“So how are we approaching this? Are we just going to talk with the fallen scholar?” Eshya asks as we head towards our bestiary studies class. “Everyone else seems to be taking all this far less seriously that it really deserves. Especially given the risks…”

“Yeah, but it’s strange.” I say, adjusting my glasses. “After seeing the beast taming class, I’m both more frightened and less. I mean that was creepy as all shit, but it wasn’t… I don’t know. I expected it to be worse, I guess.”

“I know what you mean.” She replies with a sigh, “I’ve lived my life in fear of being collared, my family has been so terrified of me being sent to a place like that, but actually seeing it...”

“Demystifying,” Vii says, “It was demystifying. You’ve built up this massive evil in your mind, but facing it, it doesn’t seem nearly so bad as the formless horror that it was when you could only try to imagine it.”

“That.” Eshya nods, sighing again. “I’d still rather die than end up there. I could probably play the game and get back out, but it would drive me crazy.”

“It’s meant to do the exact opposite.” Adler says from the side, oozing depression. Her ears are lowered, she’s slouching, and her eyes are constantly dropping back to the ground.

Ever since we met her, she’s been constantly swapping between cheerful and overeager, showing us how much good she intends for us, then getting all depressed when we inevitably react poorly.

“Honestly…” She hesitates, looking around at us before continuing, “If you want me to be honest, then perhaps… perhaps things could be better than they are, but I just can’t imagine how.”

“Can’t imagine changing things if you had the power? Or you can’t imagine getting the power to change things?” I ask.

“I can’t imagine having the power to do anything the sort,” she says. “The Unified States have been this way forever. It doesn’t change. If we all follow the rules… but then again…” She sighs, “I just don’t know any better way.”

“If I gave you the power to change things, what would you do with it?” I ask.

“How would that even work?” She asks with a desperate laugh, “It’s not… It’s just not possible. We have to work with what we have, and we have the Unified States.”

“Just play pretend for me. Assuming you had the power, what would you change and why? I want you to think on that for me. Could you?” I ask, squeezing her shoulder.

“If it’s only that.” She replies, sounding resigned.

“Class is right up here.” Vii says, waving to us from in front of the classroom, “Learning all about all the beasts again. There’s so much to learn, plant beasts, furry beasts, scaley beasts, flying beasts, I can’t wait until we get out into the world and get to see them in the wild.”

“Except we’ll be fighting them and working hard to survive. Let’s just focus on our fallen scholar first.” I say, looking in at our pretty little dragon teacher, sitting at the front of the class ready to give us another long lecture.

We sit down and wait while other students make their way in. I see many familiar faces from the combat classes, but a few others extra who are not. I’m not sure what other course, or talents would require taking this class, but they’re somewhat fish out of water here where everyone else is deadly serious, and slightly traumatised.

“Let’s start.” The dragon says, sitting up taller, her neck twisting as she looks over us, “For those who aren’t aware, my name is Speka, and I’m the teacher of this bestiary studies class.

“Many combat course students, as always. In this class it’s important to focus and listen to develop the appropriate Skills, so don’t use this opportunity to sleep or talk with your friends.

“With that out of the way, we’ll get started. The first Skill that you’ll be working towards attaining is one for memorizing beasts, at first it will be from description but properly tuned it can also add beasts to your Skill’s memory at a brief glance.

“After that, you’ll be wanting to develop the skill to more actively predict what beasts are able to do based on their physical or behavioural descriptions. How to track them, how aggressive they’ll be, and more. This Skill can only be learned when you have a functional archive of beasts stored in your initial Skill.

“For that purpose, there are tomes available at the front here detailing the natures and features of a wide selection of beasts. Each one covers different species, so return them and rotate them between yourselves. For today’s lesson, is there any particular type or nature of beast that you’d be interested in learning about?”

“The distinction of beast and person.” I suggest, before anyone else has a chance to speak, “We just came from the taming class yesterday, and there were some ‘beasts’ there that were once considered people, and if they’re properly tamed,” I grate my teeth through the word, “They’ll be people again.”

“Ah, yes. I’m sure you already understand that the difference is in their behaviour. What you mean to ask, I suppose, is whether we’ll be discussing intelligent beasts of the same species as civilised people

“This will somewhat be speaking around the point, so try to follow along. This class does discuss intelligent species, but it addresses them by presupposing that the subject is a beast. So, if we were to analyse a… human.” She focuses on me as she says it, “We would do so from the perspective that it is a beastly human. This may seem unusual, but it is so that we can discuss beastly behaviours, such as how they act when aggressive. Behaviours that a civilised person would not imitate.”

She takes a pause to drink from the bowl of water at her side before continuing.

“Though you do bring up an interesting topic. I think I might start this class off with discussing the beastly civilisations, and how they are distinct from wild beasts and true civilisations.

“To do that, let’s first differentiate between them. What makes a wild beast?”

“They live alone, and don’t form communities.” A student suggests.

“Close but not entirely the case, the term ‘wild beasts’ also refers to small communities of beasts, generally family units. You’re referring to what can be called omega beasts.” Chip freaks out for a second before settling on that name.

“Omega beasts have forsaken reproduction and community for the sake of personal strength and growth. Can anyone tell me why omega beasts are as prevalent as they are?” The little pearlescent dragon asks, perched upon her stand.

“They’re able to consume more mana than other species.” Suggests one student.

“That is essentially true, yes. To go further you must ask the question, why they are able to consume more mana than others.”

“Because they’re stronger.”

“And they are stronger because they have more mana. It’s a cycle.” She explains, “Concentrated predation is the name of the process by which powerful beasts come into existence. Mana tends to concentrate in living beings, and those that are able to successfully predate others will gain a portion of their mana, thus becoming strong enough to hunt yet others.

“By this process more and more powerful beasts will come about, most able to live very long lives as their concentrated mana slows their aging process. It is for this reason that omega beasts are so powerful even though they are fewer than us, largely less intelligent, and rarely cooperative.”

Some of the students in class are taking down notes, but many, like us, do not. Those that are seem quite stressed about it, as if any word of this might save their lives one day.

“Back to the topic at hand, we all understand what makes the true civilisations, so then what are beastly civilisations?”

“Civilisations that are run by powerful beasts?” A nervous student asks with a raised hand.

“Technically true, but that’s not what I was after. Beastly civilisations are those communities of beasts that grow in number and intelligence but fail to develop rules and values that surpass the natural kingdom.

“The chaos of nature does not care for good or evil. Beastly kingdoms do not either. To some meaning and definition, third grade civilisations can be considered beastly civilisations as they do not yet fully commit to the standards necessary to be considered a true civilisation.

“Second grade civilisations are much closer, while first grade is for those that are able to fully achieve true civilisation.” She explains this part much less passionately.

“Now let’s get to the meat and the bones. The beastly parts of any beast.” She says, moving on to describing a type of intelligent fish species that shoot jets of pressurised, poisoned urine to kill their competitors. Apparently, some of the species achieved high enough grading to scrape into the third grade civilisation brackets and they’re currently getting taught in another academy. One better suited to fish people with poisoned urine.

I still find it difficult to believe that this teacher is meant to be a part of the secret society. I would never have guessed it and we’re only lucky that we were handed clues by the ‘listener’ in the journalism club.

I listen closely to her descriptions and explanations until class reaches its end.

“Excuse me,” I say, approaching her, “I’m told that you’re something of a scholar?”

She looks me over, while blowing smoke from out of her nose, I’m not entirely sure the meaning behind it. If Chip isn’t telling me, there’s probably nothing to it, but I can’t help but focus on it. I hope it’s not some sign of offence.

“Meet me back here after class if that’s your business. I’ll be waiting. For now, I’ve other classes to teach.” She says, before gulping water from the bowl at her side.

“There’s nothing else?” She asks, as I realize that I’m staring.

“No, nothing.”

Damn dragons are so cool.

Is it weird that I want to rub her scaley belly?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It’s later in the evening when we gather together, Nel, Vii, Eshya, Adler, and I enter the classroom where Speka awaits us.

“You didn’t leave me waiting, a good start.” She says as we enter the dark classroom. Her shadowed figure is hard to make out in the dark, her beautiful pearlescence nothing more than a dark shade of grey.

“Now you were all interested in joining the party of the fallen, was it?”

“Joining?” I ask, “I’m not too sure about that. We hardly know a thing about the group as yet. Though if it’s a group of decent people we’ll consider it.” Not so much joining it, rather seizing it, but it’s not yet the time to bring that point up.

“I want to look in the libraries.” Vii chirps up, “The records that are hidden away. Pom said something about getting to read them if we join.”

Eshya shrugs unconcerned and Nel doesn’t say or reveal much of her thoughts at all, though she shifts slightly and quickly pats her self down in a strange way.

“I want to ensure that you’re all acting appropriately.” Adler says, standing stiffly and meeting the teacher’s eyes.

“You think we’d still be around if we stood on your toes, little welfare officer?” She replies with a laugh. I’m instantly upset with Chip for translating it into a perfect human laugh. I wanted to hear her dragon laugher, damn it, not some stupid translation.

“I’m supposed to send you off on some sort of task, but it was all left up to me.” She says with a growling frustration rumbling through her voice, “I drew the short straw having to deal all with this. So be it, might as well use you for my own purposes.”

She crosses her claws over and sits regally in the darkness. Her eyes reflect the little light brightly as they pass over us, one to the next.

“Argh, I don’t even know what a bunch of worthless students could even do for me that wouldn’t be a bother.” She lets out a sigh, “I don’t know, tell me a story or something.”

“Pom from the journalism club is already getting us to do that.” I point out, “If you don’t mind my pointing out, this seems rather half-assed. What sort of secret society is this?” I ask, unable to hold back my growing disbelief and discomfort.

“Don’t blame me, they pluck your name from a bucket and suddenly you’ve got to ‘guide the youth to salvation.’” She sighs again, “I’m supposed to make sure that you’re all trustworthy to join the community, and you seem like nice enough kids…

“No,” She stops herself short, “No, I have to get you to do something. How about… the humans… they’ve been an interesting species, and here one is.” She raises her lips into a draconic smile, which is essentially just showing off her teeth, “How about I ask more about your world and your body?”

“This is purely academic right?”

She rolls her eyes, “It’s nothing flirtatious, nor anything that would get your pet welfare officer upset with either of us. I just want to learn more about the beasts and life that is prevalent in mana deserts. They’re perilously dangerous for any with the chance to travel to them.”

“Perilious?”

“There’s no mana. The mana inside you will want to escape. It’s extremely unpleasant. I suppose, it’s safe enough with a good plan and a means to return but if you have particularly poor mana form, or you intend to stay for far too long…

“Back to my question, can you speak of your species?”

“Sure, I could talk a little about myself, I guess. What do you want to know?”

“Everything.” She sits up watching me closely with her glowing eyes.

It’s a little awkward to get started, but eventually I do get used to it, and I start going on about myself and life on Earth. Our short life spans, the ‘savage’ technology we use in place of magic, and the limited strength of our beasts.

“To think that mana-less beasts would be so truly pitiful.” She says in sad resignation, “I’d very much like to see how they’d adapt if fed a high mana diet. Their entire lives sound like that of babes dying in the womb, no chance of ever reaching their potential.”

“The same is true for humans.” I point out

“Yes, what pitifully short lives your people must live. To think, you’ll likely outlive your entire civilisation if it’s as delicate as you’ve described it.”

“That’s not a nice thought.” I reply.

“Why not? You were lucky.”

I’m about to reply in the opposite but I stop myself short. This world, even with all its horrors, has opened my eyes to who I can truly become. Who I want to be.

“Yeah. Yeah, I suppose I was. I should continue to make the most of that luck.” I say further, tightening my fist and looking up at the little dragon again.

“One last thing. It seems talk is allowed, for now at least.” I say glancing at Adler, who looks away from me with a frown. “Speka, you’ve been analysing beasts and civilisations much longer than I. What do you think of the Unified States?”

“That’s an interesting question.” She hums thoughtfully, “It’s an interesting civilisation, many attempts at similar structures are tried by others, but they all inevitably collapse. I wish that I knew more about it so that I could understand why this society doesn’t fail like the others, but alas…”

“There are things you don’t know?” I ask.

“Ask your pet welfare officer.” She replies.

“Ah, it’s one of those topics. The sort of thing that they can’t answer.”

“Indeed. Was there a purpose behind your askance?”

“There is reason for it.” I reply, “If you could change one thing about this society what would it be?”

“Interesting question…” her eyes glow as she glares my direction, “Seeding doubt about how society functions, are you?”

I laugh nervously and tug at my collar.

“I’ll have to think on your question, but you certainly are an interesting one. I suppose these others consider you their leader, then? That’s why they’re so quiet? An interesting dynamic. If you intend to do something, send me messages, as you can, to keep me updated. I’m sure whatever dangerous business you get yourself into would make for an interesting failure to be added to the records of history.”

As she proposes I trade contact details with her and pack up to leave.

“Do you really want to make a better world?” Adler asks, “Many people make that claim, but they always end up as beastly rulers, each as horrible as the next…”

“I know,” I reply, thinking of the genocides and dictatorships of my own world, “I’m not going to make those mistakes, and to make sure that I don’t, I want people who doubt me to stand by my side and tell me when I’m taking things too far.

“If you’re trustworthy, if you’re a good person, then I’d like you to be one of those people, Alder.” I say.

It’s a lie.

Mostly, at least.

Looking back at her, nervously looking back at me, I try and see the person she could become. Make her less dependant on the welfare officers and give her something greater to believe in. Give her a cause that can bring a smile to her face, that can allow her to look honestly at the world rather than through a twisted set of rules and ideals.

I can see a woman who is strong in her convictions because she’s tempered them with self-doubt. Someone able to look through the complexities of life and find the good in evil people, as she struggles to make the world a better place.

She could be a wonderful person. Given strength, confidence, and distance from this fucking cult.

“I… I don’t know.” She replies, looking awkwardly down at her feet. “There are countless worlds out there under these rules. Isn’t it better to just try and give everyone as happy a life as you can here? Even if it isn’t perfect?”

“No, it’s not.” I say simply, “And I think you know it, too. You’re just too afraid to admit it. Too afraid to choose your own freedom and take responsibility for your own choices.”

Her little ears flicker this way and that, she’s uncertain. There’s a part of her that doubts, and other parts that wish to simply submit to the safety of order.

“Adler, can you trust me?” I ask her, offering my hand.

Hesitantly, she takes it.

“Yay, friends!” Vii cries, jumping in. She’s quickly followed by the others.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stats & Skills

~Mana Form:

Current goal: Develop your mana form.

Current mana density: 399 units

~Mana distribution:

Skin: 21%

Muscle: 8%

Mind: 13%

Cardiovascular: 8%

Misc.: 3%

Efficiency: 53%

~Skills:

-Mana drain touch

-Mana skin

-Mana shield.

-Mana surge strike

-Mana surge kick

-Flame burst

-Fireball

-Infused delayed casting

-Harsh petting

-Chaos dance