The New World
Chapter 449: Out From Under a Heel

And yet, there was no means of doing so. I could try to construct the most magnificent defenses the galaxy had ever seen, but could I stop any attack? Would those defenses leave my people with lives worth living? Did I want to spend every waking moment for decades doing so?

No. I was tired of waiting on my planets and hoping for the best. I wanted to know the secrets of the universe so that I could begin dismantling the pieces that kept trying to kill me. As I grabbed the edges of the spatial rend, I smiled into the dark despite my frustration.

"Till next time, Kryaa."

As I hovered out of the portal, a scene of devastation surrounded me. In all directions, upturned soil, powdered dirt, and trembling corpses replaced the once veritable forest. A bright sun beamed down on it all, the clouds overhead forming into a colossal circle where we fought. The opening in the clouds made the desolate scene seem celestial as if a god willed it to be so.

But it was no such thing. This was the result of a haphazard attack on my cities, and it left me in a terrifying position. At any point, Kryaa could infiltrate and kill any population center he so chose. It made the entire process of building cities seem pointless. No matter how many I made, they would never solve the problem.

In fact, this was more than a simple problem with Kryaa. I constructed cities because of Elysium and Lehesion. The golden gialgathen could appear and ravage the entire surface of this world if it so chose. Elysium's Hybrid Stars did the same. While I had to constantly run around building safeguards, my enemies mobilized to get past those defenses.

It was a losing position, one where I reacted instead of taking the initiative. The only two solutions I could think of involved either getting much, much stronger or gaining information. I strengthened myself with every passing moment regardless of what else I did, so that part of the solution was already in the works.

However, my guild had a famine of information. We needed it so badly, yet we couldn't learn what was going on in the broader universe without leaving Earth. However, if I left the Earth, I could lose entire populations in seconds. Honestly, that could happen whether I was on the planet or not.

I stood in this position because my enemies knew a lot about me, but I knew nothing about them. To change my situation, I needed to find their base of operations to get out from under their heel. As my eyes absorbed the devastation, a large portion of my guild's elite peered back at me.

Torix stood upon a cloud of dominion while Althea glided back and forth. Shalahora ignored gravity while Helios bent it. Plazia stood below, wrangling his insect body back under his control after consuming the bodies of the horrors. Chrona and Krog each glided, their gazes saddened by the desolation of another planet they called home.

It left me frowning as I gloated up to them. I created an antigravitational panel, and they hovered upon it, walking in the sheer face of the magic. As they did, we convened closer. Helios dragged his hands down his face.

"We're in an unappetizing position, aren't we?"

Each of my steps set ripples over the panel.

"Yes. We are."

Shalahora murmured.

"We live in the dark, arrested to the confines of a world while our enemies traverse the breadth of the cosmos. It gives us a singular point to defend yet an entire universe to attack."

Althea furrowed her brow.

"Is there a way to make the barrier defend a place's, uhm, spatial integrity or something?"

Torix threw his hands tot he side.

"Unfortunately, Schema keeps a tight lid upon most spatial magic. We own a few passages here or there from the payload Elysium gave us during our ceasefire. Plazia also has researched bits and pieces, but our reality is a grim one. We are faced with an enemy that has tools we cannot stop, and if we leave to find those tools, this planet may perish in the meantime."

I took a breath, taking charge of my emotions and the conversation's flow.

"It can perish regardless of what we do. That's the fate of any planet in Schema's universe, and this happens to be a volatile one. We need to change how we're thinking about the situation because outlining the problems isn't helping us."

Krog's tail cracked against the panel beneath us.

"Then what is going to do so?"

Chrona peered at Krog. She telepathized,

"What has made you so upset?"

Krog flashed his teeth.

"We lived on a planet under siege by the silvers for decades, and now we've found another beleaguered home, one that is assaulted by horrors of a different yet no less virulent nature. I tire of facing an everlasting and eternal war. I want to spend time rebuilding our temples and renewing our songs and history. This...This is no different than Giess."

Chrona snarled.

"You know you lie."

Krog peered at the destroyed landscape.

"I lie, yet the wind howls over the emptied terrain below us as if alive. As if to tell us that we face enemies that lie beyond our sight and in every home we find. I wonder if it is the nature of being in this AI's universe. Perhaps it is pleased by our writhing and our struggle and our pain. It gives it joy to watch us flounder."

Torix raised a hand.

"I doubt the pleasure part, but I do think this is a symptom of Schema's system, yes."

Everyone peered at the necromancer. He paced to the left, his hands interlocking behind himself.

"It's an issue that I've given much thought. In general, we've all lived in the border of Schema's known universe. Likely, it could span well beyond this galaxy, one we've all called home, yet we only know of a handful of other species or garden worlds."

Torix's eyes flared bright.

"It begs certain questions, but we're left in the dark about the age of the universe, our position in it, or where our enemies might be. In fact, any guild that isn't part of the system is effectively safeguarded from those within it. We are positioned upon a galactic grid while they are not. It gives them a tremendous advantage, one that we palpably feel."

Torix gestured to the ground.

"It is our most salient problem - information. We need some method of gaining more of it, and I believe taking risks to obtain it is more than merely worth it. It is necessary for us to survive."

A quiet passed over us. I stepped up to the center of everyone.

"He's right. I'm tired of moving in the dark, and Schema isn't really giving us a way out of it. To do so, we need to start exploring planets deeper in Schema's system. Otherwise, we'll never connect to the broader world or understand it."

I raised a fist.

"And that broader world knows where we are. It seems dead set on coming for us, and I agree, Krog, I'm tired of being attacked. I'm ready to do some of that attacking and show them exactly what we're worth. To do that, we're going to have to find them, and that means expanding outwards and scouting where we can."

Shalahora murmured.

"I may send shades to the far reaches as needed. Plazia-"

I looked at the hivemind. He sat upon a mountain of his insects, each of them writhing under him. They bit into each other, glowing ichor drenching down in torrents below him as Plazia writhed. Shalahora joined my gaze.

"He may also send his insects far and wide."

Torix met my eye.

"And I may use my undead summons."

Helios peered in disgust at Plazia. The ruler of the albony murmured, his ancient gauntlet sheening in the sun.

"Portions of our Obolis's treasury department defected during our fall from grace, and they keep the albony's once extensive informational network alive. Though the tyrant destroyed most of the trails leading to various treasures, we still know of different galactic capitals and hubs that can help us gain more information."

Shalahora's voice omened across us all.

"I have traveled a portion of Schema's unowned space, and I know of sectors that my patron has sent me to. I may detail their locations and help unweave us from this web of ignorance."

Torix rolled a hand.

"And I could actively thread a few of those patchwork pieces further together while giving the location and surrounding hub of my own homeworld."

I nodded a hand.

"Hell yeah, guys. We also know that Amara remembers where her home planet is. That could also serve as a valuable point of information to gather, especially considering she's a builder. We can start building up a set of references using Earth as the center, and that should start stretching out a map we can use to explore further."

Althea smiled while pulling her hair behind herself.

"We'll be exploring the stars while trying to save our home."

I grinned.

"It has a good ring to it, doesn't it?"

Krog let out a sigh.

"This is good. I...I wish we could unveil secrets of our own, but we haven't charted the stars to any extent."

I scoffed before turning to Springfield.

"We're the same for the most part. I'll be contacting Diesel to see if there aren't any known astronomers who can help piece together some of Earth's old data. That should give us a solid grip on what's going on once we know where life is abundant in different sections of the galaxy."

I nodded, my dimensional wake surging out.

"We'll build this map one piece at a time. Let's go get it done."

After a few more pleasantries and hellos, we went back through the warp and into Springfield. We sent a few messages and informed the populace of what happened, and it required a guildwide message explaining the enemy and how we repelled them.

To no one's surprise, our explanation didn't help solve all the problems Springfield just gained. Many people had no clue what the warp was about, and even fewer people knew how dangerous the situation had been. Despite having a barrier that saved them from death, most people had still seen the extent of fighting outside the dome.

The explosions. The horrors from the beyond. Our guild rallying and repelling the beasts. Springfield's residents saw it all, and it had two effects. Firstly, people treated us as gods. It had been a building perspective among many who knew us, but now, after having seen it firsthand, that perspective expanded by leaps and bounds.

The second after-effect arose as a growing sense of unease. People knew about the ever-increasing dungeons, the volatility of the eldritch, and how that destroyed normal people's lives. Hell, a lot of Springfield's current population came from immigrants trying to escape those realities. That was a pivotal selling point of my guild - escaping the destruction of the world.

Having it come into the city showed how bad the situation would become over time, but my executive golem took charge of the situation. In an instant, he began reframing the event as a demonstration of how effective the guild was at stopping horrors like this and what would've happened without our immediate intervention.

The executive told the people that this happened elsewhere in the world and that where it did, no one survived. They had never heard about it because no one was alive to tell the tale, and I was almost sure the golem was right about that. Still, the executive's story stretched the truth since he never mentioned that Kryaa attacked the guild because of me.

Though that may be a bit self-important. I stopped the deformation of the moon, and that is what sent Kryaa after me. If let the moon be, who's to say the Earth would've remained unscathed until now? We couldn't know that, so I let my mind rest at ease. This was the best we could do for now.

Just as well, I was stunned by how quickly Springfield rebounded from a brutal brush with death. Within days, people collected themselves and continued business as usual. At first, I was flabbergasted, but I remembered my time with Nissa, Jamal, Jasmine, and Joshua. They ran along the edge of the death every day, yet they seemed more lighthearted than I did. In that way, the system had changed people.

In the meantime, my guild organized the maps and informational retrieval. It would take a few months to collect it all into a single place, but we would have something to build off of. Unfortunately, I served no purpose in the grander scheme of that plan as I wasn't an astronomer, tracker, or mapping specialist.

It gave me a few days of respite to think and reflect on everything. I spent that time together alongside Althea, and we caught up on the dates we missed over the last few months. Of course, we still spent some time together while I terraformed Blegara, but still, we rarely had a few days like this.

Toward the end of those days, Althea and I gazed at Springfield, each of us sitting atop a marble building in the richer northern district. The sun loomed over the horizon. It was a lazy celestial that turned a brilliant shade of orange as the day winded down. The wind washed over us, the crisp air of winter brushing our hair back. Well, Althea's hair. My hair looked normal, but it held as firm as bent rebar unless I partially liquified it.

It was actually an exercise for tactile control, but I wasn't training right now. I spent all my time with Althea. She peered at me.

"Are you ok?"

I nodded.

"I am. I'm kind of down that we won't be able to spend time like this together for a while, but other than that, I'm good."

Althea winced before standing up. An elegant flip later, and she landed on my shoulder. She leaned against me, and my hair softened on reflex. I didn't even have to try, and she said,

"It's hard to carry a lot of burdens. Still, it's part of why I love you."

She lifted a hand. It changed into a set of monstrous claws.

"And besides, you know who I really am and still love me. I can't tell you how much that means to me."

I watched people mulling about their day.

"It means a lot that you know who I am, too."

Althea rested her chin on her arms. She rustled my hair.

"What else has you down?"

I contemplated while listening. I could hear every voice in Springfield if I chose to, and I did for a moment. They were a hum of a people I aimed to protect, and their action was my music. I let out a sigh.

"They almost died. Everyone here."

Althea took a breath before hitting my head.

"Come on. Let's go get coffee."

I furrowed my brow.

"Which shop do you want to try?"

Her smile was a Sun at night, the brilliance blinding.

"Oh, well, I have one place I really like. It opened ever since we opened up the trading route with the Shattered Spires. They use a lot of old-world recipes like coffee."

I blinked.

"How'd they do that? And please don't say it's by killing monsters with coffee blood."

She laughed, her voice like a calming melody.

"They have all kinds of territories in the Infinity Plaza, and we used seed banks to start growing all kinds of produce. Coffee was really high on the priority list for a lot of people, along with tobacco. Weirdly enough, growing tobacco stirred up some controversy, with lots of people fighting against its use. Any idea why?"

I looked up.

"In the old-world, smoking caused something called cancer. It was a disease that was kind of like having an eldritch growing in your body. There was also this thing called secondhand smoke, and it killed tens of thousands of people every year. It was like alcohol in that regard with lots of people paying the price for other people's decisions."

I shrugged.

"I don't know if cancer would be a concern anymore with the system remaking and remodeling our bodies from the DNA up. Still, the history of that is still fresh in people's minds, and proponents against smoking probably see Schema's apocalypse as a golden opportunity to stop its proliferation."

Althea rolled her eyes.

"Monsters are running around and tearing people apart while these people are arguing the moral grounds behind smoking a leaf. If you ask me, these people need to spend more time training or doing something with their lives."

I crossed my arms.

"It was a real, moral obligation in our old-world. I knew tons of parents who would smoke in their houses and cars. Those confined spaces would result in diseases that their children paid for. The reason? The parents didn't want to smoke when it was cold outside or wait until after a drive. Five-minute breaks every hour was simply too much to ask."

Althea frowned.

"You sound intimately aware of those problems."

I scoffed.

"My dad smoked and drank plenty. I paid a price for both those habits, though they're mental problems now, given what's happened to my body."

As the wind brushed over us, I met her eye.

"About what you said earlier, I'd really enjoy some coffee with you."

She beamed back.

"Let's go."

We walked across the street while people waved and gave us a few cheers. Their rapid acceptance of the attack on our city still left me surprised, but it had been well over half a decade since the system started. People weren't acting like they used to, though a select few gave looks of fear or anger. They were few and far between, and that acceptance was also where another stint of surprise came from.

Everyone was attempting to live out lives from a pre-Schema era. The smoking argument was an example of that, and my guild had enabled that kind of mass grumbling. One would imagine me annoyed at my complaining populace, but it was actually a point of pride for me. I looked at it as a sign of excess that people could spend their time on something as esoteric as a moral debate.

As we reached the coffee shop, I experienced another kind of surprise.

"Is this really it?" I asked.

Althea gestured to the odd shop.

"It is. Isn't it cool?"

I grimaced.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

The building was made of aged wood, each piece stained and sealed by hand. From my gravitation sense, I could feel the weight of steel embedded into the building, more used than necessary. The unnatural, seamless welds meant one of my architects constructed the framework from nothing.

On the outside of that resilient structure, the gimmick of the building was plastered all over. The owner had used a prolific amount of eldritch memorabilia. Outside of the structural components of the building, every square inch was smothered in the body parts of monsters.

Chitinous plates were sanded down and used for tabletops. The chairs were made of filed-down fangs before being epoxied together. The ceiling fans were made of giant insectoid wings, and the pay counter was constructed from a fused spine. Even the glass looked like the retinas of colossal sea beasts, while the floor was a sandstone interlaced by fossilized monsters.

It was like walking into a demented taxidermist's mortuary. I gave Althea a pained smile.

"It's uh...Great."

She pulled my hand, and we went inside. A woman with a robotic arm and tattoos on her neck looked at me. She dyed her hair crimson red, and she kept it in a pixie cut. Her eyes widened before she bowed.

"Guildmaster."

I raised a hand.

"At ease. We're just here to have some coffee."

In an instant, cold beads of sweat poured down the back of the shopowner's head. I leaned over her, my gaze imperious.

"Ah yes, you should also know that we shall judge this place. Harshly."

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Althea smacked the back of my head.

"What are you doing?"

I smiled.

"Having some fun."

The woman took a breath, our goofy exchange letting her relax some. I gave her a quick smile.

"We'll take two specials, whatever they are."

She blushed before giving me a nod. We walked away while Althea gave me a knowing grin. I frowned at her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Did you have to smile at her so dashingly?"

I rolled my eyes.

"It was either that or terrorize her some more. What did you expect me to do?"

Althea puffed her chest out and stuck her arms out to her sides. She waddled forward with a deep voice.

"Hell yeah. Alright. My name's Daniel. My pain is limitless and I blow myself up all the time."

She flexed.

"Oooh. Ahhh."

I laughed before walking over to a table. I did a back handspring into a fancy twirling leap, gravity wells carrying me through the display of athleticism. I landed in the chair with ease before brushing my hair to my side. I spoke with a terrible, mock female voice.

"Gah, my gymnastics are so, like, terrible today."

Althea laughed before we sat down and talked. We kept talking for several hours, both of us needing a bit of time to decompress. As we did, the owner worked. Whenever she moved aside, I spotted an espresso machine in the back, and it was labeled by our engineering corps. Diesel designed and made those. Another label held the insignia of a gialgathen, one flying with crates hanging from it below.

I pointed at it.

"What are those symbols?"

Althea turned, her hair swishing behind her like strands of silver.

"Oh, those? They're shipments from a gialgathen, uhm, shipping company. I think it's called Fly It."

"Huh. I'd heard of a few industrious gialgathens running a transport service, but this was my first time seeing their insignia. Where does it work?"

"So, I think it operates between us and the Infinity Plaza. They take time-sensitive supplies and a few expensive luxuries that could get stolen. I guess it's hard to beat a giant dragon bodyguard?"

I smiled.

"Frog dragon."

Althea leaned forward.

"Don't let Krog hear you say that. He's gets grumpy when he hears the f-word."

The owner walked over and set down a few delicious lattes smothered in sugar and chemicals. In many ways, it finally felt like I was back in America as I tasted preservatives and artificial flavorings galore.

Ah. Merica.

With our drinks handled, Althea leaned over the table.

"So, how did the terraforming of Blegara go?"

I swirled my coffee cup over a finger.

"It went well. We ended up sticking to twelve giant spirits since any more could've led to regional conflicts. Apparently, they need a set amount of territory or they get angry. How about the education program?"

Althea leaned against her hand.

"Good. I've been handling a pretty consistent stream of unmotivated people, but you do what you can."

I set the cup on the tip of my finger, and its balance defied physics if not for the gravity well supporting it.

"It's difficult to generate momentum for that kind of thing. Motivation is something that comes from within usually. At least the consistent kind."

Althea sighed.

"I suppose. I just...I don't know, expected more? Humans have been through a lot, but they end up falling into these patterns of comfort pretty easily. Maybe that's just sentient races in general, but...I thought there'd be more hunger."

I raised my hands.

"We leave that to the eldritch."

Althea rolled her eyes.

"Oh, ok. Regardless of my motivational woes, I've got ten branches up and running, including a flagship operation in the Shattered Spires. It's become a real success for us despite my complaints, so that's great."

I leaned to her.

"What's the problem?"

She rubbed the back of her head.

"We, uhm, have funding issues."

I spread my hands.

"Say no more. I sit on a pile of money."

She waved her hands, her face flushing.

"No, you've done enough. I don't want to raid your wallet to pay for my passion project. It kind of defeats the purpose if I have to rely on the guild to pay for everything too. The goal was to create something that helped people but also sustained itself. We've got one part down, but the last bit. Heh, well, I'm not a saleswoman. I'll say that."

The sound of spraying coffee radiated in the background. I talked over it.

"In the old-world, we had many educational systems. They were established with the support of a government that took up taxes to sustain them. In general, they dramatically enhanced the productivity of any nation that invested in them heavily. We could do the same with our guild."

Althea crossed her arms.

"Yeah, but how is that sustained by what I'm trying to do? I don't want to leech off of everybody, and the people we're giving this stuff to can't afford to pay for all of it. Locking the poor out of this would defeat the purpose behind what I'm trying to do as well."

I smiled at her.

"It's simple. You're generating productive, creative, and powerful individuals. Someone who's willing to hustle can easily exceed the productivity of ten people who aren't as motivated. Now, that wasn't nearly as much the case before the system was enacted, but it's definitely the case now."

"But how does that pay for anything?"

I turned a palm to her.

"Over the course of a three-hundred-year life, a systemized person could create enough wealth to run one of your academy branches for a year. If you made a hundred of those people a year, my personal taxes alone could sustain your projects easily."

She put a delicate finger on her chin.

"Huh. You take how much again?"

"I think I have it set to three percent. I could make it as high as fifteen, but I don't actually use money much. It sits around for me."

She furrowed her brow.

"You haven't even fully absorbed as many red cores as you can, have you?"

"Not even close."

"Then what do you mean you don't need credits?"

I sat up.

"I've already harvested most of the system gains that I can. The vast majority of my strengthening happens from my rune channeling, skill accrual, and cipheric learning now. The only system benefit I haven't unlocked is a Sovereign skill, but I'm well on my way to getting one. Once that's mine, I'll need to look to other prospects."

I turned up and yelled.

"Unless Schema offers me something tantalizing. Things could change."

Althea crossed her arms.

"Huh. That is why you took that random three-month break. You wanted to be able to strengthen yourself while being busy with the guild. Hmm, I still think it's a bit risky, but you don't seem unhinged just yet. Not more than normal, anyway."

I leaned back in my chair.

"This was the plan. I can train and help the guild at the same time, and we're better off for it. After all, I'm a primary deterrent for people who come to kill us. The stronger I am, the safer the guild becomes. That's part of why this whole situation from earlier bothers me so much. It's also why I'm still training even while we talk."

She leaned to me.

"So you're not giving me your full attention?"

I leaned to her, my eyes dark. A hundred and forty minds turned to her, and my gaze became more invasive than an autopsy.

"Do you want it?"

She sagged into her seat before a bead of cold sweat fell from her brow.

"Where's that pressure coming from?"

I tilted my head.

"You tell me."

She waved a hand.

"Ok, ok, you win. Stop that."

I put my minds back to work and straightened myself back up into my seat.

"You know that sensation you get when an entire crowd stares at you?"

Althea took a deep, steadying breath.

"Unfortunately, yes. Gah, I have nightmares about public speaking."

Mana swirled on my sigils.

"I think that having every one of my minds centered on someone gives the same impression. Some people can blow it off, but other people get nervous."

Althea winced.

"Hah. We know which camp I'm in then. It still seems weird having you not be all there, though."

I smiled.

"Don't worry. I'm giving you plenty of my time, effort, and energy right now. I have one Daniel relish it while three other animas help me think up what to say. Has it made me sound more clever?"

She rolled her eyes, but a smile teased her lips.

"You're definitely more smug."

I tapped my temple.

"Oh, definitely. It's hard to stop because, for me, confidence stems from preparation. With multiple psyches dissecting a conversation in tandem, I'm not just saying something off the top of my head. I'm thinking about every word and parsing it through a few filters. It means I only give my best to people."

I turned a hand to her.

"So I feel much more prepared in what I say, and that also makes me a bit more smug."

She beamed at me.

"Well, I like it."

"Thanks."

A quiet passed over us, the kind thats comfortable and easy. It was like a moment between two old lovers, and I hoped we would be in rocking chairs one day. That hope of mine felt the weight of what happened earlier, so I shook my head. Althea leaned to me.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm still worried about Kryaa. At this point, it's annoying how much it's bothering me."

She winced.

"Yeah. That was pretty bad. That was Kryaa and something else, wasn't it?"

"It was that thing and a lot of other entities from the interdimensional darkness. Honestly, standard stuff at this point."

I turned to the side and gazed down.

"You know...I couldn't have stopped them."

Althea reached out a hand.

"Hey. Stop that."

I took a breath.

"I really couldn't. I would've won in a protracted battle, but they could simply escape before devastating every settlement, town, and living creature on Earth. It's like every time I feel good and solid, something crops up to make sure I'm not able to rest easy. It's starting to get old."

Althea put a hand on my cheek.

"You're ridiculous, you know that?"

I looked at her, my eyes wide.

"How so?"

She lowered her hand.

"You're over there acting all broody just because we got close to death."

I spread my hands.

"That's what we're working so hard to prevent, isn't it? It's like we failed."

She gave me a weary smile.

"Our people are alive with no deaths after getting assaulted. If that isn't a success, then nothing is. We've also done a great job making your guild safe. People who live in these cities can sleep at night without becoming some eldritch's next meal. That's a huge accomplishment, and we're improving the safety of people outside your shelters."

I shook a hand at her.

"They're still having to worry about death even with all these precautions."

She furrowed her brow.

"Daniel, you need to understand something about the system and yourself - you're not a god. You can't stop something like death from happening. It's a constant of the world, especially Schema's assimilated planets. Even if you could take it away, what would the world be without it? We don't know, and it's not something we should be searching out the answer for."

Althea put her hand on mine.

"It gives our lives meaning knowing they can end."

I took a breath.

"I know, but it's so exhausting to try so hard and still have people threatened all the time. Sometimes, it all just feels pointless. It's like no matter how strong I get or how much I build up, everything I've ever done can come crashing down at any point."

Althea shook her head.

"Of course it can. We could get destroyed by some gravitational flux from a black hole or get ripped apart by some Old One's probing. That's just a part of life. If anything, I think you've become a little too accustomed to immortality lately."

I leaned back in my chair.

"Pshh, I'm not even immortal."

She rolled her eyes.

"I've seen you walk out of the air from nothing. Literally nothing, so if total obliteration isn't able to take you out, then what can kill you?"

"Something that attacks my mind and soul."

"Sss. Don't forget the S. You have a whole bunch of them."

"Alright, I'll give you that one."

She reached a hand out to me.

"What I'm trying to say is that you're thinking about this from your perspective, but think about a normal person. At any point in time, they're one sword slice from having their head roll on the ground. That's how we all are. We live on despite that."

She shook her hand at me.

"We're fragile. Close to death. There's nothing that can change that. Look at this."

She pointed down at her coffee, most of it finished. A fly had landed inside the cup while we talked. I frowned at her.

"I figured you knew it was in there."

She gestured to it.

"This is what we're all like. We may think we're not like this bug, but the reality is, there are big forces out there. To them, we're like this fly, and someday, we may get ensnared by something we didn't even know was dangerous."

She put a fingertip into the cup. The bug crawled onto her fingertip. She lifted it up, and the fly flew off.

"Sometimes, we can only hope for a bit of luck to keep us alive."

It flew over to the shop owner. She snatched a bug swatter in a rapid, practiced motion. She crushed the fly with a quick jerk of the tool, and she even moved a garbage can under the fly to catch it before it hit the ground. A sanitizing wipe flashed over the bug's guts, leaving the area spotless.

I grimaced.

"Let's hope we're lucky then."

Althea grabbed my hand.

"We are. At least I know I am."

I leaned to her.

"Me too."

For a moment, I melted. Not literally, of course. I leaned my forehead against hers.

"Thank you. I'm getting lost in this magic I'm using. It's hard to keep my thoughts straight when there are so many of them."

She was warmth, something to calm me. After a quick moment, she pulled her head back.

"You know, Torix and Plazia have scouted different places and run some numbers since we know so much more about the Earth now."

I raised my brow. Althea answered my unspoken question.

"The places we're finding, I mean, some of them are stable, but most of the Earth isn't exactly habitable. Torix and Plazia are estimating that less than a billion humans are still alive after the culling. The estimates keep dropping by the day."

My eyes hardened.

"It's that bad?"

"Yeah. The eldritch have integrated into life here, and there are lots of places where very few survivors have been found. Even in the initial tutorial, nearly a third of all people died. I wasn't a part of it, but apparently, the groups were set up to fight a pack of eldritch wolves. Each person needed to kill at least one wolf apiece, and people were grouped up at random."

My voice was solemn.

"The elderly and children weren't able to kill anything, so groups with lots of members composed of the helpless were exterminated unless they had a true warrior to carry them through. Anyone who wasn't in fighting shape was expunged before they ever had a chance. Still, less than a billion?"

She turned a hand.

"It destroyed infrastructure, and that led to food shortages, a lack of militias, and the inability to organize. People were able to hide and scavenge for a while, but the eldritch kept getting stronger. After half a decade, resistance waned. We're picking up the slack now, but the damage has already been done."

The intangible weight of guilt crushed me. It felt suffocating.

"I wish I'd done more."

Althea peered away.

"Me too. We were wrapped up in a lot of big events, and loads of people ended up being forgotten. It's something I'm not proud of, but we're making a difference now. We're building infrastructure, getting institutions back online, and we're giving people safe places to live. Humanity will have a resurgence. I'm sure of it."

I rubbed my temples.

"Not if these monsters from the dark kill everyone."

She shrugged.

"Like there's anything we can do about that."

I smiled up at her.

"You can. You killed several of them."

Her expression darkened.

"I couldn't. I incapacitated them. You actually killed them...It just took a while."

Shame passed over me.

"Sorry if that was disturbing. If it makes it any better, I didn't enjoy that either."

She shook her head.

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving you just because you can be a little terrifying from time to time. Besides, I know what it's like to be judged."

Her irises changed color and she smiled.

"It's like that fly earlier. Some people act like they're grotesque, but I think that's unfair. They're just trying to survive, just like us. There's something beautiful about all of us fighting towards the same thing. It gives us unity."

I tilted my head.

"Did you know they vomit on their food before sucking it back up?"

She spit out the coffee she was midway through drinking.

"Ugghh. Gross."

Coffee dripped from my brow and off my nose.

"You're telling me."

We ended up talking for a while longer before leaving. We left a generous tip before returning to our suite. After some intimate time together, I left Althea sleeping soundly, and I couldn't help but reflect on what she said. All this time, I aimed every action at protecting people from Schema's world and the consequences it wrought. That's why I gave rings, amulets, and gear. However, no matter how much I sanded the edges of this new reality we faced, the changes were bone-deep. People would need to change with it, and that included me. In essence, I needed to find a way to start giving hand-ups instead of handouts.

With that in mind, I sorted through a few guild documents detailing different trees, classes, and common attribute paths. After getting a firm grasp on the basics, I spent some time devising alterations and pitfalls to our current approach. I also had extensive training knowledge from years of experience, and I pulled from that perspective. Feeling more ready, I reached out to our dungeoneering corps.

Isa had a position that gave her a busy schedule and many responsibilities. Despite that, she didn't make me wait for even a few minutes before arriving in one of her training halls. Surrounded by practical dungeon-clearing supplies, she and I had a quick catch-up. She still wore eldritch leather gear, and she kept her hair in a tight bun so monsters couldn't grab her graying locks.

She leaned against a table, inspecting a few planned operations for any flaws. The maps detailed the insides of different dungeons, her scouting operations helping prevent deaths and reap more rewards. Schema appreciated excellence, after all. Isa peered up at me as I walked in. I gave her a wave.

"How goes it?"

She gave me a tired smile.

"Good. Ever since that little expansion operation of yours, I'm not helping us clear out a few counties of monsters. I'm working in a country full of them, and it's making my back hurt. I'm too old for this."

Streaks of gray striped through her hair, but the system had still revitalized her youthful appearance. She looked like someone in their mid-twenties who dyed parts of their hair gray. I smiled.

"Growing pains are inevitable, right?"

"Sure enough. Is that why you're here?"

"Actually, I had a conversation recently that made me want to take a more active part in a few of my guild's operations. I figured I'd start with what I do best and work my way down over the next little while."

Isa put her hands on her hips.

"So we're finally getting a few more of your secrets, then?"

I pulled out my grimoire.

"This time, it will be all of them."

I shared a copy of my class, attributes, trees, and skills. I detailed exactly how I progressed since the start of my systemization along with general paths to advancement. I even broke down my mindset, how I handled mind magic, and what were the most vital upgrades I'd gotten skill-wise.

She duplicated the documents before reading them over. After a while, she shook her head.

"Jesus Christ. You have a hundred minds floating in that thick skull of yours?"

I nodded.

"It's crazy how full a mind can be yet still sound so empty."

She let out a snort.

"If you say so. I don't know if any of our recruits will be able to emulate that skill. It sounds like it has a lot to do with how disconnected your skills are from your physical body."

I raised a brow. Isa went on.

"The thing is, you're not that from what you've said. You're like a, er, a ghost or something. If that's right, then you're kind of separate from most skills anyway. From my experience, most of these abilities are physical, and they work using muscle memory or predetermined mental functions."

I remembered how Althea's old style of aiming was nearly automatic and easy to abuse.

"Yeah, that's what most people tell me."

"Your abilities sound like they're implanted onto that body you have, but your mind is separate. It makes it easy to change your mind and then use the body as a kind of foundation for everything else you've learned. Otherwise, messing with your head like that will mess up your skills and memories."

I nodded, deep in thought.

"My disconnect from my physical body makes my mind more malleable."

Isa crossed her arms.

"I think so, but this is all way over my head. You'd need a specialist or someone with lots of experience to get to the root of that ability. Everything else you mentioned is pretty applicable, though."

I turned a palm to her.

"Can I see what you have?"

Isa nodded.

"Sure. Let me get it out."

She gave me a few copies of the current training program. They involved a lot of physical training, skill accrual, and leveling guides. I added my own ideas on how to improve the activities, and Isa listened as if I were a god of war giving her advice. If I were, then I'd be useless here.

A god war was someone born for this. They breathed battle in and breathed out a victory. My path hadn't been like that, and though I held great abilities, I wasn't particularly unique. In fact, what I'd done could've been done by most people. I think that was actually what made my perspective valuable here.

For their training programs, my main contributions were setting up rare tree unlocks. They would be there for individuals who had excellent dispositions for battle and stability under pressure. If they gained a few of the hardest-to-collect trees, then they'd be able to get past many of the bottlenecks like class-level limits. A few of those super soldiers could replace hundreds of normal ones.

They would have to take off my rings while accomplishing the tasks, and they'd need to enter difficult dungeons alone. Unlike whenever I fought in BloodHollow, they could keep my gear close by if anything went wrong. If they took the assistance of the treasure, they would forfeit their tree but gain their life.

It wasn't a bad trade in my opinion, and that option made the entire process feasible. I also injected a few of my insights into mythical and legendary skills. Urgency was the source of all progress, and the system gave plenty of that for leveling. Skills weren't as obvious or supported, but they carried much of the system's general potency. Streamlining some type of excruciating exam or trial may help people push past skill bottlenecks much like gaining a rare tree.

After several hours of talking, Isa gave me a smile.

"You know, you're a lot easier to get along with than I imagined. I always thought you were hiding your knowledge so that you could stay the strongest."

My runes ebbed with energy.

"If I could have other humans rival me, then I'd do so."

Isa scoffed.

"People are assholes. I'd rather you stay on top for a while."

Thoughtful sobriety spread over my expression, and I gave her a weak smile.

"We'll see how long that lasts."

I left the dungeon clearing corps with Isa feeling reasonably satisfied and content. The new protocol would help advance her troops while letting her handle a few of the more problematic dungeons in a productive manner. At the same time, I left manuals on many of the more esoteric magics I understood. While my own accounts of the fields weren't the best, they acted as an accrual of my experiences. They may help some people.

I wrote them out as I talked to Isa. Initially, she thought I wasn't taking her seriously. After hearing a few quick responses and my steady involvement with what she said, her worries waned. She told me she'd have my books bound, printed, and sold, and she'd use the money for the dungeoneering corps. I told her to do as she liked with them.

Having handled that, I took a walk through Mt. Verner and Springfield. It was an assessment disguised as a stroll, something I hadn't done in a long time. As I passed the everchanging scenery, I kept getting called out by people, pulled to the side for chats, and asked to tell stories of my battles.

To these citizens, I had taken on a mythical status, and it was a strange experience. Many of the older guild members acted like I was a close friend. Their immediate warmth was humbling. Guild members I'd never spoken to told me heartwrenching stories about their lives since the system arrived.

A father who found his brother here. A son who traversed the country to find protection for his grandmother. A daughter who saved her younger siblings. They told tales of how this place had been a sanctuary and that their lives had begun again. It left me feeling better about what I'd done since the system arrived.

Having bolstered my own morale, I checked my messages, and I couldn't help but raise a fist in triumph. The guild had come together, creating a map of the current cosmos while cross-referencing old-world maps of the stars. They'd sent the update over the guild interweb we'd created, and it spread that information for all to know.

It also gave me a better idea of where we were in the universe. Before diving any deeper, I found the end of the message. We were finally prepared to head to Amara's homeworld, and the guild's top brass headed over to the agreed-upon meeting spot. I flew over the growing skyscrapers of Springfield proper before heading over to Mt. Verner's side.

Along the edge of the mountain, we met in Hod's home, the eltari feeling like hosting. I'd made a habit of flying in from above when visiting the Eltari. Otherwise, I missed the images they crafted with their mosaics. Hod had a similar nested image surrounding his home as well. It was one-half a cornucopia brimming with fruit, golden sand, and honey. The other half was a moon dappled with stars, and a scythe was midway through slicing it.

It was fitting.

Torix, Amara, Chrona, and I landed outside of Hod's home. We passed several runic arrays, their setup meant to stop rain and wind from wearing the structure down. The see-through barrier rippled upon our passage, and we approached the elaborate tent, the flowing cloth ornately designed and held upright with sculpted wood.

Unlike many eltari, Hod wished to maintain the customary buildings and architecture of his people, though he still enjoyed the techniques of the modern age. Hod had carved a fire pit into the front, leaving layered piles of steel and slag inside it. It smelled of searing meat and charcoal, and the many bottles of Torix's brews were at different levels of empty.

Hod had many friends, and he spent time with them well.

The majority of the fabric carried colors of carmine and an alloyed orange. They flowed as if midflight, and each piece shifted in the wind without falling out of place. Still, a rancorous sound billowed from his tent, and the sheer volume of junk Hod threw around over the next few seconds was monumental.

We peered at each other while Torix glared at the tent. The lich took a breath.

"It is the nature of this world to be tested."

Hod shouted at us all.

"Hod, almost ready."

Amara let out a hiss.

"I have been to Hod's home. It is far more elegant and refined than the lairs you compose around yourself."

The lich's eyes flared green.

"Oh? You've accepted previous invitations. I wonder what they were for?"

She flared her teeth, her lips curled back.

"You know I want nothing to do with that childish imbecile."

Hod walked out of his tent. He wore flowing robes, his entire sense of style remade. The illusion of an Arabian prince formed before shattering when Hod moved. His bombastic gestures and lanky form gave way to a familiar cadence and voice.

"Hod happy guildmates come. Hod show home."

We walked in, and it was as Amara said. Elegant tapestries and cloths hung from the ceiling, a subtle structure holding it together. The carved cedar scaffolding left the place smelling of rich wood and verdant earth. The eltaris' mosaics were the elaborate flooring, and the flowing elegance contrasted the piles of random trinkets Hod had collected.

They were oddly aesthetic. Aluminum cans, metal flakes, and old-world jewelry lined every part of his home. The neat, orderly piles contrasted with the chaotic individual that had sorted them out. Apparently, in his free time, Hod had polished the many regalia and glass baubles, and he positioned it so that beams of light crossed through them and shined on the metal. It made every pile into a light display, and I'd never seen someone make garbage into something half as beautiful.

I put my hands on my hips and looked at Hod.

"Ok, Hod, I didn't know you were an artist."

Hod boomed out with his chest, reeking of confidence. He deserved it.

"Hod like shiny things. Hod put them out so others see shiny."

Torix walked up to one of the assortments.

"Art? Hm. Color me surprised. I'd anticipated dried feces and poor hygiene."

Hod pointed at another room.

"Hod leave that for other room."

We gazed at each other before stepping towards the place Hod mentioned. The room held a garden with crops from the eltari's home world. A series of crystals lit the room, and they carried specialized inscriptions and runes carved onto them. Instead of the normal, sterile light from quintessence, a yellow shade accented these lights.

They carried the familiar warmth of actual sunlight, the recreation of the unique feel somehow being uncanny and relaxing in tandem. Hod pointed at a line of insulated barrels behind the room.

"Other Hod help Hod set up room. Hod want plants from Hod world. Hod still work on it."

Torix shook his head.

"And the barrels are for the excrement? Charming."

Hod walked up to Torix and put a winged hand on Torix's shoulder. Hod sighed.

"Hod know that to make change, Hod need to get dirty sometimes. Dry man know this. Hod think we all know this."

Torix gave Hod a thoughtful look.

"We may have our differences, but I can respect that resolve."

Hod patted Torix's shoulder.

"Hod respect dry man too. Hod think dry man should know something."

Torix focused in.

"Oh?"

Hod let out a longer sigh.

"Hod not wash Hod hands."

Torix smacked Hod's hand away before summoning an orb of water above his left palm. He scrubbed his shoulder clean before spraying the water over Hod. Hod stood straight up while dripping.

"Hod thank dry man for shower. Hod forget today."

I held down a laugh. From outside, Chrona let out a heartwarming chuckle, and it echoed across the mountain. Chrona leaned a head down to look at us from the entrance.

"You are always full of surprises, aren't you little one?"

Hod crossed his arms in front of himself.

"Hod like book. Every page different."

I raised a hand to everyone.

"Let's get down to the brass tacks of the situation. We're going to start planning for the infiltration mission with Amara. The only free members we have are Hod, Amara, and Chrona. Shalahora's sorting through people to keep Elysium off our backs. Plazia is scouting a few of the worlds we've recently charted."

I counted on my fingers.

"Kessiah didn't want to go. Althea is working on her education program and pharmacy company. Helios and Florence are busy with albony things in general, and Tera's doing skeptile stuff. That's why I called you all. You're going come with me, and we'll be aiming to infiltrate the planet, get the secrets behind the Builders, and keep ourselves alive."

I enveloped them in the Rise of Eden. They stood a bit taller and with more confidence while I spread my arms.

"Any questions?"

Amara sneered.

"Do we have a choice in the matter, or are we being commanded?"

I admired one of the carvings on a cedar scaffold.

"No one is being forced into this arrangement. I figured you were more than willing to go considering the goal of the mission."

Amara peered down before squeezing her hands.

"Then I will go."

Chrona nodded.

"It sounds exciting. Another world? I've only seen three so far."

Hod struck a pose.

"Hod ready. Hod always ready."

Torix coughed into a hand.

"Ahem. Why am I here, exactly? Aren't I busy scouting?"

I gave him a nod.

"Because we're going to build you a new body before we head out."