Pioneer of the Abyss - Book 2 - Chapter 48

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Don't mind this. It's so that free readers can't see half the chapter when the chapter eventually becomes patron only.

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Click the following link for the 1319 word chapter 48:

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Aqua

“Aqua, please begin making preparations within the next month for your introduction into the Pioneer Games,” Rhett says, reminding me that those even exist in the first place. “Once you claim leadership over Oceana, you will be expected to join the Pioneer Games whether you like it or not.”

Right. It’s not an actual requirement, but people will be very upset if a graduated Pioneer doesn’t do it.

That said, most Pioneers always join the Pioneer Games because they’re worth competing in.

The Pioneer Games are various competitions broadcast across the entire Alliance where only Pioneers compete in a virtual reality environment. Whether it’s competing in life and death battles, sports, quiz shows, or even events voted on by viewers.

They’re very popular games. And despite the life and death thing, Pioneers don’t actually die. They just die in the virtual reality.

Although the virtual reality is more of an artificial reality made through magic copying the consciousness of everyone who enters into a body that is made as a copy of them inside of the artificial reality. And apparently some skills can actually go in-between the artificial body and the real body depending on if it is sourced from the soul or from the body.

The Pioneer Games happen four times a month. Once a week. But they aren’t just for entertainment. They also determine the benefits a planet gets from the Alliance.

If a Pioneer wins a game, then they claim rewards for the planet of their choice.

The exact benefits a game gives depend on the game itself, how well the Pioneer performed in the game, and the viewers’ choice.

So even the Pioneers who don’t win the game also get benefits. Which is why popularity is also a major factor with these Pioneer Games.

The benefits winning a Pioneer Game can bring range all the way from the Alliance manually increasing the amount of mana the planet has, to donating a large amount of funds to the planet, and even granting more System initializations to the planet.

That last one isn’t for the main planet under a Pioneer’s control though. Since a newly initialized planet already has all of its people in the System.

That benefit is generally more for planets the Pioneer takes control of for one reason or another that were initialized long ago. Long enough ago that they have a lot of people who aren’t in the System.

Like the planet I was from before becoming a Pioneer.

“I’ll prepare,” I tell Rhett while turning my attention to the end results of the photoshoot we just did. Which turned out pretty well.

Well enough that I feel fine calling it a day for the job before saying a brief farewell to Rhett and canceling my avatar. Returning my consciousness to Oceana.

Benefits for planets aren’t the only things that Pioneers can get from winning Pioneer Games though. They can also choose benefits for themselves.

Like Special Cores for example. Or permission to hunt monsters in certain planets full of stronger monsters.

Because permission is required to enter planets you don’t have citizenship on. And while tourists with the right documents filed are allowed to go between different planets, they aren’t allowed to hunt monsters on them unless it’s an emergency on the planet.

There’s only one place with powerful monsters that anyone is allowed to hunt in. But it’s a place no one ever visits because the monsters are just too powerful.

Plus it’s underwater.

The Abyss.

So despite it being the only completely open and free hunting area that anyone can go to, almost no one ever goes to it. Because almost no one who enters it comes out alive.

The few that do come out alive though do tend to reach the top of the alliance in power.

Other than the completely locked hunting areas and the Abyss, there are some planets that offer access to the hunting areas on their planets for a fee. Using the higher level monsters on their planet as a way to make money.

Meanwhile there are also planets that are the opposite. They pay people to come to their planet to exterminate their monsters.

After all, not all planets manage to deal with their monsters.

Most Pioneers die early on, making it so that most planets don’t end up with Pioneer owners dominating the planet. Sometimes the monsters end up making the planet hell to live on, practically taking over most of the planet.

The planets that have resources the Alliance wants end up getting aid from the Alliance when the Alliance takes over the planet. But the planets that don’t have anything the Alliance wants end up ignored, neglected, and in danger of the people living there dying any day due to their monster problems.

So those planets will hire people outside of the planet to hunt the monsters for them.

I frown as I get up from my bed and leave my room.

The Pioneer Games will be a good way to continue getting stronger after I finish with Oceana. Because there are only a limited number of powerful monsters here. And even if they respawn, their levels won’t change unless the planet’s mana levels change.

They’ll likely be around level five hundred at the strongest. Meanwhile the monsters in the Abyss are in the five digit range.

With some even being in the six digit range deeper in according to my parents.

The main question is whether I should focus on hunting in other planets or if I should improve Oceana and continue hunting here.

Or at least, it’s a question for a very brief few seconds before I realize it’s a bad idea to hunt elsewhere until I get enough mana to use my Domain all the time. What with me being a lot weaker out of the water.

And I don’t know of many hunting zones that are underwater.

There are plenty that are lower level hunting zones that people pay others to hunt in, specifically because of how no one wants to hunt underwater, but none of the higher level hunting ranges that you have to pay to enter are underwater.

On top of that, I doubt they’d want me flooding their hunting range that has other people hunting at the same time.

It would probably bother the other people hunting there if they were suddenly left underwater.

So, I guess the best way to go would be to increase the amount of mana on Oceana, get higher level monsters here, raise the level of the average person on the planet, and use Oceana as my personal hunting range.

That said, I won’t be able to increase the mana to the necessary level in Oceana right when I need a better hunting range. Which means I’m going to have to hunt monsters elsewhere for a time after becoming the leader of Oceana.

It should be fine though. I don’t have to spread my Domain throughout the entire area where I hunt. And hopefully I’ll have enough mana to spread my Domain just around me by then.

Then I can continue hunting ‘underwater’ despite being on land.

Although, there is one bright side about hunting like that. A benefit that hunting underwater in an ocean won’t give.

The monsters above ground that I’d be hunting in my Domain wouldn’t be great swimmers.

There’s a downside too in that I wouldn’t be able to summon my abyssal servants out of water. Which is a big demerit.

But the benefit is just as big. Especially since the monsters probably won’t be able to breathe underwater.

I yawn at that thought while making my way out of the base, past the various people staying there closer to the entrance. All without saying a word to them.

Then I proceed to head towards my next hunting target.

A massive leech.