48 Mortal Dragon Technique (2/2)

He awoke several hours later and stood up to stretch. 'It'll probably be a while before I can open any more meridians. The barriers got even stronger. I'll probably have to wait until I fill the two open ones with mana. I'll also need to further refine my mana for higher-quality.' Right now, his mana was still like a gas, though much more concentrated than before. Eventually, it should reach the state of being like a liquid. Then, a flexible solid. It would be a long time before he reached those levels though.

'Hmm?' Ed's eyes suddenly widened in surprise. Amongst his mana, he could feel a thin thread of golden energy. It moved and followed the rest of his mana, but it was different from his ordinary mana. His ordinary mana was a gaseous mixture of the seven colors of the seven elements. However, this new golden mana was solid and flexible like spider thread. It radiated overwhelming power that was completely unfamiliar to him. It nourished his body far more than the rest of his mana.

'What the hell is it?' It felt both foreign and familiar. Like it belonged to him but also didn't. He tried to control it and failed. It continued flowing through his mana paths as if it had a mind of its own. 'Weird. The Mortal Dragon Technique made no mention of such a thing... Oh well. Nothing I can do about it for now and it doesn't seem to be hurting anything. Time to get to work.'

Dupe was handling most of the paperwork and organization of Harmony. This left Ed much more free time than he had originally planned on. It was hard to be more efficient than five or six Dupe's working together in perfect coordination. He decided to help out with engineering in the meantime. It was convenient as he no longer had to hide his powers.

He began to directly melt large piles of raw resources into fully functional mechs. 'God, this is amazing. I wish I had the Mortal Dragon Technique sooner.' His control was so much better than in the past. He could easily form the mechs without taking breaks or forming individual parts. It only took him around 15 minutes per mech he made. Granted, they were the standard 3-meter-tall models that were only useful against ordinary mutants. Still, it had previously taken him nearly two days to make only ten such mechs. Now it only took a couple hours for a similar amount.

Nearly a week passed. They would be starting their official recruitment in just a few days. Ed had created hundreds of mechs in this time. He also repaired his fleshy-metal limbs completely while adding some rubber insulation in fear of future lightning strikes. There were plans to begin tearing down all the nearby buildings and convert the base into a true military headquarters. One suitable for mobilization, defense, and training. However, that would have to wait until after the initial wave of recruitment finished.

Today, Ed had just finished a meeting with Dupe. They had finalized some things regarding the new merit system being implemented. He was filling out some paperwork when he suddenly had the strange feeling someone was watching him. 'Is it my imagination?' He looked up from his paperwork. ”WHAT THE FUCK?!” He screamed as his chair shot backwards. He quickly aimed his arm at the strange entity in front of him. A humanoid with long hair floated in front of him while glowing blue. Suddenly, his eyes widened in surprise. ”Yuki?!” He questioned.

”Eh?!” Yuki jumped up in shock. ”You can see me?”

”Of course I can see you. Do I look like a blind man to you?”

”Ah, that's not what I meant! Can't you tell I'm dead?!” She pouted while puffing out her cheeks in irritation.

”Dead?” He got up from behind his desk and walked towards her. Then he grabbed her arm.

”Hey, let go!” She yelled. She struggled pulling her arm back with all her might but had no success. ”Why?! I should be able to phase through things!”

'Is that the cause?' Ed wondered. He could feel the single thin thread of the golden energy he carried reacting to her. It was trembling like a dog waiting for its meal. 'Does it want to eat her or something?!' Fortunately, the thread didn't seem to go out of its way to devour her. It was as if something was preventing it from doing so.

He began to manipulate his mana and send it towards her. 'My powers don't work on her either. Is she really a ghost or something...? No, wait. I shouldn't jump to dumb conclusions.'

Suddenly, his door swung open and Gunther rushed in. ”Sir!” He saluted. ”Some guards reported to me that they heard you scream. Is everything alright?”

”Uhm... yeah.” He nodded. He glanced back-and-forth between Yuki and Gunther. ”Hey. You see her too, right?”

”See who, sir?”

”The ghost floating right next to me?” He pointed.

Gunther stared at the air really hard for a few seconds while frowning. ”Are you sure you're alright sir?”

”Haha! I was just joking. You're dismissed.” He waved his hands towards him.

”As long as everything is alright, sir!” He saluted again before turning around and leaving. His movements were becoming more and more like an actual soldier.

”So, Yuki. Why have you come to visit me?” Ed questioned.

”Humph!” She snorted. ”Naturally it's to haunt you in the afterlife. Getting me killed like that!”

”The shock I used shouldn't have been enough to kill you.” He shook his head in denial. ”Why don't you tell me what happened to you after you got knocked out? Then we'll try to figure out what's going on.”