Alexsandra sighed deeply, closing her crystalline eyes for a moment.
Her elongated, translucent blue body felt heavier than ever.
She was exhausted.
Creating the [Dreamy] had drained an absurd amount of energy…
And alongside that, the effort of designing a Shard as large as [Harmony], combined with the delicate conceptual work of [Néctar Solar], left her feeling as if the mana veins of her very dimension were vibrating irregularly.
Even with [Corona Solar] pulling energy and carefully regulating the distribution of the local sunlight…
It wouldn't be enough.
— He's doing what he can… — she murmured to herself, watching the warm, golden flow that the primary Shard periodically sent through the network.
But Alex knew:
If the network grew too quickly and began to feed with force, not even [Corona Solar] would be able to supply all the demands.
Not yet.
They were still far from that.
She slowly turned her gaze to her own dimension:
that vast sea of pure mana, rich and shimmering in shades of turquoise blue and pale green.
But this sea of energy only fed her.
Not the Shards.
They would still need a lot of time before they could develop souls capable of feeding directly on pure mana.
Alex let out another, longer sigh, feeling the weight of the accumulated work, then turned on herself, letting her body dissolve for a moment before recomposing at the entrance to the [Dreamy].
Upon entering, the automatically projected environment greeted her as always:
The fractal crystal floor, the mixed colors and… up above…
That broken moon, poorly rendered, hanging in the simulated sky with its pale, crooked light.
Alex frowned, standing still, staring at it.
— What… did it even do… for the planet of Remnant?
She knew, vaguely…
It was more than aesthetics or geography.
The moon had always been a regulator, part of the world's natural mana distribution system.
— Could it be…?
The idea began to grow, slowly, strangely…
Without finishing the thought, Alex was already leaving the [Dreamy] again, crossing the crystalline portal with the same fluidity as a droplet sliding over glass.
Back in her core dimension, with the environment calm and steady, she extended her hand and, without hesitation, pulled [Lensing] out of hibernation.
The Shard woke up with that familiar little click, immediate excitement, like a dog realizing the door for a walk had opened.
Before he could even start explaining, Alex asked a simple question:
— Is there a piece of the local moon… at least 1 km wide… in the dark side, unseen from the planet?
[Lensing]:
— Yes! [Data]!!
His enthusiasm almost made her laugh — if she weren't so tired.
The idea… was kind of unique… and also stupid, she admitted mentally.
But maybe… it could work.
She looked again at the mana patterns flowing through her dimension, then at the planetary flows she observed from afar.
She knew: the moon wasn't just a dead satellite.
It was…
a regulator,
a natural mana distributor,
a magical support pillar for the planet.
But it wasn't only that…
Alex narrowed her eyes, letting her thoughts connect.
She vaguely remembered data fragments she had recovered…
That the world — Remnant — hadn't arisen naturally…
She forced herself to dig deeper:
Yes.
There was a rumor… or maybe a distorted data point…
That the world had been designed…
By… gods.
Alexsandra let the idea float, still shapeless, but already pulsing as a possibility.
Maybe…
Just maybe…
she could use that hidden fragment of the broken moon…
For something much greater than any Shard she had ever created.
But she knew the risks.
Without a Shard to regulate the mana, it would leak out, filling the lunar atmosphere and Remnant's orbit.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Days later… what could happen?
She didn't know.
Maybe [Harmony] could calculate… but it was still germinating.
At best, they'd be guesses.
And… those two…
The Wizard and the Witch… would feel it.
Her dimension was only safe as long as it remained undetected.
— I'll need to create Shards… to defend it… — she murmured.
But at the same time, she knew:
If this works…
If the fragment — which she now mentally dubbed [Moon River] — had even a thousandth of a divine spark…
Then…
It could become something much greater.
The Shard of the Moon.
Of mana.
Of the seas.
Of gravity and space.
A Shard of type [Queen] and [Vital].
Vital: the kind of Shard that cannot be easily replaced, that becomes a pillar of the network, a fundamental piece.
The plan was clear:
[Moon River] would regulate the mana flow of the network, creating energy rivers throughout her dimension…
And with the drop of divinity, it would be able to feed on the local mana…
and distribute it to the other Shards.
And that…
Would only be the beginning of what it could do.
Alexsandra took a deep breath.
— I'll need more power… and… more mental capacity…
Without hesitation, she pulled the [data] on multitasking that she had collected earlier…
And forced the birth of a new Shard:
[Administrator].
It would be a minor Shard, somewhat improvised, like [Ripperdoc] had been — with little data, small, full of flaws.
But…
It would be enough.
It would allow her to multitask.
And, as she continued doing things…
It would self-correct and evolve.
She let the small crystalline core take shape and pushed it into the management circuit, immediately feeling its struggle to adjust.
Meanwhile, she dove deeper into her own crystalline core, activating her [Anodite] side.
She began circulating mana quickly, more intensely than she ever had, absorbing it in new ways, feeling every small error, every deviation…
And, at the same time, feeling her [Anodite] side correcting and absorbing [data], automatically adjusting processes.
The sea of mana pulsed around her, like an eager heart.
Meanwhile, the Shards began sending [pings] — each reporting small events, changes, movements…
The newly created [Administrator] was already helping her command multiple streams simultaneously, managing tasks while she focused on the essential.
And… yes… she could feel it struggling to keep up, its processes still somewhat erratic, but adjusting.
— Come on, little one… — she thought, almost fondly.
In the midst of all this, she sent [Lensing] to gather more:
She ordered him to steal some history books about the local moon…
She wanted hypotheses, to understand the legends and mysteries that people believed about it.
She knew that power and magic didn't arise just from matter…
But from stories.
Many magical beings…
are born from legends.
"We die from the Dust… and we shall be reborn from the Dust…"
— Interesting book… — she thought, mentally leafing through one of the texts [Lensing] sent her.
The preparations, she knew, would take at least three days…
She took a deep breath, closing her crystalline eyes again.
I hope… I'm doing the right thing.
END OF CHAPTER
