A New Beginning In A Mana Apocalypse 52 Chapter 52 - Magic Is Living

"What?" Megan asked me.

I looked at Mary. "Earlier you said Gel needed to kill gold hearts to become a gold heart himself, which I believed as it wasn't the first time I heard it. But how did Nala advance? Why do you expect Dena and Megan to advance?" I asked confused.

Mary sighed, "That is a hard question to answer master." Mary replied.

"Wait." Tracy called out hesitantly. "I also have a question, and I really don't want you to take this the wrong way, but why does it seem like Nala, Trill, and Dena seem to be too smart?" she asked.

Everyone turned to stare at Tracy who cringed. "I'm sorry, maybe I missed something, but as far as everyone has told me all of you were just normal animals only a few days ago. Not saying you can't have been intelligent then, but you are talking like the beast society and its rules have been in place for a long time." Tracy pointed out.

Tracy wasn't wrong, I had been curious about that too but I never had the time to ask about it and just accepted it after a while.

"That one is easier." Mary replied. "This world used to have mana in it at one point. No idea how long ago that was, but it was here. The current beast social structure is from inherited memories that awakened when they became sentient. Similar to how humans are able to instinctively know how to use their abilities despite having never been trained." Mary replied.

"Inherited memories?" I asked.

Mary nodded then looked at Trill, Nala, and Dena. "As I understand it, there are no specific memories, just a feeling that this is how it should be. It is common throughout all the beast races." she added.

The three beast women nodded.

Tracy sighed, "Well at least that is one mystery kind of solved." she commented.

Mary sighed. "As for the rest, well you have to have a better understanding of magic." she told us then looked to Calidia, "Have the havens figured it out yet?" she asked.

Calidia shook her head. "We have no idea either. Over a thousand years of research and none of our brightest have been able to figure out why there are so many exceptions to the rule." she admitted though she seemed eager as if she was antic.i.p.ating the answer more than anyone else.

"No one else is going to ask why Mary seems to know the answer when the havens haven't figured it out in a thousand years?" Tracy asked.

"It has already been established I have secrets that I need to talk to Master about, besides I never claimed to have the answer. What I am about to tell you is still just conjecture." Mary replied calmly.

"That's fine." Megan said stopping any other questions.

"The first problem in explaining is that your understanding of mana is insufficient, or just wrong." Mary told us. "Mana is not just an energy source like electricity. While I wouldn't say it is sentient, I would say it is living and therefore can be influenced."

I opened my mouth to question that but Mary stopped me. "No questions." she told me seriously. "As you can guess there is a genetic portion that comes into play in helping determine your potential and therefore the color of your core, heart, seed, or whatever. However there are also other factors. I wasn't present at the time but you Daryl awakened as a silver when you should have been a gold right? Physical and or mental restrictions can prevent your core from displaying their full potential like in your case."

I nodded, we already knew that.

"We have also already discussed the fact that the energy waves can cause mutation and allow advancement correct?" Mary asked.

We all nodded, that had been discussed in detail with Calidia and was part of the reason I wasn't allowed to go to the haven in that botched attempt.

"Yet you never asked why that was possible." Mary pointed out.

Huh?

"You never asked why the crazed mana of the energy wave could cause a mutation while normal mana couldn't, instead you just a.s.sumed that the two were completely different things right?" Mary asked us giving off the same impression a high school teacher did when trying to lead their cla.s.s to understand something obvious.

"They aren't?" I asked despite knowing the answer.

"No they aren't. Crazed mana is just that, mana that has been strongly influenced to act in that manner. No I do not know what is influencing it to be that way, but whatever it is, it is powerful. I just understand that it is mana that is acting in a particular fas.h.i.+on. With that said there are other ways to influence mana, one of the most common are the emperor's themselves.

"While not in large quant.i.ties every person can influence the mana around them with their thoughts and feelings, the higher the affinity with mana the greater the influence, as you might be able to guess at this point the emperors have the greatest affinity." Mary said then stared straight at me. "The stronger your feelings, emotions, and beliefs about something, the more likely that the mana will help it come to be. You see Megan as your first wife, making her your peer, so from that moment the mana around you has been effected to a.s.sist her in growing stronger to match up to you. Now as your other women become stronger those thoughts have only been reinforced and I would say it has helped speed up her advancement to a degree, already she is near to advancing to silver despite just reaching purple. It is similar with Nala and Dena, you see them as the leaders of what will become your beast forces, therefore you know they need to be strong, Nala being a lioness one of the top predators, and Dena being an elephant one of the strongest herbivores also helps set that image in your head therefore influencing the mana around you to a.s.sist them in there change.

"You also know that intimate acts shares mana between the partners allowing the non awakened to awaken, that also works in this situation, which is why I suggested consummating your relations.h.i.+p with Dena as she would receive a more concentrated dose of mana from you that has been influenced with your perceptions of what she should be.

"Just know that even heavily influenced mana has a limitation, it can change a lot about you, but it is limited by your physical and mental condition which is why despite your desire to see Megan match up to you, she has only advanced a few tiers instead of becoming a gold immediately. Her body and mind were not able to take such a drastic change. Also if you believe that you can not become anything better than a blue, you will not advance beyond that. Megan you started off as a red and while you understood that you could advance you never believed you could become a gold right?" Mary asked.

Megan hesitated then nodded.

"Yet now as the harem has changed and you have accepted your role as head wife you want it don't you? Or instead of want it, you feel you need it to remain head wife, right?" she asked.

Megan nodded without hesitation then looked at me a hint of anxiety and fear in her gaze. Seems I wasn't the only one unsettled by how quickly things were changing.

"As you have come to accept the need to get stronger the mana has been able to help you advance, however you will not become a gold unless you can believe it is possible, you have the physical potential, now you just have to accept it then let us help you with the rest. Like how Daryl was before he became a gold, I believe the changes should already be there, especially after that ma.s.sive wave, now you just needs time and the encouragement from our mana to help stimulate your core to advance." Mary told her.

"As for the falcon, he is a beast and his empress sees him as a subordinate, so there is no mana being influenced from her to help him advance to a gold heart." Mary pointed out. "if he wants it he could be influencing it himself, but on his own the amount he could influence isn't likely to help."

It took us all a few moments to sort that out and understand it before Mary continued. "Now do not make the mistake that emperors can cause enormous changes if they believe in something. The amount of influence that anyone of us can have is actually really small. The reason why I think it will work with these girls is because of the big wave of crazed mana, Daryl's influenced mana was already at work on Megan and helped to guide the crazed mana of the mana wave to make the changes he wanted, like drawing up the blueprint and letting the crazed mana do the work. Anyone else would need a lot longer or another form of powerfully influenced mana to get the same results." she told us.

"So what are you going to do to help me?" Megan asked.

"Sweetie, don't be dense." Karen told her.

"Dense?" Megan asked.

"Didn't she just say intimate acts give the most concentrated dose? She wants you to have an orgy with Daryl and these s.e.xy empresses." Karen told her bluntly.

Kelly coughed uncomfortably and looked away obviously feeling uncomfortable with the topic at hand.

Megan blushed a deep shade of red once it was spelled out to her and she realized her mother was still present.

"I think it's time we all go, Kelly and I will get these two cleaned up, fed, and clothed." Momma announced loudly breaking the awkward atmosphere.

Tracy, Rebecca, and the twins were the first to follow Momma and Kelly out the door with the siblings, at a run. Heather hesitated for a moment then gave me a brief kiss, "Thank you." she told me in a quiet voice.

"I will call you back afterwards if you want don't want to stay." Karen offered.

Heather hesitated for another moment then nodded before leaving.

"Poor thing." Karen murmured watching her go.

That left Megan, Karen, Grace, Calidia, Mary, Nala, Trill, and Dena in the room with me with none of them showing any intentions of leaving.

Staring at the large number of women in the room and the idea of what was about to happen I was excited but nervous, I mean could I even last long enough to handle eight women at once? I didn't have an of the little blue pills on me.