“I guess there’s no pushing it back any longer. Lola, I’m going into the spiky-looking death chair.”

  “Please don’t call it that.”

  “Well, it's going to be dismantled after this, so fine.”

  The best chance for me to get my cybernetics and connections to properly integrate with my new mana rebirth body was to have them active. So nothing went into shutdown.

  None of the drones had anything to do so they were just hanging out—some did play with each other a bit, which was nice to see. The ships AI was the quietest of them all, but even she understood that this needed to work, so she also started to exchange data with me.

  Nothing happened when I sat in the chair. I was about to ask Lola how long this was supposed to take, but then I realized I couldn’t speak, and soon everything turned muted. I was supposed to concentrate on breathing, so that was what I did.

  Nothing changed for—I don’t know how long. I was in this grey, unconnected space—then, all of a sudden, colors started to appear.

  At first, they were small dots, but over time they grew, encompassing my entire body. Then, I could see the signal connections I had with everyone lighting up like christmas lights. It didn't take too long before the entire ship—everything I could see—was covered in bright colors.

  Then I blinked, and everything went back to normal colors, and I could move again.

  “Lola, are you there?”

  “Yes, but I feel strange. Something's wrong.”

  “I feel strange as well, like there’s something more, but I can’t tell where that’s coming from.”

  Getting off the chair, I moved around, and everything felt like it did when I was in zero gravity. Breathing felt normal. Perhaps some of my cybernetics didn’t connect properly.

  “Lola, run full scans on everything.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  We had quite a lot of stuff, so it took her about five minutes to run quick diagnostics, and everything seemed to work normally.

  “So, I think it worked. And worked fully. That’s supposed to be rare, right?”

  "Extremely so. Did you try looking into yourself, towards your heart, like the instructions said?"

  "Yeah... I totally forgot about that."

  I tried to do what those instructions said—just meditate and look towards my heart, not with my eyes but with my mind. What I expected was to see nothing. What I saw was breathtaking.

  I didn’t see my heart, but I guess it would be to the left. I think that spot was the center of my chest.

  It was an orb filled with three different colors that somehow seemed to have taste and smell to them. And in the center was a white ball.

  I described what I saw to Lola.

  "It seems to have worked. The orb represents your innate ability. White represents that the ability should have an effect on the outside world. The mana colors represent the three affinities you have. Having three is good, nothing too special, but not bad either."

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "So I was supposed to pull on that white core and try to exert it outside to use that ability?"

  "Correct."

  I tried to do just that. It was a lot more difficult than I expected, but something eventually started to happen. It was like the energy inside the white core moved through me and then outside—but then that power simply fizzled out.

  I tried a few more times, but for all my effort, all I got was a lightheaded feeling.

  "My ability doesn't seem to be doing anything."

  "It might need something else to work—like perhaps you would need fire that you could manipulate. That seems to be quite a common ability discussed in the quantum net. You would need to go and register in the Adventurers' Association if you want your ability identified properly."

  "I guess we will have to wait."

  I started to dismantle the mana rebirth chair, dragging the pieces to the section of the 3D printer so everything could be turned back into usable bars. I also loaded up some of the designs we got from the quantum net to make some currency that was universally recognized.

  "Don't deconstruct some of the cubes just yet. We should be able to find out what three affinities you have."

  "That sounds interesting. Explain."

  “It’s not too precise of a method, but if you insert only one type of affinity mana into a cube, it should produce a specific effect—like a small discharge of electricity at one of the corners. Mana is a very precise thing, as I’ve come to learn, so people seem to have figured out some ways of recognizing certain affinities that are easily identified.”

  “Yes, sure, let’s do that.”

  I set three cubes aside and finished my work so the 3D printer could continue doing its job. I also put every drone into shutdown mode so they would go into hibernation. It wouldn’t be too long before we jumped into FTL once again, this time heading toward one of the refueling stations on our month-long journey to the Trade Center.

  Before that, I would also need to come up with the ship’s name and decide whether I wanted to go by my old name or think of a new one. But first, let’s find out what affinity I have.

  “Lola, what do affinity’s actually do?”

  “They are sort of like RPG classes. Each one allows you to improve in different ways, but only in those ways. Not everyone can learn to use spells that produce fire-like effects, but everyone who has a fire affinity could learn the same types of spells.”

  “They also affect you more subtly, like passive effects. Having a fire affinity would give you passive resistance against fire, but every affinity is different, and even fire affinities could differ between people. In those cases, their affinity would be called something different, like moonfire or something similar.”

  “Once again, I must remind you that there is a lot of conflicting data on the quantum net, especially regarding magic.”

  “That’s interesting. I didn’t expect something like that. So the innate ability could be anything—it doesn’t have to be associated with your affinity, but you could learn abilities or spells, as they call them, based on your affinity?”

  "Correct."

  "Okay, let's get started then."

  "Hold one of the cubes in your left hand—yes, just like that—and then pull out one specific affinity-colored mana. I will record the reaction and see if there is a match."

  I did just that, feeling like there was static now on the cube.

  "No visual effect, but I am detecting the buildup of static electricity. This is good news. I believe this is a rarer affinity that’s actually called General."

  "Wait, what? A rare affinity that’s called General? That doesn’t make any sense."

  "Yes, it didn’t to me at first as well. But from what I can understand, that affinity allows you to do a lot of things. You can’t do them extremely well like more specific affinities, but it’s one of the affinities with the most utility—and I know you like that."

  "You are right about that. Utility is amazing, but were there any specific effects listed?"

  "From what I understand, this should allow you to improve yourself marginally. So, make yourself tougher, learn some very basic spells that seem to have minimal effect during combat but could be a lifesaver in survival-type situations—like producing a candle flame."

  "That seems a bit less useful, but I guess just being a bit tougher is already better than nothing. You were able to get stronger by absorbing mana and improving your mana core, right? So how does the affinity come into play?"

  "You are correct. Absorbing mana helps you increase the density of your own core, which will give you more power.”

  “You could focus on one or all of your affinities, which will then increase in density, giving you greater effects. That’s basically it. You could sit down right now and gather mana, which you should be able to do, and get stronger—although it will take years."

  "Perhaps it would be best to keep some of these cubes around. I should be able to absorb more from them when they have collected enough, right?"

  "I believe so, but I’m not certain. You would need to test it out."

  "So, the next one?"

  I picked up another cube and repeated the first step, this time seeing how the cube split itself into perfect smaller cubes at the corners that started to float outward.

  "Wow, that's pretty."

  "Agreed, but I do not have this specific affinity information. There are millions, so that was to be expected."

  "Okay, I guess we’ll have to wait for you to get access to better databases."

  So I picked up the third cube and repeated the same actions once again. This time, the cube seemed to pulse in and out of existence a few times. This was disconcerting. Fortunately, it only did so a few times.

  "That's another rare one, this time being mind. A really good one. This should help and might explain why you are so well connected to everything."

  "So I’m guessing this would help me mentally, and I could learn, perhaps, spells that affect the mind?"

  "Yes, exactly so."

  "You seem confident that we have a proper bond now, but we haven’t tested it properly."

  "How could you even test it?"

  "Lola, try to self-destruct the ship. See if you can do it."

  "How would I even start? We don’t have a dedicated self-destruction system."

  "Of course not, that would be stupid to have on a ship that could be controlled by electronics. But there should be ways."

  She got back to me a few minutes later as I was trying to understand how to absorb mana.

  "I found three viable ways for a fast enough self-destruction, but I seem to not be able to implement any of them. This is strange because I’m pretty sure I should be able to do that. There’s nothing in my programming stopping it."

  "You know, it's scary when you say stuff like that. But I guess the bond works then. It’s not something that gives me control over you, that I could command you, but you can’t try to kill me. That’s how this bond works, right? That’s why it’s universally recognized as a valid AI bond?"

  "Seems that you are correct. So what's next?"

  "I finish breaking down the death chair that didn't actually kill me. And then FTL."

  "Acknowledged."