Chapter 42: Chapter 41 – Seeker’s Guidebook

"...Is mana really that important?" (Iris)

Iris looked at Dream, who had stopped looking at the computer.

"...Do you remember after our fight in the forest, when I told you that I was one of the people who gave up? And during the talk with my mom, when she said that it was suicide? Well, it was. Because I had lost hope on that world, and because I longed for knowledge that I could never get, I decided that death was my best option. Death was the only release, the only way out that I could see. And I wasn't the only one. There are many people who lose hope, and even more who choose to ignore it and distract themselves with entertainment. 

Mana, however, signifies a greater calling. Mana is the way out of the cage. It shows us that we can become powerful by our own strength. And most of all, it lets us see a higher realm of existence. Now, everyone knows that that godhood isn't just some made-up concept in religion. Now, everything is truly possible. Even if I were the one choosing if Earth got mana, I would say yes. That hope is worth the death that will occur because of it. Although I'm kind of salty about the fact that It's come only 4 months after I got sent here..."

Dream sighed about that fact. If he really just waited that much longer...

'Or it wasn't a coincidence and this happened because of me.'

[It really does seem odd. The timing is lined up with you getting your class. Especially if you give leeway for the time needed for mana to saturate the Earth.]

'I'm just wondering why my class would trigger such an event. Of all the things...'

Dream put on a thoughtful face. Though only for a moment.

"Anyway. What's done is done. Currently, not everybody is aware of mana or at least isn't affected by it. Yet. So I need to send out that guide. Sophia, what do you think is the best way for people to believe my information?" (Dream)

Dream focused back on the immediate problem and inquired with Sophia. The girls were left to watch.

[Well, just the act of accessing everyone's devices will garner a reputation and level of credibility. Another thing that will be helpful, is creating a name. As things become chaotic, everyone will need someone to follow. Not that it should be you, but someone who knows about what's going on will comfort people. So you need a name for people to look to. Whether you use yours or not is up to you.]

"Hmm. Giving away my name has the possibility of harming my family if the connection were ever to be made. I'm not willing to take that risk. What about Seeker?"

[From your Title? That would work. It's unique and easy to remember.]

"Alright. Now we need an easy to read but in-depth outline. I don't plan to hide anything. Though inputting speculation won't be good either. We need to keep it 100% factual so that nobody, especially governments, can claim we're fake."

[Well the easy part is explaining the status. Maybe make the distinction between the Record, system, and status. The Record is the unknown entity that runs the system. The system is the... well system that gives us our skills and levels. The status is what displays it all. You open it by either saying it out loud or in your mind. A screen appears in front of you giving you name, species, class, titles, level, attributes, and all skills plus their level.]

"Put along with titles that if you don't have one, then it won't show up. Apparently Riddick has a blessing, but since I don't have one I can't see that category. I'm sure it's the same for titles..."

As Dream and Sophia spoke, a document was being created on the screen. This had all the descriptions of what they were talking about. It had an example status screen, the classes and their levels to get them, and the letters for attributes. Everything on the screen was explained in as much depth as possible but kept factual.

"Now, what everyone will want to know is how to level up, what skills are, and how to raise their skill levels. Skills, in my opinion, are the techniques for the application of mana. There are passive skills that are always activated and/or don't require mana, and active skills that require the activation and use of mana. Skills can be attained through effort, just like how I got my stealth skill by sneaking. Skill leveling is done by becoming more proficient in the given skill. Basically practice, but also understanding what the skill does and how it works."

"...That's actually a great way to put it." (Luna)

"Now what I'm afraid of, is outright telling them that the way to level up is through killing. This could lead to mass killings as people attempt to raise their level. Especially since monsters might be scarce at the beginning, bad people will turn to humans for experience."

[Well there's a way to word everything. Leveling up is done by attaining experience primarily through the subjugation of monsters. Monsters are non-intelligent animals that have a level and have been influenced by, or wield mana. Monsters have evolutions at the same levels that humans gain their classes.]

"...I guess that's good. It'll get their mind off the fact that they could kill each other for experience."

Dream nodded in approval at Sophia's thinking. The power his words would carry would be huge, and everything needed to be paid attention to. Sophia also knew this, and with her knowledge of psychology and literature, could best pick how things were said. 

Dream watched as everything came together in the document on the screen. Sophia had decided to outline everything like a manual or guidebook that would make things simple and straightforward. 

"Now we need to explain what mana is... But I'm not totally sure myself." (Dream)

[Other than that you gain it through the magic attribute, there isn't much that we've learned about its base properties. Although I have noticed that mana can be separated into types. Mana can take on certain qualities, one of the most common being elemental. Wind, fire, water, and earth, otherwise known as the four states of matter, can affect base mana. I've noticed this mostly through Luna and Iris while they were controlling their magic.]

"So there is such thing as elemental magic. Does that mean that Luna and Iris control this elemental mana through their skills?"

[Since I haven't directly used their skills, I'm not 100% sure. All I know is that they either control elemental mana, or turn raw mana into a certain type. I believe the former is more of a certainty, but I could be wrong.]

"I think so too. The other option would be very OP. Anyway, we should come up with a general description of mana. Nothing specific since we don't know much."

[Mana can be described as an energy of the supernatural. It is something not inherent to the physical world, but through its use, can directly influence the physical phenomena and matter. Mana is controlled through the will of the soul, to which skills are associated.]

"...I don't think I could come up with something better. Go ahead and use that. Next, you should put warnings in there about animals and how they could possibly turn into monsters... And now that I think about it, introducing mana could be much worse than I thought."

"Why's that?" (Iris)

Iris spoke up as she had thought it was already as bad as it could get considering countries would fall and millions could die.

"Mana affects everything, that includes insects, bacteria, and viruses. This means that small bugs can turn deadly, the bacteria in people's bodies could get out of control and hurt them, and viruses would become stronger and more resilient. Plants are also going to grow bigger, maybe even new species will be created. And don't get me started on the sea creatures. Humanity may lose its sea trading business for a long time. And airborne creatures would also be able to harm aircraft."

"The flying creatures are a real problem. Dad actually told us that if he didn't scare away all the flying monsters while we were in your helicopter, we would have been attacked tons of times." (Iris)

"...."

Dream went quiet as he processed what Iris said. So if he were by himself he would have been attacked in the sky? If that's true, then Earth really is in trouble.

" *Sigh* I just hope Earth doesn't get thrown back to the middle ages. And that means it's necessary to put all those warnings in there. People probably won't think about those things until it sucker punches them in the face. Make sure that they're shown as just straightforward warnings."

[All set. Anything else we can send out would be mostly speculation.]

"We can also send out anything else we think of later. This is already a big help. Plus, people can figure some things out themselves. This is just to make sure everyone is aware of their new situation, not to teach them how to live. Are you set to send it out?"

[I am. Though it won't happen instantaneously. I say 2 hours at most for everyone to receive it. Everything will be translated into everyone's home language as well.]

"Alright. Call it 'Seeker's Guidebook to The Record'. Another thing I want you to do is to give it a tag. Something for everyone to use to verify the guidebook. If someone wants to edit the original work, the tag will change and anyone who sees it will know that it's not the original. To make sure nobody can pass one off as the original.

[Already ahead of you.]

"Great. One last thing. Create a forum. Call it... Seeker's Grimoire. Or maybe just The Grimoire. That'll catch people's eye. It'll be used for the discussion on all things magic. Everybody will automatically have an account since we're already forcing the guidebooks on them. Make it like a regular social media platform. Anybody can post anything, but there should be two sections. One will be the 'Reddit' section where everyone posts their random stuff. The other will be the actual magic discussions. I'm sure your programs will be able to tell one from two?"

[I can do that. Should I also create a profile for you? We can put the guidebook under your username and any updates we have will be posted there.]

"Sure. I guess I can handle being famous. But will that reduce credibility? They may see me as just another person on Earth and not believe what we tell them."

[I think you'll be surprised. With how everything is changing, people would believe you even if you told them that you're from another world. It would surely explain your knowledge.]

"Hmm...I guess. Why not. Another thing we can do as we launch is to give an announcement or a notification. To make sure that they can't gloss over it."

[Talk about marketing strategies.]

"I know, I'm the best right? Now without further ado, let's get this thing going. Give me a real-time display of everything too."

[Okay! Commencing world takeover...]

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With an ominous statement, Sophia filled the screen with a picture of Earth. There were also numbers in the corner giving different stats on the people who found the guidebook, forum, and those who hadn't.

Sophia's method of choice for 'infection' was to start from the big transmitting stations around the most populated areas in the world. From there, it spread like an unstoppable flood. Blips showed up everywhere as even the devices passed the infection to each other, not having to rely on cell towers and such.

The numbers also showed just how fast it spread. 

200,000

1,000,000

50,000,000

400,000,000

It only took a minute or so to surpass a billion people. From there though it started slowing down, taking a few minutes to get another billion. Honestly, even if they stopped there it was enough. People would spread it themselves, but neither Sophia nor Dream would stop with this little.

Dream stood and silently stared at the screen for almost 15 minutes before his guests alerted him.

"Did you do it Dream?" (Luna)

"Hm?"

Dream turned around to see Luna sitting on the floor. Iris was in fox form cuddling on her lap.

"Oh, yea. Now it's just a matter of time. I'll probably sleep and come back tomorrow morning and check on everything." (Dream)

"That's good. We should also get to sleep. I wonder what this family's routines are." (Luna)

"Probably similar to ours. Elaina will probably let us know."

"Alright. Come give us a kiss before we go."

Dream smiled and walked over. Iris transformed back into a human and gave him an embarrassed kiss first. Dream tilted his head.

"Why are you so embarrassed?" (Dream)

"Well... I've never kissed you in front of Luna." (Iris)

"Oh ya huh. You really don't kiss me as much as her either." (Dream)

"Well sorry if I'm not as bold!"

Iris' face reddened more as she acknowledged her defeat in that department. Luna smiled and spoke.

"You don't have to be bold Iris. Just... a little more passionate." (Luna)

Luna wrapped her arms around Dream's neck as she said that, giving him a deep kiss. Meanwhile Iris, who never liked to lose, seriously took those words to heart.

Dream and Luna separated after a moment while looking into each other's eyes. 

'This girl, she has those eyes. They're the same as hers...'

Dream's mind began to darken as old memories surfaced. His face darkened a bit as he stared at Luna.

'But...She couldn't like me that much. Does she really? But how...'

[Dream, you can't start this now.]

Sophia intervened as she knew exactly what was happening.

[You can't start having doubts now. This girl tried to give her life for you, remember?]

'I-I know. But..."

"Dream?" (Iris)

"Hey, what's wrong?" (Luna)

Luna and Iris quickly picked up on his rapidly changing mood. They also began to see his soul darken which alarmed them.

[Let's not make excuses now. Don't give stupid reasons to distance yourself.]

'But I...'

[You don't want what happened a year ago to happen again. I know. But things are different now.]

'Ya, the situation is worse. We're in a world that is many times deadlier than Earth. Anything could happen at any time. I can't even guarantee my own life. How am I supposed to guarantee someone else's?'

[You know the answer to that. So what're you gonna do? You're going to push her away so you can spare yourself the worry? Or protect what's yours?]

'...'

[Dream, they love you, so maybe instead of closing off, how about you be open with them? 'It's okay to be a little selfish sometimes.']

Dream went silent in his mind. He remembered when she said that to him...

He turned his face to the girls in front of him.

Luna put her hand on his face and asked with a worried tone.

"Hey, what're you thinking about?" (Luna)

"...I'm worried."

"What're you worried about?"

"...The future. The future is scary."

 

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