Her eyes blinked open as sunlight streaked overhead. Maria groggily sat up from the giant bed, her peach-blonde hair a mangled mess as she looked around the large room.
"Good morning, your highness," An emotionless voice called out to her.
Maria squinted her eyes, she looked across from her bed to see her guard already dressed and prepped, sitting on a couch next to a desk. The princess yawned and crawled closer.
"You don't have to call me that," She lazily laid on the bed, stretching as her hair fell, "you know?"
"I know."
Maria sighed and forced herself to sit up, legs swinging, "Still so curt."
The personal guard remained expressionless, "The sun has just risen. The maids have already prepared the bath to your liking, and I've picked out suitable clothing for you amidst the ones from the closet. They are folded on your night stand."
Maria hopped from the bed.
"Thank you," She said to the person that had taken care of her since she was born.
[Name: Maria Springfield
Strength: A
Speed: A
Mana: A
Skills: Ruler's Soul (U) Forever A Crimson Blade (U) Swordsmanship (C+)]
Maria smiled as she closed her Sacred Text.
She sat infront of Ais, on a soft stool, as a brush moved swimmingly, but gently, through her already dried hair.
As that ended, she changed into renewed clothing.
She wore a single piece crimson dress with streaks of white. White stockings entered into flat, red shoes. Finally, she tied her peach-blonde hair with a string of red, drifting just a bit of hair from her right and left side into a ponytail that fell in the middle of the rest of her hair. The change was barely noticeable, only serving to keep hair from her eyes.
"Alright," She spun around, hair dancing.
"Let's go."
* * *
"It's really crowded," Maria commented as she walked through the sidewalk of Kent, weaving between people.
The streets were filled with rolling carriages, continually coming into the city. Along with the sheer amount of people that had suddenly appeared since yesterday, the early morning of the city, was bustling.
"You don't say?" Her brother said to her side, "The Hunt starts this afternoon. Not only have the participants continued to arrive since yesterday, so has the spectators. Nobles, peasants, anyone willing to make the journey to watch it, are coming here."
The city regularly housed an estimation of 75,000 people. It was the second largest city in Albion, behind the capital's 165,000. And now, with the Hunt almost underway, the numbers had bolstered.
"Snarky, but thanks." Rain said.
"Right?" Maria rolled her eyes.
"Don't mention it," Arthur simply waved the two off then pointed to a building of tanned wood, "Over there is the Adventure Guild. Same place I received my card, and the same place you'll receive yours when you pass the Hunt."
A cuboidal building which, thanks to its construction material, looked every bit as delicate as a butterfly's wings. Its tanned white figure glimmered under the afternoon sun, and Maria could see the occasional figures in battle gear leaving and entering. From ax-wielding jocks to bow-wielding nimble men.
'Ah,' She thought, finally catching sight of her current goal.
About another twenty minutes of walking and they finally reached the edge of the city, just before the gates.
"This is it?" Rain asked, looking at a peculiar building. Noting the building he had always avoided on purpose, like a beeping red sign telling him to back away.
"Its supposed to be it, yes," The siblings muttered.
". . ." A certain guard listlessly looked up.
A single building of black glistered under the sun. Although it wasn't made of marble, it shined just as well. There was a massive amount of mana swirling around the complex and, she noticed, most people stayed clear of the building. As she forced the mana inside of her own body to quiet down, she could tell why. When something so much more an oppressive mana stands before you, your own could become erratic if you were not careful.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
'It certainly is unique,' The guard thought.
Not waiting a single bit, the group of four stepped inside the building.
The interior of the complex, for its magnificence, was plainly decorated. It held nothing more than a single counter, a sitting area to both the left and right walls, and stairs on both sides; both leading upwards and downwards.
Arthur walked to the counter and asked the man at the other end, "Is the Director here today?"
"Yes," The man nodded, then looked the group over, "she's been expecting you. Up the floors to your left, down the corridor, and you should come across her office."
They nodded and ascended. The hallway had rooms on either sides leading up to a final space that split into two directions, however, their door with the smack dab plack reading 'Director' was already right there.
They stopped and Arthur knocked.
"Come in."
The door swung open and they walked into a world of paper. Shelves of books lined both sides, and toward the end of the room, was a desk filled with disorderly piles of documents. Behind that, if you squinted enough, you would see the brunette hair of a woman sway as she shifted the paper's aside to reveal her face.
"Sorry for the bit-" She fitted her brown oak wood glasses cleanly atop atop her hazel eyes as she began to speak, but stopped briefly as soon as her eyes landed on Ais.
"Remarkable," She muttered.
"?"
'What. . .' Rain's eyes blinked. There was a yellow butterfly gently beating its wings above the woman's head as it glittered like a dance of mana.
"Remarkable?" Maria looked between the two woman, and asked.
"Oh. . .nothing to mind. . ." The woman said, "please, have a seat."
Rain sighed in relief as he watched the yellow butterfly disappear and the group sit before the desk.
"Excuse my courtesy, I am the Director of the Mana Circuit Guild, Mash Fraught. I assume your arrival is dully based on our progress on your arm?"
"Yes," Arthur nodded.
"And why it took so long," Maria added.
Mash raised a brow but smiled.
"Creating an item powered by magic circuits isn't easy, especially one as complex as an arm."
The princess scrunched her brows. It was evident she didn't buy those words one bit.
Mash sighed, "Would you like an explanation of what exactly my guild here, does?"
"Yes please," She nodded.
"Very well, let's begin with the basics. . ."
"Each person's mana has an element, and the magic a person can cast is dependent on that element. Usually, they give form to a spell through controlling and shaping their mana, but for a spell to truly have an affect on the world, without it being just a mass of mana, a chant must be spoken."
She spoke unhurriedly and Arthur nodded, it was truly the basics.
"However, a Mana Circuit is the theoretical zone 'in-between' the activation of a magic spell and the bubbling mass of mana. It still has a shape and a form, but it lacks a definition, a meaning. It follows the basic rules of creating a spell but since it lacks a 'concrete affect', it defaults to a stronger version of what mana usually does. . .flow."
"Flow?"
"Yes. Flow. Gather enough force of mana and you can affect the world through pressure. It's like a drop of water. . .a small quantity cannot do anything, but a river can cut through a mountain given enough time. In essence, a Mana Circuit is lines of pure, compressed, mana wiggling and working together to achieve a goal."
As she said those words, she lifted a palm, a swirl of mana gathered at her command, red dots floating atop before slowly taking shape into a thin line of red--that looked every bit solid rope.
"Right now this is a line of pure mana."
She took her glasses off and placed it down, then she took a finger and imbedded the line of mana into one of the hinges of the glasses.
"The only thing you can control with a mana circuit is what direction it flows and how intense that action is."
She touched the side of the glasses and. . .
The red line glowed.
. . .a single handle of the pair of glasses clasped close.
"Of course, this is a very basic use of it and might not seem like much," She looked over the group and smiled, ". . .but gather enough of them, and they can move almost anything with their 'flow'."
"So, put simply," Arthur cut in, "You draw mana lines on an object and feed a command through
"That's the thing, except, you can't change the instructions once they have been set. You can later control the activation and deactivation of the lines, but you cannot change the intensity and direction of their flows once set. So, you can see, why it might take 8 years to develop something as complex as a functioning arm using this. Especially with such a young field."
"I see. . ." Maria said, "When will the arm be ready then?"
At that moment, the floor below them rumbled and the building visibly shook. It was small enough to likely go unnoticed by the surroundings, but big enough to affect those within.
". . ."
". . ."
Rain stared forward to see several, glittering, yellow butterflies fluttering above Mash's head along with the scattering of the papers above her desk.
"Oh my," She apologized as she equipped her glasses back, "I'm sorry. An experiment or two might have become a bit. . .unstable. Our guards will take care of it."
He did not trust her words one bit.
"The arm will be ready by the end of the Hunt; we're simply running some additional tests on it."
It took awhile for the building to quiet down, and the group left quickly after.
Entering into the streets was like entering a festival. Stalls had been set at the sides of the previously carriage-beaten path, and now, all they could see was the mass of people walking south.
"It's beginning soon," Arthur said.
"You two better hurry up."
"Well yes but. . ." Maria said, already at a stall and pointing at the selection of food.
"This one."
It was a simple snack. It looked like a loaf of bread that had been stuffed with cream
"That will be 50 Dalis each for a total of 200 Dalis."
She injected her mana into a pure white ring on her left hand and looked through it. . .10 White Coins (100,00 Dalis), 20 Gold Coins (100,000 Dalis), 500 Silver Coins (50,000 Dalis), and 2000 Bronze Coins (50,000 Dalis). . .all in all, a total of 300,000 Dalis. . .her father still spoiled her so much.
Maria handed over 2 silver coins, barely making a dent in her funds.
She turned around, snacks in hand to find everyone staring at her.
"Oh come off, I bought enough for everyone."
She scoffed and began to walk south, as well. Ais thought she resembled a certain younger version of someone.
It didn't take long for them to reach their destination . . .A stadium. It was huge, taller, larger, wider, than any building in the city. Located right smack dab in the center of the city, like it was a prized possession. From the outside. . .it resembled a colosseum.
"Well," Arthur and Ais took their leave.
"We'll be going now."
"Good luck, princess."
"If you two don't pass, I'll harass you from the underworld even after I die from embarrassment. I don't want to wait another 2 years before I set out."
". . ."
"Wow, thanks for the support."
There were different entrances for participants of the Hunt, and spectators.
"Ready?" Maria looked over to Rain.
There was a sword strapped to the boy's back, and another strapped to his left waist.
He nodded, "Ready."