Phantom seemed to have calmed himself, though whether it was due to the drink or because of some other factor Alan wasn’t quite certain. Phantom had stopped glancing over and hitting keys on the screen in front of him a short while ago.

“A million guild points? That’s 10 million credits, right?” Alan questioned.

“Yes. The education and opportunities being a graduate of the Academy presents are worth far more than that. Doing the missions I’ve outlined you should be able to pay us back in a few years, assuming you’re at least mediocre.”

“Um, I’m not sure I have a few years. Right now, I need to pay off another debt and help Earth.”

“Oh, well, I'm sure we can add another million credits or so to the loan. Also you’re mainly going to be working around and on Earth. Tell me, how much do you know about your planet’s current situation?”

“Um, not much,” Alan said sheepishly.

“Well, this should help.” Phantom brought up a 3D star map of thousands of galaxies, and highlighted the solar system Earth was in, a tiny blip in space. “Here is what you call the Virgo Cluster. And here are the various powers within said Virgo Cluster.” The map was suddenly highlighted three different colors, red, blue and green. Earth was barely at the outside edge of the blue space, near where the red, blue and green sections of space intersected.

“The blue space represents the space the Haxlards control, while the red represents the Empire, and finally the green represents free space, the space around Khersath, which is generally controlled by guild alliances. Frankly, Earth is in a prime location for a staging point for anyone wishing to attempt to attack or defend against any of the other three forces! This is the reason why the Haxlards tried so long to stop Earth from entering the Game, and are now so keen on having Earth governments as an ally.”

“Staging point?” Alan asked questioningly, wishing he had Eve to help explain some of this to him. He was also feeling a bit nervous about Phantom. Something about the whole situation put him a bit on edge. Not having Eve around made him feel oddly naked, revealing just how much he relied on her guidance.

“Hmm? Oh, yes, I suppose you don’t yet know much about warfare in the Game. Well, suffice it to say that like in most wars, supplies and travel routes are of the utmost importance. Having a fortified refueling and respawn point right at the edge of enemy territory is as good as say, an entire fleet of capital ships. Thus, the guild alliances, or at least the Mercenary Bloc, of which the Black Rose Guild is a part of, desire for Earth to be either under their control or at the very least neutral in any conflicts to come.

"Honestly, being neutral in the face of any future conflict, charging everyone else, is probably the best outcome for the planet’s future. Now, even though no one is able to openly act for another three years or so, there are already plans in motion with humans from Earth acting as intermediaries, pawns for these various factions. Our hope is that Earth remains free, and any missions you perform for the guild will be with this goal in mind, which I’m sure you find acceptable.”