“So… is that it?” Greg asked hesitantly as Narita stared at him intently, starting to feel a bit weirded out.
Narita sighed. “I don't know. When I used my ability- I saw something. Something ancient and powerful. The source- the sovereign of all physicality! And you- you are intimately connected to it. And you are pure physicality. Which means… that existence must have sovereignty over you. But- It doesn't. And the only explanation I can think of for why is that you and that existence are one and the same, making its sovereignty meaningless, because of course one would have authority over themselves.”
Greg frowned. “Okay… but wouldn't that mean I have sovereignty over ‘physicality’? Which I can't say I actually do…”
Narita raised an eyebrow. “Don't you? Has anything been able to resist your smoke once it's connected to it?”
Greg paused. “Huh… shit, that's a good point.” He cocked his head. “So does that make me a smoke god?”
“A piece of one, at least.” Narita muttered. “If your full self was here, all the physicality in this reality would be within your grasp. As it is, you can only connect to what you can touch.”
Greg shrugged. “Same difference, isn't it? A limited god is still a god. The real question is how I got here…”
Narita frowned. “I believe you were simply tossed into the void and this is where you landed. Your full self doesn't have access to anything beyond its own realm, so I can't see how it would have chosen your destination.”
“I suppose that's as good an explanation as any other…” Greg agreed. “But how did I become human?”
“You were born as one?” Narita replied, as if that should be obvious.
Greg raised an eyebrow. “Okay… but how would that work? I mean, I have parents. Did I like… replace their baby in the womb? Or did I replace the original Greg when mana showed up?”
Narita shook her head. “That's not how it works. You are their baby. There would be no other way for you to enter this reality. Not without consciously forcing your way in, which you would have noticed. And then you would have had to consciously usurp your current body… and I'm not sure you would be capable of retaining the previous occupants mind. It- I don't think that falls under your realm of authority.”
Greg raised an eyebrow. “My realm of authority?”
Narita nodded. “You're physicality. You may support mentality, maybe influence it in some ways, but it isn't something you can control or subsume.”
“That's fair, I guess.” Greg agreed. “I'm still not getting how I turned into a baby though…”
Narita sighed. “For that, you need to understand how the Multiverse works.”
Greg blinked. “The what?”
“The Multiverse.” Narita repeated.
Greg just stared at her for a moment. “I have questions.”
Narita nodded. “I would expect nothing less. Would you like me to start with me or the Multiverse?”
Greg hesitated for a moment. “Let's start with you.”
“I'm a traveler of sorts.” Narita began. “I jump between different realities, finding unique individuals like you and Travis, lending them a helping hand and watching them grow, in hope that they will one day become travelers like me.”
“Travis?” Greg asked curiously.
Narita smirked. “His ability allows him control over all mana within his domain. He's still refining it, but once he reaches a certain level of proficiency, he will become a true terror.”
“Huh… and how does that turn into jumping between realities?” Greg asked. “Or, more importantly, how does controlling physicality turn into jumping realities?”
“Because every reality can create a traveler. Once an individual becomes significant enough, they have a chance to merge with their reality, granting them immortality and a connection to the rest of the Multiverse, as well as certain authorities over the reality, making them nigh omnipotent within it.” Narita explained.
Greg paused. “How immortal?”
“As long as your reality continues to exist, so will you.” Narita replied. “And I've never heard of a reality being destroyed.”
“So… pretty damn immortal.” Greg muttered. “Now how do I make Tessa significant enough to qualify?”
Narita snorted. “You can't. Believe me, I've tried. But if you're the one making someone significant, then you're the one who's actually significant, so you will be the one offered the opportunity to connect to the reality. That isn't to say she can't become significant enough to have the opportunity, but she can't be significant because of you. Which, I might add, includes killing or otherwise hindering anyone who might oppose her. So no going after Travis.”
Greg clicked his tongue. “Well, shit.” He paused. “If I became the traveler, could I make her immortal?”
Narita hesitated. “You could… if you're even capable of doing so.”
Greg paused. “What do you mean?”
Narita sighed. “A brush with your true self threatened to tear my entire reality apart, and this reality is much weaker than my own. If you fully connected with it… I can't guarantee it would destroy this reality, but I would say there's a significant chance of it.”
Greg blinked. “But… I thought they were indestructible?”
Narita grimaced. “So did I.”
Greg frowned. “Is there any way to check?”
Narita snorted. “You could try to connect to a different reality and see if you destroy that one. But you would first have to find a way to leave this reality, then spend years or even centuries working to become significant enough to connect to it. Time does pass differently in different realities, but even so, it would require you to basically abandon this reality, and Tessa, for a significant period of time, while developing connections with who knows how many other people in that reality, which you will then risk the destruction of.”
Greg sighed. “So no making Tessa immortal. Shit.”
“If it helps, I've seen more than a few travelers set up their friends and family as gods in their reality, and it rarely ends well. Time and power have a tendency to warp even the most upright of individuals.” Narita replied.
“I guess…” Greg muttered. “Anyway, how does any of this explain how I got here?”
Narita nodded. “Right, let me explain how travelers cross realities. First, we can enter a reality with permission from the traveler connected to it. Second, if your reality is significantly stronger than another, you can force your way in. In both these methods, you materialize in the body of your choice, fully formed. However, we have a third method we can use, which is the method I believe you used, which involves tossing ourselves into the void, the non-space between realities, and entering a random reality as a new birth. It isn't that uncommon for beings to become detached from their reality upon death, not physically of course but spiritually, and other realities take them in for various reasons, so we can slip in naturally and grow like a native, as you did. I believe your full self would be more than capable of forcing you into a reality, but it takes effort and I believe you would be aware if you had. It makes more sense to believe you entered through the void.”
“I suppose that makes sense.” Greg agreed. “Not that I know anything about any of this… but I guess ultimately it doesn't particularly matter how I got here, does it? Since in the end, I am here, and nothing is going to change that.” He paused. “So what's up with the Multiverse then? Or more, does it particularly matter, since I can't actually see leaving this reality any time soon?”
“It matters because there are certain principles that govern how realities are created and operate, which may become an… issue for you.” Narita explained. “In particular, it has been well documented that unique individuals lead… eventful lives. It's likely that the very awakening of Earth and the arrival of the aliens were precipitated by your birth.”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Greg blinked. “Really? Why?”
Narita sighed. “Because realities seem to be utterly opposed to unique individuals leading boring lives.”
Greg frowned. “Huh… I don't feel like my life has been particularly exciting, though?”
Narita stared at him. “You- are the Archmage's apprentice. You were abducted by aliens!”
“Well yeah, but none of that was particularly exciting.” Greg retorted. “It just kinda… happened.”
Narita shook her head. “I don't even know what to say to that. But it isn't about everything being exciting for you. It's more about things being interesting, and even then, it only deals in what's actually possible. Reality won't manifest a dragon in front of you just to keep things interesting. It just means that if it is possible for something interesting to happen in your life, the odds are that it will. For example, ending up on the same ship as a traveler and having a random encounter that resulted in her living in your home for the foreseeable future.”
Greg scratched his head. “I guess that's vaguely interesting…”
Narita scowled at him. “Just- be aware of it. You don't want to get caught off guard and end up losing someone because your reality thought it would be neat if you wandered into the middle of an apex predator's territory at the peak of its mating season.”
Greg paused. “That seems like a very specific example, and honestly more like the result of poor planning.”
“We were charting an unknown territory! You can't plan for the unknown!” Narita retorted.
“Well, that's fair.” Greg shrugged. “Is that all then?”
Narita sighed. “Yes, that's all.”
*
Later that night, after dealing with his mana investment, Greg took some time to consider his conversation with Narita. Being a smoke god was… neat? He honestly wasn't sure what to make of it, since it didn't exactly feel real. Like yeah, Narita had freaked out about it, but he didn't feel like a smoke god, he just felt like… him. Plus, it didn't change anything about what he could actually do, right? He frowned, thinking about his smoke from the perspective of being some kind of physicality god. His smoke could simulate anything, manipulate matter, create force and heat, and drain vitality… all of which related to physicality somehow. Simulating and manipulating matter made sense, obviously, while force and heat seemed a bit more iffy. Though, if he thought of physicality as physics… that actually made a lot more sense. He still had no idea what was going on with vitality, though. Of course he knew there was a physical basis for life, but wasn't it all DNA and proteins interacting in complex ways, with some chemicals added in for flavor? Why did there need to be some extra factor pushing things along?
His thoughts turned back to his smoke, thinking about where vitality could fit in, wondering what he was missing. It didn't increase what he could make, because he could make anything- Greg paused. That wasn't actually true, was it? His could only be so dense… and he could only exert so much force. Then there was the strain… was vitality involved in all that? Greg cocked his head thoughtfully. What if vitality was what determined the power behind something? The… Greg smacked his head. The potential! Narita had literally told him that! Which implied that in order for his smoke to get stronger… he was going to need to drain vitality. Greg grinned, suddenly very glad he still had smoke on Earth.
*
Greg filled Tessa in on his new godly status the next day at lunch, which she took surprisingly well, muttering about knowing it had to be something utterly ridiculous. She was a bit more thrown by the whole Multiverse thing, and the idea that things would happen just because Greg was unique made her incredibly nervous. He elected not to tell the Archmage or Lapodala though. They'd been great so far, but he wasn't sure it'd be the best idea to tell them he was some kind of smoke god. He still hadn't forgotten the fact that they'd slaughtered half the population, after all. He wasn't sure what he was actually going to do about that, but if he didn't have to tell the aliens something, he saw no reason to volunteer the information.
Then later that day they had their first combined challenge with the feral team, which went about as well as could be expected. They'd picked a challenge that required them to take down a small herd of goat-like creatures, which thankfully they didn't have to die to complete, the biggest issue being that the herd was designed to run, scatter, and otherwise make themselves a bitch to get at and if they crossed the boundary of the challenge, they'd disappear, reducing their evaluation. So, of course, the first thing Greg did was put up a wall around them. Then, as the goat things frantically struggled to break down the wall, the melee's used Bianca’s portals to jump in and out of the ring, avoiding the charging herd and taking out the stragglers, while those with ranged attacks caused chaos within the herd, creating the stragglers. With all the abilities they had on board, they made quick work of the challenge, Brutus bashing down the final goat barely fifteen minutes after they started the challenge.
“You know, I'm beginning to think the aliens don't like my ability.” Victor grumbled. “Where are the assassination challenges? Why is it always fight this big fuck-off creature I can barely even fucking damage?!?”
“Because that's what we're going to be doing.” Brittany pointed out with a sigh. “Hunting for food, defending our homes, surviving inhospitable environments, and creating the tools we need to do all that. The aliens don't care if you could be the greatest assassin the universe has ever seen, all they care about is if you can help our species survive the next decade.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Victor waved dismissively. “Just let me bitch for a bit, alright? Getting run over by a fucking one ton goat hurts.”
“They did not weigh a ton.” Casey retorted, rolling her eyes.
“I was exaggerating!” Victor snapped back. “Can't anyone let a dude vent around here, god damn!”
“I'll let you vent, buddy.” Greg assured him with a thumbs up.
Victor glanced over at him, then let out a weary sigh, shaking his head. “Sorry dude, I'm just not feeling it today. I feel fucking useless.”
“Just because you aren't what the aliens are looking for doesn't mean you're useless.” Tessa immediately interjected, giving him a hard look. “You kept us alive more times than I can count back on Earth! Some of us might not even be here if it wasn't for you. You are the best scout anyone could ever ask for, and don't let the fact that the aliens aren't measuring that let you forget it.”
Victor blinked at her, then snorted. “Right, fuck the rankings. I just gotta focus on what I do best, right?” He stood, stretching a bit before turning and walking off. “I'll see you guys back home.”
The rest of the squad froze as they watched Victor walk off. “That- is going to be a problem.” Brittany muttered.
“Yeah…” Casey agreed. “But not for him.”
Tessa groaned. “I should have let him stay depressed.”
“Should I bring him back?” Gigi asked curiously. “I can still catch him.”
“No. As much as I hate to admit it, I trust Victor. If he's causing problems, then problems deserve to be caused.” Tessa sighed, shaking her head as she turned to focus on the ferals. “Nevermind him for now, what did all of you think of the challenge?”
Henrietta frowned. “I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but the challenge felt almost too easy. Which, I believe, shows the necessity and effectiveness of strategy and cooperation, but I can't help but think it lacks the true purpose of the challenge. There seems to be little point in doing something we know we can do. I think it would behoove us to attempt… riskier challenges. Something that pushes us beyond what we are capable of. And- I think it would be a disservice to become overly reliant on working in such a large group.”
Tessa frowned. “So you don't want to do challenges together?”
“Not at all. Instead, I think we should do more challenges together, but in smaller groups, like we did at the market.” Henrietta replied. “And I don't think we should abandon the larger group, either. I simply think we should utilize it more sparingly, perhaps once in a ranking period? And it should be used in a challenge that will force us to our limits, not something like… this.” She waved distastefully at the challenge they'd just completed.
“She has a point.” Brittany muttered. “There's no guarantee we're always going to be together. In fact, I would even say there might be a benefit in reserving a day for solo challenges. Something to highlight where we're lacking and what we need to work on the most.”
“What the fuck am I supposed to do in a solo challenge!?!” Meredith protested.
“Pull a Greg and heal yourself while beating the shit out of whatever you're facing.” Tessa retorted. “Or learn how to reverse your healing so it hurts instead. You all have options, particularly after getting the sponsorships from Greg. There's no excuse to not expand what you're capable of.”
“I just wish the spells didn't read like freaking research papers.” Carlos sighed. “I take one look and I start getting a headache.”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “It reads like a research paper because it is a research paper. The whole point of it is to give you an in-depth understanding of the subject so you can transform your mana into it.”
“I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that it makes me feel like someone is scraping my eye socket with a rusty spoon.” Carlos grumbled.
“Might be a good idea to spend some time focusing on mental enhancement then.” Greg offered. “I mean, it may not be your ideal investment plan, but it's worth it if it can help you get a better handle on spells.”
Carlos paused. “That- is a good point, yeah, I'll do that.”
“Wow, okay, it just hit me how crazy mana investment is.” Casey muttered. “Like, you want to become smarter? Throw some mana at your brain. You want to be stronger? Get some mana in those muscles! You want bigger ti-”
“Casey!” Emily cut her off. “Don't be gross!”
Casey coughed. “I'm just saying, with mana investment, there's no excuse to not be exactly who you want to be, and that's- pretty crazy.”
“There are some things mana can't improve.” Greg commented. “But yeah, in general, mana investment can turn you into whoever you want to be. That's why archmages are so important, because without them, there's no pure mana for people to use. Which… could be a problem once we reach the new planet.”
“Everything is going to be a problem once we reach the new planet.” Brittany sighed. “That's kind of the point of all this, right? To prepare us to face those problems.”
“Exactly.” Tessa nodded. “So let's make the most of it. Starting with figuring out how to make the most of these challenges.”