The way over snowdin was mostly smooth with Monster Kid next to him. The hardest part of the journey was paying the innkeeper
Frisk decided to stay at the inn, as loud as it may be for him, it left him time to talk to Chara without calling attention to himself. He might blend in at first glance due to the wolf ears but he was still human, it was best to lay low.
I don't feel
"Chara, do you know anything about the royal scientist? Did you meet them while you were alive or dead?" Frisk talked as he started fixing his mana flow, his red mana started shifting.
[Uh… the royal scientist, she's smart.]
"Right," Frisk rolled his eyes. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you die?"
[I mind a lot] Chara crossed her arms as she floated to a corner of the room.
"Sorry." Frisk apologized. As he swallowed saliva he could taste his blood.
The most likely reason I started bleeding was because of myself rather than Undyne, surprisingly…
I've heard of this phenomenon before, mana fatigue. Depending on your trait, trying to use magic without mana might have adverse effects. perhaps I got mana fatigue from using mana with a reverse flow? Does that mean that my trait is related to the body?
After an hour of fixing his mana flow, Frisk instead began to pour out pure mana into a paper with a circle drawn on it.
[What are you doing now?]
"I noticed that using magic after resetting is deadly, so I'm going to use circle magic to… get around this problem." Frisk's grin was so silly it was almost contagious.
Almost.
[You know, for someone trying to save their mom you're awfully cheery.] Chara said.
"... You're right, I should be more serious." Frisk's tried looking his most serious but it came across as a kid pouting. It was clear that Undyne being defeated made Frisk more confident and cocky.
[Have you tried using something other than a circle as the vessel ?]
"of course not, the moment I do that it blows up."
[Damn…] Chara seemed disappointed.
She just wanted to laugh at me while it exploded on my face… but that does make me think, what about the things drawn inside the circle? Frisk recalled the symbols that were etched inside his soul and took a peek while meditating in the bed.
The symbol is different from what I remember? Or was I "seeing" things wrongly…?
The real symbol was hidden behind a certain god's illusion.
He began to draw a circle in the paper, inside it was an image of a goat monster hugging a smaller goat monster. He carefully filled the paper with mana and then activated the circle magic.
[I've got to admit, you activating circle magic is very damn impressive] Chara complemented
In reality, circle magic shouldn't even be possible to cast in the underground, yet Frisk disproved this.
A wave of mana entered him again.
"...what?"
[that looks like it's supposed to share energy.]
"But, technically I could use this to store mana, perhaps even longer than an hour.." Frisk grinned as many ideas filled his head. After repeating the process 7 times, Frisk ran out of mana and used one of the magic papers himself.
Frisk then eyed Chara with one of the papers and suddenly threw it towards her, surprisingly it reacted to Chara and her red outline seemed to become thinner… now it was like her whole being was a red shade.
[what the?] Chara tried to interact with the walls but was still a ghost and passed through them.
"Has this ever happened before?"
Chara shook her head as she closed in on the papers but Frisk quickly grabbed them before she could.
"Nooo, that's my mana," Frisk said. "I'll make more later ok?"
[...] Chara gave him a thumbs down
She can activate them so I need to be hasty.
Frisk went out in the middle of the "night", gave out 80 gold begrudgingly, said goodbye to the bunny monster, and went to Hotland.
[That's the Royal scientist's laboratory]
The door opened on its own.
"..." Frisk was wary and had a piece of magic paper on him as he entered the laboratory.
The inside was dim but he saw a weird light. It showed an image of… him?
"They've been scrying me all this time? That's… but I felt no magic around…" Frisk was more intrigued by how this scry worked than the fact that he was being watched.
The lights turned on, and he saw a lizard-looking monster with a lab coat in the room.
"Oh no, I-I'm not r-ready, he's already here? I haven't…" Alphys muttered something so low that even Frisk's wolf ears couldn't pick up, but suddenly she took a deep breath.
"Er, hi there! I'm Alphys, Asgore's royal scientist! B-b-but I'm not one of the "bad guys"! Ever since you exited the Ruins, I have been w-watching you, your fights, your friendships… watching someone through a screen really makes you root for them…"
Alphys ranted but Frisk stopped her and asked
"Wait, how did you scry me?"
"O-oh! I had hidden cameras installed throughout the underground, it took a bit of convincing b-but after showing Asgore Mettaton- oh no! I forgot to tell you about-"
"OH YES!"
So this was her innate magic? Making golems? But how did she get so much iron? That thing is huge! No wait, in the first place, isn't innate magic forbidden in the underground?
The more Frisk thought about it the more confused he felt so he stopped thinking about it and focused on what was in front of him.
"What's that?" Frisk asked with a bit of apprehension.
"W-w-well, it's an entertainment robot, w-with some p-practical upgrades… like anti-human features," Alphys said. "Once I saw you were coming here I t-tried to shut those off but I might have m-made it worse…"
"Welcome to our quiz show! There's only one rule darling, answer the rules correctly… or you die!"
[!]
Well, I can't say I didn't expect to be attacked, but this is out of my expectations.
Frisk used a wind cut but Mettaton's body didn't even react.
"What is the prize for answering questions?" Mettaton asked.
"?" Frisk ignored the question and charged up another wind cut, only to get shocked!
[yikes…]
"Whoops, wrong answer! The answer was more questions!"
[That robot is going to kill you if you get hit again.]
"Relax, that golem is controlled by Alphys right? I just have to break her concentration."
As Mettaton asked the next question, Frisk tried using wind surge to make Alphys close her eyes.
Crack…
Smash!
Frisk was outside the laboratory again.
[I think you should hear what that "golem" says,] Chara said. [I can even guide you through the answers- what are you doing?!]
"I'm using the circle magic to fix my flow of mana, that was the plan all along." Frisk consumed the mana-sharing spells.
[what? Come on! I thought you would leave some for me!]
"I can make more after, don't worry I have time." Frisk chuckled as he went inside the laboratory again, this time paying more attention to the questions and Alphys herself, who gave him the answers to the questions by muttering them low enough so that only he could hear them.
"Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on?" Mettaton asked Frisk as if looking for gossip.
"Uh… what is a crush?" Frisk asked innocently as he had never heard of such a word before.
"It's someone you like a lot darling." Mettaton patiently explained
Frisk looked at Alphys with puppy-dog eyes but it was futile since Alphys was just shaking her head like crazy.
"Then, it must be you, Mettaton!" Frisk exclaimed with a bit of nervousness.
"Hohoho! You flatter me, but that answer is too obvious, everyone loves me! Regardless, we are running out of showtime, tata!" Mettaton said
Crash!
The robot smashed the wall and took off.
Frisk and Alphys stared at each other for some time
"So, you built that thing huh?"
"Y-y-yes."
"You must be very capable then," Frisk said coyly as he got closer to Alphys. "See, I have a problem, you see humans on the surface are facing…" Frisk proceeded to sit down and tell her all about beasts and how he suspects that beasts are humans that have been somehow transformed against their will.
"T-this, that's t-t-terrible! B-but, I'm sorry I can't do much without actually seeing one for myself… but I can say that if t-they eat magic, they must need it to survive, perhaps if you somehow drained them of mana…"
"I see, would you by any chance have any device that drains mana?"
"N-n-no! I d-don't have anything like that… " Alphys frantically changed the subject. "Wait, t-this phone, it's ancient! Let me upgrade it for you!" Alphys easily took the phone and went to a presumable workshop.
"An upgrade? Does that mean that I can call from anywhere?" Frisk waited outside the room.
I mean, it can't hurt to try.
As Alphys worked on the phone Frisk used papers to make circle magic and spent all of his mana on another set, as he exerted his final bit of mana…
Thud
"Ugh, nothing happened… at least I'm not cursed to become a beast, or running out of mana isn't how you turn into a beast," he muttered as Alphys came back.
[but it sure does make you drowsy.] Chara couldn't stop herself from laughing.
"O-oh, dear! Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I was just trying to test something out…" Frisk used some of the paper talismans to get some mana back.
"Wait, w-what was that? I've n-never seen magic like that." Alphys asked as she gave the phone back.
"It's circle magic." Frisk did not elaborate.
"B-but, that should be impossible with the barrier! Wait, can you draw a circle here?" she got a blueprint and put it on the floor.
"Sure, " Frisk drew a circle, then Alphys inside the door again, this time Frisk could slip by and follow her. She seemed to be analyzing the blueprint with some sort of light.
"This circle… you drew a perfect circle…is that even monsterly possible? Well, I guess you're human, but still…" Alphys was awed.
"Alphys, is there no way to research for a cure for beasts? I'll do anything." Frisk tried convincing Alphys to help him again.
"S-sorry, unless you can bring one, i-i wouldn't know where to start."
"Damn. what a shame…" Frisk saw that his phone and Alphys explained how it worked but it was all too complicated for him. Then an idea popped up in Frisk's head.
"Let's make a pact!" Frisk said with a charming smile on his face.