Chapter 50 - Risks

"There! I gave you all my Mana since I'm going to bed," Lily declared proudly.

Arakil wanted to sigh and scold her, but with such youthful innocence, he had to restrain himself. She genuinely thought she was doing the right thing, and it had worked out despite his paranoia.

[That was an incredibly risky move, Lily. But thank you. I will put this donation to good use.]

"Of course! We are a team; we need to work together," Lily replied happily. "I'll start giving you whatever's left over before I go to bed each night. Hopefully, that will help me work on my regeneration while I sleep and give you some resources."

[An excellent idea. However, be warned you will require hearty breakfast portions in the future if you keep that up.]

"As long as I don't get fat… That shouldn't be a problem," Lily giggled before finally going to bed.

Arakil, dedicated to his cause, spent the night doing some research. While Lily had given him the Mana in the hopes of him using it to repair some of his functions, he was determined to resolve the outstanding issue with Astral affinity.

He delved into books, and while he didn't uncover a suitable method for alignment, he unearthed more about Astral magic. The rather obscure form of magic he had neglected seemed to hold more mysteries than he had originally thought.

He had originally thought it would limit her from Curses and Hexes, but it also seemed opposed to Summoning and Necromancy. He knew Lily would never partake in Necromancy, so that was no real loss, but Summoning was potentially a huge detriment.

But… Arakil then thought on the topic some more. Summoning was so effective in the past because the creatures would sustain their existence off the abundant ambient Mana. But in this Mana barren world, would that even be possible?

No. The Summoner would likely need to sustain the Mana expenditure entirely, which greatly devalued a powerful branch of magic in Arakil's eyes. His disappointment with the Mana barren world was palpable.

I'll still inform Lily about the potential loss, but I can't see her changing her mind. The girl is absolutely captivated by Astral magic. I suppose I am to blame for choosing an illusion of a galaxy for my presentation.

And so Arakil continued to research. While no direct method was found yet, he further codified his theory that the first step for alignment was to become extremely familiar with the type of magic, and repeated usage was the primary method of doing so.

I'd never bar myself access to any form of spellcasting, so I remained entirely neutral with my own Mana. However, it's certainly interesting, and I can see why other spellcasters would've sought this shortcut.

When Lily eventually woke up, her stomach announced her condition. Arakil couldn't help but let out a tiny chuckle to himself at being proven right.

Metabolic Mana regeneration isn't ideal. Imagine needing to stop your research for sustenance daily . You would lose out on so much extra potential time. Still, I suppose it is now a necessity in this newfound world I've awoken in. Truly tragic…

Arakil told Lily of his new findings, and as suspected, she did not hesitate to immediately write off Summoning as a form of magic entirely.

I would have thought an impressionable girl might have been tempted by summoning magical creatures, but the girl really has her heart set on the stars.

And so, Arakil returned to scouring through his library.

***

The days continued to pass, and Lily steadily progressed in all her activities. She had considered giving up her work with Camilla on more than one occasion. However, the woman was extremely helpful in her teachings and still the only reliable source if Lily wanted more Mana potions.

The lessons were actually interesting now that Mana and magical effects were involved. Now that Lily had somewhat proven herself in brewing without a dedicated tool, Camilla had actually started teaching her good methodology for creating the ideal ratio of Mana to formula.

This meant that the next time Lily needed to imbue glyph ink directly, she would better understand the process and give the correct Mana ratio. She was extremely excited by that prospect and started using her first batch of ink as much as possible.

Lily drew stacks of tiny firebolt glyphs to be ready the next time she went out for monsters. While she could have drawn an extremely limited shield glyph, she didn't feel confident using such a restricted glyph for something as vital as protection, and opted to wait until the next batch before starting on those.

She had shifted her focus almost entirely to the Nebula Veil with her spells. She only went back to Starlight when her Mana had bottomed out, or she was giving herself a small refresher. Arakil always told her to practice as much as possible, and she didn't want to disappoint him.

What was once the size of a handkerchief had now become a small scarf. The starry-filled entity had become Lily's infatuation, and she wanted nothing more than to keep expanding on it until she could wrap herself up in it entirely.

Eventually, Lily's batch of glyph ink ran out, and she finally began her second imbuement. Camilla's tutelage and some wise words from Arakil made her second batch a resounding success. Regarding the evaluation, Arakil praised it as 30% more effective than the Fairymoss ink.

Lily wasted no time drawing some shield glyphs, which was the riskiest gap in their current plans. She needed to put Rose's advice to work and ask some of the boys if they'd be willing to "take her on an adventure" so she could try gathering some of the black flecks from the defeated monsters.

When Lily decided she had enough emergency protection, she hesitantly approached one of the boys she knew who was going out and asked if she could watch them. At first, they hesitated to "bring a girl along," but Lily gave her best pleading look and praised them, explaining she wanted to see how strong they were.

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That had won them over, and soon, she was on a small outing with the group of boys. Lily was still extremely hesitant despite two pockets full of glyphs she could use to defend herself. The guards certainly didn't help when they warned the kids to be careful, as the small monsters had been much more active lately.

Rose was really killing a lot of monsters. Does that mean the old stone ritual site has been taken over again?

Despite the ominous warning, which had given Lily some concern, the afternoon had gone swimmingly. Lily couldn't help but feel like she was some rich noble being escorted by bodyguards, as the boys, in their effort to show off, had guarded her like a princess.

Not a slime nor rat could even come within a few steps of Lily before a boy either punched, kicked, or whacked it to death. Lily praised them as much as possible, causing them to almost start a competition between themselves. Lily had to keep a tally of the boy's kills, which she did while trying to use the spiral-gathering method as much as possible.

Rose's original theory had proven right, and there were slim pickings with such a large group. When she started gathering, she had to do so as quickly as possible, as the black flecks seemed to disappear within seconds of scattering. She still couldn't believe that Rose's tales of adventurers growing stronger by killing monsters were actually true.

Still, even with the small portion she had managed to gather, it was quite a bit more than she would have accumulated, even just sitting on her Mana gathering array. A fruitful endeavor that she hoped she could eventually form some type of routine with.

And hopefully, I can do it myself soon… Although I might need to come out and tell people I have magic before that.

Lily still wasn't sure when she wanted to reveal that to others. Honestly, she thought Camilla might have told Margit, but the woman kept it a secret.

She probably doesn't want to lose her apprentice… Or maybe she actually cares more than she puts on.

Lily knew she needed to reveal it eventually. It wasn't like she could keep it concealed until days before she wanted to start at Regarth. No, there needed to be some minimum magic lessons from the teachers here and preparations to be made. But she was hesitant of the attention it would undoubtedly bring upon her.

When Lily's Nebula Veil had grown to the size of a jacket, Arakil finally revealed two more spells to her: Moonlight and Starcluster. Moonlight was the upgrade to Starlight. It not only gave a brighter light but could also be directed like a torch and, in some cases, used to temporarily blind or startle a foe.

Starcluster, on the other hand, was an offensive spell, and Arakil had seemed extremely reluctant to start teaching Lily this spell. It was a beginner offensive spell and simpler than Moonlight and Nebula Veil, but Arakil appeared prejudiced against the spell.

[This spell creates a random number of starlike projectiles, the maximum number range based on your mastery of the spell, and shoots them at a target. When you first start learning the spell, no doubt you will be limited between 0-1, and you will need to work on familiarizing yourself with it until you keep adding additional stars to it.]

"Why is 0 a possibility?" Lily asked curiously. "Is it because I'm bad with the spell? Or is my Mana too low?"

[No… It is the nature of Astral magic itself and one of my main gripes with this particular branch. Even should you utterly master the spell and bring your maximum star count to a respectable 20, there will always be a minimum of 0.]

"Oh… So it's up to luck?" Lily guessed.

[While I'm abhorred using that word; yes . It is the area of probability and randomness. Although Astral magic does offer ways to skew those results toward your favor.]

"I see… So what is the maximum number of stars you managed to cast?" Lily asked expediently.

She expected Arakil, being an archmage, to have an absurdly high number. What he actually wrote shocked her so much that, at first, she thought it was a joke.

[0…]

"None ?" Lily asked, absolutely flabbergasted.

[I once had a theoretical range of 0-300, but whenever I cast the spell, it would always generate 0.]

Lily frowned. "Never? Not even once? That seems… impossible ?"

[It is statistically improbable and has confounded me for years. I can only surmise that I am fated against that form of magic, suffering from a hex, or have some fate-cursed luck.]

Lily gulped. "What if I can't ever cast it?"

[You have glyphs and will eventually have other forms of magic to fall back on. But… I suspect you won't share the same detriment as me. Likewise, as I mentioned, there are spells that you can use to skew the results in your favor.]

"Did those work for you?" Lily couldn't help but ask.

[ No …]

Lily was speechless. She also swore she could somehow sense embarrassment through the text. Or maybe she was reading into it too much. Regardless, Lily hastily decided that she better drop the subject entirely and never bring it up ever again.

"I guess that means I will need to go out on my own eventually…" Lily said nervously. "I can't practice an offensive spell in my room… Or even the yard; what if someone sees me?"

[You could reveal yourself?]

"No… I'm not ready yet … What if they ask me to do the test immediately?" Lily said with worry. "I need to be good enough."

[Very well… I'll continue searching for an affinity alignment ritual or method that doesn't require resources. Unless you can purchase moonrock, stardust, or meteor fragments?]

Lily sighed. "No… I don't think that's even possible. How would you even get something from the moon?" She pointed out the window at the glowing celestial object, even though Arakil couldn't see her actions.

[I understand resources are scarce in this world... Those were the more humble resources, and I thought they might be possible to acquire. Ideally, we would have had access to a fragment of a dying star, void essence, or perhaps a contained nebula?]

Lily stared at the words and shook her head. Once again, Arakil was completely over the top, perhaps teasing her.

How the heck would anyone use a dying star for a spell? He must be teasing me... Right?