Underground Mana Network

"There's this laboratory in Niner Hold, Southern District," Leo continued after seeing that Max and Nami were ready to listen to her story. "Everyone there just calls it The Lab. But officially, it is called AMRF—Artificial Mage Research Facility. They kidnapped me from the Southern District's Null Zone, and that's where I lived for a few years before I broke out of it.

"You see, the artificial mage project needs the Talentless as subjects. Talented people, for some reason, have a much lower chance of surviving the heart transformation process, compared to the Talentless, like how I was. I had to go through years of excruciating pain, being subjected to regular injections of The Catalyst."

Max tilted his head, silently inquiring about this thing called The Catalyst.

Leo was able to see that, so she decided to elaborate. "That's what they call this strange substance that can trigger a heart transformation from a normal human's heart into a Mage's Heart. I don't exactly know what they use to concoct this substance, but it sure has been proven to be effective.

"The way it works is that they would inject The Catalyst into your system and it would forcefully strengthen your heart, kind of like how the initial phase of a heart transformation looks like. But one does not simply transform a human heart. It has to go through a long process of adaptation. So for one subject, the injection would actually be repeated every week, for months or even years, depending on how fast their heart is able to adapt.

"On every session, they would call us into a specialized room, and they would have us strapped on a bed. Once we receive our injection, our heart would pound so hard and fast, while every part of our body would feel like they're being shredded to pieces. I heard that a natural heart transformation wasn't supposed to be that painful, but I guess that's just a side effect of The Catalyst.

"The painful process would last for approximately an hour, before they determine if our heart would survive or not. If the result was negative, they would inject us with what is called The Neutralizer. As its name implies, it neutralizes the effects of The Catalyst; basically an antidote. It would calm the heart and finally, the session would end with us still retaining a normal human's heart.

"In other words, our heart has failed to adapt to completion. The adaptation process itself means that after every session, our heart would likely to remember the injection's effects and, just like in our nature as humans, it would eventually learn how to adapt to the transformation. That way, after months or years of regular injections, the heart transformation would one day bear fruit, resulting in a new artificial mage."

Leo paused and took a minute to compose herself. She had been looking more and more agitated as she was recounting the story. She was able to vividly recall all the sessions she had had to go through, and Max could see how it must be hard for her to share these painful memories.

Nami had flown up to perch on his shoulder, cowering between his neck and the foldings of his hood. She was using the garment to cover her mouth as she sympathized with Leo's experience. Having the mana that made up half of her body be absorbed by mages back in her world had also been a painful process. And she had had to bear with it for months.

But Leo wasn't finished yet. "When someone has successfully transformed into a mage through this process, they would then be transferred into a place where they can start their cultivation. And after they get to a stage where they're deemed capable enough to serve the fairies, they would be sent to one of two places.

"One of these is better than the other. The better option is to either end up becoming the fairies' personal slaves or becoming a mage stationed in many facilities throughout the country. I'm sure you've met one today."

Max immediately understood. [The force mage at the bank vault.]

Leo nodded. "That's right. He was one of the artificial mages who have gone through a milder version of the fairies' mind control. These mages managed to reach the First Layer stage in AMRF, and would then be forced to have their minds being partially under the fairies' control. Meaning, they would still retain a degree of autonomy and the ability to think for themselves. But their subconscious mind would have been completely taken over. A brainwash, basically. This allows them to still be able to cultivate, albeit slowly.

"The other option is probably the worst place you can end up after becoming an artificial mage. These people, they…" Leo took a deep breath before continuing, "...they would be thrown into what we call the underground mana network."

Max furrowed his brows. He had never come across the term before, but for some reason it evoked a familiar sense inside his mind, as if a deeper part of him had somehow recognized something along that line. An underground mana network; it sounded like a common knowledge many should be aware of if they had lived in the city for years. And yet, that clearly wasn't the case.

Leo was silent for a bit, contemplating on how to best explain the concept to him. She finally spoke up after a few seconds. "The thing about mana is that, it needs human's will to work. Just like how electricity is generated because people need it, mana is put into use because people want to use it. However, our knowledge of mana is still so limited, that although we can combine automation and magic, we cannot actually automate magic. Does that make sense to you?"

Max fell into thought. He wracked his brain trying to comprehend what Leo meant, and after a while, he finally dared himself to put out a theory. [In order to activate mana, we still need individual effort, as opposed to how non-mana electricity can be generated using generators at power plants. Humans work together to build and maintain these generators instead of having to individually and manually generate electricity themselves.]

Leo nodded in agreement. "Exactly. We use these machines to transform non-mana energies into electricity. However, can we transform mana into electricity without humans' direct intervention? Have you ever heard of a machine that can transform mana into other energies, without relying on our own hands? Or perhaps a machine that can transform other energies into mana?"

Max shook his head.

"Mana can only be moved and altered into other energies by using one's individual will," Leo continued after seeing Max's silent answer. "You will it to transform, and so it does. But a machine does not own a will, and we haven't discovered a way to harness mana without depending on a human's will.

"This is where artificial mages and the underground mana network come in. Tell me, what do you think powers all those mana conductors lined up on the Metropolitan streets, and all the mana conductors activating street lighting, as well as central heating and electricity powering all the electronics throughout the country?

"Even The Null Zones are not an exemption, even if it seems like they only rely on electricity. Where do you think the electricity running through power sockets come from? The mana must come from somewhere, no? And remember, it can't be generated through machines. So, what do you think are being kept under these very grounds we step on, constantly providing the necessary mana to activate all the mana conductors you see on the surface?"

Max read the transcriptions of Leo's last sentence in horror. He could quickly grasp what she was trying to imply. [Humans.]

Leo deeply sighed. She looked sad as she said, "That's right. Humans. Artificial mages, to be exact. Back in The Lab, they are allowed to cultivate enough to reach a level where they have sufficient mana pools to be able to constantly send mana into mana conductors within a citywide network located underground for an extended period of time.

"But before being sent into this hellhole, they would first be stripped of their conscious minds, only retaining the ability to perform the programming planted into their consciousness by the fairies.

"And because they have lost the function to think clearly and with a conscious mind, their cultivation has also stopped. You can't cultivate if you don't have a healthy mind to possess great control over mana in your own body, after all. The most these people can do are basic activities like eating, drinking, and relieving themselves. But they function mainly for long cycles of sustaining the mana network and recovering their mana, over and over, until they croak."

How had Max never thought of this? How come he had never questioned how the mana powering all the mana conductors within Engelburg was generated? He had just kind of accepted that those conductors had been operating on their own, despite knowing that mana couldn't be automatically generated. It was such a basic thing, yet it had never crossed his mind!

Leo gave him time to digest all this new information. She understood it must be a lot to take in, especially since it was literally his first day becoming a mage. Max had just been exposed to a ton of deconstructive knowledge that his mind basically went blank for a bit, before it was rebooted and ready to process even more, since it looked like Leo wasn't done yet.

[So, the Talentless. They are basically cattle, used to sustain the privileged lives of the Talented ones.]

Leo nodded. "Exactly. I was an orphan, living on the streets, just like how you've been, basically. Only, I was Talentless, and therefore had no power to defend myself, even within The Null Zone."

[But, what about the natural mages? If The Revolutionaries are able to recruit mages like me, surely, the government has been able to do the same?]

Leo sighed. She leaned back on the chair and crossed her arms. Her eyes flitted to Nami's cowering form for a second. "They indeed have been pulling in natural mages, though I believe they are slower than us in that regard. After all, they're employing brainwashed non-mages and artificial mages for the job. They're not exactly a smart bunch, you see. Dare I say, my organization might boast more natural mages than the government, which is kind of ironic if you think about it.

"But even to this day, I still don't quite understand what exactly they're recruiting natural mages for. I have actually met a few of them before. Fought against them, even. And to my knowledge, they're not used to serve the fairies. I suspect they are still mind-controlled to an extent, but what exactly their purpose is, I'm still clueless, unfortunately."

The three remained in silence for a moment. Nami was gripping tight onto Max's hood, half-struggling to believe Leo's words, half-disgusted at her kind's cruelty if it turned out to be true. A part of her was hoping that it was all a lie, but looking at Leo's expression throughout her story, it was hard to deny that she was being sincere.

Max, too, somehow still had a small part of him that remained skeptical. [I really can't ascertain if what you said was the truth.]

Leo shrugged. "I can't force you to believe me. You can go to Niner Hold and do your own investigation if you'd like. I'm not gonna stop you. I'll even send you the address of AMRF. If you're worried I'm sending you to a trap, then you can take one member of the crew with you."

Max scratched the back of his head. He might still be a bit skeptical, but it wasn't worth traveling all the way to the Southern District for that. He was simply too lazy.

It was easier to just accept her words. Besides, they all did make sense. And if, down the road, he found out that he had been lied to, all he had to do was bail. It wasn't as if he didn't have the necessary skill to escape. A thief had to be at least elusive enough to free themselves out of any situation.

'What do you think?' he asked Nami.

'It all sounds believable,' she answered. 'But I still don't understand why she was willing to share all that to us. There must be something she wants.'

Right. All this new knowledge surely hadn't been given away for free. [You want something from us, do you not?]

Leo smirked. She had been expecting him to finally come to this conclusion. "Apart from wanting you to join us, yes, there's just one more thing I need from you. Well, from your friend Nami, specifically."

Max glanced at his fairy friend for a moment. [And what's that?]

"The secret behind why the natural mages under the fairies' control are inexplicably stronger than us. I believe the fairies have deliberately limited the cultivation of artificial mages. And I'm hoping you could enlighten us about that, Nami."