"Girls! Girls! Do you see all this cool stuff?" Astrid exclaimed joyfully before running towards the entrance of the entertainment center.
"Please just put me down first you damn mutt," Qiana's weak voice quietly murmured.
It was a strange collection of people that the other students passing by could not help but give a few curious glances.
A Mendolesa warrior was carrying a black-haired girl on her back while eagerly looking at the colourful displays in her surroundings.
Two girls trailed closely behind with indulgent grins on their faces while chatting merrily to one another.
One of the two girls did appear to be normal looking but the other was clearly a hybrid with four extra appendages jutting out of her back.
It had been a few weeks since Sophie had boarded the transport vehicle and she had settled into a regular routine with the other girls.
Training and cultivating constantly throughout the day and night with a regular evening spar between Astrid, Rachel, and herself.
Qiana did not join any of the sessions but did decide to visit a few times to spectate.
Sophie had learnt a bit more about each girl's personality and had naturally gotten closer to each of them.
Astrid was extremely friendly and it was even to the extent of being a tad clingy towards Sophie and the other girls.
She was fiercely overprotective of her pack and any snide comments made by other students towards Sophie was met by a swift growl of warning.
Sometimes it even led to a 'friendly' sparring session that usually ended with those unfortunate kids in the ship's hospital ward.
Despite regularly sparring with Astrid, Sophie was unable to defeat her even once as she would always be above her by at least thirty points.
Not even teaming with Rachel to target her together was able to close this gap.
There was only one word to describe her combat skills...monstrous.
Rachel on the other hand was a heavy sleeper and was quite short tempered when woken up early in the morning.
She enjoyed playing pranks by shifting her appearance to new characters and trying to scare her poor roommates.
Quafes chose new human appearances the same way humans would select clothes to wear on different occasions.
The only special note was that she did not transform into any male figures as that would go against the rules of the dorms.
The last roommate was Qiana who Sophie was not very close to and was uncertain of her actual personality traits.
She was a quiet girl who kept to herself and would only engage in social interactions when dragged into it by an enthusiastic Astrid.
It was not all training as the girls would usually take the Saturdays off to explore the different facilitates onboard the ship.
Today they would be visiting the arcade to relax and play a few games together. Astrid was the one who suggested the idea and Sophie found herself unable to resist those puppy eyes.
Qiana was not willing to go but Astrid ignored all the protesting and just lifted her on her back.
Sophie and the rest entered the arcade and were immediately greeted by a cacophony of sounds and holographic screens.
It was a very popular spot among the students, so the place was already packed to the brim, but the large figures of Astrid and Sophie soon cleared a path.
"Should we check out the retro section?" Rachel asked.
The gang headed to a less populated area with dozens of physical machines with various games, prizes as well as a ping pong table in the middle.
Qiana got down from Astrid's back with a huff and headed towards a claw machine to win herself a stuffed toy.
Astrid rubbed Rachel's hair with her claws sheathed and ran off to an unknown location to play with who knows what.
Sophie and Rachel picked up two rackets and started an intense game of ping pong with bets getting increasingly larger and larger.
"If I win you owe me ten Enas."
"Too low, you need to make it one thousand Enas."
"I'll have you know as the daughter of a duke…. I can up the bet as well!"
It was all in good fun and both girls casually knocked the ball back and forth while secretly circulating their qi to enhance their reflexes.
Loud music blared out of a speaker overhead and Sophie heard a song by an AI band called Nexus Wave.
'There is a guardian fire in soul…'
'Love lost as the heartbeats unfurled…'
'I fight with blood iron and steel…'
'Military life is for me….'
'Spitting flames and shooting shots…'
'Wooooooohoooo!'
"God that song was horrible," Sophie furrowed her brows and was not impressed.
Entertainment such as music and film were not valued highly in the Earth Federation as strength was the main measure of attractiveness.
Looks did not matter as the genetic enhancement of the population produced many beautiful women and handsome males.
New songs were rarely sung by actual people and were instead created by record companies and performed by AI bands.
Rachel took the opportunity when Sophie was distracted to land the decisive point and punched the air with excitement as she won.
Sophie was struck with a sense of sorrow as one thousand Enas disappeared just like that.
"Check that girl out!"
"Jesus look at her go!"
Sophie gazed in the direction of the yells and pulled Rachel along to see what the excitement was about.
Hopefully, she would get distracted and forget about the bet.
"Is that?" Rachel asked in shock.
A large crowd had formed around a dance game where one girl was tearing up the dance floor with impressive moves and flexibility.
Her waist swayed gently to the rhythm of the music and some of the observers could not help but think that a goddess had appeared before them.
If only the goddess wasn't a seven-foot-tall wolf beast…
"Sophie! Rachel! Come here!" Astrid saw her two friends out of the corner of her eyes and dragged both of them to the dance floor amidst the cheers from the crowd.
Rachel glanced at the dance moves on the screen and did her best to mimic Astrid's movements while giving out charming smiles at some pretty girls and boys in the crowd.
Sophie's dancing…. well….
She was just happy to be having fun with her friends.
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