The sun hovers over the horizon, but the others don’t yet seem ready to awaken. Even Nel is still slumbering, taking a day away from work as she’s apparently due. Last night we abused the last of our energies in pleasurable communications that needed no words, though plenty were still shared during the act.

We didn’t last for as long as usual, and I suspect that we’ll find excuse to return to it soon enough. The violence and danger of our fight last night stirred something within me, and I experienced the effects of similar emotions burning in the others.

Today we do have some time that we can afford to spare, but there is still much for us to do. Through Ria's device, the only one of ours that wasn’t melted, we were able to connect to Rudolf and a few others who were willing to come down and help with the cleaning. I made sure to be a little vague about the cleaning part.

They were certainly surprised, a few even threw up, which just made the task more difficult. For them, that is.

I’ll have to find a good gift to thank them for their work, I don’t want them to regret having met me. Though what do you get a person to say, ‘sorry I made you clean up the splattered corpses of my enemies’?

Wally and Sele actually managed to find their gifts already. I can’t say I was too surprised to find them interested in the tin can crabs and the condition of my pistol, but they barely even spared a moment to look through the hallway full of mana rich goodies. Not that there isn’t anything there for them, but rather the piles of metal still seem more valuable to them.

I’ll have to set up some defences for now, but honestly I can’t think of anything better than Bessy and Red. They won’t need to skip town for combat class as the rest of us students, and I don’t think anyone here could stand up to the pair.

Unfortunately though, I can’t allow us to remain vulnerable while we prepare for the prison break. For now, we’ve taken extra efforts to ensure that the doors are locked from within and broken from outside to avoid the same fate as with our last base.

A message pops in on Chip 2.0. Thankfully the system isn’t obnoxious enough to wake me up, but then again one day I might need such a function. I’m disturbed at the thought that I might miss a critical message from one of my lovers calling for help. Another complaint that I must add to a growing list.

The message is, coincidentally, from the one person I know that might be able to help fix that problem. The gamer elf has heard my calls.

You have replaced your device? It must’ve been a significant problem to necessitate that response. I’d like to hear more of it if you don’t mind.

As for your other questions and requests, I may have a solution, and something more. I’ve sent a request to have you assist in my work, which I hope will be approved.

I’d like to update your support device, and receive some feedback on it’s functions as you continue to study at the academy. A few significant changes have been made that are… unconventional.

If you have any concerns, please contact me as soon as possible.

This is potentially amazing and also terribly concerning. I’d like a few personalised modifications, but I somehow doubt that’s what I’ll be getting. I should refrain from judging too early, but I won’t let my hopes get ahead of me.

I message him back asking for details but he seems loath to explain anything properly. If all goes well I’ll be contacted by someone in management through this device, and escorted off world.

I hope this doesn’t lead to more trouble, but I can’t think of any preparations I can make in anticipation of such problems. I’d rather focus my energies on problems that I can actually solve.

Vague plans are already coming together for this coming prison break, and I’d quite like to get things moving before next week when we have to leave for another combat course realm-skipping adventure.

The soft warmth beside me finally stirs as Nel awakens, her green eyes reflecting the light in strange ways as she looks up at me. Morning daze colours her expression as she slowly takes in the new day.

“Good morning,” she says, lifting herself from the sheets and revealing her naked body without a hint of shame, not that there’s need for it. She stretches, clearly aware of my gaze but unconcerned. The chitinous plates along the outsides of her thighs and arms, along her collar bone and tracing her jaw just draw my eyes to her more familiar, nearly human beauty.

“Are you hungry?” she asks turning towards me with her front fully on display.

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” I ask, to which she cutely tilts her head thoughtfully before sighing and letting out a mildly amused snort.

“Last night wasn’t enough?” She asks, her hand resting on her hip as she looks down at where I lay. Her eyes sparkle with amusement in the orange light of morning.

“Was it enough for you?” I ask her, letting my desires stir slowly within without rushing to satisfy, or to supress them.

“Honestly, yes.” She replies while shaking her head and smiling at me, “But I’m not averse to the idea of another round if that’s what you want.”

She playfully keeps a distance, watching as I simmer and letting her words float in the atmosphere between us.

“Tell me, Kyra. What is it that you want?” She asks, her words sultry. For but a moment my mind wanders, and I feel disappointed to have missed the actual sounds that roll from her tongue. The translation has stripped some of the beauty from her words.

“Is that the sort of play you want?” I ask, letting a few different responses roll about in my mind before relenting, and giving in to desire. Nel’s smile deepens as I play at obedience.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For the second time today, I awaken to sunlight and the subtle stickiness of dried sweat coating my skin. The sensation is strangely pleasant, partly because in any other situation it would be wholly unpleasant. Here and now, in a room filled with the scent of sweat and passion, instead it fogs my mind with pleasant recollections.

“We stink!” Vii chips as she lies next to me, a few of her softer feathers still stuck in my hair.

“Come on, let’s all go get cleaned up.” She further presses, her energy returning to her more quickly than for the rest of us, “I’m not stewing in sweat all day long.”

I groan as I try to follow her, but Eshya has wrapped her arms around my waist and she’s not letting go. From how she rearranges her grip on me, it’s clear that she’s already awake.

“Come on Eshya, Vii has a point.” I say, “There’s still plenty of stuff to get done, we can’t stay in bed forever.”

Eshya wordlessly pulls me tighter, so I spin around and pull her out from under the covers. We fall gracelessly to the ground, and she rolls herself on top of me, pressing her face into my chest. She looks up at me with big, bright, puppy-dog eyes as if pleading for me to stay.

I run my hands through her soft hair and meet her pleading gaze, before I pinch her cheek.

“Come on, you two.” Nel says, standing over us. “We’ve rested and played more than enough. It’s time to get to work.”

Eshya groans wordlessly but hauls herself to her feet and begrudgingly starts to get dressed. As an oddity of the cleansing stones, it’s actually faster to get dressed in filthy clothes and get cleaned rather than dressing in clean clothes. It still feels wrong to be putting filthy clothes back on, but I couldn’t be bothered going through an extra effort just to run up the elevator.

Adler joins us after a quick visit to her room and a nock on her door. She looks unruffled, with her hair messed and her clothes wrinkled, but otherwise well rested. She’s red cheeked and rather embarrassed, looking at the floor as she avoids meeting my eyes. Still, she follows along happily enough as we get moving.

We have a short break from class today, but that only means that we have the chance to focus on our own projects instead. Primarily, that means ensuring the defence and safety of our base. One attack was enough to cause problems that I don’t want to go through again.

It should be in safe hands for now with Rudolf and a few others down there, but I’d still like to have everything sorted out sooner rather than later. There is just one thing I need to deal with first.

The housing facilities where the human students have returned are quiet and solemn. A few students rush back and forth along the halls, others are reading from their notes with a vigour that should be reserved for the morning of a test, and the rest are all huddled quietly in one corner or another.

It takes some searching before I come across Saya and David, the pair of humans that are the most well held together. Or that’s what I’d thought, but instead we find the pair of them arguing in the middle of a hallway. The others are scurrying around or nervously watching the pair.

“We can’t live like this!” Saya yells, “Should we just stand around and wait for the next person to get snatched!”

“If we live by their rules, we can survive here.” David says, looking pale and tired, “We just have to keep our heads down and we’ll be alright.”

“But we won’t, will we?” Saya asks, “What about those of us already gone?”

“They’ll come back…” David doesn’t sound overly convinced by his own words, but he shakes his head and persists, “We can’t risk losing more people.”

Finally, they take notice of us. A spark of frustration fills David as he glares, but he shakes his head and sighs before schooling his expression.

“What are you here for?” He asks, not entirely rude but still making it clear that we’re not welcome.

“Came to see how you’re all doing. That and I have some news.” I say, a little frustrated that I can’t tell them about our planned prison bust. If any more humans get caught in the meantime, they could potentially out our entire plan.

“Well Jess is dead but I’m not sure how much you actually care.” I know his words are intended to sting, but he is right. I don’t actually care all that much. She was under my care in a manner of sense, and I do feel responsible for her, but in the end it’s just another name of someone I never knew, and now never will.

“So are those that killed her.” I reply, meeting his eyes. He flinches a little, whether at my words, their meaning or my attitude I don’t really know.

“There was a group of idiots that decided that they didn’t want us as neighbours. As I understand, they corralled a beast near the door and used a remote they rigged up to let it in. We found them and ensured that they won’t be a threat any longer.”

“She means that we killed them.” Eshya cuts in to clarify, “They are all very dead.”

“Exactly,” I reply, “We’re returning to the ruins, and I’m willing to invite those of you who are interested to join us again.”

“After what happened?” Saya says, shaking her head, “The same thing won’t happen again?”

“I’m trying my best to ensure that it doesn’t.” I reply, “That said, there’s no guarantees. The world is a violent place. You can live in peace up here if you don’t mind the rules, or you can escape below and try your luck with us.”

“That doesn’t sound very encouraging.” David says, watching us closely.

“There’s risks whatever you choose.” I reply, “Anyway, I’ve got places to be and people to see, so best of luck. Contact one of us if you decide you want to join us in the world below.”

They don’t chase after us, or call out to us as we leave, so I can only think that most of them are staying. Perhaps I’ll have better luck with those we’re breaking out of prison. It would be a terrible pain in the ass if they end up being useless cry-babies, but I’ll deal with the problems as they come.

With that little chore out of the way, we blaze a trail to our newest lair, rich with all sorts of junk left behind by the previous owners. The entrance to this particular section of ruins is hidden underneath the markets of all places, and I’m not sure how intentional that was on Orsa’s part.

Heading into the familiar clothes store we’re quickly intercepted by an attendant that recognises us from our escape last night. She’s the same silver fox that helped me to put this dress on initially. The coincidences do keep coming, but for this once it does actually feel like strange chance rather than villainous plot.

“You’re back, just as you said you would be.” She says, looking between us, “Do you mind my asking what this is about? It’s highly unusual to be crawling out of this shops basement, especially at that time of a night.”

“Sorry for bothering you, but we were down in the ruins and happened upon this path to the surface.” I reply, “We did meet a few people in our travels. Are you at all familiar with someone by the name of Orsa?” I go on to describe her and generally describe the others, but she seems honestly unfamiliar.

“I suppose they must use a different entrance.” I mutter thoughtfully.

The path up from our newly seized base branches into a few different paths, but this was the only one we could have been bothered to find at that point in time. We had Ria lock the other doors to secure the facility, and accidentally woke Gemma here in our escapades.

“I understand that you’re still youthful and energetic, but those ruins aren’t any good. I hear of far too many who dig around down there and never come back. It’s dangerous.”

“We know.” I reply, “Thank you for worrying about us, but we know the risks we’re taking. Do you mind if we use your basement for now, I promise nothing dangerous will come of it.”

She sighs, seeming awfully weary.

“You’re that sort of child.” She says, “Please just be careful. For your own sakes.”

“We will, and thank you.” I say, leading the others down into the ruins.

A brisk walk through old halls, many still dusty, and we find ourselves back at our new home. It seems as though Rudolf, and the others that were still awake to hear our call, have all been rather busy. The blood and chunks strewn about the council room have been reliably scrubbed away, I presume through one magic or another, and the broken furniture has been neatly stacked in one corner of the room.

“When you said that the back room was a mess, I didn’t think you meant this!” Rudolf says, shouting at us, “What the hell was all that?”

“I thought I already explained it.” I say, “Orsa and the people in that room were the ones responsible for what happened yesterday. This,” I wave my arms about the room, I think we can all still see the blood that is now gone, “This was the unfortunate, but necessary end of our conflict.”

“This… ah, shit.” Rudolf brushes his hand through his head, “Yeah, you really are a piece of work.”

“Want to leave?” I ask, worried that I’ve pushed him too far. I know I’m not as sensitive about these things as I probably should be.

“No. No, it’s alright.” He recovers surprisingly quickly, “I just… I didn’t expect you to move so quickly.”

“You expected something like this?” I ask.

“Not quite, but something akin to it I suppose.” He replies with a sigh, “Just… give me a little time.”

“Alright.” I say, hoping that he’ll get his shit figured out quick.

The two grunts that we, kind of saved, kind of threatened, are still around. They make sure to look busy the moment when we pass through.

“How’s the hand feeling?” I ask the furry one, whose hand I shot off this morning.

“Fine. I mean, good. I mean, great. Ma’am. Sir.” He rushes to say, standing stiff as he stares back at me.

“No need to go so far.” I reply with a sigh, “I may have gone too far, sorry about the hand.”

He freezes up apparently unsure how to react. I hesitate a moment before grabbing his shoulder.

“I’m not some evil monster that’ll force you around.” I look about the clean room, “That is to say, thank you for cleaning up, and you can leave now if you so wish. That said, I’m sure we can find a place for you here if you wish to stay.”

He’s still frozen for some reason or another, his scaley friend beside him is just as unsure how to react. I let them think it over with a sigh.

“So, where are our crafters…?” I wonder as we head through the various halls of the ruins below. Letting the others process things. I really need to work on my people skills. Or… I wonder if there’s any Skills that could help me. Or magics. A charisma boost would be wonderful right about now.

We end up finding the crafting trio in the first place that we look for them, and I’m not at all surprised. With shining eyes they scurry about the corpses of the tin can crabs, picking up the scattered scraps of metal that litter the ground. They’ve already organised a number of sizeable piles along the length of the room, separating them into metal types and mana density.

“Oh, there you are.” Ria says, the first to notice our return.

“Hello again, I hope you’re feeling well this morning.” I say.

“Morning? It’s morning already?” Wally asks, cleaning the flesh off of a metal plate.

“It is, you like our presents?” I ask him.

“I do.” He replies, “Enough metal here to make a tank.”

“I’m not sure how much good a tank would do us.” I reply.

“Some rifles maybe...”

“I was thinking some plate armour.” I reply, noticing as Sele twitches, his massive reptilian form turning to look between us and the piles of metal. I think my words sparked a little too much interest in the perverted smith.

Oh, I am worried.

“If you’d like…” he begins, rather cheerful at the thought.

“It needs to be something that actually provides reliable defence.” I say trying to get ahead of whatever this is.

“I know what armour is.” He says hoping to his feet as he looks through the piles of metal that they’ve gathered, “I’ll need to get your sizes.”

I put aside my concerns for the designs of my armour, and let the talented smith go about his business. If he actually manages to construct something along the lines of a functional armoured bikini… well, then I’ll deal with that when it happens.

“About your pistol.” Ria says, popping over to us, “I looked over it, and repaired it.”

“Repaired it, what was wrong with it?” I ask, getting my favourite new toy back.

“The enchantments weren’t intended to be used with such a high mana density.” She says, “They were burning out, and would have been unusable if pushed any further.”

“I didn’t feel a difference when I was using it.” I reply, feeling out the pistol that seems unchanged from when I last used it.

“I put great effort into making it. It wouldn’t have failed you until it was broken entirely.” Ria says, sounding quite proud in herself, “It should hold together a while, but I suggest you be more careful with how much mana you pump into it.”

“Depends on how things go.” I say, “I might still need to do some damage with this thing.”

She begrudgingly nods while looking at the blasted remains of the tin can crab that I fought just yesterday.

“Why is the technology all so far behind here?” Wally grumbles in thought as he works, “There are plenty of smart people, so why no flying cars or anything?”

“Flying cars?” Ria asks curiously.

“With their ships, a flying car would have little use.” I say, “I’ve been wondering the same thing for a while, and had a few thoughts on it. The biggest issue I suspect would be the mana economy.”

“There’s not enough mana for it?” Wally asks, “My guns have already proven themselves worth the investment.”

“Sure, but that mana could be used more permanently and ‘less wastefully’” I say looking towards Adler who nods in agreement.

“It would be far better to use that mana in a lasting enchantment, or to strengthen someone’s mana form.” She says.

“These guns are a very offensive use of mana, but the leading civilisation is… well this.” I say, “Which is my other point. Culture.”

“I guess…” He doesn’t seem wholly convinced.

“Mana form is still more important here. Enough mana concentrated in a person’s body and these pistols wouldn’t be able to flick their hair.”

He grumbles, but I think he accepts my points, not that I want to change his mind entirely. In fact, encouragement can go a long way for a good leader.

“How about you help us to show them just how wrong they are.” I suggest, “These pistols are great, but I’m sure you have plenty more ideas and schematics to work with.”

His grumbling stops as he continues sorting through the metal plates, but perhaps his hands move a little bit faster.

Chip 2.0 shines with the light indicating a new message. I take a moment, to read through it.

You have been selected to assist a greater mage in their work. Please come to the port nearest to your academy within the hour. What you need for your work will be provided for you, please ensure that you do not arrive late, the ship will not wait for you.

“Looks like I’ve got somewhere else to be.” I say with a long, tired sigh.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 789 units

~Mana distribution:

Catagory Current Max. Skin 0% 24% Muscle 0% 12% Mind 43% 43% Cardiovascular 0% 11% Misc. 0% 10% Efficiency 43% 79%

~Skills:

-