《Witch of Terra (Inactive)》 Chapter 01- Prologue, as usual... And who might you be? Asked the titan. It was an odd sight. Why odd? Its because although the titan has no normal features to speak of, looking at him is like staring into the abyss of space, with distant stars and galaxies in the background. Understandably, the young man in question was quite awe-struck, speechless, at the sight of the humongous titan. ...Why do they always do that, acting like mutes and staring like its the only thing they know how to do The titan asked himself the rhetorical question. Of course, he knew the answer: Staring at a Gods true form always overwhelms the senses of mortals ------- *A little while back* An elderly man lies on his hospital bed. He was thin as twigs, all bones and no muscles at his advanced age. The fact that the pale body isnt dead yet would surprise most people, but advanced medical technology has stretched the old mans life unnaturally long. It was a miracle that the old mans mind hasnt rotted away yet in his motionless body. His was the former-researcher working for IBM who created the first fully sentient AI that didnt want to crush mankind the second it was free. He was tempted to name her Cortana, but in the end he decided to let her choose her own name. His second daughter, as he believed in his heart. Although she wasnt born like his first daughter, and quite a handful to manage at times, Alphonse loved her equally. It is only through her now that he can even communicate with the outside world. Though he had long lost the ability to talk freely, he could still sub-vocalize, and the sensors attached to him are sensitive enough for Lucy, the name his second daughter chose for herself, to decipher what he wanted to say. Thus, he continued to talked to his family, gathered around his bed. Ah, there she is, his first daughter Elaine. She had been rebellious in her youth, but nevertheless successful in life. The only regret he had for her is that she never once dated a boy seriously. No more. Today, she brought her fiance to see him, even as she sobbed at his side. Better late than never, he chuckled to himself. He has no more regrets in this world. His brother was also saying something, but Alphonse couldnt quite hear his words. Assurance that he would take care of his daughters for him perhaps, he wondered. It was enough, to know that his family is in good hands; it was a fulfilling life. His road has been long and arduous, but he has reached its end at last. Its time to join his beloved wife in the afterlife. And so, under the eyes of his family, Al Klingman passed away at the tender age of 131. -------- *Back to the present* Al opens his eyes, only to find himself drifting in a white space. An unexpected wave of vigor rushes through him. His frail body is gone, replaced by the body he once had in his prime. Reorienting himself to stand up, Al glanced around. There was nothing to see all around him. White-space stretching as far as his eyes could pick out. No wait, there was a tiny dot to his right, black in color. Slowly, he took his first step. Ah, it was good to be back at his prime. His body could move exactly as he wanted, a luxury as he aged. Though he was never a professional athlete or a martial arts practitioner, he always tried to kept himself fit, if only to attract the ladies. With each step he took a rippling wave of soft, blue lights appears from under his feet; its as if his steps were raindrops on a tranquil pond. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. At first he was hesitant. But with each step came renewed confidence. His steps became longer, faster. From walking to a slow run, to a moderately fast pace, then sprinting, as if his steps weight nothing at all. Al could feel no pain, not even the slightest burn from the constant sprinting. Odd, he thought to himself, is this dreamland? Heaven? A resounding voice rang out. None of the Above Welcome to my humble abode, mortal. This is the Void between Worlds. Al glaances up, there stood a 100 meter tall giant. Was he too preoccupied with his own thoughts to not notice such a colassal titan in front of him? I am Kruphix, the Will of the Abyss. The titan spoke, as it slowly turne around to face Al. He also shrunk down to a little black orb, not unlike the Dwarf in the Flask And who might you be? My little friend Al Al Klingman. Just a normal human Al was quite surprised at himself. Talking to a shapeless entity, really he never imagined it would come to this. I know, surprising isnt it? The black orb chuckled. Yes, Al decides to just call it the black orb. What you call me matters not. All is One, and One is All. I am the One, born not at the beginning of time, but time itself. The One above All Stan Lee?... So what does a self-proclaim all powerful God want with a man like me? Surely you can solve every problem yourself? Or perhaps it was the good old God Paradox: Can God create a rock so heavy he could not lift it himself? Yes and No. Do you know what happens when I create a rock I cannot lift myself? I can read your mind by the way, no need to answer out loud. No I simply become the rock Well that was easier said than done, but nevermind that. But heres something every God I have created had problem with to experience mortal life for myself. Being an all powerful God is quite boring, you know. I got nothing to do, and everything to do. Then nothing to do, because I HAVE done everything. Its an endless cycle. And that concerns a deadman like me how? Ah! I knew you were going to say that I actually did. *sign* Well, from time to time, I limit myself to relieve my boredom. For example, right now! Currently, Im trying to see if I can solve the problem of technological stagnation without my direct intervention. Without looking ahead, of course, that would ruin the fun. Which, by the way, brings us to the present. There are too many worlds suffering from stagnation, and I dont like that. To that end, I am taking all departed souls from worlds that managed to survive manaless to manage these worlds for me. ALL departed souls? Sounds like a terrible plan Indeed, I had to kill I mean convert more than half of the souls to be more benign shall we say? The task for each and every one of you is to lead your new world to prosperity. I dont care what approach you use for this, as long as you get the job done. In fact, the more dramatic the better. Be a King! An Emperor! A God! Messiah! Or be the Devil! Demon King! Demon God! Destroyer! Entertain me, mortal, and I shall grant you a lifetime beyond your wildest imagination! I refuse. Refusal Denied. Now, since our introductions out of the way, time to get down to specifics! Kukukuku... Chapter 02- God no! Alright Kiddo, its time for the talk. You know we gotta do this at some point. No we dont. You sound like an awkward parent when you said that. What are we talking about specifically anyways? I was kidding, theres not much more to talk about. Dont judge me! Well I dont want you to die right off the bat, so heres the deal. Ill give you my blessing and a seal so you dont become a creepy kid nobody want from the start. For the first five years, you will be sealed to the subconsciousness. After that, you will have fifteen years of preparation for Cmon, guess! I wont look ahead into the future. Id rather not bother. Jesus fuck, youre no fun at all. You know I Was Jesus right? Right? Right. Preparation for? Kukukukukukukukukukukuku. no need to thank me for this, but Ive decided to spice things up a bit. You see, in 20 years time, Other manaless worlds, those that didnt quite reach the same standards as yours, will discover the joy of the Virtual Reality provided by Yours truly. Under the company name, of course. To them, it will merely be the best VR game ever and I mean it. Ill release a virus to prevent them from making anything like it, but I never said that. Anyhow, they will be players, with respawns and all the goodies. And you, my friend, will be my test case. All 3 trillion of you, actually. Ive been collecting souls for this project far longer than you can imagine SO, my point is, you will enjoy the same benefits as the players. BUT, only after you reach adulthood will the respawn system be fully functional, so dont die too early or you will suffer memory losses. The 5 infant years sealed-up should help your body develop an alternate consciousness, use that to your advantage. I dont see why I shouldnt just sit back and let the real owner of the body live out his life. Its right, afterall. Not so excited I see. Very well, lets clear somethings up. First, discard your morality issues, where youre going it wont do you any good. Never. I will not give up my humanity. Ahem, i was talking. No interruptions Al felt a force clamping his nonexistant mouth shut. As I was saying, morality will only hinder you from achieving your goals. Dont lie, I know you. Even during your last life you wanted to be unbounded by those annoying reporters trying to sniff out anything immoral youre doing. Well, this is your chance. Go crazy. As for why, its simple. Im assigning you to planet #ZX-09674-37858A, one of the more extreme planet.
Announcement
You have been assigned by God to be his champion on planet #ZX-09674-37858A, locally known as the world of Terra. Mortal Sentient Race: 1 -Human population: 12.3 billion, Immortal Sentient Race: 3 -Primordial God population: 4, -God population: 23 million, -Sura population: 7 million, Connected Dimensions: 7, Realms: 3, Monster level: Medium-High, Mana density: Ultra-High, Technological Level: Medieval+, Stat System: ON, Level System: OFF, Title System: ON, Skill System: ON, Status System: ON, Ranking System: ON
Blessed
You have been blessed! The One Above All has chosen to grant you one of his ability! Special Ability: Absorption
Cursed
You have been cursed! The One Above All has wisely chosen to seal your real personality until the age of five. Beware, suddenly reverting to your original personality may result in unfriendliness, abandonment, or witch-burning It is recommended that you pretend to change overtime
Titles Received
You have received 2 titles from The One Above All! Titles Received: -Champion of the One True God -The Chosen One
Enough of this crap, Ive already accomplished everything Ive wanted to do, theres no use in sending me to some planet I dont care about- Now, now, now. Im not even done talking yet! Well here, Ill toss in a bonus: If you can return this world to peace, you will find your wife again.
Quest Received
You have been forcibly assigned a Quest! Return this world to peace, or entertain The One Above All! It is your responsibility as God''s champion, the End must justify the Mean Requirements: -Return Terra to Peace -Or entertain The One Above All -No one must know of this -The End Justify the Mean Conditions for Failing: -Someone found out about this quest specifically -Complete Destruction of Terra -Failure to entertain -The End does Not justify the Mean Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.-Give Up Quest Rewards: -Reunion with Melinda''s Incarnation -Return of Melinda''s memory -Terra -XXXXXX -XXXXXX
Me-Melinda? You bastard fine Ill take the job, sent me down already. Aye aye boss. Hey! Dont tell me what to do! Ugh maybe I should disable random personality mode. "Anyhow, you won''t be seeing me down there, but know that I am always watching. By the way, it will be quite painful...kukukukukukukukkukuku..." "What do you mean quite painful?" Al couldn''t help but feel alarmed at the last sentence, what the hell does this weird orb mean? "You see, babies that don''t cry when they''re born are usually considered cursed... which you are, but they don''t need to know that. It''s a safety precaution, for your own good. That and my enjoyment. Adios!~" "Wha-" Al couldn''t finish his sentence because what feels like tiny hands suddenly wrapped itself around his entire body. Slowly, it turned him around while dragging him backward. "Wait, I''ve seen this before" Before him was a tall door with a familiar carving of a tree... it was strangely resembling that Gate thing from fullmetal alchemist... Spoiler : It was too late as he realize it was indeed the real deal, as the door swings open. Yup, that creepy eye''s there alright, and he was drawn into it. "Oh God no..."
Al woke with a start. When did he fell asleep? And where was he? It was dark, like he was floating in space, all alone. No wait, there was something floating toward him a spark of light it looks like from afar. Curious, Al willed himself to travel toward it. Wait that actually worked? As the light draws ever closer, Al started remembering his conversation with that weird ball of...something. No wait, it called itself God for some reason... and he was given a quest? A new world? What the hell does that have to do with him? Melinda. A single thought flashed through his mind, pushing aside everything else. Yes, Melinda, that''s right. Ah how he longed to feel her warmth again. it''s his chance to be with her again. To see her smile, to hear her laugh, to feel her kick him in ager again. To hear her voice telling him to be safe out there, to take care of their children, and that she is sorry to leave first. No, it is all my fault. If only he hadn''t been so obsessed with that self-replicating swarm project, which ended up failing anyways. If only he had been at her side to protect her, she would have lived on with him, see their daughters mature, Elaine with her first boyfriend, Lucy with her new inventions, drink with their friends, sing in her beautiful voice when she thought he wasn''t listening. If only... He thought he had made peace with his past long ago, but a chance to be with her again... has reignited his resolve once again. It doesn''t matter what I have to do. It will be worth it... Anything is worth it to be with her again...
Just then, Al reached the ball of light. Which turned out to actually be a corridor... wait what was that? An image of a couple kissing under the Cherry Blossom, The lines on the branch of the Cherry tree, A bunch of plant cells of the tree, ................. ............. ........ ... AAAAAAAAAAAHHH! IT BURNS! OH GOD, IT''S DRIVING ME CRAZY! SOMEONE HELP ME! What the F*ck?! The images won''t stop coming! Every chemical combination mankind has discovered were being crammed into his head. Every building block of the universe they know of. The flood of information was too great, too much to handle. But it never stopped, no matter how much he begged someone to stop the tormenting. Finally, he saw the end of the tunnel. Oh thank god, I''m sav- AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! A even greater pain struck him. It was as if there was a million needles stabbing into him endlessly! ... Finally, the pain died away. He couldn''t open his eyes, and his lung felt like it was full of water for some reason Ah that''s better, the water drained out as he opened his mouth and cried. Moving his eyelid seems difficult... but not undoable. With great efforts, he managed to open his eyes to see- A pair of blue eyes staring right at him, and way too close for comfort. What the f*ck is going on? -Author''s Note: God I''m bored, no significant update I want to read tonight... so I decided to upload this part... if anyone''s reading this lol... You will find plenty of grammatical issues here, ''cause I don''t bother with re-reading and fixing them. Will have a poll next chapter... harem or just his wife? Poll with chapter should be up tomorrow Chapter 03- Oh God Im SO bored! 1 Dead Baby, 2 Dead Babies, 3 Dead Babies... 52 Dead Babies... 231 Dead Babies... 7,658 Dead Babies... 112,763 Dead Babies... Oh hi, didn''t see you there. Come in, come in. Why am I counting dead babies? Well it''s simple, there''s nothing else I can do. Literally. Nothing. Not a God Damn Thing to do. How did it come to this? To answer that question, let''s backtrack a few months back, right to the hour I was born.
What the f*ck is going on? I thought to myself, And why is those eyes so big? Did I shrunk somehow? And who the hell keeps crying? Shut up for f*ck''s sake! It was then the memory of my torture in that stupid Gate came back. Then the memory of my last... discussion with a black blurry ball of... oh wait that''s just God. Ah that''s right, that bastard. I''ll bet he could''ve gave me some painkiller or some booze so I can make myself pass out sooner... But he didn''t. Mark my words... I''ll get you back for this later... mark my words! Alright, according to my memory, I''ve been reincarnated on this world... Terra. I suppose he couldn''t have done me a favor and give an adult body from the start. Nah, that would''ve been too convenient. Speaking of my body, why the hell can''t I move it? I tried to wiggle my fingers. No response. I command you to move in the name of your lord and owner, me: Move, fingers! ...... Nope, not one response, I can feel my fingers, but I have absolutely no control over it. Why? Am I missing something? Maybe there''s something I forgot, let''s see... Aha! It''s that god damn seal he gave me. Speaking of the devil... a series of notifications flashed up in my vision.
Announcement
Welcome to Terra player Al! For being the FIRST player to reach Terra, you have gained: 100 Fame! For being the first ADVANCED player to reach Terra, you have received:
  • Title: First Come First Serve!
  • Fully customizable interface
  • Full Mental interface command (Lucky you! You are the only user to be allowed this full mental command! All other users can only use mental command to log out in case of emergency.)
  • A gift from the Administrators: +50 Luck!
  • A blessing in disguise from the Administrators: -100 Fame. Reason(s): In order to help the advanced player avoid unwanted attention, the Administration has decided to subtract 100 fame from the user
  • As an advanced player, you must start in a NPC family as a newborn with average stats. For normal players, they will spawn in fully mature bodies but with dismal stats.
  • Full help menu has been unlocked for you!
  • For double status as both the first player and the first advanced player, you have received: +50 bonus stat points!
Please Remember that any immoral act, including player killing, will be monitored by an administrator, and all involved players will be punished accordingly. Players that help prevent or stop immoral acts may receive small blessings in return. Kruphix, One Last God incorporated thank you for your purchase. Please enjoy your life on Terra!
Notice
Administrator Override, ID: #000000000, Codename: God, No holds barred. You will appear as an normal NPC to the administration no matter what. You will also be immune to any story change or setting change by an administrator. Beware, your surroundings will not be immune to such changes. As my champion on Terra, you have been granted: -Extreme Mana Reservoir -Natural Outer Mana Manipulation -Natural Outer Mana Core Manifestation -Alpha Stigma -Resilient Body -Nine Yin Cultivation Seal (Duration: 10 years) -Incorruptible Soul -Unreadable Mind -Accelerated Learning Speed -Battle Instincts Work hard for me!
Notice
Congratulation! You are the First player to reach your Inner Mind +10 Intelligence +10 Wisdom Attempts to intrude into your inner sanctuary can only be done by another sentient being with a mind at least twice as strong.
Notice
Scan of your physical body and mental status has added corresponding stats. +500 Intelligence +150 Wisdom +10 Leadership Error 404: Body cannot be found, no physical stats added. +0 Strength +0 Vitality +0 Agility This is a one time bonus only, please do not expect any more free power ups. (lol!)
Blah! Too much notifications to read. Annoyed, I gave them a quick overlook. Everything seems fine, I received massive bonuses as I would expect from a reincarnated story. Ah, Inner Mind. That makes sense. That bastard did mention I would be sealed away for... how long was it? 5 years? I guess i''ll be watching my outer self from back here for quite a while then. Hmm, pretty sure Kruphix was the one who added that lol at the end of the last notification. Does that mean I have more power ups? Hmmmmm, interesting... Wait a second, Nine Yin Cultivation Seal? That "Seal" part doesn''t sound good if what has happened so far is any indication to go by. Sh*t, what has he done to my body now? Quick, gotta check my status window... *ding!*
Status Window
Name:Pray Meyer AndersonAlignment:Humanity
Bloodline:Esper- LightningClass:Champion- Infant
Affinities:Lightning, Fire, EarthAge:1 day
Race:HumanGender:Female
Titles
First Come First Serve!, Champion of the One True God, The Chosen One
Fame:0Infamy:0
-
Health:100 / 100Health Regen:0.1 / Sec
Stamina:20 / 20Stamina Regen:1.0 / Sec
Mana:20000 / 20000Mana Regen:1.0 / Sec
Chi: 100/100Chi Regen:1.0 / Sec
-
Strenght:10 (-200)Agility:10 (-200)
Vitality:10 (-200)Dexterity:10 (-200)
Intelligence:520Wisdom:170
Leadership:10Luck:60
-
Skills
Passives
  1. Gate of Truth- Unknown LVL X (Locked by God)
  2. Incorruptible Soul- Unknown LVL X (Locked by God)
  3. Unbreachable Mind- Unknown LVL X (Locked by God)
  4. Outer Mana Manipulation- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  5. Inner Chi Manipulation- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  6. Prodigious Learning Speed- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  7. Greater Battle Instincts- Initiate LVL0 (0.00%)
Actives
  1. Absorption- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  2. Alpha Stigma- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  3. True Alchemy- Initiate LVL0 (0.00%)
  4. Outer Mana Core Manifestation- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
Transcendentals N/A Specials
  1. Nine Yin Cultivation Seal (Duration: 10 years)
Alright let''s see, check the important things firstCC Stats! Hmm no fame or infamy, that''s normal. Typical starting health, but oddly enough low stamina for no reason at all... I''ll need to check into that later. Hmm seems the bastard''s blessing gave me extra mana. Though I have no idea what the average mana level in this world is, so I''ll judge that later. That''s right, I''ve chosen to Him Bastard, for dragging me and Melinda into this dangerous sounding world. I mean, in fantasies, worlds with magic and sh*t are always at war or something. Hmm I have no clue what the difference between Mana and Chi is, but all my regenerations need a lot of work... Going down, I checked my mental stats. Good, good, it seems my intelligence transferred over, though I''d thought my wisdom stat would be on par with my int stat... odd. Extra Luck, excellent. Luck never hurts. Leadership, meh. What''s an infant going to do with it anyways? Who cares. So far so good. Oh damn it, spoke too soon. 10 regular starting stats for my strength, agility, vitality and dexterity. But what worries me are those -200 in brackets beside each one... What the hell?! When did I get a curse on me? I hurried down the list, skimming through the skill section. Aha! There it is! Listed under Specials: Nine Yin Cultivation Seal (Duration: 10 years) That''s the only one possible, since the other skills look fine. I have no clue what alpha stigma is but I seem to remember reading about it in a novel before... some kind of eye power? I''ll check it out later. For now, Show Nine Yin Cultivation Seal.
Nine Yin Cultivation Seal
Only heard of in legends before, this is a seal designed to artificially raise a person''s Chi reservoir level. The Chi channels in your body has been blocked by this seal. You may not use any Transcendentals while this Seal is active. Additionally, a total of 800 physical stat points penalty has been imposed. You must first work off the negative 800 stat points before your actual physical stats can increase. It is rumored that upon the release of this cultivation seal, mysterious bonuses would be gained.
...I see. I suppose I should''ve guessed from its name. Cultivation Seal eh? Well the benefits would probably out weight the detrimental effects, but it essentially means I''m doom physically for the next 10 years, 5 of which I''ll have to struggle with myself. Damn. Well, is there anything I missed? Oh right! I skipped the usually unimportant top section of the status window when I checked my stats. Let''s see... Prey Meyer Anderson. Oddly enough I seem to recognize this name, if only I can remember where from. Hmm normal alignment, though not necessarily true in my case. I''ve been given permission by God to do whatever I want anyways. Bloodline? That''s a first. Haven''t seen that in a VR game or fantasy novel in my previous life before. So I have Esper power eh? Handy... Oh sweet, lightning, my favorite Biribiri power hehehe... I could already imagine the potentials it has beside being used to fire a railgun. I have the champion class as expected, and also the infant class. Doesn''t seem like the class system is as restrictive as some of them are in VR games. Moving on~ Muwahahahahahaha triple affinities! When I get out of my own mind, be prepare to be awed suckers! Lightning affinity is to be expected considering my bloodline, blessed be whichever side gave me that! Fire. If the Fullmetal Alchemist series is anything to go by, Fire Alchemy has high battle potentials. And I''ve already been through that damned Gate of Truth, so I guess FMA alchemy is part of this world. Hold on, that''s strange, it''s almost as if this world is a gathering of the fantasy world ideas from my old world that I''ve read about. Which, I suppose, is highly likely. That''s both a blessing and a curse in itself. Blessing in that I have paranormal abilities I''ve dreamed about, a curse in that some of the stuff I used to read... Well, let''s just say they''re not pleasant worlds to be in. Period. Well I''ll worry about that later. Three items left. Age, pretty specific. Race, Human. Good base I suppose, and probably the most common in any worlds. Last one, Gender... WHAT?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Why am I a girl. This is f*cked up! I''m a man! How dare that bastard... f*ck! What am I going to do when people hit on me? Oh god, that would be disguesting. I''m not against Gays or Lesbians in anyway, except I''m not one myself. Hmm maybe I should consider lesbian relationships in the future. *sign*Well, I suppose it''s not a problem I have to deal with now, so I can procrastinate on it as usual. Is there anything else? Hmm I don''t think I missed anything. I guess its time to carefully look through the skills I have. What is a transcendental anyways? I''ll have to ask that when I get out. Oh that''s right, I may be stuck in here, but I should observe what situation I''m physically in. Let''s see, aha! A Movie screen popped up in front of me. Being inside my own mental domain sure is convenient. Wake up! Wake up! Open your eyes! Look around! I tried to pass the command down to my outer self. No response. Damn it baby-me, don''t ignore me! Let''s try this then. I tried to pass on the sense of being unable to sleep and curiosity to baby me. It''s so hot in this blanket, get up! Don''t you want to look around? C''mon! Surprisingly, it started working after I did it about a hundred times. It takes time for a baby''s consciousness to respond I suppose. Looking up, I could see a ceiling... that''s pretty neat with a painting of some kind of magic circle. What does that do? Oh... I got my answer at that moment. Small, blue lightning arcs could be seen around the circle thing for a second, then a ball of light formed in the middle of it. This world''s replacement for lightbulbs I suppose. Better this than candles and torches. Ooh, I see someone! She looks likes a... french maid. Hoho, am I a son of a rich family or something? Ah he probably arranged it so I wouldn''t die off too quickly. Huh? what?! what are you doing baby me? Stop crying for f*ck''s sake! I''m locked in here damn it! Your crying is abnormally loud! Is there anyway I can mute the volume of this place? I thought of a movie screen to see the outside world through my eyes, perhaps I could control the sound in this place too? Aaah, much better. I''ve been traumatized by baby''s crying once before, when my daughter Elaine was growing up. Be safe Elaine, I silently preyed. On a second thought, preying might not do her any good, if my meeting with God is any indication to go by. Well, there''s else to do I guess. I continued to watch through my outer self''s eyes as the maid carried him around, before handing me to a man i haven''t seem before. He seem well dressed... in a military uniform. Probably my birth father. The military uniform bothers me a bit, since military service could be dangerous... oh never mind that. I can see the Thick golden straps with three stars on it. Not a common soldier then, an officer of some kind probably. That''s better, officers are usually cowards, hiding behind the frontline. Which means I don''t have to worry about losing a resource soon. Er, I mean, family member. Other than his uniform, he looks fit, not fat as I would expect from army officers. A kind looking face, about 30 I''d say, and blond hair. Thank god he doesn''t have a mustache, cause that would''ve felt gross when he rubbed his face into mine. Gah! Get away from me you clingy father! I send the feeling of discomfort down to my baby self, and baby me started crying for Red. Then I was handed back to Red the maid. I decided to call her Red since she has scarlet red hairs. I guess she''s a natural redhead, since even the roots of her hair are the same fierce red. Oh is that my birth mother? I was being carried to a separate room next door, and Red tilts her hold on me so mother could see me better. She''s seems to be ok, already sitting up on the bed. A bit weakened by childbirth but at least not dying as far as I can tell. And I studied a bit of medicine back in my old world, so I actually know she''ll recover soon. Living long has its benefits, including extended learning time. Good thing I always wanted to know everything lol. How does she look like? Long, waist-length black hairs, she seem to be oriental, thought I can''t decide if her face is more Korean looking or Japanese looking. A beauty by my standard, with vibrant green eyes. Probably could be a model back in my old world. Body? Go to hell! I''m not telling you that, though she got quite the... Ah, she''s seeing a lullaby, how sweet~ Finally, baby me stopped his- HER crying. Damn, getting used to being a girl is going to be a pain in the ass. ...And I don''t mean that literally. Oh god, that could be so awkward now that I''m a girl. Someone stop me from imagining things! Focus. Focus on mother''s voice. First, unmute. Chinese?! I recognize the language. I''d learned it long ago, even if my accent never got good enough to be accepted as a native. Well, one thing I wouldn''t have to learn then, good for me. Quite the poet I''d wager. That or Mother got her lullaby from somewhere else. It''s pleasant to listen to... We stayed like that for a long time, while I take a break from reading my status and skills and just listened. Ah darn, she stopped. I wanted to hear that last one again! Time for the crib I guess. Oh? I''m not being carried back to what I assumed to be my crib. It seems that I''ll be sleeping here toni- Wha-what is she doing? Oh, breastfeeding. Of course, how could I have forgotten about that? Well, I guess I''ll continue to keep an eye for anything else unusual while I''m stuck here. Strangely enough, I thought to myself, I''d expected more magic devices like that magic light before, but so far that''s the only magic device I''ve seen. Most strange indeed... a world with mana, but lacking magic devices. From the look of it, my family is quite well off, so shouldn''t there be more? More stuff to check out when I get out of here, better add it to the already long to-do list. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Baby me''s going to sleep. What an easy life. Wake up, get cared for, fed, and go back to sleep. Life as a child is something to be cherished, since its the only time you can get away with being lazy and no one will stomp on your feet to hurry you up. My eye closes, and my movie screen goes dark. *sign* What now? Should I sleep as well? I tried to go to sleep, imagining up a comfy king-size bed for myself. Ah, soft bedding and fluffy pillows, my second favorite fluffy thing after... er that''s private, you don''t need to know about my first favorite fluffy. Sleep, I thought to myself, Sleep... sleepiness~ c''mon... Aaaaaaand, its not working. Why? I''ve had insomnia before, but I''ve always managed to catch some sleep sooner or later. Why is it not working here? I must be missing something. Let''s check if the system got anything on this place. Summon info window: Inner mind *ding!*
Inner Mind
Welcome to your Inner Mind! The Inner mind is the ultimate sanctuary, able to be shaped through imagination and focus. The inner mind is difficult to access at first, but becomes easier to enter with practice. Usually reached by Zen masters or experienced Chi masters during cultivation, you have been artificially locked in here. Here, imagination is everything. As long as this state is maintained, you can even accelerate the time. To be expected of cultivations, there is no need for sleep within one''s inner mind.
Damn! I guess its a blessing to someone who actually reaches this place by their own will, but its a f*cking curse for me. Locked in my own sub-consciousness. Can''t sleep. And nothing much to do. For Five. F*cking. Years. Oh god, I can already tell this lack of presences or anything I have not thought up is going to drive me mad. Grrr, must. find. something. to. distract. myself! Show skill descriptions! Maybe I can find something to do there...
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Gate of TruthUnknownXLocked by God
Having pass through the Gate of Truth and survived its tormenting in one piece, you have gain access to the terrible knowledges it holds. Limited only by what knowledge your race (human) has accumulated since its birth, you may draw on the Gate for information on the building blocks of the universe. This skill was created by the God of Wisdom as a boon to those who manages to successfully pass through the Gate intact. Previously, many who pass through the Gate with slight mental or physical damages were often driven mad by the vast amount of information installed into their mind, this passive skill helps one retains her sanity. Although most are usually limited by their lack of knowledge and lock themselves out of knowledge they believe don''t exist, the One Above All has removed that restriction for you, giving you 110% access to this archive. Others cannot see the description of this skill, nor its rank and level.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Incorruptible SoulUnknownXLocked by God
A Blessing by the One Above All, your soul cannot be corruptible by any mean; immunity toward mana poisoning, chi poisoning. Others cannot see the description of this skill, nor its rank and level.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Unbreachable MindUnknownXLocked by God
A Blessing by the One Above All, your Inner Mind cannot be read by any means. Others cannot see the description of this skill, nor its rank and level.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Outer Mana ManipulationInitiate00.00%
A characteristic restricted mostly to witches, you have been granted ability to manipulate outer mana and your outer mana core upon its first physical manifestation. Greater control comes with consistent practices. Beware, if others see this skill, they will know your potential to awaken as a witch.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Inner Chi ManipulationInitiate00.00%
A natural trait among the people of Xing, the ability to manipulate one''s chi within the body is Xing''s greatest treasure. On rare occasions, outsiders may be gifted with this ability. Allows user to manipulate Chi throughout the body using the natural Chi channels. Other means to use Chi may be possible with knowledge and practice.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Prodigious Learning SpeedInitiate00.00%
The One Above All has granted you this blessing to help you pick up essential skills and survive on the battlefield. Grants photographic memory at current rank. Even greater abilities, such as instant imitation, may be available at higher ranks of this blessing. Levels up as you learn. Others cannot see the description of this skill, nor its rank and level.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Greater Battle InstinctInitiate00.00%
The One Above All has expanded upon the Lesser Battle Instinct you originally have and granted you this rare passive skill. Gives you the ability to move through the battlefield with ease and defeat your enemies. Trust your instincts to use this passive skill. Levels up with battle, practice, and potentially cultivation. Others cannot see the description of this skill, nor its rank and level.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
AbsorptionInitiate00.00%
A special skill The One Above All has blessed you with. With this ability, what you can absorb extends from both physical and ethereal matters to even energies. With greater rank and level comes greater control, absorption radius, and absorption rate. Others cannot see the description of this skill, nor its rank and level.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Alpha StigmaInitiate00.00%
God''s blessing to you, this is the ultimate version of Mana Sight. Does not cost any mana to use as opposed to other mana sight skills. Grants user the ability to see details, flaws or weaknesses, and even analyze the composition of known matters. When in use, the user''s eyes will slightly glow.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
True AlchemyInitiate00.00%
Having passed through the Gate of Truth and managed to gain the God of Wisdom''s boon to access the archive of knowledge, you have the ability to forgo alchemy circle to perform common alchemy by drawing directly on the Gate''s knowledge. Enables the user to channel energy to perform alchemy without circle by simply clapping her hands together to symbolize XXXXXX. Levels up with practice. Higher rank and level will result in greater control, area of effect, and ability to use increasingly specialized alchemy with this method. Specialized alchemy will still require the use of alchemy circles.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Outer Mana Core ManifestationInitiate00.00%
A trait limited to witches and potential witches. Although most witches are influenced by common belief to manifest their outer mana core as a hat, it is by no mean the only shape it can take. The first outer Mana core manifestation will determine its shape unless the user is proficient enough at mana manipulation to change it. At higher ranks, there is a random chance that the outer mana core will take on a part of the user''s personality and form an alternate self, Sorella, a blood sister witch.
Oh wow, the descriptions are surprisingly detailed. Much more than I expected them to be. (And much more pain to write than I thought) I took my time slowly reading through all of them. As much of a bastard Kruphix is for forcing me to come here when I just wanted to join Melinda in heaven, his blessings are quite useful. If I remember correctly from FAM:B, alchemists use the tectonic plate''s movement as their alchemy''s source of energy. Ah! So that''s why I have earth affinity, probably. There was a warning against showing off that I have the potential to become a witch for some reason. Ah, the good old middle ages, I hope I don''t burn at the stake. *shudders* Well, not that middle age from what I''ve seen so far. Perhaps little bit more advanced. Then again, I haven''t really seen much today, so I can''t say for sure. Better not use that outer mana core manifestation unless I really need to. I''m so going to destroy this place if they have slavery. That practice is barbaric and evil. Though I haven''t seen a beastman, beastkin, or whatever you want to call it, I can''t rule out the possibility. They''re treated badly, as animals, in most stories I''ve read. But that''s a matter for another day. Greater Battle Instinct... that''s my saving Grace I suppose. I was by no means a fighter in my past life. Sure, I''ve seen countless martial art movies and awesome anime fights, and read about too many fights with paranormal powers in manga and novels to count, but never done any myself. Call me a coward if you will, I was an Intellectual, and any chance to cripple myself must be avoided. Hmm, I could foresee a combine technique using Alpha Stigma and my Greater Battle Instinct. It stats alpha stigma can also see flaws or weaknesses, which I interprets as able to see the weakness of someone''s fighting style too. Let''s hope it is. Chi manipulation... I don''t know what to say for that skill, except tat it is essentially useless for the next 10 years, giving my Chi seal. A shame, I would''ve liked Baby me to level that for me if he could. The troubling thing is, I don''t know how to hide my skills... other than the one that other people automatically can''t see ''cause they''re from him. It''s time to explore the functions and capabilities of this system. Show Help Window! I sent out the mental command. A small window popped up before me, listing all the options it has. (And I refuse to write any more tables today) Aha! There we go, the option to hide skills! Excitedly, I apply the option to my mana related skills. There, I''m safe now. Cross my imaginary fingers and hope they don''t have skills to bypass this option. Now then, only five hours has passed since I came into this body and got trapped here. I doubt the baby me is waking up anytime soon... and I spoke too soon again as usual. She just crapped her pants. Ewww, no bowel control whatsoever. That uncomfortable feeling in the diaper is waking her up, aaaaand mute! Phew, made it just in time as she starts to cry. Wow, she got quite the loud voice judging by the way Red practically ram through the door to get to me. Either that or she''s been waiting outside all this time. Nah, that''s not likely, even for a maid. They need their own time after all. I resolved to finding out her name later on. Baby me got changed diaper. A little soft lullaby and she''s sound asleep. How envious, since I can''t sleep at all. Wait, don''t think about that! Damn, too late. Ugh fine, I''ll find some other distractions to busy myself with. I started conjuring up more stuff. Skyscraper took me quite the long time to build, since I obsessed over every detail. The Space elevator took me twice as long to build, though the material I conjured up isn''t quite real, only theorized back when I was working on the project. It was ultimately abandoned due to lack of proper material technology and funding. Perhaps I can build an actual one here with the incorporation of magic. Speaking of which, I need to find out more about this world and its different types of powers. Add that to my mental To-Do list, which is surely a mile long by now at least. Back to building stuff, there was tons of stuff I wanted to make but couldn''t due to one restriction or another back in my old life. But here, in my inner sanctuary, no such limitations exist mwuahahahahaha! -hahahahah- WHAT?! No! My previous creations are fading away! I looked back, the bed I had created, and the movie screen I created first are no longer there. Damn, is there a set time until they disappear? No, this is my inner domain. Which means their disappearance probably has more to do with my mental state then anything else, except maybe my mental stats. Clam, deep breathe, I can rebuild them, that takes up time anyways. As I worked to rebuild my previous creations, a window popped up in front of me for some reason.
Due to continuous mental training, you have gained the Concentration stat +10
Well ain''t that sweet! Hope it means my creations won''t fade away as quickly as they did now. Hmm let''s test that out. I conjured up a fluffy sofa for myself and collapsed on it, exhausted. That was strangely more tiring than I thought it would be in a dreamworld. That''s when I noticed Baby-Me was waking up. And boy is she hungry~ What was it again? Ah right, MUTE! Blessed silence surrounded me as my outer self started crying obnoxiously as only a baby can. Truly, they are the demons from hell when they cry! I remember when Elaine was at my current age (A strange thought, to be sure.) I often wondered how could such a small child produce such an obnoxiously loud sound. Endless nights of sleep deprivations continued after that. I return my attention back to the present world I''m in. Oh mother''s breastfeeding again. I''ve heard breastfeeding is better than artificial milk formulas, maybe it is true. Good, doting parents mean less work for little me hehehe... and possibly will limit my future actions. That need to be amended. Still, there''s not much I can do beside sending feelings to my outer self, and that alone takes too much effort. The only consolation I had was in the fact that all those mental training I was distracting myself with gave me some mental stats. Wake up, Cry, Feed, Diaper Change, Being carried around the inside of what I''m assuming to be a mansion, since the daily walk with Red is quite long, Feed again, Diaper Change, and so on. Go to sleep under Mother''s lullaby. Truly, an experience to be treasured. And so several months passed by while I observed the outside world from my porch in my inner mind. It was quite peaceful, and baby me was quite content with her life. Except I''m completely bored. There''s only so much weird constructions I wanted to make back in my old world but couldn''t. They called me a mad scientist or evil genius behind my back for a reason, but I''m completely out. I got a complete city full of odd junks and impossible buildings now, and nobody else to enjoy it with. Damn. With nothing else to do, I eventually ended up just counting sheep jumping the fence. Or in my case, counting dead babies, ''cause that''s how I felt about the lazy Baby Me not doing anything. I mean, for real, most reincarnated characters in story starts mana training or stuff like that while they were in infant stage right? Granted that does make them creepy weirdos that I''m always surprised medieval families put up with without complain, but at least they got Something to do. Back to counting dead babies then. Let''s restart, already reached 12 billion anyways: 1 Dead Baby, 2 Dead Babies, 3 Dead Babies... 52 Dead Babies... 231 Dead Babies... 7,658 Dead Babies... 112,763 Dead Babies... Oh God, I''m SO bored! That is, until that fateful day happened... Chapter 04- Mother of God... finally. Finally Final-F******-ly Hi and welcome to another episode of Move soldier Baby-me, Move! As you can clearly see, I''m trying to whip motivate my outer self into moving. If you are familiar with any incarnation or recursion story, you know what I mean. In case you don''t, here''s the general summary of the genre: Born again! Start practicing magic and sword young, become renowned as a child prodigy for being to walk and talk at six months, learning everything your magic/sword tutor has to offer in a few short years, become the strongest spellsword in fictional history, gather a harem/companions, suffer some unimaginable (yet somehow predictable) betrayal, miraculously recovers (by the power of love/nakama!) and defeat the evil demon overlord who actually trying to save his people from human scums (slavers), be hailed as the greatest hero of all time by filthy nobles as their henchmen enslaves the demon species, suffers a second betrayal at the hand of former comrades, rise up even stronger than before, become a king or a Emperor or God of murder, retires as a mysterious (and smelly) but wise sage living in seclusion in the deep mountains, find an unlikely, deserted child to be the Chosen One who will later save the world. Rinse and Repeat. You know the drill, I know the drill, everybody know the drill. It''s a set formula baby, and I for one say "If it ain''t broken, don''t fix it!" Hell, I even got "The Chosen One" title to show for it. And yet, for some unreasonable reason (wait... does being unreasonable make a reason... somehow not a reason?!) I am locked in my own inner mind, got my body possessed by the real soul of the body, which I guess is fair enough, and can''t do much more than watching through my baby self''s eyes and occasionally sent feelings or sensations down to her. Scrap the last one, way too much effort. I mean, seriously. Back when I wanted to get baby-me away from my over-clingy Father, I had to sent the feeling, the sense of discomfort at least a thousand times before she finally responded. Same when baby-me tried to eat her clay toys. It takes most of my energy just to sent down even the simplest feelings. And my job is nearly 24/7 damn it! Whenever baby-me does something dangerous, or seriously misbehave herself, both of which she does frequently, who do you think calms her down with soothing, happy feelings? or give her the sense to stay away from that spider? (Me! I want recognition for this! A medal! Nobel Prize for my peace efforts!) Half of the time, when baby-me is awake, I am the greatest fairy godmother in the whole freaking imaginary world: When she wakes up, she wants to eat her fingers. No! Bad baby! Activate gag response! When she sees a spider, she wants to touch it. Ewwww! Danger! Danger! Cry baby! Cry! When she sees Red (the maid, remember?), she wants breastfeeding.Bad baby! Wait for Mommy! No baby-me! Don''t put that in your mouth! Disgusted Feeling! C''mon, that is repulsive! No baby-me, don''t poke yourself with the teether! Endangered feeling! Don''t cry! Here delighted feelings! Happiness! Unicorns! Rainbows! Unicorns sh*ting rainbows! Oh you sh*t your diaper? Don''t just sit there and smile! Cry! Attract attention! Change diaper! Stinky stinky! As you can see, I''ve got quite the handful. Be grateful to me you peasants parents and maids, for taking care of your child, ME, when YOU should be doing the job! Gods'' balls, it doesn''t even end when she goes to sleep. Did I not mention this job is 24/7? ''Cause it is. Seriously, It''s ok baby, its just a little nightmare! Don''t be afraid! It''s alright baby-me, just a little flash of random colors I don''t understand in a dream, don''t be disturbed! Be calm! There''s is nothing to fear! Sense of being protected! (you are, damn it!) Calm. Peace. Be at ease, Tranquil mind. Yuuuup, that''s the other half of the time, when I feel like an old senile Jedi Master, telling my impulsive padawan to ignore his hatred and find nonexistent inner peace . Yes, excellent. Yes, just push that hate you have for corruption aside~ Yes, ignore the suffering of those in chains, like your dead mother was~ No, no, nononononono. Don''t talk back! *smack head* It''s diplomatic reasons! Push it aside! Yes, excellent. Excellent~Ignore them, so they can fester in your heart and make you into a real Sith! Hehehehehehe... If there''s anything I learned from this job after 7 months, it''s that I ain''t cut out for it at all! Just to make it worse, those Int/Wis/Concentration stats I used to get easily from doing this barely appear anymore! I hate to do all the complaining, but seriously I don''t even get a title for taking care of my baby-self. No "caretaker" or "nurse" or "peacemaker" title whatsoever. But that''s not even half of it. Oh no, not by a loooooooooooooong shot. Hell no, I''ll tell you what''s even worse than constantly sending down feelings to save myself. It''s the Boredom! You would think observing a baby''s life would be interesting right? Right? Well you''re wrong. Dead wrong. Allow me to enlighten you in a completely unscientific manner. Imagine doing only the same routine every single day. It''s like a desk job, in a cubicle. A colorless, grey (Yes, grey is colorless. F*ck you, I don''t care if grey is a color) cubicle. In a series of hundreds of cubicles, in a white air-conditioned room. Absolutely no sound beyond occasional quiet whispers. Given a tax file, whose name is blacked out on it, replaced by some indistinguishable serial number. You scan it, marks it down, and file it away. Receive the next one. Again. and Again. and Again. You get what I mean? Good, ''cause that''s just the start of it. Inception Time~~~~ Now, take away the cubicles, the white room, the other dead-eye workers, the illegal immigrant janitor you are ignoring like dog feces on the ground. Take away the sound of the air conditioning, the constant tapping of someone''s pen on the table, the occasional whispers. Take away the sense of vibration through the floor, caused either by an ADHD intern (who will never land a full time job there) or your scrooge-y senile manager masturbating in his locked office. That or the new college-grad chick giving him a blowjob. Then take away the lights. Not even that funny YouTube video the office worker of the month is watching remains. Take away the smell of the spoiled sandwich the fat guy next cubicle is eating. Take away that air-conditioned taste of the air you never even noticed before. Nothing to touch, nothing to see, nothing to smell, nothing to hear, nothing to taste. No one to be with; Nothing to do. Like some nobody club fighter once said, It''s only after we''ve lost everything that we''re free to do anything. You''d think that frees you up to do whatever you want, especially in a sanctuary where your imagination rules everything. But noooooo! Nope! Do you seriously believe in that inspirational bullsh*t? It might be true for one man, a hundred men, or a billion men. But nothing is truly ever true. There is an exception to every rule, every guideline, every law, in and of itself. When you are in a void, without really a purpose, and with seemingly limitless time, it''s not that you are free to do everything. It''s that you realize, after doing everything, that nothing you have done is real. You have done it so many times that you lost count, and it lost its meaning. There is nothing to do. That, my friend, is true boredom. And there is no escape, no shoulder to cry on. Nothing. Like a truly soundless room, it drives you crazy. Crazy until you start questioning everything. Is this place real? Is this real life? Am I just a imaginary construct? Is Anything, real? What is real anyways? Who defines it? And who gave the definer the right to define it? What is meaning? Is meaning really necessary? What defines necessity? You see, it''s an self-propelled, endlessly negative cycle. Like a perpetual machine made by the Sith. Driven by boredom. That is my present situation. (Mwahahaha, I''ll bet some of you people forgot what this chapter is about after my selfish rant. Thank you for putting up with me if you actually read it all *bows*) After the first week of the routine, it got so repetitive. I felt like I was on auto-pilot. Directing the baby from behind when needed, become tired in the process, staring into nothingness the rest of the time. I tried all those inspirational quotes in an attempt to cheer myself up. I tried all those psychological techniques I learned in my previous 130 years of living on good old Earth. At the beginning, everything worked, a little. Then none at all, because I only know so many of them, so they got repetitive as well. Then I had the notion of pretending I''m on a reality show, as its host. Stuff like "Oh hi, Didn''t see you there. Come in, come in~", as if there''s actually anyone beyond the fourth wall reading it. A dairy maybe. A magical codex with personality. Pretending. And yet, the boredom simply grows on me, gnawing away at my sanity, chewing away at my very self. Half of the time I can''t even tell what I''m missing, because I already forgot I had them in the first place. It was, in every sense of the word, a living hell. And don''t even get me on which hell it is; I''ve been down that alley countless times already. Then, my salvation came. (On the 7th month according to my status window) In the form of baby-me''s new method of movement. Crawling. yes! Yes! YES! She''s moving on her own! Yes! finally something new! My boredom was relived at last. And that brings us up to the present. Oh, if only I''d known how exciting everything will be from now on, I would''ve had something to look forward to! Pump the torso! Moving your arms soldier! Crawl! Crawling forward! Ever forward baby-me! I want to see Everything! For once, there is so much to see! So much to explore! So many possibilities and vital informations I need to confirm with my own eyes! And so, for once, I moved completely in concert with my baby self. Directing her toward what is more important instead of what is somehow sooooo interesting. I devoted myself completely to this task, tiring myself out completely after a full dead of it. Then I recuperates as baby-me slumbers away, her dreams somehow more peaceful even without my guidance now, going over what new things I saw today and make the best out of it as I can. As far as I can see with my baby-self''s crawling around in all the inconvenient places all day, I live in a mansion. I have yet to discover any other woman that Father is close with, so it seems monogamy is practiced here. In this household at least. So far, I''ve counted 23 maids, and 1 butler overseeing them. Also another butler that''s always waiting in a small attached room next to my father''s office. And that''s not even counting the guards I could see patrolling the estate outside. Since I can''t climb up stairs yet, I am confined to my third floor. Which is a floor too low to see over the guarded wall surrounding this place, so I have no idea what the outside world is like. Damn, so close. So I tried going down a stair. Now, despite all my instructions to baby-me about how Slowly and Carefully she should be, we ended up falling down a few steps anyways. She cried like the world was ending. Seriously, it was just a few bruises. She''s unaccustomed to pain, I suppose. That''s natural. And if we''re going to do martial art training later, I better get her used to it. This, of course, stirred up a whole shit-storm in the house. All the maids were running around in panic, and the butler was very displeased that he lost control for that few minutes. Mother was frantic, flustering around me like that will make it any better. It didn''t. At some point a few guards noticed the commotion they were making and bursted in, expecting intruders and assassins. Only to find a panicked maids. That look on their face was priceless. I saved it away for amusement later. Thank God he blessed me with photographic memory. That also ended my month long reign of freedom. From that point forward, Mother had me with her ALL the time. Honestly, I don''t know how I feel about it. It was both a blessing and a curse, oddly enough. Do you want the bad news first or the good news first? Ah that''s right, this is my writing, you don''t have a voice here muwahahahahahaha... Ahem I apologize for my lack of manner... (meanwhile asserting my power hehehe...) Let''s get the bad news over with first. First off, no more freedom and constantly being carried meant I stopped receiving physical stats most of the time. Although I''ve only worked off about 12 of those negative stats in each category, so 47 in total, it was a good start in my far too arrogant opinion. Sadly enough, I can clearly tell baby-me is getting Extremely spoiled with mother''s constant presence. At this rate, I''m going to end up as a Mother''s child. Oh, what am I going to do, other boys are sure to pick up on it quickly. Oh right, I''m not a man anymore, so I don''t have to worry about that anymore. That''s a blessing I suppose, though for some reason I felt slightly down at the thought for some reason. On the other hand, the good news is that Mother has already recovered from child birth long, long, long time ago. And Mother is quite the athlete, I must say. She goes down the corridor faster than my baby-self can blink. Seriously, that is fearsome speed. Did I mention Mother also seems to be some kind of spiderman? Not in the literal sense, of course. What I mean is that, unlike my awkward Father, Mother is bounded by the same Laws of Physics and gravity it seems. She can actually walk or run on any wall, jump inhumane distances, and generally choose to do so. For example, Father would take the second corridor to the left then turn at the next intersection to reach the Left Wing of the manor. Mother, on the other hand, would simply walk to the window and jump to a balcony of the Left Wing like it''s nothing. Makes me wonder how all the time, since I''m always in her overprotective hold. And get this, when she picks me up, she spreads some weird invisible force I can feel but not see over me and I stick to her arms like glue! No chance of falling off accidentally there. Out of all the people I''ve seen here, Mother is the only one able to do this. Of course, Baby-Me is eating it up like a... well like a baby, I suppose, which is appropriate for us. No, her. Ugh, oh no, I''m starting to think in plurals instead of singular. Not good, must focus! She would giggle and laugh every time Mother moves like superwoman. And that only encouraged Mother more. At least I don''t get motion sickness like I used to back on Earth. That goodness. The main benefit for me, of course, is that I finally could see over those walls. And boy, color me Very surprised. First, let me just say I was expecting a country side, or a small town at most. Why? Because why else would you need these massive walls? This place is practically a fortress in its own right, except on a diminished scale. So I was quite pleasantly surprised when I looked out from Mother''s hold and saw... a city. An actual city. No skyscrapers as expected, but a city never the side. I didn''t get to look at all the areas around our manor that afternoon, only the North part, but that was amended two days later when I finally got Baby-me to tell Mother "Up! up! up!" about 50 times. That got the massage across, and Mother simply walked us up to the roof as we demanded. I mean I. I demanded, through the baby. Ah screw it, we''re two people with same underlying characteristics anyways, let''s just use plural. Of course, when I say ''simply'' walked us up, I mean it. She didn''t bother with the stairs. Oh no, I''ve never seen Mother bother with one. She simply walked out onto the balcony, then started walking on the walls. Straight Up. Most efficient way I suppose. Baby-me wasn''t scared at all since Mother''s way of moving around is practically all she knows, but since I was different, I was still a bit afraid of the height and the obvious lack of safety gears. Then I forgot my fear of heights, because of what I saw. Like before, to the North of the manor are the city. Same goes for the West side, except for a large river that cuts through the middle of it. On the East and South, however, are forests. Real. Living. Forest. Do you not realize how amazing that is? I mean, in the last 40 years of my previous life on old Earth during the 22th century, real forest were practically all gone. Sure, there were a few reserves, but u won''t see them against you fly to one of the remaining national parks. 22th century society pretty much destroyed Earth through pollution, and we failed in our endeavor to create a space elevator... not the best time to be alive, I''ll admit. That is, if you are poor muwahhahahaha! Did you think I was one of those who suffered? Nah, I was the greatest scientist of all times! (self-proclaimed) Soon enough, I got over my shock at the forest, and baby-me got tired so she went to sleep. It''s only 4 months later that I finally got Mother to carry me outside the mansion. Of course, Baby-me already learned how to talk and walk by then. Sadly enough, we didn''t get much chance to walk around thanks to Mother''s constant hugging. If you''re keeping counts, yup that is my first birthday in this life! Happy Birthday me! My parents threw a private party that afternoon... and then my greatest triumph came. As Mother leaned down to ask baby-me what she wants for her birthday, and baby-me faithfully told her that she "wanna go outside Mommy!" You have no idea how long it took me to hypnotize her into saying that. 2 full months of sending her dreams of she saying those words to Mother while she sleeps. 2 full months. I had to make sure she learns how to say those words as well. But, it was all worth it! Mwahahahaha I''m a genius! Praise me people! "Sure honey, let Mommy get changed don''t move ok? Good girl" Saying that, Mother sat me down on a chair while she went upstairs to find a dress to go out with. I was expecting a set of normal outdoor wears, but Mother came back wearing something that surprised me. She was wearing a full traditional Chinese Dress, for some reason. "Aww sweetie do you like Mommy''s new dress?" No, honestly I prefer the original one you were wearing. Speaking of which, why did she had to find a different dress to wear to go outside in the first place? Hmmm the world of women are confusing at times... "You know, this is the dress I worn when I visited this city for the first time a decade ago. Don''t you like it? hehe" Hmm perhaps I inherited my frequent urge to giggle and laugh from her. "That certainly brings back memories." Father chimed in. Almost forgot he was still there for a minute. Shame. "You always look gorgeous in that dress dear." "Of course I do~" Perhaps I also inherited this urge for praises from mother? Well, who knows. "Be safe out there!" Father shouted as we left the front door. I thought he would''ve come with us on my first time out into the city, but then I realize it was impossible for him to match Mother''s speed. I mean, I''ve never seen Father go faster than human limits like Mother frequently does. It''s a good thing our estate was quite large. Ah, we are approaching the front gates! Oooh I can''t help but wonder what kind of stuff this world would have? It''s a world with mana and magic after all, so there should be all kinds of weird, fantasy stuffs! Ohoho, I can feel that Baby-Me is sharing my excitement... Either we just happens to be in sync or I''m getting better at sending her the feelings I want her to feel. Cross my fingers and hope its the latter. Sadly, since I never received any skill for it, I don''t actually know if I''m getting good at sending stuff mentally. Hmm I should find a better word for it... influencing? No... Imposing. That''s word, probably. Hope I''m getting better at imposing my will on baby-me hehehe... Then we were beyond the Gate, and into the city. There are tons of people on the streets, and carriages as well. There were no distinctions of walkways and driveways, however, which I thought was quite dangerous. Something I must fix when I gain control over this body and grow up! Then, Mother being Mother, jumped onto the roof of a nearby inn so we can avoid the crowd. I can already see a crowd of people gasping at us with mouth wide open down below. Man, if only I can get some mini-grenades and toss them down their throats... Whoa! Where did that random thought come from? Go away murderous thoughts! I guess I do have a thing for bloodshed. Perhaps I never realized on Earth ''cause everyone goes into VR worlds and kill some monsters every now and then anyways. Now I think about it, VR games are extremely violent, yet nobody seems to complain about them. At least not after they experienced VR for themselves. Perhaps violence is simply part of the human nature? Food for thoughts, to be sure. While I am pondering over such philosophical questions, Baby-Me is currently giggling non-stop as Mother flew over the city... literally. Not the kind of flying you might expect from a superhero movie, but she''s certainly running on air... somehow? Note to self: MUST. LEARN. FROM. MOTHER! I want to be able to walk on air too!!! How is Mother doing this?! Meanwhile, baby-me starts to droll and clapping away happily... "Awwww sweetie do you like it when Mommy go fast? Do you? Do you???" Augh! I''m being face-rubbed again! A sign of affection, I understand, but Mother''s quite strong. Not that Baby-Me minds. I suppose she''s already used to it. But, um, I''m not quite used to Mother''s new speed as she is. Please, slow down Mother! I tries to get baby-me to tell mother to slow down... "Mommy! Faster! Faster!" Noooooo, what are you doing! This is ridiculous! What is this?! Some kind of Wuxia (That means martial arts) skill? Holy sh*t, we''re already past the city limits. And Mother''s only speeding up?! ...How fast can people be with magic in this world? I really must find out, it''s quite scary not knowing these things. Then I saw a small of cloud forming around us for a second, even if I can''t feel it under Mother''s protection. No wait, not a cloud. Sweet Mother of God, we just went over the speed of sound didn''t we? That was the freaking speed barrier wasn''t it! Holy cow! holy cow! Holy saint jes- Blah, I don''t even know what I''m saying in my head. This is just too impossible. How can you expect a former scientist, a man who made the study of the laws of the world his profession? This is not possible! ...unless your Mother, I reflected. Oh we stopped, on a mountain top. Covered in snow, and I could see the wind blowing wildly around us. How are we not freezing up?! I don''t even feel the cold! ...Mother. Of course. I wanted to punch myself in the face for asking that stupid question. This only fueled my desire to learn the powers of this world!!! One day! I swore to myself and nobody in particular, One day! I will be like Mother! Geeze, Father sure is useless... It does make me wonder how could a ordinary looking military person like Father even managed to catch Mother''s attention in the first place. And so far as I''ve seen, Father got none of Mother''s powers. He can''t walk on walls, move faster than sound, or doing something so I stick to her even if we''re upside down. And neither can anyone else in this city, I realized then. That''s right, I''ve never seen anyone else does what Mother does, and there''s also that crowd of gasping people when Mother jumped 4 stories up to the roof of that inn. That makes both of us quite envious of Mother''s skills. Perhaps just a little nudge would be enough to get Baby-Me to-- "Mommy! Me wanna fly too!" Baby-Me shouted as she looks at Mother''s face. Man, we must look so cute, I can almost imagine it... Wow this gender change thing is seriously messed up. Better not think that way! "Aww sweetie, Mommy promise to teach you when you grow up, Ok?" Mother leaned in and rubbed my forehead affectionally. What is with the adults in this world and wanting to rub a baby''s skin? Ah, that''s right, babies have soft, lovable skins, not to mention cute... I remember Elaine was just as cute too... I can feel Baby-me''s disappointment and her pouting face. Are we too spoiled? Anyways, we started back, this time Mother didn''t take us as high as she did when we came here. Not that we used the road either. You know how those ninjas run on top of trees and stuff? Yeah, its like that, just much much faster. Ooh I can see the walls of the city again! Wait what is that? I guess our estate''s on one of the edge of the city, but in the direct center of the city was a elevated... fortress? Yeah fortress, that''s the word. It''s strangely familiar somehow... Spoiler : I decided to investigate whatever that is later if I can. We''re currently arriving at a marketplace... where nobody looks the least bit like Mother, at all. All blond hair and blue eyes white people like Father. (I''m not being racist, ''white people'' is the actual term we refer to Westerners as in Chinese) Anyways, it seems Mother''s here to pick up something? Oh, never mind that, she''s definitely here for a different reason. I don''t think Mother ever bothers going to the market herself anyways, that''s our maid''s job. Nope, Mother walked up to a lady I don''t know and started chatting about someth... OH!! A playdate! sweet! I have never met someone my age here before! Yes, yes, yes!!! Ha, don''t get too overexcited, I reminded myself and baby-me. Still, being the only child in the mansion is getting kind of lonely. Hmm it''s set a week from today, when this auntie will come over for Tea with her daughters... twin daughters. Sometimes I wish I have a twin sibling to play around with. Then we started walking with auntie down some road I don''t know. Is it just me or did we accidentally walk into a bad neighborhood? Of course, Baby-Me has absolutely no clue whatsoever. I doubt Mother or this auntie noticed either, seeing how engaged in their conversation they are. The streets looked more shabby the further we walk. Then the street lamps that I''ve seen through out the city... were gone. Well, not completely gone, just destroyed. Why would anyone do that? Probably to steal the Magic Device on top of it that casts light like a light bulb, I rationalized to myself. It''s the first and so far, only, widespread used Magic Device I''ve seen so far in this world, and Mother''s Chinese Dress doesn''t allow her to carry anything on it from the look of it. Honestly, what is with women''s dresses and lack of pockets? Either way, my train of thought is interrupted a second later. A door in a shady-looking alley bursted open, and a poorly dressed young girl ran out, shutting the door behind her hard. A second later, two burly man bursted right through the sturdy wooden door. They looked more like bodybuilders... fat bodybuilders. Guards? Then the girl saw the three of us walking there. No! Don''t run here! Go away danger! ... is what I wanted to shout out. But of course, I''m in my inner mind. Damn! :( That''s when a strange thing happened. Mother, who''s usually so overprotective of us that I''m constantly being carried at her chest-level, turned toward the mysterious auntie and handed me to her. "Take care of my girl for a second, Julia. I''ll go see what this ruckus is all about. It won''t take a minute." Saying that, I have been handed over by Mother. Well, that''s a first, beside handing me to Father occasionally, of course. Then Mother used instantaneous movement and got between the run-down looking girl and her two pursuers. Yes, I said instantaneous movement, because it is. Faster than she had ever moved around with me in her arms before, and I did register a Mother-sized sonic boom. How that works is beyond me at the moment, but both baby-me and I watched in fascination. Eeeeeeeeeexcept Auntie Julia covered my eyes at that moment. "It''s be over in a flash, little one. Be good now and don''t give auntie any trouble, Ok?" I turned toward the sound of her face a bit and saw her gently smiling at me. Why? Is there something I''m not supposed to see? "Come over here, little miss, I won''t hurt ya~" That''s a line straight out of the villain''s textbook! Mother, what have you done, handing me over to this ''Julia" woman??? Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Then I felt another presence near me. A weak one. Weak and foreign. What a day, I signed inwardly. Gotta love birthdays. Now then, I want to see what Mother is doing. If only auntie Julia'' isn''t covering my eyes! Or if I can use my "Alpha Stigma" dojutsu... I mean skill! That''s right, I finally remembered where I had heard that name before! It''s from an unpopular anime series with a corny name. Spoiler : "...Alpha Stigma, which is said to analyze and comprehend all magic." BUUUUUUUT, I don''t like the look of ^That. Therefore, Pray''s already red eyes will remain unchanged. Here''s a picture of Prey''s eyes. Note, when she use her power (substituted here by alpha stigma skill), Pray''s eyes turn more slitted and predator like hehehe...) It''s a magic eye, or dojutsu if you are Japanese. Capable of seeing beyond barriers, naturally. Barriers like auntie Julia''s hands. If only I am in control of the body! Or if Baby-Me activates the skill herself. ...Hang on... I can get her to do that! Alpha Stigma! Alpha Stigma! C''mon! Say Alpha Stigma! Alpha Stigma! After about a thousand repeats, which only took a second in the real world due to my time acceleration in here, I finally got my outer self to mutter it!!! Oh I can''t wait! I can already hear sounds of fighting... no more like people groaning. And I finally activated a skill I have in this world for the first time! Granted, it''s really Baby-Me that said it, but I was the one who encouraged her nevertheless! Aha! There we go! The world turned into negative, which is quite a sight to behold. Nonono, don''t watch that build little me, turn right! Right! Rig- Ohohoho, what do we have here? Either the couple is extremely young and energetic or they''re near the climax. Oh man, I haven''t watch porn in such a long time! And a live one at that, hehehe... Oh hell, I''m in the form of a girl now, damn it. *shudders* Oh god, what is happening to me? I''m not prepared for these kinds of thoughts! Calm the f*ck down, I reprimanded myself! Direct baby-me toward those sounds of fighting! With a great effort, I finally got little me to look at where Mother is. ......... Amidst a mountain of corpses, Mother stood tall and untouched. I arrived at just the right time to see her pierce her hand right through a medieval looking chest armor. Right through the poor bastard''s heart. There''s also shivering people locked up in cages in the background, I noticed. Don''t tell me, slaves? Gaah, I want to take a piece of them too Mother! Why didn''t you save some for me? *pouts cutely* Just then, Mother whipped around, looking... directly at me! EEEEEEEEEEeeeeek!! What the hell?! How did she do that?! *startles, alarmed face* "Mommmmy!!!" Little me waved happily at her. What. Are. You. Doing?!!!!! Damn! Baby-Me just blew my cover! DEFCON-5! DEFCON-5! Run away! ...Aaand as usual, I can''t. That''s just Pray that Little me''s innocence will shield me from suspicion... Mother got a look of shock on her face for some reason. Then she got her face back under control and turned around to face the rest of the room. Swing her arms in a semi-circle horizontally like she''s chopping her enemies into half, I watched as a burst of... Mana? Chi? Psion? ...something spread out in the same fashion and orderly slices open all of the cages in one fell swoop. Neat! Then the police finally arrives. Late as usual. Looks like they are the same no matter what world it is. There''s a tall looking man with glasses leading them, but in a different uniform. A detective in charge, probably. I have no clue about his other cosmetic appearances because I''m still viewing the world in negatives, so everything looks pretty much either white, dark blue, or just black. I see them cautiously enters the door. Only to be pushed aside a moment later by a bunch of people emerging from behind it in rags. They look like the girl who bursted out here in the first place in terms of how they are dressed. Though they do vary in age and size by a large margin. It looks like they are being taken into protection by the police, thank goodness. Then the demon came out. At least, I think that''s what the detective thought when he saw Mother emerges from the dust cloud. A women in traditional Xing-dress, unarmed but also untouched. Only one standing by the look of things. Which mean she might very well be the perpetrator behind this... massacre! *Special Investigator Amon thought to himself* I must be on guard around this strange woman. Only Xing woman I''ve seen outside of the textbooks, really. To me though, it just looks like Mother, of course. That look of doubt on her face does bothers me though. Right then, my sight abruptly returned to normal. Which, considering auntie Julia hasn''t moved a inch since the start of this little unfortunately incident, means that I can''t see anything through my covered eyes. I can still hear just fine though. ......... "Stay away! Do not approach the civilians! Keep your hands where I can see them!" I hear someone shouts. If I must venture to guess, it''s probably that detective person shouting at Mother. Not the brightest one are you? It''s probably not a good idea to shout at Mother right now... Yup! I hear the sounds of something breaking, and a scream accompanying it. "AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaah! My hand! What have you done?!" "...Out of my way kid, I''m not in the mood to deal with you people right now. If you have a complaint, bring it to Brigadier General Anderson''s Office to Central Command. That''s enough, now get out of my way." Then Mother is next to us again. I hear a whimpering sound behind Aunt Julia for some reason. Ah, probably that girl who escaped first. I suppose a woman who can crush a fully grown man''s hands like candy is to be feared by everyone, like the girl. Except Aunt Julia, I can see hear smiling face out of the corner of my eyes. How can she smile at this?! "You''ve gotten slow Silv, I''ll bet I could''ve settled it in one go! Kukuku, perhaps we should have a rematch sometime?" Wow aunt Julia sure is confident! I wonder where she get that from, I need a dose or two of it please! "Julie, you know you can never beat a Xing martial art priestess like me in practical combat. I''ll rip you lightning alchemy apart! Besides, you know your lightning alchemy is useless before someone with my bloodline." Mother answered evenly, like its just another common topic they can chat about over some tea and cookies. There is something deeply wrong with this, i tell you! This is wrong, you hear me?! How can they be so... confident in themselves? Monstrous! "You and your lightning esper powers. *sigh* you know Silv, this really brings up memory of the old days. Why haven''t you visited me in so long." As they chat, auntie Julia uncovered my eyes and handed me back to Mother. "Oh you know, I have to take care of my little Pray right here *I got a head-rub again* Aww would you just look at her face! Soooooo cute!!!! And you know how much I love cute things! I can''t just leave my sweetie at home now could I?" I''m not quite sure if that last sentence is directed at me or at Aunt Julia, but really Mother, you are being overprotective! "You could''ve just taken him to my house with you." "... Point taken. But the same goes for you! Why didn''t YOU visit us hmm?" Mother grinned at Aunt Julia, who grinned just right back at her. I can already foresee a staring contest... yup there we go, Aunt Julia got her armed crossed defensively over her chest now. "I''d love to chat, Silvy, but I really must go now. The girls would be wondering why I''m not back from shopping yet. I for one am not a lazy lady having all the maids doing all my work for me. Hmmph!" With that last remark, Aunt Julia turned around and left. Except the little girl from before clung to her side like a pest. "Oh let go! *bzzzt!*" Holy crap, she just snapped her fingers and a small lightning spark leapt out of it! It stunned the girl, knocking her out. Before she can hit the floor, Aunt Julia caught her with one arm and hoisted the girl up. "Here, consider her my present to you, little one! Hehehe..." She got a mischievous smile on her face. Hey wait! You can''t just hand off someone like she''s an object! That is inhumane! "...Fine, we''ll take care of her. But remember, if anything happens, it''s on your head!" Mother agreed reluctantly. Then the two frienemies departed from the scene. One carrying a basket full of goodies that makes me hungry just to think about them. The other, a now stern looking woman in a traditional Chinese dress flying through the air of the city, far above the clustered roads. In one hand, a little, cute baby-girl that surely can''t be older than a year old. In the other, an unconscious girl looking about 8 years old to me being carried like a sack of rice. Or wheat, grains, whatever. It probably took around 12 and a half seconds to arrive at our mansion; I recognizes the Front Gate as we passes through it. Not that I''m counting or anything. *In denial* Well, home sweet home, and I thought it was finally over. Man, that was exhausting to say the least. (Also 4 hours to write up ugh!) ...NOT! Nope, as soon as we are back in our estate, Mother jumped straight into Father''s study, crushing through the railing on the balcony, the front part of the granite balcony itself, then through the thick (bulletproof? Looks thick enough to me) window looking into the study. "oh hi honey, your back early! How was, um, your little trip? Did you guys had fun?" Father gave a weak smile while his secretary (that''s the other butler!) fled the room. "Xix! Would you care to venture a guess as to what I happened across with our daughter today?" Mother asked in a dangerous tone. Veeeery dangerous tone. If I know anything at all from my marriage in my last life, now is the time for the man to get on his hands and knees and beg for forgiveness. Hope Father won''t have to sleep on the couch tonight. (Though I must admit, we have quite the nice couches around this place; I love them! So soft and fluffy! Animal skins, probably, but who cares!) "I''ll give you a little hint. Here, see this girl? Mother hoisted the girl up for Father to see. That''s when I finally noticed she had a skin colored chocker on. This world''s version of slave collars? "And what was our promise Xix? Have you forgotten already?" As Mother says that, she tosses the girl across the room, crushing her into the three curious maids who were peeking around the corner. "Of course not dear! I mean, I still remember our pledge, really! I''ll have my men on it right away! Yes! Right away dear! Now, please. If you could, just for little, you know..." "Know WHAT? Xix?" Oh man, this can''t get any better... "... calm down?" Father timidly finished his sentence. More like his Death Sentence, I mused to myself. Oh nononono, he just spoke the forbidden words. Poor Father, he''ll be lucky if hears he end of this next month. (^^) A week later... why a week later instead of a month later as you might have expected? Surely you haven''t forgot about the playdate with aunt Julia''s twins now have you? A maid walked into the main receiving room on the second floor of the mansion, announcing that the carriage with "Lady Julia and her children" have arrived. Meanwhile, Mother banished Father into his study. Apparently he''s not to have any meal today until his subordinates completely clear out the scums in the slum. Yikes! Note to self: Never piss off Mother. Ever. Then they came in. More like bursting through the door, really. Twins. Two girls who looks like the spitting image of each other, energetically running around and checking everything in the room. I see Aunt Julia a bit behind them, regally walking in. Then the twins noticed me, sitting here on the floor. With my right thumb in my mouth to boot. Damn it baby-me, when did you do that without my notice? "Mommy said sucking thumb is bad!" They spoke in unison. Completely in sync. It''s creeping me out... Even their postures are identical! "Hiiiii!" Little me apparently wasn''t creeped out and proceeded to take a few seconds to stand up. Bravo, baby-me, bravo! Carry on! "Who are you?!" "I''m Pray! Who are you?" "Now, now, kids, we need to introduce you properly." Ah, Aunt Julia finally got here it seems. She leans down and takes the two of them in her arms, much to their dismay. "But Mommy~" "I wanted to touch her hair!" "Ahem, Silvia, these are my daughters." Aunt Julia brought them to the couch facing Mother. I walked over to Mother and waved my arms so she would pick me up. Of course, she does, and I am now sitting on her knees facing the other three. "This is Anne, and this is Jill. Say hi you two!" Is Anne the one on the right or Jill the one on the right? I have no idea, since Aunt Julia never specified which one they are. "Mommy can we get off the couch now?" It appears neither of them heard what Aunt Julia said. "No! Not until you behave yourselves!" She looked downright stern at that. "How sweet, Julie, you must be a wonderful Mother" Mother smiled sarcastically as she casually replied. "This is Pray, my little girl. Be a good girl now and say hi to them Pray-dear." "Hiiiiiiii!!!" Boy, Baby-Me never seems to run out of steam does she? So energetic all the time. What are they putting in the water here? "Perhaps you have a little playroom for them to play together in?" It seems like the twins are quite the handful if she''s that eager to get rid of them... then again they were running around like little devils just a few minutes ago. "Of course, I have them prepared already." Saying that, Mother took the small summoning bell on the side table and gently rings it twice. A maid is by our side even before the second bell rings out. Dang, that''s some quality service right there! "Take them to the play room, Amy. Stay there and play with them." Mother commanded the maid, who looks a little shaken and frightened at Mother''s presence. "Understood, madam. Little misses, please come with me." She gives a weak smile as she tugs the struggling twins after her, one in each hands, "Young master, please follow us." Little me gives her a serious nod to show that she understands, and promptly leaps down from Mother''s lap to follow Amy the maid. Last I heard as baby-me walks out the room was Aunt Julia complaining to Mother about the girls, *Sigh* "You know, Silv, it sure is nice to have a good daughter like yours. I can''t find my girls in my own house half of the time! Not to mention they look so alike sometimes even Dry and I can''t tell them apart! It''s a nightmare!" "At least you have a competent husband, Julie. My husband just gives me headaches! Here, I prepare some champaign for us to enjoy." Thought I can''t see from the back of my head, I think Mother''s probably pouring the champaign in to the glass by now. And so with that *clink* of two champaign glasses chiming as they hit each other, I went into the playroom, where I''m about to play with two girls my age for the first time! Ooh, I''m so excited! Finally, someone who isn''t a polite maid or Mother!
Anne is currently holding my hand in hers- or is that Jill? I can''t tell. Seriously, even when they introduced themselves, they got it mixed up. "HII! I''m Jill!" "No, I''m Jill!" "No, mommy said I''m Jill!" "But daddy said your Anne and I''m Jill!" Oh goodness gracious, this is completely their parent''s fault that they are confused! It took about 10 seconds for the one on the left to back down. She looks more soft-hearted then her decisive looking sister. Yup, there''s the teary eyes and pouting lips. "Bu-bu-but Momma said so!" "Now, now, miss Jill, let''s get you some clay to play with, Ok?" Amy steps in and takes Jill- I guess she''s Jill now- up in her arms and takes her aside. That brings us back to the present, with Anne holding my hand for some reason. Aah, she''s dragging me across the room to the door? What for? I can feel baby-me sharing my confusion. "Zion! Bring the box! The one Mommy said I should give Pray and tell her it''s my gift!" "At once, young master" Holy! I almost sh*t my pants right then. There''s a butler I don''t recognize standing next to the door. I didn''t even notice him there! Wha-what the hell?! Then the butler went out and return a minute later with a large, wrapped up gift box. I wonder what''s inside? It appears the twins share my curiosity. Jill manages to shake off Amy''s gentle hold on her and promptly run over to us. "I wanna see toooo!" "Zion open it! open it!" "Of course." The butler answers smoothly and proceeded to produce a small scissor out of thin air in his hand, and cuts through the top layer of the wrapping paper. I leans in closer to take a better look, as does the twins by my two sides. Inside the box are... Spoiler : ...three Kittens! Aww so cute!!! One is all Grey-ish white, and another is jet black, The one middle has black patterns running down her spine and is mostly brown otherwise, except for a few spots of black fur. All three of them have white fur near their nose and mouth, and they are looking at the three of us with those ooh so adoring eyes I want to snatch one and cuddle it!!! "meow?" Aaah the brown-fur one just purred! "She''s mine!" Little-Me and I screams together as we reach down and grasps the kitten in my hands. She''s about half the size I am! Perfect cuddling pet! Awww her fur are so soft and fluffy! Ooh her tails waving around so cutely that Little-Me can''t help but reaches out to grab it! "Ow!" She bit me! Well, her teeth are really small so if it was me from my last life, I probably wouldn''t feel anything more then a tickle. Unfortunately, Little-Me freaked out and drops the kitten, who promptly runs up the couch on the side of the room away from us! Come back kitten! Meanwhile, back to Jill and Anne as little Pray chases after her kitten. "I want the black one!" "I want the white one!" "I want the other one!" They said the last part in unison, glaring into each other''s skulls. "Little misses, how about this?" I hear the butler leans down and grasp the two kittens in his big, adult hands. How I can hear a motion is none of you damned business! "Miss Anne said she wanted the white one first, so it''s only fair that she gets it. Miss Jill said she wanted the black one first, so it''s her right to claim the black one, don''t you agree girls?" I think the butler Zion probably looks grandfatherly when he says that, because the twins only grumbled a bit and takes their kittens without question. Sebastian- Er, I mean Zion the butler- then takes the box away to who knows where. All I knows is that I don''t see that large gift box anymore when I turned around, somehow. We spent the rest of the day playing chase with our kittens, who runs all over the room and even over Amy the maid in the corner, standing like a piece of furniture as she watches three of us. All in all, it was a fun day, even if nobody managed to catch their kittens. Mother walked in with Aunt Jill beside her and promptly grasps cute kitten out of the bookcase she had climbed up on, and hands her to me. How does she know that one is mine? All in good times, my friend, all in good times... (Next chapter, fool! So stay tuned!) Sebastian- No, I mean Zion, Ugh they look so alike I swear they could be twin brothers! -catches the two fleeing kittens again and holds them in his arms as he leads the twins out the door after Aunt Julia. "Bye Pray!" "Come over with us!" "Maybe next time, dears." Aunt Julia smiled down at the twins. "Of course, it would be my pleasure." Mother answers as she waves around my hand in farewell. Hmm, perhaps I am using the phrase ''Of Course'' a bit too much... nah like that matters! "I''ll see you next Sunday then!" "Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyye!" Aunt Julia walks off as her butler leads the twins by their hands. Where did the kittens go? ... Oh, I see them peeking out of Zion''s pockets. Aren''t they so cute? Well, not as cute as MY kitten! ... Who just ran away from me toward her sisters when Mother started waving my arms without a care in the world. No! Come back here kitten! Mother told one of the patrolling guards to recover the kitten for me, and bring it to a maid when he''s done. They never stood a chance against such a cute, devious animal! Good, she''s perfect for me mwuahahahahahaha! Mother muttered something about "incompetent guards" and why did Father even hire them if they can''t even catch a small kitten. That''s before she steps out herself and leaps back a second later holding my kitten with her fingers and giving her back to me. Why couldn''t she had done that sooner? I wanted my kitten! Ah well, all''s well ends well, as long as little me got her kitten, she''s happy, as am I. A pet! This is going to be exciting! Not mention, even if Little-Me has forgotten already, we have another playdate at Anne and Jill''s place next week! Yay Freedom! Hallelujah! We then proceeds to fall asleep right on top of the squirming kitten, who''s trying to escape my heavy body. Hehehe, this might just be it! I can tame her this way! Just wait ''till she gives up and fall asleep next to me...
*One Month later* So maybe my prediction was little off. Mother didn''t cool off a month over the incident that occurred during my birthday. In fact, she''s pretty much still fuming about it. She tries to hide it from me when we''re together, which is most of little-me''s awake time, but I can tell from that tight look on her face. Or the occasional little twitch in her arms. Or her abnormally strong grip on us. It''s a miracle she haven''t crushed my bones yet... or is it? Either way, Father''s getting the short end of the stick by far, despite all his efforts to repair the situation. I went over to Aunt Julia''s house twice that month. They have a large, nice, Victorian-Era looking house. Almost large enough to be called a mansion, if only it has yards around it... Oh, how about that little girl we also rescued? It turns out her name is Amy Sakura, the daughter of a Magician from Britannia... that''s all we- I mean Mother- got out of her before she collapsed and started crying. What, you didn''t notice? Yes, Amy did became our maid-in-training when Mother offered her a place here. As she eventually calms down enough to talk again, she told us her sad story. A girl growing up in a remote village in some nation called Britannia, I don''t know what that is either... yet! Her mother died before she can remember, so her Father brought her up on his own. He was the village Magician, by the way. Yeah, I said ''was''. The bandits who raided their village torched it, and even killed her Father, who was trying his best to protect her and the villagers against forty odd bandits on his own. Then they locked her and the other survivors up and moved them here, where she overheard one of the kidnappers said they will be sold off to ''Old Nobilities''. Little did I know what was going to occur that night... boy color me surprised when I finds out much, Much later. That night asserted my Mother''s fearsome powers as... well, fearsome. I''m not sure how else I could''ve said that. Oh, how about Red, the maid that used to care for me? Well, after my little ''incident'' at the stairs, I''ve not seen her again since. Fired, probably. It''s a sad reality, but at least Baby-Me has no clue about it. Most she did was to slightly tilt her head in an inquisitive manner and asked Father "Wheere''s Reeeeed? Pray want Red!" To be expected, Father didn''t answer our question, but instead showed us another toy. Ha! I cannot be distracted by such obvious tacti- Oh damn it baby-me, you''re already playing with that... oooh, a Rubik''s cube! Nonono pray, turn the top part to the left! No don''t turn it downward! Why are you making it worse?! Ugh, as I was saying, there''s no way such a toy could possibly distract me! ...Fine, I accept my defeat. Oh you will rue this day mister! Just you watch! *pouts* "meow!" My kitten meows cutely next to me. Ooooh I just want to cuddle her all day! *Promptly forgets all about the first maid she met*
Author''s Note: Phew, that was probably the longest chapter I have typed up so far... let''s see, how many words? Holy cow, just over 10 thousand words... that''s certainly new! That''s 26 pages if you don''t know folks! Hurray for me! Speaking of which, I''ll probably post a second chapter today. C''mon, you know you wanna know what the Mother did after our little new maid''s story came out right? That being said, please enjoy this next chapter of Wizard in Wonderland. And given the gender change I''d spontaneously chosen to give my MC last chapter, maybe I should change the title to Witch(er) in Wonderland... Witch of Terra?... Witch of Terror?... what the hell was I writing about? ...All new Title Suggestions are very much welcome. Please comment, and leave a title suggestion below. At the end of some yet determined time, I''ll make a list of all suggestion (Ha! Like I''ll get any, lol!) and make a poll. Democracy in the making process baby! My original author''s note... well ok, it''s a rant, but its here if you want to see it. Viewer discretion advised, I was in a bit of a bad, sarcastic mood when I wrote this original A/N at 3 am last night... for some reason :P. Spoiler : ...I interrupt this news broadcast to bring you the latest story on... Ok ok, I''m sorry! I''m sorry for disrupting your reading pleasure with this notice! BUT, it has come to my attention recently (& Ironically just recently), that I swear a lot. Yes, I won''t deny it. (DON''t read the next sentence, I dare you!) I swear like I f*cking don''t f*cking give a f*cking sh*t for you f*ckers, f*ck! *Clears throat* Ahem! What I''m trying to say is, I write my mind, without filters. At all. I am a very, as I like to call myself, spontaneously random person. Also lazy and prone to procrastination. Anyways, what you will find here is 99.99% true to what I have in mind. Reader Interactive? Well... that''s a subjective term. I take it as I''m too lazy to decide so you guys do my work for me hehe~ SO, before I go on another tangent (-angle equals opposite over adjacent-)(Ah damn it I did it again :''( ) Er, as I was saying, this series will always contain expletives. Always, and that''s not changing anytime soon. Wait wait wait don''t break out the shoes and the whips and the rotten vegetables yet! Yes, yes, I''m sorry for making this author''s note excessively long. (I could''ve done this in a single sentence, I suppose, but I won''t. Because that is not me! It''s my freedom of expression, so suck it!. ''Murica! *Machine Gun shots! Blitzz! blitzz!*) Oh yeah, I''m also exploring this forum system''s stuffs like you see in this sentence. On a completely unrelated note, rotten vegetables you might want to throw at inept actors or imaginary authors if you are a Shakespearean-Era peasant would serve as great compost, so don''t throw them at your most hated actor or annoying author! Chapter 05- That Night... *Xix Anderson, the Father''s POV* Augest 31, 109 A.F. (After Founding Amestris) Today was the third happiest day of my life. At least, that''s what I thought I would say to myself later on this morning. The happiest day of my life was when I married Silvia, a few years after I managed to negotiate her into not destroying the city. The second happiest day of my life was when our daughter Pray was finally born. A daughter! I''ve always wanted a daughter! If ''always'' started about the second I heard the baby was a girl. I''ll admit, I had wanted a son for my first born, like any sane man. But, as I stares into our little Pray''s eyes, I couldn''t help but feel that she is our pride and joy. Who cares if its a girl! She is my daughter! I will gut the first man who looks down on her for not being a boy. I''ll gut the bastard like a... Look at you Mother, little Pray. It doesn''t matter if you''re a girl or a boy, you can achieve anything! I believe you will surpass even her... maybe... if you inherited both of our bloods. Silv recovered in no time, of course, as expected of someone with her absurd powers. The third happiest day was supposed to be today! Our little Pray''s first birthday! I''ve decided all the birthday of Prays would be my happiest day... Except today turned into hell. What went wrong? I planned everything perfectly! The cake, the decorations, the specially prepared Lunch by a chef I spend a fortune hiring. The private party of three, with nobody else to ruin the mood! It was supposed to be perfect after those six months of preparation! I even prepared a special present for Pray! ...Which Silv promptly steps on and destroyed when she bursted into my office from their little trip, carrying another girl... I''ll admit, I didn''t expect Pray to ask her Mother to carry her outside for a trip. Damn, I wanted to make that a family occasion, but I didn''t get the chance as Silv flew out of the house with Pray in her arms. So I was looking at the reports I''ve been ignoring while we celebrated Pray''s birthday. Boy, missing half of the day''s work is hard to catch up on, even when I''m working as fast as I could. It took me 4 straight hours of work to finish reading through all the reports and sending our my orders. Sometimes, it''s easier to be a lowly soldier patrolling around than a general who has to make all the decisions. Not that I regret any of my decisions. I have rose up in rank, all the way from a Major to a Brigadier General, and got everything I wanted in my youthful years. I even met Silvia due to my old position as one of the ambassador to Xing! So I should be happy, right? ...But no, apparently Fate has different plans for me. It was about 6:15 when Silv came back with Pray, literally crushing into my shielded office and crushing Pray''s birthday present. Not the present! But it was too late, and Silv pretty much demolished it with how hard she was stomping around as she went on a rant about the slum, slavers, kidnappers, kidnapped villagers (Ah, so I guess that the status of the girl she brought back), killers, and everything horrible imaginable about them. Also how I''ve failed to eliminate them, even if I did promise her once upon a time. That''s easier said than done. Something I never realized until the responsibility actually falls into my hand. I mean, sure it''s easy to destroy a well-known bandit hideout, but finding a well-hidden one? Especially in those damn forests that only the bandits know? True, I could simply burn it all down with my flame alchemy, but I will have no control over it once it spreads over the entire forest. And Central Command will never spare anyone who burns down the natural defense line that is the forest between us and the Empire of Britannia, so I can''t go crazy with my fires. That leaves me with one option: Send in my men and state alchemists to deal with them on a local scale. If finding them wasn''t hard enough, the damn bandits spring up again like cockroaches after we destroy one of their camp, just when we thought they''ve been dealt with completely. So I implemented the periodic sweeping of forests and suspicious areas, implemented the fortified wall requirement for all villages, as well as created a bounty system to hunt down notorious bandit leaders. The cost of supporting the bounty system and building the wall was hideous to look at, but it was well-worth it, since bandits almost stopped attacking the villages in my jurisdiction. Then they started trafficking kidnapped people from other countries. I can''t enforce my rules where my jurisdiction can''t reach! It''s not my fault! How am I supposed to control the situation when half of it is not in this country? I can''t just sent in my men and deal with them there! No, that would be invading other countries, when Amestris is having enough trouble keeping South''s witch army from advancing any further. We need all the help we could get from other countries, and vice versa, so invasion to take care of bandits on their home turf was a no go. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Trying to sniff out their routes was a disaster. We would be led on wild goose chases half of the time! I''ve done everything I could, spend almost all of my budgets, and spread my men too thin. And yet the f*cking bandits refused to leave. What is it going to take to stop this? I certainly don''t know the answer, if there''s anything I''ve learned since I took this job. So I simply continued trying to suppress the bandits using the methods already implemented. If nothing else, it prevented bandits and human trafficking from becoming more prevalent. If only it can unroot them completely too... So here I am, being lectured on how incompetent I am for not noticing there are bandit hideouts right in the capital city, how incompetent the men I''ve trained are for not being able to kill all the bandits. I wanted to tell Silv that I''m not even the one commanding the military police of the city! But of course that would only backfire. So I didn''t say it. I tried to calm her down then... and it ended in disaster as well. What did I do wrong? Was it something I said? Then Silv gave out a scream of frustration, and I tried to shrink further into my seat. No good, I''m already as far back here as I could be. Yikes, i covered my eyes and tried to shield myself from what is surely coming next: Silv''s fist smashing my skull into pieces. I''ve seen her done that too many times to her enemies. ...But it never came. I opened my eyes a little, and found Silv gone! Gone! How is this possible?! She''d never forgive me this easily before! Something must be wrong here... "Sebastian! Where did Silvia go?" I called out to my personal butler, who is currently hiding in the safety behind the wall. "Lady Silvia flew out into the city, sir. If I may..." "Proceed." Silvia on a rampage, loose in the city. I could already foresee the bloodshed.. "Sir, it may be wise to call General Boromir now and advise him to retract all the military polices forces from the slum. I have a feeling Lady Silvia is not in the right mood to judge friend from foe." "Good suggestion, Sebastian, good... you may expect a large bonus this month if general Boromir takes your advice." Ah, perhaps I can limit the bloodshed this way! Good one Sebastian! So I picked up the phone and use the phone line specially prepared for emergencies. General Boromir''s secretary picked up the emergency call right away, and handed the phone over to the general. Convincing him was easier then I thought, after I told him Silvia probably wouldn''t distinguish a bunch of police men from a bunch of thugs, especially since they move in groups for safety in the slum. I can almost feel the sweats dropping profusely down his forehead as we speak, ''cause I was feeling the exact same way. That night became known as the worst terrorist attack on the capital city of Amestris in all of its history. Oddly enough, the perpetrator only razed the slum to the ground, and cleaned out its dirty cellars. Perhaps whoever did it had a grudge against people living in the slum, the People guessed. Of course, we played it off as an effort by the military to use our new weapon to wipe out the pests that infested our city. As for what weapon, it''s classified. And no, the rumors of sightings of a woman destroying that part of the town is completely false. How could it possibly be real? Try as we might, the people had their own ideas. They saw the military retracting its police from the area just before the incident, as if they were running away from it, and thought someone else must be responsible. And who else could it be but those damned witches? And so those half-true ideas became rumors, spreading around the city, around the country, and into the other countries. It was known internationally as the "Razed Night", when a crazy witch decimated an entire sector of the capital city of Amestris. A witch so powerful that not even the Amestris military dared not to step in her way... Sure am glad I''m not in foreign policy department anymore, I sighed inwardly. it''s a devastating blow to our reputation, that''s for sure, and pity to innocent ambassadors who would have to defend our honor after that. Oh, the other countries must be busy laughing at us now, for being unable to protect even our capital city. God bless those souls who would take the blunt of it... Author''s Note: I know I did say I will speed things up quite a bit in this chapter, but then I realized it''s better to split it into two chapters. So, I decided to dedicate this chapter to Pray''s Father''s perspective and how scary the Mother is hehehe... next chapter tomorrow coming very soon... probably... Chapter 06- Almost there! Could it be? I thought to myself, I know Mother is powerful, but how is she THAT powerful? I really must learn more about this world... Two months after my first birthday, I finally pieced it all together. I''ve been hearing rumors being spoken among the maids about a "witch" that destroyed the slum, but spare those who were victims. Though I suppose I shouldn''t be surprised that there are witches in this world, considering I am an reincarnated person, I never noticed how deep the hatred for witches run in these people''s vanes. Other than rumors about the attack on the city, there were also gossips of witches doing everything bad imaginable: Torching forests and villages, destroying acres of farmland overnight, killing off travelers on the road. In short, witches are basically blamed for anything bad that happens. How did it come to this? I often wondered, but nobody explained it to me. If only I can teach baby-me how to read. You see, I already picked up on this world''s languages quite throughly. It''s language, at least in this country, is a mix of our German and Italian. A strange combination, sure, but I knew those two languages back in my last life. Living long has its benefits, and I never stopped learning. Occasionally, I would hear Mother talk to herself in Chinese, but she never bothered teaching it to baby-me. Probably a product of patriarchal society''s influence on her. And we have many chances to try to read and learn the alphabets of this language. For example, when we''re in Father''s study. Father''s study got reports lying around everywhere! Some are nailed on the board behind his desk, most are sitting in stacks on his desk, and some are just randomly distributed around the room. And Sebastian- I learned that''s the name of Father''s butler- always brings in more reports by the hour. Funny thing, I realized when we made our first visit to Anne and Jill''s house, Sebastian and Zion are brothers! No, not twin brothers, but siblings nevertheless. Sebastian is the older one, and they do look sort of alike, if you only look at them from the side. So, if I got all the chances to learn how to read, and I did, why didn''t Baby-me? Well, for one, she''s not interested at all in learning how to read. And she''s still perfecting her speech, which she still gets mixed up with occasionally, despite all the secret coaching I give her. I''ve heard the maids talk about how amazing we are for being able to speak so fluently at such a young age, but it''s not good enough for me! Oh if only I can influence other people than baby-me... and I did try. Amy, who Mother assigned as my personal maid, never seems to change or do anything I tried to get her to do mentally. It was a complete failure. Nevertheless, being in a room with bunch of written documents has its benefits. I would tell baby-me to stare at the pages, even if she doesn''t recognize what it is saying. No matter, we all have to start somewhere. As long as she looks at enough characters, she will start to recognize them, or so I hope. It was the unintended side-effect that finally did the trick, however. I never really considered this before, but Amy reported everything to my mother, and I mean everything. So Mother learned what I was trying to do, and decided its time to teach me the alphabets. Hurray unintended side effects! Long live Amy! Time to get down to business biatch! And to everyone''s surprise, Little-Me picked up on the alphabets really quickly. Duh, she got ME to coach her, even if she doesn''t realize it! ...It''s depressing to think about, that nobody will recognize me for what I''m doing. Endure, I must endure! Only three years and ten months left ''till I''m free! Perhaps it''s my hallucination, but it seems Little-Me is getting easier to influence... but I can''t really tell since time in my inner world is relative, and I have no skill for it to keep track of my progress. As Little-Me learned how to read in a startling two weeks, we started getting access to more information. I could ask Father for the newspaper, not for him to read what he thought was appropriate for my age. I guess Little-Me is in a bit of a state of constant confusion at this stage, since she doesn''t understand many of the terms but she reads on at my urging nevertheless. That''s how I pieced together the rumors and the talks of a "crazy powerful witch" and her attack on capital city... that it was Mother who caused the destruction to the city I saw from the 5th floor window. Still, it did surprise me to learn that my city, which has no castle like any capital city should in stories, is the capital city. I guess when Father talks about "Central Command" he''s talking about that fortress in the middle of the city. Then, one day as we''re reading about another commentary on the incident, Little-Me somehow got the bright idea to ask Mother. Perhaps my thoughts have unconsciously influenced her thoughts... That shined more light on the matter, it turns out, and confirmed my suspicion. Especially when Mother starts brainwashing- Ok, educating- us into how terrible some people are and how they need to be killed off. A bit scary thing to say to a child, but I guess this world is harsher on its inhabitants then my old world was. She never did directly said it was her fault, but I can tell from her tone. That and the look of "How do I say this..." on her face when we asked her. A few months passed this way, with me wondering around free around the mansion and Vio by my side. Vio the kitten, that is. I tried to get Little-Me to name her "Violetta", if only because that was the original name I wanted to give my daughter Elaine back in my old world, before my wife shot it down. To my frustration both now and back then, my suggestion never got through completely. Violetta was a bit too hard for Little-Me to remember, so she ended up naming the kitten just "Vio". I don''t see her usually when we''re in the house, but she loves to play with me out in the yard... which is strange. Very strange indeed. Cats are, by nature, lazy back in my old world. Oh well, I guess she''s little different. Free! I can''t go outside the estate, but I have achieved freedom! And you know what that means? I''m getting more stat points! Woohoo! More stat points! Hurry up and work off those damn negative stats from that Nine Yin whatever seal! So when I''m not encouraging Little-Me to read more and more, I''m encouraging her to explore every nook and corner of this place, and vice versa. This should come in handy. ... Just not for the maids, and certainly not for my personal maid Amy. She''s having trouble keeping up with me since I''m physically small and goes through openings she can''t around the yard around the house. It''s quite fun, actually, and I convinced Little-Me that we''re playing Hide-And-Seek with everybody hehehehe.... Other than that, Amy''s fun to chat with, for a change. She''s from the Empire of Britannia, unlike everyone else, which makes her veeeeeeeery interesting. I made sure to stress that to Little-Me as much as possible. "Amy! Amy! What is a witch? Why do Mommy say they''re bad people?" For example, I would question her and wait for her answer. I''m pretty sure she''s not suspicious of me for anything. Probably just passing off my constant questions as children''s curiosity. By the way, Amy''s actually fourteen... even if she looks short like an eight year old. "Witch ARE bad people Pray, they do a lot of bad things..." "Like what? Like what Amy?" Muwhahahaah my curious nature must be rubbing off on Little-Me, I didn''t even need to prompt her to ask that follow up question and she did it herself! I count that as a victory for me! Amy doesn''t really go into the details of what they do, or how they do it. I think she consider those information too brutal for a one and a half year old kid. True, but I''m 131 years old counting my last life. I''m sure I can handle it. Oh, how I wish I could say that. Except, even if I could and did, I would most likely be labeled as demon-possessed or the weird creepy child if I do that. As far as I can understand, Witches are born human, but later awakens their powers and go all homicidally crazy. Nobody knows what drives them crazy or why they hate other humans, they just do. At least, Amy doesn''t know. Nor does any of the other maids and butler I questioned. Anyways, I gathered that there are two evil witch forces fighting to eliminate humanity. They declared war on all human settlements suddenly seventeen years ago, forcing human empires to stop fighting each other to face them instead. That''s how absurdly powerful they are. Witches and their natural ability to manipulate mana... which I guess makes me a witch too. They attacked everyone on all the continents except the Western continent, where Mother came from apparently. I confirmed that when I asked Mother where she''s from. The lecture on our family heritage, however, was quite long and arduous... even I started to get bored of it. Nevertheless, I learned that we are of royal blood from the Empire of Xing on the Western Continent, and the Empire of Xing basically IS the Western Continent. Little-Me got no clue what Mother''s talking about, but you bet I''m ecstatic! Holy sh*t, taking over this world is going to be easier than I thought! All I need to do is take over Xing first, defeat the witches, and take over the other countries! Mwuahahahahaah bow before your future ruler peasants! Mwuahahaha.... haha I guess it''s too early to think like that. There''s probably tons of things I don''t know or understand yet... If there''s anything else I''ve learned about Xing, it''s that its people respect their ancestors a lot... like, too much. There''s no value in worshipping dead people you know... or is there? Perhaps the dead spirits can actually do something in this world? There is mana here after all... whatever, I haven''t seen any so who cares? At least Mother didn''t stop there and went into talking about Father''s side of the family. I hope she''s not expecting me to memorize all of those names and positions and clans and connections or whatever, I wasn''t exactly taking notes. I mean, sure I noted down the important parts, but the exact names...? Well most of them are dead anyways, so who cares! Of course, Jill and Anne comes over to play often. We settled on a playdate every Sunday, so that was something to look forward to. The arrangement also provides me with more sources of information. I can''t just ask them something they don''t understand, but I can nudge them toward those issues in the hope that they will, in turn, ask their parents. Then I could slowly extract it out... Or I tried. But Little-Me and the twins are mostly concerned about what they should play and how the games work rather than the outside world. Damn it! ...All in all, these are what I learned over the past few months: We''re in the Nation of Amestris, apparently a unified state formed from many smaller countries in a formerly chaotic region a hundred and nine years ago. Our calendar also starts on the year Amestris was founded, commonly abbreviated down to "A.F." Amestris, the land of alchemy. It''s our greatest weapon against the witches and other nations. Unfortunately, there is no overall school system to teach everyone alchemy, which I thought is the most stupidest decision by the government ever! These people doesn''t get the concept of common education! What is wrong with them?! Instead of teaching as many alchemists as possible to boost our military power, the people of this world still adheres to the apprenticeship system. Ugh, how primitive! Well, enough about this corner of the world. We''re on what they call the Central Continent. Aside from us, there''s also the Empire of Britannia here. To be specific, Amestris occupies the lower half the Central continent, and Britannia the upper half. Aside from this one and the Western Continent (aka Empire of Xing) where Mother came from, there''s also the Northern Continent, Eastern Continent, and the Southern Continent. Out of the three, the Southern Continent was the hardest to get information on. All I could gather is that it has been completely overrun by witches... that and we''re the only country bordering it by land. Yikes... Moving on, the Northern Continent is populated by monsters and dangerous beasts, apparently, if you don''t count the witches that controls half of it. The other half of the North''s controlled by a empire called "Drachma", who are allied with the witches. I guess that means they''re not a human country. Last but not least, the Eastern Continent is shared by two superpowers: the Reim Empire and the Britannian Empire. Dang, that means Britannia is the only empire to span more than one continent! That also means they are the most hard-pressed by the witches, seeing how large their empire is. From what Amy says, Britannia is known as the "Empire of Knights", though they are also the leading country in terms of number and quality of mages. The Empire of Reim, as I found out, is this world''s equivalent of the Roman Empire! They have pretty much the same values, emperors, Legions, all that cultural stuff. Except they banished slavery some five centuries ago, when their supposedly Immortal Priestess came into power. I have my doubts about her immortality, thought. She could very well be replaced secretly by substitutes to maintain an image of a powerful backer for the Reim empire, maintaining its reputation. That''s certainly what I would do if I''m the Reim Emperor... Beside these main continental powers, there''s also an island chain alliance that rivals an empire in power, called the "Seven Seas Alliance", ruled by a King whose name I have yet to find out. They''re situated to the South of the Eastern Continent, judging from the world map hanging in Father''s study. There''s also a mysterious small island nation far to the North of the Seven Seas Alliance, but nobody seems to talk about it. That''s about as far as I know. The Reim empire has their Legions, the Britannian empire has their knights, the Empire of Xing has kick ass martial arts practitioners like Mother, though she told us the correct term for her is ''Martial Arts Priestess'' instead, and we Amestrisians have our Alchemy. Not sure what kind of power the Seven Sea Alliance has, but I doubt I would have to worry about them now, since they''re not on this continent. Oh wait, almost forgot to mention the other two main world powers. They may not have any land of their own, but they basically operates in every country except Xing, who has a distrust of foreigners it seems. There''s the Church of Freya. Freya is the Goddess of Life and Healing, so most of the healers are from Church of Freya. It''s quite interesting, I overheard a maid talk about the chants they use to invoke healing. It''s basically a praise of the goddess and a request to her to aid the wounded. The interesting part is that, the prayer only works for ordained priests of the Church. If anyone else tries to use it, nothing would happen... and the Church keeps a tight lid on how their powers work. That''s as far as I know about the Church, since I''ve never met someone from it. That brings us to the last world power, the Witch Hunter organization. They are primarily responsible for suppressing newly awakened witches in each village and leading the human army against witches. Interesting how the empires just seemingly handed their authority to them... most odd indeed. Gotta find out more about the organization... but they''re even more secretive about their inner workings then the Church of Freya is. But enough about the world powers in this world, I don''t give a sh*t about them today! Why? ''Cause its my second birthday! Woohoo! Aunt Julia brought Anne and Jill with them too! I wish I knew more people, but having them celebrate my birthday is enough for now! Yay me! Two years old and only three years to go until I''m free! It''s also a milestone for my stats, since we finally managed to work off more than half of the total negative points that stupid chi seal gave me!
Status Window
Name:Pray Meyer AndersonAlignment:Humanity
Bloodline:Esper- LightningClass:Champion- Child
Affinities:Lightning, Fire, EarthAge:2 years old
Race:HumanGender:Female
Titles
First Come First Serve!, Champion of the One True God, The Chosen One
Fame:0Infamy:0
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Health:100 / 100Health Regen:0.7 / Sec
Stamina:20 / 20Stamina Regen:1.3 / Sec
Mana:20450 / 20450Mana Regen:2.2 / Sec
Chi: 3848/3848Chi Regen:38.48 / Sec
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Strenght:10 (-82)Agility:10 (-80)
Vitality:10 (-65)Dexterity:10 (-108)
Intelligence:565Wisdom:182
Leadership:15Luck:57
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Skills
Passives
  1. Gate of Truth- Unknown LVL X (Locked by God)
  2. Incorruptible Soul- Unknown LVL X (Locked by God)
  3. Unbreachable Mind- Unknown LVL X (Locked by God)
  4. Outer Mana Manipulation- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  5. Inner Chi Manipulation- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  6. Prodigious Learning Speed- Initiate LVL 5 (11.24%)
  7. Greater Battle Instincts- Initiate LVL0 (0.00%)
Actives
  1. Absorption- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  2. Alpha Stigma- Initiate LVL 1 (78.65%)
  3. True Alchemy- Initiate LVL0 (0.00%)
  4. Outer Mana Core Manifestation- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
Transcendentals N/A Specials
  1. Nine Yin Cultivation Seal (Duration: 8 years)
So far as I can tell, the only stat that went down was my luck, by three points. For absolutely no reason at all. But never mind that, there''s only 335 negative points left to go! (That''s 465 points worked off!) I guess I should have celebrated back when that crossed the halfway line, but I had the "+1 whatever stat" window deactivated and I was really focused on finding out about the world! Things I gotta learn to survive and conquer! Though I don''t know why my health and stamina regeneration increased, since I don''t see any stat related to them, I did managed to work out how the rest of the stat works: Leadership stat is self explanatory, though I gained 5 from taming Vio. For mana, I had 20 thousand to start with. Now I have 450 more... and 45 more stat points in my int. I guess my initial mana level wasn''t related to my stat, but that makes sense since it was boosted by the bastard above. I''m guessing my initial 170 wisdom counted as just the regular 10 when it comes to calculating my mana regeneration rate, since the 12 point increase gave me 1.7 more mana regen per second. Chi regen rate looks to be directly proportional to how much Chi I have. For my 3848 Chi level I got 38.48 chi regen per second, so that was easy to figure it out. As for my Chi... I''m pretty sure that''s the effect of the Nine Yin Cultivation Seal. It does have cultivation in its name. It took me a while to figure out, but it''s increasingly by half a percent per day. Now that, that is Amazing... Does half a percent, or 0.005% sound like a small increase to you? Well, tell you what, its by day and its exponential, which means I will have 922 thousand chi by the time I gain full control over my body! I''m not sure what the average is, but surely that is something to be amazed at! And most importantly, I''ll have a staggering eight and a half billion chi by the time the seal worn off in 8 years! Muwahahahahaha brace yourself people! *Cue Dramatic Voice* A new God is in the making hehehehehehehehehehehe.... All shall praise me! Praise me! Hmm what else? Nothing else really changed... except my skills leveled up! I''m a bit afraid of prompting Little-Me to use the active skills since I can''t control what she does 100%, only influence her thoughts and desires. So the active skills are all at lvl0 initiate, except for my alpha stigma skill, which leveled up way back when Mother first demonstrated her demonic power... er I mean saved Amy! The other skill that leveled up is my "Prodigious Learning Speed" mwuahahahha I now have a +5% bonus from all the efforts we went through to level up that skill. Hundreds of hours of reading! Eavesdropping on the maids'' gossips! Sitting through Mother''s boring family heritage lectures! Oh well, I think that covers it all. Back to my birthday party, I eagerly awaits my birthday present... ohohohoho what will it be? A wand? A sword? No, both too dangerous. Something less dangerous... ooooooh what is it?! I wanna know so bad! Here it comes! I see Father walking toward us with a... disappointingly small gift box. Aww, I was hoping for sometinng really good.... damn! No wait, size isn''t always what matters most, it could still be something good... I tear open the box eagerly. Awaiting me inside is... a small rod? What the hell is this? Some kind of mini dil- Ugh! Go away bad thoughts! Sometimes I curse myself for having experienced to much things in my last life on Earth. We were pretty... um creative with things back there. "Daddy what''s that?" We spoke as we points toward the thing. Father looks a bit dejected since we didn''t look happy as he might have expected at his gift, but then his face instantly cheered up when I asked. "It''s a torchlight Pray, like the lights we have in our ceilings, but you can carry it around!" His beaming face tells me he''s immensely proud of this gift. Actually, this is exactly what I need! Woohoo! Time to go exploring in the dark baby! There''s a few spot in the house that I didn''t dare go in before, since they have no lightings. But now, there is nothing to stop me anymore! Woohoo! I love flashlights! (With an ''a'') "Thanks daddy!" Little-Me shouted as she hugs Father''s waist. Then promptly shines the thing into Father''s eyes... hehehe good one Little-Me! Oh, it''s actually very bright... it seems Father has been temporally disabled. Sweet, this could be my surprise weapon! Destroying people''s night vision... hehehe the prank is formulating in my head as Little-Me experiments around with the torchlight''s control. Ooh you can turn down the volume of the light... neat! "Mommy?" Little-Me looks at Mother expectantly. Hehehe, who could possibly say no to such a cute face! I will take over this world with cuteness! Long live Fluffy! "Well sweeties do you remember what you said you wanted last year?" A year ago...? I may have photographic memory but I don''t have Perfect memory... yet... how am I supposed to remember that far back? Is it a natural trait in females? "Um... I wanna fly like Mommy?" Little-Me asks reluctantly as she imitates Father''s inquisitive stance, with a hand at our chin and forehead knotted together in concentration. Kind of looks like The Thinker statue back on Earth... "Yes! Good job honey!" Yay! Mommy- I mean Mother!- picks us up and swings us around in a wide circle! It''s like one of those old amusement park rides! I loved those things! "Mommy is going to teach you how to fly!" Woohoo! Best day ever!!! I want to fly around! There''s so much I haven''t seen yet! For a second there, a spark of worry shot through my head. If I can influence Little-Me... can she do the same to me? ...No, probably just a fluke that I used Mommy instead of Mother... yes, that must be it! Just a fluke! No need to worry about these things! "We''re going to start with training your body for a year ok honey?" Uh oh... hard work. At least I''m not the one taking the burden of it phew.... "Ok!" Poor Little-Me has no idea what''s coming for her... If those training methods in Wuxia novels are any indication, its time to lift some borders and cultivate under a freezing waterfall, or run through a field of blades without touching any of them. Gah, they sound great in novels but in reality... its really scary... Aunt Julia got me a pair of expensive looking leather gloves... not the best choice Aunt Julie! i''m still growing! Though that''s what I thought, I didn''t let it spread to Little-Me and spoil her celebration. Mother gives a startled gasp at the sight of the gloves! Is it something good? "Julie! Oh, you shouldn''t have! Are those what I''m thinking?" "Of course!" Aunt Julie looks quite proud of her gift at that moment, "The best dragon skin glove on the Continent! I had it specially made for Pray''s hand size. They don''t usually make child-size ones, you know!" Dragon skin?! Ohohohohoh yes!!!! Dragon skin gloves! I gotta try it out! C''mon Little-Me! Put it on! ...wrong hand!!! The other one! Yes, now try that one! See, it fits! Good job little-me! Then the notification box came up. Ooh, I see, no identification skill needed? Neat!
Custom Dragon Gloves
Quality:A++Durability:500 / 500
A specially prepared Dragon-skin glove. Made from processed black-imugi skin from Britannia. This is a one-of-a-kind glove as it is the only child-sized version made from that imugi''s skin. As to be expected of Dragon skin, it has excellent paranormal power conductivity from within and strong elemental resistances on the outside.
Hohoho... aw damn it I don''t know how to use any special power yet! Gotta find a way... Then Anne and Jill came up and presented together a... collar? What for? Oh, for Vio, of course! You see, Anne and Jill''s kittens, which they named Mr. Snuggie and Mr. Fluffy respectively, both wear distinctive looking hot pink collars on them, so they wouldn''t be mistaken for strays. That makes sense, considering the four of them have the freedom to run around the city as they want... and with Zion the butler shadowing them, but I don''t think they''ve noticed that yet... But I don''t have to worry about that, at least, mostly because I can''t. I''m still stuck here... sadly :( The mansion is indeed big... and the estate as well, but I''ve been basically through most of it with Vio already... We ended the party with a game of hide and seek with our cats... I think they''re big enough to be called cats, at least. Not that I''m a veterinarian in anyway. It was an excellent day^^ The Next morning, Mother woke me up extra early... why? Why?! Why would you do this to me, Mother? The sun''s not even up yet! "Rise and shine Pray! We start your training today!" "um... ok... Mommy can I go baaack to sleeeeep?" Gaaah, little-me is too tired to speak clearly damn it! We have a reputation to maintain here! You''ve got to speak clearly! Everyone knows us as the genius kid who learns anything perfectly and in a fast manner! "No!" Though her tone''s quite strict, I can see doubts on her face. Just a little push... "And don''t you give me that puppy-face Pray! It won''t work on me!" Aaaaah damn it all! This is inhumane treatment! I deserve 10 hours of sleep per day! ...and Mother doesn''t seems to hear my complaints Mother slings me onto her shoulder and marched into the courtyard... which has been flattened and clear out into a flat area. When did that happen? This grassless field wasn''t here yesterday?! Did Mother do this? Well, I guess if Mother can raze a whole section of the city to the ground, our courtyard never stood a chance. Poor courtyard... I''ll miss running around in you! Then I got dropped on the ground quite unceremoniously... what was that for? "Pray! You must be prepared for anything! If you''re dropping to the floor, you should''ve reorient youself!" Waitwaitwait what? Reorient myself? I don''t think I''m ready for something that advanced yet! Can''t we start with something normal? Like a hundred push ups? I doubt Little-Me can do that anyways, but this is too harsh! "Re-re-reorient myself?" Ah, that''s right, Little-Me doesn''t know some words... "Do you want to fly like Mommy?" "Yeah!" "Do you want Mommy to teach you how to fly?" "Yeah!" "Good girl, then be prepared ok? It won''t be easy!" Um can we start on easy mode please? Pretty pleeeeease? "Ok!" Oh you have got to be kidding me, Little-Me you''re agreeing too easily! *sigh* Why does kids have to be so gullible? A few words and they''re all fired up! So we started the hell training... ''cause it was literally hell for me. I''m pretty sure this is NOT what a kid should be put through! Twenty pushups on the first day?! Run ten laps around the field?! Lift that heavy-looking rock up twenty times? This is Child Abuse! I''m going to tell on Mommy! Oh wait... Even when we give Mother our best poppy-eye look after collapsing from the exhaustion of running two laps around the field, she never gave in. I don''t like this side of Mother! *sob* This is hard work! I''m not cut out for physical labor... And Little-Me shares my sentiment completely! Though I must say one thing about the stamina of kids, it replenishes so quickly... *Sob* "Mommy is a... a... MEANIE!" *Continues running* ........... ........ ...... ... . A year has since then passed and I''ve done nothing but physical training. I''d thought Mother would teach me how to use air step or whatever it is she does, but "Noooooo, you must have a fit body first Pray! Don''t be greedy!" *sob* This is so unfair!!! Why do I have to go through this?! Can''t I just become OP like those MC''s in other stories? Hard-work? I''m not an illegal immigrant! I had a few brief moments of relief when Aunt Julia brought Anne and Jill over and saw me practicing for the first time. I thought she would save from this... or perhaps I can save myself? "Aunt Julie!!! Anne! Jill! Let''s play!" I prompted Little-Me to greet them as they steps down from their carriage. Let''s hope Mother let me off the hook here... I have a completely legitimate excuse! Playtime is important too! Wait, what is Mother doing? No, anything but that... !!! "Say, Julie, don''t you think it''s time for Anne and Jill to start training as well?" "Now? They might be almost three years old, Silv, but they are still kids. Don''t you think they are a little too young?" You''re damn right Aunty! This is a violation of child protection laws! Hmm I''ll have to implement that later... "Nonsense! Everybody starts training around this age in Xing! I don''t know why you Amestrisians don''t, that''s why you''re all so weak!" Um... everybody? You sure about that Mother? I could provide a few counter-examples... like Anne and Jill here! "Weak? Ohoho, I''m sure you''re mistaken Silv, we might not be as strong as your people are physically. but we make up for it in here" Aunt Julie points her finger to the side of her head. Uh oh... I don''t think Mother would take this provocation easily... "Really now Julie, is that what you Amestrisians think about us? I''ll have you know the higher levels of Xing Martial Arts can only be performed with enough enlightenment of the mind! Pfft, trying to compete there? You don''t even have any enlightenment yourself!" Huh? Enlightenment of the mind? What the hell is that? Let''s see, I seem to recall something along the line from Wuxia fantasies... understand of the way the world works? Or something like that??? "Hmmph! You people only know how to destroy things, how could you possibly claim to have any enlightenment?! We alchemist can both destroy and create! Don''t you dare throw your Xing propaganda on me!" Uh oh... Either this is an age old debate between the two of them or the world''s going to end today. I don''t know how strong Aunt Julia really is, since she never showed her alchemy in front of me, but from what I gathered from Anne and Jill, it''s "sparks! Pretty sparks!"... which pretty much means I have no clue what it is. But she must be strong right? To have the nerve to stand up to mother? Oh good, it looks like its the former. Who knows how long this debate has been going on? I most certainly don''t! Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. "How about this, Silv," Aunt Julia caved in first, "If you teach them your Shinbo skills, I''ll let them train here with you." "Grr... you know about our policy Julie... we can''t teach foreigners! Teaching Pray is already in the grey territory!" It is?! Well damn, if only there''s a Xing official I can report this to... "Pfft, as if you royalties care about rule you made up yourself!" Ah I forgot, there''s royal Xing blood running in Mother''s veins. And by extension, in mine as well. "And besides, nobody else here knows what we''re saying anyways. And no one who knows what Shinbo is would hear about it, I''m sure your husband can arrange that." Say what?! Father can actually do something? Well, I think he''s the one that called the military police to fall back from the old slum before Mother razed it to the ground, but I''m still doubtful about his authority... I mean, seriously, what kind of General just sits in his house and read reports all day? Don''t they have to do troop inspections and stuff? Father has never gone outside the city since I was born! Oh... is that it? Did he take a leave so he can stay here with us? Hmmm... I''ve never known him for being such a dedicated Father, mainly because I''m with Mother most of the time, but the more you know... It was evident to anyone watching that Mother was teetering on whether or not to teach Anne and Jill whatever this "shinbo" thing is. Mother and Aunt Julie continued to talk for a few minutes before reaching a consensus... meanwhile I''ve taken the time to tell Anne and Jill to tell their mother "No!"... like I said, kids are pretty gullible hehehe... They''re turning around! What will be the verdict? "Anne, Jill, would you like come play with Pray everyday?" Say no say no say no say no... "No! Um... Yes!" *Gasp* Wha-wha-what? "Is that an Yes?" "Yeah!" Traitors! I trusted you, how could you betray me?! *sob* You don''t even know what you''re getting into! It''s Hell''s training! "Good! Well, I''ll leave them to your capable hands then, Silv." Wipe that grin off your face Aunt Julia! I won''t call you Aunty for a whole month! Take that! I swear, you will pay for this! "You have nothing to worry about Julie! I''ll take good care of them... kukuku..." Mother grins back at Aunt Julia... I guess she has a thing for being a teacher. Or maybe she just want more opportunities to show off? "I''ll be borrowing a room here then, SIlv, if that''s fine with you." "Why of course you can! How about letting the three of them sleep in the same room? I''m sure they would love it." Mother leads Aunty into the mansion, to get a maid to prepare her room, probably. Yes, yes, yes! That is a great Idea! Wait, how could I forgive Mother so easily? *Gasp!* Oh no, have I betrayed... myself? Well, it looks like the two traitors by my side has already forgotten about what they just signed themselves up for... and they''re also pretty happy that we will be room buddies! Woohoo! Hehehe this will be fun... The feeling of excitement lasted only until Mother came back... and hell''s training resumed. Oh the humanities! So we passed the remaining months until my third birthday practicing everyday, and boy was it grueling... It really pisses me off that Anne and Jill caught up to my level of physical training within a month! How dare they! It took me three solid months to reach this point *teary eyes...* I blame it all on that damned Nine Yin Cultivation Seal and my god-damn negative stats! Which, by the way, is almost gone... at last! It is most certainly not because little-me and I felt lazy about our training before they got here... certainly not!!! I hate to admit it, but Mother''s hellish training really did a number on my negative stats... its like they''ve never been there in the first place... that or its just effective training. Two months after we started training altogether, we celebrated Anne and Jill''s birthday, which is only a few months before mine. I convinced Amy to help me buy a batch of ferrofluids and some small magnets... kukuku that look of surprise on their face was so worth it! Of course, it took hella long for Amy to get what I''m asking for. Mostly because the six batch of... random stuff she thought I was asking for weren''t it at all! These people have almost no ideas about magnets and ferrofluids... and the closet definition they got is so jumbled up I''m not even sure what it''s referring to. For those of you that don''t know what ferrofluid is... think of water that is attracted to magnets... hehehe it''s fun to play around with^^ And so the rest of the year until my third passed, and Anne and Jill and I passed that time pretty much in a constant state of exhaustion from all the "training" Mother pushes on us... I suspect Mother may have some traits of masochism in her... After all, I got plenty of them myself! On to my third birthday! Oh God bless you , Mother, for not making me do any practice today! Just like with Anne and Jill''s birthday, we got a day off today! Woohoo! Praise heaven! Aunt Julie, damn her, got me my worse nightmare... gravity rings. I mean, I suppose I should be excited at the sight of a new magic item... but somehow I can''t help but feel depressed... it''s just going to keep getting worse isn''t it? Jill and Anne got me... oh a set of notebooks and pens? How thoughtful of them... too thoughtful of them. I''ll bet Zion recommended it to them. Speaking of which, it looks like Zion''s enjoy their stay at our mansion, since he is Sebastian''s brother, I''m sure they had a lot to catch up on... Of course, we only smiled and thanked them, how nice of them! This is what I''ve always wanted! Father, well being himself, got me a decorated bracelet... which I can''t seem to find a function of. "Daddy what is this for?" Is it just worthless jewelry? I mean, we''re freaking alchemists, can''t you just make some gold yourself? Actually that might be against the law... who cares, I''ll do it later anyways hehehehe... "You''ll see later Pray, you''ll see later..." Father''s grin looks a bit secretive... you know, I''ve always wondered back in my old world, how could a character smile ''secretively''... but now, I understand what they mean completely! Ugh, tell me! I want to know! Ah good, Little-Me''s as impatient to find out as I am, so all I''ll need is a... little... push... aha! "Daddy what is it? Tell me! Tell me!" Teary face! Muwahahaha I know for a fact that this sucker can''t stand up to this face! "Why won''t daddy tell me? Does Daddy hate me?" "Wha-wa-what?!" Oh that completely flustered face on his face. Priceless! "Of course not! You''re daddy''s favorite princess! Come give daddy a hug..." Well he certainly didn''t wait for me to come over to him before he picked me up and hugged me... too hard! Aah, we''re three years old damn it! No more bear hugs! "Daddy?" Mwuahahaha I got him at his weak spot! He can''t possibly deny me now! "Yes princess?" "What is it?" Little-Me waves around that bracelet in question. "What is it Daddy?" "That er, um..." I think he muttered ''how do I say this'' under his breath, but it''s a bit too quiet to hear clearly... "um... Pray, you must keep this a secret ok?" Why does he look so serious? He looks around like a fugitive, then brought me up to his face level, looking at us seriously serious... then whispered, "It''s an anti-magic bracelet Pray, when you wear it the gravity ring looses its effect! You can turn it off by twisting that red gem on the right. You must not tell Mommy about this ok?" "Ok!" Ah sweet jesus, this is perfect! Anti-gravity ring? That''s a HELL YES from me! Woohoo! "Better get your rest Pray" Mother chuckles as she walks toward us from Aunt Julia, "Ahem, Anne, Jill, come over here." Whoa, she sounds so serious... I have a bad feeling about this! ...That or there was something wrong with the food. That lemonade tasted a bit weird know that I think about it... Anne and Jill runs over to us, with Mr. Snuggie and Mr. Fluffy trailing behind them. Vio too. When did that little cat went over to the other two cats? Great, now that everyone''s looking at Mother... just say it! I can''t take this suspense anymore! Mother!!! "Ahem, can anyone guess what I''m about to say?" She grins at the three of us kids, "And you better not spill it Xix, or you won''t hear the last of it." Ignoring Father''s weak smile, I urged Little-Me to put on her pouting face again... hehehe. Oh wait, that doesn''t really work on Mother, damn it! "Oh alright, stop giving me that face. Ooh you look so cute when you do that!" Ugh, it worked I guess, but I''m also currently being crushed in Mother''s hug... can''t. breath. help! "Alright kids! Starting tomorrow, I''m going to teach you something nobody else in Amestris has ever learned before!" Is that a trace of guilt I see on your face Mother? "I''m going to teach you... drum roll please! dadadadadadadadadam.... Xing Martial Arts!" I guess I got my tendency to use sound effects from Mother eh? Wait what? Martial Arts? We''re actually going to start that? *Screams in ecstasy!* FINALLY!!! I''ve been waiting so long for this! Almost a year of exhausting physical exercises! "Starting tomorrow, you''ll do your physical exercises AND practice chi techniques!" NOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooo! MORE training?! I thought for sure that we''re going to sit down like Buddha or something and cultivate our chi? Isn''t that how it works in stories? But lady Fate wasn''t done messing with my birthday just yet, because as my birthday party comes to an end, Amy the maid steps up to me and kneels down on one knee before me... Uh oh, I don''t like that serious face. Serious faces always bring bad news. Always. "Pray, I got something for you," Whoa, seriously? That makes her the first servant to get me anything! "This is a Britannian noble-style dress I order just for you! Remember me with this ok?" Ok! New style? I''ll admit I''ve developed a taste for new dresses... wait remember you? Oh, don''t tell me... "Amy, are you leaving?" Little-Me got a little bleary eyed at that. It''s pretty much a given since Amy has been constantly by our side, offering refreshments when we need it too... bu-bu-but, she''s leaving? "Smart as always, Pray. You see, I still have family left in Britannia, so I have to go back to take care of them. Be strong for me, Ok?" "Ok... but whyyyyyy? Amy, stay with me!" Whoa, I did not expect Little-Me to be so attached to a maid... well I guess I am different from her after all. "Daddy, Amy can stay with us right?" Tell Amy to stay you formerly useless Father! I added that ''formerly'' because he actually got me something useful today. "Of course, honey, she can stay with us as long as she wants." Father replies while looking inquisitively at Amy. "Master Xix, I''ve talk about this with Master Silvia, and she agrees. It''s time for me to go back." Amy leans down and gives Little-Me one last kiss on the forehead, before turning around, grabbing her travel case- when did that get there? Never noticed all day- and proceeded to walk toward an awaiting carriage near the front gate. "Thank you for your hospitality, Miss Silvia, Miss Julia, and Master Xix. It has been an honor to serve at your mansion." She turns back for the last time and gives a small curtsey, before boarding the carriage, shutting the door gently as the carriage rolls away... Little-Me cried herself to sleep that night... For once, Vio snuggled up to Little-Me by herself as she sleeps on our bed. Mother spends the next three day keeping us busy with the anatomies of the body. At least, what they think it is, anyways. I can see clearly on her chart that several main points are quite mistaken believes... they really need some quality doctor here. I think she''s stuffing all these stuff in our head to distract Little-Me from the absence of Amy''s figure. Now that I think about it, I could always see her following me out of the corner of my eyes. I guess Little-Me got quite comfortable in her presence... There is something new I learned, much to my surprise. Or perhaps I shouldn''t be surprised, since this is a complete different world after all... Apparently, there are these chi-pathways in our body, similar to the blood veins, called Meridians. There''s also specific names, named after some dead people I don''t really care to remember, for each major meridian points on our bodies. I think I''ll just stick to the likes of ''right palm meridian'' or something like that. Then, on the fourth day, Mother brought us to a large, dojo-like room on the first floor... oh it is a dojo, complete with training dummies on one side of it, and bunch of blunt weapons on the other. Here, we''re told to sit, and clear our mind of everything... which is quite easy for me with my years of experience... there''s not much to do on a hospital bed back in the old world, when I got tired of virtual reality. "Clear your minds of everything, and don''t think about anything either. We''ll do this for the entire week, so practice, ok?" "Ok!" The three of us answers in unison... Well, I guess little-me drew the short end of the stick here, since she can''t possibly clear Me from her mind... oh she doesn''t notices me. That''s nice. Damn you... So that''s how we spend the week, basically falling asleep during meditation and waking up when we hear Mother''s voice yelling at us. Grr, c''mon little-me! Just stop thinking about that chat you had with Anne this morning! This is more important! Master this skill for me so I don''t have to! I don''t know what exactly I was expecting from little-me, but half of it was waiting for the notification box to pop up saying that the meditation skill has been learned... which never happened. Why? Is it because she is actually a native? Either way, Mother didn''t talk anything about receiving the skill, so I assume they don''t see their own status windows and stuff... like NPC''s. Then we switched to maintaining the meditation but also focusing our mind on our own body. "Feel inside your stomach. There is an energy there, waiting to be used. Feel it. You must keep your meditation up if you want to feel it." Hmm, I guess she''s referring to Chi? I''ve read in some fantasy novels that Chi comes from the stomach... wait a wuxia novel? No, it was something else... what was it? I remember someone said it in an show before... Ian? No... Iroh? Maybe... aw well, whatever... "Tell me when you feel it" Mother says to us as she takes a meditative stance herself. "I feel something!" Whoa! Anne sure is fast, Little-Me haven''t feel anything yet! "I need to pee!" Oh, nevermind, she just need to pee. Of course, I was expecting too much... C''mon, Little-Me! You can''t lose to them here! Remember how fast they caught up to our training level before? You must wipe that shame away! Feel it! Feel whatever it is! It''s one of the greatest mysteries in life, or at least in this life, that I never really knew how much of an influence I have on Little-Me. Sometimes, we''re completely in sync and it almost feel like we''re the same person, yet sometimes it feels the exact opposite... strange... I think its learning toward the former but I''m not really sure... In the end, Little-Me did got that ''feeling'' down first, after three weeks of almost falling asleep again. It feels... odd, like something is there, but isn''t. I''ve never felt this thing before in my old life on Earth... guess that''s the difference between a manaless world and this one. It took another frustrating two weeks for Anne to get it, then almost another week until Jill feels it too. "Good, now remember that feeling. Once you have found it, it should be pretty easy to find it again." Huh, it has actually been pretty easy to find that feeling... Chi again, in the last three weeks as I waited for Anne and Jill to feel it as well. "We''re not going to do a set of postures. Remember their order!" Mother gets up and motions for us to get us three to get up as well, so we do. Then she sowed us a slow set of... oh is that Tai Chi? That''s... yup that''s that one... Yeah, it''s Tai Chi alright. I did practice it back in my old world, back when I was in.... about the seventies... it never really did much, to be completely honest with you, though I was there for another reason... Hehe, this would be a piece of cake! I know all these steps! Move your hand higher Little-Me! We did one routine together, then Mother told us to do another one by ourselves. And by that, I mean I was guiding Little-Me the entire time... she forgot the steps halfway through anyways. It took another four tries for Mother to get satisfied with our postures and for us to actually remember it... it has something to do with muscle memories, according to Mother. Which is strange, since muscle memories shouldn''t be as easy to train as we just did... but it worked! I don''t know how, but it did! Interesting... Finally, Mother told us the next day we''re going to channel chi when we do it as well... why tomorrow? Little-Me can still keep goin- Oh, its sundown already, how did time past so fast? Hmm... So the next day, we goes through the Tai Chi routine once again, before Mother gives us the go ahead to try drawing our chi as we move slowly... and ILittle-Me can''t. I know why, it''s that damned Nine Yin Cultivation Seal... but nobody else knows, including Mother. We tried for another whole month, during which Anne and Jill already got the technique down. Oooh, so jealous... !!! But it will be worth it... think of the 8 billion Chi I''ll have by the time I''m done with this accursed seal! Aw man, Little-Me''s feeling quite depressed since she can''t get it no matter how hard she focused... poor girl, it''s not your fault! Blame the bastard! Then Mother decided to try something else, which I overheard talk to herself as "risky... but it would do the trick!" Er, that doesn''t sound good. Can we skip to the next part already? Apparently not, since Mother then tells Little-Me to sit in a meditative stance again and start meditating, while she takes the same posture behind us. Then I feel her hands on my back. What for I can''t tell, but it looks something like this, I think... Spoiler : Then I feel a gust of... is that Chi? Bursting into my body, flooding through veins I''ve never felt before and technically shouldn''t exist if I know my human anatomy... but it''s there, and I can feel it. Ah, such a wonderful feeling, I feel like I''m strong enough to do anything! Then it started. At first, it was just a slightly ticklish feeling, then it feels like the Chi in my chi veins are twisting around like snakes... boy that was uncomfortable. But it only got worse, by the minute! The twisting chi got more and more violent... and it started to hurt, like it burns... oh sh*t it''s burning! IT''S F*CKING BURNING me alive! Help! Aaaaah it''s like the Chi Mother poured into my body''s on fire! Little-Me has a far lower threshold for pain and is already on the floor rolling around, trying to put out the fire that is inside her, while screaming Bloody Mary... for my own earlobes, I cut off the connection between her sense of sound and mine. Whoa, haven''t done that in... years now if I remember correctly... haven''t really needed to do this since Little-Me got past her crying stage as a baby. Mother''s freaking out around me while Anne and Jill just looks at us confused... as am I. What is happening here? ...Finally, after what feels like hours of being burned alive from the inside out, the chi-fire fades away and I feel Little-Me''s consciousness fades away... poor girl, that must have really exhausted her... W=Little-Me didn''t wake up for a whole month... I counted the days, judging by the ''Age'' shown on my status window... its far more specific then it needs to be, really. I could feel a bit of that old insanity coming back to haunt me... oh no, go away! Stay away from me! When Little-Me finally wakes up, we still feel oddly weakened and exhausted for some reason... even though we just slept for a whole month. "Mommy?" Mother''s sleeping by my side. Oh, I''m in Mother''s room, on her bed... still, why do I feel so tired? "Pray! Are you ok?" Mother looks really worried. Didn''t doctor tell her I''ll be fine? Oh wait, they don''t have doctors here...yet... "I''m ok Mommy, just..." "Just...?" Boy, she couldn''t have looked more worried. "I''m hungry Mommy... and so tired..." Little-Me whispers as she slowly falls back to sleep. Guess she can''t recover that quickly after all. It''s another five hours before Little-Me wakes up again, this time with Mother''s anxious face by our side. Looks like she''s been there without moving since I woke up last time. "Mommy?" A bit of confusion in Little-Me''s mind... don''t worry, I''ll take care of that... "It''s alright Pray, everything will be alright." She smiles weakly as she brushes our hair gently, it is a nice feeling once in a while... "Here, eat some of this." What is that? It looks like... some kind of porridge, the kind you''d find in Chinese cuisine... oh, it is. Did Mother made that? "Wait, hang on Pray, we''re going to heat it up real quick." How? I wanted to ask, except I can''t. You don''t have microwaves in this world do you now? "Xix, heat this up." Mother orders Father... who I just notices now is sitting on the other side of the bed also looking at us. Then he puts on a white glove with red circular drawing engravings on it and snaps his fingers. A small cooking flame shots out as he snaps his finger, conveniently moving itself to under the bowl of porridge Mother''s holding and heating it up. Convenient... and a disappointment. I guess that''s Father''s flame alchemy... The warmed porridge is actually quite good... like really, really good. Ooh, I taste Shark Fins, this is awesome! "More, Mommy! pleeeese?" Little-Me asks as she pouts cutely. Aww, good girl, you actually learned when to use it by yourself! Mwuahahaha this counts as one of my greatest achievements of all time! "Of course honey, Mommy will be right back, ok?" Mother takes the now emptied bowl and flies out the room, presumably to get another bowl. "It will be alright Pray, don''t worry about a thing." Father speaks up from his quiet place. "Ok daddy. Will Mommy be ba- Blah!" Oh dear god, that was a disaster. Little-Me just starting puking everything out on her bed... and the smell of the puke is only making it worse for her! I think she ate too fast there. It''s like drinking water after you''ve been under dehydration for hours; you can''t eat or drink to fast right away, or your stomach will only backfires on you... All in all, it''s another six months before Little-Me finally feels strong enough to walk again. Mother was pretty much by our side when we''re awake, as was Father. Don''t you have some work to do? So we got off the bed for the first time in seven months. Ah, it''s good to be back on my feet. I wonder what happened.... wait what? We turned back to the window we just passed by. Is that... fields? wheat fields? Yeah, looks like it... but there''s none around our mansion in the city... oh. "Mommy, where are we?" We asks Mother, who''s behind us at the moment. Unexpectedly, it was Father who answered, as he swoops down and picks us up. "This is our country house, Pray. We thought it would be better for you to recover here, with the better wind and sun." Hmm, I guess that sort of make sense. But more importantly... "Daddy, where''s Anne and Jill?" Where are the twins? Shouldn''t they be here as well? "Honey, they''re at the capital city." Mother answers, "They can''t be here with us, I''m sorry. But don''t worry, they''ve learned everything they should know about shinbo by now, so they''re in good hands." Shinbo? Oh right, the first level of Xing Martial Arts... I see, so they have already mastered it. I''ve got to catch up to them somehow... "Mommy, can I learn it too?" Mother and Father looks a bit hesitant there... like there''s bad news for them to tell me... And it is. Bad news, that is. Father brings me back to the bed again, before setting me down on it. Then he and Mother grabbed the other two chairs in the room and comes over to sit before me. "You see, honey, what Mommy did last time is called Chi-healing. I poured my chi into your body to feel why you can''t get your chi to start flowing around. So? We look at Mother in synchronized confusion. She takes a deep breath... that''s never good... "Pray, I need you to be strong for me, ok?" "Ok mommy..." "Pray, you have what we call "Nine Yin Chi Curse"... its a very rare curse that has never been seen in the last thousand years... until now." Ahh, knew it has got to be that curse''s fault! Probably something to do with the fact that my chi never once flowed in my chi-path before... "What is it Mommy?" Little-Me''s still a bit confused. "You see, Pray, the curse blocks your Chi from ever flowing into your body... honey, I can''t teach you Martial Arts. I''m sorry Pray..." Mother''s getting teary eyes, as am I... "I-I can''t learn to fly like Mommy?" Little-Me''s quite devastated... its been her goal for such a long time now, its practically her life goal at the moment. "I''m sorry honey, I''m sorry, I''m sorry..." Mother keeps repeating herself... oh no, damn ninjas cutting onions! Don''t cry, me! You know it will be lifted once you''re 10! Little-Me and Mother cried together for quite a while, as Father wraps his arms around us, drawing us into a big hug. It was quite warm and comfortable, a soothing feeling I haven''t felt in a long time... Mother regains control over herself about half an hour later, and excuse herself to go make dinner... while Little-Me refuses to leave the bed in her foul mood, realizing her first dream has really, really been crushed... poor girl.. It isn''t for another three days until Father managed to get Little-Me out of the depressed mood... yes, you heard me right, the normally useless Father actually did something. I think he left for a day while Little-Me refused to move, except when she needed to use the bathroom, though I don''t what Father left for. Then I found out... he went to get me a textbook. A textbook on Alchemy. "It''s ok Pray, there are many powers in this world." He says as he hands me the thick book titled "History and Basics of Amestrisian Alchemy, Part I & II" "What do you say, do you want to learn Alchemy like Daddy?" "... ok daddy..." Father and I started spending more time together since then, talking about alchemy and whatnots, sometimes while we walk the fields around the little country house we have. It''s a little comfy house, but without any servants like our old one. Alchemy, unsurprising as it turns out, is based on the concept "All is One, One is All" Now, where have I heard that before? It''s really right on the tip of my tongue... Like it was fantasized on old Earth, the Circle of Alchemy is its basis, serving as the conduct to draw out the power of the Earth. Or as Father calls it, the "Energy of deep underground movement." I doubt they know what tectonic plate movement is in this world. Nevertheless, it is quite impressive they got a definition so close to it. From there, Alchemists use runes that symbolize a certain element, and draws them on the power circle. Then the alchemist connects the runes in a specific order before drawing power through the circle, fueling the alchemy. Depending on what rune is invoked and the order it is aligned in, Alchemists can create anything they want, as long as they know what it is composed of. Neat, but I don''t need that. Remember? I got that ''True Alchemy'' skill and the ''Gate of Truth'' passive... if only I can use it! So Little-Me learned everything she can from Father, surprising him as well. Hehe, guess he didn''t expect that we''d have photographic memory eh? During that time, I cringed many times at the misconceptions they have in the book about how some parts of the world works... noooo that''s noble gas you idiot author, don''t call it "odd", that''s its nature! Before I knew it, and I didn''t really notice my fourth birthday to be honest, it''s the week before my fifth birthday. Also, the last birthday before we celebrate my tenth birthday. According to Father, that''s because "many children don''t survive through their first five birthdays, Pray. That''s why we always celebrate them. But once your past that age, most people are healthy and fine, so only the next tenth, fifteenth, and twentieth birthday are celebrated afterward." That actually makes sense... cherish what you have, while you have it, eh? I guess I really need to improve the hygiene habits of this place...pre-industrial age worlds aren''t exactly the cleanest places compared to old Earth''s standards. Then we rode a four-horse drawn carriage back to the capital city. Apparently, my fifth birthday, like all fifth birthdays, are to be hold in the central cathedral. Mother did mention any church building is fine, but she insists on going to the main one in Amestris. And we''re not that far away either, Father'' s country house is just five hours north of the Capital City, in Father''s jurisdiction as a brigadier general. Then we arrived in front of the Church that... looks like any Christian churches you''d find on Earth, really, but really big. With buttresses around it too, and all those pretty colored window arts. Eeeeexcept its a Church of Freya, who is definitely a more feminine God than Jesus... Huh, I can see a group of other kids like me. Guess I''m not the only born on this day in the capital. Oh, its Aunty Julie with Anne and Jill in the audience! Little-Me waves energetically toward them, and they waves back in the same high spirit, before a high priest herded me to the other waiting children. Mother and Father took a seat on the front row, next to Aunt Julia and her husband. "We gather here today to celebrate the arduous journey these children have faced growing..." The priest guy drones on and on and on and on and on about how hard it is for most to successfully lives through the first five years... wow how bad is public health in this world? For them to be this serious about it? I guess I had my own brush with Death as well... except I''ve been actually Dead, so I wasn''t that particularly worried. "...now, we shall ask the gods for the blessing. Each one of you will step up here to this circle before me, and wait for a God''s voice. Be respectful, and be thankful for whatever blessing the Gods choose to give you. And remember, the Gods see everything..." Everything eh? I wonder if they can really see through my mind... or see some of those God granted skills... this would be interesting... I''m pretty far in the line, only three from the last guy in line, so I waited patiently for each kid to go through the process. Some kid got multiple God''s blessings, with the most being three God''s Blessings. There was also a poor guy that didn''t get any. The priest quietly escorted him down and into a different hallway after half a minute of waiting. Poor kid... I wonder what they''re going to do... Finally, the line dwindles down, and it''s finally my turn. We walk up the pedestal with high spirits, a slight skip in my steps. Then we quickly reached the center of the circle before the priest. He lifts his white-oak staff in the now familiar manner and begins to beseech the Gods to give me my blessings. then he stops and looks at me expectantly... Am I supposed to do something here? Sweat drops down Little-Me''s brows as she feels everyone''s stares boring into her back. ...Twenty seconds... twenty five... twenty six... twenty seven... twenty eight... twenty nine... oh no, one more second and I''ll be escorted down by the Priest! Oh, what to do? What to do?! Just then, a divine light shines through the top of the cathedral, and forms into a white circle in the air above me. Down drops out a winged man in white armor... that looks suspiciously like a painted version of the exoskeletons we had back on old Earth... uh oh... "Yo!" He smiles down at me casually. Everyone''s staring back between he and I in shock by now. As if there''s anything casual about this! "..." Little-me''s quite shock as well, though not me. Oh no, not me. And I know exactly what I want to say... "?" He looks inquisitively at me, a twitch at the corner of his mouth, almost turning into a grin. Oh, that''s the last straw you- ............ ......... ...... ... . "BASTARD!"
PR''d version will be put in as soon as I get it... lesson learned, never post a holder... you guys don''t like it it seems :P Spoiler : Huh, Ironically the title I had already for this chapter ended up being very much true... Yeah, sorry guys, I just finish typing up the last chapter... and boy, lemme tell you, that was quite the chapter. Also the longest by far... but don''t worry! There''s a lot of development, unlike chapter 4... 3+ hours of straight up writing and thinking, not to mention the two I already put in before Dinner... who knew I had so much stuff in my mind for this story! Gah, must. write. it. all. out! I think I was in a trance... is writing trance even a thing? Another piece of good news, I found a PR!!! Woohoo! This calls for a celebration! *Pops out the champaign!* Cheers everybody! His name is thebarathorn, god bless him... All PR credit from now on goes to him! Since I send it to him this late, after midnight, it''s only reasonable that he won''t get to it until tomorrow... so please wait a bit folks! I''ll post it as soon as it''s been checked and errors fixed, or when I finally notices it, hehe. This will serve as my Author''s Note I suppose.^^ Chapter 07- When a God comes to visit... "BASTARD!" I yelled at him. Wait, did I just directly speak? I thought the seal ends at sundown today according to the status window? And that''s not for another two hours! "Why congratulations! You''re strong dislike of me have allowed you to break through my seal!" He looks oddly proud for a second there, "Though to be honest, it was already so weaken anyone strong enough could''ve dispelled it." "Why are you here?" I guess Little-Me is gone forever? Or have I merged with her? We certainly tends to agree a lot in the recent year. "To answer the question you didn''t ask, Yes, your outer self has fully merged into you." He subtly lands on the statue of the Goddess Freya behind the priestess. I see, so that''s what happened. It''s a shame, I feel like... like I''ve lost a part of myself, a very important part of myself... oh how used to her presence I''ve gotten over the five years... I''ll miss you, Little-Me, despite everything you screwed up before... "Oh, I know what you''re feeling. In fact, most of the naturally sympathetic peoples I''ve reincarnated like you feels the same way," He chuckles, then sighs, "Worry not, I''ve got a countermeasure in place, after so many of you people requested me to give them back their outer selves." He extends an arm toward me, and I flinch as I try to move out of the way he''s pointing at... me, of course. A notification window pops up... which shouldn''t be possible, since I disabled that function in settings years ago...
Notice
Administrator Override, ID: #000000000, Codename: God, Your setting has been overridden. You have been granted the unique skill, Copy, the ability to copy anything you understand fully, be it a physical object, spiritual object, or else. You are expected to complete your goal with excellence in return for this blessing. Remember that your goal in this world is not to become one of its average citizens, but to save it in your own way, whether by destroying all human life or conquering all of humanity''s enemies or any other mean.
Notice
A message from God, In case you don''t understand what I meant before by ''No Holds Barred'', like 23 billion others, I mean it literally. If taking the lives of others abhors you, rest assured that any life you take will immediately return to the stream of souls awaiting reincarnation.
"There, now you can make a copy of your outer self, if you want." He looks so satisfied with himself I want to smack his head in for some reason. "You haven''t answered my first question!" I shouted as I waved the notification windows away, I can read them in detail later, "Why are you here? Didn''t you say you weren''t going to interfere with matters in this world?" "Oh relax, I''m just making the round, checking every soul I''ve reincarnated for this project, you know." His face slowly arches into a wide grin, "And you just happened to be slotted last, that''s why it took me so long to get here." God, how I hate your face! "Alright, you''ve confirmed I''m alive and well, so is there anything else you want?" Stop delaying this stupidly long ceremony! I wanna go home already! Do you even know how tiresome it is to hear the dronings of that old priest? Or stand upright in this heavy ceremonious dress? Hell, Mother even got the maids to put some make-up on me today! This is the first time I''ve ever worn make up in this life... it feels weird, like a itchy second layer of skin you just can''t scratch! "Didn''t I say relax? Besides, I''m known in this world as one of its Primordial Gods. Care to guess which one I am?" Primordial Gods? From what I''ve read in Encyclopedia on the Gods of Old, there are only four Primordial Gods who existed before the birth of the world... I guess that means Kruphix made the other three. The four are, in the order of seniority,
  1. The "Triumvirate" Goddesses of Fate. The Three Fates, in other words. Clotho the spinner, who spins out the thread of life for everything, Lachesis the measurer, who choose how long each thread of life is, and by extension, how long one''s life is, and Atropos the Inevitable, who cuts the thread of life at the end and choose the manner of death. It is said that not even the other Gods can go against the three sister Goddesses'' wills... though obviously someone here''s immune to that.
  2. Ascathon, the God of Change. Patron God of Alchemy... which is basically changing the composition of matters, so that makes sense. I''ve read in the textbook that the ''clap'' to invoke True Alchemy is an ability granted by the God... which means it''s probably a form of prayer to him.
  3. Freya, Goddess of Life and Creation. Definitely the most worshipped Goddess in this world, because her followers are the only ones able to use healing spells on others. Allegedly created all life on the planet according the the church''s propaganda.
  4. Kratos, God of Death and Destruction, according to the oldest record I could find. Mostly known as the God of War and Destruction, though, which still matches his nature. Definitely not a God I want to cross...
Hmm... I don''t see how someone who''s showed himself as a male god so far could be any of the two goddesses, so the triumvirate and Freya are out of the question. Don''t ask me why the Three Fates are considered one Goddess, they just are. That leaves Ascathon and Kratos... God of Death and Destruction doesn''t seems likely seeing that he did send me here to reincarnate. That''s definitely opposite of what Kratos does. That leaves Ascathon, the God of Change... I see, so that''s why I went through a Gate of Truth to get to this world, because he is the patron God of Alchemy here... Yup, it must be him! "Ascathon!" *Sighs* "Perhaps I should have made a few dozen more Primordial Gods, you guessed that one too easily... "System, make a note for me: Create a hundred primordial gods at least in the future. File it under the ''Note to Self'' section." Huh, I guess he really is limiting himself. That or he lied to me about being the One True God... "Well? Let''s get the show moving, people! Aren''t you here to give me my blessing as Ascathon anyways?" "Who said it''s just me?" That grin again! What is he doing now? Then three more figures descended around me... Oh. They''re the other three Primordial Gods. Kratos... looks like himself; covered in blood, but since there''s no wound on him, it must be his enemy''s blood. Floating by his sides are the twin Blades of Chaos hangs by his side, also bloodied. He also has a fitting, ferocious look on his face... and rotten teeth. Yikes, he stinks! Freya looks exactly like her status behind the Priest... oh, never mind, she just merged into the statue. That''s nice, but what for? It does look like the statue came alive as she enters it though. She looks... Well, like this, just smaller. Without the Earth Dragon mount, of course, and more human size version: Spoiler : Last but not least are the Triumvirate, the three sister Goddesses of Fate. Each of them looks a bit different, though they are all supposedly have hidden wings connected to the back of their waist area: Spoiler : Clotho looks like she''s just starting into teenage years, Lachesis looks like a gentle beauty with permanently shut eyes, and Atropos looks like a cool beauty that can freeze your pants off... she''s also the only one to have black hair. I must say, their horns looks quite like tiaras, neat! "Now then, let''s get the show on the road, shall we?" Kruphix- No, Ascathon in this world- remarks to no one in particular. Then, with a resounding snap of his fingers, time unfreezes. When did he freeze everybody else? I was so engaged that I didn''t even notice that detail! "Child of Prophecy, I have come before you today to give you my blessings," Freya speaks up first, her hair flustering gently behind her, as if in a slow wind. Then she motions one of the larger vases around her to float toward me, stopping just on top of my head. It tips over slightly, and a golden liquid drips down onto my watching face. *ding!* Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Notice
You have been Blessed by the Goddess Freya, Goddess of Life and Creation! You have gained passive skill: Blessing of Freya ! While in her grace, all healing magic used by you or others on you doubles in strength, speed, and radius. You gain a bonus from nature, giving you +5% in all stats when surrounded by plant life. All plants in your immediate radius passively gains more vitality. You have gained active skill: Song of Ulosis An unique, mass healing skill granted only to those Goddess Freya has chosen personally. Can also be focused or expanded in effect through mana manipulation. You have been granted: Art stat! +100 Art stat per the Goddess'' blessing! Gain a deeper understanding of the Artistic beauties of the world to gain more Art stats!
"May you always be well." Her alive-statue body turns back into stone and stands back on her pedestal, as her presence fades from the Church. The Priest seems to be in shock. Hehehe, I can shove a... corn, in it, and he wouldn''t have time to close his mouth hehehe... Then the God of Death and Destruction steps up, before promptly stabbing his blade of chaos through my chest. A gasp runs through the watching crowd behind me, but I don''t feel any pain. In fact, it tickles, slightly. *ding*
Notice
You have been blessed by Kratos, God of Death and Destruction. Although you are blessed by Freya, and by extension is his enemy, Kratos has nevertheless chosen to give you his blessings. You have gained passive skill: Intimidating Presence . All enemies in your surrounding will feel intimidated when facing you. Chances to cause nausea, puking, uncontrolled bowel movements, and paralysis increases as this skill ranks and levels up, as well as in closer proximity. You have been granted: Rage stat, that can be used in berserker mode. Can be stored for later usage. You have gained: Kratos'' Rage The ultimate berserker mood, granted only to those chosen personally by Kratos. Grants pain nullification, greatly increased regeneration, and bluffs stats in proportion to the amount of Rage consumed. Your sanity will be locked in the Inner Mind for the duration of this skill, until you manage to take control of your body or runs out of Rage stat. You have gained: Unblockable! When executed, you and your attacks become unblockable.
I reads through the long notification window as Kratos stands there with a wide grin on his face, satisfied. Then he draws back his Blade of Chaos, nods once, then shots up toward and passing through the ceiling, presumedly to get back to the battlefield. Holy sh*t! Three skills and a bonus stat just from Kratos! This ceremony is awesome! Then it''s Ascathon turn, and by that I mean Kruphix''s turn... "I have come today as the you patron god to give you my blessings. Use it well, my chosen one." No notification pops up after Kruphix finishes his little line. Pity, I would''ve gladly take more blessings. Greedy little one, aren''t you? Get out of my head Kruphix! Then the Three Fate sisters steps up and speaks in unison, "Child, we have come to grant you our blessing; a blessing no one before, and no one henceforth, shall receive but you. Let it be known, you alone shall not be bound by the Stings of Destiny." *ding!*
Notice
You have been blessed by the Triumvirate Goddesses! The three sister Goddesses of Fate have declared you as the only champion to ever receive their blessing! You have gained title: Unbounded! While in the grace of the three sister Goddesses, you cannot be bounded by any mean! You have gained active skill: Song of Moirae A skill that bypasses the boundaries of destiny and time, allowing you to beseech the three Goddesses to pause temporally in their callings and sing the song for you. While ongoing, you gains the maximum powers you can ever achieve at any point in this life, regardless of your choices in life. Can only be used once per decade, though it can be stacked for later usage.
Holy sweet mother of god! The Song of Moirae is beyond just regular OP! It''s... just beyond any other skill in this world, I''ll bet! Any power from the peak of my powers? That means if I''m destined to become a God, I can temporally use the power befitting of a God? That is just plain awesome! Though the usage restriction that balances it out is not. Kukukukukukukuku, this is even better than Kratos''s Rage or that Unblockable whatever! Mwuahahahaha I have my trump card now! There is nothing in the world that can stop me! Except... time. That''s the only drawback it has, and I have no idea how long the Song of Moirae will last either... Finally, the three sister Goddesses fades away in a burst of light, then it''s Ascathon''s turn to leave. He turns, opens a Gate of Truth, and leaps in. What is he? Mad? That place is hell! A profound silence spreads through the crowd gathered in the cathedral. Some even fainted. I guess that was too shocking for some of them. Ha! Wimps! It gets quite uncomfortable as it stretches on. Not even the Priest seems to know what to do now. "Well, that was a pleasant surprise!" Ah, Mother saves the day! Good thing, I was about to interrupt the silence myself hehe. The Priest seems half recovered from his shock and guides me down the elevated platform toward my parents. Father still looks like he saw a ghost... or four Primordial Gods in person. Hmm, now that I think about it, there hasn''t been a lot of Gods coming down in person to the mortal realms in all records. I can count on my hands the separate occasions a God has descended, though they are mostly Lesser Gods, or just a twelve-winged angelic destroyer passing down God''s verdict on the world. There''s a First for everything, I suppose. The Priest made some feeble attempts to finish up the ceremony, though it seems he forgot the ending speech he had prepared before. He also skipped those poor kids lined up behind me, pity. Seeing Gods in person, not one, but four, does that to you. And they''re not just Lesser Gods, or even the Greater Gods, but the Primordial Gods who ranks supreme in the world. Well, there goes my chance of remaining anonymous... Everyone in the cathedral seems to be a bit dazed as we files up the church''s front door. It won''t take long for the information to spread, I grimaces as I reflects on today''s events, "We better make it back to the mansion before the crowds get here." I informs my parents. Mother nods, and urged our carriage driver to go as fast as he can down the winding roads, his horses frothing at the mouth. The silence from earlier perpetrates the air again in the carriage, mostly from the stilled Father. We rushed into the mansion as the guards hastily opens the front gate for the carriage, before shutting it securely behind them. It won''t take long for what happened to spread among the people, especially in this dense city. I just hope the gates hold, if a crowd of them wants to take a peek at the rumored girl. Bless be those high walls, for shielding most of the cities'' eyes from me. Now what to do about the maids? ...This sure is troublesome, I can''t stop the gossips anymore than I can stop Mother; I can''t. I sighs inwardly as I realize my powerlessness against the rumor mill, even as I gained all these blessings I have received today. Well, I suppose it''s time to seclude myself in my suite. I can make a slot for the maids to pass the foods and drinks through, and another one for the chamberpots. That''s right, it''s time to get the business started. I''ve waited five long years for this moment, and I can''t stand the terrible hygiene standard of this world anymore! Magic devices may be convenient, but they''re too rare to benefit the average people. What they need, is the industrial revolution. But before that, I have my little agricultural and culinary revolution planned out... hehehehe, prepare yourself people! A new age is coming, and you betcha the Great ME is spearheading it! Chapter 08- Renovations? Author''s Note: Sorry, this chapter is not as well written as I would like it to be... oh well, I''m not sure how to handle the transition either, hope it works out later :p
Lets see, I can copy Little-Me later. For now, I need to check my own status. Though I did took a peek at it earlier, I havent really pay enough attention to it lately.
Status Window
Name:Pray Meyer AndersonAlignment:Humanity
Bloodline:Esper- LightningClass:Champion- Child
Affinities:Lightning, Fire, EarthAge:5 years old
Race:HumanGender:Female
Titles
First Come First Serve!, Champion of the One True God, The Chosen One
Fame:100Infamy:0
-
Health:3,100 / 3,100Health Regen:5.3 / Sec
Stamina:474 / 474Stamina Regen:2.1 / Sec
Mana:22,650 / 22,650Mana Regen:5.2 / Sec
Chi: 922,802/922,802Chi Regen:9228.02 / Sec
-
Strenght:104Agility:210
Vitality:310Dexterity:323
Intelligence:765Wisdom:212
Leadership:21Luck:76
Rage:100Art:100
-
Skills
Passives
  1. Gate of Truth- Unknown LVL X (Locked by God)
  2. Incorruptible Soul- Unknown LVL X (Locked by God)
  3. Unbreachable Mind- Unknown LVL X (Locked by God)
  4. Outer Mana Manipulation- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  5. Inner Chi Manipulation- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  6. Prodigious Learning Speed- Intermediate LVL 3 (32.58%)
  7. Greater Battle Instincts- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  8. Blessing of Freya- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  9. Intimidating Presence- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
Actives
  1. Absorption- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  2. Copy- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  3. Alpha Stigma- Initiate LVL 1 (78.65%)
  4. True Alchemy- Initiate LVL0 (0.00%)
  5. Outer Mana Core Manifestation- Initiate LVL 0 (0.00%)
  6. Song of Ulosis- Initiate LVL0 (0.00%)
  7. Kratos'' Rage- Initiate LVL0 (0.00%)
  8. Song of Moirae- Initiate LVL0 (0.00%)
Transcendentals N/A Specials
  1. Nine Yin Cultivation Seal (Duration: 5 years)
I see How odd, I wouldve thought the blessing and skills I gained from the other three Gods would be ranked unknown and at level X (Locked by God) like the ones I got from Kruphix. Kruphix is different from the rest of them after all, it seems. Mwuahahahahahaha, just as I predicted, I have nine-tenth of a million chi now. If only I can use it no, bear it! Just five more years! Im halfway there! Hmmm, my manas increased quite nicely. Hard Work learning normal alchemy paid off, I suppose. Just, why is my wisdom still rising so low? I wonder if its Kruphixs attempt at balancing my stats out after all, I do have abnormally large reservoir of Mana and Chi at my disposal. Theres also bunch of notifications Ive been ignoring for far too long all notifications of receiving some stat, not important. A few status updates showing that Im fatigued, paralyzed was that back when Mother tried chi-healing on me?, and internally burned ouch on the last one. Beside them, the only important notification is that my Prodigious Learning Speed passive reached Intermediate level a few months ago and grants me Eidetic Memory I guess thats an upgrade compared to photographic memory. Now then, I need to show Father my True Alchemy skill and blame it on Ascathon. But first, I need to test it. Enough with the half-assed understanding these people have of the compositions of the world! Its time for real science! Kukukukukuku and no oversight committee to prevent me from doing human experimentations excellent, most excellent, kuukukuukukuukukuukuuukuku In any case, I copied the clasp state alchemists use to activate their true alchemy skill, then pressed both of my palms down on the floor. Lets make it hmmm oh, I know! Lets make some statues! I got photographic memory and Art stats, so it should turn out well! I concentrated on molding out a figurine of the old me from Earth, and my families together. A slightly wider smiles, most robust bust on Melinda. Could I do color as well? I clasped my hand together again, and this time grabs the almost-done statue in my hands. Pigments, I want a layer of pigments on the surface of the statue. Huh, I can only manipulate one type at a time? It took me an hour to get the color details just right, since I had to go one layer of color at a time. Oddly enough I feel a bit tired, like Ive been solving quantum physics problems all day kind of tired. Hmmph, dont think a little tiredness can hold back the great me! I took a breather, and starts on my second set of statues. This time, I concentrated on the images of Mother and Father together, as if taking a family photo. Aha, there we go! I got Mothers hair down just perfectly! Ugh, sh*t Im actually pretty tired after making five statues with Alchemy in a row. Screw the coloring on the last two, its time for a little nap I wakes up a good thirty minutes later to someones footsteps approaching my room. What is it? Didnt I tell Sebastian not to let anyone interrupt me until dinner today? A maid I havent seen before opens the door and walks in. So thats it eh? A new maid, whos not familiar enough with her job yet to realize some orders arent meant to be bent. Well, shell certainly be surprised. She turns around, as if to survey the room. Probably looking for me, though Im safely hidden behind the couch. Kukuku, I could use her I breathe a little harder, just loud enough that she subconsciously turns toward my way and approaches, but not loud enough for her to know for sure Im here hehehe, lets see how she takes surprises! Ooh, she just lifted the linen cover I threw on the two sets of figures! Mwuahahahaahaha, behold perfection! My perfect creations! Arent they grand? Those details! I can see her jaw dropping to the floor as she eyes the statues Praise me! BO! I jump up from behind the couch behind her. Hehehehe, that waiting paid off! She gives a little shriek and runs out the room. Thatll teach you to enter someones room without permission! The new maid is later reprimanded by Sebastian for going into my room without permission, though in her defense, she didnt know it belonged to me. But she has served her purpose now, and Sebastian informs Father of my statues. yes, I can hear them coming down the corridor! Almost almost here! Just outside the doors! I threw them open and stands proudly before my surprised parents, Daddy! Look! I points toward the statue of Mother and him. I made it with alchemy! Praise me! Grr, I want praises damn it! Father definitely looks surprised, and I suppose he should be, cause it aint possible using regular ol alchemy Ive been practicing, and he knows it too. Pray what did you receive at the ceremony today? Father asks cautiously. Pfft, theres no cause for concern here! Ascathon gave me an alchemy skill! I states proudly. Wait, why arent you praising my perfect creations? What could possibly be more important? Asca- Oh, I see. He looks uncertain for a moment, then grins, Well, that sure saves us a lot of time and effort. Does that mean I can stop reading those dusty old books? I ask eagerly. Pfft, those books arent worth a dime before what I hold in my brain! Hahaha, no Pray, you cant just skip studying just because of this! But I can make anything! That is true theres not much I dont know how to make, though some are better suited to be done by expandable others than my precious self. You can?! Father looks amazed? Oh, I see, I see. He thinks Ascathon gave me gave me the knowledge? Good, lets go with that then. Um, yeah! He told me how to make stuff! To emphasize my point, I quickly invoked true alchemy and transmute the book on the table into a bar of gold. Muwahahahahahaha, this ability is too good to be true! Pray! You know transmuting gold is forbidden! Yes, yes, I know. Financial instability and all that. Old news. Sorry A bit of teary face and Father instantly forgets everything else. Hehehe, being a girl has its benefits Well, I guess it wont hurt if you skip the rest of the textbooks anymore. He looks contemplative for a moment, Pray, do you want to learn Daddys special alchemy? Special alchemy? Is he talking about that cooking fire he made with alchemy? Well sure, why not? The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Ummmmm OK! Oops, probably shouldve been more optimistic there. Xix, just get out the present already. Mothers patience just ran out, apparently. Wait, did someone said present? I want a present! I love presents! Gimme them! Alright, alright, here it is. Father takes out a long gift box ohohohoho what is it? A rapier? A sword? I want something cool! I excitedly rips off the wrappings and opens the box. Inside it is a I dont know what to call it. It has a rapier handle and guard, but has four panels where the blade should be what is this thing? For some reason it seems oddly familiar, like Ive seen it before Spoiler : Narukami, wasnt it? The lightning kagune? But where did my normal human parents come across something like this? *Ahem*Youre Mother spend a lot of time locating this for you, Pray. Its a lightning blade from the Isle of Sword Saints beyond the Reim Empire. Only people with lightning esper abilities like you or your Mother can handle it, be careful alright? Ohoho, is that why? Mother refused to teach me how to use our esper abilities when we just started that hellish training to learn chi control, saying that its only for those who had reached the seventh level Xingese Martial Arts... From what I understand, its not so much electromaster ability as it is speed enhancement. Kind of like how the Raikage use it, but more refined. I suppose then, that this lightning blade bypasses that the restriction Mother had set earlier? I should check to be sure But Moooom, you said I cant use lightning until I learned the 7th level didnt you? Yes I did, Pray. But this blade handles the control for you, so you can use your ability even without martial arts training. Aw, doesnt she look proud of herself? This must have cost a fortune its nice to have rich, doting parents But never mind that I can use lightning with this? Kukukukuku, I cant wait to try it out! I lifted the thing and points it at a stack of paper on the desk beside the couch, Lightning! .. and nothing happens. Why? Is there a special way to activate my esper powers? Oh I dont have the skill for it yet, just the bloodline requirement damn! Pray, dont be impatient. Mommy will teach you how to use it, Ok? I nod at her in disappointment, and shelves the blade to experiment with later. Mother promises to teach me how to use it as my birthday present sweet! Well, that concludes my birthday presents, since Aunt Julia and the twins cant enter at the moment due to the crowd outside the gate. Seriously, whats the big deal about being the first mortal to be blessed by four gods of gods? Not that I dislike my celebrity status As Mother tucks me in for bed, I starts on the second phase of todays plan making a copy of my former outer self. It is a bit lonely without her According to what Kruphix said, I should be able to copy her without a problem. I concentrates on my memory of her and theres a lot, considering the five solids years weve been together. Then I activates the skill with a quiet whisper I just hope that doesnt mean I will make a copy of my physical self, cause that would be quite the pain to explain A presence enters my mind, which should not be possible due to my passive skill unless, its another me? Well, theres only one way to find out. I look inside myself, as if Im in the middle of meditation. But instead of trying to find my chi center, which I can sense quite easily now, I simply digs deeper into myself reaching the inner mind is just a matter of patience; its much easier to get out of it then reach it. Of course, I reaches my Inner Mind a few minutes later, and enters to find me. Staring at me, myself. The two of us looks at each other for a second. Its a weird experience, looking from two perspectives at once. Ooooh, I see. So thats why. I merged completely with her, so I cant separate her out again? Well, this is awkward, theres two me inside myself and the clone me feels the exact same way. Hmmm actually, this could work to my advantage! Kukukukuku, we laugh in synchrony, I can make my own Misaka Sisters Network!!! Mwuahahahahaa, strength in numbers! I just need a secret headquarters where nobody will find my clones I dont have one. That certainly puts a damper on things I need a secret hideout, like every good evil scientist Setting aside the issue to procrastinate on it, I leaves my cloned consciousness in my inner mind. Making a HQ for myself is a bit too far reaching at the moment, I should focus on the renovations I need to make to the mansion first. The next morning, I got up early, before the maids come wake me up, and dresses myself before skipping to the kitchen to grab some early breakfast. Rise and shine people! Today is the day I banish those disgusting chamber pots! Incase you dont know what that is, its a pot you shit and piss in yeah, completely gross. This house need some quality plumbing, and I got the power to make them hehehehe I quickly finishes off the breakfast in the kitchen, surprising the maids responsible for making it. Hmmm, those rudimentary stoves gotta be replaced as well, I makes a mental note-to-self. Then I get started on building my new toiletries. First, I converted one of the smaller room into a restroom, completely with three toilets separated by dividers, and one urinal. And sinks, of course. Though the last one required a bit of rewiring the water system in the walls there! Got it. Next part is a bit tricky since this world doesnt have sewer systems, I cant just make a bunch of toilets and empties out into the yard but thats old tech. Kukuku, Im using the 22th century technology here and its about eight or nine centuries too early for this world to have it, but who cares! Slightly acidic decomposition gels. The solution we made in the 22th century for space exploration it was a bit of a necessity when we started building crowded, large scale space structures. These gels should work well enough for a year at least, breaking down the waste within ten minutes of use. Its not as fast as a flushing toilet, but it saves me the hassle of building a real plumbing system. A bit of air refresher and there! Thats should be good enough! Ill make the other restrooms later, but first, I need a test run here. ...Aaaaah, it feels good to be able to make toilet paper for myself, those rough papers they use to wipe here are horrendous! Hmm, now that thats off the agenda, what do we got next? Oh right, gotta let Mother know about this first. I run upstairs to Mothers study, where shes studying some scroll in Chinese or Xingese, as they call it here. She doesnt really understand what Im describing, so I dragged her down to the restroom on my floor to show her ...Hmm, the maids are already crowding around it, trying to figure out what it does Mother, its cleaner than those chamber pots! I explains my creation. Be amazed, people! ...Sadly enough, nobody seems to understand the significance of the restroom tsk, wait until you try it! So much cleaner! Theyll find out eventually, I guess Um what should I renovate next? Lightings? No, I have made a generator yet. If how uninterested Mother seemed about the restroom is any indication to go by, just inventing stuffs randomly wont cut it I need someone who understands its importance and has the influence to teach other peoples I cant reach like a merchant. Its almost time for lunch, but I arrives at the kitchen before the cooks finishes cooking. Hehehe, watch and learn people! Lets make hmm Curry! Hehehe, I can just transmute some curry powder and all the spices! It took about thirty minutes to make it, and it was a bit too watery for my taste, but damn! Oh, how Ive missed the taste of old Earth. I can finally make all those foods Ive been wanting to make here! The cuisine here is primarily bread and soup based, unless Mothers the one cooking. But theres so much more they could do with the ingredients! It bugs me that nobody really seems to be experimenting around with their food oh wait Well, in any case, Mother likes it it seems, even taking a second serving. Hehehe, maybe I should just take over the kitchen for a while? Theres so much food I want to make It took about a week of experimenting with the ingredients, which are mostly identical to the ones on old Earth, to make sure I have everything prepared. I decided to make the special dinner that night kuukuuku, the other maids are already eagerly awaiting to taste my food. Everyone learned how tasty they are over the week, though initially some of them seemed to be confused about what theyre eating. And get this! They think of lobsters as well, vermins of the sea! Even feeding them to prisoners, if what I heard from the maid who went to buy a batch of lobsters for me is correct. Pfft, that misconception was quickly corrected when I made buttered lobster mmmhmmm, that was heavenly... All in all, I slowly pretended to change over better half of the year, to avoid suspicion. To be sure, I attributed my change in attitude toward my blessings well, a bit of white lies wouldnt hurt, would it? Mother doesnt really care unless its new food, but Father has taken quite an interest in my hygiene improvement project Ill call that mission accomplished, since he encouraged others to use it instead of the regular chamber pots. Keep in mind, these are all prototypes. I cant distribute them for sale among the public until I have a factory build and these people dont even know what a factory is! Gods! So much work in front of me! It almost make me want to be stuck back into my inner mind and let little-Pray do my work for me almost. Nevermind that tonight, Ive prepared a banquet and boy it was a pain in the ass to carry all the prepared food into the dining room by myself. I didnt want to maid to find out beforehand and ruin the surprise, you see. Then I ushers in my parents behold, a true feast! I takes off the covers dramatically much to their confusion. Um, I guess these food are a bit unconventional Spoiler : Nevertheless, I enjoyed quite well. Eating food you made yourself is quite satisfying, if I do say so myself. Mmmhmm, bacon cheeseburger, ah the great American junkfoods. How Ive missed you! Oops, I guess using my bare hands shocked Mother a bit, since she started scolding me on proper etiquette blah, I left those stuff to little-me before... I think that''s about all the renovations I want to make here... I suppose it''s time to learn those skills I''ve been putting off. Chapter 09- The F眉hrer... Author''s Note: Is Pray too OP? No, other than the Song of Moirae, she''s not really. Every power she has has its drawbacks and restrictions (saves one), as you''ll discover soon... That being said, I won''t have lots of time to explain in this chapter since I have a 8 page research paper I''ve been procrastinating due tomorrow afternoon... yikes! Lastly, the PR is dead. Don''t know where the guy jacked himself off to, but I lost all contact... so we''re back to no PR''d versions!
You know what was the worst thing about that banquet I made for dinner two nights ago? No, I didn''t overcook or undercook anything, I can see perfectly how thoroughly cooked they were with my Alpha Stigma. It''s not that the food cooled off or anything. It''s Mother. Ever since she saw me eating that hamburger with my hands- which, is totally the correct way to eat it- she''s been going on and on and on and on and on and on and on about table etiquette and how to behave like a lady blah blah blah... Pfft, as if I need etiquette when I conquer this world! Grrrr, if nothing else, Varete the new etiquette teacher she got me motivates me even more to speed up my grand plan. And the woman is a royal pain in my ass. She follows me around, keeps telling me how cooking she be left for the maids, how alchemy is a profession for men, how I should not slouch while sitting, how I shouldn''t be taking my lunch with me as I eat it. For the love of god, women, it''s f*cking sandwich, it''s made to be carried around! I almost yelled out at her, but no. I just have to suffer this one month. One month, and if Mother sees fit, I would be freed of Varete''s tyranny! Endure Pray, you have endure being stuck in the inner mind for five years, you can endure this insufferable woman! And don''t you dare tell me how to use or not use my powers, I''m not a doll to be displayed for suitors! It''s even more frustrating when I''m just wearing my pajamas to breakfast and she would kidnap me and stuff me in a formal dress. F*ck this! This is my own house! ... except it''s not. Grrr, I grind my teeth and swears to myself, I will build my own secret headquarter soon, and nobody will tell me what to do! That being said, I don''t have a place in mind yet. You see, I checked our basement here, and its a complete no-go. Why? Oh, take a guess as to what I found under the mansion. Of all things, its a freaking catacomb, and pretty extensive one too, judging by the echo I heard when I yelled into the bone-covered tunnel. There''s no way in hell I''m going to go in that creepy place. At best, it''s a escape route in case the Witches somehow manages to bypass 3/4 of Amestris and lands an attack on our Capital City. Worst of all, I have no idea if there are ghosts or some kind of spiritual sh*t trapped in there, or following me now. So no, nope! The basement will not be my secret hideout, no way! That leaves me with not much options. The mansion doesn''t have any secret rooms or pathways. Trust me, I examined every inch of it with my Alpha Stigma skill when I got the first chance in this body. Speaking of which, I can see using my Alpha Stigma about 5 meter away from me at its current rank and level. And only in the lines of sight of my regular eyesights too. Quite the disappointment, I was expecting 360 degree line of sights. But there''s always hope, and I''ve been using it a lot while I cook or practice alchemy, since its pretty handy for stuff like that. Of course, I don''t cook and practice my alchemy separately... true alchemy is basically a 3D printer for food, if you have seen one of those types. Since my Alchemy skills aren''t even intermediate yet, I''m pretty limited in range and speed. For example, transmuting elements that are naturally close to each other is pretty easy. But transmuting, say, a noble gas into gold. Now that is several times harder, especially consider noble gases don''t like to change at all. And I can''t transmute too complex compounds yet, either. I don''t know what you might think if you had watch Fullmetal alchemist, but simply transmuting a broken clock back into working order is FAR, far beyond my level. Probably around the advanced level, consider its complexity. So far, I''ve been using it to procure ingredients they don''t have here, in powder form. That does saves me the hassle of grounding them, but not much else. I''m also nearing completion on the 29 sets of alchemy circles I''ve been writing up for speed up my ''cooking with alchemy'' experiment. And it lets me practice writing runes as well, so its a win-win. Here''s the thing about slowly drawn out alchemy and fast true alchemy. I can only channel as much energy from Terra as my level in Alchemy allows me and drawing knowledge from the Gate of Truth also fatigues me mentally. What I''ve discovered after a week of messing around is that I can''t use both to full power together; Drawing complex chemical compounds out of Gate of Truth while maintaining a steady flow of power into my alchemy is too much of a drain on my brain, at least at the level it''s at right now, which is just below intermediate. Sure, I could have just a made a little batch and use my ''Copy'' skill to duplicate it... but I need practice in my alchemy, especially since I''m going to learn Father''s special flame alchemy in a week. To be honest, if these is a game, I would''ve been spamming all of my skills like crazy, leveling all of them up all at once. But this is no game, and real life doesn''t allow you to do that. The fastest way to level up a particular skill set is focusing 100% on honing it. Thus, I''ve been diligently practicing my true alchemy. I''d like to say the 29 sets of alchemical circles I''ve drawn for the 29 most common spices and flavoring I like to use is purely for practicing draw the circle, but the truth is I''m starting to get lazy... and drawing just the circle itself allows me to draw out much more power, augmenting the amount I can draw out myself. That should surprise anyone, since most regular alchemists relies solely on their alchemical circle to draw out power. If anything, it''s actually the other way around. Drawing out the power of Terra underneath me with alchemical circle is the proper way and using true alchemy simply augments it. Then there''s the issue of control. Or in other words, using the power channeled to deconstruct then reconstruct the composition of something while holding the composition it''s supposed to be in your mind. It''s not as easy as it sounds, drawing that knowledge out of the Gate of truth and holding it in my mind. In a few purposely failed, I''ve found out that if I fail to maintain the image of the result I want, the experiment will go... awry. Let''s just say it was fortunate I wasn''t making any C-4 back then or I might have blown myself to bits. I''d thought of changing the desired result halfway through to do multiple alchemy processes in one go, but alas, it didn''t work out. Perhaps it will in later levels, but not now. My current goal is leveling my alchemy skill sets to intermediate, bring alpha stigma to intermediate as well, and completing the 29 circles I''ve been working on for a week now. Some spices are devilishly complex to create, to the point that I had to use alchemy circle and painstakingly drawn out runes to perform the process. In a way, normal alchemy is very much like rune magic, and true alchemy is like voiceless incarnation, something I hope to master later, if it even exists in this world. But my alchemy is too limited at the moment, and I''m not just talking about its range and speed. I can''t use Father''s flame alchemy yet. At my current rank, I can only transmute solids. Controlling the air composition around me, factoring in the wind, pressure, humidity and other external factors to maintain a cooking fire is waaaay beyond me at the moment. It does make me realize Father''s also much more powerful than I am, for now. Heck, when I asked, Father told me creating a large explosion is much easier than maintaining the cooking fire he often made back in the countryside, since a explosion doesn''t need to be maintained constantly or controlled as well. I have a little theory regarding my limit on how complex my alchemical creations can be: Knowledge is a double-edged sword; the less you know, the less you can make. But conversely, when you know too well like I do, you''re bound to make that pure substance instead of the mixed up sh*t I''ve seen Father made and call pure. It was an alloy... and yet he had no idea when he made it. When I attempted it myself, I couldn''t because it was too complex for me then. If that''s true, that means what every state alchemist draws out from their Gate of Truth is a little different, bounded by their knowledge on the composition... which is why state alchemists like Father continues to collect books and knowledges about the world even after opening their Gate of Truth, because you can''t learn what you don''t know exists or not from it. Another thing, I''d thought about using alchemy or my copy ability to procure a large sum of gold and money... that was no go as well. You see, they check the coins, and a perfectly identical coin can''t exist by normal manufacturing methods. That basically means duplicating money is an instant giveaway. God damn it! But back to to the present issue, Varete. How does this woman keep following me? I know the house far better than she does, surely. I tried staying out of her sight, leading her into confusing corridors, and hiding behind stuff to let her pass me by, but she always head straight for me like a homing missile. Not mention she''s in her late twenties and I''m only 5 and a half. The difference in our stamina is a huge factor in our game of cat and mouse. And, as if all that wasn''t bad enough already, Mother order the Maids to assist Varete in finding me, and the Maids all know the house as well as I do. So I tried negotiating with Mother, since begging her with pouting face doesn''t work anymore after that day at the ceremony. Ugh, I''ll bet it''s because I''m acting way to mature since then. Good thing I got the four Gods'' blessings to blame my sudden behavioral change on, and they''re buying it, for now. Can''t go toooo out of line until I''m old enough to be independent. Surprisingly, Mother agreed to end my etiquette class and dismiss Varete if I manage to go through the next Saturday without a single mishap, as judged by Varete. Why next Sunday? I don''t know, but if I have to guess, there''s a big shot coming to visit. Who could it be? She also ordered the maids to keep a tight lips, or lose their stable job and retirement benefits here. Quite effective, I must say, since I haven''t heard any of them gossip about it, not even once. Actually, they''re more like terrified, but it works nevertheless. The only clue I have are the government officials not under Father''s command visited and did some kind of inspection on Friday, while being lectured by Varete on focusing on other peoples when they are talking to you and looking at them in the eyes... ops! I guess it''s going to be a seriously important big shot if all these peoples are so cautious about it. Finally, after preparing myself and memorizing the correct behaviors in front of others from Varete, it''s time. I woke up early that day, though of course not early enough according to Varete, and she helped me get in the stuffy dress before breakfast, and does my hair while I ate bacon and egg. Oooh, you won''t believe this! They didn''t have bacon here before! Can you believe it? That had pork, but not smoked to bacon-y perfection... Father loved it when I made it, but Mother still preferred to eat Xing-style food, not that I''m making any less of those styles. Hehe, I actually made Zongzi to help negotiate my terms of release with Mother... they didn''t have it before I made it, but Mother send the recipe to the Grandmother I''ve yet to met in a letter the next day... hehehe, she must have loved it. It''s actually extremely convenient, and bamboo leaves are pretty common in Xing like they were in China on old Earth. The main advantage of Zongzi is that it''s basically pre-cooked army ration all in one, but tasty as hell. You can mix in basically everything in it, diced up, After cooking the sort of fried rice that''s wrapped in it once, you can freeze it for storage, defrost and microwave it to eat later easily. Only they don''t have microwave (yet!) here, so they need to stick to the traditional steam-heating for now. String it up after wrapping it in bamboo leaves, tie the strings together, and you can easily carry twenty in one hand, or stuff more in a bag. That''s slower but actually makes the reheated Zongzi more moist and taste better. You don''t even need utensils to eat it... the bamboo leaves that doubles as its wrapper and container can also be used as utensils, as I found out in college more than a century ago back on old Earth. Perfect for feeding armies... and starving, broke college students^^ I think I''m fully prepared to start a food industry now, along with the other ones I''ve been planning. Conquering a world that doesn''t have bacon or any sense of basic hygiene? Not on my watch! I just need Father and Mother''s consent and a merchant to partner up with... and somehow implement the patent system in this world, since they don''t even know what it means. In any case, the fancy carriage is rolling in and... holy sh*t is that the ******''s insignia? It can''t be... why would HE be here? And no, it''s not Ascathon the bastard, if you''re wondering. No, its the single most important person in Amestris, the Fhrer himself! I watch as his personal aide gets down from next to the driver and opens up the carriage door for him... "Ah, it''s good to be back in this old place." A sixty looking man speaks confidently as he steps out of the carriage. Judging by the straps and stars on his shoulders, he can only be Fhrer Mustang. That means the aide behind must be... yup, Riza Hawkeye, I knew it. They reminds me of something that I feel like I haven''t watch in a century back on old Earth... "Sir! On the behalf of my wife, I welcome you to your resident!" Hmm, Father looks characteristically nervous as he greets the Fhrer. "Hahaha, no need to be so nervous Xix, I lived here before too, you know." Actually, I don''t know... never been really interested in the history of this mansion... Is that why the walls surrounding it is so big? I guess the Fhrer''s former resident resembling a fortress makes sense, in the same way the White House is secretly armed to the teeth. "How is your wife? Still as lively as ever?" "Not as lively as you are, Roy. Still running around like you did despite your age?" Mother appears behind me and greets the Fhrer... casually. Hmm, Mother is of Royal blood, as am I. Makes sense that she would know the leader of this country. Hey wait a second, is that why... "Hohoho, I can''t run around anymore, you know that Silvia. My joints can''t take it anymore at my age. How do you like the estate I gave you? It''s quite comforting isn''t it?" Aha! I knew it... since ten seconds ago! This fortified mansion was indeed granted to our family because of Mother... probably as a sign of goodwill from Amestris to Xing. "Why don''t we come in? We have refreshments readied. " Mother personally ushers the Fhrer into our foyer, while holding me by my shoulders, "This is my daughter, Pray." "A pleasure to meet you at last," I gives a perfect greeting, as scripted. "At last? Hohoho, it seems I''m not the only one." "I''m sorry?" What? Not the only one? Does that mean he''s here... to see me? "Indeed, you, young lady, gave everyone quite the shock at your blessing ceremony!" He chuckles, "I didn''t believe it myself, until personally talked to your Father." He stops and turns to face me, his face serious. "I want you to understand, Pray, being blessed by so many Gods, especially by the rulers of Gods, is very important for our country. If you ever want to join the military academy, I can order a special exception for you anytime! What do you say?" Hmmm, I must say I''m a bit tempted. Not for the love of this country, I don''t really, but for the offer of freedom it will give me... but I''ve been mostly enjoying my life so far, there''s no reason to mess it up now... ugh how do I reply? Gaaaah the anxiety is weighing down on me! "Now, now, Roy, Pray''s not even six years old yet, isn''t it a little too early to start recruiting her?" Mother to the rescue! ...as usual... "Nonsense, Riza has told me about her own special alchemy! To think she would develop her own style of alchemy at such a young age, the Gods must have truly been keeping an eye out for Amestris!" I see the corner of Mother''s lips twitch a bit when he said that... OH, we got a mole in our walls... and all the maids seem so trustworthy... Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! "Roy, surely you jest. She''s simply playing around with Alchemy while cooking, there''s nothing to be so amazed about." "Silvia, did your husband not tell you anything?" Father visibly wilts at that... oops, did he forgot to tell Mother something? "Er, um... um you see Silvs, the Fhrer and I have been discussing the other use of Pray''s special alchemy skills... that might be useful on the battlefield. I thought it was just talks... hehe..." Sure am glad I''m not Father right now, with the look Mother''s giving him. "She will NOT be your weapon Roy, and if you think you can use my daughter, you''ll have to it over my dead body!" Aww, I love you too Mother. Always so caring... "I understand your concern fully Silvia, but perhaps she can lend us some of her specialized alchemy circles. There''s no need for her to personally go to the battlefield now." Hmmm, well I can definitely lend out a few formations. As for the biological weapon aspect of it... well to be honest, I know perfectly well how to make them, with time, but I don''t think I can entrust them to someone so easily... "... I see. Pray, its your decision, and I know you understand what we''re talking about." Mother knows best! Wait did I just got busted? "Um... Well, instead of just talking about my alchemical skills, how about trying them out yourself?" I grins in an attempt to lower the tension in the room... "Why don''t we all take a seat here?" That part was supposed to be Mother''s line, but everything''s screwed up now so the script we rehearsed doesn''t really matter anymore. "I made these desserts myself! Most of them are my own creations. There''s pudding with caramelized sugar coating there, mango pudding with silky cream on the other side..." I went all out last night making these dessert... hehehe, Praise me! Everyone loves my desserts! If they have a sweet tooth... And... it appears that the Fhrer does! Mwuahahahaha I''ll add him to the list of people I''ve conquered with just my food hehehehehehehehhehe... Food is, no matter what world, one of the basic necessities of living, and everybody appreciates my perfect creations. And it doesn''t count as plagiarism if nobody else in this world has made these before! It''s called research! "Hooooh, this is beyond my expectations, Miss Pray. Most excellent indeed. If you don''t mind, can we see how you make them?" Um what? You want to what? See me make them? hahaha... oh sh*t I didn''t clean up the kitchen... Mother read my mind, it seems, and excuse herself for a bit to sort out some stuff in the kitchen while I make some small talks to delay the Fhrer until she comes back. The Fhrer is oddly enough a very friendly and informal person, and likes to laugh like an old grandfather. Then Mother comes back to lead everyone to my kitchen... oooh it''s mine now? Good to know! Hahaha... I laughs drily to myself. Who would''ve thought my little experiments would draw attention from someone like the Fhrer? Sweats drops down my brows as I concentrate and invokes true alchemy to augment the alchemical circle for corn starch... since I have yet to find them on the market here, via the maids. "I am most impressed, Miss Pray, that you already can use true alchemy at a young age. Why, I didn''t open my own Gate of Truth until my thirties! Truly amazing, Miss Pray." "Thank you... sir. You can just call me Pray, you know." Ugh, Varete kicks me secretly for that last sentence. Damn it woman, you messed up my concentration! So I gives the Fhrer a quick demonstration of the 29 food circles... I mean my 29 special alchemy circles. He seems impressed... and eager to know which one can be modified for other usage than food. "I can make those alchemy circles for you sir, but..." Here it come! This is my one chance! "But? Perhaps you want to negotiate terms with me young lady?" He jokes lightly "Yes! By all means!" I replies completely serious, and he realizes it too. Father''s jaw drops, typical. Pfft, what''s negotiating with the Fhrer compared to what I have in store later? Though I do admit it is easier said than done, seeing how I am also nervous at the moment, "i want my own lab! An isolated one!" "Your own lab? Surely you don''t mean you want to lead your own research institution?!" Neat, he completes my sentence for me there hehehe... "Yes! I have read all the books in this house!" Not true, I still got a few hundred left, but I can cover those easily within a week with my photographic memory. Such a convenient skill... "But I need a safe place to make those biological weapons you want! An abandoned fort in the woods would do! There''s one in Brentwood two hours from here, I saw it on the map!" Say yes! Say yes! Say yes! I want my secret hideout! "For sure, I can have that arranged easily." VICTORY!!!!! Wow, ruling a country means you got a seriously deep pocket... and a different sense of financial expense then we regular rich people do. An fort, even if abandoned now, is still more costly to build then this mansion, probably. I guess he''s wise enough to realize the dreadful potential of biological warfare... But here''s the thing, as I just realized. If it''s a weapon made only by me... that counts as a kill from me from the bastard''s point of view, probably. That means those souls my weapons vaporize won''t have to suffer through hell before reincarnating, though I do suppose some people deserves hell. It eases my consciousness somehow. "And I want exclusives! And authorization for procuring any materials!" Hope this goes through. You know what they say, Aim high incase you falls short! Uh oh, I don''t like that look of hesitation on his face, "Some materials are best handled by professionals, Pray, I''m not so sure if you should be playing with them. Don''t you agree?" He directs that last part toward Mother. Sly wolf! "Of course! You will do no such thing Pray!" Kukuku, I have this all planned out. I figured out its gotta be the Fhrer or one of the rare full-fledged generals a few days ago, and I have been preparing for Everything! "What if I have supervision? I know for a fact that Father''s old Alchemy teacher retired to his house... in Brentwood." "What?!" Father''s head snaps up at that, "Where did you hear that from, Pray?" "Daddy you leaves your stuff out all the time, I just read all of them as usual." "As usual, you say? Perhaps it''s time to get another secretary, Xix." The Fhrer''s stare bores into Father, who''s looking away now. Sorry Father, but thanks for taking the punch for me! You''re the best! Now then, just need to cement the last two conditions and I''ll be all set... "If I have Mr. Steiner''s supervision, I can assure nothing dangerous will happen!" Ignore Mother, ignore Mother, ignore Mother... I can bear the punishments later! "And I don''t need any staffs. I''ll chose them myself later! We will also cover the renovation fee for the abandoned fortress!" "We will?" Father looks like he just took another punch to the face... Sorry! I found out Father''s old alchemy teacher who taught him flame alchemy... and my gods it was a godsend to me. Surely, the terms are good enough now, right? "I see, you have thought this out quite thoroughly, Pray, good job. I don''t see why we shouldn''t! In fact, I think it''s a great idea!" He takes a breather and looks around at all of us, "Obviously her talents are beyond her age. There''s no harm in letting her gain some more life experience is there? Don''t worry Silvia, I can personally vouch for Mr. Steiner''s abilities as a supervisor. We served on the frontline together, you know?" Seriously? This is too good to be true... but who cares! I''m racking in all I can! Mwuahahaahahahahaha this is just the first step! The Fhrer was buddies with that Mr. Steiner? This is a goldmine... that I can exploit kukukuukukukukuku... "I... I don''t know about this, Roy. This is just too sudden," Her hands tightens on my shoulders... too tight Mother! Owww! What did I do to deserve this silent torture? I can''t even show it in front of the Fhrer, or Varete will be attached to me for another six months per our agreement! This is the Devil''s work! "I have it all prepared! Let me just go get it" I grins at Mother, who had no choice but to let me go since I announced it to everyone, "I''ll be right back!" I run upstairs to my room and grab the folder titled "Brentwood Laboratory Report" and runs down stairs. I find them back in the foyer, finishing up my desserts. The Fhrer sure doesn''t waste anytime to get to his food! Kukukukkukukukukkuu... I got your weakness Roy... "ta-da!" I announces my return victoriously. Mwuahahahahaha this is going exactly as planned! "I have it all written up!" ...including a charter to form the Meyer Trading Company that will be my supplier, and the Anderson Corporation that will be my company... with Father as its useless President but me as its CEO! "I just need you to sign here, here, here, here, here..." and about fifty other places. Trust me, just signing those spots is way easier than writing them up yourself. The Fhrer takes the proposal and hands it toward his personal aide to read thoroughly. It''s quite long, almost three hundred pages in total, but I did provide a brief summary up front... "I can say I am most impressed to see how prepared you are, Miss Pray, despite the fact that my visit here was supposed to confidential information. His aide leans in and whispers something into his ears. He frowns, "But what is this ''patent system'' you suggested in here? I am most curious as to your answer, Pray." Ah, it feels good to be treated on equal grounds! "Sir, its a system I drafted up to encourage the economy!" "The economy now? You sure don''t aim small, don''t you?" "Not at all! As they say, aim high in case you falls short!" "Do they now? Most interesting... tell me more about this patent system." "At once! I have a little demonstration for you here, sir!" I invokes true alchemy and transmute the tabletop into a chessboard, then makes the two sides by transmuting the chair next to me. Then I proceed to quickly explain the game of chess to him. We plays a short game, in which I let him win easily, though his aide seems to have mastered the gameplay already... she didn''t had to reach for her sword when I invoked true alchemy to transmute the tabletop earlier, I saw that... Anyways, I can see everyone''s slight confusion as to what a board game has to do with the patent system, but it''s the perfect example to use! "Say, suppose I sell this on the market, and I have the legal authorization as the only manufacture allowed to make this, I can probably make tons of money off it. I''m sure the intellectual kinds would love these kind of board games!" "I won''t deny that they are quite challenging to play, but what is your point?" "My point, sir, is that if the patent system is open to everyone, would it not encourage more innovation if the inventor gets the credit from the State and a legal monopoly on its production? I believe this will help stimulate the economy sir!" I finishes up my excellent presentation, if I do say so myself. It covers all the important details he needs to know and make a decision on, but I have a written up ''draft'' of it just in case. "I''ve written up a draft you might consider, here!" I takes the second stash of paper out of the folder and gives it to his aide directly this time. They conversed quietly for a few minutes, while Father sits restlessly and Mother stands behind me, a contemplating expression on her face when I turned around stealthily to take a peek. "Very well, I shall see to it that you are granted the abandoned Brentwood fortress as your own institution, with State recognition as stated in your terms. Authorization for dangerous, high level materials, however, will only be granted when I have a written confirmation from Mr. Steiner himself on whether or not you can handle such materials. The charters for these two companies you want to create will be granted shortly. We will place an order for three weaponized alchemical formations in return, and they must be ready to deploy. I trust that is fine with you, Miss Pray?" "Of course! Please come visit me any time if there''s anything that need to be clarified!" Honestly I''m a little shocked at how well that turned out. Kukukukuku, my offer and alchemy formations are just too good to turn down aren''t they? Besides, we''ll bear most of the financial burdens anyways, so there''s next to no reason for him to refuse my terms. "Hahahaha, I have a feeling we won''t need to, Pray, seeing how detailed your document is." He says as he stands up and prepares to leave, "But if such need ever arises, I will send one of my other aides to you for consultation." "Well, this has certainly been a most surprising afternoon I''ve had in a long time, it''s good to be back in this old house." He turns slightly and puts a hand on Father''s shoulder, "Take a good care of it Xix, I would hate to see it be uncared for." Then he turns to face Mother, who''s still behind me. With her iron fingers wielded onto my shoulders..."It''s been a pleasure to see you again, Silvia. Please do come visit me at my office once in a while. And bring Pray with you, I''m sure she''s a box of surprises we haven''t even touch on today!" He chuckles... oh this one reads me too easily! Danger alert! "I''ll be seeing you again later, Pray. It''s been a wonderful surprise to witness such a genius at work!" "Thank you... sir." I gives a perfect curtsy with that over-practiced line. "Well then, I bid you farewell!" The Fhrer boards his carriage again and off they go. Phew, my first big test is finally over... and I had just aced it xD One of the Fhrer''s aide, one that I don''t know, comes over again twice that week to verifies some details of the contract with me, hands me the charters for the two sister companies I wanted to create. Hehehe, those slowpoke bureaucrats sure gets thing done fast when it''s on the Fhrer''s orders! Two month before my sixth birthday, with the resources of my family, the Anderson Corporation will be established with the new office we build next to the mansion as its base. Another month later, Mother establishes the Meyer Trading Company, with its headquarter next to the Xing embassy in the capital. During these two months, I finally got my alchemy skill sets over intermediate level, as well as my alpha stigma skill. In the end it took a extensive project for them to go over the last 0.01%, for some reason. And my ''Prodigious Learning Speed'' reached Intermediate level 7!!! By the time my sixth birthday rolled around, I had mostly mastered Father''s flame alchemy and started working with Mother on master my esper ability with the assistance of Narukami, my lightning blade. We''ve also contacted Mr. Steiner, one of the only assumed unknowns I had in my plan. Luckily he agreed to help me when Aunt Julia, who- Surprise, surprise, was also one of his students- steps in and vouched for me... On my sixth birthday, we traveled to Brentwood to meet Mr. Steiner in person, and to officially start the renovation of the abandoned Brentwood Fortress for me... kukukukukukuku, all by my design, of course! I''m such a genius!!! ............. ........ ..... ... . All in good time, of course. But now, back at the present, after the Fhrer left... Mother''s fury is not one to be taken lightly! And I thought I already learned my lesson on that... "Pray, do you know how many rules you just broke today?" Mother''s tone sounded... icy, "Varete, how many times did she break the etiquette rules you taught her?" "8 times, ma''am" Traitor!!! Though I guess I had expected her to... "Is that so? Now then, Pray, per our agreement on the subject of your etiquette lessons..." "Mother wait! I''ll do anything! Just not her lessons again!" I begged pitifully, not that I truly believed it will make any difference in my mind... "...Varete will remain here as your etiquette teacher for the next six months!" "NOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Chapter 10- Warlock! God F*cking Damn it! Why can''t I get this thing to fire lightning? You see, I''ve been learning how to use my lightning esper ability from mother for two months now, and all my training has been for naught. IT. DOESN''T. WORK! Damn it! Heck, according to mother, Narukami the lightning kagune was supposed to make it far easier than the traditional methods. Which is reaching the seventh rank in Xing Martial Arts, the rank of Shinchuk. Otherwise known as ''Elasticity''. But forget that, I can''t even master the first level of martial arts powered by Chi, Shinbo. Perhaps I should explain it a little more in detail. You see, There are ten levels of Xing Martial Arts, divided broadly into three categories: The first, Shinbo, is taught to every single citizen of Xing as mandatory training. Every kid knows at least the third level by the age of ten, most reaches four or five around adulthood, and a rare few common people reaches the sixth level later on in life. The second, Shinchuk, is held a secret by the 72 most powerful clans as judged by the emperor. Only the 72 clans are granted the scrolls on how to unlock the seventh to ninth ranks of Xing Martial Arts. It is only after mastering the seventh rank that esper abilities are taught, for safety reasons mostly. Learning Shinchuk or esper abilities by stealing it from the 72 clans is an instant death sentence, with the only exception being the rare cases of ''Gemstones'' who awakens their esper abilities by themselves since childhood. The last and third, Shinsok, is granted only to the Imperial Clan by the War God. It is the hardest to master, but it does enable you to do lots of impossible stuffs, like running on air or going faster than the speed of sound. Most of the Imperial clan could only master it in their fifties and sixties, but mastering Shinsok grants half-immortality, so they never gives up. Mother, the genius and favored niece of the current Emperor, mastered it by the time she was an adult at twenty, having mastered Shinbo by the time she was six, Shinchuk by the time she was eleven. Each level is twice as hard as the last, if not more. I heard mother saying that Shinsok was the hardest thing in her life to master, taking her nine long years... which is still incredible if you think about it. And then there''s Alkahestry, which is the study of the ''Dragon''s Blood'' that flows through Terra and every life form on it. Masters of Alkahestry can control the flows of nature, bending it to their will. Alkahestry can be mastered by anyone, and it makes a martial art practitioner stronger beyond his level, since he can sense his opponents'' attacks through the Dragon''s Blood to some extent. In fact, the Ten Master Clans, the ten most powerful of the 72 major clans after the Imperial Clan, all requires their bodyguards to master Alkahestry. And to the members of the Ten Master Clans and the Imperial Clan, the more advanced Alkahestry is taught to augment their esper abilities. Which is what Mother tried to do with me. While Little-Me ''learned'' normal Alchemy from Father for more than a year before my fifth birthday, Mother devoted herself to finding a way to teach me how to use my esper ability without learning Shinchuk first, modifying the typical Alkahestry training for me, despite the iron laws against it. Not that it matters. Mother has the favor of the Emperor, so even if the ambassadors to Amestris do find out what she''s doing, they won''t dare to report it to the authorities. But... I have been training two months with Mother after the Fhrer''s visit, and it hasn''t beared fruit yet. And I''m supposed to be a genius at everything! I''ll admit I have never went through anything like Mother''s special training like now, but I understand the concepts! Why can''t I use lightning? Even with Narukami to conduct it? Must I be emotionally unstable to use it? At the same time, I''ve been training with Father to master his Flame Alchemy. That''s also easier said then done. I think I might have mention this before, but flame alchemy is not just converting the surrounding air to oxygen and other flammable gases and providing the ignition spark. No, that will only blow yourself up. Rather, flame alchemy is all about precision... after taking in account the wind pressure, the wind direction, the wind speed, the humidity and too many external factors. Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh, why can''t it be as easy as it looked on screen for Fhrer- I mean Colonel- Mustang? He just snaps his finger and voila! Envy''s eyeballs are burning up! Grrr, that''s even harder! Heating up water from ten meters away with flame alchemy? Not possible at the moment. For now, all I can create is a large, and sadly brief, burst of flame about two meters away from me. And Father could engulf an entire city in Flames. That thought always saddens me, after I asked Father what the extent of his flame alchemy is. Supposedly he used to use it regularly when he was deployed on the front line against the witches as a young, promising State Alchemist... I''ll admit, my esper ability is beyond me for now, but I can probably master cooking fire if I devote myself entirely to it day and night... the only problem is I''m also overseeing the construction of the new headquarters for my up and coming Anderson Corporation, overseeing the renovations of the old office building facing the Xing Embassy for the Meyer Trading Company, and busy reviewing the reports I''m receiving on the current state of the Brentwood fortress. In short, I have too much stuff going on and not enough hands. Damn it! At least I had the government papers on the fast track, since I''m technically cooperating with the Fhrer himself. Hehehe that saved me lots of bribes. Then there''s that meeting with the merchant clan, the Xavier clan, representatives from Xing... they didn''t exactly like that I''m using the Imperial Clan''s name for my company. Their clan also supposedly had the exclusive right to trade with other nations granted by the emperor himself... Pfft, that changed the second they saw mother... a 180 degree change in attitude, to my amusement. Kukukukukukuku, do you understand now you fools? If mother asks great-uncle, I''m sure he would revoke the Xavier clan''s exclusive right in a heartbeat! In the end, it was agreed that since my Meyer Trading Company is based in Amestris, it would count as an Amestrisian company... which means nobody is stepping on anybody''s turf yet. Of course, I have plans to take over the lucrative spice and silk trade that the Xavier clan monopolizes at the moment... soon. Meyer Trading Company needs to find its footing first. One rare, rare piece of good news I have received recently is that the Fhrer has passed the Patent System Bill with his full support, and with father listed as the head consultant... that just meant I''m the head consultant when they need advice on how to set up the Patent Office networks... which also adds to my work. Quite the full schedule don''t you think? I wake up at six in the morning, gets dressed and lectures on how indecent I looked while sleeping by Varete, eats breakfast at seven. Rehearse etiquette with Varete for two hours after breakfast, a ten minute break, then practice lame alchemy with father looking on for another two hours. Then lunch, where I briefly practices my cooking alchemy. I don''t even have time to practice it like I used to anymore! Of course, the Fhrer''s orders were already readied and boxed since two days after he left, not that I told anyone yet. Hehehe, I plan on inviting him to the opening ceremony on the reconstruction of the new Brentwood Laboratory and handing his bio-weapons to him then. That should cement his support for my efforts until then. After the thirty minute lunch, I''m officially open for business as Pray the consultant, the overseer on two construction sites, and the manager of the inspectors sent to the abandoned Brentwood Fortress. Gods, all the paperwork I have to read through. I would hire a secretary, but half of the documents must never be read by the wrong eyes... I''m cutting through some gray territories to keep the construction costs down. Every other day I would personally inspect the two construction sites. That just meant I temporally become their on-site 3D printer for construction materials they need... but that also keeps the cost down, so I''m willing. I close ''office'' at dinner, with exception being some urgent documents, then it''s time to practice Alkahestry with mother until just before bed at eleven. On that note, I resolved to investigate more into the esper stuff when I have the chance. If my memory serves me right, Alkahestry is not the correct key to unlock my esper powers, that''s the Power Curriculum''s job. But that doesn''t exist here, I''ve checked in with mother on that... Oh, and don''t forget the thirty minute etiquette review with Varete while I shower, going over how I behaved unlike a lady should before going to bed. And she remembers every single instances where I mess up, having followed me around throughout the day. Still, quite full day isn''t it? There''s no breaks either, on weekends. The concept of two days off during the weekend doesn''t exist here... you just keep working to keep living. But it will be all worth it, I repeat it to myself like a mantra, it will be worth it, it will be worth it, it will be worth it! It doesn''t matter what I will have to go through. I have resolved myself to conquer the world. And if I can do that, Melinda will be by my side again. It did occur to me that perhaps Melinda would be reincarnated as a man since I''m a female now... now that certainly would be interesting... Renovation for the Meyer Trading Company finished a month before my sixth birthday... and a month later than the Anderson Corporation''s HQ. Even though it''s supposed to be faster than building a new office building since its just renovations, mother had specific demands on its style... she called it Feng Shui, but it just complicated things. Why must that part of the office be on the South side? I don''t know, but we had to redo it completely... Damn it! Building and renovation are only the first steps, of course. The actual setting up of the inner workings of the company took the whole next month. Good thing I don''t have to scout for investors, being my own investor. It''s a family business. For Meyer Trading Company, I''m using her to introduce my new cuisines to this world, and to set up a fast-food chain if I can get the supply line worked out. Surprisingly working with the suppliers is harder than setting up shop, and I''m nowhere near enough suppliers to go full-scale yet. It would probably be half a year to a full year before I can get enough suppliers to cover my base. For now, I''m selling high-end desserts to rich customers through the company, with the exotic spices imported from Xing. I have a tentative partnership with the Xavier clan on that for now, but it looks like it will have to be done this way for a few years. Catering to events is our specialty, and there''s plenty of them here in Capital City. Business... is still in the red. I foresee making our first profit in five years, if luck would have us. Hygiene product are not on market at the moment, and they won''t be until my planned factory thirty minutes away from the Capital city is all built and up and running... more hassle to deal with, later. I''m switching my inspectors from exploring the abandoned Brentwood Fortress to scouting a good, cheap plot of land for me to build it on. Hopefully next to a village of immigrants, I can always use cheap labor. On the Anderson Corporation''s side, it''s basically going to be my research arm. The main HQ in the capital is to ensure I have access to resources when I need it, since the capital city is a great center of trade, unlike Brentwood. That being said, only the employees responsible for buying and delivering my materials will be stationed here, along with the administrative staff. The rest of them, which I plan to recruit as researchers, will be working with me in the Brentwood Laboratory when it''s functional. Judging from the inspectors'' reports, the right wing that ends at the river is in no condition to be sleeping in, but the left wing is mostly still intact, just need some basic repairs. Reconstructing the abandoned fortress into my new Brentwood Laboratory will likely take more than a year, though I plan to speed it up with my alchemy, if I get the chance. But you know what''s the absolutely worst thing about all this? I have no time to play with Vio. In the end, I was forced to leave Vio with her sisters, at Aunt Julia''s place. I''ll miss you my fluffy... On that note, Vio hasn''t been aging like her sisters, for some reason. It''s like she stopped growing halfway, but I have no time to find out why... Finally, it''s the morning of my sixth birthday, and I have scheduled the opening ceremony on the reconstruction of Brentwood Laboratory to be today kukukukukuku... you think you can get away with not celebrating my sixth birthday people? You can''t be more wrong... and I''ve even invited the Fhrer himself to attend it, under the excuse of handing him the bio-weapon alchemy formations he ordered months ago. Mother''s handling the opening speeches and stuff really, since I asked her to. Speeches and presentations were always my weakness back in my last life, I prefer to let my results speak for themselves rather than presenting what might be the result. Kukuku... it''s time! "And now, to conclude our opening ceremony, the Anderson Corporation would like to officially complete our first and most generous contract to date. Pray?" "Coming!" I lugged the three boxes behind me onto the stage. Seriously I should have taken a few minutes to build a cart, but it slipped my mind. Grrr why didn''t I think of that? "Sir! Your order of three caches of weaponized alchemy formations and instruction manuals!!" I present my results of not much sweat and labor to the Fhrer, who looks a bit surprised. "Three boxes? If I recall correctly, I only ordered three alchemy formations, surely that doesn''t need three boxes to fit in?" "Hehehe, sir, I''ve devised a complete new approach to alchemy formations!" Mwauahahahahaha be awed by my greatest creation! I''d taken the time off for a day to improve the alchemy formations... by tons. It''s amazing what you can accomplish when you devote yourself completely to it for a whole day. "Would you like to tell us about it Pray?" Oh my god, this guy totally just read my mind! It''s perfect! "Yes! Ahem, allow me to demonstrate," I open the top box and take out one of the stacked paper that has my alchemy formation inscribed on it, much to everyone else'' confusion. No, not confusion about why I took it out... they''re confused about what I took out... "Hehehe.... behold! The revolutionary stacked alchemy formation! Invented by yours truly. I took the idea of using the runes themselves to form the circle and lines and based a new idea on it. You see, there is no reason for alchemy circles to be completely one dimensional, is there?" "Not... completely one dimensional?" Father looks confused... well I guess that wasn''t the best choice of words, but didn''t I mention I''m not the best at presentation? "Yes! I found that if you use the center of power of smaller alchemy formations as one of the focal points on the larger formations, you can greatly increase the power of the overall formation! Applying this stacking carefully five times means this alchemy circle is the equivalent of ten formations its size or the equivalent of a large scale alchemy formation! And! Everyone knows that a competent alchemist can control many alchemy formations at once, but nobody can control more than five at a time, no matter how simple they might be individually. I circumnavigated that problem here because the smaller formations count as a single part of the larger formation, so this technique can be potentially used infinite times!" Patented of course. The first patent to be approved, in fact! "This means..." I paused for the dramatic effect, hehehehehehhehehe, the Fhrer looks very interested right now, "We can create alchemy formations to produce more complex results in one go, lower the strain on the mind, and draw out more power for little to no extra effort!" Hmm, almost entirely true. There''s still the issue of energy leak that occurs between the smaller alchemy circle and the larger alchemy circle, but I expect to fix that in the future. The efficiency is still not as high as I would like it to be. "Hahahaha, you have truly outdone yourself this time, Miss Pray!" The Fhrer looks very happy now, probably thinking about the battlefield application of my technique... "Thank you sir! I have this technique already patented! Anderson Corporation has already compiled a list of the most common weaponized alchemy circles ready to be improved on!" In reality I had already thought up how to improve them in my head, they just need to be written down. "Is that so? Well then, I look forward to our future partnership together, Pray." Woohoo! I just secured the financial future of my company! Hehehe, I''ll use this funding to recruit more people and hasten my plans for a fast food chain on the Meyer Trading Company''s side... "Gladly, sir! I have the next contract already written up for you to sign!" "Hahaha, I thought you might have. Give it to Riza before we leave and I will have it approved in a few days." He chuckles to himself, "My, won''t the boys on the front-line be surprised!" "I''m sure they will, sir, but... I have more improvements planned in development Kuukukukukuu... Sadly enough we''re low on research and development funding at the moment, so it''s going really, really slowly..." "Are you suggesting that Amestris finance your company? That can certainly be arranged..." "I was thinking you could become our second stockholder, sir!" The first being myself, of course. Or the Anderson family, but I do the books now, so what''s the difference? "Stockholder? I afraid I don''t know that word, Pray." I couldn''t help but let a grin spread out on my face. This is just so Perfect~~
The opening ceremony on the reconstruction of my Brentwood Laboratory closes around then, and I sat down with Fhrer Mustang to discuss the terms of investment in greater details. Specifically, he wants to hear more about the stock system I''m proposing. Honestly, these people have some rudimentary ideas about the stock system, but nobody bothered to take it the full way. It has to be done, if the economy wants to survive after the war ends... and it very well might. I don''t know how strong the Witch of the South''s armies are, but surely they can''t be that strong if we''re holding them off just fine with the current level of alchemy technology we have now, right? I hope so, at least. That means we have a significant edge on them now in terms of power thanks to my improvements. Alchemy... has lots of flaws that needs to be fixed yet. It''s too young, the newest power on the block from what I read. I also had a thought when I was doing the first round of improvement on the alchemy circles... why can''t we overlay many pages of them and increase the power output that way? Why not... fold the circles? There''s no restriction that says we can''t have a 3D alchemy formation is there? There''s so many ways to improve on it that I don''t think I''ll be done in just a few years! Back to the present, I takes out the prepared paperwork on the stock exchange. It''s a bill really, his aides just need to reword a few sentences here and there really, and it''s ready to be integrated into the system. A good thing about being an reincarnated person in technologically backward world is that I can ''help'' advance it... and thus write the laws myself. Or suggest them, at the very least, but really what''s the difference? We discussed my ideas for overhauling the current economic system until dinner that day. Later on, Father takes me to meet his old Master, Mr. Steiner. "Xix! It''s good to see you again! Get in here!!" Mr. Steiner answers the door and welcomes us into his house, "And who are you, little girl?" "I''m Pray, the genius!" There''s no shame in saying a fact hehehe... "Ahahaha, what a lively daughter you have there Xix. And you must be Lady Silvia!" Mr. Steiner shakes mother''s hand as she walks in. "Just Silvia is fine, it''s an honor to meet Xix''s teacher at last. "The honor is all mine. Please, just call me Maes, or old man, whichever you like!" "Well, why don''t we all sit down and make ourselves comfortable?" He leads us to what looks like the dining table. He got quite the cozy, neatly arranged house. "So, what is this ''supervisor'' business you wrote about in your letter, Xix?" Mr. Steiner begins the conversation. "Err, I think it''s better if I let my daughter explain that. Pray?" Father smiles at me when he says that. "Oh? So, what does our self-proclaimed genius have to do with a retired old alchemist like me?" "I''m building my own laboratory! But the Fhrer insists that I must have your supervision to handle the more dangerous materials! I was hoping you could assist me in my experiments!" I look at him expectantly. "Dear, I''m retired, even if Roy himself comes to my doorsteps I wouldn''t come out of retirement!" "Now now, there''s no reason to decide so fast, Maes, let''s hear her out first" "Gracia, sometimes it''s best to leave it to the youngsters is it not?" Mrs. Steiner ignores her husband and talks directly to me, "So, why do you want this foolish man''s help? I''m sure your father could help you can''t he?" "Daddy''s too busy! I need someone who can stay at this facility with me when it''s built. And!" I pull out a copy of the alchemical formation I showed the Fhrer earlier, "I need someone to help me improve this!" I pass the paper to Maes, who suddenly looks very interested. "My god, I have never seen an formation like this... Are you sure it works Pray?" Hehehe, he sounds excited already. "Yup! I''ve tested a hundred times already! Roy formed a contract with me to mass produce other formations based on the same technique!" He will, it''s just a matter of time hehehe. "I see... so you already got Roy hooked?" He chuckles to himself, "Well, that''s certainly surprising. Hmmm... Would you just look at this! I''d never thought an alchemical formation could work like this! Oh if only I had this back then..." Whoa this old man sure got energetic as he inspects my work. He certainly looks like an excited child... "Maes! What has gotten into you? Acting so childish in front of guests" Mrs. Steiner gives him a light slap to the back of his head. "Sorry Gracia, it''s just that this technique can turn the whole tide of the war!" He turns to talk to me again, "Pray, how many times can this be applied on a single formation?" "If done carefully enough, infinite." "Infinite!" He looks shocked at that. "Well there''s the issue of energy leak that occurs. If that is not addressed and we stack too many times, the formation will blow itself up. So, interested in working with me yet?" He considered my proposal for a minute before asking, "Pray, if you don''t mind me asking, do you have more of these ideas?" "Of course!" Pfft, what is he thinking? I have prepared everything! Why do you think I worked my ass for the last few months? "Here, I wrote down some of my ideas in here." I hands him my ''Research Notes II". For now, it''s more of just brainstorming, but that can be fixed. "Hohoho, just reading your notes make me feel 50 years younger!" He exclaims as he reads through the section on the possibility of three dimensional alchemical formations. Kukuku, keep up the praises! "What?" What? He looks the same to me from a moment before! "Very well! I''m in." Phew, that was quick! "Maes! You are in no condition to be running a lab like a twenty years old!" Mrs. Steiner interrupts us. "Nonsense! I haven''t felt this energetic in decades! Just think of what I- I mean we- can accomplish with this!" He waves my notebook around in the air, "It will revolutionize the whole field!!!" "Mrs. Steiner, if I may?" I speaks up. "Yes?" "I may have a solution to your husband''s problem... here." I lean over the table and flips the pages until I find what I''m looking for, "This is an idea I had a while ago. I can build an exoskeleton to help Mr. Steiner walk easier." "Exoskeleton?" This time it''s Mother who speaks up, "Pray what do you mean by that? I won''t let you do something that desecrates someone''s remains!" Ugh, that''s right, Xing culture practically worships their ancestors. Violating the grave is probably a big no-no to them, and to Mother. "Of course not! It''s not what it sounds like!" I protests, this isn''t the way it''s supposed to go! "It''s a set of supports strapped to a body that can make you move faster!" How else are humans supposed to get stronger in a world without mana or chi like Earth? Exoskeleton became an integral part of our society back there since it gives everyone augmented strengths. I never knew why those old sport community peoples always opposed it. "Hmm..." Please, calm down Mother! "Anyways, I can heal him too if that''s needed." "Heal?" Mrs. Steiner looks startled, "You?" "Yes?" Huh? What''s the problem now? "..." I don''t like the look your giving me Mrs. Steiner... it feels like your trying to stare into my soul... "Are you... Pray, are you the girl blessed by the four Ancient Gods a year ago?" Ancient Gods? Is she referring to Primordial Gods? I guess there are different terms... "Yeah, why?" "And you can use healing, despite being an alchemist?" "Yes?" I''ve only tested my Song of Ulosis once so far, like all the new skills I got that day, but it works just fine for me... Strange thing, the lyrics for it just came into my head, like I''d known them all along... "........." Uh oh, why is everybody looking at me like that? Is it because I never revealed I could heal to them before? Stop! This is creeping me out! "Pray..." Father breaks the uncomfortable silence, "Alchemist can''t use the healings of the Church of Freya." Oh, good to know. Funny how you never bothered to mention this before Father... "Ummm... I was blessed by her?" "Must be." Mr. Steiner mutters to himself, "Gracia, you''re thinking of taking her in aren''t you?" Take what in? Me? What? "... Yes. Yes, I am." Whaaaaaaaaaat? Tell me! "Fine, you can go play researcher Maes" Mr. Steiner looks like a smiling idiot at that. "BUT!" Mrs. Steiner turns to look directly at me again. Yikes... that''s the same way Mother looks at me when we train... "You will have to come over everyday to study with me!" "Study... with you?" "Pray, Gracia is a retired Cardinal of the Church of Freya, she could teach you how to use the divine powers. Not to mention, she''s also a spirit medium. I''m sure someone like you can probably master both." "A Priestess?" I''m going to be a priestess? What the hell? I was thinking of changing the world through my companies, and by extension Amestris, first, then conquer it... What does being a priestess got to do with me? "Yes! With your blessing, you can probably be the next Pope even!" Pope? This is all moving too fast! Slow down! "You can spend half of the day at your laboratory, but the other half you will spend here learning healing prayers from me. What do you say?" Hmm... I can see some value in that. Song of Ulosis, as I found out that time, is great but also very mana consuming... very, as in half of my total mana. I didn''t really have a target that time, but it caused the sapling in the corner of the yard to burst into a fully grown, three story tall tree... I''m sure the maids are still wondering who caused that. Still, I need some healing spells, or prayers as she call them, that consumes less mana. I guess there''s no harm, I can let Mr. Steiner take over the experiments after I set them up beforehand anyways. "Sure! I want to learn more healing spells!" "Spells? We aren''t magicians, Pray. The healing granted through the Goddess by our prayers is a divine power, not magic." What?! That''s not what my status showed me when I tried it... "Wait, what prayer do you already know?" "Um..." Should I reveal it? It did say it''s a rarely granted skill in the description... "Song of Ulosis" I decided to just come clean with her. She gives a little gasp, while everyone else looks on with confusion clear as day on their face. "S-s-song of Ulosis? That''s an Archbishop level prayer!" It is? Sweet, does that make me an Archbishop? "Pray, would you like to join the Church of Freya? We''ll take care of everything, you just have to say ''yes''." I guess not. Hmm, how about Hell No? I''m here to change and conquer the world! Why would a genius like myself tie herself down to a mere church? "Sorry, but I want to learn more about the world first." "Is that so? Very well, but know that the offer stands. Now then, you can start coming over tomorrow." What?! Tomorrow? The facility here won''t be done for another four months! Even if I speed it up with my alchemy it''s still around three months! "But... the laboratory won''t be done by a long shot, where would I live?" "Not a problem, you''ll live with us, dear. I''m sure that would be fine wouldn''t it, Xix?" Huh, interesting. Looks like Mrs. Steiner is another woman who has power over poor Father. "Yes! I mean no! She''s just six today, Mrs. Steiner, with all due respect. Isn''t she too young to be living away from home?" "Nonsense, if she''s building that lab to work in, she''s already prepared to live in there. Living in my house would be much better wouldn''t it?" "Um..." Father looks unsure at that. It''s true, I had planned to move out as soon as my laboratory is complete, and it does have my master suite on the top floors... "In that case, I''ll be moving here too." Mother announce her decision. Oh wait, she can''t do that! I need someone who can manage the Meyer Trading Company for me! "Mother! But who will manage the company if not you?" "Pray, we''re recruiting people anyways, I''ll just find someone to manage it." Bu-bu-but, that''s not the plan! "Ok Mommy..." "Don''t look so disappointed dear, your Father liked it here just fine, didn''t you Xix?" Father nods vigorously. "And besides, you''ll have companions! You won''t be my only student..." More people? "Who?" "You''ll find out later. It''s getting late, why don''t you three just spend the night with us here? You can use the guest room upstairs on the left." Mrs. Steiner offers and Mother graciously accepts. Well, I guess that seals the deal. We''re staying here for the night then. At least I got what I came here for. Now, there''s next to no restriction in my lab! Mwuahahahahahahahaa, that''s one thing I love about this world. There''s no human right movements! That means I can use convicts to experiment on... probably. Kukuukukukukukuku, oh how I wanted to use them back on old Earth! If only those pesky scientific communities didn''t keep foiling my attempts! Father leads us up to the guest room. Apparently it is the same one he used to live in when he trained under Mr. Steiner years ago. Not too big, but sufferable for the night. That night, I had the weirdest dreams to date. Several too, if you can believe it... . ... ...... ......... ............ ...............
Everything in the world is bounded by the laws of physics. This has been known since the dawn of time. But magic is an exception. Mana comes not from the physical realm, but the spiritual realm. Some calls it the Spiritual World, the Spirit Dimension or what nots. The more correct name is the Lugos Plane, the dimension of mana and spirits, the sixth and seventh dimension of the world. Mana particles are from the Lugos Plane, and every single organism on Terra has an innate connection to it deep within them. The stronger the connection, the more mana particles they can naturally pull from Lugos and into their bodies. Despite all this, mana can only be perceived by those with inner talents to manipulate mana. In other words, one can have all the mana in the world, but never once know it. And at first, nobody knew what to do with mana, so they ignored it. But there were some people, who played with it, experimented with it. And they found that mana, in the correct formations, can be used to cause changes in reality, to overwrite what''s there and replace it with something they desire. They called these phenomenons they can create through mana "magic", and themselves, "magicians". But this is all in the past, in a time long forgotten. Ignorance and distrust of magic grew in those who cannot see it, those ignorant fools who feared their own shadows, and many who had the talent, but was taught to fear it. With disuse, the ability to manipulate mana faded through the generations, until only few survivors remained intact. Mistakes, accidents, famines, and catastrophes were blamed on those they saw as outcasts: the magicians. And so the discrimination against those with magic started. And in their attempt to find excuses to justify their discrimination against the magicians, they lied to themselves that there were higher beings who gave them the directives to discriminate, that it wasn''t their fault. These ideologies, the deep beliefs, gave birth to their ''Gods''. Little did they know, it was their collective minds that subconsciously guided the mana within them to form their Gods; a massive conglomerate of will and mana from the believers that gained a will of its own. Influenced by the will of its believers, the most powerful of the wills, the ''Gods'' believed themselves to be what its followers believed it to be, and to discriminate against the magicians. And so the endless cycle started. Meanwhile, the magicians refined their crafts, build their own nations, started a different civilization over the thousands of years. They gained enough strength to reject the rest of humanity in it''s face, to reverse the discrimination. But the common people, the believer in divine entities, did not simply watch as the magicians grew powerful. They beseeched their Gods to grant them power to fight back against, and their Gods delivered. And so the discrimination of magicians resumed. One way their Gods delivered was through prayers, chants. The supplicants would pray to their Gods, who takes their follower''s mana and manipulate it for them. They are, after all, beings of pure will; imposing their will on mana to manipulate it is as natural as breathing is to them. The supplicants named themselves the ''Priests'' and ''Priestesses'' of their Gods, believing that the magic their Gods performed in their place are divine powers, divine miracles, different from the magic and mana. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Those are for the believers of the collective wills with enough followers to form a will strong enough to grant thousands, if not millions, of ''divine miracles'' at once. But there are also collective wills that didn''t have enough followers, not strong enough to manipulate millions of streams of mana at once like their stronger cousins can. In accordance to the human mythology, they named themselves "Spirits". In time, the people who had neither the innate talent to manipulate their mana, nor the favor of a God who would do it for them, found an alternative to praying for divine miracles, which are to certain extents dependent on how favorable they are in the eyes of their Gods. These people found that they can bind themselves to Spirits who has high affinities with them, to allow the spirits to dwell within their body. With the binding came a stronger connection to its host, and the ''wills'' became strong enough to influence certain aspects of nature using their host''s mana. These spirit contractors called themselves "Warlocks" or "Mediums". They did not need to offer prayers, but their close connections to the spirits allowed them to mentally use mana through the spirits. In simpler terms, priests have a distant connection to their Gods, but their Gods are stronger beings of will. Meanwhile, warlocks have a far more intimate connection to their spirits, but their spirits are far weaker than the ''Gods''. But humans are sly creatures. Some without the natural talent, without the favor of their Gods, and without enough affinity with spirits to form a contract, instead befriended the magicians, and learned the lore of the magicians. They discovered after long observations that, even without the innate talents, they too can use magic if they just copy the formations their ''friends'' subconsciously use and allow their mana to flow through it. Unlike the natural magicians, these people were more easily accepted into the human society. Why? It is because these new types of magicians are not shrouded in the same mystery as the natural magicians they learned from. Their power is visible, formulaic, able to be understood by everyone, unlike the eerily natural way to manipulate mana. In time, these new magicians took the name ''magicians'' solely for themselves, and branded their predecessors with derogatory names. "Witches & Wizards", the traitors called the natural magicians, "Sorcerers & Sorceresses", "Servants of the Devil", among other names. And so the new magicians became part of human society, and the old magicians became known sinners who sold their souls to the Devil, according to the prevailing ideology at the time. It was at the start of the current age that the new magicians rose up in rank, and rejected their mentors. Their betrayal has not been forgotten. The natural magicians took upon themselves the name they were branded with, witches, and fought back. Thus the great war between the witches and the various powers of humanity began. And the humans were losing in terms of power, despite their numerical advantages. That''s when the humans compiled their knowledge on the world, and found a new power. One that does not relies on mana, but instead directly changes the physical world. They called it ''Alchemy'', the new power to deconstruct and reconstruct the world to the extent of their understanding. And so the balance of power was regained, and the war continued. This is how the world of Terra came into being. Civilizations rise, and civilizations fall. A God may become powerful in one era, and forgotten in the next, fading down to the level of a spirit. But mankind never stops advancing, always reaching out for more powers, and it never will stop.
The people of Terra have always had the concept of ''mana'' and ''magic''. But the ''Chi'' that the people of Xing use is... new. Different. Before the first contact with the people of Xing, ''Chi'', or the innate power of the human body, slept dormant within the citizens of Terra. And it still does, because only the Martial Art Priests of Xing knew how to awaken that innate power through a specific set of training routines. But why? Why hasn''t the people of Terra awakened to that power even after thousands of years? That''s because the Empire of Xing, the Western Continent itself, is not from Terra. No, Xing came from a world known as "Bairong", or White Dragon in the language of Xing. (Chinese) And Bairong was a dying world. Its people never knew, save the most powerful few, but their world was dying. Their sun has reached its natural end stage, ready to expand and swallow up everything around it, including the planet of Bairong. Only three men knew what was about to happen. The first was a Sage, living in the misty mountains. He was self-taught, reaching sagehood more than a thousand years ago. In his youth, he traveled the world, learning its beauties, and he took the path of Karma. Karma is the cause and effect of all things, and those with enough enlightenment in it, or understanding of it, can use it to predict the future of almost anything. But he has long since hidden himself in his hard-to-reach mountain home, studying the heavens. That''s how he noticed the abnormalities happening in the sun, and he foretold the end of all things. The second was the Emperor of Xing. Some called him the ''Immortal Emperor'', a monster, a god, and many names in secret. None of that matters to him. He rules Bairong with an iron hand, and has done so for more than ten thousand years. His name was Xing, after which he named his empire, and conquered the entire world over a thousand years. But he knew the end was coming not because his subordinates informed him, or by his own power. No, he knew, because the man behind him told him. That man is the third and last person who knew the fate of the world. He has lived longer than the other two, far longer, since long before the founding of the empire of Xing. He had many disciples studying the different paths of enlightenment under him, and first among his disciples was the Immortal Emperor. The Immortal Emperor alone was given permission to leave his mountain and do as he will in the world. The man was, and still is, known simply as the ''War God'', a powerful man who has long since abandoned his original name and embraced his title. Like the Sage, the War God was practiced in the path of Karma, and he too knew that the end was coming. But unlike the Sage, the War God had millions of years to perfect his understanding in other paths of enlightenment, even if they are not his main path of enlightenment. Among the paths he mastered was the path of ''Time & Space''. The War God knew of the existence of other worlds. After all, he had visited many of them with his powers, leaving countless legacies behind him. But he also knew that even he, the most powerful man on Bairong, could not drag an entire planet with him into another world. So he did the best he could, and took the main continent on which his disciple''s empire resided through time and space, into a young world he knew as ''Terra''. Thus Xing became known as the Western Continent on that world.
Terra has had many ages, the current one being the ninth. In it''s first age, the people had yet to master the power of mana. Instead, they relied on technology, much like old Earth. But there was one crucial difference in it''s later years... the development of augmented abilities. In other words, esper abilities. The people of the Academic City were the first to pioneer this power. The Academic City was a city for students, for research, the technological frontier of the world then. And at first, they were the dominating power in the world. Through drugs, body stimulation, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, and other methods, the researchers working for academic city managed to guide their experiment subjects into developing their own Personal Reality. They called the process ''Power Curriculum'' and offered the students in the city a chance to undergo it when they first enter the walled city. These new experimental subjects gained the power to replace the reality around them with their personal reality, to wrap reality to their will. Some could create fire out of nothing, some could control lightning, some could control light waves. It was Academic City''s greatest achievement. But they could not keep it to themselves. Academic City was, after all, the city of students, students from all over the globe. Try as they did, some espers returned to their countries, where they were kidnapped by state researchers to find out how Academic City had managed to produce esper powers. But that went against the agenda of Academic City. They wanted to monopolize the power, and so they launched a wave of attacks with their allies on the esper research centers in major countries, after failing to negotiate. It was the war that ended the age. The researchers of the academic city managed to modify the esper abilities until it was hereditary, fearing that the war would destroy their power curriculum facilities. They were not wrong. The other countries fought back with conventional weapons, strategic weapons, even biological weapons. Meanwhile, the Academic City built it''s own army of powerful level 5 espers. Though the esper army was outnumbered a million to one, they were literally the most powerful beings in the world then. And the clash between the allied armies and the espers nearly drove mankind to extinction. But humans are tenacious, and they survived in small numbers, starting anew. The technologies were lost, it''s resources exhausted, and most fertile farmlands turned into wastelands. The world fell back to a more primitive age, where they lived in villages at best, with their former cities in smoldering ruins. Soon, some of the more curious generations would eventually discover the mana within them, and begin the second age of the world. And yet, the weakened esper bloodlines survived. And they have lasted through the next seven ages. When Xing descended into this world, the espers were the first to make contact with the people of Xing. To their surprise, and delight, the people of Xing excelled in mastering the flow of all things. While esper abilities and magic have never gotten along, chi-mastery and esper abilities complimented each other. The lightning esper ability that is now the trademark of the Royal Meyer family enabled it''s practitioners to enhance their senses, to react faster, and to enhance the cutting force of their weapons or even hands. The flame esper abilities enabled the martial art practitioner with it to strike harder, become unpredictable, like the wavering flame. The water esper abilities enable the user to become more fluid, to redirect and parry attacks, to dance on the battlefield untouched. The esper communities on the main continent made a decision: They would migrate to Xing together, save a few that chose to remain on the main continent. And they were welcomed into the Xing empire, some even marrying into royal bloodlines. The two people mingled, intermarried, until they were no longer separate peoples thousands of years later. They are now simply known as the people of Xing, martial arts masters and powerful espers. A force even the enemies of the rest of humanity, the Witches, dare not go against.
The main continent has always been plagued by a certain type of monster. They looks no different from a regular human, lives no different from a normal human, until they start feeding. On human flesh. Yes, those monsters were man-eaters, or ghouls, as they are commonly referred to. When the prey on humans, they temporarily revert to their true appearances; when they hunt down their preys, their predatory organs, the kagunes, come out. Some ghouls can manifest extra limbs behind them, some could form a sword to cut with, some could even shoot parts of their kagune. The most ferocious ones could even devour its comrades and steal their kagunes as well. But when they''re not feeding, they could blend seamlessly into the human society, even surviving on human food for years before having to satisfy it''s primal urges for human flesh. Try as they did, the world powers could not exterminate the hidden ghouls, because they looks no different from ordinary people. But everything changed when the people of Xing came into this world. The people of Xing were masters of ''Chi'', the inner power of the human body. As such, they could identify a ghoul with the slightest touch, or even just in close proximity if skilled enough. In return, ghouls especially loved the flesh of the people of Xing. They were more tasty, more... full of power. Eating one citizen of Xing was the equivalent of eating twenty ordinary humans. And they attacked the people of Xing who wondered outside their empire, to see the new world they have arrived in. The problem got so out of hand that the Immortal Emperor himself took notice, and he decided to end the matter once and for all. The Immortal Emperor sent out his most powerful army units into other nations to exterminate the ghouls. And they did, with brutal precision. The ghouls retreated to their homeland beyond the Eastern sea, on the island that will later become known as the ''Isle of Sword Saints''. There was just one problem. The other world power of Terra did not take kindly to an army of Xing warriors marching through their land, especially not the Holy Britannian Empire, who had conquered much of the world then. Try as they did, they could not catch up to the fast moving elite Xing forces. After all, the Xing forces were the elite of the elites, chosen by the Immortal Emperor himself. So rather than trying to catch the elite Xing forces hunting down ghouls, they simply waited and waited until the army completed its mission and returned to Xing. That''s when Britannia marched on the Xing Empire, hoping to conquer it in their greed and ignorance, thinking that the clash with the ghouls must have weakened the empire of Xing greatly. They were brutally crushed. The Immortal Emperor had the choice to completely wipe out Britannia and other nations, but he spared them. Not out of the kindness of his heart, but simply because they were beneath his notice. To him, the mortals were like ants that he could slaughter anytime he chooses. And he was on the cusp of the next tier of enlightenment anyways, so the Immortal Emperor decided to simply make a barrier between them. From the eastern border of Xing to halfway to the capital of Britannia further to the East, the Immortal Emperor demonstrated his devastating power to the world. The main path of enlightenment that the Immortal Emperor took was one of the hardest to master, because of the bloodshed it requires. It was known as the path of ''Destruction''. The Immortal Emperor razed the western region of Britannia, once a lush forest region, to the ground, leaving nothing behind. Not the forest, not the mountain, nor the river or lakes that once flowed there. All that was left after that day was a wasteland of ashes, a barren desert between the two great empires. And the emperor declared to the world, his voice resonating through the globe,"Listen well, people of Terra. I am the Immortal Emperor of Xing. I have no interest in the mundane matters of this world, but know this. If you ever dare to march on my empire again, I will show no mercy." Afterward, the Immortal Emperor left the mundane affairs of ruling the empire to his descendants, and retreated back to the War God''s mountain, to cultivate in privacy for the next enlightenment, leaving behind a policy of isolationism in the empire that still persists to this day.
............... ............ ......... ...... ... . What. the. f*ck. just happened? I thought to myself as I wake up startled, That was the most realistic dream I''ve ever seen... Wait, I remember it? How? I always forget what I dreamed about at night... And all those details... it feels like a documentary you might see on some actual history channel instead of a dream. It was like a... memory. Yes, a memory. Like someone inserted their memory of the past into my head as I slept. ...or some bastard... I turn around, and the bed underneath me melts away, leaving me gasping on the floor. "Just trying to help, dear." Uuuuuugh damn it! I know that voice behind me! "What are you doing here, Kruphix?" I yell as I turn around to face him. What is he doing in my mind? Wait, mind? I take a quick look around, just in time to see another me do the same. Aah, I''m in my inner mind. We thought at the same time, our thoughts broadcasting out into the darkness in sync. Yup, there''s no other possibility, especially now that I''m face to face with the other me I copied months ago. Failed attempt to copy Little-Me, if you''d recall. To be more specific, I copied the Little-Me right at the instance right before she merged completely with me. A second after I finished making the copy, she fully merged and became another copy of me. Then there''s the third presence in here, him. "Yes, me. And before you ask, I thought it would be better for you to know the world you will be conquering first." "Why now? You could have showed me before I came to this world! That would have cleared up so many questions!" "Because I can," He shrugs his shoulders. He''s currently in his Ascathon form, sadly... "And because I just happened to feel like it." "So..." Let''s see, there''s some more relevant information I need to confirm first. "So...?" "My training with Mother to use lightning esper ability is useless?" "Not entirely. Alkahestry can eventually allow you to use it." "Eventually?" "Give it a decade or two." "Screw that, isn''t there any other way to learn how to use it?" "Of course there is, and you know it." "I do? What the hell are you saying?!" "Think about the dream on the first age of Terra I just showed you." "The first age? You mean... the old facilities? But that was ages ago!" "Some relics from that age survived, you know. They were quite good at making things last longer." He chuckles to himself for no reason, "And don''t expect any help from me about finding them. I''ve been too helpful so far, you have to do the rest yourself." "Screw you! Wait... what are you?" "What do you mean?" He puts on an innocent face. "You showed me yourself! The Gods of this world are made from the collective minds and mana of it''s believers! What does that make you? Ascathon doesn''t have his own church!" "Silly girl, I told you before didn''t I? I am the One True God, and none other." "Even if I believe you, that still doesn''t explain who the other Primordial Gods are!" Heck, I glimpsed during that dream of the first age that the four of them were worshiped back then too! "Toys I made up; I was a little bored." Toys? He''s saying the other Gods are just... toys to him? Unbelievable. "Well, it doesn''t matter if you believe me or not. I''ve done what I came here to do, so long!" And just like that, he''s gone from my inner mind. Sonofabiatch, you can''t just throw all these memories into my head and just waltz away! Damn, I have a slight headache from that forced... insertion of memories, let''s just call it that. *Sigh* I guess it''s time to actually wake up, I can feel Mother stirring next to me anyways. It is nice to sleep on the same bed with them sometimes, it feels... warm, comfy, safe. I make my way out of the inner mind, which is much easier than getting into it, normally. But before I can get up from the bed, the door slams open and somebody slams into me. Two somebodies, to be exact. ""Pray!"" The two perpetrators shrinks in unison. "MEOW!" I open my eyes just in time to see Vio leaps for my face. Oh no you don''t! You won''t be scratching my precious face again! "Vio! Anne! Jill!" I grins as I sit up, holding my Vio in my arms, "What are you guys doing here?" "We came to see Grandma!" Anne answers, as Mr. Snuggie on sitting on her laps. "And Grandpa!" Jill quickly adds, as Mr. Fluffy walks over and regally sits on Father''s face. "Wha-?" Father wakes up with a shout before he suffocates. "Xix, shut up. You too, Anne and Jill." Mother mutters as she falls back to sleep. "Still sleeping Silvs? My, someone sure has gotten lazy over the years... Hehehe" I hear someone chuckles from the doorway. "Julie?!" Mother shot out of the bed instantly, before grabbing the three of us and taking us out of the room. Or the six of us, if you count the cats along with us. Then she went downstairs with Aunt Julia, presumably to have a nice long chat with her. Aunt Julia was too busy to come to my opening ceremony for the reconstruction yesterday. But this totally makes up for it! "Anne! Jill! Haven''t seen you in months!" I turn around from watching Mother and Aunt Julia descend the stairs and hugs the two of them. What did they say they are doing here for? "I know!" "Mother always say you''re too busy to play with us... " Jill looks a little down. "Sorry, I was really busy!" Well, that was certainly true... "But we can play all day today!" "Oh no you don''t" Mrs. Steiner''s voice rings out behind me. Damn it woman, can''t you see we''re having a happy reunion here? Don''t be so cruel! ""Grandma!"" Anne and Jill yells as they run over to hug Mrs. Steiner. Or their grandmother, I guess. How could they forget me so quickly?! "Now then, you three can play together after today''s lesson, OK?" ""OK!"" "And Pray, you will stay a bit longer. They''re just learning how to be spirit mediums, but you will also have to learn how to use divine powers." "Noooooooo, my playtime! Meanie!!!" Oops, that wasn''t meant to be spoken out loud... Oh well! "Breakfast''s ready!" Mr. Steiner shouts out from the kitchen. "I want more playtime!" I protests as Mrs. Steiner herds us downstairs for breakfast, dragging the half-asleep father by his ear. It was a pretty good breakfast: A bowl of oatmeal with goat milk to drink. Not as good as my version, but passable for now. Hmm, I should write some cookbooks... Yes! That will be the next merchandise of the Meyer Trading Company! After breakfast is over, father leaves for the mansion, with Mother in tow. Apparently he has "too many documents to go over and not enough time in a day". Mother promises to return by lunch with my luggage, and all the stuffs in my room that I specifies. Then the three of us, Anne, Jill, and I, sits down with Mrs. Steiner in the living room floor as she begins the lesson. "Now then, how do you three know each other?" Guess her curiosity is more important than the lesson. Grr, I want to get the lesson over with so I can do more alchemical experiments! And I actually have more than three hundred alchemical formations to improve per the Fhrer''s newest order. "We''re best friends!", "We trained together!", "They''re sisters." I says as I point to our cats milling around the house. "I see, I thought so. So, what did you train together in?" "Xing Martial Arts" I replies quickly before Anne and Jill says something else entirely. "Xing Martial Arts! I heard they never teaches outsiders?" She looks at me with an arched eyebrow like I would know the answer. I guess I do know the answer, "The iron laws doesn''t apply to Mother." "Ah, I see." She simply replies, as if that short explanation is enough. If I don''t know any better, she''s planning to ask Mother in greater details when she comes back here. "So, all three of you can use it?" ""Yes!"", "No" Anne knots her forehead together as if in concentration, "Mommy says Pray has a seal on her!", ''Yeah!" Jill chips in. Traitors! Traitors you two! "Is that so? Well then, let''s begin today''s lesson on spirits." *Gasp* How dare you dismiss that last piece of information just like that! You bi- Old hag! I resolves to call her that in my mind. She then went over a story about how the spirits are essences within all things that have existed since the dawn of time... All wrong damn it! GRRRRRRRRRR I really wanted to correct her, except I don''t have any proof for one. And for another, I don''t want to go through the hassle of explaining how I came to know what I now know. Hmm, they''re concept of how the spirits came to be is probably what the spirits think themselves, if the information provided by the bastard is anything to go by. We continued to spend the rest of the morning learning about Mrs. Steiner''s misconception on what the spirits are. Anne and Jill seems totally captivated when she showed a little demonstration of her wind spirit, generating a cool breeze throughout the house. I hear Mr. Steiner sneezes behind us at the dinner table. He better hadn''t got any of that nasty stuff on my precious notebook! By the time Mother returns, we had already finish ''learning'' about how the spirits came into being and switched over to how to form a contract with one. I''ll admit, the contract-forming part is very interesting to me. It seems to be meditation, waiting for the correct spirit to show up in your mind, then forming the contract through a mental agreement with specific words. Mrs. Steiner seems surprised and delighted when I told her I had triple affinities. I guess she assumed I had taken an affinity test before. Also, apparently lightning affinity is not often seen around here, though not enough to be called ''rare''. Anne and Jill have different affinities, much to my surprise. They''re twins... but they both have different double affinities. Anne has Fire and Earth affinities, while Jill has Water and Fire affinities. We spent that afternoon meditating in Brentwood. And by that I mean the actual woods, not the town. She takes us on a little forest trail behind her house, to a little quiet meadow, where we''re told to sit and meditate. The first spirit to come to me is a lightning spirit, a heavy presence that came into my mind... but not into my inner mind. Huh, I guess the outer mind is like a reception room?? I tries the words Mrs. Steiner taught us to offer the spirit a contract. "Hmmph, I don''t know how you summoned me here little girl, but if you think a great spirit like me is going to form a contract with you, you can stop daydreaming now." He says as he leaves. Or try to. Oh no you don''t! Hehehe, there''s a benefit to having another copy of myself in my inner mind. The other me drags the ''great spirit'' into our inner mind. That was quite easy, much easier than influencing little-me years ago. Now then, "Kukukukukukukuku, welcome to my inner mind little spirit." Other-me welcomes the spirit with a flourish, changing the surrounding into a floating city in the sky. "Wha-what is this place? Let me out!" "Oh no, nononononono, this is my inner mind. Only those I let in or out can do so, but here, I am God!" Mwuahahaha I''ll show him the consequences of speaking so arrogantly to me before! "And you are my little b**** here! Mwuahahahahahhahahahah!" "You''re a damn lunatic if you think this little mind trick can force me int- #$%$^&&*^%&^*" I stuff his mouth with smelly socks before proceeding to brainwash the unfortunate spirit. I think I can, anyways. I''ve never had any presence in my inner mind except the bastard, and he''s beyond my control. Other than him, there''s only the copied me, and we''re the same person, just separate, so we also think in sync. But I''m very experienced in influencing people... not to mention my inner mind is my world, I can probably do anything to him here hehehehehe. Yup, I think of a submissive and loyal him as I reach out and taps his forehead. His demeanor changes in an instance. "Master! Please allow this one to serve you!" He shouts as he kneels on the ground before me! "Kukuku, good. I accept, now stand up!" He leaps up, and I get a notification window.
Notification
Congratulations! You have just formed your first spirit contract! As a result of this, you have gained the skill: Impose. For having imposed your will upon a spirit, you have created this unique skill! Beyond the level of hypnosis or mental suggestions, you can directly impose you will onto a weaker object in your mind at current level! You have gained the skill: Spirit Taming! Skipping the spirit contract, spirits become voluntarily willing to bound themselves to you, despite their normally flighty nature. A contract is not even required with this skill, but it might be a good idea to do so anyways. You have gained class: Warlock! As one who intends to use spirits combatively, you have gained the class ''Warlock'' and its benefits! You have gained the skill: Spiritual Sense! For becoming a warlock, you can now sense nearby spiritual presences as a sense of pressure in the air around you, or by touching the skin of another spirit medium.
Get out of my face you stupid notification! I have to sort out this spirit first! "What is your name, my servant?" "Please call me whatever you like, Master!" "Don''t give me that sh*t, just tell me what people called you before." "Yes my lady! I was called Raijin, the God of Lightning and Thunder two ages ago!" "Good, you''ll keep that name then. Now then Raijin, about your first mission..." "I''m ready anytime my lady! Just tell me what to do!" "... go back to the spirit plane," "What?! I mean, Yes! My lady!" He looks so sad it''s funny at that... Hehe. "Don''t be stupid. Go back and call more of your brethren to me. I want one of each element at least." "At once!" I let him out of my inner mind and into my body. Huh, he went through my inner connection to the Lugos plane to reach the spirit realm. I guess that''s because he''s my bounded spirit now. I spent the rest of my time um... ''taming'' spirits. They''re quite easy to brainwash, to be honest, and practicing my ''Impose'' and ''Spirit Taming'' skill over and over again levels it up pretty quickly. I do demand a formal contract of absolute obedience from then, since I''m not sure if the ''Spirit Taming'' skill is enough to make them permanently loyal, especially if I let them out of my inner mind. I finished brainwashing my three-hundredth spirit, a spirit of ''Howling Earth'' as he calls himself, by then Mrs. Steiner calls for us to stop and head in for dinner. Ugh, I''m pretty tired for the busy afternoon... and I just realized we didn''t get any playtime yet today! Damn her! "Coming!" I yells as I run back to the house with Anne and Jill in tow. Dinner is pretty good, beef stew with hard baked bread loaves. "Now then, give me your hands, girls." Huh? She wants our hands? Oh, she mean just extend it... okay? "Not a bad spirit, a little weak but you can improve it through training." Mrs. Steiner says after holding Anne''s hand for second. Oh sh*t, she''s testing how many spirits we have? Ah, she has that ''Spiritual Sense'' skill too! Uh oh, how am I going to explain the fifteen hundred spirits I have locked up in me? I tamed three hundred from each main elements. I''ve found that there are spirits of sub-elements, but for now I need just the ones of the big five elements. Now then, back to the issue at the present, she''s checking Jill''s spirits now. I, or the other me, start grabbing the spirits milling around my body into inner mind. Gotta grab all of them saves three! "Hmmm, its ok Jill, some people takes years to find the right spirit for them. I''m sure you''ll find yours in no time." "Ok Grandma!" Oh uh, that was too fast, I''m not done yet! Ugh, f*ck it, let her be amazed at the thirty spirits left. She takes hold of my hand and I feel... ''something'' probing me, sensing the spirits floating around in my body. *Gasp* "My goddess! This many spirits on the first day?!" She looks downright shocked to her core. "Told you I''m a genius!" Hehehe, I am a genius after all! You can''t seriously have expected any less, right? And you don''t even know the true number of spirits I have! After she gets over her shock, she gives us a brief lecture on how to cooperate with the spirits. Pfft, like I need that. I have absolutely control over my spirits mwuahhahahahahahahhahaa! That night, the other me in my inner mind tried an experiment as I sleep. If I can impose my will onto spirits... can I get them to combine? Maybe I can form stronger spirits that way? It was both a success and a failure. My ''Impose'' rank and level is high enough to force the lesser spirits of the same elements to become one, but not spirits of different elements... Hmm I guess I''ll try that part later, when my skill''s rank is higher. Finally, in the dead of the night, I received the another notification after merging most of my spirits. Raijin thinks he''s about back to his former strength as a God now, but he''s still bounded to me hehehehehehehhehehe...
Notification
Congratulations! For having mastered such strong spirits within you, you have gained the stat: Spirit Pressure! Your spirits, and by extension you, are now strong enough to exert a heavy pressure to other spirits! +1,500 Spirit Pressure!
Author''s Note: I Apologize to every reader following or just reading this story... I realized too late now that the two history chapters probably should have been slowly explained in a more natural way to blend it into the story, so I reorganized them into this chapter. I hope it fits better this way, and that you don''t mind the reorganization of the recent chapters. Still got lots to learn I guess :P I''m not ignoring the suggestion for a time skip, don''t worry! It''s just not the right time for it yet. The awesome new PR is Delor, everyone! (This is the PR''d version!) Chapter 11- Charlemagne Clovis Xavier *Charlemagne Clovis Xavier''s POV* I am Charlemagne Clovis Xavier, fifty-fifth head of the Xavier clan. I have been many things, taken on many roles in my long life. First as the second son of Clovis Xavier, the 49th head of the Xavier Clan. When I was ten, the Immortal Emperor traveled through our estate and noticed my esper potentials. I became his disciple that day. Per his instructions, I traveled the great world of Bairong, mastering my Martial Arts along the way. I have seen many wonders, secrets untold to this day, disasters on the national scale. I even witnessed the War God, the Grandmaster, himself changing the world, bringing the Empire into a world he called "Terra". I went on a tour around Terra, seeing it with my own eyes. It''s an odd world, its people are so weak. They have no idea how to use the chi within them, not even their strongest warriors. But they have something called ''mana'', and despite how some claim they''re using divine powers or spiritual powers, I can sense clearly that it is all mana, nothing else. After touring the adjacent continents and the outlying islands, I returned to Xing, only to find that Master had created a great desert as a barrier between the other nations of this world and us. It was quite a sight, the seemingly endless, barren desert landscape. Before the master retired to Grandmaster''s mountain, he asked me to watch over his descendants, as the hidden Imperial Spymaster. A role I gladly accepted. After all, if not for master, I could not have achieved the half-immortality I have now, nor seen the wonders of Bairong. I thought I had seen everything the world has to offer, no matter which one. And yet, the reports I have been receiving the last four years has been detailing something beyond I''ve ever seen over the three centuries of my life. The world of Terra is changing, starting in the nation they call ''Amestris'', the land of Alchemy. In my capacity as the Imperial Spymaster, I''ve been using the Xavier clan''s merchant network to double as my own spy network. Of course, I secured the exclusive right to trade with the outside world to ensure that nobody from Xing will disrupt the network. Four years ago, one of my representative formed a contract with a new company called "Meyer Trading Company"... created by the current Emperor''s favorite niece, Lady Silvia. Though for some reason they believe it is actually Lady Silvia''s daughter who orchestrated the whole affair. Preposterous! The girl was just over five years old, what can she do? The way I see it, those representatives need some retraining. The report since then, however, has called my judgement into question. Amestris is changing so quickly it is almost unrecognizable from the little nation I saw during my travels. I even used my ability ''Mental Control'' to examine my subordinates since the reports are simply too unbelievable. There''s no mistake, Amestris is no longer the weak little nation it was just decades ago. Their alchemy technique is much stronger now, and they''re producing alchemists at a pace unseen before. All the work of Lady Silvia''s daughter, Pray. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Her Anderson Corporation matured into a defense contractor, pushing the boundaries of alchemical techniques. They even started producing artifacts they call ''railguns'' that fire specially prepared ammunitions. I suppose the rumors of the little girl proclaiming herself to be a genius must be true then. That still doesn''t explain how they are able to produce so much weapons in such short times, and I''m still studying the ''Factories'' my spies mentioned in their report. Very unconventional, the concept of ''mass production'', unlike anything we have in Xing. The Amestrisians has been able to push back the witches to the battlefields they first clashed on decades ago with their new techniques. That''s only half of it. Meyer Trading Company ballooned into a multi-billion industry, dabbling in nearly every sector of the Amestris economy. From the original company, they formed Meyer Foods Corporation that sells cuisines of every kind, some even I have not tried before. Their products are astonishingly long-lasting, lasting long enough to even reach my office without spoiling, after a three month journey on the sea. There''s the Meyer Construction Corporation, busy rebuilding the roads in Amestris with what they call ''adoptive solar panels'', whatever that is. It repairs itself too, to my amazement, as if it''s alive... The company has also been building impossibly tall towers with, of all things, metals. Her ''metal factories'' has been mass producing metal alloys only the most skilled masters of the smithing craft could have produced in the past. And then there''s Meyer Health Industry. They''re replacing the existing medicine practitioners with the ''doctors'' they trains and strange medicine that cure diseases even the most proficient Chi-healer cannot heal. The techniques they use are most repulsive, directly opening up the bodies to fix the inside. The girl even managed to tame lightning, thought that''s not so surprising since she does have lightning bloodline. What does surprise me is that she has been building networks that can carry her lightning, and artifacts that can use it to move. If that isn''t unbelievable enough, from the most recent memories I have examined, they even have metal artifacts that can float atop her roads moving at a speed that should only be possible for masters of the 7th level martial arts! Then there''s the ''nonprofit'' organizations she has been leading. It doesn''t make any sense, why would a company do anything for no profit? But they have been building academies, like the one mage academies in Britannia or Academia institution in the Reim empire. Just on a far more massive scale, one for every other town if those memories are real. Of course, there''s everything else too. Amestrisian government itself is changing rapidly, and the girl is the one proposing those changes! Even I don''t know what exactly to make of all these, but I know one thing. The girl is dangerous. I may not be able to touch her given her royal bloods, but I know someone who can. It''s time to pay a visit to the War God''s mountain. Chapter 12- Accidentally Posted... Oh well! A/N: Might be a little boring in the first summary part, sorry. I''m too lazy to re-write it. Don''t worry, it''s not all summaries. Maturity Warning: Morally conscious readers beware, proceed with caution.
If you think I''m the one that''s going to expose the truth about the witches, think again. You''re looking at the wrong person to deal with that problem. If anything, I want to keep the war going. War drives this world''s economy; it''s what keep the citizens loyal to its government, and it''s the drive I need to fuel my industries. So sorry witches, but sacrifices must be made if I am to make any progress. Here''s the thing, I can''t just conquer the world through sheer military force. Sure, that might be the short term solution, but that won''t fulfill the quest requirement. If you recall, the goal is to bring Terra to ''peace'', and peace by military force is impossible unless you kill everyone that can possibly rebel. The way I see it, it''s either peace through unification or peace through annihilation of all humans. Naturally, I would love to chose annihilation. It''s so much faster and easier. All I need is to develop kinetic orbital bombardment. The biggest issues would be building a projectile durable enough, getting up to space, finding a way to calculate the retry angle and speed, and a way to speed up the projectile. Nevertheless, that''s much easier than nuclear weaponry. No radioactive-protection suits, no need for refinement facilities, no need for protection details in case someone comes to steal the nuclear warhead. The projectile must be solid, ridiculously durable, but that''s still easier to engineer than a complex nuclear warhead. Getting up into space in a medieval setting is impossible, but I know for a fact that inertialess engine is possible. After all, I was one of the researchers leading that project back on old Earth, I just need to build another one. If I can get the first two done, the last two parts are almost laughable. Perhaps some of you doesn''t know this, but the greatest computer mankind will ever build isn''t a quantum computer, that''s just science-fiction. Nor is it a computer base on silicon or even graphite, they have their own limits. Its a biological computer; the human brain is the greatest processor there is for parallel computing. A few unfortunate victims, most often death-row criminals, and a network connected by quantum physics means as long as you have enough brains, you can build the smartest & fastest computer on the planet. In fact, that''s how I managed to build Lucy, my AI daughter, on old Earth. She was the collective will of the connected, brainwashed brains of the bio-computer. I did some modification to make her... friendly to the human society, but in truth the ''will'' manifests itself the second you wake the brains from drug induced slumber. Not that this matters for the present. The last part is the easiest: Attach a small-scale inertialess drive engine to the projectile and use a railgun to speed it up first. Good thing about a solid projectile is that there''s no need to limit the inertialess drive engine, since there''s nothing to break in the projectile. Railgun? Just aligned magnetic coils and electricity. Developing these technologies would be the hardest part, for anyone else. It would take centuries, even thousands of years, probably. But I''m an exception. I already know what needs to be done and how. Manufacturing them is so much easier after you have done it once. And if anyone steals some parts of it? Who cares, what are they going to do with a 50k ton solid rod of composite materials? Bio-computer? To heavy and fragile to steal. Railgun? Just cut the power source, or overload it and it will melt itself into scrap metal. Inertialess drive system? You''ll only kill yourself playing with the zero-point field without a proper understanding. See, so much easier than the radioactive way of achieving total annihilation. But forget all that, there''s a much simpler way. I just need to develop a way to distribute biological weapons and deploy them. In other words, a plague. But there''s the problem with annihilation... One of the condition for failure of the quest states that if Terra is completely destroyed, its over. And a plague that cannot be defended against? That will kill all lifeforms on this planet. It''s impossible to design a virus that only targets humans permanently without targeting other creatures; virus mutates and evolve by the second. Which means, I''ll fail either through kinetic bombardment or a virus outbreak. That leaves one option: Unification. I need to unify Terra, and if the witches are going to pay the price, then so be it. I''m only human, and we humans are selfish creatures. If I can be with Melinda again, nothing else really matters to me; screw moral duties! Now then, how to go about unification? The answer is obviously to control the world economy. Economy is what rule the world, not any military forces. There''s a saying: The pen is mightier than the sword. If the sword is too sharp to defend against, just go for the handle. The unprotected, vulnerable handle... So that''s what I''m doing, building up my industry, riding on the river of blood flowing down from the battlefield. And it has been going according to plan so far. let''s do a quick summary of last four years since I first started learning how to be a warlock and a priestess from Grandma Garcia. Yes, she forbid me from calling her Mrs. Steiner after a week, for some reason. From her I learned that using Freya''s ''Divine Power'' of healing is not just prayers, you also need to understand the wound that need to be healed. I suppose this is the difficult part for most people, but I already know the human anatomy. At the same time, we learned how to identify poisons, where and which prayer to use to invoke the divine power. For half of what she lectured on, I already knew. What I didn''t expect was the other half on mana poisonings. Now that was interesting, my first intro into how mana works on the body and mana poisoning spreads. While Anne and Jill continued to work on memorizing what little of human anatomy these people understands, I spend every morning for two years learning all I can about mana and other supernatural types of poisonings. It certainly broadened my understanding into the inner workings of mana. I had thought mana particle cannot be materialized from the memories Ascathon showed me, but there are ways, however limited. At the time, I had already given up on mastering my esper ability through alkahestry, though I sat through all of Mother''s lesson how to use alkahestry. Who knows, perhaps it will be useful one day. Then came one of my greatest discoveries. It just so happened that I was training my Alpha Stigma skill that afternoon and doing maintenance on Narukami at the same time. I realized that the kagune blade is... teeming with crystalized mana particles. No, to be more specific, the kagune itself is entirely made of different types of crystalized mana particles. That''s how ghouls with the same type of kagune as Narukami can fire lightning without being an lightning esper, a warlock, or a magician. The type of crystalized mana particle near the base naturally absorbs mana and chi. The other crystalized mana particles combined with the flesh of the ghoul allows for it to flex around even without a inner skeleton, convert mana to electricity, or hardens the surface based on how much mana channeled. It got me thinking, if I convert electricity to mana, then use that mana to manipulate the mana muscle- that''s the name I gave the crystalized mana particles merged with ghoul flesh- I can build machines that originally would require a much higher level of technology. It''s a cheat code, in a sense. And it greatly sped up my plans. I finished up the last alchemical improvement we were contracted to do by the government, and switched the entire lab to focus on developing technology based on the kagune. For me, it''s quite exciting. Who knew I would come across an entirely new field beside the obvious field of magic? Instead of just building the same old stuff I used to on Earth, I''m inventing new ways to use ghoul flesh. It''s a nice feeling to have again. First, we needed to artificially grow more ghoul flesh. They''re on short supply, I''m afraid. The Immortal Emperor''s personal forces did their job too thoroughly, unfortunately.That means I need cultivation tanks to grow more. That and acquiring more from the Isle of Sword Saints. The last part required me to sent agents into the Reim Empire, in order to reach the Eastern Seas. That, too, brought a surprise to me. You see, I am, and always have been, a collector. Mostly just knowledge, but sometimes specimens as well. That''s what drove me to became what my adversaries called me, a mad scientist. Of course, I''d always deny those charges, but it is true nevertheless. After Anderson Corporation got on its feet, I made the collection of every known specimen in Terra one of its prime directives. It''s always better to have them on hand than just in writing. That''s how I came across this, a mounted beast commonly used in the Reim Empire. It''s eight feel tall, ten feet long, with a body of wolf, if the wolf is a giant dire wolf. It''s feet may have muscles on it, but it''s definitely the same structure on a kangaroo''s feet. but They call it a Destrier. Mine does not have horns, but the ones the Reim Legionaries use do. Spoiler : Without the useless spikes, of course. The body is also more proportionally distributed, no stupidly large chest to stab into. These people has no idea what it really is, but I do. To them it is just a carrier beast, the Reim equivalent of a horse, but to me it''s different. The Destrier is a genetically modified beast. That much is clear at first glance; none of its features make sense in the wilderness. Why would it have claws if it''s not a predator? Why would its feet be structured like a kangaroo''s feet when they are from different branches on the tree of evolution? There''s so many things wrong with beast that anyone who knows his theory of evolution knows it cannot possibly have evolved naturally. From the earliest records on them, the Reim Empire began using them approximately five hundred years ago, before the Xing Empire became part of this world. And the destrier is not all. There has been writings of giant, wingless beasts that could fly, Leviathans, used by the Reim Empire to transport its Legionaries. Other modified beasts that help the Reim empire function. Even giant monsters of the sea, krakens, has been attributed to Reim Legions. I''ve always read those books with a grain of salt, but now I finally have proof. The Reim Empire relies on unnatural beasts to function. Spoiler : Great Air Beast, the Leviathan: Spoiler : Giants of the sea, the Kraken: That means there''s someone else capable of body modification on this planet, but I''m supposed to be the only one from a higher technological world for another decade at least. So it must be a resident of this world, one who has access to all the natural animals, access to plenty of ghoul body parts to experiment on, and the power to do so. There''s only one person who fits that profile: The Great Priestess of Reim. Coincidentally, or perhaps not so, she also came into power approximately five centuries ago. She was the priestess who stood by the Reim general who took over in a coup d''tat and transformed Reim from just another kingdom into the Empire it is now. And according to what the Reim Empire''s propagandas say, she''s still alive and well. A powerful, immortal priestess, and a magician. Possibly a warlock as well, but nobody has seen her spirit familiars. I''m still a bit reluctant to admit that she''s an immortal. After all, it is in Reim''s best interest to keep up the image of a powerful Immortal Priestess behind their Legions. For all I know for now, they could have replaced her with lookalikes to fool their enemies. It''s certainly a powerful moral booster to the Reim citizens and its Legions. Despite the ambiguity surrounding this priestess, just in case she''s real, I''m staying well away from her path for now. I''m not nearly strong enough to take on an immortal hag yet. Unfortunately, I found that the other modified beasts are limited to the Reim Legions, and they keep a close watch on their beasts. Only the destrier and a few cute pets are available to the public. The people of Amestris are a bit... disagreeable with the beasts of Reim in general, despite the alliance between our two nations. Alchemy forbids human transmutation, as well as transmutation of natural life forms. That much is deeply rooted in its laws, especially for State Alchemists. The three most basic laws that all state alchemist obey by are 1. Obey the Military, 2. Do Not Create Gold, and 3. Do Not Create Humans. By extension, as the people has been interpreting it for decades, the last law also applies to natural animals. Though these laws are meant for state alchemists, they have basically been taught to every single citizen of Amestris, even myself. We aren''t a militaristic nation for nothing, after all. As such, though the people of Amestris may believe the beasts of Reim to be natural in public, the rumors always float around that some rogue state alchemists defected to Reim and created the beasts through forbidden alchemy. It has always been a strain on the diplomatic relationship between the Reim Empire and Amestris, but nobody else knows for sure, or so they say. I know how to use ''forbidden'' alchemy to transmute living organisms myself, all competent alchemist with the Gate of Truth and some knowledge on the human anatomy does. And nearly all alchemists with the Gate of Truth are recruited as State Alchemists. It''s only the iron laws and the fact that Amestris is not yet that desperate in our war to go that far that keep us from practicing human transmutation. I suppose I have some blame to take for that last part, since I''m the one who bolstered the power of Amestris alchemy by quite the improvement through my new techniques. Let''s take a short detour here. Why are almost all alchemists with the Gate of Truth State Alchemists? The answer lies in the sacrifice needed to obtain a Gate of Truth. It used to be that a part of the body, often the most treasured part, would be used as the sacrifice. There were many cases of death as a result, some soft-hearted idiots even sacrificed their heart. Not that the alchemist can choose once he begins the human transmutation on himself, the Gate of Truth gazes into you and see your desires directly. But after the war with the witches started, Amestrisian alchemists found a safe substitute to body sacrifice that doesn''t violates the fundamental laws of alchemy. The witches'' hats, their outer mana cores. Legend has it that the hats of the most powerful witches can take on human form as the witches'' Sorellas, the witches'' blood sisters. We alchemists know that for a fact. The hats of witches are like their second heart, able to be used as the proper sacrifice in a human transmutation. Perhaps, I muses sometimes, That''s part of the reason alchemists are so willing to participate in the war, to risk their lives for the country. No pain, no gain. I would say the extended version: No pain, No Game; No game, No life, but games aren''t the foremost thing on these people''s mind, that''s war. In any case, a witch''s hat is by law the property of the Amestrisian government, the property of the military. Private ownership of a witch''s hat is forbidden unless it can be proven that it is sourced from other nations. We''re currently the only nation on land that borders the territory of the Witch of the South, holding off the witches'' armies from the rest of the continent, so the chance of that is rather slim. That''s why many aspiring alchemists are desperate to be granted a witch''s hat for his sacrifice. I blamed my Gate of Truth on Ascathon in front of the Fhrer, but nobody else has received theirs through divine means. Let''s bring the points together. Amestrisians typically dislike Reim beasts, so they are not welcome here. That''s why we still use horses despite having better options just next door. And if just destriers aren''t welcome, the Reim merchants sure as hell won''t come trade on a Leviathan. Which is why I have not obtained one for myself until now. Hohohoho, I''ve waited so long for this moment! And yet as I examined the destrier, I found that the rumors of rogue alchemists creating them to be completely wrong. This isn''t regular genetic modification. They added the mana flesh of the ghouls to the mix. It makes sense, since the Isle of Sword Saints can only be reached by one nation from the connected supercontinent, the Reim Empire. The mana flesh greatly enhances the beasts'' speed and durability, and is also probably why they can reach such gargantuan sizes they have in written descriptions. They are basically large, living kagunes in beast forms, mass produced on a national- no, Empire- scale. It makes me fear the Priestess of Reim a bit more. If she can manipulate mana flesh to this expert level and massive scale, she''s not one to be underestimated. But this is a goldmine for someone like me, someone who knows the true value of the beast before her. No need for expensive kagunes sourced from the Isle, I just need a herd of these destriers. Plus, they will give me a chance to practice ''forbidden'' alchemy. A little modification through flesh transmutation on a beast that already looks unnatural shouldn''t attract the attention of anyone important, and I''m always prepared to silence a few mouths. In fact, I have been. Hiring spies as my assassins, through the Anderson Corporation of course. There were a few... disagreeable person in our government who consistently opposed the bills I presented to the Fhrer, so I had them go on extended vocations. I mean, this is the best cover ever. Who would ever believe a seven year old girl would be ordering assassinations? Despite that, I am taking safety measures. Compartmentalization is one of the basic structure of all of my companies. It''s why I separated Meyer Trading Company into so many different entities under the same umbrella. It costs me some efficiency, but I''m working on a way to circumnavigate that. Within the secret basement of my Brentwood Lab I painstakingly used my power as a warlock to clear out and reinforce, I have been gathering specimens of... ok more like captives, since they''re not yet dead. Captives stolen from the death rows of prisons in Amestris. It''s amazing how willing they are to be free again if you offer them the chance. It''s equally amazing how far money, in large sums, could go. People would do anything if you offer them enough. And I''m simply speeding up the death sentences for a few criminals, nothing more. Or am I? In fact, I could be doing them a favor. Most of them are probably destined for hell, or reincarnation as some animal for slaughter in a herd. But since I''m the one killing them, they are immediately reincarnated. I''m 50/50 sure that when Kruphix said they would ''return to the stream of souls awaiting reincarnation'' he means they will be reincarnated as sentient beings. If a souls is to be punished by being reincarnated into an non-sentient being, it probably won''t have to return to the stream. See, I''m doing nothing wrong here. Humane treatment? No Cruel and Unusual Punishments? When I was a scientist on old Earth, I hated those social rules! They''re what prevented me from reaching half of my research goals. Those environmentalists even got the governments around the world to ban many animal testings. Damn them! Not all animal testings were for stupid make-ups or whatnots. Some researches through animal testing were actually important, and what''s ''important'' was defined by myself then. It frustrated me to no end when they shut down my research on genetic modification to create six limbed monkeys. It''s ridiculous. People clamor for dragons, catgirls, and other fantasy sh*ts to be made by us scientists, and yet they take away our hands and feet at the same time. Don''t they realize that those dragons in lores are polymelias? That just mean they are creatures with five or more limbs. How the hell do they expect us to make what they demand if we can''t do animal testing, much less human experiments? I would never go so far as saying that I want to be a Nazi or Japanese scientist during WWII, but it''s damn near that point. Surely you don''t believe that just because I have been reincarnated that my values will change? That my mindset would become all life-loving, like some cliche hero in fantasies that wants to save every f*cking living organism that lives? The hypocrisy of the hero and demon lord type of stories always gets me so mad! Demons have rights too, if you are going to argue about the intrinsic value of human lives, damn it! If anything, this technologically backward world is more open to human experimentation overall, if only I was reincarnated in a different country. But that damn Kruphix just had to reincarnated me here in Amestris, in the arguably most humane country on this planet that forbids human modification. Why do you think I insist on calling him bastard? If he truly is the One True God, and so far the evidences has unfortunately pointed in that direction, then he could have made this world one without a hint of concern for human life. If he had done that, I could have started on my homunculus projects, or the cloning project long ago. I suppose that would bring about slavery, and yes slavery is bad. Blah blah blah I know all the arguments on it. It''s the most evil thing humankind has ever done, when combined with goo'' old American racism. Murica! Don''t get me wrong, I''m not changing my mindset here. I don''t endorse lifelong torture without legitimate reasons or actual need. A quick, painless death like the ones I give my criminal captives bears little strain on my mind, but I still oppose continuous suffering of innocents. Continuous suffering of criminals, on the other hand, is more open to debate. Sometimes out of necessity, you don''t have the time to negotiate nicely with criminals. Torture, mental or physical, is and always will be an effective tool, no matter what criminal rights activists might say. Of course, I don''t indulge in senseless torturing, let''s just make that clear. I''m not some psycho or heartless monster you might see in other dark fictions, yet. In any case, I have been building a bio-computer down here. If brain acquisition is not a problem, establishing the quantum links would probably be the biggest obstacle to building one. But I have the cheat codes, remember? How does a kagune relies the correct mana or signal to other parts of itself? How does it know that it shouldn''t just twist around randomly? What allows the ghoul to control its kagune? The answer is simple, a crystallized mana particle infused nervous system. And true to the swifty reputation of the ghouls, the crystallized mana particles in the nerves vastly speed up the process, to the level of near instantaneous speed. That''s exactly what is needed to connect the brains together into a parallel computing network. Ignoring a few safety regulations and bringing the brains close together help eliminate potential lags. And it is fast enough, as my testing showed. On its first start up, the ''will'' of the bio-computer was quite hostile to me, probably a lingering effect of the criminals'' mindsets, despite my brainwashing beforehand. The thing is, my ''Impose'' skill rank and level has risen up to Advanced lvl2, probably a result of the other me continuously ''taming'' spirits while I sleep. I may not yet be as powerful as a full-fledge warlock that has been alive for decades, but I''m damn well close enough. I simply used my ''Impose'' skill on the newborn will of the bio-network, crushing it and replacing it with the second other me I copied. Oh, speaking of being a full-fledge warlock, do you believe fifteen hundred weak little spirits is too much? Allow me to clarify the field for you. A spirit is a will, spawn from the collective will of several humans. But mindsets can change, a human might change religions many times in her life. That means there''s at least one weak spirit, if not more, for every human that has existed since the Second Age of Terra, when mana awakened within them. Given that I know there have been eight ages on Terra before this current age of witches and alchemy, and each one seems to last long enough that the next civilization always forget about the last, it''s inevitable that I conclude that there are easily trillions, if not hundreds of trillions, of spirits in the spirit plane alone. A full-fledge warlock or spirit medium, like Grandma Garcia, has countless, perhaps millions of spirits contracted. One little spirit alone could only guide enough mana to make a slight change in immediate air pressure for a fraction of a second, in the radius of maybe a hair''s width at best. If a warlock wants to make a gust of wind strong enough to throw off enemies, even lifting them around in a tempest, he must have millions of spirit contracted to him. The world''s not so easy that a normal warlock or spirit medium could just contract several very powerful spirits that can blow winds on a scale large and hard enough. The reality of the situation is that many hidden spirit mediums only contract several weak spirits in their entire life, and never becomes a warlock that can use spirit powers offensively. That''s why the majority of this world''s human population are still civilians despite the constant war against the witches. Anyways, I decided to keep a copy of myself in my inner mind permanently, it''s been doing wonders for me so far. Remember, while the me in a biological body needs sleep, the me in my inner mind doesn''t. And can''t even if I want to in there. My new bio-computer is how I intend to solve the efficiency problem of compartmentalizing the entire Meyer & Anderson Industries. A computer is always better at computation then a normal human, unless you have autism and great luck that it leaves you with some usual, enhanced ability. Autism. I took that as an inspiration, and modified... brainwashed the brains of the bio-network a bit. Optimizing them for higher math computation, all overseen by the other me in there. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. And the good thing about being copies of myself? Our mind synchronizes when in body contact. That''s a bit of a restriction for me at the moment, but I know I will find a way around that eventually. For now, this way suits me the best. I can''t risk having someone else access the bio-computer, especially because if anyone finds out the specifics of my quest, it will be failed. Other than spending my time conducting experiments, practicing at Grandma Garcia''s, or acquiring material for my bio-computer, I spend most of my time and effort building factories. Traditional method of production are all good and intimate with the customers, but not money making. I started with the textile industry and food industry. Both are the basic necessities of life, and they''re doing above expectation at the moment. Afterward, I took on the paper industry, about four months later. It always puzzled me how this world could have newspaper but not mass-produced books. I solved that when I acquired the printing company through hostile takeover. What do you know? They had an ancient artifact that takes the role of a mechanical newspaper printer you''d find on old Earth. It runs on mana... but it''s not as fast as the normal newspaper printer. In the end I decided to go the traditional route for printing books since magic artifacts are not my strong points. And without a complete understanding of the artifact, I can''t copy it. Moving on, these people have the basic concept of insurances... mostly for trading ships. The closest thing they had to an insurance company was a couple of rich families along the Western coastline that provides the service to seafaring merchants. That changed when I introduced Meyer Insurance Agency. Of course, I''m not an idiot when it comes to that. I would never introduce the idiotic American system of health insurance, that''s just ridiculous. I proposed a universal health care system to the Fhrer, which is still under consideration at the moment. It does frustrate me sometimes that any nonmilitary policy or technology I proposed to be implemented are given secondary priority... but we''re at war, so that can''t be helped. About two years ago, I finally pushed through the general education bill, after heavy lobbying. Can''t they see apprenticeships are limiting themselves? The first academy is in the capital, primary attended by rich kids that doesn''t have much to do. How wasteful they are, playing around when they can be running for world domination... I guess that''s just me. I also teaches one class per week upon the Fhrer''s insistence... a class of more than three hundred state alchemists. They''re the ones who didn''t get what I was writing in the textbooks on how to use the new alchemy techniques. Answering all their questions was a nightmare... until I decided I had enough of questions. So I started the fourth class on basics of the new techniques, and ignore their questions. I think it works well, if they stick around by the end of the year, then they''re definitely more prepared than their peers who didn''t. Speaking of alchemy techniques... remember that the circle is the base of power to use alchemy? I had an inspiration one day... what if I made the base of power... a ball? An orb? That''s infinite circles! Unfortunately my dream of drawing out infinite energy was defeated, but the orb-base is still much better than the 2D ones they have been using. It''s even better than the stacked circle technique I developed! To think I spend half a year developing ways to overlap alchemy circles when i could''ve just made it orb shaped... Damn it! Either way, though the orb shaped base is much harder to inscribe runes at the correct location because it''s 3D and curved, it''s how Amestrisian Alchemy looks like now. No more paper and ink, or engraving alchemy circles into clothings. Now, it''s all the orb-shaped formation created with steel that I produce... Hehehehehehehe that was the biggest military contract I''ve taken to date! It alone accounted for half of the profits these past few years! The second most profitable contract I had, and still is ongoing, is the one to build radio towers. The communication technology they had before I showed them radio was fulcan messengers at best. Mostly just pigeon messengers. Not the most reliable way, but they''ve had it for centuries. Radio changed all that. And the best thing other than overcharging them on the construction and maintenance cost of radio towers? I gained access into the minds of the military. Hehehe, all their little dirty secrets too. The only part that backfired is that I realized how ruthless they are to witches... like sacrificing towns of thousands of innocents just so they can have a chance to kill a high-ranking witch. Yikes, even I''m not cold enough to order cruel strategies like that. Now then, what else have I done over the past four and a half years? There''s countless little things I introduced into Terra that they are not worth mentioning, but there are some significant enough to summarize in detail like I''ve done so far. Perhaps there is one other detail worth mentioning. Most ignorant people on old Earth may take this for granted, but lighting is a huge industry, and a major problem in technologically backward world like Terra. I skipped the Edison-era light bulbs and jump started their lighting technology directly to light emitting diode technology, otherwise known as LED lighting. It''s so much more energy efficient. Back then I was divided between fully mechanical development like it was on Earth or the new bio-fusion development for Terra. In the end, I couldn''t resist the urge to explore the potentials of biotechnology merged with old Earth-style technology. I guess everything we''re building looks... weird to an Earthling, but it''s a fantasy world, who cares! There''s also the overhead network of electrical wires I''m building above the re-paved roads. Buuuuut... as it turned out my later invention replaced the need for overhead power line network. The road''s I''m paving now are not paved with the stones as they originally were, or even cement or asphalt. All three of them cracks too easily and too often. No, I used modified ghoul flesh to introduce self-healing properties to the plant cells. That and modifying the top layers of the cells to perform photosynthesis allows for self-healing solar roads. The photosynthesis on the top layer creates the fuel that fuels the layer of electric eel cells underneath it, generating power. They''re harmless by themselves, but when you have billions of little cells in a block of road, the electricity generated is enough to power a house. Developing the ''road'' material alone took about two and a half years, even with my knowledge beforehand. Lots of trial and error went into it until I found how to harden the surface layers without making them too brittle. Just in case I introduce maglev cars in the future, There''s three thin layers of modified electric eel cells for magnetic induction underneath the hardened top layers. They''re like copper coils that usually do the trick on old Earth, but self-healing hehehe. Why did it take all two and a half years? It''s not that my knowledge are lacking, it''s that my tools are lacking. I had painstakingly use true alchemy to create the rudimentary ones, use that to create more precise tools, then repeat. It took several iterations until I got my tools up to the level I need them to be. By the time the plant road was mature enough to bring onto the market, I had already introduced LED lighting and refrigerators, both of which relies on electricity through my power line networks to function. It didn''t take much to persuade the government to contract me to replace their failing roads with my new plant roads, since they replaces the expensive power plants. It also means I''m abandoning the power line networks, because with the new plant roads it''s pretty much local power generation, or distributed generation, so long-distance power lines became obsolete. Not that I''m abandoning the power plant I already build, it''s just that I''m switching it for my personal use. A cool thing about the power plant I had build is that it takes in ambient mana and convert it to electricity. I figured out that the best way to do that is by modifying a wide tree... which is what it end up being. A strange, electricity generating tree. Quite deadly if you go near it without insulation. The leafs absorb both sunlight and mana. It also generates electricity through modified electric eel cells, now fueled by photosynthesis like the plant road. Phew, that last part was pretty hard to modify, but it works at around 30% efficiency at the moment. Good enough, since it doesn''t cost me a thing. No need to build oil wells, to find and extract natural gases, no need for hydroelectric power plants But I did propose several dams, to be build in case of droughts for better water management. And a new water canal to the western region near the desert, which is always in droughts much like old California. Both of them are under review by government at the moment, but they aren''t that important for now. What else? Hmm, oh yeah, plastic. I was trying to make a substitute material for plastic, but honestly nothing''s as good as it is. And I didn''t find any oil reservoirs in Amestris, not large ones at least. Not for the first three years. It was only the year before my tenth birthday that I found a major source of crude oil... on the battlefield. We paid a visit to the Southern region as a family vacation, and to my surprise... the black swamp the borders our Southern border... is a swamp of crude oil in some parts. Too bad it is also the primary battlefield we''re fighting the witches on... that was the first time I personally took interest in the war. Though I don''t need plastic yet, it will be convenient to use later on... but I don''t have the firepower to wipe out the witches'' forces. Railguns are powered by the network I control, so I''m not so worried about them. But firearms? If someone else steals how to manufacture them from my factory, my plan for conquering the world would be jeopardized. For now, railguns is the only kind of firearms I''m providing. Quite the busy four and a half year don''t you think? Just a few more months and it will be my tenth birthday! You know why I love birthdays? It''s not just because of the party and the gifts I receive, it''s because of the lack of holidays. Frequent holidays, where everyone just enjoy a day off, isn''t a realistic concept in Terra. Besides Birthdays, national independence day, and two other days, we have no day-off holidays. There are many that are celebrated in private, but not with enough government recognition. So yeah, I look forward to birthdays, they''re fun celebrations, and a nice break from the research I stuff myself with. I''m also pretty sure there''s not much left for me to learn from Grandma Garcia, unlike Anne and Jill. And from what she allowed me to sense, I''m about halfway to being a full-fledge warlock. As usual, I''m only keeping 10% of the true number of spirits I have out at any given time. I''m also pretty sure I''m ready to start on the homunculus project. I want an army of clones, fully functional ones. The problem with the cloning technology I know from old Earth is that clones never live long. Idealy I need clones to be my eyes and ears everywhere, settling into the local population. If they die too fast, it will definitely be noticeable. Even if I can produce enough clones at a constant rate to replace the ones that dies, that will make it easy for my enemies to track down the source. Cloning is harder than I thought it would be, even with my alchemy to speed things up. The copy ability allows me to make one limb a day at most, if I don''t rest and keep at it the whole day. For now, it''s not practical to use it as my method of production. Copying an spiritual being is much easier than copying a physical object, as I discovered. I also discovered another unwritten limitation to the skill. When I copied Raijin twice and tried to merge them together, they did but only had double the power of the original. When I tried it again, there was no increase in power at all. It seems copy and merging can only be applied as a power-up once, for now. I need time to level it up more. Speaking of skills, I took a month off to explore the skills I received from the other Primordial Gods, or Overgods, as I like to refer to them as. Primordial Gods is just too much of a mouthful for me. My Song of Ulosis is probably the most used skill out of them. I use it often to speed up plant growth, which is how I can produce as much ''plant roads'' as I am, about fifty miles a day. All taken immediately to replace the major roads, of course. The ''Intimidating Presence'' passive can scare off mighty enemies like the rats in my lab. It can''t do much else, but it''s enough for me. Keeping the bugs and vermins away from me? Sweet, don''t even need chemically harmful solutions. I have no clue how to level this passive up... am I supposed to sit in the witches'' camp and let the hostility raise the level? As for Kratos'' Rage... I have plenty of ''Rage'' Stats. Probably the result of all the failed experiments. Still, my success rate of about 12% is nevertheless excellent compared to the usual back on Earth. That one time I tested Kratos'' Rage... I destroyed half a month''s work in ten minutes, which I spend in a red, hazy and trippy world. At least that''s how it seemed to me until I managed to reclaim my sanity. Never going to use that skill unless I''m out of options. Or Song of Moirae. Since it says the usage can be stacked, I''m saving all the uses I can. At the current initiate level 0, the time limit I can use it is only five minutes... but hopefully long enough for me to destroy my enemies. The one I was most interested in after Ulosis was the ''unblockable'' skill I got from the God of Destruction. I''d thought it would mean I could punch through solid steel, so I tried it... big mistake. The full power of the skill will only be unlocked after I reached the highest level at rank God level 10... and I can only use 1% at the lowest level. Each level represents 1% more I can penetrate, very much like an armor piercing skill you might get as an archer in a game. That doesn''t mean I''m spending my day hitting the tree to level it up or something like that. I don''t have time for these skills, there''s so much to do and I wish they have coffee in this world. At least I made do with tea for now. Aha! That''s what I forgot! I opened convenience stores in the Capital, with an isle that sells pre-made tea products in each store. The bottled Milk Tea is the current favorite among the customers, with synthetic energy drink following that. Won''t the ''players'' be surprised when they arrive mwuahahahahahaha, I''ll bet I can conquer the world''s economy by then! Or try to, at least. It''s my goal to have a unified trading system by the time the players arrive... I would hate to have any competitor in catering to the players. Maybe I would be able to give out quests? The allure of next-to-free labor through the newbie players almost make me drool when I think about it. Free slaves... Think about it, in most games, there''s a major guild that you can trade in, get quests, and redeem rewards. There is no such guild in Terra, this is a real world after all. If I have to guess, the ''developers'' would probably introduce a guild by modifying the event of this world. Suddenly making up a guild would be too never fit into the society. Now if I can dominate the world economy... there''s a good chance that my company would be taken as the base for the guild, or as the quest-assigning guild itself. It''s a gamble I''m willing to take. Either way they go about it, I''ll profit. It''s an amazing feeling to be funding your own research and development. No more petitioning the stupid state government for funding, no more trying to teach ignorant but rich monkeys what parallel computing is, nor more need to look for private investors. I am my own investor, and I''m investing everything I got. Research unhindered by politics or funding restriction? This is heaven! I can get most of the materials I require, and my factories are finally producing enough high enough level materials to meet my requirements! I had already more than doubled the mills and steel forges in Amestris. Thirty-fold, to be exact, after I introduced factories to do things on a more massive scale. Where was I? Ah right, factories. My chemistry complex next to Brentwood is a little behind schedule, but it''s doable for now. Now then, I''ve been testing my newest factory for months now. It''s the accumulation of the advances I have brought to Amestris, and I intend to officially start it on my 10th birthday. It''s a semiconductor fabrication plant. Arguably one of the most labor-intensive project I have taken on so far. Almost every single machine within it was either crafted by my own hand, or constructed en masse with the more advanced tools I finally finished building just a year before. Prepare yourself for the modern age world! After the plant''s completely up and running, I will finally be able to start for real. Flooding the market without harmless modern devices! As long as there''s no way it can be used against me, I''ll sell it. Toward that end, I''ve been writing out textbooks much like the instructional textbook I wrote long ago for my alchemy techniques. It was hellish torture to write a whole book without a computer and printer setup, so I settled for a typewriter. Which is also selling well, but I will phase it out in a few years when I start manufacturing smart devices. I don''t think I will be introducing the internet to this world... it would give the people too much freedom. And freedom is dangerous.. But who knows, I just might. I''ve been researching a way to bypass the mental defense and directly inject information into the brain. A mix of hypnosis, drugs and a few modern techniques. I planned it originally to serve as the tool to educate my clones once I find out how to create long-living clones, but now I''ve been considering a new potential market. You see, the equipment is very much like a virtual reality stimulator. In fact, that''s the basis I based mine on, but the one I''m building now is biological. There are many advantages to making one based on biotechnology. For one, it''s self-healing to certain extent, which cuts down on maintenance. It''s much more comfortable, though admittedly a bit alien-looking. Most importantly it''s interconnected by the same type of mana infused nervous system the ghouls have in their kagune. I just need to find a way to create long-distance mana infused nerve system. At the current stage of development, it''s still limited to a few meters of each other. Not so practical, but like I said, I have another plan for this. Take the projects on old Earth that provides free premium service in return for a portion of the smart device''s processing time. It''s the same concept I''m going for here. Letting the people of Terra have a fully immersive virtual reality, in return for using their brain while they''re plugged in. I decided to call it bio-stimulator, if I''m ever going to sell this. On Earth, this would be shut down the second it''s proposed, but nobody else would understand enough to suspect me of invading their mind. Kukuku, I''ve already established that ghoul''s nervous system is almost instantaneous with its infusion of mana particles. If I can get my bio-stimulator out into the market, I''ll have the largest bio-computer in the world! Forget kidnapping criminals and using their brains, I just need a small portion of the people''s brain power! And there''s another advantage: Once it''s up, it cannot be shut down. A centralized bio-computer might be vulnerable, but a distributed network of bio-computer? There are three timezones in Amestris alone, and Amestris is the smallest world-class nation. Of course, they didn''t have timezones before I introduced it, but that became necessary after they purchased my radio network. Someone somewhere would always be on, and I plan to make my bio-stimulator ubiquitous, even if I must take a loss on selling them. It will be worth it. Not that it will be ready for another five, six years. At worst, it could take a decade to set it all up. So far so good, right? Not quite... I received a major bad news last week... the experimental high altitude balloons I''ve been testing has been encountering an unexpected obstacle. Literally. I can''t get any to go further than the stratosphere, out into real space, even when I launched a test rocket attached to the balloon. It''s like there''s a barrier preventing my rocket from going high enough. I have my suspicion. From the black box I recovered in the Great Desert, there'' s nothing wrong with any part of the rocket until the last second, before it fell apart. Could it be... a ''zone'' of some kind? In some games, you must conquer a zone before the next one is open to exploration. It could be the same setup here. And if that''s true, it''s possible that I can''t get anything to beyond the areas surrounding this supercontinent and the nearby islands. Last week, I received my confirmation. You see, in the stratosphere, there''s two directions of airflows, separated by elevation. It''s the cheat path I''ve been using to move my balloons around without building a jet engine. Lower it, and it flows East. Go higher, and the airflow carries it to the West. Finding and mapping out the major airflows that are consistent enough required me to sacrifice more than two hundred expensive high-altitude balloons and recording equipments. in regard to the last part, I''ve researching a way to modify a creature to substitute for it. From what I understand of the Leviathan that the Reim Empire uses, it produce lighter-than-air internally. I''m going for the same concept here, just on a smaller scale. There''s no need for a Leviathan, my goal isn''t to transport troops and heavy equipments, just mapping out Terra. A pseudo-GPS network, if you will. So far, my prototype beast modification is a combination of jellyfish and octopus that has many of lighter-than-air pockets within it. I''m not that stupid to make it with hydrogen pockets. The jellyfish is the main body, like the balloon part of a hot air balloon. The octopus tentacles replace the need for ropes to hold the equipments underneath it. Spoiler : For now, I have yet to find a way to make the beast produce lighter-than-air gases themselves, but I''m working on it. I suppose the last significant thing over the past four and a half year is that I handed the management of the industry over to a handful of professionals I personally scouted. They''re better at managing a gigantic group of companies than I am, since they''re full time managers. I suppose I should call them the CEOs of the various companies under my Meyer Tech Corporation banner. It''s more convenient too. I don''t have time to do everything myself, so I leaves instruction for the management to know which way to take the company and which market to invest in. After that, I typed up a few rudimentary textbooks on the technologies I''m working with and distributed to the scientists working under me. That way they can figure it out themselves instead of relying on me for everything, which saves me tons of time and allows me to focus in on my personal projects listed above. Now then, tomorrow will be my third-to-last official birthday before the players come. Though unofficially, I''ve been finding excuses to celebrate my other birthdays. Mostly celebration on a new factory''s opening, new profit record, new... anything, really. It doesn''t matter what it is, as long as I can celebrate my birthday hehehehe. I''ve prepared as much as I can... though I left the guest list to Mother, whose much better at keeping track of all the people and employees than I am. Remembering people''s names was never my strong suit. I can''t wait... kukuku I have a feeling that tomorrow will be more than it seems... Wait is that a good feeling or bad? Hmmm... oh well, whatever. ............... ............ ........ .... .. . Woohoo! The guests are coming in, amazed by the modern-style building I constructed for this occasion. It''s reinforced glass and steel beams, very different from the typical structures you''d find in Amestris. I haven''t got enough capacity to start building skyscrapers yet, but it''s in the work. Of course, this building won''t be wasted just for this one occasion. I plan to convert this into the first multi-level farming building. If it works out, I won''t have to buy up lands as fast as I am now, saving me a good few billion dollars. Sorry if you expected mithril, platinum, gold, silver, copper coins you''d find in most games. They''re just too impractical. Who would use mithril to make coins? Morons, morons without a sense of financial responsibility for the nation, that''s who. Paper bills... is under consideration. I don''t know how they will take it, since it is pretty unconventional. Anyways, I need to increase the food production rate for Amestris. I didn''t realize this until I started going big in the food industry, but a damn half of Amestris'' foods come from Reim and Britannia... too reliant on other countries. It''s inevitable until now, given that both other countries dwarves Amestris in land size. If it isn''t for the War against the witches, I''m convinced that Britannia would be busy reclaiming this land as theirs, with Reim invading to their share as well. Multi-level farming and genetically modified plants are the answers I know. They''re what we did on old Earth, after the ice caps melted and our land resource dwindled. Multi-level farming saves ton of space, they''re like skyscrapers for farming, the bigger versions. GMO foods... well the Europeans are still whining about the nonexistent side-effects but most foods are GMO now on old Earth anyways. Pfft, can''t they understand allergies aren''t caused by GMO foods? They''re increasing because our foods are too sterile for good bacterias to grow in them... and without those good bacterias we don''t have immunities we used to have against the bad ones. Wait a second, is... is that... Amy?! I haven''t seen her in... 8 years! If I remember correctly? Or is it? 5 years? 6? Whatever, long time! Mother invited her? "Amyyyyy!" I scream in happiness as I leap forward to hug her... that was strange. It''s like a part of me really likes her, though the real me is more indifferent to her presence. A consequence of merging with little-me, I guess. "Pray! You have grown up so much!" Amy picks me up and swings me around! Ugh, nobody does that anymore! Damn, I still look the same when I was 8! This is too embarrassing! "Amy no swinging!" I protests! Good thing she puts me down after two more spins, "These are my aunt and uncle, Pray. Say hi!" "Hi!" Pfft, unimportant people judging by their clothes. They''re like country-side peasants looking in wonder at the modern building they are in. Already out of mind. No need to let them take up any space in there. We exchanged greetings, before Mother moved me on to greeting other important guests.
Author''s Note: It''s time to get realistic people. The world isn''t a nice park to have picnics in, its a cruel hearted b*tch who would stab you in the back the second you look away. Same applies for the world of Terra. No, we''re not exactly going to war or massacring innocent here, but some of you might not like the concepts I will be using here. And I know my personal morals as a realist are not exactly... conventional. Chapter 13- Varete?! Whaaaat?! A/N: I apologize for any typos or grammar mistakes. Please alert me of any mistakes I have made, and I''ll fix it. I don''t like mistakes, thanks! This is the PR''d version folks!
A black, solid yet shifty substance stabs out of Mother''s chest like a spear made from the purest essence of the night. Dark and unflinching, boldly announcing its presence amid the bright day and dumbstruck crowd. "Shit!"
Well, I doubt thing could get any worse than this... Getting all stuffed up in this stiff dress, while my hair''s being done by Amy. Oh hi, how dare you peek at a lady dressing up? Die you bastard(s)! In any case, Amy insisted that she re-do my hair personally after I finished the round of greeting guests after I greeted her aunt and uncle. Ugh, mother invited too many people, I only know about a handful of the actually important ones. According to Amy, the maids who did my hair this morning probably did it with their eyes blindfolded, a claim I somewhat doubts. Not that I can deny Amy''s much better at doing my hair then they are. For one, it doesn''t feel like my hair, which is about waist length since I hate cutting my beautiful hair, is being stretched everywhere. It took me a while to get used to having my hair done by someone else, since as a male in my last life I just cut them short. Run a hand through my hairs, done. Not so as a girl... ugh I guess this is what the Melinda and the girls spend all their morning doing everyday. Gods, I can''t imagine doing all these work myself! Maids. Definitely need them. Amy''s so much better at this but she can''t be her- "OW!" What the hell?! "AMY!!!! That hurt!" "Oh be quiet Pray," Amy mutters distractedly as she pulls my hair again. "OWWWWW!" What the hell is she doing?! "Pray, you got little knots everywhere, why are you hair so long? Make them straight, not all tangled up!" Bu-bu-but! "But Amyyyy, it''s the maids'' fault!" I protests. How could this possibly be my fault? I let the maids do my hair every morning! "Bad Pray!" Ow! She smacked me on my head gently, how could you?! "Grow up! For a genius you sure are lazy~" "Bu-bu-but... Amy is a meanie!!!!" I scream at the top of my lungs. OWW, what is she doing back there? Trying to tear my scalp off? Mother, help! Where is Mother?! Still in the ballroom? Hello, I need help here ASAP! Damn it, maybe a few more cries will get her attention! "What is going on here?!" Mother barrels through the door. Welp, I guess we need another replacement. Third one today, if I''m not mistaken. At least it''s not a wall this time... That always make me wonder what those dresses from Xing are made of. Definitely not a material we have here, nothing''s that durable yet thin. Shame I can''t test them, since they belongs to Mother... "Amy," She questions Amy with her forehead knotted together, "Why was Pray screaming?" "Oh Mrs. Anderson! I was just re-doing Pray''s hair," Amy beams at Mother, unconcerned, "The maids did a terrible job of maintaining her hair! I have to untangle everything... sigh. Mrs. Anderson, have you ever done Pray''s hair yourself?" "Well..." Mother looks uncertain... hmmm, now that I think about it, both Mother and I always relied on our maids... "No, I''ve always told the maids to do it." "How about yourself? Surely you have done your own?" "I had the maids of the royal palace did my hair before I moved here... the maids here do a decent enough job for me" Mother shrugs off Amy''s question, "Well, I see there''s nothing to be worried about here. Keep going, Amy, I''ll check back in half a hour." Wait what?! Mother, come back! Stop this torture! Noooooooo!
Finally, I am freed this hideous torture! Blah! I''ll shave my hair off so nobody can do this to me again! To be honest with you... I treasure my hair too much to shave it off, but it''s the thought that counts! Anyways, I''m finally out of the dressing room with Amy... ...And straight into Mother''s arms, where I''m dragged off to greet the guests again. Sigh, it''s like I walked out of the lion''s den straight into hell. Not the best comparison, I know, but it''s the best I can do for now. I guess it can''t be helped.
"...and we''ll fund the entire tuition! No fees! We''ll even pay your lodging and meals! Unlimited meals!" Hmm, tempting, but this representative need to do better than that to get me to even consider his proposal. You see, I''m just about to take my first and only public mana and affinity test. It turned out that a full quarter of the guests here are representatives of arcane academies from Britannia and Reim. Mostly Britannia, since Reim only have one official academy for the study of the arcane. Never the less, they did sent a full team of representatives plus a Reim ambassador to Amestris here to recruit me. And that was before I even took the test. I guess they all heard about my genius and the blessings the gods gave me. Do the other countries have the blessing ceremony? I''m pretty sure we have that detail somewhere in the profiles we gathered for the other two countries, but I''ve been really too busy to read through them myself, even though I was the one who ordered it to be done in the first place. Anyways, the archmage Mother invited brought out an transparent orb. A crystal ball, pretty much. I guess that''s the mana affinity testing device. How cliche.. Ceremonial speech, such a big deal... I''m not particularly listening, so I''ll skip that part for now. Oh! That''s my cue! I walked forward under the crowd''s watchful eyes and place my little hand on the orb. Sad, sad, sad little hand, like a 8 years old. That god damn Nine-yin seal, I have already reached the maximum strength I could without looking like I''m on steroids, and I''m still short like... like... like a... sigh, I hate to admit it, but I look like a classic loli at the moment. And the damn seal is malfunctioning or something, ''cause it''s supposed to be off by now but it''s still going strong damn it! Gotta keep the appearance up! Can''t appear too buff as a 10 years old. I''m testing injection of mana flesh into human body to augment the frail human body, but so far the rejection symptoms has caused all my criminal test subjects to suffer hideous deaths. Mutations, like they are Not that they mind, since I already removed their brains beforehand. Want not, waste not. A golden glow emitted out of the orb, almost blinding my eyes had I not know this would happen beforehand. It did blind me momentarily the first time I tried this test yesterday during the test run, but never mind that. As expected, the glow solidified into twelve rings orbiting the center orb, like Saturn''s ring. The orb itself turned into a myriad of colors, before settling down to a golden glow once again. A gasp ran through the gathered representatives... boy, if only I have a few sausages to stuff their collectively gasping mouths... hahaha Mother took those away after i pulled that prank on the archmage yesterday. Aw, fun times... "P-Pure mana?!?!" The crowd dissolves into a crowd of gossiping pussi... I mean the representatives can''t help but murmur god knows what into their colleagues'' ears. Hopefully to increase the recruitment pitch hehehe. Pure mana is practically only heard of before in legends. The only mana affinity- mana itself- that can utilize mana to its full extent and master any affinity without penalties, or so the books say. "Muwahahahaha! Witness my glory you peasa-" shit, that''s not meant to be spoken out loud... Too much time alone in my own lab, I guess. I have a bad habit of talking to myself from my last life, it helps me concentrate and focus on the task at hand. Not so good for social purposes, I''m afraid. Spending half of my day in my top secret lab everyday probably doesn''t help either... "FULL BENEFITS!" An unmemorable representative jumps out of line and shouts in my face. Bad idea buddy, Bad, bad idea... Mother teleported in front of me- Instantaneous movement as much as I can tell, but there''s not much difference from teleportation- and grabs the poor representative''s face. Out he went through the window. Hope he knew a few cushion spells, all the representatives are mages anyways. "And NEVER come back, or you''re dead!" Mother shouts after his rapidly disappearing figure, "Anyone who shouts in my house next better kill yourself, or you''ll regret it." A collective shudder ran through everybody in the ballroom, can''t blame them for that. "Miss Pray, if I may." A old looking man steps out of the crowd... he got guts, I''ll admit that. "I am the second assistant headmaster of the Imperial Newgrounds Academy of Britannia for gifted nobles and the Imperial Family," Wow, such a long title. Must be a mouthful. He took a breath before continuing, "On the behalf of the headmaster, I formally invite you to attend our academy as a special privileged student with full benefits. We are the best arcane academy in the world! You won''t regret attending our prestigious academy!" Wow, someone sure looks proud of himself. How typical of the Britannian nobles. Good thing there''s no nobility class in Amestris, dealing with the arrogant bastard from Britannia during trading conferences was annoying enough. Trading with the Empire of Reim is no better. They have no nobles, but their military officers with fancy badges are easily just as arrogant the Britannians. And those bastards control the cross-border trades... I guess the reason he didn''t speak up until now is because he didn''t consider me worthy of attending his precious academy until now... pompous bastard... Huh, how come the other representatives stopped trying to recruit me...? They were so rowdy just a moment before... "Of course, our Imperial Newgrounds Academy far surpass all the other... commoner academies. There''s no need to even consider them, Miss Pray!" Ah, so that''s why. The moment this guy spoke up they lost all their chances of recruiting me, or so they thought... "Nonsense, lying through your teeth as usual, Alex?" Another old greezer steps up in front of me... wait no, not step up. He teleported. How?! I need that teleportation spell! It could save me so much logistical nightmares! The group of representatives from that Reim academy suddenly bows down toward the newcomer for no reason at all... "Lezenith, how rare it is to see you out of your cave. When was the last time you showed yourself to the world, three hundred? five hundred years ago? You don''t belong here you hermit!" "Silence!" A powerful pulse of mana surged through the room. Hmm, this greezer ain''t no pusher, I guess. "Now then, Miss Pray, I am the headmaster of the Holy Reim Academy for the arcane. Only the most gifted individuals are allowed into my academy, and I have not seen your talent for centuries... what do you say? I can take you to the academy right this moment-" "You mean steal them from us!" Alex, I guess that''s the second assistant... something of that something academy is fuming now. Ugh, I don''t like arrogant people, this old man is so much better, at least for now. You never know... "Don''t listen to him, Miss Pray. They kidnap anyone they deem ''gifted'' from around the world! They are no better than a bunch of kidnappers with borrowed knowledge! They may have the most grimoires, but we have teachers of unmatched qualification in every single field!" Most grimoires, you say? I don''t need bunch of teachers telling me what to do, I just need the knowledges we don''t have here in Amestris... Besides, I already have experiences in ''magic'' casting from those times I spend in the virtual reality games back on old Earth, I''m sure I can manage for myself... Alright, I''ve decided... "Thank you for your generous offer, Mister Alex, but I''m afraid I must respectively decline it." I give a small curtesy to him. "Well she got her manners down, that''s for sure..." I heard someone mutters somewhere just within the limit of my hearing range... "Good! Very good, now then, shall we Miss Pray?" Mister Lezenith extends his hand toward me... hmm I need to prepare myself befo- BAM! The front door slams open... Whoa! Who dares to do that in Mother''s presence? Speaking of Mother, she has been watching on the sideline for a while now, with Father holding her back from beating all these greezers senseless. I think she''s letting him... there''s no way Father''s regular human strength could stand a millisecond before Mother... This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. "Varete?!" A surprised yell slips out of my lips. What is she doing here? Her mere presence brings back nightmares of her nonstop etiquette lessons... Why? Why is she back? I''m pretty sure Mother haven''t been in touch with her since she was dismissed years ago, much less invited her to my birthday party... and even if she was invited, she''s terribly late as hell... "Now, now, I can''t have you take her away, Mister Lezenith." She walks forward amidst parting crowd... huh, why are they backing away like they are running for their lives? "VARETE!" Mother shook off Father and walks forward to in front of Varete, "No uninvited guests are allowed! What are you doing here?!" "Dear! Careful! She''s a witch!" Witch?! Father what are you saying? A witch this far from the battlefield? Unimaginable! Let''s see, I have never met a witch myself, the most I know of them are reports of the witches'' movements secret radio backchannel I installed in the radio network I sold to the Amestrisian military... Varete is dressed most inappropriately. She would''ve lectured me to no end if I wore something like that, not that I would even consider it at my age... She''s in a almost skin tight black dress with the exception of loose cuts starting from her elbow and knees, with a very, very low back cut, and showing a quite generous portion of her... well, boobs, to say plainly. A pair of ear rings frames her face. And atop of her neatly arranged hair rest a ridiculously large hat. Like the Elizabethan era lady''s hat, just far taller, with a inscribed circle at its front... ...exactly like a witch''s hat I''ve heard from the reports. Oh, was she sent to spy on me before...? "Eeeeeeeeeek! Double S- ranked Witch of Darkness!" Mister Alex is on his butt backing away like a madman... hahahahahaha someone just soiled himself, "Go, go away! Stay away from me!" He looks like he''s on the verge of exploding into a crying wreck as Varete advances toward us and Mother. Ahahahahaha that look on his face! I wish I had a camera to capture that on fil- Oh wait, gotta focus here. Varete, shouldn''t take my eyes off her. Apparently I inherited my easily distracted focus from Mother, because she also turned around to look skeptically at the now crying mister Alex... Varete''s shadow twists itself into a pool of darkness in a perfect circle around her. How does she do that?! Shadows are intangible things! That''s scientifically impossible! Then the darkness gathered itself into a single spot... right below Mother. Before pulling itself out of the ground like a liquid substance... And impales itself through Mother''s back and front, dead center. A startled gasp slips out of Mother''s lips, with a hint of blood red mist in her cough. "No!" Father springs forward, snapping his fingers to activate his special flame alchemy against the witch- Varete! A half-dome of shadow springs up and surrounds Varete as flame engulfs it, to no avail. ...And I''m still staring at the pitch black spear. A black, solid yet shifty substance, stabbing out of Mother''s chest like a spear made from the purest essence of the night. Dark and unflinching, boldly announcing its presence amid the bright day and dumbstruck crowd. "Shit!" How is this possible?! Mother''s skin are surely impenetrable! She walks through the reinforced walls around here like nothing! How?! HOW?! How dare you, Varete! The pitch black spear disintegrate into dust as another burst of flame engulfs Mother completely. Ah, the Fuhrer himself has entered the battlefield! He was a strategic flame alchemist like Grandpa Maes, and a war buddy even, if I''m not mistaken. Not a single scorch mark can be seen on Mother''s skin, though her dress is another story. The shadow spear got incinerated utterly in his flame. How?! If even the Fuhrer''s famed Incinerating Flame that''s rumored to be even hot enough to melt mithril can''t pierce Mother''s unnaturally tough skin, how could Varete''s spear pierce through so easily?! This is not possible! Mister Lezenith teleports himself in front of Varete during this second of confusion that engulfed everyone. "Cover your eyes now!" Mister Lezenith''s mental voice ripples through everyone''s head, hopefully not Varete''s... A oak staff appears in his hand, before illuminating itself like the sun reincarnate... Holy shit, I''m seeing stars even though I closed my eyes and shielded them with both of my hands. How f*cking bright a spell is he casting?! I''m pretty sure Varete''s shadows have already been rendered into nothingness. Yup, I confirmed my suspicion as I take a short peek as the light dies down. Varete is on her knees in front of Mister Lezenith, with Father and the Fuhrer quickly approaching from both sides! "Tsk!" An ever-so-annoying and yet familiar sound escapes from Varete as her shadows surges forth and covers herself, like a skin tight cover. Then the shadow-Varete disappeared into the shadows at her feet, like she''s sinking down through quicksand! No parting line? I guess she''s not that cliche... "You haven''t seen the last of me!" A menacing whisper resounds through the ballroom. Guess I spoke too soon. I take a quick look around, yup, she''s not behind me, that''s a relief. Wait a f*cking second... WHERE IS MOTHER?! She''s not anywhere in the room! I look around again frantically, "MOTHER! MOTHER! MAMA! WHERE ARE YOU?!" A quiet chuckle right next to me disrupts my frantic shouting. About 10 meters from my left. I turn around quickly to face the second intruder who looks like... A kid. A kid even shorter than I am, wearing a golden robe adorned with Eastern dragons... He must have took Mother somewhere, since he''s the only one looking relax in this hellish situation... "Shorty! What have you done to Mother?! And who the f*ck are you?" That definitely got the chuckle out of his system. "Shorty?" He repeats my word, hissing like god damn snake, "Shorty? I have killed millions for daring to even be in my presence, and you dare to insult me?" "What? What the f*ck are you talking about? Give Mother back!" His eyes narrow down until he''s glaring at me through his eyelashes. Typical Asian, and yes I am being racist. Sue me, there''s no law against it in this world... "I am," He pauses for dramatic effect, pumping out his chest like a f*cking idiot. Ugh, "Just get on with it!" I snap at him impatiently. Where the hell did he took Mother? She must be near right? "As I was saying," A undeniable force suddenly clenchs my mouth shut, "I am the one who rescued your Mother, so be grateful you little twerp..." A hole in space opened up before my eyes, dropping down the unconscious Mother no doubt with her wound gone, and another guy dressed in all black lying in his own pool of blood, his four limbs and head decapitated with impeccably clean cuts. "...And be grateful I am sparing you today." I paid him no heed as I rush forward toward Mother, who is already half-awake, blinking away sleepiness. "Mother! Are you OK?! Mother?" I arrive at her side, just in time for her to turn her head at look at me, crying with happiness "Pray? Wha-what happened? I remember Varete bein-" "You were stabbed in the back, literally." The kid interrupts our touching reunion. Tsk, how dare he! To interrupt Mother and I? F*cker! Mother turn her head in the other way to take a look at the voice with a confused expression on her face. Then she froze, like a perfect statue frozen in time as she stares at the kid, who still haven''t move an inch from where he appeared. One second, Two second, Three seco- Before I can react, Mother leaps on her feet, and got on her hands and knees, forcing me to do the same in the process. Oh shit, almost banged my head on the marble ground for a second. What is she doing?! "Your Majesty!" Mother sneaks a peek at me, "I apologize for any insult my daughter might have given. She doesn''t know anyone from Xing! It is my fault!" Aw, Mother knows me so well- Wait what? Why is she apologizing to the kid? You Majesty? Who''s that? "No need for you to apologize to me, child," He glares at me purposefully... how dare he call Mother child! I will end you! "Mother who the hell is he?" I ask as Mother allows us to sit up again. "Pray!" Mother''s hand covers my mouth, before whispering into my ear "Don''t speak until you are spoken to! That''s the Immortal Emperor! He could wipe out this nation from the world if he wants to!" Say what?! That kid is the Immortal Emperor? He doesn''t look a day older than a nine or ten year old! How?! "Do you doubt me?" His soft words reached my ears, though his mouth never moved. What the hell, it''s not even telepathy, that much I can tell at once. Then he turns toward the dead body in black we''ve all been ignoring, "He was charged with the duty of protecting your Mother from the shadow, a task that he failed most literally." Hahaha... f*ck you, don''t joke about this! "For his failure, his clan shall pay the price with their heads" Another portal opened up behind me on the ceiling, above where the surprise battle took place just moments ago. Out drops a mountain of corpse, a few hundred freshly decapitated bodies followed by their heads, frozen with surprise on their face, dropping down like bowling balls. The already sparse crowd made themselves gone from the room, with the exception of Mister Lezenith... "Do you still doubt me?" His soft voice reaches my ears again, as Mother tensed me beside me... Co-could the kid have done that? Shit, I swore internally for the second time in the day, he''s really the Immortal Emperor... "N-No, and I apologize for my earlier insults..." I speak through clenched teeth. Must. Not. Make. This. Any. Worse! "Apology accepted," He chuckles again before continuing, "Well, I''m only a messenger here. You have been summoned to report to War God''s mountain, make sure you aren''t late." He walks by us, heading toward the mountain of corpse that flooded the room, separating us from Father and the Fuhrer. "Wait!" I cry out in a panic. "?" He half turns and arch his eyebrow at me quizzically, as Mother watches on with terror visible to the naked eye. "When?" I managed to croak out under their collective stares, "When must I get there?" This is crucial information people! Someone gotta ask it! And Mother doesn''t look like she could at the moment... "Ah yes, I almost forgot," You did! "Just get there within a few decades, what does it matter? Now then, I shall see you at the mountain..." His hands shot forward like predators leaping for their preys, and rips space apart once again before he disappeared through the new portal, taking the mountain of corpse with him. If anyone told me after this that there was hundred of decapitated corpse lying in our house, I would''ve laughed at them. But the pool of blood staining the floor tells me otherwise. That was no nightmare, it was real. It was all too real. ............... ............ ......... ...... ... . Father runs up to us the moment the mountain of bloody obstacles cleared, taking us into a bear hug, sobbing like the crying wreck he is, "Thank goodness... you''re Ok... you''re ok... you''re all ok..." Mother pats his back in sympathy, "It''s ok Xix, don''t cry... don''t cry..." Just like a Mother soothing a baby... "Daddy, if you keep crying, I''ll say you''re useless!" I toss in my two cents. That helped, a little. And so my overwhelmingly bloody birthday party ended that day, with the Fuhrer''s men bursting in five minutes too late. They left soon enough as they saw us and the Fuhrer unharmed, as did Mister Lezenith, after he left a letter on the chair I was sitting in before all this... I think I''ll sleep with Mother and Father tonight. I don''t know if there''s any therapeutic effects, and frankly, I don''t care. It certainly sure is soothing to the heart... Chapter 14- And we are... Off! The cool breeze penetrates through the dry, salty air above the golden beach, a refreshing breeze underneath the hot, hot sun. Waves after waves crashes itself onto the stretch of sand, before fading away again into the sea. Amidst the classic coconut trees, two recliners could be seen. On which two girls of no particularly notable feature except for their excessively long hairs and doll-like faces lies in comfort as they sunbathe in the Hawaiian weather, waited upon by maids and butlers of all size and kinds behind them. "Nothing like sunbathing on the good old Hawaiian beach, perfect for any condition." The girl murmurs offhandedly to no one in particular. "Agreed," The other girl agrees with herself. "Sebastian, another round of champagne, will you?" "At once, mistresses!" The humanoid butler enthusiastically reaches into the nonexistent bar behind him and pulls out another bottle of champagne- the some, few hundredth of the day- and pours it into the two perfectly identically awaiting champagne glasses. The girls enjoys their drink a while longer, resting in comfort of their beach. Safe, from all harms, saves one. "Enjoy ourselves, are we? I must say I am most impressed by how well you handle real world situations," "Oh shut up," We thought in sync, "I deserve a break after everything that happened yesterday..." "Care for some fresh coconut juice?" He hands them both two abnormally large, juicy coconuts cracked open perfectly for the two straws to fit through. "..." "..." "?" "...""..." "Sigh, what do you want Kruphix?" The first girl sighs as she sit up, waving the servants away. "Or perhaps we should call you Ascathon?" The second girl adds as she waves away the nonexistent beach they have been sunbathing on for hours now. Yes, this is Pray, and I am in my inner world. With the clone of myself, no less, and we have been sunbathing in this Hawaiian beach we created for hours now. Yes, the servants from before are our enslaved- tamed- spirits. And yes, you are intruding, Kruphix- Ascathon! "Ever so lively..." He comments as the world shifts unwillingly to one of a medieval castle paradoxically adorned with advanced scientific equipments, compete with a sealed tank of unknown matters in the far corner. He promptly sits himself down on the cushioned throne behind him. We seethes in anger. That, is our throne! Yes, this is an exact replica of our secret laboratory, complete with our bio-computer safely sealed in the container tank behind us. Yes, the bastard just changed my scenery without permission. And yes, he just sat on my precious. A crime worthy of capital punishment, surely... "And yes, you are very late, Ascathon" I decides to call him by the name he is known by in Terra, "I was wondering when you are going to come." "You knew?" He looks skeptically at us. What an actor... "I did submit a ticket to the customer service, did I not? Who would''ve thought the customer service contact is already active under the Help menu..." "True, true. I''m just testing it out. Which reminds me, I came here to remove your seal." "Just get on with it!" A snap at him. What is with all these people lately? Can''t they see I''m busy? Just do your business and begone! "Fine, done. You really should watch your temper, young lady..." "Or what?!" Ugh, I hate being lectured, and he sounds like he''s about to start one... "Or you might just lose your pretty comfy lifestyle," He shrugs as he answers, "The Immortal Emperor almost killed you, had his master not restrain him at the last moment." "The war god?!" I''m admittedly surprised at this information, "Isn''t the War God still a hermit somewhere in a cave on his precious mountain? How?" "Tsk, tsk. You have seen the powers people of their merit possess, and yet you haven''t even given it more thought, have you?" "I have all the time in the world," I shrug off his accusation, "Or pretty damn near, as far as I''m concerned, as long as I can accelerate time within this inner world." "Very well, point taken. Take, for example, when he spoke to you using his presence alone, without the aid of actually speaking or telepathy?" "You mean I felt what he meant?" Well, that would explain it, however unlikely it sounds... "Exactly, you interprets his intention unconsciously. A more advanced technique only a master of the self can achieve, I''m afraid. Though to be fair, most can use it to certainly extent as their killing intent or with a strong emotion." "Yeah, yeah, that''s all good and well. What does it matter to me?" "As long as the War God can extends his presence out here, he can observe anything and speak to anyone he wants. It''s perhaps not so much an important detail for now, but you''ll need all the help you can get" He chuckles to himself, like he just told an inside joke... bastard... "Is that all you''re here for? To chit-chat?" "I thought I''d save you the trouble of talking to yourself. Quite the pitiful habit, I must say." *glare* *glare* "........." "...""..." "I''ll see you soon, I suppose," He waves as he turns to leave, "Oh, and remember. This isn''t the world you knew in your last life... do you think moving shadows is impossible? Think again... that''s all, no need to see me out." And just like that, the bastard''s gone. Quite the professional exit, to boot. No flashy portal, no cliche sound effect, not even a ripple in the stale lab air. Just- gone. ""Sigh, I guess it''s time to wake up...""
Aaaaaaaaaand... Beethoven''s 5th Sympathy blare out of the custom alarm clock I had build for myself. Right on time, 10 am. Perfect. Now that I don''t have anymore class at Grandma Garcia''s, I can sleep in all I want! Freedom! Wait... where am I? Oh! I crawl into Mother''s bed yesterday in the real world... that''s right, almost forgot after sunbathing for a week in my inner world! ...And I see three lab reports already waiting at the door. Sigh, why can''t they think for themselves for once? I did hire them for their collective excellence as researchers, but they are too conformed to their old way of research. No, I need them to be able to think for themselves. They should not ask what my inventions are, but rather ask what they can do with my inventions! ...If only I can get that through to them.... Sigh... Now then, ignoring the urgent lab reports, I decides to look at the letter I have been ignoring all last night. The official invitation letter from Headmaster Lezenith yesterday... Miss Prey, I am most honored to offer you this invitation to attend my prestigious Imperial Reim Academy for the Arcane. As I have stated, only the most gifted of the generation are allowed to enroll and attend. Be warned, however, that in our great academy every single teacher and student is a genius of unparalleled excellence in their own fields of study. A genius in Amestris may just be another student in the Academy, I''m sure you understand my meaning. As for the tuition and boarding fees, you will be exempt as a gifted student scouted by yours truly. If you choose to attend my Academy, please infuse some mana into the seal at the bottom of this letter, otherwise you need not do anything. If I do not receive a reply within a month, I will consider it as your rejection of this invitation. Additionally, if you wish for me to personally teleport you to the academy, simply pour in some mana into the secondary seal hidden on this letter. I trust a genius of your standing will be able to locate it. Until then, Adios! Headmaster of the Imperial Reim Academy for the Arcane, Lezenith Crowley Hmm, short, somewhat. I''d expected a long, drawn out letter talking all about the excellence and prestige of his academy from someone as old as he is. Which, I reminds myself, is something I need to investigate. What was it that unmemorable fellow said? it''s been a few centuries since he showed himself in front of a crowd like the one that was at my birthday party yesterday? Hmm... I really need to find out more about these unnaturally long-living peoples... Which is strange, because there are many powerful State Alchemists like Father and the Fuhrer in Amestris, but I have personally seen both of them age over time. Does the other powers have the effect of prolonging life like the ten level of Xing martial arts? Interesting... Anyways, I have already prepared everything. Though originally I had not expect to set out this soon, I did prepare far in advance. Hehe, that paid off now! But wait... teleportation eh...? Kukukukuku I know exactly what I will use it for! I opens up the letter again. The first seal is openly placed at the button, that''s obvious. Now, where is the hidden second seal? This is like finding Waldo all over again... Huh, even if I am not a magician yet, I can plainly tell that the seal itself is improperly drawn. I mean, we use alchemy circles as Alchemists, how could I not notice that detail? Since a single stray off line on my military alchemy formations could lead to untimely deaths, I''ve always been extremely careful on the inspections of the mass-produced alchemy orbs. Actually, perhaps I should consider the military potential of imperfect alchemy formations... Create an orb that creates explosives with alchemy but without traditional means of ignition. A delayed power source. Rig it so it''s either timed or radio controlled after being fired. When it reaches the enemy, open the floodgate and let the stored alchemical energy enter the imperfect orb. It would simultaneously churn out some explosives and destroy itself due to the imperfect alignment! Muwahahahahahahahaa I am such a genius! I don''t even need to introduce the usual conventional weaponry and I already have the plan to manufacture grenades! No wait... witches are natural magicians. That means they must have mana shields or telekinesis, if the reports I listen to on backchannels are accurate. They could simply wave away the thrown grenades or toss them back to our military forces. Not good So... rockets? I guess I need to create missiles. The imperfect orb would serve as the payload, while another orb, this one perfected, would churn out slower-burning explosives I can use as a mean of propulsion. Don''t even have to run the risk of unstable fuel for propulsion! All I need is a frame, an imperfect orb as the payload, a perfect orb to produce the fuel for propulsion, a mean to control the missile, and a large energy bank. Out of all five crucial components, I only need the last one. Since my semi-conductor plant is tested out and ready to manufacture by now, I should have no problem producing the control chips. Frame, easy. Alchemical orbs, I got two dozen factories exclusively for their production! Kukukukukuku I just need to ditch the most unprofitable lines and switch it to manufacturing my payload and fuel! Yes, yes, this could work... hohoho even if the enemy launch a preemptive strike on the missiles, these babies won''t explode on their own! The perfect short-range missiles! I just need to find out how to mass-produce crystallized alchemical energy. It''s a nifty little thing I made based on the same principles as a crystallized mana. Too bad they can''t be grown in mana flesh... and manually producing them is a pain in the ass waiting for them to grow. I guess I''ll set this project aside for now until I can find a way to grow alchemy crystal... Hmm good name, I''ll call it that! Oh right, I was trying to find the hidden mana seal. Er, how did I got on this train of thought? WAs it... aha! The imperfect mana circle! It''s so unbalanced on the third energy focal point that it would probably self-destruct if I pour mana into it... Wait, that''s it! the third focal point on the mana circle of the seal isn''t just a regular focal point! It''s a mini mana circle watermarked so I can''t really see it! Oddly enough this reminds be of something... BASTARD! This is MY stacking technique for alchemy circles! How dare he use my own technique without paying the patent fees!!! Outrageous! Hohoho, so this is how you want to play it, old man? Fine, two can play the game. Let''s see how you like this! I angry set out for my secret lab, the letter half-crumbled within my hands. Passing the main lab... the storage room... the first experiment room... the observatory for the first experiment room... the third experiment station... the twelves and the largest, reserved for testing explosive alchemy orbs... the store of unused parts... the corpse bank I use to hold the dead inmates'' bodies... the blood bank with generous donations by the criminals... the archive where I store my unimportant research notes to be sorted and handed down to other researchers later... god damn perhaps I build this underground laboratory too damn big, more than twenty acres in total and constantly expanding thanks to my tamed spirits working on shifts on the fourth underground level... aha! Here we are! Behold! Twenty cubes of cut, hardened mana flesh! The hardest, densest forms I could get the ghoul''s kagune to make. All in all, Twenty cubes weighing 25 tons each. I had manufacture some construction cars to move all these, which I thought might come in handy someday if I ever need to produce, say, mana bullets or whatnot. Armors? Perhaps. these hardened mana flesh are certainly suited to be forged into weapons... Now then, I directs the awaiting spirits to operate the half dozen construction cars in the garage next section down the hall. Carrying these myself is certainly impossible, though I can life on cube a good few millimeters for two seconds! A feat worthy of become a legend, surely! Lift! Lift boys! No you don''t have actual bodies you idiots! Inject your power into the cars! Yes, that''s it, keep it up! I can already feel the mana slipping out of me and into the construction cars guided by my tamed spirits as I instruct these dumbed down spirits. Can''t have them get too creatives for themselves! I directs the spirits to slowly bring the cubes to the twelfth experiment room, and set them down at the center, with just enough space between each cube that there''s a person-size gap. I climb on top the middle one and places the letter carefully on the intersection gap between four cubes, just so that each corner of the letter rests on the corner of a cube. Now then, there''s no need for me to personally activate the seal is there? I order a spirit to operate the overhead crane and bring me a piece of charged mana crystal from the charging station in the back. Should work as long as I create a conduct... I places the mana crystal on a corner and makes sure that it will simultaneously power up both circles, separately. A bit tricky, but it can be done. There! Kukuku, I was going to ship these heavy cubes overseas to the Academy, but I guess that won''t be necessary now! Crystal, power them up! Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! A faint blue glow appears on the lines of the seals as my crystal pours its stored mana into them. Ah, the first seal broke on its own... hmm what technique was that? Special ink that can only take in certain amount of mana before dispersing? Interesting... and I can already see its potential in secret documents... The second seal takes almost the entire rest of the crystal''s store to power up, which is pretty amazing considering how big the mana crystal is. About the size of my head, I''d say. I good few tens of thousand mana in it, if I''m not mistaken. Mister Lezenith appears with a poff as his newly appeared body displaces the air originally occupying the space. Good, now fall down on your butt you thief! ...Unfortunately he only fell halfway before he flew up all the way to the high ceiling, finding me hiding by the door in the process. Damn, I want to learn levitation too! Or was that flight? Magic could be so convenient... if only I know it! "Pray! I didn''t expect such a quick answer" Mister Lezenith flew down to me, "But what is with all these... cubes? I grin at him, "You will be teleporting these for me!" "I the headmaster, not your mule Pray" Huh I wonder how many wrinkles are on his face... too many "I suggest you find a land transport if you wish to transport these... whatever these are." "You forgot one thing, Mister Lezenith" "Oh? And what might that be?" "You are a thief as well, Mister!" "A thief?!" I wonder how he can see through those almost closed eyes... "A thief?! I am the headmaster of the most prestigious academy in this world! What need have I to be a thief? I insist you take it back Pray!" Hmm... didn''t expect him to deny it that much, maybe the guilt is getting to him? "Mister Lezenith, I''m sure you that the technique you used for your second seal belongs to me and me alone..." "Seal? Pray, there is no such thing as a-" "Before you say anything, I patented my technique at the First Temple," I quickly interrupts, "The whole damn business took a month to settle, BUT nobody in both Reim or Amestris can use my technique without paying up" Hehehehe, come to Mama my money! Not that I actually want money for this case. "First temp... I see, I shall verify that myself later. Very well, how would you like to be reimbursed?" Huh, I like his frankness with all this. "I don''t need any financial reimbursement." "Evidently..." He takes his first detailed look around the room, which is pretty armored to sustain the bomb testings I conduct in here. The whole room is mechanically stabilized and strong enough to withstand a 1 ton nuclear explosion, but that''s a story for another day "All I need, is for you to bring these cubes to the academy. And, I would also like to purchase some land around the academy to store these until I arrive." "Are you not coming now?" "No, I have my own means of travel... but I will arrive within a months, don''t worry" The land route takes about three months if you have a horse with infinite stamina, or just a destrier. Taking only a month to reach the Western Sea is practically impossible unless you can teleport... or if it''s me. "A month? Without teleportation...?" He seems to be thinking, "Fine, I will stores these cubes under my mansion for now. I assume this means we can all forget about the business with your technique and whatnots?" "Of course! And I can guarantee you there is absolutely no harm to these cubes, they are just my construction materials. Transporting them by land would be too much of a hassle, so I thought I might ask you to take them with you." Not that I''m lying... "Alright, I will see you at the academy in a month''s time then. The official opening of the school term isn''t for another four months anyways, you don''t have to hurry if you don''t want to." "Oh don''t worry, I know... I just have some business to take care of in the area." He mutters something underneath his breath before disappearing with my precious cubes... not that I''m worried, I attached a few merged spirits into all of the cubes. If someone tries to steal them, they will be pleasantly surprised by my defense system... hidden automatic railguns... Kukuku... Kukuku... Kukukuku... I am such a genius! That idiot just saved me 50 million dollars!!! Hahahaha suck on that you stupid border regulations! Gods, I was so pissed when I had to pay the ridiculous 12.5% import tax last time I transported one of these over to Reim! It was quite the lucrative trade with the Reim military, since I''m the only one who knows how to mass produce it, and I know from smuggled gears of the Reim Legionaries they need it badly... A million bucks for just a ton of hardened mana flesh! I finally found out how the Reim Empire can stand against the witches and the Britannians itching to lay their hands on the fertile lands of the Reim Empire. Just as rumored, the armors of the Reim Legionaries are special armors... exo-armors. They are crafted from limited mana flesh and enchanted by a priest to augment the Reim soldiers, even giving them superhuman strength and speed if the soldier knows how to infuse his own mana into the gears. It isn''t the best design, but it works efficiently enough. The problem they have is sourcing the mana flesh... Take, for example, my Narukami kagune blade. It costed Father a quarter of a million just to acquire it, which is enough for a regular man to live on for years. Relatively speaking, I''m undercharging them for my cube of mana flesh, but it can''t be helped since my mass-produced version is a little downgrade from the regular kagunes. Had to trade off some of the specialties for the sake of mass-production. Shipping all 20 cubes over would cost me too much... but that problem''s out of the way now! More money for myself to spend on, woohoo! Maybe I should go on a shopping spree? Nah, most of the good stuff I manufacture myself anyways... I should get ready to leave them. I left my tamed spirits to clean up and load up more since my cubes aren''t a problem anymore... actually, why don''t I just load up the main lab? That''s a even better idea! I''ll leave the spirits to figure out which tunnel to drive through. Perhaps you have noticed now, but my lab isn''t big enough considering the earth spirits are constantly hollowing out more spaces... That''s because most of the space is actually a maze around the lab at the center. Every single room of my secret lab is compartmentalized and mobile, so I can move them wherever I want. Security measure in case someone somehow finds this place. In the worst case, the plan is to drive all the rooms and research data to the dumping site at the far end. It''s as deep as it gets... all the way down to the upper mantle. Earth spirits are what made digging so deep possible. If it was done through conventional means, the drill would melt before reaching the lava layers. There''s a geothermal power station there as well. It''s what keeps the lab from becoming part of a new vulcano... since the station employs alchemy. It constantly draw away the massive energy of the earth to power my factories and the lab, which is how I managed to build everything so quickly. Not that anybody knows... After lunch at Grandma Garcia''s and saying my goodbyes to Anne and Jill and Mom and Dad and Grandma Garcia and Grandpa Maes and... Ugh, too many people... for the last time, I decides it''s time to leave for the academy. Seriously Mother... I''m just leaving for a few years, I''ll even come back to visit every few months! It''s not that big of a deal...
*Lake Armstrong, South bank, Shipyard 9 of Anderson Corporation''s research department* And we have arrived! My express train shortens the seven hour journey from the Capital to this place just a mere twenty minutes! Even Mother was surprised that it worked... tsk, of course it did! I didn''t had too many choices when I build the shipyard here, since it''s the closest major lake to the capital with a short distance to the canal. Shipyard 1 through 8 are regular operations I build the warships the Fuhrer ordered. Iron ships, he called them. Guess it can''t be helped, since every other boat is build with wood and nail up to now. Don''t get it wrong, I''m not building massive carriers or anything. That would tip the balance of power too much. Just a few small, hundred-man cruisers armed to the teeth. I''m not particularly worried since their own advantage at the moment is superior speed and defense, given that I chose not to introduce conventional firearms to this world. Shipyard 9 is my private shipyard. Five times longer and three times as wide as the other shipyards combined, it''s quite massive, not to mention covered. I''m sure the workers had no idea what they were building, but I do... And the project I have there is as equally massive as well. Now then, the rooftop is opening up as it should... it''s time... "ARISE! Arise my glorious creation!" Ooooooooooh this is it! Three years! Three years I''ve been working on this project daily! No doubt my biggest personal project to date! Can''t believe it''s finally done! I wanted to use it yesterday for my birthday party but a issue ran up... Spoiler : Granted, it''s not as massive as this... ship is, nor does it fly in space, but close enough. What I have in mind is closer to a combination of a whale and stingray... You get the sorta image I''m going for^^ My beautiful creation slowly brings itself up into the air. I call her Vio II, just ''cause I feel a bit guilty about not spending enough time with Vio everyday since I started working in my secret lab... It''s not a ship, nor is it a Leviathan, or a airship... I decided to give it the classification of a Juggernaut after some consideration, since the name''s free and Vio II can carries several thousand tons of payloads. If I want, it can get up much faster, but safety first! It''s more than 400 meters long, 120 meters across, and 90 meters tall at the tallest point. It resembles a stingray combined with a whale, flying whale. Loosely based on the investigated date on the Reim Leviathans, I grew mine to be more aerodynamic and creates lift naturally, that''s what the stingray-esque wings are for. Instead of wind-producing artifacts and a team of dedicated wind-spirit warlocks who propels the Leviathans of the Reim Legions, mine is powered by modern technology. Two twin repulsor engines occupies the backend, as well as two smaller repulsor engines toward the front for better steering. They''re like jet engine, on steroids and far more efficient. I did mention making alchemy crystals is quite labor-intensive right? I have almost 5 tons of them right on board as the main battery, which took most of the time I spend on this project to make. The crystals hold enough power to fuel this baby at cruising speed for half a year, and there''s ports outside where I can plug it in and charge once I build a charging station. In case there isn''t one where I''m going, like now, there''s a specially prepared drill to help my earth spirit dig down into the upper mantle in the back so I can use it to charge up- Or leave an unpleasant surprise for anyone who tries to pursuit me. Growing Vio II itself was actually easier that manufacturing the crystals, once I got its basic traits down. Genetic modification was one of my specialties back on old Earth, so this isn''t much of a surprise. What troubled me for a few weeks was how to build it in this environment. Back on Earth, we do know how to grow unnaturally large... things, in space. It''s harder to bring up the materials, but my sky-elevator took care of that. Building in zero-gravity is so much easier when your creation doesn''t collapse under its own weight due to Earth''s gravity. The best substitution I can do here is to grow mine underwater, since I have yet to unlock the seal(?) preventing my high-altitude balloons from reaching space. This was the original reason I scouted this place and bought it, the contract with the Fuhrer came after he saw my little fishing boat constructed out of steel, so I went with it since I already got the shipyard in building. Time to get onboard! I run forward toward Vio II above me, activating my jetpack in the process. It''s powered by my true alchemy, which is quite convenient. The grappling hook takes care of the rest of the trip up. "Nothing like home sweet home! I inspects my lab around me. Of course I brought it with me, since the cubes doesn''t take up the cargo hold anymore. One of the tunnels connects the maze to my shipyard 9, which I instructed my spirit slaves to drive through and load up. Since Vio II is semi-automatic, controlled by my bio-computer plugged in at the moment, I guess I''ll work on... ............ Shit, I forgot to make a plan for something to do. I don''t actually have a plan for what to do now... I was expecting to have to pilot Vio II myself, and I''m sure as hell not hiring anyone to dirty my greatest creation with their dirty hands. Oh well, I guess I''ll kick back and relax then. "Sebastian, bring out the wine selections!"
He watched the odd creature flies into the air, propelled by those blue-glowing things on its sides and back. A Juggernaut, she named it. If only she knows the real ones... Oh? The ''Juggernaut'' of hers can fly quite high... and quickly. Far faster than those lumbering air beats they call Leviathans. It''s flying high enough the people of Reim won''t realize what it is, the Man muses to himself, Quite a marvelous creature... Most intriguingly, the entire creature is armored to the teeth... though the armor itself looks like its skin. Perhaps it is armed as well? Knew I wasn''t wrong, the man grins to himself, The girl will be interesting to watch... The sound of a distant flash of thunder reaches the the man''s ears. Tsk, they noticed too soon. He spreads out his hands, as if grasping the flying juggernaut, thousands of miles away it might be. A wave of concentrated aura surged forth from his hands, traversing the distance in mere minutes, before wrapping itself onto the juggernaut. There! Now, they can''t see it anymore... Just don''t do anything stupid, Pray. In hindsight, perhaps it would have been best to warn the person in question. Alas... Chapter 15- Who the hell? *Uuuuuuuuuuuuuurg* Shit, hangover is terrible. Especially if you are 10. God fuck, puking on my precious Xing-imported rug... that''s gonna leave a stain... Guess what? I forgot I''m in the real world... and drank myself to sleep last night, which didn''t take too long considering my lowered alcohol tolerance as a 10 years old. Ugh water, "Sebastian! WATER!" But damn, this is terrible. My body feels... powerless, and worst of all, my head is having migraines... F*ck, why is the light so bright? "Turn off the fucking light!" Aaaah I would say its much better but nothing happened. What the hell? Oh right... I already turned off the ones that could be, these ones are the bioluminescent guidance light in case of emergencies... damn me, why did I have to put them on? "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-" ............... ............ ......... ...... ... . *Day 25, 11:36 AM.* "pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk..." "Master!" "Don''t interrupt me unless it''s something important, or food, Sebastian." Tsk, I''m busy practicing my beatboxing, can''t you see? Wait I''m pretty sure I told Sebastian this already... "We have detected a unnatural activity on the radar." Knew it! "And?" "It is currently moving toward us at just over a thousand kilometers per hour. Based on its current trajectory, it will intercept the juggernaut within 13 minutes 41 seconds." "...." Just over 1k kilometers per hour? Just a bit more and it would be over Mach 1. What could it be...? "A missile? What is the temperature and energy reading on the thing? And where is it coming from?" "It is currently too far for our optical sensors to distinguish clearly the temperature reading. Approximate energy reading indicates that it is not a energy torpedo. Base on the trajectory since it came into range, the most likely source would be the Athens, the capital of the Reim Empire." "Impossibru! They can''t possibly know we''re here?! We''re almost at the freaking Mesosphere!" If it isn''t for that weird ceiling preventing me from going higher... Remember I said we used to fabricate stuff and enlarged animals in space back on Earth? Our standard for fabricated animals back then were to be space worthy, as part of the experiment to see if we can create life forms that can live in space without protection. It turns out some can, if you get the ratio and necessary traits to survive just right. I haven''t drop that standard since. Vio II is no exception. Technically this juggernaut is a living cyborg-spaceship; though the current armor plating is not heat tolerant enough to withstand reentry I can certainly bring Vio II into space orbit if not for the wall. Damn it... nobody on this technologically backward planet would be able to track me if only I can get up there... Athens, eh? It''s around 260 kilometers away from here, and I doubt a regular priest can sense us from that far. Magician? Not likely. Reim only has one Academy for the Arcane for a reason, and that''s because Reim is the nation with least magicians after Xing and Amestris. Though I do have to admit, the Reim magicians are worth several typical Britannian magicians according to all records. I''m guessing it might be a case of distributed talents versus concentrated talents in the arcane arts? Wait no, that''s not even important! Stop distracting myself, me! Ugh, alright, I''ve got another five minutes before my optical sensors could get an accurate reading on this interceptor. Damn, maybe I should''ve focused more on the camera lens production, the ones I have now are only suitable for relatively closer ranges. I need some special lenses that can pick out a ant on the floor from out in space, but the equipment... would be hard to manufacture at the current technology level. I guess this mean it''s time to use that. Hehehe I''ve always wanted to try it out on a real opponent, and those inmates were too weak for me. Not to mention the accursed 9-whatever chi seal is off now, so I can finally use Xing martial arts! Mwuahahahaha I''ll give this intruder a surprise... Finally got to use those martial arts techniques I memorized from Mother''s scrolls! Not that she knows, I think... "Protocol Yellow-3! Deploy type Delta-7 energy shield toward the front! Harden exterior physical armor! Commence upper wing structural support reinforcement! We might need to fire up the alternate engines on the wings. I want a the side shield emitters to be on hot standby for deployment! Warm up the third tier weaponries! Have the second tier weaponries on cold standby! Prep the tagging rounds! And set plasma torpedoes to self-guidance mode! " I issue out the commands at bullet-fire speed. Who knows, we might just have to shoot down whatever it is. Better safe than sorry. Still, it frustrates me how much power the energy shields consumes per second. At best conditions, type delta-series energy shield around the entire juggernaut can be maintained for a month straight, but that also mean we only have enough energy to keep the repulsor engines fired up for a month as well. Omega-series can be used constantly, and we do, to avoid birds and whatnots, but the delta and up series are too energy-consuming. Damn, if only I worked on making an gravity drive earlier! Beyond a inertialess engine, gravity drive has many other uses as well. Like artificial gravity on any floor and gravity shields, a type of ''soft shield'' that draws incoming fire around the spaceship instead of letting it ram into us. If nothing else works, a limited reverse-vector field can be created, though the energy required to sustain that for more than a few seconds is enormous. 20 billion watts per minute if I remembered correctly. And I should, because that damn experiment costed us $180 billion in funding and a working space station in just 12 seconds. "Sebastian, what''s the reading now?" Whatever it is, it should be close enough to get a read on by now, I think. I can create a reverse vector field for fourteenth of a millisecond with the energy we have now, including the five backup batteries, just enough to reflect a single devastating attack in the worst case... and if whatever it is survives afterward, we''ll be a sitting duck. "The cloud ahead has unexpectedly cleared, optical sensor indicates that it is a person." Aha! Perhaps luck is with us? No, on second thought, whoever it is probably cleared the clouds ahead of him. Damn, so not an artifact. Most likely a magician, and one who can flies at such speed and altitude is bound to be troublesome... until he meets my defense kukuukukkukukukuku.... Ah right, almost forgot. "Sebastian! Release the armed drones! I want them to surround whoever it is from every angle!" "At once!" Comes the quick reply. Aaaaaand almost forgot to use that. "Oh, and bring me my alter armor Mk. VI, I think I''ll personally greet whoever it is from within the shield." Time for the (potential) maiden journeybattle!
*Day 25, 11:06 AM.* "Your holiness! The anomaly is still showing up on the detection artifact! The onsite magician reports nothing out of order with the artifact itself!" The guard bursts into my private hot spring, reporting in as he busily studies the floor. What''s so interesting about the stone floor, hmm? "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh..." What now? Maybe I should quit this job someday, or maybe take a vocation... yes... a vocation... I haven''t had one in far too long... So, which bird is that god damn detection artifact alerting us about now? Maybe a giant eagle? Those ones with 12 meters long wingspans always cause problems. Probably nothing major, as usual. Guess it can''t be helped, I''ll go take a look myself. "Calm down, soldier. Tell the onsite magician to ignore it, I''ll take care of it personally." Up we go! "Yourself? Y-Your holiness! Surely-" "You must be a new one." I stop him before he can go on, "I always take care of it personally, ask your seniors." "M-My apologies, your holiness! Please forgive my-" "Oh shut it, just get on with it." I stop him again before he can make more of a fool with himself. Now, where''s the bathrobe? Ah, there it is. Come to mama! "At once, your holiness!" He turns to leave the room. Why the red face? "Oh right, I forgot." He stops, trembling by the door as I walk toward him. "Y-y-yo-your-r h-hol-li-line-ness..." "Relax, kid, no need to be so formal with me." I give him a pat on the shoulder as I walk by. Whoa, did he just soiled himself? He. Hehehe. Hehehehehehehehehe... Oh kids these days, what do they teach them in military school nowdays? "Oh!" Hahaha he freezes up again. Am I really that intimidating? "Just one last thing..." I turn around halfway and give him a slow grin. "Drop the stuttering, you can''t pick up girls if you can''t talk to them, you know?" I leave the guard looking befuddled as I leave for the highest observatory, it has quite the nice view. ".................." Unbeknown to "your holiness", the virgin continues to replay what he saw accidentally seconds ago as he stands idle by the doorway. Oh that holy perfection, such perfect skins... ............... ............ ......... ...... ... . "What the hell is that?" I mutters to myself as I stare out from my personal observatory, the highest one in this place. "That ain''t one of my Leviathans, that''s for sure." What is that flying monsterosity? It looks dangerous, like it could eat my poor leviathans for breakfast. Spoiler : More... alive, then this inanimate model. Somewhere between this airship and the giant spaceship I showed last time, plus stingray-esque wings^^. And most strange of all, "I can''t see inside it. Something''s blocking my mana." Definitely not a bird. I guess the detection artifact is worth its cost, for situations like this. If it isn''t for the thing, that... whatever it is would have slipped my notice, considering how high up it is. How? I can''t get my leviathans to get up to that altitude no matter what I tried, after all these years... Time to find out. "Hoti vayu bhavati vayu bhavati chandra! Hoti chandra bhavati chandra!" I chant the fusion spells as I leave the temple behind me, soaring toward the flying beast through the cloudy sky.
*Day 25, 11:49 AM." I stare out at the girl standing in front of me, separated by a thin layer of my type delta energy shield. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. 49.995 kilometers up in the air. ""................."" I continues to stare at the girl in silence. It shouldn''t be possible, but I feel like she''s staring at me as well. "Drop it." What the-? She can see me? "Who the hell are you? And how can you see through my invisibility?" I disengage the invisibility mode on my Mk. VI, dropping into plain view. "That should be my question. And what is that... thing behind you? Something of yours, I assume?" "I asked first! And as to the second question, that depends. What''s it to you?" "Answer my question! And what is with that armor? It looks so ugly!" Say what now? Oh you didn''t... HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY PRECIOUS ARMOR?! Hmmph! I look awesome in this awesome-looking armor! Spoiler : I''m ALWAYS Awesome! Rawr! "And what''s with you? Wearing that revealing bathrobe? Trying to lure somebody, washboard? Such an ugly color!" *Gasp* "Y-You didn''t! This is my favorite color!" "And this is my favorite armor!" We stare daggers at each other for a little while longer. ""Bitch!"" ............... ............ ......... ...... ... . *Day 25, 1:12 PM.* "-Fine!" "Fine!" "I said it first!" "No, I said it first!" "What does it matter?" "Ha! I win!" "Answer me!" "Fine! It doesn''t!" "Fine then!" ""........................"" ""Hmmph!"" ...And that''s how I invited the Great Priestess of Reim onto my juggernaut for lunch. It turns out her name is Scheherazade, an old hag approaching her 600th birthday looking not a day older than I am. And I''m Ten. Spoiler : Here''s the chibi priesetess: And here''s the chibi-chibi priestess: That is our one common ground though. I got the chi seal to blame for my size, what does she got? Nothing, it turns out. Guess she never listen to her mother when she told her to drink more milk. Oooh, I''m soooooooo sorry, didn''t realize you don''t have a mother! Boohoo! Must be sooooooo sad! Current mutual social status: Enemies for life. ...I didn''t realize until the end of our outdoor shouting match that she was the same Scheherazade who purchased the cube of mana flesh from months ago. I guess I should have paid more attention to who signed the contract, but paying attention to things I''m not particularly interested in was never my strong suit. Updated mutual social status: Frenemies. As it turns out, she wants more. "Same price, I''ll purchase all you got in stock." She puts down her teacup. I take an excruciatingly long sip of my tea. It''s my favorite milk tea with frostings on top. I''ll leave you tea-snobs to determine whether or not it''s really ''tea''. "Double." I mirror her earlier action. What an nice atmosphere in the room... "Excuse me?" "I said, I want double the price." "No." "And a full compensation for that ridiculous import tax I paid last time." "No means no, Pray." I put up a finger regally to stop her from going on and on and on and on about how important it is they acquire my cubes of mana flesh. Pfft, as if I care about the lifes of Reim citizens, I don''t even have a proper mall here! I will when they become my moneymakerscustomers, but not a moment before! "The way I see it, you need it more than I do" I enjoys her piercing stare. How does she do that? "And I''ve seen your gears, Scheherazade. I''ll be honest with you..." *Arch eyebrow* "They suck. Totally and completely, suck." I say into her gasping face. "How dare you! I spend five centuries perfecting them! They are the most advan-" "I can increase their performance threefold." "-What?" That shuts her up. Good. "Like I said, I can increase their performance threefold. Just look at my armor!" I gestures toward Mk. VI beside me. "The skinsuit? What can something so thin do?" "Thin or not, it''s far better than your rag-tag armor, Scheherazade." "It''s not rag-tag! My creations are flawless!" "Bullshit!" Ignoring her, I call for Sebastian to bring the smuggled Reim Legionaries'' armors to the first experiment room. Behind me, Scheherazade sulks as she follows, leaving behind the suddenly animated statues around the rooms to clean up the table. Mechanical dolls with merged spirits as the controllers, by yours truly. "This!" I pick up the Reim armor with my right hand from Sebastian as I walk into the experiment room, "is the weakest, physical augmentation exo-armor I''ve ever seen!" I give a swift demonstration as I cleanly pierce through the reinforced chest portion with my left hand. I guess it''s a bit of a cheat to use my chi-piercing technique as well, but Scheherazade doesn''t need to know that. "...." Unconvinced, eh? Fine, let me show you. "Sebastian! Bring out the big guns!" I say with a grin across my face. Muwhahahaha, time to be amazed, Scheherazade! The automatic machine gun turret rolls itself into the room, on the elevated railtrack above. "You might want to cover your ears." I tell Scheherazade as I put in the premium leather ear-plugs. "Why?" Sebastian hands her the plastic ones. They don''t really do much, to be honest. She puts them on regardless. Completely oblivious. "Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt~" Muwahahahahaha my turret makes mincemeat out of the frail armor on the pedestal ahead of us. Naturally with its armor-piercing rounds... A few shrapnel fly by, before stopping dead cold as it rams into my armor. Don''t feel a thing! As expected... I turn to take a long at how Scheherazade defends herself... ...with a semi-transparent, golden shield perfectly adhering to her skin and clothing... Dang, that''s a pretty advanced shielding technique! I know this personally. A spherical shield is the easiest, being its natural form. Form-fitting shield? Now that''s tricky. I was a little lazy and used a elliptical shield for Vio II''s main shield. Anyways, the show continues. Next contestant: Another Reim armor, the one I used earlier. The turret switches to shotgun rounds. History repeats itself. "The structural integrity was already compromised!" Scheherazade protests beside me. Fine, I''ll show you something you can''t deny! "Hmmph!" Final contestant: The third Reim Legionnaire''s armor, and a decorated one at that. A centurion''s armor, probably better than the regular Legionnaire''s armor. Pew! A single shot lands itself square center. "That one didn''t even pierce through!" "Wait for it..." The plasma turret rolls itself in, hot and ready. Aim, Fire! BOOOM! The room vibrates slightly as the armor and its cousins lying in pieces goes down in my spectacular attack. Muwahahahahaha modern technology ftw! They didn''t stand against a chance! Once that tagger round landed, my plasma rounds always lands! Self-guiding rounds are awesome! I love miniaturized repulsor engines! The floor, of course, is completely unscratched. To be expected of my testing room, naturally. Immediately following up, I steps forward, replacing the decimated armors. "Maximum power!" Let''s do this! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! An even larger explosion shakes the room, forcing me a centimeter back. "And not a scratch! Muwahahahahahahahaha!" "Fine, what is your proposal? I assume you have one?" And Scheherazade admits defeat! Woohoo! I win again! "Of course I have one!" I replies indignantly, "So, remember I said I want double the price? I lied." "Oh?" "I want triple! BUT! I''ll give you tips on how to manufacture my awesome armor! What do you say, friend?" "... No." Comes the soft reply. Say whaaaaaaat? How could she reject my offer after all I''ve shown her? "Why? My armor is more than threefold superior to yours, Scheherazade!!!" "Don''t get me wrong, I''m not completely rejecting your offer." "... Ok? What now?" "I want you to work for me, directly. A hundred of these armors a year would be good enough, and I''ll give you whatever you want." "Hmmm, tempting..." Sweet jesus, I was going to give her false data, have her fail, then steps in to save the day... Oh well, I guess this speeds up my plan! "...No." "Why?" Ha! Karma''s a bitch, Scheherazade! "I have an even better offer. How about you let my companies operate without any taxes for five years, and remove the import tax, and in return I''ll manufacture all these armors you want. You pay for the resource cost." "Three-fourth of the import tax." "Quarter" "Half." "Half, agreed. This mean we got a deal?" "Of course." "Good! Sebastian! Bring the contract!" I grin at her surprised face. What, you didn''t expect me to have anticipated this much? Kukuku... I adjusts the import tax listed from ''none'' to ''6.25%'', then gives her to sign it after jotting down my own signature, with a flourish. She signs it, making mine looking amateurish... You will pay for this, Scheherazade! "May I suggest some celebratory champagne?" "Yes you may! Perfect timing, Sebastian!" I grins alongside Scheherazade as we follows Sebastian into the onboard bar. "What''s the best you got?" .............. ............ ......... ...... ... . Current mutual social status: Wasted Chapter 16- The Invasion of Athens? Chaos fills the streets of the normally orderly Athens, its proud Legionaries too busy to deal with panicking citizens. Scrambling, trampling each other, in their bid to get out of the doomed city. "Order!" A brave sentry at the city gate shouts at the fleeing populace, to no avail, "Calm yourselves! Pushing through the Gate all at once only slows you down!" It''s the only thing he could think of doing amid the chaos, but his words falls on deaf ears. Madness fills the mind of the people, and even the words of calmness and order dare not intrude. It''s every man for himself, as if the apocalypse is upon them. In fact, it is. ''Don''t let it approach the temple!" The centurion of the 1st Legion shouts mightily to his Legionaries, "Hurl the harpoons! Fire the artifacts! Give it everything we got!" "Sir! The royal family has safely evacuated to the emergency shelter!" A scout rushes in to report. Bringing with him a brief moment of relief. It doesn''t lasts. "Sir! The temple shield has been breached!" Another scout reports in, his breaths heavy from the exhaustion of constant running. "What?! Impossible! Lady Scheher-" No, that''s exactly why. Their great priestess was kidnapped by, of all things, the anomaly she went to investigate personally. Without her, the regular priests cannot even maintain the temple shield at half-power, let alone full power. And now the anomaly is upon them. Huge and imposing, dwarfing the Leviathans of the 2nd Legion in both size and firepower. Even the combined force of his own Legion, the one and only First Legion charged with the defense of the Capital on the ground, and the 2nd Legion charged with protection the Capital from the air with their Leviathans, cannot not stop the monstrosity that approached so suddenly. They have been throwing everything they can at it. Harpoons, spears, every offensive spell available. Boarding it by swinging down from a Leviathan at a higher altitude. Even ramming into the damn things with sacrificial Leviathans, a tactic he never thought they would resort to. Nothing worked. Everytime their attack get close, a ripple could be seen in the air, as though they are rain drops falling on a peaceful pond; A barrier, perfectly impenetrable. "No, not impenetrable," The centurion calms himself, "If only I have the anti-barrier artifacts!" But he doesn''t. "Damn!" His fist slams into the oak-wood table, leaving behind an impression of the side of his fist. The first and second Legion are equipped to deal with human invaders, not witches or other unlikely enemies. Unlikely enemies like the giant air beast currently in the airspace above. "We aren''t equip to fight this monstrosity! Shit! Messenger, go tell the Mages to use the forbidden artifacts!" "They already are, sir! We''ve been throwing everything we have at the air beast since twenty minutes ago!" "What?! They used it without my permission? No, I can''t blame them. I would''ve done the exact same thing myself." The centurion stares at the beast that had suddenly dropped out of the cloud that afternoon. Though now slowed down by their attacks, it approaches the sacred First Temple regardless. "A sight I''d never thought I would see in my life," A younger voice rangs out from behind. The centurion turns to face the newcomer, just as decorated as he is. "Centurion of the 2nd Legion, what are you doing here?" He asks bitterly, "Came to witness our failure on the ground? What of your air corps?" "Useless, I have order them to withdraw." The 2nd Legion''s centurion looks through the window, an amused expression on his face, "though I can see clearly some of them are ignoring my orders. To keep resisting... is pointless." "Silence!" His sword drawn, a mere inch away from the younger centurion''s throat, "I will not tolerate your traitorous words! We shall fight to the last men for Athen! How can you just watch as five centuries of the Reim pride go down in front of this monstrosity? Are you with me or not?" "To the last men? Foolish words, senior." The young man simple steps out of the first centurion''s reach, "I''d expected that much of you. But what use is it to resist when we cannot even affect it, only to slow it down? Which is why I have ordered my own men to direct the crowd in you steed. Maintaining the city order is part of you job, senior." The first centurion remains silence. The words of his junior... cannot be denied. It pains his heart, but he cannot lie to himself any longer. He hails for another messenger. "Messenger," His words subtle, almost too quiet to hear, "Tell the men to sound retreat to outside the city limit. Abandon the city. Help evacuate any remaining citizens. Then regroup with the 2nd Legion and await further orders." "Sir! Are... are you sure? " "At once, soldier!" "Belay that order."
Huh? What is that? Hmmmmmmm should I take a closer look? Nah, too lazy.. too... wait what? Whatwhatwhat? Why. the. fuck. am I staring at screen that reads "Hostile actions detected. Blue-2 Protocol Deployed. Automatic shield defense system upgraded power level to: Beta-17. Error! Weapons locked out by acting captain Sebastian." Boom! A tremor passes through the floor. As if we''re under attack. Is that why Blue-2 protocol was deployed? And why are we under attack? More tremors and sounds of battle passes through the juggernaut... ...and Scheherazade is out cold by my side, so it can''t be her doing. Who? Who is attacking us? "Sebastian! Report! What is happening?" I yell for my butler, who should be somewhere closeby. "Master! You are awake! Would you like some water?" He appears out of thin air, apparently, with two cups of water in his right hand. "No!" I grab one and down it in a gulp, "What I need is for you to tell me what the fuck is going on here? And why isn''t my Sibyl system getting us out of this mess?" "At once!" Sebastian gives me the second cup and clears his throat, as if preluding to a long report. "After master fell dead asleep, I told the Sibyl to chart a course to the First Temple to drop off Lady Scheherazade. Unfortunately, the Reim Legionaries took our approach as an invasion and started attacking. Sibyl automatically upgraded the protocol to blue-17 and prepared to retaliate with our overwhelming firepower. But I judged it would be detrimental to our further enterprise within the empire if we return fire, so I used my authorization as the acting captain to override and lockout the weapons system. We are currently almost directly above the First Temple as originally charted. That is all." I see... indeed, I never considered programming in the possibility that an attack might be from a misunderstanding ally. A mistake I will have to rectify later. But for now, time to stop this shenanigan. I approaches one of the many control panels and brace myself as I stab my thumb access port, as designed. A second later and I''m connected mentally into the Sibyl system. Taking a thorough look at the... battlefield only takes a few seconds. "Downgrade to protocol White-0 but maintain shield. Take us higher, out of their firing range. Use the side shields to push away the closeby Leviathans," I telepathically orders the juggernaut''s all-in-one control system, Sibyl. Well not exactly ''telepathically'', but close enough. "Oh, and Sebastian?" "Yes, master?" "Fill up my pool. Throw in a few pool floats as well." "Yes ma''am!" ...hmmmmmm... "On second thought... forget the pool floats. Throw in some ice instead." I grin at the thought, "No, not some. Lots. Lots and lots of ice..."
*Splash!* "#$%^@!#&!*@$*!#$%&#^&@!!!!!!!" I wake up from my drunken stupor with a startle. In Water. "Gaaaaaaaah!" I fly out of the water with a quick mini teleportation spell. Why the hell was I in the water? No, correction. A pool, in what seems like a room with decorated walls constructed out of meta and other weird materials. There''s only one place I know like this. And only one person who could''ve threw me in the water as well. "PRAY!" "to who?" Oh this cheeky brat... thought I will admit she got quite a good bar... how old is she again? "Shut up! Why was I in your pool? And how do you have a pool on an airship?" "Careful balancing during the planning stage. And lots of stabilizers." "Stabilizers? Think you can give me a few?" I grit my teeth as I asks, already knowing what would happen next. "Of course!" Her knowing grin infuriates me, somewhat. "I''ll even renovate your Leviathans for you, if you want. For a price~" A section of the wall comes alive, showing the city below. Just like that observation artifact that started all these. Not that I regret the excellent... drinks onboard. Huh? Is that... is that my city? My Temple?! "Pray... what is going on here?" A sneaking suspicion is slowly forming in my head... I might have an idea what''s going on here... "Hehe... Well, you might want to take it slowly..." Her face looks sheepish for some reason. "Take what slowly?" "Well... that''s just say I accidentally invaded Athens?" "!!!" "Teehee?" ............... ............ ......... ...... ... . Having broken out of the ''juggernaut'', I fly down toward the Legion command center. With an unconscious, drooling Pray in one hand, of course. To be honest, her sleeping face looks pretty cute... Hmmm don''t get any wrong idea here, I haven''t dated anyone in centuries. Mortals die too fast, but for some reason I feel like this one will be different. Maybe I should keep an eye on her? Just in time, as I reaches the command center, I overhears first centurion gives orders for retreat to his messenger. Smart choice, but cowardly as well. Well, better stop all this shit before it gets more out of hand. I accelerates my descend, crashing through the roof with my barefeet. You think that little rooftop can stop me? Think again. Centuries of practicing divine magic has strengthened my body beyonds its human limits. "Belay that order." I commands the centurion. "And tell your men to stand down. We are not at war." "You highness! The three other occupants of the room hurriedly kneels before me, "But the monstrosity intruded into the forbidden airspace! It even breached your temple shield!" It what?! Impossible, my temple shield is a divine artifact! Damn, I guess I need to find better priestess candidates to maintain the shield in my absence. Hmm, I might need to reevaluate the ''juggernaut'' a little. Hey wait... I can probably get Pray to rig something up for me. She''s an artificer after all! "It''s the um... the next generation Leviathan I''ve invited over." I make up an excuse on the spot. Can''t have the citizens believe our defenses were breached so easily. "That whole thing was a military exercise to test the first and second Legion, do you understand?" "Of course, your highness! I... I apologize for our failure! I shall retrain the whole Legion a thousand times over!" The old fashion centurion slams his head into the stone floor at my feet. Really? There''s no need to go that far... See, the younger one''s only watching. Well... they did fail either way. Maybe I should use this as an excuse to integrate Pray''s new armors. Something alongs the line of ''You will be given a second chance with this armor in the rerun of the exercise." Yeah, that could work. Good thinking, me! Ah right, better take care of these fellas first. "Get up Simon, the floor''s pretty dusty. And for the your sake, don''t slam your head into the floor for anyone. Now," I picks up Simon the first centurion from the floor as I take him outside. "Take Alan with you and go clean up my city. Escort the citizens back in and punish any looters accordingly." "And you," I turn to the shivering messenger as Simon and Alan the centurion of the Airborne Legion takes their leave, throwing Pray into his arms while I''m at it. "You will be escorting her to my main guest hall in the temple" "Treat her like a Very Important Person, I''ll need her later." Hmm, is there anything else? Ah, there''s one! "And tell my handmaids to prepare my hot spring." He nods vigorously. What is he trying to do? Shake off his head? "I''ve had a long day."
In the end, the ''Invasion'' of Athens was resolved as an extreme military exercise to test the first and second Legions that have not been challenged in decades, as well as to gauge the civilian responses. Which are unsatisfactory, as Scheherazade told me over dinner, which was quite interesting. Obviously I don''t mean the news that the civilian response to emergencies is unsatisfactory, I''m talking about the dinner itself. Scheherazade got these neat little boats to put plates on, so we ate our dinner literally on her hot spring. I would''ve suggested sushi to fit the setting, but they don''t have anything like that yet. Nevertheless, the two person feast was quite grand and interesting to sample. Who would''ve thought magic can be used to augment some tastes in food? Scheherazade did, apparently. I smell a new business opportunity here hehehe... Of course, that''s the less serious part about our dinner. Though we did sign the rudimentary agreements, we still had to work out the precise details of our partnership. I don''t want to bore you with our hours of negotiation, so that''s just say it was really, really arduous. If only I could get Sebastian to take up negotiation i my steed. Unfortunately for me, Scheherazade doesn''t like males intruding into her ''sacred'' hot spring, even though I did told her that technically Sebastian is a cyborg-homunculus created by yours truly, and therefore actually... asexual. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. That''s not to say that my homunculuses are completely inhuman. Of course they look like male or female, what else do you expect? Ultron? Nah, ultron''s are my foot soldiers in planning. Too bad I don''t have Stark''s arc reactors, which are in reality completely unrealistic mini nuclear reactors. Go figure. To actually power the ultron-bots like in those old movies I saw in the Marvel Museum''s Hall of Fame back on Earth with Stark-esque repulsor technology would require massive fuel tanks. Obviously not a vulnerability I want in my armed servants. But all these are still in the planning stage anyways, so that''s not go too deep into it right now. I''ll admit I did try to create a female cyborg-homunculus that could sexually reproduce with a male cyborg-homunculus... that particular experiment ended disgustingly, like a horror movie. I still get nightmares of the... ''thing'' she gave birth to. Yikes. Spoiler : Still gives me the shivers just to think about it, so let''s move on. And wouldn''t you know it? I woke up the next day in Scheherazade''s bed with a girl who looks like Scheherazade and smells like Scheherazade. Don''t get the wrong idea, it''s not Scheherazade. I know because I snuck a mini identification print on her back. Not the best description, I know. It''s essentially little tracker for my Zone Positioning System. Since I can''t seemingly make anything go outside of the ''barriers'', I called it that instead of ''Global''. The tracker itself is practically untraceable, since it''s the size of cells. Aaaaaaand that''s how I realized I was staring into Scheherazade''s clone. That and because Scheherazade is already up and painting a portrait of her clone and I sleeping together... I tried to burn down portrait, but Scheherazade''s damn shield keep getting in my way. Curiouser and curiouser, I found that Scheherazade knows how to do plastic surgery... with magic. A type of magic unlike any I''ve read in texts, which got me very excited... it''s not even close to what the usual magic of this world looks like. ''Divine Magic'', she called it. Can''t say I''m surprised at all at this point. I mean, I''ve been staring at a clone for a full ten minutes. Even I can''t make a perfect clone of my own body! Apparently I''ll find out what it is and how to use in the senior years at the academy, which she also funds. "Just don''t tell anyone Pray, it''s not something we spread to everyone." "Pretty sure everyone that matters already know whatever it is you use." "Hmmph! Those Britannian bastards will never get my divine magic as long as I''m alive! They''ll have to step over my cold body... or find a way bypass the magic contract I have every users sign." "Magic contract? Mind showing me?" "National Secret!" Gaaaah! But I want to know!!! "Tell me!" "No!" "Tell me!" "Never!" Hmmph, I''m nothing else if persistent. Let''s see how long you can hold out, Scheherazade! "Tell me!" ............... ............ ......... ...... ... . "You know, she looks like that cousin of yours, Scheherazade." We ended up discussing the still unconscious clone on the bed, somehow. How we got from discussing Scheherazade''s magic to her clone? I''ll never know... "I don''t have a cousin, Pray." "I''m just saying if you do, she would probably looks like this." "..." "Sorry." In the end, we decided to call her Titania. A combination of the names we suggested. Scheherazade wants the name to be Titus, but I''ll dead before I let my roommate get stuck with such a boy-ly name. I wanted to name her Ania... but Scheherazade dislike it. To be honest, I''m pretty sure the only reason she rejected my suggestion is because I didn''t liked hers. Afterward, Scheherazade took the still sleeping clone away to wake up for the first time. Apparently she got an ancient artifact that can stimulate years growing up and being educated in a week, which she''s going to use now. That got me thinking... an artifact that could implement memories into someone''s mind? Sounds like an illegal, deep neural linked virtual stimulator device they used to sell back on Earth''s black markets. Great stuff if you want obedient albert dumbed down people, not so good for human trafficking victims. One of the crimes nobody got around to solve back there, sadly. I stayed a week around the temple and outside Athens, where my Vio II is parked. That plot of that used to be a stript of forest, but I bought it so its past doesn''t matter anymore. I also took the opportunity to summon my real estate agents in Reim and well... went on a shopping spree. We got enough budget to do that know, thanks to the numerous contracts with two world-class militaries. Current projection predicts a 40% consumer market penetration in two years, since all of our main factory complexes are already up and running. "You could''ve accompanied me more at my hot spring..." Blah blah blah say what?! I thought she would just say the usual goodbye stuff as I prepare to finally get to the academy... "Was that... an invitation? I''m 10, for Gods'' sakes!" "Pfft, you''re 10 and own a better bar that I do, give me a break!" "Good servants," I shrug at her, "They''re the ones who collected them." "Yes... Pray, do you mind lending me some of your ''spirit-servants''? I find them interesting." "...Well, sure! Why not, c''mon I''ll show you all of them. Pick your favorite." I lead her onto my juggernaut, with little Titania in tow. "Sebastian, summon the others. Have them line up in the thro... central hall." "Yes ma''am!" I lead the other two to the center hall of the juggernaut. It''s a large place, big enough to hold concert or contain a Leviathan. It is quite literally the Belly of the juggernaut. Here, my thousand-strong spirit-servants line the hall. What a nightmare it would be if I don''t have them... can you imagine having actual peoples sharing my juggernaut? Never! She''s mine and mine alone! "Which one do you want?" "You shouldn''t say ''Pick your favorite'', Pray. It gives me too much freedom to choose... *sigh* I''ve waited so long for this..." Huh? The hell girl, "What are you talking about???" "You know, I started out as a warlock. Did you know that?" "You did?" "Yup! And I had the best spirit in the world... a mini-God, as he likes to call himself." "A mini-God?" Hmm... "Somehow that rings a bell somewhere..." Mini-God, Mini-God, where have I heard someone refer to himself like... himself. Sebastian, or as he called himself before I brainwashed him, Raijin. The lying bastard who I captured first. I thought he meant it when he said he merged with some spirits and regained the power he had as a God... What he didn''t mention that he was the weakest of the ''Gods'', only capable of stunning a butterfly for a second at his max power. Wonder how he got the delusional idea he''s a God... Not that any of those details are important... what is important is that I was overexcited and tried to show off to Ane and Jill... Noooooooooooo that was so embarrassing... >_< Ever suddenly remember an embarrassing moment that happened years ago and still cringe just at the memory? It''s like that... and it reminded me of those too numerous awkward moments I had in my last life. Being too smart at a young age can backfires very often... too often... So as due punishment, I locked away Raijin''s memories and rechristened him as my personal butler, Sebastian, completely with all the footage of the actual character in person as far I could remember. All that said and done... could it be? "Scheherazade... do you mean Sebastian?" "Did he ever call himself by the name ''Raijin''?" "... Yes." "Finally..." Holy is she crying? What''s the big deal? "Someone still alive..." "Scheherazade? Are you- ? Do you need- ?" "Pray." Her voice almost too quiet to hear as she stares with teary eyes at the confused looking Sebastian. "Being immortal isn''t always the best thing in the world. People die. People you care about like family, like best friends, like lovers, they all die too soon. A fleeting moment and... gone. Forever." ...Is this about the general she trained that took over the old kingdom of Reim and made it into what is now- a vast empire? I remember from the history textbooks... the Priestess and her champion, the young general overthrew the corrupt old kingdom and made it prosperous, along with their friends and comrades that formed the very first Legion. "I thought I had already lost everyone, that''s why I dedicated myself completely to the empire''s welfare... I wanted the world to remember what they did, what they accomplished; to make sure that nobody will ever forget them." "But history isn''t so kind. I can make as many statues as I want, place their names in every public places... and people simply don''t care enough to remember them. The past is the past, and the only true memory of the past can only live in the heart of the livings, not monuments. So I buried them as deep as I can." "That''s what I''ve been thinking for centuries... but then I met your Sebastian. Everything''s different about him. The face is different, his mental aura feels different, and he got a real body now. But I can tell." "Even if you did erase his memory, change his sense of self, or anything... I can tell. Because he was the first. My first spirit." "My first...friend." For the longest moment in time, I could only stare. Who would''ve thought? The first spirit I tamed just happens to be the her first spirit with amnesia. Fate has her ways, I guess. I silently steps up to Sebastian, drawing him into my inner mind one last time. There, unlocked. Even the foggy memories I couldn''t quite identify. Now the rest is up to her. "Scheherazade... I can''t say for sure, but he might have suffered some memory loss..." I hesitated to her, but it must be done. "Memory... loss?" No, Nononono don''t give me that teary face Scheherazade... "Don''t cry, Scheherazade. You are the Great Priestess of Reim. If anyone can fix his memory, it''s you. You can do it, I believe in you." "Fix... his memory...?" "Exactly, you''re the Great Priestess! There''s nothing you can''t accomplish with enough time, I''m sure." "Pray... there is no spell to fix memory loss. None. Not once in my entire life have I ever heard of one." "Then make one. Or make new memories. Don''t let the opportunity slip away Scheherazade, you''ve found him now." "......" I don''t know what is going through her mind... probably memories of the past. She was probably reminescenting as she spoke. As did I. How long has it been? 10 years since I was reincarnated in this world? That''s almost five decades since I saw Melinda... even longer since I saw my parents. Too long. My old family, my friends, my former colleagues. Too long. But I have a chance now. And if Kruphix can return Melinda to me, I''m sure he can return the others as well. I can be with everyone again... or so I hope. I don''t know how long we just stood there, thinking in our minds, with Titania and everyone else waiting uncomfortably by our side. Minutes? Hours? I don''t know, and I don''t particularly care to. "Sorry." Scheherazade breaks the silence. "Why? There''s nothing to be sorry about." "If nothing else, didn''t you said you were in a hurry? I''ve held you here too long. It''s been a long time since I''ve met someone so interesting as you... and found Raijin." "Time. What does that matters anyways? Take all the time you need." "No... I''ve thought about what you said. You''re right, maybe there is a way. I''ll start on the research now, no time to lose. Come with me Raijin, let''s see what we can do..." Sebastian- No, Raijin now- Leads Scheherazade toward the front exit of the juggernaut. "Pray!" She calls again at the doorstep. "Take care of my Titania, will you? And I don''t think I''ve told you this yet so..." "Thank you." "You''re welcome." ............... ............ ......... ...... ... . And so we departed from Athen, much to the people''s relief. At Vio II''s cruising speed, it will only take a week to reach the offshore island that the academy''s located at. I busied myself in my lab to create a replacement for Sebastian in the mean time. Maybe it''s time to give him a firmware update? I have the means, that''s for sure. Titania... is still quite timid. She has the knowledge, but lacks real experience. I hope I''m not a bad factor in that regard. The week flashed by even before I noticed. There it is! The Academy... *Sigh* Well, I guess it''s time to actually socialize with people.
A/N: Hey, sorry I''ve been busy lately. Finals soon and whatnots, when I''m not lazing around on chats. So about the last part of this chapter... I don''t know where it came from. Definitely didn''t plan that... it just came out. I don''t know, maybe it''s a response to the memories of my old friends in Taiwan? I lost all contacts with them when I moved to America years ago... maybe it''s time to reconnect. Sorry about how I phrased it, which I do realize could be improved, but I can''t just seem to get the atmosphere down... to get it just right :-( Chapter 17- Sup, Roommates? 3rd roommate: Titania Scheherazade Alexus 4th roommate: Rain Lavilelous Teinarious 5th roommate: Serendine vi Britannia 6th roommate: Kougyoku Ren Meyer
HAHA, fool''d ya! I''m dropping this series, homies! Since the chat''s freaking not working, I guess this is the only place I can announce it. Come read Law of the Devil translated from Chinese raw @ Wuxia Translations! I can actually guarantee that it is very, very good. Cause Im one of the (new, just joined) translator for it! Annnnnd cause I have read the entire series in Chinese oh man, it just gets better and better xD Last but not least: Excuses! Don''t yall worry, I got plenty. Seven (7) to be exact. Here are the 7 reasons I stopped writing:
  1. Sword Domination- - You love swords? I love swords. And this series is literally all about swords. Like the name suggests... Guy rise up from the rank of commoners to the ultimate Chaos Sword Overgod... xD There are A thousand, four hundred and eighty-five (1485) chapters in this completed series... you can see why it took me so long to read them all. No translation for this series, sorry mates. Maybe I''ll get around to it someday after Law of the Devil is completely translated.
  2. Dragonblood Wargod- Ѫ- You love DRAGONS? I know I do! And hell-the-fuck-yeah this series is all ''bout fucking Celestial Dragons... The name of the three sets of levels before basic godhood were also very interesting... but who cares, IT GOT DRAGONS!!! And millions, if not billions, of them. And I mean real dragons (Asian), not those puny, fucking lower-caste Wyvern you western people keep calling dragons... There are Three thousand, three hundred and forty-one (3341) chapters in this ongoing series... Oh man it''s getting freaking OP!!! The MC''s now the Master of the Ten Thousand Universes xDDDDD... AND the extremely powerful Ancestral Gods of Creations are returning to destroy everything! Even the weakest Ancestral God of Creation in her most powerless state is beyond the level of Gods and Demons... even the OP MC can barely match one in battle... xDDD
  3. Door of Creation (or Door of Fortune)- 컯֮T- What happens when a person cross over from our world into a completely different world... in a fallen noble''s body... and awakens one of the sacred treasures of creation within him? Super-ascendence, that''s what! And the MC doesn''t mess around either... you mess with him now, he''ll massacre your entire clan when he''s powerful enough someday kukukukukuku... There are Nine hundred forty-seven (947) chapters in this ongoing series... I have to admit, it is better than Dragonblood Wargod in many aspects. And the last few chapters... MC finally ''proving'' his Path of Power... hell-the-fuck-yeah!
  4. Law of the Devil- ħt- I have to say the self-introduction of this series isn''t really good... Did he really made a deal with the devil? Meh... But holy mother of plot twists, this series is fucking awesome... AND it''s MORE than just bashing everybody else around like most novels nowdays. Want real politics? Sly maneuvering? Fucking with people''s minds just by talking? Then go learn Chinese and read this, muwahahahahahahahaha. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Just to be clear, THIS SERIES IS WHAT I WAS AIMING FOR WITH WITCH OF TERRA, ''cause it is just that good. My favorite novel, Ever! There are six hundred and sixty-eight (668) chapters in this completed series... trust me, each chapter is Looooooooooooong... but totally worth the read, every single word of it. In fact, I felt that this series was so good I had to join the translation team for this... :) So I did! Wuxia Translations, folks! I''ll never get tired of reading this series xDDDDDDD
  5. Martial World- O- SO, what am I reading now next to the four above? I''m giving this one a try, since it seems pretty good... I''ll decide whether or not I will continue reading after maybe 200 chapters or so. We''ll see, we''ll see... There are 2158 chapters in this ongoing series... with each chapter being a moderate length. I hope it will be worth it :P
  6. Under the Heavens (or God controls the World, a boring name if you ask me)- - Typical modern Wuxia novel, I think. I''m giving this a shot ''cause it was recommended to me. There are 1739 chapters in this completed series, I''ll take my time reading through it.
  7. Extreme Diabolism (Supreme Demonic Path)- - I like the name... a lot.. like how the name ''Law of the Devil'' attracted me at first glance... and it''s also by the guy recommended to me above, so I''m also giving this a shot. There are 1198 chapters in this ongoing series, and it looks like it ain''t stopping anytime soon xD
Soooo... yeah, I started reading these Chinese novels... and couldn''t help myself but continue reading (at all costs >:D)... they''re just soooooo goooooood... Man, I''m so glad I know Chinese for once... Give it a shot, folks. Series by "I Eat Tomatoes" are extremely good, but they are NOT the only good ones. If you can read Chinese, here are four sites to go to for Chinese novels:
  1. Bestory- My favorite site for free, Chinese novels... mostly ''cause it is automatically in traditional Chinese + the changeable background settings, changeable word sizes, etc... And there''s little to no format errors, which makes it pretty good. Only thing I don''t like about this is the lack of hotkeys to go to the next or previous chapters common in the other three sites... oh well! You gain some, you lose some, I guess^^
  2. ٕ (Hundred-book Library)- Probably the one with the most complete collections of free novel series.
  3. S (Golden House)- Also a pretty good site for free novels, though it is more mistake-prone compared to the other two. (Folks, you''ve got to realize all these free-reading Chinese sites are not legal... they copy over from the legal sites automatically, so sometimes... there are mistakes in the format or it grabs the wrong chapter/series, etc...)
  4. (Flying Bird)- The other good site for free novels, and this one doesn''t mess much as much as Golden House.
Sorry Naoki... sorry :( Try the ''Law of the Devil'' :)