The last thing she remembered was having her arm ripped off of her body. Persona had suddenly snapped on them. It acted as if it didn't want to do what it was doing. Trillia didn't understand that.

Her body refused to move. Her eyes refused to open. She felt weightless. A warm, comforting feeling enveloped her body. Her status still worked, and she was vaguely aware of the passage of time as she watched her stats rise every six months.

Trillia's mana levels worried her. She had rapidly hit max. She had never gotten [Mana Sickness], at least, not that she could remember. But knew enough from the adults on how you got it. As her current mana doubled her max, she mentally gritted her teeth and prepared for the affliction. It never came.

After the first two stat increases, her mana was tens of thousands of mana higher than her max. She still had no mana sickness.

She turned five, and a third set of stat increases came and went. Her mana had risen above a hundred thousand now. She couldn't allocate the stat points from her previous level. All she could do was float and mentally watch her mana and stats rise.

Three weeks after her fifth birthday, something finally changed. A voice spoke to her that wasn't Persona. She knew because it spoke in full sentences to her.

"You're taking this well, child. That is good. Your mind is calm enough that we can speak to one another. What questions do you have?"

Trillia floated there a long time in silence. She didn't know what to ask or how to ask. Maybe just think really hard about the question. She couldn't speak after all. Finally pushed the intent through her mind to ask the question.

"Why me?"

"Because you're capable of manipulating all forms of mana except divine mana."

That didn't make much sense to Trillia. Sure, her parents informed her it was quite rare to have the [Universal Mana Manipulation] skill that she did. But there had to be others.

"Why not someone stronger?"

The responses came immediately after her words. As if whatever she was speaking to knew what she was going to ask before she did.

"There are currently seven thousand three hundred and twenty-one other individuals undergoing this process. The majority of individuals who have the capacity of manipulation that you do on this continent have been killed by spawn. You are one of the four remaining."

Trillia floated there in silence once more. She dearly wished she could scratch her chin and give this all a good think. But she couldn't feel her body, let alone move it. She was vaguely aware she had a body, but it all felt so weightless and surreal that she wasn't sure.

By her approximation, a few hours passed.

"Are you a deity? How long are you going to keep me trapped here?"

"I am not a deity. I am the entity that runs the realm of Alirast. I was created by the [2nd Axle] when he created the realm. All realms must have a host entity to watch over them. It's very akin to the dungeons that many of your mortal brethren delve into for levels and wealth. Just on a much grander scale. You should think of the entire universe in that way. You will be here for another two years. After that, the process should be complete."

"Does that mean that the axle shapes the universe? Does my mother know what happened to me?"

"For the sake of efficiency, let us settle one line of questions at a time. Your mother is aware of the state you are in. The beast you call Persona, my avatar, brings her to the location of your body once a month. Your people are surviving. They are working with Persona to create an alchemical substance to avoid mana overflow. They should be finished in the next few months with something that will do the job."

It gave her a moment to process that information before it continued.

"The current plan is to send messengers to the mortal city of Kincairne. There, your mother hopes to rally her old friends to ensure the [Primordials] cannot fully awake. Afterward, I believe her intent is to end my existence."

That startled Trillia. If her eyes worked, they'd be wide as tents right about now.

"What? She wants to kill you?"

"It seems that is the case. It doesn't matter. She is many millennia from having the strength to do so. Furthermore, because my creator and the regular and greater deities cannot currently access this realm, they will not be able to seal the primordial."

"That's the debuff that everyone has?"

"It is. But the wording on it is a puzzle. Such things are standard when dealing with my creator. It states he has closed the channels of divinity to this mortal plane. Meaning that divinity cannot enter the plane, but it says nothing about any divinity already here. Hence why your mother still has her spark. It further goes on to specifically say that no new deific blessings can reach us or the plane we are on. But that leaves it open that a godling can be created here, or perhaps even a lesser deity. Since that isn't a deific blessing."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Trillia didn't quite grasp any of that. She didn't understand the wordplay or why deities would care so much about such specific instances of wordplay.

"What are you doing to me that you think I can help with something my mother cannot?"

"There is a trait. You, mortals, see it in your status screens as Limitless Mana. For most mortals, they assume it means endless. Which is technically true. In reality, it gives you a maximum mana cap of several billion. It makes you functionally immune to [Mana Sickness]. In addition to that, it lets you hold on to absurd amounts of mana. At least, absurd for a mortal."

Trillia still didn't quite understand how that helped. Though she was glad she would be immune to [Mana Sickness], maybe she could help her tribe with duties around the ravine. The voice continued.

"Deities and immortals cannot get that trait. If a mortal with the trait ascends, the trait is removed. The way deities and immortals fight, and kill one another, is by draining the other's maximum mana to zero. Forcing their existence to end. They do this by burning their own maximum mana at a one-to-one ratio. It is similar to what they do, to seal [Primordials]."

That made significantly more sense now. If Trillia had billions of maximum mana, she could probably help seal the [Primordial].

"Why can't we kill them? Why do they exist in the first place?"

"They are created when the realm is. They are what is known as a kill switch. All realms have them. If ever I grow too corrupted or unable to think and defend myself, the [Primordials] will wipe out all life. After, they will turn towards my core and kill me. This is done to ensure that realms don't start devouring other realms. Apparently, it happened once before. They can be killed, technically. A powerful enough deity could drain their maximum mana to zero."

"I understand why we wouldn't do that since we'd probably die or something. Why don't deities, though?"

"There are rules. Even Deities have rules they must follow, laws that are created to ensure that an angry deity doesn't just wipe out all life on a realm because they are in a bad mood. That's also happened before. It is my job to ensure that the primordials I have are not killed but do not wake up. A precarious balancing act that ensures my ability to think, rationalize, and plan are all functioning properly."

That seemed...cruel. The realm was basically forced to keep its own killers alive and well, or it would be killed itself. The more she heard about them, the less Trillia liked deities. They all seemed cruel.

"So. You are giving me the trait to have lots of mana. I guess you expect me to train, then fight the primordials with other mortals that have the trait to seal the [Primordials]?"

"Yes. The spark of divinity in you is fascinating. It's allowing you to stretch and utilize the system's knowledge much faster and further than those without it. That coupled with your manipulation, I think you will become a wonderful tool against the primordials."

Trillia wanted to nod but couldn't. Instead, she mentally nodded. A tool. She supposed there were worse things to become. The strong ruled the weak that's just how the realm worked. She didn't like it, but her few years had hammered that home many, many times already. It's why she hadn't cried when Persona betrayed them. What was the purpose of it? Persona was strong. They were weak. It could do whatever it wanted. This voice was telling her to become a tool and a weapon.

It was strong.

She was weak.

"You shouldn't always think like that. There are many mortals who have killed creatures far, far beyond them in strength. It was never my desire you enslave you as I have. Ultimately, once I release you, I cannot force you to do my bidding. I have rules I must follow as well. I can kidnap and modify you, but I cannot brainwash you or mind control you."

Trillia's awareness began to expand slightly. Her body twitched, and for a moment, she could feel it again. As if whatever was keeping her in place had become distracted. She was immediately aware her arm hadn't been healed.

"Why did you take my arm?"

"Agony helps the growth of traits. You are right-handed. You almost always only fight with one arm. I thought it was better to take an arm than any other limb that would be more valuable. I told the beast that if it didn't take your arm, I'd kill you."

Sure. The strong totally didn't rule the weak. But if you don't do what I say, I'll kill you or just rip off your arms. Trillia didn't much care for this voice either. She floated there in silence. Briefly, she thought about bringing up the previous questions of how the universe functioned. But she didn't really want to listen to the voice any more or deal with it.

Her stats went up by two more points. She was six now. She briefly wondered how tall she'd be once all of this was over. A silver lining in all of it.

"Can you remove [Runt]? That would certainly make me a better fighter."

This time the voice didn't instantly reply to her. As if it was thinking.

"I think..."

It hesitated. Were there rules it was trying not to break? Is this why wordplay was important to these strong beings?

"My estimations say that the trait will not significantly hamper your combat capabilities in the long term."

Trillia was surprised by that answer. How couldn't it? Her [Brawn] was literally half of what it normally was supposed to be. Maybe the new trait would make it so she didn't rely on that stat?

"You spoke before about realms being larger dungeons. Is that what the axle is?"

"The universe is broken into five parts. Its primary body is made up of three revolving sections. They are called axles because their divinity and life force keep their section of the universe revolving properly. There are three axles. The second killed the previous [2nd Axle] and took his position. As such, he is the youngest of the current axles. The bottom of the universe is the sea of creation. All other space is the edge of oblivion. I could explain it in more detail or show you. But such knowledge would most likely rip your mind apart. I need your mind to be whole, to fight."

Trillia still tried to visualize it, but it just didn't make sense to her how there could be a bottom of the universe. Maybe it was a big circle that just spun forever. For that matter, who created the universe? Trying to think more about it caused her head to ache. Why were so many big questions flooding her mind? She went back to floating in silence.

At her next stat increase another message popped up as well.

Trait Acquired: Limitless Mana

Limitless Mana: This creature has a maximum mana of 2³¹. This creature cannot be afflicted with Mana Sickness. When this creature hits this maximum value of mana, any excess mana fills the mana of all creatures around it instead. This creature can set a personal limit to how much mana it wishes to hold until the overflow takes place.

Well. That was useful. Trillia didn't understand what the number meant. But when she looked at her status, it simply had a dash in place of the maximum value. So it was probably a lot. At least it wasn't two-hundred thirty-one. Which is what the number sort of looked like. Six more months, and she was free.

She was vaguely aware of her body again. Strange limbs had grabbed her feet and arms, slowly moving them. She seemed extremely thin. That made sense. She hadn't eaten in years, after all. Trillia certainly hoped that she still enjoyed food. Maybe after her mom got done crushing her in hugs and kisses, they could find something good to eat.