Starbound: A Space Odyssey

The universe that was known was divided in 6 sectors, each controlled by a unified government by one of the 6 main races that were granted an Artefact by the cultivator.

Sector Alpha was mainly populated by Florans and thus it became the Greenfinger's Council's territory.

Sector Beta was mainly populated by Humans and thus it became the UEG and Terrene Protectorate's territory.

Sector Gamma was mainly populated by Hylotls and thus it became the UHG (Universal Hylotl Government) and Letheia Corporation's territory.

Sector Delta was mainly populated by Avians and thus became the Holy Kluex Church's territory.

Sector Psi was mainly populated by Apexes and thus became the Miniknog's, Big Ape, territory.

Sector Omega was mainly populated by Glitches and thus became the Privy's Council's territory.

But the universe wasn't something that ended within the six sectors, it exist infinite galaxies and planets beyond these sectors.

Beyond the Center of the Universe, aka the six sectors, lies what was called by the people the New Frontier.

Travelling into the New Frontier was an extremely dangerous endeavor.

Because of high number of Spatial Distortions, and mysterious reasons, the use of FTL Warp Jump was naturally jammed around those places.

There was also unpredictable meteor belts that come and go in random intervals. The New Frontier is a crazy place that few dared to explore.

The job of exploration usually fell on Protector's shoulders.

Letheia Corporation payed a lot to the Elder Council inside the Terrene Protectorate to constantly send Protectors deeper and deeper into the New Frontier, searching for Vaults and other things that might interest them.

The number of Protectors that died out there was uncountable...

....

Sector Alpha, Gaia galaxy, Bellatorsilva forest planet, near Ceremonial Hunting Caverns...

Sound of fighting could be heard coming from the back of a large, beautiful mansion made primarily of wood and sturdy-looking flowers.

In that spacious backyard, two blurs, one green and the other blue, were constantly clashing against each other.

Using only their fists, they fought savagely, without rules, using everything on their disposability to defeat the other person.

*Bam*

Ultimately, the green person prevailed as it delivered a devastating blow right at the blue person's chest.

The blue person recovered his balance and stopped flying backward by the green one's blow.

"Not enough, John." The green figure approached the blue figure and extended it hand, "You think too much when fighting. Don't relay on your powers, some day you might have to fight without them."

"Alright, alright. I'm trying don't you see?" John shook his head, making the few blades of grass on his black hair fall back on the ground, "Can't you take a little easier with me, Peri?"

"No. You almost died in the Great Hunt because you weren't strong enough." Peri instantly rejected John's proposal, "You have almost made complete recovery after three days, but I won't let you leave this planet before you are able to at least land a few direct hits on me."

"Argh..." John groaned as he felt his whole body in pain after being fighting with Peri for almost 2 hours without resting.

In fact, it wasn't fighting, it was a one-sided beating. John barely could almost land a few hits of Peri, while she completely defeat him everytime.

If he used his power, Bullet Time, he might be able to win, but this was a training session for John to learn how to properly fight without using powers.

Or as Peri say, he should learn to trust his instincts, he should hone them. He always think of the next move and how to respond, which led to him making moves slowly.

Peri always fight almost completely based on her instincts. She defeated John without major effort everytime.

He entered in position and charged once again towards Peri, this time he was going to try something different.

*Bam*

Without surprise, John was soon on the ground once again.

Peri lightly chuckled as she walked by John and helped him stand up again.

"It's difficult..." John said under his rushed breath.

"Getting stronger is a difficult and painful process. It took more than 16 years of intense fighting and training for me to get this strong." Peri comforted him by patting his shoulder, "Let's go. Take your time to rest, you haven't recovered completely yet."

John smiled bitterly and glanced at the back of his right hand.

He would never forget that unbearable burning pain he felt that day.

A few days ago, just when he fainted because of the pain, it was Nuru that brought him back to surface while caring him in her back despite her own grievous injuries.

She found Akna and Peri waiting by the exit and delivered him to them. They swiftly brought him to a Greenfinger alchemist to have a look at John that was burning in fever and having constant seizures.

His whole body was already covered in wounds, and plus the mysterious fever and seizure, the Greenfinger was left lost at what to do. He just gave some medicines to relieve the pain and fever, nothing else be done with his rudimentary medical skills.

Peri thought of using the medical pods in John's ship, but she didn't know what to do, and how it works.

Right before she decided to try it out, John started to get better as the fever got lower and lower, until it disappeared as soon as appeared one day later.

Peri and Akna could finally sigh in relief as he recovered in a speed that stunned them.

In less than two days, John was finally able to wake up, despite his body not completely recovered.

The instant he woke up he looked at his right hand to see if something changed, but there was nothing there.

Even though he was clear that something changed inside him, he wasn't sure what changed and decide to run full check-ups in his ship, and also training with Peri.

The only notable difference was that he got stronger, sturdier and resistant.

Which was good, but still made John worried since he didn't know from where such improvement came from. It was impossible for him to improve so much in a short amount of time.

Even after searching for a long time he still found nothing, and decided to ignore this for now to wait until he was fully recovered before going to search a Ancient Gateway and go back to the Ark Outpost.

He won the Great Hunt, and thus had the Floran Artefact in his hands. He wanted to give to Esther, but it doesn't matter how many times John called her in the past few days, she never answered.

So, he decided to go to the Ark Outpost to search for her and deliver the Artefact.

As for finding out what was happening to his body, this could wait.

John stared at his right hand while a frown formed in his face.

Unknown to him, Peri that was by his side also was casting a long glance at his hand while her black eyes gleamed with a mysterious light.

She unconsciously lowered her left hand and slowly caressed her own right hand that had started to shine with a barely visible blue light.