"Alright, we have arrived!" Greg announced as the ship came to a halt outside a dense forest. It wasn't as bad as the jungle, but there were plenty of places for things to hide in there. "And I just realized we're going to need to go around forests if we want to use the ship… trees are big."

"Or maybe you should work on making this ship a flying one, instead of just a floating one, eh?" Victor retorted. "Become legit sky pirates."

"I've told you, the thrusters need something to push off of!" Greg countered, shaking his head, before pausing. "Though… if I made a platform using smoke? It still wouldn't let us fly, but it'd at least get us over the trees."

"Feh! All workarounds and no substance!" Debbie complained, dropping down from the crows nest. "This pirate ship carries the implicit promise of flight, yet you continually fail to deliver! You've jipped us, Halver!"

"We want flight, we want flight!" Victor began to chant, soon joined by Debbie, then Casey and Carlos.

"Counter offer: I get rid of the ship and y'all walk." Greg silenced them, raising an eyebrow.

They all paused, before Victor let out a long, weary sigh. "I suppose floating is fine."

"Yay, floating. Yay, floating." The others began to chant in a bland tone.

Greg smirked. "That's what I thought."

With the mutiny averted, the two hunting groups got ready and headed out, group one taking the right side of the forest while group two took the left. Meanwhile, Greg created about a dozen fairy Greg's to explore. "These always make me so nostalgic." Debbie sighed as a fairy Greg flitted past them heading deeper into the forest. "Despite all the downsides of being that small, being able to fly around was awesome! Plus, I could sit wherever I wanted." She added, eyeing Greg's head with a mischievous grin.

"I could also squish you like a bug." Tessa growled, poking her with a slightly sharpened finger.

"I dunno, that little body is surprisingly durable." Greg commented. "And strong. I mean, obviously not strong, strong, but for its size? Kind of impressive. I think there's a bit of an ant principle going on there."

Tessa raised an eyebrow at him. "Ant principle?"

"You know, how ants are so small, but they can lift a hundred times their body weight?" Greg explained. "Something about the way tiny things are built lets them do more than they reasonably should be able to, that's all I'm saying."

"Ugh, I miss being tiny!" Debbie complained.

"Why'd you get big then?" Greg asked, before frowning. "For that matter, how did you get big?"

"The aliens insisted." Debbie pouted. "Something about mana pools being related to mass, I don't know. And they pretty much force fed me food so that I would slowly gain weight, which I then used to shift into a larger form, so I could gain more weight, and shift into an even larger form and so on and so forth. It took months, even with magic helping, but it did give me a larger than average mana pool, so that's nice."

"Wait, mana pools are related to mass?" Greg asked.

"Your body is what channels the mana, so the more body you have, the more mana you can channel." Tessa explained.

Greg frowned. "Then why not try to make everyone as big as possible?"

"Control." Jake replied. "The more body you use to channel mana, the harder it is to control. This size, according to the aliens, gives you the perfect balance of power and control."

"However, manabeasts don't worry about control, so they're just a walking mana cannon that'll blast you at a moment's notice. Which is why hunting them is so exciting!" Debbie grinned.

Tessa rolled her eyes. "The real problem with manabeasts isn't their strength, it's their unpredictability. Just like us, their innate mana can be anything. Worse, just like the ferals back on Earth, they let their mana adjust their form however it likes, making them physically imposing as well. We focus our mana on growing our mana pools, so while we do get some minor boost in physical power as we grow our mana pools, it's insignificant compared to our spells."

"Which, again, brings up the question of why?" Greg pointed out.

"Because mana in your body can either be bound or free." Jake explained. "Bound mana strengthens your body, making you stronger than should be physically possible, while free mana can be used for spells. Mages, obviously, want as much mana as they can get for their spells, and unbinding mana is a difficult process. Luckily, the mana density on Earth was low enough that most people didn't really need to deal with that."

Greg blinked. "Wait, so everything we dealt with on Earth-"

"Blue zone level." Tessa nodded. "If that. The way the Republic explained it was that a planet's Awakening is a slow process that takes decades to complete."

"Which must be why they shipped us here." Greg muttered. "This is probably a planet they did the same thing to ages ago, and it needed people to live on it now, so…"

"What a messed up cycle." Jake shook his head.

"Do you think they're going to do the same thing to Earth some day?" Tessa asked quietly.

"Why wouldn't they?" Debbie snorted.

"Maybe if a group of us got strong enough, we could take it back?" Jake offered tentatively.

"Probably, but why?" Greg asked. "I saw what they were doing when they grabbed us. There's no trace of humanity left on that planet. And once the mana does its work… would we even recognize it anymore?"

"But- it's our home!" Jake exclaimed.

"No, it's a place we lived. Everything that made it a home is gone now." Greg growled, his expression darkening. "Trust me, nothing is more empty than returning to a place that used to be your home and finding everything that once made it that gone. Better to just move on."

Tessa placed a hand on his shoulder, looking at him with concern. "Are you okay?" She asked softly.

Greg blinked, before letting out a sigh. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just… I know what it's like to chase something that doesn't exist anymore, no matter how much you wish it did." He explained, his thoughts going back to his early teens, his desperate attempts to find any signs of family to connect to. But his adoptive set were assholes, and his blood set was just gone or so distant that claiming they were related would just get weird looks. All he had was Uncle Jonathan… It took him a while to figure out that was enough. Greg shook his head, sending away the dark thoughts as he turned to Brittany. "Hey, shouldn't you be scouting or something?" He asked.

"She is." Tessa answered for her. "She has a spell to project her senses, though it requires her to give up her senses here. Right now she can't hear and can only use one eye."

Greg blinked. "Huh… I did think she was being oddly quiet."

Brittany suddenly stopped, turning to frown at him. "Were you talking about me?"

"He didn't realize you were using your spell." Tessa explained. "Did you find something?"

Brittany nodded. "Looks like a boar of some sort, with antlers for some reason."

"Oooh, yes! Bacon time!" Debbie exclaimed excitedly, rubbing her hands together.

Tessa rolled her eyes at her, before turning back to Brittany. "How strong does it look?"

"It isn't too big, so it shouldn't be that powerful." Brittany explained noncommittally. "I saw it use its ability to dig up some kind of root-"

"Oh, there are truffles?!?" Debbie squealed. "This meal is going to be the bomb!"

"Debbie, shush!" Tessa snapped at her in frustration, before turning back to Brittany. "What was its ability?"

"Either earth or plant manipulation." Brittany replied.

Tessa frowned. "Either way, that could be dangerous…" She muttered. Particularly when they were surrounded by trees and earth. Though when weren't they surrounded by earth? "What do you guys think?" She asked, turning to the group.

"Let's go for it!" Debbie exclaimed, fully on board. Greg chuckled. If this was an anime, she'd have a thought bubble with a picture of a pile of bacon over her head.

Tessa sighed. "Saner heads? Opinions?"

"We could set up an ambush?" Jake offered. "See how much damage we do, then either continue or run based on the results?"

"Oh, I could make a pitfall trap!" Greg interjected.

"Absolutely not!" Tessa swiped her hand through the air for emphasis. "We can handle this on our own. We don't need to rely on you."

"Though if it starts chasing us, feel free to make as many pits as you like." Brittany added, earning a glare from Tessa, but no disagreement.

"Though if it does have an earth manipulation ability, it might not help very much." Jake muttered.

Tessa shook her head. "So, an ambush. That's a good idea. Brittany, did you see a good location for something like that?"

Brittany considered the question for a moment. "There are some rocks over that way, sort of a mini canyon. Not a lot of plants, not a lot of dirt. That's probably our best bet."

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"Okay. Do you think you can lure it there?" Tessa asked.

Brittany nodded. "Shouldn't be a problem." She paused. "Do you want it to come curious or scared?"

"Curious, please." Tessa replied. "Any other comments?" She asked. "That aren't about food." She snapped as Debbie opened her mouth excitedly.

"Oh. Then no." Debbie shrugged.

"Good. Brittany, lead the way." Tessa gestured for her to take the lead.

*

The five of them laid flat against the rock overhang, peeking over the edge to watch the strange boar-like creature waddle after a rolling root thing. "Definitely earth manipulation." Brittany whispered as the ground quivered and shook to try and snag the morsel.

Tessa nodded. "Alright, as soon as it reaches the center of the canyon, everyone hit it as hard as you can." They all nodded, carefully watching as the boar waddled deeper and deeper, until… "Now!" Tessa yelled, jumping up and beginning to rain rays of light down on the unsuspecting creature. A second later, the rest joined her, Debbie adding her ice spikes to the barrage, while Jake started grabbing rocks and just chucking them at it. Brittany added her own small attacks in the form of her own small light rays, though they obviously weren't as strong as Tessa's. The boar squealed in pain and rage as the ground began to shake, its ability echoing wildly through the canyon, shaking the rocks they'd set up on, but not much else. After several seconds of being burned, bludgeoned and stabbed, the boar let out a pained whine and collapsed.

Greg looked down at it, looking slightly confused. "Huh… that's it?" He asked, turning to Tessa.

Tessa raised an eyebrow at him. "What did you expect? We made a plan, we executed it perfectly, and the boar wasn't strong enough to shrug off our attacks. What else could the boar do but die?"

Greg scratched his head. "I suppose, but… well, shouldn't the boar have been able to do… more? I mean, remember that Earth Bender dude from the safe zone? He made those giant walls! He moved entire buildings! This thing should be so much more powerful than he was, and it just shakes the ground a bit?"

Tessa shook her head. "Okay, first off, Earth Bender had time to build those walls and move buildings. He didn't just wave his hands and make it happen. Secondly, he did all that in a low mana density environment. This is a high mana density environment."

"And that matters because?" Greg asked, rolling his hand for her to continue.

"Because for the same reason that infusing a wall with mana makes it stronger, the higher mana density naturally infuses everything inside it with more mana, making everything sturdier and harder to affect." Tessa explained.

"Huh… neat." Greg shrugged, before frowning again. "Still, something feels off."

"Such as?" Tessa asked.

"Well… it's my first time doing this, in a completely new environment… shouldn't something go wrong?" Greg replied tentatively.

Everyone shot him weird looks at that. "You think that just because this is the first time you're doing this, something should go wrong?" Tessa asked skeptically.

"Well, yeah!" Greg threw up his hands in exasperation. "That's what always happens! The first time I was exposed to mana? Went into a coma. The first time traveling through the city? Sharkman. First night in the bunker? Mark. First time going out on my own? Cat girl. First time buying clothes? That thing with the guys going after Sarah. First time- uh, you know, I ended up duplicating myself. First time out in the city during the day? Cheesegrater. Like… this shit just keeps happening, you know? And it usually happens the first time I go out and do something. I think it's some you-know-what fuckery. Which begs the question, why didn't anything happen this time?"

"Greg? I think you're being paranoid." Jake commented, continuing to give him a weird look. "You do know that the world doesn't revolve around you, right? Things don't happen just because you show up."

Greg narrowed his eyes at him, seriously wishing that were true, but according to Narita, that's exactly what happened. Unless… with them leaving the city, what if- what if somehow they'd fallen off the plot? Somehow removed themselves from whatever situation the World was trying to push them towards? So now… their actions didn't matter? Greg paused, considering all the events that had occurred up until this point. Two year coma, woke up and immediately got thrust into some of the darkest, nastiest shit caused by the actions of the Republic. All the power anyone gained was being used to abuse those weaker than them. Even in the safe zone, people with abilities could pretty much do whatever they wanted to those without. At least, that was his understanding… he didn't personally witness anything like that, so he didn't particularly care.

Then, just as he was starting to fix things, he witnessed the Republic destroying… everything. At least, from his point of view. Which led to him getting trapped for two years, all alone… by all rights, he should have gone insane. Emerged full of rage against the Republic, ready to wreak havoc on these beings that had caused him so much pain. And even after discovering that the others hadn't died, what the Republic had done was still bad enough that a lot of people were… dissatisfied with them. He definitely could have gotten a sizable following together that would be completely on board the 'fuck the Republic' train. Honestly, he didn't even need help. He was uniquely suited to life as a terrorist… After absorbing one of the Technocracy's energy sources, he could have gone around just blowing himself up, causing who knows how much destruction until the hero or whatever managed to take him down. If he'd come out of the transmutation chamber just a little less reasonable… it could have happened. Hell, he'd wrestled with the idea of vengeance inspired genocide more times than he could count while in that dark, lonely hole! It just… never became a legitimate option.

So with them not even trying to resist the Republic anymore, leaving to do their own thing… all that build up just kinda vanished and the World didn't have anything else to push him towards. He was… free? At least, the World didn't have any other plans for him. For now. Maybe. He needed to talk to Narita.

*

"So, what do you think?" Greg asked after he explained his theory.

Narita frowned as she considered it for a moment. "It's certainly possible. As I said, the World can't control anyone's actions, it can just make certain actions more likely than others. It nudges and suggests, it doesn't puppeteer. However… I don't think you should relax too much. You are still a very unique individual, and the World will attempt to pull you into its story in some way. This method may have failed, but eventually it will find some lure you can't resist to embroil you in its schemes."

Greg nodded. "Yeah, I figured. But, as long as I can avoid getting pegged as the villain, I don't think I mind so much. Not that the hero's journey is exactly fun, but it's better than the fucked up shit that usually happens to villains."

Narita smirked. "I don't know… I've known some villains who've had a lot of fun before their inevitable downfall. Some even seemed to enjoy the fall itself… masochistic nutjobs, obviously, but they were villains."

"See, it's the inevitable downfall I can't get behind." Greg sighed, shaking his head. "Especially since, considering my condition, it'd probably be the eternal torment kind of downfall, not the brutal demise sort. No bueno."

"You forget the risk to your core." Narita pointed out.

"You mean that thing you still haven't been able to actually find?" Greg retorted, raising an eyebrow at her.

Narita flushed. "You have cores! They're just… secondary, obviously. Your real core must be hidden somewhere, it's just a matter of finding it. Which is exactly the sort of thing some plucky young hero would luck into, you know."

"As you say, but I still find it hard to believe that I have some core out there, completely without my knowledge. I should at least have some idea where it is, shouldn't I?" Greg replied.

"You should, yes, but… well, my theory is that I may have over-thought this." Narita sighed. "With your disconnected existence, it becomes rather clear that your core doesn't need to be connected to you. Cores usually sit in the center of mass, and since your center of mass is hideously offset by that solitary bit of smoke floating in the depths of space, your core is probably also out there. Or, somehow, that single piece of smoke you split off was the piece containing your core, which is exactly the sort of bullshit that would happen to someone as unique as yourself."

"Or maybe I just don't have a core." Greg shrugged.

Narita rolled her eyes. "Everyone has a core, Greg. You can't live without a core! It's your connection to the World!"

"And why is it so important that I'm connected to the World?" Greg asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Because everything you are is sustained by the World." Narita replied. "To exist without the World is to exist without rules. It's pure chaos! Even Chaos isn't that chaotic, because pure chaos is incomprehensible! Nothing and everything happening simultaneously, endlessly and not at all, never stopping, never starting, not even happening, just… being! Existing in that state wouldn't be existing. Your connection with the World is what gives you the foundation to exist. That's why you need a core."

"Trippy." Greg muttered, pausing for a moment to take that all in. "So the reason finding my core is so important is because if someone else finds it, they can disrupt my connection to the World?"

"Partially." Narita nodded. "Your core is also where your mind connects to your body, and wiping out that connection can turn you into an animal, a being that solely relies on base instincts, without cognition. However, a sufficiently developed body will naturally develop a mind, so it would be more like amnesia than death."

"That- doesn't seem better." Greg frowned.

Narita shrugged. "How much of you is based on your body and how much is based on your mind is a hotly debated topic, but the simple fact is that you need both, so losing one or the other, while it does set you back, doesn't completely change who you are. You can recover from losing your mind. Losing your connection to the World is a death sentence."

"Okay, okay, I get it. I gotta find my core." Greg sighed. "Not sure how, but I gotta. Still, that seems like a long-term issue, particularly considering it's probably somewhere in freaking space. Right now, my focus is on how to take advantage of this newfound leeway, so I don't end up getting pegged as the villain again. Shit, I'd settle for dopey sidekick over villain."

Narita frowned, considering the problem for a moment. "I believe there are two options: first, to be much more… active in your attempts to bring down destabilizing figures. Essentially, do heroic acts so that you naturally draw in heroic hooks. And don't just go around killing people. You'll need… pageantry."

Greg's expression twisted. "For the love of all that is holy, what's option two?"

Narita shrugged. "Befriend the hero. And make sure you don't accidentally betray him. That will get you pegged as the villain faster than a mass genocide. The downside is that you risk any significance you gain in the World being attributed to them, meaning they will be recognized by the Core instead of you. However, the reverse may also happen. The issue is, you won't know which way it will go before you join, and once you join, you're stuck. Because again, if you betray the hero, you're automatically the villain. Thankfully, it works both ways, so if he betrays you, you're golden."

Greg nodded. "Makes sense. It's just… how the hell am I supposed to find the hero?"

Narita chuckled. "Don't worry. The hero has to be just as unique as you are, if not more so. And Worlds love making unique people find each other."