One by one, my party members fall asleep.

  Inu and Thatch know that I’m hurt. They can see it. Thatch saw the blotch of darkness beneath my skin, Inu can feel my pain through [Empathy]. And yet, they tell no one.

  I smile. Their trust means the world to me. I trust them in turn. The same way I trust Opal and Sylves. They’re out there, somewhere, I’m sure.

  Slowly, the sky grows darker.

  With the eyes in the sky, the day was already a little gloomy, but now? They eclipse almost all the stars. Dozens, hundreds of pupils in the sky, staring down. Unblinking.

  Taking a deep breath, I ignore them.

  Darkness creeps in, heavier than it usually does in the city. The streetlights go on, then flicker out. There is a droning to the darkness, an ominous quality that feels like it might get up and slither in through the window.

  The thing beneath my skin starts writhing more, and the pain keeps me awake. Every notion of sleep flees when my brain is reminded that there is a living thing currently burrowing inside me.

  Over and over, I clamp down on it with my mind. [Suppression] activates again and again. It feels like each cast is building a more sturdy prison, like I’m caging the thing in, bar by bar. But it writhes. It fights.

  It’s growing, consuming me. And with night falling, I think it’s becoming stronger. Minutes tick by, and the pain gets worse. My skin prickles with mana. The world has changed.

  I adjust, splitting my mind as best I can. A part of it is focussed on maintaining the cage on the inky creature, another part is just… thinking. Trying to stay away from the pain. What does this world mean for me?

  Violence is what comes to mind first. It means violence. Humans aren’t exactly kind creatures, to the world, to each other. And with the potential for power when killing each other? This world doesn’t exactly seem to encourage kindness, or mercy.

  But, at the same time, I feel a sense of wonder.

  Yeah, there is a living thing currently killing me, but so what? I can feel mana tingling against my hand as I move it through the darkness that spills into the room like ink. The air feels heavy to breathe, pressing against my chest. It’s the kinda presence that makes it all feel real.

  This feels meaningful. Like I have a purpose. No endless grinding at some kind of dead-end job, no long nights of writing papers I couldn’t care less about. There is something pure to this situation.

  Me against the world.

  It’s simple, really. I kill whoever I choose to kill, I protect whoever I choose to protect. And that thing whose attention I caught… Creeping Darkness, right?

  “I know you’re out there,” I whisper. “Come the hell at me.”

  No reply. The minutes tick by, and I refocus my efforts on caging the inky monster. I can’t sleep, so I focus. I think. I try to practice, feeling the scraps of energy in my vessel, shifting them around.

  Stolen story; please report.

  And then, the darkness turns thicker. Ever thicker, until I cannot see the room anymore. Midnight hits.

  There is no clock telling me so, I just know.

  As the entire world turns black, words dig into my vision, glowing bright in my retina.

  [Congratulations!]

  [You have survived the first day. Second stage of descent imminent. Prepare.]

  Within that darkness, I feel prickling on my skin. It’s heavy, and unlike the usual slight tingling, this is more intense. Like needles, painlessly piercing my skin. A thousand of them, all over my body.

  Something within me changes. It feels like someone is taking my nervous system, and numbing it, then moving it around. I experience the sensation of my insides turning liquid and malleable, but there is no pain. Not even a hint of it. The absence is almost bizarre, since I feel like there should be some kind of agony.

  None.

  [Sensory alterations applied. Physical and Mental limits lifted.]

  [Initializing terraforming.]

  Things instantly feel different. Despite the numbness, I can feel the ground rumbling beneath me. Earth would no longer be the same after this change.

  [Planets merged. Dungeons created.]

  And that is all. The ground stops shaking. It was so faint that I can almost convince myself I imagined it, but no. As the darkness recedes, things are different.

  The first things I notice are those “sensory alterations” it mentioned. This system doesn’t seem to like giving out much information, but I can feel the difference. It’s visceral, and incredible.

  Before, mana had felt like tingling pinpricks on my skin, but after the first day? I can feel it. The way it flows from my vessel and through my body, the channels it follows, the way it has to burrow through my flesh.

  I activate [Suppression] and see the way it spills into patterns, writhes inside me. It coils and contorts, then resonates with the world. It follows the smokey, greyish tendril of [Selection] and latches onto the inky blot inside me.

  And then it settles on it. Like a heavy weight, crushing the thing.

  My mind feels fresh. My body, too, feels… more limber. Easier to move. Not stronger, but less limited. As if the ceiling was removed and I could finally see the sky.

  Despite the writhing pain in my abdomen I smile.

  Slowly, carefully, I lift a hand. I pull the tiniest wisp of mana from my core, guide it into my palm, then out of it. A wisp of energy floats in the air, and, unlike the ambient mana, still feels like mine.

  It’s like a tether between me and it. A faint connection, not quite like [Selection] but similar. It’s like a piece of me. I consider suppressing it, but disregard the notion. But as it is, as a wisp, it’s not useful.

  Wrapping my mind around it, I push. The wisp condenses into a smaller area. Into a droplet, then even more. I press on it with my mind. It feels playful, like a toy, even though it’s hard. I push some more, and the mana eventually obeys.

  It condenses further, the tiny drop of it becoming an even smaller little crystal. It’s like a grain of rice but sharper. I grin. I made that.

  [New Skill acquired!]

  [Solidification 0 > 1]

  My grin grows wider, and I hold the tiny grain of mana in my hand, close up to my eye. It’s fun. It’s so fun, pushing the world around with my mind. I want to do it more.

  The pain in my abdomen isn’t what’s keeping me up anymore. It’s raw curiosity. What else can I do with mana? What else is out there for me to find? I wanna see it. Wanna see it all. Wanna show it to Inu and Thatch and Opal and Sylves.

  We merged with a new planet, too, it said. This thing might be stingy, but it at least told me that much. And dungeons. What else is there?

  Classes and jobs, for sure. Maybe quests? Legendary items? Magitech? It says Earth is floor zero, so maybe some kind of tower? I look at the eyes in the sky, stretching my left hand upwards as I close my right around the tiny grain of mana.

  The Eyes look down on me, and for a moment, I think they’re all focussed on me. The smile on my face grows manic. “Just you wait,” I tell them, quietly. “I’ll come up there and see what you really look like.”

  I wanna see this new world. Every bit of it. I wanna see just how far I can go.