Skip the spoiler if you only want to read the chapter (new way of doing this, I think it's better this way?)

Spoiler :

Surprise! Chapter 14 already! I felt like writing.. let's hope this motivation jumps over to the origin story too.. seriously, the more I think about the situation I put my characters in over there, the more I feel like getting this anywhere is going to be difficult.. so currently I'm hesitating between dealing a heavy blow to Mana's power, or powering up the strength of the average enemy.. or getting the story to move in an overlordish direction of politics and intrigues... that decision is already pretty hard, and then writing on it.. meh, that's my fight, no use rambling too much about it.

PS: honestly, some reviews or feedback comments would be nice. Especially those pointing out mistakes and what I should/could improve.

(Hmm.. I wonder if they will find the books I left just in case? Could those end up becoming a holy scripture? Now that would be funny..)

“Mana?”

“Hmm? Sorry, was just thinking about something.. you wanted to know more about my world right? Well, last night I had quite a bit of time to think.. and I came up with an interesting method. You are able to manipulate your mana right?”

“..yes.”

“Can you also change the location of your veins? They'd be interfering with what I want to try out..”

“Change the location of my veins??”

“Yeah, those streams the mana is flowing through.. it should be possible to manipulate their location. Why don't you try? If you can't I'll try coming up with another method.”

...

“Sorry, I don't think I'm able to do it. Just trying to visualize it is making me feel horrible.”

“Well, it was worth a try. Now then..”

Help: I finished engraving the metal. A few million miniature runes.. now then.. starting the retina display.. surround sound system enabled.. everything's ready.

What seemed to be a cloud of shimmering dust started floating into the air, forming two lenses. Those approached Carmela..

“Don't worry. You wanted to know more right? Well, there's this saying in my world that an image can say more than a thousand words..”

When the lenses covered Carmelas eyes, first everything went dark.. but then there was light. Colors. Her body was telling her that she was still inside of the strange vehicle driving through the earth, but her eyes were telling her otherwise. She saw a world that should not be there.

“And? How is it? With this I can show you everything I saw in my previous life. But we don't have the time for that, also there are some things that I kinda want to keep to myself.. so we should focus. What do you want to see?”

“How!?”

“Red, blue, green. Using those colors I can show you any other color that you are still able to see. And using a lot of red, blue and green I thus can show you any image. And by showing you images in quick succession I can create the illusion of movement. And you probably already know that I can produce sound from any direction I want to.”

Using images and animations to help illustrate what was said, Mana introduced her to this world of light. They had three more days until they would reach their destination, by no means enough time to show her everything, but just enough time for a quick “sightseeing”.

“Hey Quintus, I think this will interest you too. If you don't want to watch anymore, just tell me, I'll stop.”

Thus our “prisoners” began their tour through Mana's old world.

Meanwhile, in the now underground village of Aspertia, order had been reestablished.

“Boys, looks like we got it! Come on, let's deal this overgrown earthworm the finishing blow!”

“Whoaaa!”

The adventurers were used to scout, supported by some guards. Most of the guards were used for the protection of essential territory. The center of the village, the recently discovered hot spring within one of the many tunnels connected to their village. Those were locations of vital importance. The farmers were either trained to become proficient at dealing with danger by the adventurers and the guard captain, or taught the ways of science by Keith, who had become the supervisor of the technology within their village.

The conviction that they were meant to pass this “test” by giving it their all, coupled to their survival instincts and their leaders fanatic, yet efficient speeches.. this, along the relatively small size of their village, had prevented them from falling into a state of absolute choas.

“This is madness! How can you still be like this under these circumstances?!? We are all doomed! Don't you understand that?!? There is.....”

People unable to handle the stress, if there was a large enough crowd to listen to them, they could create riots, spread disorder..

“Oh, when are you finally going to quit it! We haven't lost a single man so far, we already found a source of water, and those monsters that keep showing up can be eaten. So if you could devote the power you put into screaming around into work, now that'd be great.”

..but it had no effect in this case. The subtle madness that had entered the minds of the villagers left no place for fear. To the people of Aspertia, this was not a “horrible, incomprehensible situation”.. it was a “test”. And a certain discovery only added fuel to the flame of their conviction. Keith had been the first to dare enter the house of the divine. To him, disassembling the creations Deus had left behind was not a sacrilege, it was the highest form of respect. Desiring to understand, that was the most important quality of man, as the divine himself had taught him. And searching for knowledge, he found something beyond even his expectations. It had to be a hundred at least. Books, filled to the brim with information that had yet to be deciphered, understood.

-If you are able to read this, that means I was unable to prevent you from reading it, so I'm most likely gone. I did not teach you everything.. but I hope you are still willing to learn?-

After spending two days inside of a world that was not theirs, the lights that created the illusion began to get dimmer.

“And this concludes our short trip to my world. I'm sure you still have quite a few questions.. but those will have to wait. Because it looks like we've finally reached our destination.”

“We're there! Get out, and don't even try to run away!”

“Ahem...”

“..please?”

“Better.

Hey, first you get to see my world, now that of the dwarwes! They have been living underground for centuries, I'm sure there'll be quite a few things to see!”

Slowly recovering from their experience, Quintus and Carmela stood up and followed the dwarf dwarf into yet another world. Not an illusory one one made of light, but one from solid stone, steel and darkness.

(We got ourselves one huge cave here.. just what is this, a round room.. four tunnels towards it, a huge empty platform in the middle..)

“Please stand on the center of the platform.”

(Now.. this looks like it's building up to something. I wonder what's going to happen.. help, scan of the area?)

Help: No abnormalities detected. Area seems devoid of traces of life, the five dwarwes and us taken aside. The scan is however unable to cover the entire cave. Based on the currently available data I am unable to estimate what is going to happen.

(Well.. I guess it's going to be a surprise then.)

After they had reached the center of the room that was illuminated by a faint light, all they could do was wait for was going to happen. Nothing happened.. but suddenly they were surrounded by people. And in another room.

(What the.. teleport? That thing was a teleport platform? Help, you sure you didn't notice any runes?)

Help: Neither runes, nor abnormalities were detected. The transport was instantaneous, from the structure of the ground below us I can conclude that it has been moved alongside us as it is not different from previously, even on the atomic level. The ability thus does not affect “people” but rather “space”. Furthermore, the affected area has been determined to be a sphere with ten meters of radius. I estimate “space” within area of origin and destination was switched. No further information available.

(So someone or something out there can teleport.. this organization could be a tad more powerful than I thought it might be.)

“Welcome! You are Deus Machina right? Or at least that is how you let yourself be called, if the reports are correct. And you would be.. I apologize, but I have not been informed about your name. May I get to know it?”

“..Carmela Caball of the southern lake.”

“Carmela Caball of the southern lake! If I may present myself, I am the overseer of this place, Roland Newtonson. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. May I call you Miss Carmela from now on? I understand elven traditions to be important.. but I hope you understand that addressing you in your full name would be an inconvenience.”

“No.”

“Well.. now, I am sure you have questions. I even know you have asked them! And most of them can be answered now. So, if there is something you would like to know, as long as it is within my capabilities, I will answer!”

“Why did you bring us here?”

“Straight to the point.. I like that! Now, we have noticed you due to the uproar you caused. A strong warrior defeating a strong beast.. we have no need to care about someone like that. But ideas.. can be dangerous. We feel the need to prevent people with too many ideas from getting out of control. You especially seem to have a supposedly unending stream of ideas.. if the reports are accurate, you revolutionized harvesting, construction, combat, and produced a variety of tools based on manipulating light?

Let me get one thing clear. This is a prison. Both for you, and your ideas. Please understand that attempting to escape from this place is futile. If you do not believe me however, you may try. There will be no repercussions. We will try to make your stay here as comfortable as possible. Yet, while you may attempt to escape whenever you desire to do so, harming one of the staff or your coworkers will have consequences. Lastly.. all inhabitants are required to participate in an annual contest to display the results of their research. Those with the least useful contributions will serve as a motivating example to their coworkers. I expect great things from you...”

(So this is how they intend to get my knowledge out of me? “If you don't produce results, you die”.. hmm..)

“What about Carmela? It's not like she is someone like me.. would she have to participate?”

“You are given access to vast resources and assistants to help your research. She will be considered as being such.”

“I see.. may I get to know what was used to instantaneously transport us from one location to another?”

“Sadly, that is one of the things I may not tell you about. Lodging, meals, drink.. those will be taken care of. If you require anything for your research, feel free to request it from one of the supervisors in the area. If your room is not spacious enough for your research, that we can take care of as well. Now, are there any further questions?”

(They turned this into a paradise for researchers.. and I can guess just who is going to benefit from the results. Passing the contest should be no problem.. but I should be careful about what I put into their hands. Now, the best we can do is to spend some time here until we have more information. Escaping is futile? Let's see about that..)

“One more question. Could I get a map of the area?”

“Of course.... this is the map of the entire area you will be able to go to.”

“So everything beyond this is of bounds?”

“No.. I meant to imply that it will simply not be possible to access the area beyond the border. Well then, these two will take you to your room. Let me excuse myself, I have business to attend to.”

The “prison” consisted of multiple rooms connected to each other by a system of tunnels. Going through them, one could see that the tunnels were patrolled by the “supervisors”, clearly distinguishable from others by their white and golden uniforms. The solemn aura they gave of stood in perfect contrast to their surroundings.

“These are the living quarters. Your room should contain everything essential, if you require anything in addition to that, we should be able to procure it.”

(So.. this is going to be our new home. .. now this.. is big.)

This was the fourth day of Aspertia becoming an underground city. In the fights against the monsters dwelling here, some had been injured.. but miraculously, no one had died yet. The speed at which the villagers had adapted to their new circumstances was even more of a miracle. The flow of the hot spring had already been redirected towards their village, giving everyone access to water.

Even more, this was warm water, they would have considered it a luxury under their old circumstances. Not even nobles of big cities could afford to heat up water using fire or runes whenever they felt like it, doing either was both time consuming and expensive.. to experience such luxury every day, they saw their conviction that this was a test to bring them to even greater heights confirmed.

The water from the spring also had some interesting properties.. even if not in movement, there would be bubbles raising to the surface, and one would feel a prickling sensation upon drinking it. This was the only source of water they had discovered so far, and it was much different from what they were used to.. but those changes were good. And concerning food..

The adventurers had discovered that there were three types of monsters in this area. First those you could eat, then those you could not eat, and lastly those that would eat you if you weren't well prepared to face them. The “big worms” as they had come to call the humongous worm-like creatures that they made responsible for the numerous tunnels in this area belonged to the first category. Then there were a bunch of creatures that seemed to be more rock and less living being, which belonged to the second category. Luckily, most remained peaceful as long as they were not attacked. But then..

Spiders. The faint threads in the tunnels that were their territory were a hint that one should pay attention to.. one of them was something that could still be dealt with, but a group that had explored the tunnels before knowing about this creature was ambushed and surrounded by a group of three of those overgrown arachnids. Chainsawing their way through the one that was guarding one of the exits alone, they barely managed to run away with their lives.

Scorpions.. luckily, those never appeared in groups and it was possible to outrun them.. as long as one didn't run into a dead end.. or the only exit was blocked away by earth suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Their skin was as tough as rock, most likely even made from it. The first to have encountered this beast, after their sole hope for escape disappeared behind a solid wall, had thought their lives to be over.. but found themselves saved by the most dangerous creature they had ever encountered.

It was beyond big, and it happened in an instant. The earth itself seemed to melt, the scorpion disappeared, and all that was left was a wall of stone glowing bright red, slowly cooling down, heating the small room in which they had found themselves trapped in to immense temperatures. After being overwhelmed by a wave of incredible heat, the room gradually returned to a normal temperature.

Only two days after this happened was the group finally able to break through the wall the earth scorpion had created with the assistance of another group that had noticed their signal of distress. Starving, fatigued, thirsty.. but were they afraid? No! They had been saved for a purpose. One they would fulfill. They would pass on the information they had gathered. And that information would be used for the benefit of the village.

Knowledge, materials and time. That was all it would take to create weapons even those monstrous creatures would have to fear. The books that were being zealously studied provided the knowledge. There were many coal deposits in the area, and quite a few iron deposits as well, providing the materials. Now all they required was time.

It had only been four days, yet those seemed to be filled with miracles. They would prove the divine that they were worthy of such blessings.

Open if you think something was amiss with this chapter:

Spoiler :

Yes, there is no chapter 13. No, I don't believe in superstition but.. did you even notice the fact that it was missing? I did it for the lols, and am not going to do it again. If you insist on chapter 13 existing.. just leave a comment. But it is YOU who shall take the curse! Muahaha!