"Oh, so now you want to talk asshole. Alright, well let's talk." Teresa said, turning to look at the man. Really, now he wants to talk? He could have just asked for her-

Holy fuck his flesh was melting.

"Jesus Christ!" Teresa yelled, shooting Facilitated Restoration at the man. The spell began putting in work, but immediately Teresa felt sick. She hunched over and vomited into a bush, feeling nauseous in her Soul.

"Careful now, healing me will anger the System. I'm not supposed to be here, after all." The man said. "An unfortunate side effect of finding a way to enter a universe during its developmental stage. Really, you have no idea what kind of sacrifices had to be made to get this man here. Unfortunately, we are short on time, an F rank body can't support hosting a god."

Teresa forced herself to stand back up, using Purify to try and help with the nausea. It had a minimal effect, but thankfully it seemed to be wearing off on its own rather quickly.

"The fuck you mean a god?" Teresa asked, feeling that was a good question to ask. Clearly some crazy shit was going on here, but a lot of crazy shit had been going on for a while now. This random dude in a straitjacket being a god might as well be happening honestly, that or he was insane. Kind of tough to argue when his skin was liquifying in a grotesque fashion.

"I would suggest you watch your tone, very few earn the honor of being in my presence." He replied. "My subordinate, Mazink, gave the highest alert possible during an inspection of your universe's integration. I would like to make a deal Teresa. Your universe has something incredibly rare, and I would like your help getting it."

"Okay, I'm getting pretty evil vibes from you man so I'm waiting for the catch. What do you want?" Teresa asked.

"Everything. I want your resources, I want your technology, and I want your people," the man replied.

"I mean, you could probably just take Mars then dude, I don't think we're using it right now." Teresa answered. Shit, was Mars still around? She probably shouldn't be promising planets to gods if they don't exist anymore. "As for our technology, just give it some time and I'm sure Wikipedia will make a comeback. The people thing is where you lose me."

"Well, that requires some explanation. You see, we aren't the only ones here. Your entire universe is the epicenter of a multiversal arms race, at the moment only a few powerful factions know of your existence but it is only a matter of time before every single nation wants a stake in what you have." He said. "As a matter of fact, we don't even need your help to accomplish our goals, your help would just aid us in reaching our objective before anyone else does."

"Okay, and what would that objective be?" Surely not some genocidal super duper evil scheme, right? Who was Teresa kidding, she had every reason to believe this guy was evil. Between her skills acting up, the melting flesh, the fact he was inhabiting the body of a man who tried to kidnap her, this dude could not make it more obvious that she should not trust him for shit.

"That requires some explanation. I'm not quite sure how advanced your civilization is yet, how familiar are you with multidimensional theory and universal constants?" The definitely not evil god asked.

"Uh, not at all? I know there's like, three spatial dimensions and some for time, but not the details honestly. There's a lot of wiggle room for interpretation here." She said, trying to put meaning behind his question. It was kind of hard to look at him, but she was trying her best to match his gaze. Even if the man wasn't melting, he would be incredibly unnerving regardless.

"A universal constant is an absolute limit within a given universe, so here it would be like what absolute zero or the speed of light used to be." The man explained. "Before Mana, no matter how hard you tried an object would never be able to go the speed of light, and an object would never be able to reach absolute zero."

"Yeah okay, knew that much, go on."

"Now, apply that to a multiversal scale. In every universe with Mana, it is impossible to completely drain an object of Mana due to the fact all matter will naturally produce it. This is true in every universe with Mana, one of the few multiversal rules. Right up there with true bidirectional time travel being impossible."

"So what, our universe didn't have Mana so you want our stuff? Really, just take Mars then. I don't see what this has to do with us at all yet." Teresa said, trying not to get distracted by the comment about time travel not being possible.

"No, universes with no Mana exist all over. They are relatively rare, but the multiverse is not small by any means. What makes your universe special is that your laws of nature are sufficiently complex enough to support advanced technology. Most universes with no Mana are simplistic, their lifeforms are incredibly mundane and their progress is limited by the simplicity of their universe."

"I don't get it." Teresa admitted honestly. Her understanding of the multiverse came mostly from superhero movies. She was kind of expecting there to be multiple Teresas out there from different universes, but from the sound of it she had drastically misunderstood what the multiverse actually was.

"Every universe has its own laws of nature. Here, for example, matter is made up largely of these tiny spherical units. Some of those units emit opposing energies that interact in a special way with each other, and mixing those units can create materials where the properties are entirely dictated by the number of those units in the material."

"Are you talking about atoms?" Teresa asked. "What, are atoms not a thing everywhere?"

"Not at all. We have been conducting research into universes that have a similar structure to your own, but they are typically already infused with Mana." He replied.

"Well I hate to break it to you, but everything has Mana in it now. I'm also still not seeing a reason you can't just take Mars then, what about Mercury? I really don't think we're using that one. I'd offer Pluto but it's already been through enough."

"We will be harvesting the planets within your universe, that's not something you have the power to negotiate." The god said. "Yes, everything may have Mana in it now, but the matter within your universe still retains the ability to be completely drained of Mana."

"Alright, so you're going to be harvesting planets. Cool. Just don't harvest this one and we're good man, that all sounds like it has nothing to do with me and I'm happy to keep it that way."

"We will be harvesting your planet." Yep, there it was. Who woulda saw that one coming? Teresa. The answer was Teresa. She 100% saw that one coming. Damn it. "Every scrap of this universe holds immeasurable value, lacking innate magical properties while still being complex enough for the technology you have developed is astonishingly rare, almost unheard of."

"Yeah okay, I get it, our universe is weird on a multiversal level. I still don't understand what the hype is all about, so what? You make it sound like we're the shit because we didn't have Mana, but everything I've seen about magic is that it just makes things way better. If anything, our universe is kind of lame ain't it? Really, nothing worth harvesting planets over. We can keep the planet harvesting to a minimum, or even better let's not harvest any planets-"

"If you had access to every single Manaless universe and all of their materials along with the brightest minds in the multiverse, you would never be able to construct what you call a phone." The man said. "It's extremely primitive in perspective of the multiverse, but nevertheless you shouldn't be able to have this sort of technology. It was enough to throw off the Tutorial's calibration, your universe has set a record for Tutorial completion percentage. Do you know how often universes set records? Never. Your Tutorial was harder than what most Manaless universes go through, but it was not nearly as hard as it should have been."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"So you want to use our stuff to influence the System somehow?" Teresa asked, trying to take a shot at what he was getting at. She was used to people getting to the point a lot faster. It was one of the things she liked about the Albino Gorillas, their conversations were short and they only really talked about what was needed. "Because I am still not seeing why you gotta come take this planet too, I know I've said it a million times but just take Mars or something."

"Do you even know what the System is, Teresa?" He asked.

"Not really, have a few guesses but they're all shots in the dark." Teresa replied.

"It's the first and only method of multiversal travel. We don't know how old the multiverse is, but we do know there was a time when universes were completely incapable of interacting with each other. Universes would sprout up, exist for their natural lifespan, die out, and then the cycle would repeat. Eventually a universe very similar to your own came along, one with complex natural laws and a complete lack of Mana. Within that universe, a civilization expanded until there was nothing left. They understood everything there was to understand within their universe, did everything there was to be done. Once they started nearing the end of their universe's lifespan, they began working on a way to leave."

"Okay so let me guess, they made the System and left?" Teresa asked, seeing where this was going.

"No, they failed. The construction of the System did in fact require Manaless materials with complex natural laws, but it also required Mana. They built the System, and never got the chance to use it. Their universe eventually came to an end, leaving behind only a System that would eventually become what it is today. A multiversal computer program with absolutely zero usability testing, and it's made of similar material to your own universe. Your universe is made of material perfect for manipulating the System to our advantage, and that is exactly what we are going to do. I'm telling you this because there are other factions here, and if you interact with them they will lie to you. I won't."

"Okay, there's a lot here going on and you're still avoiding the point. What exactly do you want, what does it have to do with me, and why do you need to harvest our planet?"

"I want you to become queen, Teresa. Touch the monolith in the nearest settlement, become the leader, and build up a city. The bigger, the better. You will periodically deliver me shipments of sapients from your universe, and in exchange we will find your family and spare them, along with whoever you want to live. So long as you meet your quota of shipments, we will follow up on our end of the bargain."

"Jesus fuck, so you want me to be a human trafficker?" Teresa asked, immediately repulsed by the idea. "What makes you think I'm going to even win the tournament? I don't know who Mijo is, but he might be stronger than me. Why not go to him?"

The man laughed, as if there was some sort of joke Teresa was not privy to.

"Please, his Tutorial wasn't even comparable to yours. He's not going to win, I can tell you that much." He said, shaking his head. "Besides, I haven't gotten to the good part. If you don't cooperate, then you and your friends' families will all be killed on sight should one of our agents find them. Trust me Teresa, I haven't lied to you yet. We will find them, and once they're gone we'll come for you next. What will it be Teresa? This body doesn't have long."

Teresa's heart was pounding. Fuck. Fuck! Just in case it wasn't clear, FUCK. What the fuckety fuck was she supposed to do here? She could bank on this guy just being insane, but she doubted it. Him being possessed by some sort of god would at least explain her wacky skills and the melting flesh, but she really didn't want to believe him. As skeptical as she was of the whole ordeal, she didn't have enough reason to doubt him.

So what, she was supposed to choose between being an evil queen who sold her own people or having her entire family get massacred? What about her friends, they didn't seem safe either from the sound of it. Why the hell did this have to be happening to her? Weren't there plenty of other potential royalties who could be put in this shitshow of a position? All Teresa wanted to do was go find her family and then mess around with magic living a chill life that may occasionally involve monster hunting. Couldn't she catch a break?

There was no point in feeling sorry for herself, whether she liked it or not she was in this position. Neither option was desirable, and she couldn't figure out which was less bad. Was it bad that she was thinking about it? Between a bunch of random people and her own family, of course she had to choose her family. But this was different, this was ridiculous. What was he going to do with those people? This sounded like some nazi research shit, and Teresa did not want to be a nazi.

Then again, what would happen to her family? Her dad, her mother, her brother, Teresa didn't need to be evil herself to understand the threat. This guy might not kill them quick, for all she knew they might start sending pieces of them to her until she complied. He had told her just enough to understand the scale of what she was dealing with, and now she had to make a terrible choice.

One she refused to make.

"I have my own deal to offer." Teresa eventually answered. "You said there are other factions here doing the same thing? I'll take them out. That squad I assume you sent after me is dead for a reason, tell me where these assholes are and I'll kill them myself. None of this trafficking bullshit."

"What makes you think you have any negotiating power here? If you so much as annoy me I can have everyone you know killed, I can burn your settlement to the ground, I can take your friends one by one and torture them until their screams suffice for your transgression. There is no room for negotiating, you will do as I say or suffer the consequences."

"You're right, you could do all of that. Thing is, you already told me about the other factions. It's not about whether or not you can accomplish whatever it is you're setting out to do, it's about if you can do it first. If you so much as touch a hair on anybody I know, I will make it my life's work to fuck your people up. Every hour, every minute, every waking second I will kill every damn one of your 'agents.' I will scour the Earth killing anyone I even suspect of being associated with you. I can't singlehandedly stop you, I'm not egotistical enough to believe that, but we have a concept called mutually assured destruction. If I lose, then I'm making sure you lose too. I have all the negotiating power here, don't you fucking doubt it for a second."

A moment of silence fell between the two of them, a moment that was eventually interrupted by laughter from the god.

"That's the perfect attitude I want from a subordinate, I only wish my sons had half of your audacity. Tell you what, I like you, and because of that we have a deal. I'm not going to help you with your family, that's all on you now, but I will have my people get in touch with you when the time comes. It looks like I'm all out of time here, don't you go die on me now. I have a lot of work for you."

With that, the remainder of the man's flesh melted off, leaving behind only a gory mess laying in a blood soaked hole. The smell was rancid, but the assault on her nose was nothing compared to the levels her anxiety had just spiked. Teresa sat down, collapsing as she thought about what awaited her future.

She activated <Magic Wellspring>, casting it on herself to help clear her mind a little. It was a little relieving, but it didn't stop the oncoming panic attack. She may have weaseled her way out of a problem now, but there were terrible things to come for the human race.

Rapid footsteps approached, making Teresa get to her feet and prepare for a fight. Thankfully, it was just her party along with multiple members from several other parties. They had sent quite a large entourage, and it didn't take long for them to see the body.

"Holy shit." A woman said, looking at the horrific scene. "What did you do?"

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Pelzith opened his eyes, back in one of his own bodies again. Besides him, Mazink seemed confused.

"Why did you tell her so much? You definitely could have gotten her to just agree to the deal, you didn't have to mention the other factions. You didn't have to tell her anything, the less she knows the more manipulatable she is." He said, making Pelzith smirk.

"I didn't tell her anything she wouldn't find out soon enough, I just sped the schedule up a bit. Besides, I don't want her backwater town, we've got enough royalties on board around the universe for her settlement to be insignificant. We got something much better out of the deal, an agent who isn't being level capped by the System." Pelzith explained, disappointed in his naive son. He may be S rank, but it was only because of Pelzith's resources that he ever made it that far. Mazink was how old now and he still hadn't reached godhood? He had admittedly been planning on killing him to erase the stain on his bloodline's reputation, but Mazink had earned himself a second chance with finding this universe. "If she becomes a problem, we can send a few squads after her. She almost lost to nine of our initial team who weren't even trying to kill her. It would be an annoyance, but we could spare twenty agents to hunt her down if need be. Go back to the barracks and make sure the next wave is ready, the level cap will be increasing soon."

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