"Alright then, Rose, just like that, we've added each other on our pads," Mare smiled.

There was one more thing. After the girl had walked her through the uses of the pad, and how to go about navigating it, Rose asked her question.

"You're an homunculus right? Lux. . .told me you couldn't be ordered?"

Mare laughed, her childish face brightened and she eagerly leaned closer as if she had remembered something hilarious.

"He tried to command me for a freebie! He thought getting the info needed to enter Alos again was that easy!"

Rose raised a brow. "So, it's true? You can't be ordered?"

"Of course!"

"And. . .how is that possible?"

"Oh, that? Simple, 50 Lixels."

". . ."

Rose's curiosity overtook her. She wanted to know if she had found someone just like her, and she paid for that chance at companionship.

"S. Series N. 23, created by Wizard Grey," Mare smiled after the money came through. "Listening to another human goes against the orders my father gave me. You can try and command me if you don't believe it. It won't work."

It wouldn't work even if she were lying.

As she left the place, Rose thought about that loophole, was it not simply listening to one order over another. Did that make a difference? Either way, she was now down to 700 Lixels within the course of one sitting. Burning money, but she thought it all worthwhile.

— — —

A screen projected in front of her. On the left side was the image of a woman smiling smugly to the viewer with arms folded, and a piece of chocolate between her lips. A head of golden hair flapped behind her, and pale-blue eyes like that of the sky gazed with serenity. She had sharp ears, pointed but thin, looked like she was in her early twenties with luscious skin, and Rose was sure she was thus an Elf.

It felt odd taking a peek at her creator. The soft hum of her Core reminded her that this woman was why she was a being breathing in this world.

'The Silent Witch. . .' The texts began next to the image. The name didn't suit her at all.

There was a slew of information but, essentially, the Silent Witch was amongst the most famous mages. One part was due to her status of Sage level while being a half-bred of elf and human. The other part was her expert level control of mana and variety of work—she had traversed all sorts of fields in Magecraft—from Mechanics to Homunculi. Lastly, she was also relatively young for her expertise.

'Hmm,' Rose dwelled on her own then closed that window and opened another. There was a soft glow of a keyboard at her front, and after some typing. . .

'Silent Witch, location.'

The screen bleeped with a speed unknown to the naked eye and a page came up. There were a couple links, but she simply tapped the one at the top. Oddly enough, it led her right back to the same page as before—oops on her part—and with a swipe of her finger after she realized her blunder, the page scrolled down to a new section.

'Status: Alive, age 72

Current Location: Tross

Crafted Products: 357 Homunculi (41 Noble Series, 125 Private Series, and 191 Soldier Series), 1,300 Magic Armaments, 11,374 Robotics, a personal low-grade Air Ship, 3 contracted medium-grade Air Ships, and 1 City Core.

Gear:

Spirit: [7]'

Rose hardly understood the contents of the profile. She had no idea what half of those products were, but she did find the location of her creator. The city of Tross.

More research revealed that her world had 9 cities, each at the site of what was called a 'Great Dungeon'—which she assumed had been what she saw shooting out of Alos. Her world was huge, and there were many more, smaller, settlements besides those 9. However, Tross, her findings brought to her, could only be reached by riding one of those Air Ships from another Great City.

It looked like, no matter what, she would have to find a way into Alos.

'For now,' She thought, 'Safeguarding myself takes priority.'

She continued her search, however, mostly on Alos and the slums surrounding it. The slums, which she now knew had no name besides The Slums of Alos, was actually divided into several segments that formed an almost perfect circle around the city's structure and she just happened to be within that which was under Walker's jurisdiction. Rose studied the maps she found online, they matched very well with the program on her pad, and that was when she learned that it was possible to turn the 2-d map into a 3-d, heavily simplified, hologram. She looked at it and found that her shack wasn't all that special.

Then, her curiosity piqued and she searched the word 'Mana' — the current source of all her monetary problems. And, that, led into a rabbit hole.

Mana had three forms, she learned. It could store memories, it could be shaped, and it could be used as pure energy. However, those three simple things had been bent to their rightful limit by humanity after the energy was discovered—excelling them right past the elves that once ruled it.

Memories allowed mana to be given information and instructions, and to send it as well, creating 50% of the technology her world held, like Artificial Intelligence and the Mana Web—an unrestricted space of information anyone could access and build upon at anytime with the right tools—the thing she was currently using. Shaping it allowed one to turn it into what they needed, creating things like the displays on her Pad, the 3-D maps, and so much more. While its energy powered everything from cars to cities and—since any form of energy could be turned deadly—weapons.

Combining all forms with the right materials and essentially anything could be made. That was the basis of their world. Mana. And that was why mages, who could learn to control it, were above everyone else.

'Did the Silent Witch give me the ability to control mana?' She thought as her core hummed. Mulling. If so, she certainly must be the one that gave her information on cores and homunculi too. But why?

There was a lot to uncover about the world but she had a few pressing matters at hand. Closing the interface, a small orb blinked away on the bracelet, she stood up and set out.

Her destination was within the shack itself. There was another room that acted as a bathing place, a container within it was filled with water, there was a bucket floating there, and there was drainage. She took off her clothing, washed herself with a soap bar located on a platform and dried with a hanging towel. Completing that, she proceeded to wash the rest of her clothing, save for the dark sweater she wore, and left them to dry.

"That's better." The girl smiled at herself, the prickliness of her skin was gone, returned back to its perfect smoothness, and she began back toward the workshop.

Yet, as the shack around her shook, she was forced to deter.