The Malfae that had been following the muddy river lowered its altitude. Its face raced to meet the ground and its wide pupil-less eyes glanced at the budding saplings. And then at the fresh coat of grass before it soared once again to eye the rippling surface of the river and then at the rustling blades of fresh grass. Nothing it saw was out of the ordinary. However, after witnessing that nightmarish sight, even ordinary seemed unordinary to the [Survivor].

As it flew, it saw increasing signs of recovery as the festering wound in the flesh of the world healed after the near-constant rain for the past two months. In these months, it was not just the earth that had benefitted, but the Malfae had too. Its Skills had continued to Level up. [Sense] had reached Level 10 and [Drone Eggs] had become Level 12, while [Flight] and [Night Vision] both had reached Level 15 and hit the Skill Level Limit.

However, it hadn't been the sight of the greenery that had caused the [Hive Monarch] to change its course. Instead, it had been the feeling that it couldn't even begin to describe. It was as if the Malfae had been burdened under the weight of something but hadn’t known about it. It was akin to living deep within the oceans where the weight of water was nothing but the part of the environment.

But now, at this moment, it felt like it had swum up to the surface and then broken free to rise in the air. This feeling that the [Survivor] now experienced, it didn't just feel it one moment, instead, it had become a constant experience. The Malfae felt it in the air, in the water, in the soil and the creatures all around it. This change was not something that was about a single thing.

Instead, it pervaded everything. ‘…Eh?’ It immediately activated [Sense Essence] and the world faded away to reveal Essences. Or rather the lack of them as the haze that had been the Essence of the air, no longer existed. The Essence that had once flowed, flowed no more for they no longer existed.

On the other hand, Essences of creatures, plants and critters had once again become misty and blurred. Despite the once-again blurred forms, Essences remained much more distinct than what they had been before the Malfae had suffered through that fateful night; a consequence of the Levels gained that night. Its lips twitched to reveal its sharp teeth as a smile formed on its lips. ‘Finally!’

Indeed, the [Hive Monarch] had a reason to be happy. For it had finally left mana rich zone that it had been trapped in for more than a year. A year in which it had crawled despite possessing wings and used crutches despite possessing legs. A year in which it had witnessed not just death but also total annihilation.

But now all of that was over.

The [Survivor] laughed and flew even faster. As air swept through its hair, its pupil-less eyes widened and its massive ears twitched as they moved in joy. It laughed and twirled as it flew past not just saplings and grass but also the tall trees and thick shrubs. The greenery continued to thicken until it transformed into a dense forest.

The [Reincarnated] laughed in exuberance as it travelled. However, it did not dare to plunge into the forest head first. Instead, it flew along the outer edge of the forest as it activated [Sense] every hour to get an idea of its new home.

As the Malfae went on with its investigation, the days continued to churn and the monsoon that had been on its last leg died. And soon the dark clouds were replaced by the leaves that began to change colours. At the same time, silence began to creep upon the world like fog. And just like that, autumn arrived.

It was within this time that the Malfae noticed its lifespan and its chest ached. Its remaining lifespan amounted to less than 2 years. From the original seven years, it had lost half of it to its weakening heart and the dominating scents. While another year had been lost to the entrapment within the high mana zone. And now it had less than two years left.

Its heart pulsed and the [Survivor] shuddered as it thought about abandoning everything and starting to work on [Mana Manipulation]. Its only hope for gaining a new [Species] was its Ego form. The same Ego form that could only be obtained through [Mana Manipulation].

However, no matter how desperate it was for its evolution, its safety was paramount to it. After all, it had lost more than half its lifespan to a high mana zone, and it did not want a repeat of such an unforeseen circumstance anymore. Thus, the Malfae steeled its heart and held back.

Instead, it decided to finish the inspection of the new region that it had found itself in. The thing, that the Malfae was looking for, was not the creatures within this new region. Rather, the [Survivor] was interested in two things. The first point of interest was a home that did not have such mana zones hanging nearby. While the second was putting as much distance, as it could, between itself and the high mana zone.

Its entrapment and the forced disabling at the behest of the scents there had left a deep image within its heart. And if that had terrified the [Hive Monarch] enough, the beautiful nightmare that danced in all its naked glory had made Malfae’s very bones tingle. It was, thus, no surprise that it wanted no part of that ever again.

Hence, as the days passed, the [Reincarnated] continued to search. Meanwhile, trees became bare and earth wore a quilt of dead leaves. Cold intensified and humid air of monsoon dried out until it bit against the sharpness of the newfound autumn chill.

The temperature continued to drop patiently as if a predator stalking its prey, yet the Malfae continued to fly. However, as its search continued, the forest began to thin as thick trees turned into thin ones and old ones gave space to newer trees. Space in between them grew too and the thick canopy increasingly thinned with each passing day. Shrubs became more and more numerous until they dominated the forest floor and trees eventually became so sparse that their sighting became an oddity.

The kind of trees also changed from the ones that had lost their leaves to autumn, to the ones that had resisted to persist. The leaves of these trees swayed in the winds as if they were taunting the Autumn itself. Nonetheless, the leaves that these trees boasted of were not the small and numerous like the earlier ones. Instead, their leaves were long enough to match a mortal’s height and few enough to be counted on two hands.

During this time, the Malfae’s Skills continued to Level under constant use. As result, [Flight] and [Night Vision] both reached Level 15 and hit the Level cap, while [Sense] reached double digits at Level 10. And as Malfae was consuming its own eggs, [Drone Eggs] rose to Level 12.

The new trees became more and more common as the [Survivor] kept on flying until these trees and the shrubs became the only greenery that it saw. The trees from the forest had all but disappeared. As it noticed this change, a memory of hers emerged and its brows furrowed.

0.0

The endless expanse of the blue water stretched out into the horizon in front of the Malfea's gaze. The reflection of the azure moon rippled under the waves caused by the passing winds.

The muddy river that it had been following had reached its mouth where it encountered the sea and met its end.

This had also been the reason why the water contained within the river had been brown and murky. The river had held within it the silt, the sediments and the deposits that it had collected throughout its journey from its source. And after such a long journey, it was also no surprise that the water had lost its bone-chilling coldness, that had been contained within it at its source, resulting in a tepid and warm flow.

The Malfae sighed and flew up. It wanted to see for itself if the waterbody was indeed a sea and not some huge lake. After all, even the river that it had been following had possessed such huge width that the [Survivor] hadn’t been able to see its other shore until it flew up.

Yet, as the [Hive Monarch] continued to rise into the sky, it saw not any shore and became a witness to just the endless waters. ‘This is either a sea or an extremely huge lake.’ At that moment, a thought crossed its mind and the creature scowled for not thinking of it sooner. It flew back down and carefully took a sip of the water. It did not drink the water. ‘Ack! Salt.’ It smiled and its sharp teeth shined in the azure moonlight. With the saltwater confirmed, it was reasonably sure of the waterbody being a sea.

And if it turned out not to be, at least, it had done everything it had thought of to ensure it so. ‘Finally, it ends.’ Indeed, the [Reincranted] hadn't found any high mana zones anywhere. It had searched far and wide and it had searched for months on end. Yet, it had found nothing. Instead, it had arrived at a dead-end in the form of the sea. And at this place, not only did the ocean formed a natural boundary, but this place was also quite distant from the only high mana zone it knew of. It was thus, little surprise that the Malfae finally ended its search.

In truth, the [Hive Moncarch] had not found any mana rich zones, not because they hadn’t existed nearby, but because of the limitations that its Vessel posed to the [Survivor]. It had just lacked the capability to find them. Malfae were, after all, creatures whose length was barely more than a mortal’s finger. Thus, they could only fly so fast and so far, before they grew tired. Additionally, its mentality had been restricted by its Vessel and its instincts.

The [Hive Mind] had encountered the sea and ended its search. It hadn't even considered that oceans might have high mana zones too. After all, why would it even bother with that? Malfae was a creature that lives on land and thrived in the air. They had little to do with waterbodies as large as that.

Its ignorance did not change the fact that the seas and the oceans were, more often than not, the zones of extremely high mana as the mana stream, that had been scattered when it had hit the planet, usually began to condense once again in the oceans.

It was for this reason, that oceans were one of the restricted places where mortals rarely ever ventured.

0.0

The Malfae sat cross-legged within its new shelter.

Unfortunately for it, however, its new hideout was not as sturdy as its last one which had been a crevice within a cliff. Instead, this time it had been forced to go back to tree hollows despite being surrounded by rock all around. The rocks on the seashore, despite being numerous, had been rejected due to the tides that regularly drowned them. While the spectacle of it was a testament to the power of the moon, the [Survivor] had no intention of making its home there.

Thus, it had turned away from the sea and flew until it had found a dense copse of evergreen trees that sported the wide leaves. Within the numerous trees, the Malfae had found a suitable tree hollow and make its home. And although it was far from perfect, it would have to do as the autumn had progressed continuously while it had been searching. As a result, almost half the season had passed by and it would not be long before the [Hive Monarch] would have to hibernate.

Nudged by its instincts as it had been, the Malfae had already begun its preparations while it had been searching and had doubled the consumption of eggs, leading a gradual fattening. Though, the process was still not complete and, as of yet, the fat had just accumulated around its torso, cheeks and beneath the chin. The creature was still working hard on accumulating it in its limbs.

Though the creation of eggs almost caused its heart to hurt. As every time it used [Drone Eggs], which had reached Level 12, created 78 Eggs at the cost of 120 MP. The mere thought of it was painful for it. Still, this did not stop the [Reincarnated] from fattening itself.

Thus, with its belly flowing out of its body and into its lap, the [Survivor] sat within the tree hollow and once again began working on [Mana Manipulation] as it had devised back in the crevice. It activated [Sense Essence] and the world faded away, leaving behind the haze and the mist. Though, now that the Skill had reached Level 15, the shape those hazes took had become quite distinct.

From what the Malfae remembered from her memories, the hazy and misty forms of the Essences were quite akin to looking at the world, through a pair of glasses of the wrong prescription. The [HIve Monarch] observed this new world and it gazed until its attention finally came to stop on its own form.

The Essence of the Malfae was blue, much like its own form, and blurry. The [Reincarnated] could make out its own pupil-less eyes, high nose and the huge ears. However, it had a hard time looking at the antennas. The blurriness of the vision made it difficult to distinguish the thin appendages from the background. Same was the case with its wings. Despite being huge, they were quite thin and the [Survivor] could only make out a thin outline, not the wings themselves.

Nevertheless, while under the influence of [Sense Essence], the Malfae focused on activating [Mana Manipulation] manually. As it had a rough idea of the mana pathways within its body, with that image in its mind, the Malfae tried to superimpose it on its own blurry Essence but the creature did not succeed.

It was almost as if the Essence was resisting being moulded.

The [Hive Monarch] frowned and let the Skill dissolve as the timer was running out. Meanwhile, it contemplated for a few moments before it activated [Mana Manipulation] instead and stared at the mana pathways within. ‘Did it resist because the image I was superimposing was wrong?’ It observed the mana pathways and, without a doubt, the scene it was observing was quite different from the image it had in its mind.

But as it continued to stare at the crisscrossing mana pathways and mana within, its eyes began to twitch. With every passing moment, its eyes narrowed and its nostrils flared up. 'Deep breaths. Deep breaths. There is no point in getting angry over this. There is really no point.’ It clucked its tongue. No matter how inhuman and supernatural the [Hive Monarch] was, it couldn't memorise the position of every single pathway within the Mana System with absolute accuracy.

It was just not possible for it. It may be possible for genius beings but neither the Malfae nor she had ever boasted of possessing such intellect. Instead, she had been quite an average mortal; one that followed the crowd rather than made her own path.

The [Reincrated] dismissed the Skill and messaged its forehead. ‘There should be another way…’ It fell back and its eyes stared at the ceiling of the tree hollow but the [Survivor] saw nothing. It kept on gazing at the same spot while its mind ignored the image and worked on the obstacle that it had encountered. ‘What if I begin small?’ It instantly sat up and eyes widened at the thought. ‘No one said I had to do it all at once.’

This idea was not something innovative for mortals. The strength of the togetherness and the fragility of individuality was quite known to them. After all, it was this idea that had let them survive. The power of the fist, over the strength of a finger, was not something that a mortal would consider revolutionary. But for an immortal, this idea was quite eye-opening. This was despite the Malfae possessing her memories.

Just because Malfae possessed a mortal’s memories, did not mean it understood them or agreed with them. In fact, most of her memories were like that for the Malfae. It did not understand why her creators had hurt themselves for her. It did not understand why she had done the same later. It did not understand the concept of sacrifice. It did not understand care. It did not understand love. It did not even understand the need for creating a progeny.

After all, Immortals were not creatures that could survive along with other creatures. They were solitary beings and it was not something they could choose. It was just who they were. It was their very being. To deny this part would be akin to denying themselves. Thus, it was no surprise that the Immortals found the concept such as unity and divisiveness hard to understand. For these concepts would inherently require one to understand the concept of existing along with other creatures.

The very idea, to Immortals, was akin to courting death.

0.0

It took the Malfae almost a week to manifest the Mana system on the tip of its right index finger of its Essence. The difficulty of this task had not been just because of the resistance of the Essence but also because of the blurriness of the Essence itself, which made visualisation and superimposition quite a difficult task.

Though, this achievement granted it something that it had been waiting for a long time.

Ting.

[Skill [Mana Manipulation Lv.2] has levelled up to [Mana Manipulation Lv.3]. Your understanding of mana has increased.]

The process had been slow going even after the breakthrough. And the further achievements, along its palm, had not earned it even a single Level more in the Skills. Though, given that it had barely finished mapping its palm, even after spending an entire month on it, probably had something to do with that.

This progress, though slow, was still a result of the Malfae’s determination. For the winter had been creeping closer and closer with each passing day and it had become increasingly difficult for the [Hive Monarch] remain focused. It had struggled with the lethargy that had come along with the decreasing temperature. And as the lethargy had demanded rest, for both mind and body, focusing had become a battle. As a result, it had become more and more distracted with each passing day.

Even the smallest amount of gain within the Essence had exhausted it. And by the time the winter arrived, it had all but became impossible for the Malfae to focus on the Skill. The lethargy and the drowsiness had become too much for it to handle.

Thus, with a tired sigh, the creature decided to give in to its instincts and went into hibernation.

-X-

Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

-X-