Hao Ren's words stunned everyone in the hall, and even the usually more open-minded Lily did not think that the meeting would end up in Hao Ren finding the Orb of the Holy Synod as well. Becky was even more perplexed that she blurted out the question. "What orb?"
"Did you get addled from the time you have spent on Earth?" Hao Ren laughed out loud. "I'm of course referring to the Orb of the Holy Synod from The Plane of Dreams. You dreamt of finding it to afford a mansion in the inner city. I found it already. It's in the Kerbalian home planet. Even the four asectics are alive."
Becky only then managed to process everything and after a surprised yelp she darted like a whirlwind towards Hao Ren. "The Oooooooorb of the Holy Synod?! What about it?!"
Hao Ren told everyone what happened in the meeting and the reason why the Orb may have landed in the Kerbal's planet. But all present were not concerned with the actual location of the Orb, they were more interested in what it looks like. Becky smacked her forehead as glee appeared on her face. "EH... that does it. If I bring the Orb back I will probably be knighted, if I'm lucky I'll be made a noble... and a mansion EHEHE...HEHEHEE...."
Hao Ren looked on as Becky descended into pits of avarice and decided to pop her bubble. "Well... you having titles and a mansion means nothing you know, you'll probably only spend ten days there a year."
It took a while for Becky to break out of her stupor and her initial glee turned into hatred as she grabbed him by the arm. "I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY WANT TO KILL YOU..."
Cold sweat started forming on Hao Ren's forehead as he quickly calmed Becky down. At least Becky had not drawn her sword yet. But come to think of it, the mercenary lass was rather unlucky. She had no other hobbies other than her greed for wealth and fame. Even her search for the Orb of the Holy Synod was driven by that. Now that the Orb has been found, she don't even have time to go home to enjoy her fame.... and to be frank, the worst that could happen is that she would get a knighthood or a nobility title... a posthumous one.
"All in all, lets get the Orb back." Hao Ren said as Becky had calmed down in his attempt to divert her attention. "And those four high monks"
The ascetics from The Plane of Dreams were not the typical monks that Hao Ren pictured. They are church knights that swore the oath of righteousness and poverty and are much akin to a battle cleric. But Hao Ren had let his imagination run wild and called them 'high monks'. Becky was too caught up in her despair of the posthumous nobility title to correct Hao Ren.
After confirming Becky's participation to the Kerbal's home planet Hao Ren asked if others were keen to join. Bereft of anything to do, the whole house joined in on the trip in a hurrah. Of course, Y'zaks, being the mature one, simply just nodded. But the great demon with a mind so vast and knowledge so wide was interested in aliens. He ruffled his shiny bald head as he laughed. "I think I might have a common topic with them. If only the fools back home invested half the energy they had like the 'little green man' in exploration, they would have conquered the stars."
So this trip to the Kabala Commonwealth was a risk-free official holi...assignment, and bringing the whole lot along wasn't a problem, thus Hao Ren had agreed to it. He even took the chance while having lunch to explain the culture of the Kerbals to the rest, especially the 'may you die far away whence you came from' part. Even the well travelled Vivian was aghast by such a cultural difference. Only Y'zaks was laughing. "Cultural differences can be such a thing. Over at my old place many would call them self XXX of True Evil and the three words carries a very proud meaning to it as it will bring fear to humans. Of course, I'm not interested in that shtick."
So at 8 in the morning, Hao Ren and the group prepared depart for Kuiper Station. Especially Lily, the werehusky was all dressed up for a road trip. To be fair, it was a holiday for her. Vivian too had changed into her best dress (the one Hao Ren bought for her and she had treated it like treasure). Seeing how excited Lily was Vivian couldn't help but snorted. "Are you that excited after your tail had recovered?"
Lily wagged her tail as she sneered back. "Of course! Grow one then if you can!"
Vivian then deployed her wings. "Well, fly if you can then."
"...." Hao Ren was speechless. This two never changed. Things had only calmed down for a few days and they just had pick a fight on the oddest of topics. Well... may be this is a sign that they are getting along?
As they were heading to an alien planet, and given that the Kuiper Station isn't Earth's domain, none of them bothered to hide their identities. Lily's tail was wagging excitedly and Vivian's eyes were crimson red. Even Becky had dressed up in her mercenary gear in expectation to meet the ascetics. Only Wuyue and Y'zaks had maintained their human form. The two were just too large in their original form and they cannot fit into the teleportation gate. Wuyue had both a serpentine form and a mermaid form, but her ability to flop around on the ground was worse than Lil Pea's...
Speaking of Lil Pea, Hao Ren couldn't help but look at the little mermaid who was clinging on to his sleeve. The little one was comfortably resting on his arm. She looked up towards her 'father' and let out a happy gurgle while tapping her tail to greet him. And to also state her determination to not being left behind.
Well, it wasn't somewhere dangerous so Hao Ren had decided to bring her along.
The only missing person was Hesperides. The 'Evening Goddess' realised that the group of oddballs were on a mission to do something special and confidential and had the good sense to bid her farewells. She had fully recovered and with the current state of Athens, the city would need the guiding hands of the Ancients and Vivian did not insist on her staying.
But Hao Ren knew that as he gets further embroiled in the neverending war between the demon hunters and the supernaturals. The chances of him meeting with Hesperides, Hessiana and the other supernatural friends would be common place.
After sending Hesperides off, the group happily set off for Kuiper station. As the teleportation device at home had limited space, they had to go in two batches. Even Lulu was surprised when she saw the big entourage that Hao Ren brought with him... Guess the guide had never seen such a rowdy group before...
Kabala led a small group of Kerbals in the station and as they were here for the missing spacecraft, they would be staying at the space station until the matter is settled. And with the Kerbal's special administrative structure and their free-spirited nature. Kabala's 'President of the Kerbal Commonwealth' title is not something that binds him to a desk and his absence would not affect the Commonwealth's administration. Strictly speaking though, the most important and prestigius post in the Cmmonwealth is the Minister of Space Exploration, and Kabala had relinquished that position many years ago at his wife's insistence.
The Kabala Commonwealth is a highly autonomous confederation of stars and the actual landing point of the Sacred Word was not in the main planet of the Commonwealth, rather a colony planet. Thus all Hao Ren needed to do was to look for the planet's governor. After exchanging greetings with Kabala, Hao Ren was introduced to the governor of the planet, and the Kerbalian that told Hao Ren about the Orb, named Tamula.
Hao Ren figured that the Kerbal names probably bears no meaning as they look almost alike, aside from their big head and green skin they lacked any features that is distinguishable from one another like humans. Hao Ren had to use other ways to remember some of the Kerbal's names. Like Kabala, whose skin had a shade of yellow, and that was the only distinguishable feature the Kerbal had from the rest.
He too wasn't sure if the Kerbals could tell humans apart. Well.. that's a question for another time.
At the very least the group that Hao Ren brought with him was such a colourful bunch you could tell them by just their silhouette!
To save time, Hao Ren had declined Tamula's offer to board his spacecraft. He instead led Tamula and the rest of crew on the Petrachelys. The Imperial frigate's speed would leave most common spacecraft in the dust, especially after removing the limiters on the main engine and entering a full speed warp jump. The speed of travel could not be described by 'speed' any more and becomes an all new mathematical process.
Creating a whole new spatial calculus and the ability to reach any part of the universe in a blink of an eye... and the matter of the Orb of the Holy Synod was something Hao Ren took seriously and the ship went full speed ahead.
It didn't take long for the Petrachelys to reach the destination, a star system two million light years away from the Milky Way.
The Kerbal Civilisation Sphere, the only galactic power in the system.
On the bridge, Tumala eagerly introduced everyone onboard of the star system. "I'm proud to present you our homeland, the Kerbal Stars. Our explorers have died all across this system, and this is our glorious home....
All present really felt the cultural difference was really something to behold...