Peace.

It’s been my goal since my entire world was turned upside down and tossed into a battlefield. I saw people die, and more than a few times I nearly joined them in eternal rest, but only now, after everything has calmed down can I truly accept the weight of it all. Only now can I look back and see the madness, truly understanding just how crazy it all is.

I just want the violence to end. I want a stable, safe place to call home. Now, I have it.

This city isn’t perfect, and there are still threats around, but for now it’s relatively safe. No welfare officers watching our every move, no wild beasts threatening to claw out my throat. Everything is rather peaceful considering what my life has been since leaving Earth.

I never knew that peace would feel this… difficult.

No one else seems to feel it, but the air is filled with a deeply anxious weight. Like a boulder rocking back and forth on the precipice of a cliffs edge. Things can’t stay like this forever, and a part of me just wants it all to collapse so that the waiting will at least be over.

It’s been weeks since I started rebuilding this city, but the changes and developments are small. The farms are slowly being tilled and seeded. The markets are still changing more every day as people adjust and change the advertising on the fronts of their stores and stalls. Crafters are creating new things each and every day, but it still feels incomplete.

There’s still so much left for all of us to do. Busy work to keep me distracted while I gather mana from the trash and unwanted meats, of which there is very little. Most of the mana is now gathered in my throne, but a good portion of it is being pressed into enchanted crystal shards.

“Our people have taken to them.” Nel explains, gathering some and placing them carefully into a case. I stare at the one in my hand. The crystal is only as long as a finger nail, and rounded out into he shape of a pill.

“The merchants wanted them made into a coin shape to better stack and store them, but Ria and I thought it better to keep this shape to make it easier to consume the mana inside of it.” Nel continues explaining the little shards which have been smoothed out. “Each one carries enchantments to turn them into mana batteries, as well as to shed any dirt or filth.”

“Good.” I nod happily filling this one up too and handing it to Nel. It’s added to the case with the others.

“Unfortunately, it’s not quite working as a currency yet.” Nel says, shaking her head and smiling. “People are collecting them as an oddity at the moment, but I’m sure as we give out more, they’ll become traded as we intend.”

There’s nothing much more for me to do, everything was systemised rather quickly and easily. Now the last task I’m left with is filling them all up with mana as they make their way back to us. For today, no one wants to meet, and there’s nothing that needs to be done.

There’s less than a week left before I’m scheduled to meet with the rebel traders who’ll be coming by to drop me off at Earth for a quick visit.

There’s been no trouble, no emergencies, in all this time. A few minor conflicts between citizens that are easily resolved with my blatant disregard for their privacy. We’ve also had some issues with supplying goods, from tools to seeds. Building a city takes a thousand hands, and a thousand different tools and materials.

Yet, the solutions come easily. We source most of what we need through trade channels that already existed with the colonists here, and some other things through the slayers who hunt neighbouring wild caverns.

No powerful monsters have dropped by to tear this city down, and no one has come to try and challenge me for my throne.

Even Sedena has been behaving herself. It seems that she has an interest in chasing down students in the ruins, and spying on them. She hasn’t done anything to act against us, but she has been watching us.

She bothers me, but all our tests with various Skills and modified collars have come up empty. We have no way to trap or control her through any magical means that we have access to. If we’re not killing her, then we need to either trick her, or find some way to come to a peaceful compromise.

Considering that she’s a violent murderer—at least we strongly suspect so—and she’s in a position of authority, I can’t imagine the conversation will be easy. I’d like to find some way to intimidate her into submission, but I’m not sure that would work either.

I’m not ready to mess with the current peace, not when she hasn’t made any moves in the last week. I know I’m just putting the issue off, but this could easily cause us more trouble by interfering rather than resolving anything.

So, all in all, things here are busy but peaceful.

And I hate it.

Every free moment I’m not busying myself with my relationships and work, is spent staring at the sky and waiting for a comically large anvil to fall on my head. Something is going to happen to ruin this peace. I’m just waiting for it to finally hit.

I use that anxiety to fuel my training, and through effort and time, I’ve largely managed to stabilise a full liquid stage development. My focus still slips at times, and my mana concentrates into liquid shards floating through a gaseous mana form. It’s less common now, at least.

It’s not as if I haven’t made any other strides, either. It’s been less of a focus since I reached liquid stage mana, but my flesh has become fully acclimated to my mana form, and I can properly spread it out through my body as I wish. It was the necessary step to achieving a full liquid mana form, but there is more to it than that.

Focusing my active mana into my muscles makes them stronger, while doing the same with my bones makes them more resilient, and concentrating it into my skin helps resists attacks. Collecting it throughout the rest of my organs generally makes them work more efficiently, while pressing mana into my mind makes my mana senses clearer—apparently with some work and adaptions I should be able to retain mana senses without concentrating my mana into my mind, but I’ve yet to figure that part out.

The thing is, sometimes I need to be strong, other times fast, resilient, perceptive, or any number of other things. I’ve been adjusting as I need it, but that’s been an imperfect solution, it takes a little more attention than it really should.

So recently I’ve used the Skill mechanism in Chip to create ‘profiles’, that I can easily swap between as needed.

I have five basic profiles at the moment—speed, strength, sight, block, and casting—but I’m working to alter each while also considering what others I might need. Eventually I’ll want different profiles for each fighting style that I develop, likely involving some measure of shifting the mana around like with my mana surge movement Skill.

“Ready?” Eshya asks us, her eyes shining as she sets her feet to ready for a sprint. The forest before us is cleared of most dangerous beasts, and anything remaining would be smart to keep a distance from us.

“Ready.” I say, soon echoed by Nel, Adler, Vii, and a half dozen others who are joining us for our morning run.

“Go!” Red shouts, instantly speeding out past the rest of us.

Speed profile- I condense about 80% of my mana into my muscles, focusing primarily on my legs. I do use more than just my legs in running, everything from my arms to my core can help speed me up, but I’m still working on balancing out how my mana flows through each muscle group. It’s deeply connected with mana surge movement Skill, but altered to strengthen speed in particular.

For the rest, 15% goes to my bones to keep them from shattering, and the remaining 5% covers my skin, ready to form a mana shield if needed.

I slide, killing my momentum, and coming to a stop at a set of weights that have been put together by an industrious crafter. Eshya is already finishing up the last of her reps, and dropping the heavy equipment to the ground to race off to the next location. The next challenge set in the run.

I lift up a small set of hand weights, which are deceptively heavy from all the mana fed into them.

Strength profile- Similar spread as with speed but with 60% focused more on my upper body strength. I’m working to make it more fluid so that I can direct it exactly where the mana will do the most good at any given time, reinforcing a kick for instance, but my abilities are still limited.

The remaining 40% goes into my skin, since I’ll be using this to fight in close quarters as well as other dangerous situations. Even just lifting things it’s good to have dense mana in your skin to resist mana friction.

Dropping the weights, I walk out of the clearing, looking carefully for the mana markers left painted on the trunks of trees.

Sight profile- 100% mana senses. There are times I need to study the movement of mana in my environment, and this just makes things a little easier. I’ve also made a sub-profile for combat with 20% mana skin and 80% mana senses, which I’m using just now in case a wild beast surprises me.

Following the path leads me to a thin pit lined with various holes. Walking through it, I watch as spears thrust out at Eshya ahead of me, she blocks them easily with her hands.

The nervous gremlin mage controlling the spears watches us carefully, but does as we asked of him. I step through the pit, readying myself to take a few hits.

Block profile- 100% mana skin. This is for when everything turns to complete shit, and I need to stay alive against all odds. Tied into this profile is the best version of my mana shield ability, which is tied into my annihilation magic.

The spears thrust out at me, but I easily block them, turning them to ash as I pass through the gully carved out of the ground. I can still do better, I concentrate my mana into shields quicker, and I could build up a more efficient boost from my annihilation magic, but my performance is satisfactory.

Through the other side, I stop at a targeting range. Vii is already here, casting her blades of wind, and Nel is following after me already pulling out her throwing knives. Eshya has raced ahead, a few of the targets scarred from the energy waves that she’s summoned from her sword. I use my annihilation, but only in small spells. I can’t afford to be too wasteful.

Casting profile- All of my mana flowing tightly around in my heart, ready to be used for spellcasting. A combat variant of the profile reserves 20% into mana skin.

Leaving behind a few swirling marks on the targets, I move on to the next part of the exercise, coming face to face with Eshya as she stretches out her arms and sets her feet for a fight.

“Let’s go.” She says, smiling as she comes at me with a straight punch. I block, and counter with a strike of my own, but she hits my side before my attack can land.

Back to my strength profile, I move carefully, trying to read Eshya’s movements and see through her feints. Muscles build momentum, but the mana flows out to my fists concentrating into shields to make for stronger strikes. I’ve been working on my knife hand strikes recently, as it tightens the mana shields further and hits that much harder.

I’ve been practicing using the annihilation mana shields to carve into my target with each hit landed, mincing deep into their flesh. I obviously don’t use this against Eshya. Which is part of the reason she kicks my ass.

“Good fight.” Eshya says smiling cheerfully as she takes her foot off my back. Even with all of my advantages, she’s just got instincts that I can’t beat, not without using my lethal magics at least.

She pulls me into her arms and forces a kiss on my lips, which I eagerly accept. This might not be the best place for it, and we’re both sweaty from the exercise, but the anxious insecurity burning away in my guts calms down a little every time one of my lovers expresses their affection.

For a brief moment all my worries fade away and I can truly embrace the meaning behind the peace that I’ve forged.

Then the fear comes rolling back in as I imagine losing everything.

Honestly, why is it taking the universe so long to screw with me this time?

From the blessings I’ve found in my friends and companions, to the horrible experiences that I’ve been forced to live through, my life has been anything but calm ever since I left Earth. It’s difficult to believe that things are going to be calm and peaceful tomorrow, or next week, but seeing nothing trying to destroy me, I can only think that the enemy this time is going to be quiet and subtle. I’m not going to see them until it’s too late.

The thought causes a swelling terror to consume my heart as I look throughout my little empire, stirring mana to cast at any sign of trouble. I check on my lovers, once, then again. They’re all fine. Just like the last time I checked.

How long do we have until this peace is gone?

“Kyra?” Nel asks, leaning on the dead husk of the mangrove tree that was touched by the blight-fire. It’s the name we’ve given to the white flames that we used in the war. It’s a weapon far worse than even napalm and by such a ridiculous measure… but difficult times, and unstable minds…

“Sorry, what was that?”

“The land here is unstable now that the tree is dead.” Nel says, tapping her hand against the wood. “We’ll have to reseed more, and hope they grow before the wood softens and rots. It’s what the farmers have told me.”

“Is there any way we can treat the wood?” I ask, watching as the rest of the group finish their morning run. “Try to keep it from degrading?”

“That’s… an interesting thought.” Nel says, “We’ll need to talk to some crafters that work with wood. They’ll be able to tell us if it’s possible.”

Nel is likely already setting up a meeting, and it’ll probably mean visiting the crafters guild.

Khet, for all my early suspicions, has treated his guild members rather well so far. He’s got them assisting each other in setting up their shops and making sure they don’t step on each other’s toes. Seeing them at it, some of the farmers have gotten together and started their own guild, or the beginnings of one at least.

I’m sure there’ll be some issues of corruption and greed, but I’ll keep a close eye on things and make sure that nothing degrades too far. I want to give my people a chance to grow, and to live as they please. So long as these guilds give them opportunities rather than stealing them away, then I’ll let things continue as they are.

Just as I’m packing up and getting ready to filter more mana into more of our crystal shard currency, I notice that Sedena is finally choosing to act. Through her eyes, I watch as she approaches a group of students hunting through the ruins above us.

“Sedena’s moving.” I say, gathering Eshya, Adler and Vii to intercept the stone woman. Hopefully, before she does anything truly regrettable.

“What are you doing?” I ask her, sending the message straight to Sedena and making her stumble before she can step out of the shadows where she’s hiding.

“Oh? Am I being watched?” She asks, and I know that she’s wearing that same cold smile I’ve seen from her before. “What would a student be doing spying on me?”

I grit my teeth, and wonder if there’s a way I can get away with killing her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 19262 units

~Mana distribution:

Category Current Max. Defence 20% 100% Offense 20% 100% Mana Sense 20% 100% Recovery 20% 100% Gluttony 10% 100% Misc. 10% 100% Efficiency 100% 100%

~Favourited Skills:

-Tag and Film

-Trapping

-Stealth

-Mana surge movement

-Annihilation defence

-Annihilation flame burst

-Annihilation net

-Eyes of an Empire

Adaptions:

-Quick perception mind

-Annihilation Heart

-Clean bowels