As it turned out, there was a limit to what Greg could simulate, or at least the density of it, which was around six and a half grams per centimeter cubed. He could still make a spike that looked like steel, of course, but the density of it would be six and a half grams per centimeter cubed, not the eightish it was actually supposed to be. Of course, neither Greg nor Lapodala had any idea why this was the case, as he seemed to be able to simulate every other quality of a material perfectly. In the end, Lapodala just sent him away in exasperation so she could go over the data with the specialists, hoping they could make better sense of Greg's smoke than she could.
After he finished with Lapodala, Greg had to rush back to the training hall to meet with his combat instructor, a woman named Indresta. Most of the lesson was just her getting a baseline for what Greg already knew, which wasn't much, so she could figure out a lesson plan for him. Then, after getting a few exercises to work on from Indresta, Greg headed back to the base for his first round of mana investment.
Greg found a quiet corner to sit in and took a deep breath as he turned his focus inward, searching for what was colloquially known as his mana pool, but was more accurately understood as his connection to the source of mana. Apparently there was some infinite plane of pure mana out there that all mana came from, and mages formed a connection with it that they could draw mana through, converting it into their natural mana in the process. The stronger this connection was, the more mana a mage could pull over at once, making whatever effect they produced stronger in the process. According to the Archmage, Greg should allocate at least half his mana investment to his mana pool. Physical and mental enhancements were useful, but the true strength of a mage was in the strength of their spells. But first he had to actually find the damn thing.
Greg carefully drew on his mana, searching for the source of it, the point at which it entered reality from the mana plane. As he drew, not directing the mana in any way, he began to feel the mana collecting somewhere around… his stomach? He frowned, clearing the mana out and starting again, focusing on the same area as he searched for the first signs of mana, repeating this process over and over again until he narrowed down the location to a small marble sized area in his stomach. The actual connection was just a single point and the closer he could get to it the better, but Greg's mana sensitivity wasn't good enough to get any closer than the marble sized area.
Now that he'd found the general area of his mana pool, Greg popped a mana pill into his mouth, the pill almost instantly melting into a stream of pure mana which Greg directed towards his mana pool, concentrating on reinforcing his connection to the mana plane. It- actually went better than Greg thought it would. “Connect to the mana~ mana, mana connect~ connect to the mana~ mana, mana connect.” Greg hummed to himself, bobbing his head back and forth as he corralled the mana towards his mana pool like some kind of mini game, the mana slowly getting absorbed as it hopefully strengthened his mana pool. Even still, the entire process wore on him and slowly his humming turned more forced and his head stopped bopping. “Connect, connect, connect. Come on, mana connect.” Greg muttered wearily as he concentrated at the last of the mana, repeating it over and over until the final bit he could sense was finally absorbed, keeping it going for a few more seconds just to make sure before letting out a groan and slumping over on his side.
“That was rough. How long was I- fuck!” Greg cursed as he checked the time. He was only twenty minutes into his allotted time for mana investment! He felt like he'd been doing this shit for hours now! He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he could just stop here. He had already absorbed a pill, right? That was all he needed to do, wasn't it? Greg grimaced. It was, but it was also the bare minimum. If he could do more, then he should do more, particularly since the squad was counting on him to be as strong as possible. If it was just a him thing, he'd be more than happy to skip it, but fucking over other people because he wanted to be lazy was an absolute no go in his book.
Greg grimaced, getting up and popping another mana pill into his mouth, this time directing the mana towards his mind, starting the development of his first mental construct. He didn't have a good mantra for the mental construct, but he actually almost enjoyed the process this time because building the mental construct was a lot like playing with those little magnetic balls, pulling a string of mana out of the ball and focusing on it for a moment to fill it with the right intent before twisting it into shape and connecting it to the rest. It took him about half an hour to use up the whole mana pill, getting maybe about one percent of his mental construct done.
“Alright, so, constructs are easier than enhancement. Good to know.” Greg muttered, checking the time again. The Archmage had assigned him an hour for mana investment, but there wasn't much he could do in the ten or so minutes he had left so he got up and headed to the common room to join the others. Well, he probably could have gone through another round of enhancing his mana pool and only gone a few minutes over, but… Greg shuddered. Maybe next time.
“There he is!” Victor announced as Greg wandered into the common room. “How was your first day of being the Archmage's apprentice, buddy?”
“Not your buddy, guy.” Greg chuckled as he sat next to Tessa, putting an arm around her. “And it was fine? No worse than high school and a whole hell of a lot more interesting. How about you guys? Do anything fun today?”
“Nah, just worked on some mana investment.” Victor shrugged. “Building up that mana pool, you know?”
“Yeah, there's not much else for us to do right now.” Carlos sighed.
“Fair.” Greg nodded. “At least that gives you more time for mana investment though, right?”
“I guess, but you hit your limit pretty fast.” Casey grumbled. “I only got through a pill and a half before my mana pool was done.”
Greg blinked. “Limit?”
“The maximum amount of mana investment you can handle at once.” Victor explained. “Did your new teacher not tell you about that?”
“No?” Greg cocked his head. “There's a maximum?”
“Yeah, something about your body resisting any further changes after a certain point.” Victor elaborated. “The beginners guide didn't really go into detail on it, though.”
“Huh… weird.” Greg muttered, wondering what his limit was, since it clearly wasn't two.
“So what did the Archmage teach you?” Casey asked curiously.
“Mostly just about mental enhancement, since that's what I need to control multiple bodies. Not that it's going to happen any time soon… a few months, at least.” Greg replied.
“So nothing that could help us out.” Victor sighed.
Tessa rolled her eyes. “Even if he had learned something that could help us, he wouldn't be able to tell us. Sharing the Archmage's private lessons would lose him his apprenticeship faster than he could blink.”
Greg paused. “It would?”
Tessa frowned. “Why would the Archmage share her secrets with you, just for you to turn around and share them with everyone else?”
“Well, secrets, yeah, but I don't think anything I've learned so far is actually a secret. It's just… detailed?” Greg retorted. “I mean, I'll ask her, but I don't think it'd be that big a deal.”
“Just be careful, alright?” Tessa sighed. “You don't want to piss off the most powerful person on the ship.”
“True.” Greg agreed. “Anyway, who's up for a game?”
*
Greg spent the next few hours hanging out with the squad before heading to bed with Tessa. About an hour after that he went to sleep and moved his consciousness to the rock by the spider girl's building, turning it into smoke and flying to her room. “Yo!” Greg greeted the spider girl as he arrived and transformed into the scorpocroc, causing her to jump and whirl on him, posing defensively. “So, what's the verdict? Does your team want me for challenges?” Greg asked, smirking slightly as he leaned against the wall.
The spider girl glared at him as she relaxed. “They wish to meet you first. They are waiting in the neutral zone for us.”
“Fair enough. Lead the way.” Greg agreed.
The spider girl nodded, reaching out and grabbing something, pulling it aside to open a portal. “This way.” She waved for him to follow, stepping through the portal.
Greg paused for a moment, not expecting that to happen, before stepping through after her, following her down a side street and into a large building, eventually ending up in a small meeting room with four others waiting for them. There was a gorilla man, what Greg could only see as a minotaur, a rabbit girl, and a dragon lady. The spider girl took a seat next to the rabbit girl, making it so the males were on one side and the females on the other, with the dragon lady at the head of the table. “Please, have a seat.” The dragon lady insisted, gesturing to the seat at the other end of the table, which he did. “Allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Henrietta, and my natural mana grants me control over electricity.”
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“I am Brutus, and my natural mana allows me to temporarily grow larger and stronger.” The minotaur went next.
“I'm Gigi, and I move fast!” The rabbit girl bounced excitedly as she introduced herself.
“Gregory. I push and pull.” The gorilla man grunted.
“And my name is Bianca.” The spider girl added, just providing her name.
Then they all looked at Greg expectantly, who coughed awkwardly. “Okay, well, I'm Greg, and… well, I can do a lot of things. My smoke can turn into pretty much anything, and my natural mana lets me make more of it. I can also transform into other people and use their natural mana, which so far includes heat, barriers, going unnoticeable, telekinesis, fire, healing, negating friction, teleportation, cutting and piercing with pure force… and probably a lot more, since I have actually checked what all my forms can do yet.” He paused, wondering what the shark man's mana would be before blinking as he realized he actually knew that one, but he would almost definitely never use it. “Oh, and I'm also immortal as far as I can tell. And my smoke is telekinetic all on its own. Aaand I have multiple bodies, but I can't control more than one at a time, so it isn't very useful. Yet.” Greg cocked his head. “I think that's it? At least everything I know about so far…”
Henrietta frowned. “Is your smoke not your natural mana?”
“No, as far as I can tell it's a mutation, like you being a dragon lady.” Greg explained.
Henrietta blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Uh… which part?” Greg asked, scratching his head.
“What is a mutation?” Henrietta asked, leaning forward and placing her elbows on the table.
“It's- what happens when you let mana handle your needs instead of eating and drinking for yourself?” Greg offered tentatively. “Basically, mana gets absorbed into your body and altered by random thoughts, changing your body in the process, so you end up with scales and claws and whatnot. It's- pretty much uncontrolled mana investment, I guess?”
Henrietta raised an eyebrow. “So what you are suggesting is that our forms are unnatural?”
Greg cocked his head. “I wouldn't say they're unnatural… at least, no more than anything else related to mana is. But yeah, I can confidently say these aren't your original forms at the very least.”
“Ridiculous!” Gregory scoffed. “This is the only form I've ever had!”
“Well, yeah, you lost all your memories. Of course you wouldn't remember being any different.” Greg shrugged. “Or do you really think you're less than two years old?”
Gregory blinked. “I- what?”
“You seem to be very well informed.” Henrietta muttered.
“I mean… I am the Archmage's apprentice.” Greg commented. “But honestly any unformed could tell you this, cause, you know, they saw it happen.”
They all froze. “You- have talked with the unformed?!?” Henrietta hissed.
“Oh, shit, right, you hate them.” Greg muttered, frowning slightly. “Well, you shouldn't. I mean, you should, because circumstances developed in such a way that it'd be weird if you didn't hate each other, but it isn't good for you to hate each other, because at this point there's no real reason for it other than the fact that you already hate each other.”
“What- No, they destroyed our homes!” Brutus growled, slamming the table with his fist.
“So?” Greg cocked his head. “I mean, yeah, that's fucked, but why does it mean you have to hate them?”
Brutus stared at him incredulously. “Because they destroyed our homes!”
Greg sighed. “Okay, just- let's say that somehow, by accident, you end up hitting Gregory here, breaking his arm. Gregory is understandably pissed, so he hits you back, breaking your leg. How do you respond? If you hit him back, then suddenly you're in a fight neither of you actually wanted, all because of an accident. You could apologize, but would Gregory actually listen? He doesn't know you didn't mean to hit him, all he knows is that he has a broken arm, and it's your fault. What if you're just lying so he'll drop his guard? The only real solution is for both of you to calm down and talk things out, but who's going to be calm after getting their arm or leg broken? That's pretty much the situation you guys have with the unformed, except you don't even remember hitting them in the first place, so to you it seems like they attacked you for no reason at all, but honestly all everyone needs to do is calm down and realize there's no reason to fight in the first place.”
Brutus looked almost lost. “But- they destroyed our homes?”
Greg shrugged. “And you destroyed theirs. Shit happens.”
Henrietta narrowed her eyes at him. “And where do you fit into all this?”
Greg blinked. “Me? I went to sleep for two years and woke up as a smoke person. I ain't got shit to do with any of this.” He paused. “Or I guess I'm sort of on both sides? Like the unformed, I remember the time before mana arrived and fucked shit up, but I don't remember you guys going crazy, so to me you're just people, like the unformed. I don't have this ingrained fear or hatred of you, because you've never actually done anything to me and neither have the unformed, so I'm just sort of… here.”
Henrietta frowned. “But- how did you get the unformed to accept you?”
Greg raised an eyebrow. “Why wouldn't they? I- oh! Right, because I usually look like this.” Greg explained, transforming into his human self. “So yeah, they don't have any problems with me. Just like you don't have any problems when I look like a feral. Because shapeshifting is a bitch.” He paused as they absorbed that. “Hey, weren't we talking about whether or not you want me on your challenge team?”
Henrietta blinked, then coughed awkwardly. “Yes, I believe we were. What do you all think?”
“I don't trust him.” Gregory grumbled. “He could be an unformed spy!”
Bianca rolled her eyes. “For what unformed?”
“Oh, they're here, they're just in a different section of the ship. Because why would the aliens only take half the population? Well, half of half…” Greg trailed off, then coughed awkwardly as he realized he might have said too much. “A-Anyway, yeah, the unformed are here, but I'm not spying for them or anything. Though… I am with them. Because, you know, I have multiple bodies. And my girlfriend is an unformed, so, you know, loyalty there. But again, I don't think you guys should be enemies in the first place and thinking that way is just unhealthy.”
The ferals froze. “The unformed- are here?!?” Brutus snarled, his fur bristling as his body began to grow, until a spark from Henrietta shocked him out of it and he began to shrink again.
“Calm yourself, Brutus!” Henrietta chastised him. “Even if the unformed are here, the overseers will handle them, just as they handle those of us who insist on violence. If they brought them, then they must have a plan for them, particularly if Greg's… view of the situation is true.” Her expression twisted slightly as she said that, clearly uncomfortable with the idea, but not unconvinced.
Brutus huffed. “How do we know the overseers are trustworthy?”
“Because if they wanted you dead, you would be.” Greg pointed out. “Which isn't to say they're completely trustworthy, but I doubt they want you or anyone else dead. And they've flat out told me that one of their goals is peace between the unformed and the ferals.”
Henrietta blinked. “They have?”
“Yup.” Greg nodded. “Because again, there's no actual reason for you guys to hate each other. Which I would really like to stop repeating, because it really shouldn't be that hard to get.”
“We understand, we just don't believe.” Brutus growled. “You're asking us to believe that the conflict that has cost so many lives is a simple misunderstanding. That everything we've done to protect our people is- is- pointless!”
“What? No, you absolutely had to protect your people because the unformed would hurt them if given the chance, just like you would have hurt them if given the chance.” Greg retorted. “What I'm saying is that it's time to recognize that you don't have to protect yourselves anymore. You're in a position where the unformed can't hurt you, so maintaining a grudge against them that only formed due to circumstances outside everyone's control is ridiculous. You actually have a chance to stop this conflict because the aliens are forcing you to calm down and think things through. So why would you insist on perpetuating it for no reason? Yes, you needed to defend yourselves, but that doesn't mean you have to keep defending yourselves. It's important to recognize when circumstances change, you know?”
Brutus frowned. “What if the unformed insist on perpetuating the conflict?”
“If someone insists on violence after being given every chance to not be violent, then they're an asshole.” Greg grinned. “And we all know what I do to assholes.”