The cool breeze penetrates through the dry, salty air above the golden beach, a refreshing breeze underneath the hot, hot sun. Waves after waves crashes itself onto the stretch of sand, before fading away again into the sea. Amidst the classic coconut trees, two recliners could be seen.
On which two girls of no particularly notable feature except for their excessively long hairs and doll-like faces lies in comfort as they sunbathe in the Hawaiian weather, waited upon by maids and butlers of all size and kinds behind them.
"Nothing like sunbathing on the good old Hawaiian beach, perfect for any condition." The girl murmurs offhandedly to no one in particular.
"Agreed," The other girl agrees with herself.
"Sebastian, another round of champagne, will you?"
"At once, mistresses!" The humanoid butler enthusiastically reaches into the nonexistent bar behind him and pulls out another bottle of champagne- the some, few hundredth of the day- and pours it into the two perfectly identically awaiting champagne glasses.
The girls enjoys their drink a while longer, resting in comfort of their beach. Safe, from all harms, saves one.
"Enjoy ourselves, are we? I must say I am most impressed by how well you handle real world situations,"
"Oh shut up," We thought in sync, "I deserve a break after everything that happened yesterday..."
"Care for some fresh coconut juice?" He hands them both two abnormally large, juicy coconuts cracked open perfectly for the two straws to fit through.
"..." "..."
"?"
"...""..."
"Sigh, what do you want Kruphix?" The first girl sighs as she sit up, waving the servants away.
"Or perhaps we should call you Ascathon?" The second girl adds as she waves away the nonexistent beach they have been sunbathing on for hours now.
Yes, this is Pray, and I am in my inner world. With the clone of myself, no less, and we have been sunbathing in this Hawaiian beach we created for hours now. Yes, the servants from before are our enslaved- tamed- spirits. And yes, you are intruding, Kruphix- Ascathon!
"Ever so lively..." He comments as the world shifts unwillingly to one of a medieval castle paradoxically adorned with advanced scientific equipments, compete with a sealed tank of unknown matters in the far corner. He promptly sits himself down on the cushioned throne behind him.
We seethes in anger. That, is our throne!
Yes, this is an exact replica of our secret laboratory, complete with our bio-computer safely sealed in the container tank behind us. Yes, the bastard just changed my scenery without permission. And yes, he just sat on my precious. A crime worthy of capital punishment, surely...
"And yes, you are very late, Ascathon" I decides to call him by the name he is known by in Terra, "I was wondering when you are going to come."
"You knew?" He looks skeptically at us. What an actor...
"I did submit a ticket to the customer service, did I not? Who would've thought the customer service contact is already active under the Help menu..."
"True, true. I'm just testing it out. Which reminds me, I came here to remove your seal."
"Just get on with it!" A snap at him. What is with all these people lately? Can't they see I'm busy? Just do your business and begone!
"Fine, done. You really should watch your temper, young lady..."
"Or what?!" Ugh, I hate being lectured, and he sounds like he's about to start one...
"Or you might just lose your pretty comfy lifestyle," He shrugs as he answers, "The Immortal Emperor almost killed you, had his master not restrain him at the last moment."
"The war god?!" I'm admittedly surprised at this information, "Isn't the War God still a hermit somewhere in a cave on his precious mountain? How?"
"Tsk, tsk. You have seen the powers people of their merit possess, and yet you haven't even given it more thought, have you?"
"I have all the time in the world," I shrug off his accusation, "Or pretty damn near, as far as I'm concerned, as long as I can accelerate time within this inner world."
"Very well, point taken. Take, for example, when he spoke to you using his presence alone, without the aid of actually speaking or telepathy?"
"You mean I felt what he meant?" Well, that would explain it, however unlikely it sounds...
"Exactly, you interprets his intention unconsciously. A more advanced technique only a master of the self can achieve, I'm afraid. Though to be fair, most can use it to certainly extent as their killing intent or with a strong emotion."
"Yeah, yeah, that's all good and well. What does it matter to me?"
"As long as the War God can extends his presence out here, he can observe anything and speak to anyone he wants. It's perhaps not so much an important detail for now, but you'll need all the help you can get" He chuckles to himself, like he just told an inside joke... bastard...
"Is that all you're here for? To chit-chat?"
"I thought I'd save you the trouble of talking to yourself. Quite the pitiful habit, I must say."
*glare* *glare*
"........."
"...""..."
"I'll see you soon, I suppose," He waves as he turns to leave, "Oh, and remember. This isn't the world you knew in your last life... do you think moving shadows is impossible? Think again... that's all, no need to see me out."
And just like that, the bastard's gone. Quite the professional exit, to boot. No flashy portal, no cliche sound effect, not even a ripple in the stale lab air. Just- gone.
""Sigh, I guess it's time to wake up...""
----------------------------------------
Aaaaaaaaaand... Beethoven's 5th Sympathy blare out of the custom alarm clock I had build for myself. Right on time, 10 am.
Perfect. Now that I don't have anymore class at Grandma Garcia's, I can sleep in all I want! Freedom!
Wait... where am I?
Oh! I crawl into Mother's bed yesterday in the real world... that's right, almost forgot after sunbathing for a week in my inner world!
...And I see three lab reports already waiting at the door. Sigh, why can't they think for themselves for once? I did hire them for their collective excellence as researchers, but they are too conformed to their old way of research.
No, I need them to be able to think for themselves. They should not ask what my inventions are, but rather ask what they can do with my inventions! ...If only I can get that through to them.... Sigh...
Now then, ignoring the urgent lab reports, I decides to look at the letter I have been ignoring all last night.
The official invitation letter from Headmaster Lezenith yesterday...
Miss Prey,
I am most honored to offer you this invitation to attend my prestigious Imperial Reim Academy for the Arcane. As I have stated, only the most gifted of the generation are allowed to enroll and attend. Be warned, however, that in our great academy every single teacher and student is a genius of unparalleled excellence in their own fields of study. A genius in Amestris may just be another student in the Academy, I'm sure you understand my meaning. As for the tuition and boarding fees, you will be exempt as a gifted student scouted by yours truly. If you choose to attend my Academy, please infuse some mana into the seal at the bottom of this letter, otherwise you need not do anything. If I do not receive a reply within a month, I will consider it as your rejection of this invitation. Additionally, if you wish for me to personally teleport you to the academy, simply pour in some mana into the secondary seal hidden on this letter. I trust a genius of your standing will be able to locate it. Until then, Adios!
Headmaster of the Imperial Reim Academy for the Arcane,
Lezenith Crowley
Hmm, short, somewhat. I'd expected a long, drawn out letter talking all about the excellence and prestige of his academy from someone as old as he is. Which, I reminds myself, is something I need to investigate.
What was it that unmemorable fellow said? it's been a few centuries since he showed himself in front of a crowd like the one that was at my birthday party yesterday? Hmm... I really need to find out more about these unnaturally long-living peoples...
Which is strange, because there are many powerful State Alchemists like Father and the Fuhrer in Amestris, but I have personally seen both of them age over time. Does the other powers have the effect of prolonging life like the ten level of Xing martial arts? Interesting...
Anyways, I have already prepared everything. Though originally I had not expect to set out this soon, I did prepare far in advance. Hehe, that paid off now! But wait... teleportation eh...? Kukukukuku I know exactly what I will use it for!
I opens up the letter again. The first seal is openly placed at the button, that's obvious. Now, where is the hidden second seal? This is like finding Waldo all over again...
Huh, even if I am not a magician yet, I can plainly tell that the seal itself is improperly drawn. I mean, we use alchemy circles as Alchemists, how could I not notice that detail? Since a single stray off line on my military alchemy formations could lead to untimely deaths, I've always been extremely careful on the inspections of the mass-produced alchemy orbs. Actually, perhaps I should consider the military potential of imperfect alchemy formations...
Create an orb that creates explosives with alchemy but without traditional means of ignition. A delayed power source. Rig it so it's either timed or radio controlled after being fired. When it reaches the enemy, open the floodgate and let the stored alchemical energy enter the imperfect orb. It would simultaneously churn out some explosives and destroy itself due to the imperfect alignment!
Muwahahahahahahahaa I am such a genius! I don't even need to introduce the usual conventional weaponry and I already have the plan to manufacture grenades! No wait... witches are natural magicians. That means they must have mana shields or telekinesis, if the reports I listen to on backchannels are accurate. They could simply wave away the thrown grenades or toss them back to our military forces. Not good
So... rockets? I guess I need to create missiles. The imperfect orb would serve as the payload, while another orb, this one perfected, would churn out slower-burning explosives I can use as a mean of propulsion. Don't even have to run the risk of unstable fuel for propulsion! All I need is a frame, an imperfect orb as the payload, a perfect orb to produce the fuel for propulsion, a mean to control the missile, and a large energy bank. Out of all five crucial components, I only need the last one. Since my semi-conductor plant is tested out and ready to manufacture by now, I should have no problem producing the control chips. Frame, easy. Alchemical orbs, I got two dozen factories exclusively for their production! Kukukukukuku I just need to ditch the most unprofitable lines and switch it to manufacturing my payload and fuel!
Yes, yes, this could work... hohoho even if the enemy launch a preemptive strike on the missiles, these babies won't explode on their own! The perfect short-range missiles! I just need to find out how to mass-produce crystallized alchemical energy. It's a nifty little thing I made based on the same principles as a crystallized mana. Too bad they can't be grown in mana flesh... and manually producing them is a pain in the ass waiting for them to grow. I guess I'll set this project aside for now until I can find a way to grow alchemy crystal... Hmm good name, I'll call it that!
Oh right, I was trying to find the hidden mana seal. Er, how did I got on this train of thought? WAs it... aha! The imperfect mana circle! It's so unbalanced on the third energy focal point that it would probably self-destruct if I pour mana into it...
Wait, that's it! the third focal point on the mana circle of the seal isn't just a regular focal point! It's a mini mana circle watermarked so I can't really see it! Oddly enough this reminds be of something...
BASTARD! This is MY stacking technique for alchemy circles! How dare he use my own technique without paying the patent fees!!! Outrageous! Hohoho, so this is how you want to play it, old man? Fine, two can play the game. Let's see how you like this!
I angry set out for my secret lab, the letter half-crumbled within my hands. Passing the main lab... the storage room... the first experiment room... the observatory for the first experiment room... the third experiment station... the twelves and the largest, reserved for testing explosive alchemy orbs... the store of unused parts... the corpse bank I use to hold the dead inmates' bodies... the blood bank with generous donations by the criminals... the archive where I store my unimportant research notes to be sorted and handed down to other researchers later... god damn perhaps I build this underground laboratory too damn big, more than twenty acres in total and constantly expanding thanks to my tamed spirits working on shifts on the fourth underground level... aha! Here we are!
Behold! Twenty cubes of cut, hardened mana flesh! The hardest, densest forms I could get the ghoul's kagune to make. All in all, Twenty cubes weighing 25 tons each. I had manufacture some construction cars to move all these, which I thought might come in handy someday if I ever need to produce, say, mana bullets or whatnot. Armors? Perhaps. these hardened mana flesh are certainly suited to be forged into weapons...
Now then, I directs the awaiting spirits to operate the half dozen construction cars in the garage next section down the hall. Carrying these myself is certainly impossible, though I can life on cube a good few millimeters for two seconds! A feat worthy of become a legend, surely!
Lift! Lift boys! No you don't have actual bodies you idiots! Inject your power into the cars! Yes, that's it, keep it up! I can already feel the mana slipping out of me and into the construction cars guided by my tamed spirits as I instruct these dumbed down spirits. Can't have them get too creatives for themselves! I directs the spirits to slowly bring the cubes to the twelfth experiment room, and set them down at the center, with just enough space between each cube that there's a person-size gap.
I climb on top the middle one and places the letter carefully on the intersection gap between four cubes, just so that each corner of the letter rests on the corner of a cube. Now then, there's no need for me to personally activate the seal is there? I order a spirit to operate the overhead crane and bring me a piece of charged mana crystal from the charging station in the back. Should work as long as I create a conduct...
I places the mana crystal on a corner and makes sure that it will simultaneously power up both circles, separately. A bit tricky, but it can be done. There!
Kukuku, I was going to ship these heavy cubes overseas to the Academy, but I guess that won't be necessary now! Crystal, power them up!
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
A faint blue glow appears on the lines of the seals as my crystal pours its stored mana into them. Ah, the first seal broke on its own... hmm what technique was that? Special ink that can only take in certain amount of mana before dispersing? Interesting... and I can already see its potential in secret documents...
The second seal takes almost the entire rest of the crystal's store to power up, which is pretty amazing considering how big the mana crystal is. About the size of my head, I'd say. I good few tens of thousand mana in it, if I'm not mistaken.
Mister Lezenith appears with a poff as his newly appeared body displaces the air originally occupying the space. Good, now fall down on your butt you thief!
...Unfortunately he only fell halfway before he flew up all the way to the high ceiling, finding me hiding by the door in the process.
Damn, I want to learn levitation too! Or was that flight? Magic could be so convenient... if only I know it!
"Pray! I didn't expect such a quick answer" Mister Lezenith flew down to me, "But what is with all these... cubes?
I grin at him, "You will be teleporting these for me!"
"I the headmaster, not your mule Pray" Huh I wonder how many wrinkles are on his face... too many "I suggest you find a land transport if you wish to transport these... whatever these are."
"You forgot one thing, Mister Lezenith"
"Oh? And what might that be?"
"You are a thief as well, Mister!"
"A thief?!" I wonder how he can see through those almost closed eyes... "A thief?! I am the headmaster of the most prestigious academy in this world! What need have I to be a thief? I insist you take it back Pray!"
Hmm... didn't expect him to deny it that much, maybe the guilt is getting to him? "Mister Lezenith, I'm sure you that the technique you used for your second seal belongs to me and me alone..."
"Seal? Pray, there is no such thing as a-"
"Before you say anything, I patented my technique at the First Temple," I quickly interrupts, "The whole damn business took a month to settle, BUT nobody in both Reim or Amestris can use my technique without paying up" Hehehehe, come to Mama my money! Not that I actually want money for this case.
"First temp... I see, I shall verify that myself later. Very well, how would you like to be reimbursed?" Huh, I like his frankness with all this.
"I don't need any financial reimbursement."
"Evidently..." He takes his first detailed look around the room, which is pretty armored to sustain the bomb testings I conduct in here. The whole room is mechanically stabilized and strong enough to withstand a 1 ton nuclear explosion, but that's a story for another day
"All I need, is for you to bring these cubes to the academy. And, I would also like to purchase some land around the academy to store these until I arrive."
"Are you not coming now?"
"No, I have my own means of travel... but I will arrive within a months, don't worry" The land route takes about three months if you have a horse with infinite stamina, or just a destrier. Taking only a month to reach the Western Sea is practically impossible unless you can teleport... or if it's me.
"A month? Without teleportation...?" He seems to be thinking, "Fine, I will stores these cubes under my mansion for now. I assume this means we can all forget about the business with your technique and whatnots?"
"Of course! And I can guarantee you there is absolutely no harm to these cubes, they are just my construction materials. Transporting them by land would be too much of a hassle, so I thought I might ask you to take them with you." Not that I'm lying...
"Alright, I will see you at the academy in a month's time then. The official opening of the school term isn't for another four months anyways, you don't have to hurry if you don't want to."
"Oh don't worry, I know... I just have some business to take care of in the area."
He mutters something underneath his breath before disappearing with my precious cubes... not that I'm worried, I attached a few merged spirits into all of the cubes. If someone tries to steal them, they will be pleasantly surprised by my defense system... hidden automatic railguns...
Kukuku... Kukuku... Kukukuku... I am such a genius! That idiot just saved me 50 million dollars!!!
Hahahaha suck on that you stupid border regulations! Gods, I was so pissed when I had to pay the ridiculous 12.5% import tax last time I transported one of these over to Reim! It was quite the lucrative trade with the Reim military, since I'm the only one who knows how to mass produce it, and I know from smuggled gears of the Reim Legionaries they need it badly...
A million bucks for just a ton of hardened mana flesh! I finally found out how the Reim Empire can stand against the witches and the Britannians itching to lay their hands on the fertile lands of the Reim Empire. Just as rumored, the armors of the Reim Legionaries are special armors... exo-armors.
They are crafted from limited mana flesh and enchanted by a priest to augment the Reim soldiers, even giving them superhuman strength and speed if the soldier knows how to infuse his own mana into the gears. It isn't the best design, but it works efficiently enough. The problem they have is sourcing the mana flesh...
Take, for example, my Narukami kagune blade. It costed Father a quarter of a million just to acquire it, which is enough for a regular man to live on for years. Relatively speaking, I'm undercharging them for my cube of mana flesh, but it can't be helped since my mass-produced version is a little downgrade from the regular kagunes. Had to trade off some of the specialties for the sake of mass-production.
Shipping all 20 cubes over would cost me too much... but that problem's out of the way now! More money for myself to spend on, woohoo! Maybe I should go on a shopping spree? Nah, most of the good stuff I manufacture myself anyways...
I should get ready to leave them.
I left my tamed spirits to clean up and load up more since my cubes aren't a problem anymore... actually, why don't I just load up the main lab? That's a even better idea! I'll leave the spirits to figure out which tunnel to drive through.
Perhaps you have noticed now, but my lab isn't big enough considering the earth spirits are constantly hollowing out more spaces...
That's because most of the space is actually a maze around the lab at the center. Every single room of my secret lab is compartmentalized and mobile, so I can move them wherever I want. Security measure in case someone somehow finds this place. In the worst case, the plan is to drive all the rooms and research data to the dumping site at the far end. It's as deep as it gets... all the way down to the upper mantle.
Earth spirits are what made digging so deep possible. If it was done through conventional means, the drill would melt before reaching the lava layers. There's a geothermal power station there as well. It's what keeps the lab from becoming part of a new vulcano... since the station employs alchemy. It constantly draw away the massive energy of the earth to power my factories and the lab, which is how I managed to build everything so quickly. Not that anybody knows...
After lunch at Grandma Garcia's and saying my goodbyes to Anne and Jill and Mom and Dad and Grandma Garcia and Grandpa Maes and... Ugh, too many people... for the last time, I decides it's time to leave for the academy. Seriously Mother... I'm just leaving for a few years, I'll even come back to visit every few months! It's not that big of a deal...
----------------------------------------
*Lake Armstrong, South bank, Shipyard 9 of Anderson Corporation's research department*
And we have arrived! My express train shortens the seven hour journey from the Capital to this place just a mere twenty minutes! Even Mother was surprised that it worked... tsk, of course it did! I didn't had too many choices when I build the shipyard here, since it's the closest major lake to the capital with a short distance to the canal.
Shipyard 1 through 8 are regular operations I build the warships the Fuhrer ordered. Iron ships, he called them. Guess it can't be helped, since every other boat is build with wood and nail up to now. Don't get it wrong, I'm not building massive carriers or anything. That would tip the balance of power too much. Just a few small, hundred-man cruisers armed to the teeth. I'm not particularly worried since their own advantage at the moment is superior speed and defense, given that I chose not to introduce conventional firearms to this world.
Shipyard 9 is my private shipyard. Five times longer and three times as wide as the other shipyards combined, it's quite massive, not to mention covered. I'm sure the workers had no idea what they were building, but I do...
And the project I have there is as equally massive as well. Now then, the rooftop is opening up as it should... it's time...
"ARISE! Arise my glorious creation!" Ooooooooooh this is it! Three years! Three years I've been working on this project daily! No doubt my biggest personal project to date! Can't believe it's finally done! I wanted to use it yesterday for my birthday party but a issue ran up...
Spoiler :
Granted, it's not as massive as this... ship is, nor does it fly in space, but close enough. What I have in mind is closer to a combination of a whale and stingray... You get the sorta image I'm going for^^ http%3a%2f%2f1.bp.blogspot.com%2f-ayKoeuTGMl8%2fUu...%2fMoya1.jpg [http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ayKoeuTGMl8/Uu_FPnGDY4I/AAAAAAAAAQw/Qp7YZOZcS68/s1600/Moya1.jpg]
My beautiful creation slowly brings itself up into the air. I call her Vio II, just 'cause I feel a bit guilty about not spending enough time with Vio everyday since I started working in my secret lab...
It's not a ship, nor is it a Leviathan, or a airship... I decided to give it the classification of a Juggernaut after some consideration, since the name's free and Vio II can carries several thousand tons of payloads.
If I want, it can get up much faster, but safety first! It's more than 400 meters long, 120 meters across, and 90 meters tall at the tallest point. It resembles a stingray combined with a whale, flying whale. Loosely based on the investigated date on the Reim Leviathans, I grew mine to be more aerodynamic and creates lift naturally, that's what the stingray-esque wings are for.
Instead of wind-producing artifacts and a team of dedicated wind-spirit warlocks who propels the Leviathans of the Reim Legions, mine is powered by modern technology. Two twin repulsor engines occupies the backend, as well as two smaller repulsor engines toward the front for better steering. They're like jet engine, on steroids and far more efficient.
I did mention making alchemy crystals is quite labor-intensive right? I have almost 5 tons of them right on board as the main battery, which took most of the time I spend on this project to make. The crystals hold enough power to fuel this baby at cruising speed for half a year, and there's ports outside where I can plug it in and charge once I build a charging station. In case there isn't one where I'm going, like now, there's a specially prepared drill to help my earth spirit dig down into the upper mantle in the back so I can use it to charge up- Or leave an unpleasant surprise for anyone who tries to pursuit me.
Growing Vio II itself was actually easier that manufacturing the crystals, once I got its basic traits down. Genetic modification was one of my specialties back on old Earth, so this isn't much of a surprise. What troubled me for a few weeks was how to build it in this environment.
Back on Earth, we do know how to grow unnaturally large... things, in space. It's harder to bring up the materials, but my sky-elevator took care of that. Building in zero-gravity is so much easier when your creation doesn't collapse under its own weight due to Earth's gravity. The best substitution I can do here is to grow mine underwater, since I have yet to unlock the seal(?) preventing my high-altitude balloons from reaching space. This was the original reason I scouted this place and bought it, the contract with the Fuhrer came after he saw my little fishing boat constructed out of steel, so I went with it since I already got the shipyard in building.
Time to get onboard! I run forward toward Vio II above me, activating my jetpack in the process. It's powered by my true alchemy, which is quite convenient. The grappling hook takes care of the rest of the trip up.
"Nothing like home sweet home! I inspects my lab around me. Of course I brought it with me, since the cubes doesn't take up the cargo hold anymore. One of the tunnels connects the maze to my shipyard 9, which I instructed my spirit slaves to drive through and load up. Since Vio II is semi-automatic, controlled by my bio-computer plugged in at the moment, I guess I'll work on...
............
Shit, I forgot to make a plan for something to do. I don't actually have a plan for what to do now... I was expecting to have to pilot Vio II myself, and I'm sure as hell not hiring anyone to dirty my greatest creation with their dirty hands.
Oh well, I guess I'll kick back and relax then.
"Sebastian, bring out the wine selections!"
----------------------------------------
He watched the odd creature flies into the air, propelled by those blue-glowing things on its sides and back.
A Juggernaut, she named it. If only she knows the real ones...
Oh? The 'Juggernaut' of hers can fly quite high... and quickly. Far faster than those lumbering air beats they call Leviathans.
It's flying high enough the people of Reim won't realize what it is, the Man muses to himself, Quite a marvelous creature...
Most intriguingly, the entire creature is armored to the teeth... though the armor itself looks like its skin. Perhaps it is armed as well?
Knew I wasn't wrong, the man grins to himself, The girl will be interesting to watch...
The sound of a distant flash of thunder reaches the the man's ears. Tsk, they noticed too soon.
He spreads out his hands, as if grasping the flying juggernaut, thousands of miles away it might be. A wave of concentrated aura surged forth from his hands, traversing the distance in mere minutes, before wrapping itself onto the juggernaut.
There! Now, they can't see it anymore... Just don't do anything stupid, Pray.
In hindsight, perhaps it would have been best to warn the person in question. Alas...