Michelle looked back at him, a glint of adventurousness in her eyes, "Yes! Let's do that! I always dreamed about traveling around the stars! The VR is nice…. but I always know at the back of my head that I'm just lying in my room. It's frustrating after some time! But we should really save up some money first, I have already looked several times and everyone online says it's super expansive to space travel."

"How much are we talking about exactly? I just came up with the idea, so I have no clue what to expect honestly. I would just have packed my bags and booked a ride." asked Alex flustered thinking it wouldn't be too costly as he always could live luxuriously on earth.

That was only natural as most humans only had to work to have some extra cash. AIs took over the majority of industries and therefore governments were required to pay citizens universal base income. On planet earth, at least, no human had to worry about not having enough food or no roof over their head.

Other races instead had to immigrate and get citizenship, otherwise they would pay triple the prize earthlings had to, on any goods they purchased, sometimes even more. This was the case in every civilization though, citizens could enjoy life while tourists had to cough up cash, making space travel one of the privileges only the rich and powerful could enjoy excessively.

"I swear, without me you would have probably already quit your job and gone off to who knows where!" chided his girlfriend, "We will have to organize this trip at least somewhat and I bet not everyone will be able to afford it either sadly. Although, if we depart in a year maybe some more can join."

"Perfect! Then it's decided, I'm gonna call our mates the next day. Maybe we should get going too? I can see some sun rays on the horizon already." laughed Alex, while ignoring Michelle's first remark.

The young Italian woman rolled her eyes but hid a smirk and lay down on Alex's bare chest again, "No, let's wait until the clouds turn purple and the birds begin to chirp. That's my favorite time of the day. We should definitely put on some clothes before that though!"

The lewd, outdoor-loving couple stayed like that for the next few hours, smoking a blunt from time to time, until they became drowsy and people started to flock the streets. Making them leave their love nest for the night, hidden behind a treeline right next to a small stream with clear, refreshing water.

They lived in a cozy 180m2 apartment located in the small, good area of a rather run run down district, called Meidling. It had everything both of them needed, an over-sized bedroom, a large living room, a work space, baths with Jacuzzi, a nice, comfortable kitchen, which also served as the dining place, a small dojo and a rather spacious room for growing some weed, LSD, MDMA and cocaine. They squandered their money quite regularly as the two never really learned how to handle their finances properly.

You could find a large 65 inch, high-definition, holographic television in each of their rooms, except the toilet and greenhouse, as the couple liked to call the grow room. The bedroom had a wardrobe closet with separate bathroom, where Alex kept his assortment of sneakers and Michelle her various dresses and heels. The working space for both of them was rather enormous but looked rather untouched compared to the rest of the flat, even though the equipment was high end and at the newest, available technological standard. They just worked enough to finance their excesses and pleasures after all.

The living room looked homey and comfy, on the walls pictures of their friends, family, Vizbourne and various vacation could be found. Some fliers from club events they visited were pinned up here and there too. Their games, books or souvenirs were neatly arranged on the wooden cupboards giving the room a rustic and welcoming vibe. Through the advancements of tech and the discovery of magic keeping a home clean wasn't an arduous task anymore, so not a spot of trash or a speck of dust could be found around the flat, which one would think would be natural in the apartment of two love struck youths too uncaring for the hard reality of life. Not to mention the weekly, if not daily, parties they hosted.

After a refreshing, good-night's sleep they called their families and informed them about their plans. Although Alex wasn't on the best terms with his parents he also informed his mother, to not let her worry too much, after all she gave him multiple heartfelt apologies over the years and he couldn't be that mad at her forever. Both families were hesitant about letting their children travel alone through space, alas, they could not do much, but remembering that such an experience could help them find a path for themselves they reluctantly agreed.

Michelle began researching the perfect space trip for a time span of one to two years while Alexander dialed through his friends list, asking if any of them wanted to come with, even his old ones from Vizbourne flashed trough his mind but he didn't muster up the courage to call. Most agreed even knowing that it would cost quite a lot. Soon the group reached a size of twenty, all adolescent humans, who were lost in life.

The days went by and Michelle and Alex were finishing their financial plans for the coming year. The adolescent couple finally found a small spark of ambition inside of them, albeit only for a vacation it was a start, so they put most of their new found energy into crafting various apparatuses and potions.

Alex, as a Tech Force Smith, started developing games and programming hacks. Most of his work process focused more on the technological aspect rather than weaving but hacking programs that could interfere with UCs or universe wide tech had to have weaves incorporated, otherwise it wouldn't even be able to scratch the firewalls of those systems. But with his mind affinity at 100% he could just formulate blueprints in his mind while using telekinesis to assemble a device. Reducing the required amount of work to a bare minimum.

Michelle, however, was a Force Alchemist, specializing in universal chanting and medical narcotics. One might assume the reason behind wanting to become a Force Chemist would be her addiction to the high, but that person would be mistaken. The young woman aspired to be a Force Doctor and started with learning about chemicals, resulting in her now being able to produce all kind of intoxicating substances for her and her boyfriend.

On the other hand her universal chanting specialization was a course Michelle picked when she first developed a crush on Alex and wanted to help him with his studies.

Naturally she was also capable of producing medicines or drugs needed in hospitals. Furthermore with Alex as her boyfriend she of course received his Force circulation method and developed mind affinity as well, albeit it hadn't reached 100% yet. Therefore, she also could increase her production rate, however, Alchemists had the problem that each concoction needed time for synthesis and the regular chanting. In comparison to weavers, chanters couldn't finish their Force Arts at once but had to enhance the drugs effectiveness over time.

Nonetheless, both finally started to work again, with a passion they had lost in the last years. They started to reduce their time spent on parties, although they still got high or drunk quite often, slowly accumulating a sizable amount of cash.

While the months went by in this fashion first Michelle and then Alex started to work out again, training and sparring with Force too, in their dojo, which had never been used before.

No one liked to go on vacation while looking sloppy after all and both knew that a space journey wasn't without dangers. There were thieves, pirates, killers, savages and even slavers roaming around the universe. Even tourist ships were being targeted as they could sell everyone on board, hoping for the tiny chance that a big fish got caught in their net.

Furthermore, large, secure companies were so expansive they could forget to travel on board their ships, defended by a small armada of trained mercenaries. They could only look for either a mercenary group of their own, that was leaving earth to a favorable space station or planet, or travel with, at best, lower-mid level companies, an expanse that would leave them penniless within a couple of months already.

Low level travel agencies were even worse and the chance of an attack happening on them was rather high. Nothing that the lovers thought desirable, so they decided to leave the transportation method as the last item on their to-do list and only make a decision after talking all available options through with their friends.