless for players, and must be even more so now, since this was all her new reality.

  Ayna dismissed the map interface and focused more intently on her surroundings.

  Stormflash and Ayna continue to push deeper into the Forest as time swiftly goes by, but they do not have another encounter as intense as the Ghadape Tribe.

  The Ghadape was very territorial; it left the surrounding area devoid of many dangerous beasts.

  Hours went by, and Stormflash continued to direct her.

  They had further run-ins with the hostile wildlife.

  Stormflash always let her take care of them; the most dangerous was a pack of Drewolves.

  Massive, fiery red Wolf-like beasts that were thwice the size of Grey Wolves.

  However, they were dealt with easily, since, unlike the Ghadape, they lacked an E-grade Alpha to pose any threat to her.

  Though it was enough to give her another level in her main class since she was close to completing her latest quest.

  You have dealt fatal blows!

  You have killed Drewolf {Lvl 13} x10

  You have killed Drewolf Alpha {Lvl 19}

  You have gained experience towards [Assimilator (Apprentice)] and [Operative (Apprentice)]

  [Assimilator (Apprentice)] has levelled up.

  Lvl 22 > 23

  Energy +15

  Intelligence +3, Willpower +3, Charm +3.

  You have received 3 attribute points.

  Your main class skill [Ice Affinity] has advanced to level 7.

  Your main class skill [Toxin Manipulation] has advanced to level 8.

  Your subclass skill [Armour Proficiency] has advanced to level 6.

  She has already decided to distribute her accumulated attribute points equally among all her attributes.

  Ayna similarly looted the Woves, yet the loot was not noteworthy.

  [Drewolf Pelt] x10 has been added to your inventory.

  [Drewolf Fangs] x22 has been added to your inventory.

  [Drewolf Alpha Pelt] x1 has been added to your inventory.

  [67 credits] has been added to your inventory.

  The loot was mainly stackable, taking one slot in her inventory.

  After the encounter with the Drewolves, other altercations were not noteworthy; some of the more intelligent beasts avoided them.

  The trek felt endless, as hour after hour continued to go by before Stormflash signalled to halt.

  “We are near, before we landed, I identified this route, I believe Merchants typically use it,” Stormflash said.

  Merchants?

  Ayna queried Stormflash further as she said, “Why would Merchants travel through here?l

  Stormflash chuckled at that as he replied, “Corps have restrictions on most means of travel; they control everything to hold a monopoly. The Merchants who don't want to pay exorbitant tariffs and follow the whims of the Corps utilise these paths, aiming to trade primarily at frontier Towns and Outposts, the areas the Corps avoids and need supplies.”

  Ayna nodded, not at all surprised. There were many worlds like Tanus in the Universe.

  Corporations prioritised profit above all else and were ruthless towards those who were useless to them.

  Ayna continued as they neared the location Stormflash mentioned. The forest grew less dense as they approached a well-used, spacious path that cut through it.

  She felt fortunate to have ascended to E-grade beforehand, which improved her grade and reduced her need for sleep and other essential functions.

  Her energy reserves passively sustained her.

  Ayna was curious what Stormflash searched for as they reached the path, that was until she heard it, the noise of large vehicles approaching.

  “They approach. Let me do the talking.” Stormflash said quickly.

  Ayna did not need to wait long as a long convoy of heavy vehicles approached, with a weary, well-armed escort that instantly appeared on guard against them.

  At the head of the convoy was a middle-aged man with a sharp moustache and soft features.

  He eyed them sceptically. He wore a dark grey bomber jacket with a cybernetic goggle over his right eye, which seemed to be scanning them.

  By his side were numerous guards, wearing dark-black, patchy, low-tech armour plates and helms. They held an assortment of blaster rifles and pistols, which were pointed at them in caution.

  Stormflash waved his hands to appear harmless as he slowly walked towards talking distance. His calmness seemed to relax the leading man somewhat as he took the initiative to shout out, “Halt, stranger, may we help you? We are far off the next Town, I can't help but be curious as to what leaves two individuals roaming such a dangerous place?”

  The lead man's eyes scanned his surroundings warily as he said that. Ayna could not blame the man; they did seem rather unusual to appear out of nowhere, and it was easy to believe they might appear like Raiders luring them into a trap.

  “You don't need to be that cautious. I will demonstrate exactly why you don't need to heed the concerns you're considering. If I wanted to do something, well…” Stormflash decided to be direct; he did not waste further talk, releasing his aura.

  A fearsome aura swept the surroundings; the convoy halted in awe. They knew what it meant.

  The middle-aged man began waving his arms at his men as he said, “What are you doing? Put your weapons down, men. I can see how foolish my actions are. If a Meta such as yourself wanted to do something, you are correct, we could put up little resistance. Now, I hope you don't blame me, yet this leaves me curious, what would you even need us for?”

  “I am glad you asked,” Stormflash said with a disarming smile. Ayna knew the convoy relaxed from the aura, as they knew someone as powerful as Stormflash would not waste time on discussion if he had true hostile intent.

  Now was the time to engage the convoy in discussion. She would discover what Stormflash's plan entailed.