The Unified States of Mana

Walking off my heavy lunch, I wave goodbye to Nel, who rushes to get back to her job. Only a few of the other students from the combat course followed us to the restaurant, apparently either the battles, or the beast guts upset them enough that they weren’t able to stomach any food.

Vice is here though, talking with a few other students that appear to have come from third grade civilisations. They’re warming up to conversation much quicker than the other students of our course.

“Beast taming class.” Vii chirps, “Back to the park, right?”

“Apparently.” I reply, “I wonder whether we’ll meet any ‘intelligent beasts’?”

“Most assuredly,” Adler says, “It’s a key aspect of your education.”

“Ah yes, threats and fear.” I reply, “I heard from another student that we’re not likely to be collared unless we skip class, or refuse to do what we’re told. What’s your thought on that?”

“I can’t discuss how we determine such matters.” She replies sharply, “But skipping class without good reason would be a mistake.”

“Yeah, yeah, like I thought.” I say with a sigh.

As expected Freid leads us to the next class, giving another big speech that I’m not of a mind to listen to. I’m a little interested to meet with my slime again, I wonder how he’s doing imprisoned and collared.

We eventually arrive at a small stone facility that’s built into the earth by the side of the arena where we fought this morning. While it does seem small from the outside, I’ve no doubt that it extends deep into the earth. I just have to wonder whether it is connected to the deeper ruins at all.

“These are the facilities where we keep beasts.” He begins.

“And I’m Saren, the teacher and supervisor here.” Says a large, middle-aged woman, of the half-lizard sort. Her pink scales are incredibly vibrant and it’s rather clear that she puts reasonable effort in maintaining her appearance.

“Now, I’m sure you’re all quaking in your boots thinking about walking in here, but you have nothing to worry about. All the beasts in here are properly collared and in the process of being tamed. They can’t cause you any harm, so please don’t harm them out of fear or surprise or for any other reason.”

She waves us to follow her as she walks down into the facilities that are surprisingly well lit. The rooms are instantly familiar, with white walls and strong lighting, it’s much like that facility that I woke up in when I was taken away from that war torn world.

“Overstimulation can cause issues among beasts, so it’s important to keep a clean environment here. You will find few colours or complex images in facilities such as this one for that reason.”

Down the stairs and into a wider room, I see an eclectic collection of creatures that is not dissimilar to my first experience getting aboard one of the flying ships. There’s far more diversity here than I’d expected.

Small creatures, calmly and slowly stride about the room, sniffing at one another and talking in very rudimentary ways.

“Food.”

“Hungry.”

“Satisfied.”

“What are you?”

“Strange.”

Chip’s translator works for them where it didn’t for the other beasts.

The more intelligent species are speaking in longer sentences, but they quiet as we enter the room. Some stiffen as if afraid, others remain perfectly calm, sipping from plain white ceramic cups.

“All these beasts have been equipped with rudimentary support devices that will enable communications.” Saren says, “This room is made up of the better tamed beasts and you may freely communicate with them, but I would still suggest that you discuss matters carefully so as not to cause unintended harm.”

Few students have the nerve to face these beasts, even as peaceful as they are, and I find myself hesitating as well, though for a separate reason. It almost feels like the classic image of an old mental institution, the sort where they’ve lobotomised all the patients.

A good half of the beasts look half asleep or drugged, wondering around in a daze and sometimes stumbling into walls, the other half look to be frightened to the point of imitating them.

“Let’s separate, get an idea of what’s going on.” I suggest to Vii and Eshya. Adler nervously decides to follow me.

Hesitantly I approach a table where the more intelligent species seem to be having a discussion.

“Is this seat free?” I ask, taking an empty chair.

“Yes, you may sit there if you like.” Says a light-blue, crystalline woman, whose body clacks with every movement. Magic would be the only explanation for how she’s somehow alive, but she’s hardly the first impossible life I’ve come across.

“You are to become one of our tamers?” Asks a gentle seeming dragon. She looks to be of a family with that one teacher that I met while visiting the different classes. This one, though, has more noticeable horns and has deep purple scales, that almost seem black but for when the light reflects off of them just right.

“I suppose.” I reply hesitantly, “I’m not sure about the term ‘taming’.” The translation properly carries the meaning, I can feel a sense of superiority and inferiority conveyed that sets my nerves alight with discomfort and makes my gut turn.

“It’s the proper nature of how things are here.” Says a third person. A young male creature that constantly shifts in the light. He seems hazy and I can’t quite focus on his form.

“Is that so?” I say, “How is life here?”

“Calm.” The crystalline woman says, “Always calm. It must always be calm.”

“It is life.” The dragon says, “One day will follow another, so long as we behave as appropriate, we can have a future.”

“If not…” The young mist man freezes up.

“You’re reduced into ingredients for potions and fertilizer?” I ask and they all freeze up, staring down into their cups. I’m not even sure if half of them drink but the cups seem to be the only distraction here from the rest of the room and from each other.

“Sorry, shouldn’t have said anything.” I say, shivering a little at their reaction.

“It’s fine.” The young man says, “We must simply behave properly.”

“Act like properly civilised people.” The crystalline woman says, downing the glass of water. “The worst part of being here is that we can’t work and contribute to society, without wasting the time of our minders.”

“Yes.” The dragon quickly jumps on the new topic, “How I wish that I could get back to my class, and… and this time I would follow directions properly.”

I want to ask, but the eeriness of the atmosphere makes it difficult to.

“You want to know?” She continues, “I continuously killed beasts without proper care. They were small and mindless, and I thought little of it, but as a combat student it was a serious mistake.” The little dragon says stiffly, “A mistake that I’m sure you’re smart enough not to replicate.”

“This is…” The young man starts impatiently before relaxing, sounding resigned as he continues, “Necessary for our wellbeing. We must speak carefully, as well. Words, too, can be violence. We mustn’t… we mustn’t…” His voice fades as the other two continue to say lines that sound like propaganda.

“Now that you’ve had a chance to get to know the better tamed of our beasts, we can move on to the misbehaving beasts.” Saren says, interrupting the conversation that has reduced into nothing more than senseless babble.

I rise and re-join with the others while Adler watches us carefully.

“The rats and little critters aren’t very expressive.” Eshya says, “But they never said anything bad. Like anything. They weren’t uncomfortable. They weren’t bored. They didn’t feel even a little ill, or aggressive.”

“I didn’t get much.” Vii says shyly, “They didn’t say much to me in return.”

“Did you get nervous and start ranting really quickly again?” I ask.

“Maybe.”

I squeeze her shoulder affectionately and swallow back my laughter. Laughter inspired half by the terror and disgust filling me, and half by the funny image of her ranting to small beasts that didn’t stand a chance of understanding her.

“Don’t mind it,” I say.

We head further into the facility, passing by a few rooms with collections of beasts like the ones we’ve left behind. I think I can feel where Leai’s coming from, but I still have to disagree with her.

There’s nothing that bad happening too blatantly

here. Not when you’re used to a difficult life. There’s food, there’s no beasts trying to kill you, and all you have to do to earn back your freedom, is say as you’re meant to say and do as you’re meant to do.

Simple.

Just so deeply unsettling and disagreeable that I truly would rather fight my way out of this facility than allow myself to get collared and thrown in here.

“This here is where the more resistant beasts are kept. They’re mostly separated, as while they can’t harm one another, contact between them will generally be negative and only feed further into their damage.” Saren explains.

The rooms here are separated, much like prison cells but without bars. It leaves me wondering why the facility I woke up in had them, when they don’t bother with them here.

“Oh, that’s a familiar face.” I say, trying to contain my shock at the sight.

“End me.” Red growls looking through the window of her cell. As much as it looks like a pleasant room, and as much as there are no bars on it, this is a cell nonetheless. It’s made most apparent by the fact that she stands in the doorway, glaring at me but unable to cross the threshold.

“What?” I ask, taken aback by her rather sudden demand.

“End my existence,” she demands.

“Lefue. Don’t say such things anymore.” Saren says, with a light and sweet voice, “You’re life has value, saying such things is not good for your continued wellbeing.”

Red’s open mouth works, but the words don’t escape. She grunts, and moves her arm back as if to hit the door frame, but it relaxes back down at her side a moment later. She stares at me, as she stands there, frozen. Unable to even express her own frustration through any more than eye contact.

For someone like her, this must be hell.

For me it would be hell.

Pleasant room? Food service? Protection?

None of it matters in the face of this.

It’s unacceptable, and I am eager for the day I get to tear this place apart.

“Now as you’ve seen. This particular beast is both quite intelligent and resistant to taming. I don’t have high hopes of bringing her back to civilisation, but it is our responsibility to try.”

“When you told her to stop, she did. Why is that?” One of the other students asks.

“She is equipped with a collar. It is much like your own support devices but allows for outside control to keep a beast from misbehaving.” The teacher goes on, “It can also be used to force a beast into good behaviours.

“For example. Lefue, introduce yourself.”

Red stiffens and wears a forced smile, but her eyes are raging.

“Hello, my name is Sanya Lefue. It is a pleasure to meet you all. I’m obligated to tell you that I am safely collared and have been commanded such that I can cause no harm unless directed to by a qualified beast tamer. As such, you need not fear me for my beastly nature.”

The stiffness fades and she remains standing there, trembling. Whether in rage or despair I can’t quite tell.

“I had her brought here.” Adler says, standing beside me, “You asked about her and one other beast, so I thought that it would be good for your wellbeing to face them.”

“Good for me how?” I ask, as Red glares at me, unable to do anything more than that.

“How do you mean?” She asks, “I hope for her to be reformed, and for you to learn and grow by her side. There is enough horrible things in this world, doesn’t it feel good to know that we can make things better?”

“Sometimes.” I reply, relaxing a little.

She is right, it is nice to know that I can make things better. But this, isn’t better.

Better will be when I’m the one in control. I mightn’t be perfect, but I won’t pull sick shit like this. I’m not a complete fuck up like whoever designed this place.

Though, that begs the question.

What form of justice system will I implement when I gain power? I know that the legal system in most western nations has become considerably complex and some would say corrupt, but that complexity is for a reason.

At the very least, I’m not sure I’ll foreseeably have the resources to waste with prisons. Running prisons in a world where people have superhuman strength and magic is not something cheap and easy. No, I’d probably need to do something similar to this, or just kill those guilty of serious crimes.

I’ll have to think about it, maybe grab a few experts from Earth and some of these other worlds to help get things running.

It’s best I get things ready now, it’ll be less overwhelming to get things started if I already have an idea of what I’m going to build and some experts ready to do the work to build it.

“What are you daydreaming about?” Red asks through grit teeth, “Were you considering my request?”

“I was considering getting taming qualifications and taking you out for a run. You seem a little pent up in there, and I think some exercise would do you well.” I reply, trying to imagine how much reform it would take to trust her as a soldier in my, as yet imaginary, army.

“They are already so incredibly kind as to give me a chance to get some exercise.” Apparently, the collar hasn’t yet taken away her attitude, as I can feel it bleeding through in the tone of each word.

“Such basic needs are of course taken care of.” The teacher says, jumping into the conversation, “Though more luxurious desires and requests are only permitted if it’s determined to assist in their taming.”

“I assure you, when I was asking for you to sexually service me, it was not meant as a request.” Red says, her gaze softening but her body tensing up as she faces the teacher.

I can only imagine that she’s been commanded to ‘look me in the eyes when you speak to me, and don’t glare like that’ or some such. As it would be the only way to reasonably interpret her strange behaviour.

“Yes, it was intended as insult. My support device translated as much perfectly clearly.” She replies calmly.

Red goes through a cycling sequence of frustration and freezing up, I’m guessing she’s trying to find something that she can say or do that the collar won’t prevent. In the end she gives up with a long, tired sigh.

Others, some seemingly intelligent, and some complete beasts, all line the cells along the row. Most seem unable or unwilling to communicate with us, but some desperately try to find words as we pass them by.

“I’ve been told that one of you has caught a slime? It should prove an interesting subject for this class, but don’t get discouraged if it fails to adapt to your taming attempts.” The teacher says, “It’s kept right here, now which one of you is Kyra?”

“Here.” I say, stepping up to the room where Slimey is being kept.

“Have you been given authority to command this beast from a welfare officer?” She asks.

“I don’t think so.” I reply hesitantly before Alder comes up to me.

“I’ll give you the proper permissions.” Adler says, stepping up to my side, taking my hand, and tapping at the symbol on the back of it, “This process is much simpler than it was when I was learning things. Still, I have to question who it was that allowed such design changes.”

She grumbles to herself as I try not to panic. I didn’t know anyone else could access Chip like this. I’ve feared it was possible, but fearing it is a different thing entirely from having someone so casually stepping up and taking over like this.

When finished, Alder walks over to where my slime is ponderously wandering around the room. Not hopping anymore, but rather, languorously sliding along the ground. With a tap of her hand on the slimes head, she gives a happy nod.

“There you are, you’re now properly authorised to give commands to this slime.”

“Slimey.” I call him by his name. Slimes have no gender as far as I can tell, Chip doesn’t correct me there, but he feels like he’s a boy.

I can feel the slime turn its attention towards me, but he doesn’t move.

“It has already been given the general commands to ensure that it won’t commit any violent action, but you may need to give it more specific commands if it starts trying to work around them.” Saren says, “You should also understand that having authority over a beast is a very important role.

“Giving rewards or providing luxuries must be done cautiously. Punishment should only ever be permitted in the form of removing luxuries, and finally, the last thing I can explain, you must never develop intimate relations with any beasts you have authority over.”

I look down at Slimey.

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem.” I reply with a hesitant laugh.

“You will eventually have authority over any number of beings with any number of natures.” She explains. “Now, there are two types of command that you can give.

“Instant, which is to get a beast to act once but without recurrence, and persistent, which will remain in place until it is contradicted or removed.” Saren explains, “Command as you see fit, the welfare officers will in turn deal with you as they see fit.”

I have a leash on the slime, and Adler has a leash on me.

Simple enough.

“This is so weird.” Vice says from among the group of students.

“Well, that’s one way to put it.” I reply, “I’ve a few choice words that might fit a bit better.”

I settle in to try and communicate with my slime as my mind wonders to tonight, and my eventual meeting with the journalism club.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

~Mana Form:

Current goal: Develop your mana form.

Current mana density: 392 units

~Mana distribution:

Skin: 21%

Muscle: 8%

Mind: 13%

Cardiovascular: 8%

Misc.: 3%

Efficiency: 53%

 

~Skills:

-Mana drain touch

-Mana skin

-Mana shield.

-Mana surge strike

-Mana surge kick

-Flame burst

-Fireball

-Infused delayed casting

-Harsh petting

-Chaos dance

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

//Author Note

More chapters available

Patreon: www.patreon.com/formlesschimera

Substack: formlesschimera.substack.com