Gene’s instruction rattled inside Synexus’ mind constantly as they went on with their training. An aspect of his skills that he loved was the fact they practically needed exploration to advance. While he had this rare chance on his home planet, he would make the best of it and touch everything.

  In the mornings when they went searching for more personal memories, Gene would always lead them to new places where some valuable materials or plants would be, so Synexus could look inward at his skill in use while his sensors fed it information. His mana senses would truly be the damn blocking the flow of this river of knowledge and he intended to break it down.

  Every memory encounter got more intense in terms of the number of locked memories he had to destroy before the memory would play out before him. Synexus enjoyed every memory because each one was new knowledge, but some were simply less impactful.

  One morning he found himself in a lab building which was the leading producer of new technology for the city and he had a good time touching all the new materials. Glass that could be altered with the infusion of different mana, brilliantly shiny metals that he could only stare at in amazement, various diamonds each stronger than the last, and loads of aether infused materials probably created by the forge itself. Matter Database levelled up off this one trip by itself.

  While in the lab nearly thirty locked memories jumped out and Synexus had to use all his skills to fend them off only to unlock a memory of his father working at the lab. Now of course he was filled with excitement that the same stuff was exciting to this dad, but it didn’t reveal anything groundbreaking. The unlocked memory lasted a whole hour, and it was just him watching his dad mess with various materials. Synexus, of course, soaked up every minute he could to see his father, but he had to admit that there was a part of himself waiting for something to happen or be revealed.

  Memories of Zunzutoxsian were much the same. Some were of him using Mana Weaving to create a new enchantment which Synexus watched intently to try and figure out the secret. His mana senses were simply coming up short.

  When it wasn’t a memory of Mana Weaving then it was a political memory of Zunzutoxsian appealing to the powers in charge for more funding, or support for his research into areas that Synexus had never even heard of. Gene was helpful in filling Synexus in on the customs of his home world. Even though these weren’t his favorite memories, he had to be impressed with how much Zunzutoxsian accomplished in his life. A constant stream of new research that often led to important advances in their society. What boggled his mind though was the fact that the Great Minds of the city were always so aggressive towards him.

  Synexus found himself interested in learning what the Great Minds were, and Gene happily showed him to their council chamber which was a massive building right in the center of the city. He stood in the middle of the room and took in the impressive size of the room. Chairs lined the room except for one side where only five bigger chairs were. All the chairs were fancy and made from high quality materials. Synexus had logged enough materials in the city already to be able to see that from a distance. Right before he asked Gene who the bigger chairs were meant for, pools of silver started to form on every chair. Then nearly a hundred locked memories attacked.

  Quickly reacting to the horde of monsters, Synexus grew massive blankets of his favorite leech moss and threw it on the crowds. He had found a couple of days into his trial that sucking the mana out of the locked memories was the quickest way to kill them and his moss could blanket dozens at a time. Just like that his enemy count went from a hundred to only forty-three.

  More seeds came out and he grew a massive ring of razor grass which he had further refined to now give off a scent to his enemies that caused them to walk into the grass. Twenty more of them fell to the ring of grown death. For the remaining twenty-three he met them in open combat by turning his arms into one of the hardest diamonds from the lab to use a shield and then using his katana to deal damage. The thing about these locked memories was not only were they getting more numerous, they were getting harder to kill too. A few slashes wasn’t doing it anymore and it often ended in a long drawn-out fight. His katana wasn’t cutting it anymore in a literal sense.

  When the final one fell, Synexus pulled out a yuop fruit since his health points had dropped below half and he had some bleeding wounds. The locked memories could shape their arms into sharp silver blades that cut with ease through his armor. Still, Synexus welcomed the fights because they were always moments he learned to improve. His skills levelled up much faster when in combat as well. That wasn’t the main reward though, the memories were, and this one looked promising.

  Ethereal light converged on every chair before becoming his ancestors. A meeting began and Synexus quickly realized it was a war meeting. An old man sitting on the biggest chair in the room spoke first.

  “I, Minoark-Zol, Grand Mind of Zax’xian, declare this emergency war council in session. We have two items to discuss. The threats from the Creation’s Coalition, and next steps involving our prisoner from the coalition itself.”

  Rage seemed to fill the room as the Grand Mind spoke the name of their enemies. Somehow their feelings were being projected to the rest of the council. Synexus found the idea fascinating. In this room you couldn’t lie about your intentions. Another man’s chair lit up and he began to talk.

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  “I, Loxaic, Great Mind of the Information Sect wish to make a statement.” A wave of approval washed out into the room from the people in the bigger chairs and he continued. “We obviously cannot go to war with a group claiming to be representing most of the intelligent lifeforms in the universe. However, we cannot give them what they want. Unsupervised access to the Aether Forge alone is something we don’t even allow ourselves. We all know how dangerous it could be. Their other demand is something we can’t even hope to accomplish. We need to find some type of compromise before this escalates any further.”

  A mix of approval and disapproval battled across the room with approval winning by just a bit. Another chair lit up.

  “I, Violetta-cri, Great Mind of the Military Sect, disagree with Loxaic. If we simply look at the name of the coalition, we can see they are mocking us. This is the great city of Creation, and they dare take our name. This alone is a reason for us to declare formal war and that isn’t even mentioning the assassination of the creator.”

  Again, the room flooded with a clash of approval and disapproval before it was cleared by another speaking.

  “I, Zorrengi, Great Mind of the Agricultural Sect, agree with Violetta-cri. Nineteen of our farmers have gone missing in the past week. This is obviously the coalition working from the shadows to weaken our city since they can’t get past the forcefield. I refuse to let this go unpunished. My family depends on the trade from the living armor we grow and now we have pieces that take a decade to grow going missing. I’ve asked this very council to extend the forcefield for years and now my Sect is paying for our indecision. We cannot allow that to happen with this war.”

  More approval flooded in from all sides. One of the people on the bigger chairs spoke and the room went silent.

  “I, Floracion, Greater Mind of Zax’xian, propose the council votes. From our observations of this session and the actions of the coalition, I do believe action needs to be taken. However, I’m not sold on a war without first attempting to discuss peace with our enemies. Our vote shall commence momentarily, and the course of action is to attempt peace talks with our enemies explaining why we can’t meet their demands. If they refuse peace talks then we shall go to war.”

  As soon as she stopped talking, feelings started to flood the room in a dizzying strength. In the end a sense of approval was clearly the winner.

  “That matter is settled then.” The Grand Mind spoke. “Now for our second matter. The prisoner. How are they doing?”

  “I, Anexi, Great Mind of the Healer Sect, have looked after the prisoner myself and she is doing fine. Her injuries would have been fatal, but our healing technology mixed with potent healing magic was enough to bring her back from the brink of death. We have made sure she is comfortable and well-fed.”

  Synexus was surprised to see his mother on the council, but it made sense. She was brilliant and he had learned she was an extremely good healer in a previous memory. Pride bubbled inside him to see how influential his mother was. He looked around the room closer to see if his father was also in there and sure enough, he was across the room in one of the top rows. Gene followed his eyes and simply nodded as if knowing his thoughts.

  “Thank you, Anexi. Have we extracted any information from her?” The Grand Mind asked.

  “Yes. She claims the coalition sent a peace delegation to the city gates to discuss the issues further but were met with hostile force. We log everything in our city and there are no logs of any force being anywhere near the gates at the time the prisoner claims to have been there. This is obviously a ploy to make us seem like the instigators.” Loxaic answered immediately.

  The Grand Mind seemed to consider what was said for a moment before speaking once more.

  “This needs to be looked into further. Let’s get the Seer Sect to investigate.”

  “I, Tyratia, Great Mind of the Seer Sect, will see that it’s done Grand Mind.”

  A feeling of approval came from the old man.

  “Now, what should be done with the prisoner?”

  “I believe we should release her, Grand Mind. She has a family. A new child barely a month old. From our talks during her healing sessions, it sounds like she was coerced into this by the coalition preying on that aspect of her life. It’s diabolical and we need to be better.” Anexi immediately spoke.

  “Come, Anexi. You can’t be that na?ve. She can obviously see that you recently had a child yourself. We cannot let this prisoner go with the unknown information she has.” Violetta-cri looked at his mom with a sense of disapproval and the vibe of the room showed that others felt the same way.

  “I, Synillic, Great Mind of the Research Sect, agree with Anexi. If we aren’t willing to show compassion then how do we hope to find common ground and prevent innocent lives from being the cost of our actions?”

  “Of course you would agree with your partner, Synillic. You should stay in your lab. Your Sect knows nothing of war. We need to act now and act fast to have the element of surprise. That means removing the prisoner from the equation once we get all the data from her.”

  Synillic was about to retaliate, but since his feeling could be the seen the Grand Mind stepped in.

  “Please, do not make this an argument between our people when we have real enemies. I’ve heard enough to make a decision. It’s my feeling and the feeling of the Greater Minds that we shall leave the prisoner alive for now, however we will continue to extract information. Keep her in good condition for we may need to bargain her life for the farmers that were mentioned prior. Go back to your respective sects, do not cause alarm, but start preparing for war just in case. This concludes our council meeting.”

  A sense of worry completely filled the chamber before the memory dissipated. Synexus and Gene were left in the middle of the room by themselves.

  “My mother and father were against the war.”

  “Many Zaxillians were. This was a time of great fear in the city and across the planet. Unfortunately, the downfall of Zax’xian was due to the opposing sides in their own society as you saw today. But enough of that. Let’s get to your Mana Weaving lessons for the day.”

  “Wait, one more question before we begin. You told me the name of the Great City was Zaxilly, but they said it was named Creation.”

  “Yes, Zaxilly was the original name. It was later renamed Creation after my creator. You haven’t discovered why yet. I promise you will find out in this trial.”

  Synexus nodded and then they began.