Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Learning Isn’t Hard When You’ve Got A Hyperintelligent Hive-Mind Either

Geistig handed me a mana crystal so we could talk face to face. I absorbed it and transformed back to Rhannu's form.

He and I talked for a long while. He confirmed my suspicions about the voice. It feeds off of monsters' instincts, driving them to kill and eat, hate and fear. When a blue mage steals a monster's powers, that voice comes with them. The stronger the monster, the louder the voice. Most blue mages eventually succumb to it. For people with major trauma, it's even harder to resist.

As a mind mage, he can help quiet the voice. And if that's not enough, he can pacify me like he did at the end of my fight.

As for the personal trauma itself, there wasn't much he could do to help. Not quickly, anyway. Therapy takes time, and magically rooting out issues that deep is exceptionally dangerous.

"I'm sorry, Sylas. Even if you're willing to take the risk, it just isn't feasible. But it will get better. It will take time, sure, but it does get better." Geistig laid his hand on my shoulder to console me. "In the meantime, let's take your mind off of it. Tell me about the fight. Why weren't you moving your legs at all?"

I took a moment to change gears. Going from trauma to powers in a little over a sentence is jarring, but I understand the point of it.

"I can't intrinsically control anything I didn't have in my humanoid body yet. That means two legs and arms max, no sacs, and no mana infusion. Only exceptions seem to be some parts of my space alignment. Whether my mana expenditure defaults to on or off depends on the form. Monsters are always on, and it takes up a lot of mana to keep it that way."

"I can see that being an issue. I can help with the limb training, but it may be wise to teach you how to control your mana first. Interesting factoid, the mana expenditure thing you were talking about is due to the voice as well. It makes them constantly exert their strength out of fear of ambush and desire for strength. They just have to kill and eat to make up for the mana loss. The constant exertion is also why there's so many more high rank monsters than people. Thankfully, that same aggression prevents most monsters from stockpiling too much mana. Otherwise every planet would end up like Tekoth."

"Tekoth, sir?"

"Call me Geistig. They really don't teach kids about Tekoth these days? I know it's just one of many failed colonies, but still. Surely you've at least heard of The Phoenix and Beokros, no?"

"I have. It's a cautionary tale about trusting your powers too much, and not doing enough research before a fight. The Phoenix was immortal, so long as his ashes could burn after his death. But Beokros was a frost dragon, and encased him in so much ice he could never rise again."

"It's no tale, and it's about a lot more than that. Beokros was S ranked, and Tekoth was mostly uninhabited besides one human colony. Beokros had enough power in it to turn the whole planet into a literal ice cube for most of a century. The only survivors were those that could reach the gate before the blizzard came. Preparedness and arrogance are good takeaways, sure. But more than that, it's about collateral damage. Fights below B rank tend to be limited in scope, but when those beyond that grow angered, the innocent bystanders pay for it.”

Geistig paused, seemingly caught in a memory. I guess he has his own burdens as well, but I won’t pry. “But anyways, we're getting sidetracked. If you’re having issues with adapting to your powers, that’s something I can help with. Using mind magic to enhance your natural learning speed is standard stuff, if a little taxing. I can help on my own, but it’d be easier if I were a druid, and could feel what you feel. Tell you what, I’ll contact the collective. See if they’ll offer up any help.”

Right, I’d momentarily forgotten about Dwarves' connection to the hive-mind. That’ll really come in handy, I’m sure. I wonder… “Can you also ask about mana wells? I need one.”

“You… need a mana well?”

“I do. I somehow got some neutral mana in my subspace, and I’m a bit worried about it.” Not technically a lie, but I left out many important details. Geistig is fine by me, but I don’t want this information shared with the collective. “Nothing big, just enough for a hundred feet around.”

“Uhm… huh. Okay. I can ask, but I doubt I’ll find much. They’re not very useful at that size. Monsters can still wander into most wells, even if they can’t spawn. They also don’t provide enough mana crystals at that size to pay themselves off in a lifetime.”

“Even so, I still need one.”

“Alright, I’ll ask about it. That and your training situation.”

Geistig took a few steps back and placed his hand on the gem in his forehead. His eyes whitened, and a tiny purple flame manifested around the gem. Numerous threads stretched out from it, seemingly fading from sight as they grew further from him. Geistig spoke in a metallic, staticky voice that overlaid upon itself. “We request assistance. Not urgent. Sensory information, body connection. Mana well, E-C. Unspecified, assumed low. Acknowledged. We thanks we.”

The strings broke, and the flame died down. A short time later, Geistig returned to himself, rubbing his temples and shaking his head. “We hates — I hate that feeling." Geistig took a deep breath and stopped rubbing his temples. "Should get a response to your limb problem in a week or so, and the mana well several weeks from now.”

“Weeks?”

“Months, maybe. First, the request has to be processed and given a priority. Then, it has to be given to the right individuals or individual to satisfy the request. Given that it’s neither on Welt, nor urgent, it will take a while and be considered low priority.”

“Is this the bureaucracy you were complaining about?”

“Aye, now you’re getting it.” Geistig smiled.

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“I only hope nothing happens before then… Regardless, thank you for all this. I’ll pay you back when I’m able.”

“Why not pay me back now? I accept all forms of currency.” Geistig joked.

“Sorry, I don’t have any. No gold, and I don’t know how to make mana crystals yet. I couldn’t even afford an inn last night. I ended up sleeping in my subspace.”

“Not a gold, eh? Shame. But you can go inside your own subspace? As an E rank? How big is it?”

“I can only go inside with a smaller form. Can’t keep the portal stable enough or get it big enough to fit anything bigger than my arm in, though I can phase bigger objects inside. As my subspace’s size, it’s big enough to store my forms at least.” Technically not a lie, though I undersold it a bit.

“I see. So you’re storing your forms. That explains how your space alignment fits into your specialization. Can you bring one out, or only transform into them?”

“I can’t bring any of my forms out that I know of. Only objects.” How I wish it weren't so.

“Neat, our team finally has a pack mule.” Geistig smirked at that, and I couldn’t help but laughing. “For now, let’s find you a form with a bunch of limbs. Should be an E rank monster too, so you can work on your mana expenditure. I’ve got just the one in mind.” Geistig raised his voice at Kaz and Tishina. “Oy, you two. We’re going up-river to help the newbie. We’ll be gone for a day or two, so if you need anything taken care of, do so now. We’ll meet at the northern docks, just outside the city”

“Are we going anywhere dangerous? Outside the well?” I asked him.

“Hard to find monsters inside the well. At least when they’re not anyone’s property. Ah, you’re considering what form to take? Good thinking, lad. It takes some time for you to transform, so you should be ready to fight at a moment’s notice. What forms do you have access to?”

I gave him a quick list of what I had in my subspace. Mostly animals, and the D rank Spiderilla.

“Why’d you skip straight to D rank? It’s too costly for you to stay in outside of combat.”

“I had an E rank form before, a Barbearian, but I lost it.”

“Lost it? How does losing forms work for you? It’s important to plan around that. Maybe get a few backups of whatever forms you keep. Also, I haven’t heard of a Barbearian before. What is it?”

“If I get too injured in one form, the injuries remain permanently on it, thus rendering it unusable.” Again, a half-truth. “As for the Barbearian…”

I pulled my encyclopedia from my subspace and showed it to him.

“Ah, well you’re an organized fellow, ain’t you? Let’s see here… Ah, I know this one. Ferre Iram. Barbearian is a strange name for it. Those called barbarians typically use anger as their weapon, rather than cause it in others. You see—”

“Okay, Ferre Iram. But counterpoint, it’s a bear. It still uses anger as a weapon, even if it's not its own anger. Bar bear ian.”

Geistig laughed heartily. “You’re a bit of a weird one, Sylas. Stay that way, it’s good for the soul.”

“I don’t think I have a soul.”

“Hahaha. What are you, my ex?” His expression dropped as he saw the blank expression on my face and realized I was serious. “Wait, what?”

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