Chapter 52 - Stars

Briskly walking with the swirling nebula cloak flowing behind her made Lily feel like she was some sort of knightly lord, more so than a young and budding mage looking for some small monsters to cultivate her Mana Core.

If she was honest with herself, this experience made her feel like she had accomplished what she sought. This truly made her feel like she had become a Mage and had her chance of being accepted into Regarth.

Rose was always ahead in these matters, but now, I feel like I'm finally starting to catch up to her. It's not just about keeping pace; I must bridge the gap!

Approaching the flower hole, Lily heard the familiar snickering of a gremlin and readied herself. A solitary gremlin pranced around in the hole with a toothy flower-filled maw. It was entirely distracted, and thanks to being almost entirely wrapped up in the Nebula Veil, it hadn't spotted her blurry visage.

Lily took the opportunity to focus herself and begin casting the Starcluster spell again. Meanwhile, the silly gremlin ate flowers while placing their stems in its greasy hair. Lily shook her head as she whispered the chant and thrust her hand forward.

Bursting from her palm was a singular star this time, streaking down and toward the unsuspecting gremlin. It struck the gremlin directly before exploding into that familiar burst of stardust that seemed to cling onto the gremlin and illuminate it. The gremlin, however, was still alive.

It immediately hissed and turned toward its attacker. It probably didn't spot her directly but still bounded toward her location. Lily wasted no time in recasting the spell and outstretched her hand. Poof . Stardust sprayed out without even a single star.

With insufficient time to cast another spell, Lily cursed, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a firebolt glyph. Whether it was due to the gremlin's speed or her nerves, when she activated the glyph, it went soaring forward but missed the gremlin.

The gremlin was now moments away, and she pulled out another glyph. She steered herself and cast it again. This time, it struck true, and the gremlin let out a little screech before bursting into flame and a burst of black flecks.

Rather than celebrating, Lily sighed in relief before beginning her spiral-gathering technique. She was almost startled at the amount this time and started gathering what she could with enthusiastic vigor.

When it was done, she let out a happy giggle. Her Mana Core had probably grown almost a week's worth of effort with such a simple method. But when she opened her eyes, she saw a slowly building orange glow that caused her to panic. A small fire had started in the flower hole.

"Oh no!" Lily cried out and began to think of ways to put out the flame.

If she had brought her ink, she could have possibly made a water glyph or even an earth one, but all she had on hand were shields, firebolts, and another shadow cloak to get back home. She quickly grabbed handfuls of dirt and attempted to feebly throw them at the slowly growing blaze, but it didn't seem very effective.

Lily cursed. At this rate, the entire flower hole would burn to cinders, and out of desperation, she began wondering if she could just explode the fire with Starcluster spells.

Lily chanted and unleashed her hand, firing a singular star toward the growing flame. If she had been honest with herself, she would have never expected this to work, but to her surprise, the impact and small explosion seemed to dislodge and erupt enough soil to somewhat put out the flames and destroy some of the burning debris.

And so, Lily began to chant. Over and over. One star. Zero stars. Two stars. Two stars. She kept casting until she felt lightheaded from the excessive Mana usage, but finally, the growing bonfire was scattered enough to stop, and only a portion of the flower hole was ruined.

Lily sighed and fell on her backside. Her Nebula Veil was on the verge of winking out because of how excessive she had been in her Mana expenditure, so she let it fade before laying on her back and staring up at the night sky.

"Okay… No firebolts around burnables!" Lily declared to herself. "And I better bring a water glyph next time, just in case!"

Thankfully, the night was calm enough that nothing disturbed her during her momentary rest. When she recovered enough, she got up and carefully walked down into the flower hole. Bringing out some Starlight spells, she placed them deep in the hidden herb burrow and nearly gasped at what she saw.

The herbs had almost grown back entirely, and illuminated in the glow of her spell, they looked absolutely magical—a hidden little world. Far in the back, she noted a strange small patch of herbs she had never spotted before, as they had lacked sufficient light to see the far reaches.

Lily resolved to grab some herbs, especially that new one. It would either be Mana for herself or something valuable to sell to Camilla. After carefully picking and deep stretching into the hole, she filled a small sack with her spoils. Feeling dirty and tired, Lily decided that she had had enough fun for one evening.

And my Mana is almost empty, too… Seriously, that small fire was dreadful…

Fastening the bag to her waist, Lily pulled out her remaining shadow cloak glyph. She removed her shield talisman, as its shimmering could potentially ruin her stealth attempts, and then replaced it by slapping the new shadow cloak in its place.

Darkness wrapped around her, and she began stealthily returning to the city. Once again, she held her breath as she went past the guards, but between the darkness of night and their game of cards, they had no chance of spotting her.

And so Lily eventually found herself crawling back through a window and slowly walking back to her room. She dumped the herb bag into the closet before placing her remaining glyphs into her desk drawer.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Lily looked over herself and frowned. She was filthy.

"A quick bath… Then bed…" Lily grumbled.

She rapidly did those tasks, informed Arakil she was back, and apologized for not having any Mana to spare him tonight before absolutely crashing into her bed.

"I certainly had a little adventure…" Lily whispered to herself as she hugged her pillow. "I'm coming, Rose; I'll catch up to you and make you proud…"

***

Lily's nighttime escapades had left her ravenous, and she spent the next day in an almost dazed state. Not enough sleep and fatigue had not given her enough time to fully recover, and she suffered the consequences.

Stupid gremlin…

It wasn't all for naught, though. When Lily showed Camilla the new herb, the woman's eyes practically sparkled with a thirst for profit.

"Where did you find this beauty?" Camilla asked curiously.

"Same place as the other herbs… But it was very well hidden…" Lily explained with a yawn.

"My-my, are we going out on some night time excursions?" Camilla teased.

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"Maybe…" Lily said, revealing her herb sack and what she had gathered that night.

"Excellent!" Camilla said happily. "I'm assuming you want more glyph ink as payment?"

Lily shook her head. "No… I'm done with Fairymoss."

"Oh? That's surprising," Camilla responded, genuinely baffled.

"I want another Mana potion or two… As many as I can get!" Lily said a bit too enthusiastically.

Camilla chuckled. "Well, you had nearly earned enough for one after all your repayments. And with this little gathering, I'd definitely say you've reached it."

Lily pointed to the new plant. "Is that plant any use for Mana?"

Camilla cackled with laughter as if seeing right through Lily's intentions. "No, my dear, unfortunately not. However, it is one of the key components in a major healing potion."

"Major?" Lily questioned. "I know lesser is for cuts, bruises, surface stuff, while regular healing potions include internal injuries. So what can a major do?"

"It would be easier to describe what a major can not do than what it can do!" Camilla answered with a wry grin. "You could reattach a finger with one, if not regrow part of a new one! Hell, the only thing it can't do is cure death!"

The woman laughed at her joke, whereas Lily just nodded.

"Sounds expensive…" Lily hummed.

"Indeed, my dear, which is why I'm glad you have found this herb. I'll have to buy the remaining ingredients, but it will be well worth it when I brew it up."

"Can I help?" Lily asked excitedly.

"No… I'm afraid not. While I'd love your assistance, this is far too much money at risk…" Camilla murmured.

Lily pouted but sighed. At least she could watch the brewing when it happened, which was some consolation. Not to mention, she would be paid for discovering such a rare herb!

"And I'll order the supplies for another two Mana potions while I'm at it," Camilla pointed out. "Although only the heavens know what you want to do with such a thing… I guess you could maybe take tiny sips to recover yourself?"

Nope! I'm going to grow my Mana Core! Lily thought triumphantly.

***

The days continued to fly by once again, and a rumor had unfortunately spread due to Lily's accident. The flower hole had been vandalized, and investigating it led others to discover the hidden herb grotto.

The mayor immediately made a fuss about it and declared it the city's property, and any illegal gatherings were to cease immediately. Lily cursed at herself and almost regretted spending so much effort to save it.

Although… If I hadn't saved it, I wouldn't have been able to get my final harvest. Stupid gremlin, why did you dodge the firebolt spell!

Also, Lily explained to Arakil what had happened and confirmed that the Starcluster spell worked for her. Arakil seemed to have mixed feelings about that result. On the one hand, he praised Lily for her accomplishment but clearly felt sour at never producing a single star himself.

When Lily questioned him about the explosion of stardust and its effect, Arakil explained that it provided a benefit more than simply turning the enemy into a sparkling target.

[The stardust provides a stacking bonus to supplemental Starburst stars. That is the primary reason the spell is intended to have a greater number of stars as you improve your casting. Each additional star strike provides a cumulating benefit to the later stars.]

Lily nodded excitedly. She couldn't even imagine the effect of more than two stars. Perhaps she could take out a gremlin with a single cast if she had three or more!

[I believe targets marked with stardust are also more susceptible to other Astral spells, although I'd have to peruse through more tomes on the subject. Speaking of which, I think I have found an achievable method for your Astral affinity.]

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed excitedly. "Thank you so, so much, Arakil!"

[Don't thank me until it's been accomplished. It's a rather esoteric method and will require a lot of commitment from you. You need to meditate directly under the moon for a full lunar cycle. And when I say directly, I mean directly . Indoors will not count; even if it's raining, you must persevere.]

"Even in the rain?" Lily gasped. "Can we not just do it the next day?"

[No. Interrupting the cycle even once means starting over from the beginning. You must take your Mana gathering array and meditate outside for the full cycle. Unfortunately, it is a different meditation method than the spiral you've grown accustomed to.]

Lily groaned. "Don't tell me I've wasted all my time learning the spiral method… I feel like I've grown leaps in bounds in mastering it…"

[Heavens, no! This is only for the Astral attunement. Once completed, you must immediately go back to your spiral method. This meditation is not for growing or utilizing a Mana Core.]

"Okay… That's a relief…" Lily said happily. "So, where do we begin?"

[It must begin with the New Moon, which represents Beginnings. Following that, we have the Waxing Crescent representing Building, the First Quarter representing Action, the Waxing Gibbous representing Refinement, and the Full Moon as the Culmination. Then the Waning Gibbous is Gratitude, the Last Quarter is Reflection, and ultimately, the Waning Crescent is Rest.]

"It sounds very poetic …" Lily pointed out.

[If you think that was poetic, wait until you recite the mantra. I think the creator of this certainly had a strange romance with Astral magic and moons in particular…]

Lily nodded and then began slowly reciting the words as Arakil wrote them out.

With the moon, I plant new seeds of intention, embracing the promise of growth.

I gather strength and clarity as my intentions take form.

I face challenges with courage, moving forward with purpose.

I adjust and refine, trusting the unfolding of my path.

Under the moon's glow, I celebrate abundance and release what no longer serves me.

I give thanks for lessons learned and share my light with the world.

I honor endings and make space for renewal.

I surrender to rest and prepare for a new cycle of growth.