Ever since I’ve been kidnapped and brain chipped by a lizardman, my entire life has been moving at someone else’s pace. Red soon enough took over control, but not even she was wholly responsible when things turned to shit again.

Slowly I’ve been taking back control of my life, but this now is the first time when I feel like I’m fully in control. I’m the one who gets to choose the place, the people, and the goal.

This time, I’m driving the bus and I’ll be damned if I don’t smash it right through the prison walls. This time, I’m the disaster.

“Are there any questions before we get started,” I ask the moment Nel is finished outlining the plan.

The underground map, laid out on the table before us is now marked with the selected entry points and escape routes. The rest of the notes put together, Nel has already sent to us through our messaging system. She’s been doing some interesting things with this new tech.

“Is there any reason we’re moving today?” Korgan asks, leaning on his shield while looking over the map.

“There are people up there due to be slaughtered.” I say, “It’s impossible to know when it’s going to happen, so we’re moving now rather than waiting and hoping for the best.”

He nods slowly, rubbing at his brown beard without saying anything more.

Everyone’s rather tense at the moment, though none more than Adler who’s trying to hide her shakes with clenched fists. Her eyes are watering and her ears flicking around.

“So, if we are found, how do we decide if we fight or run?” Seia asks, looking between us, “I doubt we’ll have the chance to have a conversation about it.”

“If someone shouts to run for it, we abandon the fight and try to escape. I doubt anyone here is going to get scared and force us to run because they were surprised by a stray rat, so it seems like enough of a plan for me.” I say, “Otherwise, we’ll fight our way through and get this done.”

“Okay, and if something bad does happen, we’re not coming back here?” Vii confirms, “We’ll be going into the dungeon?”

“The entrance to the dungeon.” Adler says firmly, “We’ll stop there to discuss whether we need to enter the dungeon proper, or whether it should be safe enough to return to base.”

“If things go bad enough, we might have to live down there.” I say, “Is everyone here prepared for that?”

“No,” Ria says.

“You’re not coming with us, so you’ll be fine whatever happens.” I say,

“Is that okay? What if you need me? I could lock the doors behind you, to keep you from being followed.” She says, slightly panicked. Her voice chimes and thrums as she tries to disguise her fear.

“You’ve ensured that all the doors are working, that’s enough,” I say. “Is there anything else? Are we ready to go?”

“Ready.” Nel says, patting herself down to reconfirm that she still has all her weapons.

“I’m ready.” Eshya says with half a smile rising on her lips. She adjusts the grip on her sword before swinging it around a few times, to ensure that it’s good for a fight.

Vii nods nervously, as she scrawls in that little red notebook of hers. Making notes, about the legends that will be made about this day, I’m sure. Either that, or she’s still cursing me about the beast repellent that I put together.

“I’m always ready for a fight.” Leai says, her eyes shining. Eshya looks between her and I a little worriedly before shaking her head.

“Let’s go.” The dwarf nods hefting his large shield, “I’ll take the lead.”

Ria opens the door for us and waves us through, watching after us with more than a little worry bright in her eyes. It’s nice to know that we’ll have people waiting for our return.

“How do you think Red will react?” Eshya asks, walking by my side. With the help of Korgan and the twins she’s fallen behind in terms of sheer offensive power, though I’m sure she’s not going to allow things to remain that way for long. Today, her place in formation is at my side, protecting me and ensuring that I’m ready to hit hard at any moment.

“She won’t kill us, or collar us, so she’s already an ally. It’s just a matter of whether or not she’ll work with us. She may try to strike out on her own, and either steal a ship, or delve into the dungeon without us”

“That’d be bad.” Vii says, “Wait, would that be bad? It’s not like that would hurt us any.”

Vii is by my side as ranged support alongside Nel, who’s acting as support and carrying most of our potions.

“It doesn’t make much difference either way, but there are many others there who aren’t so strong that they can strike out on their own.” Nel says, “We’ll take them in and form combat teams for hunting and scouting. There’s also plenty of artifacts down here like Barry that we could uncover with their assistance.

“Lefue would be considerable help, but we’ll be just fine whatever happens.” I take an extra moment to save Red’s name in Chip as ‘Red’. I figure it didn’t stick before, because I always treated ‘Red’ as more of a nickname to tease her, but at this point I’m just going to accept it.

“We need to get stronger ourselves.” Eshya says, glaring at the backs of our vanguard.

It’s a little off-putting that our new recruits are already ahead of us. We are catching up quick but by then we might possibly have Red on our side, which again makes us the weakest of our own forces. Not ideal in a world as dangerous as this.

“We’ll get stronger.” I say, “We’re already growing quickly.”

“Dangerously so.” Adler says cutting in, “You need to ensure that you work on your Skills and techniques. Mana density isn’t everything.”

“In class.” I say, “I’m still working on fixing my physical connection to my mana form. I was testing earlier to see how low I can afford to let my mana form get, and it seems that I might still be able to survive running on empty.”

“That sounds awfully uncertain.” Adler says, “But incredible regardless.”

I shrug.

“It’s how I boosted myself up to where I’m at. I’m planning on doing some low mana density training to try and ensure that I can always survive without mana. I’m hoping it might also help me with understanding where I can improve my mana forms flow.”

“Why focus on it so much?” Vii asks, her brow furrowed as she tries to peer through the darkness that surrounds us. The twins are glowing, and we have a few light wands with us, so it’s not pitch black, but some of these halls are still dangerous enough that beasts can lurk in any dark corner.

“Unlike you guys, I spend lots of mana, sometimes without much thought. If I can’t survive with low mana, I’m going to end up killing myself one of these days completely by accident.” I say.

We quiet as we start to near the entry point and the official beginning of this operation. The darkness around us consumes our footsteps and whispers as distant echoes are carried easily upon the stagnant air. Monsters and beasts still hunt here, this is still their territory, for now.

The sounds quiet as we wonder towards a familiar, awful stench. The beast lies where we left it. A gamble that I am thankful has paid off for us.

“Why do we keep coming back here?” Vii moans in frustration, the others trying to avoid opening their mouths for fear of the flavour seeping in.

Anticipating it we’re able to hold onto our lunches rather well; comparably well, that is. When we’re finally close enough to see the beast and start stepping into the juices that have flowed down from it, none of us can keep our stomachs from rebelling.

When we’re finally done and I slowly feel the stench fading to the back of my multi-minds, I focus on the task at hand.

It looks as if the beast’s flesh has been left exactly as we left it since we last came here to salvage some of the goop. Nel now carries a few potion vials full of the goop. Even with such small doses it’s potent enough that I have no doubts it’ll drive away wild beasts as it’s done here.

I carefully select a few meaty chunks from the carcass and begin planting the ‘fire seeds’ as Ria called them. They’re essentially modified versions of our fire blast bullets, but set such that they’re already filled with dense mana, and they don’t get set off until after one of us activates them with a touch of mana.

Leave behind chunks of smelly flesh with some liquid silver from broken collars, and I’m sure it’ll be enough to dissuade any but the most dedicated welfare officers. It’s a rough plan, but Adler has given her approval, and I’m sure it’ll work out.

It’s not as if the plan is going to derail and everything is going to turn to hell like it always does.

Actually, there’s no point in lying to myself. The second reason—otherwise known as the real reason—we’re using this flesh is that we can use it as a chemical weapon when things do inevitably fail to go the way we want.

With our freshly harvested chemical weapons in hand, we run up and towards the door that we’ve selected as our entry. Chosen simply for its proximity to Bessy, who we’re going to be relying on for this whole thing to work.

I didn’t get the chance to speak with her myself, but Adler and Eshya both did. Apparently, she’s willing, though they both expressed some concerns about what that really means.

“So, she won’t actually talk?” I ask, “How does that even work, can’t these silver globs translate even insect pheromones into words? Why not her too?”

“I assume it’s because she doesn’t want it to.” Adler replies, “It’s possible, with some experience to police what is expressed through the translators to others. I suspect that she’s used that to completely lock off communications.”

“How did you figure that she agreed to our plan then?” I ask.

“She seemed happy when we explained it.” Eshya says, shrugging, “It was the best we could get from her.”

“We’ll… shit, let’s hope she’s up for this then.” I say, staring at the door which marks the point of no return. From here, we’re breaking some fairly serious rules, we’re not likely to get a simple slap on the wrist for this break and enter. I mean, they don’t have any laws on that here, but I’m pretty certain the welfare officers will take serious offense to our actions.

“Everyone, hoods up.” I say, checking that we’re all covered as well as can be expected before I wave our vanguard forwards.

I don’t want to see them as expendable, but I am rather glad that all those I have more intimate relationships with are at the back with me. Even if it bothers Eshya that she’s being outdone in her specialised field of killing things.

“Moving.” The dwarf says, stepping into the dull lights that indicate this as civilised territory. The distinct line between the wilds, where we’re free; and the city, where the rules suddenly apply.

We attract attention the moment we’re through the door, but there’s only the collared beasts here. A few of lesser intelligence, many who are quiet and sullen, and some who come to doors to plead for help, whether silently due to orders, or speaking strange words, perhaps seeking phrases that aren’t locked away by the collars that have infiltrated their very minds.

The most frightful part is seeing how few of them react to the smell of the beast repellent that we’ve brought a long with us. A few gag and spit up in the corners of their cells, but most are too distracted, whether by their own torment, or in asking us for help.

We don’t respond.

They’re not on the list, and we need to get Bessy’s support before we have a pile of unconscious, but technically uncollared beasts, that we have to try and save.

Even taking the shortest route it still takes us five minutes to find her, weaving through the strange prison. There are no bars on the windows, no doors in the doorframes. This is prison that exists largely, and literally in their own minds. One they never stood a chance of escaping.

“Here.” Korgan says, stopping by one room that’s no different from any other. It’s not nearly the size that I’d expected considering how large Bessy still is in my mind, but seeing her now, I realize how little I understood about her.

Compared to what she was before, now she’s absolutely tiny, barely the size of my torso. Her great big eyes now take up most of her body, looking like she’d belong in any modern kids animation film. She is, for all I can see of her, a purple ball of floating fuzz, her tentacles lazily wave through the air around her as she takes notice of us.

I’m tempted to run at her and cuddle, but we don’t have the time for pleasantries.

“You know what we need you for?” I ask her, settling by her side as Nel pulls out the right potions. We’re hoping that they both work, things get more difficult if either fails. If we can’t nock her out, pulling the collar will be dangerous. If we can’t wake her up, she can’t carry out the others we save.

Bessy bobs up and down while shyly looking down at the ground at our feet. She’s another one that doesn’t seem bothered by the smell that we radiate.

“Drink this.” Nel says holding out the knockout potion, “It’ll put you to sleep so that we can remove your collar. This other one will wake you up afterwards.”

One of her long purple limbs reaches out and accepts the potion before she pulls the whole thing into her fur space. She didn’t seem to push it anywhere in particular but when she pulls the bottle out to return it, it’s empty.

“Thank you.” I say, “This will be over in a minute, and we’ll need your help after that.”

She bounced again, seeming a little drowsy but still conscious. Nel looks a little concerned, but thankfully nothing goes wrong, and the puff ball closes her eyes.

I don’t waste a moment and rest a hand on her fur/puff. It’s not nearly as soft as it looks, but that’s just the natural outcome of her high mana density. Thankfully I find her collar rather easily, partly because it contains far more mana than any other that I’ve worked with, partly because I’m more experienced than I’ve ever been.

The collars, as I understand it, seem to work using the mana inside of a person, the stronger the person, the more mana they can steal. Thankfully, pulling the mana out feels just the same as every other time, and while it’s a little more bothersome, it only costs me perhaps an extra thirty seconds to have it out of her.

Nel quickly slaps her with the newest version of Chip before pouring the wake-up drug all over her.

Bessy blinks a few times, looking a little confused before finally meeting our eyes again.

“We have to go save the others, do you want to save Red?” I ask, “Many others too.”

She bobs happily and I’m not sure if she really gets it, but she puffs herself up a little and spawns a dozen more arms, so I have to hope that she does.

“Right, we follow the planned course,” Nel says in a nervous whisper. “Knock them out, pull their collars, and Bessy carries them.”

I nod, Bessy bobs up and down in apparent agreement, and just like that we’re moving to the next target. Rare and Lui. The pair are fast asleep when we arrive, but I quickly shake Rare awake and hold out the knockout potion.

“Quickly, we want to be out of here before we’re found.” I say as she looks at me with tired eyes, retching as she starts to take in the smell. “Drink this, I’ll pull out your collar and you’ll wake up somewhere safe… ah… safer.”

After another moment of hesitation, she leans forwards, grabbing the potion with her lips and chugging it down.

“You’d better not be screwing us.” She says as she drowsily closes her eyes. “Also, take a shower.”

“It’s not me, it’s the… whatever…” I say, petting at her scales and feeling for the threads of her collar. The moment she passes out, I yank hard and pull the fabric out almost in one go. When done, I pass her on to Bessy, who lifts her up carefully in her long limbs. She is much stronger than she looks.

Eshya pulls Lui out to me, already unconscious, and I give him the same procedure, leaving behind a little silver slime. I hope that’s not going to be too suspicious.

The mission continues as planned, with surprisingly little trouble even as we gather a couple of gaging humans and throw them to Bessy, who now carries a whole train of sleeping ‘beasts’ behind her.

“Come on, come on.” I whisper as we get nearer to Red. While she’s occupied my mind more than most others, the real reason for that, and for my excitement now, is the fact that she’s strong.

If things turn to shit, we’ll be hundreds of times safer if she’s on our side. We’ve got a wake-up potion with her name on it just for that reason alone.

So, when we turn the corner, counting down the metres until we get to her, and come face to face with the one person I’d really rather not meet right now. It’s all rather frustrating.

Though it is pleasant to see that her first reaction is to upheave her guts at the smell of us.

Saren.

Our beast taming teacher.

We’ve had her for two classes and already we have to kill her. That must be some kind of record.

None of us are master thieves. The moment we see her, she’s already staring at us with wide open eyes and sick dripping from her lips.

If we were smarter, we’d have tagged her too just so that this wouldn’t happen. It’s the obvious thing to do, so obvious in fact that the tagging Skill was based off of hunting Skills used just for situations like this. Marking out threats and trying to avoid them.

“Who… what are you doing?” Her gaze focuses on Bessy and the train of ‘beasts’ that we have captured behind us.

“Hi miss. It’s nice to meet you again!” Leai calls out waving excitedly to the teacher, as she lowers her hood. “You remember us, don’t you?”

“You. The troubled students. You’ve yet to learn your lessons properly it seems. You can stop right there; I’ll be taking you all into my protection.” She speaks as if expecting us to obey her commands.

“Now, now miss. You don’t need to speak like that. We’re all free people here.” Leai says, her smile brightening as the teachers eyes widen further.

“I can take her.” Leai says, “With my sisters help.”

“Well, shit. Alright.” I say, “looking over at the teacher.”

“You think I’m letting you get away?” Saren asks, her light pink scales shining in the dim light. “I’ve already sent a message requesting assistance. There’s no escaping this, just give in.”

“Plan C?” I ask, with a sigh and a shrug.

“Plan C.” Nel replies, “Kill her quickly, we don’t have time to waste anymore.”

“It looks like this situation is rather unfortunate. Red, could you come out here and assist me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Red steps out of her cell, looking almost like a marionette as she stands side by side with her captor.

“Well, this just got more interesting.” I say, meeting Red’s raging eyes. “Think she’ll go easy on us?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 790 units

~Mana distribution:

Catagory Current Max. Skin 5% 28% Muscle 33% 33% Mind 20% 65% Cardiovascular 11% 11% Misc. 10% 10% Efficiency 79% 79%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Mana surge punch

-Reactive mana skin

-Infused delayed Casting

-Fire burst punch