Since it was an exceedingly rare occurrence, Isa had only witnessed two planets ascend from the Mortal Realm to the Mana Realm during her time as a goddess. Neither of the planets had come close to the level of technological advancement as the one she currently inhabited.
She’d only had a cursory interest in the first planet since a different pantheon had claimed it. The then newly-minted goddess hadn’t realized how rare such an occurrence was until the second planetary ascension occurred more than an eon later.
The goddess had watched the event with interest, so she understood the folly of having the majority of the population ensconced within cities unprotected by walls. It wouldn’t be bad if people explored and regularly challenged the dungeons that would soon manifest. But staying inside would weaken the population, leaving them ripe for slaughter once the dungeons overflowed.
Unfortunately, she suspected the Senate would do just that. If what she’d learned about the Senate was correct – especially reading between the lines of the revisionist history as it was written – it seemed unlikely any of the world’s leaders would change things before the threat became insurmountable.
It didn’t help that the citizenry was almost completely unarmed and had been taught to avoid violence at any cost. What limited law enforcement or security personnel did exist were only armed with non-lethal weaponry.
Military forces were a thing of the past since there was nobody left to fight after the unification. Anyone who dissented or caused too much trouble was granted a one-way ticket to the Wastelands – a massive island in the middle of the Serillian Ocean that was constantly monitored by AI-powered surveillance.
It wasn’t an actual wasteland, but that’s what the government had dubbed the island of exiles and criminals. They used a bunch of flowery language to pretty it up, but the island's name made the Senate’s position clear: anyone who dissented was a waste. The island was their garbage can.
Ironically, the people living on the island were probably the most likely to survive the coming events.
“How are you feeling?” Jayne asked as her teenage daughter entered the room.
“I’m fine,” Isa replied as she brushed a strand of dark hair out of her eyes. “It was just a race upgrade. I went from F-Grade to E-Grade.”
“What does that mean?” her grandfather asked, pulling Isa’s attention to the other side of the room. Roland was deeply tanned from years spent working in the sun. His large, muscular frame spoke of years of hard labor. While most of his time was spent on the river that bordered the city, she’d heard he spent several years working in the asteroid mines when he was younger.
“My body changed so that each attribute point I get gives me about twenty-five percent more… whatever… than it did before,” Isa said before trying to explain it a little better. “So at E-Grade with fourteen in Strength, I should be about twenty-five percent stronger than an F-Grade with fourteen in Strength. Does that make sense?”
“Not really,” her grandfather admitted. “And also, I don’t understand… why you?” Roland asked before holding out a hand. “That came out wrong. I mean… how did you trigger the upgrade? Is it because of your age? I haven’t heard of anyone else experiencing something like that.”
“It’s probably from all the training and studying I did. I imagine there is some kind of trigger when your attributes reach a certain level. I doubt I’m the only one who experienced it,” Isa replied, downplaying the achievement.
Hearing her voice, Isa’s grandmother called out, “Is Isa awake?”
Not waiting for a reply, Marla stuck her head out the door and looked down the short hallway. Seeing Isa standing there, Marla quickly ended her call before rushing over and enveloping her granddaughter in a hug.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re safe! I was worried whatever the screen was doing was hurting you. You kept twitching and jerking like you were being shocked or something! We were worried about you.”
Isa patted the older woman’s back stiffly. She still hadn’t gotten used to casual physical contact with anyone besides her parents. Even then, Isa rarely initiated the contact.
“Um, thanks?” Isa said as she pulled away gently. “But I’m fine. It was just a race upgrade.”
“A race upgrade?” Marla repeated. “What in the world is that supposed to mean? You still look perfectly human.”
The teenager forced herself to smile and explained everything a second time. She should have waited to mention it until they were all together. At least the second round of explanations helped her parents and grandfather better understand the value of upgrading one’s race. She didn’t mention the pain associated with the upgrade since she didn’t want them to avoid leveling out of fear.
“You probably should keep your race upgrade to yourself from now on,” Roland said. “I’m not quite sure what the Senate would do with that kind of information, and they’re already demanding everyone register their classes,” he added, nodding toward the television. It was still playing quietly in the background.
After a glance, Isa nodded.
“What class did you take, honey?” Jayne asked, changing the topic.
“Spell Crafter,” the former goddess replied. “It’s a hybrid crafting class that lets me anchor spells to items. I only have one spell so far, but it’ll help if I need to fight for some reason.”
Her mom made a face at the last part as if the thought of her daughter fighting was unsettling. Still, she asked a few questions about the spell and how the class worked before sharing her own class: Nature Mage.
She was only a little surprised that her mom had a robust enough soul to qualify as a Mage. The fact that she had a strong enough connection to the Nature aspect to warrant a focused class was even more of a surprise. However, she felt the class suited her new mom quite well, especially considering her experience as a botanist.
With a little prompting, they each discussed their classes. The only real surprise was Roland, who’d taken the tank class ‘Defender.’ Isa had expected him to take something more aligned with his profession as a fisherman, not a fighter class.
His wife, on the other hand, had chosen the crafting class: Weaver. There was no direct combat applicability, which made sense since Marla was not a combatant. She was far more likely to run away and hide from danger than confront it. But that was fine. Not everyone needed to be a combatant.
Crafters and support personnel were important, too.
Bren’s class was Artificer, which was a crafting class capable of imbuing magical effects into complex constructions. He’d been an engineer before, so the decision made sense. It didn’t take much soul strength to be capable of creating or using enchanted or artificed items.
Though it wasn’t a hybrid class, Artificer had quite a few combat applications. Well, the class itself didn’t, but the items created through the class would. It was very similar to Isa’s class in that way.
The former goddess didn’t think her new dad would have any difficulty – mentally – with defending himself or others from the monsters that would inevitably appear. Similarly, she felt confident Jayne would be able to use her Mage skills offensively if needed.
“Can we move out of the city?” Isa asked once the discussion on classes ended.
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“Why would we do that? There’s nothing but wildlands and ruins outside the city,” Jayne replied with a look of confusion.
“With everything that’s happened, it might be better to go somewhere away from crowds. We could probably get a permit to live on one of the preserves, especially with your class as a Nature Mage. Once we’re out there, we could search for dungeons and magical beasts,” Isa suggested with a touch of forced excitement. “If the system is right, we’re in the Mana Realm now. It makes sense that more magical things would start appearing.”
Her dad shook his head. “That’s all the more reason to stay within the safety of the city. Going out into the wild now would be even more dangerous than normal.”
“It was dangerous before?” Isa asked skeptically.
“Sure. There are all kinds of wild animals out there. Adding magic would just make things worse,” Bren put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, honey. I know you’re upset about getting stuck on Gentrius and not being able to return to the station, but I’m not willing to risk our safety like that.”
Bren exchanged a glance with his wife before adding, “I’m sure the job offers you’ve gotten for the local station are still valid if you’d rather go there. While I hope things don’t get bad, it’s clear that something has happened. Your mom and I have already discussed the possibility of requesting a transfer to Gentrius Station, but we wanted to talk to you about it before making a decision.”
Isa sighed. It seemed leaving the planet was probably her only viable choice unless she wanted to leave her family behind. Since she had grown attached to her parents, Isa decided to push for the remaining option that provided the best opportunity for progression.
“Then I’d rather live on Sumar instead of the station. I can do network security from the surface,” Isa said after a moment.
“Are you sure?” Jayne asked with a complicated expression. “Did you hear us talking earlier?”
Isa nodded. “I did, but that isn’t the only reason. I really do think dungeons will become a thing – even on Sumar – and challenging them will be important for our growth.” Isa glanced at her grandparents, both of whom were frowning. “We should see if Grandma and Grandpa can come with us. I don’t think it will stay safe on the surface for much longer.”
“Why would you think that?” her dad asked. “Weren’t you just trying to convince us to leave the city and move into the wilds?”
Isa smiled without humor. “Yes, but we’d get stronger if we left. You both know how interested I’ve always been in government and how the Senate works,” Isa said, reminding them of the years she spent studying.
“I don’t think the Senate will care about anything but growing new forms of potential power and keeping control of the power they already have. It’s not a criticism but a fact. They’d be foolish not to. The problem,” Isa explained, “is that they’ll almost certainly neglect the wilderness while focusing solely on their cities. Whatever creatures the dungeons create will be left unchecked until it’s too late to do anything about them.”
“If I’m wrong,” she continued, “then it’s no big deal, and everyone will be fine. If I’m right and we stay on Gentrius, we’ll be dead unless we prepare and use dungeons to level up so we can defend ourselves. The same goes for you guys,” Isa added, motioning toward her grandparents.
The truth was that Isa barely cared what happened to her grandparents. If she wasn’t certain it would upset her parents to learn that Roland and Marla died, she wouldn’t have even suggested they tag along. She wasn’t particularly attached to either of them. That had been by design.
There was no reason to get close to someone who was likely going to die soon. It brought unnecessary pain that she didn’t need to invite into her psyche. She’d learned that ages ago, and it had been reinforced with almost every single life where she was a cultivator or reached the equivalent of C-Grade. Having all those memories… she’d barely been able to bond with her parents.
It was only by suppressing the ‘goddess persona’ (as she liked to think of it) that she’d managed to develop more than a superficial relationship with her new parents. The same did not apply to any of her extended family.
She had barely bothered learning the rest of the family’s names. She never saw them and had no interest in getting to know them.
Living on a space station had been a blessing in that regard.
“I don’t think your grandma or I would want to live on the moon or a space station,” Roland said, looking to his wife for confirmation. Marla shook her head. “Even if you got special permission, which I can’t see happening, given everything that’s going on, we’re too old for a change like that. Besides, there’s nothing that says monsters or dungeons are going to appear. Just because it happens in books doesn’t mean it’ll happen in real life.”
Isa nodded, accepting the answer without argument. “That’s fine. It’s your decision.”
With that, Isa released the small amount of concern she’d held for the older couple. She’d told them what was likely to happen, and ultimately, her grandparents were responsible for their own lives. Further, Roland was right. They would likely have difficulty getting permission to join Isa and her parents on Sumar or the space station, especially now.
She still would have pushed for it had they agreed to go, if only for her mother’s sake.
Isa glanced at the television and stared at the notice banner at the bottom demanding every citizen register their new classes through a secure website. Seeing it made her shake her head.
Following her gaze, her grandfather said, “You might want to reach out to whatever contact you have on Gentrius Station and make sure that offer is still valid. If it is, it might be better to go ahead and head toward the port before any new policies get put into place. It would be unfortunate if you got your hopes up thinking you were going back to space just for the Senate to lock things down until they figure out what’s going on.”
Marla looked like she wanted to complain, but she held her tongue. Seeing her struggle, Jayne walked over and gave her a quick hug. “I’ll contact the Station Commander’s office and see if we can work something out.”
“It’s too bad most of our belongings were left on Kenti Station,” Isa’s dad commented. “I hope whoever was left behind makes good use of everything.”
With a grin, Isa said, “Strangely enough, I bought a bunch of stuff last week. Grandpa Roland let me store it in their locker on the first floor. I was going to surprise you with new blankets and stuff since most of ours were getting old.”
“That’s a bit of an odd coincidence,” Jayne replied as she connected with her phone through her AI.
“It is,” Isa agreed innocently. “I got the strangest urge to buy stuff after we arrived. Maybe it was fate or something.”
It didn’t take long for Jayne to reach someone on the station, and with one ear on the conversation, Isa quickly packed her suitcase. She’d only brought one with her, but anticipating what was to come, she’d purchased another bag full of clothing that would fit both her and her mother. It was currently vacuum-packed and stored with the rest of the new purchases.
Looking over the mundane items, Isa eagerly anticipated getting access to material collected from dungeons. Until mana had more time to saturate the world, the cost of anchoring a spell to an item would probably be prohibitively high. It was a small disadvantage, but it wouldn’t last long.
After a few minutes, Jayne handed the phone to Isa, telling her that the Station Commander’s secretary wanted to discuss the details of her transfer.
Isa connected her AI to the call being held on the device. “Mr. Charter?” Isa asked, knowing the man’s name from the correspondence she’d received in the months leading up to the planetary alignment.
“Yes, Miss Stone. I’m so pleased to hear you’re willing to accept our offer. With everything that’s happened over the last several hours, security, especially electronic security, will be critical. Your mother mentioned you’d rather be stationed on Sumar. Is there any way I can convince you to live on the station instead?”
The former goddess smiled, knowing the expression would be transmitted through the call. She’d considered mentioning that dungeons would appear but decided to keep that belief to herself. It was probably better not to make someone in a position of authority suspicious of her.
“I don’t have anything against the station, but I wanted to help Mom terraform the moon now that she has nature magic from her new class.”
It was like she could feel him sitting up at the comment. His voice suddenly became much more serious. “Is that something she could do? We were hoping she could help with food production. I didn’t think terraforming was something she’d be capable of.”
“I have no doubt she’ll eventually get there, but I don’t know how long it will take. It would be easier if you had a few Mages to help, preferably those with access to Air, Water, and Nature magic. Like I said, I’ll be able to help some, but more assistance is never unwelcome.”
“So, you took the Mage class?” Mr. Charter asked with a touch of excitement.
“No. I took a hybrid crafting class that lets me anchor spells to items. It should allow me to make magic items that others can use, too.”
“Interesting.” There was a pause, though she could feel the man’s excitement practically radiating through the phone. “I’ll tentatively agree to have you primarily stationed on Sumar, but I want you to spend at least one week physically on the station every month. While a lot of what we want you to do can be done from Sumar, some things will require you to be physically present.”
“That sounds fair,” Isa agreed.
“Excellent. While I was going to offer you a bonus, considering the additional accommodations you’ve requested, I feel granting you the same salary you were earning on Kenti Station is fair?”
Isa grinned. “That’s fine. I’ll have accommodations in both locations then?”
“Yes, though neither will likely be as nice as what you were used to. The colony is fairly sparse, and with you only spending one week every month on the station, it wouldn’t be fair to provide you with one of the more comfortable rooms. If you decide to stay on the station, however…”
The implication was clear, but Isa didn’t care much about the accommodations. The former goddess felt very confident in her assumption that the mana accumulating on the moons would also spark the creation of dungeons. With people living there, it was all but guaranteed. Becoming more powerful was more important than being comfortable, though the latter was nice, too.