5.

“So, what brings you up here?” Bowen asked as he wiped off his sweat. Morrigan paused for a moment, comparing himself to him. While Morrigan had decided to discard his earthly vessel and build his own body, Bowen had made the choice to live out his life naturally and reincarnate into a baby version of himself and uploading his memories. Morrigan didn’t understand it, choosing to live and die like a mortal, even if he kept his memories. Though this process would allow Bowen to live forever, it still seemed inconvenient to have to retrain a body every seventy or so years. Bowen glanced at him with his red eyes. “I know that look brother. ‘Why on earth would he decide to stay in a mortal body’. I’ve told you my reason many times.” Morrigan scowled.

“Just because you have a wish doesn’t mean it will come true. And I doubt she would remember you even if she did come back.” Bowen exhaled.

“Little brother, you have to believe. What good is an unending existence if you don’t have something to sustain you.” Bowen spun towards him, “Look at your own goal! It’s just as unachievable as mine! To reunite the countries and stop hostility towards monsters is impossible! We can’t set foot on the ground without being detected and destroyed.”

“Actually,” Morrigan paused, “Strand might have found a way to gain some ground.” Bowen froze, slowly turning his head to look at him. “Strand,” Morrigan said, leaning on the doorframe, “found someone in one of the ships we raided.” Bowen stuck his tongue out.

“You know I don’t like that you do that.”

“Anyways,” Morrigan continued, “This person is the one next in line for the throne of a major kingdom spanning the southern continent. If we use her as a bargaining chip, we can take some of their territory.” Morrigan looked at Bowen for his input.

“That,” Bowen enunciated, “Is a terrible idea. Wouldn’t the other countries immediately vote to use Judgement once they realize we are an invading army?” Morrigan grinned evilly.

“That’s the best part. The country that has control of Judgement? It’s the kingdom we’re invading. They refused to give it back to the Holy Order. Judgement would render their own territory toxic and uninhabitable; it would only take a few shots before the kingdom would be destroyed. They can’t use it against us unless they wanted to die too.” Bowen wrung his cloth out and threw it on the table.

“Even then, the hatred for monsters runs so deep I worry that they would find some other way to kill us. Maybe infiltrate our forces and steal the heir before using large-scale destruction magic.” Morrigan tutted.

“Don’t worry Bowen, I’ve been planning this for eras! It’s always just needed a catalyst, and here we go! One fell right into our laps.” Morrigan placed his hand on Bowen’s shoulder. “I need you brother. You’re a much more skilled fighter than I am.”

“But—” Bowen wavered, “I’m still only red rank. I’d need to at least reach green or blue before I could begin to take on a kingdom.”

“No worries! I can donate enough mana to raise you to green. I got a green’s mana soul from the last raid it won’t impact me in the slightest!” Bowen shook his head in disbelief.

“Do you have any idea how overpowered it is to not worry about your body exploding transferring that much mana?! It would even kill a indigo core ten times over!”

“Yes, yes. I am the best at this brother, don’t worry. No exploding from me.” Bowen laughed.

“I know, I know. I will leave it in your hands then.” Morrigan nodded with a chilling glint in his eye flames.

“Alright, I’ll be back tomorrow then. The kingdom won’t know what sort of beast they’re dealing with.

The back room of the Sailor Inn. Eliza was sitting on a chair, trembling. Cindy shook a pointer at her. “You did learn the basics, correct?” Eliza shook her head rapidly.

“N-no ma’am. I was coming home to attend the academy when—”

“A yes or no will do dear. Now, to quickly recap.” Cindy pointed at the different colored levels drawn on the blackboard. “Violet is the strongest, followed by indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and then the weakest, red.” She drew an arrow pointing downwards. “Rule of thumb is the darker the color, the stronger. You can see these levels through the color of people’s eyes if they’re monsters, or their aura glows if they’re human. For example, you, with your light orange aura, is barely one step above the weakest you can be. Though quite impressive for your age, you are nothing compared to me, who has light blue eyes, two stages above you. Also, you’ve probably noticed this, but the skeletons show their levels through the color of the fires in their eye sockets instead of actual eyes. Some Non-humans show it differently, but every living being has some sort of level indicator. Understand?”

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“Yes ma’am.” Came the reply. “Good. Now, to increase your level, you must consume sources of mana. The darkness comes from having more and more condensed mana in your body. These sources could be mana-rich fruits or meat, or, more directly, by killing things with mana and absorbing it yourself. Those are the most basic of the basics, any questions?”

Eliza timidly raised her hand, and when Cindy nodded, she asked, “Then w-what about magic?” Cindy sighed.

“I suppose you have seen magic being cast at some point or another, yes? There are two types; direct manipulation and faith manipulation. One is simply using your mana to directly influence your surroundings. Extremely mana and focus intensive, but theoretically limitless. Most common uses are for stuff like lighting a fire, or channeling power into objects. The other is borrowing the influence of the current god of the era to perform miracles. By offering your mana as tribute you receive access to pre-made spells designed by the god. The problem is, they cost a lot of mana and are limited in type by any preferences the god has. Darker cores mean more mana which means more and bigger spells. Most practitioners use a mix, as it’s the most versatile option. I’ll give you one more question, so make it quick.” Eliza raised her hand again and said,

“Then what rank is Morrigan? His eye-fires were black.” Cindy smiled bitterly.

“I don’t know what level Morrigan has reached. But in his case, it won’t matter because anyone who fights him dies anyway.”

“What about Judgement?” Eliza asked. Cindy’s face hardened and she coldly replied,

“No more questions.” Gesturing for her to stand up, she led Eliza to the staircase in the main room. Going up to the second floor, she opened the first door and ushered her in. Gesturing with her other hand, branches grew and formed bars on the two windows. “I’m leaving. I’ll be back with some dinner later. You should stay put. I don’t think I need to convince you why trying to escape would be a bad idea.” Eliza shuddered again, and Cindy closed the door and sealed it with more branches. ‘I think some grilled mountain rabbit sounds good tonight’. She thought to herself as she hummed and went downstairs.

Morrigan was making his way down from the lighthouse through Old Port checking out all the different shops and houses set up. Despite his fame and power, as well as being the person who built Haven, not many people recognized him. Maybe their great-great-great-grandparents would have ridiculed their ancestors for believing in him. But these newer generations hardly saw him, especially in the outlying regions. He stopped and peeked in a shop window. ‘Those are some nice pants.’ Ten minutes later, Morrigan stepped back outside in soft, dark navy trousers cinched by a belt with a silver skull buckle. The clerk found it funny, but Morrigan planned to swap it for one made of bone when he reached his house. Continuing his stroll, he waved at some staring kids playing in the street before his eyes were attracted to the shop behind them. Gaudily painted pink and blue, the shop boasted racks of candy and pastries displayed in a front window. Intrigued by its oddity, Morrigan opened the door and stepped inside. A bell rang, and a skeleton wearing an apron standing behind the counter turned. “Ah! Just one moment sir… Captain?” Morrigan facepalmed.

“What are you doing here Strand?” The skeleton fidgeted with the pink apron for a moment, before replying, “Well, it’s like this Captain. I just wasn’t making enough being a pirate, and I have a family to supp—”

“Bullshit,” Morrigan cut in. “I know that you’re single, and I know for a fact that you always take twenty percent of whatever haul we get, and most of the time all the candy…” Morrigan glared at Strand. “That’s why you’re here. If this doesn’t get sold, it gets thrown out and you get to eat it.” Strand laughed sheepishly. “He he. Well, rats, looks like I was found out~.”

“YOU DON’T HAVE A SENSE OF TASTE!!” Morrigan bellowed at the clearly unashamed Strand. “Why do you do this?! Can’t I have one normal person around me?!” Towards the end Strand had leaned over the counter and was patting Morrigan on the shoulder.

“There, there. You shouldn’t worry about it. Eccentricity is the spice of life! Besides, the plans for contacting the Roy Kingdom are coming along nicely. We’ll talk about it over dinner.” Morrigan took a deep breath, packing his emotions deep down inside.

“Alright, you know any good restaurants around here?” Strand grinned. “You already know. The Sailor Inn has won every local award since it was founded.” Morrigan groaned.

“You know how I feel about Cindy. We really just need some time apart.”

“Suck it up big boy,” Strand teased mercilessly, “I know you gave your body taste buds for the exclusive purpose of eating her food. Nostalgia isn’t going to kill you.”

“No, but she might.”

“Relax, relax. She won’t mind at all.” “F

ine.” Morrigan grumbled. “But just for the food.”

“Well that’s just perfect! Give me a minute to close up shop.” Morrigan eyed his second-in-command.

“We will have a serious talk about this later. For now, let’s focus on surviving the evening