To the Galactinet

The first thing Lucas wanted to do was build the [Galactinet Café]. He spent another 5,000 credits to build it! It was just as expensive as his own [Sanctuary] for the same size!

Although when he entered the room he was disappointed. 

It was bare white tiles and nothing more then a large bed like pod in the center of the room. He would be able to lay in the pod and he guessed browse the Galactinet? He wasn't quiet sure what he was doing. This was all new to him and he was guessing as he went. 

Making his way to the bed pod Lucas was slightly confused. How was this supposed to work? He climbed into the bed and the pod closed behind him. He made himself comfortable as a VR like head set came out from the side pocket. He quickly put it on with a smile. "This will be interesting if the the internet is just a large VR simulator!"

He was right. As soon as he put the headset on he saw a new screen pop up. 

[Initializing Galactinet connection. Please wait] 

He saw a loading bar underneath. That read [4 hours till connection. Please create your Avatar] He thanked the gods he didn't have to wait for the 4 hours doing nothing. 

The Avatar creation menu was very straight forward and gave great explanations for how to edit. Much better then the Villain System he thought. He could change the race, body size, and appearance of the Avatar. He could even change if he was organic or inorganic! He could not only look like an alien, but also look like a robotic version of that alien!

This is where something in his head clicked! He knew what Type of Super Villain he wanted to be. But first he had an important question for his system.

"System. Can anyone track me down when I use the Galactinet from here?"

[No. The Villain lair has anti-tracking protection against all, but the High-Rank 8 cultivators. Please upgrade the System to gain greater protections]

Lucas smiled and nodded. That was what he wanted to hear! His plan involved creating a Super Villain Persona. Mainly if he ever needed to fake his death or pin the blame for anything onto someone else. This way he could keep his life and his Super Villain life separate. And since he can not be tracked he can use his Super Villain persona on the Galactinet! He wanted his persona to be someone how is threatened by anything. Someone who knew they were powerful and would take on the entire universe! 

He also gained an idea on his suit!

Jumping back into the Avatar editor he decided to make something completely new. First he changed the height of his Avatar to 8ft tall. He wanted to be towering over others and as imposing without being ridiculously tall. He gave it broad shoulders and changed it from organic to inorganic. He made sure the Avatar looked like a futuristic version of a suit of armor. He made it black and grey with streaks of gold light along the joints. He wanted to look like he was an elemental or energy like being in the armor.

He gave his Avatar clothes as well. He gave it a set of silk robes. He made a white and gold cloth draped over it. He looked noble, but also powerful and threatening. He sat in satisfaction of his newly created Avatar. Although the only thing that stumped him was how would his...wait. He didn't have a name! That was the most important part!

He went deep into his mind to think of a name. Odon, Chax, Abigor, Kulx. Dozens of names went through his brain. Nothing seemed right. But the loner he traveled the name tunnel in his head the closer to the light he saw. He spent over 20 minutes in his head with his eyes closed as he got closer to the perfect name. He thought of the ancient Sumerian stories and picked a name.

Kur! The first dragon. 

But what would his title be? 

Kur the Mastermind!

It was simple cool and a little nod to the class he was. He liked it. Although jumping back to his other issue. What weapon would Kur use? Since he allows others to fight and uses machines or science. Would Kur use gadgets like a certain caped crusader or would he use science to manipulate the battle field? 

He had his answer. Kur was a controller. He not only had minions, but everywhere he went went he was always in control. Whether it was cornered by police or gamble went south. Kur always had the upper hand. Everything always went to plan. Even if his enemies led him to a trap. 

He wasn't quiet sure what weapons Kur would use, so he didn't make anything of the sort. He was happy with his Villain persona and the image. Thankfully time flew by as he designed his Avatar as the connection finished. All he had left was entering his name. 

[Kur the Mastermind]

He was happy no one took the name and entered the Galactinet. He felt his vision change as from a virtual first person view to a real first person view. He could move his hands and see his Avatars hands. He had fully taken the form of his Avatar seamlessly. It was surreal. Going from 6ft height to 8ft in an instant. He was more surprised he didn't have an issue walking! With a large center of gravity change he had no issues. It was like his Avatar has always been a part of him. 

He looked around and was surprised by how the Galactinet was built. It was like he was in a city. Hundreds of thousands of people walking around. Everyone looked different. Humans, aliens and everything existed in this virtual world. He could see everyone's name floating above their heads. It reminded him of being in a Hub section of an MMO. 

Each building had different logos of stores or locations he could visit. He began walking around and spotted many shops that could be useful. Shops selling mechanical blueprints, others teaching the basics of cultivation and a few looked a little shadier, but obviously had some hidden tool behind it stopping people from entering. 

The first place he looked for was an informational booth. It was staffed by a robot in a butlers uniform. It wasn't living, but clearly ran by an AI that could talk to many people at once. He chuckled at the name above the butlers head, Boogle. 

"Excuse me Boogle. Can you help me find some information" Kur asked the robot. His voice was synthesized, but dark and collective. 

"Sure thing! What would you like to know?"

Kur entered the coordinates of where his Lair was. He wasn't nervous about putting this in as he knew his information couldn't be tracked. 

"Ah! This is the Empty Belt. It is a section of dead space between 7 different star systems in the Coalition of System space. The 7 star systems are the Gotrix system, Protho System, Halkwn system, Anjix System, Kamois System, Trovos System and the Kakal system. Each are major trading hubs to the rest of the universe. Many consider these 7 to be the main heart of the Coalition of Systems. Which only has 100 star systems under its control."

"Interesting. How many planets does a system need to be classified as such?"

"A system requires to hold any where between 8 to 12 planets to be classified as a System."

"Boogle can you send me all the basic information of each system? The System mayors, and other big names in the news involving the system?"

"Certainly." 

Kur quickly gained all the relevant information about each system. He was secretly relived he was near the Halkwn system where the black market was. Once he got all the information he needed he placed it in this system to read through later. He had other things to do and worry about. 

"Boogle please describe the basics to cultivation for me please."

"Certainly! Cultivation is a form of training ones body and the energies of the universe. Only biological creatures can cultivate. Even if a machine gains sentience they can never cultivate. They can however augment their body with stronger material to combat high level cultivators."

"For cultivators there are 3 main paths. The Fighter/Warrior path. These cultivators focus on strengthening their and using their aura to enhance their attacks and resilience to damage. This is the easiest path to learn as one can train their body to grow stronger. To a limited degree."

"The Mage path is the second most popular path. Those of this path can use their mana to manipulate the elements of the universe to create spells and magical circles. Most spells take time to cast and leave the caster vulnerable. If a Fighter path cultivator can reach a Mage cultivator before they cast spells they tend to win the fight. But if a Mage can get off their spell they are the winners. Their destructive force is much greater then a Fighter cultivator of the same rank."

"The last path is the Hybrid Path. This is the hardest path to master. They must learn to not only turn their mana and aura into pure energy, but also learn spells and train physically. Those that attempt this cultivation path tend to fail and die. But those that master it easily become top of their rank and rarely beat those of higher rank!"

Kur was happy that Boogle gave him the answers he wanted, but he felt something was off. This universe was this advance, well certain parts of it were, and these were the only 3 cultivation paths. That was seriously fishy. 

"Boogle is there any other cultivation paths? 3 sounds like it's very limited."

He watched the robot twitch before Kur found himself in an isolated area with the robot.

[System control in affect. Free range of ShadowNet active]

Kur was startled seeing his System doing anything without him asking. He smiled, or best he could being a literal suit of armor. 

[50 VP's taken for ShadowNet being activated]

There it was. He knew it was too good to be true. He lost some of his VPs, but figured it was worth it to get into the ShadowNet.

"There are many secret or illegal paths" Boogle spoke. "Blood path is by using the blood of rare or almost extinct species to progress their cultivation and gain skills or traits of their victims."

Kur listened for an hour about dozens if not hundreds of hidden Cultivation paths not known to many or anyone. Locked away never to be used. But one struck an accord with him.