When Sophie awoke the next morning, a pair of Understandings washed over her as soon as her eyes blinked open. She sat up, stunned to realize that she was now Level 5, and more importantly – she could tell she was Level 5. She didn’t get a pop-up or an overlay or anything like she’d expect in a video game. Instead, it was as if she had been trying to read a foreign language and one of the words finally became familiar to her after all of this time. It was as if she had always known she was Level 5.

How peculiar.

But even stranger was Mana Sense. She had a name for it, even, and she somehow knew that this is what it was called. She could feel mana in bits and pieces around the shrine, like a whisper in her ear. Her mind stuttered suddenly as Elowen approached.

“You’re Level 5 now!” Elowen exclaimed, and Sophie glanced up at the spirit in wonder.

For the first time, Sophie could tell that Elowen was a being of pure mana, just as she had insisted on that very first day. Sophie’s understanding of mana felt rough around the edges still, but she could tell that Elowen had the most mana out of anything else in the room, and she could even feel a thread that seemed to trail off towards the direction of the shrine stone.

“It seems I finally gained the ability to sense mana and my own level, along with the level up,” Sophie replied. Her head spun a bit with all of the new input. Surely there was a way to turn it off.

Elowen looked delighted at the news. “I’m simply amazed at the progress you’re making.”

Sophie had to admit that she was pleased as well. “It’s only been a few days…”

“But you have been using mana in a variety of different ways,” Elowen explained. “With Acacia’s mana bread, you’re able to train much more than you had been able to previously and you’re starting to learn to work with fire along with the shrine stone. All of these unusual and different experiences will contribute to your level more quickly than merely channeling mana into the same type of element constantly. Besides, even children are able to gain ten levels before they come of age. So perhaps it’s not too surprising that an adult would level so quickly, especially starting from nothing.”

Sophie hummed thoughtfully. “Huh, I suppose I am still only Level 5, after all of that. Level 10 seems so far away…”

Elowen laughed. “It’s not so far away, perhaps. Not at the rate you’re going now.”

Sophie nodded. “I hope so… But, hey, is there any way to control Mana Sense?”

“Of course!” Elowen replied. “It’s just like anything else. The more you use it, the more you’ll be able to fine tune it and you’ll develop deeper understandings of mana over time as well. Like the ability to distinguish pure and corrupted mana.”

“No, I mean – like how do I turn it off?”

Elowen tilted her head. “But why would you want to do that?”

“It’s just… a lot.”

Elowen laughed again, obviously amused at Sophie’s plight. “I think you’ll become acclimated to it eventually. It should fade into the background and allow you to focus in on it when you like.”

Sophie frowned at the explanation and decided that the best direction to focus first was inward – towards her own mana. It seemed that Mana Sense gave her a clearer picture of exactly how much mana she had to work with. She could tell, for example, that her mana reserves were completely full. Prior to her level up, she had only been able to sense a feeling of energy or a general feeling of well-being, but now she knew.

After a few moments of poking at her own mana reserves, she finally pushed herself out of bed and began to get ready for the day, noticing here and there the little things that called out to her through her newfound Mana Sense. As she made her morning tea, she noted the hum of the chill box, which had nearly as much mana as Elowen. Next, she went to peer at the lamps in the front of the shrine, which she could tell were no longer completely full of mana as they must have been when she first lit them. And after that – the shrine stone, which still felt like a pool of water that she couldn’t quite see the bottom of.

The shrine stone was different from Elowen, somehow. Rather, it was more like a container that held a lot of mana than something composed entirely of it. There was also something funny about it that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Like perhaps it had the ability to hold more mana than it ought to.

Either way, her new ability could not accurately estimate how much mana the stone held. It seemed to work better on things that might contain a lesser amount of mana, if she had to make a guess. She could, however, clearly see the thread that bound Elowen to the stone now, although it melted into the general sense of Elowen’s mana, when she tried to look closer.

Elowen watched Sophie explore the shrine with great interest, until finally Sophie stopped in front of their mysterious plant friend. She frowned at it. She had nothing to compare it to, yet, since she hadn’t been outside to look at other plants, but even without that, the little sapling did feel suspiciously full of mana, just as Elowen had insisted.

“I should really go to the florist today,” she announced.

Elowen nodded eagerly at the suggestion. “Oh, please. I do wish you would. I would love to learn more about the plants. You mustn’t forget this time!”

Sophie had a strong suspicion that Elowen should already know more about the plant, but she was well aware that the spirit’s memories seemed patchy at best.

“That settles it then. I need to stop by the library, too, and I’ll pick up some more books for you to try,” Sophie offered.

Elowen looked positively skeptical at that suggestion, but Sophie wasn’t ready to give up on the whole reading thing. Sure, Elowen couldn’t turn the pages on her own, but she eventually would be able to. Well, if Sophie could ever get enough mana back into the shrine for Elowen to manifest.

Sophie laughed. “I promise I’ll try the florist first, though.”

And with that, she finished her tea, pushing the distracting pings of Mana Sense aside for now, and got ready to go into Caulis.

***

The florist shop stood among a few other retail stores close to Acacia’s bakery. Sophie glanced up to see an unobtrusive Mabel’s Flower’s sign hanging above the large, glass windows that displayed a multitude of plants and flowers inside. This was the place. She pulled open the door to a cacophony of green and a wall of humidity, followed by the jingle of a bell at the top of the door. All told, it felt more like she was walking into a greenhouse than the type of flower shops she had been in in Seattle.

Rows and rows of plants nearly blocked Sophie’s view of the back counter, but a quick glance back there proved it to be empty anyway other than some flower arrangements. Surely the shop was open.

Sophie turned to explore further when her newfound Mana Sense lit up in response to a collection of plants nearby. She found herself drawn to them – they looked nothing like her plant, but they had a similar feeling of having a bit too much mana compared to their surrounding plant companions.

“Hello?” A woman’s voice called from somewhere inside the shop, startling Sophie out of her reverie. “Can I help you?”

“Oh!” Sophie replied. “Yes, I’m curious about these plants you have here.” She glanced through the rows of greenery again, but couldn’t find the source of the voice.

“Just a moment,” the woman called back in return, and then Sophie heard a thump and a strange dragging sound.

Sophie was just about to head towards the source of the odd noises when a startlingly reptilian head peeked around a corner. Sophie froze in shock, her brain skipping a step as it tried to process this new situation.

“There you are!”

The woman sounded quite pleased, although it was difficult for Sophie to read her facial expression, all things considered. As she approached, Sophie had a moment to take in her unusual features. She had light orange-brown skin textured in a way that definitely reminded Sophie of a lizard. Her face was entirely reptilian with eye ridges that extended out past her forehead and vertically slitted pupils above a snout and a long, smiling mouth. Her body was mostly humanoid and as such, she wore clothes similar to the other townsfolk Sophie had met so far. But perhaps most surprising of all – the woman had a long, patterned tail that trailed out of her skirts and slid across the ground as she walked.

Without so much as a hello, she gestured at the plants next to Sophie. Her hands seemed to only have four oddly-shaped fingers on them, and Sophie could only blink at them in surprise. “Are these the ones you’re looking at, dear?”

Sophie glanced back up at the woman. “Um,” she said. And then she gathered all of her experience as a former small-town Midwestern American who once moved to the strange coastal city of Seattle and swallowed her discomfort. “Um, yes,” she replied, in what she hoped was a relatively normal voice.

The woman nodded sagely. “Hmm, a mage are you then? Do you have questions about them, or –”

“Oh!” Sophie replied, glancing back at the plants. “Um, I’m not a mage. I’m a priestess actually –”

“A priestess! Why, you must be the priestess that Briony mentioned,” the woman replied. She held out her strange, four-fingered hand. “I’m Mabel. Briony said you’d be visiting.”

Sophie felt relieved, suddenly, that there was less to explain, and she took the woman’s hand. Her skin felt surprisingly warm, but Sophie supposed it was quite warm in the building.

“Yep, that’s me! Sophie Birch. What are these plants? I found one sort of like these in a shed behind the shrine… It has a lot of mana in it, but it looks nothing like these.”

“Hmmm,” the woman replied, and her tongue seemed to flick out of her mouth in thought. “Well, these here are mage plants.” She stroked one of the leaves fondly. “Magewort and Mageweed, to be precise. They are often used in remedies or as stimulants for mages to increase mana regeneration. You say you have some out at the shrine?”

Sophie shook her head. “I’m not sure… The plant I have doesn’t really look like either of these, but I’m not really good with plants.”

The woman laughed good-naturedly. “Well, that’s alright dear. You know, I’d be happy to come out and take a look for you. I haven’t ever ventured out that way, and I do love a good mystery, especially when it comes to plants.”

“That’s perfect,” Sophie replied. “Now, about that mana regeneration…”

After a bit more discussion with the friendly Gardener, Sophie didn’t end up buying one of the mage plants, even though she was sorely tempted. She still had her own mystery plant to attend to, after all, and there was the matter of transporting it back to the shrine and taking care of it…

Besides, it sounded like it could potentially be related, so maybe she already had a bunch of mage plants and didn’t even know it.

Sophie felt guilty not buying anything at the plant shop, however, so she ended up buying some cut flowers – she knew she had seen a vase somewhere in one of the kitchen cabinets, and the back room could use a little sprucing up.

“When would you like me to come out and check on your plants, dear?” Mabel asked as she handed Sophie her change.

“Um, whenever is most convenient,” Sophie replied, sliding the copper coins into her pouch.

Mabel’s tongue flicked out again in thought, and after a moment she nodded. “I suppose I could drop by tomorrow if I head out there a bit early. The town portal isn’t working yet, is it?”

Sophie repressed a wince at the idea of getting up early and shook her head. “Not yet, unfortunately.”

Mabel nodded again. “Well, that’s alright. I’ll just put a sign on the shop in case it takes a while to get back.”

“Thank you,” Sophie said, and she really meant it. Even if it meant getting up early, she was eager to find out more about the plant. Especially now that she learned about Magewort and Mageweed. She wondered if her plant could be related. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

She gathered her flowers and made her way back to the front of the store. Next stop – the library.