The faint, blue glow of mana mixed with the green light of life, and the last bit of her mana circuit fell into place. Dia’s eyes opened a moment later as the completed fourth circuit shone once, before some nebulous power seemed to seal off just the last bit that would enable her to complete it in its entirety.
[Your Mana Circuit Superimposition has reached 4.00]
[You have achieved the qualifications to ascend in the hierarchy of life. Second Tutorial has been loaded. Start?]
Dia looked at the notifications in silence, and then shook her head. Now wasn’t the time. They were going to return home at the end of the day; to push for the completion of her fourth mana circuit now could be a problem.
She got up from her seating position and looked around the camp. Two full carts of prana jade and lifestones sat squarely outside the barrier, which had helped her complete the painstaking process of drawing her fourth mana circuit.
With a single thought, she could summon the notifications all over again. This much was now common knowledge to her, but as to the reason why a Second Tutorial was needed…
That continued to elude her, at least.
“Well, I should take this chance to show off to the others, at least!” Dia rubbed her hands. Her father would have never imagined that she would such heights within a single year, but again, her father wouldn’t have imagined that the Fourth Godsfall was going to occur in the past year either.
How were her parents now? What about her brother? Dia looked towards the east in silence, and wondered if they were still living well in the dukedom capital. The small city that doubled as Lustre’s capital was a self-sufficient place, and was one of the most guarded too. It would be nice if she were to return home…but she didn’t dare to.
Was it her fear of being captured anyway? Or was it her reluctance to leave the good friends she had made here? Dia didn’t know, and she didn’t want to think about it either.
Shaking her head lightly, she looked at the bed — which was just another barrier artefact, and then decided to sleep until daybreak fully broke. There was nothing much for her to do anyway, and the idea of sleep sounded nice. For the past week or so, her usual routine had been to dig up some prana jade or lifestones, fill the cart with mana, and then retreat to her room at night to either absorb the pure-ranked lifestones or to draw her fourth mana circuit.
“I suppose I can take a break for now,” Dia muttered.
She flopped onto the bed and stretched, before looking out of the pseudo-window — which was just an artistic gap in the barriers that made up the walls of her room — and then frowned. For some reason, there was something shiny in the sky, and by the looks of its growing profile, the shiny thing seemed to be headed their way.
“Hmm?” A few question marks popped up on her head, and she got up. Sliding off her bed, she checked her appearance once, before heading out of her room and the base in general.
A few of the others had fallen asleep, from the sounds of their breathing, but Dia wasn’t going to judge them or anything. Forming mana circuits was tiring, compared to the more relaxing pastime of taking in lifestones, and everyone was working hard nowadays.
Dia stopped at the edge of the barrier. The tri-coloured light that was closing in was now a lot more visible, and its approach was beginning to slow, if she didn’t get it wrong.
In other words…
The Moons had decided to conscript them, or at least someone on the ground had finally picked up that order to conscript the five of them. Without a doubt, this was going to be somewhat problematic, so Dia turned back to the base and started knocking on everyone’s doors.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
A few minutes later, everyone had assembled outside the base, looking at the approaching light.
Farah yawned once. “Great. Someone who doesn’t know what visiting hours are, huh? Can we say no to this conscription? I still have things to do, and all this is bothering me.”
“I wish we could, but I get a feeling that doing so would be very dangerous, and that’s putting it really lightly,” Schwarz replied, a random lock of hair standing upright on his head. The poor bartender had been sleeping when Dia went around knocking on everyone’s door, and he hadn’t had much time to groom himself.
Nero shrugged. “Well, I can just say no for you guys.”
“Hmm. And would that work?”
“It’s worth a shot, I suppose.” Nero frowned. “But it’ll definitely be a problem even if they accept it. The Moons aren’t going to let any viable combat power off now, especially since they are still at a huge disadvantage in the whole thing. Their recent victories were only due to the overstretched forces of the great Dark, and even then, they took disproportionate losses.”
“…How do you know that?” Risti asked.
Nero made a vague gesture at the sky. “That’s how.”
“How convenient. Anyway…” She let out a sigh. “Why not pour out some drinks while that thing flies over? It’s only two minutes away anyway, and I could do with more drinks now.”
“Sure.” Schwarz returned to the base, before heading back out with a tray, laden wirg cups and a bottle, all of them balanced on his right hand. “Here. It’s a good fizzy drink. No alcohol, Nero, since it’s too freaking early for a drink.”
“Bah.” Nero took the drink anyway, and the five of them sat down on the ground.
Dia rolled her eyes at the alcoholic Holy Son, and then looked up at the approaching light as she sipped at her drink. Within seconds, the tri-coloured meteor had landed a few metres in front of the barrier, and the scintillating glow died down to reveal a woman radiating white light.
She approached the barrier, and knocked on it once, sending ripples throughout the large dome. With a sigh, Risti moved over to the small, stick-like object on the ground and fiddled with it.
The barrier vanished a moment later, and the woman closed in on them.
This wasn’t the first time Dia had seen someone of the Moons, but this particular personage didn’t seem to have much of a presence. In fact, it was the complete opposite; Dia could close her eyes and lose track of her on the spot.
“You are?” Farah asked.
“I am a Lunar Lord, here to look for the Seekers of Life, a group of mana-users based in Licencia. Are you that group?” the woman asked.
Dia really wanted to deny that for the heck of it, but Farah nodded slowly. “Yes. And?”
“Excellent. Plota has sent everyone an invitation to the frontlines,” the woman replied. “This is an existential battle for everyone’s souls. For that reason, I would highly advise everyone present against not showing up for it.”
“Conscription, then?” Farah’s words grew a touch colder. “And? What do we get out of it?”
“I suppose saying that doing so is your own reward wouldn’t cut it, yes?” the woman replied. “Well, there are naturally rewards for fighting in the frontlines. Lifestones. Prana jades.”
“Nice and all, but that’s not enough for us,” Farah replied. “We can get far more at ancient battlefields for far less risk. While we do not rule out the possibility of helping the Moons, we must also look out for ourselves. What can we get there that’s unique?”
The woman looked at Farah intently, and then at the carts of lifestones and prana jades. For a moment, Dia thought that she would attack, but nothing happened.
“Something…unique.” The Lunar Lord paused, and a tremendous presence descended upon the world for a singular moment. Her tri-coloured visage turned blue immediately afterwards, and a small smile graced her lips. “In that case, how does the unconditional evolution of any skill once for everyone present?”
Schwarz twitched. “Unconditional—”
“—evolution?” Farah took a deep breath. “Is that even allowed? Any skill?”
“Not an Absolute skill, however. Other than that, there are no restrictions at all,” the woman replied.
Dia gulped. There were two skills that she had all but sealed off, due to their sheer power. If either one underwent evolution…what was the chance that she would be able to have a skill that could threaten even the familiar spirits?
Her trembling hands betrayed her excitement, and she wasn’t alone either. The others were showing similar signs, and the woman smiled. “Well then, I shall wait here while everyone else deliberates. Time is running out for us. I must send everyone to the battlefield at the shortest notice possible.”
“What about our items? You can’t just send us there without us taking our weapons and other things from our own base.”
“I’ll send you to Licencia first, and then to the frontlines afterwards,” the Lunar Lord clarified.
“With powers like this, are we even needed?” Dia muttered.
“Well then, I’ll return in fifteen minutes to ask for your decision. See you later.” Leaving behind these words, the blue-coloured Lunar Lord sprang up into the dark sky, before vanishing into the distance.
“…She’s probably looking for even more people, isn’t she?” Schwarz asked.
“Let’s put this aside for a moment. As it turns out, we do have somewhat of a choice,” Risti replied. “Let’s start discussing it.”
“Mhm.”
As everyone crowded around, Dia couldn’t help but wonder if they really needed to discuss the whole thing. After all…wasn’t the answer already provided for everyone?