Alyra turned to Argul with her eyes wide open. “That’s not good. The influence of the other universe will now fight your mana during the level 1 evolution process since your mana also belongs to Fia.”

Argul did not like that. “Let me guess, all humans under the influence of our old universe will mutate uncontrollably until my mana has won?”

Alyra shrugged, which was basically the equivalent of saying she had no idea, but was pretty sure precisely that would happen.

Argul had no idea how many humans would be affected by her decision, but the answer was likely a lot, and there would definitely be a lot of bloodshed, though not all of that would be her fault. 

That wasn’t even the biggest problem for her, however. The main problem was that the moment Fia had accepted the contract, a portal opened somewhere on the planet the humans were on and connected itself to her domain. Now they didn’t even have time to prepare any countermeasures to prevent most of the damage.

Fuck! Why couldn’t she do her thing without dooming a shit ton of people for once?

First, her rebirth as a core, and now that.

Argul sighed in annoyance. She decided then that she would not blame herself for all the deaths. They technically weren’t her people anymore, and blaming herself would only make her new life a chore. 

It didn’t mean that she had to like it, though, and she would try to mitigate most of the damage. To correct what she had caused was only right.

Argul opened her notifications, trying to create some plans for the future.

Quest completed: 

• To walk the world
• You created an avatar and can now enjoy the world the same way those that are able to move enjoy it. STR +1, WIS +1 

New Quest: 

• Clothes!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• You idiot!!! How could you not think of getting clothes first, you brain-dead mana fox!!!

She tried to ignore the new quest but couldn’t help herself and blushed a bit.

Skill created! 

• Fate contract

• This skill allows you to create mostly unbreakable contracts that will change and bind your fate to those of others. While this is not an archive-restricted skill, it will be policed by it, and abuse will always issue elimination quests to others.

Achievement made: 

• Skill creator (3)
• You have created 10 or more skills unknown to the archive and opened new possible paths for others. Your skill identify got a minor upgrade. INT +2

• Identify (3)
• The skill displays everything you know about your target. Even knowledge you forgot will be shown. The skill has a very low chance of hinting at information other sapients know, and you do not. The skill does not display false knowledge.
• You can upgrade the skill through quests.

While the upgrade for [identify] didn’t look like much, the difference between not knowing or knowing that something might have use was a pretty huge advantage already. One person couldn’t know everything, well, except for maybe Alyra, so knowing if a material could be used for something could decide if you collected it or let it be.

You have contracted your fate to Alyra Agren, Fia Lotusriver. See details (+)

Achievement made: 

• A leap of fate!
• You have bound your fate to the universe, an unknown party, just to be able to achieve possible coexistence. You really must have had faith in yourself to do such a monumentally stupid thing. Has no one ever told you that you don’t just bind your fate to strangers and you don’t go with the man who promises chocolate?! At least as long as you are not into such things, and let’s hope that is not the case here…
• You’re so naive that you radiate it. Others are more likely to feel at ease when looking at you and less likely to feel threatened. (skill: curse of harmlessness (s)) STR +2

Argul’s eye twitched. She had been sure what she had done was pretty planned through, but thinking back now, she had been fortunate that it had been Fia she negotiated with. It had been more likely to fail than to succeed with any other universe. She wasn’t sure what stakes Fia had in this, but by the sounds of it, she had waited for an incredibly long time for a chance to get back at whoever was the reason she became a universe. 

Argul sat down, contemplating the curse or skill or whatever. Looking harmless might be nice. However, she could see why the system called it a curse for the first time. Idiots would be more likely to attack you, and predators would be more likely to think of you as easy prey. Contrary to any of her other skills, she didn’t have any control over it and had no other option than to accept it at the moment.

Also, cheers to her fierce looks. It was nice to have known you.

Quest completed: 

• Sweet freedom
• You have not only managed to find a way to leave your prison, no you also made it your home. Once a month, you are able to sacrifice 50% of your structural integrity to rip open space and travel to the lowest floor of your domain. (skill: emergency portal)
• Possible duration of the portal depends on your core size. (1+(str+int)/wis min) 
• The cooldown depends on your core size and mana regeneration. (1-wis/(str+int) months)

That skill was a pretty nice reward. It would enable her to possibly save the friends she might get, and once she was powerful enough and knew how to open a portal herself, she could even do it without sacrificing her health. 

It was also the first skill she had seen that encouraged having one vital stat instead of balanced stats.

Quest changed: 

• Like a weed (1)
• Spread your influence. Your lowest stat will rise for every planet of your current solar system at mana level 1. 0/10

So there were 10 planets in this solar system that Argul’s old universe just threw away. What a rich kid. She liked that quests could change depending on the situation. It might hint at something that you hadn’t seen before and felt a lot more dynamic.

New Quest: 

• They called it trash! (1)
• While your current universe is not even the size of a galaxy, all kinds of treasures are hidden inside it. Failed experiments, dangerous creatures, strange natural phenomena, and more types of exciting things wait just to be uncovered. May your luck hold true!

That was new for Argul, as the quest didn’t talk about what he had to do, but going by the last sentence, the archive itself didn’t know where to begin to search, so it made some sense that it was open-ended. Maybe there would be clues once mana had spread into space, but until she produced sufficient amounts of the energy for that, it would take a while. Having mana all over the human planet and Luna would already be a great achievement for her.

Speaking of achievements…

Achievement made:

• Bane of the multiverse
• Because of your fate pact, your mana now actively fights any universal influence except that of the Lotusriver universe. Your mana has become a bane to other universes’ existences and a means of defense and attack.
• Wis +3

Argul honestly hadn’t thought about it that way, but she congratulated Fia on winning the lotto. She didn’t really care all that much as long as she wasn’t pulled into that crap.

New Quest:

• Gotta save ’em all!
• Because of your fate pact, large parts of the human population are about to mutate horribly. Try to save as many of them as possible. 0/--

This quest was a pretty good goal to concentrate on for now if she tried to remedy what she had done accidentally.

Argul opened her status.

After going through her status, she noted that it would only take 6 more wisdom before she would try to perceive four dimensions again. She might be able to manipulate space with 25 intelligence soon after that, but she couldn’t be 100% sure about that. It was only a guess. Her stats were still coming along nicely for now, and her first floor had a third of the area of Germany already, so she was sure her ecosystem would be able to survive.

However, there were more important things to do right now. Argul looked at Alyra, who had been waiting patiently for her, and nodded. There was no need to communicate what they would be occupied with for the next few months.

She turned to the slime that was still desperately clinging to her back and had to smile at the sight. “Alright, Aina, you better hold on tight because we are going to go on a fast jog.”

Alyra took the lead as she was the slower one of the two, and they began their track to the portal.

Argul noticed a new status option during their run and investigated it a bit further.

The new screen was nearly identical to her normal one, the only exception being the three new stats. Argul found it very unlikely that she would look at this menu often but still willed the stat explanations to appear before her.

[Strength (Str)]

• Strength makes you more durable and increases how much force you can use. Stats generally do not influence the tangible parts of your body and, thus, rarely change your looks.

[Agility (Agi)]

• This stat makes you more nimble and heightens your control over your body.

[Perception (Per)]

• This stat will strengthen your senses, so you can smell and hear more, see better, and so forth. It will also let you perceive faster motions and slower motions with more accuracy.

[Intelligence (Int)]

• This stat will improve your memory and heighten the amount of mana your mana soul can store.

[Wisdom (Wis)]

• This stat will improve your mana regeneration and how fast you can think.

[Willpower (Wil)]

• This stat will strengthen your mental defense and improve any skill that uses mana. Willpower is a very situational stat, and its actual effect can decrease or increase significantly depending on your state of mind.

It was interesting to see which stats had been fused together for her. Her core [Str] seemed to contain [Str] and [Agi], and his core [Wis] was a combination of [Wis] and [Per], leaving [Wil] to be part of her core [Int]. Alyra had been right. Argul did get a lot more stats just because she had fewer possible options. Being able to see it visually, though, thoroughly hammered that point home.

The Willpower stat was a bit of a mystery for her. Sure, willpower was a very situational thing and a personal trait, but Argul couldn’t quite understand how that affected the stat, so she asked her daughter.

Essentially it would become increasingly difficult to shake your mind or influence it, for example, making it less likely that something terrified you. Once you were scared of something, however, the stat’s effect would get increasingly smaller depending on your trauma. While it became somewhat more manageable, you still had to overcome your trauma yourself.

The mother-daughter pair continued their jog at a comfortable pace while they chatted with each other. Despite being relatively fast due to their body size, it still took them about two hours to reach the portal. 

Argul eyed the unstable thing warily. She had seen the slime go through without issues, but that didn’t mean she trusted the portal. One thing was sure, she would not let her daughter go first. 

As Argul approached, the rip in space grew big enough for her to walk through. She stopped and tried to reassure herself that nothing wrong would happen.

Argul took another step, and a screen popped up asking her where she wanted to go. The only options were her floors, the moon Luna and the human planet, which for some strange reason, had the name Erod.

Argul took another deep breath, closed her eyes, and jumped through the portal. Her body suddenly felt much heavier, and she nearly fell as she opened her eyes.

After stumbling a few feet away from the rip, she looked at her back to make sure Aina was alright and that Alyra was okay.

Aina was indeed still on Argul’s back, even though her body looked a bit more flat and wide than before. Seeing that, she immediately restricted access to Erod to the 6th floor for now, so no strange creatures could come through for the time being. 

Alyra simply walked through the portal and rolled her eyes at her mother’s antics.

Having made sure everyone was alright, Argul focused on her surroundings. It was warm, and the sky was mostly cloudless. They were in a birch forest that extended as far as she could see. The ground was sandy and different kinds of grass and flowers grew here and there.

The forest was dead silent, which was unusual for such a habitat, and Argul did not like that. Something was off, and she couldn’t quite tell what.

Argul sniffed, searching for any scents she was familiar with, but she only found a very weak smell similar to that of Sylvester. How odd.

She looked at Alyra, searching for help. “What now?”

Alyra opened her mouth, wanting to answer, but was interrupted by a thunderous bang. Argul winced. That would explain the dead silent forest and gunpowder smell.

Alyra smirked. “Well, if you are in doubt, just follow the lovely sound of gunfire!”

The corner of Argul’s mouth twitched upwards. Damn, this was a dead serious situation. Smiling now was inappropriate. The pun did not help, and now she was smiling openly. 

Screw it. There was no use in walking around frowning anyway. Might as well have a bit of fun while trying to save as many people as possible.

New Quest:

• Did someone say guns?

• You heard gunfire. Investigate the source and help if help is needed.