Yuriko’s first reaction to losing her footing was to latch onto the fabric of reality with her Anima. That failed, as it often did, with the hooks sliding off the slicked canvas. A moment of annoyance, and a streak of bullheadedness, had her redouble her efforts. The points on the hooks sharpened and she put actual force, backed by Intent, into piercing the canvas. 

The points stabbed through and she secured herself in midair. It cost nearly a percent of her Intent, and from the way the slicked layer tried to expel her, it would continue to drain her Intent to hold on. But it wasn’t that large a drain—roughly a percent a minute. As long as she kept her Intent above ninety percent, she would regenerate the ten percent of her total reserves in the same minute. It was when she dipped below ninety percent that the speed at which she recovered drastically increased fivefold. Her Will was also being taxed as the slickness was invading her Anima and her Will fought the change. Thankfully, it only drained at the same amount as her intent. 

Unfortunately, the current drain was only from staying in place. If she wanted to move, she would have to let go and start the process again, and she’d have to tax her Intent by the same amount each time. It might fluctuate too, since the slickness didn’t feel static. It felt like a hostile Will. 

As she thought that, the malevolence slowly increased the difficulty of remaining tethered, draining more of her Will in the process. Less than five seconds had passed and the strain had already doubled. Hanging on would be unwise. 

At the same time, she realised that none of the Gold Flock mercenaries were panicking. The loss of weight—gravity was the concept, she realised, which came from Lilibeth’s memories, which were then corroborated by Damien’s, which had just bubbled out of its seal and melded with her mind—had taken Stormdriven by surprise. Not that the sensation was unique, Yuriko thought. She had encountered the same sense of weightlessness in a Fysalli, as well as the absence of air and ambient energies. At least here, it was only gravity that was lost. It wasn’t even that foreign a sensation since she regularly flew.

Heron and Gwendith composed themselves quickly, as did Saki and Devotee. Ryoko was the only one who hadn’t and from her emotions, was really frightened. Yuriko’s Animakineses pulled the woman to her, and she whispered, “I’m here, it’s alright.” 

“Yes, young mistress.” Ryoko sighed as her body calmed down. 

The other mercenaries were in varied stages of panic, with more than a few flailing about. Yuriko released her hold on the canvas of reality and simply latched onto the floor, which was about a pace under her now. She and the others were drifting upwards, and now that she focused on it, another force was subtly pulling them towards a hidden object in the middle of the chamber. 

Those flailing managed to throw off their own trajectories and they either flew horizontally and bumped into their fellows, or careened off the ground, after which they clung on for dear life. 

“Calm,” Yuriko said. “We are being drawn to the centre of the room.” Her perception aura surged ahead and she wrapped it around the object. It was a perfect sphere about twenty paces wide, which meant it was only fifteen paces above the floor. The chamber was longer than it was wide, but she could expand her entire perception aura to cover it, and she discovered two more spheres fifty paces from each other. 

They drifted towards the closest sphere. It was a slow movement, but there was no reason to rush. Instead, she flipped her body so that she’d touch the sphere with her boots rather than her head or arms. The rest of her companions mimicked her, and after a heartbeat, so did the rest of the calm mercenaries. As soon as she made contact with the orb, gravity reasserted itself, only, it was to the orb rather than the floor. Her weight was only half of what she was used to, however. 

About half of the entire group of two hundred were still on the floor, or its vicinity. Almost all of the Gold Flock were with Stormdriven on the sphere. They ended up moving to the opposite side to give the other band room to land. Mindful of the “no combat” scenario, Yuriko didn’t put up a fuss. 

Five minutes after the start of the trial, a new message appeared on her visor. 

“Make your way to the other asteroids as efficiently as you can.” 

The two other spheres—asteroids—weren’t aligned with the one they were on. It should have been a simple jump to reach the others, but Yuriko noticed that both the next asteroid and the one they were on, were subtly moving. She supposed the first fifty to accomplish the tasks would have the highest score, and since the movement was slow, it was easy to adjust. She tethered the others with her kinesis and leapt after warning them. Everyone but Ryoko, who simply clung to Yuriko, jumped. Their movement was more than enough to bridge the gap, even accounting for the sudden shift. 

After they touched the first asteroid, instructions for the next goal appeared. They were to reach the next asteroid in the series, but they could not go along a straight line. There were small points of light in between that served as markers for explosive mines. Yuriko felt them appear through her perception, and she counted five hundred of them in layers that covered the entire wall. The mines moved in patterns that differed in timing. While she observed them, she also noticed how the other mercenaries moved across the no-gravity zone. They were holding a couple of small cylinders in each hand. One sprayed water at high pressure, which was enough to nudge their trajectories as they floated around. There were a few such cylinders scattered across the surface of the asteroid they were on, and they weren’t necessary for her group. Even Ryoko could utilise her Animus to adjust her momentum and direction. 

Manoeuvring through the minefield was easy once she spotted the patterns, and there was one, even if it was rather convoluted. It took a minute to cycle through it, but in the first layer, there was a five-second window to cross the mines and reach a relatively safe spot in between the two layers. The next opening would appear thirty seconds later for a similar period, and the pattern repeated until she could pass through the entire field. The one she spotted wasn’t the only one there, but numerous deadends forced people to go back or get disqualified. 

She spent about five minutes observing, then pulled Ryoko along behind her. Heron, Gwendith, Saki, and Devotee found their own patterns to exploit, much to her delight. Stormdriven was the first through the field and on the last asteroid, which, apparently, was the last part of the trial. As soon as Devotee’s toes touched the surface of the orb, a new message was sent, asking them to follow the indicator lights to the waiting room. 

When they arrived at the waiting room, it was not empty. Instead, a young woman with chin-length silver hair that was shaved on the left side of her head and intense golden eyes was bouncing excitedly on her toes.

“Heron! Your group did incredibly well!” she gushed, emotions bubbling over with obvious desire and happiness. Yuriko hummed as the woman rushed up to Heron and grabbed his armoured hand to shake exuberantly up and down. 

Yuriko giggled to herself as she felt Heron’s flustered thoughts at the woman’s enthusiasm, and while she babbled on, they took a seat on the provided armchairs. She was tempted to remove her helmet, actually, but she wasn’t sure who else would enter the waiting room. From the size, it was unlikely that the entirety of the mercenary bands would fit inside. It was just cosy enough for ten people. Ah, Gwendith had already removed her helm, as did Ryoko. Saki kept her cover while Devotee didn’t care much. So she removed her helmet and allowed her hair to unravel from its current coiffure. The tightly wrapped braid and bun flowed into a high ponytail in the blink of an eye, then Radiant energy flared from the root to the tips. The display caught the woman’s attention, and she gaped at Yuriko with widened eyes. 

“Oh, by Autochron! It’s you!” 

Yuriko raised an inquiring eyebrow. “Who do you mean?”

“The one in the bounties! Ah, of course, you’re all in it, and it’s a private bounty rather than one issued by the city government, and why am I babbling? I haven’t even introduced myself, apologies.” The woman took a deep breath, then extended a hand. “Hi! I’m Ilvarra Erdmann.”

Yuriko took the woman’s hand and giggled. “You sound far more excitable than Heron made you out to be.” 

“Why wouldn’t I! Heh, I sponsored your group, and with your showing, I expect to be rewarded handsomely! In fact, I’ve the option of joining the delve with you, too!”

“Oh, will you?” 

Ilvarra hesitated, moving her gaze from Yuriko to Heron, who’d also removed his helmet. 

“If you want to,” Heron said indifferently. A little part of the woman seemed to wilt. 

“Don’t be so cold, my dear,” Yuriko said. “She’s helped us greatly.” 

“Oh.”

If anything, Yuriko’s words and Heron’s reaction to it, made Ilvarra wilt even further. But then, she bounced back quickly, and there was a determined air about her. Yuriko could read a bit of her emotions, which were mostly resolve and a little bit of jealousy. Hmmm. 

A closer examination with her perception revealed to her that Ilvarra didn’t have any ‘Chronian Gear limbs. Her eyes were Chronian and she had a few implants in her neck and spine. 

“So what now?” Yuriko asked after a moment of silence. “Did we pass?” 

“There’s no question of that,” Ilvarra said with a smile. “And I’m here to deliver the contract terms.” 

“Very well, show it to us.”

“Uhm, I have to ask, isn’t Heron the leader of the mercenary band, Stormdriven?”

Yuriko smiled widely. “He is.” 

“Oh, I see.” 

The woman sent a copy of the terms to all of them. Yuriko reviewed it and found most of the predatory legalese to be pretty much standard. Most of the terms were advantageous to Milstate, but that was only to be expected. They were the ones who secured the passage, and apparently, territory within the first delving floor. 

Information was still vague about the nature of it all, but through the trials, Yuriko had a good guess. And because of the restrictive terms in the contract, she was able to decipher as much as the corporation wanted them to know. 

“We’ll be in ships?” Yuriko asked, needing to confirm. 

“Yes,” Ilvarra said, some of the tension easing. “The information flow is restricted by the nature of the passage, I’m afraid. If you didn’t figure some of it out, we literally cannot talk about it.”

“The price for passage?”

“Yes.” Ilvarra chuckled. “I’ve only been through once, as an intern nearly a decade ago. I only stayed on that level for a cycle. Back then, I was too scared. I wish to conquer that fear now.”

“I understand,” Yuriko said. “Well, I don’t care for much of the resources you mine, but any battle prizes we earn will be ours.” 

Ilvarra hummed while her golden eyes glittered. Yuriko saw the woman’s connection to REI-space pulse as she communicated with her superiors. After a long moment, she nodded, “They agreed provided the company receives rights of first refusal, and only on battles that your group contributed the majority of the credit to.” 

“Done,” Yuriko said. She reviewed the contract once more, noting the changes, then allowed Heron to sign for the group. She extended a hand to Ilvarra. “To a fruitful cooperation.” 

“Indeed.” Ilvarra grinned in triumph, then shot Heron a smoldering look. 

Yuriko just chuckled to herself.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep