My Servant System

As I prepared to run my mana through the extremely magical metacarpal and do a little test, a pink hand landed on my arm and stopped me from doing just that, and considering Cali was smiling at me like I was an idiot, I instantly wrangled back my mana and waited for an

Explanation.

"Sometimes I have to wonder if common sense has become uncommon with you lot... or is that just the mark of higher intelligence individuals? I don’t really know, but what I do know is that running your mana through this bone as raw as you love having sex will only result in the painful time of you reconstructing your own bones."

"And why is that? Does the mana imbued inside this bone react negatively to outside mana, or is there some weird Fiend physiology that I am unaware of at play inside this type of bone in particular?"

The snakes atop her head hissed at me softly and stretched out to poke my cheek, their beady eyes shining with worry as they tried to warn me as well, which made me even more reluctant to try this out since from what I had seen, her serpents were intelligent enough to comprehend many things, even the more complex emotions like ’love’ or at the very least attraction.

It wasn’t a primal attraction but instead an actual emotion that I knew normal serpents didn’t have, and it was far higher than what I had seen in actual dogs, who did have a decent suite of emotions available to them.

So if they were expressing worry and seemed afraid for my well being, after many different encounters between us reaffirming that they did indeed like me, I was more keen to take their warning then I was Cali’s at face value, no matter how the Arch Fiend would complain about that.

"I despise that line of reasoning, Kat, but whatever. The mana inside of a Tza Fiend’s bones - that Change Mana or whatever you want to call it - is extremely potent. Sort of like... a shot of beer against a shot of whiskey. Your mana is high quality, yes, but compared to what is in this? It’s pathetically weak. You can’t feel it right now, but when you try and make use of it, it’ll easily put you on that juicy ass of yours."

The chorus of hisses as the serpents nodded in agreement made me sigh as I gently - and very carefully - lowered the bone to the table as I asked "Then... are we unable to make use of it in our forging? Or is there something we need to do to be able to mold it into something else?"

Cali released my arm and walked over to the table, her every movement drawing my gaze and causing me to groan softly as I tried to keep my eyes from her shapely backside or how tantalizingly perfect her hips were, something I knew the Arch Fiend was appreciating right now when she leaned over the table.

"Sorta kinda. See, the thing is the mana itself isn’t ’hostile’. It just doesn’t want to work towards someone who isn’t prepared to make use of it. Think of it like a... monster, in a way. It is aware of itself in a very rudimentary fashion, it is proud of the power it provides, and it is very much not willing to ’bend the knee’ to just some random person hoping to wield it.

So if you want to make use of it, you need to be aware of this ’sentient’ mana and be prepared to show it that you are not only worthy, but that you are going to be using it to create some form of change in the world, no matter how big or how small, so long as it has meaning to you. It is a battle of wills, not just a tool to be used."

The words of my contracted partner made me furrow my brow as I stared at the table, though my thoughts weren’t on the bones of this Fiend we had killed, but instead on the mana that I had inside me that wasn’t exactly my own to wield just yet.

If what she said was applicable to other Fiendish Mana, then that meant that the Lust Mana I wielded also needed to be treated as a somewhat aware ’entity’ instead of just a force of nature; it was aware - to some various degree - of what I was doing with it, so maybe that was why it had refused to cooperate with me back when we had actually killed this Fiend...

Or maybe I hadn’t been completely sound of mind and in control of it, so it sensed the weakness and targeted it right away to break free for whatever reason; if it had a desire to either be used properly or be free, I guess it would act on those simple desires and do what it needed to no matter what, so perhaps that was what happened...

"Then... how much of a willpower fight are we talking here? Is this going to be something that requires a large amount of concentration and ’power’ on our end, or is it something that we can’t even really control?"

Turning around and sitting on the table, Cali smirked at me as she said "The wonderful thing about you mortals is how utterly blind you are in terms of the other ways of the world. The things that you could be capable of as long as you opened your eyes and your minds to how this world works... it could be paradise. And yet you are all blind. So, so very blind."

It was a condescending speech that made me furrow my brow as I tried to understand what it was that she was saying, the various layers that might have existed within it only confusing me the more I mulled it over and bringing her lips closer and closer to her ears as she grinned at me. ȒáꞐọΒÈS

"It is both incredibly simple and incredibly complicated; your will to do something fluctuates with each breath, your desires change each time you realize a second has passed. The hunger for knowledge, food, sex, healing or anything at all grows and wanes without you ever realizing, but sometimes that hunger drives you to do impossible things.

When you begin to starve for something you act out in ways no one could predict, and that is wonderful... But for this little task of yours, all your petite puppy over there needs to do is focus on her desires to create something new and something powerful, and she might manage to make it work. That’s what I am trying to convey to you."

Before I could even ask her another question or get some clarifications on what she had said, Cali vanished in a plume of pink smoke and left us alone again, with Anput placing her hammer down to turn as she asked "I need to... what, speak to the bones and tell them I want to forge them into something better? Is that what she was getting at?"

"I... think so..? I mean, I guess it makes sense; this magic is a different concept compared to our own elemental magics, and even different than the inherited magic that Leone has. It seems to be more of a piece of the world than anything else, whereas ours is just a byproduct of the world? A different building block of differing quality, perhaps?"

The Jackalkin nodded slowly and glanced at Leone as the Vampire said "That does make the most sense; these were beings that were seemingly selected by the world itself and given access to fundamental building blocks of life. Strong ones at that... The same way we have access to the things that shape life as well, but theirs are far more nuanced and multifaceted compared to the elements."

Anput nodded again and began to clear off her anvil, placing a small pile of discs on the table and grabbing one of the weaker, smaller bones that we had no pressing need for, putting it down beside another ingot of metal that she wanted to alloy it with.

"I’m going to need you two to stand by behind me, just in case. We don’t really know what happens if I... fail to ’talk’ some sense into these bones, and I also am a bit nervous about that fact. So! Before I begin..."

Leaning against the anvil, Anput took a few deep and even breaths before she continued on, her eyes glued to the materials that she would be working with in a few moments time.

"I want to make a short sword, something that any of us could make use of as a backup melee weapon. That would be its purpose; not a glorious one, but a needed one nonetheless. This blade is also a test of my own skill and a worthy way for me to learn and improve myself for what is to come."

She listed off its purpose and her desires with it before picking up the hammer and taking another deep breath to calm herself as she wrapped it and the metal in her own mana and gently placed it into the furnace, preparing to alloy them together for something stronger.

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