12 Reality check - of elves, fairies, and doors

Eri's memory had a lot of holes, and she had only a vague idea of how much time passed since her previous life. When I told her that Crea had mentioned something about it being three hundred years, we decided that there was no point in discussing any of the probably already outdated matters such as the elven race status, technology level, or various aspects of everyday's life. We left those topics for the golden goddess to explain, she already indicated that things were bad.

"Crea's not a true deity." Interjected my sister, passed me one of the pillows she just brought from our bedrooms and sat nearby. We were still in the pitch black corridor, but now the cold, stone wall became a bit easier to lean my back on. "She's a golden elf, 'the goddess' is an exclusive title that was given to her ages ago."

"But you called her 'my goddess'?"

"Fish my soul from the river next time, and I may call you 'my god' in return. Her power is real, which is both good and bad for us. Let's stick with her, repay our debt, and work on earning profits for ourselves on the side." Eri's calculating tone touched upon the important topic of owning Crea a lot for the things she had done for us.

This reincarnation didn't belong to the popular type that had no strings attached and came with a powerful cheat on top of that, but it could be worse. I was given a second chance at life, nice starting race, room to call my own, and someone to rely on. 'Good looks' benefit was currently suspended - conducting a further investigation was scheduled for the future.

"Any chance of getting away without paying her back?" I asked, curious if opportunistic options should be taken into consideration. "Just in case."

"I doubt it, wouldn't be strange if she had some means of tracking us down. But being a leader of change doesn't sound that bad." She said with a note of expectation, and I nodded in agreement.

After discussing our plans for the future some more, I asked about the underground place we found ourselves in. However, Eri insisted that first, I had to learn more about our race and its common sense. Apparently, it should make explaining how to use my elven traits easier. But she didn't hide that it was also because having a brother who was ignorant about his own prestigious ancestry was shameful to her.

In my opinion, elven ancestry was about as important as the progenitors of the plant which created our bodies. I would even say that our roots lied somewhere else, but that didn't seem like a good topic to joke with an elven supremacist like Erica.

The elven race consisted of three subraces - the common elves, the silver elves, and the golden elves. My assumption that since the last group was the most powerful, therefore the other two were its diminished descendants was wrong and earned me a punch on the arm. According to the elven mythology, all three of them appeared more or less at the same time in history, took the glorious title of the first civilized race in the known world, and were akin to half-siblings - the results of unions between a being called 'the forefather' and three different types of fairies. The three main arguments supporting this theory were:

One, the elven anatomy and physiology were similar. The three subraces shared physical and mental similarities - many of them, but not all. The clear division in power, and some specific traits like our pale skin, silver hair and red eyes, were said to be the result of the differences between the fairy ancestors.

Two, the elven subraces were capable of creating offsprings among themselves. But they didn't mix, the child would always take wholly after one of its parents - Eri warned me that it was a simplified version since she didn't remember the details. Moreover, sexual intercourse with other races would never bear fruits and was deemed taboo.

Three, the involved fairy types were still around. Although they didn't pay much attention to recording history, it was confirmed that each treated the corresponding elven subrace as the honorary member of their kind.

In the case of silver elves, our fairy ancestors were called Grimfey. They were a secretive and rarely seen type of fairy that lived in small colonies underground, usually close to a natural 'Erluna's eye' - a fancy term to say mana spot.

"Just remember, there are many different types of mana, you can't categorize them all with one word." Eri's words brought to mind the image of the wind wolf and the red-hot particles released by Crea. "Erluna's eye is a place that releases small amounts of origin mana. A pure type that has no clear properties except for serving as fuel to be absorbed by our internal mana cores." She paused, and a second later I felt her cold finger gently poke my forehead. "Minuscule amount of origin mana is all around us, and all living beings absorb it automatically to refuel the mana core that is located somewhere inside the head." She didn't go back to her previous position, but moved her pillow closer and leaned against my arm, searching for a warmer place to sit.

"In other words, to turn on the night vision, I need to move that origin mana to my eyes?"

"Not exactly, you need to circulate it, I will explain more in a moment. Oh, and after being absorbed, we don't call it origin mana anymore. It changes into life energy that can be used to strengthen your body and activate various racial traits. But once the mana core is full, then you stop absorbing more origin mana. Try to guess what's the fastest way to gain more power." The vicious undertone in her voice made it easy.

"Since I can't get more automatically, and everyone has a personal tank full of it then the answer is to take it from others."

"Exactly. After killing a living being, you gather its life energy into a specially prepared life stone, usually in the form of a necklace, and then you can try to absorb it. When used correctly, it should result in your mana core starting a process called 'overflow' that will permanently increase its capacity. More capacity equals more origin mana that can be absorbed, and that gives you more life energy to circulate through your body. Of course, a similar result can be achieved through training and meditation, but monster hunting is the way to go. Wars are great as well." My bloodthirsty sister happily talked about her hobbies. But I knew that she also liked board games, though never developed a true passion for them due to slaves being poor opponents. "Remember, I skipped a lot of details since there's no time to explain everything. And I'm unsure about a few aspects like manipulating it outside of your body."

"You mean casting spells like Crea?" The perspective of doing the same got me excited.

"More or less, I'm confused about the mages myself."

Eri was sitting on her coiled tails and constantly shifted her pillow, unable to find a comfortable position to lean on my arm. And it was starting to be a bit irritating. Without a word, I carefully grabbed her, gently pulled away from the wall, moved her pillow down to create a barrier between her lower back and the source of cold, and wrapped my arm around her shoulders instead, snuggling her to my side.

"Better?"

"M-much better." She answered in a tiny voice, but then cleared her throat and tried to return to a more neutral tone. "Careful now, pillows don't move. I really like the warmness, and want to enjoy it, but that's it, nothing more, alright?"

"Sure, but I could use a second you, my left side is cold as well." This remark escaped my mouth before I thought it through.

"Hmm? Well, we can get ourselves a nice slave later. I don't mind if you pick a girl you like." Replied Eri as if it was the most natural thing in the world. In my ears, it was no different from a divine revelation.

"REALLY?!"

"Of course, I need someone to do washing and cleaning, slaves are unable to disobey so I can actually act freely around them, and you won't be able to do anything to that girl anyway."

"... that last part-"

"Shhh~." She impishly placed one finger on my mouth. "I can't wait to see your crestfallen face, but that's for later. Let's go back to the topic now."

This mistake might not have been devoid of consequences after all.

Then she really went back to the topic and started to remind me that I couldn't skip training. Personal experience, reaction time, fighting style, and even pure muscle power were equally, if not more important to life energy. The results of the various strengthening methods involving the latter differed significantly depending on the body and mind.

Damn silver loli ignored all my attempts to learn anything else about that slave issue.

Then she went even further back to the previous topic and finally made clear how it was all connected with our subrace and this place. Eri's explanation shattered my image of silver elves living happily in tree houses and beautiful elven cities.

Pale skin, silver hair, bloody red eyes - those three features were the effect of low exposure to sun rays and our Grimfey legacy. In other words, we were the underground type of elves that had low tolerance against sunny days. Moreover, this place apparently looked like a district of silver elves, and those were usually situated right underneath big, old elven cities.

However, after 'the pact of tolerance' was issued by the grand king Tyren el Viore, all elves were forced to live together on the surface. Mostly to stop the political movements demanding further separation, and to strengthen the ties between the three groups. Eri said that as a result, there were no such underground districts in newer elven cities - most silver elves switched to building comfy cellars of their surface mansions.

The problem was that, three hundred years ago, during the time when Eri lived, the grand elven kingdom was already crumbling apart. All old elven cities with such underground districts had been long razed to the ground.

This place for sure didn't look pillaged or ruined.

Then where the heck we were right now? A good question to ask Crea later.

Long story short, being able to see in darkness should be as natural and easy to me as breathing. Other elves were also capable of that, but not without spending some time to learn how, and it would never be anything more than a weak darkvision - visibility of maximum two or three meters and seeing everything in shades of gray. While for us, it should be able to replace the need for light entirely. Erica said that she had no problems with distinguishing between colors and could even regulate the light's intensity.

Other perks of being a silver elf included the ability to heal faster when not exposed to sunlight, and increased sharpness of the senses required to survive underground. The last one was instinctual, and it was something that I already did without even realizing.

"Checking out the ventilation wasn't coincidental?"

"Yup." Eri confirmed my words, happy that at least one thing came to me naturally and without problems. "I also made sure that there was a sufficient air circulation. Don't be surprised if you detect underground streams, Elruna's eyes, some magical ore deposits, and a few more things. Noticing small changes in the air composition is also natural. We may not be as good at this as dwarves, but there's no need for that. And this is the only thing that this magically challenged race can beat us in."

Eri stopped nesting by my side and moved to sit opposite to me.

"I will teach you the basics, and then we go to sleep, ok? What's with that happy grin? We're sleeping separately, I'm tired and need some time to myself. Also don't get used to it, today was special and I allowed you for more than I should… our first day together… you e-even t-touched my e-ear..." Eri's voice started trembling at the end, somehow I had this feeling that she needed time for herself to hide in her room and roll in delight on the bed.

"Don't worry little sister, what happened between us, stays between us. And it's better to take it slowly, right?"

"Of course it stays between us! You're dead if you tell anyone." Together with her words, I heard as one of her tails swooshed sharply through the air and broke something ceramic. After a moment of silence, Eri provided a short justification. "Controlling them is hard… like an extra two limbs that do whatever they want."

I had enough of this darkness, it stripped me of the privilege to see her troubled face.

"So, what do I do to see?"

"Close your eyes, focus on your brain, scan it for anything that's different."

"Like an implant?"

"What's an 'implant'?

"An artificial object inserted into one's body."

"... hmm… it's not physical. Your internal mana core is more like a feeling, a place where life energy gathers."

Following her instructions, I closed my eyes, focused on the brain, imagined its every detail as if I held it in my hands like a part of an anatomical model. I took a look at it from every side, searching for anything that would seem different.

"It looks like a normal brain?"

"You fool, you're trying to look at it? That's wrong. You will automatically replace it with the image you know, and have you ever seen an elven brain before? Wait, that's not the point. Give me a sec, I never had to explain it before…"

While my sister was busy with brutally murdering all my confidence in her teaching methods, I tried to look for that 'internal mana core' on my own.

Luckily, Crea showed me how mana looked and felt like. I could still feel the effects of her demonstration on my face. I decided to put that ridiculously high spec brain of mine to good use and compare every sensation I remembered from my previous life to the current ones. Looking for anything that was reaching my brain now and hadn't before, or anything that was even a tad similar to Crea's magic.

To make the process easier to handle, I imagined myself floating in a black empty space, upgraded the blurred body appearance to the current one, and started to exclude every stimulus one by one, akin to sifting them through a sieve, hoping to find any trace of that 'life energy'.

Sight - better, but that wasn't it.

Hearing - improved, but no luck.

Taste - god's tongue, but nope.

Smell - tested on Eri, worked perfectly, but no mana signs.

Touch - worked in mystical ways, but not the ones I was looking for.

Balance - was getting better, no magic in here.

Acceleration - didn't really try this one, but that wasn't what I needed.

Temperature - sister was hot, wall was cold, mana was nope.

Pain - way too much of it, no mana spotted.

Hunger - … no.

I run through all the main ones. Surprisingly there was a whole bunch of others left, but proprioception was the only advanced sense I could put a name on. Moreover, it was disturbingly easy to cut myself from the outside, like flipping a switch. Well, maybe not entirely. Everything I already checked and excluded was still there, in the background, and some minor ripples caused by it were continually spreading around the black zone. Somehow, I had this feeling that it wasn't how true meditation should feel like.

Among the weaker sensations that were usually drowned by the rest were:

Proprioception - heh, that was the one Eri had to tame in order to use her tails. Focus, focus... negative.

The silver elf's underground bundle - excluded.

The sense of the passage of time - excluded.

The foreboding sense of... of murky something that was seeping from somewhere, which didn't explain much. But, entangled into it was a piece that felt a bit like Crea's mana. Bingo?

"...or!"

I focused on that murky one. It was strange, different from the rest. Was it coming from my mana core?

"...tor!"

But if it did, then why if felt so foreign? And it seemed to be fighting within itself.

"...diot!"

A sharp smack to my face rattled the insides of my skull and prevented from pinpointing the true nature of that something. All of the excluded senses came back without delay, putting a stop to my internal scan.

I saw a small fist en-route to my nose.

"Wake up already!"

"Eri sto-!"

Her punch had her entire weight behind it. She hit like a pro. On top of that, I reflexively tried to move my head away and collided its back with the wall behind.

"Ugh! Shit… it hurts…why did you do that?" I groaned from pain and stood up since my sister was already on her feet.

"Finally!" In front of me was Eri with an alarmed expression. The joyous hope that seeing her meant I somehow succeeded in turning on my night vision was cruelly torn to shreds after realizing that it was caused by the dim red light coming from five sources.

"What the hell is that…?"

"You tell me! First, you stopped reacting to everything, then those rusty doors literally replaced the wooden ones! Piece by piece! What's going on?! Ain't those letters from your world?!" She stood close to me and kept looking around nervously.

The door to my bedroom, the door to Eri's bedroom, the door to the pantry, the door to the bathroom, the door outside - every single one of those doors was replaced by a massive, rusty, red door.

Each of them was identical, fortified with three solid horizontal metal bars, and had a small flashing red lamp attached to the middle of the upper part. There was no visible way to open them, no handle, latch, or a keyhole. They looked like doors to an old factory or abandoned isolation ward. Each had a small welded metal plate with the same inscription made with letters from my previous world:

[We are sorry, the asylum is currently under construction.]

[Please provide the required building material.]

[Progress status: 1,25%]