Utopian System

"What does this mean?" Diana examined the crystal in her hands, turning it over warily.

"One million mana points each," Zahyla responded casually, as if discussing the weather. "Since you're so interested in understanding each other, why not use that lovely potion of yours? I'm dying to know what you'll learn."

Lila looked at her crystal skeptically. "Why would you do this?"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Boredom? Scientific curiosity?" Zahyla shrugged. "Besides, there's something deliciously ironic about giving you mana. Did you know that artromus are the true owners of mana? That's why they call you parasites."

She moved closer to the barrier, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial tone. "I can generate almost any amount I want from our deposits. The problem is that it's useless to me. I can't buy things like you can, can't use it with the statues... it's like having a fortune in a currency that no one will accept from my hand..."

"Why are you telling us this?" Diana held the crystal at arm's length, as if it might bite.

"Because it's amusing to watch your brains try to process the information," Zahyla smiled. "Besides, what does it matter? It's not like you can do much with that knowledge. Although..." her smile turned enigmatic, "it would be interesting to see what you understand when you share your... what did you call it? Pain?"

"You really expect us to trust you?" Lila asked.

"Oh, not at all. In fact, I expect you to spend the next few hours debating if this is a trap, analyzing every possible angle." Zahyla began floating away. "But curiosity is a powerful thing, isn't it? And you both have so much you could learn..."

She paused, turning to look at them one last time. "Consider it an experiment. You get some... what do you call it? Emotional clarity? And I get the chance to hear what you gained another day... perhaps fascinating data about how your limited human brains work. Everyone wins."

Her laughter echoed as she departed. "Or maybe I'm just playing with you. Who knows? Uncertainty is part of the fun."

Diana and Lila stood there, holding crystals containing more mana than they'd ever seen gathered in their lives, wondering if their apparent enemy had just given them a genuine gift or if everything was part of a larger game they couldn't comprehend.

♢♢♢♢

"Come on, make that impulse stronger!" Kriz watched the recruits with a smile that promised nothing good. "How do you expect to overcome that tunnel if you can't advance 100 meters in 1 second?"

Brok, beside him, flexed his muscles while supervising the training. "Feel the power flow through your bodies!"

"Ignore the bodybuilder frustrated by his youth," Kriz winked at the recruits. "Although... speaking of embarrassing stories of youth..."

His eyes landed on Lola, Elio's sister that finally had gotten permission from her mother and Elio to level up. "How about some anecdotes about our dear leader?"

"Kriz..." Brok sighed, knowing that look.

"It's important research!" Kriz protested. "As instructors, we need to know our leader's past to... uh... better inspire the recruits."

Lola, practicing a sequence of basic movements, raised an eyebrow. "Research?"

"Exactly!" Kriz approached, his smile widening. "For example, is it true he once tried to cover the hole for 'safety'?"

The other recruits stopped their exercises, drawn to the conversation. Brok just shook his head, resigned that training had officially become "joke time with Kriz".

"Oh, that..." Lola seemed to hesitate. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to share a few things..."

Kriz's eyes sparkled with anticipation. "I knew it! Tell us!"

"There's that time he tried to impress a girl by juggling..." Lola began, her voice innocent. "He forgot to breathe when concentrating and..."

"And?" Kriz leaned forward, practically vibrating with excitement.

"Ended up passed out in the school's training yard. Mom had to carry him back."

The recruits' laughter filled the training area. Even Brok couldn't contain a smile.

"Oh! What about when he tried to hit Varick from behind?" Lola continued. "Ended up pretending to pick something up when the bullies turned around, and Varick tried to rob him of the stuff he picked up but they realized he had nothing."

Kriz was practically dancing with joy. "This is pure gold! Anything else?"

"Well..."

For the next hour, Lola shared story after story, each more ridiculous than the last. Kriz took notes, probably planning years of joke material.

Finally, when training was about to end, Kriz couldn't contain his excitement.

"I can't wait to see his face when I mention the urine bucket incident!"

"Oh, about that..." Lola smiled innocently. "I'm afraid it was all lies."

The silence that followed was absolute.

"What?" Kriz blinked.

"All made up," Lola shrugged. "Did you really believe my brother, Mr. 'plan three steps ahead', would do something as silly as try to juggle? Zara had to confess herself..."

"But... but..." Kriz stared at his imaginary notes in horror. "The bucket?"

"Especially the bucket," Lola laughed. "Though I must admit your face during the story was priceless."

The recruits burst into laughter, this time at Kriz's expense. Brok doubled over with laughter, his muscles shaking with each guffaw.

"You let me go on for an hour just to ditch training and..." Kriz seemed to be reconsidering his entire existence. Discover hidden stories at empire

♢♢♢♢

Elio's control over his elements had evolved enormously over these months.

Day after day, he tested different variations and control of each one.

Hydrogen, combined with his oxygen control, allowed him to create and destroy water instantly. More importantly, he could separate these elements at the precise moment to create controlled explosions.

Helium, combined with other elements, could create naturally floating structures, saving energy when flying by propelling himself with levitation.

Magnesium had become his source of strategic flashes, capable of generating everything from slight glows to blinding explosions depending on the situation.

Aluminum allowed him to create perfectly reflective surfaces, useful both for deflecting attacks and the effects of other elements.

Beryllium had taught him new ways to manipulate gravity itself, creating zones where physical laws seemed to bend to his will.

Argon allowed him to create zones where time itself seemed to behave differently, useful for both defense and surprise attacks.

The real improvement, however, wasn't in the individual power of each element, but in how Elio had learned to combine them. Each element amplified the strengths of others, creating effects that went beyond the sum of their parts.

The combination of oxygen and hydrogen gave him total control over water, not just to create it but to manipulate its state. Helium added to this mixture allowed control of air pressure and density with previously impossible precision. These three elements working together gave him complete dominion over the atmosphere itself.

Neon and phosphorus worked in perfect harmony for light and energy control, while argon could alter how this energy flowed through space. It wasn't about creating flashes; it was about manipulating perception and movement itself.

Fluorine and sulfur, combined with boron, formed a perfect material manipulation system. He could absorb physical energy even better with the semi-soft structure.

Those were some good improvements...

But the real breakthrough came when Elio began to see his twenty elements not as individual powers or even small groups, but as a single interconnected system.

Defense no longer relied on barrier after barrier, but on adaptive structures that used multiple elements to respond to different types of threats.

With his eyes closed, Elio could see the elemental world in all its complexity. The interactions between elements, their patterns, their infinite possibilities unfolded before him like a living tapestry.

But knowledge only made the realization more bitter, no matter how much he understood, how many combinations he mastered, how much he improved his defense and utility... his damage remained insufficient against Zahyla's two million resistance.