“Please delay any invitations from the nobles while we wait to meet with the queen.” Malea says, leading us through the alien cavern. Our invitation came rather soon after our return home, and after discussing it with Malea we found no reason to delay matters.
Unlike with President Braun and the republic, the queen of the monarchy didn’t invite us directly to her own home, instead guiding us through the teleporter to a neighbouring cavern and escorting us through the passages between. I would complain, but this is a good chance to spread my monitoring Skill through her people.
The atmosphere here is already very alien to that of the republic, with an even clearer distinction between the nobility and the commoners. The noble district is built with mansions, and not so much different from the rich and influential companies from the republic, but the homes of the commoners are not nearly so chaotic.
Lined up in sequence and looking much alike, the homes have no luxuries that I can see. There are no stores either from what I can make out.
“Hi, how are you?” I say, approaching one of the commoners in the street and planting them with my tagging Skill to steal their eyes. The guards catch up with me, too late to stop me. “I’m Kyra, a visitor. Do you have any shops around here?”
Malea covers her mouth with her hand as she swears in quiet whispers, and the guards that are here to escort us through the streets are practically having a fit just watching. I suppose, this isn’t normal?
“Shops?” The commoner asks, sweating as he takes in the sight of me and my escorts. “We don’t have shops.”
“You don’t have shops?” I ask.
“Let’s move on and stop causing the commoners trouble.” Malea says, urging me on. “I can explain it for you, if you so please.”
The commoner bows to us and retreats before I can hold him back. There are many more like him out in the fields, but unlike in the republic or the smaller cavern neighbouring my own, there are only a select few species here. None of them the half spider, half elf, arachne that I’ve become familiar with, and none of them holding elvish qualities at all.
The man I stopped is akin to a gorilla, and one of the more common species, then there’s smaller birds, about as tall as my knee, and a species of scale-skinned lizard that’s at least three metres long. They work the fields that cover most of the cavern, and otherwise keep to themselves.
Through the few eyes that I’ve managed to steal, I can see the same world slowly expanding.
“There are no shops, because there is no trade between commoners.” Malea explains. “There are various rulership methods employed within the kingdom, but this is common within caverns ruled by royalty. The commoners are peasantry, they work the fields and work as crafters and such, but they own nothing. Rather, they are themselves property.
“They have decent lives, and we give them enough food to live comfortably, and ensure that they all have roofs over their heads.” She explains. “Unlike the republic, we don’t force them to compete with one another to survive on scraps. They have their place in this world, and it is our noble responsibility to give them a good life.”
“So, they’re slaves.” I ask, looking through a few eyes.
“Very similar, they’re peasants” Malea nods seriously and without any hint of shame.
I shiver at the thought, taking in the sight of the cavern and the society that I know I don’t want to imitate. Widening my senses as far as is possible, and awkwardly pushing into groups of commoners just to keep on with my tag and release schedule, I see more and more of this world.
The commoners aren’t living in poverty, and I can’t see any signs of crime or abject suffering. Rather than forcing my biased views onto them, I try to take it in as Vii and Eshya keep me walking straight.
Always there is more to be learned, and there is more for me to grow. Observing the republic, as I still am, only offers me insight into a society that I don’t want to develop, and the monarchy seems to provide much the same but in a different flavour. Through the many stolen eyes that I’ve seeded throughout, I can see more and more of both, neither is what I want for myself or my people.
The republic is centred around the competition for power and influence, it’s not too far removed from natures own rules, while preserving the cooperative advantages of a society. The many different corporations, generally run by families, control society with only a thin veneer of democracy and fairness.
Yet, there’s still opportunity to rise from nothingness. It’s a difficult path, and it’s a bloody path, but an orphan living off of scraps can rise to be the president if they are ruthless and clever enough. Though for every success story, there are thousands of those who die on the very same path, not for any ineptitude, but simply poor luck.
Their current president is a man who’s struggled through the challenges and his rather small family, pruned to near inexistence, is evidence of the struggle. There is freedom in the republic, but only those with power enough can truly grasp it. It’s too similar to the freedom of nature, and the cruelty that is born within it.
I want more rules, and a more cooperative culture formed in my own cavern, but I still do want for people to have the opportunity to rise from nothingness and to become what they dream of.
This cavern is different. The people here aren’t competing against one another, there’s no crime because everyone has food, at least from what I’ve seen, but there’s no freedom. If you are born a commoner, you will die a commoner.
The people here are working the fields or mastering their crafts, to benefit society as a whole, but I don’t think that I’m wrong in thinking that the wealth is all filtered into the homes of the nobility and royalty. None of the commoners that I see here have a mana form dense enough to be worth consideration, and I don’t think they’re even allowed to.
The food that they farm is the property of the nobles, the homes they live in are the nobles, and their own lives are not even their own property, but that of the royalty and nobility. Proof of that is no clearer than in the limited diversity of the cavern.
Only three species thrive among the commoners, so what happened to the rest?
Life is incredibly common and diverse in this universe, so if I can only see three species then the rest have somehow been removed. At best this was achieved through making them outcast, or through sterilisation, but there’s a good chance that this came about through some measure of violence.
This limited range of species probably helps maintain social cohesion, and the comfortable peace likely keeps class violence from becoming anything terrible, but regardless for the potential functionality of it, I do not want to copy this society.
“This is a good model for a stable society, if you want to pay attention.” Malea says, leading us through towards the tunnel out of here. She watches the world around us with satisfaction.
“It’s the same as the Unified States.” Eshya says, “Maybe worse, actually.”
“It’s not great.” Vii says, nodding. “I’m really glad I wasn’t born in a situation like this. I mean, people aren’t starving at least, but I think I’d keep getting into trouble with the nobles and guards.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Why?” I ask. “You don’t seem that much of a troublemaker compared to the rest of us.”
“I want to think for myself.” She replies with a shrug. “I don’t think the nobility or guards would be very happy with people thinking for themselves here.”
“It’s not as if the guards go around attacking people for speaking their minds.” Malea says, looking down at us.
“Even if those thoughts are a desire to change society into something different where we all have a chance to succeed?” Vii asks.
“Dissidents?” Malea asks. “That’s different. You’ve seen the Republic for yourself, life here is far superior and anyone who wants to change this is asking for their neighbours to suffer and die. That isn’t simply thinking for yourself, and it’s quite reasonable to punish dissidents for their selfish behaviours.”
“That. That’s why I couldn’t live like this.” Vii says. “I’d probably get executed.”
“Yeah, I would have to agree.” I say, nodding slowly.
“Why do you think I’m so happy to have escaped all this?” Eshya asks. “I’d probably end up collared like a beast if I didn’t get lucky enough to meet you guys.”
“Well, let’s just ensure that we’re always strong enough so that no one can ever force us into that position again.” I say splitting my attention a few directions and focusing inwards on my own training.
Following my own desire for a path forward, I reach out to the Skills that I’m still developing. Primarily there are two that are seeing some considerable progress, two more tools to give me advantage, and to cover weaknesses.
The first Skill is ‘Anti-stealth sight’ which does exactly what it claims to do, stripping away the deceptions and allowing me to see through to the reality. This is simple enough when the assassin just steps carefully and hides in the shadows, I don’t really need a special Skill to see someone hiding in plain sight, though it does help.
It takes much more effort to see through magically supported stealth. Someone who’s genuinely invisible is much more difficult to notice, but it’s not impossible and this Skill forces me into habits that will help me notice the slight disturbances that they leave around them.
I can see the faint indications of some following us and surrounding us. From their behaviour they’re escorts and they’re not here to kill us, though they might still consider it since we’re not exactly allies at the moment. It’s still not likely anything we need to worry over, but even so I try to focus on them, and keep track of them all at once.
Unfortunately, in the Skill’s current state it requires focus which I’m already running low on, but with enough practice I believe it should become second nature. It will only become more powerful as I add more senses to the Skill, and customise it properly.
Due to the limited nature of the Skill itself, this is all that’s necessary to move it on from ‘functional’ to ‘mastered’ and to be fair, it’s quite efficient for what it was intended. It was meant for a single person to use their own eyes and ears to see through deception, I just want to use it for something more.
I won’t be satisfied until I’ve customised it to the point where it can be incorporated into Eye’s of an Empire, without any extra effort and focus.
The other recent success is rather unexpected, but valuable no less. It only took a few hours of focus to draw out my potential.
“What are you doing?” Vii asks, hovering over my shoulder as I wave my hand around guiding the movement of a small mana-dry feather in the air before me. “You figured out a new magic?”
Malea and the guards are paying close attention to the conversation, but it’s not as if it matters overly much. It’s not information that they’ll be able to use against me, since I’d prefer to use this magic out in the open anyway.
“I am refining my connection with the force, young one.” I say, lifting the feather and trying to make it spin. I only succeed in crumpling the feather into a sad little, twisted shape.
“Ah, force magic?” She asks. “A common magic if a little too vague of a concept. It wastes a lot of mana, but it can be used for a whole bunch of things compared to the more specific magics.”
“Forgot that whole aspect of it. The more specific the magic, the more efficient it is, right?” I ask, lifting the twisted ball with my new force magic, while smiling. The mana flow easily takes on the concept of force simply by focusing on my own obsession for control. My desperate need to control the world around me becomes expressed through the magic, but it doesn’t offer a discount like with my annihilation magic.
I’ll have to focus on adapting my ‘Conformity’ Skill, which is replacing my swimming Skill. It can make it so that I express much less of my mana density onto the world around me, without sacrificing my defences.
In theory, I can use a little bit of force magic to fly me around while I’m using my current ‘Swimming’ Skill, but one mistake and I end up just as crumpled as this little feather. ‘Conformity’ wouldn’t have that problem.
“So… what are you thinking about?” Vii asks, settling in beside me while Eshya tries talking with the stoic guards. She’s not getting any replies.
“I’m trying not to think too much, honestly.” I say, as we head towards the tunnel that will lead us towards the crown cavern where the queen waits for us. “This is… a calmer cavern compared to the republic, but it’s horrifying in another way entirely.”
“We’ll do even better.” Eshya says, giving up on the guards. “If you make a civilisation this awful you can be sure that I’ll make you fix it.”
“Thanks.” I say, with a smile. “It’s nice to know that I have people around to kick my ass if I make a mistake.”
“Is that why you keep gathering people who complain openly?” Vii asks. “I mean, you complain about it, but you keep finding more of them. Even with Fodder, you encourage him to speak up.”
“Well, I like to know when there’s a problem.” I say with a shrug. “I like having people listen to me, but because they respect my opinion, not because I’m scary. I mean, except for people like Loekan and his lot.”
“In the end violence and power is the only way to resist violence and power.” Eshya says, with a shrug.
“Which is why we train and grow stronger.” I say, closing my eyes for a few seconds and returning my focus inside.
Opening my eyes again, I practice my force magic as we walk. It’s surprisingly easy to get the magic working, but mastering the many different uses for the Skill will take me a while even with all the cheats I’m using to speed my progress.
“You are very talented, assuming you aren’t messing with us.” Malea says, watching me work. “You only learned this magic hours ago, and now you’re this proficient?”
She indicates the feather that I’m trying to flatten out. I’m just making more of a mess out of it, but I can understand.
“It’s the new support devices.” I say, “They’re incredibly good at helping us develop new Skills. Or, it’s more that we steal other people’s Skills and just have to work towards getting them working. I’m cheating essentially.”
“Then those devices are still more valuable than I thought.” She replies. She’s been rather more restrained since discovering that we stole all her personal information, and while it’s been nice, it’s also a little disappointing. When she’s spitting venom, I know that she’s being genuine at the very least. Now she’s only ever wearing a polite mask around us.
The tunnel we walk through to reach the royal capital, is well lit, especially when compared to the last time I walked between caverns. The road is smoothly paved and the walls while not smoothed out into a proper tunnel aren’t nearly as rough. The stone here is part of Frey’s body, and with the density of mana here, there are likely some mana stones growing here as well.
Our companions aren’t very talkative, and the guards walk in careful formation, checking for threats even though it’s incredibly doubtful that any exist down here. This place seems incredibly safe.
The large doors at the end of the tunnel come soon enough, and the enchantments on them glow brighter than most I’ve seen. The guards open the path for us and reveal the royal centre of power for this underground monarchy.
A city of crystal and light shines bright in the world beyond, a beauty that has been forged over generations. Without hesitation, I step inside wondering how long it will be before this place becomes my responsibility.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Stats and Skills
~Mana Form:
Current mana density: 30,103 / 60,892 units
Current mana volume: 14,962 / 30,266 shards
Mana volume at crystallisation density (Max. mana volume):
Kyra: 30,266 shards
Kyra’s armour: 20,777 shards
Kyra’s throne: 1,109,298 shards
~Forms
Mana Canon
-Annihilation Heart (Adapted)
-Blood Fuel (20,000 mana shards)
-Bone Magic Storage (40,000 mana shards)
-Nail Shifters (50,000 mana shards)
Dancer
-Flash Nerves (8,000 mana shards)
-Quick Perception Mind (Adapted)
-Burst Reflex Muscles (35,000 mana shards)
-Layered space Muscles (80,000 mana shards)
Turtle
-Rebinding Tissue (Adapted)
-Catalyst Sweat Glands (140,000 mana shards)
-Repulsive Skin (80,000 mana shards)
-Prehensile hair (10,000 mana shards)
-Fatty Tissue Blood Storage (100,000 mana shards)
Investigator
-Wide eyes (5,000 mana shards)
-Wide ears (5,000 mana shards)
-Sharp nose (5,000 mana shards)
Misc.
-Clean bowels (Adapted)
~Favourited Skills:
Magic:
-Annihilation Magic (Customised)
-Fire Magic (Functional)
-Space magic (Broken)
-Force magic (Functional)
-Ice magic (Broken)
-Wind magic (Broken)
Movement:
-Hand-to-hand casting (Functional)
-Mana surge movement (Functional)
-Stealth (Functional)
Senses:
-Eyes of an Empire (Customised)
-Combat Awareness (Functional)
-Watchmen (Functional)
-Hidden bug (Functional)
-De-tagging (Functional)
-Anti-stealth sight (Mastered)
Special:
-Spirit Transformation (Broken)
-Conformity (Broken)
-Training mana form (Functional)