57

Humming, I opened my magesight and looked at the sunflowers; they were heavily infused with mana to the extent that even if they were chopped down, they would likely grow back within minutes.

The first step would be to improve their mana density. Setting down my parasol, I held out my hands and focused on the ocean of mana that swirled around in my pocket dimension.

Collecting a large portion of that, I started cycling it underneath the sunflower field surrounding my house. I avoided moving mana into the soil under my Lunar zone as I didn't want to corrupt the Nexus with pure mana.

I then sped the mana faster and faster while pulling more from myself and the surrounding area until I slowly let go of the now independent spinning loop. After a few minutes of waiting and carefully poking the circle loop of mana, I could tell that it was stable.

I had created a Nexus, and while it would take years before it was fully stable and centuries to make it a true force, it was currently stable enough that the mana leaking out wouldn't cause any issues beyond infusing the surroundings.

Now in a few hundred years, I suspected that most normal people who tried to enter my home without protection would die painful deaths, but I had time to rectify that issue.

Stepping back, I bounced on the heels of my feet as a new idea struck me, and the light behind my eyes pulsed. What would happen if I made a Nexus of pure mana? While, like anything else, mana could be purified, what effects would that have on a source of mana if it was created from a conceptually pure base?

Scurring over to the Lunar field, I started to repeat the same process I did under the rest of my home. This process was much faster due to the comparatively tiny amount of space I had to loop mana through.

However, it required much more concentration as, despite the powerful purifying capabilities of the generator, it could not purify the vast amounts of mana I was moving through the soil.

I was forced to send small strings of the ephemeral substance into the field and create a fragile loop that slowly teased out all impurities with the help of the generator. I then added another string and repeated that process meaning that despite the much less space, it still took over an hour.

I then had a loop of pure mana cycling underneath the Lunar field; I had no clue what that meant, but I knew it would be fascinating. I also had a large clump of impure mana held in my left hand.

It was a massive amount and could easily equal the amount of mana held with my pocket dimension. Even with mana, a large portion of it was created by impure things such as the earth or air, with a tiny amount being pure enough to tease out even with the Lunar field helping.

Casting my sight to the opposite side of the Lunar field, I felt the burning of light behind my eyes and decided to try an idea. I carefully nudged the Nexus that I created to open up a space for me to make a new Nexus around the same size as the Lunar field.

I would need something to contain the impure Nexus. While the pure Nexus could cause small issues if it escaped into the larger Nexus, it would eventually be contaminated and join with the other mana.

However, impure mana would sully even normal mana, which could cause cascading issues. I didn't know precisely what it could cause as none of the sources of my powers had attempted something like what I was doing, but I had no doubt it would be bad.

Retrieving Dust from the Gap, I scattered it around the circle I had removed the Nexus from. Summoning my parasol back to my hand, I touched it gently to the Dust and focused on my most potent defensive spell, Wall of Force.

It was completely incapable of being brought down by anything short of disintegration. Not even anti-magic fields or divine strength could break it. However, it didn't stop things from teleporting through it or magic from being conjured on the other side of the spell.

Things like a flashbang would also work as the wall was completely invisible, which allowed light and sound to pass through it. That meant that it would not be passing through the spell unless it were one of the prior things.

Casting Wall of Force in its sphere formation, I linked it to the Dust and wove the base deeply in with the layer of microscopic magical nanites. This would allow the spell to persist for as long as the Dust persisted in an unbroken line.

I then cast Misty Step, and in a puff of mist, appeared inside the location where I would create an impure Nexus. Spreading out the impure mana that was located inside the Wall of Force, I started spinning it into a circle beneath the soil.

In a bare few minutes, I had a stable loop that would have taken hours to create and years to stabilize with the normal mana. I doubted I could achieve this level of stability in decades with the pure mana.

It seemed that the more pure mana was, the harder it was to ground it, and getting it to generate more of itself in a stable loop with pure mana was almost impossible.

I had managed due to my knowledge of mana being a hair shy of an archmage along with my nature as a god of magic, but nonetheless, this information was fascinating.

Teleporting out of my newest Nexus, I felt the Grimoire pulse before my entire being shifted. I collapsed to a knee as a weight settled in my bones. Shaking my head, I staggered to my feet and shook my limbs.

I then hopped from one foot to another and felt that the magic and dust that made up my form had shifted. It felt like the ratio had shifted slightly, and I was made up of more dust than I was moments before.

I also felt a faint tingling in my soul and a stretching in the mantle of divinity that had settled around me only a few days ago.

I could feel that my divine portfolio had expanded slightly. Not enough to grant me a new domain, but as I focused on it, I could tell that I now held a smidge of power over related concepts.

That meant I had some understanding of madness and dreams as the moon and fantasy were linked to both of them, respectively. It was strange, but magic had not expanded even slightly, which was somewhat strange.

However, I could tell that my bond with dreams was much higher than with madness, as fantasy and dreams were intertwined while the moon and its lunacy were much less intertwined. With a smidge of faith and Gensokyo's lack of dream gods, I could possibly grab another domain, and I doubted people would complain about that.

Rolling my shoulder, I felt the light behind my eyes dim even more; it was now only a faint gleam. Striding back towards the sunflowers, I reopened my magesight and peered at the Nexus and sunflowers.

I could already tell that the plants were eagerly soaking up the mana, and I had no doubt that given a few years of unhampered growth, they would become a fearsome garden able to kill most intruders. Sentience and even sapience weren't off the table either, given enough time.

I, however, was here to guide their path so that the flowers grew properly and powerfully as opposed to the survival of the fittest method that rampant change the abundance of mana would cause.

I slowly walked through the sunflower field with one hand on my parasol and the other stretched out. I widened the inner pools the sunflowers had and spread them out like veins throughout the plants.

This would allow them to absorb and spread more mana without issues and would vastly accelerate the process of them being smarter as the veins formed a pseudo-soul that, over time, would remember events and, in decades, could possibly act on future events; this was an improvement over the bare minimum centries it would have taken before.

I then used my parasol to alter the physical form of the sunflowers. The two things I changed were growing the roots deep and infusing the stems and faces with mana and a hint of Dust.

This would prevent the physical forms from failing or exploding. The Dust was a bit of an experiment because they could utilize Dust once they gained a rudimentary intelligence.

That thought caused me to pause and return to the beginning of the field and change the flowers even more. I didn't have a powerful enough understanding of biology for me to make broad changes; however, I did have a solution.

Reinforcing the parasol, its concepts were empowered, allowing me to change the plants beyond the bounds of biology. I could almost feel a figure standing tall over my shoulder and whispering in my ear as I shaped this field.

Eyes closed, parasol out like a conducting baton, I sensed the insides of the sunflowers as I changed them. I created a flowing stream that would use pressure to push water to the top and then allow it to fall back down.

This loop would require more food for the plants, but both sun and mana were abundant. I then slowly grew a lattice of fiber in the mini stream of water inside the streams. It was the same mesh I used to gather and Dust, and soon enough, my power took hold, generating Dust that started to pool up.

I quickly created channels that would push aside a few sunflower seeds with pipelines that would allow Dust to be secreted out and coat the sunflower head.

It would be practically unnoticeable, but I was almost giddy at what this could do given time. As my grin grew wider, I felt a faint pat on my back and a giggle from behind me.

Whirling around, my eyes darted around to see who that was. I managed to catch the faint form of a woman with green hair and stark red eyes.

Looking down at the still Reinforced parasol, I held it out and spoke. "Hello, do you mind coming out? I would like to speak to you in person." I then waited for a few seconds before I heard the same voice once again.

"I suppose we could talk," she said, stepping out from the sunflower field. It was clearly Yuuka; however, when I looked at her, I didn't see the powerful being who walked around as if the world would part for her.

I saw that this figure was missing vast swaths of her body; her left arm and eye were gone. Crawling up her legs and the left side of her body were vast burn marks that peeled away skin and revealed her cheekbones and a ribcage short of a few ribs. Her hair was burnt with it short, and the tips singed while her clothing was burnt and in tatters.

"Who are you?" I asked. This couldn't be Yuuka. I would have known if somebody had entered my home and she had only spoken to me recently. Her smile grew a touch sharper as she stood in place with her hands clasped behind her back.

My gaze traveled down to the parasol before I looked back up at her. "You're connected to the parasol somehow," I said, causing her smile to gain inhumanly sharp teeth for a moment.

"Yes, if somebody holds onto an object for long enough, a part of them will rub off, and I have held onto that for millennia; in addition, there are techniques that allow for transfers like this. " She said, pointing towards the parasol. "However, despite all that, I am a mere imprint, and so I slumbered with the seals tapping my power to provide its strength."

"But my Reinforcement must have woken you up," I stated, now much more relaxed; this was Yuuka and a much weaker version of her at that, so I doubted she would try anything. She had also mentioned something about seals which would likely prevent further attacks.

I ignored the Grimoire growing as the light behind my eyes faded and died. "Not quite," she said, "I have been slowly waking up for some time now, and it was only inevitable; even her best work couldn't force me down forever. However, this field and your Reinforcement had woken me up much earlier than I normally would have."

"So this is from another Gensokyo?" I asked, causing her soft smile to fade as a look of melancholy swept over her face. "Yes, it seemed that even when we all lost, she got something in the end." She said, looking away from me and up at the sun looming high in the sky.

"Who?" I asked, stepping beside her with the parasol resting on my shoulder. "Yukari," she spat, her voice heavy with grudging admiration. "I didn't believe a young youkai like her would amount to anything, but she proved me wrong in the end."

At my surprised blinking, she laughed, sounding like wind through grass. "The first time she attempted to hunt and eat a proper meal, she threw up. In fact, she almost died before she would face the facts and eat." At this point, I was looking at her directly, listening to her tale.

Yukari was enigmatic and powerful. I hoped never to face her, but it seemed that this version of Yuuka knew a lot about her, which could be helpful if I ever needed to fight her.

"Do you have any other tales about Yukari?" I asked, doing my best to conceal my true interest in asking. The sliver of a different Yuuka turned away from the sun and gave me a sharp smile before continuing her stories.

"I suppose I could tell you about our first meeting," she said and continued without giving me a chance to respond. "She had stumbled into my field distraught and afraid."

Yuuka then bared her teeth in a nostalgic grin that showed off her mouth of pointed teeth capable of tearing chunks of flesh from bone. "I was tempted to devour her then and there, so I emerged and fought her, see if she could show me a reason to spare her."

"She had simple tricks and was able to stave me off for a few seconds, but she was only human, and it was easy enough for me to incapacitate her. However, she had potential, and the last beings capable of challenging me were either dead, had left, or busy, so I threw her out of my garden to see if she would grow."

This was interesting as it said that Yukari was once much lesser, and while I doubted it would do anything to help turn the tide in a fight, it was still interesting as a purely historical account as, by my guess, Yukari was likely at least a few hundred years old which would place this story in the late medieval period depending on what year this other Yuuka's world was at.

"So what happened next?" I asked, receiving only a smile in response as she faded away, and I was left standing at the edge of my sunflower field, gaping in shock.

Grumbling, I whacked my parasol on the ground a few times before sighing. It seemed that she enjoyed being enigmatic and had decided to leave once she told me a few scraps of what she knew.

I decided to ignore the other version of Yuuka for now, except for a small issue, I needed to figure out another name for her. I couldn't go around talking about this Yuuka like it was the same as the other Yuuka; that could cause misunderstandings.

I thought over a few ideas as I walked back to my house; unfortunately, names were never a talent of mine as most of the time, when I named characters, I went with on-the-nose translations of other languages with minor changes.

However, I didn't have the internet here, which meant a lack of google translate and me having to come up with a name on my own or, more likely, asking this Yukka what she wanted to be called.

For now, I would simply call her Parasol Yuuka as that is what she was, and if she had an issue with it, she could talk to me about it. I might be being slightly petty, but if she was going to leave right after talking to me about Yukari's past, I could give her a stupid name for a bit.

I already had an idea of how I could bring her back if she wanted to, the magical girl transformation would likely work. The mention of seals irritated me as freedom was one of my driving tenants, and the challenge of undoing Yukari's work would be interesting. There was a chance it could cause my parasol to lose its power. I had a few tricks that could likely assist in ensuring it maintained its strength.

Shaking aside those thoughts, I settled down in the rocking chair and decided that reading would be an excellent way to pass the time. Summoning my Grimoire to me, I flipped it open to the most recent page and started to read through it.

I had been able to tell that something fundamental about me had changed from my bones being slightly more dust while my divinity expanded, I had felt other twinges and changes, but I couldn't nail down what they were or what they changed.

Reading through the new page, I could nail down what had changed. This new power called Superior Being did precisely what it said, I was a superior version of my species.

That meant I was no longer a Monster but a Boss Monster with the enhanced physicality to match it. My godhood was larger and waiting for me to grasp new domains, with only the lack of worship holding me back. The other two were harder to pin down. Being undead didn't have much of an effect on life, but I could tell that I was simply physically stronger, and with a bit of learning, I could perhaps learn the basics of necromancy.

The one least affected by this power is my magical girlhood. I felt an expansion in my soul gem as well as the raw power of my spells being enhanced, but when compared to the breadth this power enhanced my other powers, this one fell a bit short.

Closing the Grimoire as it pulsed and grew, I decided to pull out another book I had wanted to go over. Opening Al Azif, I decided to start from the beginning. This time, however, with a focus on the more experimental and less complete rituals and notes.

I took my time paging through the tome. I wanted a thorough read, and unlike last time I had plenty of time. As time passed and I reread the tome, my impression of the book was unchanged from the previous time.

It was clear that the author was going through various problems and most likely was afflicted by his contact with the eldritch. It was clear from the margins that contained rants about traitorous royalty and how those fools had chased him off.

It was fascinating to see the deteriorating mental state of the author and how that correlated to the spells and rituals he had written. In the beginning, the spells were basic and simple; an incantation to light a candle or a method to test food for poison.

However, by the end of the book, there were numerous rituals designed to call upon various Outer Gods as well as, strangely enough, sheet music. I was no musician; however, I did learn a few instruments when I was younger, so reading sheet music was fairly easy.

I couldn't tell exactly what instrument the music was for. However, if I had to guess, it would likely be something like a flute or pipes; however, the song was incomplete, and from the notes, it was clear that he was attempting to finish it when he died.

That also lined up roughly with what I knew about Alzharad and how he had died being torn apart by an otherwordly being. The vast majority of spells and rituals in this book were either useless, terribly immoral, or too pricey for me to use now or in the near future.

Closing the book, I looked up at the sky and noticed that it was nearing mid-afternoon, which meant I had plenty more time until I would meet Yuuka.

Humming, I strolled out of my home and emerged on the road towards the Human Village. Looking around, I spotted said village as well a sunflower field and the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

However, what caught my gaze was a massive forest begging for somebody to poke around in. With a smile on my face, I twisted my parasol on my shoulder and strode into the woods.

It was clear after taking a few steps inside that magic permutated everything here by the atmosphere. Despite it being mid-afternoon, the sun barely showed through the tree top, and mist swirled around my ankles.

I could see various beings, both plants, and animals. It was pretty clear that these ones were not youkai, as, despite their supernatural traits, none of them exhibited signs of intelligence.

As I was walking, I nearly got harmed by numerous plants and animals as they threw themself at me in an attempt to attack me. It was simple to fend them off and took almost no effort, but it was still slightly confusing.

Excepting the monsters, this did remind me of years ago when my brother and I would go explore the woods around the back of our house or even farther away if my father could be convinced to come along.

I did notice a break in the treeline after a few hours poking around the woods. Walking into the clearing, the vaguely threatening aura vanished, and the sun shined through the gap in the trees.

Sitting in the middle of the clearing was a fairytale house; it was western and looked like somebody pulled a stereotypical house from fantasy and placed it into the woods.

I could see lights on, and I decided to go up and see if anybody was home. Rapping politely on the door, I heard the sound of a chair being pushed back and footsteps walking toward the door.

Opening the door was a familiar figure, clad in a blue dress with blonde hair and a pale face; she looked very similar to Alice.

"Nice to meet you, Miss," I said, reaching out my hand to shake hers. She looked me up and down before gripping my wrist and pulling me inside the house before quickly closing the door.

"It's quite dangerous out, and it would be remiss of me to allow the wildlife to kill you," She said as she untensed and started walking further inside the house, her fingers twitching at her side. Following her inside the kitchen, I stopped and looked in awe at the dozens of dolls that moved about.

Some of them were putting away food while others were cleaning cutlery and dishes. I turned back to my host as I heard her start talking. "My name is Alice; please sit down. Would you like tea?" She said as her fingers twitched minutely again, and the dolls shifted about as not to impede us.

"Tea would be wonderful," I said, sitting across from where she sat. "My name is Aidan," She nodded in response to my reply, and we both waited for a few seconds as the dolls moved about preparing tea.

"When did you arrive here?" Alice asked. I could sense a faint hint of concern, but it seemed that she was tired and slightly grumpy due to some outside factor.

"I arrived around a week ago," I said, casting my mind back. I was likely off by a day or two, but I doubted she needed a precise date.

I felt the Grimoire grow as her eyes grew slightly wider in shock. "You've been surviving in the Forest of Magic for a week?" She said, her voice slightly higher. "No, no," I said, waving my hand in denial, "I decided to travel to this forest because I wanted to explore."

My correction didn't seem to reassure her, and her eyes narrowed as she peered at me. I could see a faint flash of magic as she inspected me. "I couldn't tell you were a God; it's almost impossible to find your divinity," She said, and from the relaxing of her shoulders, I could tell she was relieved that an average person hadn't explored the Forest of Magic.

I decided to approach a question I have been wanting to ask since I noticed the dolls floating around her house as well as her resemblance to the doll I had acquired. "I have to ask, have you lost a doll recently?"

She tilted her head before looking up at the ceiling in thought as she muttered under her breath as if counting. "No, I don't believe I have," She said now, much more interested and with a hint of curiosity in her tone.

"I was traveling and came across a sapient doll, it looked quite similar to the ones you have here, and while she seemed happy to stick around me, I don't want to steal something of yours," I said. I didn't know if the doll was from here, but it was better to ask and give her back than have this Alice tracking me down for theft.

"If you don't mind," she said almost hesitantly as she tried to hide the desire in her voice. "Could I meet this doll?" I had no reason to refuse, so I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure," I responded. "I'll be heading outside for a second to grab her," I continued, then waited for a second to see if she was going to say anything else.

When she didn't, I stood up and left, closing the front door gently behind me. When outside, I swung my parasol in front of me and stepped through the resulting tear in space.

Emerging outside my house, I cleared my throat as I stepped inside. "Alice!" I shouted before waiting a few moments to see if she would arrive. A few seconds after I called out, the small doll floated in front of me.

"I'm going to see another Alice; she might be the one who created you," I said while leaning on my parasol, waiting for a response.

The doll nodded her head before circling around my head and sitting down on top of it. Chuckling, I shifted the Path outside Alice's house and flew out.

Landing outside her door, I knocked once again and waited for her to open the door. I barely waited for a few seconds before the door opened, and Alice stood there staring over my shoulder.

Turning around, I saw that I hadn't shifted the Path away, and where there was a simple dirt path that led into the forest, it was now an overgrown path filled to the bursting with sunflowers and hemmed in by trees that went back as far as she could see.

Waving my hand, I shifted the Path away, and the terrain returned back to the simple forest clearing it was before. Alice's gaze then turned towards the doll sitting atop my head. Alice, the doll, gave a wave which caused the other Alice to blink in surprise before looking at my hands which were unmoving.

"Is she truly sapient?" she whispered, her eyes staying firmly locked on the doll that was rocking back and forth in my hair. Stepping aside, she gestured for us to come inside and gently closed the door once we had.

Sitting down at the table once again, she took hold of the tea crup in front of her with shaky hands and took a sip. Alice, the doll, took this time to drop off my head and sit in front of the other Alice and looked up at her, waiting.

"Where do you find her?" She asked, her eyes still locked on the doll and her voice quiet. "This will require a bit of background," I said, and when she didn't object, I continued.

"Do you know what the Multiverse Theory is?" I asked, and it took a few seconds for her to drag her eyes back up to mine and shake her head no.

"Alright," I said, "To keep it simple, the Multiverse Theory is the idea that for every choice you make, there is a separate world where you made a different choice; does that make sense?"

As she nodded, I continued with my explanation. "Well, I can travel between these different worlds, and I managed to pick up Alice in my travels." At the name Alice, she looked down at the doll in confusion while she waved up at the bigger Alice.

"Her name is Alice?" She asked in confusion as I sheepishly shrugged. "She didn't have a name when I stumbled across her, and so I offered the name Alice which she seemed to like."

At that, she laughed softly before looking at me dead seriously. "I would like to ask you if she can stay here so I can discover how she was made."

Looking down at Alice, the doll, she nodded her head in acceptance. "I see no reason not to allow her to stay. However, I don't want issues with you cutting her open."

She blinked and looked up at me before nodding. "Of course, Alice, if you could follow me?" she said before standing up and walking deeper into her house as Alice the doll floated after her.

Sitting there, I blinked in confusion as I was left alone sitting at the counter with only a few dolls cleaning up the tea that Alice had drank.

I then felt the Grimoire pulse, and my fingers spasmed as a new power swelled up inside me. I looked down at my hands with a new realization of power and awe at its raw strength.

I now could spin off new spirits that fed off almost anything, whether that be fear or my mana. I had no doubt that the power had much more nuanced than that, but with a flick of my wrist, I could create life—the power of God in the palm of my hand.

Striding out of Alice's house, I opened a tear in space using my parasol and walked through. Collapsing in my rocking chair, I rubbed the bridge of my nose, lamenting the lack of glasses to take off dramatically.

Rocking back and forth for a few seconds, my fingers twitched with the desire to summon forth a new being. Shaking my head, I called the Grimoire to my side and settled in to have a read about my new power.

Powers Gained

Superior Being

Queens in Wonderland often stand out by being the best (in some ways at least) of the "species" they represent and rule over. Your basic stats are enhanced to be slightly above the average member of your species; any additional boosts to your stats are stacked up on this initial enhancement. In addition, the perk makes those of the same species of your current form more willing to follow and obey you; if you change species between forms, you also change who you affect with your charisma for this perk.

Creating Spirits

Creating new youkai is a trivial task for you, even ones for ideas that have yet to exist, though you utterly lack any inherent control over them. You could easily flood Gensokyo with new youkai and throw the lands into chaos if you really wanted to. This is by far the most feared of Okina's true abilities, as it threatens the delicate power balance of Gensokyo. You can also change what, exactly, these new youkai need to survive – creating youkai that draw from your own power instead of fear, for instance.