Warm sunlight trickles in through the windows, the sun slowly rising past the horizon outside, peaking through the thick canopy that would hide it. The last languid pools of darkness slowly disperse in the face of the pleasant warmth of day.

“Are you sure about this?” Nel asks, standing by the door of our dorm room as she watches us dress for a fight.

I look down upon my formal dress, the one I’ve taken a liking to and even been fighting in. There’s a tear.

It’s almost as thick with mana as myself at this point, and it certainly provides some protection more than the light and airy clothes that I’m wearing now instead, but… It has a tear.

“We’re sure.” I say repressing my angry screams to the back of my mind, as I fold up the torn dress to carry it with me,

“We’ll be careful.” Eshya says.

Nel worriedly taps her fingers together in a familiar rhythm, as we walk by. I give her a kiss on the cheek hoping to calm her, but her worry doesn’t fade quite so easily.

“The ruins are too dangerous.” She declares, “We’ll all go together.”

“You have work, and Vii has… what was you said Vii was up to?” I ask Eshya.

“She was heading early for alchemy class, hoping to get the chance to talk with the teacher I think.” Eshya replies, trying to hold down a yawn.

“In any case, we’ll be fine.” I tell Nel.

“Contact me the moment you run into trouble.” She replies, her unblinking eyes looking deep into my own. “Please be careful.”

“We’ll be fine.” Eshya says, pinching her cheek. “Do you want us to bring you back a tentacle, or a bug corpse, or something?”

Nel glares at her quietly, before finally relenting with a sigh.

“Just bring these with you.” She hands us each a small bottle that I recognise as the healing potions that came with our newly acquired property.

“Thank you.” I say, swirling the little bottle in my hand. Small particulates float in the faintly glowing blue liquid. When I leave it to settle, the small shards start to crystalise like ice slowly forming in the water. Another swirl scatters the crystalline threads returning it to liquid.

Looking at it through my mana senses, I can see the complex mana flows compressed inside. Unlike many other non-living things, the mana here moves in a closed cycle. There is no fraying, and no mana leaks, at least not right now.

How it works is far beyond my understanding. I wouldn’t even know it’s a healing potion if I wasn’t already aware.

“Shake it before drinking it.” Nel says, her unblinking gaze still focused on me, “And take this too.”

She hands us a large rolled up parchment that she’s had sitting on the table beside her.

“I found this down in our new base. It’s a map of the ruins, hopefully it’ll help.” She says, “Do you have your light wands?”

“Oh, this is… difficult to read.” I day, staring over the mess of criss-crossing lines.

“I’ll handle it.” She says, taking it off my hands and looking through it, already tracing a finger along the crossing paths.

“And again, be careful.” Nel says, looking between the two of us.

“We’ll be back, and hopefully we’ll find Barry.” I say firmly.

“I’ll look out for her.” Eshya says, grabbing my shoulder and pulling me along.

“Hey, I’m the damage dealer on our team.” I shout, “It’s not like I’m some baggage you have to carry around.”

“Take care, the both of you.” Nel calls out to us as Eshya drags me onto the elevator. I wave back to her until she’s out of sight. As we quickly fall into the dark elevator shaft, illuminated only by the magic circle at our feet.

The closed space here is quiet, without any rushing air, or moving parts. Even the magical platform at our feet runs completely silent.

“She hides it rather well most days. I suppose the stress is getting to her.” Eshya says, rubbing at her eyes and yawning again.

“What’s that?” I ask, awkwardly fighting against the elevator magic that holds me in place.

I’ve become somewhat familiar with the magic, having lived here a little while now, but having been dragged onto the lift I wasn’t exactly standing up straight when the magic safety belts kicked in.

I could probably use my mana drain to get free, but I’m not really keen on taking the fast way down to the ground floor.

“Nel, she doesn’t like being left alone.” Eshya says, “Especially when she knows we’ll be fighting.”

“Ah, that.” It’s something I’ve noticed before too. I was rather worried that she’d become too dependent on the rest of us for half a moment a while back. That particular worry turned out to be needless, since now we’re becoming increasingly dependant on her.

“Perhaps we should set up something like what Vii has with that statue?” Eshya jokes, “We could bring it around and she can watch over us.”

“An… interesting proposal.” I say.

“What is Vii doing with that thing, anyway?” I ask, thinking back to that little metal figure that we dressed up in doll clothes.

“She moved it down to our base.” Eshya says, “She’s promised to message us if something happens down there while we’re all gone.”

“Smart.” I say appreciatively.

“So, what do you think we should do about Nel?” Eshya asks as we hit the ground floor.

“What do you mean?” I ask, “I’m not sure there is anything we can do, not with how our lives are at the moment. We’re going to be living dangerously whether we like it or not. Nel has to get used to it, and she is.”

“There has to be something we can do.” Eshya says, still stressing over it.

“How about this.” I say, setting up a chat room between the four of us, excluding Adler for now. “I think this should work; the damn elf actually set this function up beforehand, which is nice.”

“What’s this?” Eshya asks, looking through the invisible faux parchment.

“Might eventually even set up live-streaming. Which could be interesting.” I say, sending a message to the chat.

Kyra- We’re out for a hunt. We promise to keep in contact.

Eshya- This is to everyone?

Vii- Hi, hi, hiiii. You guys are finally out of bed huh? Lazy bums.

Nel- I suppose this works well enough. Tell me if you come across anything down there.

V- Yep, yep. Bring up some interesting parts too, this potions class makes me want to get back into alchemy again. I need the parts though, so bring back all the bug guts!

K- Bug guts, got it. Anything else?

V- The untainted blood of a powerful beast, the ashes of an amphibian, and the bulbous root of a rotgut weed.

N- Rotgut weed? What are you trying to brew?

V- Nothing.

Eshya grumbles as she rubs at her forehead as we walk and chat while heading toward our base.

We’ve made it down the second elevator ride today, watching the sunrise as it shines through the stunning crystal tree that holds up the floating island. It’s easy to forget how beautiful this place can be when I’m busy planning prisonbreaks and slaughtering my enemies.

The light refracting off of the crystal, leaves this area sparkling with shifting lights. Unfortunately, we haven’t the time to dawdle while watching the sunrise. I chew on the piece of toast that I stole from the café and turn towards the markets and our new secret base underneath them.

The few people we pass don’t even give us a second glance. I think I do receive more attention when wearing my dress and jacket combo, and I sort of miss it. I don’t feel as confident, and I feel silly lifting my chin up high wearing the simple clothes that I am.

“This chat might be a good idea.” Eshya says, without joining the conversation that’s still flowing in the background. “But it’s already giving me a headache.”

“It’s okay, just wait until we learn how to send images and videos.” I say, putting the chat into the back of my mind.

~Skill developed.

~Multi-mind.

“Yes!” I cheer, without regards for the stares I gather, “I got the Skill.”

“Skill?”

“Multi-mind. The last one was named slightly differently, but it could just be more of Chips fuckery.” I split my focus between Eshya, the chat, and the people around me, “It works the same.”

“Let me,” Eshya says, touching my shoulder and stealing my Skills.

She looks around a little, stretching her focus the same as I am. She quickly shakes her head and blinks it all away.

“Could be useful.” She says, “It’ll take some time to get used to it.”

“It’s definitely useful.” I say, digging back into my messages. I haven’t yet had the time to renew my contacts list, so I can’t really do much yet, but it’s just nice to have my Skill back.

“Need to visit the store first.” I say to Eshya, stepping into the clothes store with the dress bundled under my arm. The inside is no different than the last time, with strange, foldable mannequins wondering around wearing all the clothes.

“You’re back?” The lovely fox lady says, quick to notice us. “Not here to cause more trouble are you?”

“I might be.” I say, holding out the dress, “Can you do repairs?”

She quickly takes the dress away from me and looks it up and down thoroughly, extra careful as she investigates the tear. After a thorough inspection she turns to address me.

“What have you been using this dress for?” She asks, “How did this happen?”

“I got in a few fights.” I say, “It could have been when I blasted a giant crab. Some of the metal shrapnel probably got the dress. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m probably lucky that I didn’t get impaled.”

“Ah,” She says, looking back between us again, “Combat students… investigating the ruins.” She lets out a long sigh.

“I’ll mend it but please consider getting something more durable for such activities.” She says.

“I’ll try but there aren’t any armour shops around.” I say with a shrug. She grumbles quietly to herself taking my dress back towards a back room.

“It should be ready by tonight.”

“So soon?” I ask.

“I’m not overburdened with work here.” She replies, “Was there anything else?”

“No, no. We’re heading back down, but we’re using a passage behind your shop now so we shouldn’t interfere with your business.”

She looks back at us sadly again at the mention of the ruins, but doesn’t say anything more, just nodding quietly before moving into a backroom.

The aforementioned alleyway still retains much of the shadow of night, though the sun has now fully risen. A set of stairs behind a locked door lead down through uninhabited sections of the ruins, over the decayed remains of old furniture, and finally into the base only recently claimed.

“Did you say something to Vii this morning?” I ask Eshya. It’s rather strange how she left before I woke up this morning, and before class even had a chance to start. That, and Eshya was already awake by the time I was up.

“I did.” She replies, “I told her that I wanted some time alone with you today.”

“Oh? Is that what this is?” I ask, not realizing that that’s what she was angling for with this little adventure.

“There’s a few things we need to discuss away from the others.” She says quite seriously, “That and I thought it a good chance to get some practice in fighting together.”

“You know I can’t say no to you.” I say in an overly saccharine voice, “I hope this conversation is nothing bad?”

“It’s nothing bad.” She says, rubbing her head, “Unlike this chatroom that you’ve set up.”

The conversation via Chip has somehow drifted away in a strange direction, as Vii and Nel are now discussing how to design our palace. I’m not exactly sure why we need a bed-room, as in a room made out of beds, or a grand throne room, but I am a kind ruler and I shall allow it.

“What’s the full plan?” I ask Eshya.

“The full plan is to find that machine that’s loaded full of good Skills, and either bring him back or steal what he has, while killing every beast that we come across in the intervening ruins. We can have that conversation between our fights.”

“A fairly clear-cut plan, if a bit dangerous.” I say, checking on my pistol and ensuring that I still have plenty of bullets. I haven’t yet gotten my new armour, but my mana-surge, fire punch works well enough. It also seems a good opportunity to test my ‘reactive mana skin’ Skill.

It should use my mana to counter incoming forces, including attacks. So far it doesn’t seem to be as flawed as my other stolen Skills, but I haven’t been able to try it out properly yet.

It’s not as if we’re heading into this completely unprepared.

Deeper into our base, where the dust has been cleared away, we stumble across Rudolf who’s writing something in a little book.

“Hi,” I say, waving to him.

He responds with a little wave, so he couldn’t be too upset about me brutally murdering his acquaintance, and getting him to clean up the blood and chunks afterwards.

I should get him something pretty to make up for it.

“Just a moment, can you hit me?” I ask, “Lightly.”

“If I knew you were into that…” Eshya says, “Shoulder?”

“So long as it’s with you, darling…” I nod, “Shoulder. I want to test reactive mana skin, so it might feel strange.”

She nods, punching my shoulder lightly. I feel her fist land on my arm, but the mana gathered in my skin starts to burn up the moment it strikes. I feel her touch, but it’s gentle as a feather, not even brushing my skin.

“Ow.” Eshya says, rotating her shoulder and flexing her arm. “So that was like punching a wall. Good Skill.”

“Only a small hit to my mana, but for stopping a small punch that wouldn’t even hurt…” I say, running my hand over my shoulder.

“You called for me? You need a door open?” Ria calls, stepping into the room, “I hope this won’t take long, I’m in the middle of something.”

“Sorry for bothering you,” Eshya says, “We’ll also need you to open the door for us when we get back.”

“Send me a message when you’re back,” She says, opening the door for us with some fiddling and the use of what looks like a key. She notices my watching.

“You’ll need more than the key,” She says, “I’ve reinforced the door as much as I can, and this inconvenience is the result.”

“So no more intruders?” I ask.

“I can’t guarantee that much.” She replies with a sigh.

I grab her hand and hold it close.

“Thank you.” I say, “Thank you for staying with us, even after everything that’s happened.”

She nods slowly, meeting my eyes as she slowly tries to form words.

“I can’t turn this opportunity down. It’s not like I haven’t known the risks, and I’m actually glad that you went as far as you did to protect us. Orsa was… she went too far. We’re safer with her gone.”

I nod quietly, glad that she’s still alright. Ria quickens her movements again, likely recalling some project that she’s working on and has to get back to.

“Message me when you return.” She says, closing the door behind us.

My light wand brightens a small segment of the deep, consuming darkness that quickly surrounds us as the door closes. It almost feels as if the shadows eat away at the light, making it known that the light does not belong here.

Eshya lets out a long, relaxed sigh, and I can see the tension leaving her as if suddenly stepping into a warm bath after a long day. I didn’t even know something was bothering her until now.

“You like it here?” I ask, her lifting my light wand to check along the halls. The shadows retreat momentarily, revealing the old corridors and a few decayed ruins.

“I do.” She replies simply, “No welfare officers watching over us. No one that might turn us in. Just hungry beasts that will fight or flee. We’re free here. We don’t have to lie.”

I quietly hum in agreement.

I get it, but I don’t think I can ever be as comfortable here as she is.

“So, do you have some trick so that we don’t get lost?” I ask, looking around us.

“Easy, just remember where we came from and follow the map.” She replies, lifting the rolled up parchment that she’s strapped to her waist.

“Ah, if you’re confident about it I guess.” I say.

“I’ve also brought a marker.” She says, pulling out a long stick of what might be charcoal.

“Smart.” I say, “Which way?”

“This way.” She says with confidence. “If we keep moving this direction, we should make our way back towards where we found that machine.”

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” I ask.

She smacks my shoulder.

“Trust me.”

“Fine, fine.” I say, “So what was it that you were wanting to talk about?”

“Orsa, and her people.” She says, her attitude cooling immediately. “I have no issue with what we did to them, but we shouldn’t have gotten the others involved. At least, not in the slaughter that it turned into.”

“Yeah, I saw it too.” Vii’s pale, panicked face as she tore apart the flesh of the plant guy. Nel pushed herself admirably, but I saw her hesitation, and how she buried her emotions in order to kill.

They pushed themselves into doing what they did, but they shouldn’t have to do that.

“Good.” Eshya replies, it’s a point we’ve already gone over, so I know this was just her introducing the topic.

“We’re not like them.” Eshya continues, “We can kill people without issue, and I know that you’re like me; you can even enjoy it. They can’t, and we shouldn’t force them into these situations. They’re fine with beasts, and I’m sure if they’re defending themselves it’s all the same, but that slaughter was different.”

“I know.”

“If we have to do it again, bring me alone. At least until we find others we can trust for this sort of thing.” She says firmly.

A faint slithering down the hall tells us that we’re not alone. We quiet but we don’t hide.

We both ready our pistols, and I ready the fire punch that I’ve been working with. After a little hesitation, I activate my reactive mana skin, just in case. It would be better to waste all my mana blocking an attack, than getting hit and killed by a surprise attack.

“Come on out.” Eshya calls into the darkness, and the sound intensifies as the beast accepts our challenge.

“Fight it off, or kill it?” I ask.

“Kill it if we can.” Eshya says.

From the darkness I see a scaled lump that slowly becomes more and more clear as it slowly enters into the light. The shimmering scales shine a thousand shades of green and purple.

A large clawed forelimb slowly, and carefully lowers to the ground between us, before it’s large head moves into the light. Large, snapping jaws split open the scaled, spherical head, a long rough tongue wraps up and around, licking the surface of its bulging orange eye.

“Ugly.” I say lifting my pistol to aim at it. “Should I just kill it now?”

Jut as I speak the creature snaps into motion, it spins around in the thin hallway, pulling its head back away from us as it swipes it’s whip like tail towards us. I take a shot at it while leaping away from the attack, dodging it by a hair’s breadth.

Eshya charges in and strikes out at it’s retreating form with the energy blade that she showed me before. The magical edge flies out from her sword, much faster than before, landing and wrapping around the tail of the fleeing beast.

It lets out a horrible squeal as the tip of its tail drops to the ground.

Eshya might be able to catch up to it if she pushes herself, but she’s not so dangerously reckless.

Carefully, we follow after it for a few steps, just to ensure that it’s not going to come back the moment we look away.

“Do you think Vii could use the lizards tail?” Eshya asks, waving around the whip like tail.

K- Vii, could you do anything with a lizard tail. It’s big, and the mana is juicy.

V- Please, please. I’ll take it. I’ll take it.

N- What happened? Did you fight a beast?

K- Nope, it ran as soon as it saw us. Eshya cut it’s tail off as it ran, and gave it a little extra pep in it’s step.

V- Couldn’t be that good of a part then. If it’s just running from the two of you.

K- I’ll eat it then. Could always use the extra mana.

V- No, no! I’ll take it. I was joking. I still want it.

I shrug at Eshya who rolls her eyes at me before rolling up the tail and tucking it into a small bag that she’s brought with her.

“So, how is it for you?” I ask. “Killing, and all that.

“It’s not the violence for me.” I continue, “I’m not sure it was even the act of killing Orsa and her lot. It was proving them wrong. Shoving that arrogance right down their throats and making them regret crossing us, even if it was only for a moment.”

It’s nice to say it aloud so simply. I don’t really feel ashamed about this, but it’s still something new to me, and I haven’t had the chance to discuss it with anyone.

“I like to overcome my enemies, so I actually found it a little unsatisfying how they refused to fight back.” Eshya says with a laugh. “I understand what you’re talking about with the violence, though. For me it’s the same. I can feel just as satisfied in subduing a strong enemy after they put up a fight. Proving myself stronger.”

“Yeah, it’s like that. It’s the victory, not the violence itself. Though, I don’t really mind the violence either.” I admit, “Seeing my enemies dead and knowing that they’re not coming back to haunt me has a certain satisfying charm to it.”

“Hmm.” Eshya hums thoughtfully, “Well it’s nice to be different sometimes too.”

“We wouldn’t like the others so much otherwise.” I point out, “Even Adler has her charms, and she’s pretty far from us when it comes to this.”

“I’ll admit her ears are rather cute.” Eshya says.

The halls continue quiet but for our conversation and I feel that there might be a few things out there fleeing from us. We pass crossroads, and occasionally see the signs of other people, in footsteps in the dust, and marks on the walls. Other stranger marks are left behind by beasts unlike ourselves.

“We shouldn’t talk about these things with the others.” Eshya says, breaking the comfortable silence between us.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a difference between killing because it’s necessary and killing because you enjoy it. The others don’t need to know what we’re like. Not about this at least.” Her voice grows weak as she goes on. “They won’t understand, and I don’t want to force them to pretend that it’s okay.”

“It’ll be fine.” I say, “We’ve all been together a while now. I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“Kyra…” Eshya whispers my name, and I can hear the cogs in her head crunching, “I like what we all have, but we’re young. Relationships like ours aren’t uncommon. What is uncommon is for it to last.”

She rushes on before I can get a word in.

“We’re together because of trauma. Because we all went through hell together, and we were all desperate for affection. How Nel worries about us, that’s what this is. If you want what we have to last, there are some things we should hold back.”

There is certainly a form of sense to what she’s saying, but in my heart, I just can’t accept it. I want everyone I love to love me back unconditionally. I don’t want to hide anything from them, not like this.

“No, I’m not hiding this from them.” I say, pressing on through the dark tunnels.

“Well… I’ll still love you at least.” She says, squeezing my shoulder tightly before pushing on.

Again, I hear a vague noise in the distance, but this time it flees from us before we even get near.

“What is love to you?” I ask, playing with the phrase that I heard coming from her lips. It doesn’t sound right when it comes from my own mouth.

“Great sex.” She replies, smirking my way.

“I’m being serious, what does love mean to you?” Her answer sounds exactly like what I’d expect from some university student having their first real relationship. Which is a strangely accurate description of the both of us.

“I wasn’t joking.” She replies, “What makes sex better than the touch of your own hand? It’s the emotions of another person. It’s sharing the moment with someone—or multiple someones— and finding something more important in that moment than pleasure.”

“How the hell can you turn that answer into something that actually sounds nice?” I ask, shaking my head and trying to find a hole in her logic. No matter how I twist it, there’s a certain strange logic to it.

Love is wanting to share your time with someone, wanting to share every special moment with them.

“Are you still planning on being a leader?” Eshya asks, pulling me from my thoughts, “Gathering people under your banner and building an empire?”

“I guess?” I reply hesitantly, “It’s certainly the goal that I’m racing towards. Is it bad that I haven’t been putting much thought into it?”

“You should. You’d make for a decent empress.” She says with a smile, “You’re selfish and greedy enough for it.”

“Gee, thanks. You can be the great warrior that slaughters my enemies for me. You can even gather their skulls and we can make me a skull throne.” I say.

“It doesn’t sound all that comfortable, but if that’s what you’re into.” Eshya says with a shrug. “A shame there’s nothing left of Orsa’s skull.”

“The skull throne isn’t for sitting in, it’s for the prestige.” I say, with a short laugh.

“I’m sure it would impress my parents. Make sure to gift them a few smaller skull mugs, I’m sure that would leave an impact.” She says, clearly amused at the thought. “What is your family like?”

“My family?” I ask, “Nice? I guess. I grew up comfortable, and I was loved. My parents love to travel so they aren’t always around home, but they always made sure that I was cared for. My older brother got his passion from them, but I think he hated how they were never home.

“He could be a bit of a bastard at times, but he always looks out for me. He’s probably pulling his hair out at the moment trying to figure out what happened to me. My parents will probably just accept whatever government lie they’re told, as they run off to the next tourist trap, or quaint village, or whatever.”

“Sounds more interesting than my family.” Eshya says.

“Come on, you said you have multiple sisters. That’s got to be interesting.”

“Most days it’s just a bother.” Eshya says shrugging. “It looks like we’re here.”

“No. It couldn’t be.” I say glaring at the familiar door. “Are you magic?”

“Ah, we all are dipshit.” She flicks my forehead.

I touch the mark and open the door. Dispelling the darkness with my light wand, I look around for my clanky, robot friend.

“Barry?” I call into the darkness.

“Stop dallying and get over here!” The machine clanks his way my direction and calls out to us. His mechanical attempt at a more fluent language sounds a little off in my ears.

“You’re here for training? Or are you just standing around weaving your hair as it grows out? Even the shortscales put some sweat into their potions.”

“We’re hear to learn from you.” Eshya says, rubbing at her head, “So just shut up for a minute.”

“What class were you interested in taking?”

“I was interested in taking all of them.” She says, placing a hand on the machines face, “Aaand. I think it worked?”

She steps away with a thoughtful look on her face as she shifts through a few invisible screens.

“Excuse me a moment.” I say, touching the machine the same and stealing into his system. “He really does use the same support device.”

“It only makes sense. He’s from the Unified States, or whatever came before it.” Eshya says, “It seems many of these Skills won’t be usable without some training.”

“Well, they were made for a machine.” I say, “How about it, Barry? Want to come back with us? There’s a few students that I’d like to introduce you to.”

“The current facilities have deteriorated, and I have been underutilised here. I find the idea of relocation and repurposing to be acceptable.” He says, “I will follow, please indicate the new facilities that you would like to leave in my care.”

“Well, that was easy.” I say, shrugging. Eshya nods, looking suspiciously over the metal man.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 782 units

~Mana distribution:

Catagory Current Max. Skin 25% 25% Muscle 0% 12% Mind 0% 65% Cardiovascular 0% 11% Misc. 0% 10% Efficiency 25% 79%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Mana surge movement

-Mana surge punch

-Reactive mana skin

-Infused delayed casting

-Fire burst punch