Mana floods through my body, sinking into my flesh but without really merging with it. I can feel the mana, concentrated to the point of becoming liquid, running through the organs. The edges of the dense currents fray into gaseous mana. I’m constantly in the process of reconcentrating it back into a liquid and feeding it back into the flow.

I’m beginning to suspect that the shifting states of the mana disrupt my attempts to get it to become a part of my body. It doesn’t stop me from progressing, the last few days I’ve been developing my mana form further than ever before, it’s just been made even more of a headache.

Through developing my multi-mind messenger Skill, by using it almost continuously, I’ve reached the point where I can effectively split my focus so that I can continue developing my mana form while busy with life.

Like right now.

“We’ll be safe down here?” The young, human woman asks while desperately clutching at my hand. There’s a pair of young men behind her, trembling just as badly, and avoiding looking towards Vii and the other non-humans at my back.

“You should be safer down here, but it’s important that you learn to protect yourselves.” I say to the cowering people, who are barely even listening to a word I say. The reason they’ve even come to ask me this is that they didn’t fully believe it when Saya and David told them, and they certainly trust those two more than they do me.

Paranoia, trauma, and desperation has affected them, and I don’t think they’ll be recovering properly any time soon. Perhaps bringing them down here will only make things worse for them. I can only imagine the sort of thing that’ll run through their minds if they hear any of the beasts through the walls.

“Thank you so much for this.” Saya says, “But are you absolutely sure they have to hide down here?”

“Adler?” I ask, “Care to offer some expert opinion?”

She sighs, biting her lip in thought before finally relenting.

“If you refuse to go to class, and you adamantly refuse a collar, then this is your only option, but being collared isn’t that bad. You’d have plenty of time to adapt to life here, and I’m sure none of you would stir up enough trouble to be recycled.”

“Thanks for making my case for me.” I say with a laugh as the desperate and frightened humans crawl back into the corner. They talk among themselves as they glare back at Adler. They didn’t seem quite as frightened of her compared to the others before, but now…

“It really isn’t that bad.” She insists, but I don’t think anyone believes her.

“How is the move going?” I ask Saya, “How many are coming down?”

“Around half,” She says, her expression twisted with worry, “Everyone who’s skipping class was convinced to come down here. I know that you’re probably right, but I don’t think holing up down here will be good for anyone.”

“I know.” I reply, “But this is the best that I can do for now. If you ever find a better solution, then I’m more than open to hearing it.”

“I… I’ll have to think about it.” She replies.

“Is there any progress on the gun?” I ask Saya, “I should have that electrical enchantment for you today, depending on whether Ria has found what she needs for it.”

Before she can reply, a familiar young man approaches.

“Kyra.” He says, his voice a little strained, “Thank you for all your help here.”

“There’s plenty more work to be done.” I reply, thankful that he’s working with me without too much trouble. “You need me for something?”

David is the young man who’s been keeping the humans together through this whole mess, I can even vaguely recall him from when we boarded the ship, but I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention at the time. Unfortunately, he seems to think that I should have given more time and attention to helping the other humans, which I strongly disagree with. My empire will be one of many races and I will show no preferences.

“Here,” he says, handing me what looks to be a simple metal pipe with one closed end.

“What’s this?” I ask as I inspect it, I don’t quite understand what it’s meant to be.

“A pipe rifle? Blunderpipe? I don’t know what he ended up choosing to call it. It’s a rudimentary gun. If you want to know how it works talk to Walter, he’s the one who made it.” He says, before he turns to the traumatised group of three.

His expression softens so much that I swear he’s turned into a different person as he tries to encourage them. His attempts fail, of course. These people just aren’t handling the trauma very well, and while I can’t blame them, I do hope that they recover well enough to help us out in some way.

Watching them, it’s clear that David is quite a nice guy, he just doesn’t much like me. I doubt he’ll be stabbing me in the back though, and I have a long list of things and people I need to worry about first.

“Walter?” I ask Saya, and she pulls me over to a small gremlin like figure staring into the bright lights of a computer screen by the side of the room. His old, slightly bent glasses reflect the light off of the screen making it hard to see his eyes behind.

“Walter?” I ask, moving around to sit beside the fellow and look at his computer screen. He’s got a few different programs up, one with the schematics of what I would guess to be an ak-47 though it could be any of the similar models and I wouldn’t know the difference.

He also has open what seems to be a 3D modelling program of some kind, and beside that he has a game open and running, the characters are 2d and clearly inspired by Japanese anime. I have to wonder how powerful his computer is, aren’t 3D modelling programs famous for freezing computers?

“What’s up Wally? You really make this?” I ask, showing him the blunderpipe.

He shudders, looking over at me, then the pipe.

He takes a moment to adjust his glasses. Then pauses. Looks at the pipe again. Looks at me. The pipe. And finally, he takes a breath.

“Blunderpipe. Because it was a blunder and it’s a pipe.” He says, “I designed something better, but… I’m no good at making things...”

“It doesn’t work?”

“It does, it’s just… not good.” He says with a sigh, “You roll a ball down the tube all the way to the bottom. The enchantment at the base will hold it in place, then launch it out when you burst mana into it. The problem is mana pressure. A good bullet has high mana pressure, and isn’t easy to launch, so you need to feed a lot of mana into the enchantment to fire it. Too much.”

“Okay, though it still seems like a good prototype. Do you mind if I use it? See if I can get a feel for it?”

“Go ahead.” He says, “Just don’t hurt yourself with the trashy piece of junk.”

“Thanks.” I say, getting up and looking down at him. I adjust my own glasses and look at where his eyes are hidden by the reflection from his glasses.

“Do you think you could work with a metalworker if I brought them around here?” I ask.

“Metal worker…? Working together on my designs?” he asks, “I’m not sure I’d get along. People… don’t make sense, and that’s all these creatures are. More people.”

“It won’t hurt to introduce yourself to him. Who knows you might get along?” I say, “For now, let’s get that electricity set up.”

“Please. My battery is nearly dead working on these things.” He says, as he pulls out some of his electrical gear.

“Ria,” I call over the crystalline girl from the door that she’s been working on.

“I’ve locked the doors and got the lights working again.” She waves to the bright stones infusing the room with diffuse light. Things have improved here considerably since she’s worked her magic.

“Thanks for that. That other favour I was wanting to ask, did you get something for the electrical enchantment?”

“An enchanting base? I did, since you said it doesn’t need to be too powerful it was easy enough to find. In order to train my Skills I get access to plenty of these things, keeping one small one isn’t going to cause any trouble with the welfare officers.”

“Thank you.” I say, as she joins me and Walter.

“Wally, what do you need?” He’s already pulling out wires and electrical components.

“Set it to run a circuit through these wires.” He says, quickly focusing on the goal at hand without looking at either of us. He’s got more than a few devices scattered on the ground beside him, as well as a few wires and wire cutters.

I need to keep this guy on my side, he makes my own pitiful attempts at preparations seem stupid. With all he’s got here, and stored on his hard drives, I could develop a proper empire.

“Call me if you need anything more.” I say, turning around and looking for other problems that need fixing.

I’m going to need to get some straps to fix a holster for the blunderpipe. Hopefully it proves useful.

“Rudolf!” I catch the bone covered man. So far, he’s been nothing but a boon for us. He’s found this space for us, and he’s connected me with a few other students with an interest in escaping the influence of the welfare officers.

“Could you send for that perverted smith. I’d like to introduce him to Walter—that guy,­ right there—Just introductions for now, if sparks fly, maybe they’ll build something together.”

“Leave it to me.” He says, wearing a confident smile as he waves a small glass of dark red liquid my direction, “You just go enjoy your trip across worlds.”

“For sure,” I force a smile, “I fucking love flying on magic boats.”

I couldn’t avoid relying on the man, he’s proven himself far too useful, and while he’s gladly sharing what he knows about the welfare officers’ rules I’ve yet to learn a fraction of the rules that might have me collared and sent away.

The easier it is to rely on him, the easier it is to trust him, and the more suspicious I feel of him.

“Before I go,” I say, “What are you doing here? I’m pretty sure you aren’t a student.”

“I’m assisting you,” he says, “If you’re asking about the dreary work that keeps me busy in the upper world, then do you really need to know?”

“Are you a rebel?” I ask, thinking of the question he asked me when we met. His reaction to the idea of murders in these ruins made me dismiss the thought, but there’s always the chance that he was faking it.

“Depending on how you define it, we’re all rebels.” He says, with a laugh.

“Fine, whatever.” I throw up my hands, “Keep up that layer of mystery.”

I don’t have the time, expertise, or social skills to tease the truth out of him and even if he does end up betraying us in some way, I don’t think he’s going to end up killing or collaring anyone.

I walk around the ruins with Nel at my side, double checking on doors and lights. The enchantments are far, far beyond me, but I can check to see if they work, and the doors are all thankfully unresponsive. Beyond them lies the unclaimed ruins, where beasts roam and ancient treasures are apparently left abandoned.

If it weren’t for the combat robot that we discovered down here, I’d think it all bogus. There’s always stories of treasure in dangerous places. It’s a bad clique to go chasing treasure and finding only death. In this case, the beasts themselves, and their mana, might be the better treasure.

The last door to the world below is firmly locked, Ria didn’t miss anything, which leaves us only the one entrance above. I don’t like the lack of a separate escape route, but it’s a worse thought that someone might accidentally open the wrong door and let a beast in to tear through the defenceless people living here.

“I’ll ensure everything goes well here.” Nel says, “You just focus on your classes and get back to me.”

“This class can’t be as rough as Red’s.” I joke, “Be careful, especially down here. I’m probably being paranoid, but I get the feeling that something is going to happen. Someone attacking, or beasts breaking through…”

“You’re not the only one of us who’s paranoid.” She replies with an easy smile as she checks, yet again, over her knives. She’s probably going to be even more deadly by the time we get back.

“When you’ve finished, we can see about taking that training machine and bringing it over. It’ll be invaluable for me, and for the others we have join our cause.” She says.

Indeed, I was surprised when Nel invited half a dozen people down here. People that she’s gotten to know in the course of her work, and people that she thinks could be useful to us. From a cook that works in the restaurant, to a few students that live in our dorms, that I’ve seen hanging around in the café but never thought to approach.

“When we’re back, I’ll have to get to know some of these people.” I say, “Make sure you don’t risk yourself over any of this, but there is one thing. You see Walter over there?”

“What about him?”

“Him and his gadgets are more important than anyone else here.” I say, “Beyond us, of course. If we could get back to Earth, we could possibly get replacements for his gadgets, but Walter… He’s the type of person who, when sent to a magic school, brings a laptop and everything needed to get it working.”

“Is the technology from your world really that important?” Nel asks, curiously gazing at Ria and Wally trying to find the right electrical voltage, or amperage, or whatever it is they’re doing.

“It’s important.” I say, “If it can be adapted to work with magic, then it’s an edge that we need. If it can’t be adapted, then the scientific method might still be used to help us develop new weapons and tools.”

I don’t think Nel quite understands, but hopefully Wally can come through and give us a breakthrough.

Everything down here is as secure as it’s going to get, for today at least.

“We should have breakfast together,” Nel says, “before you have to leave.” She shudders a moment as she says so, and I wordlessly take her hand.

“Yeah, let’s go. Eshya! Vii! Alder!” I call over the others who’ve gone their own ways. Vii and Adler were chatting quietly, and Eshya was talking combat with Leai and Seia who’ve come to join us. Like with the others, I don’t fully trust them, but they’re too useful to turn away for that alone.

“What is it? Is it time to go already?” Eshya asks.

“Not so, not yet.” Seia says, “We still have time.”

“Time we could spend getting breakfast.” I suggest, “Do you want to come along?” While I’d like a moment with my more intimate friends, Adler is already going to come along to disrupt that.

“No, no,” Leai says giggling, “We’ll stay down here until our ship comes. So many interesting people here.”

“There are.” Seia agrees looking over towards Rudolf, who’s still sipping at his glass of alcohol. Where he gets it and how he’s always got a glass of it I’m yet to figure out.

“Well, have fun.” I say.

“Yes, I think we will.” Leai says, leading her sister away.

“Breakfast?” Vii asks, “We were up early today, I thought we were just going to skip it.”

“No skipping breakfast,” Nel says, “It’s an important meal, especially with your trip today.”

Through the upper halls of our base, we get onto an elevator to take us back up to the world above.

“Will you be alright here on your own?” Eshya asks, her voice lowered with worry.

“I’ll be fine.” She replies, “I’ve spent most of my days here alone, and I’m not the one getting sent out to another world to fight beasts.”

“It’s nothing new for us, though, is it?” I ask.

“It doesn’t matter.” Nel replies sharply, “I won’t be there with you. If something happens. I won’t be there.” She hisses.

I want to tell her that everything will be alright. That nothing will go wrong, and we’ll all make it home alright, but I can’t find any words that would comfort her. There are no words that would comfort me.

“Your lives shouldn’t be at risk.” Alder whispers but she sounds weak and uncertain, her faith in her people fading the longer she spends with us.

“Nel,” Eshya says, pulling her into an embrace, “You have nothing to worry about while I’m looking out for them.”

“Hey, what are we? Kids?” I ask, “Vii and I can pull our weight in a fight.”

Nel and Eshya laugh at me, before pulling me into their embace. Vii hops over, not one to be left out.

“We’ll come back. Stronger and better than ever.” Eshya says.

“You know it hasn’t even been a month since I found out about magic.” I say, “I think I’m doing pretty well as it is.”

“Huh… you are doing pretty well for a kid.” Nel says, poking my side.

The elevator stops, opening doors to an empty building. Just one more of the unused apartments, left to gather dust.

We enjoy breakfast in the café of our dorm, chatting lightly over things that we’ve done the last few days. Unimportant things, or funny things that we’ve seen or done, it feels both familiar, yet strange.

It feels sweet, and I don’t want it to end, but I have no magic that can pause time. We’ve got a ship to catch, and we can’t afford to miss it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~Mana Form:

Current goal: Develop your mana form.

Current mana density: 567 units

~Mana distribution:

Skin: 22%

Muscle: 10%

Mind: 17%

Cardiovascular: 10%

Misc.: 9%

Efficiency: 68%

~Skills:

-Mana drain touch

-Mana skin

-Mana shield.

-Mana surge strike

-Mana surge kick

-Flame burst

-Fireball

-Infused delayed casting

-Harsh petting

-Chaos dance

~Multi-mind messenger