- Chapter 6 - Directions -

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Two and a half days had passed since the dreadful encounter.

Ares frowned after he read the reports presented on his monitor. The damage suffered by <Synthesis> was way worse than he had initially expected.

The equipped superluminal drives were heavily damaged, possibly due to the "hyperdiction" that forcefully pulled the ship out from hyperspace.

Fortunately, the physical damage inflicted by the monster flower was mostly cosmetic. The vital systems of the ship were protected by a permanent internal energy barrier. Thus, there were no core functionality losses.

However, the opponent's piercing claws severely damaged the rear weapons system's energy transmission circuit. As a result, the 5th and 6th <Requiem> turrets could not be deployed.

Although the propulsion engines were working save for a few worn-out thrusters, the ship remained stranded in deep space.

The ability to perform faster-than-light travel was crucial to any starship, without doubts. It was all thanks to the superluminal drives that these space-faring vehicles were capable of traveling from star to star, crossing light-years in a single journey, and earning their title as a starship.

<Synthesis> was cruising forward at a speed that couldn't be determined as calibration was impossible without a valid reference object. Ares estimated that it was no more than 2km/s according to past operational records. That was already a lot higher than the fastest ship in <EPO>, so he did not complain.

Still, they were in the middle of nowhere. At such a low speed, they couldn't reach any point of interest even after years of voyaging. There was no option other than waiting for the superluminal drives to be fully restored.

While trying to confirm the remaining supplies, Ares heard a light "plop," followed by a low moan that went "Oww…"

He turned to the right and found that his cat-eared crew member had returned to her seat. She held her backside with one hand; her expressionless face showed a mild sign of discomfort.

"Ah, welcome back, Syntia. Does, does it… still hurt?"

"Mm… A little."

"Sorry, I… I went way too far…"

"It's okay. My body belongs to Captain, don't you remember?"

"But…"

Ares remembered that hours ago, he had succumbed to his desires and committed an act that he later regretted from the bottom of his heart.

"'You can do anything you want,' that is what I had said. Even if you chop me up into pieces, it'll still be alright."

Syntia's bizarre words landed in the uncanny valley in Ares's heart. He was reminded that the catgirl wasn't human. She was technically a descendant of Remi, after all.

He recalled the documentary that he had once watched. It was about Remi's inauguration as the supreme leader of <Lumina>. The insane overlord had staged an assassination on herself to prove her immortality. She was able to restore herself to a pristine state no matter how mangled she had become.

Like mother, like daughter. Ares was reminded that Syntia had more or less inherited the traits of her creator. They weren't human, in the first place.

"That's a little exaggerated."

"Anyways, don't worry about it. If you insist, how about…treating it as my punishment? Then, we'll be equal."

"Punishment?"

"Because of me, you were forced to establish <Mental Link>. I thought you'd die…"

"If it weren't for <Mental Link>, I wouldn’t have been able to control the ship fluently in such a short amount of time, and we might have been toast. Besides, you've apologized for it earlier, didn't you?"

Syntia pondered for a while and came out with another idea.

"Um, I did. But… can you promise me… to not activate <Mental Link> again? I'll forgive you if you do."

"That… Okay, I promise. So, pinky swear?"

"Yeah. Let's do that."

The pilot and his operator both extended their right hand and locked their pinky fingers. That signified that a promise had been made and would never be broken. With that, Ares's guilt had subsided a little.

"Thank you, Captain… Ah, good news. The full assessment report is back. We have enough 'manarium' to repair the damaged <Spatial Drive System (Infernus)>. It's set to the highest priority and will take a minimum of 6 days and 15 hours for it to be completely repaired."

A window containing graphs and tables was displayed on Ares's monitor. He did not immediately check the report, as he was intrigued by a familiar yet foreign term that Syntia had mentioned.

"That's quite long but still tolerable… Wait, what's this 'manarium' about?"

"You can equate it with the raw materials used to repair our ship."

"Tell me more about this resource. Be as concise as possible."

"Manarium is 'soul essence' in its material form. It passively produces a type of exotic energy known as 'mana,' and can be 'overloaded' to generate a burst of said energy with its integrity as a cost."

— Soul essence? Wait a minute, isn't that…

"The primary method to create manarium is to harvest and transmute 'soul essence' from human souls. The standard measurement unit of manarium is 'points,' which is the average value of soul essence present in an adult human soul."

"That's wicked!"

Ares exclaimed out loud. The explanation reminded him of the 'philosopher's stone' described in an animated movie about alchemists that he had once watched. In that movie, the material could actually defy the 'laws of equivalent exchange'. However, it did not come cheap. It was created by sacrificing thousands to millions of lives.

"S… sorry…"

"It's not your fault. You’ve done nothing wrong. Please continue."

Considering that Remi participated in the creation of <Syntheis>, Ares wouldn’t be fazed anymore if there were more horrifying mechanics.

"Manarium can also occur naturally in the form of minerals, found post-world merge. Defeating 'monsters' may yield 'manarite' that can be refined into manarium."

"So, did 'they' actually reap lives to fuel our ship?"

"No. Post world-merge, all manarium were sourced from mining and manarite refining."

"I… Nevermind. I don't think I have enough brainpower to digest what had happened to the world after that apocalyptic event."

Manarium, mana, and manarite. Soul essence, human transmutation, and monsters. To Ares, it all sounded like terms that originate from a fictional world based on a fantasy setting.

— What if fantasy had turned into reality, just like what had happened to me?

"Uh, I take back my words. Syntia, tell me what the 'new world' is like."

"My knowledge about the post-world merge environment is based on what <Core 701> had described. There might be discrepancies. Is that fine for you, Captain?"

"Yes. I just need to know more about mana and manarium so I can make better decisions regarding resource management."

"Acknowledged, Captain."

It took a whole hour for Syntia to relay the knowledge taught by her predecessor. The descriptions were based on Luna Luciel's experience of living in the "new world" before she had boarded <Synthesis> as a living core.

Ares's speculation was spot-on. Mana equals "magic power," and manarium equals "magic stones." It was all thanks to his familiarity with novels, comics, anime, and games that he could understand the concepts easily.

His homeworld had become a world of sword and sorcery. The native humans, or known as Humes, co-existed with inhabitants of six other races that included elves and shape-shifting sentient dragons. They were able to cast magic spells by consuming mana. The economy of the world mainly revolved around dungeons that were home to an infinite supply of monsters.

It seemed that the technological advancements of the Seven Arcs had been incorporated into the fantasy world. There were even underground vactrains and cellular networks. Ares imagined himself slaying goblins in a dungeon with an assault rifle. It was too bad that he did not have the chance to enjoy himself in that "brand new world."

"I think I can understand why the goddesses decided to keep that world instead of the Seven Arcs."

"According to the records, the main reason was — humans have zero aptitudes for mana. That meant, they would succumb to an ailment known as 'mana poisoning' in such an environment within minutes or even seconds of exposure. Do you need more insight on this matter?"

"No, thank you. The information is sufficient for now. But I need to raise another question. Since <Synthesis> runs on mana, won't there be any impact on my health?"

"Don't worry, Captain. The 'mana reactors' are heavily shielded. Even if leakage happens, you will not be negatively affected due to increased aptitude through augments. Unfortunately, you're unable to harness mana as personal abilities."

"Oh, that's a pity…"

Ares felt a little disappointed. He couldn't become a mage and summon fireballs, or gain superhuman strength through body strengthening magic.

"Syntia, can you use magic?"

"Yes, Captain. You've witnessed at least one of it, I believe."

"That healing touch that can even bring a dead man back from his grave…Indeed, it's something that could not be explained by science."

"Compared to Lord Remi, I couldn't do much. I heard about her impressive feats. Although I was supposed to inherit her powers… I am unable to achieve anything near that level."

"It's okay. You're not a 'god,' instead, a living core, or maybe…an incarnation of a living core. As long as <Synthesis> is functioning well, you've done your job."

"Is that so…? Thank you, Captain."

The starship pilot continued his attempt to inquire further and educate himself about the ship's resource management system. He felt that the direction of their ventures had to be decided so as not to stray into oblivion.

After a lengthy conversation with Syntia, Ares concluded that manarium was the universal resource that they required in bulks. It wasn't just needed for maintenance and repairs but also used to produce ammunition and power the "medical bays." Apparently, Syntia's physical body was created with a hefty amount of manarium as cost.

It reminded him of a space-themed action-adventure game that had its fuel purple-colored, both in crystal or liquid form, mined from moons if not purchased from ports. Except that there might be no ports to purchase such fuel from in reality.

Theoretically, <Synthesis> had an infinite amount of fuel and may not ever require refueling. The "mana reactors" equipped on the ship could be compared to nuclear reactors whose fuel rods never decay in normal conditions.

If the reactors were "overloaded" past its optimal output rate, the core of the reactors would wear out at an exponential rate. Thus, manarium would be consumed to repair the depleted cores, thus "refueling" the reactors.

Ares finally decided that as a short term goal, they needed to head to a star system, where they could acquire more manarium. If they were lucky, they could even find a planet similar to their homeworld.

In the worst-case scenario that they were forced to commit atrocities to survive, they still had to find a planet with a sentient civilization or a bunch of space colonies.

"Syntia, besides finding a planet, are there any other ways to acquire manarium?"

"<Obscura>. The <Obscura> that we defeated earlier… There were manarium fragments within its remains. While you were unconscious, I arbitrarily retrieved and added the fragments into our manarium reserves."

"Woah, that's some great news. Though I don't really wish to meet that abomination or any of its kind again…"

From the information obtained from the systems, the <Obscura> probably harvests souls and stores them as manarium for its own consumption.

That particular flower-shaped creature probably interdicted <Synthesis> to devour not just the crew's lives, but the stored manarium resources as well. Conversely, after defeating them, their cores could be looted for the crew's benefit.

— Heh, the hunter becomes the prey. How ironic.

Ares informed Syntia of his plans and received an acknowledgment.

"Captain, we've got the survey results. It's good news. We have identified the closest location where manarium deposits could be found. It is 285.7 light-years away. The second deposit is over 1500 light-years away. Thus, it was discarded from consideration."

"That'll be our destination. Once the repairs are done, we will perform a hyperspace jump."

"Roger that."

Looking at the endless field of stars, Ares believed that at least one of them would offer that vital resource crucial to his ship's survival.

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