Audron returned to his ship, satisfied he had soothed the Reaper enough that in the future the man wouldn’t hunt him down. The look on his face when he was presented the old pistol assured Audron that he had entered the man’s good graces. With that business settled he decided it was time to move on to the next solar body that contained sapient life in this system.

“Rusne, take us over to…” He scanned through the list of planetary bodies looking for the target in question.

“Europa, sir?” She cut in before he found what he was looking for.

“Yes, that’s the one, have you built an initialization profile for these Europans?”

“Yes, though, it is odd how none of the other planets hold anything beyond primitive life. Not that the Europans are particularly advanced, considering the astute lack of resources, and the fact they are entirely water bound at present, on a low gravity world, trapped under a planetary wide ice shelf.”

“So they don’t even know about fire?”

“Nope, the only tool we’ve seen them use are spears made from the bones of the massive fish they hunt. They also fashion primitive armor from the kelp and keratin they harvest from the fish.”

“Predators?”

“Plenty, though they’ve adapted well and know the territory of their natural enemies and stay clear.”

“Hmm, anything else of interest in the system?” Audron was a little underwhelmed, most systems that he had administered over the last several thousand years were teeming with life. This one seemed to have concentrated it in one place.

“Maybe, The second planet, the one they call Venus, scans picked up underground bunkers and estimated them to be several hundred thousand years old. A geological scan indicates that something catastrophic happened to the planet's core and slowed its rotation, the resulting tectonic activity then apparently saturated the atmosphere with massive amounts of sulfur and carbon dioxide. That planet is now the hottest object in the system next to the primary star.”

“Any indication as to what happened to the nascent civilization?” Audron suspected they both knew the answer as he watched Earth recede in the view screen.

“Only speculation, though, if you’re thinking what I’m thinking? Signs of the same civilization are present on the fourth planet, Mars. Though no life signs registered on our first survey of the system. I think they fled Venus, maybe at the time Mars was in a better position, so they tried it first, found it less than desirable and moved to Earth.”

“That’s about what I was thinking. Which begs the question, if Humans at some point in their history were technologically advanced enough to all but halt the spin of their homeworld, how did they manage that without Mana?”

Rusne and Audron stared at the barely perceptible dot of Earth as they continued to travel towards Europa. Any civilization that could accomplish that feat without the aid of Mana was one to be feared. Even if they had seemed to have devolved over the millenia, there was nothing stopping them from regaining that power.

Audron shook himself from his internal musings as they pulled up to a brilliantly lit Europa, as it currently hung on the sun side of Jupiter, a white marble with red streaks. The planetoid blended into Jupiter’s orange and brown banded swirling backdrop until they were almost on top of the small icy world. Nothing stirred on the surface, though that was not unexpected as all of the life on the planet resided within the icy cold water oceans and clustered around the multitude of thermal vents.

“I suppose we can let Sochi come back to work. Send for him, please, Miss Rusne.”

“Sure thing boss, though I’m not sure why you didn’t launch him out of the airlock for the stunt he pulled.”

“And you allowed it to continue.”

Rusne’s smirk fled her face and she silently sent for Sochi. A moment later the small man in question returned to the command bridge and refused to look at Audron as he took his seat quietly.

“You two know your jobs, let’s see if you can do them this time. Sochi, give me an overview of the native sapients, Miss Rusne, start working the projections on what the Mana will do as it works its way through the planet.”

“Aye, sir.” Sochi responded smartly with no additional comments.

Rusne just went to work, a moment later playbacks of the native Europan sapient were displayed on the main view screen. A vaguely humanoid being appeared in the dark water lit by a flow of lava. The being had two long legs that were currently locked together as it swam. The legs were extremely long and flattened at the end. From the knee down the legs displayed quite a bit of flexibility as it kicked them back and forth and propelled itself through the water at prodigious speed.

A long slender body stretched out with two pairs of arms tucked tightly against its sides. One set of arms looked fairly normal with wiry musculature that ended in a pair of hands with three fingers and an opposable thumb. A thin membrane spread between the gaps in it’s fingers which ended in vicious looking claws. The second set of arms turned out to not be arms at all, but were in fact tentacles with hooked suckers down their entire length.

The beings head was of typical shape for a humanoid type being, though gills were placed behind the jaw line that wavered as the creature swam through the dark water. Extremely large eyes were placed appropriately on each side of its face, clearly evolved for seeing in the dark. It had no nose, though a large wide mouth adorned with incredibly sharp teeth occupied the space.

It’s skin was rather smooth, though the spine was lined with a row of sharp keratin. The elbows and knuckles were also coated in the substance and looked rather dangerous to anyone or thing that chose to attack the being.

“What happens if these beings attempt to go to Earth?” Audron asked Sochi causing the man to flinch.

“Sir, they would likely die outright. If they appeared on land that is. I’m seeing a 32% compatibility with Earth’s ocean, though the salinity is less than they are used to. Gravity and pressure are moot, even though they have much less gravity than Earth, their ocean is 100 miles at its deepest, so it kinda evens out in the long run.”

“What genetic adjustments should we expect, Miss Rusne?”

“Mostly the usual. Muscle and bone density, improved resilience to disease, etc. The interesting thing is latent genetic markers for amphibious conversion. They may unlock the ability to adjust their legs as needed to walk on land once the system takes hold.”

“Interesting, any written language, construction, tool usage?”

“Nothing but the occasional spear made from the bones of this giant fish thing.” The display changed to show a deep sea monster of horrors swimming about gobbling up everything in its path. It had no eyes, only an armor plate across its head that slightly covered its gills. Several extremely long and sharp fins extended from it’s mid section at asynchronous angles. It’s tail was actually several tails that moved independently to propel it through the dense ocean at speeds something its size shouldn’t be naturally capable of.

It’s weakness came apparent as a group of Europans attacked with spears and natural claws. The beast couldn’t turn. And when it enraged it didn’t have the sense to swim away. That didn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous, as one of the Europans moved too close to one of its fins and was sliced in half when the beast shifted violently. The remaining beings finished off the beast and dragged it back to a collection of basalt looking caves near an underwater lava flow where Europans of all sizes and shapes emerged from the dormant lava tubes to part out the behemoth fish creature.

“Alright, I think I’ve seen enough, the Mana is coming whether they are ready or not, initiate the neural implant activation and send out the standard message chain.”

The saturation array extended from the ship and slowly expanded to surround the large planet. The array functioned as a focusing and regulation tool to moderate the flow of Mana so it didn’t overwhelm a planet and cause a runaway infusion. Such an event would cause the accelerated mutation of the native fauna and flora.

They watched as the group parting out the fish paused as the messages entered their minds. A moment later they grabbed their heads with all their hands and their faces contorted in a rictus of pain. Moments later they drifted into unconsciousness as the mana took hold in their bodies.

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Broonil stared in confusion at the message that appeared in his vision. He looked around and saw that his pack mates were just as confused as he. His mind raced as the list of ‘side effects’ scrolled in his vision. Before he could consider it further, a pain that felt like his mind was tearing itself apart tore through his head. Then the peace of unconsciousness overtook him.

He woke several moments later feeling like he had been dragged around in the belly of a Croolergha. He used his tentacles to gently probe his body as he kicked out to find his mate, Rosheena. Before he reached the tube that served as their home a small glowing fish appeared in his vision and then a voice not his own entered his mind.

Greetings, Broonil! I am your Virtual Private Assistant! Your planet has been adopted into the Universal Mana System, I’m here to assist your transition into your new life!”

What? Who? Broonil attempted to grab the glowing, talking fish to no avail. He simply flailed around as the fish always seemed to stay in his vision regardless of where he looked. While he was spinning in place movement from behind the nearby lava flow caught his attention and he froze.

Oh no! It looks like you are about to face your first system enhanced monster! Defend yourself!

The glowing fish urged him on and he realized that while he may be going insane, at least his instincts were still effective as he noticed he had already gripped his spear. He flexed his muscles in preparation. His pack was slowly waking and he realized that this new threat was his alone to face.

The movement resolved itself to reveal an oversized lava eel that had wandered away from the heat of the nearby flow. It eyed him hungrily and exposed it’s teeth and charged forward faster than he’d ever seen the relatively docile creatures move before. Row upon row of serrated teeth was also a new development he didn’t bother to ruminate on any longer. He slipped to the side as the creature slid by and latched onto it with his hooked tentacles. The eel wrenched around in pain and anger and Broonil struck forward with his spear.

The eel went limp as his spear extended through its viciously toothed mouth and out the back of its head. Inky black blood filtered into the water around the dead eel and Broonil pulled his spear free and scanned the area for more threats. He paused as a bright notification appeared in his vision.

Congratulations! You have defeated a Mutated Lava Eel, level 5. You have earned 500 Experience and 50 UMC!

Error! You have not chosen a class, Experience will be stored until you have chosen a class.

Little Fish, what is this experience? And what is UMC?

Congratulations Broonil! You’ve taken your first step within the system! I’ll be happy to answer all the questions you have! Let’s pick your class and I’ll explain about Experience.