Our feet pound out a rhythm on the stone pathway as Eshya and I race towards the port where the rest of our combat group is waiting. A few of the combat course students are sending me messages of support, or are asking where I am, I spare half my mind to send them replies.

Vii flies above and ahead of us, calling out the quickest path that will take us to the port. When she points out that the ship has appeared above the landing, we hold nothing more back.

“We have to move faster!” I shout, using mana surge movement to force my limbs to move at superhuman speeds.

“Then shut up and move faster!” Eshya says back, using the same Skill and bursting out ahead of me for a few steps before relaxing to match my speed.

“Damn you and your long legs!” I shout at her in frustration, which she apparently finds quite amusing.

I have nothing on me but my workout clothes and the filled mana crystal, that I’m hoping will help me to train my mana form while I’m off world. I already know that I can expect rather little in the way of mana from our classes, and we’re not likely to have the chance to go hunting of our own accord.

The toast that I stole as breakfast nearly slips from my hands, and I accidentally crush it just to keep a hold of it. Nel left early today to get some work done, and the rest of us ended up sleeping in, even Vii for once, which is what set the scene for this troublesome morning.

“The ship’s landed!” Vii calls as we slide around the last corner and catch sight of our class gathered up ahead of us. Vii swoops down from the skies and lands with the rest of the class, a few of which have turned to cheer us on as we run.

Eshya stops holding back and easily beats me to the gaol, taking silver place, but I still make it with a few seconds left to spare. The loading ramp clunking into place on the stone just a few moments after I come to a stop.

“You’re late.” Freid says, glaring at us as we stand there, sweating heavily as we pant for breath. Or at least I do, Eshya’s barely worked up a sweat.

“I am never late, nor am I early,” I manage to wheeze out. “I arrived precisely when I meant to.”

The teacher growls quietly at me. I’m not sure if that’s normal for him, or if he’s got an upset stomach or something. My old Chip would hide and translate some of the more subtle expressions like this one, but the new Chip, by letting me hear the sounds themselves, leaves me to question if there’s not some more meaning that’s being missed.

The teacher seems to be a little grumpy, is it a tooth ache? A migraine? Or did he perhaps find out that his colleague is dead?

Actually, if everything has gone as planned it should seem like two of his colleagues are dead.

We might end up having to kill him too, one day.

I’d rather things not turn out like that, but then life rarely goes exactly as I’d like it to. It’s best to be prepared.

“You skipped class.” He says, his teeth showing as he sneers at us. It’s a little relieving, but also anti-climactic. I’ll have to take a spare moment before bed tonight to consider the strange excitement I feel at the thought of him finding out what we’ve done.

I’m not a creature of emotions alone, and I’d really rather not let myself be ruled by these darker emotions swirling inside me.

“We did skip class.” I admit, smiling cheerfully. “There were pressing circumstances, but don’t worry, we’re still planning to make the most out of this school life. You won’t find more inspired students than us.”

“Pressing circumstances?” He asks, his eyes narrowing as if suspicious, but only in the way of a teacher suspicious of a lying pupil. He can’t know about his dead colleagues, not if he’s acting like this.

“We were studying together, and we lost track of time,” I say. “We were either training or sleeping when class was on.”

He growls, and again I have to wonder what he means by that. Is there meaning in it at all? Is it perhaps something more like a tic?

He follows up by shaking his head and sighing in resignation.

“Just get on the ship.” He says, sounding every bit like a teacher that’s struggling to figure out how to deal with a troublesome student.

“I don’t think he believes me.” I say to Eshya, loud enough that he can obviously overhear.

“I mean, would you?” She asks.

“Would I believe me? Absolutely.” I reply, “I’m a trustworthy and reliable student that wouldn’t do anything wrong.”

“Sure, you wouldn’t.” Eshya says, nodding slowly in feigned understanding. We’re both thinking of Saren, and walking beside my dear, cold-blooded, elf lover, it’s difficult not to find it a little amusing how everything is still just normal up here.

We head onto the ship together, and I feel amazingly relieved that everything so far is going as it should. My teacher isn’t picking a fight with me, and we’re boarding a ship to who knows where. Now I just have to hope that we don’t crash.

The other students have already boarded ahead of us and Vii, in quite the rebellious act, skipped out on the teacher lecturing us so that she could secure our table.

We’re the centre of attention as we board, but there are only a few students who seem willing to directly approach us. Alo, the flower-girl, is the most active in seeking answers, taking a spare seat at our table.

“You missed class yesterday.” She says, getting the conversation started without missing a beat.

“We slept in.” I say, a yawn escaping me, helping to drive the point home.

“It was in the afternoon.” She says, sounding amazed rather than disbelieving.

“We get busy sometimes and miss out on sleep.” I say with a shrug. “Then you don’t wake up from a nap and suddenly the whole weeks gone by.”

“Wow,” She says, her eyes shining. “Is that normal for your species?”

“Sometimes, humans are a diverse species.” I reply. “Did we miss out on much?”

“Not really, I guess. We were just cutting up more bodies.” She says. “Aren’t you afraid? You heard what Freid said when we started this course, didn’t you?”

“The thinly veiled threat to have us marked as beasts, collared, and then turned into pets?” Eshya asks. “We’re all rather well aware of that point.”

“We’ll be careful.” Vii says, chirping in. “We can’t afford not to be. If the teacher decides we aren’t serious, or that we’re too beastly…”

“It’ll mean a fight.” I say with a sigh, realizing that it would likely be a fight that we can’t win. Pressing my thumb to my temple I try to think of a way we could overcome him while I begin to regret coming back to the academy. It should be fine… but in case it isn’t, I need to get strong enough to kill the rest of the education staff.

“A fight?” Alo asks, taken aback. “You’d fight?”

“A joke.” I say, forcing a smile.

“Is that so…” She seems a little uncomfortable, so I lean forwards while keeping my smile up.

“Who would be crazy enough to actually pick a fight with a teacher?” I ask with a light-hearted laugh.

She seems to realize that she’s being silly and laughs it off. Vii laughs rather nervously, hiccupping and swallowing audibly after a moment. Eshya, though, finds it more than a little amusing.

I hesitantly reach for the pendant that Arduelle gave me, the one that she can apparently see us through. Now that I think about it, I really shouldn’t be keeping it tucked under my shirt. It’s like hiding an active, live-streaming webcam by shoving it into your underwear.

“Are you watching?” I ask in a whisper under my breath as I play with the metal pendant. “What’s a student’s life seem like to an old lady like you?”

The ship lifts up from the landing, slowly elevating itself up into the sky where it’ll perform a realm shift, dumping us into the skies over an alien world. How many worlds have I visited now? I’ve never actually bothered to count.

Chip indicates a new message, pulling me out of my reverie. It’s from Arduelle… She has a support device? Why didn’t I try stealing her Skills?! She has to have a few interesting Skills gathered together.

“It’s boring. Where’s the conflict? Where’s the danger? You’re just, what? Going on a field trip to go camping where the weakest of beasts might give you a nip on the bum?”

Is it strange for a dungeon to be equipped with a support device? I hadn’t even given it a thought before, but she was wearing a fleshy, human-adjacent body. I should have expected as much.

“You’re just missing the tension.” I send back. “You see we’ve already been involved in the murder of one of our teachers and the kidnapping of another. At any moment the rest of our teachers, or even the welfare officers, could find out and come after us. Not every story has action on every page, you know.”

“You’re paranoid if you think they’re going to find you out.” Arduelle sends back. “A student as pitifully weak as you would never even be considered a possible conspirator in that killing. It’ll be assumed that she gave improper orders allowing some of her collared beasts to kill her and escape.

“You could up and admit to what you’ve done, and they wouldn’t believe you.”

“Well, that’s just insulting.” I grumble, and she actually goes so far as to send me a message filled with laughter. What is with her? Is everyone a different person when we’re exchanging texts?

“What’s insulting?” Alo asks.

“Oh, just a message I got from an acquaintance.” I say. “It’s an older lady. I’m sure she’s just losing her wits as she’s entering her twilight years.”

“Oh, that’s so sad.” Alo says, sounding genuinely forlorn.

“Um… Kyra, who are you talking about?” Vii asks, sitting up a little taller in her chair. “We don’t know many old people. I can only really think of Arduelle, but I mean… You’re not, are you?”

I shift a little in my chair, realizing that I’m acting like an idiot again. Arduelle did start it, but…

“I just want to say,” Eshya begins, chuckling nervously as her eyesight trails down to my chest, or more accurately the pendant hanging there. “I do not agree with what Kyra has said. Arduelle is a very nice lady.”

“Traitor!” I hiss.

“I didn’t say anything either.” Vii adds quickly, “I’m sure Kyra doesn’t mean anything by it. She’s silly sometimes.”

“You don’t need to cover for me!” I moan, planting my face on the table.

“Why are you all acting weird all of a sudden?” Alo asks, looking between us.

None of us can really find a safe way to reply.

“Rejoice, small-fish. You have a full week before your return, and I have a full week to consider how I can punish you for your insolence.” I can’t tell through the text medium, whether she’s partly joking, or if she’s totally serious.

While it’s a poor excuse, the truth is that I’m using most of my braincells thinking, chatting, and messaging. Most of those messages, especially my conversations with Leai, are so light-hearted that I’ve somewhat forgotten the gravitas that this topic probably deserves.

While I’m still thinking of some way to avoid getting disciplined by the oldest dungeon in existence, the ship gets flooded with mana and we shift to a new world.

As a part of the Unified States of Mana empire—or is it some form of bureaucratic automated governance? — this world does have the infrastructure to support the relay of communications between devices. Another thing that I should probably investigate and/or steal for my own burgeoning empire.

It’s no good having a mobile phone if there’s no satellites in the sky relaying the message, and I don’t want an empire without working mobile phones.

This new world is, for as far as I can see, fresh green pastures. We’re landing in a small rural town sitting atop a hill over the green grasslands. It doesn’t seem particularly special in any way that I can see, in fact, it’s rather boring when compared to the dungeon.

The ship clunks down into the landing zone, which for once is a lake rather than a cliffs edge. A nice change, if somewhat less exciting.

We gather together and depart from the ship, entering a small, rural town built up from clay bricks. The people living here are short, furred, cat-like creatures that stand only half as tall as a normal person, and their housing reflects that trend. The occasional member of their tribe has the features of an elf, but it’s rather uncommon.

This is where my focus begins to fade. Everything starts to just go on just the same as the last trip. Instead of being given houses, we’re camping out, and the meals are a little more meagre. Otherwise, the classes are much the same, as Freid works to build on what we already know rather than teach us anything new.

Most of my focus during class is instead directed to the incoming messages from Nel, and my own training regime, which I adjust around the intensity of the class activities.

My mana form is lacking.

It’s been my problem for a while now, and I’ve tried to focus on it where I can, but I can’t wait around any longer.

It’s because of this that I’ve been far too unreliable in combat, too easily kidnapped, and too easily beaten down when my mana gets low. I’m going to speak with the mana form teacher when I get the chance, so that I can try to force myself into the liquid mana stage early, but for now I’ll practice getting my physical attunement into shape.

For that, I also need to understand the purpose of it. Why focus on developing my mana skin, when I’ve got a reactive mana skin Skill? Will it make the skill more efficient?

The same with my muscles and my mana surge movement. I need to explore and understand exactly what’s going on, and a brief glance through a few of the texts jammed into my brain via my new Chip, just isn’t going to cut it.

The explanations I get are either vague enough that it doesn’t fully relate to my questions, or specific enough that I’ll probably need to take a month off to study quantum mechanics just to figure out the fundamentals.

My muscular mana grouping, the category which is now responsible for bone, nerves, and muscles, is my current focus. I’ve also been taking a few breaks to focus on the others in between, and I do see my numbers rising, but that’s not enough.

“What are you thinking about?” Eshya asks, as I sit in an attempted meditation pose, the days classes ended before I knew it and now there’s nothing holding me back from my training.

I run my mana through my muscular mana grouping, adjusting the speed of the flow, and sometimes trying something new. Pulses don’t seem to do so well unless it’s in tune with a physical motion, like my mana surge movement. Faster mana cycling does improve the flow, but only to a certain point, as once it gets fast enough it becomes much more difficult to contain.

“Training.” I explain. “My mana form is just a bit shit, so to speak.”

“Ah, here I thought you were slacking.” Eshya says, nodding. “Make sure to train your mana form while doing other things that keep your mind distracted. We may have Skills to support us, but it’s important to get used to manipulating your mana form while busy.”

“Ugh.” I grunt an unflattering reply to the talented, young elf.

“I’m still working on my last percentages.” She says again, “Kyra, you have plenty of extra mana sitting around, no?”

“Sure do.” I say, spitting out the glowing crystal that’s flooded with mana. Even moving it around with my tongue is quite the exercise and requires a little concentrated push with a mana shield on my tongue. Useful both for distraction and training.

The small, wet gem radiates light, both to my eyes and my mana senses.

“Could you give me a little? I want to push myself a little harder than normal.” It’s unusual for any of them to want to try more mana than usual. As it is, they’re pushing themselves to absorb the mana that I feed them morning and night.

“Are you sure?” I ask, taking out a small pouch filled with meat scraps just for this occasion. I’ll have to find something else to use as the week goes on, but they’re still good for now.

“I am, double the normal dose if you could.”

“You sound like a junkie.” I say with a smile. “In that case, while you’re digesting that, could I get your help with my own training? I want to try and kill my mana form.”

“That’s…” She frowns, swallowing the mana, flinching in pain but struggling through, her voice a little warbly for the effort. “It’s dangerous to push too hard.”

“Yet you’re doing just that.” I say with a smile.

“Killing your mana form?” Adler asks, her eyes wide. “You mean you’re going to try and empty yourself of mana?”

“Precisely.” I say, “I’ve done it before, but I think I’m starting to become dependant on mana. I don’t want to end up dying because of that dependency, so while Eshya overdoses, I want to try cutting myself off.”

“Are you talking about mana like it’s some recreational drug?” Adler asks, sounding unimpressed.

“Ah, so it did translate across.” I nod in appreciation, and she just shakes her head disapprovingly.

“I’ll be observing you both.” Adler says, stepping up to my side. “I’ve been reviewing some healing archives in the new support device. I never made it as a healer, but… I mean… I’m useless, aren’t I?”

Eshya laughs, her voice a little high for the pain she’s suffering through trying to get the mana down.

“Why do you think we’re suddenly doing this?” I ask, looking at Eshya, and knowing that she’s feeling the same powerlessness that I am. “As soon as I land a big hit, I become a burden on whatever combat group I’m a part of.

“I can’t be back at our base right now, though I should be. Even though I’m supposed to be their leader, I chose to come out here instead. The worst part is, I’m not even sure I could do anything useful if I was back there with them.”

Nel sent me a few messages earlier telling me that everything was going alright. That the lighting, the toilet, the water, it’s all been dealt with and everything is alright.

Leai has been fishing, and Red has been out hunting. Korgan and Arn have helped get the food back and have been out there getting along well with the locals. Apparently they’re good friends with Green-feet now.

“We all want to be stronger.” Vii says, hopping over and sitting by my side. She looks a little uncertain of herself before she takes a big breath and holds out her half-hand my way. Two fingers and a thumb, all covered in soft scutes just like her legs. I’ve grown rather used to her inhumanness over time, and now I only notice it in moments when I’m not feeling quite myself.

“I’ll have some more mana, please.” She begs cutely.

“However much you want.” I say, leaning in and pressing some mana into a small piece of faux-jerky.

“None for me.” Adler says, when I turn to her. “I’m going to monitor you all and ensure you don’t hurt yourselves.”

“Thanks Adler.” I say, feeding my mana into the small gem I’ve returned to my mouth. In an emergency, it’ll be easier to pull mana from it there, than if it’s in my hand.

For some reason it hasn’t merged into my mana form, like armour has, but instead it’s stayed apart from me. A tool, but never anything more, no matter how densely I pack it with my mana.

I enlarge the numbers indicating my mana density so that it’s impossible to miss them and push my mana into the stone. Fast at first, but slower as I approach the point where I expect to start feeling symptoms.

The first sign is a cold chill that rolls over my skin, slight at first but more prominent the lower my mana gets. My head gets light, and I can feel a weight growing in the pit of my stomach the moment my numbers get lower than 100.

I keep my mana steady at that point, rotating it around my flesh and trying to stabilise my condition. It’s possible that this condition is permanent now, that I’m a part of the magical community and can never let go of my mana again, but I hope otherwise.

While pulling mana from the air is a neat trick that I’d like back, what I’m most desperate for is the ability to simply survive mana-zero. The point where I become just a mundane human again.

There are going to be situations where I’ll need to use up mana like mad, especially considering how little of a fish I am in this large pond. I’ve yet to even see the metaphorical ocean.

Whether it’s illusion or not, I do feel a little better after a few minutes, and so I lower my mana even further. Eshya and Vii are still struggling beside me, they apparently take longer to convert mana than I do, but that’s not new information at this point.

Our self-flagellation continues long into the night, I rotate between killing my mana form and developing my connection between mana form and flesh.

We do eventually take to bed, but morning comes again in a flash. I go through the motions of class in a daze, succeeding more than I fail at activities purely because my opponents aren’t serious enough.

I continue to push my training to the next level, further and further as the days roll by far too quickly. The numbers that mark my progress rise far too slowly for how the days slipping away. I barely find the chance to sleep, and the others are the same.

There’s nothing for us to do here but train, so we train.

I mark the days out with messages from Nel and the others at home. While things are going well over there, with some significant trade and hunting taking place, we’ve got precious little to show for our own work.

A few points here and there on the screens, and a few classmates impressed with us. Freid has noticed our growth and taken some extra time to try and push us to our limits, but he doesn’t have the time to be teaching us one-on-one. In the end, we have to push ourselves and each other.

I nearly pass out on the last day, as I lower my mana down below 90. While the progress to my lower limits is still going, it’s getting exponentially more difficult the lower I press myself. I can, and have dipped it to 0, but the symptoms come quick and violently when I do.

To think that this was so simple when I first discovered magic.

“Don’t push yourself this hard again.” Adler says, standing over me. She’s far more serious now than she has been in a long time, and it is rather nice to see. If I had the energy, I’d probably be flirting with her.

“I’m almost at liquid stage, I just can’t quite… grr…” Eshya groans at my side, she’s been pushing herself just as hard as me, and while she hasn’t passed out, she’s not been entirely successful in hiding her suffering either.

I start laughing despairingly at the sight of her, sweaty, with messed hair, entirely unlike the other elves. She rolls over looking at me sweating on the ground beside her, my muscles feeling like jelly, and my head light as can be. She starts laughing too.

Vii rolls onto the two of us and wraps her wings around us tightly as she squeals in a low, keening voice. There is no way to escape the suffering of mana conversion, you just need to learn how to force yourself to get through it.

I would quite literally start committing genocides if I could grow through killing things, like in an RPG. Instead, we suffer, and struggle, all to get these numbers moving up a little higher.

It does work.

The numbers do rise, and we are improving, but it never feels enough.

My mind doesn’t even start to clear until I see our ship lower to the landing. As the ramp clunks into place, ready for boarding, I feel strangely clearheaded and at peace. I shift around a few invisible papers, and write a message to Nel.

“What disaster has taken place this time?” I send.

“Nothing.” Nel sends back. “I’ve been busy, but other than that things have been well. I can’t meet you at the landing today, but if you’ll come to our base in the ruins, I’ll give you a report.”

“A report. No disasters?” I ask, shaking my head in disbelief. Everything is meant to collapse and break the moment I leave, how else am I supposed to feel important.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 820 units

~Mana distribution:

Catagory Current Max. Skin 0% 49% Muscle 0% 51% Mind 0% 72% Cardiovascular 33% 33% Misc. 0% 29% Efficiency 33% 82%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Mana surge punch

-Reactive mana skin

-Infused delayed Casting

-Fire burst punch