Late Evening - Mid Summer : Moriai | Leyfa Askr

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  - Kazzaer Aldinn ~

  "Sir, would you like some tea?"

  "No thank you." Quickly waving off the cold, elven butler, I gave Miss Tsvetok a stressed glance before turning back to a few handwritten notes she gave me after the flight from Portugal. "Haah..." -What a ridiculous idea...-

  To summarize, the stack of paper detailed everything Russia wanted out of a negotiation with the Queen, some things more insane that others, before telling me to not cave in to a good offer if it meant it would throw her under the bus.

  With Russia not exactly being a political ally of the United States, it was a demand that would seem outrageous to most.

  However, if I chose to work with her, she detailed how she would force the Russian parliament to send the United States a request for a formal alliance.

  Considering the disaster that was on the horizon, it was an offer I couldn't pass up. But the more I sat on it, the more unsure I became. -ISO members don't usually have the ability to guarantee such actions...- Rather than being governing bodies, we were simply representatives that could be overruled if the government wished.

  Sure, our words carried a lot of weight and were rarely objected to, during our meeting in Portugal, we even instated rules and policies without so much as looking at what our respective governments had to say, but that was because of one simple fact.

  We discussed everything in front of the world.

  As long as the plan we made pleased the people, the government wasn't given a choice but to follow it, at least generally.

  However, this meeting was different, not only would it not be broadcasted to the world, but while global tensions appeared to settle some after the announcement of the rank-up arrived, an alliance wasn't something that could form so haphazardly.

  The thing was she had no reason to lie. -With disaster breathing down our necks, neither of us can afford sparking a war...- And we both would greatly benefit from an alliance.

  So, I trusted her.

  That was at least until the air in the meeting hall changed.

  Out of nowhere, the maids started panicking, rushing about, and whispering to one another about something regarding the Queen.

  At first, I thought it was simply them getting ready for her to come inside, after all, there was a very noticeable shift in the flow of the ambient mana around us right as they started panicking.

  But I couldn't have been more wrong.

  *Tap-Woosh* As the door swung open, my gaze fell on a familiar, older elven maid. -Eir Igna...-

  "I apologize for making you all wait." Speaking so emotionlessly it made me uncomfortable, she confidently walked in with a towering demihuman following behind her. "The Queen can, unfortunately, not make it to this meeting, so for the time being, I will act in her place."

  -What?!- Miss Tsvetok and I instantly jolted.

  "This here is Madam Ormr, the leader of the Frost Walkers. She will be joining us in place of her son, so I hope you can be understanding." Not giving us anything more than a glance, she walked up to the end of the table and, without hesitation, pushed aside the huge chair intended for the Queen. "Now, to avoid any further delays," Straightening her posture and holding her head as high as royalty, confidence crept into her voice, "Allow us to begin."

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  Early Afternoon - Early Fall : The Forest of Giants | Temnota

  - Evren Lestir ~

  *Wowowowooom* *Tap* "Hoooh..." Finally taking a step back with a long, stressed breath as a storm of mana rampaged around me, I used my aura to move the massive wyvern mana core behind me, over Eve's bloody, unmoving body, and letting the blue fog of mana it exuded flow into her abdomen. -To think I'm still able to feel this kind of anxiety...-

  Momentarily lowering my gaze down to my shaky, blood-covered hand, loosely holding a scalpel-like blade, I finally gave my nerves a chance to unwind before tossing it in my inventory and squatting back down next to her.

  It had been several hours since I began my emergency procedure at that point, but even though things had been progressing extremely well, I could never shake the unending anxiety that tied my stomach in a knot.

  But that was all because Eve's fate, after holding her life in a delicate balance for several hours, would ultimately come down to the final step.

  Looking over at an unrecognizable pile of flesh and blood next to me, I had already removed essentially all of the organs that were unrecognizably shredded the first time I ruptured her reserve, forcing her body to completely rely on mana rather than attempting to heal, and thankfully, while it took some time, her body found a new equilibrium.

  There was one major issue though.

  If I were to pull away the massive wyvern core hovering above her, she'd die in a matter of minutes. The tiny, grape-sized mana core that had reformed in her now-empty abdomen simply didn't contain enough mana to keep her alive, and if I left her with it, she would most definitely die. -So I have to try and reform it...-

  Meaning I had to rupture it again.

  But even though it was a procedure I had done on myself in the past, I was abnormally nervous. "Hooh..." -I just can't overthink it... Compared to what I did to myself, this is nothing...-

  Finally raising the wyvern's mana core up over me, I reached out over her abdomen, folding my finger back and flicking her grape-sized reserve, crushing it against her spine. *Crackle*

  Almost instantly, a mana vortex appeared where the core once was, and knowing it would only last an instant, I hastily lowered the wyvern's mana core before flicking it as well, sending cracks spreading through it before a huge wash of mana flowed out of it and funneled into the vortex like a cracked egg. -Perfect...-

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  Lowering the wyvern core more, till it was almost laying on her stomach, I stood up, pacing around it while carefully controlling the flow of mana from the core, flicking it to steadily increase the flow of mana proportionally to how large the vortex grew.

  Until eventually, the vortex grew to a point where, at its center, a jelly-like formation of liquid mana gathered around a faint white cloud, dissolving the skin and muscle around it before slowly beginning to spin and circulate. -There we go...-

  Quickly pulling the wyvern's core away to lessen the amount of mana the vortex could pull from it, the vortex finally started dying down, and a shell started to form on the core.

  *Vwoop* Not wasting any more time, I quickly pulled back out my scalpel before carving away patches of blue flesh that had solidified into mythril from the insane ambient mana.

  And almost instantly, the hole in her abdomen started to rapidly heal, and her condition stabilized. In a matter of seconds, color returned to her skin, and while she wasn't breathing, her heartbeat was firm, and her nervous system was active. -Thank goodness...-

  She had survived...

  *Puff* Finally catching a break, I fell back and sat down, only keeping an eye on how much mana she was still absorbing to make sure her newly formed core wasn't going to gorge itself.

  But thankfully, there was nothing to worry about there.

  As minutes turned into hours, I slowly moved the wyvern's core farther and farther away before eventually putting it back in my inventory and starting to clean up.

  Not wanting to draw the attention of any critters, I was quick to put the mess of flesh I had carved out of Eve into my inventory, before pulling out a towel to clean up the blood.

  But just as I went to do that, Bella, who had been sitting behind me the whole time, watching the procedure, walked up and took it out of my hands.

  "Please don't worry about cleaning up anything... You've already done enough..." Her voice was riddled with worry. "I'll take care of it, so please take a moment to rest."

  Unfortunately though, while it was a kind gesture, she didn't quite realize the situation we were in. *Vwoop* Immediately pulling another towel out of my inventory, I got to wiping without so much as a stutter. "It's alright, this isn't the time nor place for rest."

  Suddenly stopping in her tracks, the gentle sway in her tail stopped. "What do you mean? You look exhausted."

  -I am...- But unfortunately, the moment I lowered my guard, Eve would die. "You do know this isn't Earth, right?" Seeing her tilt her head, everything suddenly clicked. "Eve was suffocating. I ruptured her reserve to force her body to start living off of mana completely." Although according to her she had already 'ascended', after everything that had happened, she had only taken the first step before now.

  And even now, she had only made it to step two.

  But ascension is an arduous journey that couldn't be rushed. -At least not more than necessary...- Having a momentary flashback to a time when I performed the procedure I just did on Eve on myself, my expression turned cold before quickly forcing myself to switch gears. "Anyway, according to my system, you should have system panels and such now. Have you tried it at all?"

  "Huh?" Her gaze instantly snapped to me. "N..no... I wasn't aware I had anything like that..."

  -Interesting...- "Trying saying 'System Open'."

  Giving me a weird look for a moment, she hesitantly turned away. "System open?" *Vwoop* Almost instantly her face was lit up with a purple hue I only knew to belong to my system. "What the... It looks.. kind of buggy though..."

  -Uh oh...- My interest instantly turned to worry. "How so..."

  But as she turned her panel to me, a wave of relief washed over me.

  "The planet rank says error, and.. that population can't be right..."

  -It looks exactly like mine.- "It's right. The planet ranks increase up to 0, then it goes to negative 0, and then it errors out."

  Tensing up, her ears folded back. "So.. you mean to say that Rank 0 isn't the top of the mountain..?"

  Nodding with a smile, I found her naivety a bit amusing before a tilt found its way into my head. -Huh?- Watching her tail slowly tuck between her legs, my curiosity quickly turned into fascination. "Are you.. afraid?"

  Finally noticing, she stopped in her tracks. "N..no, that's not possible." Without realizing, she got flustered. "I'm a robot, I don't have an emotion like fear programmed into me..."

  "But I changed the rules that bound you with the system. Perhaps one of the limits I removed gave you the ability to learn fear." -The only other thing I could think of would be the mana mechanics infusion...-

  But giving her a mana core didn't necessarily necessitate sentience either, especially since I knew firsthand that having mana didn't make a being sentient, with treants being a prime example.

  However, Bella was undoubtedly feeling something.

  Something that would make her mind wander for endless hours, causing time to slip by while we waited for Eve to wake up.

  But of course, I wasn't too fond of wasting time like that, so, to pass the time, I decided to try and teach Bella how to use and control mana. It was essentially just me relaying what Eve taught me to her, however, the more I spoke, the more my mind ran wild with ideas, and the more mistakes I found in my own practice.

  Before I knew it, with some help brainstorming from Bella, my abilities were advancing even faster than when Eve was teaching me, and after a week, I had a much better foundation of knowledge and skill when it came to working with my aura and controlling my mana. Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows because the actual volume of mana I was able to pull out of my reserve continued to be severely limited, but there was some minor progress there as well.

  It eventually came to an end though. -Hoh?- Feeling a presence approaching from the grass field, I turned around to see the spine-covered drake from when we first arrived walking towards us while dragging the bloody corpse of some lizard-like creature. -By the looks of things, it's not coming for us...- Rather it looked like it was just bringing food to its den.

  However, over the last few days, Bella and I had brainstormed on how I could get more mana out of my reserve at once, and while most methods worked, there was one way we thought would really work.

  Live practice. -How perfect...-

  But as I stood up and started stretching, Bella's worry exploded. "A-Are you sure you can fight that?! That has to be at least level two thousand!"

  Hearing her guess, I wanted to laugh. "Try eight or nine thousand." Watching it walk across the plain, my guess was just one step below the demigod wyvern I killed. -But it's on the ground, and...- *Vwoop* Pulling out my axe, I swung it over my shoulder. -This time I'm a little better equipped.-

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