I watch as Lin continues to try and find out how the Airship works, examining the walls and muttering to himself.

“We’ll reach land in about half an hour,” I say with a clone near him. 

He nods simply and touches the wall as if it will help him understand the airship better.

“The Royal Enchanter knows how to infuse enchantments to make them last much longer, almost indefinitely, but your work goes far beyond even that. It’s like your Enchantments are literally built into the wall.” Lin compliments my work. He’s been doing that a lot for the past three days, and I’m getting sick of it.

“That’s because it is,” I admit.

I’m not giving away any information that he doesn’t already know, and while I could keep him guessing, confirming his suspicions means that he’ll see me as more valuable and will be even more encouraged to maintain positive relations with me.

“Incredible! I suppose you won’t tell us how you manage it?”

“That’s correct.” I nod, swishing my tails dismissively.

“I wonder what else you know; there is much knowledge we want to buy from you, most notably the cure for Cursed Skills.”

“And enchanting, airships, mana, my life’s work….” I add before trailing off.

Lin cracks a smile.

“Yes. That and more. You are everything the Empire is looking for. We need someone to show the world that lesser races can achieve great things even if they start at the bottom. We need a role model to inspire and encourage the lesser races of the Empire to elevate themselves to and beyond the greater races.”

Lin had eagerly told me about the Empire’s mission. To end discrimination, war, and slavery. However, when I asked how they plan to do that, I didn’t get an answer I liked.

“Discrimination comes from the apparent differences between physiology, economy, environment, and ideological differences. So, in order to eliminate it, we must eliminate those factors. We must raise the lesser races – and other greater races, for that matter – to see each other as just people. To do that, we must eliminate the barbaric cultures that are intolerant of others.”

On one hand, I like that they want to end racism, war, and slavery, but the more I hear about their methods, the more I disagree with them. Especially the culture destruction part. Knowing what I do about Miasma, I can only hope that it isn’t causing a big problem. 

I haven't said anything to Lin about the importance of rituals to eliminate Miasma; I need to see how bad their situation is first. Right now, the biggest danger would be them trying to reduce the Miasma and having it backfire.

Scouting ahead, I see the first Human city that we will soon fly over. It is a massive city, much larger than the ones in the Lunaleyan Islands, and densely packed with people. Most houses stand at least three stories tall and act more like apartment houses with a family on each floor.

The metropolis spills over the main walls, and a smaller, less impressive walled perimeter has been erected to keep animals and monsters out. However, there any large slums, even in the outer sections of the city. The roads are well maintained, the buildings stand strong and numerous patrols of guards roam the city. The Empire has clearly made heavy investments into the quality of life for the people living in the city.

However, the most surprising thing is that there is almost no Miasma! From what I heard, the place should be smothered by it. However, I do see a branching structure of highly dense Miasma, like roots, all throughout the city.

It’s nothing I’ve seen or even heard about before, nor does the Miasma seem to behave like ambient Miasma. Instead, the Miasma ‘feels’ almost like it is alive, and it is drawing in more Miasma from its roots.

Is it something they’ve done on purpose? Or is it an indication of something far worse? What even is it? I haven’t gotten a new breakthrough yet.

“Is something wrong, Alysara?” Lin asks, noticing a change in my demeanor. 

“Maybe. You wouldn’t happen to employ anything to control the levels of Miasma in your cities, do you?” I ask.

Lin turns serious, giving me his full attention.

“No. Why do you ask?”

I’m not sure if I should mention anything yet, or if I’ve stumbled across a secret of theirs that they would rather not be known. I can’t lie to him, but I can’t just say nothing either.

“I need more information before I can say anything, but it could be a good thing, a bad thing, or a benign thing,” I answer truthfully.

“If it concerns the safety of the Empire, I need to know,” Lin says authoritatively.

It doesn’t seem like he knows anything, and this isn’t a matter to negotiate rewards.

“It’s too early to say what it is, but there appears to be something draining the Miasma from the city we’re approaching.”

“How is that even possible?” Lin asks. “Miasma is notoriously difficult to capture, and all known methods are incapable of draining Miasma from the air.”

“As I said, it’s too early to know,” I reply.

“But it should be a good thing, right? We wouldn’t want Miasma in our cities anyway, right?” Lin asks.

“Usually not, but it’s the mechanism that is draining the Miasma. It appears that the Miasma has formed roots from which it is draining or consuming Miasma.”

Lin’s face turns fully serious now. It doesn’t have to be said whatever’s causing this could be extremely bad.

The roots appear to originate from our destination, the capital city of the Human Empire, following under a massive and slow river. I don’t tell Lin this yet since I want a more complete picture before answering a lot of questions.

Just then, a figure from the city takes off into the skies, and rapidly approaches us. Judging from his armor, he is an Oathbound.

“One of your buddies is approaching us. Do you mind telling him not to blow us out of the skies?” I say, before any trouble arises.

Lin nods and vanishes, appearing next to the second Oathbound. They exchange a few words before Lin teleports back. The other Oathbound goes back to the city toward two other Oathbound. However, to my surprise, all three of them fly up to the Airship and take up positions around it in a guarding formation.

“They will escort us back to the capital,” Lin notifies me. “They were simply on patrol, and they were going to return in a few days anyway.”

I nod and go back to observing the city below. Apart from the Miasma mystery, the city seems relatively normal. There is no crime in the short time I observed it, and there didn’t seem to be any slaves, which correlates with Lin’s earlier statements.

It’s harder to see if there’s any discrimination since I can’t hear and even if I could I wouldn’t be able to understand what people are saying. However, it does not seem that there’s much based on the people's actions.

“I’ll look to see if the Miasma phenomenon is present in other cities, but while I am doing that, can you give me your honest opinion on the state of interracial relations in this Empire?” I ask.

“Certainly! Although I am ashamed to admit not all of our citizens share the Emperor’s vision. Many Humans are jealous that a lot of the lesser races get institutional assurances.”

“Institutional assurances?” I ask.

Lin nods. “It is illegal not to hire a race based on racial features. For instance, not all races share the same intelligence, and naturally, many employers will try to exclude them from certain jobs. Sometimes it is necessary, especially for dangerous jobs. Other times employers will hire them but use their underdeveloped intelligence to try and take advantage of them. We have laws to protect other races from such cases.”

I am a little surprised to hear that Lin is being honest, although I don’t know if he’s downplaying the issue or not.

“Our history is plagued with protests from both sides. On one hand, we should treat all citizens equally, but that allows one demographic to take advantage of another. On the other hand, we can stop people from taking advantage of others, but it goes against our ideals that everyone is equal. In the end, though, the Emperor chose to make the Empire welcome to all races.”

Except for the ones with cultures that don’t align with their ideology.

I don’t envy the Emperor, it seems like he has good intentions and is trying his best, but is forced to do things in ways he thinks are more practical. However, I should probably reserve my judgment until I meet him myself.

As we approach the next city, I observe the same miasma roots there as well, which branch out to other cities and towns. It seems like the whole country is infested with it.

“I suspect all of your cities have these roots,” I inform Lin

“I see. Is there any way you know of to get rid of them?” he asks.

“I’ll have to study it further. It’s different from normal Miasma, so it may have different ways of removing it.”

“What’s the normal way?” Lin asks.

“I cannot tell you without potentially making the situation worse,” I answer truthfully.

Lin opens his mouth to protest but pauses, sensing the genuineness of my statement.

“So the knowledge itself is dangerous?” Lin asks.

“No,” I shake my head. “It’s the inevitable actions you’ll take in response to what you will learn.”

“It’s Magic, then?” Lin asks, fishing for the knowledge.

I don’t answer him. In a way, it confirms his guess, but he should know that Magic doesn’t like being controlled.

“We’re coming up upon the Capital,” I say, seeing a city with an impressive palace filled with mana and powerful beings.

Lin nods and walks up to the deck, leaning on the rail.

The city is the largest I've seen in this life, a true metropolis, and ancient too judging by the numerous mundane magical items that have been around for thousands of years. 

The city is flatter, as there are fewer tall buildings, and wider with most houses being mansions. Many trees line the roads, granting shade to the pedestrians walking among the markets. A lone mountain stands behind the city, and atop the peak a massive tower is built with a large shining ball of condensed light mana at the top, kind of like a lighthouse. 

Star of Alaxan
(Heroic) (Ancient)
This tower serves as the guiding light for all lands governed by the Alaxan Empire. It can be seen everywhere within the nation’s borders and appears as a bright star in the sky.

The entire tower is a magical item, and I have to admit that it is quite useful. No one will get lost traveling in the Empire, and they will always know where the capital is. But that isn’t the only thing that stood out to me. Below the palace dungeons is a long, long elevator shaft, and at the bottom are half a dozen cursed beings that almost appear to be sleeping.

Safyr mentioned how some nations try to control cursed beings, and it seems the Alaxan Empire is at least successful in pacifying a few of them.

However, that is completely overshadowed by the giant mass of Miasma hovering above the city from which all the Miasma roots originate. The Miasma forms a complex network of veins that connects to a core at the center that appears to be beating like a heart.

Somehow, I know what this is. It’s not anything from this life, or my past life, but I know it deep in my soul as if it is recorded history.

Ting! Sense Magic has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 1080!

54th Breakthrough: You have seen a Calamity Egg; this will help you study the birth of Calamities.