It had been several months since the Disaster struck and life had become difficult for the Zcarbbs. Regularly, seemingly increasingly powerful enemy troops launched attacks through the green gates and advanced further from them with each passage. At least when the doors turned blue again, which happened too rarely, they could be certain that the monsters would not dare to attack, apparently having understood that they could not go back.
The Queen, on the other hand, much preferred that the doors remained green. Food from fallen enemies became increasingly necessary as the food shortage worsened. To alleviate the crisis, the majority of unemployed soldiers and workers, particularly those who protected the city center, went into hibernation. This way, they would no longer consume resources but could still wake up to face a major invasion.
Apparently, the exchanges between Queen Xa-tar-Lona and the System were more advanced than for her subjects. She received rewards for each “quest” completed by her subjects, particularly when they succeeded in stopping an enemy invasion. This resulted in a few experience points, a few mysterious items appearing out of nowhere, and “dungeon points.” These allowed the city to be improved, whether its defenses, its food stock or many other options that the queen had not detailed.
"And I still haven’t had any quests!" Xicackna soliloquized. "Even workers receive quests for profitability in their work!"
But really, what job could she possibly do? She was too young a princess to have any real responsibility. At best, if she encountered more monsters, she could gain a few points by directing the soldiers from afar... But that would be extremely risky, so she didn't really want that to happen.
At least all the nobles had recently developed a very useful characteristic, inaccessible to other castes due to lack of mental abilities. However, it was with a growl of annoyance that the little princess thought about it.
A few months earlier, all the princesses and princes had been gathered before the queen to listen to the oldest among them. There were the five eldest princesses, Xom-Telba, Xaza-Yaban, Xana-Eloba, Xubu-Lemonay and Xevo-Micha as well as three of the most powerful princes, Jek-Nelva, Bole-Hozy and Mek-Natal. The most important announcement was given by the first two, who were the oldest and therefore respectable princesses.
"We found out how to unlock new abilities!"
Had announced Xom-Telba, before being interrupted by Xaza-Yaban:
"Indeed, a new ability, but it suggests that other hidden features could possibly exist."
"Yes, I was going to say that. This characteristic is called…"
"And I even got a new class! I am now a mage, since I can do magic!"
"We said we wouldn't use this word!" Xana-Eloba then protested.
"And it was said that it was me who made the announcement!" added Xom-Telba, furious.
Under the raging gaze of her closest sisters, the new mage cowered and muttered an excuse, but was quickly cheered up by the amazed exclamations of the young nobles. "Magic! Magic! ", "Can you make wisps that burst in the air? », “Are you teaching us? Say, you teach us!” …
Unleashed, the young people bombarded Xaza-Yaban with questions and ran everywhere, excited. The older ones were barely more restrained in the face of this announcement straight out of a fairy tale.
"It’s not magic," explained Xana-Eloba, "it’s just how the System itself calls its own functioning."
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"Absolutely," Xom-Telba had agreed. "We have made great progress in our analysis of how this System works and, although we have not yet found any way to circumvent it, we are better able to understand its nature. Although we cannot yet say whether it is controlled by intelligences or automatons, we now know that it is a particularly complex information network based on the transportation of matter and that it’s not of natural origin but of a deeply thought-out construction. More precisely, this device makes it possible to instantly transform matter into energy and vice versa. In a form of energy whose particle nature we do not know exactly how to describe, it can be transported instantly, on our scale in any case, to another place participating in this network. The complex intercrossing of different information allows the production of various effects controlled by the informative part of the energy in a manner directly associated with the orders resulting from the wishes of the users recognized by said information which is roughly called the System..."
The exposition of the facts could have lasted a little longer, but as her gaze swept over the suddenly calm ranks of the princesses, the eldest understood that it was not necessary. Many had stalled, giving her a blank stare with sometimes a trickle of drool flowing carelessly from their small mandibles, while some of the larger ones seemed to have a headache from trying to understand her information.
Xom-Telba had sighed.
"Okay, you can call it magic if you want! But, a more appropriate name would be a network of transformation and transportation of the energy value of matter via a... Oh, okay! We’re going to say magic…"
The little ones then began to scream with joy and go wild as before, the older ones following their example in an opportunity to let off steam. Xaza-Yaban herself was rolling on the ground, twisted with laughter as she looked at her eldest, in an attitude unworthy of her age. Even the oldest princes, usually very serious, could not help but smile.
Jek-Nelva was the exception, trying to defend Xom-Telba with no more success than also dragging Xana-Eloba into her sister's laughter. Initially upset, the oldest princess had always been very quick to analyze a situation. She calmed down quickly and told her devoted guardian to relax. It was clear that the colony had not had much occasion for celebration in recent times and this moment of relaxation was more than welcome.
The mood had finally died down when the crowd learned that they would now have daily exercises to unlock this new power, and that these mainly consisted of standing for hours concentrating on a fixed point without the slightest interest.
"It’s logical," Xom-Telba explained trying to simplify as best as possible, "if the System recognizes its users’ will, you need to practice developing it. You will then have the possibility of receiving the hidden characteristic 'mana', a rather strange name which means nothing but seems to designate the degree of authorization in the application of the effects of the System."
Xicackna had to admit that after a few hours of immobility and boredom, it took a lot of willpower not to simply drop to the ground to rest her aching muscles, or not to fall asleep standing up, devoured by the idleness.
For the princesses, used to being pampered and protected from all difficulties by the entire hive, this training had been an ordeal. However, they had the satisfaction of seeing that despite their pretensions, the princes did not succeed much better.
Lined up on the palace square, those of the nobility were regularly awakened with sticks by the guards appointed for this purpose and thus spent days, weeks, with little rest or food, until the System recognized as users. The blows given were not particularly violent, intended only to wake them up, but all of these drastic conditions made sleeping in ambush near the doors seem like a leisurely stroll.
Obviously, the mature nobles had progressed faster and were therefore able to escape this grueling and boring training first after having unlocked their mana.
It had taken weeks and a good hundred strokes before Xicackna received the long-awaited notification from the System:
Ability unlocked!
Mana
Maximum Mana value: 1
Current maximum Energy: 120
Mana, coupled with level and intelligence, thus gave an “Energy” value that the System put at the same level as Hit Points or Vigor. However, it seemed necessary to have a magical class, like Xaza-Yaban, or magical skills, for this new characteristic to have any use. But hey, it was better than nothing.
Since then, even by continuing these idiotic exercises from time to time, she had not managed to change the value of her characteristic one iota. At least she received a few meager XP for each series of long hours spent, wasted even, on these poor attempts...
"If at least I received quests, I could gain more experience and more easily... I'm bored!"