Nuu

Autronima Faction Guest Quarters, Hathic Cruiser, Savriâ’s Orbit

“I appreciate your willingness to cooperate and explain what you know of the situation on the planet’s surface.” Quoth the grey skinned, red eyed, human.

Maintaining an appropriately dignified and unconcerned posture, Nuu inclined his head. Every atom of his person ached to flee the unnatural, nay heretical, construct of steel, lightning, and fire. Traversal of the stars was natural and right. Ships of cold metal, made to cut through the void between, was heresy. “My desire to aid my fellow intelligent beings is without end.”

Even the art of speech was mocked within this box of industrial poison. The polished and shining walls reflected his words back upon him, removing all depth and reflecting a parody of his rich resonance. Eyes flitting about, he once again despaired over the lack of life and vibrancy. Although the diminutive chair on which he sat was admittedly comfortable, it lacked the touch of an artisan.

The synthetic fibrous material wound taught to the point of stiffness providing support for his posterior and back carried with it the scent of dramatically altered and combined manufactured material. The desk before him was seemingly hewn of a single piece of carbonized iron. Even the man with which he conversed was little more than a carrier of artifice. He had arranged to convey upon his person every possible technological contrivance.

Garbed in a black and tan suit which clung tightly to an athletic frame, the cybernetics implanted within were made plain by the flashed of light traveling up and down in a stable, nearly hypnotic, pattern. Beside the one piece uniform, he wore a helm of clear glass and silver, which flashed and cracked with inner lightning. Each hand was clad in sheer gauntlets which trailed light as they were moved. Even the boots appeared to exude forth a white smoke, or perhaps steam, with each step.

The subject of Nuu’s inspection coughed softly, “Mr. Nuu. Would you please provide your statement? I understand Fae find our ships… Uncomfortable. Once we debrief you, I will give you access to our teleportation array as promised and you may be on your way.”

Ah, indeed. The reason he had agreed to be of assistance to these people, the promise of escape. To his eternal chagrin, Nuu had fallen victim in the same manner as the meteorite which became a thin mountain upon Savriâ. His scene had been vague on the method by which his escape would be secured. Therefore, when the scene carried him to a particular part of the mountain while Willow distracted her master, he’d assumed it would then invest him with sudden strength to climb down. Perhaps, he would happen upon sudden inspiration as to the method by which he might fly. Nay. Rather, a beam of brilliantly sharp, lifeless, careless, light had surrounded him and torn his body into its base components. Joyously, those components had reformed moments later. Less so joyous, he found himself within the ‘surface transport’ room of a space fairing vessel.

Observing the impatience building in his interrogator’s eyes, Nuu inclined his head again, “Apologies, sir Jeremy. My faculties are indeed overwhelmed and, I must admit, somewhat offended by my current surrounds.” An exceptionally delicate understatement.

Nodding, Jeremy flicked a hand at him in a signal which most politely might be translated as a request to continue. “I am afraid I know little of the specifics of the events occurring upon this fine planet. I was present with the sole intention to study the interactions of a unique variety of tree.”

“The solar-root trees, yes. They’re why we’re here too, to study them.” With a sigh, Jeremy continued, “Another faction apparently arrived first and stole an entire specimen. We arrived less than a year ago and have been doing our best to piece together what they did to break the ecosystem’s balance. It seems unlikely that taking a single tree would cause the slow roll-out of chaos which we’ve seen. Ah, anyway. Please, do continue. What do you know of the ranker running around the planet’s surface?”

Maintaining an outwardly placid facade, Nuu forced himself to answer as succinctly as he was able, “The Ranker, as you designated him, is named Madrick. I know little about him, except that to my knowledge he came from Thomas’ Planet.” Another stinking and disgusting example of aberrant destruction of nature and life, he was certain Madrick had tracked him there. Else wise, it was unlikely he would have managed to trace him further. The very reason Nuu had chosen Thomas’ Planet, over a more appropriate locale, as a fallback, was its broken ecology and saturated population. Finding anything or anyone was a task requiring truly monumental effort.

Tapping the table with his strange gauntlets, Jeremy caused an illusion of Thomas’ Planet to rise from its center, between them. The human tapped several more times, causing several additional illusionary panels to appear. The panel which he focused upon most raptly contained scrolling text which he was rapidly absorbing, or so one might assume given the rapid flickering of his eyes. The text was obscured to Nuu, viewing it through the semi-transparent backing of the illusion as he was.

“The planet’s transit records don’t contain any mention of a ‘Madrick’ arriving anytime recently. You’re certain?” The red eyed man asked without looking up, his eyes continuing to scan across the displays.

With a slow nod, Nuu decided to expand ever so slightly, “I am certain. I am privy to the knowledge that he likely made use of an unmonitored private teleportation bay to arrive. I am uncertain as to the mechanics of his departure.”

Taking the moment of focus necessary to put his state of mind in a position wherein he could interface with the UICI, Nuu forwarded the bay details to Jeremy. If this man was interested in his hunter, it could only help him to provide them more intelligence on him.

“This is helpful, thanks…” A few minutes passed in silence. Nuu spent the majority of those minutes forcibly suppressing his desire to pull the book on his waist up and quickly write a scene wherein he was suddenly in a beautiful forest, or standing before a grand desert, perhaps even a swamp or mire. Anything but this horrible shining chrome.

“Oh… that Madrick. Huh. This may complicate things. I… Well, I’ll talk to my supervisor about it later. For now, let’s finish our conversation and help you on your way, shall we?”

“I would be most obliged.”

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Willow

The Summit, Savriâ

The giants had split up a handful of kilometers from the mountain and two of the three were going around it. At first, Willow had thought that maybe she was getting lucky and they were going to pass her by, leaving only one for her and her friends to deal with. Of course, that would have been far too simple. They were surrounding her, ensuring she had no direction to retreat. That was unexpected, to say the least. It made Willow wonder if the giants were actually intelligent, unlike the pop-hoppers and their combined-dozen form.

Unfortunately, she really had no way to check. They were now nearish, true, but they were at the foot of the mountain while she was at the top. Was the largest somewhere around five hundred meters tall? Probably. Did that put its head close to her? No where near. As it turned out, the mountain she’d climbed had to be a minimum of a kilometer and a half. Minimum. They weren’t specks down there, but they did appear almost like smaller hills.

Given the approach and subsequent surrounding maneuver, Willow had very little she could do to keep herself busy except exercise, practice her magic, and read. Honestly, she didn’t have a ton of inspiration for magic practice at the moment. There were some ideas floating around in her mind, but none of them she was ready to actually try and act on yet. Especially since she didn’t really understand how or why any of her powers worked like they did. As for exercise, she was bored of that. She’d spent so many hours climbing this stupid mountain, then when she woke from the next morning she loosened herself up and tested that nothing was permanently broken while she listened to Madrick’s lectures. Totally didn’t do the silliest possible exercises just to annoy him. Nope, that’d be petty. I’m not petty.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

That left her with the last option on her list, read. So, she had spent the majority of her time withing for Jonah, Naomi, and the kobolds, reading. The rank book Madrick had given her was very direct and clear about its explanations, unlike some textbooks she’d studied in the past. It was also large. The book contained a lot more than just what she needed to do to rank up, it also included treatise on how each milestone might be reached. Might, because everyone’s path was different. That was literally the first passage after the introductory chapter explaining what the book covered and why the author was worth trusting.

> *One must remember that everyone’s path is unique and walked in isolation. The rank system was established by scholars and scientists who noticed patterns which remained true between most paths. These patterns became known as milestones, and milestones were linked to numbered ranks.

>

> This all being said, I entree you, dear reader, not to assume your path is restricted within the boundaries of this ‘progression system’. It is, as most means of explanation and understanding are, a contrivance created for the express purpose of simplifying an infinitely complex reality into understandable and communicable terms.*

The book was interesting. The author, Chezly Falthrick, often went on small tangents re-emphasizing that everyone’s path was different and some rules may apply more strongly or less, depending on the individual.

Fascinating as it was, it had brought up way more questions than it actually answered. For example, the book explained that the tutorials were not connected to the real world and therefore it was impossible for someone within a tutorial to gain an insight or mana, as they could not connect to any universal truths. Universal truths being, according to Falthrick, the basis of all insights. He also mentioned different cultures and people called universal truths by different names. “The dao”, “Laws” and “World Foundations” were some of the examples he gave.

So, if that was all true, how come I had my focus immediately? That’s not the weirdest part though. Falthrick mentions several times that insights have to be voiced before they can be integrated into someone’s soul nexus. But I only know one of my insights, and I’m sure I have two. My disciple insight and my instruction insight. I know someone can get multiple types of mana from one insight, or can have an insight that doesn’t grant any mana, but… Well something is missing from all this, since I’m proof they’re at least wrong about having to voice insights. I couldn’t actually use magic on Earth, so I’m not sure they’re wrong about it not being possible to connect to universal truths in tutorials. Maybe I just got lucky with my insights, figuring them out without being connected to the real world yet?

Reading and thinking kept Willow busy for many hours as she waited. At least, she kept busy with those when Jonah and Naomi weren’t available to chat. When they were just walking and not helping the kobolds with anything, Jonah usually connected the three of them in the party chat so they could keep caught up.

She’d been excited to learn about Jonah’s new ability, it sounded awesome. When she’d started listing all the stuff she wanted Jonah to test once they were reconnected, he’d suddenly had to go. Odd. Naomi, on the other hand, was about as communicative as she had been for the last week and a half or so. Willow was fairly sure she’d reached the peak of ‘empty’, at least as far as emotional expression went. That was honestly a relief. She’d wondered once or twice whether Naomi would get to a point where she never cracked a smile, or got angry, or anything. If that happened, would she have the will to even keep going?

The question had made Willow think about her own rampant emotions. In some ways she and Naomi were like mirrored opposites. She had more feelings than she really wanted most of the time. Although she did her best not to show it, containing and controlling her emotions all the time was exhausting. Not to mention, she sometimes failed to control them fully. Obviously she sometimes cut loose and just let herself feel, that was important. However, if she could dial her emotions back by about fifty percent, she’d probably do it. At least, that’s what she would have answered before meeting Naomi and watching her slowly lose her own emotions. It had been somewhat slow at first, until she voiced her insight, then it had been rapid.

If I could reduce my emotions by half, would I? It’s still a pain in the neck to control them sometimes. Especially when I get angry, like with Madrick. I was so close to just going full on rage-flail on him. It’d have ended badly. But… My emotions are also what drive me…

Hours passed and Willow broke then up between introspection, studying ‘The Comprehensive and Concise Guide to Ranking’, and writing questions in her UICI journal.

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Naomi

Marching Toward the Summit, Feather-branch Forest, Savriâ

The trip back toward Willow ended up much more sedate than the mad scramble to get the kobolds. Part of that was a simple lack of practicality. Many of the kobolds could run for a day or more on-end without an issue. However, many more could not. They had to move at a pace that the slowest could maintain. Halshath was an example of one who could, which he took advantage of by ranging ahead as a scout.

What he was scouting for was anyone’s guess. There were no predators on the planet to worry about, the pop-hoppers seemed to have all been converted into giants, and there was no possibility of a giant sneaking up on them. No matter the reason, Halshath insisted on scouting. Above that, he insisted that Jonah go with him.

The effortless movement ability Jonah had gained was truly spectacular and might have made Naomi jealous. If she could feel jealous at all, that is. Instead, it left her thoughtful. Knowing it was possible to move without paying the physical cost of that movement resonated with her. It made her think about the dark nothingness within her. She’d used her mana to take emotions from pop-hoppers, and even from her friends to practice. She’d used it to take purpose and strength from the amalgams. Yet, she’d never felt like she lost anything.

How can I have mana, when I’m empty?

The question played in her head like a stuck song. It occupied her thoughts so thoroughly that, half of the time when Jonah connected her and Willow into his party she barely participated in the conversations. Her mind was consumed by the one simple question which seemed to challenge whether her insight was even correct. Though, the fact that her soul nexus didn’t so much as rumble as it had when she gained her second suggested there was no conflict between her understanding and reality. For two days and as many nights Naomi thought in circles. It wasn’t until half way through the third day, when Jonah and Halshath returns to tell them they were getting close, that she decided to try something new. They would camp in a few hours and would arrive to free Willow from the giants’ encirclement in the late morning of the following day.

Approaching Skeetha, Naomi began helping her prepare food for the small army. There were almost two hundred kobolds with them, which was only a small fraction of the total kobold population on the planet. None of them seemed worried and most were treating this like a game or holiday. They talked about possibly ranking up, about what they’d do with the inevitable windfall from defeating such mountainous opponents as the titans, and bragged about their combat prowess. Not one seemed worried about dying, despite joking with each other about the possibility.

Having managed to serve all of the kobolds, Naomi got two last bowls for herself and Skeetha. She sat beside the kobold chieftain and thought through how she should approach the topic. Before she could find a good way to open, the opportunity was taken from her.

“Yous have something deeps on your mind?” The lilac kobold asked softly, putting her now empty bowl aside.

Having been too caught up in her thoughts, Naomi hadn’t even taken a bite yet. The passage of time had gone by unnoticed. She nodded, “Yes. I didn’t know how to ask… Is it possible for an insight to be wrong?”

Crocodile eyes widened in clear surprise, she tilted her head back and forth in a “so-so” gesture. “Not wrongs. It is certainly possibles for an insight to be incomplete. Actuallys, almost alls beginning insightss are incomplete. They’re justs the part we understands. There’s always mores to learns, though.”

While that made sense, it didn’t really give her any idea as to what was going on with her insight and mana. She decided to be more direct, “How would an insight related to emptiness allow me to use mana?”

“Oh, that is easys! Does empty means nothing?”

The question was a bit surprising. It wasn’t something she’d considered. What did empty actually mean? After a few silent minutes where she took a few bites of the surprisingly good stew, Naomi tried, “I guess for something to be empty, it has to be able to be filled? There has to be something to contain? And something that could be contained? Is that right?”

Skeetha’s large eyes blinked slowly at her, “Yous have to decide ifs it’s right. It’s your insights, your understandings. Empty can be differents to different peoples.” After a moment, she continued thoughtfully, “When I thinks of something being emptys, I thinks it’s ready to be useds. If a page is emptys, it’s ready for wordss. If a bowl is empty, it’s ready for stews. If a head is empty, it’s ready to learns.” Large teeth flashed at the end, then Skeetha bent over to pat Naomi’s leg with her small but sharp claws. Standing, the kobold took both of their empty bowls and left Naomi to her thoughts once more.

She didn’t really answer my question… But…

Spending the rest of the night in thought, Naomi finally thought she understood how she could have mana while also being empty. In the same way that an empty page could have a title, or a an empty bowl could have a lid. Being empty wasn’t the only thing that defined these things. It also wasn’t the only thing that defined her.

Feeling like an odd weight had lifted, Naomi realized she’d been hesitating to actually use her mana because she subconsciously thought she shouldn’t have any. Bright pulses of blues, greens, and pinks flashed through her soul as she began pulling her mana out.

Time to see what I can fill myself with.