The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Planet Eleron)

(Main Administrative Building- Private Office)

Principal Malik's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he read over the report on his desk. He leaned back against his chair and stared out of the open window.

A request for a joint exercise with both the military and private mercenaries?

Hmm… it all sounded a bit… too sudden.

The elderly Mendolesa man's tail swished gently from side to side as he powered on his wrist communicator and sent out a few messages to his contacts in the Imperial Army.

Being the head of one of the four most prestigious universities in the entire Federation meant that the principal had a lot of influence.

Many important noble families and clans wished to have a good relationship with him, and the past students of Zrudread University usually ended up in positions of power.

It did not take long for the relevant information to arrive on his device, and he took about thirty minutes to read through it all.

When it came to the safety of his students, Principal Malik always believed in investigating as thoroughly as possible.

Obviously as a university with a focus on combat and real-life application of cultivation skills, there was naturally a high death rate when compared to the other top universities but…

Principal Malik was not the sort of man who tossed his students into a meat grinder or treated them as cannon fodder.

Students were sent on missions that were appropriate for their cultivation level.

And they were not forced.

The principal rubbed his claws together as he digested the information that had just been sent over.

The Gamoran Sector was a neighbouring region of space that was not too far away from the Hydra Star System.

At least in relative terms.

It was still a fairly new area claimed by the Earth Federation and not all of the native populations and cultures had been fully assimilated.

There was not much value in the planets in the Gamoran Sector since they lacked natural resources.

They were mainly going to be used as population centers to house the ever-expanding population of the human side of the Federation.

Those humans… they really bred and multiplied very quickly…

And now the Insectoid Empire had unexpectedly attacked.

Since the Gamoran Sector was such a low value region of space… its defenses were naturally weaker.

It really was the perfect target for the insectoids to make their move and the timing as well could not have been better.

The bulk of the Imperial Army troops were located along the other borders of the Federation and the excess forces were currently waging war in the Unovan Syndicate.

The war in the Unovan Syndicate was proceeding much faster than anyone had initially expected after the government had collapsed.

Would the higher ups of the Imperial Army call back their troops from a successful campaign to save a sparely populated region of space?

Principal Malik doubted it. That is why this sudden expedition to repel the invading Insectoid forces was so surprising.

And the man leading the campaign…

"Grand Admiral Cooper," Principal Malik muttered quietly in a tone as if he was speaking a curse rather than a name.

There was no honour in slaughtering the innocent and that madman would burn down an entire city in order to kill a handful of rebels.

Still if the higher ups of the army were willing to send him then that meant that this campaign had a decent chance of succeeding.

Principal Malik hesitated for a moment and then sent out a message to his vice principal giving him permission to share the mission on the campus forums.

He still needed to have a chat with the grand admiral but according to the information there shouldn't be any additional danger or threats.

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(Two days later...)

(Main Campus - Cafeteria)

"Did you sign up? I saw the mission details on the forums but I'm not really so sure if I want to go…"

"Hell, yeah, I did! Alice did you not see the rewards? Military merit, bonus ranking points, credits and even the chance to learn rare cultivation techniques"

"Oh please… we all know that the elite students are going to be the ones to win all of the rewards… why risk your life for nothing?"

"Actually, I heard that several of the top students aren't participating! Including Sophie Peterlor…"

Two attractive young students casually made conversation in the middle of the cafeteria as they looked around for an empty table.

Sophie was in the corner of the room sipping on a cup full of hot chocolate and casually listening in on their conversation.

The news about the mission had spread around the campus and it seemed that it was all that anyone talked about.

Part of the conversation involved the fact that only Qiana had volunteered to go among the students who were in the top ten of the battle ranking for second years.

Astrid had additional training with Archmage Hollystorm, Cleo wasn't interested, and Sophie planned to fulfil the hunter goddess' request this weekend.

As for the rest of the elite class students, outside of the ten top nearly everyone had signed up for a chance at the generous rewards.

Military merit was something to be desired even if you came from a noble background since it increased your starting rank in the army.

Sophie took another sip from her cup and felt a sweet rich taste fill her mouth. Today was Thursday which meant that her mission was only two days away.

Honestly… she felt a bit nervous.

And how could she not?!

Every time the hunter goddess gave her a mission it usually involved throwing her in a life-threatening situation against an opponent much stronger than herself.

Hopefully this task would allow her to finally breach the barrier to the void stage.

If she did accomplish this goal, then she would match her father's record since he became a void stage cultivator at her age.

Sophie finished her cup of hot chocolate and walked over to the bin to throw it away in the recyclable section.

The hybrid girl yawned sleepily and then proceed to walk out of the cafeteria paying no mind to the curious glances thrown in her direction.

Classes were done for the day and truthfully Sophie was feeling a bit tired from studying in the library, so she planned to just go home and take an early rest.

Cleo would be home later in the evening so they could spend the rest of the night watching cheesy romantic dramas on the virtual Net.

The writing in the dramas wasn't all that great but that didn't really lessen the enjoyment of watching bad characters make terrible decisions.

"Hey Sophie!" an excited voice called out.

Sophie glanced in the direction of the sound and saw a pretty Servie girl zip over to her location while furiously flapping her translucent wings.

"Hi Celestia… how are you doing?" Sophie replied with a small smile.

The Servie girl from her poison cultivation class landed on her shoulder and grabbed one of her hairs in order to steady her small body.

"Oh great! So, tell me… what's the reason you aren't going on the campaign?" Celestia asked as her eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"Why? Did someone offer to pay you for that information?" Sophie teased as she continued walking in the direction of the student housing block.

"What! No way! Well… maybe…" Celestia sheepishly replied as she hid her tiny wrist communicator behind her body.

"Alright… just make sure that you split the profit… basically the reason is because I already took a mission from the Black Rose Hunter Guild," Sophie calmly responded.

"That's it?" Celestia exclaimed in an almost angry tone.

"How boring!"

Sophie laughed and chatted with her friend for a few more minutes.

Celestia was definitely a unique character but maybe that was to be expected of the only Servie student in the entire poison cultivation course.

Most Servies specialised in magic or even assassination because their tiny bodies were the perfect size for infiltration missions.

It was extremely rare for one to want to become a poison cultivator.